Clothes and Crafts

I am bad at blogging- my last entry is from May. Whoops! I'm one of those bloggers who don't even attempt to follow a schedule. In my defense, and in many of theirs, this is because of being a university student. Not that that's stopped me from crafting and sewing in general. I have done a lot of crafts, the main problem is that the blogging process adds a considerable amount of time to the process.

So this post is a photo storm of projects I have done this fall (I really need to start taking 'before' photos to go with the 'after' pics)

First up, my obsession with Mystery Science Theater- the DVD sets come with mini-posters. I plan on making more of these as I continue collecting the show:

My Star Trek costume for Halloween- made from an oversized Goodwill men's sweater, some fake velour, and a gold fabric marker for $9!

I bought the pin for $9, then used nail polish and a chain that I already owned to make a groovy necklace.

This one was directly inspired by Marisa from NDAD copycatting Anthropologie- I got both shirts at different places for $7 total, and after hanging in my closet for a year I had to jazz them up!

This isn't necessarily a refashion- I was trying new outfit combinations and discovered that my $7 Faded Glory shirt and $14 dress made me look like Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, one of my favorite movies!

This one was just yesterday- A scary 90's-tastic floor-length number became a minidress to wear with leggings, for $2.50 at Goodwill! This has already become one of my favorites.

Also since the spring and my last entry, I've maintained my diet and have lost 70 lbs! Since about half of my clothes don't fit right, and I've wanted a new wardrobe anyway, this is a great opportunity to score unique new outfits for super cheap!

Last year my 'learn one new skill every year' goal was to learn how to sew. I quickly discovered that not only am I crap at following sewing instructions, but I like to cut corners (haha, bad pun alert!)- not a good habit for sewing. My second discovery was that my Goodwill store sold its dresses for $5 each, and I could pull a New Dress A Day on an ugly dress in far less time and with far more flattering results.

So why Goodwill, and not thrift stores? Because there are a lot of little hipster thrift stores and resell shops around my area that jack the prices up real high because of the university's college hipster crowd. Goodwill, though less trendy, is much cheaper and frankly, fits my incredibly small budget much better.

Today's conquest is one of today's finds. I've made the full circle in my opinion of floral prints (I hated being forced to wear them, as a 90s child, but now I've reconciled a little), and this dress had exactly the kind I like.

So many floral print dresses in my childhood...

So this is the dress I found at Goodwill. It is not very appealing as it is- notice the lovely skintight sleeves- but I love the collar and the accordion pleat skirt!

Also please notice the 30 lbs of weight loss. :)

 I want a cute dress I can wear all summer- the forecasts at this point say to expect about 10 degrees higher than normal, which will put us over 100 F for several months. The last time I tried to make a halter dress it did not go well, so I did a little research first on what would work best for this dress and made my game plan.

Sophisticated advanced research methods. To Google!

I cut up the sleeves, sewed some edges down, and BAM- halter dress!

I would have modeled this in a less myspace-profile-pic way, but my mom borrowed what turned out to be my only SD card for her vacation. Yeah camera phone!

Hoop Collage

Once again I've sweded an idea from Pinterest for my own! Above is the original photo I repinned. I originally found several examples of this on Google but I couldn't find them again. Below is my knockoff version:

In buying all the hoops, I spent maybe $15. They're incredibly cheap, as it turns out. The fabric was all from a single pre-matched squares pack at Joann's, which are $10 full price (I had a coupon). No glue, no sewing, just cutting the fabric, putting it in the hoop, tightening the hoop and then trimming off the excess! I spent more time trying to balance the patterns on the wall than making them- a fun and easy craft for sure.

Rose Barrettes

Hey guys! Long time no see!

My semester is finally done, and other than changing jobs, moving, and an awesome out-of-state vacation, my summer is free for whatever I want. I started today with an awesome craft I found on Matilda Jane via StumbleUpon. I had no idea this blog existed, but I'm in love with it and get these strong "I MUST DO THIS" inpulses whenever I see their tutorials. These roses are one of them. Click the link to see the original tutorial, and scroll down on this page to see my photos.

I wanted to make a wild fun one too!

Edit, later:
These are so addicting. I made more. I'm out of ribbon now. Try this. They only take about 10 minutes each.

Closet Cleaning

I am one month away from being halfway through grad school. It's a really good feeling! However it hasn't left much room for much else, between commuting, work, and all my endless research papers. This problem is being resolved this summer- I'm moving to new digs much closer to campus in a few months.

This means going through all my stuff before I move, since I will no longer be allowed to use my parents' house as a storage unit. One major problem area that I have deliberately ignored through five years of college is this:

The fleshy thing you see on the right of the photo is my arm. I had to hang onto the doorway with one arm to get far enough back into the closet to get that shot. My closet is the toxic dumping ground for everyones' stuff, especially my things no one wanted to deal with, plus it is long and narrow.

Instead of working on my final papers for the semester, I cleaned all that and organized all my clothes. First was going through everything- even leaving out the things that were in okay enough condition for Goodwill, I still threw away six trashbags' worth of pure garbage.

One quick trip to Walmart later and I netted this cute shelf liner (lucked out- this was the only non-boring/ugly/bland one they had).

I put my clothes back in, added in my hanging fruit basket full of gloves and winter wear,shoe rack, and BAM! A very nice looking closet for the few more months I have it.

And then with what was left of my closet possessions fitting onto one shelf, I was able to move some things into my closet that I previously couldn't.

The best part is that I still have half the roll of that shelf liner. I may line my dresser drawers with it, it's so cheerful and fresh.

Silly Walking

I've decided to keep a blog for my weight loss efforts- Silly Walking! Mostly I'm planning on talking about the things I discover while I try to lose weight, things I see while exercising and lots of talk about yummy food!

Go check it out!

(This blog will be updated normally, a.k.a. whenever I do something crafty. See previous post.)

Weight loss

No crafts planned at the moment because life is happening- I have some huge term papers, increasing amounts of work, and a small vacation to go on in the next two months!

But most importantly, I'm trying to get healthy. Physically, it's gotten to the point where my weight was starting to cause health problems. I'm already at pretty high risk of thyroid disease and diabetes anyway, and then to add all those extra pounds didn't help at all. So my biggest project this year is to get in shape.

I have a goal: Complete the Walt Disney World 1/2 marathon next January. Just complete it. Nothing more.

My dad did the Goofy Challenge this year and (survived) did great!

I currently can walk about 1.5 miles at a moderate pace before getting tired, which means I've got my work cut out for me. This is why I set this goal now, in March, so that I have most of the year to get my speed and endurance up.

So in a few weeks when my current clothes no longer fit, some sewing projects may pop up as I start replacing things. Until (and during) then, wish me luck!