Showing posts with label Fabric. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fabric. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sparkly Chiffon Circle Twirl Skirts...


I sewed an elastic waist chiffon sparkly circle skirt for my Lil Chick to wear for her garden fairy costume.  Oh what fun she has had twirling around and around!
Circle skirts are so much fun and once you figure out your measurements it's a cinch!  I followed the tutorial at Ikatbag.com. It is complete with good directions, diagrams, and a template.

Also, I have been overly enjoying tagging anything I sew with my new woven labels. (See above in the bottom right photo.)  After working really hard on a project: seam ripping errant threads, remeasuring, fitting, taking in, letting out, trimming etc...it feels like such an accomplishment to tack that label on!   I love them!

Happy Costume sewing! I better get going, I still need to finish a bat costume for Bubbalu!

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Friday, October 25, 2013

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 9: Bunk Beds and Windows

Pigs are flying, we finally made it to Part 9 of the Travel Trailer Makeover Series: the Bunk Beds and Windows!

I really decided to abandon the idea of color matching the entire trailer and instead customized the bunks to each kiddo.  Here is what the trailer bunks looked like right from the dealership:

Rather boring, pretty dull. Ruffly curtain in hunter green leaf patter...well. I WANTED to burn it but kept it for possible future resale purposes.

There was too much beige going on in those bunks. I like COLOR.  Back to fabric shopping! I still used premier prints fabric because I LOVE it. I had a few ideas of fabric patterns and combinations but let each kid pick their color and pattern.

Bubbalu chose a navy and orange chevron and coordinating stripes print, Lil Chick picked chocolate brown and light pink elephants and a coordinating polka dots print:

Yeah. Those don't really match. At all. Oh well! It's COLOR.

Also, I decided that in order for me to be able to get away with sneaking into the kitchen area of the trailer at night and eating chocolate necessitated some sort of privacy screen or curtain.

I used a tension rod and these little stick and screw on holders designed for shower curtain rods to hang a polka dot curtain:

I made a tie-back thingy out of the chevron multicolor fabric and velcro, then just screwed it into the side of the bunk bed. Is this a permanent fixture? With my kids? Probably not. How do I know this? Because they have already hung on the curtain and pulled it down.

Twice.

So, the picture above is ALMOST the same, just imagine that the curtain tension rod has a large dent in and is no longer straight. Then yes, it's the same.

For Bubbalu's bunk I make him reversible curtains and valance so that I can change it out if I ever feel like it...and bonus, I didn't think about or notice it until after I was done with the redo but you can see them from the outside and they are cute!

Lil Chick got pink, pink and some more pink.  And some chocolate brown. And polka dots. And cute elephants. Same deal as Bubbalu, reversible everything:

I also decided to do sheets and blanket instead of sleeping bags because I envisioned kids wiggling during sleep and those slippery sleeping bags sliding off the bunks onto the floor with the kiddos in them! So. I cut down sheets and made a custom bunk sized fitted bottom sheet and top sheet with a fitted end (so it would NOT pull out of the bottom).

I was out shopping for trailer stuff and saw the madras plaid and the pink and brown polka dot blanket and pillowcase sets on super clearance!  WITH an extra % off coupon....Score!! I was shocked - Lil Chick's blanket is a PERFECT match color and polka dot size/spacing! I was so excited!

I'm thrilled with the infusion of color and each kiddo feels like they have their own special space.  Add in some tote bins in the very back of the bunks and you have a mini playroom as well! The kids LOVE playing or reading in their bunks. And Mama gets to sneak chocolate late at night. Everyone is happy happy happy! :)

So, here is the official Before and After shot of the bunk bed portion of my Travel Trailer Makeover:

I think this is the last tutorial/talk through of the Travel Trailer Makeover series! Goodness gracious it only took me like 14 months to do 9 posts! Yay me! I should get a bloggy professional procrastinator award or something.

Maybe I can make it an even 10 and do the full trailer walk-through. Yep. I'll do that. In a few months or so.

THANK YOU for joining me on my Travel Trailer Makeover Series! I hope you have been inspired to add a little sass and custom style and COLOR into your travel trailer or RV!

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl


Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Animal Print and Stripes Infinity Scarf Trends...

Hiya!

Oh yes, I've been busy sewing scarves like crazy!  I've been following the Women's fashion section on Pinterest in order to see what's current, trending, popular...you know.

* Trend #1. Animal Print Scarves

Classic Brown Leopard:



And Snow Leopard Print Scarves:




Trend #2. Stripes, stripes and MORE stripes!




That's all for today, but I've got TONS more new styles coming! I'll try to keep up on blogging them...I mean really, CHEVRON print!? Yes.

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Monday, June 25, 2012

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 6: New Dinette! Recover those cushions!

OK yes, this travel trailer factory direct diamond pattern fabric has GOT to go. I decided to attack the entire dinette cushion recovering in one day. Because that's how I do things. Nothing for a loooooong time then a huge flurry of activity. Remind you of my blogging schedule!? :)

So yes, these cushions:


 From this dinette:


Five cushions to recover, including two rather oddly shaped triangular corner cushions. Hoo boy. This is gonna be a big job.

First off I took off the old covers and measured every single bit of them to draw up my cushion patterns. Then I cut out the flat panel patterns from the chevron fabric.....taking pains to make sure the colors and zig-zags lined up appropriately with the other cushions. And making sure the fabric wasn't upside down.

Because if it IS upside down you may waste a good yard or so of fabric. {Ahem}

I had to seriously muscle the foam into some of these covers but wanted to make sure they were a snug fit.  I bought a cover button pack and covered them in parts of the chevron fabric. I used a long, upholstery size needle (see pic) to thread the button strings through the thick foam. Once again, lots of muscle used! My forearms were super sore the next day!


And now, confession time: I did NOT want to struggle with putting fancy, neat zippers on these five cushions so instead I closed up the openings with safety pins :)  Once again, saved a ton of time, and they are all hidden inside the dinette frame anyways!

All in all I was very pleased with how these came out. MUCH more fresh and fun. Here you go, the finished dinette makeover:
 And the before/after side by side shot:



Quite a difference, right!?

Next up: the dreaded COUCH project. OY.

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 5: Recovering Window Cornice Thingys!

For this part I will heretofore refer to the top of the window covering cornice thingymajigs as Cornici. I'm certain that it the correct pluralization of the word cornice, yes? Ok, maybe not, but I think it's fun. Cornici. Rhymes with Octopi. Sort of.

I decided to recover the curved Cornici in our new trailer (Lumi :)  with Premier Prints Topeka Solid Chocolate brown fabric that I purchased from Fabric.com, my fave online fabric store. well, all the regular windows cornici. I did have one flat cornice over the kitchen window that I used the chevron print to recover.

In the interest of saving my wrists and hands from days of aches and pains after tearing out hundreds of staples I decided to leave the previous fabric and just put the new fabric right on top of it. Ah yes, much more simple. And made the project quick quick quick. Well, as quick as you can get with a three and five year old around.

Another benefit from leaving the old fabric intact? It was super handy to see where the previous Cornici coverer had cut the fabric to help it stay tight and unwrinkled on all the corners and curves:


But hey, we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit. First off, I had to remove the industrial strength velcro strips that hold the side curtains on. Then i tried to get a rough measurement of the amount of fabric I'd need per cornice:



The comes the fun.When you are recovering just about anything you first center the cornici or chair seat board or whatever on your fabric.  You then wrap the fabric around from opposite sides, pull tight and staple from the centers out. Here's a wimpy diagram:


The key is to not create any lumps, bumps or folds on the visible side so keep turning your piece (or cornici) over and checking to make sure everything is smooth.

Last up, the corners. I'm not going to lie, they are not always easy. Just keep folding and pulling and stapling until they lie flat or look as good as you want them to. Once again, I was glad to have left the old fabric on so I had a folding template for the corners.

After I was all done, this is what the inside cornici looked like:



I reattached the velcro strips on the inside (for the side curtains) and then had my hubby help me hold the cornici in place to reattach to the trailer walls.

Less diamond pattern, more sassiness!


And the before n after of the kitchen cornice:



This made SUCH a huge difference in the cheerfulness of our trailer!  In fact, the next week or so my Mom also decided to recover her faded cornici with some fresh newer fabric.  It make such a huge difference! I dare you to try it :)

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 3: Bright, Bold and Beautiful Fabric...

I was on another trailer stuff gathering shopping excursion and found my first color inspiration piece.  It was super late at night and I had left the kiddos at home with my Hubby...didn't really want to repeat the poo accident episode.

So, I'm walking through the world of Wally and saw this pillow....and Ka-Chow! another light bulb moment!



This pillow really helped me decide what my final colors would be.  Within a few days later I had ordered a large amount of fabric up for consideration.

My main fabric choice was this Premier Prints funky chevron number:


This premier prints Zoom-Zoom Village Blue was the perfect fit for designing a fresh, YOUNGER, modern style for my trailer sassification project. And the rest of my design board:



Also, for the bunk beds I decided to personalize their curtains and bedding. The fabric design board for their bunks:



Orange and navy chevron zigzag and stripes for Bubbalu on the left, pink elephants and chocolate brown polka dots for Lil Chick on the right.

ALL fabrics are the Premier Prints brand, purchased at Fabric.com. I am in LOVE with Premier Prints fabrics. They have wonderfully modern, fresh, bright prints for home decor. I've been extremely happy with them! Also, they are super inexpensive. We're talking like $7.50 a yard....so I can change my mind often and it's totally OK.  Click HERE to see all that's available, if you dare!

Oh, did I also mention? Spend $35 and you get FREE SHIPPING. Awesomesauce.

Next up in the series: sticky, yucky wallpaper removal - UGH....

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

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