Pink on the Porch

And so the pinkification begins....

Yet another rummage sale score from my sister is transformed and becomes a fabulous piece of my life. Meh before... amazing after...

A few even and light coats of Rustoleum bright pink later, I had myself a new piece of deco for the front door area. I can't wait to see how it looks with my new door color soon.

See how the pink is beginning to take over the porch? On the rugs... on the candle holder... what next?

Maybe these chairs? I am still deciding if I like them better white or silver. What do you think?

Spring Skirt Part 2

On Monday I posted about this spring-inspired chevron skirt and promised I would post about another skirt Wednesday - well today is the day. This aqua pink yellow etc. floral skirt is made out of fabric from Hobby Lobby. They had a sample garment made out of this fabric and I thought it was so cute - the only problem was that the sample was a baby dress. I thought hmm... how can I make this more adult? The pencil skirt was a clear answer. I paid about $8 for the fabric (pencil skirts take less than a yard) and already had a zipper on hand. Not too shabby!

  Ever wonder what the inside of a "home-made" skirt looks like? 

Here it is...

 This is my "come on T.J." face.

 This makes for a pretty darn comfy skirt - I used a fabric with a little bit of a stretch for forgiveness. To make the skirt I started with a Butterick pattern - 5333 - but made some significant changes to it. I added a slit in the back and tapered the bottom of the skirt a lot tighter. I have made this particular skirt twice before, the first time following the pattern exactly, and the second making small changes. To make the changes this time I held up a store bought skirt with a fit I really like and just sort of drew off where I wanted the pattern to be smaller. I am in the process of making a plain hot pink pencil skirt from my altered pattern right now. So what do you think? Does it still look like a baby dress?

Springy Chevron Skirt

In honor of this ridiculously early springy weather, my next few posts will be all about the spring time changes around the Hall's house. First, I have been looking at quite a few fashion blogs lately (like this one, this one, and this one) which I think are fun. Maybe because they focus on people (voyeuristic much?) instead of objects and design projects like all the DIY blogs I love. So today and Wednesday's posts are part DIY + part fashion blogging - or at least my attempt at it. I had to drag T.J. around our yard to take pictures of me.

Both of the skirts in the picture above I recently sewed for my spring wardrobe - I will give details on the second skirt in Wednesday's post.

Like most of the blogging world, I am obsessed with chevron. And when chevron is pink, it is beyond obsession. Check out my Christmas card photo for example - I am a festive and traditional girl when it comes to decking out for Christmas, but this year because I found a pink chevron shirt on black Friday - the chevron shirt made its way onto our Christmas cards.

Joann's has been pretty slow on the chevron trend but finally got in some nearly-chevron fabric a couple months ago. It may have been a mistake - but I found a bolt of a springy orange and pink chevron-esque fabric on the red tag shelf and decided I could wait no more, I was going to take the plunge and sew myself something chevron. I don't remember exactly what I paid for the fabric - but it had to be less than $10 all together. Half off red tag at Joann's is the best. I absolutely love how this skirt turned out, and clearly love the fabric (notice a zoomed in shot of this skirt is the background for the header of the blog).

 

I used McCall's pattern 5856 to make the skirt - and have actually used the pattern twice before to make a blue striped skirt and a brown and coral floral skirt. I find the pleating very flattering. It is great when you finally find a pattern you love - you can make it over and over again and no one knows the skirts are the same. In progress shots below.

Here are more pics from our photo shoot:

See where this indoor greenhouse started here.

More about these earrings here.

 

I am ready for Spring!