So, I saw this belt.
This belt is $460.
This belt is a strip of leather measuring about 8″ wide x 80″ long, sewn together at a few points.
That’s 640 square inches, which is roughly 4.5 square feet.
An average whole deerskin/cowhide yields way more than 4.5 square feet of usable leather for this project.
After emailing a few leather stores with these pics, they told me it appears to be 2-3 ounce garment leather.
An average whole deerskin/cowhide in a 2-3 oz. garment weight costs +/- $40.
With a ruler, tailor’s chalk, and scissors you can cut the strips.
You can sew garment weight leather on a regular sewing machine.
That is all.
PS – Jen, this will probably be your Christmas present.
Thanks again to MJ for tweeting this awesome piece of embroidery by Rosie Geissler from her very new blog. This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. (via Craft)
Here’s one more piece of her work. Love love love her messy style!
Her etsy shop is empty at the moment but keep an eye on it!
- I’m seriously thinking about buying a foreclosure home. Not now (maybe in a few years) but I’m researching FHA loans and the entire process. It’s a serious long-term goal I’m setting for myself. It’s too far off for the bf to panic but my parents are being super supportive. Considering my mom was a real estate agent & FHA inspector and my father owns a construction company, I have access to tools, discounted supplies, advice and help. We’re a land investment type of family. I’ve stepped up my game on saving up for a down payment. I’m getting my ducks in a row all Suze Orman style over here! Whether we’d like to live in the home or flip it after some fixing up, this will all be based on situation, location and the state of the property (and the economy) upon purchase. At this point, it’s all about patience, saving up and research. Scary exciting stuff!
- I finally went to the South of the James Farmer’s Market. I am in love with that place and so glad it’s going on until December 4th! I bought grass-fed beef from a local farmer for cheaper than at the grocery store. (It comes frozen and sealed so you can make it back home safely.) We bought beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, blackberries, and had tacos and breakfast burritos. I’m getting flowers, bread and more next time! Perfect way to throw together a special weekend dinner and get yourself out of the house on a Saturday morning. Here’s a Flickr pool of Richmond farmer’s market photos.
- This particular comic is wonderful! It compares Orwell and Huxley’s fears for our future. Yeah, we’re screwed.
- For all you suckers out there (I’m one of them), aren’t these lipsticks adorable? Of course, after a few uses, they’ve lost their charm but good grief! So cute! $25 each here. (via and all over the web now because us suckers for cute… we are legion)
- Oh hey! Did you notice I changed the look of my + & – posts? No big deal but I think it’s simple and cute!
- This post from DI$COUNT about what luxury is to them… yes.
- This entry from Postcards from Yo Mamma. Seriously, why? It happens to me all the time.
- The bf went out of town two weekends ago. While he was gone, I picked up a box of his favorite chocolates. He brought me back French tarts from a bakery we love in Maryland. This is why I have my next entry in the minuses…
- I don’t own a scale and judge my weight by my jeans. There’s no denying they’ve been a bit snug lately but the cold hard truth hurts. I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago and got weighed. I’m back to the most I ever weighed, about 2 years ago- 128lbs. Two years ago it was sitting on my ass drinking beer. This time, I barely drink, and it’s from sitting on my ass and bad food choices. This may not be a big deal to some of you but it’s kind of a big deal to me. I like the way I feel and look when I’m around 120. My body does not like this extra weight. My skin changes. I physically feel like yuck. I’m only 5’1″ and it means that if I don’t reign it in, I have to buy new clothes and I am NOT buying a new wardrobe because of laziness and shoving cheese in my face. Things have gotten real around here in the food department. It’s salad time but, I hate the gym. Hate it. I would rather all that sweat and effort have some instant results so, hard labor is more my style. Yard work, psychotic cleaning, etc. It’s on.
- We had a big rainstorm on Thursday and on the sofa, while I was being a dork on my laptop and the bf was being a dork on his Xbox, we heard a loud pop. The bf saw a flash of light and the TV cut off then back on. We sat stunned for a second wtf-ing a lot and then ran to check it out. Water. From the ceiling. Leaking. On the 50″ plasma TV the bf bought himself after his tax refund. His baby. Fuck. It’s still working but of course something has been fried. How crucial? No clue. Thank god for renter’s insurance. I’m gonna make a call on Monday and see what we need to do. Oh, and the landlord needs to fix that leak.
The floor pillows are done! I made them yesterday and it took less than 1.5 hours! I’m not going to give you a huge tutorial on making pillows because it’s the easiest thing on earth to sew (next to curtains).
I did not make removable covers. A lot of people are using pillow forms inside covers these days and a small 12″x12″ form will run you about $7. (Enough polyfil to stuff two 12″ pillows is about $5.) Making pillow covers is also more complicated than simply sewing two pieces of fabric together and they don’t make forms big enough for what I was doing. I simply bought poly-fil and stuffed the hell out of them and finished the hole under the sewing machine.
Home decor fabric comes rolled up on a tube and not folded on a bolt like most garment fabric. You get a piece that is usually 54″ wide with upholstery fabric and about 44-45″ wide (folded in half on the bolt) with normal fabric. Get your measurements straight and give yourself about 3-4 extra inches of both length and width for uneven cuts at the store, selvage (the finished edge by the manufacturer that could interfere with your print) and to give yourself a 1″ edge away from your stitch (seam allowance).
My pillows are rectangular because for each pillow I got 1 yard of 54″ fabric = 1 pillow a bit under 36″ x 27″ (I only had to pay for 1 yard for each pillow = $24 total)
I didn’t use pins because the fabric was heavy and I didn’t iron because I’m lazy and really didn’t need to.
After I had sewn all the edges with a 1″ seam allowance, leaving about an 8″ hole for stuffing, I trimmed the corners so they wouldn’t bunch up and turned them right side out.
via
I poked the corners out from the inside with the tips of my scissors so they would be clean. Now, this is the part where most people would stuff and finish the hole and be done but, I wanted finished flange edges so, with the pillows right side out, I ran the edges under the sewing machine again, about 1/3″ in. This also gives the edges some extra reinforcement.
So then I stuffed and stuffed and stuffed some more and closed them up under the sewing machine, which was a pain in the ass and really should’ve been done by hand, but whatever.
Here they are! They’re super puffy right now but the bf is already lounging all over them so, they’ll flatten out a bit soon enough.
If you have any sewing questions, please feel free to ask!
This t-shirt for the Red Valention line is $165. It’s a plain grey t-shirt with a sheer black tulle bow. Do you know how easy this would be to DIY? Tulle is silly cheap at mainstream fabric stores and sometimes, in the ribbon section, you can find it already cut in a wide strip, sold by the yard. I think 1.5 yards length would do the trick, to be on the safe side. Any excess can be cut off the tails. A little pinback sewn on quickly would make the bow removable and your tee easier to wash. Plus, tulle comes in a load of colors. You could customize like crazy! I would look for the finest drapiest tulle and stay away from the super stiff stuff (and no tees with pockets).
Definitely for the more mature and sophisticated woman with a lot of cash to play with, Mrs. Lilien’s blog is still full of great styling tips and decadent gems. A few days ago I saw this neckace by Elva Fields and was immediately smitten. I’m not usually a necklace person. No, I take that back. I used to always wear a bold necklace of some sort, mainly in the summer. For some reason, I’ve forgotten how much much fun it is to wear statement jewelry.
This necklace is not my style. Not. One. Bit. And… I’m completely in love with it! It’s one-of-a-kind and sold out, along with most of the others offered on the site. The few that remain are all around $200. The vintage brooch is 4″ across and contrasts in the most pleasing way with the muted African beads. I think this would be so much fun with a simple white tank, jeans and heels.
So what does a girl do when she sees something she loves, it’s no longer available, and would be out of her price range even if it was? DIY of course!
I’ve made my fair share of necklaces in the past so, this wasn’t a daunting task. Finding the right colors and sizes of beads was a whole different story and required a frustrating adventure to 3 different stores. Jewelry making is a huge business right now. The bead sections in craft stores are getting larger. Beads are getting more interesting and definitely more expensive. Bangles & Beads here in Richmond is my absolute favorite place but soooo pricey. I decided on smaller sized glass beads because the cost was going to be ridiculous.
I had some loops and the pliers already and had to get silver-finish toggle clasps, some clamp connectors to secure the coated stainless wire used. They attach to the loops which then attach to the clasp. Here are all of my supplies:
Last night, I strung over 20 feet of beads. I just kept going and going to see if I could possibly make 2 out of everything I bought. One to keep and one to either give away or sell. I had enough to make two 4-strand necklaces with a bit more length. Here’s my busy/handiwork:
I also checked out brooches at some discount stores but nothing was panning out so, I’ve found a few online that are a bit smaller but will totally work on this smaller scale version. I will probably order one this weekend once I make up my mind.
So, after dividing everything that I strung up and getting it all put together, here are the two base necklaces, waiting for some bling:
Part of me wants to wear them both together! It’s so heavy! I may just sport them out this weekend!
For a while now, I’ve been escaping into this dreamy world of soft focus pictures and an ultra-feminine aesthetic. I love my clean minimal apartment with all my heart but; there is another side of me that would be just as happy in a little country cottage, growing my own vegetables and making art.
I posted about the image bookmarking site called We Heart It a while back. Every few days, I peruse the pics and add a few more to my collection of these fantasy images. This is my latest favorite picture:
Outdoor party in the country anyone?
Yesterday, shoppher tweeted about this post which ended up turning into one of those internet perusing explosions where I discovered a few new blogs I think I’m going to love. You might too!
Habit
Dreamcats – if you love dreamy cats. I submitted some pictures of Nibbles when she was a kitten. Here’s one:
The Snail and the Cyclops – love this girl’s style
Fieldguided – a nice little life
Any recommendations?
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- Outlet shopping! While most of the shops at outlet malls really aren’t at what you would think outlet prices should be… I did manage to score a pair of grey satin lo-top chucks for $15 and a $300 BCBG dress for $40!
- I loved this post from fellow Richmond lady blogger Terra. Her excitement over animals is something I can relate to and she really is dear.
- This was made fun of on the mogg blogg but I have always been envious of pets who can curl up on a big pillow and fall fast asleep in decadent comfort. (by Tom Kühne)
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- When a company quits making (or a store quits carrying) your favorite product. How many times has this happened to you when you found a perfect shade of lipstick? It’s happened to me at least 4 times. There’s also been a perfect scent of body lotion, a perfume, a foundation, an eyeshadow, a leave-in moisturizer, a scent of deodorant, a mascara, socks, an amazing wrinkle relaxing moisturizer… I could go on. So you go on a wild goose chase. You hit every store you know that carried it hoping to find the last stash. You scour the internet and stock up. Then you have this stockpile of perfect lipstick and you’re all “gosh, I’m never going to use all of this” so, you get generous and share with your girlfriends and when you get down to your last tube of perfect nude pink lipstick that managed to stay on all day without feeling dry, you start to rue the day your were so generous with your friends because they didn’t really appreciate it for how wonderful and perfect it was. Well not this time bitches! I’m stocking up on my Olay In-shower Body Lotion and you can forget about getting a bottle in your b-day bag!
- I have a weird habit of exposing myself to things that irritate me. It goes in spells. One example is a now-ended obsession with watching Rachael Ray so that I could make snarky comments and shake my fist at the tv. Another was actually listening to any song by Kings of Leon on the radio so I could gag at how repulsive I find the singer’s voice. I’ve also had a little problem (which only is possible through the powers of the internet) of following blogs of people I can’t stand. It’s fun to “tisk tisk you suck”, or if it’s someone I know in real life and really don’t like… even better, “tisk tisk you stupid lying twat, man do I have have some dirt on you.” (Before you get worried, it’s no one I openly follow or communicate with. I’m not two-faced.) It’s something I’m seriously working on. Seriously. I’m trying. But while I try to quit this dirty little habit, I’ll enjoy Godammit, I’m Mad’s delightful rants.
I love embroidery. My grandmother, mother, aunt, and cousin all were extremely talented in this skill. I’ve tried my hand at cross stitch a few times for some small silly gifts but really don’t have the patience to see a large project through to completion. It’s a great way to pass the time, but certainly not as mindless as knitting, where you can knit a scarf over a weekend while watching movies. You have to pay attention to every stitch, the pattern, and neatness. Typically associated with women, it’s great to see a young guy like Aubrey Longley-Cook execute these amazing pieces. Check out his blog Spool Spectrum. He showcases his own work, other talent, as well as vintage pieces he collects.
Here’s some of his amazing work:
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