The 2014 Ikea catalogue arrived last week and the new Stockholm Collection is amazing! So many pretty things..... but my favorite thing (and Matt's also) are these new dining chairs! They need to be in our lives ASAP! We were thinking they would be great for the dining room (big shocker there).

 

Currently we have a tall square table that extends to be a rectangle and two pleather benches that the cats love poking their sharp claws into. Here's a really old picture to help jog your memory. This also is helping me to realize that I need to update my home tour picures, but that is for another day. We have decided that a round table would probably be better for the space, and I'm pretty over the whole bar hight table thing. Sadly the Stockholm dining table is a long rectangle, so we'll have to find something else to our liking for this plan to materialize.

 

 

The chairs are not the only pretties that I am coveting right now, this mirror is gorgeous! I feel like I would've obligated to set something on the larger lip on the bottom, but I'm not sure what.

 

 

I also love this glass cabinet! I don't think we have room for it anywhere, nor is Matt a fan, but I still love it! I plan to live vicariously through the people that do end up with one in their home, just a fair warning.

 

 

I really want to get my hands on this flat woven rug. I think two of them would be perfect to put under our bed. With our drafty windows and a size able corner of our room walls being exposed, the floor on my side of the bed is noticeably colder than everywhere else. This would make dragging myself out of bed on those cold winter mornings slightly more tolerable.

There's also a little peak of one of the fabrics in the collection! I actually bought some on Monday because I loved it so much. Those yellow circles have a nice watercolor look to them, and we have been desperately needing some window treatments in the kitchen.

 

 

They're not full curtains, they don't even fill up the whole window. Ideally we would like to get some sort of roller shade that you can still see through, but I thought these would frame the window nicely.

 

 

I used the Deka curtain wire to hang them, and simply sewed four small hems around the fabric. Easy peasy.

 

Have you gotten your Ikea catalogue yet? What's you ew favorite thing?

 

Nikki Kelly

Or if you're the overly optimistic type you could say I'm way ahead of the game for next year. Either way the fact is that I bought this fabric before the Christmas of 2011. Nothing super fancy, I was just planning on making it into a tree skirt for my Xmas tree. Well once January 1st (2013) rolled around I no longer wanted any traces of Christmas staring me in the face anymore and Matt and I made plans to get everything packed up and put away last week. After that discussion I was reminded about my yet to be started project when I saw the fabric with the empty decoration boxes. I'm still not sure what made me decided that I needed to get my tree skirt made ASAP, but that's what happened. I had made the decision that I was not going to put this sad folded up yard of fabric back into a box with other decorations until it became a tree skirt.

 

 

So the first thing was to cut it into the shape of a tree skirt. I chose round as you can see in this picture. There were more geometric ones, but that involved math and I like round ones better. In addition to cutting this into a circle I also cut some felt that I had bought to be the underside of my skirt. Now that I'm writing this I realized that I didn't take one single picture of the felt. Oh, well. It's not really that important.

 

 

Once I had the fabric and felt cut to size and sewn together I wanted to see how the size played with my tree. I'll say that I was waiting to put the tree away until I tested out the skirt, but you can draw your own conclusion. Either way I think it fits quite nicely.

 

 

Then I was stuck. I didn't have any bias tape to finish the raw edges with. What I did have was some more of this fabric left and some momentum. Not wanting to waste either I decided that stockings would be a fantastic project to go along with my skirt. So I found an old jankey stocking to use as a template. I just took a pencil and traced around it right onto my fabric.

 

 

Here is the first one cut out.

 

 

Since there are three of us in our little family I needed to repeat the process two more times. For those ones I just laid the cut one on top of the fabric and cut around it.

 

 

After sewing the stockings together I cut the seam allowance with my zig-zag-y shears, that seemed to help it lay flatter when I turned it right side out. This part was pretty lame and made my fingers go numb a little.

 

 

After that I realized that I would need a liner so I found some plain white fabric and did all of that three more times. At this point I was not feeling so motivated and decided that since I didn't have the supplies to complete the stockings or skirt I would be done and go watch tv. That was some time last week.

 

 

It wasn't until Sunday (I think) that I actually went to Joann's to get the rest of the stuff I needed. I got some bias tape, some furry blanket type fabric to make a cuff, and some thread. Actually, I forgot to get the thread and had to go back. Lame.

 

 

Sewing the cuff was pretty easy, I just folded it over, cut it, and sewed it. Sewing it to the stocking fabric was easy too.

 

 

But sewing it to the lining proved to be difficult. Not because the fabrics didn't work well, but because I had to figure it how to put it together so that when it was all said and done it was facing the right way. I had to do that for each one! I couldn't really remember clearly and I even sewed one inside out.

 

 

I did prevail though! The last thing to take care of was the hole that I left to turn everything right side out again. Once that was stitched up I was done-zo!

 

 

Here they are in their completed form! I didn't take many progress pictures of the skirt, but I watched some YouTube videos (this one and this one) to learn how to sew bias tape to the edges. I chose to go with gold and it took just under two packs. Sadly, you'll have to wait until next year to see them in action, I already put everything away.

 

 

Please tell me someone else is still working on something Christmas related!

 

 

 



 

Yes, I am currently stuck in the never ending project of painting and stenciling my studio. In fact I spent most of my free time this weekend salving away working on it. One teensy tiny update just for funsies, I finished two out of the three walls that I'm doing. I'm not doing the back wall (with the window), but I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet. So give me your suggestions!

 

 

 

Since I don't want to write a post that is basically the same as last weeks I went to craft night and made this!

 

 

It's another string lampshade, but this one is much cuter because it's baby sized! Eventually I'd like to make a little cluster of shades like this with different colors, shapes, and sizes. The shade was for a chandiler and has two springy loops that hold on to the smaller light bulbs. Snce there's not a hole in the top like the yellow one I'll do the same thing to the other little one so they match and sandwich them together kinda like this.

 

 

You must've wondering what I ment by going to craft night. Well there's this really cute local craft boutique (fancy right?) that has an open craft night every Tuesday from 6-9. You basically bring whatever you want to work on that you can bring with you. It's at the Fancy Tiger store on 1st and Broadway, I used to go all the time back before we had a house. I also used to knit a lot back then too and they even hosted a pumpkin carving party for Halloween. Since I don't really knit these days I was a little frantic Tuesday morning trying to think of what I could work on. Most of my projects these days are kinda attached to our house, or are too big to take anywhere. I remembered the chandelier shades that I had in my studio an quickly ripped all the fabric off them and sprayed one down with some pistachio colored spray paint before I left for work. The only other thing I needed was the crochet thread to wrap around, which I had plenty left over from the last shade.

Oh, and since they had just moved into a new store this year I decided to snap off some iPhone pics. They have tons of cute fabric.

 

 

Among all the cute fabric were these adorable cat fabrics for you or that special cat lady in your life.

 

 

 

 

This one was my favorite by far! It's apparently a lot of other peoples too because they were down to just a few fat quarters. You know the whole "Put a Bird on it!" trend from last year? I think this year will be cats!


 

 

And speaking of cats, look at this adorable embroidered cat pillow. The ball of yarn is the best part.

 

 

I'm sure you've seen that cute iPhone cover with the Mario Bros. characters cross stitched on the back and wondered where to get one of those cases. Well they've got them! Not only in white, but black and neon colors too.

 

 

This little bowl of neon thread was close by and caught my eye too. It would be cute to use for embellishing your fabric, kinda like I did with my iPad sleeve.

 

 

There's also this awesome collection of buttons above some of the fabric. I just love all the color and shapes.

 

 

Not only do they have awesome things to buy, but their store if full of great inspiration. Their check out table is clad in these rough and knotty planks of wood. I love how they are kinda random.

 

 

Back in their sewing room they have these frames at every station to keep scissors handy. I think adding a little container to hold your seam ripper and hem ruler thingy would be a really nice addition.

 

 

My absolute favorite thing in the store is this amazing ceiling fan! It's made out of a windmill. I even showed it to Matt and he likes it too. Who knows, maybe we will make one for our living room someday.

 

 

So if your finding yourself with nothing to do in Denver on a Tuesday night, pack up some craft supplies and go visit with some crafters at Fancy Tiger! Don't live in Denver? Maybe there's a cute little local craft store in your city with friendly where crafters flock. Maybe they even have an organized craft night, or if they don't you could suggest one. How about that cat fabric, what would you make with it? Oh, and I'm still looking for a volunteer to finish painting and stenciling if you're interested. Or how about just suggestions on what I should do on the wall with the window.

 

Nikki Kelly

I'll be linking up at any of these fabulous linky parties!

Primp Your Stuff - Whatever Goes Wednesdays @ Someday Crafts - Hookin' up with House of Hepworths - Friday Fun Finds @ Kojo Designs - Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots & Jello - Instagram Linkup @ a {little} dash of ash - Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different Act Normal - The DIY Project Parade - The Sunday Showcase Party @ Under the Table and Dreaming

 

 

I'm not really sure I want to bring attention to this, but hopefully I've redeemed myself with this project. See two weeks ago Jenna, Ali, Jenna's friend Kim, and I embarked on a journey to make cute tank dresses that we saw on Pinterest. Theoretically they should have been easy peasy, done in 20 minutes. Wrong! It's not that they were all that difficult to make, but it did take way more than 20 minutes and the worst part about it was they looked terrible. Like we should be living with Alby on the compound with French braids that come down to our butts bad. I think the main reason that they look so bad is because I don't think you're supposed to sew knit and woven fabrics together. On a positive note, the fabric we bought was completely salvageable. The only thing I cut off my initial 2 yard purchase was an 8 inch strip to make a sash.


Now for the redemption portion of the show. Meet my favorite skirt. It's a short skirt from BCBG that looks great with tights and a fitted t-shirt. The best thing about this skirt is that it has pockets! Big pockets too, not those silly little girl pockets that barely hold a tube of Chapstick. So I said to myself, "why not make another one?"

I came up with the idea of using masking tape to create a pattern since its pretty pliable and easy to work with. I basically taped over each section of fabric individually and then trimmed the extra tape along all the seams. Once I had all my pattern pieces I stuck the tape onto that thin paper stores like to wrap glass stuff up in. It kinda feels like newspaper, without all the gross news print getting all over your fingers. Once the pattern was on the paper I measured a 1/2" seam allowance all the way around and cut it out. (Disclaimer: I copied the pattern for this skirt like 2 years ago and therefore have no pictures of this portion. Lucky for you it is the easy part, and if you need help all you need to do is ask me!)

After making your pattern pieces and cutting everything out you'll need to study the original to figure out the best way to put it together. Looking at my skirt the pockets seemed like the best place to start.

They lay flat and have the same fabric on the inside a little so that you don't see the lining fabric. I sewed the part that shows to the actuall pocket fabric first. Then I sewed a little strip that you can't see in the picture above, but it is there to make the front seam of the pocket look nice. (I drew on the pictures with a yellow line to help you see what I'm talking about)

Once I pressed the seam over I sewed the seam allowence to that little strip at the front of the pocket, just like on my original skirt (the pocket on the left). Now place the back side of the pocket to the front side of the pocket and stitch it closed (the pocket on the right). Just to make things stay together a little better I also sewed the pockets to the front panel of the skirt on the top and sides. I sewed within the seam allowance so you shouldn't be able to see them when it's all done.

Now that the pockets are done the next logical step is to attach the back panels at the sides. This part was pretty straight forward. After sewing the seam I went back over the edges with a zig-zag stitch to keep things neat and tidy. At this point I also sewed the lining to the skirt, and since it doesnt have pockets it was pretty straightforward.

The waist band at the top was also pretty easy. I cut out my pieces, sewed the sides together so I had a front band and a back band. Then sandwich them together and sewed the tops together. The hardest part was pressing the seam along the top over to one side. And like the little strip along the front of my pocket I sewed the seam allowance to the fabric that would be on the inside of the skirt to keep things laying nicely.

Attaching the waist band to the skirt and lining took a little figuring out, but here's what I came up with. Sew the front facing band to the skirt, and then the back to the lining. Since the edges of the lining and back half of the waist band were exposed on my grey skirt I finished it off witha zig zag seam Then press the seams all towards the lining.

We're in the home stretch now, all we've got left is the zipper and the hem. Just another disclaimer, zippers kinda scare me. So if you would like to see detailed instructions on how I installed this lovely exposed zipper look at this awesome tutorial. What I will show you is where I veered off course. First thing was I did not have any fusible iron tape. That is probably something a good sewer would have on hand. So I improvised and used a light spraying of self adhesive spray. It worked ok, but the teeth of the zipper were a little sticky too. Maybe I will pick up that fusible tape stuff next time I buy a zipper.


The only other improvised thing I did was the top. The tutorial didnt really elaborate on what to do with the top. I guess it would be different for the type or garment you're sewing, so I just took the advice from this tutorial and cut them even with my skirt and melted the ends with a lighter.

Finally, it time for the hem, which also means I'm almost done! For the lining I just folded a half inch over 2 times and stitched a normal stitch. But for the skirt hem I wanted to get a little fancy. First I ran the raw edge through the zig zag stitch to keep it from fraying and so it looks a little more fancy professional. Then I sewed some ribbon I had laying around to the edge. It always seems like there is something like this built into the hems of my nicer dresses and skirts.

After the ribbon it was as simple as pressing the hem under and painstakingly hand stitching the hem. I always hate sewing by hand, but I guess it's only the bottom. I'm so glad we don't live in the olden days where you had to sew your own clothes by hand all the time. Here's a side by side comparison.

Pretty legit, if I do say so myself! The only noticeable difference is my new skirt is just a teeny bit bigger than my old skirt, so I would probably only add a 5/8" seam allowance next time. Or who knows, maybe it will shrink up a little next time I wash it.

So, do you have an awesome skirt that you'd love to recreate? If you give it a shot just be patient, and if all else fails, leave me a comment or send me an email with your problem and I'll do my best to help you out. Oh, and go check out what Jenna did with her fabric from our dress fail and tell her I said Hi!

P.S. I also did a pretty water color technique manicure to match! (Inspired by a post by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails.)