Fancy Pillowcase Tutorial by the Remnant Bin Queen

Lately when I've been making my trips to JoAnn's, I've become obsessed with rifling through the remnant bins. Recently there was a half-off remnant sale, and I went crazy! Instead of thinking of myself as a crazy bag lady clutching many multicolored scraps of fabric, I fancy myself a Remnant Bin Queen, the benevolent ruler over these lost fabric souls! Recently I found a remnant in a nice blue and white floral-ish design  that seemed to vaguely match my color scheme for my craft room. I decided it would be perfect for my craft room's mismatched-but-color-coordinating throw pillows, which is a design aspect recommended in the "creative" color scheme paint pamphlet. 

I've made several simple pillowcases with one front piece and two overlapping back pieces, but I wanted this one to be a little different. I had extra fabric, so I figured I would add some design or texture element to the front. I started out in the usual fashion, with my three pieces: the front, and two overlapping back strips. I sewed in the edges on the back two pieces, like so.  

I decided to do a twisty piece on the front, like a big piece of farfalle pasta. I cut a strip that was almost as wide as the front piece, and several inches longer. I sewed the edges of that long piece so there weren't raw edges. I centered the longer piece on top of the front square piece and folded one edge over it, with both front faces up. Here is the front and back view.

Then I ironed everything. I took that long piece and twisted it twice, so that it made a farfalle (butterfly) shape with both wings having the right face out, and arranged it so there was no back part showing. I sewed the other edge over the front square to secure it. 

I wanted there to be a little piece in the middle of the butterfly, securing it, or giving it the illusion of security anyway. I made a little piece and sewed the edges, and then I lifted the butterfly off of the front piece and sewed it into place with two small folds on the band. You can kind of see how I did it here. 

Now it was time to sew the back pieces on. I made sure the right facing sides were together and sewed them on. One thing I've noticed about my pillows is that I make the corners too pointy, so I tried to soften them in this instance, and I even cut little notches into them because that's supposed to make curves not appear rumpled. I also used pins to pin the back pieces into place, which would make my mother proud (not pictured...). 

Notches, bitches. 

Alright, so I pinned, notched, twisted and sewed. Now I have a pillowcase that's a step above the other ones I've made. Boom!  

Just look at that light dappled pillow. It is beautiful. Here it is with its friends! 

Now doesn't that IKEA sofa bed pillow spread just look...fit for a Queen!

YES!  

Thrift Score Makeover

Last week a coworker turned me on to this amazing site: refashionista.net 
It's a lady who can turn even the most mindbogglingly misshapen and awkward thrift store finds into amazing, wearable clothes. I love it! I was inspired to do my own refashioning, so I hit Loaves & Fishes and found some dresses that were just begging for it. 

Like this one. 

I love the green and the multicolored graph paper design and the ruffled neckline, but the floppy bodice, sleeves and length were all pretty terrible. 

It also had ruffles on the ends of the puffy sleeves. The pirate look! My amateur modeling skills have really come out in this photo. This is my "drunken school marm" look. I started by cutting off those godawful pirate sleeves and some length. 

The waist was pretty ill-fitting on me. It was too low to be flattering with that puffy top, so I actually had to take it apart and sew the skirt on a little higher. It was a challenge to keep the elastic waistband intact, so I sewed just above it. I messed up once and created a bubble in the waistline, which I had to rip out with my handy dandy seam ripper and re-sew. 

Next I worked on the arm holes. I cut them even farther in and then sewed the raw edges in once. 

I finished the bottom hem by folding in twice and sewing to make it look nicer. 

And here is the final product! Pretty good job, if I do say so myself! This dress was $5.99, by the way. 

 I went outside with my tripod and took some photos of myself. Eat your hearts out, neighbors! 

For you continuity sticklers out there, I know last time I said that next time we'd find out how that pattern-sewing session with my mom went, but I haven't taken photos of the skirt I made, so that will have to wait. I've also made another pillowcase, for which I may or may not post a tutorial some time soon. No more promises! 

I'll leave you with this amazing pair of shoes I also scored at Loaves & Fishes. I tried them on sort of as a joke with myself  like, "Wow, look at these weird shoes! I'll try them on, just for kicks." They were the only shoes there that fit my big freaky feet, and I had a total Sword in the Stone moment with them. I didn't choose these polka dot kitten heel masterpieces; they chose me. 

These shoes needed me as much as I needed them. 

Shirt Sewing Success

This year, instead of listing a small but manageable crop of resolutions for the new year, I’ve been scrawling a random assortment of goals and things to remember this year in my journal. The running list consists of such lofty and specific goals as “read more,” and “be kinder.” Somewhere on the margins I scratched “get better at sewing,” and I thought a good way to do that would be making myself some more clothes. 

Now I've done some sloppy-chic clothes sewing projects in the past, but I wanted to refine my technique. This year, I decided, I’d learn to use patterns, starting with a new pencil skirt for the office! I went with the Simplicity brand patterns, thinking (as I’m sure the Simplicity marketing team intended) that these patterns would be very easy. Turns out, it’s like that Minute rice that takes much longer than a minute to cook. I picked out a nice brown crackle pattern fabric, grabbed the various accoutrements (zipper, hook and eye, measuring tape, dressmaker’s pencil!), and as I was heading to the cutting table, a sheer, black and white remnant caught my eye so I grabbed that as well, as it was only $4.

I got home and excitedly ripped open my pattern. It was complete gobbledy gook. I abandoned it and made a flowy, forgiving top from my remnant instead. I looked on the internet for ideas and much in the way I would do if I was cooking a new dish, I took some tips and inspiration from all corners of the world wide web.

First I folded my fabric in half and pulled the front up a bit, because I wanted the shirt to be longer in the back than front. 

This is a sideways picture of the folded fabric. So the fold is the top, where the neck hole goes. I cut out a neckline that came down a little in the back and a little more in the front. Going down from the top two corners, I made a mark where the arm holes went and then sewed in about four inches at that point, and then turned 90 degrees to go down the rest of the shirt. I cut out the excess fabric, leaving me with kind of a misshapen T. I tried it on and took it in a few times until I achieved the most flattering level of flowiness.

Next, I folded up each sleeve once to make about a one inch cuff and sewed it in place. 

 Then I finished the edge along the neckline. 

Remember that longer back part we talked about earlier? We'll call that the "tail." Next I trimmed my tail to be nice and rounded. Achieving symmetry was a challenge. I then finished that edge as well. In this case by "finish," I mean I folded in a tiny bit and sewed, though I later realized if I folded inward twice, the frayed edge would be totally hidden--something to keep in mind for future projects.   

The last thing I did was put on my shirt and force my boyfriend to take a series of photos of me modeling my shirt. He was a real sport. 

 I like to wear it as an off-the-shoulder number. People go crazy for these creamy white shoulders. 

 Here is a side view. Check out that tail.  

This shirt rules because it's cute and mod looking, and I could eat several cheeseburgers and tons of beer while wearing it and not feel constricted or uncomfortable. I call that sewing success!   

The long and short of it is that this shirt will turn you into a motherfucking  kumquat goddess. 

 Stay tuned for the next installment of my sewing adventure, during which I get help from my mommy and learn how to use my pencil skirt pattern!