I did it!! The Story of Remaking a Dress

I LOVE to wear dresses in the summer.  Cool and comfy and non-binding.  There are very few dresses to purchase, out there, that cover you on top well enough and aren't too short for a late 40's girl like me!  So I snatched up this dress last summer for $8 and was thrilled.  Til hubby saw it on me.  He said it looked like a bag.  No shape to it.  Boo!  : )  Today I put the dress on, found it to be oh so comfy, and decided to make it FIT me!

I used to be afraid to really alter clothes.  I'm a perfectionist.  I didn't like that it wasn't perfect when I was done, and I'm not patient, so I didn't want to spend hours making it perfect.  Blogland has helped me get over that!  Yay!  So the first thing I tackled was the sides...making it have a more fitted waist.

Next I took up the hem about 1.5 inches so it wouldn't be quite as long.  Not too short though b/c I have these skinny birdy legs that don't tan very well.  Ha!

Backing up a bit, after taking up the sides above and below the waist, I cut the extra fabric from the seam so it wouldn't be bunched up.  Then pressed the seam flat on the outside of the dress.

The next problem with this dress besides it being a bit too long and having no shape to it, was the sleeves.  They were kind of 'heavy' looking and droopy on me.  Did nothing for me and weren't cute.  So I decided to alter them.

This summer dress has nice little cap sleeves and it was my inspiration for the redone sleeves of this dress makeover.

I used a dinner plate to give me a nice uniform curve for cutting off the sleeve.  A fabric marking pen quickly made the line for me.

And with a bit of fear and trembling...I cut off the sleeves into a cap sleeve shape.  This next part was THE hardest.  Pressing a little double rolled hem into place and carefully stitching it into place.  Took awhile!  But oh so worth it.

So here's a reminder of the straight, bag dress with the droopy sleeves.

And here she is! The "new" dress!  It's fitted around the waist instead of just hanging on me like a sack.  It's a wee bit shorter.  And the sleeves look soooo much better and feel better too.  I want to make a fabric flower pin for embellishing it, but found that this sweet pin my niece made goes with it quite well!  Add some cute black wedge sandals and I'm ready for dinner at Culvers and alittle Walmart shopping with the family.  

The true test of whether my handiwork was a success?  My husband.  He told me at home that it did indeed look soooo much better on me.  But the best compliment was at Walmart as I sashayed down the aisles with my cart...he was behind me making little comments as we went.  Nice comments!  Hee hee!  So the moral of my story is, give it a try on something that you aren't afraid to experiment on.  I figured if worse came to worse, I'd wear this dress around the house.  Instead, it turned out well, and I can wear it wherever I want.  Thank you Jesus!!!

Blessings!

Donna 
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Trash to Splash...Milk Jug to Cute Caddy

I cut out an idea from a  magazine awhile back showing how to cut a plastic milk jug so that is can be a cute caddy.  I had in mind to make one of these (or ten of these) to help house my son's million Lego pieces.  But when I tried to get him to let me cut 1-2 little Lego pics out of a catalog to use for it, he refused!  So I made this one for me....using sweet old calendars, I found some pics I could use.

Cute, cute, cute.

Of course I forgot to take a pic of how to cut the milk jug but you'll be able to see it in the upcoming photos.  I used dear  ol' Mod Podge to adhere the pics to the jug.

I put the other two pics on the other side of the jug front, so it looks like....

This!  And added a couple little cut-outs at the top to hide little indentions in the jug.

A piece of raffia for a tie on the handle and three overlapped buttons for embellishment.  I glued the raffia to the handle after tying it on.

So, Legos would go in these caddies per-fect-ly!  But since I made one for me, hmmm.  Apples?

A craft project that you wanted to have on-the-go-ready?

How about craft supplies?

Or even baking supplies in your pantry.  So, there you have it, a trash to splash idea.  I LOVE organizing containers, and they are rather pricey to purchase.  So if I can use a milk jug instead, then bravo!  Thank you for visiting, and know that I love your comments and ideas.

Blessings!

Donna 
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5 Minute Homemade Salsa

Once upon a summer, I discovered a wonderful little recipe for homemade salsa in a little cookbook called Desperation Dinners.  It called for a can of diced tomatoes and a few pantry and fridge items.  I tried it.  It spoiled me rotten.  Now I cannot eat store bought salsa...this stuff tastes like really great restaurant style salsa and I make it everytime we eat salsa now.  Here's how:

Empty a can of diced or stewed tomatoes into a blender or a vessel suitable for using a hand blender.  If using diced tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar to it.  I also like to add about 1/3 cup of roughly chopped onion and about 2 knife tips of garlic.  (This is more of a method...not a recipe with exact measurements.  It is very forgiving and flexible so just add more or less of whatever you like!)

A few glugs of lime juice or the juice of half a lime.  Salt to taste (about 1/4 tsp?),

Then we like adding a few jarred jalapenos...to add a bit of heat.  Adding about 5 slices makes it taste 'medium' in heat.

Then I am ready to use my immersion blender.  Love this little gal...quite the kitchen helper.  I pulse it enough times to get the texture I like...just a wee bit chunky still.

My husband and I LOVE cilantro...but if you don't, skip adding it.  I am growing it in my herb garden so was able to use fresh this time.  In the winter I use dried.

Rinse, pat dry, and I put them in whole...stems and all.  Use the immersion blender again til the cilantro is chopped the way I want it.

And there she be!  So delicious.  So easy.  So fresh.

So, dig in!!  Hope you'll give this a try if you don't already have a favorite salsa recipe.  For less than $1 and about 5 minutes of time, you don't have to settle for store bought anymore!  Ole!

Blessings!

Donna 


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Memorial Day Sale in my Etsy shop today and tomorrow!

Yesterday we celebrated Memorial Day at the Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous in Vincennes, IN.  Over 500 re-enactors brought the Revolutionary War time period to life for us.  It was fantastic! 

We are so thankful for those patriots who fought for our initial freedom as a nation.

And we are very thankful for the brave men and women who have given their lives for our country all the years since then.

In honor of this Memorial Day holiday, my etsy shop, Perfect Darlings, is offering a 10% off coupon code for Sunday and Monday.  I appreciate you visiting my shop and perhaps finding a unique gift for yourself or a special person or child in your life. The coupon code for your discount is PROUD2BAMERICAN.

Blessings!

Donna

Tea Towel Pillow

I've had this new, sweet-but-simple tea towel which I purchased on clearance at Home Goods, for 1.5 years.  I also had a pillow form with an outdated cover over it.  So it made good sense to put the two together.  It's really nice to work with tea towels as fabric...the edges are all finished and it is a quality fabric.

One suggestion I have is that you play around with your tea towel or whatever fabric you plan to use to cover a pillow, and just pin it together around the pillow til you decide how you want to do it.  My tea towel was a bit too wide, and I didn't want to cut off any of the wonderful green stripes.  So by playing with it I came up with a way to make a fold-detail that would make it the right width without cutting any off.

I ironed a crease down the middle of the towel with wrong sides together.

Then opened the towel up, and folded about a 1.5 inch portion of the fabric toward that center crease, pinning it.  Did it on the other side as well...hopefully the picture illustrates that well.

You can see the idea in more detail there.  Kind of a pleat in the middle of the towel, vertically.

Then put the shorter ends of the towel together, right sides together, and sew.  I did a very small seam of about 1/8 of an inch b/c I needed that to make it fit the pillow.

Open the new seam and press

I repinned my pleat in several places, then sewed one of the open ends closed.  I used a larger stitch so that if I ever need to wash this pillow cover, and I fairly easily remove enough of the stitching to slip the pillow out and wash the cover.

Time for the final seam!  I still have the pleat pinned in place so that I could get the pillow form into the pillow without opening the pleat too far.  I didn't remove those pins til after I sewed up that final open side.

A green gross grain ribbon tied around it, to dress it up a bit....and....finis!!  I can add-to and change the embellishment if I figure out something I like better, as the ribbon is just tied on, not sewn on.

And that's it!  I've wanted to do this for weeks...how nice to cross it off my list, and have an extra cushy pillow on the Den futon for when I read in there or watch tv.  Me likes.  :)  Thank you so much for stopping by!  God bless you richly today.  And our love and prayers go out to the dear ones in Joplin who have lost so much.  One last little photo to remind us that God is still good all the time, and gives us sweet gifts in the midst of painful times.  These are the first little cut flowers from my gardens this summer.  

  Blessings! 

Donna
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