Momma Art

I continued to sew the pockets for each side, and I had a beautiful red and white scarf from Grams that I thought would be perfect for the neck.  One side. And, the other. I put the scarf in the middle of the two sides. (RSF)       Hi Scarf! Then I pinned it down, so just the bottom of the scarf was sticking out the top. The scarf was safely tucked inside. I did the same thing to add the grossgrain ribbon for the ties on the side. I flipped it right side out, and sewed the bottom together. One side.   And, The other!   Detail of the ribbon. Mixing those patterns! Hanging on my office door, ready to go!    

Here's another thrifty find. This tunic was soft, and comfortable, but reminiscent of a 1950's slumber party. A bit nightgown-y. I look like I just woke up. Hello there! Trying to take these pictures by myself is becoming a challenge. I'll have to work on that! I knew I wanted this to be a dress, but I didn't like the length very much. SNIP!  (Furry cat feet pointing o the extra fabric.) The collar was too stifling, and it wasn't flattering the way I had envisioned. OFF WITH YOUR HEAD! Uh...I mean collar! Hem it up! I picked off those sleeves, and gave 'em a trim, shortened, and took in the shoulders, and re-attached the sleeves. That was a bit more work than I wanted, but I knew this had a cute frock inside it somewhere. The sleeves were still longer than I wanted. Snip Snip, and trim off some more! I just need to hem up those sleeves. I hemmed those sleeves, but it still wasn't working....

  My awesome teacher friend Cassie Stephens, has a great Art Teacher blog. She is an amazing artist, teacher, and she sews too! Cassie had this great idea to start a sew-along. Check out her amazingness at www.cassiestephens.blogspot.com I will be sewing an art apron with her tutorials right along side her. This is my progress so far:   Cassie is all professional and stuff making a pattern for her apron, but I just went ahead and traced an existing one.   Trace and snip! This Apron will end up being reversable! My Grams gave me some amazing fabric, so I am putting it to use for this reversable apron. Thanks Grams! I love you bunches! Very patriotic. Both sides cut. My Grams gave me that electric blue fur fabric, and I thought it would be  super awesome for a pocket. Who doesnt like furry pockets?   I had some of that cute kitty fabric left over from my teacher dress. Check out my Art Teacher Dress HERE . Cute Kitties! Meow Meow

Since I've been refashioning all of these wonderful things, I decided to try my hand at a real pattern! I found a freebee at www.Burdastyle.com  and I went to work!    I wanted this dress to say: "I don't match and I don't care because I'm an art teacher!" I think I nailed it!  I found some fabric at Joanne fabrics and I chose the fabrics that I liked. I didn't pay too much attention to matchy matchy. I chose apples (teacher, duh!), and crayons, and kitty cats. I liked them all, and couldn't decide. So I got a yard of each! It took longer than expected to sew this puppy together, but it really was a labor of love. Cheese!    (Thank you to my dear friend, and the High School librarian, Tara, for taking these pics.) The Back! Close up of crayons and sewing kitties....yes the kitties are sewing. I had some crayon fabric left over to make my shirt from the FIRST day of school.  You can see that shirt  HERE .   I'll

 The first day of school is upon us....errr...me, and I needed a shirt that said "'I'm cool, artsy, and nerdy" all at the same time. I though about it for a while and came up with an idea.  I had some of this leftover fabric from an art teachery dress that I made, and it sparked an idea. Cute fabric right? I scored a black T-shirt from the thrift store for $2.00! It seemed never worn, and no fading!                                                          I love soft T-shirts! I also had these iron on letters left over from a project from years ago....yes, I still had them cuz' ya never know! Letters, fabric, T-shirts, OH MY! I ironed on my cool, nerdy, artsy saying and figured out where I wanted the fabric to go Oh Yeah! I decided on only one shoulder(because that's different, and crazy!), and a strip of fabric to highlight the letters. And, my first day of school shirt was complete! Not a bad final photo for a 4 year old

It's that time of year again for me, when I get that back to school fever, and I have to organize everything. Linen closet...check. Dresser...check. Classroom....uh...getting there. I did manage to make a pile of clothes to be donated, but I pulled some of the tank tops out to create a new dress for my 4 year old daughter. I'll show you what I did.... Big pile of clothes. Find some colors that you like together, or just wing it, and cut about 3 or 4 inches off the bottom of each. Snip, Snip. I pinned each strip together to make a big striped tube, but I let the edges of the fabric show. I wanted it to be a bit ruffle-y. Then I found a T-shirt of my daughter's and cut off the bottom. (I could turn that bottom scrap into a headband or something...) T-Shirt CHOP! I sewed the tube of fabric to the T-Shirt, and there you have it! The bottom shirt already had a hem. Oh Yeah!  Dramatic poses only please! Action! Take

School is just around the corner, and I wanted to refashion these shoes before we came back....nothin' like waiting until the last minute huh? We start Monday. Sheesh! I asked my students in May what I should do to these shoes.....I received some great ideas! From river stones, to completely changing the shoes into furry cats, complete with whiskers and all to a galaxy scene with rhinestones. Choices, choices. I'll take a walk and think about it. I did what any self-respecting art teacher would do.  I spray painted them black with some left over paint.   Ok. Now what? I really liked the galaxy idea, and the rhinestone idea....but I've been inspired by Prada lately too. Those big gems and pops of bling!            Prada Prada Everywhere! Big Gems. Bling Bling! Glue em' down! Boom! Back to school shoes! Revamped! Thank you Jessica J. for the rhinestone idea. You will be getting a prize when I see you this f