5 Days to Go - The Flowergirl's Headband

Flowergirl's Headband

Remember the ridiculously tacky outcome of a headband that I attempted a few weeks ago? Well, with 5 days until the wedding, I decided to rethink it and try something else. 

After finishing the initial beaded flower, I worked on a rose. 

You can see the beginning stages of it here. 

I bought some cream colored felt, and cut out the outline of the rose applique that I created. 

Surprisingly, tearing off the first headband applique was a difficult project because the glue holding it on was really strong. There was a circle of cream felt underneath that I left to be the base for the new applique. 

After hot gluing the felt and applique together and letting it dry, I positioned the flower on the side of the headband, and glued it down the headband. 

The finished product this round was much more successful.  

Another dash of the Michael Miller fabric once again. 

7 Days To Go - Cowboys Football Garters

The Cowboys Garters

Last time I attempted to make garters for my sister's wedding, not only did I fail miserably, but I also broke two - three needles in the process. 

I ended up veering off from where I started with this project, but I will show it nonetheless. 

Initially, I bought some elastic lace, ribbon, and Cowboys fabric. 

Though it started off well enough, right after this point of measuring, I realized the elastic would not leave me any give to work with, making the placement of the fabric impossible. 

Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the throwing garter before it was put together. What I bought was some ribbon without elastic, but with a middle base surrounded by two pieces of gathered sheer. 

I cut off the excess material, and sewed up both sides. 

Below you see the sheer poking out of the navy blue ribbon.  

I used a safety pin to guide the elastic through the casing, and sewed up the sides. 

I tied a little bow to match the Cowboys' colors. 

For the second garter,  I used elastic to measure how long my initial piece needed to be and cut a long strip about two inches wide. 

Then, I took some navy blue ribbon I had, and I sewed a casing for the new elastic piece to go into. 

Mr. Bojangles did not like the flat fabric laying underneath his 'sunlamp'...

I cut off the excess fabric. 

Then, I used a flat piece of white ribbon and mimicked the gathered look by sewing it to the above casing. 

I sewed a smaller piece of white ribbon to the top, and sewed the bow on before adding the elastic. 

Once again, I used a safety pin to guide the elastic through the casing. 

I cut off the excess, sewed up the sides, and straightened it out.  

Walah! Two finished garters, and it only took me about 30 - 45 minutes.

I can't wait for my favorite Cowboys fan to see them! 

15 Days to Go - Shorts for the Honeymoon

Patterned Shorts

While sitting on the couch the other night, I was scrolling through Pinterest, and trying to think of ideas for what to pack for the honeymoon cruise. I came across a pattern for shorts, and though they were for kids, the shorts were adorable! I thought I could easily draft a pattern from a pair I bought from Ann Taylor Loft last summer similar to these:

I ran upstairs to begin this project, and ended up finishing it proudly in one night. 

I found two fabrics that I had one yard of each. Both are lightweight cottons. I initially bought the floral fabric to use for the bridesmaid dresses, but only bought a yard, and then the fabric store could not located any more. It was nice to find a fun project to use it for. 

These are the shorts I bought from Ann Taylor last summer, similar to the above. 

They are more of a light tweed fabric, but the cotton fabric worked as well.

Mr. Bojangles decided he wanted to assist me with this particular project, and I would have let him stay, but he was more interested in 'playing' with my laid out fabric.

I did a rough draft of the shorts, outlining the basis of each side of the shorts. 

I added half an inch to the patterns for seam allowances. 

The total number of pattern pieces was five 

(two front pieces, two back pieces, and one waistband piece).

I cut out the patterns on both fabrics.

I sewed the middle of the shorts together for both pieces seperately, leaving the bottom open.

It got a little tricky here, but just like a puzzle, I figured out how to sew the pieces together to make them adjust correctly. I sewed the bottom of the legs lining and outer fabric together, sewed up the middle, then flipped them, ironed them, sewed the side, and added the waistband.

Honestly, after making two pairs of shorts, I did decide that I will install the zipper first, but more on that later.

This is the right side of the front of the shorts, where the zipper will be. Like I said above, next time I make shorts, I am going to install the zipper first, before sewing up the left side. You can see the right sides of the fabric are together. 

This is the bottom of the shorts. I pinned the lining to the outside (right sides together).

After sewing the bottoms together, I sewed the crotch area, and turned everything inside out.

I ironed the hems down. 

I sewed up the left side here, You can see that the bottom of the legs are already sewn together, along with the crotch area. It got really tricky to adjust the fit after sewing the waistband, because the lining and the outer fabric's hems are internal when I fold them up. This is why I will install the zipper first next time... fooled twice, but not three times. 

Everything except the waistband and the zipper! 

I cut two pieces the same length, and a little longer than my waist measurement.  

Mr. Bojangles decided to peek his head in to say hello. Silly cat!

This part was easy to sew, but a little tricky to attach. 

I sewed the lining to the outer fabric, then sewed the middle of both together.

This is the bottom of the waistband sewn to the top of the shorts.

One day I will get the hang of the invisible zipper foot. I picked my battles when I first bought the foot, and decided against fighting that particular one. Until then, my zipper installation will be less than perfect...

Here is the finished pair! I love that there are so many different colors, so I can create many different outfits!

The second pair I made, I added a pleat to the shorts. I love these as well, although they are a little bit longer than the first pair. I got inspired by this post by J's Everyday Fashion. I decided to start with little pleats first, and go from there. 

More outfits to come! I bought some gray fabric yesterday to create this look, as well as some colorful chiffon to make another shirt like this one! I have one like it already and LOVE IT!