I've Tried That - Fairy Wings

My most favorite and popular Renaissance Festival has been my fairy costume. While I just kinda made up the wing process as I went, this is almost exactly how I made mine. Thanks, Mommy Blessings!

Photo belongs to Mommy Blessings

To follow her wonderful tutorial to make some fairy wings for yourself, just Click on This Wonderful Link!

Do you want to see my costume? I bet you do. Here you go!

Here's the costume minus the wings. There are various pieces of jewelry and some belts and tails that go with it.

And here I am wearing it! I'm teaching the hubby to dance the Korobushka.

My wings, though I am not wearing them. This is my sister (in the black) and her friend Sabrina (in my wings).

I've Tried That: "Woven" Friendship Bracelet

Raise your hand if you made friendship bracelets as a kid. *raises hand* Mine were the spiral macrame bracelets with just 2 threads. I had a pink one and then a purple one. These are much more cool! Up to 7 different colors in one bracelet, look awesome as wrap bracelets, and hold charms relatively well.

And they're easy! The only things you'll need are: 1) A small piece of cardboard, and 2) Several different colors of embroidery thread.

This is small enough to fit in your purse or pocket, easy to pick up, and you won't forget your place if you put it down. I ended up taking it to work to do in my downtime.

I've Tried That: Indian Shisha Embroidery

This isn't a matter of working or not, but rather a matter of "can anyone do it?"

Shisha is the Hindi word for "little glass" and Shisha Embroidery is embroidering little pieces of glass (mirrors) to something. Here's what it looks like:

Photo belongs to Emily of Joyful Abode

My mom saw this picture on my Pinterest board and decided I needed to try it on a stocking swap she was doing with her quilt guild (lots of fun, that little project). My first one looked like crap, but the second and third ones looked pretty good.

The verdict:
Yep. Anyone who has at least a beginner's embroidery skill level and the ability to follow a picture tutorial can do this. Don't expect the first few to look this awesome, but don't get discouraged, either. It's fun and it looks really cool. I plan to do this around the bottom of an apron, actually... When we get the house unpacked and squared away.

Resources:
Joyful Abode - Tutorial: Indian Shisha Mirror Embroidery

I've Tried That: Dandelion on Fire

By now, anyone on Pinterest has seen this image. It is a lie! My mother and I hunted down the first dandelion of the year in their yard and, with lighter in hand, gathered everyone around. *click-poof-gone*

There was nothing left.

The smoke didn't even last more than a second. If there were pretty colors, they were too fast for the eye to see. Whoever took the picture has a really good camera and really, really good timing. Or they're just really good at Photoshop.

In either case, don't waste your time and eyebrows on this one.

I've Tried That: Brine Your T-Shirts

Here starts the first post in a series: Things I've Tried from Pinterest. This week, you get one that actually works! Brine your T-shirts to make them super-soft without having to wear them for years first.

What you'll do:

Dissolve 1/2 cup salt in 4 cups of water.
Soak your shirt for 3 to 4 days, stirring occasionally.
Toss it in the washing machine with a little detergent.
Tumble dry.
 Enjoy your brand new T-shirt that feels vintage soft.

So, how did it work?

Remarkably well, actually.

I got a plain brown T-shirt from Michael's on one of their sales, soaked it in a bucket with salty water for 4 days, and then deviated from the instructions. I didn't have easy access to a washer (living in an apartment without hookups, laundry mat every week), so I washed it in the sink and let it air dry. DO NOT DO THAT! It came out scratchy and stiff. I gave it up as a lost cause and tossed it in the pile to wash. After laundry day, as I was folding all the clothes, I came across a brown T-shirt that looked brand new but felt super worn. Then it clicked: the experiment worked! Now when I get new shirts, I dig out a bucket and brine them all.

Have you tried it? Did it work for you? Let me know in the comments.

Phwoosh



Resources:
OctaneShop.com

Adventures in Corsetry - Where I got the "Pattern"

I'm finally doing it. I'm finally drafting my own pattern from my measurements and using spiral steel boning and making a victorian-esq corset.

What I hope to get from my corset:
- An amazing outerwear costume piece
- Something I can coordinate with for years to come
- A workable pattern to make many more corsets
- KNOWLEDGE! Knowledge of the proper way to fit a corset and draft a pattern.

Now, a confession: I've already started. I have the pattern drafted, traced, allowanced, and cut (all together took 4 hours), the mockup shell pieced (1 hour), and the boning cut and tipped (1.5 hours). Time: 6.5 hours so far

And I have pictures of the whole process! Yippee! But the terrible part of that is that I have no way to get the pictures from my camera to my computer. My cables and card readers are all in storage and I don't have a clue how to get to them. So today you get the fruits of my research.

I wanted something that would give me some reduction, cover my hips a little, and go over my bust. This ruled out the conical Renaissance stays that seemed to be popping up in all of my searches*. After 2 full days of searching, I stumbled across exactly what I wanted.

Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.

On this wonderful website I found a .PDF file of 54 pages that goes in depth on how to draft your own Victorian corset pattern based on your measurements. Click here to download it yourself.

I took my measurements, wrote them down where I wouldn't lose them, and them went to have the document printed. Like I said, it's 54 pages long, and I wasn't about to subject my parents' printer to that. For less than $10 I had it printed, covered, and spiral bound. Go check with your local printer (mine is at the college) to see what kind of sweet deals you can get!

So, that should save you 2 days if you're trying to find the same thing I was. It's worth the time and the money to have a pattern this good. I'm so very pleased with my mockup at this point.

*This seems to be the go-to for drafting "corset" patterns. It isn't what I wanted, but I drafted one anyway and it looks like it would be a great one. This resource truly is a gem, if not quite the one I was looking for.

I now have a Social Life

A friend has recently moved back to the city (sort-of), and he's been over for the last two weekends, which is keeping me from blogging. And my parent's were up here for a few days. I've also been working like a fiend, having anxiety attacks, and even crafting a little!

Now that my husband and I are flat broke again, my World of Warcraft subscription has run out, which is going to leave my days off (or the times when Josh is at school) open for catching up here. I think I owe you three recipes and a ton of crafts/pictures, as well as some of my WoW antics and stuff I've learned.

Since I haven't learned much, you get WoW antics and a link today. Link first.

Fabric Flower Pin

This is so cute! I found it and had to make one. Mine's blue. Every single piece is a circle, and there are only two sizes of circles. If I could wear headbands, I'd put mine on one and wear it everywhere. But since headbands don't look good on me, I guess I'll just have to stick it on a mirror somewhere or put a pin back on it for my mom.

On to World of Warcraft! Since I play in the mornings or early afternoons, I don't get to do stuff with the guild, like go raiding or run the new Herocis. Instead, I get to Pick Up Group (pug) for dungeons. Since the last time I blogged about WoW, I've had two memorable pugs, and not memorable in the good way. I was quite irritated.
Grim Batol - We had a Paladin healer and a Paladin tank, and they just couldn't get along. After a snarky comment from the tank to the healer and a few trash pulls, the conversation between them degraded from "Learn your class" to "You're some fat 37-year-old living in your grandma's basement playing WoW all day." The kick feature was broken and we couldn't get rid of either of them. At long last, the healer left and we got another to finish the dungeon. No "Thanks for the run" from this 'lock! By the end I was so irritated I couldn't do much else. But seriously... If Flash of Light was keeping us all alive, why did the tank have a problem with it? Why couldn't he have just let it go? That's the worst group I've ever pulled, and next time it happens, I'll take dungeon deserter or a 45 minute queue rather than sit through that nonsense again.
Vortex Pinnacle - The healer didn't bring any mana-restoring foodstuffs and kept demanding a mage table. We didn't have a mage in the group. After every pull he kept saying "table?" and everyone ignored him. Before the first boss, I got a whisper that said "Could you please put out a table?" and realized that he thought I was a mage. Just because every other fire-throwing gnome is a mage doesn't mean that all of them are! My companion was an imp, not an elemental, and last I checked Immolate was something mages couldn't do. I was nice about it, though, and pointed out that I was a warlock. Really, though... Figure out what people are, what color corresponds to which class. That way you don't look like an ass and the person you're demanding things of doesn't look like a jerk since no one else is paying attention either.

So that's all for today.  There will be a beer bread recipe eventually, and I'll probably put up my chicken piccata recipe too. One day I might throw up some screen shots from World of Warcraft. And I have to let you in on my sewing pattern lamp, based on this one from Etsy.

That's all today, since I'm going to finish a shirt I started a couple months ago. Just a little more hand sewing and a hem and I'm done!

Until... Tuesday?

-Anita (which is Anna in Spanish)

P.S. I got another raise for being on the morning crew!