Friday Five: Hello August!

Happy August friends!

August kind of feels like a big month for me this year. I can’t seem to keep everything organized into neat posts today so you get bullets:

• Love and Marriage. My Matron of Honor duties are beginning to wrap up (still weird being a “matron”). I’m finalizing little things and preparing for a last hurrah for my friend as a “miss.” Of course my friend is getting married this month! I’ve been looking forward to this wedding for probably about 2 years. I’m also ashamed to admit that I’m looking forward to the last wedding on the books for  this year to wrap up so that I have a bit of a break before the 2014 weddings start coming (The calendar already has 3 on it!)
• Home. Next week is one year since actually moving into our house. It feels like yesterday, but it also feels like forever ago.
• Blue. So far I like my G4 Dexcom.. I’m liking the blue but keeping an eye on Pump Peelz for a decal patter/color combo that I like. I feel like there used to be one I liked but now that I actually have the Dexcom nothing speaks to me so far.

• Low. Speaking of my Dexcom and that lovely 55 (don’t worry I’m eating as I type!) My newest low symptom is blurred vision… which is also a high symptom. Also… not being able to keep my fingers on the right keys.
• Sewing. My new dress form… yet to be named. Might be christened with a refashion for a work social event this weekend. That is contingent on finding time to sew this weekend.

What’s August hold for you?

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Now She Needs a Name

The Renegade Seamstress put out an alert on a stellar deal on a dress form, today only (August 1st). So I researched it and determined that I was going to get the deal.

I called the store just before taking my lunch and confirmed that they had the form in stock. They had one left.

She’s patiently waiting in the car for the workday to end.

I hurried over and snagged it… or her I should say. The lady behind me at the check-out (in her eighties) stopped me and said, “Don’t forget to name her. My mother was a seamstress and seamstresses name their dress forms.” This intrigued me so I asked what I should name mine. She said, “I don’t know, My mother’s was named Jezebel.”

So now I need to figure out a name for my form. Recommendations? Jezebel is probably not a good plan. I should have asked the lady what her name was. That’d be a nice nod to who told me about it. 

Baring Arms Dress

I got this short sleeve, blue ruffle dress new for a whopping $8 to wear for Easter. I wore it on Easter, neglected to get a picture and wasn’t thrilled. The sleeves were just okay and didn’t quite feel like they fit quite right. There wasn’t anything wrong with the dress, just a little eh in the sleeves and possibly overwhelming in the ruffles.

Excuse my headlessness, I was having a bad hair day

I probably can’t call this a refashion and should just say I altered this dress. I decided to make it sleeveless and wear it to the wedding of two college friends last Saturday. My first step was to remove the sleeves at the seam and see how the arm holes would work.

Girly Pink Lace

I could call this refashion: the time my husband thought I was making lingerie.

Since graduating from college, I’ve gotten a bunch of my stuff that my parents had been storing for me. I really didn’t bother looking through it because it was stuff I’d lived without for four years. After we bought our house I started organizing, sorting and getting rid of things. I started with a scrap of hot pink lace. When I held up my finished project and showed Brad, he asked me if I had made lingerie.

I didn’t take a before picture (oops!) but honestly it was a reasonably sized rectangle of pink lace.

I folded it over so that the scalloped edge would be the bottom hem of my shirt (my goal was a shirt by the way). I cut a simple neckline, then pinned the lace to a t-shirt that fits me well.

Using the green shirt as a guide, I pinned the sides and arms then cut the lace, leaving extra room to fold the seams. I folded over and stitched them down. I angled the sleeves creating a little bit of a flutter.

I donned my lace top over a black camisole and threw on a belt.

Tea Party Dress Refashion

I picked this dress up at Goodwill for $3 to wear to my friend’s bridal shower tea party that I’m hostessing with her other bridal attendants this summer.

Stunning, I know.

I obviously knew I couldn’t wear wear it as is and not be shunned. I was wearing jeans under it when the picture was taken!

I never intended to wear it that way, I saw the great print and waist on it and decided to make it look something like these dresses from Kohls ($100 ), Macy’s ($59) and Forever 21 ($19).

1. The first thing I did was remove the worn buttons. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to replace them with different buttons or turn the old ones into fabric-covered buttons, but when they didn’t leave behind any holes of weird fabric bunches, I decided I didn’t really need buttons. 

Refashioned Pink Cardigan

Only on a rare occasion will you hear me call a cardigan a “cardi” I think it sounds a bit odd. But anyway, I love cardigans.

I’m more likely to be found wearing a cardigan sweater instead of  a traditional sweater like my light pink sweater… that may or may not have been purchased in the girls’ department several years ago.

If it’s a size large in my closet… it came from the girls’ department

I liked the pinkish, peach of the sweater, the pearl details and its soft look but I didn’t really wear it very much because I’m not a fan of pulling static-inducing sweaters over my head.

I love the dainty detail

I measured and cut straight down the middle of the front. Sewed the edges and affixed a little ribbon tie. Now I have a cute little “cardi.”

Twitchy Fingers

There’s something about this time of year that makes my fingers twitch and my brain start dreaming of things to create.

During the summer months this year my creativity waned… potentially because my brain was frazzled with home-buying and moving tasks. But now I’m back to the mindset of “Let’s make something!”

I’m getting inspired in the  kitchen and in the “Woman Cave” (PS: My room of the house is currently being called a woman cave because I haven’t named it. I thought about calling it the sewing room, but I do more than sew in it. It needs a name, help?). Brad actually asked me to chill out on baking goodies for awhile! He was overwhelmed by having both muffins and cookies in the house at the same time. Maybe I’ve shaken loose of the cooking rut. Last week we had all sorts of fun dinners like beer cheese soup, baked sweet and sour chicken, crispy Parmesan green beans, crockpot beef and noodles. It’s easier to find motivation to make hot foods in the cooler temperatures. I also got busy with the fall wreath and catching up on my sewing projects. Yesterday I altered of my shirts to make them fit me better. I’ll share some of my projects when I take some pictures.

I find myself browsing Pinterest more during these last few weeks and reorganizing my supplies to make projects easier. I’m already thinking of new things to create for the holidays!

Is anyone else more creative this time of year? What’s on your to-make list?

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