Housewifery

It's Curtains!

Today I finally stopped in to the fabric store by my house. I went in looking for glitter and some glitter vinyl for some projects I am working on. Once inside I was overcome by all of the amazing goodies. I have never seen so many sequin, faux fur and sparkly fabrics in my life. They even had ostrich feathers and boas. I wandered around for WAY too many hours and felt so inspired. I found myself wishing I had projects for all of the goodies there. I don't, but I will be fixing that soon!

I DID get some fabric that I used to make curtains tonight. We have this awkward little square window in our living room. It let's in too much light when we watch TV and since our house is on a busy street, people could peek in. Ewww. But now we have some fun little homemade curtains to secure our privacy!

Now I want to make curtains for every room. There was a gorgeous peacock blue panne velvet there just begging to hang in the bedroom.....

Make-Do and Mend

 I've been toying with the idea of creating my own clothes for awhile now. I own numerous vintage sewing manuals and a fab little sewing machine. I've been a little scared to try but tonight I ordered two cute little 50s patterns from ebay. One is a skirt and the other is a robe. I think those should be easy enough to start with. I daydream of being able to create my own amazing wardrobe but I think I better take it one step at a time.

One of my favorite little vintage sewing pieces is a lovely little pamphlet from the 40s, "Build your own wardrobe; Do it thus - and Sew!" It's got so many great tips on refashioning your current clothes and "making do." that I thought I would share it with you.

 


Damn Good Vintage has scans of the individual pages if you'd like to see those. But I made a really high-res printable pdf version for you and you can get it right here. WARNING: This is a pretty large file - 70MB - so grab a cup of tea or get started on your cleaning.

Do you sew your own clothes? I'd love to see some of your projects and hear your advice.

12 Decorations to make in a jiffy

I know we're all in the midst of decorating for the Holidays. I'm almost done and I'll share some pictures when the very last string of lights is up but in the meantime I wanted to share some really great tips from Real Simple. I just love Real Simple!

Easy Holiday Decorating 101 is a great collection of 12 decorations you can make from the craft store without lots of crafty experience. No glitter and glue to clean up after! Some of these definitely fall into the "why didn't I think of that?" category!

Here are some of my personal favs from the article...

Feathers & Fairy Lights
Wrap your banister with fairy lights and feather trim. This would also look so pretty along a fireplace!


Jingle Bell Knock
Who needs a boring doorbell when you have some sleigh-bells jingling? Thread some festive ribbon through the tops of giant bells and tie them to your front door. This is also a great excuse to use all of that ribbon I know you all have! ;)


Felt Placemats
Wow, this one really made me slap my forehead. I have PILES of colorful felt and I never once thought of creating place mats out of them. What an easy way to brighten up your holiday table.


Snowmen-scape
I can't wait to try this one out. How cute are these little snowmen? I want to perch them on every ledge in my house, especially since they are so easy to make! Join two Styrofoam balls with a toothpick and then stick them down with double-stick tape. Voila - instant festivity.

These are just some of MY favorites but there are even more to choose from, 8 to be exact. These ideas are a great way to perk your creative side into high-gear and look beyond the typical decorations and make things more personal.