Aug 5, 2010 | DIY
I probably won’t be able to post all of these because the contest is only open until the 10th of August.
But I’ll do my best!
Myself and 9 other DIY bloggers were selected to compete in Style Sample Magazine and New York Design Shop’s Create Couture Challenge.
We were all sent the same box packed to the gills with trims, studs, and flowers, and were asked to make “one or more projects.” I made 12!
The leftovers.
I used almost the entire contents of the box, hoping to create as many different projects as possible that could appeal to a wide range of ages and styles, as well as making the projects as simple as possible (so anyone could replicate them) and using as few outside materials as possible, in order to truly showcase New York Design Shop’s products. But I wanted my finished creations to be durable, wearable, and look polished – and be pieces that could potentially stand up to scrutiny in any retail store.
So here’s the first of my projects:
Petal-Front Top
You Need:
*White Rose Pin (petals only)
*Cream Rose Pin (petals only)
Additional Tools/Materials:
*t-shirt
*scissors
*fabric glue
[prep: wash and dry shirt to remove sizing and chemicals]
How to:
1. Pull apart Rose Pins, and separate into petal pieces.
A pile of petals!
2. Trim petals apart, and round their tops so they are really “petal”-like.
3. Use fabric glue to glue petals onto t-shirt. (You can sew their tops instead for a more RTW look.)
You’re done!
This top also looks sophisticated tucked into a slim skirt for work or under a soft cardigan.:-)
If you enjoyed this project I’d love to have your vote!
(One vote is allowed per unique IP address, anywhere in the world. You don’t have to register or leave your name or anything! But if you do leave a comment in your vote, you are automatically entered to win one of the projects by the Contest Winner. Now that’s a great way to share the love!!:-)
Thanks for looking!
xoxo
Carly
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Jul 21, 2010 | Life
Pudding out and about.
I’m going to be busy the next couple days getting over the jetlag from Japan, unpacking, and DIY’ing my heart out for a cool project I’ll share with you all very soon.
The hydrangea finally is beginning to bloom!
These shots were actually taken in late June, before I went to Japan, but I thought them nice and summery – just at the beginning of what can truly be called “summer” here. Of course, by now there’s a lot more happening in the garden right now, but I thought to share these photos first.
Foxglove.
I was going to get rid of the foxgloves in my garden when I read that touching them with bare hands can cause a rash at the very least (since foxgloves are extremely poisonous due to chemicals from them once being extracted to create Digitalin – a group of medicine used to treat heart disease!! Even a nibble on the topmost leaves can cause death, apparently.) But they’re so pretty I left them in the backmost corners of the garden, hoping Lil Tot and Pudding don’t come in contact with them very much. The other one that is flowering right now has light pink varying to white flowers.
The nasturtium bloomed too! And a nice shot of Pudding’s butt.
In early June all the wild strawberries we have finally produced fruit – tiny, compact little bites. Very sweet!
Hope you guys are having a great summer!
xoxo
Carly
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May 9, 2010 | DIY
Like I wrote in an earlier post, I’ve had flowers on the brain. (Thus all those fabric flower patterns in that post, and in my Threadbanger roundup.) I was going to do these as a DIY tutorial for my Tuesday Threadbanger post, but then realized they weren’t really worthy of a full-fledged tutorial. I got the idea from a lovely pair of furfur flowered ballet flats I spotted online recently. (I do love furfur!) To make them was almost embarrassingly easy, but here’s the how-to if you guys are interested:
You Need: (more…)
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May 5, 2010 | DIY
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, probably the biggest question on everyone’s mind is what to get for the mother in their lives. DIY a lovely gift for a Mom of any age – using fabric and glass, two of the best materials known to the modern gal. Here’s an internet roundup of some great projects to create flowers that last forever, and beautiful jars to display them in or use as knicknacks around the house:
Happy Together makes a beautiful bouquet out of multilayered fabric flowers by tracing the shapes of store-bought flowers to make a pattern.
If you’d like some patterns for making fabric flowers without having to sacrifice store-bought blooms, I’ve shared a few patterns for a camellia, carnation, dahlia, and lush camellia on my site Chic Steals.
If you’re looking for rose-making how-to’s, here’s a tutorial on DuhBe for a satin rose bloom, a Rolled Fabric Rose tutorial downloadable pdf from Portobello Pixie, and a Tattered Fabric Rose Tutorial from Everyday Chaos.
You can also buy small fabric gifts for Mom (decorative pouches, stockings, scarves, underwear * o * …) and roll them up tightly to make your own rolled rose bouquet, adding straws, wrapped wire, or takeout chopsticks for stems. (Taking a leaf from Hanky Panky, seen above.)
Now as to what to put your lovely flowers in…
And if you want to go all-out and present in a beautiful vintage-style faux blue mason jar, Bridal Buzz has the how-to for ya.
To take a break from the “must give flowers for Mother’s Day” mantra…what not think a little out of the jar box? If Mason jars are on your mind, maybe Mom would love this handcrafted terrarium that Craftzine can help you with?
The Home-Made Sun Jar from Instructables user cre8tor is another fabulous use of the jarred variety.
You could also make Freehand Etched Glass Votives, thanks to Instructables user Robyntheslug.
Or, you could make hand-poured candles in jars, courtesy of Centsational Girl.
Bath salts…bath fizzies..bath bombs…lotions…find every single recipe you could ever want for home-made bath & body products at Craftbits.com, and present in a beautiful jar.
Or even a jar of a homemade cookie mix, granola, or hot cocoa might work well for a mother with a sweet tooth. (Guilty!) See RazzleDazzleRecipes for a ton of great cookie-mix-in-a-jar recipes.
And isn’t this ingenious? Cupcake in a Jar recipe, courtesy of MyCakies.Hope that’s planted some seeds for some great DIY ideas for Mom…and if your Mom isn’t the type to swoon over flowers or decorate with jars and knicknacks…well, there’s always a gift card to Amazon.com, right?
Have a Happy Mother’s Day!
xoxox
Carly
top image from stockphotopro.com
as posted on Threadbanger
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May 4, 2010 | DIY
With Spring officially here and Mother’s Day just around the corner, I’ve had flowers on the mind. But not just the ones growing in my garden – handmade ones, using scraps of fabric from a number of past projects. I’ve posted before about one of my favorite flower-making books, “Ima Sugu Tsukuritai Co-saju” [“Corsages I Want to Make Right Now” Bunka Publishing, 2006].
I shared the camellia flower pattern before, so I’ve reposted it below for you guys:
My English translation is above. The book page is 8 1/8″ wide by 7 7/8″ high if you want to print it out, in order to make sure the petal pattern is sized correctly. The pattern requires the use of a round-headed stylus (also called a “cup”) in order to create the rounded, 3D-effect to the petals. Not completely necessary, but it helps create a finished, professional look to your corsage.
From last year’s Men’s Shirt to Cute Summer Shirt Dress tutorial that I wrote, I used some extra leftover fabric to make a carnation corsage.
Here is the how-to and pattern below:
Here are a couple more projects in the book…a dahlia:
And a lush camellia:
Okay…I’m all translated-out!
If you would like to check out more reference books in English for making fabric flowers, two of my favorites are Heirloom Ribbonwork
, which constructs flowers out of ribbons, and Handmade Flowers from Paper and Fabric
, which has more paper flower projects than fabric, but the projects can easily be adapted.
Both are incredibly inspiring and have you making different types of fabric flowers than just roses (which have how-to tutes all over the internet already)…but ribbon daffodils? velvet bouvardia? If you were patient and had a lot of time – they would make a beautiful bouquet for Mother’s Day, that lasts forever. Lovely blooms will break up any DIY monotony.
Have a flower-filled day!
xoxox
Carly
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