https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog daily 1.0 2026-03-06 https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/i-made-a-shirt monthly 0.5 2024-09-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b1359b6f-1b87-456b-9293-e27a9cc9745f/IMG_20240301_155021.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - Now you’ll remember this from the lap desk. I cut out the pattern pieces right around the same time I was working on that. I then appear to have lost the pictures of that process. Or I didn’t take any because it was dark and I was watching a movie and possibly still sick (a slightly disastrous combination as we’ll soon see). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/fdd6cf6b-a4da-4994-b7d0-219a9d621de8/IMG_20240816_202054__01.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - I dug everything out around 8pm as the light was rapidly fading. I figured if I started right away I could probably have the whole thing done by 10pm. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4c7db307-022d-48ef-8b05-ad2b106a9c90/IMG_20240826_135832__01.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - These did not have enough peanut butter in them and I fear I baked them too long at too high of a temperature. But, ta da, there you have some super yummy, super easy peanut butter cookies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4ac54c5a-d704-4c99-891f-9fbd4587008f/IMG_20240818_141721.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - After a not-so-quick trip to the fabric store I had everything I needed. Or so I thought… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/44f9311e-1892-4fed-ab11-0a6926f9ed72/IMG_20240818_141851.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - Sunday morning, ehm I mean afternoon (I still had a bad headache and didn’t wake up till around noon), I got my whole sewing station set up. On the floor. Next to my plants. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d8cccdb3-e409-47c8-bdb9-2787236323bc/IMG_20240818_141715.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - The top of the sleeve pinned in place. Yes, pins are very integral to this process as the fabric is extremely slippery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/44d43714-94fe-4de0-a980-5b728967e43c/IMG_20240818_142108.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - And started to sew. Or I tried to. Except nothing happened. I tried again, and still nothing. I ran a bunch of tests, adjusted everything that could be adjusted, and a whole lot more nothing happened. After some research I discovered that I need a special needle to sew with stretch fabrics. I didn’t particularly feel like going to the fabric store again so I gave up and read for the rest of the afternoon instead. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/40e9aaea-0495-491c-9404-d5e35d733598/IMG_20240825_142633.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - Finally, after another week passed, I got the right needle and was able to start sewing. At which point, everything went so smoothly that I forgot I was supposed to be documenting the process. I really need to fire my photographer. Anyhow, here’s an “aesthetically” beautiful shot of the top stitching on the inside of the collar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/25108831-2c26-4f62-ab27-ef16c490b418/IMG_20240825_144656.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - After getting the back stitched up and the sides, I felt like I needed to try it on. You know that old saying, “measure twice cut once.” Well I typically never measure and cut stuff out and hope for the best. I mentioned earlier that I cut this shirt out while sick and watching one of my favorite movies. After I had cut all the pieces out, I decided to check my measurements and see what size I should have cut out. You guessed it, my size was not the size I had cut out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b85fae36-fa77-4d89-9735-6871de21272a/IMG_20240826_183150.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - Anyhow, after that I gathered the bottom so it fit within the circumference (oh, big word) of the waistband. Then sewed the waistband on. Once it was fully attached, I folded it in half and pinned it in place on the inside of the shirt. It also seemed necessary to try it on at this point, which was a terrible mistake as there were a lot of pins and it felt like what I imagine hugging a cactus would be like. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/6d96b2d3-4d6a-4399-9e09-ce8fb0893a9b/IMG_20240901_172347.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric - Hand sewing the waistband down took me around an hour and a half. It may have been faster if I hadn’t tried to do it while watching a movie that weirdly applied exactly to where I’m at in my life. Also, it got dark and eye sight is slightly important for sewing little details. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1725235618546-1HYMR6E30UFDI1VODEFU/IMG_20240901_153306.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1725235623884-DYLURSFUTS92DBJ1WCY9/IMG_20240901_153713.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1725235814676-PKR63ND23LU1NX7VOB94/IMG_20240901_153636.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Shirt out of a Random Pattern and some Scrap Fabric https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/finishing-the-bookshelf monthly 0.5 2024-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1ee87ca8-6d12-4fba-9946-0c77dc4888e7/IMG_20240416_133912.jpg Dust After Rain - Adding Finishing Touches to my Bookshelf (it’s done for real now) - The next thing to fix was this… It was an eyesore in my otherwise immaculately beautiful bookshelf, but I had no idea exactly how to fix it. Then I was inspired by little forest scenes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/0bede70f-724b-44af-ae37-4650ecc889ff/IMG_20240326_121119.jpg Dust After Rain - Adding Finishing Touches to my Bookshelf (it’s done for real now) - I made some little mushrooms out of hot glue and paper clips and paint. Amazingly they turned out really well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/0fca4936-d9c0-41ab-9e6c-39e70d6b44d8/IMG_20240416_134710.jpg Dust After Rain - Adding Finishing Touches to my Bookshelf (it’s done for real now) - I painted the base brown as I wanted it to look like dirt. After much debate and deliberation I decided to remove the screw as well. I think it was a good decision. Then I made “dirt” by mixing the contents of earl grey tea bag with some mod podge and packing it into the dent so it looked natural. It then had to dry before adding some finishing touches and the mushrooms and then it was done. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/def37503-73ca-44c3-a790-06d680b5d483/IMG_20240515_103030.jpg Dust After Rain - Adding Finishing Touches to my Bookshelf (it’s done for real now) - There we have it a little patch of mushrooms growing out of my bookshelf. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/diy-lap-desk-out-of-a-cardboard-box monthly 0.5 2024-08-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709101868036-2OBOZVH22CX7VSW0GE9A/IMG_20240216_163356.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709101879111-4JL42N32DV21HL3OXJOT/IMG_20240216_071809.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709101894519-N03Q6ERMF31PYJ99O2NS/IMG_20240217_074446.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709101907511-WKK2KGQC8A9IXUTXR1SQ/IMG_20240217_094319.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709101958663-4KN4WVVL39PVOA6Q0CYS/IMG-20240219-WA0298.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709101976981-DO966PZ4RE28UO1UPPLU/IMG_20240214_091746.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d2375d95-3b3e-4e94-a4c3-4fb575b72405/IMG_20240301_151336.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - To begin, I bought a laptop about a month ago because my old reliable laptop that survived falling out of a tree and hitting a rock crashed, not once, but twice at very inconvenient times. Hence stress purchasing a new laptop Sunday evening in order to get my assignments turned in on time. Now, if you’re following along and don’t happen to still have the box your laptop came in, you can just use a piece of cardboard that is slightly bigger than the laptop, fits comfortably on your lap, and could accommodate a mouse should you choose to use one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/a18c1464-3067-4f8d-8f9d-dba1ebade730/IMG_20240301_155021.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - After briefly looking at some reference pictures I determined two things. 1 - lap desks have a top part and 2 - they have a bottom part that looks like a saggy pillow. I raided my fabric stash, that I clearly haven’t been through in a while as there was an unhealthy layer of dust accumulated, in search of fabric for the pillow portion. These were the only pieces I liked that I thought I had enough of. I chose the grey because it had one quality that the others just didn’t posses; stretch. Notice the pattern pieces and fabric in the background. No, I wasn’t just being bad at cleaning up the giant mess I made. That’s a teaser for my next sewing project! Any guesses as to what it could be? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/a877d840-7ef5-473d-a1c6-9aa47355c97b/IMG_20240305_105609.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Okay that’s a bit dramatic, but I am sick and there has been a shocking amount of snow in the past few days. Anyhow, being sick is a great addition for working on projects. Usually I am very tentative to make decisions, but add in mild delusion and suddenly those decisions are easy. First I cut out the box so I could use the two biggest uncreased pieces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/33890910-3c95-476d-ad5f-4e69132c5779/IMG_20240305_110144.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Normally, I would recommend a box and, I don’t know, some sort of cutting board. However, if you don’t have that using open scissors and being careful how deep you cut should work just fine. Yes, my floor is just fine. Why do you ask? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/9c147d5a-849f-4311-a930-8bc7ec515676/IMG_20240305_110625.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Next I rounded the corners on both of the rectangles. Again, I didn’t think too hard about what I was doing, just made a pattern, traced that onto all eight corners, and cut. Surprisingly, it worked out kind of perfectly. Then I hot glued those two pieces together around the edges (pay attention to that detail. It will come back to haunt me in the future). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/f37e4d11-d9e6-4995-9fc7-7ec8a9ad1680/IMG_20240305_113926.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Remember my bookshelf? I had some white paint left over from that and decided that I could afford to be boring and just have a white lap desk and live with that for simplicity’s sake. So I cracked open the paint can and slapped the white paint on cardboard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/5417c7f6-8f98-465f-a0b3-71c5a3ca04ff/IMG_20240305_132751.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Fabric covers a multitude of wrongs. For example, the rough edges on the cardboard. Ignoring the colorful background, you have 10 seconds to guess which fabric I chose to use. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/433aa161-7608-4447-b568-42b29536ed0b/IMG_20240305_133353.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - That’s right! Actually I have no idea if you guessed right or not, but I gave you a solid hint in the picture, so I’m sure you got it right. Now, at this point the plan is only half baked at best. I glued the fabric on with Mod Podge. Then slathered more Mod Podge on top of the fabric to create a smooth surface. It was at this point that I discovered my bottle of Mod Podge was half dried out. There were massive snot-like clumps in the glue itself. Rewind to when I thought the paint was messed up, it was really the glue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/21d949aa-b2c4-442d-a95c-1125fba4d891/IMG_20240305_194917.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Once the top layer was completely dry, I flipped it over. At this point I really had no idea what I was trying to do. I hot glued around the edges of the cardboard to hold the fabric down, I barely had enough glue for that. Then used Mod Podge to seal right around the sides. And it pretty much worked out exactly how I wanted it to. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/6085e096-8a98-4667-9a27-c51cc678bc4c/IMG_20240310_125813.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - This worked well, as every time I had to step over it I was forced to think about how I was going to finish it. I still never figured it out, so once again, I just went for the next step In this case seemed to be trimming the edges of the fabric and getting all the corners to lay flat(ish). I then hot glued the loose edges down and, for lack of a better plan, Mod Podged it all so it would stay. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4f069e1d-a8cc-4b62-80a1-67365b1d6032/IMG_20240310_144154.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Now, for the really tricky part. Making those pillowy things on the back… I wanted to get some of those bean bag bead filler things because those feel cool, but they were expensive for a really small amount. I figured I could do my best with pillow filling and these tiny pearls I found. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/bbd5477a-9912-42f4-bd52-4b574f32e3da/IMG_20240310_144500.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - I briefly consulted some reference pictures again and deemed that one pillow is slightly smaller to create a tilt. I pulled out two chunks of fluff, rolled them to about the right shape, chopped off a piece of fabric, and honestly just went for it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/92a0b4ba-1914-4ede-9327-d942c880f74d/IMG_20240310_151304.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box - Could I describe this process or repeat it? No way. I have no recollection of what I did to get to the end result. Just keep saying, “I have no idea what I’m doing” while randomly hot gluing things down. Now, does it look professional? Not even close. It’s the bottom though, no one cares. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1710110094872-RZI3L97SR63U1U3E3IYU/IMG_20240310_151637.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1710110094678-CC31Z7UAMCPY2N7X7G9K/IMG_20240310_151708.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1710110101690-2ASUM9ULQQORX8RD2I3U/IMG_20240310_151715__01.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1710110102588-P6LFCXH441018S68IZWA/IMG_20240310_151756.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Lap Desk out of a Cardboard Box https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/i-went-to-egypt monthly 0.5 2024-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/7bd13766-3667-40af-9cfc-dbb43f29d961/IMG-20240219-WA0240.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099538574-4XACJOHYFYM1U8LH148N/IMG_20240212_111101.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099546356-RANEW1CSVMV9GC7XAV4H/IMG_20240214_084324.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709098398209-CVCA67DK59P45Z1NNCZ6/IMG_20240214_113343.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709098409000-GFYL7TMAVPP47UXEUVI6/IMG-20240227-WA0000.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709098409274-Q3EITUVNN0FEJHWI5HE1/IMG-20240227-WA0003.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709098410345-3IHUPNEMBA3UF52NBNY0/IMG-20240227-WA0014.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099147115-KV8GL8FZ9YJQ8EAOHOML/IMG_20240212_092011.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099296680-GG9O9F6BFVS4I24EY3Q6/IMG_20240213_111951.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099158435-BJ2WXFQKKNI2CM5BSQR4/IMG_20240214_095326.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099203956-OTX25Z7G0TSC7EK0K79J/IMG-20240227-WA0041.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099169350-ZSYRBTEHTWO4G0FBEXOV/IMG_20240216_071809.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099175394-9A5D298YXVSK6F3GWMEI/IMG_20240217_072418.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099189436-O4GGCB1EQPG49MK2YWW0/IMG_20240216_113336.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099222058-2C42EAZZ24NNJD7VSZ9A/IMG_20240217_132613.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099821405-D00539H0YIYGD096WYAJ/IMG_20240215_063552.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1709099840657-PP171KLPI1SLOUN4CUZD/IMG_20240215_093215.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b2c27271-044f-4f87-8744-118008c79c04/IMG_20240217_073358.jpg Dust After Rain - I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/making-a-self-defense-tee monthly 0.5 2023-08-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/73aad3ab-8936-4627-ab09-a88d02e771d2/IMG_20230721_165816.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee - Then you’ll need to be planning on going to a weekend dance convention with theme days. One of these days will happen to be a neon theme. “Oh no, I have no neon clothes!” No worries, that’s what thrift stores are for. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/c84d8b5d-83e9-46b7-a5e1-1a4181a833ec/IMG_20230721_170509.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee - Don’t do this step. I thought it was a good idea but it turned out not to be a good idea. I chopped off two to three inches from the bottom of the shirt, because I thought it would be too long. Reasons why this seemed like a good idea. a) I had a small sample piece to dye before potentially ruining the whole T-shirt. b) It would make the shirt more of a good length when I did what I was going to do with it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/3befa4b8-4f9f-444d-a633-4264e3f25779/IMG_20230721_181123.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee - Make up the dye according to the directions on the bottle and hope it all works out. I’m 97% sure I didn’t do the dyeing process correctly. For one, this is definitely not a big enough pot. The fabric is supposed to have room to float around and this was just crammed in there. I did stir it often to try and lessen the chances of it dyeing unevenly. It still came out a bit splotchy, but not too noticeably so. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1691625949856-Z756H1TLLUFTB1UXIQCH/IMG_20230722_081525.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1691625852322-H6FLB1KQHOM0OT4GK0AO/IMG_20230722_082014.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1691625857731-OAHVDUJYP2P3U67LRIZA/IMG_20230722_083208.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/c42f55f1-0705-4a8c-9b8d-3dea0adebd8e/IMG_20230722_083913.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee - Aka, adding the self defense aspect. Since this is a neon dance themed shirt, we need to use neon beads. These are those fun larger plastic seed beads. Thread two per strand, tying a knot underneath each bead. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/24bcecab-da90-4ce0-8395-b907c661211f/IMG_20230726_172905.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee - Repeat the steps (minus the pyramid) for the sleeves. I cut pretty much perpendicular to the sleeve seam. I made these thinner. Don’t do that. It was a bad idea. The knots were not big enough to keep the beads on very well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/76606b7d-8743-407d-ac08-10d42f526960/IMG_20230726_181804.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee - This might be my favorite shirt that I’ve ever made. It makes such a fun swishy noise when I move. As far as self-defense goes, it doesn’t hurt too badly when the beads hit anything. This does make it better as a dance shirt, to be honest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1692385941005-KH1VIIDMZPRJAT1AU4SI/IMG_20230818_113920.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1692385942673-1H4YSRZ7OYHFZF9FD8VI/IMG_20230818_114013.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1692385948641-C929EVYMN7LPC6UY068B/IMG_20230818_114828.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Self Defense Tee https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/sealing-wax monthly 0.5 2023-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/0212ee60-4210-4d3b-b55b-e298ce1e7840/IMG_20230326_174749.jpg Dust After Rain - Sealing Wax - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1680566828435-806DVU5HNVR5V6PEB9HN/IMG_20230326_132912.jpg Dust After Rain - Sealing Wax https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1680566827664-GCNWI7S63ALLBD98CPZ5/IMG_20230326_134803.jpg Dust After Rain - Sealing Wax https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1680566840172-HZ450OEUR0TLQY9JI1ES/IMG_20230326_143351.jpg Dust After Rain - Sealing Wax https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1680566843481-BGSMVNQFIH7F626OYWXF/IMG_20230326_150811.jpg Dust After Rain - Sealing Wax https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1680566852306-NE4MHFSQWXI8QFXVBG5I/IMG_20230326_165743.jpg Dust After Rain - Sealing Wax https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1680566854737-GOZXHY1DP123927CU2GF/IMG_20230326_174512.jpg Dust After Rain - Sealing Wax https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/cheese-candle monthly 0.5 2022-11-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/5e765074-fefe-430f-9a45-d8afbead8af2/IMG_20221125_095053.jpg Dust After Rain - Cheese Candle!!! - We spent the better part of our seven months living together compiling a jar of said Babybel wax. Once that jar was full, we smashed the wax down and shoved more wax into it, until it was really full and we were sick of Babybels. Then she got married and I moved and we nearly forgot about the cheese candle endeavor we'd set out on back in April. Nearly. A friend who was helping me move found the jar stuffed with Babybel wax and asked what it was about. It is thanks to him that I got around to doing this in a timely(ish) manner. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4a99d833-66cc-41c6-b84a-94c058023876/IMG_20221125_095230.jpg Dust After Rain - Cheese Candle!!! - First I had to figure out how to melt the wax. Now for someone who doesn't know how to make a candle, looking up “how to make a candle” would make sense. I didn't do that. I had this candle warmer which didn't melt the wax satisfactorily fast enough. I started this whole process an hour before I needed to be to work, so everything needed to be done fairly speedily. It was so slow that I tested it by putting my hand flat on it. It was hot. I burnt my hand a bit. Still it wasn't hot enough or fast enough. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b324034c-ba3b-42b4-9a7d-95b58506fc86/IMG_20221125_100748.jpg Dust After Rain - Cheese Candle!!! - I switched everything to a pot on the stove, and boy did it start melting quickly. It also started to smell interesting. I realized I'd failed to look up the toxicity of melting the Babybel wax (it's not). I didn't actually look it up at that point either, I figured it was too late to change anything anyway. Secondly, while that questionably smelling substance turned from solid to liquid. I made a wick by braiding some cotton fabric together. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/cbdd942e-0325-435c-a620-e89b2c22fbe1/IMG_20221125_101323.jpg Dust After Rain - Cheese Candle!!! - Once it was all melted and looking suspiciously like raspberry syrup, it was time to put it in it's final container. Though I do have a confession at this point. I had a bit of wax from an old candle that I mixed into the Babybel wax. Thus, it is not a fully cheese candle. However, it doesn't smell quite as toxic anymore. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/bc757e91-d65f-4c21-8dfd-9043ff76fb0d/IMG_20221125_103218.jpg Dust After Rain - Cheese Candle!!! - As you can see here my sinks are definitely a color. Also, I put the candle in a little glass jar (this was the final selection after trying several others. Yes, I spent a good deal of time pouring the wax out of the pot into a jar, out of the jar back into the pot, and into another jar. It was great fun). I used a random straw I had lying around to hold the wick in place. Why did I coat the wick in wax? I don't know. It seemed like the thing to do. It adds to the overall cheesiness of the project. And now I was late for work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/97d9b8cd-58b1-415c-80ca-808f54497db2/IMG_20221125_201553.jpg Dust After Rain - Cheese Candle!!! - When I got home though, I was met surprisingly with a pretty nice looking little candle. I trimmed the wick and it was finished. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/21a444dc-0094-4769-80ec-703a669e790a/IMG_20221126_124020.jpg Dust After Rain - Cheese Candle!!! - I'm not sure yet if I'm brave enough to try actually burning it or not. Maybe I'll leave that to a voting poll. Anyhow, it somehow wasn't the total disaster I was told it might be. Ironically, this is the moment I realized that I didn’t paint the top of my bookshelf. I only came to the realization because I saw the top of the bookshelf for the first time in the picture. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/easy-costume-ideas monthly 0.5 2022-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ff3e4595-0d32-4b30-b151-9ca65eff5451/IMG_20221022_165016.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas - Start out by laying the shirt on a coffee table in the most inconvenient corner of your living room. It doesn’t even have to be the living room, just any old inconvenient place will work. This was the ideal corner for me as it was the only place my glue gun cord could reach. Plus it had a cute string light backdrop. Never mind that I cropped them out of most of the pictures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/f34dc0ac-dae8-4c70-a55b-750510f8d7d4/IMG_20221022_165440.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas - While waiting for the hot glue to get hot, cut up the amount of pipe cleaner pieces that you would imagine it would take to feed a nest of baby birds. Then double that, because you’ll need more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/05657c73-3c98-41d3-ab39-907ddc04db24/IMG_20221022_165657.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas - This next step has to be done quickly and without thought. I found myself getting very fond of the shirt as it was and wasn’t too keen on ruining it with hot glue, but it needed to be done. Put a dab of hot glue on the shirt and stand the pipe cleaner up on that just like a spine would stick out of a cactus. Repeat that in a random pattern all over the shirt. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4edf4282-ec30-40cc-a724-bdc74068198f/IMG_20221022_170623.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas - Eventually I decided that working on a flat surface just wasn’t working how I wanted it to, so I put the shirt on. Then I couldn’t really see where I was gluing spines to myself, so I had to go get a mirror. Since I had the mirror I had to take a cringy mirror selfie just to document what I was doing. You can’t see it but I was laughing a lot this whole time. Anyhow, the procedure from here is pretty similar. Put a dab of hot glue where you want the spike and stick the pipe cleaner on. Now, this part will be a bit painful. Hot glue is called hot glue for a reason. It puts a whole new meaning on the phrase “feel the burn.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667429917977-VD4KS35NGVCXEX1FUABB/IMG_20221101_173043.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667429915026-B3S27BLBCUFHL5QY8XM8/IMG_20221101_172913.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667429922522-IVJISQHREHU25U8YGGEN/IMG_20221101_173549.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ba0d2f3e-4360-4112-85aa-d797706877a5/IMG_20221030_175749.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas - I crimped my hair for some added volume and texture. At first I was going to add glitter to every layer of the process, but that was too time consuming. There was also some concern of getting glitter in my cereal. Yes, I am eating cereal with a fork. I didn’t feel like washing a spoon and the fork worked well enough. Then I went in with my amazing glitter spray, and… there was glitter everywhere (to the one person who will get that quote, congratulations). There still is glitter everywhere. The can wasn’t kidding when it said to cover everything that you didn’t want glitter on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579449904-O41COEI7Y0I8ULO3PSVF/IMG_20221101_174705.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579472500-QMK00X74WL5P5HJ8RN8K/IMG_20221101_174914.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579474670-RBO8OJI17OLWQJEP9X07/IMG_20221101_175022.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579480081-PBT5NJW9DI5MX52A1MOD/IMG_20221101_175103.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579135602-VHU839UAY5IHPK4ADXA8/IMG_20221101_175429.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579122436-GAZFDA8P2936ADKNLKRD/IMG_20221101_175349.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579137455-P1ZYVP5BHSNM9OWAIMCJ/IMG_20221101_175452.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1667579146179-RAX3O9E7F21AXRO35FFW/IMG_20221101_175535.jpg Dust After Rain - Easy Costume Ideas https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/roadside-bookshelf-revamp monthly 0.5 2024-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/709fe0e3-c6a7-4d6c-9c17-f37567d9e160/IMG_20221005_103128.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - One of the biggest problems with this bookshelf were the death spikes sticking out the back. For some reason I didn’t take them out right away. Oh and that stinkbug in the corner, I named him Sylvester. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/715cffb7-9146-442e-9b65-75b3dda29a73/IMG_20221005_103136.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - When the bookshelf was moved into my house, it got set upside down. This turned out to be very handy because I was able to clean all the dust and cobwebs off more easily. Then I had to flip the whole thing over, while avoiding getting stabbed by the death spikes, scraping my floor, and dropping the bookshelf. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/251ed3dc-0494-46e9-821b-dd7944e83151/IMG_20221005_103928.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - Once right side up it looked better. Still a bit of a mess, but better. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d6cbcef5-63e2-4e19-8568-5e8f850daa0b/IMG_20221005_105317.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - I then scrubbed and vacuumed all the dust off as best I could. As I learned from the paint job in one of my last apartments, anything you don’t want to clean up, just paint over and it ‘ll be grand. If anything, it just adds more texture to the paint job. Anyhow, once I’d cleaned it as thoroughly as I could, I laid out my lease agreement under the bookshelf to protect the flooring. I popped the lid off the paint can with the key to my apartment because I didn’t get one of the fancy paint can openers. Then, I used a manila envelope for it’s true purpose as a paint tray. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/c82802df-f77f-42bc-b0bc-12d0a1599713/IMG_20221005_110752.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - Initially I was going to paint the entire shelf white, but at this point I decided that doing the back panels a contrasting color would look really cool. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d778d012-4d9d-40d7-919e-4888defa3a5c/IMG_20221005_113723.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - Apparently I waited until now to get rid of the death spikes. The death spikes were being used to hold a bracket in place that provided no structural integrity. I didn’t have a tool kit at my apartment, so I used the next best thing. A pair of scissors. Somehow it worked to just use the tip of the blade to do tiny turns and bit by bit remove the screws. the only issue that arose from that was that I forgot about scissors being sharp and cut my finger on the first stubborn screw. I think I only mildly ruined that pair of scissors, but the death spikes got removed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/57376242-1ead-44a4-9c89-abfd40a9b830/IMG_20221005_125522.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - With one coat of white paint it turned out looking like this. I’d say still not amazing, but so much better than it used to look. I didn’t take pictures of it, but I somehow managed to get a fair amount of white paint in my hair. How? I’m really not sure. I finished just in time to go to a dance and didn’t bother trying to get the paint out just to see how many people would make a comment. Weirdly, no one seemed to notice it, or they just didn’t say anything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ab6117f6-df16-44b0-a54e-a41db7a723d8/IMG_20221007_163053.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - I didn’t have a paint stirrer or anything similar so I used the end of a pen to mix the pain together. It worked pretty well. At first I optimistically thought that I wouldn’t need to tape around the edges. It took about 5 seconds for me to realize that I wouldn’t be able to control the brush enough not to get blue on the white parts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/57be6b04-d450-404c-bf78-d964faf18318/IMG_20221007_163102.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - So I masking taped it off and painted away. The true color of the paint is slightly more blue than the grey it looks like in the picture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/2fa932e1-a68d-44d2-8245-ba19a25e470a/IMG_20221007_163429.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - Even with just the first layer on it looks so much better than the pink did. I ended up doing two coats for this part just to make sure that there was absolutely no pink peaking out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/01c2fa32-cf5b-4f02-8839-13c7b58dfdb1/IMG_20221008_104454.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - While I was painted I had this candle burning next to me. It’s the best candle I’ve ever found in all 22 years of my life. Take note here as well, even with masking tape, I still managed to get blue paint on the white shelf. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d632e0cc-73bd-4f51-ac63-b7a0fa62c191/IMG_20221008_133556.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - I removed the masking tape and carefully drug it into my room. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/3404475c-30b2-4c2c-ba46-34a410225ac0/IMG_20221008_144808.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - Just like that, the disgusting pink and dust shoe shelf turned into a crisp and classy bookshelf that I actually get compliments on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/c2e07502-e600-4097-83b7-2720f28e6fbc/IMG_20221013_074728.jpg Dust After Rain - Roadside Bookshelf Revamp - I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out. Now I have so much more room for books! I’ll take new book suggestions if you have any. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/recovered-bar-stools monthly 0.5 2022-10-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/2d2ed8e6-e9c8-4ef0-bb26-e5d497dc6ef6/IMG_20220507_151254.jpg Dust After Rain - Recovered Bar Stools - These stools were so bad that this is the only before picture I have of them. It’s not even a true before picture because I used it as a comparison after I’d already covered the first one. I just cropped the finished one out so that you’ll think I had the forethought to take a before picture. Though all of that’s irrelevant since I just explained the secret… Moving on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ff829e8a-0d68-4641-be17-88b4d71bae28/IMG_20220507_152028.jpg Dust After Rain - Recovered Bar Stools - There were four screws holding this piece to the chair frame. I removed those and found out that the stools had clearly been outside for a good long while. This one was the least dirty of the two as well. Anyhow, I wanted to keep this black lining piece to put back on once I was done with replacing the cover. I carefully pried out the staples holding that in place and set it aside. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/6c210f68-d5bf-48bb-b62f-c91c3e38db79/IMG_20220507_154009.jpg Dust After Rain - Recovered Bar Stools - I think I attached it with regular paper staples because I didn’t have any wood staples. It didn’t work very well, but that part didn’t need to hold that well. I’m pretty sure I reinforced the whole thing with some hot glue as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/2ccdacfe-2e8d-47a8-b203-e73a99d0d71d/IMG_20220507_151254.jpg Dust After Rain - Recovered Bar Stools - Just like that, one stool was completed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/e9e5e863-c322-4811-8da0-550d051d8a9d/IMG_20220507_192356.jpg Dust After Rain - Recovered Bar Stools - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/wallpapering-my-apartment-bathroom monthly 0.5 2022-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/21cb6b16-f8b1-4c3b-a26f-38786ab8e641/IMG_20221005_103043.jpg Dust After Rain - Wallpapering my new Bathroom - One of those things was the bathroom. It felt really small and dingy. Even after a solid two hours of scrubbing the tile, it still just didn’t feel right. Therefore, the only solution was to change the walls (and by change I mean not actually change just temporarily alter it for the time I’m living there). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/a371de93-9ea9-43ba-9aba-17f3c1ec9004/IMG_20221005_103100.jpg Dust After Rain - Wallpapering my new Bathroom - Oh and this thing under the mirror looked really bad so I took a picture of it because I didn’t know if I was going to do anything with it or not… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1665467472983-OASFFO4L83FNFWQQV74R/IMG_20221007_163928.jpg Dust After Rain - Wallpapering my new Bathroom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1665467473758-RVUSUHTDHLRIYV0V2WME/IMG_20221008_105654.jpg Dust After Rain - Wallpapering my new Bathroom https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/41b32963-1da2-436d-943d-54b9943f6360/IMG_20221008_133904.jpg Dust After Rain - Wallpapering my new Bathroom - There it is. It looks really great if you squint or have bad eyesight. Really though, if you just ignore some of the bad alignments and splicing, it looks really nice. It also brightened the room up significantly. Overall, it just makes it feel more like my home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b572cd63-5fc7-4cdc-bae2-facc270f7ca1/IMG_20221008_133916.jpg Dust After Rain - Wallpapering my new Bathroom - I also lined this with some of the left over pieces. While I did like the rust aesthetic, this look just feels a little safer. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/surf-changing-towel-poncho monthly 0.5 2022-10-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/a2b90c2b-b9c3-4ac5-8966-b695c2973fe3/IMG_20220611_181010.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - The supplies needed are: 2 beach towels Thread And… yeah, that's literally it I guess pins too, but they’re not absolutely necessary I had all of these thread colors, but none of them matched quite well enough and honestly I don’t remember which one I used anyway so pick whichever one you like best and pretend that was the one I picked. Wow, I’m making you use your imagination a lot this time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/a7c52a3e-ada7-4595-9c6a-648cfc42c0f3/IMG_20220611_175912.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - To start out, I measured the towel to see how long I wanted it to be. I marked kneeish length with my eyes, lost that mark almost instantly, and then chopped off enough to make a kitchen towel. If you’re one of those people who prefers straight lines, I would recommend using a ruler to ensure that you don’t end up cutting quite so crooked of a line. If, however, you don’t care, just cut along the same line to ensure symmetrical crookedness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/87bba4ac-e168-4e0a-b754-b0e2da6b6090/Amazing+surf+towel+paint+sketch.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - I think the first thing I did was to sew the top and sides together. The important part there is to leave openings for your head and arms and to not sew all the way to the bottom. It should look something like this amazing artist rendering. Yes, I’m aware the red lines are uneven, I just can’t be bothered to fix them right now. It’s a rendering, not an exact science. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4f8f482d-b163-4bcd-afd2-b7e13d0b1f13/IMG_20220611_181926.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - Next, it seems that I sewed down the edges along the shoulders, probably so they wouldn’t fray. Also, that would have hemmed up the neck opening. The great thing about using towels for this is that they already have hemmed edges. Apart from the one end I cut off I didn’t have to worry about hemming anything. That may have been one of the things that made this project take so little time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/52b7de5b-d9b3-4a5d-90f9-5468a8b8a445/Screenshot_20220611-183439.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - I say it was difficult, but really I just looked up “hood pattern” and found this one for a renaissance faire costume. It even came with measurements. Which I conveniently didn’t really use, but they looked friendly and helpful. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/6a726e22-cc91-411d-8037-bb5e95603a06/IMG_20220611_183639.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - I took one of the dish towel length leftover towel pieces and marked out a similar shape. I did measure the base of the hood to the circumference of the neck hole, just so that it would fit. I tried to draw a nice curve for the back, but the marker didn’t show up at all on the towel and I didn’t feel like looking for another marking apparatus, so I just pictured in my mind what I wanted it to look like and free handed it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/c73c33b8-8c30-47f6-a11a-83c05559ed8c/IMG_20220611_183852.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - To my shock and amazement it turned out slightly perfect. A quick seam along the curved edge turned it into a beautiful hood. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/10e39bb3-7edb-4a4b-9ee9-c7739f3c461a/IMG_20220611_190412.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - That hood then got sewn to the neck opening. I’m not sure why I thought this shot would be useful, but there it is, make of it what you will. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d3b887a7-0b4f-480c-9f46-87b341f59751/IMG_20220611_191443.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho - Oh wait, I guess sewing up the sides was the last thing I did. Don’t do that part back when I told you to. I think I put the ruler in as a reference point for how far down I didn’t sew, but it’s not really lined up with anything, so it doesn’t really help. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1663705904665-58VBXW0D9PO8W6MPHG5J/IMG_20220920_131550.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1663705904142-7PNIE3ITWY5NBCKVM2CM/IMG_20220920_131922.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1663705913519-395IIHEPQCQCG3W8ZPEL/IMG_20220920_132113.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1663705918504-TZUVX1AA5E3U2UERG0H3/IMG_20220920_132144.jpg Dust After Rain - Surf Changing Towel Poncho https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/turning-my-dash-into-a-field-of-wildflowers monthly 0.5 2022-08-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ee0a5bfa-431a-4976-b2b6-f5c2a9a050a6/IMG_20220816_094219.jpg Dust After Rain - Turning my Dash into a Field of Wildflowers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/5b5352fa-d11a-4bb2-aebc-f377e271c4ed/IMG_20220810_142513.jpg Dust After Rain - Turning my Dash into a Field of Wildflowers - After numerous failed attempts I had to go to work and I left the field of flowers piled on my passenger seat instead of stuck to the dash. They stayed there for a week before I had a day off and a chance to get back to the project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b328217b-36e0-453b-8b23-7c5b82d7e479/IMG_20220815_120446.jpg Dust After Rain - Turning my Dash into a Field of Wildflowers - With coffee in hand, glue acquired, and scissors at the ready, I set out to accomplish what I had failed at the previous week. Only, the E6000, permanent craft glue, wouldn't stick to the dash either. I then altered my approach. The gorilla tape stuck to any hard plastic surface so I stuck on part of the flowers and then waited for a cooler time to see if the glue would stick when it wasn't nearly 100° inside my car. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/fd65ab36-7e16-49ae-a696-e6c49b0ff701/IMG_20220810_110037.jpg Dust After Rain - Turning my Dash into a Field of Wildflowers - Oh, I also added this sticker to the back of my car, which I’ve been meaning to do for a long, long, long time. The artwork is done by amazing friend Heidi, https://heidimessner.com/ https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/birthday-tort monthly 0.5 2022-04-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/8b085135-f9df-4f1b-b402-93f515b301c1/IMG_20220411_112756.jpg Dust After Rain - Birthday Tort - First lay out the ingredients on the counter in such a way that it’s hard to tell what is a cake ingredient and what it just random counter clutter. The plastic jar has cocoa powder in it. Not coffee grounds. I promise I’m not messing with you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b99fc429-4b7c-4df4-a5b6-59a6c3726fd2/IMG_20220411_112436.jpg Dust After Rain - Birthday Tort - Now, this recipe called for a double boiler. Also known as a bain-marie if you’re into fancy cooking terms. The basic concept is that the water in the pot boils, but doesn’t touch the mixing bowl resting on the rim and like magic the contents are heated with the steam. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a bowl big enough to rest on the top of my pot. So after an exhaustive search of my kitchen I came up with the strainer technique. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1ab0508e-5184-4ad8-ac2b-f1cd65b4bd58/IMG_20220412_184746.jpg Dust After Rain - Birthday Tort - Wow, you have a beautifully decorated cake. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/why-you-need-a-leather-jacket monthly 0.5 2022-03-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ff2fc933-6a6f-4861-b5cc-2f8914f5ead3/IMG_20220317_163512.jpg Dust After Rain - Why You Need a Leather Jacket - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1647568125201-9W61MR6BQSC2IR86MIRP/IMG_20220317_163420.jpg Dust After Rain - Why You Need a Leather Jacket https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1647568140349-ST2NDV3E349OTH0RYI3A/IMG_20220317_163811.jpg Dust After Rain - Why You Need a Leather Jacket https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1647568157788-HQRJDGTFUUD2EU3KAXUS/IMG_20220317_163843.jpg Dust After Rain - Why You Need a Leather Jacket https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1647568171505-5T77DPWUV7I02B39P8NB/IMG_20220317_164002.jpg Dust After Rain - Why You Need a Leather Jacket https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/77d4f512-f11e-4cc1-8dc8-61c76f507748/IMG_20220317_164130.jpg Dust After Rain - Why You Need a Leather Jacket - P.S. I would love some ideas for projects or things to sew. Currently the only request I have is making a Spiderman suit, which I don’t feel quite qualified to make yet. Other suggestions are greatly welcomed. Bye. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/2022-valentines-dress monthly 0.5 2022-02-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/36a656b8-c6c1-4d62-8304-520193831479/d0a4f065cafe379a26269391c3d58117.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - I knew right away I wanted to make it. The puffed sleeves. The pearls. The tulle. It would be such a great challenge and I needed a dress for the dance anyway, so why not. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/96be5e32-7d16-461a-aaff-e685352cdcdb/Screenshot_20220206-211442.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - Back to this dress and this year. I just finished last year’s Valentine’s day dress a few weeks ago and honestly was not in the mood to make something pink again. So I left it up to my Instagram followers to decide, but worded it so that they would ultimately pick what I wanted. P.S. To the 9% who voted for pink, I applaud you for thinking outside of the box. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/fcbb3051-cd47-4f24-9870-b8043fe654e4/IMG_20220207_132023.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - First I made a mock up of what I wanted to bodice to be. I have honestly never made a dress pattern before and the top always scares me. I mean skirts are pretty easy. You can literally just take a rectangle and gather the top and bam you’ve got a skirt. The top though, that’s gotta fit, and there’s a lot more to take into account. So I just grabbed a piece of paper traced out a general shape and cut that out. I also made side pieces that I didn’t take a picture of but you’ll see them in a second. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/28cc1f9d-5c62-4b01-bb2c-0b28aa7f9cc4/IMG_20220207_135427.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - There they are. Yes, pinned to the front piece, but that’s the general shape. Again, I have no idea what I’m actually doing here. I made this mock-up out of some pink satin I had in my sewing suitcase. It’s not at all like what I’m making the dress out of, but it’s shiny and looks similar enough. Anyhow, to make the back I traced the front. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644275457944-JTJ2LZ0X4OR3QJS9BBNL/Screenshot_20220207-150331.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644275457781-G9VCP1JHNGQ8TVOL7YP3/Screenshot_20220207-150331__01.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644275458861-6Q3N3VAEWER2LGC8PF2W/Screenshot_20220207-150338.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644275458970-1BXF07ES2M2N1PON0M68/Screenshot_20220207-150338__01.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644295743467-CB2XG5W476AA5BM7TW0J/IMG_20220207_172248.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644295836072-XI38YSRCJS8YWHF3YTBW/IMG_20220207_173633.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4035eaa8-b88e-4e88-b81a-aefbb20596fb/IMG_20220208_105802.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - The mock-up turned out pretty decent, but I was still nervous to cut into my fancy fabric. So I made this bracelet because I had just watched Atlantis and wanted to remake Kida’s bracelet out of this giant earring I’d found in the airport on my Florida trip. The problem was her bracelet is made up of a pink center bead and smaller purple beads on either side, and try as I might, my bead collection just did not have such things. So I grabbed out these beads and decided to paint them the right colors, only I kind of liked how the bracelet looked like that and wasn’t committed to changing it (I still haven’t). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/8f14b4cc-9c79-4750-b191-33add6a964d6/IMG_20220208_204455.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - Having come to that second decisional impasse, I laid out my fabric. Measured how long I wanted the skirt to be. Confirmed my earlier suspicion that I hadn’t bought enough material. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/414c863c-b3f4-447f-8eeb-882cf783d5f3/IMG_20220208_205806.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - Then cut out a skirt. The top was laid out for display purposes only. I cut that out very differently. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d45387e5-653c-4112-a832-295c7dbfde62/IMG_20220208_214422.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - I also cut out the tulle for the skirt, which was nearly impossible as you can barely see the stuff. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/bc4908ad-b9ce-4ce4-9a0f-dc460998bcd3/IMG_20220209_180615.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - I then sewed the front three panels together. Looking at the picture there are no seams in the front of the tulle. Instead it’s draped to have some fun pleating in the center. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644900533975-XRJXL3W4Y92XEGWNH9ZE/IMG_20220209_181620__01.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644900585863-DZMACEFIN3VS9DFBFCQG/IMG_20220209_182130.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644900569061-XWG9VAJH9DCOP9E3BB1J/IMG_20220209_183805.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/53db3565-6c8e-486c-a3b5-e5165f919b25/IMG_20220209_190729.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - I then made identical, although see through, twins for each of the back pieces. I’m not 100% sure why I flipped one the opposite direction. Dramatic effect I guess. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/7efc5792-c04e-4f80-90dd-a4ede00ebf17/IMG_20220209_191426.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - I then pinned and sewed those together. The worst part was I couldn’t remember which sides were up and down because I’d gotten them all mixed up while cutting them out because they all looked too similar. That fact would later come back to haunt me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/c9d3b6a1-bce7-48ad-9096-5b5b69f0e738/IMG_20220210_190634.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - To make the lace up part of the lace up back, I cut off this part of the fabric. I don’t really know what it’s called but it’s on any kind of material you buy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1f41a64f-67ee-46b9-a2cd-743f06165712/IMG_20220210_193418.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - I wanted to add some contrast to the back, since it would inevitably be boring, so I sewed this with the shiny side on the inside. I also made way too much of it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/351aa68d-718a-4ab6-9f14-88e2cc79dbd4/IMG_20220210_210209.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - With that I snaked it down the sides of the top like so. Somehow, I managed to come up with nine loops on each side even though I didn’t measure and both sides looked completely different. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b41717bd-1104-4b72-8a9d-afa723647d96/IMG_20220210_212822.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - Oh, I made this panel to go under the lace up back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ca9c3a0e-7fd8-4cd6-8b5f-b94731c25cc6/IMG_20220210_213036.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - Since I lacked enough fabric to make a lining I just decided to use my mock up as the lining. At this point time was running short. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/16abb5ca-e684-4a91-b1fc-2e522d6d2c0e/IMG_20220210_214212.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - Ah yes, the sides required about a billion pins. Remember, I have the ones holding the tulle in place, the ones holding the lace up loops in place, and finally, the ones holding the two parts together. All-in-all a lot of pins. I ran out halfway through pinning the layers together and ended up sewing the top first, then going back and sewing the sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/741a9320-abb1-4899-a729-cae3f4487fc7/IMG_20220212_170656.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - I flipped the whole thing right sides out, moved to the floor, and ironed everything flat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644901932814-7HGKKKDJ5Y1ZCV2JSIWK/IMG_20220212_173907.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644901951360-E9S4BW0X6KOPMHCI2W0H/IMG_20220212_180110.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d81f9309-6396-4b03-b782-2098c5e376de/IMG_20220213_101205.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress - It looks a bit of a mess. Honestly, it turned into a super cute skirt. Sort of vintage meets ball gown. I don’t know. I was torn between hating it and loving it and I couldn’t really decide. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644980097744-9D04XA7HBRMMEISO1VJ8/IMG_20220215_165932.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644980107782-XHS8SQPGHEZACJZRMF72/IMG_20220215_165220.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644980115156-HGVNYGNFIKIW2Q5CYJZI/IMG_20220215_165302.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644980140916-I5CFIOBO6MIOMLV001UD/IMG_20220215_165338.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644980196984-1P1Q7TC03Z9FEN6IT3P3/IMG_20220215_165319.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644980342759-R8QN64IRO5Q9BG1CTXG2/IMG_20220215_165717.jpg Dust After Rain - 2022 Valentine’s Dress https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/a-compilation-of-small-random-projects-i-did-around-christmas-and-new-years monthly 0.5 2022-02-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/33c51320-004f-43aa-9e43-0e9f49026464/IMG_20211224_163606.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January - Make it stand out This is a photograph I took Christmas Eve of the Beaverhead Mountains in Salmon, Idaho. Ironically, none of these projects were accomplished in Salmon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1643941018554-10B2TG0P2443M3Q0PTWR/IMG_20211217_170608.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1643941004744-A73G8ZILAOQR025NKYFS/IMG_20211217_170814.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1643941126299-QGY4A6GXTWDLZCF1IMIB/IMG_20220104_084551.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1643941292967-YT1Y4KPV5Q4NP9CTQMA9/IMG_20211219_181825__01.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1643941300368-XF17C907TCGNSXCHEVI9/IMG_20211219_181825.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1643941305892-L327U0RXY417UJKMLX5K/IMG_20220104_084612__01.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1643941941546-8GJ6AJ9WSUN9GY1GJQ8K/IMG_20220123_141116__01.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644206629783-L03HCV0BQJEOX5OSMOY5/IMG_20220206_194156.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1644206594671-115O3DS2JVU14V14LBXZ/IMG_20220206_194033.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/2e04a954-fd7b-42d3-b4c2-6e86286253e9/IMG_20220123_140738__01.jpg Dust After Rain - A Compilation of Small, Random Projects I did Around Christmas and New Years and January - Oh and I got a tripod! https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/aloe-vera-re-potting monthly 0.5 2022-01-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/81c08a35-d512-49fc-9a94-374a93760f3a/processed_IMG_20220111_144742.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting - You'll all remember Cassandra. Or maybe you won't. I haven't given an update on her condition since the watering plants escapade when she was nearly dying. But then, I moved… and everything changed. As you can tell from this picture she has been prosperous and multiplied in our new home. Now, I am unsure if this is because I remember to water her more, or she has more sunlight by this West facing window (let me tell ya I get some amazing sunset views out of that in the summertime. Previously I had her in a North facing window that where the sunlight was blocked by the duplex next door), or simply because she’s not confined to a stuffy room. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1642978806001-F189HY29KDX2IN6OPIT1/IMG_20220111_144844.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1642978850988-CKMYHH8KHTZ7LCX3KL0O/IMG_20220111_144856.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1d837fde-85b8-4650-beec-eb01e5e6c839/IMG_20220111_144816.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting - I then set up this cardboard box to keep the potting soil from getting all over my floor (message from the future: it didn’t work). Now, usually I would do a project like this one outside. However, I live in Idaho and it is winter and it was drizzling freezing rain outside. Not good weather for plants or people. Plus, with my deadline, I had no other option. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/0115cdcc-3ae4-4a5e-97a5-ec4897706620/IMG_20220111_145325.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting - I laid everything out to take a nice picture of all of my supplies. Side note: when I opened the bag of potting soil I discovered that my mom had actually sent plastic pots in it, basically my entire trip to Walmart was useless. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/286b0006-1de0-40e1-9007-a9d54c22a5fc/IMG_20220111_150448.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting - I dumped Cassandra out of her big pot, gently removed the dirt from around the roots, and began the process of carefully separating the baby plants’ roots from the main root. It took a long time and was a lot dirtier than I thought it would be. It was during this process that I realized my ingenious aluminum foil lined box was going to be mostly useless in keeping my floor from getting covered in dirt. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/2a40b270-97cf-4484-82f7-a6d24f85713b/IMG_20220111_155230.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting - All of the plants were then stuffed into muddy potting soil for transportation to their new homes. And yes, I realize that they would not do well in cups for long term, because there is no drainage system in the bottom. I could have poked holes in the cups, but that would have taken time, which I didn’t have, and this allowed people to experience re-potting for themselves for when these guys grow up and have babies of their own. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1642981207116-0ZYIS4DJH6A2VCF6LG8K/Cass.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1642981221852-A48YW9UME8IKKIGKZT6L/IMG_20220111_155341.jpg Dust After Rain - Aloe Vera Re-Potting https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/1950s-inspired-swing-dress monthly 0.5 2022-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/c763f82a-255b-4ebb-9b4e-510cb93a62b9/IMG_20220107_124107.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1613242079911-R85MV7YSZ6SJQEKAJEYN/0.%252BDESK%252521%252521%252521%252521%252521.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Even though my room is really small, having this little area sort of dedicated to my sewing projects makes it feel like there’s more to it than there is. And yes, obviously my room is a bit of a disaster, but how was I to know I’d be taking pictures of it? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1613242477459-P8PD3TAFI7YGTRLQZBVW/1.%2Bfabric.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - I started this project out with this unknown length of pink fabric. I assumed there would be enough of it for a dress based on how heavy it was. I’m not really sure there’s a better way of doing that without the whole headache of unfolding the whole bundle, finding a yardstick, measuring all of it, returning the yardstick to wherever you located it, and ultimately folding all the fabric back up only knowing the dimensions. Far easier to just take a wild stab in the dark and hope for the best. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1613242785245-8YB32ID1D5UYBAGHAQ13/1.%2BPattern.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - I knew I wanted to make a 1950’s style dress out of the material. I knew this because a) some friends of mine were throwing a 1950’s dance in just over a week and b) I’ve always been really interesting in making historical clothing. I found this pattern for $5 at a vintage market, antique store place and thought it would work perfectly for the fabric I had. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1613243378268-AZFSVTLV1519TWYW2I9X/2.%2BPattern%2BPieces.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Anyway, I opened the pattern up and ever so gently unfolded and separated all the pattern pieces I was going to need. Then the unimaginable happened. I was missing one piece of the pattern. Just one. I double and triple checked to make sure it wasn’t among the other pieces that I wasn’t using and no matter how hard I looked it just wasn’t there. So I examined the picture of the piece on the pattern and… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1613243735071-31HUW03EV49ZZHT3QGN4/2.%2BF%2Btrace.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - I free hand sketched it on a piece of brown paper bag because I’m not quite cool enough to have pattern paper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/5d25775a-7229-4359-9425-55e0e4e8d335/3.+fold.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Once all the pattern pieces were present and accounted for I folded the fabric in half. doing so generally makes cutting out patters go a bit easier. As you can see I’ve got a pretty big piece of fabric. There’s likely no need to use it all (I realize there’s no scale of measure here but that was my entire living room floor [it was a small living room]). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/668129f7-656b-45a5-a334-38a376052b6d/4.+layout.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Luckily the pattern came with the most efficient way to lay out the pieces depending on what width fabric you had. Unfortunately, I didn’t know the width of my fabric since I didn’t have a measuring tape and still really don’t understand how fabric width is measured. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/a5800517-20fd-41eb-9489-e6adb75b5162/4.+layout+on+fabric.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Future Leah here, I don’t remember which one I ended up choosing but it looked like this so take your best guess. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/4c731ef9-0116-4e7e-8e84-e4202e60f021/5.+matching+chair.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - I think it was at this point that I realized that the fabric matched my chair exactly! I mean look at it it’s exactly the same color from a distance. And yes, this is my old living room. It’s small and a mess, but it was my home for a good long while. Also, my favorite part about it was that it had a real fireplace in which to have real fires. I’m pretty sure I had one going that day because it was absolutely freezing (my roommates weren’t fans of high electricity bills so we’d keep the house at 55°F all winter long. That made right in front of the fire the best place to be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/f87ca25d-c2ff-4836-9641-ab09f7316215/20210213_115452.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Enough reminiscing, back to sewing. I guess this is all of the pattern pieces cut out (the fire likely out too, since all my sewing stuff was set up in my room upstairs) and ready to start construction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/b7363cad-f88c-42e5-b9fb-c027b41b538e/20210214_133915.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Ok, here it looks like I braved JoAnn Fabrics to get a zipper, a much needed measuring tape (since I somehow lost my old one), and some hook and eye closures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/7165cf90-e9e6-4f0b-9fe6-a1d25518fb42/20210214_141917.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Grab the perfectly matching thread I found in my handy dandy secret sewing table compartment and we’re ready to sew some pleats. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638760399306-T7IXLGPH4EEABL1CZSO3/20210214_133642.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638760626179-HIAZLO4MNXD0H4POR049/20210214_140303.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638760628510-4NXOJ53CFPNI8WRRLIMX/20210214_141402.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638760843296-OVTFIDQ4P37WG54BJUAB/20210214_143922.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638760872091-8WLIPCQ4BS404Z09BG07/20210214_140253.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761114876-SLV9J5ZF3J7JRPWIR7LN/20210214_144059.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761137318-DWA7AUV67H10D3G98SAV/20210214_144606.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761302612-FQ4RXKSNXUKF0U0IR8R2/20210214_144833.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761322015-VVGJUQ490UQ9O71CBYEE/20210214_150026.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/59d820c9-4bdb-48a4-b758-65a5ad0b28a3/20210214_151022.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Then I pinned the neckline down which was made easier with the tabby things there (I guess they did have a purpose. Who knew?). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761587569-GTPDF90RIQ1WI3A86NWI/20210214_152245.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761587421-6B5513KYXR374ZGYZVV8/20210214_154010.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761595698-9EOKV4DZ64PNN5PBXZ5D/20210214_155130.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761595072-GWF4U0II4E2NJCX7L365/20210214_155150.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761602465-20K4O5P2EAV73H5Q15BL/20210214_161629.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761601133-JIP4GHDKOQEUAS3XYPEN/20210214_175636.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761607872-QHJCPZZIWPXYL77SIXRT/20210214_175911.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761607510-7BS0AKTFUI45CHK91Z1X/20210214_185413.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761610580-QN8HN5WFO7RFOHQF6WYG/20210214_185649.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761845213-E4USOF4WAOXAHKOFPMOV/20210214_190031.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761864664-AJG3YOIYMYBIWK2C902U/20210214_191203.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761875982-PXUL2ET7MJ5KW5ATPX02/20210214_192055.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638761912847-P8UEH5KYSPDQ8KR8HESZ/20210214_193117.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/7a1d5ff7-fef0-4ce2-9f9b-d6f9fe5cc2a5/20210216_095942.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Then I tired it on to make sure everything fit as it was supposed to and did an impromptu photo shoot in my hallway. That accounts for the poor picture quality. Also, at this point that neckline was held by pins which were stabbing me every time I moved. At this point it looked great. It was all down hill from, well, not this point yet. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638762456393-BI68ZKJZ9D0KTEJ9YANL/20210216_102516.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638762567805-4SMPBOR7FFRI2ABISS52/20210216_102707.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638762688328-S65SFNONQ4LYYCX7BG9I/20210216_164008.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638762705512-UKYX6P7E1UW7HMYBFPR6/20210216_164242.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638762719988-1FRTK714I9EE64T00LDF/20210216_164933.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638762737158-OMJ6K5QC2MJIV21JNROM/20210217_163850.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638762922524-N5XHVBJVXCCD2ILW4SL8/20210217_173532.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638763048399-DZ5GSR8MMP83LC1ZJN7Y/20210217_173655.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638763638415-XC2DN6113ODGNGRDPAUK/20210218_094024.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638763175693-N0B29VT7TU72QH2CUOWB/20210218_095755.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638763187730-9UHCTBONR46PUL9I6AVO/20210218_112430.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638763201064-IGVF2Q700TS3N74QQJSE/20210218_113715.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/88fa5c8d-0f7d-425c-b2ff-ea1a8823feff/20210218_112359.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - Then I came to this step in the instructions… Not sure why it’s there. I guess it helps everything settle before completing the dress. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/cf049bd5-d954-4222-b925-4ae791094aa1/20210218_115927.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - This was as far as I got in February. There’s pins in the sleeves and the neckline. I don’t think I hemmed it and clearly the waist needs work. Now that we’ve caught up to the present I’ll go ahead and show the project in it’s finished form. Ten points for that cringey pose though. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/360e6afa-446f-4fd5-a2f3-1364c289e064/IMG_20211217_124345.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - At this point all that I had left to do was sew the sleeves on hem those, hem the skirt and that was that. The skirt turned out to be a lot bigger than I remembered it was. It’s a very full skirted dress to say the least. Which means there is A LOT of hem to sew. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/7a40a953-affe-4f7f-883d-a3e46fd7005a/IMG_20211217_123453.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress - I used literally every single pin in my pin cushion to double fold the hem in. Once I’d finished sewing that the dress was done! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1641615686701-5IOKFQHFB02BDCVFJ3IW/IMG_20220107_113333.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1641615685685-8WPZHW3LC7G0BHIHWE38/IMG_20220107_113114.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1641615710235-WQFGEC7XN9R2N9WVZQDE/IMG_20220107_123851.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1641615900468-66DRJUGC5DPQB8BSDEMR/IMG_20220107_124410.jpg Dust After Rain - A Semi-Historically Accurate 1950’s Inspired Swing Dress https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/curtain-alterations monthly 0.5 2022-01-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/219a7dca-3f62-470b-a335-68906954383b/20211028_112120.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations - I present the first set of curtains I was planning on deconstructing. This one was pretty simple. I had two of these curtains which I was going to cut in half (this is one curtain folded in half so I know where to cut). The two curtains would then become four narrower curtains which would serve as window display elements. Regrettably, I deemed the cutting and hemming process unnecessary to this part of this particular project so I didn’t take any pictures. Also, right after I cut the curtains semi-perfectly in half I came down with a really nasty sickness that knocked me out for a few days. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/39c53f97-bb59-4b64-9410-a8bff0aac81a/20211028_120001.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations - The second part, or rather second project was these curtains. This was destined to turn into a skirt for some stairs (don’t worry about puzzling out what that will look like, there’s a picture at the end, just enjoy reading the process). I had two pretty normal sized curtains that I cut into strips that were roughly two of my floor boards wide. You can see here I used a revolutionary fabric marking tool known as a sharpie to make a connect-the-dots on the material. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638746600633-LUWZFZR1U03X89OX1YQL/IMG_20211122_145916.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638745517604-1W98KOIMH9EYZPTWTQ6O/20211028_134015.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638745515708-HU75SSGDL3EZRZFOAVOI/20211028_142326.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638745519728-JOW1LCCQGTJ8ZQS3GJRR/20211028_142343_001.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638746201101-PV59WXSAC0FGLZPR35O3/IMG_20211124_160220.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638746198059-7F6XLKH0E8PXTWMQEOAF/IMG_20211124_160227.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638746203869-1M5PYO8TFA83PKY7AO2G/IMG_20211125_124556.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/94ce72e2-d0ef-4269-9476-0dfcf49c8331/-6778646375383844112.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations - For the hanging of the curtains, you ‘ll want to get a good idea of what the finished product will look like. Use one hand to hold the accent piece, your second hand to hold one side of the curtain, and your third hand to hold the other curtain. Once we were satisfied with the look we nailed all of the points of contact to the wall so they will never come undone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638749111555-LA2T60Q3RE03UWKUL9RK/IMG_20211122_220354.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638747800642-HDJRNPG7OP9CCV6PLLS4/IMG_20211122_220431.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/d8b466cb-9e12-4420-ad90-01bbc9d4ebce/IMG_20211122_220406.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/85705434-2337-4079-8def-368551bdf372/IMG_20211212_132528.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations - We’ve all decided that the stairs look absolutely stunning with this skirt on and bring the whole room together! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/160bf2b3-4646-4c0c-afcb-09351554f61a/IMG_20211122_220506.jpg Dust After Rain - Curtain Alterations - The studio looks so warm and inviting from the outside! https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/a-summer-of-boats monthly 0.5 2021-12-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/e14419f8-5fc1-4410-93b0-f7be0fa64895/IMG_20211104_132514.jpg Dust After Rain - A Summer of Boats - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638911808861-XDJV70KH7FNAJF0OM39G/241965493_385844192910341_8650139956822522971_n.jpg Dust After Rain - A Summer of Boats https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638911809562-X8PAN9FD9GHHXSD4Z6S7/241988405_392706695643213_6083134911620078012_n.jpg Dust After Rain - A Summer of Boats https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638911808729-CWUCOAJ0JU36ZKT8NV4P/241880945_614549549915972_4973188456810348379_n.jpg Dust After Rain - A Summer of Boats https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1638911809295-SSSNOSDP5IFFNJ57TWX3/241979595_218157707031768_7366897448973525109_n.jpg Dust After Rain - A Summer of Boats https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/ebb190da-691f-4e4a-b207-8f1c7f9d56a8/75397.jpeg Dust After Rain - A Summer of Boats - The best part is, that one special night I got the privilege of driving it. Not for too long, but long enough for me to become even more obsessed with her. The boat is massive, weighing 21 tons, and yet turns on a dime and simply flies through the water with the wind in her sails. Yeah, I’m a little obsessed with Sizzler. I could go on for paragraph after paragraph, but there’s other stuff to write about. For now just look at my smile and know this boat is something else. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/my-first-captaining-experience-feat-marriage-proposal monthly 0.5 2021-10-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635698889109-TLWJ8GC7QZJKF6Y5LT9C/20211023_164701.jpg Dust After Rain - My First Captaining Experience (feat. Marriage Proposal) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/making-a-steampunk-costume-in-a-day monthly 0.5 2021-10-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635018805325-LHKUGFUV7PO0X4BOSCV4/20211012_141728.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - Instead, I cut out some skirt panels for a bustle skirt back. Then, I decided I needed to reevaluate my picture taking skills, but this is the only picture I have of the skirt panels so it has to be here. Anyhow, I for some reason put these two skirt panels on top of each other because… Oh right I cut the bottom one into two pieces so that I could sew all three of them on top of each other to create a waterfall, 3-D, cascade, I don’t know what it’s called effect down the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635021449380-71JXDV2V2F29NGBF8U9Y/20211012_145625.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - Once I was finally done with all of the panels, I set my machine up to gather the top edges of the panels. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635022109429-WQ7C0305GD0G9H0WUZGP/Bustle+skirt+inspo.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - The idea is to have something that looks like this. In the back at least. In my research I determined that steampunk is a cross between Victorian fashion, goth, and machines (gears specifically - which for some reason makes me think of a train). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635022832866-ENHFUYP19DGX6EB8FY8R/20211012_145956.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - Like this You may notice that you can actually see my gather threads. I do this on purpose, because I want to be able to see them when I need to pull them out. That’s right those puppies are temporary. Their only purpose to give the fabric that wavy shape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635022537677-F71H2BWULC8ZIB3VZ3OU/20211012_152313.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - Now that I think of it this may have been when I mutilated the pillow case. This is just two strips of fabric the length of the bottom most layer of the skirt. I also had to trim that panel down before attaching the extensions, because I cannot cut a straight line to save my life. After all the trimming, I spliced everything back together so it made some sort of sense. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635023756891-VAJ6QMZMQKPF8E90FPQJ/20211013_110854.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I went on a nearly unsuccessful mission to Walmart, and, after finally finding lighters in the candle aisle, I returned to my house and burned my thumb. On the plus side, I will never start smoking because I can’t work those kind of lighters well at all. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635026484641-3I64KILQWCLZZ434YRWK/20211014_095506.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - Not really sure what I did with this piece, but I should have gathered the entire thing. But there’s no time for mistakes so I just have to work with what I gave myself. This is the bottom layer. The building block if you will. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635026637816-ZZ7XE5412VUPNXIF8728/20211014_100510.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I then gathered all of them so that they were the same size, pinned all the pieces together and… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635026727358-OKNU4NWJ4Q404IHOPG08/20211014_101501.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - Sewed right down the middle of the silk road. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635027748033-QWWB2KNTTOFA4YDKFK2G/20211015_093817.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - Fun fact first though: if you act like you work at Walmart, even though you clearly don’t, no one will bat an eye. I went to the fabric counter and pushed the assistance needed button, waited 15 minutes, no one showed up, and I ended up cutting all my fabric myself. This, by the way, is why I prefer thrift store fabric. Sure it may not be much or enough but it’s all pre-cut and way cheaper than stuff from the fabric store. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635028284719-Z2C8LGKESPP9LIXA06EP/20211015_105952.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635028145456-YGGGEO9E1SLLK09G53LD/20211015_110127.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635028026083-IPPRMC8SSDPIVGZ9TEE4/20211015_123948.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635028102370-YCQ1KSOVDLYFR5T23Q1I/20211015_132304.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635028617589-08L1X2UNR17EMXOIL8LE/20211015_134827.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I then got over my qualms, pinned the back seam flat and sewed on top of it. This served the purpose of… I’m not really sure what that accomplished, but it something I’m sure. Structural integrity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635028711666-JS2PBQCYVL0IHBBKD030/20211015_141018.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I used zip ties for boning. I measured, marked, and labeled the zip ties where I wanted them to go. I mess that up a few times and I don’t know if this was a picture I took when everything was lined up right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635028933218-G7FBS77G3ZYQHL2SL5JA/20211015_151604.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - One side done and the about to be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635029037978-WTQFAWIV1KU2VTW6OCPU/20211015_164155.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I cut some strips to seal of the ends of corset. Since I wanted this to be a front lace corset, that provided extra structure for the eyelets to sit in (or it would have). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635029356338-E5GG3CX3P3GU8COKFDKA/20211015_211652.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - To bring the two slightly different fabric colors together and make it look like I did that on purpose, I put a ruffle from the lighter color fabric on the bustle skirt. Then I put some gathered lace on the one above it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635030134831-1KW5GPOBRW6Y4ZD05BTG/20211015_225409.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - The hem line of my skirt was super wonky and uneven so spread it out on the floor and chopped off what I thought looked like a good hemline. Of course, that meant I had to re-burn those edges. Just know I spent a lot of time burning edges I’d already burned and had to trim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635030510519-9GZ85IYKGBJAJGSIBZJ7/20211015_231657.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I added a waist band in order to have something to keep the skirt on with https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635030611890-EDVROEBSYNGGWTVSHRDT/20211015_234818.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I glued some gears on to make it look like the skirt was fastened closed with buttons rather than hopes and dreams. Yep, I was so tired I didn’t actually put any way for this skirt to stay on. But that’s where the corset comes in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635030754526-U01IDOI78HQP1N46SGQ0/20211016_000503.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day - I hot glued some cool gears and stuff on the corset. Unfortunately, hot glue and that fabric did not get along and all of that stuff fell off before the dance. That’s what I wanted it to look like in any case. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635031308212-MH51BJ1LSRQT55ON3GRV/Snapchat-721699344.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635031321799-88RYPRX5M23SN6JDCU9N/Snapchat-649957629.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1635031327448-8YH563OS4XGP4N0CFPEH/Snapchat-2118875913.jpg Dust After Rain - Making a Steampunk Costume in a Day https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/flower-skirt-reformation monthly 0.5 2021-10-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1634069655552-IGD0QTD09ADNNYON65DM/20211012_100702.jpg Dust After Rain - Flower Skirt Reformation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1634068597358-C52YEQPRI3MFUZF7ILQE/20211012_102742.jpg Dust After Rain - Flower Skirt Reformation - Since I completely altered the aforementioned dress, I don’t have any pictures of what the original looked like (I mean I did but technology conspired against me to do away with them). Nevertheless, I this doodle mostly represents what the dress looked like (as modeled by a plant) before I chopped it apart. Oh and I did have a video of that process, which didn’t get deleted, but in my hour of distress I deemed it necessary to delete that as well. On purpose this time. It’s like when you have no control over everything happening and thus have to take control over what you can. So yeah, that’s gone forever too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1634068836138-35SPDZGF0WETI97SJQTQ/20211012_095231.jpg Dust After Rain - Flower Skirt Reformation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1634069101802-MWLMCYWP193ILWXK4FZX/20211012_095427.jpg Dust After Rain - Flower Skirt Reformation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1634069140385-TQG3YJ16VPA1MFPOUWC8/20211012_095622.jpg Dust After Rain - Flower Skirt Reformation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1634069407932-EIY3B7R9TTM6TI9MLSTP/20211012_095721.jpg Dust After Rain - Flower Skirt Reformation - There’s a good detail picture of what the skirt looked like. Fun fact: the back of the dress is the front of the skirt and the front is the back. But you probably already figured that out after looking at my artistic recreation. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/the-golden-picture-frame monthly 0.5 2021-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1630291768366-0VD7CY2J7LPRPEFZSFTI/20210513_122159.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - If you’re wondering what a fancy picture frame with jewelry (it seriously took me five tries to spell that and I still had to let auto-correct take over) hanging off it and a cat bed have in common, you’ll probably want to continue on reading to the part where I’ll reveal that This project is embarrassingly old. I started this post about three months ago and then my computer froze and deleted everything I’d written and I just decided to give up and try for another day. Now that day has arrived. Mainly only because I’m procrastinating doing payroll and mainly because a friend told me I should make dresses and sell them because of the wedding dress I made, which then reminded me I actually had a blog and also reminded me that I should probably write something on it before it became and archaic ruin filled with cobwebs and dust and irrelevant information that no one will ever read. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1630295446672-HA4S5NFK75WT50UA9LTC/20210419_193351.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - First, I needed a frame. So I went to one of my favorite places, a thrift store and found this one for $6. My goal was to find something really not too nice looking so I could cover it in spray paint or make it look better. Actually, I really wanted to find a nice wooden frame that I wouldn’t have to do anything with. The chances of that happening, though were lower than being struck by lightning, surviving and then getting struck again on the same date at the same time in the same place exactly a year later and surviving again to then be bit by a mosquito and die two days later. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1630295966670-T5ED5BYL1U4YTKBU27Q0/posters-vintage-gold-frame-isolated-on-white.jpg.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - My goal was something similar to this. I’m sure you can see why I thought I’d have at least a chance. After all, how hard can it be to recreate some leafy edges and decorative swirls? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632845137015-LWJHLA5OM7CZ4UY2C15V/20210419_194814.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632845136772-GSNRO6GJKES7S6S8JGMV/20210419_195348.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632845358234-X108PPZ894PCBXEYAMS8/20210422_095112.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Draw a tangled mess of swirls around the edge. This will be the template for where the hot glue will go. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632846032857-ZIRNQMM6P7BEBM5JC7DA/20210422_100304.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Realize that hot glue is not that precise. Throw out the design that took a painstakingly long time to make look prefect and free hand the hot glue wherever you please (which turns into wherever it decides to go. Really there’s not too much control that can be achieved.) That’ll turn out something like this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632846207649-2C64QRH5LPP857OTWSA3/20210422_102351.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” If (unlike me) you don’t have a naturally occurring supply of cobwebs prevalent in your house or you need quick Halloween decoration, the hot glue strings left over from this work exceptionally. I had a lot more than that little bit but it managed to camouflage itself with the real spiderwebs so well that I wasn’t able to find it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632847025266-B9RN46CC4A08X1BQSMSF/20210422_102601.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Anyway, the final product looked mildly atrocious, but at the same time kind of interesting. Interesting enough that I almost felt bad that I was going to cover up all that raw talent with spray paint. Almost. But for the sake of the project it had to be done. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632850783994-1BU77B7SW9YQ1D7DGW0E/20210422_131549.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632850781939-ELIKRSCKZX9YKC3ES118/20210422_131715.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632850786419-VYKMO7HJ60VWIBM795E5/20210422_131943.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632852368670-CRV05OO8PYE0NXHFEVKJ/20210428_091306.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Needless to say, I came inside, admired my golden hand, and proceeded to completely forget about my picture frame outside. About a half hour later, there was a knock on my front door. I answered to my landlord and his two and a half year old daughter. “Is this yours?” he asked holding out the picture frame. “Yes, it is.” “She just showed up carrying it around,” he said indicating his daughter. “It’s a cat bed!!” she said with a toddler’s jump of excitement. I thanked them for returning my cat bed, because I can’t think of it as anything else now. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632950828121-8F38U7K4UBA1UONKRZF4/20210430_132408.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Oh wait… I decided the inside of the frame wasn’t big enough to hold all that I wanted it to. So I ripped (very literally) the inner frame out of the outer frame (it was barely held on) and made some videos of me trying to pull the staples out. Which, by the way was super easy, the four I did before I started filming were a breeze. The remaining seemed to get a bit of stage fright at their big moment and wouldn’t budge. But, hey can you blame them? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632951305341-8E03M6LB3CAXL638ET14/20210430_181302.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Procure some cork board. If you can’t find the exact size you are looking for, or didn’t remember to check what size you’re looking for) go for slightly bigger and trim down. Take the inner frame that you mercilessly ripped from where it was so nicely nestled within it’s larger counterpart, and trace that onto the cork-board. This will ensure a perfect fit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632951796914-QC1EK408E1L9NAJ4R0ZH/20210430_181426.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - I used pencil for mine, which is why it doesn’t show up in the picture. Cork board is made up of a thin layer of cork laid on top of a piece of particle board. To cut through this along the lines you drew, all you need is a box cutter. Find a nice level surface such as a kitchen countertop and hang the soon to be unattached edge of cork board over it. Then, extend the box cutter and cut as close as possible to that line you drew. Many times. After cutting most of the way through you can flip the board over, score the other side along the line, and snap the piece off. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1632952521583-N4LEYKMV0PSK9C9U2Z70/20210513_111824.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Cut the fabric to around a half size bigger than the board. Straight lines are precision cutting are not essential at this point. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633031764084-ST1D2854F2XMIWEZ7QCQ/20210513_112230.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Wrap the fabric over the edge of the cork board like a blanket that, no matter how much it gets rearranged, is too small to cover every inch in warmth. Once that’s pulled tight, stab all the edges with as many staples as are necessary to secure it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633111681787-7U78T3LGGBC9EJGVDPDU/20210513_112358.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - It’ll look something like this. Oh and for the corners I did a couple extra staples just to hold the slightly more fabric present there. As for how that corner seam was achieved, just fold and tuck and fold and staple. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633114189197-2BTOUBLDACA117SRLQ1H/20210513_112729.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - Nestle the fabric enveloped piece of board snugly inside the frame. From there spend some time debating how exactly you’re going to keep it inside the frame. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633114573316-37I7ALLG56YR7TZN6NR1/20210513_113313.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - It turns out that the duck tape was a necessity after all. I taped the perimeter and then stapled around the edges on the cork board as the tape just would not stick. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633115871398-EY7EQBL5LEM0EI8PRMBY/20210513_113627.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - And… you can now breathe a sigh of relief as the front is far, far less atrocious than the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633125682805-ILGMN5VTA22N1XNA8BDH/20210513_114242.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633125682512-WHFER1D3CC6Z3MAP4Y3A/20210513_114540.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633125685399-656I8YEB6UO4TAQYCCZ8/20210513_114809.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1633127068996-W7Y8GJFG5U4FSZBXU8XP/20210513_122159.jpg Dust After Rain - “It’s a Cat Bed” - As I said, small collection, but there’s room to grow it a little. Plus it looks really amazing on the wall. I only say that because the entire picture frame dove off the wall and into a fan at 2 am the other morning. It looked like a bomb went off in a jewelry store. There was glitter everywhere. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/the-sad-case-of-the-pillows monthly 0.5 2021-05-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1622163652356-BL3EAC4OLKQLY96YBJMR/20210527_155539.jpg Dust After Rain - The Sad Case of the Pillows - I was going to write a different post on one of the other projects I’m working on, but found myself entirely uninspired by the complete lack of excitement of those pillows. Plus they’ve always kind of seemed a bit dirty to me and I can’t wash them. Something had to be done before anything else could happen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1622163998757-B2PQGC2Q122ZVJHVGX7A/20210527_160335.jpg Dust After Rain - The Sad Case of the Pillows - These were the fabrics I decided on: Yes, the one is a dress, but I didn’t end up using it because that was more involved than I wanted to be in this project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1622164135349-TKFU5UDHT3E9ZL0YZSDX/20210527_160425.jpg Dust After Rain - The Sad Case of the Pillows https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1622164391889-DCPPSW466Z29XAQ0QFS4/20210527_161845.jpg Dust After Rain - The Sad Case of the Pillows https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1622164131955-K6ONJY1M6UAYWIET7J60/20210527_161109.jpg Dust After Rain - The Sad Case of the Pillows https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1622164362504-YIASYCBPHC0L5UZ9SAV2/20210527_172202.jpg Dust After Rain - The Sad Case of the Pillows - Make it stand out Just like that, it’s a completely transformed space… sort of. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/a-not-wedding-wedding-dress monthly 0.5 2021-05-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526227260-SP43DMLROMCT2VXLVSEX/20201030_141339.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress - Now, you’ll notice I mentioned curtains. You’ll also notice the words “that my grandma gave me.” This may give you the idea that the material I was working with was very, very old, and very dirty. I will let you interpret that however you desire. Notice the two layers of fabric that they’re composed of. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620525904617-FXTTFU25HIKV7NZ8KNYK/20201030_142003.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress - Since the curtains were some of the grossest material I’d ever had the misfortune to decide to work with, I ripped out all the seams and threw them in the wash for a good long time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526065668-0EAXIP99CTX4ZYJMJ3KM/20201030_151141.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress - Then they came out like this and I was fairly certain I’d ruined them because they were so old and I thought they might have just shredded. Amazingly, they were just a little frayed and tangled which a quick cycle in the dryer mostly solved. It also sort of made it worse. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526529492-QSN10JYMYY14SKXFZJZP/20210425_182144.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress There was a wedding dress! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620527223561-YGRQ9MLU7O8VPVD3SL50/20210427_183940.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress - The final project turned out nothing like the original design sketch that I made. At least I had enough forethought to try and design it before just cutting up my fabric with little to no vision. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620527303297-TDTEDEC6GNVNG2LF45V2/20210424_191553.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620527313739-Y1E6KZBNAXAQKT08KSPS/20210425_182827.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620527315004-D0EXQ83AV9IMYJWQE8PJ/20210425_182852.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526732196-ACNDO6NYQIY7Q0ND3FY0/20210425_181833.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526731296-Y641N1TBQYZUN80C55UE/20210425_181947.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526765459-KFVTRTPW4FKDY8TU5LO1/20210425_182359.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526772376-LH7WGVKT707MT9KG597S/20210425_182733.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526821026-5W6I5JVYTH630MO2EIA5/20210425_182324.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1620526984870-S1NZQO0SIQJDKWL989UR/20210425_183020.jpg Dust After Rain - A Not Wedding Wedding Dress https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/the-un-bleaching-project monthly 0.5 2021-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1614987355825-P6EOTTY46CTTL2SZGHR5/20210305_142151.jpg Dust After Rain - The Un-Bleaching Project - But what about those times when you unintentionally bleach something. Black pants for instance. At first I thought it was just some dirt or dust that I’d knelt in, but then I remembered the shower cleaner. The shower cleaner to remove the mold in the shower. The shower cleaner that had the word bleach in the title. That was the culprit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1615051876429-L6NVXTE2RWGTMXSQY80S/20210305_142858.jpg Dust After Rain - The Un-Bleaching Project - First I colored in all the light spots with marker. That didn’t look amazing so I employed some sure fire stain setting techniques. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1615052078323-6Z0EBVBR55VZ1XNEBMED/20210305_143454.jpg Dust After Rain - The Un-Bleaching Project - Rinse whatever you don’t want the stain to come out of in hot water Don’t wash it with laundry soap Just whatever you would do the get a stain out, do the opposite of that https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1615052698038-DGWK5HMJAFCZ7GVAP2MU/64329.jpg Dust After Rain - The Un-Bleaching Project - Basically just be astonished at how well this actually worked. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/vehicular-purchasing-adventure monthly 0.5 2021-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1611955710029-NKFZ3VJRXPP4ZL2WGWZI/20210119_163955.jpg Dust After Rain - Vehicular Purchasing Adventure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1611955855118-SW10VOGLDVHBZ7D4QQ15/20210119_152644.jpg Dust After Rain - Vehicular Purchasing Adventure - First of all I held more money in my hands than I have ever held in my entire life. My Entire Life. Of course, I had to take an aesthetically beautiful picture of the experience. Only after I took the picture did I notice how incredibly good my nails look (before you go thinking I’m patting myself on the back for doing a good job painting them, I am not. My roommate did them for me and I’m just being appreciative of how AMAZING they turned out). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1611956340192-DETMHNW0KNXP0IY7JDUP/20210129_132021.jpg Dust After Rain - Vehicular Purchasing Adventure - Just like that all that money turned into a car and I drove off into the sunset. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1611956480122-CNDJ5KSO0EBYR04LSRGF/20210129_132036.jpg Dust After Rain - Vehicular Purchasing Adventure I should mention my last car had a chicken sticker on the back that one of my friends got me as a graduation present. For the three years that I owned that car it was a very defining feature, and that car was green. Now I have a black car (very generic) so I needed something that would make it stand out, plus I really liked that chicken sticker. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/i-dont-even-know-what-to-say monthly 0.5 2021-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609816006926-OXDB0BQ281WTD1IX3QX2/20210104_152946.jpg Dust After Rain - In the Words of My Sister, “I don’t even know what to say…” Ideally the top would not be broken off like that. At least I’m pretty sure that’s not the intended way of things. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609816407113-3N6FSZETOR871IP9GXVA/20210104_152955.jpg Dust After Rain - In the Words of My Sister, “I don’t even know what to say…” - As you can sort of see here, there was really a good deal of the stuff left. In addition, there was the added bonus of some dirt and mud worked into the seams. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609816548431-WO8BG0OCPS6BJRGV7X67/20210104_153050.jpg Dust After Rain - In the Words of My Sister, “I don’t even know what to say…” Naturally, I put some on, took a nice picture, and then made a video about it. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/how-to-water-a-plant monthly 0.5 2021-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609807914740-GLA49J3Q2EA7ABQDFA4B/1.jpg Dust After Rain - In Case You Were Curious… How to Water a Plant… The Right Way - Check outside to see if it’s raining. If not wait until it starts raining to proceed to the next step. As you can clearly not tell from this picture, it is semi-torrentially down-pouring outside, and has been for days. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609808161344-SLLAH6HF2X71XZCRXQCG/2.jpg Dust After Rain - In Case You Were Curious… How to Water a Plant… The Right Way - Select your watering container of choice. Ideally you’d have a watering can or a jar or in this case (all I have lying around) a two cup measuring cup. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609808565314-Z7AQGWICVRP3RVWEC2ZV/3.jpg Dust After Rain - In Case You Were Curious… How to Water a Plant… The Right Way - Find a good steady drip coming off the roof and hold whatever you’ve decided to catch the water in underneath it. This is best done in full view of the neighbors. I’m sure the people who live in this house think that I’m insane because of some of the stuff they’ve undoubtedly seen me do. This, however, is a good thing. One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to do something embarrassing every day. Standing outside on my deck with a measuring cup upheld beneath the roof drip off seemed like a good way to go today. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609809234643-O8XUZD4COBLR4XC1CBU5/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - In Case You Were Curious… How to Water a Plant… The Right Way - Once you’ve got your desired amount of water, your arm is getting sore from holding the container in the air, or your hand is too cold to continue any longer, you can come back inside. I think I got a cup and a half; more or less. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1609809511324-8BCMM0LMI0KCKFNEU3FJ/5.jpg Dust After Rain - In Case You Were Curious… How to Water a Plant… The Right Way - Divide the water over which so ever plants are in need of water. Repeat this process until all of your plants are sufficiently hydrated. Then get a drink yourself (probably not of rain water, but water nonetheless, your hydration is equally important to that of your plants). https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/plants monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608511966603-PKOEO4Q8QH2NIH5OUVG4/Cass.jpg Dust After Rain - Plants - Cassandra the Aloe Vera https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608512121791-LB3DHRRWN08I16YA33AG/Luce.jpg Dust After Rain - Plants She joins my only other plant, Lucy the (well I don’t know what kind of plant Lucy is. She’s a very long, hard to pronounce, Latin sounding variety of plant). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608667345153-KSRQ9U9GO92H52XZJ1OV/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - Plants - At some point I want to have this window sill full of succulents. All of which I won’t let die https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/i-transformed-a-rock-into-a-paddle-board monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608513432620-MVMYKJWVS84MQKVYNQ8S/Phase+1.jpg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608513433520-X5SR2WAX635XWB0ANE4Z/Phase+2.jpg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608513435640-A8VT4BF1CE5OUXQ769AS/Phase+3.jpg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608513606249-WUQZP83YCFQNFUG310L3/Phase+5+-+the+aftermath.jpg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) - If you can get to this point in a painting project and your hands do not looks something like this, props to you, maybe I’m just a mess. Actually, most painters’ hands looks like this, or more so, so I’d say I’m on the right track (minus the smiley face, of course. I drew that on with one of my pens that broke). Let us also at this time take a quick moment to acknowledge my painter’s palette. It’s literally just a scrap of brown paper bag on top of a notebook. Oh, and I mixed my paint with the head of a pin. Ingenuity is everything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608514182778-4FIAN4745091VVXYZ5N5/Phase+6.jpg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) - That served to give the rock some dimension as that part on a paddle board is generally foam (I did try to find some foam around my room but with no such luck). I glued the paper on with a regular glue stick and at last thought that I was done. But it still wasn’t as cool as I wanted it to be. So I was forced to add more details https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608514263597-NIIHG2JA06S5PSAW0EEK/Phase+7.jpg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) - I used some thick black thread and some hot glue to make the criss-crossy elastic thing that most paddleboards have on them. I cut a small rectangular strip of paper and painted that grey with white squiggles on it (for writing but I couldn't write nearly that small and precisely with a paintbrush. That I glued on with hot glue in an attempt to make it pop up more like the handle actually would. As a last touch I added a small ring of orange at the back around the valve and an interpretative shape at the tip as a logo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608514322096-YSIW4VB2ULA7IPR2AJZW/Phase+8.jpg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608514324092-HR54DPDJ3ZL4581Z8IVL/45386.jpeg Dust After Rain - I Transformed a Rock into a Paddle-board (sort of) https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/how-to-make-a-belt-in-a-cinch monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608515562785-B7G8EN3XIS4DBC2LOXII/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - How to Make a Belt in a Cinch - I used two safety pins. One larger one for the middle and one to go on the inside of the “belt” for the other floppy end. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608515649033-EJA9HBLU0Z24LYNGTJN0/Close+up.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make a Belt in a Cinch Something like that https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608515727769-7ERUTWG8180UT3GBTQ1Q/Ta+da.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make a Belt in a Cinch As a kid, did you ever have those belts that had those super confusing clips on them that had to be threaded a certain way in order to clasp, but they were made of an elastic band? That's what this reminded me of. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/revamped-shirt monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520026389-M1QXUXE27PPCWVBGC5KL/1.+ghost.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520041941-30SPK6H4OE1S97UOL2TE/2.+blank.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520195867-MV4C9JRA25SWV3YHI9JC/1.+OG+sketches.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - front/back Now that that's out of the way... I started with a few design sketches (which as you will see meant literally nothing and were pretty much an entire waste of my time). This was basically what I was aiming towards (more or less). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520228469-SROO0COU39KG2YMK9X1Y/2.+tank+1.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520229831-URK8TC004FGC9S6VSN5N/2.+tank+2.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520495409-W22R55WAC5CXHOXBLYKM/2.+de-button.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520493710-G6HHVJOYZFW2RYRVYIS4/2.+the+buttons.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520578825-VAVMX8WOHQ2RCK4H2QIA/1.+boil.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - First, the fabric gets boiled in a vinegar water concoction for an hour or so maybe. It looks yummy enough right? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520643958-UXMBKACOP8O7U9O2JN7Z/Inked2.+Update+resume+while+the+thing+poisonously+boils+away+on+the+stove_LI.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - While that's boiling poisonously away on the stove you can work on other project. I chose to update my resume (which also turned out to be a waste of time as I ended up scrapping that design and completely redoing it about a week later). Sorry for the redacted information, but I can’t have you knowing everything about me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520767807-K0G3SX74ETS8CVC1NOWG/3.+Turmeric.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520769403-GY0Y9N5NZT3H3MNBD6IB/4.+Turmeric+boiling.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520822055-7SKFWNYPQRWKB4EP4IHK/5.+Mixed.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - Once that seems boily enough to suit you, dump it into the first pot that has the shirt in it. Making sure that the vinegar water mixture was dumped out and it's just the shirt left in there. Maybe you rinse out the shirt too. That sounds right. Dump the water/vinegar, rinse the shirt, put back in the pot, douse in the turmeric tea. I do think the liquid is technically supposed to cover the fabric but it floats so I just kept dunking it back in. Then I think the pot gets covered and boiled for some more time and then... https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520975642-6O9JQW9W6BPN6LE6LU75/6.+Straight+outta+the+pot+.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520976255-0NC2JPP32AAV9JF84HJZ/6.+Straight+outta+the+pot+2.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608520978262-YSDNC9B1N6Z38A8671D7/7.+the+wrinkled+mess.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608521076703-8FRJ2YNKADEJYQBEL29S/3.+pinned.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - Then I tried the whole thing on a fiddled around with how I wanted it to look. Even at this point I strayed far far from those first sketches. This was the look I wanted (then), I pinned it up, took it off, and shoved it in my sewing bag to work on the next day… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608521354988-V4GR0E1PB6316G9439X5/4.+ripped+collar.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - I began this by completely removing the collar flap (I had always intended on that bit at least). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608521423502-FCYP15587YHJYJY6KHIS/4.+the+collar.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - This piece I saved for later https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608521520976-RZX2GTCJ9I1HHRTHVQZ6/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - Once that was out of the way I went on to these strange little slits at the two side seams. I don't know what their deal was but they were not doing the original shirt any favors (then again, what was?). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608521631447-6BYPA5R4V27VSD3W2C4H/6.+flapity+flap.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608521631382-ZL0RH48ODOVFV19JF8Q3/7.+clipping.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608521765034-GZ84OZYXDUU6KIKS1UBL/8.+pressing.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - With the flaps out of the way I ironed the shirt out *finally. I should mention that in the three months of not working on this shirt I invested in an iron and ironing board. While I didn’t do it directly for this project I did have it in mind When I first purchased it. It’s not all too apparent, but ironing made a HUGE difference. Huge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522051245-PC6DZVVRTYTRRN52TTS9/9.+sew+to+the+pin.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522052598-QOF7K0N1VL1NB6Z8EZKK/10.+wide+seam.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522054377-7SK3HUDN8QHTY6DZEHSM/11.+wider+than+holes.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522055381-JQM6X7TR8B2RJ9VHLN2Z/12.+press+open.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522283637-EXRVJZP8FB20F26G73D9/13.+stitch+and+trim.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522284008-LL99DME7GQREG9H789A1/14.+press+open.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522355297-ZEGHT0E4J2W5O0750X9W/15.+rolled+hem+1.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522357416-OX4RZXVPDJUN6KIHKODQ/15.+rolled+hem+2.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522359351-C7C2GMMMTRDNLSZNONCH/15.+rolled+hem+3.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522361029-CA2TPULWX4D5YLINWALB/16.+sew+the+hem.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522535459-KHELK3PQNZH9L82PASGH/17.+collar+fabric.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522535417-2Q8JAYY3X7HM4HL1HNNB/17.+strips.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522539185-1D28VR1PP6145GH9PL9P/18.+bias+tape+1.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522539618-8J3PYX54R7BH90VZQ84R/18.+bias+tape+2.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522543232-7KD8P4I7O7DNTUHUXJW9/18.+bias+tape+3.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608522545275-6TGV1R2XR0IGSLJ9IPRN/18.+bias+tape+4.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523324818-YUASZO7X5YDJ4SOVBNP4/19.+sleeve+chop+1.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523325460-8EZ91U1PY27W27OQCL7U/19.+sleeve+chop+2.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523326519-3H4SBAKTVDHLAGNX5RBZ/19.+sleeve+chop+3.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523441240-S5FMJU1FQUREIJ45ZZ1O/20.+stain.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - A very obnoxious, very noticeable blue dot on the back of the sleeve. It is on the back though so I'll never see it while I'm wearing the shirt, but it sure irritated me while I was making it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523566292-2Y09B8WYEBGIQEWU5C9B/21.+baby+seam.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523565447-2PUMABOIS02DNH0R8Z8S/21.+baby+v+seam.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523567144-P6WIX48N3CB6LUBXGD5M/21.+v+seam.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523634998-USI0SEINRHZ7IFOSOMC6/22.+try+on.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - Next, I pinned the bias tape to the neck. Rather I started to and then realized I should probably try it on to make sure it would actually fit over my head. I highly recommend doing this with projects. Even if it means getting stabbed in the head by twenty pins in the process. No one ever said sewing was safe or pain free. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523722475-P06VG2319SNY8RXXQGI6/23.+mirror+mirror.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - It's inside out but still exactly how I imagined it would look https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523844702-THVENJUK7HI9G7JXCO12/24.+taped+collar.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523844932-72R0GTBQNEAZMJH7MNY6/25.+stitch+tape.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524117398-VDJ98BCR6N1SQ7AWKXUI/26.%2Bmake%2Bsure%2Bit%2Bstill%2Bfits.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608523997703-W53RMWOPHYNSSOVVZJZH/27.+sleeve+hem.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - I used the same narrow rolled hem around the sleeves as I did around the bottom of the shirt. With one small adjustment to my sewing machine. You'll note this is resting on my cribbage board, this is because the box is not sturdy enough to support the sewing machine with the detachable piece removed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524182858-KFYNU6QZF1OQEW5BNNQ1/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - I could have left it here. However, I was not entirely impressed with how bleh the sleeves were, they definitely needed jazzed up a bit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524276135-0MI5WVVODA4IZSCSPYON/29.+measurement.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524276581-E7MQ1FRNDWY82HBNRRWG/30.+stich+1.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524278052-H5TURXTZ4DEMPH3BLB1Y/30.+stitch+2.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524279568-7MLBZWWTFU8RKV8E2UBB/31.+fold.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524280936-ZYIH1DNHAZZF0Z88DVCQ/31.+stitch.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524388642-JO4D4YJ5JG2RZRK5EV4Y/32.+impressed.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - I'm actually really impressed that worked cause I've never done anything like it before. As you can tell from the look on my face I’m sure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524517131-7ZYA5MH52JI0I74TDSWM/33.+all+doen.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524516651-1K5HQRU8UAREYM96AYI6/33.+all+done.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524650263-LJ8Q640UVE4XHQVBXPOF/20201206_134815.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524657380-CM1BGW9XLFHV0YQOIX4A/20201206_135035.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524667025-U848HD0CCBOA1AORRNM0/20201206_134813.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524703947-9Q5A47RB06A0CY2TLQNE/20201206_135254.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524704833-C3NV7X71O4O0V3CXYQKZ/20201206_135404.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608524714793-G6DU5Q6L799VZODV386G/20201206_135631.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608525333631-5M4J9XN9Y2G99L4JC1UE/20201206_135826.jpg Dust After Rain - A DIY Revamped Yellow Shirt (feat some dying) - “OK, that’s enough of this” A quote by Leah Cook Said after a 20 minute self-photoshoot in the backyard https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/wrapping-hack monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608526346357-42BQ8OW6IHVEQXD7H9PD/1.+Tube.jpg Dust After Rain - State of the Art Wrapping Hack https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608526346550-12EKJBF58D3I3CP5770P/2.+Folds.jpg Dust After Rain - State of the Art Wrapping Hack https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608526886687-8U85BK864WQU0HDM0K9J/4.+with+labels.jpg Dust After Rain - State of the Art Wrapping Hack - I really need to plan ahead and not write labels on stuff before I take pictures of it As you have likely noticed by this point, I don't have any traditional wrapping paper. This was some packing material I got in a recent package from Genova Diagnostics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608526962998-C9YDHUXADNP4ZZRYN87B/flawless.jpg Dust After Rain - State of the Art Wrapping Hack - I mean just look at that -> Flawless… https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/swing-skirt-in-a-day monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608677902311-S421UH2A8XGLLW4YDHCB/1.+Supplies.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - It may also be helpful to raid your grandmother's sewing room for a ruler, microscopic piece of chalk, and fabric scissors https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608677967252-Z51BFWVGTMZ2A8JODVOS/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - To start off I took the end of the fabric, folded it over, and made it about the length I wanted my skirt to be. Since I was looking to make a full circle skirt, I traced out a quarter of a circle from the corner and then a smaller one above that for the waist of the skirt. It came out to be 32" long. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678420981-03BO85SG8A6H5AS7KOVX/4.+Measurement.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Handily enough, this ruler just so happened to be the exact length I wanted the skirt. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678691845-QWA7IKMTES2VTH95HUO8/5.+contortionist+101.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678693202-S39CAI08PRY490TKOY8T/5.+Staged.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678694599-AIKRHUX3UOLIX6Y3MKFQ/6.+Cutting.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678695716-IJR208JKKDEV4JOEWT2K/7.+Panels.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678786664-A0164V95U3R2Q0J05JUI/8.+Jackson.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678787503-QU1X49AV7QE635TLNIER/8.+pal.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608678894874-DXX74EKKRLF5RF3RI2JN/8.+Waistband.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Oh yeah, cut out a waistband about an envelope's width wide and as long as your waist is around plus a few inches of overlap for a button in the back. Terribly blurry, and I think I pretty much ended up re-cutting the waistband so it was the correct length because this was too short (noticing a theme here?) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608679005893-PVIZN530XSRGWPPQ463W/image.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Next up, grab your iron and iron out the substantial number of wrinkles in your material. If something smells like it’s melting that’s probably normal. I mean it really shouldn’t smell like that but it could be anything from the fabric to the iron to some wires in the wall. All told, it’s not worth worrying about. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608679097744-KXDWJKABJCGYM052T5NV/10.+side.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Pin the sides of the skirt panels together. Bonus points if the pins are all the same color and you weren’t even trying. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608679169741-HD0FJA6MZKCP752WPH8S/11.+Thread.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Next pick out a matching thread from the many options you have available. Honestly, so many options how is one supposed to make a decision? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608679287457-95WBLOJDNM4FPTETBUAZ/12.%2BBlue.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Oh yeah, you just pick the one that most closely matches your fabric. Amazingly, I found one that matched my fabric pretty much exactly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608745649173-3914ZKIHEO7576NNZPCR/14.+fancy+machine.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Then thread your sewing machine. Select the stitch setting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608745705986-0U5EW80CODV6GJFGJVF8/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Sew up the sides of the skirt I used a half inch seam allowance here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608745792137-8IMBQUL06BVPR1OPSWVC/15.+Side+Seam.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Once the sides get sewn press them open. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608745848583-4XPDP4H3PGVARX1FFQH5/16.+Back.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Once the side seams (I keep calling them sides but they're more like between the back and the side seams, seams), anyhow, once those are done move on to the back. I didn't measure the slit, but I figured that maybe the fact that it's on a cutting mat might be helpful. Pin most of the way up the back of the skirt leaving a bit of an opening so that you'll be able to get the skirt on. I mean I don't know about you but my waist is smaller than some other parts of my body, which a skirt such as this has to fit over. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608745991571-QV36UAB7COTR2V7NPKFL/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Press this seam open too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746102731-5R3MBJ3RET9G36YXHTDM/17.+finished+edgs.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746106498-N6Z0LOKYPZIX5XADLUPW/18.+Eight+of+an+inshish.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746177743-9VPVHEC4O3MP426AZ7AH/19.+Measure+it.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Now I think it's vitally essential that both sides be folded over the same amount so that the edges line up. You can accomplish this by using a ruler... I used mine purely for picture purposes. I then threw the ruler away and folded it over and just wung it and it turned out fine. Even if it doesn't you can always just re-iron it in half to make the edges match. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746332252-PC2UBWCMEY1EJMHN9VTB/22.+Ironed+waistband.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Then, measure it for sure for sure around your waist and chop off any excess you may have added on after the first time you cut it too short. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746460085-ZNZ7MU37VVRL0204CP9V/23.+cut.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Turns out this was how much too much I had. The green pin marks the actual size my waistband needed to be. I left just a bit of extra on for some overlap in the back for securing purposes. Not pictured: I folded over a quarter inch on the short end of the waistband to create a finished edge. Nestle the folded over slit of the skirt back and nestle it snugly into finished edge of the band. Pin the other edge to the exact length of the circumference of your waist. There will be some extra length at the end, don't worry about that for now. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746528412-ZV9ZJV5ZQ263GS9IYF6Q/26.+Middle.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Find the middle of the waist band and pin that to the middle of the skirt. Arrange the rest of the skirt swingily between those pins. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746579315-TO01C031F84Y8HBIX45U/24.+pin.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746579985-KOJNNWMS01Y93LGRE5EC/25.+gather.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746692431-LP8OCKIJP1KJ9TTSLZ7S/27.%2Bpin%252Cpin%252Cpin.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - I really didn't want to gather the top of the skirt because, I kind of dislike the way gathers look, especially for a swing skirt. Unfortunately, just laying it out like that didn't look the way I wanted it so I ended up gathering it anyway. Pleats would work too, I'd say it's personal preference here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746740840-05WMHZ207UFD7LLSQTQT/27.+round.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Cinch the gathers down so they fit within the waistband's length. I don't think this would have worked without the inordinate amount of pins I used. Even still I don’t think I had enough. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608746933493-BNL5N08FYC7SBP1QFIQO/28.+stitch+it.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Seriously though, you can never use too many pins, especially since my fabric was weirdly slippery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747098428-5E9XQYBXVWMN9SR4M5OS/30.%2Bbuttons.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Once that's been figured out you can pick out a button from a button tin you you might find in a cupboard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747227604-UUUJKUFYAPU610B5DIT7/31.%2BOptions.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - There's literally so many great old buttons inside this tin that deciding which ONE to use was nearly impossible so I picked out a few that I liked. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747279448-CQ6FNCS3L8PUXAUE5COL/32.+Outside.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day And then I looked out the window and it was snowing! It was unusual because the two days before were really nice and sunny and warm. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747442609-ZVU03ARM359CTVNDRNI5/34.%2BNarrowed%2Bdown.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - I narrowed the button selection down to just four. These ones were my favorites, but I still couldn’t decide which one to go with. I was going to put this to an Instagram poll so that my followers could just do all the deciding for me. Then, I remembered that I was currently taking a break from Insta and that wasn’t going to be an option. So I did it the old fashioned way. I went around the house and had everyone vote for the button they liked the most. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747675590-MIX6ZKMZYE1HBKQ0EOL8/35.+Choices.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747678088-2IAJJKFZDNQS9BJ4GA75/35.+Poll.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747683807-TQ8WWRYMBH9TIJ2LMZVV/35.+Results.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608747895612-EJCT2INSP0NODFTP6TE8/37.%2BZero%2BVotes.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - I then took none of this advice I had asked for and picked the one I liked best and used that. As a side note, I did really, really like the silver one, I just didn’t think it would work well with this particular project. Measure the width of the button so you know what size to make your button hole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748114603-UTAW8XIRTSCJL5ORQ3MH/39.+Button+Hole+Size.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748117460-61COUFN91VGTN7J1ZCBD/40.+Cut+hole.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748119344-CPK19IHGMF54NES984FG/41.+Button+Hole.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748255739-6061DZ2TRBO8T5I5809U/42.%2BMark.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Now there remains, at this moment, an unattractive hole in the back of the skirt. This could be remedied with a zipper, which would probably be easiest, honestly. I however, struggle with zippers (and I didn't have one available), so I went for a button up back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748343894-TKDQKIO0SBIJI8SCRR5M/43.%2BBack%2BButtons.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - And that meant about a million more button holes. Technically it was only eight, but hand sewing button holes is a pain-in-the-rear. But, I did it and it looks pretty cool! Pardon the one chipped nail there. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748476475-E693TC6KUW3C4YU5C489/38.+Hem.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day - Lastly, make a nice narrow rolled hem around the bottom of the skirt to finish it off. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748655737-OLR5YUPYM8YOZVN8EXYH/44.+finished+.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608748657288-4BX1RNGGLY7IWRL93ZUG/44.+ruuuning.jpg Dust After Rain - Swing Skirt in a Day https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/at-home-hair-alteration monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608672953430-EK0G2J76IPE6BXEL35XU/DA%2Bsnow.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673196547-ZPXSELO5GZ6AP2QJUVQY/Before%2B.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673515566-SN0ZMXW0ESWZ0PQ2B7K8/20201023_114932.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration - That was the chosen length I wanted to match everything else to. See I'd gotten a hair cut a while back and she'd left this chunk just sort of hacked off there shorter than the others and it had always annoyed me (I got this hair cut almost a year ago so it's been annoying for quite some time now). If you’ll take a moment to notice that the mirror selfies have not improved and likely will not improve. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673542865-D6QTZG7SC98BR1Y5WSOY/image.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration - It's kind of thrilling just chopping your hair off. This is what it means to be an adult folks, you get to make potentially ruinous choices. No one was home. Neither of my roommates were around to tell me it was a bad idea. I told no one what I was going to be doing until after it was over. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673608307-WLUT39BVA1R3VQLEPJJ1/20201023_120150.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration - Almost halfway through I did reach a point where I started regretting starting this in the first place because it was taking a long time and I had no clue what I was doing, I was just doing it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673671252-KJCUXHDPI4S8BTNIJM4B/20201023_125132.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration - Only halfway through. Not gonna lie, I was tempted to leave it like this because I was getting really impatient and just wanted my hair to be done. By the way, yes, that is a garbage can on the counter. It gave me a great place to put the pieces of hair that I was chopping off. To stave off the boredom and lack of funness this was becoming I had to start making stupid faces at myself. I guess it worked because I kept going https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673834648-DXA0GDZ8JNO9MGMK63ST/20201023_133217.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673834833-6DMT6G7Z7VJ5BBUDKGNV/20201023_134626.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608673955307-SR7QT6EOKUT3D9SN4XZA/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration - The only thing worse than mirror selfies for me are my actual selfies. But that’s what it looks like all done. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608674061839-JNPPOKSRDTHXJOWW8SFA/20201023_155803.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration - In case you’re wondering, yes, I did only wear the dress for picture taking purposes. A) I just bought it yesterday and haven't had a chance to try it on yet: B) It's never a good idea to wear nice clothes to a hair cut: and C) It's too cold to wear it around the house for too long. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608674191417-IXTVWZMUZEMU60599CET/Fire.jpg Dust After Rain - "Cut it Yourself" At Home Hair Alteration - Luckily, there's a nice fire to sit by, warm blankets, and an endless supply of tea to keep me warm. Perfect end to the first day of snow of the winter. https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/ahhh-i-cant-think-of-what-to-title-this-one monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608670652279-XVE8PJPZYF5FGF6AUO25/0.%2BBefore.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608670841858-0S8FV9LVGLGOGW3WT4Y1/1.+Dismantled.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - I used simple green to clean all the dust off the individual pieces so that the primer could go on a smooth surface. Turns out that wasn't super necessary as I did this whole project outside and stuff kept blowing into my paint job... https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608670952704-BBZ11HG1PR8MQGH0OE56/2..jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - Personally, I think it looks a lot better already. I could have left it just like that and been happy (just kidding). It was fairly windy and I think I got almost as much primer on me as I did on the nightstand. It also didn't go on super evenly. There were nice white spots and then some thin ones where the "wood" color was vaguely visible. It looked like a cloud. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608670992696-0V6TJNCG1VKP6CFL2ITJ/3..jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one Basically, none of that matters because it's all going to be covered in paint anyway https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671112852-IOHKLEP9OUK0JOBS5G1K/6.+Paint+color.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - It's a seafoam greenish color. I don't remember what it was even called because she didn't give me the color sample back https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671177628-1Y5SZVMUROLIWHO3R8C9/5.+Supplies.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - Ok, these are the supplies I used (minus the roller brush which seems to never show up in any of these pictures. Those pictures must have been lost in the transition or something... It's not like they never got taken because what cameraman wouldn't get those). I would highly recommend a larger foam brush as mine was a hair on the tiny side. However, it did work really well for the edges and little details. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671236969-280K9J5PDTOSV1TE2Z64/7.+why+we+stir+the+paint.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - (There's that roller brush. Honestly, I sometimes surprise myself with what I have and haven’t taken pictures of when I go through all the editing) I poured out some of the paint into a paint tray and THiS HapPEnEd!!! I guess that's why we stir paint before using it https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671327315-W09MQIYJ6AVRUXRFYXD6/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - It didn't change the color too much so I guess it's not that important after all https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671385137-3RVC57WNL7NHAXYHPAAR/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - Slather the whole piece in paint. I ended up using two coats and since I was impatient I don't think I let the first one dry quite long enough before applying the second coat. But it was windy and stuff was drying pretty quickly and I was afraid it would rain so I was rushing a little bit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671481203-WN7BAU67DGMHOB48E79W/9.+BUGSSSSSSSS.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - And that was only two of them... Also if you look closely at the bottom you can see some of the damage I mentioned earlier. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671600938-XYN2QBQEVOR0K5JXES4Z/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - It worked out slightly perfect though, so I took that as a good sign to never change my way of painting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671686136-QDSIHL0RFA52HY4ZEJB4/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - I think it's very important to put a signature on every work of art you create. While this isn't necessarily a work of art, per say, I still felt the need to autograph it. Plus whoever ends up getting this in years will have a nice surprise when they repaint it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671724673-PZJH6BME8KF88KRI9TX1/13.+hands.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671725083-CMDHHR6TT41QD13N7XUR/14.+mirror+selfie.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671843720-FAXCR8ELV80Q1LZL1843/15.%2Bcleaning.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - A utility sink is the preferred way of cleaning paint out of brushes but if you don't have access to that a downstairs bathroom sink works just as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608671941055-2CH5GYI6N3MZ7QVLZVY3/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one It’s spooky season and everyone else in the neighborhood is putting up Halloween decorations and I just felt like our house was being left out. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else or if I'm suffering from severe sleep deprivation, but I think it's hilarious https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608672144710-XZ58QRGPF2GQWQOBNVV7/image.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - If, like me, you didn't get your paint sample back you can take your own into the store and not look crazy doing it. Be sure it's so tiny only you can see it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608672269965-7XHKRXP717M5J6MU9I9W/18.+.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - This is what I ended up with a whole nine dollars later… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608672440818-VCA76CO2CDY4HW0XZWE1/19.+Handle+one.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608672440081-KEWZHHHC7NG1KJMFPO0R/20.+fin.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608672522537-NBS67CXOE47CMZ6N5BIA/21.+knots.jpg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - At the back I just tied knots and hot glued the ends down to keep them from fraying. And with that, my work was done. Almost. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608672644954-OFF28MPA9UHO0DLCAAS9/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - AHHH I can't think of what to title this one - Just like that it's all done and you've got a fantastic nightstand!!! https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/diy-cinch-backpack monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608516071405-67HHYM9Q4JCYAJNKGEUQ/IMG_20201014_193700_968.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608517830918-YO85D1EKCDH5QKB4GF61/3+Threads.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) - This was the supplies and thread selections I had available https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608518234854-GL0CX9YA6FIOM4DEUMEY/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) - I used my Paris backpack (I did buy it in actual Paris, France at a little street shop right across the street from the Louvre. At that precise moment that shop was way more interesting than all that priceless art the Louvre had to offer myself and my traveling companion), as a pattern for this new backpack. To start fold the fabric in half, however you deem most fabric efficient, and place the pattern on top of that. This is not how I ended up cutting it but you get the idea https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608518374313-GH6YK516D06ZIRQHFERK/2+Ruler.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) - It is now that I would highly recommend using a cutting mat and straight edge to achieve beautifully perfect edges which will in turn make sewing a breeze. I, unfortunately, do not have my cutting mat and ruler so I had to make do with my trusty scissors. Which ended up going crooked so I used some books to create a straight edge and even out the bottom. Both great reads if you’re looking for book suggestions. I believe the upside down one is Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608518638340-UOQK8H6D4VE0SKGNWPVD/4.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608518640809-1YXY5KP45RJHB82X0ME5/5+useless+zigzagging+that+I+wasted+a+lot+of+time+on.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608518706750-Z7FW9SHQRQXYPFOC86PE/6+equally+useless+stiching+that+I+wasted+a+monumental+amount+of+time+trying+to+perfect+and+it+never+did+turn+out+looking+good.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) - Once all that painstakingly useless zigzagging was done, I thought it might be neat to add some fancy stitching to the front of the backpack since I was doing the whole thing inside out. I picked several of the leaves in the pattern and was just going to sew around them real quick just to give the outside of the bag some color and texture (once again, this was not one of my brighter ideas and it took me an inordinate amount of time to complete on to not really turn out too well). I didn’t even want to add this picture to the post because they look so horrendous, but I figure you guys should be allowed to see my failures as well as my successes. It’s only fair https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608519011521-XJNJY7QD2ER2FPFTRFUM/7+SeCreT+tuNnELs.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608519013664-ZHBGMFC06MASVJQ4QX61/8+the+top.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608519467510-I2OI331X1G1O4YX037DP/9+triangle+with+a+hole.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608519467980-SDJ6LVV5DLMQOO0KN89W/10+knot.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608519589796-NJCQL75516GU9WT47TDF/IMG_20201014_193601_178.jpg Dust After Rain - DIY Cinch Backpack (Pictures Mostly Included Throughout) https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/how-to-make-your-very-own-graudation-cap monthly 0.5 2020-12-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608491806005-J5471S5BROLTR0RACL7Y/ghfjgkgjgf.jpeg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! - If you can’t read that title, it’s ok, neither can I. All it says is “How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608507503886-ZS64WUC1VRZS4VN0RXDJ/The+measure.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! - Measure out a square from the cardboard. I started out at 7x7" but that was too small so I added a couple strips to two of the sides to make the square 9x9" which I felt was about the right size, but feel free to make bigger or smaller to your liking. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608507720381-SXF56I97BIVYBNPK60EI/template+sketch.png Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! - Next you’ll want to cut out a square of your fabric. Place the cardboard square on your fabric and cut so that the fabric makes a larger diamond shape outside of the cardboard. So the corners of your cardboard should be pointing to the straight side of the fabric square. This doesn’t need to be too much larger than the cardboard but should overlay a bit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608507793931-357ID538TMDFFQ3KBKO9/Glued.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608507793867-D7ZLC0RZAULP4XNRAQYX/glues.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608508640966-ROHHLUK5TVZITAKBETC7/top.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! - Button -> square of fabric -> combine https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608508888266-0GQV15VP1ZY5HHQDI2NX/cap.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! - Now for the hard part. You’re going to cut two pieces of fabric that roughly resemble a trapezoid. Except that for the back it’ll need to be slightly rounded and the bottom should have a bit of a curve. I made mine about 6 inches tall and about 12 inches long at the longest point. These were my head measurements, which I got by wrapping a tape measure around my head about where I thought the cap would sit and also from the top of my head to where I wanted the cap to end. It is not at all an exact science and I recommend trying it out with some practice fabric first. This is the shape you’re going for (more or less) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608509529408-Z6MCZVSQRA90ZQ52EPR5/cased.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608509529797-YPQRRSTIOSQMROO2ZFTO/casing.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608509704203-QZXAO8G6LTT8GDPOA8JI/elastic+girl.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! Fold the elastic in half and use a pin to mark the middle, so that it’ll be even on both sides of the cap. Stretch it out and see where it ends at, mark it. Thread the elastic through and secure it at both ends. I just looped a bit of thread through the elastic and fabric and tied a knot. Not that secure but good enough. It all sounds super complicated but really so long as the thing stays on your head with the addition of bobby pins it’ll be just fine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608510287134-FH8FYGZU8UAX43S1V4KJ/Very+nearly.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608510292449-G1R3RNWL57W29FNE9N1X/the+attatch.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608510403400-O5SF3QXBIQA1UC8PEBOS/image-asset.jpeg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! - In the end it should look something like this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608510877577-ZVEMYFFQQLEIPR8XCKHY/Yucky.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608510884099-APEOACBQ3GJ5AM7XOERA/curtains.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608510897876-ZF0W5M148O3SJ23RFU8R/zzzzz.jpg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608510908071-SPX9RY63AR5CPVKILTTN/grad.jpeg Dust After Rain - How to Make Your Very Own Graduation Cap! https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/mod-dominoes monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/anything monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608442879109-P8KF1X1WXWAUM4S9MBX6/20191117_161944.jpg Dust After Rain - Anything https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608444435260-ELJS1FZG94C3YZG1DZFG/reykjavik+connection.PNG Dust After Rain - Anything https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/blog/first-post monthly 0.5 2020-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608441914035-T1K1XYRX7CPDAHQK1536/20191110_121022.jpg Dust After Rain - First Post! https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/contact daily 0.75 2020-12-23 https://www.swirlingpetrichor.com/about daily 0.75 2023-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608433639739-VJNCIJ6IZ44WMIBFNHSA/20201106_125601.jpg About - About Me Righto, first things first. I have no idea what I'm doing. Writing a blog, life, anything... So please refrain from asking questions along the line of: “What are you doing with your life?” “Where do you see yourself in five years?” “Why aren’t you going back to school?” The answers are as follows; I don’t know, somewhere I’m sure, and I don’t want to. Awesome, now that that’s all settled you can know all the actually important stuff about who I am and what makes me so interesting that I think I need my own blog to share it all on. I grew up in a small town in middle of nowhere (likely accounting for my lack of social skills and general awe at the things the “big cities” have to offer, like escalators). I was homeschooled most of my school career (yes, I’m one of those awkward, ill adjusted, nerdy, weird, Christian homeschooled kids). However, I’ve been told that it doesn’t show to much. Whew, maybe we homeschoolers aren’t so different from the rest of the world. Wait. Who am I kidding? We totally are Another belief of mine; that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise Margaret Atwood Yes, I did just google that quote to slap in here for effect. It’s not something I live by or even think about on every occasion. It’s just very accurate to my personality. For those of you wondering, I did go to college, graduated, and I’m never going back. I’ve traveled to Europe (twice), seen the Eiffel Tower (did not disappoint), the Leaning Tower of Pisa (“a big leaning disappointment” according to one of the girls on that trip), most of London, and some other likely famous buildings and sights in that part of the world. Oh yes, and the gelato. It’s amazing I highly recommend, but it’s got to be from one of those street-side gelato stores in a European town (it just doesn’t taste the same over here *deep sigh). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fde95a2d0ff57695e6ce19b/1608440933721-GDFD08WPLF9N2CR7O9FQ/Salmon.jpeg About - This is basically what my hometown of Salmon looks like