our christmas decorations have been down for a few weeks, which means our front door has been naked and there’s something about a naked, white door that doesn’t sit well with me. i whipped up this wreath during nolan’s nap this week and love how it turned out. the base is made out of a foam wreath from hobby lobby and the glitter ribbon is also from hobby lobby. i had some felt and yarn laying around that i was able to use- so the total cost of the wreath was around 10 dollars.

i love having something bright and festive on the front door and have started to think about wreaths for st. patty’s day and easter. do you have any suggestions?

today’s tutorial is so easy that i don’t even need pictures. and yes, if you guessed that it involves mod podge, one of my favorite crafting partners- you were right! i’ve been getting nolan’s nursery ready and wanted a way to separate his clothes by size. i wanted a touch of color and couldn’t justify spending 20-30 dollars on pre-made organizers online. the total cost of this project was around 10 dollars.

you’ll need:

• closet dividers (i got mine on ebay)
• mod podge
• scrapbook paper
• either number stickers or printed off sizes, you also could write directly on the paper

 you also could use this tutorial for your own closet and it would be great for craft fairs!

 before we moved i knew i wanted a colorful and unique craft room. i decided to make some patterned letters to display and show my love for color. in order to complete this tutorial you’ll need: mod podge, paper letters (i got mine at joann’s), scrapbook paper, a brush, pencil, and scissors.

1) trace the outline of the letter on the scrapbook paper and cut out

 2) place it on top of your letter and trim any excess

 3) apply a thin layer of mod podge

 4) carefully place your paper on top of the letter

 5) apply a few additional layers of mod podge. i waited 15 minutes in between applying layers.

6) allow letters time to dry (i waited 24 hours before displaying)

 here’s a little sneak peak of my new craft room.. what do you think? the shelving unit was purchased at ikea.

Hi, my name is Stephanie! Big thanks goes out to The Lovely Poppy for letting me share a fun and easy way to make a special pillowcase dress. I appreciate this chance to guest post, and admire The Lovely Poppy’s blog so much!

If you don’t know about my blog, Life Created, I like to share life stories, DIY projects, and ways to organize and craft with family in mind. Making pillowcase dresses is something I have done for about the past 4 years now. I don’t make them often anymore, but if I do, I like to make dresses that have value and love in every stitch!

With that said, there is no better example of “love in every stitch” as something that is hand made. The pillow cases I like to make dresses with have hand-done embroidery along the bottom edge. The unique artistic feel hand embroidery gives, makes the dress even more meaningful. Someone took time to stitch these stories onto the cases, and most of them come in a pair.

Here is a picture of a dress I made for my daughter using a handmade vintage pillowcase. This one is a bit different, because instead of embroidery there is border detail and the case is printed in a floral pattern. I love it.

To get started, I pulled out some pillow cases that I have had hiding in my fabric bin…here are a few that I have…this tutorial will involve the butterfly pillowcase.

DISCLAIMER: Pillowcases will vary, so make your pillowcase dress with the measurements you are going to desire for your dress. I will tell you my measurements, but feel free to change anything to fit your desires for your dress.

How Rachael Ray is with cooking, I am with sewing. I eye-ball a lot of things, and estimate measurements to the nearest 1/2 inch…I like making things out of my head, so you may hear the word “estimate” or “approximately” a lot in this post

Here are the steps I took to make a dress with a pillowcase.

1) I ironed my pillowcase, and laid it out on my big rotary mat. I highly suggest you get one if you like to sew…they are invaluable.  My pillow case was 33 inches long.

2) I determined how long I would want the dress to fit, and determined I want my dress to end up being about 21 inches long (give or take an inch). Therefor, I cut the top 11 inches of the case off using my rotary cutter, making the bottom half about 22 inches long.

3) I put the bottom half of the pillowcase on the mat, and trimmed of any excess strings. The dress portion measured 22 inches, and the top 11 inches was what I needed to work with now.

4) I used the top 11 inches and centered it on my rotary mat. We will be using this top remnant to make binding for the arm holes of the dress. All you need to do is trim the bottom 2 inches off, and discard the rest.

5) You now have a double-layered 2 inch strip. Cut of the ends to make the 2 layers separate.

6) Take the 2 strips, and iron them flat.

One strip at a time, take 1/2 inch from each side, and fold in. By folding in 1/2 inch on each side you will end up with two 1 inch binding strips that look like this:

7) Put your 2 strips aside, and let’s cut the arm holes. Put the dress portion of the case back on your rotary mat. On a piece of card stock I measure 3 inches in the top left corner, and make a mark. I measure 5 inches down, and make a mark. I connect the 2 marks using the edge of a dinner plate.

Cut this shape out to be your arm hole template.

Place the 3 inch side along to cut edge of your dress (make sure it is evenly laid out)

8) Your dress will now have a shape akin to this…hopefully more symmetrical

9) Take your binding strips and using one at a time, sandwich the binding along the armholes, and pin. Once they are pinned, you will be ready to sew closely along the edge of the binding.

10) Once your 2 armholes are sewn, you have to make sure the top edge of your dress is string-free. Iron it, and at the top edge, fold over the top 1/4th of an inch. Iron down well. Fold over another 1/2 inch and iron well.

11) Pin it down and sew! This will form the “pocket” for the ribbon to go through on your dress.

The finished pockets:

12) Pick out the ribbon you want! You will need 2 long strips cut to whatever length you will want…this will add some length to your dress once it is worn. It is better to have long ribbons you can trim to size later. I made mine about 30 inches long.

13) Use a safety pic to feed each ribbon through each pocket you just sewed.

15) Tie your bows

You finished! Thanks again for following along! I hope you will come follow my blog, and also show some love to The Lovely Poppy!

I would love to hear what you thought about this dress/tutorial, and I am sure The Lovely Poppy would love to hear from you too! Anyone who comments today on this post, we be entered to win this vintage hand-embroidered handkerchief from my collection.  Random.org will pick the comment winner at 8pm Central time, and the winner will be announced on my facebook page.

Thanks again, and happy creating!

finding a maxi skirt when you are 6’3” is a hard task to accomplish. i decided to try and revamp a current dress that i had.. boy oh boy- did it not turn out as planned. here’s what i learned..

1) don’t pick a dress to cut up that doesn’t have very much stretch, unless you’re going to use elastic for the new waistband.

2) don’t attempt cutting up a dress that has a lot of stripes, unless you have a lot of patience to line everything up perfectly.

3) keep your dog out of the room when trying to pin on the carpet.

4) don’t freelance a new sewing project, unless you know what you’re doing

5) allow room for it to shrink in the dryer, otherwise it will turn out just as short as the skirts in the stores.

here’s the finished product, looks okay- right?

ehhh.. not so bad, but the waist band doesn’t function. unless i wear ten tank tops or gain a few pounds, it won’t stay on my hips. which would be a problem, especially at work. especially during a presentation when i stand up and there goes my skirt.