Dressy skirt to Dress-Skirt!

Happy new year, everybody!

It was my hope to have a fabulous Christmas/New Years refashion for you, but that dress is still in the works. (Maybe you'll see it by . . . St. Patrick's day.)

Today's refashion is quick and painless! I started off with this donated skirt:

Hmmm . . .

It's got a nice print, and I love the length (I'm all about the maxis!), but it needs some work before HopeCycle can have it's way with it!

If you look closely, you can see that the waistline isn't hemmed AT ALL at the top - fray city!

"help meee!"

The first thing I did was pull the stretchy inner lining out, like so;

And I cut out some arm holes!

That jaggedy edge up there . . . that's going to be an arm hole. Trust me.

The arm holes just needed a quick hemming.

With a zig zag stitch!

And the waist got itself a rolled hem to catch all those frays!

More zig-zagging!

And there you have it!

TA-DAH!

A dress with a cowl-neck!

Or a capelet!

Or a draped back!

Or pin it up into an empire-waist! (Pay no attention to my slip, there...)

The neckline options are endless! And in case you can't see the differences very well, here's some sketches to make it more clear.

These sketches use croquis from the Pocket Fashion Sketchbook (yay, Christmas presents!)

And what's great is, you still have the skirt, fully functional! Woohoo!

Thanks for sticking around guys! Mwa!

Sorry for the small hiatus!

I'm still here!

The blog has been quiet, but I've been busy, I assure you. :)
Last blog, I introduced you to my first video blog ever - now, I introduce you to the entire HopeCycle/LadyCarton youtube channel!

Besides being a place for vlogs, sewing tutorials, and original music, the LadyCarton channel is home to a series for girls called "Morning Chats".

I've also added some new products to the Etsy store (though without tutorials here, I'm sorry!):

Scarves!

Fairy scarves!

Paisley unity scarves!

The main reason you haven't seen any sewing from me recently is A) I've been having a little too much fun with the videos, and B) I'm working on orders and gifts for Christmas! But I'll be back with some new things soon!

Also! (Unrelated to HopeCycle)
Since this blog has essentially become the HopeCycle, I'm moving all my story sketches (and possibly writing work as well) over to my new Tumblr blog!
I'll be posting doodles and concept art for the book I'm 'working on' :D

Remember this? There's a lot more where these came from!

So that's all the craziness, for now! Mwa! <3
 

Landfill to Lovely: A Closet Refashion

So you'll remember a little while back, when my work area was EXPLODING with HopeCycle stuff, and I had to refash it STAT.

Well it started happening again, but in my closet.

Aaaaaagh . . . .

Most specifically, the bottom.

Eek! What is even going on??

Which made me feel like this:

Something needed to be done! 

So this happened:

Woohooooo!

You can watch the 4 minute-long video blog above, or you can just cheat and look at this picture down here.
(Spoiler Alert! :P)

Is this MY closet?!

So that was fun! It took me an entire afternoon, and it's too bad I didn't get any in-between shots, because there was clothes EVERYWHERE.

Stay tuned for more HopeCycle Refashions coming soon!

New Things for HopeCycle!

I know, the blog has been quiet since Labor Day . . . ya'll are a patient bunch, thank you for sticking around. :)

I've been working on some things! Like this, for example:

What's that??

And THIS:

It's purple and petally! What could it be?

Oh, and this . . .

Oil painting is one of my many distractions. I'm sorry.

Oh, and spending quality time with this . . .

I love him so much. :) Monster faces are the best.

But there are NEW things coming to HopeCycle! 

New products are in the works, and I've also started a YouTube channel - you can find me under LadyCarton! :)
Stay tuned!
 

3 No-Sew Pillow Covers

Happy Labor Day!

I'm really excited about today. We aren't doing anything special (no cookouts, no parties, no chips and dip), but I actually have the day off.

The whole day off. From wake-up to bedtime. No work.

THIS NEVER HAPPENS.

So I made myself a scheduled list to get everything done! I'm already ahead, and loving it. :)

This project in particular, I'm really enjoying! What better way to fritter away your labor day than sprucing up your living room for FREE with clothes you already have, and no sewing required?

A weekend or so ago (before the hubster's semester started), we FINALLY got around to finishing painting our walls. They looked like this for the longest time;

Paint sample abstract art! For . . . months and months.

Which is why in most of my before pictures, you can see this weird patchy pattern behind me.

Yeah. That's 'cus we never got around to actually painting. Oops.

But we finally got it done! TADAH!

The back wall is more of an aqua/pale teal than this picture shows, and the right wall is latte.

Well, now that's done, we could finally start updating our decorations to coordinate! Specifically these couch pillows - and just in time for fall!

These are pillows that say "Meh."

Inspired by this tutorial, I'm proud to introduce to you...

3 No-Sew Pillow Covers

 - from clothes lying around your house!

Pillow 1: The Maxi Dress

Love the patterns on this dress!

Place pillow in the middle

Overlap each half of the skirt

Tie the ends! I gave myself a little more on the skirt side than the top side, since I'll be hiding the top part.

Tuck in the top part, and pull the leftover skirt bit over, to look like a knot. Safety pin in place, and voila!

Pillow 2: The Peasant Skirt

Love me a good hippy/boho/peasant skirt!

Place pillow in the middle!

Fold the waist and bottom over

Fold the remain sides over, and safety pin in place!

How easy was that?!

Pillow 3: The Turtleneck

Stretchy turtleneck, meet 14x14" pillow!

Stuff!

Tuck in that neck!

Fold under the bottom ends . . .

And pin in place (on the same side you tucked in the neck)

Flip it around, and tie those arms!

Knot them -

Tuck in your ends, and you're done!

And that's it!
The possibilities here are endless - skirts, silk scarves, table cloths . . . changeable for every season!

How fun are these??

Bonus! Bling it up with some extra-long necklaces!

Such a quck and easy update! How will you refashion your living room?

Happy Fall, ya'll!