Going Up?

Well it's Wednesday, so it should be Weight Loss Wednesday but as you can see by the pic, the weight loss is still not going very well.  Here is the weight right now:

Perhaps the weight loss project will have to wait until after Christmas.  There are just too many things going on!   Now it looks like I've gained since the weight is higher than in the last weigh-in, but I don't think that's actually the case.  I am usually very steady (same weight for years). This weigh-in is right after dinner wearing my regular work clothes and clunky nuk-nuks, whereas the last one was in the morning while wearing PJs.

Here is a shot of the clothes:

Lots of layers today - it was around zero degrees - everything was frozen.  See the polka-dot top?  I have in mind a possible refashion of sorts for it.  The top is two layers: navy blue with sheer dots over a beige-y under layer which makes up the dots.  It's the beige-y under layer which I think can be replaced with an under layer of a different colour.  Just wondering how to do it without wrecking the top as it's flimsy.

Drapey Cardigan

As it's Tuesday, it's feature-a-tutorial-which-I'd-like-to-try day.

I work in a fairly nerdy-geeky computer work environment - lots of men and most people do not regularly wear anything trendy or fashionable to work.  So, even those cardigans that have the drapey front bit are rarely seen. 

I have a giant sweater which used to belong to Big J.  It was his favourite, but it shrunk and is now too short for him.  It is not too short for me, but is too wide  and I've considered just taking it in, or doing another capelet, but then I found this tutorial which I think would be better suited: Elizabeth Abernathy Tutorial

Here is a pic of her before and after:

And here is a pic of my (wrinkly) sweater which is amazingly similar to hers:

I'm a bit leery to start since my refashion skills are not as good.  I'm not sure if the sweater would fall apart as soon as I start cutting.  Will have to research that a little more before starting.  Maybe I can stitch it down first.  The other thing holding me back is that it really is a nice sweater and the first cut is always the hardest.

If The Shoe Fits

One Hallowe'en, I was dressed as a "prior era" person - which means I didn't really have a costume, but just made something up to wear to work.  I tied my hair up in a low pony tail, wore a gold-trimmed jacket and lace ascot, rolled my pants up to my knees, wore knee socks and some plain black shoes.  This is how I imagine people dressed in the 1700's.

The refashion item for this post are the shoes.  The ascot doesn't count because it was just a length of lace folded around the neck.

The shoes were just some plain square toed ones to which I added a belt buckle.  It looked great!  People even asked where I bought them!  I wore them as regular shoes later on.

Here's what I did:

First, I sewed the belt buckle to a piece of elastic. You could actually use any piece of fabric, I just used elastic because that's what was on hand.

Front View

Back View

Then, I just taped it in place! This next picture is a bit fuzzy, but it;s just to show the masking tape:

Fold the elastic and tape to the front of the shoe on the inside only.

Et voila! your 1700's shoe is done:

 

What do you think?  The great thing is that if the buckles aren't right for your outfit, you can just untape them!

New Old Exercises

In my younger years, I would do only 2 exercises every day.  The first was sit-ups - I tried to do 23 because I read in a magazine that models did 23 every day.

Since those days, sit-ups have changed a lot.  The sit-ups used to be done like this:

Someone would hold down your legs and you would lock your hands behind your head and pull yourself all the way up using your neck muscles. 

Now, they are called crunches and you are supposed to do them in a controlled manner, while concentrating on your abdominal muscles.

You don't even hold your head anymore, but just place your hands by your ears or across your chest!  I've seen people adding all sorts of fancy twists and turns, bicycling their legs or holding their legs straight up in the air. 

So, what is the proper way to do a sit-up?

• Lie down.
• Put you feet flat on the floor with your legs bent at 90 degrees
• Hold your hands at your ears/temples
• Squeeze your abs and gently pull yourself up
• Lower yourself just until your shoulder blades touch the floor.

• 15 reps = fair
• 30 reps = good
• 40 reps = excellent

I can no longer even do 23, more like 4!  So I have a ways to go before reaching fair!

The other exercise I liked was a "waist" exercise which I just enjoyed doing because it was so easy.  All you do is:

• Stand with legs slightly bent
• Bend to the left as far as you can, trying not to move your torso
• Go back up to centre
• Then bend to the right as far as you can without moving your torso
• For more stretch you can move the "upper" arm over your head.

I have great faith in these waist exercises, not only are they easy to do, they are almost fun.  So, I'm going to log my waist measurement today:  34 inches (that's about 86 cm), and again when the countdown timer hits zero.

Daily Posts

This blog needs a bit of organization instead of just random posts.  It is quite difficult time-wise to do very many refashions, due to job, family etc.  Other blogs have themed days and I thought that perhaps for this blog it could be:

• Monday:  Made by me - a refashion, craft or diy item
• Tuesday: Tutorial - not by me, but ones on the web which I'd like to try one day
• Wednesday: Weight Loss - There won't be much to report on at first, but maybe it will be about new things I'm trying etc.
• Thursday: Thrifty Things - no need to explain this.
• Friday: Fashion Finds.  For example, yesterday's Camilla Jacket post would've been a Friday Fashion Find post.

I'll try to follow the format, so, today is Friday.  Fashion Finds.

Apparently there was a chocolate fashion show in China.

 

They are opening a "Chocolate Wonderland" and had all sorts of things made out of chocolate.  The dresses don't look like they are entirely made out of chocolate, I don't think they are, but nice nonetheless.   They also had these LV bags:

Too nice to eat.  Guess that's why they are under glass!

Camilla's Jacket

I'm always on the lookout for things that I can refashion or copy.  Today I saw a pic in the paper of Camilla (Duchess of Cornwall) in a fabulous jacket.  I'm not a Camilla fan, not at all, but I thought her whole outfit looked very luxe and modern day royal.  

I'm thinking the jacket might be re-creatable and am now on the lookout for something to do this with. I especially like the big official looking cuffs.

Scrunchie

A lot of people think scrunchies are leftovers from 80's fashion, but they are great for someone with long hair like me. I don't use them the regular way to hold up a pony tail.  I usually wear my hair up in a bun and sometimes use the scrunchie to hold the bun together. 

My favourite notions store quite often has square bits of fabric for 25 cents.  When cut in half and sewn end to end, they are just the right size to make a scrunchie.  Before I got a sewing machine, I would make scrunchies to satisfy my creative urge.

Here is part of my collection:

These are the sewn ones.  Over the years I've accumulated lots both sewn and bought.

I especially like it when they match my clothing.  This one was made from the shoulder pads of an 80's blouse:

And this one was made from two 25 cent scrunchies sewn together:

Here is my actual hair look from today sans scrunchie but with the Rose Embellished Cardigan refashion from the other day!.

I just wanted to show the bun. On a side note, doesn't bun just sound so much more common and less chic than chignon?

Refashion Book

Being a super-busy mom who work's full time, there is not much time for the fun things in life like exercise, blogging, social media and of course refashioning.  So, I have a small notebook which I use to jot down refashion/sewing ideas as I think of them.

Then when, or more to the point, if, I have time I'll haul out the book and find something to remake.

Here is my book:

It's small enough (about 3 x 5) to fit into my purse and I use it even when in stores when I see something that I think can be made or re-crafted by me.

Here is an entry for a Ralph Lauren "dress" which is actually like a giant scarf stitched together.  It looked re-creatable, so I took down some notes right away and it's just waiting for the day when I have some time and a big piece of fabric to make it:

I can hardly believe that this cost about $150 !!!

Everything's Rosy

Do you love cardigans?  I do.  They're really versatile, and if they're thin, can add just a bit of warmth or extra coverage without excess bulk.

I have an old elbow-sleeve cardigan which I hardly ever wear.  It has a matching tank top but just feels plain and slightly old-ladyish.

My favourite notions store had a length of rose embellishment which I'd had my eye on for some time, but it was $1.98 and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  It was quite pricey not because of the price but it just looked like some odd bits of fabric sewn on to a bit of netting - it looked like a more creative person than me could make one for 27 cents.

Then, the notions store had a 50% off sale, so I broke down and bought one. I took it home right away and hand-stitched it in place et voila!  It took about 1/2 an hour.

 Here's a close-up of the neck area:

See what I mean about the bits of fabric sewn to netting? I think it turned out okay though. I'm considering adding it to the tank top too but am not sure how that would look under the cardigan.  It might be lumpy.

A craftier person could probably make their own twirly roses, but for 99 cents, I'm not complaining.

Early Birds and Worms

When it's grocery day, Big J and I have taken to waking up très early.  It all started about a month ago when we went to bed too early and automatically woke up at about 5:30 am!  We decided to get our grocery shopping done and arrived at the supermarket at about 8am.

What a difference a few hours make!  Instead of the crush of weekend shoppers and messy aisles with all the sale items already snatched up, the shelves are still being stocked.  The sale and discounted items are in good supply so we end up saving some money by being early birds.

Not as many good deals as last time, we saved about $20 over our regular bill by couponing and arriving at the store early.  Also, no free items this time, everything scanned correctly.

I've been continuing to work on the coupon binder and have found that business card holder pages from the $ store work well for those small coupons that get sent to the home.

The photo album pages are also working out well; they have a small slot (for negatives?) which I use to sub-categorize:

I may need a bigger binder soon though.  I have an old CD binder which has a carry handle, but I think it is a little too big - the rings are about 4 to 5 inches.

Weighty Saturday

It has not been a good week on the weight loss front.  We had a wonderful Christmas lunch on Wednesday and also an all-hands meeting complete with tarts, cookies, pastries, squares and other diificult-to-resist desserts.

So, rather than focussing on what is sure to be a disappointing weigh-in I thought I would base today's post on some of my favourite blogs.  Some  are the inspirational blogs of refashionistas who could (and some do) sell their wares, and others are the what-i-wore blogs of clothes hounds who never ever seem to wear exactly the same thing twice. 

My current favourite blog read is Refashionista.  I discovered it quite by accident when searching for a project and have been a daily reader ever since - even going back to read all the back posts.  I love the easy-peasy refashions and hope to tackle a giant dress project myself one day.  Jillian's blog gives off a great wacky-funny-energy vibe.

Other refashion blogs I check on a regular basis are:

• Grosgain - Crafts, refashions, photography, you name it and everything looks professional.  I am contemplating some of the easier projects here.
• Tea Rose Home - Another blog where everything looks professional.  Lots of little-girl dress refashions (too bad I've got giant boys!) which I'm hoping to convert into big-people refashion projects. I also like the more personal style which gives everything a human touch.
• Threadbanger - I can't believe it took me years to find this. It has tutorials for everything!

There are way more, but these are my current favourites.

As for the fashion blogs, I have three regular reads.  To me, they have vastly different looks but are all very inspiring:

• Sheila Ephemera - I started reading this blog before it became a regular fashion blog and was initially attracted by the pics of the sci-fi-ish fantasy-themed miniature models.  I love Sheila's conversational tone, the beautifully accessorized outfits and the aha! I could wear that moments. I think we're in roughly the same age bracket and work in similar office-attire environments.
• whatiwore2day - There are a few blogs by this name, but Kasmira's is my favourite.  Her outfits are colouful, innovative and fun.  I love the way the same item appears again and again but with the use of creative layouring, looks completely different.
• Fashion for Nerds - Being somewhat of a nerd myself, the blog name was what got my attention.  I stayed for the wildly layoured avant-garde outfits.  I think everything has toned down in recent years, but Audi also intersperses her posts with writings on travel and once-in-a-while decor so it keeps me interested. 

Once you start to read these blogs on a regular basis, it's almost like a letter or postcard from a friend.

Starting to Organize

There is a giant IKEA store near our home which has wonderful sewing room setups.  One day, I hope to have one for my crafting and refashion hobbies, but in the meantime, I put the basics (needle, thread, scissors, measuring tape etc) in a toolbox which I got one year for Mother's Day.

The actual stash is just plunked into boxes, drawers, cases etc. I have some stuff in these drawers (also from IKEA):

I also use shoeboxes, they stack well, but as they are all different sizes, it makes for a hodge-podge which doesn't balance well, doesn't look good and of course not all shoeboxes are sturdy:

Better are salad containers which are not only see-through, they are all the same size so are much neater and tidier:

You can also use those hinge-lid deli containers (potato salad, coleslaw etc) for smaller items.  The hinge-lids are especially good because the lid is always attached.

Most of my fabric is in dresser drawers, but I have my grandma's old suitcase for storing odd bits of fabric:

I am on the lookout for something to store my spools of thread. I've seen some spool holders but they are not very sturdy - I want something which won't fall over and is strong.  I had a 99 cent spikey CD holder (again from IKEA) but the spikes were a bit too thick, so the spools didn't go all the way down; I eventually donated it to Sally Ann.

Here's examples of what I would like sewing-room wise:

And look at this one! I found on a blog:

One can only hope...

Box Bottom Bag

One of the things I've always wanted to make is a tote style bag.  I got some tea-towelly size pieces of fabric but didn't want to just fold the fabric in half and add a strap.   After a while I finally found a blog on how to make the bottom of a bag flat (like a box) so away I went to make the bag.  It seemed quite easy

 and the bottom really was flat:

 But the only thing was it seemed a bit wide and floppy:

So I ended up using to cover the sewing machine, just by fluke it fit:

Project Post-mortem

• This was a good learning project but it would've been nice if I'd known more about what size to make the bag.  
• A thicker and stand-uppish fabric would be better, maybe something quilted?

Since then, I've found this tutorial: Lazy Girl's Tutorial on Box Bottoms which includes some dimensions.  This one is a little bit different because you have to actually cut the fabric.

Butcher Aprons

This post is just about a very easy fix to my aprons.  The first apron was from the as-is department at IKEA.  It's the one where the strap goes through a tube and forms both the neck strap and the waist ties.  It was missing the strap, but was a very nice thick fabric and sort of masculine looking.  I got some curtain tie-backs and just stitched them in place.

 Here's how it looks:

The other one I got as a gift. I'm not sure how it started but one day people started giving me cow-themed items, and the cow apron was one such gift.

The apron had a giant pocket along the hem which I didn't really use, but the pocket just seemed too big.  So finally one day I just stitched it into small pockets et voila.

 I talked Big J into modelling the apron:

 I still don't use the pockets, but at least they are a little more serviceable now.

Savings

Remember the coupon binder from my first post?  Here it is now in all its glory:

It's still not finished, I am thinking up the categories for the dividers as we shop.  We took advantage of many coupons and had savings on top of savings due to some items being on sale.

Just some of our deals:

• Dog food, the giant sized one was regular ~$17, on sale for ~$14 and we had a coupon for $3 off 
• Pizza, on sale for $3.99 and we had $1.50 off
• Toilet paper was on sale for $6.99 and we had $2.00 off.
• Paper towels too
• In addition, there was one item which scanned at an incorrect price and according to the Scanner Code of Practice since it was under $10, I got it for free!

So, still not the cartloads for free, but I estimate we saved about $30.

Here are the doggies:

1st Week - Weight Loss

It's been a week and as it is the weekend, it's time for a weight loss update.  I think it's a bit early to have lost anything so I'll just do a review/recap of the exercise, and what went right or wrong this week.

It started off well with the walk from the dentist and I did the elliptical machine after work but only on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  Forty minutes, so a good chance to catch some episodes of Stargate.  I must have a pinched nerve or something because after about 10 or 15 minutes, I lost feeling in my foot!  The wii was a complete write-off, but there is still tomorrow.

The other thing is the healthy eating.  I've been eating more mandarin oranges this week and that's about it.

 Quite tasty, but by week's end, am starting to get that water-bubble reaction from too much citrus.  Breakfast has been peanut butter on toast, but next week I'm switching to oatmeal with cranberries.  To top it off, we had fried chicken today.  I only had one piece though.  Must drink more water too.

Not the most auspicious start, but a start nonetheless.

Capelet

I love to read and my favourite genre(s) are epic fantasy and historical fiction.  In this type of book, the heroine will often wear a cape.  I have quite a few shawls already, but wanted to try making a capelet.  I didn't really know how it would turn out, so used a baggy sweatshirt to practice.

It's quite easy and you only have to sew one long seam. I didn't actually sew the hem because the sweatshirt was non-fray.  I cut it up the front and then cut a semi-circle with the radius ending at the armpit.  This is quite hard to explain so here is a diagram:

The red line is where you cut.  The centre cut is in the front only.  When it's done, you should be able to lay it flat in a circle shape.

Then you just add some embellishment et voila!  This is quite a nice length, it's a good coverup for summer tanks and sleeveless blouses.

Project Post-mortem:

• I might still add a button or some additional ribbon at the neck to keep it closed at the neck
• Next time I think I'll look for a tweedy sweater or something because Big J thinks it looks like some sort of religious frock.
• I also might try with a bigger size, maybe a men's raglan sleeve sweater - not sure how to handle the unravelling though.  More sewing?