Hot weather + hectic weeks have made making friends for Lucy a wee bit difficult but not impossible; luckily dolls are very patient.  But I suppose you have no choice when you don’t have arms or a painted-in face.  Oh, and your little midi collar (or shawl, I can’t decide) is missing.

SPEAKING OF SHAWLS, I plan to make at least one chicken shawl for my friend Kara’s new chickens!!  I’m head over heels excited for her and even a little envious because how could you not want your very own chickens?

Have a good Wednesday, dears!

Our living room is relatively spacious but we don’t have a ton of seating.  This is fine for the most part since it’s just the two of us (excuse me, 3, if you count Spoo).  But it’s nice to have some casual seating around, just in case.  My friend Angela has a couple of Moroccan leather poufs at her place and I always thought they were a fun addition to the space and feel a lot less committal than big, heavy pieces of furniture.  So I figured I could make something similar.

I started to look online for some DIY instructions.  I’d google “how to make an ottoman” and such and couldn’t find what I was looking for.  After a few different attempts I stumbled upon this DIY Pouf tutorial. (Oh, a pouf - that’s what that thing is called!)  It seemed relatively easy (Samantha provides pattern instructions which is great since I didn’t want to figure that part out myself).  I already had the perfect fabric picked out from my vintage sheet stash.  I love vintage sheets because they are usually very colorful and cheery, plus there’s a lot of fabric in one piece.

I followed the instructions as written except for #2 - Instead of creating a hole on the center of the pouf by folding under the pointed ends, I stitched each piece end to end and left an opening in one of the seams.

I flat-lined the pieces with a plain white sheet.  The stuffing is everything you can think of: unwanted clothing, fabric, sewing projects gone sadly awry (and that I felt too guilty about tossing)…even with everything stuffed in there I still couldn’t make it completely full; this pouf is almost 2′ wide and it’s mind-boggling how much can fit inside it!  I also added an over-sized doily in the middle which I really like.

It’s very squishy.  Not annoying “I’m stuck in this flippin’ beanbag” squishy, but just enough.  Doesn’t it look summery?   I’m already thinking about making another one.  This next pouf would be smaller and perhaps I’ll round off the corners a bit so the top (and bottom) will have a flatter appearance.

Are you working on any DIY projects for summer?  Do tell!

I got some Spoonflower samples today!  Always exciting.  When I discovered they now offered cotton lawn I had to come up with some designs to test it out. (Lawn was the first thing I requested back when I first signed up with them.)  The samples you see above are all printed on lawn.  The colors came out mostly as expected which is nice.  Can you see the old-timey circus/Alice influence?

The fabric itself is a looser weave than I was expecting; maybe it will shrink up a bit in the wash.  My idea was to construct a wee 1930s dress for myself from Spoonflower lawn.  And, I suppose, some dolly dresses too.  What do you think?

I printed the strongman design on canvas.  I really like the canvas. (I wasn’t expecting to as I haven’t had much use for it; perhaps that will change!)  There were other strongman versions on quilt-weight fabric but I don’t like them as much.  Somehow the details didn’t show up as well. (Plus the scale was smaller so the little guys just seem sort of lost.)  I think this design would need something a little more if it were ever to be printed, some kind of design element in the background.

The diamond/star design is printed on their standard quilt-weight fabric in a slightly different colorway from the same design above it.  I like the softer, more greenish version in the lawn. (Although the bright red, blue and white is appropriate for our holiday weekend!)

Have you printed up anything at Spoonflower lately?

Anyhow, I wish all my fellow U.S. residents, citizens and ex-pats a Happy July 4th weekend!   Actually, a lovely weekend to everyone!

I’ve had this dress for almost a year, picked it up for $15 at the antique market.   It is almost a relief to have finally done my fixes on this dress; clothes are really moving from the to do rack to the closet!  I really love this dress, I feel really at home in it.

Here’s a look at the before:

A 1970s version of a 1930s dress.  You can’t see it in the photos but the little flowers are flocked which I love (not much flocking left but still counts for something).  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the style, only it needed some repairs here and there.  But for the most part I don’t like high necklines; I feel too closed up.  And the sleeves were shortened in a slapdash fashion by its previous tenant (Hmm, I sense a trend) so I had to do something about that.

This is what I did:

• Cut out and lowered the neckline; removed neck facing that was clearly visible under the sheer fabric.
• Added a pleated Petersham collar that I tacked down by hand. (The stitches seem very obvious to me even though I tried my best to not sew too tightly; I might redo it but it’s fine for now.)
• Cut the sleeves down, leaving a little bit of the previously gathered fabric which I hemmed creating little ruffles.
• Fixed some general wonkiness around the bust seam.
• Cut off the lace and ruffle at the hem and shortened the skirt.  I considered fixing and re-attaching the ruffle but decided I liked the simplicity of the plain hem.
• The ties were very much uneven so I shortened one. (I did not match the lengths exactly as I don’t see a problem with them being off just a little.)
• Fastened a little brooch to the neckline (from Seventh Muse).  I’ve fashioned other things like a yellow velvet bow and such which I can switch out at will!

I have to say I quite enjoy detailing all the repairs and alterations I do to my vintage finds and I hope you do too!  I think so, and I find your comments very kind and encouraging.  Thank you.