Keep Calm and Wear a Tutu: Zoe Enabled Alterations

There are so many things to love about my friend, Zoe. She is funny, charmingly irreverent, warm, silly, creative, unapologetically herself, and, it must be said, INCREDIBLY well-dressed at all times. The dress she wore to my birthday party was a paragon of crinolined awesome.

Zoe is my suburban adventure buddy and knows all the best thrift stores. She is a co-lover of all things Lesley Kinzel and went with me to her book signing where we got into a heated discussion about whether or not people who are not actually fat can participate in fat acceptance, and she SCHOOLED me. She is always up for dessert, whether it be ice cream or milkshakes or waffles, and she is a flexitarian after my own heart. She is one of my favorite people in the world, and I am so glad she is my friend.

Now, to heap on top of ALL THAT AWESOME, she bought me pretty much the coolest and most generous birthday gift ever: a brand new sewing machine. I believe I carried the box around the birthday party for a hot 10 minutes with tears in my eyes so that everyone could see its beauty.

Please note, the sewing machine box matches my pink crinoline.

In addition, Zoe gave me a trash bag full (literally) of clothes that she had picked up for me at various thrift stores AND the pink crinoline featured in most of the party pictures, which she had purchased for her Halloween costume last October.

Zoe and our friend Maribel bought me those socks too. They have HAMBURGERS on them.

Not all the thrifted pieces worked so I had to rethrift a few, but my favorite by far was this silver number with the black flower brocade at the bottom. There was only one problem. It was inordinately long on me, and, for all it's cuteness, looked pretty dowdy.

Please ignore my super messy room. Please don't ignore my awesome bedhead.

As my mom and I were reviewing how to use the sewing machine the Monday after my birthday, I was shocked at how much I remembered, since, according to my shoddy memory, the last time I had really sewed anything was in my clothing class my sophomore year of high school. Then I remembered that my old voice teacher at the University of Redlands had enlisted my and a friend's help in sewing many of the costumes for our department's production of Oklahoma!. While sewing with Dr. Tosh I learned how to make button holes, install a zipper, install an elastic waist, and make ruffles.

Then there is how effortless all this crafty stuff seems to me. Heathersies says I am the idiot savant of crocheting, but I think this might be true for all things crafty. I don't feel confident about many of my skills, but for some reason this sewing and crocheting thing has just come so easy and is so fun and so rewarding.

So I decided to shorten this skirt. I didn't want to hem it as I didn't want to lose the brocade pattern, so I took apart the waist line/elastic, cut off 7 inches of fabric, reinstalled the waist line/elastic and voila!

The Perfect Length for my short self!

I feel so proud this turned out, and now feel EVEN MORE excited for making my own clothes from scratch so soon.

Skirt: Thrifted and Gifted by Zoe, and altered by ME!

Sweater: Good Will

Cami: Lane Bryant

Shoes: Torrid 

(circa 2002--these are the first pair of high heels I ever bought)

Fascinator: Gift from my dear roomie, Steph

Fascinator Close-Up

 I can't wait to share more crafty projects with you guys!!

Also, I am going to, for the first time, end this blog with a question. 

What's your crafting dream? Sewing, Crocheting, Knitting or Macrame, what piece do you dream of making for yourself? Let me know in the comments section!

Happy Crafting!

Deb Loves to Crochet: Mom's B-day Scarf

This past April 25 my mom celebrated her 60th birthday. I had been planning to make her a gift with my new crocheting skills since I learned how to crochet earlier in the year, so while at Michael's in February purchased A LOT of Carron Simply Soft yarn (on sale - $3 per skein!). I actually bought the periwinkle specifically to make something for my mom and the sea foam to make leg warmers for myself. But when looking into my crochet box in early April I saw the two colors lying next to each other and thought they looked so lovely, thus the stripes were born. I used some leftover red yarn from Baby Lydia's blanket to stitch a heart onto the corner, just as a reminder to my mom that I made this with lots of love. Happy 60th birthday, Momsies!! I'm so glad you were born and are my mom.

Pattern: Double Crochet, 7 Rows in each color
Hook: 5 M (H)
Yarn: Carron Simply Soft - Worsted Weight
Colors: Berry Blue, Blue Mint
Amount: About one and a half 6 oz skeins of each color

My beautiful mom in her scarf!

As a side note, while crocheting this scarf, I finally figured out how to properly start a piece, as well as realized that doing 3 chains at the end of the row before turning while utilizing double crochet creates a lovely scallop-like edge. 

Deb Loves to Crochet: Blumhofer Baby Blanket

While throwing around present ideas for my friend Becca's baby shower I all of the sudden remembered that I could crochet! Having only left myself two weeks to make a gift, I decided on a baby blanket because, being pretty much just one big square, I assumed it was most likely within my skill and time limitations. I knew I didn't want to do something traditionally pink for her soon-to-be-born baby girl, but decided to find a pattern before making a decision about color.

My friend Jan and I headed to JP Knit and Stitch that very afternoon. I explained my situation to one of the women working there who gave me three options in terms of patterns. But the minute I saw the Purl Bee Giant Granny Square (particularly after being told that the only stitches I needed to know were chaining and double crocheting) I knew it was for me, and I knew I would make a rainbow.

Now, I am a relatively new crocheter, so I had no idea about the labor intensiveness involved in crocheting a good size blanket. I ended up having to return to the store for more yarn a few times (crocheting, as I learned, eats up a lot more yarn than knitting) and had to spend every free moment of that two weeks working my hands until they ached. At 4am the morning before the shower, I decided the last two rows of purple looked like a lovely border and declared it done.

I think it turned out really well, and I hope little baby Lydia is enjoying it now that she is out of the womb and in the world. Her mom and dad are so special to me, and I can't wait to meet her!

Pattern: Purl Bee Giant Granny Square with Tutorial
Hook: 5M (H)
Yarn: Berroco Comfort - Knitting Worsted Weight
Colors: Pimpernel, KidzOrange, Primary Yellow, Turquoise, Cadet, Purple

 4 Rows in

All 7 red rows, plus first orange row

Red and Orange (14 rows) plus first yellow row

Red, Orange and Yellow  (21 rows) plus first green row

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green (28 Rows) plus first blue row

FINISHED!!!

Deb Loves to Crochet: My First Project

I like to think of last Thanksgiving as the day that I fell in love with my friends, Lindsey and Ian. Ian actually went to high school with my dear friend, Leah, so, when he and Lindsey moved to Boston so Ian could do post-doc work at Harvard, Ian and Lindsey were welcomed into the fold of Leah and Ben's robe of friends (I'm not sure this metaphor makes any sense, but I stand by it all the same). I met them in September, but it wasn't until Thanksgiving that I realized their base awesomeness. After that wonderful day, I kept trying to think of reasons to hang out with Lindsey. I even drafted a couple emails that I never sent, asking her to bake whoopie pies or have tea, because I got so nervous that she wouldn't want to hang out with me. But then, at a LeBen rock band party, Lindsey pulled out some crocheting supplies, and I had my in.

Around January, when things were getting really hard in my personal life, my eating disorder was flaring. Elizabeth (a veritable fount of creativity and wherewithal) suggested I take up something like crocheting in order to have something to do when at home that wasn't eating. It was only a couple weeks later where I learned Lindsey was a crocheting expert. It was Kismet, I tell you!

Lindsey is such an incredibly patient teacher and is also so encouraging. I must say I took to the crocheting with much vigor, but it was also a most excellent excuse to hang out with Lindsey and Ian and their two most awesome of cats (Genghis and Buster) and watch Archer, Arrested Development and Dance Moms. So though this first project is made of the cheapest yarn possible, it will always make me think happily of Lindsey and Ian (and the kitty boys) when they move to California in June.

Sigh. I miss them already.

Pattern: A lot of double Crochet
Hook: 5.5 M (I)
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Yarn from Ben Franklin Store in Belmont (2 Skeins)