Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

8 second skirt with a bow DIY

~ DIY DREAM HOUSE

Would you like to know how you can make a skirt in 8 seconds? 
From this?
just follow the picture instructions:
in summary:
and there you have an 8 second skirt!
you can also pull out the bottom part of the bow all the way out to make a bigger bow.
This project was totally unexpected but i love the result.  I was folding my laundry one day and got to this striped top and thought about how this pattern would make a cute skirt.  So i wondered if i had enough fabric to make it into a skirt so i slipped it on to see and then thought, hey, this doesn’t look that bad just slipped on!  And since the sleeves looked awkward, I tried tying them into a bow and it was even cuter!
So there you have it, this is what i truly call killing two birds with one stone. 
What you’ll need:
-a very stretchy, knit shirt with long sleeves
Instructions:
1. Hold up the shirt in front of you, so you see the back of the shirt.
2. Put your legs into the neck hole and slide the shirt up to your waist.
3. Tie the sleeves into a bow.
Estimated time: 8 whole seconds.
Budget: $0.00
Skill level: anyone who knows how to tie a bow? 

my husband’s got skills.

~ DIY DREAM HOUSE, HOME, Jay's DIY

 
 
 
i’ve mentioned this in the past, but my husband’s hobby is to buy and move into an old home and renovate it himself, then rent it out and then buy/move into another old home to renovate it and so on.  so after he renovated our previous house, (to see the house go here for before/after pictures.) he couldn’t wait to renovate the house we live in now and he’s already renovated our whole basement and was about to tackle the main floor, but when my parents retired and moved back into their house in the states, jay offered to renovate their whole house for them.  isn’t he such a sweet son-in-law?  my parents sure adore him and love him dearly.
 
so while our house is on a pause from the renovation mode, my husband’s been busy renovating my parents’ house.  he’s not completely finished yet, but here is his work so far.
 
 
pictures of the kitchen and the dining room before:
 
(just to note, my parents are meticulously clean,
these were just taken right before packing and moving for the demolition.)
you can say it, it was pretty bad.
but i’m going to miss this green room. 🙁
 
and now the comparisons of the before/after:
 
 
 
this is the wall of the dining room but he broke it down to make the kitchen bigger
and to open up the dining room to the kitchen.
 
so instead of a wall now, there’s a kitchen island and the whole place is open!
 
and he painted the walls, took the carpet out and replaced the floor with a wooden floor in the dining room.
and some more pictures of the after:
 
 
 
my mom picked out the colors and and my husband designed the layout and executed the whole thing.(oh, i do have to give a shout out to my brother michael who learned from the master and helped out or he’d give me a hard time. :D)
 

 

i call him the DIY king.
my husband that is, not my brother. hahaha
 
 
 
 
 
 

my dress at shabby apple

~ DIY DREAM HOUSE

remember when i made it to the top 15 for the shabby apple dress design contest and the day they announced the winner, i didn’t even bother to check because i knew for sure i had no chance of winning?
it’s still hard for me to believe that i won and it’s harder for me to grasp that the dress is finally made and will be available for sale in august for shabby apple’s fall collection.  shabby apple was kind enough to send me their final product for a sneak peek and i’m excited to share it with you too!
so what do you think?  see my original dress here.
and another question.  i’m looking into manufacturers right now to have a few of my designs made to be available for purchase.  yes, so exciting right?  for my designs i’m thinking about the pleated dress (shabby apple made it a little different and my design will be a little different than my original but even better ;), the split-neck dress, and the sailor dress.  i also have some other designs in mind that i haven’t made yet.  so my question is, would you buy those designs yourself?  and are there other designs you’d like to see have it made?

split-neck pleated blue dress DIY

~ DIY DREAM HOUSE

one day while i was driving, i saw a girl waiting at a stop light wearing a beautiful dress.
it was a very pretty blue, the color of a bright clear sky, had a split-neck, and a pencil shaped skirt.
and i just knew i had to find the same exact dress or make one myself!  so i did.
the difference with mine is instead of doing the pencil skirt, i did a flared, pleated skirt.
i thought it gave it a more fun, summery look.
shoes c/o of romwe
headband from s.t collection
the color doesn’t show up well in these pictures, it’s a brighter, more clearer blue, a lot prettier in person. 
i did use a pattern this time, i combined two patterns, i used the top from a dress pattern i had
(except it was just a round neck one so i made up the split-neck part), and a skirt pattern.
do you like it?