Little Dresses For Africa

While I was in Haiti one of my favorite parts was the little girl's orphanage. I loved painting their nails, playing with bubbles, running around and most of all being able to give them a little something to let them know that they are loved. One special thing that we were able to leave with them was handmade dresses from a group of women at our church! It was really neat to see the way that they were showing these little girls God's love even though they were thousands of miles away! These women never even touched Haitian soil and yet they made a difference!

Now it's my turn! My big hearted friend Brittany is leaving for Africa in a little over a month. She'll be serving the Lord their for several months, and I must admit that I am jealous! I would much rather be serving the Lord and his beloved people in one of his beautiful countries than in a stuffy classroom. So I am going to serve in the same way that the women of my church served along side of us in Haiti!


I found this adorable website called "Little Dresses for Africa." It has the directions on how to make the cute and simple pillow case dresses (and then if you follow their directions you ship them to a woman who will get them to little girls in Africa who need them). But I'm sending mine a different way! Miss Brittany will take the cute little dresses and give them to the little girls she meets while she's over there.

While I believe that everyone is called to serve, service looks different at different times. Making dresses is just as important as taking them across the world. No matter what you are doing, it's big and it will make an impact on someone's life. If it's a bottle of nail polish or painting a little girls nails for the first time,  or making a little dress or giving a little girl a brand new dress that she can be proud of, all of this to show that she is a beautiful daughter of God and that she is fiercely loved!

*Joy of the day: Praying over each of these dresses and for the little girls that will wear them!

Lamp Make Over

I am getting ready to move down to my new house at school and of course I need to have things to decorate my room with. So I found an old lamp in the basement and decided to recover it and give it a new look! Here's how I attempted this:

1) I took the boring lamp shade and measure it, to cut the fabric the proper size (also iron your fabric first, wrinkles really show through the light)

2) I began at the bottom folding the fabric under so no rough edges were sticking out

3) I left about two inches of over lap at the end so once I was finished I could create a seam up the side

4) On the top I did the same fold over technique but there were gathers at times because the top is smaller than the bottom

5) Then I cut several one inch wide strips, and gathered them to add as ruffles around the top and bottom of the shade

6) I also wrapped a little ruffle around the chain

As simple as that! A little fabric goes a long way

*Joy of the day: Watching the Olympics! 

A Week of Crafts

As promised here are all of the projects that I did over my spring break along with the links of where I found the tutorials!

Sunday: I covered a mason jar with scrapbook paper! I took glue and added water to it to create a thinner paste that would allow for the paper to bend to the jar (about a 1:3 ratio of water to glue, just add enough water to glue before it turns runny). Like a modge podge! Afterwards I painted the entire jar with the paste to make sure none of it would fall off.

Monday: I've had my Bible since middle school and it's starting to fall apart so I recovered it! I used hot glue to glue down the base brown fabric, then made another hair pin flower to cover up the closure that was already there. Anyone who knows me knows that I usually have something in my hair; a bow, a flower, a clip or something! So I made some hair pins inspired by some that a friend had made. To make the flowers I tied a knot at the end of the fabric, then twisted the fabric and glued it in a circular motion around the knot. To make them thicker I twisted it less and built it up more instead of out! The bows were squares with a strip of fabric glued together in the middle to pinch it.

Tuesday: I woke up in a baking mood. Since I live in a dorm I can't really cook or bake while I'm at school because it's not convenient or sanitary! I had found a recipe for double chocolate raspberry cupcakes and they looked too good to pass up! However I should have fully read the directions first to realize that they weren't going to be simple to make, but they were oh-so worth it! I also found the cutest blog and made a lace infinity scarf from her tutorial!

Wednesday: On pinterest I had found these wristlets which were simply adorable, so I made two of course! My mom tells me I'm ridiculous and I am completely aware, but I'm okay with that. That day my roommate texted me and asked if I knew how to make these shirts she had seen, or if I could figure it out. So at about 8pm we started our project, and it was super simple! Now we have matching roomie shirts!

Thursday: Skirt day! I finished a skirt from when my friend Brittany came home with me. We were able to finish hers while we were home but got rather confused so we only had enough time for one! While the tutorial took some editing and adjusting to get it to fit, I think it turned out well. I also made another skirt, and this one is completely opposite from the yellow folded mini skirt! It's a lace ruffle skirt to help make those certain dresses a tad bit longer, and my favorite part, a little bit spinnier!

Friday: I decided to be creative today and make my own skirt. Inspired by the folded mini skirt I wanted to do something similar but easier, so I designed my own and it was a blast! This is all you get to see for now and I will have tutorial for you soon!

Saturday: A friend of mine asked me to make a dress for her, for her rehearsal dinner for her wedding in June! So I put that together Saturday, minus a couple of details so that it can be fitted to her later. While this is not her, and her fabric is slightly different here is what the pattern looks like!


And these were my spring break crafts! A week of crafts and a week of bliss. I've missed creating things, and I think I certainly got my fill to last me a while.

*Joy of the day: church and brunch with a lovely friend with a dear heart!

Yo-Yo Head Bands

Here's a tutorial for hairbands using yo-yos!

Materials:

• Fabric
• Circular object (size will influence size of yo-yo)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun
• Needle and Thread
• Button
• Elastic

1) Cut the fabric that you want to be the headband into strips of fabric, about 18 inches long. Turn wrong sides together, sew, and turn right side out!

2) Cut elastic (based on your head size) and insert it into the two ends of the band creating the headband. (Make sure your headband or the elastic isn't twisted when you sew the final side together!)

 

3) To make the yo-yos use a circular object to trace circles out of a contrasting fabric to the headband. The yo-yo will be about 2/3 the size of the original circle. I used the base of a water bottle and a cup for various circle sizes.

4) Sew around the top of the circle, creating a seam. (So fold a little bit of the fabric inside so it will create a clean edge along the top).

5) Once you have sewn all the way around the top begin to pull it tight, creating a gathered effect.




6) Pull the thread tight or until the circle is the size you want it to be, then tie off the thread.

7) Complete steps 4-6 for each headband until you have the desired amount of yo-yos. For flowers I'd recommend 5 yo-yos, for non-flowers then I suggest three with a variety of sizes.



8) Attach the yo-yos to the headband, either through sewing or hot glue in the desired arrangement. Add buttons or embellishments for an extra touch too!

Here are some variations on the yo-yo headband! You can also use lace as the base of the headband for a more sophisticated look, and try different fabrics to get a more textured look. 

And tahh dahh!!! You are all done and ready to wear!

*Joy of the day: An adventurous morning running a 5k "with" some sweet friends!

Fabric Flower Hair Clip Tutorial

Here is a little tutorial on how to make little flower hair clips:

Materials:

• Fabric (great way to use up scraps)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Circular object (size depends on how big you want the flower)
• Hot glue gun
• Felt (neutral color)
• Clip (aligator clip or a normal hair clip)
• Coordinating button

1) Use a circular object to trace and cut out circles to make the "petals." I used the base of my water bottle and needed about 9 circles to complete the flower.

2) Cut a circle out of the felt about the same size of the petals, but make sure it will cover the clip.

3) Take one circle and put a small dab of hot glue in the middle. Fold the petal in half like a burrito, squishing the glue so it will stay. (*warning the hot glue is HOT and can go through the fabric depending on what type of fabric you use! And yes this comes from experience...)

4) Put another small dab in the middle of the petal, and fold the petal in half once again. So know you have a petal that has been folded into fourths. Repeat steps 3 & 4 for all of the petals!

5) Put a small dot of glue on the back of the first petal and place the tip in the center of the felt circle. Continue to do this for the rest of the petals, overlapping them slightly to create a "flowered" look.

 

6) After all of the petals are on flip the flower over to the back to attach the clip. Cut a small piece of felt, the same size as the bottom part of the clip. Open the clip so when you put glue on it you won't glue it shut! Place hot glue on the top of the clip (the part that normally goes up when you would put a clip in your hair) then place the clip on the felt. Glue the small piece of felt between the top and bottom of the clip to prevent it from getting glued together and it will prevent it from getting stuck in your hair!

7) Add the button or whatever embellishment that you wish to the front center, and your flower is complete!

Tadahhh!!!! All ready to wear!

You can also use less formal fabrics, for a casual feel!

Let me know if you have any questions or difficulties!

*Joy of the day: Watching 27 Dresses and eating ice cream with my suitemates!

Easy Dress Tutorial!

My First Tutorial! How exciting, hope I don’t confuse anyone!!!

Simple Dress

Material:

-shirt

-fabric

-thread

-scissors

-ruler

-chalk

-calculator

-pins

-iron and board

Amount of fabric for the skirt:

1) Measure your natural waist (we’ll call this measurement X)

2) Measure from your natural waist till 2 inches below where you want the skirt to hit -for me this was a   few inches below my knees (we’ll call this Y)

3) Take Y and multiply it by 2 (for each side of the skirt) this is how many inches of fabric you need. If you want it in yards divide Y by 36”.

-I needed 2 1/3 yd of fabric

Now you’re finally ready to start!!!

Steps:

1) Pre wash the shirt and fabric, if you plan on drying the dress pre dry them too! This will prevent any shrinking after all your hard work.

2) Lay the fabric flat on the floor with the wrong side facing up

 3)Measure the X of the skirt, if you want it twirly go ahead and use the whole length (you’ll still have to measure it for calculations later)

4) Measure the Y of the skirt, marking it with chalk

      5) Do steps 3 & 4 twice for the front and back, then cut these pieces out for the skirt

       6) Calculations (not fun but necessary): 

         X + 1½” (seam allowance) + ½” (ease) = Z

       Length of fabric – Z = a number. Whatever this number is find an odd number like 5 to divide it by. This is the amount you will measure for each pleat, V. (This isn’t a perfect science so be prepared to alter here and there to get the right numbers)

      7) Mark the middle of your fabric (the X way), measure V and place a pin to the right. Fold the second pin underneath, pin the fabric, creating a pleat. 

      

     8) Do the same thing, this time measuring V to the left of the center pin. This will create one big center pleat,

     9) Measure V from the furthest pin, creating another pleat. Do this until you have the desired number of pleats.

      10) Measure the pleated skirt to make sure it measures Z, if not make alterations in the last pleats       

                         

      11) Repeat 7-10 for the back part of the skirt

      12) Baste across the top of the skirt, close to top to hold the pleats in place

    13) Place the right sides of the skirt together and pin the sides together, sew together with a ¾” seam allowance

     14) Turn right side out and play around with where 

    you want it on the shirt, when you find where put a pin to mark the spot

     15)  Measure around the shirt at the pin, also measure 3 inches lower to allow for space to attach the skirt, then cut off the bottom of 

      the shirt AT THE LOWER LINE

       16) Pin the skirt and shirt right sides together at the higher line, and sew the skirt to the shirt                                

      17)  Put the dress on, have someone help you pin the hem. Measure from the ground and pin where you want the skirt to fall

       18) Measure one inch below the hem, cut off the excess fabric, fold the fabric twice over and pin it at the hem level, sew it to complete the hem

    

    19) Top stitch the skirt, pull the shirt and the top of the  skirt underneath and sew as close as possible to the top  of the skirt. This'll help make the skirt a little bit flatter.

TA DA!!!! You are all done! Wasn’t that easy?! (at least I hope it was) Enjoy your lovely dress!

 

This is another one that I made that turned out really well! And it is super easy to wear, the only thing I tend to add to these is a belt or something in the middle to help it fit a bit better and help break up the dress to give it more of an "outfit" feel!

Clearly I had too much time over winter break!