Miss Quince Anos!

So recently I went to a friends fifteenth birthday, and It was probably bigger than most weddings these days. I thought I would share the experience with the internet so here we go. 

This is me in my party outfit :) This is literally the only cocktail dress I own. I don't wear it very often because it is kind of fancy and what not so it was nice to wear it this evening. 

And dang!  I look good ;)

The party, We ate a traditional mexican dinner and the entire ball room was complete decked out!

Me and my mom :) Don't we look great?

This is the table setting, there was probably close to 20 tables. It was magnificent. 

This is the birthday girls cake. It is supposed to resemble Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. And yes, It really was that huge! The table behind the cake is one of the areas for presents. By the end of the night she had close to four tables entirely filled with gifts. 

This is where the Quince girl and her entourage sat for dinner. Front and center so that nobody forgets whose party this is.

Finally this is me and Jazmine She looked absolutely gorgeous! Her dress was HUGE and covered in sequens. She did such a good job and I am proud to call her my friend :)Yes I had to really scrunch down so that we would both get into the shot

¡Feliz cumpleaños!

DIY Sweater!

Ok, so I know this has probably been done before and yes, I realize this. But! I decided to give it a go anyway! So lets get started!

First of all, start with the following:

1 Over sized sweatshirt

Scissors

Pins

Thread

Doilies (I used four of various sizes)

Lace trim (I ended up not using this) 

Flip sweatshirt inside out pin up the sides and sew. This is because my shirt was enormous and needed to be taken in a little bit.

Next pin where you want your neck hole to be cut larger. Pins help keep your lines even and they allow you to get the sides mostly symmetrical. 

then cut the neckline out! Mine is lower in the front than the back, but that is just how I wanted it :)

After cutting the neckline out, arrange your doilies on the shirt. Once you have them arranged they way you want, pin and hand sew them on. Sew them on in the most discreet way possible.

Tips:

Use thread that is the same color as the doilies

dont unpin anything until you are completely done

stich the doilies on in a few close places and then tie a knot, instead of taking them all down in one foul sweep.

Now all that has to be done is folding the overlapping doilies down behind the neckline and taking them down.

The last step is to run a straight stitch around the whole neckline, this helps it to keep it's shape and helps to keep it on your shoulders.

El Fin!

I rolled the sleeves up just to give it an even more laid back feel.

I am really happy with the way this turned out :)

Dolce & Gabbana Inspired Pencil Skirt Tutorial

So Dolce & Gabbana's 2012 spring line was absolutely beautiful. My favorite outfits form the collection are posted below, the thing I liked most of all was the big colorful floral prints. So When I was going through my fabric collection and found a hunk of fabric that was big, colorful and floral, and I decided to make a skirt out of the fabric!

So this is the pattern I used (and by the way this pattern is GEAT! The skirts I make with it look so good on my body type! Which is tall and an athletic build)

The only part I used is in the blue circle. I have completely "X"-ed out the bottom bustle (because it is awful) and the green band is something that I have added because I like a thicker yoke. 

It is really easy just cut out the pattern sew up the sides. *Cut out the yoke and sew it on (everything is right sides together by the way). Install a zipper and hem the bottom. That is really all you have to do. I made this skirt in about 2 hours (because I woke up and it was POURING!!! And so I opened all the blinds and watched the rain while sewing this skirt!)

*The yoke is the length around your waist plus 3 inches (for the zipper) by about 5 inches wide. It is sewn on, then folded in half and then top stitched. So the band is about 2 inches wide when the skirt is finished.

So here is the finished skirt! It is light, perfect for summer and really looks good on me.

Look at that fabric print! So beautiful and full of color! 

Perhaps soon I will upload what the skirt  looks like on an actual person and not just hanging up on a wall with a random nail. 

Colored Pants Craze!: DIY Pastel Mint Green Skinny Jeans

So once upon a time (like a week ago) I decided it was time to get some mint green pants. I looked online and could not find a decent pair under $50.00. So I decided to be brave and dye my own jeans. I went to my local thrift store and found some white pants which fit in the waist and that was all I needed! (I cant believe I didn't take pictures of the pants before I started! I just got so excited!) But I used the same technique as when I DIY-ed my first pair of pants (here is the link http://middler3dd.blogspot.com/2012/05/colored-pants-craze-diy-regular-jeans.html)

And then I started!

I used:

1 five gallon bucket

Rit Fabric Dye

Hot Water

Something To Stir With

Fill the bucket up with 3 gallons of hot water. I poured about half a bottle of the "Teal Liquid Dye" by rit. Then about 1/4 a bottle of the "Kelly Green Liquid Dye" by rit. And let me tell you, It was to much dye for how light I wanted the pants to be. 

Be sure to continually stir the pants in the dye bath so that you can get a clean, solid dye job. 

This was the first dye job. It is pretty, but to dark and too green

This is what they looked like after I washed them. 

So then I just bleached them in a bucket of 2 gallons of hot water and a gallon of bleach for about 10 min. And I thought It would make it lighter green, but they turned yellow. I already own yellow jeans so I decided to dye them again. 

This time I put it in just the "Teal Liquid Dye" and They came out like this. Great color, but still too dark.

So then I ran them in the washing machine on warm with a half a cup of bleach and they lighted up a few shades but I still wanted lighter pants.

So lastly I ran it again in the washing machine with another half a cup of bleach and it lighted up to the perfect shade. I am very pleased with the out come. But it took a LOONG time to get here. If I had just used less dye in the first place I would have gotten the color right a lot sooner.

I am thinking about posting a few outfits that these pants can be part of, I might upload some soon, but who knows! 

Next pants tutorial I wil be dying white skinny jeans a light turquoise color so stay tuned! 

Colored Pants Craze!: DIY Regular Jeans Into Colored Skinnies

So Here we go, Start off with a pair of regular blue jeans. I chose these pants that have been in my closet for ages, I got them at American Eagle for $13 (like 5 years ago!)

Next is to flip the jeans inside out and place a pair of skinny jeans (ones that fit well and you like to wear) I trace around the skinnies, pin on the lines and try them on (with the pins still in the pants) to see if they fit, then sew on the lines. 

Shown above is pinning the legs, I added a small seam allowance. 

Once you sew the pant legs into skinny jeans cut the extra fabric off and surge/ zig zag stitch/ finish the edge.

Lastly is to hem up the pant lets. This is very simple, cut off the original hem, double fold the pant leg and sew up the bottom. 

So now we have a pair of skinny jeans. I will probably wear them by cuffing the pant legs into capries. 

Next, to change the color. I filled a 5 gallon bucket up with water and bleach. About 2 gallons of water and 1 gallon of bleach. Dampen the pants before you put them in the bleach solution. Make sure to stir the pants AT LEAST one ever 5 min. AT LEAST. I used a piece of PVC pipe to stir the pants. 

The reason behind stirring them is because you want them to bleach as evenly as possible and when you stir them, it will bleach so much better than if you just leave them in the water. 

10 min.

20 min.

30 min. 

40 min. 

50 min.

60 min.

70 min.

80 min.

I left them in for an hour and a half and they bleached into yellow jeans (not white which was really surprising) 

So after they soak in the bleach They go into another bucket with is 2 parts water 3 parts white distilled vinegar. Let them soak in the vinegar for 10 -15 min.  

After the vinegar they need to go into the washing machine, I washed mine in warm.

After they are completely dried (either by just hanging up or in the dryer) Check them to see if they bleached really evenly and if not, either put them in the bleach bath for another 15 min. Or spot treatment with a sponge and bleach. 

This is what I ended up with! The pants on the left are the ones I bleached and the pants on the right are the exact same pair that I started with ( I bought 2 pairs of the same pants, weird, I know.)

I thought I could do the same thing twice so I filled up the bucket again and tried twice. Well, here is where I screwed up. I did half water and half bleach and left the pants in for and hour and a half. And I couldn't get them to bleach evenly and when I tossed them into the washing machine they looked a little thing and when I pulled them out... whelp they were torn to shreds. 

Over all I am very happy with the results of my pants. They are really cute and I an totally into light colored pants these days. 

Can you believe that these pastel yellow skinnies were once regular boot cut blue jeans?

Disney Inspired Quiet Book

A while back I was really into these quiet book. I had never owned one as a child but probably would have liked one. SO! I decided to try my hand at making one and this is what I came up with!

This is the cover, I am going to give it to my little friend Averee!

It has a button to close the whole book and this super cute peace sign print!

The first page is Rapunzel and Snow White

Rapunzel: 

She is leaning out her tower, long hair flowing out the window. The object of the page is so her hair can be braided and then you can put clips in it, which are clipped on a ribbon on the left side of the page. 

Snow White:

It is really simple, an apple tree with removable apples and a basket to put them in. The purpose? Welp, I am not quite sure, but Averee is going to love it :) 

On the inside is the felt doll portion. it features a castle scene on the left and a pocket on the right. The pocket is filled with all sorts of dress-up dolls.

There are 20 dresses in the collection. The majority are disney dresses with a few of my own creations.

from left to right:

Top Row: Cinderella work outfit, ugly step sister #1, blue and yellow dress (my own creation), purple dress, tangled dress,  sleeping beauty dress

Middle Row: Mulan dress, Tiana dress, Meg dress (from Hercules), Snow White, Arial Wedding Dress, Tinker Bell, 

Bottom Row: Ugly Step Sister #2, Ariel Pink Dress (least favorite, but first dress I did), Cinderella Ball Gown, Bell Ball Gown, the last two and the one above them are my own creation, just three simple cocktail dresses

Next is 6 mermaid tails and sea shell tops including Jasmine's pants and off the shoulder top. 

Then there are a few accessories, 

3 hair things: Bow, Flower, and Crown

3 purses

and one parasol 

Finally we  have the princesse, yes they look a little weird (like they don't really have legs) but that is so they can all have mermaid tails. And yes they all look very weird because they are naked.

From left to right:

Top Row: Belle, Tiana, Jasmine, Ariel, Cinderella (who can double as Tinker Bell on occasion)

Bottom Row: Snow White, Rapunzel, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) Mulan, and Pocahontas

Here they all are in their own outfits! How Cute!

The last page is a matching game on the left (crowns, flowers, stars, circles, hearts, and triangles). The orange behind the cards is 3 long pockets to hold the cards in place when they are not in use. 

On the right is an abacus starting at 1 and ending at 8. 

The back of the book! For some reason I couldn't get the picture to turn the right way, so the book is side ways. I love the way it turned out! Let me know what you think!