DIY: IKEA Curtain Cat Print Dress

Yeah, yeah so pumpkins and black cats are so, like, a week ago (I've already busted out the Christmas decor, you don't have to tell me!) but, to my credit, I did finish this black cat dress a coupla weeks ago. It's just taken me until now to share it with y'all here!

I scooped up the fabric for this dress from IKEA and I'm in love. It's actually curtain fabric which means I'm like the Scarlett O'Hara of the sewing world. They did have this same print in orange with smaller cats but I really liked theses big bold babies and the black and white motif. So I picked up the last package of curtains and, when I was heading to the checkout (which took me 35 minutes because, you know, IKEA is about three miles long), I noticed that there was a hole in the curtains. The hole wasn't going to affect my sewing but, if it's anything I've learned from my mama-in-law, it never hurts to ask for a discount. And am I ever glad I did as the $25 price was dropped to $5! I only used one curtain panel for the dress which means, if you are super groovy at simple math like me, this dress only cost me $2.50. Sweet!

I warned y'all last time that I'd learned to create gifs. And I already apologized for it. So suck it up, buttercup. 

Now if you've seen one dress from me, you've pretty much seen them all as I FREAKIN' LOVE this style: large band at the waist, fit and flair. I have found this to be the most flattering for my body type and I have a hard time straying from sewing anything else. 

I often do a lotta gathered skirts but lately I'm kind of tired of them. Of course, gathering a fabric as stiff as curtain fabric wasn't gonna work in this sitch. Also, with a gathered skirt, I just can't get the fullness I dig. So circle skirts have become my new fave. In fact, the last dress I made, this Vincent van Gogh number, is almost identical to this one, sans bow. 

So, lately, life has been rather busy, to say the least. I've been so stinkin' fortunate to be asked to travel to the Wisconsin art conference as well as the one in Illinois (details on that this week, it was A BLAST!) to be their keynote speaker and present fiber arts workshops. I've loved every minute of it. And I'm getting ready to head to Texas for theirs in a matter of days. However, that means I've had to take a wee hiatus from sewing. I've missed it! I'm looking forward to getting back into my sewing room and making more messes soon.

OHHHH, yeah. I forgot to tell ya, those cats were a bit of a pain to work with as their faces are not exactly symmetrical. That means trying to match and align them was a total headache. The bodice I'm wearing is actually the second one I created as the first had cock-eyed cats...which is totally going to be the name of my first band: CASSIE AND THE COCK-EYED CATS!...but not a great look for a dress. 

When el hubbo and I recently traveled to Disneyland, I snapped photos in Cars Land. I flippin' love Cars Land and if only for the ambience. It has a whole Route 66/1950's vibe that I totally adore, especially at night. 

They have these fabulous neon lights that I love. Cars Land was my inspiration for the 1950's Diner Art Show we had last year!

 I mean, how cute are these signs?! Total inspo for this project. 

 One of my favorite shows growing up was Alice. I loved Flo and her "kiss my grits!" attitude. 

The food at the diner is very good and they have a great vegetarian Shepard's Pie option that we love. Must better than your usual lukewarm pizza park food. 

Because of how graphic this dress is, it gets a lotta comments when I wear it. I scooped up a lot of big and bold print from IKEA on my last trip. I'm looking forward to time in my sewing room to create more of these wacky and wild dresses.

And just because it's catty doesn't mean it's limited to Halloween, does it? I mean, shoot, I'm catty all year 'round!

 I really love it with these ska-wannabe kicks I recently picked up. 

It's super fun to wear. I just need to get better at that whole twirling thing...

Obviously. Pretty sure the neighbors know I'm crazy! 

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DIY: The Anna Maria Horner Full Circle Skirt

I present to you, along with my super cute circle skirt, the relaxed and happy face that only a week off can bring. That's right, y'all. One whole week of puttin' pie in my pie hole, craftin' it up, spending time with friends -n- fam and shopping. I've been feeling a little sluggish in both art teacherin' land and at home (you are currently in view of the ONLY non-unsightly spot in casa de Cassie) so I'm excited to have this week to relax and recharge. And to find a better means of getting that caffeine pumping in my veins on an average day. Are coffee eye-injections a thing yet? Cuz I'm ready to give it a go. 

While you google that, lemme share with you a sewing class I just completed over at a place that's just about as close to sewing heaven as Ima gonna get: Craft South. Y'all. If you are ever in Nashville-land, make sure you drop by this amazing place. I took a class there this summer and loved it and the instructor, Devon Iott, aka Miss Make. 

I've had a couple people ask me why I was taking a sewing class because some folk assume I know how to sew. And I kinda do...but I'm self taught which means in my stitching world, there's a whole lotta half-a##-ery. Watching YouTube videos, reading blogs and, in desperate times, even asking the hubs ("Like, you read this! DOES THIS EVEN MAKE SENSE?!") can only get you so far. Taking a class, especially from a teacher that is as good at explaining things as Devon, really makes a huge difference. 

So when I saw that Craft South was offering a two-day circle skirt sewing class with Devon as the instructor, y'all better believe I was all over that like whipped cream on pumpkin pie (in other news, the hubs insists on pronouncing the word pumpkin "punkin'". This kinda makes me wanna throat punch him. In a good way.)

FYI: circle skirt blog posts require a large amount of obnoxious-faced skirt twirling. Sorry not sorry, punkin'z.

For the class, we had to bring our own fabrics so I did a lil digging in my stash and found this awesomeness. I can't recall where I got it and the salvaged edge had no markings. I settled on this print because I thought it would be the best thing for a circle skirt. You've gotta be very aware when picking a print for this kind of skirt because if it's directional, it can look kinda weird when finished. Picking a random print is the best way to go, says me. I did stitch up a circle skirt this summer with a shower curtain which you can see here. 

The class was a two-parter/6-hour deal. For our first class, we cut out our pattern and all of the pieces. Turns out you need a boat load of fabric for a circle skirt. It even says that on the pattern envelope: Fabric Allotment: BOATLOAD. Thankfully, I had just enough. We also learned how to stitch in a lapped zipper which was 1. Super easy because Devon explained it so well and 2. Super cute! Way better than my zipper-install method which involves Scotch tape. Don't judge, y'all. I told you I'm self-taught and full of half-a##-ery!

During the second session, we created the waistband, attached that and hemmed the skirt. Which, by the way, if you've never hemmed a circle skirt, takes for freakin'-ever. But after that, it was complete! Me and the two other sweet ladies taking the class were so thrilled. We couldn't stop holding our skirts up to our waist and twirling!

In other not-related-to-the-skirt news, I had to cancel my travel plans this week. This sweet little girl had a spooky episode on Friday night that left us afraid to leave her alone. She seems back to normal and better now...but she did have us scared! 

We've had Asha since she was a kitten (her mama gave birth to her on our bed...my side, of course. That was a delightful moment, ahem.) She's 14 now which is hard to believe. She still thinks she's a kitten and so do we. If y'all have pets you know they are family. It's so hard to see them not their normal happy selves!

 I mean...

 Who else is gonna critique my outfit, right?!

Special thanks to Craft South and Devon Iott for the great sewing class, I can't wait for the next one!

I'll be back with y'all next week for my latest stitched dress-terpiece as well as some videos on teaching kiddos how to draw winter animals! 

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DIY: A Scribble-Scrabble Back to Art Teacherin' Dress and a Contest!

So, what does one do when her art room isn't ready and her lessons aren't planned (um, I have a vague notion of what will go down that first day. It starts with something like, the kids will come to art...and that's pretty much all I got)? MAKE A BACK TO ART TEACHERIN' DRESS, OF COURSE. Yes, I'm shouting. Because, like, duuuuh. 

I decided a dress was in order because 1. I always make a Back to Art Teacherin' Dress (see exhibit A and B), it's tradition and 2. Cuz I was kinda feeling like this about the whole notion of heading back...

Staying up entirely too late and sleeping in til high noon, I will miss yooooooou!

But now that I've got a snappy outfit to wear on that very first day (which starts tomorrow with four daze, er, days of professional developementishness. But I don't really count that. The true blue first day is when the wee ones show up which is this Friday, eek!) I'm feeling much better about Back to Art Teacherin' land. In fact, I'm now feelin' a lil more like this...

I...Can....Do...It! 

By the way, I recently downloaded the giphy app and have henceforth been solely communicating with friends via gifs. It's like a super fun game for me tho I'm not quite sure they feel the same. 

WHUT, CHUCK NORRIS?!

But whateves, y'all. Forget about my gif obsession and let's talk CONTEST, shall we? 

HEEEEY, say what?! I just spent entirely too long making this fugly -n- difficult to read image. So lemme reiterate what that thar thingie says in all sorts of bulletpoints, words and sentences. 

* Snap a photo of your Back to Art Teacherin' style and share it on instagram tagging moi @cassiestephenz. If you wanna throw in a hashtag to boot, I quite fancy #whattheartteacherwore.

* No instagram? No problem! Email me your photo at cassieart75@gmail.com. 

* I'll share your amazing art teacherin' looks right here in a Back to School Fashion post! 

* You can enter more than once...and every time you do, I'll enter you to win a giveaway! (Yes, I know I'm currently doing ANOTHER giveaway. No, I've not announced the winner yet, stay tuned this week). I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M GIVING AWAY but I'm sure it will be something swell!

Oh, I so hope all y'all share with me your stylish ways! I can't wait to see what you be wearing! Now, on to that dress at hand...

Saturday, el hubbo and I decided to play tourist in our own town and hit the local antique and thrift shops. I was coming up pretty empty handed until I stopped in SMART: Scrap Made Art Supplies. It's a pretty magical place in the Berry Hill area of Nashville. It's completely stocked with just about every crafty making supply known to man for cheap. I stocked up on vintage patterns (a whooping 18 for $2) and this gem happened to be one of them. Bows on shoulders?! YES, PLEASE!

I used the pattern for the bodice only and just winged it for the skirt portion. I was having a fabric shortage (I scored this Lisette fabric from the sale bin at Joann's many moons ago) and managed to eek out this dress with a few scraps to spare. I love this print so much what with the wiggly marker-esque lines and the primary colors with a touch o' pink. It just screamed "Art Teacher" when I saw it. 

But those squiggles, y'all. Trying to match up those squiggles just about put me over the edge. At least the back skirt is matched up. The rest of it, meh. Not so much.

 The only thing left this dress needs: A Marker Hat! 

 Could I get it over that hair, tho? 

And there you have it, what Ima wearing to head back to school! Looking forward to seein' what all y'all are wearing. Til then!

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DIY: Artsy Sew Along, Stitching // Gathering and a Winner!

Whut-whut?! Guess who finally decided to come back to her own sew-along party? Das right, kiddies! My bottom-of-the-heartest apologies for the delay. I always forget that July is pretty stinkin' busy in Cassie-town, what with laying on the couch, taking a shower (occasionally) and deciding whether or not to get dressed to get the mail or just shock the neighbors again and do it in a bathrobe with the backside accidentally tucked into my grannie panties (like that visual image? Yer welcome!). I know, right?! It's amazing I've even managed to find the time to put together these two short clippies for you! Here's what I'll be yappin' about today:

1. You've already got your pockets in, riiiiiight? And it was super simple, yeeeeeessss? If you've not done that yet, no worries! Just hop over here and come back in an hour.  Now we are ready to stitch the front of the skirt to the back two panels!

2. From there, I'll show you how to add your gathering stitches. 

And that's it for this post. Short and simple. My plan is to be bacattcha soon buuuuut we'll see how I feel after a couple more days of couch rollin' around and Mad Men power-watching. It's a rough life, summer livin', I tell ya.

OH!! The giveaway! Thank you so much to all y'all that entered to win the goods to make your own Palette Purse! I recently carried my purse to an art event and got so many stinkin' compliments, if I do say so (and I just did. So there.) My fave comment is always, "Oh! Where did you get that?!" which is way better than "ooOOoooooh, that's...cute. Did you make that?!" like I'm some five year old wearing a moldy macaroni necklace. All y'all crafters know what I'm talkin' about. Anyway! The winner is...Andie Anders! Congrats, buddy! And thanks all y'all for playing. I seem to give away stuffs pretty frequently around here so if you don't come here for my good looks and charm (whuuuuuut?!) then pop back by for the free shizz. 

Now, let's stitch!

Please ignore that crazy nonsense about entering to win the contest! We already have a winner, duh, me.

I dunno what you do when you need a sewing break but I fabric shop. It's most def a bad idea that I don't recommend. I mean, lookie what's currently in my slacker-shopping cart: kitties! 

Bananas! 

And back to werk. 

Next time, we'll work on that waistband and the zip. Hemming should be a snap and we're done! Yay! If you are stitching, please be sure to share on the Artsy Sew Along page and on instragramz with the #artsysewalong. Thanks, kids!

 I leave you with more eye candy from one of my fave fabric brands Cotton and Steel. Til next times!

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