A tale of 3 t-shirts

Gotta love DIY parties! They are a great place to get some new shirts!
                                                ... but not a great place to take pictures for amazing tutorials, sadly.

But you potential DIY-er's are in luck! I can only take creative credit for one of these DIY's, and that one is pretty simple, I may do a proper tutorial for it some day, but we'll see. 

 This is the shirt in question:

Like I said, sorry for the lack of before pictures. Close your eyes and think really hard of two t-shirts of blue, both a few sizes to large. Like I said, this is a really simple DIY, and I don't think I did it great, I may do it again. Anyway all you have to do: 

Put on the "base" t-shirt (the baby blue one), and put a pen mark where you want the "belt" to go. With a ruler draw a straight line from your pen mark all around the shirt. 

Cut (eek!) along the line 

From about the same place on a second t-shirt measure out and mark lines for the width of the belt you want, with a little bit of extra for the seams. 

Cut along those lines. 

Sew the belt onto the other shirt (make sure you use a serger, if you don't the seams won't stretch with the shirt and will pop) 

I also brought this shirt in at the side seams, by a few inches, if you don't know how small to make it, centre one of your own shirts over it, trace it out and add a seam allowance. 

Pretty simple :) 

The other two shirts I did with internet tutorials that I will attach the links of, hopefully they offer clearer instructions than I do... 

This one I do think it pretty cute: 

The DIY element to this was the braided neckline, shown here: 

So this tutorial is from this link here: http://www.hernewleaf.com/2011/07/21/diy-banana-republic-braided-neck-tee-shirt/ 

For this one I sincerely suggest practicing on a shirt or scrap material you don't really care about, it's pretty easy but it does take getting used to, I think mine is a little junkier than I would like on something I would wear all the time. Still a fun and easy no sew tutorial! Once the neckline was braided I actually liked that the shirt was too big, has a kind of Boho feel (Megan!) 

And last but not least, my favourite of the three diys and one I actually took pictures of: 

The mens shirt to Dolman top! TA DA! This one I didn't actually do at the DIY night, but a day later. I'll admit that I bought this shirt just to do a diy on it, but it's wonderful! It says "make time for spontaneous wilderness adventures" on it! How can you not! 

So here's the before: 

It's a mens large... always make sure you have room! So this is the tutorial that I followed for this shirt: http://www.trashtocouture.com/2011/11/old-mens-t-shirt-sewn-into-womens.html, but I didn't freestyle cut like she did, I traced the sleeves and neckline of other shirts that I have, just in case. 

If you look closely you can see the pen marks, the inside ones were the ones that I followed, and for the sleeves, make sure you sew over the current shoulder seam, or there will be little bulges at the shoulder of your dolman top. 

So there they are, three shirt DIY's! Had lots of fun making them :). Hope ya'll are feeling inspired to go crazy on some ill-fitting, drawer stuffing t-shirts (or some men's large tee's that you happen to find).

The Mom Dress

My favourite projects are always the ones that offer challenges unique to a particular person (and involve sewing knits).

(or a dress I made for my Mother, my number 1 fan) 

My mom was having difficulty finding a dress for an upcoming trip, finding it very hard to fulfill some very particular criteria: she wanted it to have wide straps, but no sleeves, a band under the bust, but not one that had a "girly" bow or ribbon, and one that falls right under the knee. She's also in love with stretchy fabrics (called ITY stretch knits) and the colour blue. 

Great success!! 

We're both pretty happy with the result. I think if I were making it again I would have a white neckline and make the waistband white as well, just to separate the blue a little bit. But other than that it's just what she wanted for easy wear/travel. The material doesn't really wrinkle, and can be compacted easily, so it's really nice for packing, and if you have sharp eyes you may notice that this dress is so stretchy it doesn't require a zipper or other closure, it just pops right over your head and you're ready to go! 

Making dresses like this one is pretty simple... especially if you "borrow" the pattern from some dresses you already have in your wardrobe. Mom had a few dresses that we "borrowed" elements from to make this one. 

We liked the overall shape of the brown one for inspiration, but thought that the V was to deep and didn't like the arm holes, the blue one had the right arms, but has a ribbon (not shown) and wasn't the right length.

So taking inspiration from both dresses, I simply traced out the elements of both that Mom liked, tracing the skirt, waistband and most of the bodice of the brown, and then the armhole of the blue,. I made the V higher, and adding a seam allowances on the paper I had traced it all out on. After that it was smooth sailing for serging away! After the muslin we decided to make the belt narrower, more like the blue dress that's shown, but that was really the only change we had to make to the traced pattern. 

I also made sure the top of the dress had a lining, not only is it the best way to finish the neckline and armholes, but it also adds a little bit of support, just making it a nicer piece in general. As you can see in the picture I just surged the lining into the waistband along with the blue fabric. Pretty simple. 

And that's it! A simple project, making a hybrid dress out of a few that were in the closet already. Taking inspiration from what my Mom knows looks good on her, and from what she needs for a vacation dress. So there you go, designing your own clothing isn't hard, it's not really a sacred art form, and it's not taboo to be inspired by, or borrow elements from, what's already in your closet.  I had lots of fun doing this quite simple project and I hope that Mom enjoys this dress for many years to come! 

The why-isn't-this-a-thing-yet? Pocket bookmark, aka Book Buddies!!

Seriously, why isn't this a thing? I made my Mom one of these little guys many years ago and she loved it so much she wanted me to make her a new one now that I know my way around a sewing machine a little better.
So, what is a Book Buddy, you may ask? Good question!

This is a Book Buddy, it's literally as simple as a bookmark that marks the page with an elastic and sits on the outside of a book, holding pens (and rulers if you REALLY like straight lines). It's great for text books, bibles and bible study books. If you don't want to ruin the spine of your book by jamming it full of highlighters, pens, or pencils, but you love to highlight and take notes this is a nifty little device to have! Pretty cool right? (umm... maybe?) 

So why am I telling you all this? Glad you asked! Since you can't pick these up at the check-out counter at your local bookstore (seriously, why isn't this a thing!) it's necessary for those of you with some basic sewing skills, and a love of highlighted/underlined pages to make these bad boys yourself! Ready for a tutorial? I know I am!! 

Book buddies: What you need 

Scrap material for base, I used thicker materials like cotton twills, cut into rectangles of desirable sizes, mine are about 2" by 6" + 1cm seam allowance. Cut 2

Scrap material for the pocket, this can be thinner material such as extra quilting cotton, slightly smaller than your base material, I only had my pocket about 1/8" smaller around the side and bottom and about 1 1/2 inches shorter, Cut 2

Elastic (black looks more professional than white, but that's preference), for the length of the elastic it's best to judge based on the size of the book, wrap your elastic around just the front cover of your book, leaving the 6 or so inches for the book buddy to know how long it should be, make sure your elastic is stretchy enough to also go around the whole book. 

Very stiff fusing, used for making purses, cut to the size of the base, no seam allowance for the fusing. 

Sewing supplies, such as a machine, pins, ect. A point turner is very useful for this project, but not necessary. 

How to make: 

I started with the pocket. For this project I decided to make lined pockets, just to keep them cleaner and more durable. 

Right sides together, sew your two pocket pieces together, leaving enough of a gap to flip the pocket inside out. 

 Clip the corners.

Invert the pocket so that the right sides are facing out, 

Iron the fusing onto one of the two base material pieces, making sure you're centred properly for the seam allowances. 

Sew the pocket onto the base piece that has the fusing, which will close the opening left for the lined pocket. Pro tip: When your sewing pockets or other stitches that people will see it's nice to increase stitch length to 3mm instead of 2.2, just adds a nice touch :). 

Once the pocket is sewn on, make sure it's square to the edges of the fusing (flip the piece over and look at your stitching from the fusing side, where you can see it more clearly. It's the worst thing ever to finish the project just to have the pocket crooked. 

With your perfectly straight pocket sewn onto your base piece you're ready to put the whole thing together. Centre and pin the elastic to the top and bottom of the top base piece, the one with a pocket. 

(sorry that the picture's blurry... oops :/) 

Making sure that the elastic is tucked inside, place the second base piece on top of the first one, right sides together (make an elastic sandwich) and sew along the edge of your fusing, not on the fusing though, the seam will be pretty bulky if you do. Leave a gap like you did for the lined pocket. Clip the corners and invert the base pieces so the right sides and the elastic are out and the fusing is now on the inside. Press. 

Stitch along the edges of the outside of the book buddy, closing the gap left open and creating a cleaner edge.

 That's it! You're done! Highlight and underline to your heart's content without ever ruining your book spines again! Yay! Make some more for all your friends and family :) 

with love. 

Kenya: The dramatic Conclusion.

It seems rather ironic that I'm writing this blog post during a snowstorm that's been going all day, but that's life sometimes. Getting back to blizzardy Alberta after being in Nairobi is a little sad, but still theres something about the relentless snowfall that makes it feel like home :). 

But that is the end of the adventure. 

This is a recap of the last few things I did in Kenya and what I learned while I was there, so, lets begin. 

First off, the reason I went in the first place, work. Overall I designed, drafted, and sized the 16 patterns that I was able to complete (out of 18 that I had planned) as well as designing some shoes for infants which were a wonderful treat to make. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what the collection looks like. 

I have to say I really loved being able to work with these Kenyan girls, it was really wonderful to see my designs being worn by actual children before I left. The one above is called the Pocket Tunic. 

This one was probably the hardest to design because of the multiple layers of colour and the appliqué design. It was so worth it though when I think about how iconically Kenyan it is. It just turned out beautifully. 

This is the Katie skirt! My favourite piece in the collection, it's been in my head since last September and it was so rewarding to be able to have it finally done and designed! 

This was the first dress that I designed and drafted for Amani, I love the colours and the floral batik, it was a great way to get started! 

And of course, the shoes! These were so much fun to draft and design, and it was so rewarding to see them completed! 

So that's a short recap of the work that I did. I have to say I have never felt so excited to go to work everyday. It's amazing how encouraging and excited the women were to have me there helping them. They had such a desire to learn how to make the different pieces, and while it can be frustrating trying to get things done when people do not move as quickly as expected I would have missed out on many rich interactions and blessings if I had not taken the time to walk them through the steps and I doubt I would have been anymore productive at the end of the day. Amani Ya Juu is a very special place with very special women and I only hope I was able to bless them as much as I feel blessed by them. 

But work is not all encompassing of any trip, and while I sadly was not able to go to the Masaii Mara I was still able to have some good mini adventures, and now I just have a good excuse to go back to Kenya! 

This is a photo of one of God's most wonderful creations... TEA! That's right, turns out Kenya is one of the places that grows and exports the most tea in the world, delicious delicious Kenyan tea! Not only is it a wonderful crop to grow because of how wonderful it is, it's also very beautiful, turning miles after miles of hillsides into this deep green colour. Very beautiful. 

Also beautiful is Brittany, the other Amani intern while I was there, she is in charge of their social media (you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter if you are interested) as well as doing many other odd admin related work for them. We went to the tea plantations together and had a very lovely day :). 

And just one more picture of tea (can you tell I love tea?) :). It really was delicious. 

I was also blessed with the opportunity to go to one of the local churches for a worship concert Sunday, they had some really amazing local artists perform as well as an extended time of praise and worship. This picture is of the worship team, who decided to coordinate their outfits for the special Sunday, looking pretty sharp! 

And what's a trip to Africa without a Safari? Crazy! This time around my host family recommended the walking Safari, as it would be more time conscious and I would get to see the animals guarenteed, which is not the case on a game drive. And did we ever see some animals! I went with my host-sister Dorothy and it was a really spectacular trip! 

First we got this close to a pygmy hippo, SO CUTE. 

Then we got this close to a rhino, there he is, just eating hay and chillin'. 

Next we got as close to lions as I ever want to be! It was rather unbelievable how close we were, they're such beautiful animals. 

Maybe this one was a little grumpy... 

The walking Safari has a random assortment of monkeys who just wander around, they were very cute and again we were able to get very close to them for some pictures. 

  

This is a water buffalo, as you can see, they ARE very different from bison, 12 years of Canadian education has not failed me (I remember that being emphasized often in elementary)! 

                                    

And this is a cheetah, it was acting just like a house cat, which was adorable to watch. So beautiful! 

And that is the pictures of the walking safari that are worth showing off, it was a great way to spend the morning and I did get to see some wonderful animals! 

Thus ends my five week adventure to Nairobi, Kenya. It was an experience I would not have traded for anything, both as a person and a designer. I feel as if the experiences we have and the cultures we visit open us up to learning more about ourselves and humanity in general. It is amazing how small the world can seem until you take the time to go somewhere, and experience something you had never really even thought about before. I would recommend anyone, artists and designers especially, to at least get to know someone from another culture if not to visit one for a while. It's such an enriching experience. 

I hope you all enjoyed these Africa adventure blog posts, I'll put tutorials for craft things on here eventually, I promise! 

Katie <><

Kenyan adventures #2

So far my time here at Amani has been exciting, and nurturing as a designer. I've been in full design/pattern making mode for the last few weeks and have been (mostly) successful. I'm receiving a lot of positive feedback from the people here, which is so encouraging! 

These are some of the samples that have been done, I've decided that if I could make little girls dresses forever that would be okay :) They're so much fun to draft! I've also gotten good reviews from my Target Market, having done very extensive research... 

Look how happy she is, wearing a dress over her dress! Overwhelming success! 

Reluctantly, however, this week I have moved from little girls to the more dangerous waters of little boys clothes, I'm finding it challenging to bring anything new to the design table for little boys, but I'm doing my best with some feedback from moms and trying to keep the same design elements as the girls stuff. So far it's going okay.

Something more exciting is that my patterns are now bilingual! 

I found out this week that some of the women who will be sewing my stuff did not have school in English, and that is was difficult for them to read the patterns, so I decided to learn some designers Swahili! Such useful and practical words as "cut" (kukata) and "fabric" (kitambaa), soon I'll be able to carry on a whole conversation! (ermmm...) 

Until then though, this is helpful. 

When I haven't been working tirelessly with Amani, I've been seeing a little bit of the amazing things Kenya has to offer. My first weekend here I was able to attend the Naivasha fashion weekend as an "assistant designer" for Amani, I took lots of pictures, and they were all blurry, except this one. 

Why yes, that man is wearing roses, thanks for asking. The girls dress is also made of some kind of flowers. I was thinking of seeing how much the rose coat cost, but I was worried about getting it through customs. 

I've also become acquainted with some of the locals.

This is Daisy, it was nice to get to know her and her friends at the giraffe sanctuary just outside of Nairobi. I think if there was one animal I really wanted to see, it was giraffes, so this was a very exciting outing, as I didn't only see, but fed and petted some giraffes. You are also able to kiss them, but they got my hands slobbery enough that I decided against it. 

Aww... 

Giraffes like getting there pictures taken, this one was totally posing for me. 

Well, that's life so far here in Nairobi, I'm just trying to soak in every hug and smile, learning a lot about drafting, and about how to work with language barriers. And appreciating every sunny day a little more when I hear about how cold it's getting at home. 

First week at Amani Ya Juu, in Nairobi, Kenya

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman traveling must want to share her traveling experiences...

That being said I have almost been a week in Nairobi, Kenya and feel that update #1 is in order :). So far I've been pretty tired, which is a normal reaction to a 9 hour time change, and though it is taking some adjusting to get used to the food, the environment and the accents of the people around me I am feeling very welcomed here. There is a warmth and peace at Amani Ya Juu, where I am interning, that is already making it a great place to work. I have been given an incredible amount of freedom here and am still trying to dive into my work with the children's clothes. Thankfully, children's clothes are very fun to work with, and no matter what I do they'll be cute based on their little-ness, which is incredibly helpful :P. The colours and rich patterns of the fabrics are making my designing job easier and harder. It's impossible not to be inspired by the wonderful material, but it's a challenge knowing how to use it in a way that it will be well featured, but I'm learning :). 

When I'm not at work I have been spending most of my time with my host family, Joyce, who is the director of Amani Ya Juu has gracefully opened her home to me, it has been a pleasure getting to know her and her daughter Dorothy, who I'm sharing a room with. Though the grogginess of jet lag it has still been nice getting to know them and I'm excited to share this experience with them. 

Anyway I could try and write all of the things that are happening and what I'm up to but a picture's worth a thousand words and is a better way to share with you all where I am and what I've been up to :) 

These are just some photo's of Amani, not many, just so you can get an impression of what it's like.

These are some of the fabrics I'll be able to use, so many colours and patterns, it should be pretty fun :) 

This is the main reception area. 

Amani has a shop right on the campus, this is the entrance. 

This is what greets you when you go into the shop, I love that old sewing machine. 

This is the garden cafe, which is also part of the Amani campus, such a lovely little area. 

This is the cafe, as leaving the shop. 

Some of the tools I brought from home, all being put to good use. 

This is Dorcas, who is making my samples. 

This is my first sample done, it still needs some tweaking but it's still so cool to see a design come to life! 

A little gift I got for Amani currently waving in reception. 

There are just a few pictures of what life here is like, I'll send more as I am able. 

Thank you for your prayers and support, God bless! 

Katie <><