Get the perfect fit.

I bought a shirt last weekend at the thrift store for $2.50, as mentioned here. I was looking for a sheer feminine blouse, which I found but it was too big. I bought it anyway, because I knew that I could make it work with some simple sewing. I wanted to share this idea, because it is a really simple way of making a shirt that is too big smaller and it makes a garment have more of a custom boutique look to it. I have also done this on men's shirts to make them into a woman's shirt. If you have lost weight this is also a great way to salvage a favorite shirt that is now to big! Here are my directions:

1, With anything you are recreating & redesigning, look for something that has a fabric or print that you like and a good frame.

2. Identify the areas that need resizing. Is it the shoulders, the sides, the bust? In my case all of the above applied to this shirt! I needed to take about an inch out of the shoulders, sides, and the darts needed to be extended in the bust so it wouldn't look like it started at my waist!

3. I took in the sides starting at the armpit, folded it over to where I needed it brought into and pinned it down all of the way to the bottom hem.

4. I sewed both sides and cut off the excess fabric, so it wouldn't be seen through the sheer fabric and so that it wouldn't look bulky. Make sure you try it on before you cut it off, because it is easier to pull seams then to sew back on the fabric!

5. I extended the darts in the bust and the back about an inch and a half to meet my bra line. This was pretty easy, because all you have to do is follow the darts already sewn. If there are no darts that makes things a little more complicated. It you haven't sewn darts before I would not suggest adding them onto a shirt without them. But if you do want to try, let me know and I will try to help you!

6. This is where the fun part begins! I liked the top bib part, but it was too big in the shoulders and needed taking in. I made two even pleats on each shoulder to take the extra inch off. I ran a zig-zag stitch (any stitch would be fine) across the fabric, pleating it a little to hide the extra fabric. I continued this down the bib about 6 or 7 times. It is really up to you how many you would like to do. Be creative! Then I turned the shirt to the side and ran the stitches the up and down to make a quilting pattern. You could go with out this part, but I thought it would look better on this particular shirt. Cut off all of the threads and you are done with this part...(click on picture for a closer look).

7. On my shirt there were two other things I did to it. There was a bow tie at the collar I didn't like, so I cut them off and sewed the excess inside the collar. I also added another button to the top to at the bib, because I thought it would look better and help to finish it off.

I love to sew shirts like this, because it doesn't have to be perfect, in fact it looks better to me if it is not perfect. It is so simple, fun, and a great project to try out a new or dusty sewing machine.
Let me know your thoughts or show me your creations! OK? Get to it!

I am moving again!

Well, I made it through my plumbing not working for a week, attack squirrels, and living under Grand Central, and finally got everything moved in and the way I wanted it, and now it is time to move again! I have been thinking about this for a long time now in an attempt to save money, pay off debt, and a drum role please...... go back to school. Yes, that's right people, you heard it, I am going back to school! I am starting in two weeks with summer classes, i'll be taking Intro to Drawing and Principles of Marketing, and possibly one more class (i'm on the waiting list), but the plan right now is to get a degree in Graphic Design at Portland Community College, which is going to require me moving back to Portland. I have mix feelings about this one, I'm sad to leave Hood River, my apartment, and my friends here, but I am looking forward to the new adventures! I will keep you all posted. If anyone would like to help I will be moving the last weekend in July!

Mr. & Mrs. Squirrel Have Left The Building!

After many days of waiting with batted traps, the squirrels are gone and the gap is shut! It still hasn't really sunk in, but I am enjoying the peace and quiet in my work room again and back to creating. I have started an additional blog for creations I am making to sell; handbag, stuffed toys, and new items. You can find that here: http://bymichelleford.blogspot.com/. Check it out!

New Favorite Treats

I recently tried Fran's Grey Salt Carmels and my world changed! I have always loved the combination of caramel and dark chocolate, but the added complexity of grey salt...O, my word! Fran's caramels are petite, powerful, and just one leaves you satisfied and thankful! They are pricey little gems, but it is well worth it, and would make a lovely gift for anyone who shares my palate.

My first choice is always for supporting independent artist, but I have noticed other more popular names are also getting on the salt, caramel, chocolate wagon. Word on the street is Starbuck's is launching a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate this fall, which I will most likely pass on. If you cannot find Fran's caramels, I would also highly recommend Haagen Dazs' new Fleur de Sel Caramel Ice cream. It is also quite amazing!

Eyeballs!

I am currently traveling for work, exploring Southern Colorado and New Mexico. I stumbled into an antique shop in the historic plaza in Taos and found a lovely French man and his wonderful collections of beautiful and weird treasures from afar. My favorite was his collection of glass eyeballs and I couldn't take my eyes off of them (lame joke I know, but I couldn't resist)! I shared chocolate and he shared stories about home and the things he loves. If you ever get to Taos, I highly recommend stopping in!

What a family eats in a week.

This is an amazing visual of what families in the world eat on a weekly basis. It is also an interesting comparison for the number of family members, amount spent, and the types of foods eaten. I originally received this in an email forward, but it is taken from the book Hungry Planet. Check it out or buy it!

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily. Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11


Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide. Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina. Food expenditure for one week $341.90.

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca. Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09

$31.55 Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

No Pants Subway Ride!

Hilarious and beautiful. The 8th annual ride was yesterday.
For more amazing photos click here.

beautiful.

Help

There has been a lot of talk in the news recently about hikers who have gone missing on the mountain I enjoy looking at everyday. I do not have a television, a radio, or subscribe to a newspaper, but I have found myself searching online for their stories and updates, effected by the searchers loosing hope, finding the lost dead, and dealing with the winter weather delaying their schedule.

These men were not from Oregon. They were visitors and had heard the weather reports, but push forward on through their journey. One man was hurt, the other two men left him in a snow cave to search for help. Help, they did not find. Searchers found the wounded man's body in the snow cave this week, and still are searching for the other two.

There was a similar story around Thanksgiving, which had a lot of parallel themes. It happened in the wilderness of Oregon. The young family were visitors from California who did not know the weather conditions or the location they were traveling very well. They missed a turn and got off course and parked their car for the night. In the morning they found snow had fallen and trapped them in. Days went by, survival tactics began, and then somewhere along the way a decision was made by the young father to go and search for help. A few days later help found the mother and the two young daughters, but was too late for the father, who was found later dead.

It seems in some cases help finds us before we find it. I wonder if these people all would have stayed together would their stories have turned out differently. In the case of the young father he would still be alive, but for the hikers who knows.

What drives us to go and search for help? Is it the loss of hope, fear for our own life, a concern for those who we are stranded with, or is it an instinct we have within us to fight to survive?

Netflix

I joined Netfilx last week. I had a movie in mind I wanted to see. I watched The Future of Food and Hotel Rwanda.

I am moved by the themes of Americans and others turning a blind eye to what we are doing to the environment and the social injustices happening in the world. I am overwhelmed by the issues going on in our world today. In the last few years I have been moved from a place of apathy to cynicism and now to a place where I cannot look any longer without doing something. The question is now what do I do? Is it too late? It is for a million people in Rwanda, but I believe my generation has to do something.

I have talked before about starting another blog on this issue. I have been slow to move on it, because I have been pondering the possibility of what to do and how to encourage others to get involved with what is already happening, without sounding like I am judging the readers, that is to say if there were any readers at all.

Black Gold

If you haven't heard about this movie or haven't seen it please do. It will change the way you drink coffee and highlight areas in our life we often take for granted, and it will make you want to change the world.
I was given the opportunity and assignment of coordinating dates and tickets for our customers on the West Coast to go and see it. It is amazing, because it looks like many other people are getting behind this movie as well. I didn't realize until I started digging into it, how powerful this movie is and how many great links are available on the official website.
It is so easy to change the world if we as individuals just start changing the way we do things. Be conscious when you buy your coffee, be conscious of the environment-what you take and what you put back into it, buy fairly traded goods, ask for them at your grocery store, coffee shop, and restaurant. Stop buying products that are causing the producers to live in poverty and harming the environment. Everything you do makes a difference. I am planning to start another blog called "What You Can Do". It will be an open forum for links and posts of practical things you can to change the world. Be looking for it and if you want to participate please let me know.

Watch the movie.

http://www.blackgoldmovie.com

small moments.

"We hear a word that sticks in our mind-or maybe we have a small experience that pulls us out of ourselves, if only briefly...And if we collect these small moments in a notebook and save them over a period of months we would see certain trends emerge from our collection-certain voices would emerge that have been trying to speak through us. We would realize that we have been having another life altogether, one we didn't ever know was going on inside us. And maybe this other life is more important then the one we think of as being real-this clunky day to day world of furniture, noise, and metal. So, just maybe it is the small silent moments which are the true story-making events of our lives." Life After God, Douglas Coupland p255