Creative Repair

So the last Creative Repair was applique. This one is stenciling. Aside from worn spots in clothing, I also find mysterious stains on them. I mean really, I don't remember spilling that much. You'd think no one would let me out in public if I was such a sloppy eater.

So for those weird mystery stains, I turn to stencils. These are a great and creative way to hide the fact that you are messy. Who's to say you didn't buy your pants that way huh?

Any stencil will work. I found a great book called Stencil 101 by Ed Roth. Tulip fabric paint has worked for me with great success. Just follow the directions on the bottle. Using a spray adhesive on the stencil keeps the paint from bleeding underneath and don't forget to heat set it with an iron after the paint is dry. No problems in the wash.



The nice thing is you can add more stencils as more stains appear. I think I'll try different colors till I achieve that graffiti look.

Creative Repair

I have the hardest time finding pants that fit. If they fit in the hip, then I'm left with a big gap at the waist in the back that I could fit a walkie talkie in.
It seems that pants nowadays are straight from the waist down like guys' pants. It's like women don't have butts anymore. Who are these flat butted, no hip having women?

So when I do find a pair that fit, I wear them till they wear out. And where do my pants always wear out? Why on the inseam. Thighs. It's because of my thighs. (I tried to come up with some clever joke about friction and starting a fire, but they all sounded dirty)

Hence my new found talent,creative repair. Rather than throwing out a perfectly fitting pair of pants, I patch the holes. Now I could, and have, patch with the same color fabric, but why not take this opportunity to be a bit creative?

So with this pair, I decided to patch down both inseams with a floral print. (It is Spring you know) The result is something different looking that solves the threadbare problem.

To do this repair job, I cut 2 panels from a floral fabric and iron Heat N Bond on the back. Then I iron my patches to the pants. Next, I ripped open the outside seams so I could sew around the patches. I know some people will roll up the leg to fit it on their machine, but I find it's easier just to rip open the pant leg and then sew it back up afterwards. Especially with long patches like I'm using, but I do this with patches on the knees as well.

I will use a large busy print for repairs in case (oh who am I kidding? When.) this fabric gets a worn spot. I cut a large piece, in this case a big blossom, and sew it over the existing patch. This technique will also work for covering stains. That's right folks, pure class over here!

For more info check out Craft: they have a series of posts on mending and repair.
enjoy.

What the Pho?

Birthday dinner tonight and I made my first pho.
I saw this demo on Martha Stewart Living and seeing how simple it seemed, I decided to give it a try.
The recipe is from Laurie David's new cookbook The Family Dinner
and is on Martha Stewart's site .

I like that you serve the broth in a teapot.
This was a great excuse to use the pot from my grandmother's tea set.

It was a fun, hands on dining experience since you add your ingredients to your bowl at the table.
All in all a yummy, easy dinner.

Nu Shoes

To my delight, I learned we have a Steve Madden here in Denver.
So of course I ran out and spent a ridiculous amount of money on some super high wedges. I got brown since I already have some Steve Madden knock off wedges from Target in black. Brown shoes (especially studded) always evoke more of a western vibe to me so they usually go with jeans. I also tried them with my plaid drop waist dress and a little denim swing jacket.

It seems that my dresses are all about 2 inches shorter than I would like.
Not sure how that happened.
I'll add "making a slip" to the growing list of things I want to accomplish while the baby is with grandma.