Sewing Summer Clothes in winter will warm you up!

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Hello again!

I was thinking about some small revision of my recent sewing. I’m calling it recent although some of them were done in spring this year. I would like to present pieces which I really like and were really simple and can be done at beginner level. Please vote and let me know if you like any of them, so maybe I could make new pieces with instructions and additional pictures which could help you copy the project. Since I always have problems keeping to my schedules which means the clothes suitable for that particular season get ready almost at the last minute, I think it is a great idea to have summer clothes done in the winter or early spring, waiting nicely for the warmer days. Some of us are going for holidays to hot countries, so you may be able to use it even sooner! I will also have something new coming up for those who don’t feel like sewing summer clothes while there is snow is outside, but this is going to be in a separate post 🙂 For now please make yourself a hot cup of cocoa and look at the pictures. If you like something please leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I will do my best to show you how it was done. The deadline for this fun is going to be the end of December 2013, so please hurry. spring grass dress 1spring grass dress 2 Spring grass dress – it is actually made up from 2 pieces, so there is a top and a skirt. The back of the skirt has a longer section like famous designers’ trends these days.

pink dress 1pink dress 2 Pink dress – again, a 2-piece set, the top is rather a vest, so a t-shirt or blouse has to go with it. The skirt has two layers to make it more puffy.

summer dress 1summer dress 2

Summer dress – my daughter’s favorite, quite used already, so sorry abut the quality.

Yellow spring dress 1Yellow spring dress 2

Yellow Spring Dress – one piece dress, very airy, perfect for a little princess 🙂

I’m so exited and am waiting for your comments impatiently! See you soon again…..

Great deal T-shirts

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This is going to be a surprise!Tshirt1 When it gets a bit colder and we have to start thinking about long-sleeved t-shirts for kids it is hard to find bargains in the stores. When I was looking through summer season clothes on sale I found those fabulous tank tops size XL for men. There was plenty of material to make something brand-new and the colors are lovely too, so why not?! I got two of them for $6 in total and started planning.

I thought that adding some fun to this project will engage my daughter as well, so after cutting it all up and then putting it together I allowed her to create some art on it. t-shirt 1 I’m glad I got two of those t-shirts because I messed the up the red one a bit and the sleeves got too tight to wear it.

t-shirt 2So we ended up with tank top again, but it is ok, another long-sleeved t-shirt can go underneath or I could have used other material to make sleeveless, but there was no time! I had my little art maker standing next to me and keep asking “Can I start now? Can I start now?”. I had to hurry up so she could start on the red piece and I could work on the blue one. t-shirt 3The finished project is  lovely and she couldn’t wait to put it on 🙂 t-shirt 4 We have used special paints for fabrics. paint for fabrics Mine  are quite old and after drying I have to iron them to make the picture permanent but you can get a wide range of this kind of products in “Michaels” or even in Walmart. Those new ones are much easier to use with a little applicator at the end, so no more messy brushes.

Painting on the fabric is a lot of fun, so I’m sure you will see more of it on future posts. Going back to my project 🙂 I finished the 2nd t-shirt, this time I took better measurements so the sleeves were bang on. t-shirt 5 I know there is no art on it yet but wait a second! I will update this post again very soon so you can see final result. This time I’m having fun with painting it 🙂

T-shirt art Now the t-shirt is so unique, colorful and pretty! I just love it! Would your kids love it? Go on, have a try!

Fine art method for beginners

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Are you wondering how we can make some fine art piece which you can proudly hang in your house even when you are not an artist? I’m going to show you the method for every time successful painting a story!

Get your suppliers ready and we will have some fun this weekend!fine art 2This is the patter I’m going to use.

fine art 3and this is place where I’m going to hang it 🙂fine art 4so it can look beautiful with this! 🙂

I have finally managed to find some quality time to finish the first of two paintings for my bathroom wall but let’s start from the beginning.

The first step was to prepare some materials. We need tracing paper, pencil, canvas, oil paints and brushes, a damp cloth, thinner, and the most important – the design which you would like to paint.

fine art 1

The first step is very easy. We need to place a single sheet of tracing paper on the design – you can clip them together to prevent moving. If you are working on the bigger canvas you would have to stick individual sheets in to make a bigger one or look for a suitable size in the arts and crafts stores.

fine art 9Trace the object.

I painted the background of my canvas a week earlier to have them nice and dry. Depending on the house temperature and thickness of the paint one week may not be enough, so if you are not in a hurry please allow a few more days. If the paint of background is still wet and then you put another layer on top, the painting may start to crack due to the uneven drying speed.

Once all was ready I painted over the tracing papers using a dark color in the dark spots and a light color in the light ones. You can always lift the trace paper to see how the colors are changing close to the borders of the design. Try to keep dark and light spots as similar as possible to your design.

fine art 8

Then we need to place the tracing paper with the paint on it face down on the canvas. Be careful, do it straight. It didn’t matter so much for my project but if you pick a different theme it may become very important.

fine art 7I used damp cloth to press gently over the whole area on the tracing paper to leave good marks on the canvas. The tracing paper will not be wet on the underside so you don’t have to be worried about a mess.

fine art 6

Then we need to slowly lift or rather pull off the tracing paper from the canvas and our painting is almost ready!

fine art 5

Keep your design close with you while working on the canvas. Keep checking how the colors are changing and what shapes they take, where are shadows needed? I didn’t do many changes after making the print. I increased the amount of paint in each area and blended a bit between light and dark colors so they look more natural.

fine art 10

I think this is the easiest technique known and will bring you successful results every time. Now allow the painting to dry for another week or so. You can hang it already if you want 🙂 Since I painted round all the edges very carefully I will not need a frame for it.

If you would like to use acrylic paints you would have to hurry as they dry very fast ( completely dry in 30 minutes). That is why I  recommend oils, you can take your time and work on everything as detailed as you want.

fine art 4Now by bathroom is almost done!

Happy painting!