scrumdilly style: day 4

So here I am in items 5 and 8. I think I have already talked about the love hate thing I have with this dress/top. I love it, the idea of it, the color, and neon pink zipper in the back, and the fabric. It;s all fun and so very late 80s but when I put it on and actually see myself in it I feel like the frumpy forty-something year old I am. Well poop...either way I wore it and it was super comfortable and I at least pretended I was a bit er a lot less wide than I really am. That wideness always startles me. Actually, this photo doesn't look too bad...it is the final day ensemble that has me thinking I must have inhaled something in my sleep to think it was a good outfit idea. Oh and the shoes! Lookie the shoes! Pair number two of my nifty thrifted allegrias.

diy: patchwork cloud {plus a giveaway}

I whipped up this patchwork cloud for the march bed in under an hour. It's really easy to do! The hardest part is choosing your fabrics. I went with vintage linen pieces, most of which were a gift from Tara and I left the quilting threads long to create a raincloud. They are not very easy to see here but they are there. This is a really loosey-goosey diy and can be adapted in any number of ways.

 

Think about where you are going to hang or display your cloud. Make sure your fabric choices will showcase nicely with your wall color. I went with white because the bedroom is really dark and the aqua colored walls make it seem even darker. I was hoping the white would show up better and brighten things all around. If you have any fat pieces of lace or trim around, add those as well. The contrast in textures is really nice to have. Along with my vintage linens I have some vintage floral seersucker. I love the texture of the seersucker!

I wanted my cloud to be a bit larger than the paper I had on hand so I taped two sheets of 11"X17" paper together with packing tape. I drew a cloud shape until I was happy with it then cut it out. Ta-da! A pattern!

Next up I cut my fabric pieces into smaller bits all about 3" tall/long and anywhere from 2" to 6" wide. I adhered my fabric bits to the pattern (beginning at the bottom) with my trusty craft glue stick. Just swipe it onto the paper and press your fabric on top. This is really just to hold it in place until you stitch it all together. You could pin it all in place if you prefer to do so. Once I had one row adhered to my pattern, I popped it into my sewing machine and did a quick zig-zag stitch (set at 4) across the whole thing. Repeat with the glue, add more fabric a few inches above the bottom row, stitch and repeat.

Once I had covered my whole pattern, I flipped the whole mess over and trimmed away excess fabric. Popped it back into my sewing machine upside down so I could see where to stitch and stitched all the way around with a running/straight stitch (also set at 4). When the cloud shape was too wide on the right to move nicely through the machine, I rolled it up and continued on.  After stitching around the entire cloud I flipped my cloud back over so that the right side faced up and "quilted" the top pieces by vertically stitching along the cloud at various intervals. This serves two purposes, one to anchor down edges of overlapping fabric scraps, and two to add a textural element to the piece. The quilting threads also made for happy "rain" along the bottom of my cloud.

 

Trim threads where you want them trimmed and hang in a happy place (I used washi tape looped onto the back along with a length of yarn clipped to a wire)! I love my cloud and will need to make more I think. If you would like a chance to win this bit of happy, leave me a happy comment below. You have until Earth Day to leave a comment!

scrumdilly style: day 3

The temps for the week seemed to be summery. I think it was 85 on the day I wore this ensemble. I love this ensemble. Cool, comfortable, and not in the least bit old lady-ish. I paired items 3 and 8...easy peasy. And the shoes I have to tell ya were a thrift find. Barely worn if even worn at all these were a studio shoe...a shoe that was purchased to be worn by an actor or extra. They have writing inside for the wardrobe department. I know this because I am a child of the San Fernando Valley (like omigod) and have visited a few wardrobe departments in my day. Not only that, these babies are Allegria and sport rhinestoney skull bling on them. Skulls! My inner 80s death rocker loves them for that and my inner old lady who pines for the comfort of nursing shoes loves the comfort of these. These retail for pennies shy of $120 and I got these and two other pair for a total of $24.98! It's the thrift score of the year!

scrumdilly style: day 2

Day 2 was a work day where I spend most of my time outside with kiddos running around all over the place. I tend to get covered in sand and silt and paint and all the fun stuff that plays well with preschoolers. We had a short week...only two days of work for the week though so I thought the patchy jeans would be okay for one school day. The top is from Forever 21. I thought it worked with all the other pieces and it was a bit whimsical so I went for it. I wore it with the poorly made skully boots cuz I felt like wearing boots. I'm not exactly smitten with the wee ponty-tails but my hair was not cooperating so there ya go. So this is outfit number two...items 1 and 8.

the march bed

 

 

 

 

Top pillowcase, cloud, and large patchwork throw made by me. The awesome floral green pillowcase on the left there was from a wonderful swap years and years ago. The other three cases were thrifted. The fantastic orange bedspread was a lovely pass along from this lovely lady and the vintage daisy throw came all the way from Oklahoma care of my seester. Oh and the fantastic headboard was made by my brother, while the shelves were tinkered by the mister...the wood came from an old bookcase that was repurposed into my blanket shelf (I need to take a better photo for ya to see how cool it is). and don't worry, a cloud diy is coming soon!

scrumdilly style: day 1

 

Wearing items, 2, 6, and 7. I suppose this combo is a bit on the plain side, save for the colors. A skirt, top...flats. Not too fancy but you can dress it up with a fitted jacket or maybe a bit of velvet...boots perhaps or grab and old man cardigan and wear it with some purcels. All kinds of options here.