My book bag had finally bitten the dust. It was faded, patched, worn, torn and stained. After 4 years of exclusively using it for my books I think I got my money’s worth out of it. Instead of buying a new one, I just made one (duh!). It didn’t need to be overly big, seeing as my class supplies get fewer and fewer as each semester goes on. I decided on a mid sized tote, with two pockets and a long strap in case I wanted to wear it cross-body style. I had an image of how it would look in my head, and for once it turned out exactly like I wanted it to!

I absolutely love the fabric and I think the ruffle is cute! I actually made it over Spring Break, so I didn’t get too much use out of it, but I definitely will next semester. Speaking of which, I only have one left! Graduation in December cannot come soon enough!

A stack of jeans I repaired for my brother.

A scarf I made for myself. I don’t crochet often, but I had been wanting t make myself a scarf for awhile. It took me longer than usual since I had to find the time to sit and crochet ( a hard task considering I needed to be writing papers and doing group projects instead!)

I found this coat for 5 bucks at Goodwill. The only problem was that the sleeves were too short for my long arms. So, I did what any thrifty person would do and added a cuff!

The lining was purely for fun. It doesn’t actually match the coat well, but I am the only one that can see it, so I thought why not??

That’s it for now but stay tuned for more cute projects including my new school bag and an awesome vintage skirt!

I was going through my fabric stash (more like mountain) the other day and came across these remnants of fleece fabric. I immediately thought to make a little baby blanket for my niece, who is alwayyyysssss carrying around a baby or stuffed animal of some sort.

I went the quick and easy route (duh!) and just sandwiched the two layers with some t-shirt fabric and zig-zagged around the edge. viola!

Just a simple tank dress with appliqued hearts on the top. Nothing too hard, but I think it turned out pretty cute.

School started back up on Tuesday. I just have one more semester after this one till I graduate! I’m ready to be done!

Since it is the beginning of the semester, I don’t have too heavy of a work load, so I will still be doing projects here and there. However, if I fall off the grid again, you”ll know why (probably because I was eaten by a textbook or slipped and fell running up 10 flights of stairs to get to class on time;)) Thanks to those of you that still hang around:)

I wanted to make my friend a hot rice pack. I looked up several different ways to do it and just kind of mixed it up to make what I wanted. I bought some really cute chevron flannel and made a doubled tube (its better if there is a lining that way the rice is less likely to come out).

I then alternated putting in the rice and essential oil (lavender..mmm:)) and sewed it up. Ta-daa! Quick and easy Christmas or anytime gift.

So, in an effort to make him unique but wearable clothing I made him these 3 shirts for Christmas.

This first one was just a simple iron on applique and I sewed 3 strips of bias tape to the bottom corner.

the second one is appliqued animal shapes. I really like this one. The “eyes” on the animals are beads I sewed on.

And the last one probably took the most effort. I took a collar from a men’s shirt and a curtain tie to make it. I downsized the collar to fit the smaller sized t-shirt and took apart the curtain tie so there was less bulk. I even went the extra mile and finished off the inside of the collar with stretch lace binding (I have been trying to make more of a concerted effort for QUALITY work)

And there you have it! I will hopefully have more Christmas posts coming soon. Have a safe and Happy 2013!!:)

It’s just a simple top made from two button down shirts. I used a shirt that fit her on top and then a men’s shirt for the skirt part. The waistband is the collar from the black shirt…I thought it provided a nice waist defining element to the shirt. Or it could make her look like she’s wearing an apron…either way. I would like to try this technique again sometime.

Luckily for you, though, I want to give these patterns to you! These include new and vintage women’s patterns; most of them are uncut, and they’re all dresses or tops (with the exception of one doll’s clothing pattern). However, because I’m a lazy busy college student I didn’t want to take pics of allllll of them. So! leave a comment, with a size range, age preference and whether you’d like tops, dresses or a mix and I will send 4 lucky people a surprise pattern package! Also, leave an email address if you’d actually like to receive these patterns;)

Sorry, no men’s patterns. Open to International readers!

While these pictures may look like the best kind of summer, I am ready for fall (and then winter please and thank you). I’m tired of all my summer clothes (and summer sewing); plus flannel fabrics and cozy new sweaters are a good incentive for it to be cold:)

I have decided to shut down my Etsy site. I don’t know if it will be permanent, if I’ll come back, or maybe just sell elsewhere. It is just taking more time and effort than I have this summer. It will be up until the 30th though, so there’s still time if you wanted to grab anything! Thank you for your support and understanding:)

This dress was my little brothers shirt from a while ago. I just cut off the top, added elastic and bias taped (my little friend, bias tape is:)) the arm edges. Ta-Daa!

Oh yeah, and rick rack:)

My sister had two shirts, red and blue, that were the exact same shirts (size, brand, style etc.). The blue one was really stained though. Instead of throwing them away, I combined parts of them to make this shirt! I took the sleeves off the blue one and added them to the red one, then added a fake border to the bottom to add length to the shirt. then I made the cute little patch pocket, which is my fave part:)

For sale HERE

Of course this meant that I then needed to dye my cream colored and pink spotted sweater (I don’t learn, do I?) This time though, I used a dye fixative. It seems to have turned out ok, and I LOVE the color.

I often dye stuff without checking the fiber content (bad habit I know), so the cotton in this dyed the darker blue and the acrylic stayed a lighter shade. Which makes the sweater look kind of like a tweed.

Now, the weather just needs to get cooler. 80 degrees in March is not normal!;)

Can you guess what this dress is made of?

I made it from 3 dress shirts, one denim dress and the lining is from a sheet! The buttons were from another dress too. I’ve been trying to make more of an effort to use up my scraps and it worked out really well for this dress.

I told my niece to go sit on the chair, and she walked over and lay down on it just like this! I think I see being a model in her future;)

Thank You for reading.

Laura Gerencser

I also added some embellishments in the form of bias binding and some heart buttons on the sleeves. The sleeves were too long for my sister’s arms, so I rolled them up and gave them “tabs”. I quite like how it turned out (if I do say so myself:))