only one day to go

tomorrow is christmas eve and I'm not yet finished with my presents, but not in danger of not gettin it done in time =)
I hope everyone has a great christmas!

Happy Holiday,
pictures will follow ^^

xoxo

christmas is coming...fast!

Oh boy...
why is the time running so fast?
I have so much to do till christmas...argh -.-
Isn't it a coincidence that all of your friends want to make something with you when you haven't seen them in ages? The whole week I was running from one appointment to another. Of course I'm glad to see them all again...but man, why all at once?
And then I have to tell every single one what's going on in my life.
I'm not sure how many times I can repeat myself until I'm going to combust spontaneously... ^^

Well, I have to go back to work =)
xoxo

First delay

So, as you might have noticed, I didn't came around to make anything last week. I had really no good enough idea that would have justified an alteration of the shirt.

But I wasn't lazily sitting around all day.
No, I was making christmas preparations =).
I would love to tell you what I'm making for my friends and family, but I don't know who reads my blog and who doesn't, so it's not save to tell. But I'll take pictures and post them after christmas.
It's a lot DIY stuff and I hope I can finish in time.
Tomorrow I'll shop for fabric ^^

And yesterday I made some cookies with my mum. They are sooo tasty!
I don't know what they are called in english, but in german it's Marillenringe.
You cut two cookies the same size and shape, and cut into one of them a smaller hole, put them together like a burger and fill the hole with jam.
Delicious!

I'm no sure whether I have still time to upcycle anything before christmas. But I will definitely sew and crochet and DIY, so don't worry ;-)

xoxo

next project...or is it one?

Well, I decided which item of clothing I'll upcycle next, and this is it.

It's a shirt my friend Paula gave me once in a swap with the color violet as the theme. She handstitched those tiny little hearts on and I love it,

but it is a bit too short.
So I was thinking, why not add two layers of ruffles at the bottom and make it a dress. But then it might be too heavy and the shirt looses its shape... so maybe I just make a skirt? or two ^^
I'm not decided yet on this issue as well as on another, which is which fabric I'll use.
See? I think both look great and both would make wonderfull skirts...but o well, I've untill the end of the week to decide and make this, so I'll just ponder upon this a bit ^^

Btw, the kind of skirt I have in mind is best described here . But with only two ruffles and a bit shorter.

Again a tutorial by Max California (who I stalk just a tiny bit, cause she has so much amazing things on her blog...<- new hero

So what do you think...any ideas?

xoxo

Oops!... I did it again XD

Yeah, I know, I know
I wanted to refashion one item of my wardrobe per week...
But after I posted my first attempt, I couldn't stop thinking about the new design for my polkadot dress.
So I sifted through my pattern magazines (Burda) in need of an easy pattern/explanation for a sweetheart neckline, and then it hit me...
The easiest way was of course maryy's tutorial for her hot hot heat dress !
I had to try this immediatly...

(The dress is turned inside out in this picture)

When I gathered the bust part, I was thinking about the straps... I sewed them to the bodice

and took the sides of my dress in, cause it was a little loose.

At the end, I even did the rolled hem (I shortened the dress about 20cm)
...aaaand I was finished o.Ô

took me less than 2 hours, yayh ^^
and I could even bring my brother to show me how to put 2 pictures in one (as seen above)

For a better visualization of the before and after:

maybe I'll dye something next time,
dunno yet.
see ya =)

tadaaa!

See? i did it =D
(click for bigger pictures)

I finished at 11.45 pm last night. To insert the pockets was kind of tricky and I had to do a bit handsewing (It's not as need as I would have wished, but who cares ^^). To make the fit perfect, I also made some darts in the back and front.

 Yeah, my first upcycling is done !

lets get right to the next one XD

This dress will be my project for the second week of my refashion madness, it's not the nicest fabric to work with and in the original design, one can detach the straps (they're secured with buttons...ugh)

So I'm thinking a 50's sweetheart neckline and a shorter skirt (probably kneelenght)

The Gilmore Girls are a great inspiration for this one, remember the dance where dean and rory broke up? 

So that's it for today ;-)

xoxo

work in progress

Unfortunately I'm sick , therefore I can't work as fast as I would wish -.-
ugh, I hate having a cold ...
But don't think I've forgotten about my task for this week. I'm still recycling my Sweeney jacket and hopefully it is finished by tomorrow.

Here some pictures of my progress:

I used my vest to create the kind of shape I wanted,

 marked it and detached the sleeves with my seamripper

Than I changed the design.
Since I hemmed my underbust pinafore dress with my new serger, I kind of liked the finished look of it and decided to use that technique on my jacket with different colored thread. (mainly this gorgeous blue and hot pink)

I already serged the armholes and stripes to attach to the pockets. The pockets on the jacket were fake, so I made some from the scraps (I hate garments without pockets, where are woman supossed to put all their stuff?).

So I only have to insert the pockets, put on the stripes and try it on =)
It will be my seamstress jacket (from barber to seamstress XD) cause of the serger seams.
I really like the brightness of the gaudy (in a good way) seams <3

til then
xoxo

P.S. the little scissor in the picture is from the V&A museum in London, I can't do anything without it....true love <3



Edit:

I forgot to show my latest water soluble crayons pictures ^^
here you go

colors!!!!

It seems, I can't stop making those *^_^*

I love leporellos, it is so much fun to draw in them and when you open it, it's like a little story unfolds itself <3

Sorry for the poor picture quality (light, coke bottle and stuff) I took them while wtching telly XD

Cheers

First ideas for my refashion project/ new workspace/ new way to organize my earrings/ water soluble crayons

Yayh, I know, creepy long title, huh o.Ô
Read on and you'll figure out why...(beware...picture heavy)

After I had my epiphany about upcycling my wardrobe, I picked my first project.
I'ts a jacket I bought this summer in Bavaria (speaking of epiphanies, the jacket reminded me of Sweeney Todd, so I had to buy it ^^), but it's so tight at the arms, that it hurts -.-

So I'll take the sleeves of and I've never been satisfied with the way the collar looks, so I've made some sketches when I couldn't sleep:

What do you think? Any version better than the other? (forget the little fascinator in the left corner, it's another idea I have ^^)
At the moment I don't like the red striped one soo much (part of it is, that it would be a lot of work to line the collar new XD)

I still have some time left to think and then to get to work...we'll see =)

Anyway, I never came around to show you my new workspace.
After my birthday at the end of September I went straight to Ikea to get big plastic boxes and other stuff to organize my little sewing corner in my room. I couldn't stand it to have my fabric all stashed up in my small drawer, it always got stuck and I didn't knew what kind of fabric and how much of it I had.
So I took all my sewing and fashion design books from the shelves to replace them with my huge plastic boxes filled with fabric.

I also bought my first serger !!! and I love it so much, I don't know how I survived without the rolled hem, or the neat way it serges the edges <3<3<3

Unfortunately the boxes are really heavy, I barely manage to get them down and put them up myself again -.- So maybe I'll make another trip to ikea to buy some smaller boxes, dunno yet.

the shelves over my bed where always filled with my random books and novels I don't really read anymore. But since bookcrossing there is nothing to bother me anymore and my fashion design and sewing books and of course my burda magazines (blue folders) took their place

I like to work in an organized environment. Creative chaos can be fun, but only when you're not searching anything desperately ^^

This leads me to my next headline: the fast and easy way I organized my earrings (really it took me only 15 minutes!)

Ok I'll admit, it's not the smartest and most beautifull way I hung it up, but it was the fastest...

all I used was an embroidery hoop I covered in pink tulle and some black duct tape to secure it ;-P

I've got the idea from decor it yourself (threadbanger)

And last but not least, I had some free time at hand and sifted through 100 Ideas to Spark you into Creative Action again.
I always liked no. 11 but could never find those watersoluble crayons (it was oil pastells, wasn't it?) Anyhow today I couldn't wait any longer and went for a real search. Fortunately I could locate similar crayons at boesner, an art speciatlist shop close-by (one reason I'm always broke -.-)

30 colors i totally fell in love with =)

For my taste there are too many gray colored crayons and much too less green ones, but hey, I can still buy them separately when I need more. I couldn't wait to try them, so here are my results:  one picture before I used water and one after

 

 

 

 

 

I really like to doodle and to be inspired by other creations like this one here or here (one sketch was so great, that I all but copied it ^_^)

I hope you've enjoyed todays post, cause I did ^^

I'll go and doodle some more, those crayons are really fun.

xoxo

upcycling my wardrobe

Wikipedia:

Upcycling involves [...] the re-use of a product with crippled functionality for alternative purposes, to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials [...]

Yayyy, that sounds like fun ^^
Well, I stumbled upon this idea when I tidied my room this night (I always do it before I go to sleep, I'm kind of nocturnal or something >.<)
Anyway, I realised that there is not much room left in my closet and to be honest, we (at least I) only wear 20-30% of our wardrobe in everyday life.
Maybe it's 40% with me, cause I use lots of clothes to create one style, but that's about it.
The remaining 60% are either unwearable (too small, too big, ugly, not your style anymore, a gift you couldn't refuse like the poncho your gran knitted for you ages ago, but you only wore it once -.-, etc.) or out of place (dracula halloween capes for example...I've got 2!)

So I've made myself a promise.
I will, from now on, select one piece from this 60% every week and upcycle/refashion/do a makover (or whatever you call it) with it. If I don't have any idea how to alter it within this week, I'll lay it aside for three weeks.
When it happends, that I haven't figured out what to do with this piece of wardrobe after one month I'll deliberately give it away, so it'll find a more grateful owner =)
I 'll also repair the neglected pieces of wardrobe who are missing a button or where a seam is torn apart, this will be counted as only  half a surgery and I'll have to do more than one in a week.
Of course I don't tell you this out of fun, but because I will make this my new blog theme, so I can journalize my progress and give pictures as evidence.
Maybe the one or another is inspired to renew his or her own wardrobe =)
If this is the case, please send pictures of your upcycling, I would love to see them!

Here are the pics of my much to full closet

sorry for the blurry pictures, it was late -.-

And the dresses in the right part of the closet take much more space then it looks like, I just couldn't get a good shot of them.

I'm not exactly sure how many pieces it will be in the end, for some I already have an idea. Maybe I'll make 3 things into one new...who knows,  I'll just go with the inspiration =)

That's it for tonight,
sleep tight  <3
xoxo Julia

this years (poor) first attempt at christmas cookies

Hey there,
Since I love cookies and christmas isn't that far away I had my perfect excuse to make some  =)
Dunno what happened but they didn't turned out as I imagined -.-

1) I was too lazy to mix dough, so I bought ready to make cookie dough and put it in the refridgerator...
that was my first uups, cause when I wanted to make the cookies, I had to wait till the dough was warm enough to work with

2) Everything went well then. I used our beautiful newly bought cookie cutters and created cute little stars and hearts.
I put the baking tray into the oven and... forgot it completly.
major uups

twenty minutes later I had some quite dark looking stars and black hearts -.-

3) I wanted to decorate the cookies with frosting, but when I wanted to mix it up with green food coloring I overdid it unintentionally

Well, all good things come in threes...

Did I mention that, when I put icing on the first cookie, it bounced and turned upside down, landing on the fresh iced side? And then, when I put icing on the rest of the cookies, it ran down the sides and looked more like a Halloween decoration than christmas?

Maybe today wasn't my day for this kind of stuff...I should have stayed in bed...or at my computer, where it is save ^^

Normally I'm really good at baking stuff and decorating it tastefully -.-

Well, I'll eat them anyway and I took pictures, so you can see for yourself what a mess I've made today.

Here you go:

that's the one landings on the wrong side... I frosted the backside too, so nobody would notice ^^

I make myself all bad without having even tasted one of them...tststs

I'll grab myself some milk and cookies,

you enjoy your evening =)

cheers <3