girls dress from women's shirt

i bought this shirt last week from goodwill for $1.99 thinking it would make a perfect girls dress. so tonight i pulled it out and did my first clothing refashion in an hour and a half.

i measured, pinned and cut off about 3 inches on both sides of the shirt. also took of the shoulder straps.

here it is with the sides sewn up.

i took the excess fabric that was cut off the shirt to make thicker straps.

here is the finished product.

i brought it to katelyn's place to see if it would fit lauryn. she thinks it may work for brooklyn. if not her than another cute kiddo may sport it for a little while cause i'm anxious to see it on someone soon.

fun, easy and cheap project. just keep your eye out for shirts, either mens or women's, that can be cut smaller to make a shirt or dress. next i would like to refashion something for william.

great finds

there are quite a few places to get some good finds in this area.

these are my favorites:

* prune orchard in pullman, wa.

* krown sisters in pullman & lewiston

* open eye consignment in palouse, wa.

* 3 other antique stores on main street in palouse, wa

* the storm cellar here in moscow.

* salvation army anywhere i see one.

* good will is good but a bit overpriced.

* antique mall, moscow - their prices are even higher than g.w, but sometimes you'll find something worth while.

* craigslist, of corse

the pictures below are my latest finds.

frame from prune orchard

the mens necktie is from the storm cellar -

(it will be sewn into a toddler tie for william)

urn is from prune orchard

the "s" is from krown sisters

gum ball machine from krown sisters

comfort & collections

i have a good 2 hours total of spare time a day. a lot of days i'm not very productive with that time, but when i am, i love to make things or look through magazines and decor posts that inspire me. i've been gathering pictures here and there of things i love or like, just because. this,"i like it just because" category is a little difficult to explain, so with karl asking me lately, "why'd you buy this and what the heck is that?" i don't know what to say. this post may help.

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i love picture arrangements. especially ones that don't go together. grouped art in mismatched frames that have no exact theme other than the person hanging them likes it. these ones below are perfect to me.

i don't know how to describe it other than i feel at home and comfortable. is that weird? if so i don't care. i couldn't care if a famous designer came in my apartment and told me how outdated and tacky my arrangements were. they aren't going anywhere.

i'm curious to know what a post like this would say about you. maybe it's burning candles, soft rugs, art or lighting. if you don't mind sharing, i'm interested.

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what are you a collector of? maybe it's not a planned, well thought out collection, but it is a collection none-the-less. you may have 15 cool looking keys that don't open anything but you can't get rid of them, i call that collecting or hoarding.

this is what i collect.

letters and numbers

to do something like this with.

but especially this.

globes

i first started collecting them for william's room but now i can see them making it into other rooms in my home, like this.

what do you collect and/or why?

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pillow covers with zippers

the pillows in our living room needed new winter covers back in october; they were too summery. i finally did them this afternoon during william's nap. i bought two 18'' zippers and 1/3 yard of fabric in two designs.

i enjoyed making them because they were much easier than i expected. the second one took me about 25 minutes.

here is the zipper up close

i really like how they turned out.

thank you mom for the gift certificate to stitches & petals.