Lengthen a Dress with Color Blocking

I bought what I thought was the perfect summer dress online last year.  Loved it.  Wore it, washed it (cold water and drip dry) and it shrunk up way above my knees!  Grrrr!  Sadly, my way-too-short dress hung in the closet for the rest of the summer.

Last week I realized I had some raspberry colored gingham that perfectly coordinated with the dress and set to work color blocking to lengthen the dress.

 

First I slipped on the dress and measured where I wanted the first band of gingham, marked it and then cut the dress:

 

 

Using the strip I'd cut from the bottom of the dress, I used it as a guide for cutting my first band of gingham:

 

 

Then I pinned the gingham strip to the cut band of the dress:

 

 

And sewed the two pieces together so that it looked like this:

 

 

I repeated the process with a second, thinner band of gingham before sewing the new, gingham, two-banded piece to the top (bodice) of the dress.  I finished it all off with bias tape along the hem line ~ this helped me keep more length and it's easier than sewing a hem.

 

 

Now it is the perfect summer dress!

 

Easy Alteration for a Vintage Dress

I found this fabulous vintage dress at the thrift store for $12!

 

 

The waist and length were perfect.  The bodice, well, not so much.

 

 

I think Jane Mansfield may have worn this!

 

(Please disregard the mess in the background ~ this is our basement.  What a mess!)

 

A quick alteration was in order...

 

First, I slipped it on, inside-out, and pinned it along each side, from the arm holes, down to the waist.  Then I took it off and with a water-soluble pen, marked a line to sew:

 

 

I'm not sure what the fabric is (it feels like cotton but must be some sort of blend), but since it doesn't really fray, with pinking shears I snipped along the edges where I sewed the new seams:

 

 

I love the tag!  Pat Perkins was a dress manufacturer during the 1950's and 1960's.

 

 

Daughterlypoo snapped these pictures of me arriving at the train station in NYC to visit her:

 

 

 I'm definitely treasuring this dress!

6 Easy Steps to Updated Your Etsy About Page

I finally made time to update my Etsy shop.  I'm a little late doing this, since they added the "Check out this shop's about page" a while ago.

I'm still not very confident with this computer stuff ~ I'm easily intimidated by having to make changes, afraid I'll mess up and break a link or something.  I really shouldn't have worried about these changes because they were pretty easy and didn't take much time at all.

Here's how I did it...

1. Under the "Your Shop" link, I clicked on "Listings Manager" (upper right on screen)

2. Next I clicked on "About" under the "Shop Settings" (about mid way down on the left side of the screen)

3. I uploaded a picture of myself as the "Owner" of my shop and clicked the "Edit" option to write a little bit about my shop (this is all under the "Members" tab).  This took about 5 minutes.

 

4. Then I clicked on the "Story" tab, created a headline, something I think sounds engaging and interesting, and then spent about 15 minutes writing my story.  Initially, I was thinking too hard about what sets my shop apart from thousands and thousands of others.  Then I relaxed and just started writing and the story came naturally.  Duh!  It's MY story.

5. Loading my pictures and adding captions was the next step.  Culling through hundreds of pictures took some time because I wanted to find the right pictures that best illustrate what I do and what I make.

6. Finally, I added links to my Facebook page, this blog and my website.

Since launching Retro Revival, sales of my products have continued to climb on Etsy.  1,162 to date!  From day one when I spent just $.20 and five minutes to list my first shower cap, I've thoroughly enjoyed the process.  It's such a wonderful platform for selling and interacting with buyers!

If you haven't updated your Etsy shop's About page yet, here's a helpful link: https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/3-questions-for-uncovering-your-creative-origin-story/

 

And here's the link to my shop's About page https://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroRevivalBiz/about?ref=announce

 

Have you updated your About page?  Do you have a tip you'd like to share?

Easy Sew Boo Boo Bear

 

A good friend of mine recently became a first time grandma.  I wanted to make a little something special for her grandson so I stitched up a boo boo bear.

 

 

It was really easy!  I bought some soft blanket material and cut out two identical bear shapes (one for each side).  Then I cut out shapes for the ears, eyes, nose, and paws from coordinating felt squares and using a zig zag stitch, sewed them onto the front of the bear.  Three strands of black embroidery floss worked great for the mouth.

 

With right sides together, I sewed the bear shapes together, leaving a 2" opening.  I turned it right side out, filled him with about 1 pound of white rice, and hand-stitched the opening shut.  From start to finish, this was a really quick project ~ took less than an hour.

 

 

Now he's a cuddly hot and cold compress!  Destined to help ease a little guy's aches and pains.

Dry Frizzy Winter Hair Remedy

First came the Polar Vortex and now we're experiencing another Arctic blast.  This dry, winter weather is making my poor hair super dry and frizzy!  Yesterday I decided to play cosmetologist and treat my hair to a much needed deep conditioning treatment.

 

To begin, I showered and shampooed my hair.  Then I slathered on a generous handful of conditioner but instead of rinsing it out, left it in my hair.  After I jumped out of the shower, I combed my hair to more evenly distribute the conditioner...

 

 

...And donned one of my Retro Revival Shower Caps.

 

The last step in the deep conditioning process is the easiest ~ I went about my day for 30 minutes.  I chose to do some intellectual reading.

 

My shower caps trap the natural heat from your body, helping the hair cuticles open and absorb the conditioner.

(Is Twyla rolling her eyes at me?)

After 30 minutes, I rinsed out the conditioner and styled my hair as usual.  It's so soft and shiny now!  And my shower cap, the inside smeared with conditioner?  No worries, it's washable!

 

 

This shower cap is one of my newest designs and features elephants in shades of radiant orchid (Pantone's Color of 2014), chartreuse, aqua blue, and grey.  I have 60 different fabric choices available in my Etsy shop if you want a closer look.

Hope you all have a good hair day!

Sew a Vintage Tablecloth Skirt

Have a vintage tablecloth laying dormant in a closet?  Do like I did and repurpose it into a summer skirt!

 

I trimmed off the edges of the tablecloth:

 

 

Then rounded the two corners of what would be the hem line:

 

 

Gathered the top, then using an old hospital sheet (Did you know you can find these at thrift shops for about a buck?!  They're great for sewing projects like this), I made a waist band and sandwiched it over the gathered top before sewing it together.

 

Then I sewed coordinating bias tape along the bottom edge, and walah!

 

Probably the prettiest skirt in my closet!

Easy Corn On The Cob Tips

Don't you just love sweet, summertime corn?  But making it can be a bit of a mess.

 

Until recently, I always shucked it and then either boiled it on the stove (where the water seems to take forever to boil) or grilled it (often over- or under-cooking it).

 

Someone told me about a super easy way to cook and shuck corn.  All you do is place your corn cobs directly on your top oven rack (husks and all ~ absolutely no prep work) and turn the oven on to 350 (don't preheat the oven) and bake for 30 minutes.

 

Remove your corn from the oven and cut about and inch off the bottom like this:

 

 

Then squeeze the corn out of the husk (kinda like a giant tube of toothpaste):

 

 

Walah!  The corn comes out of the husk with virtually no silk!  How easy is this?!

 

 

Now, in other corn cob news...Have you ever met Butter Boy?

 

 

He's a brilliant little guy ~ holds the butter so that you can expertly cover your corn.  No butter dish mess!

 

 

Two solutions to some of life's hassles.  Happy I could share these with you!