Ruffled Crop Top

I recently fell in love with high-waisted jeans and so needed some fun crop tops to reflect that love. I had this shirt that I had messed up (can't remember how), so I chopped a few more inches off it for an alteration. 

The ruffle on the bottom is made of old t-shirt scraps. It's fun to have so many little memories on one shirt. 

Love that little piece of tie-dye!

-Taft W-K 

English Final Project (it's a creative assignment!!!)

In English class, our last book was Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko and our teacher gave us a creative assignment for our final project! Make a piece of art that represents an aspect of the book. 

I was struck by the book's imagery, use of motifs, and the main character's, Tayo's, journey to heal after the Vietnam War, so I decided to use those three things in my project. 

I mapped out Tayo's entire journey on a shirt, using images and motifs to represent each stage of his healing process. 

The shirt was an old t-shirt I was going to donate, but pulled out of the donate bag for this project. I decided to use a shirt because in the book, all of Tayo's feelings and emotions come from his stomach. For my project, his journey envelops his body and the place where his emotions originate. 

Embroidered fly is probably my favorite of them all. 

That is supposed to say "brother," it's just hard to tell at this angle. 

I sewed over the path multiple times to make it look braided and well-traveled. 

And the best part was that I used scraps for the whole project! Yay for stashbusting! 

 So, fingers crossed this will be the one assignment I get an A on! I put a lot of work into it, but had tons of fun in the process. 

-Taft W-K 

Prom Dress 2015

I decided to go to Prom very last minute this year, so my outfit was very simple. The plan was a knit leotard (to minimize fit issues) and a long, full skirt over it with my comfiest heels, since Prom was on a boat. 

 Here's the skirt pinned on the dress form. My original pattern wasn't very flattering at the waistline, so I gathered it and added a panel at the back. 

The Instagram sneak-peak photo. 

Here's the half finished lining. It ended up having two rows of those ruffles made out of petticoat tulle.

I decided to stash bust for the lining (this was made on a tight budget!) so each panel was a different color. Looked a bit like a parachute :)

Here's the final ensemble!

I found this silver taffeta at Britex Fabrics, and I think silver taffeta is going to be my thing.

When I added the panel to the back, the waistband got a little messed up, so I made a sash to cover it, which I liked so much better than the plain waistband! It really helped define my waist. 

And I put a little pocket in the side seam! Which I definitely rubbed in everyone's faces all night long. Dresses with pockets! Infinitely more possible and available when you make your own clothes.

I also really love the leotard pattern! It's a Nettie from this site. 

Hem was finished with my favorite hemmer foot. 

The zipper was a little funky on the skirt, but it wasn't very noticeable. When I added the extra panel to the back, the grainlines were thrown off. Made the seams not as smooth, but it's what I had to do to make the skirt fit!

Some night of photos. 

Me and my super hot date, Leila. 

And my amigas. 

So there you have it! A friend just mailed me a beautiful, beaded gown for re-making and I'm already dreaming about next year's Prom dress. 

-Taft W-K

Quilted Pillow for Cam

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!! It's summer vacation and you dedicated readers know what that means....blog posts every Wednesday! So let's start on our first post of the summer:

More stash-busting projects! I'm trying to buy less fabric this year. Kind of because I'm saving cash and kind of because I ran out of space to keep it. But mostly the second reason. 

Anyway, it was recently my friend Cam's birthday and I wanted to make her something special...

There was plenty of Snapchat communication with other people about the present too. I loved the idea of a rainbow patter, but didn't want to overdo it. 

The answer was, of course, there is no such thing as too much rainbow. So onward I forged....

That's the back of the pillow after a half-seasons worth of Gilmore Girls. (It was Spring Break. Time is measured in units of Netflix.)

The fabric is some random white cotton I found in a stash (previously a bedsheet, curtain, or tablecloth I believe.) This was an experiment in machine quilting as well, which I discovered was nice when I was tired, but mind-numbing when I was feeling creative. Glad I found that out. 

Sooooo maaannnnyyy knots....

Next up was the letters! I scaled them up from a font I found in our family's font book (AKA the greatest book on earth). 

The tracing around the letters took another couple episodes of Gilmore Girls (but I was more focused on the show than the pillow. Sorry Cam, but that's the truth.) 

The edges were finished in red grosgrain ribbon. 

I love the fabric the letters are cut out of! They're also on a handmade quilt I'm working on right now (more on that later!) 

Embracing that zig-zag aesthetic. 

Más knots. 

It's so round and squishy! Cam keeps it on the couch in her room. 

Happy Birthday, Cam!

-Taft