A Day Off

A day off has such potential doesn't it?  So little time and so much to do!  I have one today because I have to go to work this weekend :-(.  I'd like to be able to tell you I've been all kinds of productive, but I'm afraid that's not really true...

I had breakfast out as a special little treat to myself, then browsed an antique shop.  I had serious sticker shock there, so I went to Target to accomplish some weekly errands.  Then I did the week's laundry and worked on another of the laundry room curtains.

Love the burlap and the lace.  Like many of my projects, this one gets a little done on it whenever I get the chance... two valences to go.  I'm undecided on whether I should make cafe curtains to go on the bottoms of the windows, or remain au naturale.  

I'm trying to do some blog work, too, as you can see.  I actually learned how to get rid of the little borders around all the pictures on the blog here (Thank you!). That had been puzzling me.  And I created a new signature without the annoying white background.  I'm sprucing up the place for spring.  You see, I'm hoping to post much more frequently... and more pithily!  The slightly crazed ramblings of the frustrated and time crunched sewist!

Making Over Victoria: Laundry Rules

 One of the more minor decorating projects around the new home has been completing our laundry room. This is also temporary home to my sewing area – in the spring we hope to begin renovations to our 140 year old basement to put in a finished room down there which is planned to be my new sewing room.  The planned room will be large enough to accommodate an actual cutting table, as well as multiple sewing machines and ample fabric stash storage!

I believe this pretty much un-insulated laundry area was once an upper-level back porch, with its five bright windows, and near access to the back stairs.  I’m not sure when it was converted to a laundry, but that was the purpose the previous owners assigned to the room as well.  I think the it is coming out pretty cute, so I’d like to share a few pictures from the room… while not haute couture, I am sewing the curtains for this room, using one of the latest Pinterest trends, burlap and lace.  These are the completed valences.  The burlap was purchased from www.burlapfabric.com, and the lace was a yard sale find.  I scored a whole spool of it for pennies.  As you can see, there’s plenty left to complete the curtains, and then some.

This legless dresser was left behind by the previous owners of the home.  It makes a great place to store sewing supplies, and an equally nice window seat.  I’m planning on covering a cushion to make it even cozier.

While I lack a “before” picture, the walls in this room were formerly stark white. We definitely wanted to jazz things up a little, and we wanted to pay homage to the Victorian era without sacrificing modern convenience.  Corrugated galvanized steel roofing is the paneling we chose for the walls, with a periwinkle blue upper wall.  We first saw this used as a wall treatment in a regional fish fry restaurant. Galvanized buckets are used as light shades, and antique washboards, wringers, and clothes drying racks help to tie the theme together. 

We chose to stack our front loading washer and dryer because this saves floor space, and allows free access to the attic via the pulldown ladder in the ceiling of the laundry.  Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think about this room renovation.

Thanks for stopping by!

Something Blue

We're not doing a garter toss or anything... we're a little old for all that.  But every bride needs something blue, so I decided to make a garter.

I had this lace from an earlier garage sale day.

And a spool of blue satin ribbon.

I made a casing out of the ribbons, added the lace, and a few little embellishments... voila!  Something blue.

I'm pleased with how it came out, and it was quite a bit cheaper than the store bought ones.  I would guesstimate about $3.00.  More accessories to come... what did you wear for something blue on your wedding day?

Plodding Along on the Ultimate Restyle

I'm considering this wedding dress to be an ultimate restyle.  I'm retaining the basic skirt from the original gown and I'm using similar features, like lace netting.  I applied the netting to the bodice today.  Here are a few pictures so you can get a sense of it.

Tomorrow I plan to cut the netting for the overskirt.  I'll intersperse some other projects here so you don't get bored with this dress.  It's going to be a painstaking project because I want it to be perfect, of course.

On another note, another one of my projects was featured on the Green Crafts Showcase at Crafting a Green World!  I am very happy to say that my latest mom jumper restyle was one of the five projects featured for June!  Thanks for all your comments and encouragement.

Making the Cut

I've been delaying actually cutting satin for my wedding dress.  The thought of cutting into the satin has been daunting because I know I can't get more if I screw up.  This is because the satin comes from the skirt of my mother's wedding dress.

Today I screwed up my courage and cut the bodice and the bodice lining.  Next, I'll cut the lace for the bodice.  Then I have to make a lace overskirt for the skirt of the dress, which I am partially re-using as it is.  This is kind of confusing to explain, so I'll try to post some pictures soon.

The lace is very similar to the original lace netting from the original gown, but there was not enough of it preserved to use.

Last weekend we visited the place where our ceremony is going to be.  Here's a glimpse of the stone altar.

Bits and Pieces

I'm so happy, I actually won another giveaway!  I got a super package in the mail yesterday from Molly over at Molly Sews.  There are four patterns in the package.

These are going to be fun to play with. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm cleaning my sewing room.  While in that process I unpacked a bag of things I acquired at a yard sale about a week ago, and a lot of it is perfect for these patterns.  Some of this stuff is OLD, as evidenced by the bag some of it was packed in.

Do any of you remember Zayre's?  Wow!  Blast from the past.  I was very excited about my haul from this yard sale.  I got everything in the following pictures, AND MORE for only $6.50!  Gotta love the yard sale!

I'm seeing some very 60s-70s sewing ahead.  Also, the homeowner was clearly into lace.  This is a wonderful thing because I have several projects on the horizon for lace, including my wedding dress. I also want to do another Lady Mary Armistice Blouse, this time in cream and laces. 

I also snagged some cream satin ribbon,

and some pink satin that might make a cute flower girl dress.

Well, back to work I suppose!  Gotta get things prepped for my next few projects!  While cleaning, I'm also pre-washing that lavender linen for my sixties suit dress re-do.  What's on your slate this week?