Sweater Coats

This week I am posting about some sweater coats/jackets I have made recently. They are a combination of Katwise sweatercoats and Barb Callahan garments. You can google katwise and see her wonderful creations. Katwise only believes in using wool sweaters and Barb Callahan uses a combination of t-shirts and sweaters. I have come to the conclusion from putting two jackets together, that I have no problem of using t-shirts, but I only want to use the heavy t-shirts and the bottom bands should be sweaters. The weight of the sweaters help weigh the skirt down. The black and white jacket came together just fine. It was the second sweater jacket I made. I learned alot from making the purple/pink/blues jacket. The purple/pink jacket I have redone twice. If I wasn't in love with the top sweater that I used, I would just junk the jacket and start over again. I do like it better this second time I have worked on it. I have come to the conclusion that I really like having a closure on the jackets and like the tabs type closures. In the black and white jacket I used the exsisting sweater tabs and it worked wonderfully. But what to do when the sweater you use for the top part of the jacket is a pullover such as the pink/purple/blue jacket. I ended up on the second redue putting a tab taken from a heavy t-shirt jacket with interesting ribbing. I think it worked pretty well. I definitely would leave out the bold striped sweater in the skirt. In fact I might think of re doing it a third time and take out that striped piece. Who Knows????

Altered Demin Jacket

Well here is my altered demin jacket. When I bought it at the thrift store I like the white and red stripped cuffs. The collar had red and white stripes as the under-collar. When I was looking around for a demin jacket to alter for Christmas, this jacket caught my eye because of the cuffs. I decided to take the collar off and reverse it so the white and red stripes were on the top. I also ended up quiting the collar and cuffs so they would lay flat. The gingerbread man and the snowman are ultrasuede and the holly and tree are fabric, made with a technique of Wendy Hill. I love the technique but it is time consuming to do. I also changed out the buttons on the jacket with buttons I recently took off a red suit. I am very pleased with the finished product and can't wait to wear it. Now I am all ready for Christmas 2012. All I have left to do is alter a red vest I thrifted for my husband.

Altered sweater

I am in love with all things polka dots, well maybe not all combination of colors of polka dots, but I always check them out when I see them. I found this pull on, polka dot, cotton/ ramie sweater at the thrift store. I loved the bold colors of both the sweater and polka dots. Unfortunately the polka dots were covered with sequins and it was a pullover which I don't like for all sorts of reason. First I cut off all the sequins and then I washed and dried the sweater, which by the way, did some shrinking, which I did not expect. Thankfully it was larger than I needed so that did not become a problem that had to be fixed. I then cut the sweater down the center front and applied single fold, purchased, bias tape. I sometimes make my own binding and use it decoratively, but decided against that this time. Then I put in a sport zipper that makes a pullover a slip on. Easy, Peasy. I love that. Can't wait to wear this sweater/jacket, which will be this week in fact.

Altered Christmas suit

Since I have moved to the Phoenix, Arizona area I have had to rethink my wardrobe, especially my winter wardrobe. I found this red suit at Goodwill at a 50% off sale. It probably cost about $5. The skirt was floor length and I cut about 7" off the bottom. I also shortened the jacket about 4". The Christmas appliques are done with Ultrasuede that was mostly harvested from thrift store skirts, jackets and suits. When I told my youngest daughter that I was working on a Christmas outfit, she asked me why I was doing it now. My answer is that in the fall, when you would normally be working on Christmas stuff, I am too busy to work on something to wear. At least that has been what has happened the last two years. So this year I am way early and will be ready for next Christmas. Next on my agenda is a Christmas demin jacket.

more wig heads

Boy, I sure don't know how to do just one of anything. I decided after the first five wig heads I painted that I needed more of them. So here are the lastest ones I painted. I really like how they turned out and they are such fun to do. One thing I do need to add is that I glued the wig heads to a larger foam circle for a more stable base. As you can see, one picture is just of the painted wig heads. The other is some of my hats and fasinators on the heads. I painted the faces free form, and even though the shape of the heads are the same, the ladies do look different. It was great practice painting faces too.

Christening dress

I washed my dress in the washing machine and hung it to dry. I used the Mother-in-laws lace from what I assume is her wedding dress train, as the trim on little GG's Christening dress. I also incorporated the pearls on my wedding dress on the bonnet. The bonnet for some reason didn't fit, but the both turned out just fabulous. As you might of guess the other picture is of little GG and me, her very proud Nana.

Altered wedding dress

Well this blog post is about the Christening dress I made my little grand-daughter GG. My daughter lives in Sheridan, Wy. A beautiful little town about 16,000 people at the base of the Big Horn mountains about 30 miles from the Montana state line. She delivered her 4th baby ( she had three little boys ) by C-section back in September. I went up for the birth and stayed for the month to help out. We were all surprised when she delivered a little girl. Her middle name is my middle name. If I was thinking properly I would of thought to bring up fabric for a Christening dress, but no, I didn't. Sheridan has a wonderful quilt shop and a great yarn shop, but the only fabric for a dress like that would of been Walmart ( nothing that worked ) or ACE Hardware/Ben Franklin ( they did have some nice eyelet ). I was going to get fabric at the ACE store when I got the brilliant idea to have my husband send my wedding dress. My plan was to use the fabric to make the Christening dress. After getting the dress in the mail, I thought about having my son-in-law's Mother also contribute some of her dress. Here is what I had to work with. The long dress is mine and the one piece is the Mother-in-laws.