The peacock feather 40s inspired top

I have this peacock feather fabric that I purchased  just because I love peacock items... I actually did not have a plan-LOL imagine that!!

I did not know what I wanted to make with it until I saw this simplicity pattern

I love the retro feeling of this blouse! LOVE! I followed the pattern. I got confused with the side invisible zipper, which I have never done before. I actually ran out of fabric and found it online and had to wait for that. OMG it was crazy. This took a while... another story

I added a button- I use a toothpick- great technique. I went for a blue button- to mimic the eye of the peacock feathers.

Now an issue I had was with the zipper-it was white and I had some issues with the side zip. It showed from the fabric.

I stumbled on the solution- use a green sharpie! 

Done now it blends in with the fabric. 

Here is the blouse done being sewn! Love! 

Got to include the bad weirdly out of focus shot. 

Yes the cherry blossoms are in bloom here in DC. They are right outside my window. Enjoy! 

I would probably sew the pattern again. I think I would maybe not do the side zipper and take out of the waist darts. I love the retro feel. And had I not had side zipper this would have been a quick and easy sew.

xoxoxo,
Lauren

My first roast!

We got a crock pot. We were actually excited about it. For some reason I associate crock pots with old ladies and things you might get on your wedding list by that one crazy aunt.... Or I associate it with domestic-ness. I don't know, I find that I am an odd mix of old-fashion with modern. Sitting at home cooking all day is not for me. There is so much I want to accomplish in life. Ok ranting-but we had a realization that a crock pot may be something to fit our lifestyle better. And wow I must say they modernized their look- it is not that cheesy white with bad flowers on the outside. I like simple clean lines. So I was home one day for a snow day and thought it would be a great time to try a roast. Oh! And I will say this my boyfriend uses the crock pot more than me! How funny is that.

So he left me instructions. :)

So it was simple! Add meat.

season with Omaha Steaks seasoning. Rub down. This stuff is amazing! And I don't react to it with Gluten. Thank you Omaha Steak!

 I added my roast with some water and carrots

Cook! I cooked 1 hour on high then turned it to low for about 3-4 hours. Done! Wow and it tasted amazing.

So now I am not so anti-crock pot. I did not get and end pic but the roast was amazing! :)

Maybe more crock pot recipes will follow. :)

xoxoxo,
Lauren

I heart my new sweatshirt- a refashion

Take one plain grey sweatshirt....

Plus a red zipper sweatshirt

wait let me adjust the flash..... here we go!

So what do you get? I (heart) my sweatshirt. So what the heck am I talking about?

First I took in the sides of the sweatshirt and sleeves. I pinned myself in.

Sew and Serge

Next the problem with the red zip up... Holes!

But I just loved the fabric color, etc. So looks like I need to use it for something else. I'm going to add a heart to the sweatshirt! First grab some paper. Fold in half!

Draw a heart! This I actually did in the first try which amazed me. So quick!

cut

Pin to the red sweat shirt. Draw with a disappearing marker. Cut

Now I want to attach but I don't want to glue it. I thought I would use just a simple backstitch to attach. First pick the color. Ding we have a winner

I pinned the heck out of the heart on the sweat shirt. I tried the shirt on and literally pinned it while it was on. And there was no blood. Win! Then sew! Which was at times awkward to sew.

Yay done here is my new sweat shirt. and omg!! I LOVE it!

xoxoxo,

Lauren

ic '13 #8- baseball bib

This iron craft's challenge was playtime. So we were to make something based on a game, toy, etc. I thought about it and I am on  a kick to make now bibs for charity again. So I thought I would make a something I could put on a bib and something relative easy since time just seems to evade me lately. I decided I would give a try with embroidery to make a baseball bib.

First I started with some cut fabric, just plain white and I fused with the fusible fleece to make it thicker and sturdier. You want a good fabric that can take embroidery. Ok now we are ready to draw some circles. I used a bowl and traced the edge of the bowl with a pencil. I needed it to stay in line.

Time to embroider! I found some red embroidery floss from Sonja's grandmother (which I love a piece of her still lives on!). Now I saw this embroidery on Pinterest here and I thought ok let's try it out. FYI the site is all in asian letters. I can't find another site so I do not know if it is the source. I thank them for putting this out there!

The stitch is really easy. Here I am starting

Sadly my camera died and well I kept going. Basically the baseball stitches go in opposite directions on the sides. I was really impressed that the stitches looked good! OMG LOVE!

So now I need to finish the bib. I attached a white piece of fabric I cut in my massive scrap usage. And then I decided to finish with bias tape. I went into my box and I have no idea how I had no read but I had this lovely blue. Actually I like the color combo

Here it is finished with the bias tape (hey curves are hard!)

Now time to add a snap!

Done! OMG I am seriously happy this idea worked out! Look how great this turned out!

Yay and I finished an iron craft project on time! Yay! :) wahoo! Can't wait for our next challenge!

xoxoxo,
Lauren

Bleach pants fail!

yeah I tried to bleach jeans white- easier said than done. I almost had it at the end but got antsy and added too much bleach and got holes. You have to soak jeans for many hours in order to bleach them. This took several days. The pictures say it all...

So much for reusing my jeans ( I have a lot now I don't wear them since I am not a grad student- I am trying to look more presentable) and make yellow pants. Oh well. Better luck next time.... :(

xoxoxo,
Lauren