If you live anywhere outside of Los Angeles, chances are it’s still a wintery grey wonderland out there. Maybe we can help brighten up the post-holiday season with a Winter Clearance Sale! Right now you’ll find all of our long pile fur prices have been reduced. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at making some plush pillows, cozy fur blanket, or soft fluffy vest, now’s the time to stock up on fabric.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and a peaceful Black Friday. Instead of elbowing my way through the crowds at the mall, I stayed home and made something funky to wear. The holidays are officially here, and to me that means its acceptable to wear sequins on a daily basis. I wanted something comfy and casual but with sparkle, sort of like a casual-friday-new-years-eve mash-up. I found an old t-shirt in my closet that had a good fit, but  that I never wore. Then I replaced the sleeves with sequin fabric. I used this fabric. It was super easy and I’m envisioning all sorts of other options to revamp the rest of my t-shirt collection. Here’s how I did it:

#1-Put the shirt you are going to be using on, and draw around the armhole where you want the new sleeve to start. You can see that I went in about 2 inches from the original armhole at the shoulder.

#2-Cut out the sleeve leaving yourself a 1/4″ seam allowance.

#3-Fold the shirt in half matching the neckline to make sure it’s even. Cut out the other sleeve using the already cut out side as a guide.

#4-Cut along the underarm seam to open the sleeve flat, and place it on your pattern paper. This is going to be the marker for your new sleeve. At this point If you liked the way the sleeve fit you can just trace it, add a 1/4″ seam allowance and skip to step #7. Or you can get creative and customize your sleeve the way I did. I thought the sleeve was too tight, especially for the sequin fabric I was going to use, and I wanted to give it a little flair by adding fullness at the sleeve hem.

#5-This is what we call the slash and spread method.  I made cuts from the sleeve hem up to the armhole. Cut right up to the edge, but do not cut through it. Spread out your cuts equally until it look like the amount of fullness you want to add. It helps to tape things down when you get it where you want it. Then you are going to trace around the sleeve, connecting the cuts and smoothing out any bumps. Mark a notch on the pattern where your shoulder seam is to help guide you when you sew your new sleeve on.

#6-Add 1/4″ seam allowance along the armhole and the underarm. There is no need to add seam allowance along the sleeve opening.

My sequin fabric only had a 2- way stretch. You’ll want to make sure that you place your pattern so that the stretch runs parallel to the armhole. If you are using a 4 way stretch you can place the pattern whichever way you’d like the sequins to fall. Pin your pattern piece to the fabric and cut out your sleeves. When cutting out the other sleeve make sure you flip the pattern so that your markings are facing the sequins. This is so that you have a left and a right sleeve instead of two right sleeves.

#7-Now that you have your new sleeves cut out you are going to enter the most time consuming portion of the process. You are also going to get sequins everywhere, so be prepared. You are going to have to remove all of the sequins along the seam allowance. There are many reasons for this and I cannot stress enough how important this step is. If you do not, your seams will be bulky and lumpy. Also, the sequin edges are sharp and you dont want that rubbing against your skin. If that isn’t reason enough; you will most definitely break a lot of needles in the process of sewing these sleeves on. You cannot just cut the threads that are holding the sequins to the mesh, because then they will continue to unravel and you will have sequins falling off that you did not intend for. You have to cut the sequins off individually with a very small pair of scissors. Cut through the small hole in the sequin releasing it from the thread.

I know this is going to take awhile, so put a movie on and just relax.

#8-Sew the underarm seams together and then pin the sleeve onto the shirt, matching the underarm seam to the side seam, and the shoulder notch to the shoulder seam. Sew together using a zigzag stitch….and Voila!!

Happy Sewing!

*Misty is a full time fashion designer and part time crafter. You can find more of her work on her blog http://wearmena.blogspot.com/

This Fri-Sun, 18% off any fabric site-wide with code BLACKFRI2011.

Get your order today in time for Christmas. Make sure you have all the tools and accessories you need as well.

Behold The Dude Cow:

Sure it’s cute, it’s a cow. BUT it’s so much more. The genius part of this costume is that it has working udders! You heard right. You can milk this cow. We like to fill the udders with White Russians, but you can always opt for plain or chocolate milk to keep this kid friendly. Throw on a pair of hip shades and you have The Dude Cow. I made this costume for my boyfriend a few years ago, and it is such a hit that he will never need a new costume for the rest of his life.

Lets get started. Here’s what you’re going to need:

#1) You are going to need a pattern. I used McCalls pattern #8953. It comes with 5 different patterns. I used the ‘C’ pattern because I thought the ears looked more cow like, however I added a little fur on the tip of the tail so it wouldn’t look so much like a cat. Locate your size in the chart on the back of the pattern to determine how much fabric and trim you will need. It’s a good idea to go larger than you think. We’re not going for Sexy Cow here, plus you’ll need a little extra room in the back to carry the booze and/or milk.

#2) Compile your fabrics and trim. I used a cow printed fur for the body, with pink sateen for the hood lining and inner ears. For the tip of the tail I used a small scrap of black fur.  Once you have all your fabric you can start sewing. Follow the instructions inside the pattern. The only thing I did differently was to use a long strip of Velcro on the center back seam instead of a zipper. I also used Velcro for the hood closure instead of a hook and eye.

#3) The most important ingredient to this recipe is the rubber cow udder. I used this one.

#4) You’re going to need a few other accessories. A cowbell to dangle around your neck is a no-brainer, and there’s no need to enter the costume contest when you’re already a blue ribboned award winning heifer. 4-H FOR LIFE!!

#5) Now, HERE’S the secret. In order to be able to milk your cow you’re going to need something to carry the ‘milk’ in. That’s where the Camelbak and bladder come in. In case you don’t know, a Camelbak is a backpack that hikers, bikers and athletes use. They are lightweight and enable you to carry your water hands free, all the while keeping it cool end eliminating plastic bottle waste.  Inside it has a cooling chamber that holds a blue plastic ‘bladder’. Bladders can hold any type of beverage, have a long attached tube/straw, and are reusable. For this I used a Camelback on the smallish side since it has to fit inside the costume and you don’t want to look too much like a hunch back.

Now lets put it all together:

a) Once you’ve completed sewing the pattern determine where you want the udders to be. Keep in mind that the bladder straw has to reach from your Camelbak to the tip of the udder, so try not to place the udders too low. b) Now you want to trace the udders on to the position you’ve selected. DO NOT trace the outer edge of the udders. Lift up the edge and trace around the point where the udders begin to protrude. Make sure you trace this in chalk in case your mark shows through later. c) Once you’ve done that, remove the udder and make another mark around the entire inside of the circle 1/4″. You will be cutting out the inner circle. d) I have an overlock, so I stitched around the cut but a zig zag stitch would work just as well. Place your udder inside the hole, pushing the zig-zagged edges toward the inside of the costume and sew the udders into place.

Now you’ll want to cut a very small hole in the tip of whichever teat you’d like to ‘milk’, and you’re pretty much done.

When you’re ready to go just fill up your [Camelbak] bladder with your beverage of choice. Like I said, we always make White Russians but you can be boring traditional and fill it with milk. Place the filled bladder into your Camelbak and strap it on. Pull up your costume halfway and insert the tip of the bladder straw into the teat with the hole cut out, stretching it a bit to ensure a tight fit. Seriously, this isn’t rocket science. Have a glass in place and squeeze on the tip. You may need to suck on it once or twice to get things moooo-ving, or have your calf do it for you. Now pull the rest of the costume on, and shake it on over to the dance floor. In the spirit of Trick-or-Treat we like to pass out my world famous chocolate chip cookies with the milk shakes, but I can’t be giving up all my secrets so soon, seeing as we’ve only just met.

I know you might be thinking I’m a week too late with this DIY, but in reality I’m a year early. You dont want to have to be a last minute Cowboy Troll Ballerina Ghost do you? If so I’ll have that DIY for you on October 29th, 2012. Stay tuned.

SO-You’re welcome, and you better not wear this to any of the same parties we’re going to next year. Promise?

XO-Misty

*Misty is a full time fashion designer and part time crafter. You can find more of her work on her blog http://wearmena.blogspot.com/

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