Fun with Green Gingham

So my mom cleaned out her craft closet and gave me a lot of cast-off fabric.  Some of it was scary (think 1986 scary), but some of it is super cute!  I have had my eye on this green gingham bit lately, because, well, I need something to wear for St. Patty's Day.  I was thinking: cute skirt.

I started with this pattern from Stitch Magazine (It is free to download):  One Pleat Skirt

I wanted an A-line skirt, so I took only the top part of the skirt pattern, and then modified it to make it A-Line.  Basically, where it started curving in, I took a straight-edge and kept it flaring out.  

Then I started to sew.  Mind you, this pattern came with no instructions (and I didn't feel like buying a back-issue of Stitch to get them), so I made it up as I went along.  I started with a seam, and then put in a little zipper at the top (because let's face it, you can't pull non-stretchy cotton up over a ghetto booty).

But then I discovered that the pattern, meant for my size, still was going to be wayyyy too small.  So I added a panel, which came out mostly okay. 

                      










I finished with some darts, and then rolled the waistband and hem and voila!  A cute skirt for St. Patty's!

All the while, Darla was keeping me company, so I thought I would make her something too.  I stitched up a little bandanna using scrap fabric and some string, and then I added a little fabric rose.

 I hope to use the rose idea to make a matching headband for my skirt!

The tutorial for the Lucy Rose can be found here, at the Trey and Lucy blog:  

Lucy Rose

Linking to:

St Patty's Garland and Another Keepsake Box

I have been horribly addicted to crafting blogs lately, and one thing that keeps popping up are pennants/garlands/banners.  Well, I was in Goodwill today and saw some green Christmas ornaments and thought that maybe I should make one too.  So here is what I collected for $6.49 (and a few things I had lying around):

Ornaments, chipboard letters, cedar hanger rings, green table cloth, party horns, string, ribbon, buttons, and a little cloth.  I didn't use everything, but it gave me something to work with.  Now, based on the letters that remained in the box, I could spell only one St. Patty's themed word: Lucky.  So I took those letters and the hanger rings and spray painted them green.  Then I stapled the letters to the green fabric and attached it to the tablecloth squares using ribbon, which I also used to suspend all the doo-dads.

It was really easy and only took about an hour or so.  Plus, there was no sewing and no glue!

Here it is:

Time for a close-up!

And,  I finally finished our Honeymoon Keepsake Box!  This one didn't have any 3-D elements, so assembly went much quicker than the wedding boxes!  A little photo shoot, with the help of Darla, who would not get out of the way:

 The inside of the cover has some spots for us to write little tidbits about the trip.











I used the inside of the box to attach our ticket and travel information.

I should also mention that I decorated this using a  generic theme park scrapbooking kit/stickers that I found on clearance at hobby lobby.  The box was a scrapbook box on clearance as well.  I love clearance!!!