I’m finally finding the time to get back to a couple of embroidery pieces (Christmas gifts) that I had to put on hold for more pressing projects. This one requires a good soaking before it will be ready for lacing onto its backing board.

In the meantime, I’m whipping up what I hope will be a quick machine-sewn birthday gift. I’ll be able to show you that next week.

If you just can’t get enough, there’s lots more at Kirsty’s, where the Creative Space party happens every week!

And that brings me to part 2 of my summer wardrobe rehab project: the part that wasn’t. Despite some successful attempts at throwing together a quick vacation clothing rehab, I had some real duds.

I give you **Exhibit A**:

In theory, taking a men’s dress shirt and turning it into a tank is a great idea. And, actually, the refashioning part was simple and worked like it was supposed to. (Multiple tutorials for this sort of thing are available online.)

I made two of these. In the end, though, I just didn’t have a look that I really liked on my own body. I kept wanting to try to fix them, but I finally admitted I didn’t like them enough to invest any more time in them. I’ve picked them apart and already have ideas for other ways I can use the fabric that have nothing to do with clothing.

**Exhibit B**: A summer dress made with leftover jersey knit and the same concept as the T-shirt tank.

This is a decent enough photo, but at a lot of angles it just looks … wrong. There are several places where it doesn’t fit nicely, depending on how I’m standing or holding my arms, and I already learned from Exhibit A that an elastic band right under my arms is not the right look for me. I’m over it.

**Exhibits C and D**: Then there’s the long-sleeved T-shirt that was supposed to become a tank but would have needed a lot of adjusting once the sleeves were cut, as well as the folded fabric left over from my scarf project that was intended to become a cozy pair of lounge pants. I ran out of interest in the whole refashioning project before I even got to these. Though part of me felt like I should do them just so I could cross them off my list, I gave myself permission to drop them.

The overachieving, Type-A voice inside my head is saying, “Wow, what a quitter!” But I think I need to remind that voice to shut up and let it be. It’s ok that I made some things I liked and some I didn’t. I learned things, had the experience, and that’s enough. It doesn’t always have to be about the finish. (Linda shared similar thoughts here and provided some affirmation.)

Besides, clothing-making isn’t really my “thing,” and I’d rather get back to projects that I better enjoy. So I’ve moved on, feeling a little freer for the lesson learned.

She’s offering to help out with the wood-cutting necessary to make the tops of my rubber stamps. Hey, anything I can do to outsource the manual labor works with me!

Have a good weekend!

I’ve been trying to set aside time once a month to do a page or two of art journaling. For me this really amounts to doodling and writing notes about things that took place that month.

I’m hoping some day I might find the creative energy to take it a little further, but the idea for now is just to keep exercising the creative parts of my brain. I’d like to eventually journal more frequently, too, but given my track record as a horrible journaler, I think this is a fair start.

There are also a couple of wood blocks ready to be turned into stamp mounts. (Thanks to the Huz and our neighbor’s saw for turning some inexpensive unfinished blocks into mounts for me.) Can’t wait until I can show you these stamps!

Boogie on over to Kirsty’s for more creative spaces!

Let’s start with the things that went well. (And please excuse the not-so-great photo lighting.) The first thing I made was an incredibly simple design involving a men’s T-shirt turned halter tank.

It was very easy to do, although I am dubious about the underarm fat that shows in certain poses. I especially like the rope-style straps. Pop over here to see the inspiring tutorial.

I made the sundress version for my daughter, too.

(It’s very cute on her, but very hard to get a good photo of her these days.)

The next thing I made was a skirt out of vintage fabric that was given to me by my sister. I used some matching jersey knit to make a waistband. This one was a quick job of measuring myself and sewing tubes, with some gathering thrown in.

And then I made a tote bag out of a cheap beach towel, inspired by this tutorial. (This was done in the very latest hours the night before we left and was totally unnecessary, but I really like it anyway.)

I didn’t want to spend the extra cash on multiple towels, although I love the patchwork look of the original, so instead I used the striped ends of the towel to add some extra interest. I was also able to use leftover pieces to create an outside pocket and two inside pockets. It’s nothing special, but it might be my favorite thing that I made.

So, that’s it for the successful part of that undertaking. Next week I’ll share the not-so-successful projects and the resulting philosophical musings. And now I’d best get back to those Christmas gifts!

She didn’t want the pocket type that most people have but instead wanted something similar to the laptop cover I made for myself. So I chose some nice, sturdy felt, constructed an iPad mockup out of layers of foam board and elastic, and went to work.

(Oooh, I really should get to those wrinkles! Pretend they’re not there, ok?)

I hate the beginning steps of cutting a project like this because I’m always worried I won’t get the measurements right and have to scrap the whole thing. Fortunately, when I finally stopped procrastinating and went for it, it all went according to plan.

The part I thought would be easy, however, did not go so well when my sewing machine started doing funny things. I experimented with tension and whatnot and couldn’t find a solution, so I ended up fixing the issue by hand. I was glad I could do that, but not so glad about how much extra work that was. Sigh. Isn’t this always how it goes?

Despite the extra labor, I’m really pleased with this piece. It has a nice, sturdy feel and, if I do say so myself, it looks pretty sharp.

I don’t have an iPad, but I think I might need to use the leftover felt to make a cover for my mockup, just so I can carry it around!

I’m working on carving some rubber stamps this week. In my usual fashion, I’m attempting something that’s a little beyond my reach. I haven’t practiced enough to be good at fine detail or small designs, but that’s exactly what these are. It’s a practice-on-the-spot sort of thing.

I’m getting a little tired of doing the same design over and over, but I’m determined to get it right. (And I think I’m getting there.) These will be part of some Christmas gift sets as well.

There’s more creative determination and do-it-as-you-go at kootoyoo, as always!

A good friend of mine is a portrait photographer, and this summer she took some new family photos for us. As partial payment, I made a couple of items at her request, the first of which was a kids’ play mailbox. It’s customized for their family, and yes, that’s a pug, the type of dog they have—and possibly my favorite part of this project.

It’s constructed of felt, plastic canvas, and embroidery thread and designed to be durable and squashable so that neither mailbox nor child gets hurt in the event of a tumble. (Some of you who’ve been stopping by here for a long time may recall I made similar items for my daughter. I can report that it’s held up to quite a beating from both kids.)

And, of course, there is also felt mail to go with the mailbox, drawn onto stiff felt with markers. I made three postcards, a letter, a birthday card, two envelopes, and a variety of stamps and labels customized for their family.

(As always, more photos on my flickr page.)

I really enjoyed the applique bit of this project, especially the challenge of cutting shapes that, put together, actually resembled a whole picture. I’m thinking I might need to start incorporating that into my embroidery designs some more….

I’ve finally finished the commission projects and am back to the Christmas gift list. I’m a little behind after all my June and July holiday-ing, but I’m hoping to get caught up quickly so I can give myself permission to do some fun and/or shop-related things again soon.

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On another note, a few of you asked about the dollhouse that appeared in a recent post. It is the Imaginarium brand. Unfortunately, it appears to have been a store exclusive (Toys ‘R’ Us) that’s no longer readily available, although I did find a few floating around on the Internet. (It’s cleverly called “natural wood dollhouse.” Furniture and dolls are included.)

If you’re just looking for the dolls, Tania posted about her methods of making her own here and included some links for purchasing the wooden doll bodies.

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Well, then, I’m off to do a little stamp carving. Happy weekend!

There’s been a lot of stitch-picking in my creative space this week. Yeah, it’s been one of those days.

But I did finally put the wraps on some hand-bound journals and some fabric pouches, all of which are destined to go into gift sets for Christmas … which means that’s about all I can say about them for now. So nice to be chipping away at the gift list, but so hard to keep quiet!

For the interesting and the inspiring, the crafty and the curious, the innovative and the instructional, grab a few minutes (or hours) and visit kootoyoo. You won’t be disappointed.