Finding Balance...

So, you all know that being home full time for etsy is new to me.  The only problem I've found, so far *crosses fingers*, is finding time to work on projects for etsy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who knew. 

Now that I'm home full time, I seem to find more and more cleaning that I have time to do, more home improvement projects I've been putting off, and more time to rollerblade. <------oh yes.  People still do that.  (okay.  I still do that.)  Also, I may have started watching seasons 1-6 of How I Met Your Mother.  That counts as serious work, right?

So, over the past week, I have: gutted, decluttered and reorganized both my bedroom --2005 wanted her clothes back, my laundry room (HELLO JUNK.  Six trash bags full of junk.), and my kitchen.  All of my craft supplies are organized, I bought a new vacuum......

Do you see how this has been going?  So, last night I decided that I would SIT and sew.  I would not find a reason to get up, unless it was from the cutting desk to the sewing machine.

And?  The result?

I got my sewing mojo back!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are two "skirprons" I upcycled last night:

Mini Tutorial:::::::::
1.  Find a cotton skirt that you don't wear, for whatever reason.
2.  Using a seam ripper, remove the back seam and zipper (if there is one.)
3.  Double fold in the back ripped seams: iron, pin and sew.
4.  Cut a package of bias tape in 1/2, and sew both sets of raw edges under, and down the length of the tape.
5.  Add each "strap" made of bias tape to the back side of the apron!

VOILA!!!!!  The "skirpron".   *enter voiceover*  "Also available on SewEcological.etsy.com"  */voiceover*

Soooooooo... Now that I've got my mojo back, I plan on making a few more aprons, and a TON of unfinished armwarmers I've got laying around.  If I can avoid cleaning out the kitchen cabinets, repainting the kitchen and my bedroom, and totally reorganizing my amazing DVD collection.

May the force be with me.

♥Rose

Okay, let's just start from the beginning.... What Have I been up to...

What I've been working on: Part I...

I have been so busy keeping up with orders this past two weeks, and that is the reason I've not posted!  But I'm going to MAKE time to show you what I've been working on....

I've been making blankets as part of the shop offering for my Sew Ecological shop on Etsy.  So far the feedback has been amazing, and two out of these three labors of love have sold right out the door....

1.  Neutrals- this one sold in under an hour.  Granted, I had a VERY good idea what *someone* on my Etsy team was wishing for, so I'm glad it did...

Feedback:  "This blanket is FANTASTIC! Rose has a great talent for matching up pieces of prior loved garments into a warm and cozy lap blanket! I LOVE this!"

2.  This one is still in the shop, in case you FALL in love with it!  It is in manly shades of gray, black, and cream, and I really adore it...

3.  And LAST, but certainly not least, this one is one of my favorites to date.  It too, sold right away.  It was also featured on Cuteable.  This one has been lovingly packaged and shipped to Canada, so I hope the owner leaves me some *swoon* feedback once she recieves it.  It was hard to let go of this one, because my AMAZING cousin (also a FABULOUS sewer) donated the red fair isle sweaters to make this one a reality.

Thank you for these sweaters, Dawn!!!!

So there you have it.  Day 1 in a long series of "What I've been up to."

It's so easy, a 7 year old can do it!

I was moping around the house yesterday, because my husband was out again during daylight hours working.  I really wanted to list some new items in my shop, but they needed great pictures to show them in their best light.  *pun intended*

Enter Odin, my seven year old.  "Mom, I can take your pictures!"

I decided I would humor him, and let him give it a shot.

THIS is what he did!

Super Warm Trendy Cowl

Funky Buttons and Cashmere

Fully Lined Reversible Beret

Tweedy Floppy Beret

Funky Buttons Cowl

So there you have it.  He was so excited when I showed him that his "work" was uploaded on the internet.  That his photos were soo good, that I needed all of them in my showcase.

He was tickled pink.

Embellished Fingerless Gloves- Tutorial!!!!!!

I make a lot of fingerless gloves for my Etsy store, and I've gotten some excellent feedback about them.  I use them at the computer, or while texting or driving. *not at the same time, of course.. ;P*  They do come in handy!  One of the pairs that I hear alot about are embellished with ribbon, like these:

I pleated the ribbon on these..

We'll be making some like this...

So, I've put together a tutorial, from start to finish!  Go find an old sweater that mysteriously shrank.  (Because our waistlines don't grow, our clothing just gets smaller every time we wash it.)  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

So, what you'll need:

1.  One old sweater, with long sleeves.  I like Merino or Cashmere for mine, as these are the softest.  For more warmth for outdoor wear, go with lambswool.  Or just choose whatever you've got.  We'll not be felting these (though you could), and hemming them to avoid any pesky unraveling.

2.  About 17" of ribbon.  Any old ribbon will do.  I like the fancy-pancy ribbon.  But grosgrain or any lacy trim would be cute too!

3.  Your sewing stuff.  Scissors/rotary cutter, sewing machine, thread.

4.  Two buttons.  These are optional, but recommended, as the hem at the forearm tends to be a bit too baggy to stay up in an unfelted set of fingerless gloves. 

Step 1: Cut off the sleeves at the underarm.  Pull the sleeve out so it is straight, and you don't get a triangle shape at the top.  Put the rest of the sweater aside for future upcycling into things like dread bands, cowls, or scarves...

Step 2:  Roll the top of the arm portion down twice to hide the raw edges.  Pin.

 Step 3:  Using the arm of your sewing machine, sew around the top of the arm- I used a zigzag stitch this time.

Step 4:  Cut two strips of ribbon of 8.5".  Add fray check to the edges of the ribbon.

Step 5:  Pin the strips of ribbon to each glove, beginning at the wrist and folding the edges under, making sure to keep it straight.

Step 6: I hand sew my ribbon down.  I still can't seem to figure out how to shove that sleeve into the feed dogs of the sewing machine, and keep it perfectly straight.

Step 7: I usually add buttons at the forearm by making a pleat pointing to the outside of the arm, securing it with the button.

Step 8: Put on, and type away.  Hands stay warm and fashionable!

Please send me a link if you make some of these!  I'd love to see how everyone else uses their creative half of their brain!

rose.

ETA: Please, make these for gifts, not for sale.  That's just plain rude. :P

Working with Cashmere...and a purse fail.

Good news and bad news.  Let's get the bad news over first.  My orange purse that I dreamed would be perfection, luscious, amazing, superfantabulous, extraordinary? 

None of those adjectives seem to fit the bill.  I'd go with....blech.  The beaded embellishment of my vision looked ridiculous on it.  The construction was mediocre to say the best of it.  I blame the super thick wool, the lack of handbag construction experience, my cruddy old cheap sewing machine.  Whatever.  Here is the vision....  A long rectangular bag with a half moon flap, lined with vintage linen, and embellished with the most beautiful beaded dangly thing I thrifted..  this thing:

The dangly thing-y doesn't really go with the shotty craftmanship of the bag.  I don't know if there is any saving of this orange monstrosity...  give me a fricken' idea already.  I'm fresh out. 

Pointy edges, too short of a flap.  Blah.

Extra thick felted sweater + older cheap machine = crappy construction detail.  Blah.

But on an up note...

The cashmere creativity train has pulled into the station.  With two of the lovliest color of cashmere I have found to date, I made four things:

Cashmere Cowl with coordinating thrifted cotten lining

Cashmere Fingerless gloves in progress...

Cashmere Scarf of gorgeousness...

You want to touch it, don't you...

And this, the crowning achievement of an old Daniel Bishop Cashmere Sweater.  Possibly the thickest I've ever seen...  Cabled and ribbed?  This scarf is 6X thicker than any cashmere object I've ever touched.  And like a cloud.  Soft as butter...  I don't know if I can sell it, other than it is not really my color...

OMG!! 72" of luxury right there.

And one more pair of cashmere fingerless gloves, in a classic combo of linen color and tiny cables....

So, as artists, whether we are knitters, sewers, upcyclers, whatever... We take the good with the bad, right?  And sometimes the bad is very, very bad.  But the good can be very, very soft. 

Off to work!  I have a pile of cashmere and wool that needs work.

And- everyone give a shout out to Rex; he found me some lovely pieces that could become my very first design involving wool suiting... Any ideas?

Hobbling around trying to take a good picture..

So, I posted some new items in my store...  Mostly stuff I've been working on for the last couple of hectic weeks.  I've only made accessories lately, but I've got plans to make an orange blanket, and possibly a green one too this week that I have off.

Here is the latest photo shoot.  You should have seen me hobbling around on my stitched up foot through the snow trying to get a good pose for the pics.  Can you see the pain on my face?  Laugh all you want.  My husband was.  No sympathy over here at the biology household.

There were a couple of major categories- Scarves/Caplet-y things.

Upcycled Capelet with lace and wool ruffle.

The Hug Scarf- Red Upcycled Wool

Hot Pink Jersey Lined Scarflette with vintage buttons.

And Fingerless Gloves:

Italian Merino Cabled Fingerless gloves

Mongolian Cashmere Fingerless

Dusty Rose Italian Merino Fingerless with Ribbon Embellishment

There is more over here in my shop, I plan on putting together a tutorial for the ribbon embellished fingerless gloves later this week.  I also have some plans on making a ruffled mitten, which is possibly a bit more practical than a fingerless glove in some climates...

Enjoy your Monday!

Sick Kids, Scarves, and a Sale!

So the kiddos are both down for the count with a cold, filled with cough medicine and chicken noodle soup.  What to do?  I mean, I had to take the day off in order to take care of them... 

First up:  I have three of these scarves ordered from people at work.  As soon as I told them my idea for my Etsy shop, they wouldn't even wait for them to be put up.  Just bring them in, they say...

Here is number one of three- I played with the construction, and came up with this "deconstructed" look, leaving my raw edges of felted wool recycled from my red collection of sweaters.  That is the lovely thing about felted wool.  No fraying.

So I'm in love with The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I had to make something Katniss inspired.  Had to.  I found the applique pattern online here.  Meghan is screen printing everything she owned with it.  So jealous I don't have screen printing capacity here at home. 

Introducing... drumroll please....  The Girl on Fire Scarf!!!!!!!!!!

80" of Girl on Fire with mockingjay applique.

Closeup of the construction/applique work.

The next thing I had to do was package up a sale from my shop.  This is seriously one of my favorite things to do.  I just imagine them opening and getting a little bump of joy in their throats.  I always try to include a little something extra.  This time I put together a felted flower pin from Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers book.  It's not like I didn't have a living room full of red felt, for crying out loud.

So, now onto scarves # 2 and 3.  I'll be busy until dinner. 

What are you up to today?  Is anyone out there?  Leave me a comment... I'd love to know who is reading..

Currently working on....

I know, I know.. I said I'd be making candy tonight.  But I find I don't have everything I need, and I'm too lazy to go to the store.

I am piecing a wool blanket together out of pieces of upcycled sweaters.

This is one of those processes that leaves me staring at the floor for lengthy amounts of time, wondering if I have the layout just right.  Right now, I've got two columns done, and I'm finicky over the last one...

Column on right is giving me pain.

But, once I get the flannel backing on this baby, everything might seem okay... What do you think?  Manly enough?

Sneak Peek

Here are a few things I've made for the Grand Opening of my Etsy shop-  I'm trying to take photos inside, which is no good, and without a photographer with me modeling; also not good.  I won't put these in the shop until I get some decent photos...

Upcycled and Embellished Cashmere headbands...

Upcycled and embellished Italian Merino Wristwarmers...

Upcycled wool clutch with cotton lining and button wrap closure...

Cashmere Patchwork Reversible Cowl...

Knitted Infinity Wool Necklace/Mini Cowl

Like I said, the pics suck.  I need to get outside, flat iron my hair, put on some makeup, and look like this:

Oh, who am I kidding.  Ugh.  Any one want to come over and help me with photography?  I suck at it.