Made By Lex

Guest Blogger- Blue Eyed Freckle

A few weeks ago I discovered Blue Eyed Freckle. And Fell. In. LOVE.

Meet Katie.

She’s awesome and incredibly inspiring and artistic. So creatively stimulating that I had to show you all her website. She’s guestposting here today. Then GO GO GO and check out the amazing things she does!

Ruffled Wall Décor Tutorial

This project was inspired by a wall mural I created with my visual manager while working at Anthropologie in Geneva, IL. (photos below are of the original piece I created)

To create this version, I did the following:

MATERIALS:

-Approx 1 yd worth of 1 1/2-2 in. wide strips of various FABRICS or PAPERS

-Large paper for backing (butcher paper, etc—I used a roll of pinkish paper I found at Lowes)

-glue gun

-tape and tacs

-sewing machine

1. I cut strips out of fabrics with different textures and dyed some of them to have more varied hue.

2. I pleated/ruffled them on my sewing machine (I don’t ever pin beforehand, I just pleat or ruffle as I go, so that I can get a lot done very fast.)

3.I started to place them on the paper into different organic shapes, playing with the color and line as I went.

4. I hot-glued the strips down onto the paper, and then cut them out, creating a scallop around the edges.

5. To put them on the wall, I first put painter’s masking tape on the back. I then positioned them on the wall, constantly stepping back to decide if the flow of shapes was pleasing to the eye.

6. I then attached them to the wall with thumb tacks! Done!

Don’t forget to enter for the giveaway!

Tags: anthropologie, blueeyedfreckle, guest blogging, home, ruffles, wall art
Posted in home, other | 11 Comments »

Tuxedo Tank Tutorial

Happy Monday! Here’s a quick little tank you can easily do!  I’m still taking requests for the Anthropologie tutorial series, but I thought I’d do a little something in between.  I was inspired by this shirt from Anthropologie:

And this is how my version came out:

I started of with this old shirt.

I cut off the sleeves and sewed them under.

Now, take your extra sleeves and cut into some thin strips.

I also used two other fabrics I had. Here’s the cast for my shirt…

Ruffle ‘em up.

Now for the placment: I started with the same fabric ruffles as my shirt and pinned it around the collar and down the center. Pin and sew.

Take the next strip. Pin and sew.

Take the next one… you get the picture!

Here’s my final product.

Now you’ve got an easy tank thats a GREAT layering piece.

Have a wonderful day!!

Anthropologie Pratia Tank Top Tutorial

Per  popular demand, here is the Pratia tank tutorial!

Start off with a t-shirt or tank top. What I did was get a larger t-shirt so I could gather it at bottom like the pratia tank. I cut off the sleeves so it would be a tank.

Measure your neckline and get a piece of chiffon that length and fold it in half.

Pin it to the inside of your neckline with it peeking out. Stitch it in place.

Since I cut the sleeves off my T, I wanted to finish the edges. Fold it under and pin it.

Stitch it.

I highly recommend interfacing where you are going to be adding the embellishments, otherwise it’s going to sag. So I use a lightweight fusible interfacing.

For the flower pieces, here is the shape and dimensions I used.

Fold your pieces in half and cut that petal shape out.

I used the extra sleeve pieces, cream chiffon(the kind that won’t fray)  and another grey jersey I had.

How many do you need? A LOT!!  I took this photo before I started adding them and I actually needed three times this cut amount. So make sure you have a lot of fabric on hand!

Lay two petals on top of one another, as shown.

I did a small ‘X’ shape to stitch them so they stay in place. I used my sewing machine, but you could do it by hand, too.

Just add more, and more, and more, and more………(It’s time consuming. I’m warning you), until you have something like this. My recommendation is don’t skimp. When I was getting tired of doing it I thought, “Maybe this will be enough…” But it really looks great when it’s full of petals.

I really liked the bottom gathered feature of this top. So what I did is just used the original hem and I cut a little hole in to it with my seam ripper.

Measure how much elastic you will need to be comfortable around your waist. Pull it through the hole. Stitch the elastic together .

Here’s how it will look after.

Now it’s done!

I can’t wait to wear this under a cute cardigan. I love all the texture of it!

You Pick The Next Tutorial!

I thought I’d let you gals pick which tutorial to do next. Here are two from Anthropologie that I’ve been eyeing:

Whorled Roses OR…

Pratia Tank

You name it, I’ll show you how to make it.

Leave a comment with your preference and soon enough you’ll have a new shirt in your wardrobe!

Also, a reminder, if  there’s anything you’d like a tutorial on, send me an email and I’ll think about doing a tute for your idea!

Mama’s Got A New Dress

Who needs a pretty new dress?
Let’s get started with an easy tutorial with things you probably have laying around.
I started with an old T-shirt and a yard of coordinating fabric. Originally I was going to use an old men’s shirt for the skirt part, but this fabric matched too well to not use it.

Find your natural waist line and cut the shirt at that point. Save the scraps!

Then I cut out a few more scraps. I cut out a piece from my skirt fabric and a piece of coordinating cream chiffon.

Now, I knew that on this T shirt adding a lot of detail would weight it down a lot. So I added a piece of lightweight interfacing to the inside of the shirt. Read more »