None of your larking about

For Crafty Tuesday I am, once again, pulling something from my crafting blog to showcase today. I got into embroidery when I was doing a project with my friend, Kat, where we were crafting our way through the alphabet. It was a pretty awesome and pretty difficult project. I learned a lot along the way. I grew a lot along the way. I went from emotional breakdowns over failures (A for Apron) to shrugging them off and moving on (M for Macrame). And I discovered some amazing new crafts that I fell in love with: most notably, embroidery. I absolutely love to embroider. I overdid it last holiday season and got a little burned out so I've been trying to get myself back into it. But it's very fun, easy, and an inexpensive hobby. The first piece I did was a Mary Poppins piece. I'll show you my step by step process below. I will definitely be posting a bunch of embroidery posts on this blog because it is a very fun craft and I feel like it goes very well with my love of movies.

Supplies:
Muslin
Tailor's Marker/Pencil
Embroidery Thread
Embroidery Needle
Scissors
Hoop
Inspiration Image
Clothes pin






I bought plain white muslin (it's usually about $2-5/yard); three different colors of embroidery floss, one for each character and one for the words; a blue water soluble marker; an embroidery hoop; and eventually I invested in a nice pair of embroidery scissors.

I used a clothes pin to pin the fabric to my computer and traced the image onto the fabric with the marker. Being a cautious person, I tested this process on the screen corner but it didn't bleed through the fabric. 

Because the marker comes off easily, I didn't stress about mistakes and so I ended up with multiple lines at certain points. When I was actually stitching, I chose the line that looked best! Doing the words forced me to break out my cursive skills. Those haven't been put to the test in years!

What a way to break up a cold!

Yesterday, I posted an outfit inspired by Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie.

I started a pinterest board ages ago called Movie Outfits to Recreate and this was one of the first ones on it. I adore Laura Petrie and pretty much everything she wears is perfect to me. I know I'm not alone in wanting to recreate outfits from movies and shows - but it always felt like something I might do someday. Sewing intimidates me considerably. I've started so many projects that are as yet unfinished. I was pretty nervous about embarking on a new project - what if I didn't complete it? What if I messed it up? What if, in this one outfit, I proved that I don't have the ability to make my own clothes? Okay, so that's a lot of pressure to put on one shirt but that's how my mind works.

Anyway, I showed my mom my Pinterest board to get her input on which would be the easiest outfit to do. She saw this picture and pointed at the screen and said, "that one. Do that one. You can make that."

I wasn't sure. I mean, it had sleeves. But my mom insisted I could do it. So we started brainstorming. We discussed fabric first. I loved the way the top fit Mary Tyler Moore nicely but had a nice boxy cut at the bottom. My mom decided that double knit was the best option because it would fit over my head without needing a button or a zipper, would be nicely fit at the top like I'd want, but wouldn't drape at the bottom. Then, we looked for a pattern. We knew on the outset that there wouldn't be a pattern exactly like that shirt but my mom is brilliant when it comes to adjusting patterns so I trusted her instincts. She found one that was specifically designed to be modified. I went to Joann's when I had coupons and they had sales and bought the fabric, the pattern, and the thread.

The pattern turned out to be even better than we had anticipated. It came with the usual pattern pieces but also came with gridded pattern paper so you could make adjustments. My mom added the triangles to the top and bottom of the shirt and she made sure the side was shaped the way I needed it. With a pattern in hand, the rest was up to me.

Like I said, I've struggled with completing projects. I've had so many "1 hour" sewing projects that take me weeks or months to complete. So when my mom said I could finish this in an afternoon, I was skeptical. But, I invited a friend to come over for a crafting afternoon, determined to knock it out as my mom predicted.

I still get pretty confused about how selvage comes into play with cutting but my mom guided me (via phone - sketch below) to get the cut right. The dreaded sleeves stressed me out considerably but my friend, Ashley, encouraged me through that process.

And, just as my mom said, I finished it in one afternoon!!

The edges were a little unpolished so my mom helped me finish the edging. But in one weekend, I had an outfit that was totally wearable and totally cute!

I even had a coworker tell me she loved my trendy top! Success!

I want candy

This week's craft post is not inspired by a classic movie... but it is inspired by a movie so I'm going to go with it.

My dear friend, Ashley, threw a Marie Antoinette themed party a little over a week ago. A few months prior, she and I were watching Marie Antoinette (2006) and we both fell in love with the minimal styling of playing cards from the time period. I've seen this kind of card before in Jane Austen adaptations like Mansfield Park. Ashley and I looked at each other and we agreed that we should definitely include those cards at the party.

I had this idea in my head that the cards, like Ashley's upcoming party, should all be in pastels. So, I bought a packet of pastel markers and Kat showed me where I could buy blank playing cards on Amazon.

I looked up other playing cards to see how the suits are lined up for each number.

For the royals, I googled Rococo art and found some lovely sketches of ladies and gentleman. I edited each picture to have a little reflection of the image at the bottom. Then I printed each one and modpodged them onto the cards.

End result? Fabulous.

Source: The Tillmans

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Pour me one too.

Okay, so full disclosure here: this is a project I posted about on a different blog that I started and I'm taking that post and using it here. The reason is that I had planned to make these again for the sake of this blog post/as a gift for a friend - and I ran out of time. So, here is the craft for this week: movie quote coasters. Or as I like to call them, Quotesters. Some day, maybe, I'll open a little Etsy shop with these little guys. It'll be great. When I have the time.

So this project was born from me wanting to give my brother a gift but having no idea what to make for him. My brother isn't quite as obsessed with old movies as I am but we grew up in the same household and he likes them a great deal too. And we share a common love for The Thin Man (1934) with William Powell and Myrna Loy. My brother one time pointed out that if you drank every time Nick and Nora drink, you'd be wasted by the end of the film. We actually did try that one time - I drank in sips though, not shots, so I remained (mostly) sober. Anyway. We both like The Thin Man. I had seen a tutorial on making coasters from family photographs, so, I decided to take pictures from the movie and put in quotes about drinking, since there are so many, and he could use those as cool cocktail coasters.

It's a very easy project. You get those little 4x4 tiles at Lowe's, Mod Podge, a sponge, and the pictures of your choice. You Mod Podge the pictures to the tiles and then add three layers of Mod Podge over the pictures themselves. It is a trifle time consuming because you have to wait 15 minutes between each coat. And then the tutorial recommends leaving them for 3 days to allow the sealant to completely dry so that no liquid seeps in.  I used canva.com to make the pictures with the quote bubbles. Oh, and you'll want those little felt stickers at the bottom to keep them from scraping up your furniture or the other coasters. I was able to get a pack of little ones at Walmart that are generally used for lamps and things. 

I have to admit, they turned out really well. I am pretty darn proud of them. I learned after doing this project a couple more times, that it's also good to spray clear spray paint over them. Otherwise, they can be a little sticky.

The one below and the three shown above are the designs I used for the coasters:

The ones below were designs I made but didn't make the cut to become coasters: