Upcoming Projects

Row 1: Coffee Sack - Will Leather Goods $95, Malachite Print Fabric - Spoonflower

Row 2: The Bombshell Swimsuit - Closet Case Files $11

Row 3: Envelope Clutch - Swell Mayde 

Is the weather getting nice where all of you are reading from? Because the weather here in CO is definitely feeling more and more like spring every day, even thought we're supposed to get some snow tomorrow. It was so nice this weekend that I was mostly out and about, and didn't really work on any projects. I wanted to share with you all some projects and knock-offs I have planned or in the works currently.

Row 1: Coffee Sack - Will Leather Goods $95, Malachite Print Fabric - Spoonflower

Row 2: The Bombshell Swimsuit - Closet Case Files $11

Row 3: Envelope Clutch - Swell Mayde 

Is the weather getting nice where all of you are reading from? Because the weather here in CO is definitely feeling more and more like spring every day, even thought we're supposed to get some snow tomorrow. It was so nice this weekend that I was mostly out and about, and didn't really work on any projects. I wanted to share with you all some projects and knock-offs I have planned or in the works currently.

From Old to New: Ikat Spray Painted Filing Cabinet

Remember that old filing cabinet I found for free on the side of the street last year? It was just kicking around under my desk, filled with craft supplies. But it really didn't go with my new desk, so it got a makeover! I used some matte and silver spray paint, this Ikat stencil from Elizabeth Chaffee which was originally featured on Design*Sponge as a way to print your own Ikat fabric. While it didn't turn out as crisp as I originally envisioned, due to a lack of stencil paper, I really feel that the smeary look better resembles that of a natural Ikat fabric. To see more pictures, click on the link below.

Remember that old filing cabinet I found for free on the side of the street last year? It was just kicking around under my desk, filled with craft supplies. But it really didn't go with my new desk, so it got a makeover! I used some matte and silver spray paint, this Ikat stencil from Elizabeth Chaffee which was originally featured on Design*Sponge as a way to print your own Ikat fabric. While it didn't turn out as crisp as I originally envisioned, due to a lack of stencil paper, I really feel that the smeary look better resembles that of a natural Ikat fabric. To see more pictures, click on the link below.

Happy Birthday to Me

These cupcakes, from Sam's club of all places, were amazing

 It's my birthday, well not really, but it is this blogs first year anniversary. A year ago today I decided to take the plunge, starting with this dresser re-do and record all of the random crafts and things I get up to. If you're a frequent reader you'll have  noticed some of the changes taking place on the blog in the past week or so. I completely re-did my header and home page, added a more personalized side bar photo, changed the font, and added a support and popular posts section in the sidebar as well. For all of you new readers, you get the new and improved Guild of Goods! I wish I had taken a screen capture of the before and after but I forgot, which brings me to my next point.

The reason I made so many changes within the last week is that I want to continue to improve this blog and take it to the next level. Not only the blog itself, but my sewing and crafting as well. Here are some of my plans for the next year.

- I plan on focusing more on sewing and reupholstering this year with the occasional furniture re-do and crochet project. I think that having more of a focused approach will help streamline this space and attract more people with similar interests.

- More of the personalized photos, like the one above, that headline each post. Not only does it make a pretty picture on here, but if you're pinning these photos, the photo will say exactly what the post is about. That way if you forget to caption it when you pin it, you'll remember because of the tag on the photo!

- I also want to remember to take more pictures, and I want to start to get away from the cell phone pictures I've been using. I'm not really sure how to go about this yet because I'm not really ready to splurge on a fancy camera. I see a lot of sewing blogs use cameras that have remotes, which is ideal because you never need to ask someone to stop and help you take pictures. Does anyone know if they make webcams with remotes?

- I want to get better at recording the type of fabric I use in my posts and where I purchased it. Not only will this help  me keep track of fabrics I like or don't like, but it can help you as readers if you're venturing out on projects of your own.

That's about all I have for now, and I hope you all are just as excited as I am. Let me know what you think of the changes I've made so far. Do you like the new font and header? As I continue to work on this space feel free to leave comments either at this post or on my contact page. I'll have an upcycled filing cabinet that I'll be sharing tomorrow so check back then, and if you haven't already checked out the two newest Renfrew shirts I made you can check them out here.

These cupcakes, from Sam's club of all places, were amazing

 It's my birthday, well not really, but it is this blogs first year anniversary. A year ago today I decided to take the plunge, starting with this dresser re-do and record all of the random crafts and things I get up to. If you're a frequent reader you'll have  noticed some of the changes taking place on the blog in the past week or so. I completely re-did my header and home page, added a more personalized side bar photo, changed the font, and added a support and popular posts section in the sidebar as well. For all of you new readers, you get the new and improved Guild of Goods! I wish I had taken a screen capture of the before and after but I forgot, which brings me to my next point.

The reason I made so many changes within the last week is that I want to continue to improve this blog and take it to the next level. Not only the blog itself, but my sewing and crafting as well. Here are some of my plans for the next year.

- I plan on focusing more on sewing and reupholstering this year with the occasional furniture re-do and crochet project. I think that having more of a focused approach will help streamline this space and attract more people with similar interests.

- More of the personalized photos, like the one above, that headline each post. Not only does it make a pretty picture on here, but if you're pinning these photos, the photo will say exactly what the post is about. That way if you forget to caption it when you pin it, you'll remember because of the tag on the photo!

- I also want to remember to take more pictures, and I want to start to get away from the cell phone pictures I've been using. I'm not really sure how to go about this yet because I'm not really ready to splurge on a fancy camera. I see a lot of sewing blogs use cameras that have remotes, which is ideal because you never need to ask someone to stop and help you take pictures. Does anyone know if they make webcams with remotes?

- I want to get better at recording the type of fabric I use in my posts and where I purchased it. Not only will this help  me keep track of fabrics I like or don't like, but it can help you as readers if you're venturing out on projects of your own.

That's about all I have for now, and I hope you all are just as excited as I am. Let me know what you think of the changes I've made so far. Do you like the new font and header? As I continue to work on this space feel free to leave comments either at this post or on my contact page. I'll have an upcycled filing cabinet that I'll be sharing tomorrow so check back then, and if you haven't already checked out the two newest Renfrew shirts I made you can check them out here.

Sewing: Two New Renfrew's

I've been a busy little sewing bee! Here are the last two Renfrew Tops, from Sewaholic Patterns, that I will probably be making for a little while because I've used up all of the fabric I'd purchased to make a bunch of different variations. I've already made a long sleeve scoop neck that I love and a short sleeve scoop neck that I badly modified and used fabric I probably shouldn't have seeing as this pattern calls for stable knits.

  Pretty pleased with how lined up the v part turned out  

 I managed to match the stripes up perfectly!

Let's talk about the v-neck first. It fits perfectly, and the knit fabric i chose is sort of fuzzy on the outside but the inside is silky and feels great against the skin. I realized after I cut my pieces out I should've taken better care with how I cut things out on the stripes, however I think I got lucky this time because I didn't really have a problem with things not matching up. I think I might end up top stitching the seam at the waist and arm bands because the seam keeps rolling over and causing the waistband to stick out a bit. Ironing the seams down didn't really make much of a difference and at the neckband where there is top stitching everything lays nice and smooth. Super pleased.

I'm really happy with this cowl neck too. I made this as a 3/4 length sleeve so it would be cozy for dreary days. This was just as simple as all of the others, even with the cowl neckline. I think it took longer to lay out the fabric and cut all the pieces than the actual sewing. You can sort of see what I was talking about with the waist band seam puffing out in the picture on the right. I might top stitch the waist and arm seams on this shirt too. All in all I've really enjoyed working with this Renfrew pattern. The shirts are simple to sew and come together in no time. I can see myself making many more of these especially the v-neck and scoop neck because they're both really flattering.

I've been a busy little sewing bee! Here are the last two Renfrew Tops, from Sewaholic Patterns, that I will probably be making for a little while because I've used up all of the fabric I'd purchased to make a bunch of different variations. I've already made a long sleeve scoop neck that I love and a short sleeve scoop neck that I badly modified and used fabric I probably shouldn't have seeing as this pattern calls for stable knits.

  Pretty pleased with how lined up the v part turned out  

 I managed to match the stripes up perfectly!

Let's talk about the v-neck first. It fits perfectly, and the knit fabric i chose is sort of fuzzy on the outside but the inside is silky and feels great against the skin. I realized after I cut my pieces out I should've taken better care with how I cut things out on the stripes, however I think I got lucky this time because I didn't really have a problem with things not matching up. I think I might end up top stitching the seam at the waist and arm bands because the seam keeps rolling over and causing the waistband to stick out a bit. Ironing the seams down didn't really make much of a difference and at the neckband where there is top stitching everything lays nice and smooth. Super pleased.

I'm really happy with this cowl neck too. I made this as a 3/4 length sleeve so it would be cozy for dreary days. This was just as simple as all of the others, even with the cowl neckline. I think it took longer to lay out the fabric and cut all the pieces than the actual sewing. You can sort of see what I was talking about with the waist band seam puffing out in the picture on the right. I might top stitch the waist and arm seams on this shirt too. All in all I've really enjoyed working with this Renfrew pattern. The shirts are simple to sew and come together in no time. I can see myself making many more of these especially the v-neck and scoop neck because they're both really flattering.

Before/After: Wood Slab to Coffee Table

Pretty excited about how great this turned out!

My original Saturday plans were to work on making another shirt, put the finishing touches on a filing cabinet I've been re-doing, and watching some Netflix. However, after eating breakfast with my roommates and chatting about the downstairs area in our house I decided I wanted to turn our current coffee table (piece of wood on cinder blocks) into a padded/more colorful coffee table.

Spruce: A Step-By-Step Guide to Upholstery & Design - $22.14

I got the book listed above as a Christmas present for myself, and not only is it amazing, but it had a great tutorial for a tufted ottoman. After talking things over with my roommates we decided that we didn't want to do tufting because we wanted to keep the coffee table as a flat surface to place things on besides our feet. After looking up color schemes and brainstorming what we wanted the downstairs area to look like I took off to JoAnn's and Home Depot to get the supplies I needed. I'm putting all of the other pictures and my step by step process after the link!

Pretty excited about how great this turned out!

My original Saturday plans were to work on making another shirt, put the finishing touches on a filing cabinet I've been re-doing, and watching some Netflix. However, after eating breakfast with my roommates and chatting about the downstairs area in our house I decided I wanted to turn our current coffee table (piece of wood on cinder blocks) into a padded/more colorful coffee table.

Spruce: A Step-By-Step Guide to Upholstery & Design - $22.14

I got the book listed above as a Christmas present for myself, and not only is it amazing, but it had a great tutorial for a tufted ottoman. After talking things over with my roommates we decided that we didn't want to do tufting because we wanted to keep the coffee table as a flat surface to place things on besides our feet. After looking up color schemes and brainstorming what we wanted the downstairs area to look like I took off to JoAnn's and Home Depot to get the supplies I needed. I'm putting all of the other pictures and my step by step process after the link!

Crochet Away: Shell Baby Beanie

A close up of the 'shell' stitch

I saw a picture of a seashell stitch hat ages ago on Pinterest, and finally got around to looking at the link to  make it. The Dainty Daisy posted the pattern, and the only downside is that it's only sized for babies and up to 10 yrs of age. My head is a wee bit bigger than a 10 year olds, but I knew someone who just had a newborn so I decided to whip this up as a quick gift. This came together really quickly, and I love working on patterns that have a repeating stitch because my hands take over and my brain can zone out or focus on other things. I haven't gotten to give this as a gift yet so I don't have any pictures of the baby wearing it yet, and she might need to do some growing into it (I picked the 0-3 month old pattern size). Since there aren't instructions on how to make this for an adult I think I'm going to work on adapting the pattern so that it can fit adults. It really shouldn't take too much tweaking, but once I get it and make a hat for myself I'll be sure to post pictures and the pattern for you all to try out!

A close up of the 'shell' stitch

I saw a picture of a seashell stitch hat ages ago on Pinterest, and finally got around to looking at the link to  make it. The Dainty Daisy posted the pattern, and the only downside is that it's only sized for babies and up to 10 yrs of age. My head is a wee bit bigger than a 10 year olds, but I knew someone who just had a newborn so I decided to whip this up as a quick gift. This came together really quickly, and I love working on patterns that have a repeating stitch because my hands take over and my brain can zone out or focus on other things. I haven't gotten to give this as a gift yet so I don't have any pictures of the baby wearing it yet, and she might need to do some growing into it (I picked the 0-3 month old pattern size). Since there aren't instructions on how to make this for an adult I think I'm going to work on adapting the pattern so that it can fit adults. It really shouldn't take too much tweaking, but once I get it and make a hat for myself I'll be sure to post pictures and the pattern for you all to try out!

Sewing: Ruffled, Short Sleeve, Dress Shirt - Renfrew Pattern

So I made another Renfrew top , you can see my first one here, and I'm sad to say I'm not in love with how this one turned out. It's mainly my fault and all things I did wrong which is why I don't like it as much as my first version. Firstly, this pattern calls for stretchy knit fabric, the fabric for this shirt is more of a chiffon/dress shirt material. Now that would've been fine to use still, but I should've cut out my pieces one size up in order to make up for the lack of stretch. Knit fabrics have a lot of stretch and are more accepting of things like chests, and round arms, whereas the chiffon material is not. So this is a little tight over the chest area which then pulls on the neckline and arms when I have it on. Additionally because it was too tight in the arms I opened them up at the armpit area so they're more like cap sleeves instead of full short sleeves. One thing I am pleased with is the fact that I chose to add a pleated neckline instead of just a plain neckline. It's hard to see from the picture in the right, but I think you can make it out a little bit. It made the shirt seem more dressy to me and I wanted to see if I could do it, and I like that I did it that way. I'm not sure how much wear I'll give this shirt, unless I lose a boob or two it's not that comfortable to wear. I might see if a friend wants it instead. I still have two more pieces of (knit!) fabric and two more shirts to make: a 3/4 length v-neck and a long sleeve cowl neck. You sew, you learn.

So I made another Renfrew top , you can see my first one here, and I'm sad to say I'm not in love with how this one turned out. It's mainly my fault and all things I did wrong which is why I don't like it as much as my first version. Firstly, this pattern calls for stretchy knit fabric, the fabric for this shirt is more of a chiffon/dress shirt material. Now that would've been fine to use still, but I should've cut out my pieces one size up in order to make up for the lack of stretch. Knit fabrics have a lot of stretch and are more accepting of things like chests, and round arms, whereas the chiffon material is not. So this is a little tight over the chest area which then pulls on the neckline and arms when I have it on. Additionally because it was too tight in the arms I opened them up at the armpit area so they're more like cap sleeves instead of full short sleeves. One thing I am pleased with is the fact that I chose to add a pleated neckline instead of just a plain neckline. It's hard to see from the picture in the right, but I think you can make it out a little bit. It made the shirt seem more dressy to me and I wanted to see if I could do it, and I like that I did it that way. I'm not sure how much wear I'll give this shirt, unless I lose a boob or two it's not that comfortable to wear. I might see if a friend wants it instead. I still have two more pieces of (knit!) fabric and two more shirts to make: a 3/4 length v-neck and a long sleeve cowl neck. You sew, you learn.