Running Skirt

I have recently taken up running. One thing that I did not know about running before I started was that there is a whole lot of to-do about races. Including... costumes! Which is something I can get into, especially if I can make my own! (Costumes might be my husband's least favorite part about running... have you seen his running blog yet? It is pretty darn good.)
 
I made my first running costume for a race I felt pretty safe wearing a costume in... a Halloween 5k. Since then I have worn a few more. Most recently my sister and I wore running skirts in a New Year's Day Resolution Run in Nashville, TN. I was presented with the challenge of making us some sparkly, new year's inspired skirts. My sister found the fabric at Joann's - they have it in tons of colors and it is pretty cheap. I had come across a website that sells running skirts, Team Sparkle, which seem to be pretty popular and work well for running. I decided to follow their lead and make a similar skirt.

I ended up making two different sizes because my sister is teeny, but the pattern was pretty easy to come up with. I cut the elastic to fit my waist, then added 4 inches for the yoke. I sewed that onto the elastic, then cut out the ruffly part. I ended up using the length of the fabric I cut - 55 inches, and gathered it to fit. I sewed the gathered part to the outside of the yoke - something I was nervous about doing because the raw edge would show - but I love the way it turned out. Like a bonus ruffle!

Overall, the race was a huge success, my husband took 3rd, my sister and brother in-law both took 2nd in their age groups. Me? Well, I looked pretty darn cute in my running skirt and that is good enough for me!

2013 Resolutions

This year I am going to wear everything in my closet at least once. I have often thought of doing this challenge and I am finally ready to take it on - and to see what kind of crazy outfits I have to come up with at the end.


It took me a little while to figure out the logistics of this task. My first thought was just to rotate my clothes to the back as I wear them - but my closet is organized by color. So to avoid wearing black for a month straight, I came up with a different plan.

I decided to tag each hanger and once the item has been worn, the tag comes off. Each day I have to pick at least 1 tagged item to wear. I am only tagging the hanging things in my closet because I am sure I will wear all my pants etc. over the next 365 days. The total count is 130 items. Assuming I wear them one at a time, this will take me until May - just in time for summer clothes. My summer wardrobe is not currently hanging (I switch it out with my winter stuff each fall) so I will have to retag all of that when it comes out. I am looking forward to seeing how everything fits and hopefully donating the items I do not like or fit poorly. One more step toward clutter free living!

Other resolutions:
2. Eat less salt.
3. Lose 10 pounds.
4. Run an 8k.
5. Take better care of myself.

Maybe next year I will tackle the challenge of wearing all of my shoes over the next year. Watch out 2014. 

 

Wish me luck? What did you resolve to do this year?

Halloween Run

This year T.J. and I are running a 5k on Halloween. So naturally, I needed a costume I could run in! A quick Google search showed me that I was not the first person to need a running costume. Apparently they are a big thing! I may never run without a costume on again! :-)

My need for a DIY costume just happened to fall during the Pinterest challenge put on by Young House Love and Bower Power. As if I needed another reason to make something this week. Here are the pins I picked to inspire my creation: wings & shirt.

Back to the costume: A tutu was basically a requirement. I had my options down to Minnie Mouse and a bumble bee and decided to go for the bee. My plan was a black and yellow tutu, yellow shirt with black stripes, and wings. I frankensteined some different ideas together from across the internet to come up with my costume. I was reminded by this post of the technique I used on my sewing room curtains last summer (see the details of that post here). I learned how to make the wings here.
 

Here are the supplies:

Shirt

Yellow t-shirt - $6

Black fabric - clearance $1.60

Wings

2 wire hangers - already owned

1 pair of white tights - already owned

Tutu

Black Elastic - $2

Black and Yellow Tulle -  $6

Antennae

Headband Antennae - $4

Total Spent: $19.60

Bonus Bee Keeper Costume for my Husband - 
$5 white painter's jumpsuit at Menards

A great tutorial on wings can be found here, but basically I took some old coat hangers, re-bent the wire (with a little help from T.J.) and stretched old stockings over them. Attaching them was a little tricky but with some extra tulle I made it happen by just wrapping them tightly together. Then I sewed extra loops of elastic for my arms.

I love how iridescent the wing color looks in this picture - almost real!

The tutu was super easy to make. I just slip knotted the tulle on to a piece of black elastic. I sewed the ends of the elastic together before I started. I used about 6 yards of tulle. 4 black and 2 yellow.

 

Here the tutu was still in process - so it is a little sparse. 

Now onto the shirt. Like I said earlier, I used the same technique as I did in this post about my sewing room curtains. I cut the black fabric into strips using pinking shearers, gathered the strips and sewed them onto the shirt.

Here is the costume in action... along with my bee keeper!
We won best costume at the 5-K.

This post is linked up with these other hosts of the Pinterest challenge: The Ugly Duckling House and Our Fifth House.