“You are beautiful, in every single way.”

April 20, 2009, 8:23 pm     4 Comments »

Howdy ya’ll! I know its been a damn long time since I’ve been here and posted anything worthwhile, but mama’s back … and with a tutorial!

So a while back, a few years ago, maybe 2 or 3… I was perusing some tawdry gossip-y paparazzi website that probably buys photographs of celebrities doing everyday activities with the blood of orphaned Ukranian babies or something, and I happened upon a picture of Christina Aguilera (who I love, by the way… her voice is incredible) wearing a skirt that resembled a pair of sweatpants, or a sweatshirt; a fleecy gray fabric complete with drawstring waist.

I immediately loved it (as a matter of fact, so much I saved the picture as a reminder!) and made a mental note to get one if I ever saw one anywhere, but never did. Then, quite a  while later, on the same website, I saw another picture of her wearing a different one, but a similar style/concept.

Hey! Nevermind the titties… focus on the skirt!

At this point, I shook my fist at the screen and said “Curses!” She has two, and I can’t even find ONE?! Well, she is a multimillionaire 5-time Grammy winner who gets clothing and accessories thrown at her left and right for nothing, so I guess she has access to a lot more than I do, but still. Could such an item of clothing be so hard to find?

Apparently.

Four years or so later after finding that first image, I’ve yet to find such a skirt in any store, anywhere.

So I took it upon myself to make this article of elusivity (thats definitely not a word). It just seemed like such a comfy alternative to shorts or capris on a warm day, just to throw on with some flip-flops and t-shirt, I had to have one.

It was pretty easy to make, and so here I give you my tutorial for a “sweatpants skirt.” It probably would’ve been better if I had taken  photos of each step as I was making them, but I didn’t, so here are some poorly drawn (in Photoshop) step-by-step illustrations.

First, you’ll need a pair of sweatpants. The looser the leg the better, but any pair will work really. It doesn’t matter if they have elastic ankles or not, or if they’re cropped or not- mine were- because the bottoms are going to get cut off anyway. If you’re unsure about your sewing/cutting skill, use a cheapo pair to start with, don’t use a pair of $90 Juicy Couture sweats and eff them up so bad you feel like a dick. This is all about trial and error and seeing what works and what doesn’t. Don’t waste really “good” sweatpants on this unless you’re super confident you know what the hell you’re doing.

Second, you’ll need a sharp pair of scissors that will cut through fabric easily. Sweatshirt fabric and fleece are harder to cut “clean” than most fabrics, so this is really important. I’ve got a handy dandy pair of $35 dollar F.I.T. approved seamstress scissors that work excellently and are probably the one investment I made in the school store that was worth it (aside from Fabriano watercolor paper, which is drool-worthy).

Third, you need lots of safety pins or straight pins. Again, I have quite a stash of both thanks to my F.I.T. days. You’d be surprised how long a big ass box of straight pins lasts.

Fourth, you will need a ruler or measuring tape. This isn’t 100% necessary, as any straight edge (book, folder, etc) will do.. but they’re easier to maneuver.

Fifth, you need either a sewing machine you know how to use, or a needle and thread. There’s not an immense amount of sewing involved here, so doing it by hand is totally acceptable and not terribly time consuming. But if you’ve got a machine, then work it girlfriend.

Got all your materials? Good. Now we’re ready to rock & roll!

• So you take your sweats and put them on, and stand in front of a full-length mirror. Make a mark on each leg where you want the skirt hem to hit. Its not going to be sewn, its going to be a rough edge (see the first picture of Christina to see what I mean) so you can change it later if its too long. Just don’t go too short, unless you want it short, because obviously you can’t add length back.

• Take them off and cut along each mark on each  Then put them back on and make sure this is the length you want them. If not, re-mark, take them off, and re-cut. Repeat until you’re satisfied with the length. ANY length will work, I made mine just a smidge above knee length.
• Cut along the inside seam of each leg, going up towards the crotch. Then cut directly across the crotch, across the crotch seam (if your sweatpants don’t have a crotch seam, thats okay, that just means they were made using a pattern that had 2 pieces instead of 4). Now you should have a completely open pair of “pants”- the outside seams and waistband should be totally intact.

• Now here’s the tricky part. Turn them inside out, and using a ruler or measuring tape (or your straight edge), hold it against the waistband and run it down the pants, making a mark and then pinning along the straight edge. Then, do the same for the other side.

• Turn them right side out and put them back on. It should resemble a skirt, there shouldn’t be any inappropriate body parts showing and no open seams anywhere. If its really lumpy, or the seams are uneven, take it off and re-pin it more smoothly and try it on again. There shouldn’t be a big fabric bump in the back on your ass, or in the front either. This is also a good time to make sure the length is where you want it to be, if not, re-cut. You won’t have another chance to do so.
• Once you’re satisfied with it, take it off, turn it inside out and sew along the pins. DO NOT CUT OFF THE EXCESS FABRIC UNTIL YOU ARE 110% POSITIVE THE SEAM LOOKS OKAY AND IS IN THE RIGHT SPOT. You can always use a seam ripper and start over, but you can’t if you’ve cut off the rest of your “backup” fabric.

• Try it on again. At this point, it should be a totally finished skirt, you can cut off the excess fabric about a half inch away from your seam, and it will be ready to wear. If not, rip out the seam and go back to step 4 and try again.

Hopefully this made sense. If not, go have a few shots, come back and try it again. It probably will. If not, e-mail me and I’ll answer any questions you may have.

DO NOT BE BUMMED OR DISCOURAGED IF IT DOESN’T COME OUT LIKE MINE, OR AS GOOD AS YOU EXPECTED, ON THE FIRST TRY. Its all about trial and error with D.I.Y. projects- thats the beauty of them!

And if anyone reads this and knows where to get a skirt like that, I’d still consider buying one… if Christina’s got two, why can’t I?

Tutorial: Sweatpants skirt

“I’ll teach you all this, in 8 easy steps..”

January 26, 2009, 2:35 pm     Comments Closed

So the next tutorial isn’t from my brain, or a magazine, or a book. Its a hat, and I got it from Marieke, who runs this website. I swear, its my favorite hat EVER. I have three different ones in three different yarns.

Marieke calls it a “Rasta hat” and thats a pretty accurate description. Its slouchy, thick and warm… and depending on how long you make it (how many rows you knit) it can accommodate dreads or long hair tucked up inside. Its a very simple pattern and if you’re a decent knitter it shouldn’t take you longer than a couple of hours, maybe a day to complete it. Its simple- but the pattern looks so pretty. And not sloppy.

These hats are pretty trendy right now. Nicole Richie’s been spotted in them a lot lately. I’ve always wanted one but have never been able to find one in a store that was exactly what I wanted. And then I found this pattern!

Front and side views, with cuff. You can really see how nice the pattern is in the 2nd photo.

Another cool thing about this hat is if you make it a big longer, you can cuff it too, like I did in the above pictures. I have short hair, so theres nothing to tuck in. Therefore, I can cuff it and still keep the big, scrunchy look of it yet not look utterly ridiculous.

Close ups, no cuff.

This was made by my mother, so she gets credit for how great it looks. The red a regular ol’ red yarn you can get at any Joann’s or Michael’s or any yarn store (‘Cherry Red’ by Red Heart brand), but You can use any yarn you like of course. Real wool, acrylic, cotton, cashmere, mohair, etc. Its your choice.

Like I mentioned, I’ve got three of these. The above red one, then another in a super soft (now discontinued) Wool-Ease by Lion Brand black yarn that has flecks (or “sprinkles” as Jay called them, haha) of different colors throughout, and the one to the left; a crazy soft gray/green brushed ombre yarn by Joann’s (Sensations Rainbow Classic in “Green/Gray”) thats amazing; click here for a swatch. The red looks totally different here, its not pink or watermelon-y at all; its a deep cherry red. Stupid lighting. The green hat came out slightly better, but still the color is distorted. My skin is even green- haha, I’m the Grinch!! Last but not least, the black hat wouldn’t come out well in pictures at all, unfortunately. Which is a shame because its really lovely… I’ll try and get a picture of it and maybe edit this entry at some point.

This particular pattern/hat is beautiful in solid color and ombre yarn. I think it would be really cool in this yarn, actually.

So on we go with the pattern itself. In her words, heres the pattern and materials list.. and since its in metric/Euro style, I converted it to US sizes, my additions are bold:

You need:
- 50 gram mohair in the two colors you want to use (so 100 gram in total). You could do with a little less but since this is weight of a ball… [I chose Schachenmayr Nomotta Hair (color 98) 50 gram and Gedifra Belisana Color (color 7306) 50 gram] (any yarn works just fine, just be sure to realize that different weights an different types of yarn make different size and thickness of hats- wool is going to be different than acrylic when it comes to this)
- needles 9 mm *(size 11 American)
- a sewing needle

Cast on 64 stitches with the two colors, loosely. From here you knit two knit stitches and two purl stitches, starting with the knit stitches and ending with the purl stitches for each row. Continue until you have knitted about 26 cm (roughly  10 inches). Then, knit together two knit stitches and two purl stitches for one row so you will have 32 stitches left. Cut the thread off, leaving a thread of about 50 cm. Take a big needle and pull the thread through the 32 stitches. Pull the thread so you close the top. Handsew the sides together, using the thread from top to bottom. Let the winter come!

All credit for this hat and the pattern goes to Marieke at treats and treasures, which is by the way a great blog with a couple of awesome free knitting/crocheting patterns as well.

Oh- and uh, you can’t knit the brooch

Knit "Rasta hat" tutorial

“Its a marshmallow world.”

December 12, 2008, 9:05 pm     Comments Closed

The year before last, my beloved gingerbread house that I made my senior year in high school in Sister Santa’s (I swear, that was really her name) art class finally bit the dust. Despite shellacking it and coating it in non-water soluble polyurethane, it finally just succumbed to moisture and fell apart. But it lasted almost 8 years so I can’t complain.

So last year I decided to make a new one. I followed Sr. Santa’s lead and made the actual house out of brown corrugated cardboard (thanks to Gingerbread Lane and the help of her website) and used a glue gun to put it together, then decorated it with canned Betty Crocker frosting (because of the high sugar content and how hard it gets when it dries) and miscellaneous candy and cookies. I cut a hole in the back piece and covered the windows on the insides with waxed paper, and then use a small set of white Christmas lights to light it by putting them through the hole in the back. Its beautiful, fun and not as complicated as you may think. And now I am here to tell you exactly how to do it yourself!

This is a super-fun project for people of any age. Because you use cardboard, you don’t have to worry about using uneven gingerbread that will fall apart easily, yet when decorated it looks just the same. You don’t have to make it this size, you can enlarge it or reduce it to your needs. This is for a basic house- feel free to add a chimney (like I did) or whatever else you can think of!

Cut two square ‘A’ pieces; 8″ x 8″

Cut two triangular ‘B’ pieces; 4″ high x 8″ wide

Cut two rectangular ‘C’ pieces; 12″ x 8″

Cut two rectangular ‘D’ pieces; 12″ x 6″

Once the pieces are cut out, cut out windows and draw a door. Make as many or as few as you like. Save the cut out pieces to use as shutters. If you want to light your house, be sure to cut a decent sized hole on the back ‘A’ piece.

Glue the four base pieces (‘B’ and ‘C’) together. Once dry and sturdy, glue on the two ‘B’ pieces. Then add the final two ‘D’ pieces. Now you’re ready to decorate!

I used Ginger Snaps for shingles on the roof, Twizzler bites for bricks on the chimney and front of roof, green Life Savers for Christmas wreaths on the windows, starlight mints as trim, and wintergreen Life Savers on the front of the house and graham crackers on the sides for shingles. I used two candy canes on either side of the front of the house and M&M’s for shutters and the walkway. Spearmint leaves make cute landscaping, and if you wish to make a tree for the front of your house, use a sugar cone. Put it upside down, and use frosting to attach spearmint leaves to it all the way around it. Then use red hots as “lights” if you like. I used white puffy paint to make lines on the windows and make “drips” on the windows as well.

Now you’re ready to display your house! If you want to keep it year after year, make sure to follow these tips:

1. Spray with a NON water soluble polyurethane spray outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. I spray it once, let it dry and then spray it again. Do not over-saturate it though, because the candy will run or “melt.”
2. Store in a plastic garbage bag tied tightly and THEN in a box thats sealed.
3. Place in an area that isn’t too humid (if possible) and where it won’t get knocked over easily.

If you use these steps, your house will last a long time. Of course, every year minor repairs will most likely need to be made. And some candies do crack (see my M&M’s in the above picture) or fade a little, just by their natures.

There are so many possibilities, and so many things you can do. Check out this website and this website for ideas and inspiration. You can make it simple, or make it crazy complex. Its up to you.

For edible holiday recipes and ideas, check out my cupcake/foodie blog, Cupcake Rehab.

Gingerbread house

“Happiness is a warm gun, mama…”

December 9, 2008, 12:56 pm     3 Comments »

So for my first real post I thought I’d do a little “how-to”, or at least share one of my little projects. This project is a really quick knit piece, and its the perfect time of year to learn to knit if you don’t already know.

I love neckwarmers, and recently I’m seeing them everywhere. Last winter my mother knit me a really cool one in dark gray Voodoo yarn by Patons (now discontinued). This year however, it seems like everyone has one! They’re all over Etsy, and Brooklyn Tweed even recently posted about them. I had been working on a scarf but decided to end it early and make a neckwarmer instead. Now, I am really not a fantastic knitter. I can do basic stuff but I can’t do cables or anything fancy, so this is a basic neckwarmer. A trained monkey could make this!

Neckwarmers are great for weather when you don’t want to wear a heavy scarf or a heavy hooded sweatshirt. They just button or snap on, and then can be taken off again anytime.

All I did was cast on around 24-30 stitches (I can’t honestly remember how many, but since the height is really the width, just make it as high as you want it to come up… i.e. over your chin, etc) on size 11 needles, and did a pattern of knit 2, purl 2 all the way across making sure to end on a purl and start on a knit for each row. When it was as long as it needed to be to wrap around my neck, it was time to bind off and find some buttons.

My buttons are all black, but mismatched on purpose. I have five buttons going from big to small up the front of it, and they’re all different. You of course can use as many buttons as you like, three big ones, six small ones, whatever!

If you’re a really advanced knitter, this can be as complicated as you like. But for the beginner or the person who just enjoys knitting simple patterns, this is perfect and easy. I made this is a really affordable black yarn, but I’d like to make another in a fancier yarn.

As far as the website goes- its not quite done yet. I have many links to sort out and get in order, and lots of stuff to do. I’m impatient however, so I wanted to start posting as soon as possible. So please excuse any “mess” or anything that doesn’t work.

Knitted neckwarmer