Passion for Refashion

Now that I've built up some courage and experience with using a dress pattern, I've been furiously using up some fabric remnants in my stash to give the cupcake some new pretty spring dresses to wear. It may be snowing still here in Upstate NY, but we have some spring fever going on!

I decided to make good use out of the fabric leftovers from the baby doll bedding I made last month. I had just enough left to squeeze out this adorable dress using the same pattern from the valentines fox dress I made. The bow really gives it some personality.

In addition to using fabric remnants, I've even decided to try my hand at a dress refashion. I created this cute little maxi dress by using the skirt of one of my former summer dresses.

Of course, I didn't have the forethought to snap a picture of the dress before I started cutting into it. The dress, however, was your basic thin, adjustable strap V-bodice summer dress. The material is a soft, thin flannel. I decided to retire it because I hated how the front and sides would gape after I lost a good amount of weight. After several washes, the elastic also began to wear out, and it just wasn't a very flattering fit for me anymore.

Originally it was destined for donation, but I thought I would hang onto it to see if I could re-purpose the fabric. The grey, black, and white plaid is rather charming. I love how the maxi dress turned out. I used the same pattern again, but kept the original skirt length from my former dress. It's so simple and cute, and at the longer length it's almost more casual, too. I think the pockets on the front are my favorite part. Those pieces were the former front bodice of my old dress. Claire seems to be pretty charmed by the pockets, too. Let's hope they hold up!  :)

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a model in the making:

Claire is such a ham. She, too, is a big fan of her new dresses. Looks like I will be trying my hand at refashioning more clothes, and give my "donate" pile a better use! At the rate my little one has been growing out of her things, why not? Instead of giving it away for free, I am giving it new life and saving a few bucks in the same process. I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner, especially with how much I browse Pinterest. That place is a re-purpose Mecca!

Now my deep sentimental relationship can be about how adorable my four year old looks in my old "duds". Anyone else tried their hand at refashioning an old piece clothing? I know that I will never look at the Goodwill the same again!

We're Under Contract!

I cannot even begin to tell you the excitement we have over our offer being accepted on a house this week! We are one step closer to finally having a place to call our own! I had tried to keep hush hush on the details surrounding the home with which we were interested in for fear that it wouldn't work out. We've shared several listings/photographs with friends and family and each prospect turned out to be a bust. You can imagine our disappointment, so I wanted to be sure we locked in THE ONE before spreading the word. We mailed out our deposit and the signed contract has been forwarded to our lender, and now begins the process of appraisal and inspection. We elected to have a home inspection and land survey done on the property so we could be aware of any issues the home might have, and so we know exactly where our boundaries are. We plan on fencing the yard in the near future to give us privacy and our pets a place to roam safely.

To ease some of the suspense, I'm including a few of the listing photos of the exterior of the home. It is located in York, Pa, and will situate us perfectly between our relatives. We have friends and family all over the area, and it also puts us within close proximity of Carlisle-- the car show Mecca of the North East. We've been long-time classic car owners, and so this will put us right in the heart of show season.

This house was built in 1938, and has a beautiful stone exterior. It features 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, has a large walk-up attic, and 2 garages (a detached 3-car garage and a 1 car garage located in the basement level of the home). The interior, which I will share more of once we close on the house, is very outdated. I'm talking black and yellow tile kitchen with burgundy 50's laminate counter tops. We've got some ideas already running through our heads as to how we want to tackle both the bathrooms and kitchen. Some day we'd even love to finish the attic space as it would make a terrific play room.

Hopefully within the next month all of our appraisal and inspections should be complete, and we will be ready to close on the home and move in. Until then, I've got lots more packing to do and tons of inspiration to pin!

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday! Normally that would be an oxymoron, however I have some great news to share. We are excited to announce that we have made an offer on a home this weekend! We are still waiting to see if our offer will be accepted, but once that is done we will anxiously await the appraisal and inspection process. We're so psyched about our potential new home, but I have to say the amount of paperwork involved is surreal! My eyes were nearly ready to pop out of my head after reading the disclosures, and making sure we initialed or signed where needed. I was never meant for a desk job, so the real "work" (or fun) begins when we get the keys to our new abode and start getting our DIY on!

If that great news wasn't enough to cheer up your day, then you'll love the little treat that I have for you. While I was blog browsing last week, I stumbled upon Julia's page Hooked on Houses, and fell in blog-love.  One thing I love is to look at is houses. It has by far been my favorite part of house hunting. If you love it, too, then you'll be hooked on Julia's blog like I am. My favorite posts have been the real estate bloopers and faux pas that she posts through reader submissions. I've found myself often wondering "what were they thinking" when it came to some of the descriptions and pictures included on various listings, and some of the things she has blogged about are down right hilarious. Like this post about why homeowners shouldn't appear in their listings. It's sure to cheer your case of the Mondays!

So that's about it for today. Hopefully later this week we'll have some good news about our offer! I've been keeping things pretty mum about the place for fear of "jinxing" our chances of getting the house. I'm normally not a very superstitious person, but it has seemed like every listing I would share with a family member or friend turned out to be a bust or was sold before we could get a look at it. You can be sure that I will be going into photo overload once we close! :)

Antiquing

This past weekend we took a trip down to Pennsylvania to visit family, meet our realtor, and do some house hunting. We spent three days searching the area for houses that suited our needs, and after our first day of searching was finished we stumbled into an antique mall to look around. It was a great way for my husband and I to spend some kid-free time, and we even managed to score a few deals! I thought I would share a few of the things we managed to bring home with us.

Check out this amazing deal on Fiesta Ware that I found!

The gentleman who ran one of the popular glassware/dish specialty booths had two boxes of imperfect or chipped/scratched Fiesta dishes. He was asking $10 for a box of cups, and $8 for a box of plates, a bowl, and one salt/pepper shaker.

My interest was mainly in the three gray tea cups in the first box, but after haggling with him, I managed to score both boxes for $10! I love these dishes, and even with their chips, they're a great addition to my collection.

I think this bowl is the most damaged piece overall, but  from the top angle, you can barely tell. It'll still look great displayed on a shelf.

The next great deal I found was this $8 feed bag. The seller was not tending their booth this weekend, however they were running a 25% off special on their items. After discount, this cute bag only cost me $6.80 plus tax. I love the grey chevron stripes, and even though it has a few stains, it adds some rustic charm. I think it will make a terrific pillow cover!

My husband also walked away with a find. He's a big comic reader, so I pointed out a vintage Pepsi Collection Robin tumbler. He nabbed it up for $18, and while some may think that is pretty steep for just one glass, he was more than happy to pick it up this hard-to-find memorabilia for his collection.

Lastly, I managed to find a lovely wool rug. I'm not sure where this rug was made, but it is lovely. I love the rich blue color, and the simplistic flower design. This will look awesome on the floor of our new home-- maybe in the kitchen or in a foyer. It was priced at only $20, but the seller of this particular booth was also offering a 20% discount on their items so I paid only $18. A steal, if you ask me!

And that wraps up our antique mall spoils. I am very happy with our finds, and I think we got some great deals. I love rummaging through antique stores, and this just goes to show that some gems can be found in the midst of some over priced stuff! Have you been antiquing lately? Do you collect anything vintage? Tell us about your finds or where the great deals are to be had!

Terrarium Update

Last fall I posted about the terrarium I put together from an unused apothecary jar, and I wanted to update you on how our little mossy friend was doing.

As you can see from the pictures, the moss has been quite happy, and has been sprouting like crazy.

I still have the blank spot to fill in some time down the road. Maybe I'll find a little fern to put inside to keep my moss, stones, and gnome company.

I haven't put any water inside since I assembled the terrarium back in September since it hasn't been needed. This efficient little ecosystem has done a great job of recycling the moisture that is already inside the jar. As for the lighting, our living room isn't a particularly well-lit place. It doesn't seem to have affected the growth of our moss, however. Originally I placed the jar on the mantle, but it's since been moved to one of the end tables on the side of the room. The window faces the house next door, so we keep the shade closed. A small amount of light filters through the slats and from behind the curtains.

I think the ultimate test will be when we move to a new home this spring. I plan to leave the terrarium intact as we transport our things. I'll be sure to give another update once we get settled in.

Speaking of getting settled in, I have an update on our house hunting! And what an experience it has been! It was great to finally meet the realtor we had been working with over the phone, and he is fantastic! He really understands what we are looking for, and gives us all the information needed to make an informed buying decision. He hasn't tried to sway us in one direction or the other which is very important, and he is incredibly knowledgeable. I've learned so much in talking with him as we've gone through numerous houses. We spent three full days driving from house to house. There seemed to be more misses than hits, but we definitely came away from our trip with a house that we really like. Hopefully we'll be making an offer on a property very soon. Wish us luck! :)

Vintage Patterns

How many of you out there sew and like to collect vintage patterns? It's a relatively new thing I have been doing lately, and my last visit to the goodwill turned out to be extremely lucrative. I found a handful of vintage children's patterns for only $.25!

Now, I have a little bit of a fear when it comes to collecting things-- mostly because I don't want to become a hoarder! I like my things to have purpose rather than just collecting stuff for the sake of it. I'd definitely like to put these guys to good use, but not much is in Claire's size. For only twenty-five cents, I couldn't pass up such a great deal.  There is only one pattern that is large enough for her in a size 5. Perhaps I'll be able to trade them for something that will better fit her unless I can become proficient in altering a pattern for a larger size. Considering that I am an amateur when it comes to sewing, let alone pattern piecing, I doubt it will happen any time soon! Anyone have experience with this?

In the meantime, here are a few of the patterns I've picked up:

Aren't they darling? If all else fails, perhaps the smallest pattern (which happens to be a 1/2) will fit some stuffed animals. :)

Dressed to the Nines

Earlier in the week I posted about some rainy day projects I had in store now that the munchkin has started school. I said I would come back and update on their progress, and I am happy to say that I finished each and every one! I'm proud of myself not only for sticking to it, but also for completing some things I have never done before (like make a dress). I also took a ton of pictures (warning: photo overload) of my handiwork.

I made this cute 2-tier skirt for Claire to wear on her first day of school. You can find the tutorial for it here. I strayed a little from the tutorial when it came to making the waistband. Instead of sewing on a new band, I just made my skirt lengths longer, and inserted the elastic into a partially sewn top hem. It sounds complicated, but was actually much easier that way. There are lots of tutorials on pinterest for easy elastic waistband that employ the same method.

She was cute as a button in it. Thankfully, daddy was able to come home from work to take her to school on her very first day. It was a struggle for me not to tear up that day, but I am overjoyed at how much she really loves it. I adore the owl fabric. It's colorful without being in your face. I love that I can pair this skirt with many different tops to match!

I also finished the potholder set that I was making for my sister as a gift. It's her birthday next week, so I thought she could use something special for her apartment kitchen. We also plan to take her out for dinner and drinks while we visit this weekend. I decided not to take pictures of this one since it's, well, potholders. But if you're curious, you're welcome to see the original post from earlier this week here. It has a photo of one complete potholder.

The final project I finished was making a dress for my Claire-bear. I found the cutest fabric at Joann's the other week, and knew it would make the prettiest dress. I didn't have any patterns on hand to use (I've never used a pattern for making clothes before), so I gladly snagged one for 60% off while I was picking up some extra fabric to finish the potholders.

Let me just say that I absolutely LOVE how this dress turned out! It was also extremely easy to make! I started it at 6 am this morning (nothing motivates better than leaving it to the last minute, right?), and completed it in time to head off to school at 11:30. Not bad for someone who's never used a pattern to make a dress or even made a dress before!

There were a few challenges in making this dress. I'd never used the button hole stitch on my machine before. That's okay, though, because apparently it doesn't work anyway. I managed to get a small zigzag stitch to work, though, and made small, skinny rectangles to cut the button hole from. I went over it several times to ensure that it was nice and secure. Worked like a charm! I also had to figure out how to line the inside of the dress. The directions weren't very clear on how this was to be done, but I managed to figure it out. I decided to leave the dress plain rather than sewing in an apron like the picture and instructions have outlined. The dress still looks very cute without it. I am glad it is so versatile, and I can't wait to make different versions of this same dress.

And of course, here is my adorable little model. :)

If you've got a little one and like to sew, I highly suggest this pattern! It's easy for beginners, and you can embellish it nine ways from Sunday!

Thanks for stopping by! :)