Posts Tagged ‘tutorials’

Tutorial: How to Make Chalk Paint

March 12th, 2013

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Last weekend I participated in the very first Salt Lake hosted Vintage Whites Market. I participated in the event by teaching a calligraphy workshop. We had a blast. I had so much fun hanging out with some incredibly inspiring women (VWM, Shop Ruche and Gather & Hunt).

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I was asked to do some chalk art for the entry way for admission and pricing, much like the one I did for Alt Summit. I didn’t have much time to do the lettering and unfortunately for me, it was a retro chalkboard with a sheen to it; impossible for actually chalking up.

I tried to prime the surface by rubbing chalk all over it, but nothing would stick. My chalk marker wouldn’t even make a mark, so I had to get creative. It was midnight and I needed to use what I had on hand. So I thought I would see how chalky paint would do. Here’s what it ended up looking like.

The paint worked well and I’m really excited about this new method – I couldn’t wait to share it with you. So here we go:

Make Paint out of Chalk

Soaking chalk was not about to work in the amount of time I had. So I researched. I realized I needed to phrase my query, “How to make paint out of chalk” as to try to avoid how to make your own colored paint that could be used for making chalkboards. Confusing, I know.

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I found this tutorial, but I thought the technique lacking. I’m not going to rub chalk on my brush until I get enough chalk dust so I busted out the micro planer instead. Much faster.

I bet if you had a fine cheese grater or some sand paper, that would do, too.

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I didn’t need a ton of chalk dust – I think for the large project I did for VWM, I used less than a stick and a half.

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I mixed chalk and water a little bit at a time until I got the consistency of heavy cream and grabbed a brush I no longer cared for.

I’m sure you could do some really fun things with sponges and even food coloring. I haven’t tried yet.

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I noticed the chalk doesn’t show up at first, but there was no need to run over each line twice. See below!

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See how vibrantly the white chalk shows up after it’s dry? Again, no need to run over your lines twice.

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It shows up so vividly on the chalkboard, but it’s just like regular chalk and erases with little to no effort. I don’t have a legit chalk eraser, but it came off just fine with a microfiber cloth. Bonus, right?

Now there’s a whole new way to participate in the chalking trend! We have the above chalk board in front of our house. It’s been since December that I’ve written a message on there (I would letter out different phrases each month). I think now that our front porch is clear of snow, I might start the monthly phrases up again.

Got any suggestions on greetings I should write on this baby?

DIY: Cut out Leather Cuff

March 7th, 2013

8 Comments

Not long ago, I was reminded of how fun it was to cut out leather into fancy shapes (much like my mom’s cookbook). Which spurred the idea of making some jewelry. I do love me some bracelets that don’t get in the way when I’m typing. I thought I’d share with you how I did it and a printable template for you.

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Penelope sure loves wearing them, too. I’d love to see her start wearing more jewelry with me. Mommy daughter jewelry, how cute would that be? Let’s get started!

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Supplies

leather – vinyl or felt
jewelry findings – chain, jump rings and fasteners
Xacto knife
pliers
tape
cutting mat
scissors
hole punch (not pictured)

You don’t need a whole lot of leather for this project, a small scrap will do. I’ve used magnetic fasteners here and I love them, I don’t have to have any help or coordination in order to put the bracelet on!

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Print out the template (two templates offered – angular and leafy) and cut it out and tape on leather. Be sure to tape all the way around the border.

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Cut the cutouts first. Go slowly and try to remove any fibers from the corners.

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Cut the border out and remove the template from the leather.

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Punch a small hole in each end. I used the 1/16th inch hole punch from a craft store.

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Put the leather piece around your wrist and measure how much chain you will need. Gather your findings and assemble the findings to the leather first. Then attach the clasp – especially if it’s a magnetic clasp. The magnets will stick to everything so it’ll make assembly more difficult if you do it the other way around.

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Once you’re finished with assembly, wear with pride!

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If you’re going to make the leafy one, you’ll want to take the two ends (pictured on the left) and attach them with one piece of chain in a v formation. attach the clasp to the middle with a jump ring. Enjoy!

Download the printable template below.

All printables and tutorials are subject to the following terms of use: Everything you see here is available free for personal use only. I love being featured all over, so if you do feature this project, link to the original project. If you would like to use this project for commercial use, please email Melissa using the contact feature above.

DIY Color-Blocked Frame Tutorial

February 26th, 2013

3 Comments

Today I’m over at Make & Takes sharing how to make a color-blocked frame without using paint. And if you decide you want to switch it up, it’s temporary!

Click here for the full tutorial.

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For other color-blocking tutorials: color block wiggle skirt • color block leather pillow • color block v-neck tee • color block bib necklace • color block maternity/nursing top • color block shirt dress • color block earrings

Oh yeah, and you can download your very own leafy drawing right here.

Speaking of elsewhere, I’m also over at It’s Always Autumn talking about how I share my love of crafting with Penelope.

Sewing: Chiffon Maxi Skirt

January 21st, 2013

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This was quite possibly the hardest make I’ve ever done. I completed the chiffon skirt I’ve had stewing in my brain for months. It has taken me so long to do it because the material intimidated me. I’d say this project took a total of 6-8 hours to complete. Most of that time was in the pattern and cutting stages.

The plan was to make something that had a nice flow and drape to it for the Friday night parties at Alt Summit, but something that was comfortable and breathable for dancing and running around. I feel like this strikes both fancy and wearable arenas.

I had originally thought about doing some kind of easy elastic waistband to keep the construction simple, but if I really wanted to do it right, I needed a real waistband with an invisible zipper. That also scared the bejeebers out of me as I’ve only put in one invisible zipper in and it was while being heavily supervised by my amazing sewing friend. I used the same chiffon fabric for the waistband, but I interfaced both sides of the waistband for structure. I’m glad I did both sides instead of just the one.

Since the fabric was so cheer, I cut out two layers, unfortunately I didn’t have enough for two full-length layers so the bottom layer hits just below knee length. I feel like it would’ve been better full-length, but it still has a nice effect. Additionally, the two layers together still aren’t opaque enough to hide my underwear, so I whipped up a wiggle skirt out of nude swimsuit lining. It’s just enough opacity to do the trick, but not to add any extra weight.

I can see the little flaws that make it look home made, but I’m hoping that others won’t when I wear it to the mini parties. I’ve also realized that I don’t have a top that goes really well with this skirt. I need a cropped or peplum top. We’ll see if I can whip one up in time for the conference.

This week is crazy busy, but I have so many things I want to share with you before I go MIA for the weekend. Oh how I wish there were more hours in the day!

Outfit Details:

top: Target, refashioned
earrings: IHAMLT
belt: thrifted
skirt: handmade
shoes: thrifted

I thought I’d include some simple instructions on how I constructed it, in case you’re interested in making your own. Read more for the full tutorial.

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Tutorial: Color Blocked Wiggle Skirt

January 14th, 2013

16 Comments

This post is part of the Stretch Yourself Series hosted by Miriam of Mad Mim and Miranda of One Little Minute. You should check out their series if you haven’t already. It’s a very thorough series on the ins and outs of sewing with knits.

Today Heather and I are sharing how to color block with knits. It’s really so easy. Promise.

When asked to participate in Mim and Miranda’s knit series (specifically the color block part), I immediately thought of these shoes. They’ve been circulating the interwebs recently, and I haven’t been able to get them out of my head. So I thought I would translate those shoes to a skirt.

I told Chris this was my business in front, party in back skirt.

We’re only doing it on one side, and we’re doing it with stretchy knit so it’s a lot more forgiving than you might think. Here’s how you can make your own:

You’ll need a stretchy base knit, something that has 40-60% stretch. The gold knit you’ll just grab some gold lame or swim material. It’s got good structure and stretch. You’ll also need pencil, large paper, scissors, seam ripper, pins, ruler and a sewing machine.

Make your measurements. Measure where you want your skirt to sit along your waist, measure your rise (distance between waist and hips), hips and skirt length.

Draft up a quick pattern using the above measurements. This is for 1/4th of your skirt. Since you’re using a stretchy material, we won’t worry about seam allowance.

Now we’ll cut out the material. It’s best to lay it out on the ground and weigh the pattern down on the fabric with bowls, cups and other weighty objects. Cut out with scissors or rotary cutter. Cut your gold piece just a little bit bigger than the bottom of your skirt.

Take one skirt piece aside and lay it on the ground right side up. Lay the gold fabric right side up about 3/4 inches below the hem. Grab your ruler, lay it down and cut through both layers.

Now you have your two pattern pieces cut at the exact same angle! Ready for piecing.

Lay the pieces right sides together, and stitch. Iron seam flat with a cool iron.

Line up front and back pieces right sides together and sew, using a 1/2 – 5/8 inch seam allowance.

Finish the hems: Roll hem with a serger, cover stitch, zig zag or double-stitch your top and bottom hems. Be sure to use a stitch that allows for stretch!!

Outfit details: