crafty mother fucker - a glasses display and quilt holder

If you follow me on instagram then you've probably already seen one of my latest crafty projects. I've had these idea floating around in my head for some time, but kept putting it off. Then the other day I was in my kitchen irritated about not having space for some of my smaller appliances so I got online and started looking up how to make a kitchen cart and pricing wood.

Pricing wood reminded me that I wanted to make a rack for my glasses and then I had to make a trip to Lowe's. I love this little rack. I don't have to open up every glasses case to find the pair of glasses that I want to wear. They're all on display and easy to choose from.


I'm not finished with this piece yet though. I think I want to stain it an espresso color and maybe secure the  sides with nails. I had a couple people mention that I need to list these on etsy and I just might. The nice thing is that you can either hand it on the wall like a picture frame or just lean it against the wall.


The other project I worked on I found while looking for plans to make an end table. The original piece was used to hold up kids art. I looked at it and realized that it'd be perfect for holding up my quilts when I need to photograph them. Much nicer than having to use tape. I painted my strip of wood a dark teal and then glued on some clothes pins. I attached it to my wall with poster tape since I'm not sure what these walls are made of.  I think I might make a smaller version for my kitchen. It could also be used to hold towels in your bathroom or scarves and other light clothing items.

I'm still working on plans for my kitchen cart. I know I can a metal or plastic one for about $20, but I'd really like one made out of wood that I can customize. I already have plans for my end table/printer holder, but I have to work on the numbers since the plans I found are shorter than what I need.

I'm really enjoying working with wood. I wish I had a garage so that I can buy some wood working tools and have a space that I don't have to vacuum and clean up right away when I'm working. Also, I want a tiny house. Random.

reading - Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia This post brought to you in part by:  

Make It - a t-shirt dress by Typical 90's Child

It's a guest post day. Today Alex of Typical 90's Child is sharing how to turn a t-shirt into a dress. Alex sells vintage clothing as well as custom vintage inspired clothing. Stop by her shop and check out all the fun stuff she has to offer.


  I realize that this is a photo heavy post, and a lot of explaining will go with the pics, but honestly, it's such a quick and easy DIY that anyone who can do a simple straight stitch could easily make this!

All you will need are two men's shirts (I used XL ones), some lace or whatever else you would like to use to embellish it and a dress that you like the fit.



1. Fold both your dress and one of the T-shirts in half, lay the folded edges on top of each other and cut around the silhouette of your dress leaving some room for stitching. In the second picture you can see how I folded the sleeve along the seem to know where to cut my T-shirt.





2. At this point you should have something like this, turn it inside out and stitch the sides up (I know this is common sense, but just in case...leave the armholes open!)



3. Grab the original T-shirt sleeve that you cut off earlier, and take it in, one side should be the width of the arm opening, and the other should comfortably fit around your own arm.



4. If you've never done sleeves before, don't worry! Just pay attention and you'll be fine :)   Turn your T-shirt-dress inside out, but keep your sleeve the right side out. Insert your sleeve through the armhole, with the smaller part (sleeve cuff) going in first. Once inside, align the ends of seems A and B.



5. Attach the sleeve to the dress and stitch all the way around. Repeat process for other sleeve.



6. Normally I would cut open the neck a bit more, but I wanted to keep this one as simple as possible, so I just gathered my lace and attached it right below the existing collar.

I don't have a picture of that, but this is the best close up I have of it.



7. Now, you should have this, it's cute, but a bit plain...and incredibly short!



8. Time to get out the second T-shirt, and cut two even strips out of the middle. Discard the bottom hem of the shirt (I forgot to show this in the picture).



9. You will now have two circles of fabric, cut each piece only once as shown with the green line. This will give you 2 long strips of fabric, attach the two together, and gather lengthwise until they are the same width as the bottom of your dress.



10. Lay your gathered trim upside down, with the right sides together right above the existing hem of the T-shirt dress. Stitch it on, fold the ruffled edge down and enjoy!!! (I adjusted the exposure on this pic so you can see the black on black a bit better)



This is the finished dress, I haven't gotten much use out of it yet, but now that it's starting to get hotter here in San Diego, I know I'll be wearing it often. Because it's made out of a T-shirt, it's super comfy and makes you feel like you actually put in a little effort in the morning for those days that you just don't want to :)





I really hope some of you give this a go, if you do I'd love to see the end result! As always, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, you can either leave it in a comment below or e-mail me.

xoxo
Alex

Typical 90's Child - Storenvy
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typicalninetieschild@gmail.com


reading - Dead Janitor's Club by Jeff Klima This post brought to you in part by:  

*channels Tim the Tool Man Taylor*

I woke up a couple of  Tuesdays ago and spent just about all day on the IKEA, Home Depot and Lowe's websites. I don't even know why I decided to check out IKEA. I just got up out of bed and logged on and started checking out bookshelves and other random things.

I love the EXPEDIT cubby shelves. I want them all. I just don't want to pay the price for them. While I was checking out the many varieties of the EXPEDIT shelves I thought, I bet these are super easy to make and off to Google I went. I stumbled across the Ana White website and she has all kinds of plans for furniture.

I went through a bunch of her plans and everything looked pretty simple. I then logged into the Lowe's website to price wood and then Home Depot to compare prices. Next thing you know I've got a little drawing with calculations and prices.

The day after Halloween I headed Home Depot and picked up a 2 x 12 x 8 and had them cut it down to the pieces I needed and Saturday morning I made the end table/book shelf thing above. While putting it together I broke one of my drill bits, learned that a 2 x 12 is not really a 2 x 12, wood is heavy and that an emory board will work as sand paper in a pinch (I swear I have sand paper in my apartment somewhere. I just don't know where I put it).

I'm not sure if I'll stain my little project, but if I do I'll be staining it with tea or coffee. No need for all those crazy chemicals since I'll be doing it inside. I've already got plans for a kitchen cart and a larger bookshelf. I just need to save up for some more wood.

I totally want to just build myself a new desk and a dresser. Another "craft" to become obsessed with. Oops!

reading - Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry This post brought to you in part by: