Crinkle Monster

I've seen variations of these crinkle/taggie toys all over the internet and when I got an invite to a baby shower I thought I'd try making one myself. I think the imperfections add to it's quirky cuteness.
Minky fur on the front, soft flannel on the back, different textured ribbons around, and a crinkly layer of plastic inside.

Refashion: Clearance Rack

I love the end of season clearance rack. I know, it's always picked over with extra large or small sizes, but I look for fabrics and details that I like and deal with the fit later. For example:

This creamy tank had some beautiful lace detail and was only .33 cents! (Good timing at Old Navy one day.) However, it was an XXL and the snow was flying the day I bought it. I took in the sides and left it long, which is perfect for tall me. It looks pretty layered under cardigans and jackets:

Example number two:

I don't know who could pull off this sun dress, even in the warm weather. It was large and let's face it, not a lot of coverage going on up top there. The bottom of the dress seemed heavy compared to the flimsy top. But, in addition to the clearance price, I loved the detail at the bottom of the skirt and the fullness of it. So sundress, becomes pretty skirt:

Example 3:
Another "i don't know who could pull this off" outfit, this one started as hoodie attached to very short shorts... but for cheap cheap cheap and a little adjusting I have a comfy tunic.

Sweater Dress How-to

So, how'd I make the sweater dresses? It was so easy! I took some wool sweaters and felted them by washing them in hot water. It shrinks them down a lot, so for Emma's dress it was a good thing I started with a XL men's sweater. I like to work with felted sweaters because they don't unravel at all when you cut them. You will need a sweater comb, or de-fuzzer to remove any pilling. I have seen similar projects made with sweaters of other fibers, I just haven't tried it yet and don't know about unraveling.

For the sleeveless dress I just used one of Emma's dresses as a guide, matched it up to the neckline and cut the sides. If you need to make the neck opening smaller you just take in the seam at the shoulder. I cut the flower from another sweater, lined it with iron-on interfacing to keep it from stretching, and sewed it onto the front. Then, I sewed down the sides and used a black binding around the armhole to finish it off.
For Ava's dress, I literally put my sweater on her inside out, and pinned (with a safety pin or two) the sides about where I needed to take it in. I sewed a seam down each side. Then I tried it on her again before I trimmed off the extra just to be sure... I did have to unpick and sew one side over, so I'm glad I hadn't cut yet. After making sure it fit, I trimmed off the extra. I took the collar off another sweater (I have a bag of unwearable, but full of potential sweaters) and sewed it into the neck. I used pieces of the same sweater to make the flowers for her hair clip and the front of her dress.

Refashioned: Sweater Dresses

A couple of old wool sweaters became cozy new dresses for the girls over the weekend.Ava's favorite part was the matching hairclip that she has worn every day since and keeps in a special place (her toy refrigerator) at night.

Want to know how I made these? Check out my next post.

Dried arrangement

As I drove up to my parents home in the mountains I was so taken with the subtle variations in the pale colors of the dried grasses and the sagebrush in contrast with the dark, bare branches of the trees. It was so beautiful. I gathered a bunch of branches and dried grasses and put them in a vase to remind me. Emma added the pumpkins in a special arrangement of her own. We've been thinking of painting the pumpkins silver...
My favorite are these "silver dollar" seed pods that are so irridecsent and catch the light from the lamps.

Fall Leaves

On a table, door, or wall,
a little quilted square for fall.

Warm and stylish ears...

My beautiful sister-in-law crochets these lovely headbands with felt flowers that double as trendy accessory and ear-warmer. Just check out how cute and affordable they are... now available in her etsy shop.