A new adventure in quilting

My latest adventure is quilting. I am working on a basic patchwork quilt. Most of what I have so far has been assembled using scraps from t-shirts and some old material that I had... But I have quickly depleted my stash and have bought some fabric in the last couple of days. I have really enjoyed working on this. Tomorrow is my kiddo's bday (he's 3!) and I will be making something for him. I will post a pic as soon as it is done.

T-shirt mod: from square to curvy

I found a cool t-shirt mod on the Internet a while ago that I had been putting off until I got my new machine. Well Betty is finally here and she is prepared to do anything I can throw at her. So tonight I finally attempted this really neat idea to turn a regular t-shirt into a feminine/chic shirt that is flattering to a woman's curves.

This t-shirt was big and loose, it even looked kind of funny to me. Now it looks curvy and cute! I really like how it turned out. I found while sewing that you have to stretch the sleeves a little bit while sewing it since your refurbed sleeves are going to come out smaller than the armholes. It's really not a huge problem though. This pattern is actually for a surger, so if you have one of those this could be a quick pattern to put it to some use... But if not, then you could always set your machine to zig-zag.. Which is what I did.. Unfortunately no sooner had I finished my shirt and the site was gone.. Just like that. I don't know what happened, but it can still be found on YouTube here.

Jean skirt and shirred top

I have been working on more odds and ends and some not so odd as well. I made an Anchor square for my afghan (and in case you're wondering how many I need, the count will be 108), I also made a jean skirt and shirred top outfit with 1 yard of fabric, and a toy storage hammock. I was so excited to accomplish the jean skirt. And I fixed my purple skirt that was a little too big, it's perfect now!

What time is it?

What time is it? Well its not tool time! (hehe) Crochet time of course (or quickly becoming craft time in my house)! And how will you know? Because this clock speaks crochet time ALL over it! Any craft studio needs this whimsical addition! His idea happens to be one of the most unique ideas I have come across on the Internet! The whole set up was actually really easy, and fairly cheap too. The pattern calls for a pre-made crafting clock face, I didn't find anything like that. So I simply bought the clock mechanism and cut out a clock face from cardboard, of course mine being made of cardboard has its ansymetrical qualities. Then really all you do is make a circle big enough to fit over the face. (I really didn't look at the pattern, so if you do and this sounds odd that is why). After I made the face I hot glued it to the cardboard face and cut a hole in the center, in the middle of my crocheted ring and inserted the mechanism. Then I made appliqués for the numbers, and since I really can't stand clocks without numbers I used the ones that came with the mechanism and glued them on top of my appliqués. To make placement easier I moved the hands on the clock to the corresponding hour so I would get the appliqués placed in the correct positions. The rainbow was crocheted into the clock face. Everything else I glued on top since I had already glued the face to the cardboard when I made the appliqués. So the pattern and tutorial can be found on According to Matt...

Sewing and crocheting

I have been a very busy bee lately, sadly much less so in the crafty realm. I finally mastered the yoga waistband skirt. I am also still working on my graduation storyboard afghan. Both of my afghan squares can be found on the Crochet N' more website. And the skirt can be found here

T-shirt skirt

Tonight I tried another variation of this idea. The last one I made came apart, sadly. I am not (yet) a seamstress. I had a successful attempt at a variation which I used elastic for the waistband but it was too short for me. In this variation I cut the sleeves off first and then sewed the top of each hole together. I used the sleeves to make the pockets, I also hemed the waistband and then sewed 1/2" elastic to fit over the hem. And the bottom hem from the shirt was the hem for the skirt. it's not exactly the prettiest skirt, or even pretty seams, but it worked and I'm proud of myself for making something.

Sew easy t-shirt skirt

So my new friend Jessica has gotten me a little bit off hooking granny squares :) and has recently inspired my to rediscover sewing (machine style)! So today I took a stab in he dark with some (Really) basic techniques she taught me and also some stitches on my sewing machine and I found this cute pattern for t-shirt skits from the Internet. I also found another cute skirt on a different blog with a yoga band, so I combined ideas since I don't have any elastic thread (but I will! I'm getting there!). And this is what I came up with, a t-shirt shirt with a yoga band from a dress I had recently cut off since it was too short for me, I hemmed it into a blouse. Now I have a completely new outfit. Oh and all those old tan army t-shirts have been repurposed into my civilian life! So apart of me that won't go away is here to stay! T-shirt skirt pattern yoga waist skirt