How to frost a window with contact paper – photo tutorial

If you’ve read my recent posts you know two things.

1. I love Contact paper.

2. I moved into a new house a few months ago.

The new house has a problem. That problem is that there’s  a window IN the shower. This window is a problem because it looks directly onto the street.

No, sir. I don’t like it.

Put a curtain over it, you say! But what about all that nice natural light?!

No, no. A curtain won’t do.

When we lived in an apartment a few years ago, there was a living room window I wanted  to cover without blocking the light, so I cut out a bunch of squares of clear Contact paper and stuck them on the window. It looked like a cool mosaic frosted window. The Contact paper is cool because when you want a change, or you’re a renter moving out, you just peel it off.

I did something similar in our basement here, since we have big egress windows that look directly at the neighbors (more on that in a minute). Even though we’re not renting, and I could have actually etched the glass or painted it with frosted glass spray, I just didn’t want anything permanent.

I knew I wanted to use the Contact paper in the bathroom, but I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to use one continuous piece of Contact paper, so there wouldn’t be any gaps you could see through. Someone would have to stick their face right up to the glass to see through the gaps, but I still didn’t like the idea.

I could have just put the plain sheet over the window and left it at that, but that would have been easy, and easy is boring.

So the OCTOPY ATTACK! window was born…

 

 

All you need is some Clear Contact Paper, some scissors, Sharpies, and some time. Read more

How to Insert a Snap – video tutorial

Here’s my newest tutorial video – inserting snaps with the handy dandy Snapsource SnapSetter Tool. This one’s a quickie!

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel!  There are lots more tutorials to come (including appliques and t-shirt collars)!

And if you have any tutorial requests, leave me a comment!

This tutorial was filmed using a Creative Labs Vado HD Digital Video Camera, a Canon Rebel (for still shots), and edited in Sony Vegas Movie Studio.

no-sew embellishing: bleach!

Bleaching is a really fast and easy way to embellish a piece of clothing. Jeans, t-shirts, etc.

They make these nifty bleach pens, but you can also use regular liquid bleach OR that sink/countertop gel cleaner. Just make sure it says it has bleach!

When I’m using liquid bleach, I like to dilute it with water… I put full-strength bleach on a shirt once and it ate holes right through the fabric. I usually do a tablespoon of bleach and a tablespoon of water. You can eyeball it. You really don’t need a lot of it.

You can use full strength bleach as long as you’re vigilant. It needs to be rinsed out pretty quickly. Leaving it for any length of time will result in disaster. As soon as you’ve got the amount of bleaching that you want, rinse.Don’t go leaving it overnight or you’ll have more holes than bleaching.

How do you get your design onto the garment? You can stencil with bleach, screenprint, or freehand it. You could draw a design in chalk before you bleach, or just freeball it. The skeleton dress and top shown were both handpainted after sketching the design on with chalk.

You can also drip, spray, splash, or dip. Experiment!
Read more

technique tutorial: appliques and patches

Appliques are a cute and easy way to add a little embellishment to a project.

Difficulty:

Step 1

Start with fabric for your applique and a template or pattern for the applique.

 

Read more

how to attach a hood – photo tutorial

You can use this method for making a hooded shirt from scratch or for reconstructing an existing shirt.

If you are making your own pattern on the fly, I’d suggest finding a hoodie and tracing the hood, making sure to add a seam allowance. You may need to alter the hood to fit the top you want to sew it to- just remember that the bottom edge of the hood should be the same length as the measurement around the neck hole.

Difficulty:

Step 1

Your hood pieces should be sewn together before you start, and the edges finished. You can hem the edge or trim it with contrasting fabric or lace.

You can also line your hood. Cut two pieces of lining fabric the same shape as your hood. Sew the lining together. Then sew the lining to the hood, right sides together. Don’t sew the “neckline” edge of the hood and lining together. Leave that edge open so you can turn the pieces right side out, and then baste along the neckline before sewing the hood to your shirt.

 

Read more

how to make a pair of armwarmers tutorial

This is a super quick and easy tutorial – perfect for beginners!

Difficulty:

You’ll need:

• A t-shirt with a sweet pattern or about 1/2 yard of fabric
• Sharp scissors
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

Step 1
Measure around the top of your arm (where you want the top of the armwarmer to reach) and around your wrist.

Determine how long you want your armwarmers to be and add a few inches for hemming. If you don’t mind raw edges, or you’d prefer to finish the edges of the armwarmers with lace or trim, you can skip hemming all together.

 

Read more