What The Heck Is That???

Welcome to this edition of "What The Heck Is That?"! I am your confused host, Amy. Let's begin!

Joking aside...
I decided to be brave and check out the Good Will Outlet this morning. That place is insane, I tell ya! Not for the faint of heart. Anyways, I found this thing....

It was badly tarnished, so I cleaned it up...

...and realized it screws apart. I thought maybe THAT fact would give me a clue, but I still do not know what the heck it is.

It is quite pretty and was only $1.00. It has a little circle on the bottom with a lion in it and I can make out "Silver Plate" but not the rest. It is also stamped 3002. No idea what it could be used for, or if it is purely decorative, or what! Anyone? Will it pay for my kids college educations if I sell it on Ebay???? Or at least a Mocha Latte at McDonalds? Either way, I like it but am stumped, so I come to you amazing blogity bloggers for help! Can you tell me "what the heck is that?" Your prize, should you win: Hmmm... do bragging rights and the satisfaction of helping out a person in need do it for ya? I knew you'd love that!

Thrift Share!

It's been a while since I've done a thrift share, so I thought I'd show you my haul from yesterday!
Vintage sheet, still in the package... destined to become a skirt in the near future.
Four cute tops for Sophie, they look brand new!
A sweet vintage dress for Sophie.
And another vintage dress for Sophie. She is one well dressed 3 year old! it's funny because my husband had her out at the park yesterday and an older woman kept looking at her and finally said "I can't put my finger on it, but she looks like she is from the 1930's! There is just something so classic about her." I told my hubby it's probably the way I dress her. LOL.
Check out this vintage tablecloth which has clearly never been used! Swoon! It's so perfect I won't be able to use it either! Well, at least not for a while.
These vintage curtains will also become skirts, dresses or some thing along those lines.
My big score of the day, a gorgeous hand made quilt for 12.50. It was marked 24.95 but was 50% off. I can't believe no one else snagged this! I didn't get to the store till almost noon and the place was swamped!

I was very happy with my finds, I spent less than 40.00 and was in and out in under an hour. For me, that is a record. Hope you all had some fabulous finds too! I'm linking up to Apron Thrift Girl, go check out others thrifty finds and add your own!

A Skirt A Day!

I have been having way too much fun making new skirts! I finished this cutie last night. (The skirt, not the kiddo.)


I used a vintage pillow case, vintage mini ric rac, vintage ribbon and buttons along with a vintage hankie for the apron. I love having such a huge stash of vintage goodies to work with, but at this pace I hope I don't run out!

Isn't she a cutie?? (The kiddo, not the skirt.)

I dropped my camera last week and now it is taking very blurry pics. Oops.

On the bright side, I have enough of all of these supplies and I am working on one just like it for the shop! Right now I am off to the thrift to hopefully find more vintage goodies for more, more, more new skirts!

Pillow Case Shirt

I Know it's getting cooler in most parts of the country, but here in South Florida it is just now becoming tolerable to be outside. We had the hottest summer I can remember, too hot to spend time outdoors really. it is finally starting to cool down to the low 80's! Yay! It feels so nice to walk outside and not become instantly drenched in sweat. Yuck.

Anyways, I dug out a couple of my thrifted Vera pillow cases and made cute tops out of them!

Here's one of them, the other I wore yesterday and is in the wash already. The lady at the post office complimented it and even my sister thought it was store bought!

I loosely followed the instructions in this awesome book! So many ideas for vintage pillowcases! I think my next project will be making a bunch of reusable grocery totes from more vintage pillow cases. I love pillow cases, can you tell?

I *heart* Holly Hobbie

I have been on a sewing kick again! I lucked out and was able to combine my love for vintage sheets and linens, with my love of sewing and my love of all things Holly Hobbie!

That means I have a new item in my Etsy shoppe!

I have been working out the kinks and perfecting my ruffle skirt. I think I have made about 10 since I first posted about them. I made some changes to how I construct the skirt so that it will last a long long time and always look good. More on that in a different post.

I have a bunch of these fabrics left so that means I am happy to take custom orders!

By the way, that sweet little Holly Hobbie doll... I thrifted her over the summer. She is EXACTLY like the one I had as a little girl. I have never stopped loving all things Holly Hobbie. it just brings back so many memories.

So much, in fact, that when Sophie was one year old, I dressed her as Holly Hobbie for Halloween! This was before my sewing kick, so her costume was ordered from Amazon, not hand made.
Maybe I can convince her to go as Holly Hobbie again next year so I can go crazy making her an awesome costume? This year she insists on being Jessie from the movie Toy Story. Hmmm.... maybe I can go as Holly Hobbie this year! I still have time! LOL!

Thrifty Deconstruction

I guess it's safe to say I've had a bit of a growth spurt this past year....ehem. Maybe I need to stop celebrating each thrifty treasure I find by eating a donut? Perhaps. Regardless, my cargo pants have been getting a little tight so I decided to do a little "upcycling" and repurpose them into cool deconstructed skirts.
I had seen a similar idea in a book called Free Style Sewing. I had only looked at the picture and never read the instructions and returned the book, so I probably didn't do it right but I am happy with how they turned out. I cut the legs off 5 inches or so from the bottom and ripped the seams on the inside of the legs to the zipper. Stitched it back up as a skirt and added the bottom part of the legs on as ruffles in the front. Cute and girly but with an edge.

These were actually capris with ties at the bottom, same steps but just cut the bottoms off above the draw strings and reattached them as ruffles which worked out really well since I used the drawstring to make the ruffle, tied little bows and then attached the whole thing. there are two rows of ruffles, one leg bottom each. Not sure I am explaining it well, but long story short, I finished both in an hour and a half and it was fun too! Since I can wear them up at my waist a bit higher now that the inseam is gone, they fit way more comfy!

Other than doing a little sewing, I've been doing a little thrifting, but nothing too exciting. I did find a stunning vintage Vera nightie and robe set at a consignment shop. I was very excited until I realized that a pretty, dainty and sheer nightie just does not fit into my lifesyle at the moment since I generally have sticky little pancake hands clutching at me every morning. So, I put it up on ebay.

Linking to Apron Thrift Girl and Southern Hospitality! Check 'em out!

The One Thing I Don't Have

My husband kindly informed me of the one thing I don't seem to have, as I showed him my recent purchases. He called it "restraint".

My defense? Well, you never know when you might need...cough...ehem.... three square dancing outfits.

For $1.95 how could I NOT buy this adorable skirt?

Or this one for only $.95???

I may have to actually start square dancing so that I can wear this...

a steal at $2.95! As I was checking out I had visions of that Brady Bunch episode in my head... the whole family dressed up and square dancing in the living room! Fun! My family would just loooove that, right?? Right? Okay, not so much.

So, at least I have my halloween costume already lined up. I might also just start wearing them out and about and perhaps start a new fashion trend? If that fails, I can always cut them up and repurpose them into something else, like cute little dresses for Sophie! See? Restraint is highly overrated.

Linking up to Apron Thrift Girl and Southern Hospitality today!

Sewing Machine Love!

I had a yard sale yesterday so that I could finally be put out of my misery and purchase a new sewing machine. I got this beauty! It was marked down to $135 and let me tell you, what great bang for the buck! it has so many stitches and has been an absolute dream! I love it!

While playing around with it, I stitched up a couple of dish towels and they are now in my Etsy shoppe!


This first one I ironed on an image I had designed for one of my digital scrapbook kits.

By the way, if you are interested in Digital Scrapbooking, my designs are sold with Memory Mixer software (which is soooo easy to use) and also available for download on their website. You can learn all about it here.

Then I added some vintage fabric and trim.

This one I LOVE! I made a tiny apron from vintage fabric, and machine embroidered it, added a little pocket...
...stitched it on to the towel, did some decorative stitching on the edges and added some vintage ric-rac and appliques! So fun to make! I have some refining to do, so as I make more, they will get better. For each one I made I realized several things I should do different on future towels.

I feel a little weird about trying to sell something I made because it's not PERFECT, ya know? But we'll see. Still, it has been so much fun to play with my new toy!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Salvation Army Chair Score!

Weeeee! Found the SWEETEST chair at Salvation Army yesterday for 39.00! Woot!


See this beeeeeeutiful fabric? Matches my livingroom, perfectly!
And here is the best part... it's slipcovered! I can wash it! Swoon!

Just had to share and I am joinging the party at Debbie Doos! She also happens to be from my home town and has a great post today about the cutest Buffalo Billy Bank! Go check it out!

Vintage Pillow Case Ruffle Skirt Tutorial

I thought I would share with you one of my favorite skirts to make for a little girl. It is super easy, if I can do it, anyone can. It is made from thrifted vintage pillow cases.

As much as I love to sew, I am self taught and to be honest, quite lazy. I want instant gratification. I am sure that if any real seamstresses out there read this tutorial it will make them cringe! LOL!

Here we go! My daughter is about a 2T - 3T, but I also made one for my step daughter who is 8 and wears a size 8. Same instructions, just adjust the measurements.

I started by cutting off the bottom half of a pillow case. The bottom finished end becomes the hem of the skirt. For my older daughter I cut it up higher, for the little one, this will do.
I then cut a few strips from pillow cases the long way. Basically, the strips for the ruffles should be at least twice or more long as the skirt's circumference.

Fold over the edge of the strips double, and press. If I were making this as a gift I would do the same on both sides of the strips, but knowing my kid will most likely spill grape juice or something equally staining on hers in short order, I don't bother.
Also press your seam for the elastic. Make sure you measure the width of the elastic! Haha, Lesson learned.
Sew the seam for the elastic, leaving an opening.
Measure the child's waist and cut the elastic 1/2 an inch longer or so. I stick a safety pin on one end of the elastic and feed it through.
Sew the elastic, really, really well.
Then close up the opening and voila! The skirt part is done! Kinda cute like this, but let's keep going!
OK I forgot to take a photo, but go ahead and sew up the strips. Yawn, borning, I just zone out during that part.

Here comes the really fun part! Elastic thread! Hand wind your bobbin with elastic thread. Don't pull on it, just wind it with no tension. I have seen tutorials on how to hand wind the elastic thread onto a bobbin, but it's pretty self explanatory.
Pop the bobbin in and start sewing down the full length of each strip. Most people use the technique for shirring. I'm lazy and use it to make ruffles.
If your strip is long enough, and you want it extra ruffle-y, you could do two rows. I just did one and this is what I ended up with.
Do that for each strip and then pin the bottom ruffle onto the skirt.
Now just simply stitch in the ditch, couldn't be easier. Do make sure to pull the bottom skirt layer tight as you sew the ruffle on.
Leave a little on each end and then flip the ruffle up.
Put the right sides together and stitch.
Rinse and repeat for each ruffle, working your way up.
That's it!
I decided to make my top ruffle from some eyelet trim, just to give it a finished edge, but on others I have not. You could do some ricrac or trim or leave it!
Vintage pillow cases aren't the only things you can use! Look around and see what else you could recycle! On one skirt I ripped the ruffle off a curtain I had shoved in a cupboard.

Of course, a matching skirt for mom would be so cute made from vintage sheets!
All that's left to do is watch a sweet little princess enjoy wearing it!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! Let me know if you have any questions!