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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

5.31.2010

Patriotic shorts?

Happy Memorial Day!  It seems appropriate today that I share these red and white shorts with you.
I love to make dresses, of course, but sometimes there's not enough fabric, or sometimes you want to look fresh and cute without wearing a dress... and I had some cute white and red plaid fabric that I got on half-off clearance at JoAnn for like $1.50 a yard.  So, inspired by the cute, bright shorts at Anthro:
and by this cute New Look 6873 pattern that I've had for a while and never used:
I made myself a pair of shorts!
I had to follow the instructions on this one, since I'm not used to making things with pockets, zipper flies, decorative hems and tabs... I was proud of myself, actually, for going step by step!  Usually I just jump in and figure it out, since most dresses are constructed the same, and most tops are constructed the same... no need for instructions.  But this time I read the booklet.
Anyway here they are!
I gave 'em belt loops and everything!
Hope you're enjoying the day off with your families or doing something fun in the sunshine if you have any!
11 comments

5.29.2010

Anna Joyce Design Patterns!!

I have a very exciting announcement for any of you Anna Joyce Designs fans--remember that sponsor post a while back?  Some of your loved Anna's stuff, including her growth charts, which were all sold out at the time!
Well, they're back, but so are... Patterns!!  Anna has produced two sewing patterns, for the Owl in the Woods growth chart and the Song Bird growth chart, both available here for $8.00 each.
In addition to creating patterns (what an accomplishment!), Anna has filled her Etsy store with more goodies, including more super cute pillows and hoodies!
Such cute things!  Anna has great style and taste and I love looking at her blog, also--check it out!  She posts about all kinds of stylish things and loves JCrew, Anthro, Toast UK, Design*Sponge, Cal Patch books... all good stuff!
2 comments

5.28.2010

Happy spring linen top

Yesterday I made this fresh linen top, nice for transitioning from spring to summer in Oregon.  I love the fabric--wish I knew more about it, but it's clearly a linen or linen blend, and I only had about a yard of it from the bins at Goodwill Outlet.  I love getting fabric there--$1.39/lb or less!
I used Simplicity 3530 but made it shorter than their tunic top version, and gave it sort of a baseball tee hem--it wasn't as cute with the straight horizontal line across my hips.
So here it is!
It is also really cute belted!
15 comments

5.27.2010

I'm on a roll, I can't stop (sourcing How I Met Your Mother l clothes!)

I'm sorry, I've totally posted about this before.  How cute are the clothes on How I Met Your Mother?  I'm pretty sure the costumers have recently realized that Anthropologie is an amazing source for cute, unique, screen-friendly clothes for the stylish ladies on the show (duh; we could have told them that).
It was really exciting when I first saw Anthro things on HIMYM but now it seems like they're everywhere!  I hope you're not too tired of seeing my screen shots of their costumes, but luckily, the season finale was this week so there won't be any more blog posts like this for a while! ;)
On an episode a couple weeks ago, see what Lily's wearing?
Then on the next episode, a girl Ted dates wears one of our favorite Anthro sweaters, the Blooming Lattice Cardigan (navy version of the one I copied):
And here's a mystery: later in the episode the same girl wears a very cute dress that looks Anthro, but is not part of their current merchandise... does anyone recognize it??  It's a mystery!
Recognize it?  Navy cotton printed with multi-color circles, and pleated front detail?  Looks Anthro to me.
Here's another mystery--in the season finale Lily wears a dress that looks awfully familiar.  I can't quite place it--anyone have any ideas?
I think it looks familiar because it's a basic style, similar to other ones Anthro has made (and Lily has worn), but I swear that ruffle is the same as this one on this Anthropologie dress:
It does look fun to copy!
10 comments

5.26.2010

Easy and cheap drawer pulls!

How about a super duper easy way to freshen the look of a dresser?
Thought I'd share with you this idea I had a few years ago (I'm sure some of you have done it, too!) for this lingerie chest I got that had terribly dulle round, wooden knobs.  Of course I would have liked to add some darling vintage-looking glass knobs from Anthro, but I found a much cheaper solution.
I took a piece of ribbon about 8 inches long, folded it in half, poked the cut ends into the hole on the drawer, and sewed them through a big button to keep it in place.
Here's what they look like!
Peek inside my bra drawer ;)?
Super fast and easy!  And really lightens up the look of the dresser.
2 comments

5.24.2010

Great use for hankies, Peter Pan Collar tanks! Tutorial

I'm proud to say I came up with this one on my own (I think).
I collect cute vintage hankies and have way too many, even with selling some in my Etsy store.  As a fun way to dress up summery tanks and tees, I've decided to make Peter Pan collars (that means the classic cutesy rounded-edge, vintage-ey shape) out of decorated hankies and put them on plain tees and tanks!
To do this, you'll need a tank, a hankie, and some white cotton for the underside of the collar.  Here's what I'm starting with:
I'm going to show you how to do two styles of collar--one that wraps around to the back and one that's just a fake collar, only in front.  You may not have enough hankie fabric to do the full collar; I ran into this problem with one of my hankies, so it's only on the front!
So here's what I did.
  • Fold the tank in half and make a pattern that follows the curve of its neckline.
  • Using the arc, create the shape of the collar--just eyeball it!
  • Cut out around the collar adding a 1/2-5/8" seam allowance, whatever you prefer.  This is your pattern piece, which you'll use to cut out from the hankie and the white cotton.
  • If you have enough hankie to do a full collar, do the same thing but trace around to the back of the tank, too:
 It's okay if your lining and hankie fabrics don't match up perfectly, or if you don't have 100% enough fabric... the uneven places will get lost in the seam allowance.
  • Turn the pieces right sides together and sew *along the curved edge only*.
  • You're going to flip and press, but first clip along the curve in the seam allowance so you don't have bulk along the edge.
  • Flip and press.
  • Press under 1/2" through both layers and clip along that curve, too.
  • Find the center of your tank and pin the collar down, using your 1/2" fold as the guide to fit the edge of the tank directly into.  Sew (on the inside of the tank) along the curve.
  • If you're doing the partial collar, turn under 1/4"-1/2" at the top and finish the seam on the inside.  Then hand-sew the fold down.
 That's it!

54 comments

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