Aquarium Gems and Quilting

I bought aquarium gems nearly a decade ago for a LARP I played, which later was used for my betta tanks.  Well... I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.  Little gems of glass could be used for so many things, right?

Well, I finally got a new use out of some!!!  Sadly, I didn't get the before pictures, but they were standard flat marble aquarium gems.

From plain aquarium gems to...

I crackled the gems and then attached them to ring bases.  I think they turned out really well!   :-)

I'm also working on a scrap block quilt.  I plan on making one for my son and one for my daughter.  The idea is to only really use scrap cloth from projects I made in the past and possibly from clothes that are no longer in use (like maternity stuff dating back to the 1990s and severely outdated and not the cute stuff they have now... but has nice material).  The idea is that I can pinpoint what each block was originally from (ie. "This is from a cloak I made" or "This is from a shirt I made and sold off").  I've never made a quilt before, so if anyone has any websites that they can refer to an uber-beginner (me), please post the address in the comments area of this post.  I'd really appreciate it!

RPG and fried marbles jewelry

I've been trying my hand at making jewelry baubles and pendants.  Here's what I have so far...

First, pendants made from RPG die, like d20's and d10's.  My first one is below.  I wanted a "classier" 1920's feel to it.  My niece (a pre-teen) wants me to make her one as well.  So what that she doesn't play RPGs yet.  A little geekiness is a good thing!

And I'm also going crazy with fried glass.  I am making baubles out of the smaller ones and will make pendants from the larger ones.  I already attached one to a choker, but don't have photos yet.  Earrings are in the future, but I also have other ideas as well.

I love the effect but am still in the 'trying to figure out the best methods' stage.  I've tried several methods thus far, and I'm getting better.  Mainly, I am learning a lot about how the glass compositions may really effect the final results.  The amber flattened marbles barely crack and I speculate that the dye used for the amber color might be part of the issue.  I plan to make more fried glass, and also will be teaching my older sister and my oldest niece (not my older sister's daughter) how to make them.  I may even make one special one every year, on my daughter's birthday.

If nothing else, they are quite lovely.

I hope to get more pictures of the finished pieces using these marbles.  My coworkers really like them and I told a couple that I'd give them some if they didn't mind testing them out.

I also have several sewing refashions I'm planning out.  Excitement abounds.  :-)

Shirt Collar Headband

I was inspired by the scrap give-away though I couldn't enter due to time constraints.

My husband altered a regular men's shirt into a steampunk shirt with removeable collar.  The original collar was set aside in our scrap pile.  I found it recently and decided it would make a nifty headband.  Afterall, if people can make ties into so many things, why not collars?

The camera I used to take the "before pictures" ran out of juice (and we left the battery at my mother's place), so those pictures will be added later.  But here is the end result.

I'm pretty happy with the results and plan on making more.  I did try adding some buttons to this for a cute feel, but it just didn't look right given that I intend to wear this to work on casual Fridays.

Refashioned infant outfit, plus two bonus projects...

Time for an update!

I used three items to make the outfit:

1)  An infant top that costed me $1.25 at Target (on clearance).  

2)  An old sleeveless top I haven't worn in ages; it was too short for my postpartum body, but I loved the embroidered botanical design.   

3)  A hand-me-down onesie that was given to me for my son, but my daughter didn't get to wear before she outgrew it.  I really liked the colors, especially the dragonfly applique.

I'm very happy with how it turned out!

A full update regarding what I did in the alterations will be added to Sew Mankycat.

As an added bonus, here's another project that I worked on this month and one my husband crafted.  Both were using spare cardboard from our move to make fun items for our children.  Mine are faery wings for my daughter to wear to Faery Festival.  My husband's is a full Clone Trooper outfit from Star Wars for our son's birthday party (and just for fun).

Summer Dress for Sweetling

Here's my first refashioned item here.  I decided to make an outfit for my daughter out of a really odd, unattractive romper that was handed down to me.  You can see it below...

Original Romper

Since I had such a tough time cutting up any of my infant clothing (serious mental barrier against it), I figured my first attempt should be with something I really hated.  After unpicking the pieces, I actually found I really loved the fabrics... just not in the same outfit.  I love how it turned out thus far.

See the flower?  She's wearing a pink onesie under the dress.
The little pink sleeves are from the onesie.

Full shot of the dress.

I hand embroidered the front panels together, in order to add thickness to match the thickness of the romper's cotton.

Close up of the embroidery on the skirt's front panel.

The flower was a found object.  The center plastic was ruined, but that was fine, since I would have gotten rid of that part anyways.  Free is a lovely thing.



Criss cross back.

In the end, the only things I went out to get to make this outfit were the buttons!  And that's because I thought transparent sparkly buttons were just too adorable to pass up.

I still have a little jacket I plan to finish from the original romper's torso (which needs to still be altered and stitched together).  To finish off the outfit, I hope to make a hat and diaper cover in the pale pink material (likely with no embroidery, but we'll see).  The cute polka dot trims from the original romper will be used on another project later on.

More details, steps, and photos are on my blog, Sew Mankycat.

Introducing... Michelle (aka MankyCat)

Hi, everyone!!! 

My name is Michelle, but I go by Manky (or MankyCat) online.  I'm married to wonderful man who shares my interest in various artistic and crafty endeavors, especially sewing.  We have two beautiful children, my son being one month shy of 3 years old and my daughter just having turned 4 months old.  I work full time and am the breadwinner for my family while my husband stays home to care for the kids. (Please forgive the images here.  Most are not really "fashion" oriented unless you are into LARPing, faires, and such, but I hope to work more on daily-use refashioning now, even if somewhat quirky.)

My family a couple years ago, before my daughter was born.
The goggles were made from scraps of pleather, various
leftover knicknacks, and clear plastic packaging. The bustle
skirting is made from an old scarf my sister gave me many years before.

 I've done some refashioning, but not as much as I would like.  Most of my projects were costuming based, but I want to focus more on daily-wear now.  I love using scraps and making them into useable items... I have a real tough time throwing any bit of fabric away!  I have a number of projects I plan to get started on or finish. 

What is your motivation for refashioning?  Wasting less money on items that I can easily make myself.  I also hate the idea of throwing away items that cannot be donated, when I can make them into other things.  Why should perfectly good material go into a landfill when it can be used to make *something*.

Where do you get your inspiration? Originally my inspiration was from lack of money.  Then it was the general attitude of rework things into new items in the 1940's.  And now, it's a combination of things, including my children.  Seeing what other people are making is also a huge inspiration, especially lately.

 

Tsumami Kanzashi flower hair clip made from scrap
cloth, a spare button, and a few leftover beads.
Every scrap has a possible use for me.

Which techniques do you use in your refashions?  Almost the same ones I use for when I did costuming.  Mainly, don't be afraid to try new things and don't be afraid of failure.  Use premade patterns (with or without changing them to fit my needs), take clothing items apart to make into more items, sketch out possible clothing lay-outs and create your own patterns from them, or simply just go crazy and see what happens.   I mean, those are techniques, right?  Otherwise, I use sewing, crocheting, and embroidery techniques for the most part, and whatever else I pick up along the way.  :-)

 
Where do you find things to refashion? My closets, my mother and sisters (who tend to have too much stuff and try donating the items to me for use), thrift stores... the usual places.



A treasure chest bustle topper made from a halloween purse.



What is your favourite refashion?  Hm... I would say some of the funky skirts I made when I was younger.   Or when I turned my ill-fitting read leather duster into a vest with spikes.  It looked fab when I went out with some of my edgier friends.

Do you recycle anything other than fashion?  Yup.  Crafting wise, I try to reuse what I can within reason and constantly try to impliment more recycling of items as we adjust to the last set of changes.  As for general recycling, we try to recycle as much as we can.

Where can I read more about you and refashioning? There's more about my artsy and sewing projects on Sew Mankycat.  I have several other creative outlets online focusing on bento meals, steampunk cooking silliness, and so forth, and tend to focus on each in their own turn.  Currently, Sew Mankycat has the spotlight and I hope to post more pictures of my newest (and some of my older) projects soon.  :-)