Good-bye Restyle and a Giveaway!

I have been going round in circles trying to decide whether to keep my Etsy shop open. On the one hand, I love, love, love to refashion things and a big part of that is showing off the finished product. Egotistical? Perhaps. Inspirational? More likely. On the other hand, I have so much going on in a day--and no I'm not trying to say "I'm so busy" to make myself sound important. I'm working on updating our 100+ year-old home, making time for friends, and of course spending time with my kids and husband. There are so many things that I want to make for myself and my family that I feel like Restyle gets in the way. Sorry if you're scratching your head by now thinking that I rarely add new items to my shop. I should say that, mentally, Restyle gets in the way. Too often, it's hanging over my head that I need to make more items for my shop so it really takes the fun away from it all. Of course, then I sell something and have so much fun wrapping it up (custom wrapping on all orders) and sending it out that I have a little drive to make another sale. Although, if I'm being completely honest, I could do the same thing with a craft show. Plus, it would be less time in a year and more money. Hmmm....

In the end, I think I would rather just walk away from Etsy. At this stage in my life, it's just not working out. If it starts to feel like a burden, it's time to move on. So, in a few days I plan to discount all of my items to make any "last minute" sales before I close up shop. I'm hoping you'll help me spread the word, and as a "thank-you" I will give away an item of your choosing to 2 lucky winners! Comment for a chance to win, if you share this on Facebook you can comment a second time to increase your chances of winning.

Good luck!

Giveaway closes on Tuesday, April 23. Once the winners have chosen their items, all remaining items will be marked down to 50%.

Official Rules:
Everyone automatically gets one entry. Please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!
For a second entry, post this link on facebook and comment here to let me know you did.
If you mess up your comment (forget to put your name, etc) you can delete your comment and try again.
Winners will be announced on Wednesday the 24th.

Sorry, immediate family cannot enter. If you want me to make something for you, just say the word!

Bicycle Shirt

I've been having fun with freezer paper lately. I kind of want to paint everything. I love how Isaac's shirt turned out.

We have a lot of solid shirts around here so I should be busy for a while.

Autumn

Fall is officially here in the U.P. We've been having some windy, rainy, dreary days. Perfect for getting a few things done inside. I spent yesterday cleaning house so I would be able to have a craft day today, guilt-free. I always have these grand plans of getting 17 projects knocked off my pile but I somehow only managed to finish a couple. Between both kids and the fact that I was out of much needed white thread, I'm lucky I got anything done.

I have been wanting to put designs on the boys' shirts with freezer paper so I went to Michael's a while ago searching for it. I mean, all the craft bloggers use it so it must be at the craft store right? Whoops. The guy at Michael's had no idea what I was talking about. I finally emailed Dana and she was gracious enough to get back to me. Oh, duh, you buy it from the grocery store. I had some fun this evening and I'm not done yet!

These last few days have been so nice. I feel like things are finally slowing down a little after the go-go-go of summertime. I'm looking forward to more crafting days--maybe this will be the year I actually have handmade clothes for our little family. Jeff did say he wanted me to design some shirts for him. You have no idea how happy that makes me.

Generally this time of year is super motivational for me, even more so than New Year's. This year it has been a little slow to get started, but I feel the momentum picking up!

Black and White

Third time's a charm. I finally made a shirt for Adrian. You saw the first attempt. The second attempt looked too feminine. The third attempt is currently on his body and it's my favorite so far.

Nice mug shot. He is so cranky right now, he's headed to my bed to take a rest, I hope he falls asleep even if it is after 4. It took me about 8 hours to make this shirt because I had to keep stopping to rescue Isaac from whatever torture Adrian was currently using on him. (This picture is so goofy, he didn't have any pants on so I was trying not to get his undies.)

I swear that top stripe is straight, the neckline is so tight (looking) when the shirt first goes on but it will open up after wearing it for a little bit and look more normal.

We tried out a new restaurant this past weekend and I had salad for the first time ever. I feel like such a big girl. All three of us solid-food-eaters had burgers and you could either have a mixed greens salad or potato salad on the side. Cold potatoes just seem wrong to me so I decided to try the green salad since the server mentioned a maple vinaigrette. It was so good! I can't stop thinking about salad now. I'm all, "Oh! Is this why you crazy people love salad so much?" So much so in fact, that tonight we're having burgers and salad with whatever vinaigrette I whip up. I think I'll throw in some sliced almonds and dried cranberries too. Can't wait!

Blue-striped tee

I was able to resize my thrifted shirt this morning! I have been realizing that all of my shirts are getting too short. I wasn't very good about getting monthly pictures when I was pregnant with Adrian and I still haven't been doing them now. They're fun to see, but I guess they aren't top priority for me. The point is, I'm pretty sure I'm a lot bigger for this baby than I was with him. The comments from friends and strangers alike confirm that fact...and it's reconfirmed by the fact that all the shirts I was able to wear for my entire pregnancy are already too small. And I still have 2 months to go.

 

Ah, love self-portraits. This one is particularly attractive with the addition of a spare tire thanks to that crooked stripe. ;) 

I found this shirt at Salvation Army. It was in the men's section, but I'm pretty sure it was a women's shirt considering the colors and the fact that it's an XXL and it's still this slim. Okay, 'slim' is a relative word here considering I'm 7 months pregnant...

It fits much better now thanks to a few new seams and I still have a little room to grow. I'm pumped to have another long-sleeved shirt, most of my maternity shirts are short-sleeved.

BTW. As I was taking these pictures, I overheard Adrian in my bedroom, playing with the (cool, unplugged) iron. "I'm sewing projecks." See? I must be sewing more. He's always asking me as he watches me sewing, ironing, cutting, etc, "You working on projecks, hey Mom?" That's my little yooper boy!

Yesterday's project

When I woke up to...okay, so I don't really know what the temperature was, but I trust that it was crazy cold yesterday. I thought it would make a great sewing day. As it turns out, I didn't touch my sewing machine all day. When I cleaned out my fabric stash the other day, I found an infant onesie that I bought on clearance at Target. I had originally planned to add a little something to it and give as part of a baby shower gift, but obviously, it got buried and I completely forgot about it. I left it out so I could add a little paint and wear it on the new babe. I really like how this shirt turned out, so I went with the same idea:

First of all, I need to say that when I made the shirts in Restyle I painted first, then sewed them together. I wasn't really up for pulling this onesie apart so I just did the best I could with what I had.

Yeah, that's our kitchen chair. The paint comes right off and even if it didn't I'm not too concerned. My only other option was be a large piece of cardboard which I don't have.
I wasn't able to get the lines quite as straight and clean as when the shirt is pulled apart, but for less than $2, I guess I'm okay with that.

I love how quick and easy it is to paint on fabric! It dries really fast too, so you can reposition after a short time. Now to figure out what to paint on some of my shirts...or Adrian's...or Jeff's...

I'm pretty sure today is even colder than yesterday (weather.com said -13 around 9 this morning), but I have some running to do. Most importantly, to get my hair trimmed and then we'll see if I can brave it to a couple thrift shops that I didn't make it to the other day.

(BTW, I could not get that taped up shirt picture to go the right way. I literally turned it every direction before uploading and it came up wrong every time. Ah, well, you get the idea, right?)

What's Yours is Mine

I finally got pictures of the shirt I restyled!
Here's a before, as Jeff's shirt (don't worry, he was getting rid of it, I didn't actually steal it)

Terrible picture in every way, I know, I'm sorry. And it was laundry day, we do actually use sheets on our bed. I snapped this real quick because I was about to start working on it and couldn't be bother to get a better picture. ;)

And now, it looks a little something like this:

Ha! Self-portraits are so awkward. I tried to get a better shot, you know, maybe one with a side view but the camera just wasn't loving me.

Here's what I did, sorry no step-by-step photos (maybe someday):

1. Using another maternity shirt--inside out--as a pattern, I traced the outline with a fabric pencil
2. I sewed over the line, actually slightly outside the lines because I was afraid it would end up being too small, I'm glad I did.
3. I tried on the shirt at this point and when it seemed to fit right, I cut along the seam, leaving around a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
4. I used the same maternity shirt again to trace the sleeves, this ended up being a little trial and error to match the sleeves up just right with the armholes, I'm learning. Once I determined that they were the right size, I cut the sleeves and sewed them on.
5. I should have done this before I sewed the side seams but waited until this point to ruche the sides. I wanted to make sure the shirt was long enough. I wish there were more gathers but I would have had to use elastic for that and well, I didn't.
6. Somewhere along the way I cut off the collar. I think I'll add a tiny little ruffle over the raw edge someday. And maybe I'll cover the lion logo since it's practically in my armpit now.

 

Woohoo! Yet another of Jeff's shirts that is now mine!

Vintage-Style Romper

I've been itching to sew lately, I still haven't done any real projects this fall. I found this pattern at St. Vinnies for 7¢! I think their patterns are usually a whopping 14¢ but the sale for the day was half off everything except yellow tags. I also found a winter jacket for Adrian (still hoping to find a nicer one but for the price listed, I couldn't pass it up as a 'just in case'), a yellow, silk shirt for myself, and another basic toddler pattern for shirts and onesies. I also had a $1 off coupon so my total was, wait for it...$2.17.
This pattern is from 1975, I plan to make the top sunsuit using this vintage sheet a found quite a while ago:

I'm not even sure what I'll do with it once it's done but I was so excited to use the pattern once I brought it home! It might be a baby gift or it might find it's way to Etsy. Hey, do you remember when I talked about opening my very own Etsy shop?? Yeah...I remember that too.

Shorter and Wider

I did a quick restyle on these shorts a couple months ago and never posted. Now that we've seen snow, it seemed appropriate to show the pictures...

They started off as knee-length bermudas but that was probably never a very flattering length for my short little legs. Soo, I chopped them off!

I've considered shortening them another inch but since I'll probably never take the time to do that, this is what they will look like. Except, at this point on the leg, I could only fold the cuff under once to sew without it getting too tight so, now there are strings hanging down everywhere but that's okay too. I like them so much better at this length and I wore them way more this summer as a result. I guess it's okay that we were suddenly hit with cooler weather because I think the buttons are going to snap if I put these on one more time with the size of my waist these days...

And for your viewing pleasure:


Lovely, I know. I've been joking about how at 2 1/2 months, I look the same as I did at 5 months with Adrian. I hadn't realized how close I was to the truth, that is little Adrian in there and I swear, my belly is the same size right now.

Have a fun weekend!