Further Adventures in Altered Couture

This was actually the very first thing I decided I wanted to do when I got sick of my maternity clothes - a Beehive Shirt!
It was a boring button down with the same boring horizontal stripes on it that damn near every maternity shirt sports that isn't a solid color (WHY?? Why are they all like that??). And I decided I wanted to embroider it a bit...
There are photos but they are buried in the depths of the internet right now, so I'll just show you the finished product. Replaced some buttons with bee buttons including one on the shoulder for decoration and went with a honeycomb theme across the shoulder and neckline.

This is a detail of the shoulder. It's hard to tell, but the thread is variegated butter yellow to goldenrod.

This is the entire piece. I'd intended to do more, but would have given birth by the time it was finished.

So it's a really nice alteration, it's cute, and I intend to wear the hell out of this thing for the duration of having tiny humans in side of me.
The only tricky thing was embroidering on knit fabric, which required tearable stick-paper to put on the back of the areas so the fabric didn't pull and stretch too much. I have a ton left over, and fully intend to use it on other non-maternity t-shirts once the ideas strike.

Altered Couture - Maternity Edition

Now that we've sold the place and inspectors are done tromping through, I'm free to break out my crafting goodies and get back to work!
Maternity clothes ate boring, unless you want to shell out serious money. As a result, my first pregnancy I spent a lot of time not only feeling like a swelling alien mothership, but also not able to dress as I did usually. It was doubly alienating. I felt like my identity was lost somewhere in the black hole of my uterus. I'm sure there's a while world of psychological fun in those sentiments, but we're here to focus on slapping some personality back in to boring stuff!
I ended up with a LOT of solid, boring colored tank tops and shirts and skirts. I put up with it because I worked at a conservative business and that was required. But now that we're freelance and homesteading, the creativity dam is opened!
The first item of clothing I wanted to work on was a rather bland, but comfy, navy blue jersey skirt I usually save for the beach. We're going to the beach this weekend to celebrate, so it seemed perfect timing to try some bleach painting.
I gathered my supplies: a bleach pen, a cardboard box to prevent the bleach from soaking through (unless you want the design on both sides of the garment) and the garment to be decorated! Note -While we highly enjoy Cinnamon Toast Crunch in this household, we do not solely advocate the use of its box for crafting. Any flattened cereal box or long cardboard will suffice.

Next, shake the heck out of the gel pen, uncap it, and get to work! I googled
some paisley designs and made the decision to put them across the hip so it was asymmetrical. Shown here, my sorta funky free-handed attempt.

Then I decided to add some elements around the outside to expand it. I would have done more but the bleach pen was only half full when I started using it, so I quickly ran out. Either way, it was looking pretty swanky!

I let it sit for a few minutes, noting the reddish tinge starting to show up around the edges of the bleach, then promptly ran the design under cold water, washing the bleach off.

After employing some soap to make sure the bleach didn't seep in to other parts of the skirt thanks to the water bath, I also gave it a splash of vinegar to try and kill the reaction, since it seemed to still be brightening even as I washed it. It seemed to work, but various forums online say that's a super bad idea, so don't follow my lead. Just wash the snot out of it with water and soap!
I loved the results. There was a purple-pinkish design across the hip that reminded me immediately of blueberries that had been smashed. In my head it has become my Blueberry Skirt.

Isn't it pretty??
This was very easy to do, the hardest parts being keeping the Girlchild from getting curious and pulling it down, letting the bleach sit too long that it might burn through, and not letting it seep through the clothing. Cardboard and care can safeguard against all of those things if you decide to try it. I'll be breaking out the new bleach gel pen to do other designs on two tank tops I have that are in need of sprucing up, as I love how this turned out! I'm excited for my new, more "me" maternity wardrobe! The other modifications I make will be shared here as well, so stay tuned!

This is a Thing That I Wrote!

Welcome!
It's always hard to start out something new. There are schools of thought that say you have to do it with great intention, hold the image in your mind and carry it sharply so that your energy (and the Universe, as your cosmology permits) can make opportunities and churn away at a subconscious level to bring it to fruition. Another school of thought says... jump, and the net will appear. Also, stuff changes, so, like, you can adjust things later on, dude.
This is a jump and the net will appear kind of gig.
Here is what I know.
1. I love to create.
2. I love this planet we are on and everything encompassed therein.
3. It has been my goal to help this place and others on this planet as much as I can, within my capacity at the given time. (Yup. We read the Four Agreements in our 20's).
4. At this point in time my life is about to be uprooted and moved for a myriad of reasons, but this will result in a LOT of positive changes in the lives of my family members. It will also allow me to seriously take up gardening on the scale I want, and start my little homestead I've been dreaming of for 5 years.
5. My friends said it would be cool if I had a blog with this kind of stuff and apparently I bow to peer pressure.
So here it is. The blog. About the homesteading. And the gardening. And the crafting. And the arts. Because of all the constants in my daily life, there are two... changing diapers and making something.
I hope you enjoy my experiments!

**As a note, I will specifically be tagging posts according to what it's about to make things easier. People won't want to read about my painting, but love to hear about chickens. Other people will want all the fiber crafting they can fiend on, but think the rest can DIAF. I will try to accommodate!**