Easy Sunday Project

Today I whipped up some interesting and unconventional art for the bathroom. 

I found this giant H at Joann's for 10-11 dollars - but I used my 60% off coupon and got it for about $5. I used spray paint I had on hand. I was originally thinking a nice grey for the H, but T.J. suggested white. And I thought... why not. So we did. And I like how it turned out! Very unexpected in my color filled house. Good thing the shower curtain is bright and cheerful (fabric from my Mood trip this summer)!

 

I have been hard at work on this bathroom but it has been a slow process. I hope to have some sort of final reveal during Christmas break. As a sneak peek though - here is the light fixture I did. I got it for about $10 at the Restore - it was ugly gold. The mirror was $15 at Goodwill in MI.

Teal Polka Dot Minnie Skirt

This week I was inspired. Specifically by this. I stumbled across this skirt on Etsy and it looked so easy to make! I love how it is so poofy because of the stiffer fabric. It reminds me of Anna James' general look over on Fash Boulevard.



Turns out - it was super easy to make. When I noticed that the skirt on Etsy was elastic in the back I was sold - easy, adorable, AND comfortable?!? So I got to work. I used a pencil skirt I already owned to measure how big the yoke in the front should be, then I just sort of eyeballed it from there. I made careful notes so I could reconstruct this pattern again.

I love when I make up my own pattern and it actually works. It makes me feel like I am almost a designer. :-)

So I started with the yoke in the front. I interfaced it so it would stay stiff because the elastic in the back is the opposite of stiff.

Then I gathered the main front piece of the skirt. I eventually decided to add pockets to the front and back pieces as well. Pockets are a breeze to add as long as you aren't dealing with a side zipper. The front yoke has two pieces back to back so I could fold it over and hide my gathered seam.

I cut the back piece a couple inches taller so I could just fold down the fabric to make a casing for the elastic. The last step was just to combine the front and back pieces and hem the bottom. Super easy!

One of my students pointed out today that the skirt is very Minnie Mouse-esque. 

Maybe next Halloween I can go as a teal Minnie!

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.