DIY birthday cake toppers

Growing up, I’ve had some pretty amazing birthday cakes thanks to my mom.  She has worked in the bakery/deli at the Kroger grocery store for more than 30 years and is about to retire (yay!).  She’s had a lot of practice with making intricate piping boarders and lettering using butter cream frosting, and various decorative icing tips.  In addition to making and decorating nearly every birthday cake I’ve ever had (all but the two while I was in the Peace Corps), she decorated cakes for many other special occasions; first communion, conformation, graduations, and even my wedding (not to mention all the cakes she’s done for other family members).  Now that’s a lot of experience!

I like pretty cakes too, but I haven’t yet mastered all that great frosting work.  I also haven’t yet invested in buying the tools needed for creating pretty borders or lettering either.  But this past May I decided that I wanted to make and decorate my dad’s cake for his 60th birthday by getting a little crafty.

To make this “happy 60th birthday” sign cake topper was simple but a bit time-consuming.  I used materials that I already had on hand; some colored paper scraps left over from my wedding decorations, green floral wire from my hair clip craft fair display, some markers and Elmer’s glue.

Each decoration is two pieces of paper glued together with the wire sandwiched in between.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of my dad’s cake all finished.  In addition to the sign you see above I also made the owl decoration shown below.

September 30th was my Grandma Virgie’s birthday and I decided to make her cake as well.  I knew I wanted to re-use the happy birthday sign I used for dad’s cake, so I made a bird using the same paper so that it would match.  This time I got a little more ambitious with the bird.  I found the bird design in really old craft book from the library.  This time I wanted to make it look like the bird was perched on the wire, that’s why I had to add a second wire going through the tail section for extra support.  At the end of each curled wire is a leaf.  I also decorated both sides of the bird and leaves, so that it looks nice from either direction.

Here is the finished product with grandma Virgie posing behind it.  Doesn’t she look great for 105?!  Actually that was my Aunt Mary playing a little joke.  She’s only 83 (but still looks great!).  Mom decorated the orange, yellow and brown boarders on this spice cake.  It was a nice choice for fall I think.

Then, just a week later, it was time to celebrate my mom’s birthday!  Again I made the cake (yellow), but this time I decided to steer away from the birds.  This is a little ironic because my mom likes birds more than the others; and she HATES squirrels!  It was a risky choice I know, but there was a method to my madness.  First of all it was a cute squirrel, and second, it went with the gift I gave her; a plarn acorn basket.

After the candles were blown out and the toppers removed, the squirrel found a new home stuck into the pot of Gerber daisies we gave her.

This project would also be great for cupcakes of course, since the individual pieces could be stuck into the different cupcakes.

If you have a birthday celebration coming up and need an easy DIY project, this is something that anyone could do.  And the best part is that it’s totally reusable.  Just remember the clean off the wire stems well after you pull them out of the cake.

Happy crafting and happy birthdays!

I just had to include this picture of grandma, it just really shows her silly side.

Above; the present I gave my dad was wrapped in a deconstructed paper bag with a cute bird stamp from Crafty Goodness.

This post has just been added to a link party over on the blog Carolyn’s Homework and Skip to my Lou!

waste not gift box

You may remember the fabric collages (created using recycled fabrics) I started making last spring and how I decided to reproduce them as greeting cards.  This is a great option for those of you who produce 2D or even 3D work that is time-consuming because it is a way to make multiples of your work that are quick and affordable to both you and your customers.

In my case, I used a flat-bed scanner to import my collages into a digital format, but you could easily just photograph your pieces instead (especially when dealing with work that is more 3D in nature.)  What I really enjoy about my scans however, is the detail of the fabric textures that I was able to retain.

Making the collages; fun.
Importing them into Adobe Illustrator and formatting them into cards; tedious.
Getting them printed; a chore.

Usually.  It’s really getting better though.  One of these days we’ll get it right.

I say that because every time I’ve gotten them printed something goes wrong and several pages come out that are unusable (as cards).  Now I’ve never had to pay for these misprints, which I am very thankful for, but at the same time I feel bad because I really don’t like to be wasteful.  And though an unknown percentage of the paper used in my cards is recycled, they are overall my least eco-friendly product that I carry in my line.  (Though I have sourced a local print shop which I love, so as to make it more “green” in terms of transportation to and from the printer since I ride my bike, plus it helps support another local business).

The issue with this last print run was that it wasn’t printed on the correct weight paper.  Luckily it was a very small run (only about 12 letter sized sheets of paper worth).  I didn’t even realize the mistake until I was home and about to fold them into the cards.  I felt really bad because this was really my fault that I hadn’t reminded the printer to use his heaviest weight paper.  Now we’ve devised a system so that hopefully these types of misprints wont happen in the future.

But in the mean time I had about 24 cards worth of cover stock paper printed with my card imagery that I wasn’t able to make cards with (plus a bunch more from other runs).  Sure I could have just thrown them in the recycling or used the backs for something else, but that’s not really my style.

So I decided to make origami gift boxes with them instead.  In the past I have made these out of junk mail and have put bows on them, but I like these particular boxes bow-less better.

AND they are the perfect size for my little fabric scrap flower brooches too!

Do you have a story about how you turned a mistake into something usable?  I’d love to hear it!  Please leave me a comment below!

The First Cardinal Sin of Art School

The art professor asks, “why did you pick these materials?”  and your response is, “these are the materials I had.”

If you have ever said this to your professor, you have committed the first Cardinal Sin in art school.  This unforgivable laps in judgement happened to me often in my early art school days, but I soon learned to hear the response only in my head while my mouth wove a very different tale about the intent and meaning that these materials bring to whatever piece I happened to be making.  Did they buy it?  Most of the time, probably not.  Did I buy it?  No.

Now to be fair, this question was almost never raised unless the outcome of whatever project I was working on happened to fail miserably.  And so, I found the loop-hole in the system; I could use whatever materials I wanted (i.e. materials that were cheep, free, or lying around) as long as I made them work in my favor.  Hmm… now I was getting somewhere.

My very first project in my very first design class was called a transformation project.  In a nutshell, each week we had to make something using 12 (or a multiple of 12) of something to create something else, transforming it in such a way as to make it either extremely interesting or completely unrecognizable (or both).  The object that I chose to transform was a humble paper bag and for my first project from this series I made a teddy bear.  Though I had never really had any particular interest in sewing up until that point (I had gone into art school loving to paint), I somehow ended up making this bear using nothing more than the travel sewing kit my mom packed in my college dorm supplies*.  To my relief the teacher loved it.  I had discovered Fiber and a whole other side of craft that I never knew existed.

Though this first project was a success, I had many, many more failures in turning humble materials into artistic and academic gold, but that didn’t stop me from trying.

Now, nearly eleven years removed from my first day of art school, I am reminded of this “Cardinal Sin” because of what I find myself doing on a daily basis; I make things out of the materials that I have.  If I don’t have it, I don’t make it.  Period.  It’s kind of worked into my newly found business model of using primarily recycled/repurposed/reused materials.  To me, it’s a challenge of having a material and then finding a new use for it.  It’s exciting.  It’s fun.  It’s me.

I’ve recently realized that I’m an adult now and I live in that place that adults used to talk about incessantly while I was in college called “the real world.”  And, in the real world, one does not need to follow the rules of the “art world.”  That said, I very much enjoyed my time in art school and I really did learn a lot from my professors.  Namely, I learned about construction, craftsmanship, and intent and how these elements are important to think about when creating something.

My intent is to use materials in such a way as to give them new life.  In the most basic and conventional sense I am making these objects useful again, but really I’m trying to take this work to the next step and move beyond recycling or upcycling.  What this means, I’m not really sure.  (Transforming maybe?)

Throughout this post are photos of some projects that I’ve been working on recently.  There’s origami gift boxes made from junk mail, old calendars, and magazines.  There’s earrings made from recycled buttons (yes, every one).  There’s greeting cards with funny sayings made from cereal boxes.  These objects are where I am right now in my quest to figure out where I’m going.  To see them (or better yet, buy them!) and me in person, I invite you to come out to the Rowdy Indie Craft Fair this Sunday.  I’d love to chat with you!

*If you look closely at the bears eyes you can see that they are buttons, but since my cheep sewing kit didn’t include black buttons I just painted them.

**this post was just added to Made By You Mondays on Skip to My Lou, and The Inspiration Link Party 12 on Homework.

Comming up; Sandusky Art Walk

Beginning in May of this year, The Sandusky Art Walk will happen the first Thursday of each month through December and was created to bring “art and fun to downtown Sandusky [Ohio].”  The August Art Walk will take place tomorrow from 5-9 pm.

This will be my second time participating in this art walk (again set up outside of Kharma Salon & Boutique, 125 W. Water St., Sandusky, OH 44870) and I’m super excited about it!  It was during the July Art Walk when I had the revelation that I should focus my attention solely on making items from recycled/reclaimed/reused materials.

This will be my first craft event since that time and I’ve really put a lot of thought into using the discarded materials around me (buttons, cereal boxes, old fabric, and plastic grocery bags, just to name a few). Here’s a small preview of what you will see when you visit my table…

Handbags and baskets made from plastic grocery bags (aka plarn).

Recycled cereal box greeting cards with fun cereal puns.

Lots of new gift boxes with bows made from recycled junk mail.  And much much more!  Hope to see you there!

Crocheting with plastic bags; a six year journey

Crocheting with plastic bags.  It’s not a new phenomenon; people have been doing it for years.  Of course I didn’t know that when I started crocheting with plastic grocery bags in the Fall of 2005, following my last year of college.  I didn’t have a computer or regular access to the internet, and I had never heard of anyone doing it.  I even looked around on the internet searching  for other people who were doing it after I had started, but at that time not as many people wrote craft blogs (heck, I didn’t even know what a blog was in 2005) and I didn’t find anyone.

So why did I start suddenly crocheting with plastic bags?  Back in 2005 I was living in a new and unfamiliar city (Atlanta, GA), had a lot of time on my hands, but not a lot of money.  Up until that point I had only crocheted with copper wire, which was the center of my college thesis project.  About a month or so after moving to Atlanta, my husband and I had amassed what I thought was an enormous amount of plastic bags from the nearby Publix and Kroger grocery stores.  Being the eco-conscious person that I am, this really bothered me and I wanted to do something about it.  And, to be perfectly honest, I also wanted to start making things again and this seemed like an endless source of free material.

Ironically, my first bag made with what is now known as “plarn” (plastic yarn) was actually knit instead of crocheted.  I had a pair of really big knitting needles and thought I’d give it a try, making the entire project in flat garder stitch which I later sewed together with more plarn.  I don’t even have a picture of this monstrosity (I didn’t own a digital camera until September, 2006) but trust me, it was a train wreck.  I do remember being extremely proud of it at the time though, and I saw that my “bag made of bags” had potential after receiving several positive comments, sometimes even from strangers on the train.

After that first project I abandoned my knitting needles and picked up my crochet hook.  My first couple of totes were crocheted in the round and meant to be re-useable shopping bags.

I soon decided that I wanted to get a little more adventurous and made a messenger-style bag.  The arrows that this bag features are my very first attempts at tapestry crochet!  I had no idea how to do tapestry crochet; hadn’t seen it on-line, in a book, and I certainly hadn’t been shown in person.  All I remember is that it took me a very long time to figure out, and I’m 100% sure that this is a bastardized version of tapestry crochet (I later learned the technique from a very old needle craft book while in the Peace Corps).

After testing out my bags by actually using them, I realized that I didn’t like the crochet plastic bag handles.  I didn’t like how they felt in my hand or on my shoulder.  Plus, if the stitches were loose at all they would get stretched out and look sad.  That’s when I made my way over to the local fabric store and bought some ready-made purse handles.  I wasn’t completely satisfied with this solution however.  I felt very limited as to my selection and most of the time I thought that the handles looked cheep and didn’t completely fit with the bags.

In May of 2006 my husband finished school in Atlanta and we moved back to Ohio and our jobs as caricature artists.  That Fall I was invited to the Cleveland Institute of Art to teach a class on crocheting with recycled materials and taught the students about plarn.  Eventually I learned about the technique of making the plarn by connecting loops of the plastic bags together instead of cutting them into flat strips and knotting them with a square knot.  I picked up crocheting with plastic bags again that Winter and even did a photo shoot (which is why I have any pictures of those early bags at all), but I never got back into like I had the year before in Atlanta; until about a week ago.

Starting a new era of plastic bag making

After making the decision to shift my business focus to making objects from recycled materials, I decided that it was time to get those plastic bags out of storage (believe it or not, I still had a small stash of bags left over from my time in Atlanta!) and see what I could do.  My abilities and technique have come a long way since 2005/2006 when I made those first bags.

To solve my handle problem I decided that a good solution would be to cannibalize the handles of old purses.  The two larger bags below feature the handles and closures from two separate purses that were too stained and worn to be used, so that means they are still 100% recycled.  The small, round purse with the long strap also has a recycled purse zipper, but the handle is made of new yarn.  The yarn has better drape than a plarn version and feels better for wearing, especially if it rubs up against the neck area while wearing across the chest.

In addition to making bags from bags, I want to experiment with other products.  My first experiment was the crochet owl shown at the top of this post.  But wait!  It’s not just any old owl!  It’s a weeble-wobble owl!  Weighed with heavy metal chain (recycled) on the bottom and stuffed with plastic bag scraps on top this owl weebles and wobbles and only sometimes falls down!

Do you crochet with plastic bags?  Have any suggestions about what I should make next?  I’d love to hear your comments to this post!

*This post was just added to Made By You Mondays over on Skip to my Lou!

Rag-tastic

So I’ve been putting some more thought into the direction that I want to go with zween and came to the conclusion that I really like working with re-claimed/re-purposed/recycled objects.  So now, at last, I have a focus!  I can’t tell you want a relief this is!

Though I’ve done lots of work with re-claimed/re-purposed/recycled objects in the past, I only just realized while participating in the Sandusky Art Walk last Thursday that most of my work now could be categorized in this way.  It seems like such a simple thing, but once I realized this it was much easier to talk with people about my work in a genuine and excited manner.

What is really exciting about this realization is that it’s still a broad category.  It focuses as much on the materials as the end product.  By this I mean I can find a material that is in need of a new life (ie: bed sheets, plastic bags, puzzles with missing pieces, damaged clothing, matchbooks, junk mail, etc.) and work with them until I find an appropriate application.

This of course means that I may go to a craft fair with an array of items; personal accessories, home items, and gift items (in other words, what would seem as a complete hodge podge of products) but they can still all live together in that realm of the re-made.

Last week I showed you a rag rug made from old bed sheets.  Well, it didn’t work out.  I was throughly unhappy with the oval shape and the use of double crochet so I ripped it all out and started over, making it into a circular rug instead.

I took my unfinished rug to the Art Walk to work on during slow periods.  It proved to be quite the conversation starter!  I can’t count the number of times someone said, “oh hey, a rag rug!  My mother/grandmother/aunt used to make those!”

As it turns out an Art Walk is not the best place to work on a giant rag rug.  For one thing I couldn’t check its flatness on the ground, as it was filthy, and it was a bit cumbersome when I needed to stop and get up to talk with someone.  My second attempt didn’t work out very well either.  Though I was sure I was counting my stitches correctly, it become apparently clear that the rug was becoming wavier with every round, meaning that there were probably too many stitches somehow.  I ended up ripping out more than half of my work, so what you see in this post is actually my third attempt (see photo at top of post).

As you can see, my new rug is made in a single crochet spiral.  It’s turning out much better now but the next time I make a rug I think I will make my strips of cloth skinnier.  The strips for this pink, white, and yellow rug are 2 inches wide.  One and a half-inch strips would work better I think.

Though I’m not quite done with my rug (but almost!) I decided to start (and finish) another rag project, so I made a bag.  Though this bag is made out of strips of cloth like the rug, it is not from a bed sheet.  The black fabric I used here is from my college thesis project.  My project was a huge installation of crochet copper wire, and at the last-minute I realized that I would need a black ceiling to really set off the copper.  Since I wasn’t allowed to paint the ceiling black I did the next best thing; I bought yards and yards of the cheapest black fabric I could find and sewed the panels together.  It sounds janky but the end result turned out well and my project ended up being in the top 20 of my class.

That was 6 years ago however and I still have all this fabric! And now I’m using it. It was a great way to experiment with the fabric strips as well with my crochet techniques.

For my black hand bag I ripped my fabric strips to just one inch wide, which is quite skinny, but I still used my chunkiest hook (seen in rug photo). This gives the crocheted fabric a lot more drape, yet it still keeps its form very well. In the picture above the bag is not propped up against anything, nor is there any stuffing inside of it.

Since the fabric is a solid color I thought it would be fun to make some different textures with the crochet to give it more visual interest.  The base and lower portion of the bag is single crochet, which gives it a lot of strength.  The vertical ribs around the mid-section of the bag are made using a technique of crocheting around the post of a double crochet.  By alternating between regular double crochet and double crochet around the post you get these nice ribs, which almost look a little like knit.  It also gives this mid section a nice stretchiness, which is usually hard to achieve in crochet.

Tutorial: fabric strips for use in crochet or knitting

For those of you who would like to learn to crochet or knit with fabric strips you can watch this video on Etsy.  Or, if you don’t have a fast enough internet connection (this one’s for you Noelle) I have prepared a little photo tutorial to help illustrate the process.

first, rip your fabric into strips. The strips shown here are 2 inches wide. The wider your strips the thicker your end fabric will be. Thick strips work well for rugs but they are also a little hard to crochet with in my opinion.

Next, if your fabric is hemmed rip out the hem as well.

Now fold over the end a bit and make a small, vertical slit in the fabric.

Do the same thing with your next fabric strip.

Thread the second strip through the hole of the first strip.

Now thread the other end of the second strip through the hole of the second strip and pull. (it’s a little tricky to see this part in the photos).

When the two strips are pulled tightly you will have a very strong knot that will not unravel!

Keep your eyes out for more recycled inspired objects in the near future.  If you haven’t already, make sure to like zween on facebook so that you can keep up to date on all my new posts, projects, and upcoming events.

See you soon and happy crafting!

Made and REmade in the USA

Happy Independence Day!  It’s time for cookouts, fireworks and spending time with family.  So today, in honor of Independence Day, I thought I’d share a project that I began this morning which is patriotic in its own special way; a lowly rag rug.  And no, it’s not because it’s not red, white, and blue, which as you can clearly see, it is not.

Rag rugs have a long history in America, experiencing popularity during both the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Great Depression.   They are representative of a DIY mentality deeply rooted in our identity as a nation, as well as embodying the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra that has become ever so popular and necessary in these tough economic times.

Recently, I came across this video on Etsy with The Crochet Dude, who teaches a really great way of joining strips of fabric together that is very secure and doesn’t involve sewing or knotting, which could completely come apart when washing.

Then last night I was lying awake in bed thinking of where I and my business, zween, are going (or rather, not going).  It’s something that I’ve been struggling with for a few months now and which has been a source of perpetual exhaustion and confusion for me.  Why are my projects feel so disconnected?  Why can’t I just use one type of material like yarn or fabric or fleece or clay?  Why can’t I just make one type of product like clothing, or jewelry or household items like everyone else?  WHY CAN’T I FIND MY VOICE???

For weeks I’ve been stumped.  I still am.  This is a process.

After giving it some thought in the context of finding where I’m going with my business, as I discussed in this post, I decided that one direction I could really see myself going with my work is the realm of reworking and remaking objects to make them once again functional and/or beautiful.  This is something that has been an underlying interest of mine for years; wanting to use materials and resources in a sustainable and responsible way.  If you are in any way a creative person at all, which I assume you are, you know what I’m talking about.  We work with what we have.

It’s within this meandering train of thought that I came to start this rag rug.  Do I see myself making 3o more of these?  Five more of these?  Probably not.  As it is, I’ll probably have to completely re-do the one you see here, as it’s not lying as flat as I’d like.  But it’s part of that process that I was talking about.  So maybe I don’t make something that I can sell, or even use myself after the first try.  The point is that I made something and by making I am also learning.  In the words of Thomas Edison, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

On the other hand, there are some aspects of this rag rug that are working for me.  For example, I really like that I’m finally able to put some old bed sheets to use.  I bought these sheets years ago at a thrift store, with the intention of using them for a project of some sort as they were no longer useful as bed sheets.  They are old and worn, faded in the middle, and have some stains and the occasional hole.

The idea for this blog post and title came after a closer look at the tag sewn into the hem of the bed sheet I was deconstructing.  It is labeled as Made in USA.  So the original product (bed sheets) where made in the US and now the new product, a handmade rug, was also made in the the US.  Made and re-made in the USA!

Lakewood Etsy Craft Party 2011

The Etsy Craft Party in Lakewood, Ohio was a lot of fun tonight.  It was a nice combination of upcycled paper crafts, meditative drawing, and good company!

The Zentangle ladies were there explaining the meditative qualities behind Zentangle and how to do it. Below are some examples of Zentangle.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any really good close ups of the intricate designs, which are truly stunning.  The idea is that you brake your piece of paper (or tile) into smaller sections and concentrate on filling that section with a pattern.  It’s more about the process than the finished product (though the finished product is really cool) and it’s supposed to be very relaxing.

In addition to Zentangle, I was teaching how to make several upcycled paper projects, which included the origami gift boxes with bows and tags shown above.  The box itself is made using card-stock weight junk mail, while the bow is made out of glossy adds, and the tag is a bit of card board packaging like from a cereal box.  To watch the Etsy video that taught me how to make the origami boxes above click here.

In contrast to the Zentangle table, serene and contemplative was exactly what my crafting table wasn’t tonight!  Their was glue, little scraps of paper, scissors, skewers and every other supply that I brought in a big mass of confusion, helped along by my first two students of the night; a set of brothers, one seven and one four.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of these two little guys because, as you can imagine, my hands were full.  I did however, get some shots of most of the other people who made gift boxes with bows and tags, so here they are…

I was also prepared to teach paper bead making tonight, however, that pretty much went out the window after my first two pint sized students.  Note to self; paper bead making should be done by persons 10 and over.  I wasn’t really prepared to teach small children at this event, I didn’t have any crafts appropriate for children their ages.  I tried to make it work anyway with the paper beads but it didn’t go very smoothy.  Here are some beads I made earlier as examples.  For a really great video tutorial on how to make these click here.

Therese (left) is the owner of Keyhole Gallery, the location for this fabulous event!  Therese was teaching how to make origami pendents today, but unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures.  I really wasn’t on the ball today.

This was a really great get together and their is talk of us doing this again sometime in the near future, probably this summer!  I hope that we do and generate even more interest and have more people come.  It’s such good energy being around other creative people.

Party Time Etsy Style!

It’s almost time for Etsy’s second annual Global Craft Party!  Last year, over 5,000 people participated in over 500 meetups around the world.  This year there will be an Etsy Craft Party right here in Lakewood, Ohio at Keyhole Gallery on Detroit begining at 7pm!

The theme for this party is Upcycled Paper!  We hope that you will join us in making projects such as paper beads, origami pendants, gift bows, and collages…all out of recyled magazines!  Also, their may even be some Zentangle demos!

RECYCLE by bringing an old magazine or any paper, and add it to the collective pot! That way, we’ll have many choices in color and paper for all the projects! All other supplies will be provided and are FREE of charge! All projects are quick, fun, and for all levels of ability!

So come on, don’t be shy!  This is the perfect opportunity to meet other crafty, creative people in the area and get your craft on!

For more information on Etsy and the Lakewood/Cleveland Craft Party visit the meetup page.

Hope to see you there!

 

DIY Dress Redo

Do you like to shop at thrift stores and yard sales?  Me too!  I’ve come to be a very picky shopper when it comes to thrift stores.  For one thing, they aren’t as cheap as they used to be, so even if I really like a garment, I usually wont buy it unless I’m really satisfied with the fit.  Usually.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of reworking garments and breathing new life into them, I’m just not very good at it.  I know my limitations.  I like to sew, but my skills are only so so.

The following is a little story about how and why I chose to rework this cotton thrift store sundress.  I was inspired to write this post after reading about the Me-Made-June 2011 challenge which my friend Margaret of the blog senjiva and the Cynical Carnival is participating in.  The gist of the challenge is to wear one thing that you’ve made yourself every day for the month of June.  The items can be complete outfits, a single garment piece (like a skirt or top) or an accessory.  They can be sewn, knit, crochet, whatever.  I really admire Margaret for taking on this challenge.

So although I am not participating in the Me-Made-June 2011 Challenge, I thought I’d share this story…

A few years ago my husband and I went to Hawaii to become WWOOFers (WWOOF stands for world wide opportunities on organic farms).  Before we left, we went shopping for some “good” down and dirty work cloths.  You know, stuff we could get really messed up but would keep us nice and protected from the sun while working on a farm.  We also knew that we’d need to pack very light for this three-week trip.

While we were shopping I came across this really cute sun dress.  I thought, this would be the perfect thing for me to wear around in hot and humid Hawaii after changing out of my work clothes each day.  The only problem; it didn’t fit.  It was too big.

No biggie.  At home I took it in on the sides.  Then I added straps (scraps from another sun dress that was stained and too small) to be doubly sure that it wouldn’t fall down on me.  I even added an extra piece of fabric with some elastic on the bottom edge to the inside of the bodice which acts as a kind of built-in bra.

I didn’t think that the dress was appropriate to wear in Morocco so it went into storage for last a couple of years.  Then, a few weeks ago when the weather started to warm up, I decided to get it out.  I discovered that I really liked it with a light weight, short-sleeve cardigan (above) that I found at a thrift store recently and my favorite leather flats (handmade in Morocco).

But, it was missing just one thing…pockets!  When I’m working at home I’m always wearing my ipod nano, which is why I need to have pockets.  Luckily I still had just enough of the fabric I used for the straps to make two pockets that I top stitched onto the dress, using the side seams as my guides.

I love how light, airy and comfortable this dress is.  I wear it all the time, usually on the hottest days.  It’s so functional!  Plus it makes my feel feminine and dressed up, even if I don’t leave the house, but at the same time I’m not embarrassed to leave the house in it either.

If you’ve been on the fence about reworking a thrifted garment but are apprehensive because of your sewing skills, I say just go for it!  Really, you don’t have anything to lose, but you might just gain one of your favorite outfits.