Saint Salvage

I inherited a vintage floor-length dress from my mom when she passed away in April 2015. I've had this dress in my possession for months, not knowing what to do with it. It was in colors and a pattern I love, and it fit. But, it was way too long, and not practical for my life.    Oh, what to do.... I trawled Pinterest for ideas, and I came upon this photo, but with no instructions. Tie-dyed Denim Skirt But, I had my inspiration, and I knew what to do with my dress. I decided to honor my mom, and update the dress to fit my lifestyle.... separates... a top and a skirt. Step 1: Gather the Materials Step 1 is pretty simple... gather your supplies: Dress, jeans, pins, scissors, color-matching thread, iron, ironing board, dressmaker's dummy. I selected the button-fly jeans because I wanted to have a different type of denim skirt. I've seen a lot of them with zipper-fly fronts, and the skirt material just slapped on the bottom. I didn't want tha...

Ah, cooler weather... time to change up the wardrobe. Well, I discovered something when unpacking my sweaters. One of my favorites is a "cheapie" I bought a couple years ago at the Atlantic City NJ Old Navy Outlet. It is 100% cashmere, and I bought it on sale for under $10.  To my great disappointment, it came out with holes! Arrrgggh!  What to do???? I set it aside, and found more sweaters that had small holes. So... inspiration time! I went onto my  Sweater Surgery board on Pinterest  and my  Sweet Home Alabama Chanin  board on Pinterest. Brain blast!!!!! Reverse applique coming up!!! I prowled the internet, and found this  pattern  for a Classic Play Wand by Katie Lewis, of   The Red Kitchen . She made a guest post on  U Create With Kids . I thought that star pattern would be a perfect template for my sweater hole problem. I printed out that pattern and gathered my supplies. I cut out the s...

I inherited a vintage pin with a broken pinback. Oh, what to do? I decided to make it a focal point to a golden swirled Sculpey Clay cuff style bangle bracelet. Step 1: Prepare the pinback I turned over this pinback and broke of the remaining bits of the pin, but I left the brackets that hold the pin. I really liked the detailing with the faux gold and faux pearls! Step 2: Prepare the clays I had three different colors of Sculpey Premo Accent Golds: 18k Gold, Antique Gold, and Gold. I chopped them into pieces, and swirled them, flatten them several times.  Here's the  link  to the colors. Step 3: Make the Cuff I rolled the clay to match up with the size of the premo! Sculpey® Cuff Bracelet .  It's a reuseable metal form to make cuffs.  Then, I set some broken "pearl chain" into the borders of the cuff.  After that. I took the broken brooch and embedded into the clay.  Step 4: Bake, Cool and Enjoy I bake...