Manic Pop

So a few weeks ago I made patterns for a dress I was going to dye with a few Rit dyes (a garment dye, which is dyeing the garment AFTER it's made versus dyeing the fabric before making the item.) The dress was going to be watercolor-like hues, but on the bus one day, I got an idea for a print that does not yet exist ... or would be super-hard to find. Solution? Make your own fabric stamps! Prior to that, I had read a post on The Pineneedle Collective, Annika's blog about DIY stamps and decided it was time to play with some again. I had made some stamps in high school using an eraser and then again in college in my surface design class. The stamp I made in college had almost a plaid-like effect when stamped. I first drew out my design in my sketchbook - 2 different sizes of clouds and then some wavy lines for underneath the clouds and a layering effect. Then I transferred it onto a sheet of foam for the stamp part. (A sheet of foam is around 89 cents at most craft st...

So after about 6 months of on-and-off working on this fall jacket I finally found fabric I wanted for it!  I had a chance to stop by Textile Discount Outlet again on Tuesday in Pilsen (dummy me had gotten zippers that were just slightly too short for the mix 'n' match dress measurements, but I was feeling absolutely awful the day I picked up zippers.) If you're in the Chicago area and looking for cheap fabric, it's highly recommended you check this place out. Wandering around almost-aimlessly, and not expecting to find my fabric there for that jacket at all, I wandered into the upholstery fabric section. I did find a bunch of beautiful, ornate brocades but none that would really work with these knitted pieces that I made, according to the jacket design from a 70s craft book. Thinking back, I perhaps should have used a solid color for these since it would have made my fabric decision a lot easier but then... ta da! I found it! Perhaps yes, the fabric is...

I'm a pretty big fan of tent dresses (or trapeze dresses - call it what you want). They're simple, easy-to-make and you can have many variations of them. These are a fun style to wear for spring and summer!  See this DIY from a Good Housekeeping Crafts book from 1971 - photos at the end of my own trapeze top from a while ago! (Bear with me on the photos here - this book is quite cumbersome and hard to scan.)  Applique patterns, in case you wanted the dress to look EXACTLY like the photo. (But why?)  How to cut the fabric efficiently. (This is actually pretty important cost-wise for you - especially with something this big.)  Using pattern instructions from my patternmaking book from college, I created this swingy trapeze top a bit ago. I used sweater fabric from a thrift store find for the collar of this top.   I also opened up the back on the pattern to have a diamond shape.   It c...

Out on a thrift store trip today, I found some more gems chillin' in the books section. Whenever I go to a thrift store, I scour the book sections for any DIY books from the 60s and 70s. I love 60s/70s interiors as there was lots of bright color usage and the top book is perfect for ideas of shelving, storage, and painting. Both books are from 1977. I don't really know a lot about how to build things (though I did want to be a construction worker in middle school for some reason) but these seem easy enough to do with minimal experience. Most of the time if you go to Home Depot or any other store like that, if you have measurements that you want things to be, they will cut it for you to those specifications. I think this is an amazing storage idea for renters (if a landlord doesn't mind you putting holes in the walls) and owners alike. I'd definitely go nuts with contrast colors here - or even powder blue! The diagram tells you how it's built. ...