Sweater to Cardigan: Round 2*

*Also known today as What I Wore Sunday.  Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple for their weekly fun.

Saturday I wrote about one sweater turned cardi and today it’s on to number two:

Here’s how it clothed me for Mass yesterday:
 
[Where’s Waldo Cecilia?]

This one was a little easier to convert since it was already my fave cut – a v-neck.  All I had to do was cut down the middle,
 

sew a zig-zag stitch for extra fraying protection,
 

fold each edge over twice and pin,

and sew a straight stitch along the inside edge.

It took me all of 10 minutes to get a jazzy new cardigan that’s now bumped up to favorite.  Anyone else into clothing conversions?  My fave is Grace’s skirt from skorts.  Talent, pure talent.

I won’t sign off before giving a glimpse of the twins' garb.  Mommy invoked their true southern sides with a little crab action, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa. 
[Playing monkey to crack a smile.  Half are amused.  Half think I’m nuts.]

Have a great week!

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P.S.  I’m still waiting to hear all about your kids and their big personalities!  Link ‘em up!  I’m giving full permission for bragging…and venting.  I know Lauren and I aren’t the only over-worked proud moms (& dads) out there!  :)

Sweater to Cardigan: Round I

It’s Saturday night, 9:41, and I’m just now rolling in with the regular weekend excitement.  I would’ve been posted this morn but I traded blogging for catching up on Downton Abbey (I’m only finishing Season 2 so you daren’t spoil it for me).  I’m obsessed and because of it, the rest of this post will be written with an English accent.  :)

I spent a small tidbit of alone time at a thrift store recently where I found this sweater for $3:

[at ease soldier]

I’ve been craving some patterned cardigans recently and so I thought this sweater would make a great one with a few snips and stitches.  Here it is post-scissors:

[apparently blurry, blinded, and wrinkled are in]

Worst ‘after’ picture ever.  I’m really awful at getting my picture taken when we’re talking modeling the clothes I’ve altered.  I’m all sorts of awkward and feel really self-centered and all that and I don’t know how to stand and and and…  Like I said, all sorts of awkward.  I guess I’ll get over it someday…maybe.

So, sweater to cardigan.  First, I turned the sweater inside-out, making sure it was nice and flat.  
Probably a highly unnecessary picture but just in case you’re in the mood for TMI.

Then I used a measuring tape to find the vertical midline and used a piece of wood.  (Don’t judge.  We have nary a yardstick.)

…to draw a line down the center.
 

I cut down the line to give me a new cardigan with a funky collar…

and thought maybe I’d stop there and start a new trend, the buttons were super cool anyway, right?  Sadly for me, I’m not the trend-setting type so off went the collar.

My loyalty lies in v-necks over crews so next I drew a large V (about 10 inches deep) and cut it out.

I’ve never sewn anything sweater-ish before so my amateur skills convinced me to quickly sew a zig-zag stitch along each cut end to prevent any fraying.

Then, I folded each edge over twice and sewed a straight stitch hem except for around the collar.  I cut off the sweater neck keeping it’s hem so all I had to do there was fold the collar edge over once and hem it.


Last, I trimmed several inches off of each sleeve and hemmed their edges the same way, zig-zag, folding twice, and a straight stitch.

I might add some hook and loop closures just in case I want to close my new cardi, which probably won’t happen.  I like ‘em dangling open.  Some wood buttons might suit it as well.  I’ll be sure to give a button down if I decide to decorate more.  But, if that day never comes, I’ve got one more sweater-turned-cardi in my stash so stay tuned for more snipping and by golly, have a pleasant weekend!  :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

It would be a big 5-5 for my dad this year!  He passed away suddenly when I was a junior in college and how I miss him so.  Even though he’s not physically here to celebrate another year, we’re over here celebrating him and all of the great memories he gave us.  I’m so sad the girls will never know their incredible Grandpa (in this life anyway), but I can’t wait to tell them stories of trampoline bouncing, boat driving, and even pass on his corny jokes and puns.  While we were “home” for Easter, we took the twins to see his grave and it was so special.  We were so close yet so far away.  Engraved in the marble of his headstone it says “Our hearts beat because yours beat first”.  Such a simple statement but so profound.  It’s true of my siblings and I and it’s true of my girls and I love that fact. 

Love you Daddy!  :)

Bean Sprouts: 9 Months (& a Link-up)

It’s getting real folks – they’ve now spent more time outside the womb than they did inside.  Nine whole months.  That’s three months away from one year, in case you didn’t do the math.  Crazy.

[heavy cheeks make for a nice perma-frown]

Both girls are masters in the army crawl and thisclose to crawling which makes me thisssclose to making me want to pull my hair out every minute.  I’m coming to terms with the fact that there are 785 things in our house that are going to have to be stored away or padded or locked up for more mature ages lest they provide harmful circumstances involving two overly curious tots and also hampering my decor dreams…ugh.

 
[blurry hand going in for the ear]

We’re still going strong catching waste in cloth diapers, breast feeding, and making our own baby food (courtesy of the Baby Brezza – the thing is all kinds of wonderful).  I know it all sounds very over-achieverish but I assure you, it’s not.  If we weren’t saving literally hundreds of dollars doing each, I’m not sure the first statement would be true…

[vogue]

We’ve had several nights of eight plus hours of sleep which has been no less than amazing.  I’m pretty sure I can thank solid food for that.  Both girls are still skilled in synchronized napping – the one thing I’m adamant about – and saw logs twice a day.  Everyone wonders how I pump out projects while raising twins, well, that’s how.  They’re fluent in “da-da” and Seraphia just started gibbering “ba-ba” which makes scratch my head since I’m the only “ba-ba” she’s had the fortune of drinking from…

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<<< Cecilia >>>

Still a big eater.  You know how they say to watch your baby’s signs when it comes to figuring out how much they’ll eat?  She screams exception.  She’ll eat it if it’s in her face, no stopping until it’s up and back out.  She still gets reeeally impatient and growls to show it when it’s not her turn for a spoonful of food.  Still no teeth.  Still the chunkier of the two (even though the margin is slimming).   Still spitting up like it’s her job (will I ever not be a living burp cloth?).  Still chillin’ like a villian.

Her hair in back is still a wee bit longer than that on top so I’m still a wee bit scared of dealing with a future mullet.  It’s starting to get an inherited wave in it too which could either bode good or bad for said mullet.  I have my scissors ready for any necessary adjustments.

<<< Seraphia >>>

Eater?  Only if it’s real smooth-like and a little sweet.  I purposely started veggies first hoping to ward off any picky-eaterisms but it obviously didn’t work with this one.  She’s a slow eater too.  Every meal is a dinner party to her – take a bite, socialize, take in surroundings, take another bite, socialize, etc…  It’s a little frustrating since I have to make sure she’s down with her food before Cecilia lest Cecilia throw a fit that the spoon isn’t coming in her direction. 

She’s still a little skinny-mini.  Her height, weight, and head-size rival that of her little sis’, but she’s super narrow from the neck down.  Her hairstyle screams “I’m  a boy”, making it mandatory that she don a headband in public.  She’s a mommy’s girl 100% and not fond of strangers.  We just found out she has torticollis – a slight tilt of the head due to one neck muscle being tighter than the other due to limited space in the womb due to Cecilia sprawling out in their uterine apartment.  (And we just thought she was always deep in thought…huh.)  A few stretches every day and she’ll hopefully be on the straight and narrow asap.

    

  

Anyway, I’m sorry if these monthly posts are cringe-worthy and “hey, look at my kids”.  I love keeping track of how they grow and it’s especially helpful when keeping distant family up-to-date.  But, I know I don’t have the only cute kids out there so that’s why I’m going out on a limb here and hosting my first ever link-up!  What are your kids like?  What are their quirks?  What did they inherit from you and what did they definitely not inherit from you?  What makes you swoon over them and what makes you want to post them on Craigslist?  I want to know personalities…they all have them!  Write and link because I can’t wait to read.  If you don’t have a blog, leave a rambling comment below or on Bean In Love’s Facebook page!  Or, if you don’t have kids yet, write about what you’re hoping they’ll inherit from you OR just humor us moms and write about how glorious it is to be able to be spontaneous and how you’re lucky enough to wear shirts more than once before they get tossed in the dirty pile or about how good margaritas taste or how awesome your two-door sporty is……………

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I’m off to get the diy ball rolling again with a frame collage I’ve got laid out on the guestroom floor and a diy sunburst mirror in the works.  My hands are itchin’ to hold a spray paint can again so I’m thinking today might be the day for that.  Keep on the look-out for a post about my sweaters-to-cardigans Saturday, assuming I see through this almost-crawling-and-getting-into-everything stage to the end of the week…

P.S.  Guess who just got a smartphone?!  Meee!  Instagram is about to get a little more busy.  :)

Crossing My ‘T’s and Dotting My Shirts

Tan looks awful on me.  It’s a smidge darker than my skin tone and a smidge lighter than my hair and when you put those three shades together on little ‘ole me, it’s a whole lot of blah.  With that said, I really have no clue what I was thinking when I plucked this shirt from my sister’s Goodwill pile several years ago:
 
I mean, it’s cute but the color is all wrong.  Of course I could always dye it but that actually never crossed my mind until three seconds before I typed this sentence.  All’s well though because it became the perfect medium for a project I’ve been itching to try.  Here’s what went down:

First, I laid a couple of sheets of wax paper inside my shirt like so:
 

Then, I threw fabric medium (70 some cents at Michaels) and leftover paint together (1 part medium to 2 parts paint) in a little medicine cup I use especially for painting,

pulled out a cotton swab and dipped,

randomly dotted,

and let dry, repeating the same process on the back of the shirt.  The directions on the fabric medium say to heat set it with an iron when you’re done but I took the lazy road and threw the top in the dryer for a few minutes, calling it a done deal.

 

A new shirt for a few cents…just the way I like it.  Even though it’s still a lot of tan, I feel like the polka dots break up all that brown…or maybe it’s just all in my head.  Either way, I love how it turned out and how easy it was to create.  I’ve used latex paint minus the fabric medium to stencil pillows before and they’ve held up really well, even after repeated washings, so I’m not sure what the benefit of adding the medium is (can somebody enlighten me?), but apparently it’s the proper way to paint fabric.  I’m envisioning some more potential paint-meets-fabric-medium victims in my closet as I type – maybe an aztec design?  Stripes?  Words?  Whatever it is, you’ll be the first to know about it as usual.  :)

Anyone else painted with fabric medium?  Do tell.  I’m on a roll with this stuff and need some more ideas.  Nothing in my house is safe, nothing.