Country t-shirt emblazened with Cowboy Camp was too cute to trash just because of the little hole in the tail of it. So with a little innovative creativity and a wonderful large denim jacket to start with, a new jacket was born. It is full of charms – literally and figuratively! Calico accents and charms take this from casual to distintive and unique.

Tags: adult, denim, jacket, repurpose, upcycled
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Brown Corduroy jacket.
Found this little cutie at my favorite resale shop, on the 75% off rack. Ok, so I neglected to take a shot before the makeover; what I found was a simple brown corduroy jacket, solid with a fold down collar; and a single stain. I could see it had a lot of use and needed a little help to find its second life. The collar was altered as the fold down was removed, The addition I saw was a beautiful blue paisley that would serve to both cover the stain as well as updating it with a very current blue brown mix. Love the texture combo of the corduroy with the smooth light weight of the quilter’s cotton, so I added this little inset under the right front breast pocket.

An interesting and perhaps vintage pale pink pearl snap shirt with a cowgirl brown print called to me from the bin it was in. The sleeves were slightly bell shaped and finished with this little lace instead of the predictable cuff and pearl snap. These sleeves were merged with the corduroy sleeves. Interesting and added a bit more femininity.

Finished it off with a little lace and isn’t it dainty!?!
A doily was hand stitched to the left front pocket, adding another sweet and feminine touch.

When the jacket was turned around, it was “fine” but the back now didn’t match the front. Mmmmmm. I had purchased a shoebox-stash from another seamstress and after searching through it, I found a lovely peach calico print. This was made into ruffles to create a bustle-like effect. Nice! Looking for the finishing touch, I need something for the top of the bustle. After searching through my craft room, I came up with this: the end of the necktie. Yeppers, took the tail of a rich blue necktie and made the bustle topper.

This is the latest in my jacket re-works. Most of them have been working with denim jackets but brown corduroy jacket was just to yummy to pass on – and I’m so glad I did not keep walking. Not only did I save this cutie from a landfill, but it has become a wonderful new item destined to extend someone’s wardrobe.

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Oct 1, and I’m staring the last quarter of the year squarely in the face. I am still adjusting to 2011! The year has flown by, in the best possible way. We have had no serious problems or illness, for which I am very grateful. But here I am, two plus months without writing.  The good news is that I have actually sewn much more than I’ve written.

This next jacket wasn’t denim, but it is in the same style. I first disinfected, as always. Then I added an iron on Love the Earth.

As you can see, I also added a gorgeous rhinestone accent but that wasn’t quite enough so then I stitched a heart around the rhinestone one.  Nice! So as I turn the jacket around to see what, if anything, else it might need. Mmmmmmm. Ah, another rhinestone accent!

At the end of the day, you end up with this really cute, fall jacket with a terrific message. It is apparently quite inspiring – or so says my model.

Tags: craft, handmade, jacket, repurposed, upcycle
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Craft Booth

As I mentioned in my last post, I have rented a small booth at the Plano Antique Mall. It is a fabulous place I have enjoyed shopping at so thought I would see how well I can do there. Having this booth has focused my planning so currently it is filled with purses. Not exclusively, but dominantly. As I have planned this, I have been greatly excited by the prospect of creating a line of denim jackets.

I have done a few jackets in the past and am now exploring a variety of possible techniques.  I just finished a guy’s jacket; it is a wonderful country-styled denim, with a yoke across the back shoulder blades. I took parts of an ubber soft, but thicker cotton camo button down shirt and added them to the denim. It has become a simple but awesome, one of a kind jacket.

Here you can see most of the front – the overlay of the lapel and one of the pockets. It was important to me to retain use of the pockets but they are such an awesome way to accessorize I had to USE them!

The sleeve cuff of the denim has been covered with the button-hole plat from the front of the camo shirt. Here is a close-up that shows the detail the plat adds to the denim sleeve. In this shot it is very obvious what part of the camo shirt was used but it does not standout in the full view.

Lastly, you see the front view of the completed jacket. I didn’t get a shot of the back but the camo was also used to overlay the yoke on the back also. Voila! A terrific jacket for a young country boy. A statement of fashion and recycling that reflects NO femininity which is harder to pull off than you might think! Enjoy!

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How awesome was your holiday? We had a fantastic weekend – in some ways like a mini-STAYcation. Attended a small concert on Friday evening at the Choctaw Casino (yea for Sammy Kershaw, country fans!). Saturday brought a bbq cook-off & softball tournament. A friend was entered in the rib cook off. Well, we are good friend so we chose to go support him. It had NOTHING to do with the ribs that were offered. Ok well maybe the ribs helped a little. Then off to a pool party to cool off. We stayed there till almost sundown so it was a fun day doing lots of fun things with friends. Sunday brought some quiet time at our house along with basic weekend “to-dos and a little play time for our dog. We hit Lake Ray Roberts by 10 a.m. Monday morning with some of the kids & a grandchild. Talk about a blast. Just buzzing around the lake is fabulous, but with my grandson snoozing in my lap, well it doesn’t matter what cramps up. I’ll just visit the chiropractor later. Whew! Truth is, we didn’t watch fireworks this year because we were simply pooped by sunset! I could have used a couple of days to craft but that is true most any day of my life.

There is some craft news – in May, I rented a craft booth in the Plano Antique Mall, on Spring Creek, just east of Hwy 75. It is a wonderful place, with a longstanding history in the DFW area. Diverse in its choice of crafters, this place is surprisingly large and easy to visit. You can wander a little or a lot, shopping for everything from furniture, to antiques, to old fashioned candies and so much more.

It is a wonderful place that I encourage you to visit!

Tags: antique, craft, fireworks, mall
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