Merry Friday everyone! Today for Holidaze get 20% off ALL shower curtains and rugs. Which makes shower curtains $54.40 (originally $68) and rugs $22.40 (originally $28). Click the picture above to use the promotion :)
Holidaze Day 4
Hey gang! Happy thursday. Day 4 of Holidaze brings you $5 off all Tote bags! My this week is passing quickly, although I must say that it feels more like a friday than a thursday. Anywho…click the pic above to access the promotion.
Holidaze Day 3
Hey group! (anyone get that reference yet??…no?…well then go look up Joe Mackey from The Last Comic Standing…hilarious stuff). Day 3 of Holidaze presents $10 off ALL duvet covers!!! If that's not a great deal I don't know what is. Click the pic or click HERE to take advantage of this promo.
Don't forget that the $5 off of each item + free worldwide shipping is still active until Dec.14th.
Holidaze Day 2
Hey gang! For day 2 of the holiday promotions get $10 off of framed prints and canvases. Follow the link to treat yo self >>> http://tinyurl.com/m6pmaen.
Awesome Holiday Promotions!
click the picture to take advantage of this promotion
Hey gang! Happy monday! Time is winding down to get those holiday gifts… I haven't even thought about what i'm getting people. Is there anyone else who waits until Christmas eve to buy presents? hahaha it's such a bad habit…or is it tradition?? hmmm.
Anywho, to celebrate this holiday season, there are going to be huge sales each day this week. Each day i'll post the daily deal
This week: From now through Dec. 14th there's $5 off each item + free worldwide shipping (free shipping offer excludes framed art prints, stretched canvases, and rugs)
Monday Dec. 8th: $5 off all apparel + free shipping worldwide
Click the pictures or click http://tinyurl.com/m6pmaen to take advantage of this promo. You must use the promotion link provided in order to take advantage of these promos.
Free download: Winter To-Do list
Posted to instagram
Hey team! For awhile now i've been wanting an awesomely snazzy To-Do list. After searching around the world wide web I realized that all of the free ones were pretty boring…so i made my own. I got a really great response to the drawing on Instagram and Facebook and decided to make it into a free download (since it is the "season of giving" haha). If you enjoy the drawing without all the gobbledy gook then fear not because I love the drawing so much that i'm going to re draw it as a pattern :)
Click the image above to download or head to the free downloads page. Feel free to make it your own by coloring it! To save paper, frame it and use a dry erase marker to write out your lists ( that's what i'm going to do). If you customize it feel free to post a pic on instagram and hashtag it #CMCtodolist.
This download is for personal use only.
Learning to knit…again
Hey team! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We made our way to snowy NY to see my family and some friends….and eat… can't forget about the food. I had apple pie for breakfast three days in a row (gluten free of course). I know i'm not the only one who does that haha.
Ever since I started focusing on building my wardrobe I've been getting the urge to hand make a large chunk of it. In anticipation of cooler weather, i started dreaming up all the lovely sweaters, socks, and hats I would love to acquire. Of course all the beautiful Instagram pictures of knits in progress didn't help at all. Which brings me to the matter at hand: knitting. I taught myself how to knit back in high school (or maybe it was middle school…hmmm), but let's just say that the book I learned from sucked and i put it down in favor of crochet.
This time around I was DETERMINED to relearn how to knit and stick with it. I went with Purl Soho's "Learn to Knit kit" because it came with everything i'd need (yarn, instructions, and needles) and because it's pretty…duh! I order fabric from them a lot, so i figured their kits would be just as good. I was not disappointed.
The book I bought back in high school must have been beyond terrible because I couldn't get the hang of the purl stitch for anything back then, but I got the hang of it with no problem this time around. The booklet that comes with Purl Soho's kit is extremely well written and the pictures show each step clearly. I'm the type of person that absolutely needs detailed pictures to go along with the written instructions or i just sit there like "wait….what????!" and then I get mad and have to step away for a bit. I chose to make the seed stitch scarf to get the hang of moving the yarn back and forth between the knit stitch and the purl stitch. It was actually a really quick knit and it's amazingly soft! You can check out the yarn info and whatnot on my ravelry page.
For my next knitting adventure I wanted to increase in difficulty and learn a few new skills, so after searching around I went with Brooklyn Tweed's The Romney Kerchief by Jared Flood. I'm using Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter in Plume and Addi Natura US 9 Bamboo circular needles. I ordered the pattern, the yarn, and the needles from Purl Soho (what can i say they have a lot of good stuff…plus i wanted to buy everything from one place).
As you can see, the Romney Kerchief is coming along nicely. The pattern is easy to follow, but holds my interest. I'll gush more about this kerchief and Brooklyn Tweed more once it's done. I can't wait to wear it!
To all my knitters out there...what's on your needles??
It's Official!
Hey group! We are officially in North Carolina… exciting right?! Last Tuesday was our move in date and we've been unpacking and getting settled in ever since.
Above is the current state of my studio space, which means I won't be up and running for a little while longer. If you look carefully you can spot my Bernina ;) There's an office that connects to our bedroom, so I get an entire room to myself! It's small, but hey it's still a great space. Hopefully it'll be done sooner rather than later, but we need to exterminate this weekend (the joys of a historical home in the south). I don't want to unpack anything else until we do.
I'll be sure to document how I end up decorating the space.
Have a great week!!!
Neon Alder Shirtdress
Dress | Alder Shirtdress // Boots | Macy's sales rack (old) // Backpack | PINK by Victoria Secret
Hey gang! I'm sure you all know how obsessed I am with Grainline Studio (if you don't know, now you know). Jen's patterns never miss their mark… so comfy, so stylish, so simple… pretty much everything I want from my wardrobe. When she announced that she was going to be releasing a shirtdress pattern (lovingly dubbed the Alder Shirtdress) I was ecstatic! The anticipation was too great, I had to buy three different fabrics in preparation for the release. This is Alder number one, made from Michael Miller's Neon Dots in pink from Purl Soho with neon pink bias binding (also from Purl Soho). I had to work quickly to sew this up before we moved and after some technical difficulties, I finally took proper pictures of it.
There's not much to say about the pattern other than that it is AMAZING! I bought the printed pattern instead of the PDF, so I saved time by not having to cut and tape pages together. I traced off a size 2, but i could of gotten away with tracing off the 0. Since this was the first time I've dealt with bust darts i made a muslin because I knew I'd have to do some alterations. I ended up moving the bust darts up 1 inch and shortened the dress by 1.5 inches (give or take a few). It's a quick make since you don't have to deal with sleeves (yay!!), but you still get the satisfaction of have a finished button up.
Pretty neon bias binding from Purl Soho…I totally should have bought more than I did.
The guts...
If you've been on the fence about buying this pattern or any other from Grainline Studio then get off that fence and go for it! Once we get settled into our new house I'll be whipping up at least 2 more of these (one with sleeves of course).
p.s. Did I mention that she just released the Linden Sweatshirt?! yeah… you might want to jump on that too haha. Have a great weekend!!!
Anima Pants + Where I've Been
Shirt | Chambray Archer // Pants | Anima Pants // Shoes | Black Vans
Hey team! I know I've been M.I.A. for a few weeks, so before I get into the AMAZING creation that is the Anima Pant which you see above, let us play a wee bit of catch up first.
- Our time was up in Alaska which meant... MOVING TIME!!!! I had a bunch of garments I wanted to get sewn up before I had to be forcefully separated from my beloved sewing machine, so I had to sew like i've never sewn before. which also means i have a few un-blogged garments that will be making their way onto the blog. Thank God the army handles all the moving details because moving is stressful, especially when it's considered an overseas move.
- The day before we were scheduled to fly out I had a flair up of an unidentified chronic illness…which meant I was down for the count once we reached our destination.
- My husband and I have been taking his younger sister on college tours. Ubber exciting!
- Went to an Atlanta Falcons game….ATL won by a landslide. The perfect game to go to for my first NFL game.
- Made a trip to North Carolina (where we will be next) to check out the area and make a decision about where we were going to live.
- Lastly, we've just been taking this time to visit with family and enjoy being back on the east coast.
Now to the main attraction…the Anima Pant by Papercut Patterns. How much do i love the Anima Pant??? Let me count the ways. seriously though these are THE most comfortable pants i have ever worn…plus they are unbelievably quick to sew up. These took me two days from tracing the pattern to sewing, so once you trace off the pattern you can crank out a few pairs in a matter of days!
I traced off the second to smallest size (maybe size xs…can't remember off the top of my head) and they fit great! For this pair I used Tomahawk Stripe in Knit from the Arizona collection by April Rhodes. I added an inch or so to the elastic at the waist and left off the ankle cuffs. Other than that, no additional alterations were needed.
Check out those matching side seams!!!! I'm so proud of myself!!
Pants can be quite intimidating when it comes to sewing (at least for me they are). These are a great "first pair of pants" sewing boost if you are in need of one. Comfort + style + great fit + little effort and time = WINNER!
p.s. hip hip hooray for another handmade outfit!! if you missed the post about my Archer you can find it Follow me on Instagram (@CallMeChartreuse) for sneak peeks and updates.
p.p.s. FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING is available in my shop from now until October 12th (midnight PDT). Use this link>>> http://society6.com/CallMeChartreuse?promo=WPN6HWB3JNYQ <<< if you want to take advantage of this promotion. ***excludes stretched canvases, framed prints, and rugs***
What do you find intimidating when it comes to sewing??
New Pattern: Earthy
Earthy in one of three color variations.
Hip hip hooray for new patterns! I recently added Earthy to my portfolio as well as to my shop. I must admit, it's a rather strange pattern for me considering I despise anything that crawls or flies, but i love it dearly.
P.s. Who knew coloring earthworms would be soooo difficult. They either looked way to real or like they were pumped full of toxic matter… cool for some people, but just freaked me out haha.
Hide and Seek tote bag.
p.p.s. I have been slowly adding other patterns to my shop and also recently added Hide and Seek to my shop as well :)
Bloglovin
Not sure how I managed to be sooo late to this party, but I finally joined Bloglovin and claimed my humble abode. If your not familiar with Bloglovin it is basically an Instagram for blogs haha. You can follow as many blogs as you want, so every time a blog you love is updated it's all right there in your feed. Yay! In conclusion…you should totally join…and you should totally follow my blog.
Sunday Stash: Amitie Stash Club Part 1
Stash clubs are AMAZING! Not sure who invented the whole pay-for-a-random-assortment-of-fabric-samples concept, but God bless them. I'm getting ahead of myself, let me back up a little. Amitie Textiles Fabrics is a fabric shop located in Australia that hosts a few different stash clubs. I was apart of one of their clubs for a few months and wanted to share the lovely samples I acquired. Enjoy!!
p.s. The samples in these pictures are folded in half. The size of each is 10" x 11".
My goal when joining this club was to step away from fabrics that I would normally pick out to use in a project, while only incurring small samples of those same fabrics. It's my way of forcing myself out of my fabric comfort zone.
Have you joined a stash club before? Let me know your experiences in the comments!
Shop: Free Shipping
Happy Wednesday! There is free worldwide shipping + $10 off Duvet Covers from now through Sunday, August 10th (midnight PDT) in my shop. Not to be biased here, but I must say that they are pretty snazzy. I wish I had one in undergrad…I would have been the girl with the coolest bed in the city.
Here's the promotion link to take advantage of this offer: FREE SHIPPING
Finished Quilt: Pink Lemonade
It's that time again folks, time to reveal my latest quilting creation made for a beautiful baby girl. Imagine your favorite refreshing beverage, that's as colorful as it is flavorful. That's what this quilt reminds me of…which is why I dubbed it Pink Lemonade.
courtesy of my Instagram
I knew I wanted to create a design that used half square triangles, but wasn't sure on the layout. Instead of jumping in without a plan, which would have led me into a dark hole of indecision, I drew a quick sketch of a rough layout (I changed the middle row to all yellow), so I knew how much of each color i'd need. If you follow me on Instagram then you've already seen the above picture of the sketch.
I'm seriously ubber thrilled with the final product. It definitely looks like how I imagined it. I also remembered to add my label which is a feat in itself since I often forget. Our friends who are now in possession of the quilt love it just as much as I do (fist pump!!).
Question of the day: Do you like to plan out a project before jumping in head first or do you just dive right in?
Let's Talk: Fabric Scraps
Lately i've been on an organizing kick; when I say lately I mean for the past few months…not sure if that counts as "lately", but it does today. Organizing also includes getting rid of/donating everything that we don't need, want, or use anymore. Now to my dilemma...I'm sure you have figured out that I happen to sew a lot, which means that I accumulate a ton of leftover fabric a.k.a. fabric scraps. (dun, dun, DUN!!!). The actual scraps aren't the problem though…the problem is that I have no idea how to organize them in a way thats functional, simple, and quick. Do I arrange them by size? color? Should I store them in boxes? bags? baskets? Should they be cut down to specific sizes (i.e. 2in. squares, 2in. by X-amount rectangles, etc.)?
Help me out here. How do you organize your fabric scraps? Please let me in on your secret…I promise I won't tell.
p.s. If your on the hunt for a great blog about organization check out Annie from Live Simply. I stumbled upon her website last week and have been reading non-stop. Not gonna lie…kinda wish we were friends haha. Not creepy at all right? Right.
Sketchbook Cover
I don't know about you, but I need my sketchbooks to look pretty on the outside. A plain brown or black cover is really boring to me. Usually I just draw on the cover or collage bits and bobs onto the front, but I decided to switch it up this time and made my own sketchbook cover (actually i made it sometime last summer and just never got around to photographing it).
I freestyled the sewing pattern which means the fit could be better, but it's functional. I really LOVE the look of it. There's an area for my pens, so I don't have to dig around my bag for 5 minutes looking for the one pen that actually works, and there's a larger pocket for random stuff. If the fabric looks familiar it's because it's one of my own designs, which can also be purchased through my spoon flower shop ( shameless plug haha ). The green polka dotted binding is from a random fat quarter in my stash.
How do you like your sketchbooks to look? Plain or with all the fixings?
It's Voting Time *updated
Each year Spoonflower hosts the Fabric 8 contest where an emerging designer gets the chance to release a collection through a well known fabric company. This year it's through Robert Kaufman and the theme was Cosmic Voyage. I'm excited to say that my design made it to the top 100 semifinalist round and I need your votes to get to the top 8 finalist round!
Up & Away
To see the full pattern click here
*updated: Unfortunately I didn't make the top 8, but thank you to everyone who voted for me. Congratulations to the top 8!!
Archer x 3
Raise your hand if you remember Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus… don't fret, I'm definitely going somewhere with this :) If you remember Ms. Frizzle, then you remember how each dress she wore was a perfect match for whatever crazy awesome field trip the class was about to go on. My husband and I have been watching it again on Netflix and seeing her in those colorful, loud, and quirky outfits made me want to create and customize a wardrobe that would fit me perfectly.
After stumbling upon Grainline Studio (an independent pattern shop), I knew that Jen's Archer and Scout Woven Tee would be the first new additions to my closet.
Archer #1: wearable muslin
I made my first Archer a wearable muslin and sewed up a size 0 as is, in order to get a feel for how to construct the shirt and to see how it fit. Archer #1 was very straightforward. I used a cotton fabric from Joann's and followed Jen's sew-a-long on her blog. As the shirt was coming together I grew less and less fond of my fabric choice (the color…not the actual fabric). I can't even remember what made me pick up that color… wait… I think it was because if the shirt turned out horribly then I wouldn't be too upset. Therefore the lack of attachment was purposeful, but i digress. It came out great and the only alteration that would need to be made for my future Archers is to shorten the sleeves a bit. I actually find myself reaching for this version a lot which is a nice surprise.
Archer #2
Archer #2 is a sleeveless archer (following her Archer Variation #1 directions) with french seams and is my version of color blocking. First off let me say that I absolutely love the finished product, but my fabric choice proved to be a huge pain. There was a lot of yelling coming form the sewing room that day. I used a brown linen fabric from Joann's and a stunning Dahlia cotton fabric from Fabricworm. The linen was not the smartest choice. It's too light and stretchy to be paired with the more structured cotton, so i had to do a lot of seam ripping and re-adjusting. Not to mention I cut the right front button band wrong not once, not twice, but three times! Both fabrics were leftovers from previous projects, so it's a miracle I had enough to get it done.
I used the Dahlia fabric to add some awesome accents, as well as a way to stabilize the linen.
Armhole binding close up.
Archer #3
Now we come to Archer #3 made in the dreamiest Robert Kaufman Chambray. The sleeves are shortened in this version and I also took the sides in a half inch. Everything was gong smoothly until it came time for me to french seam the side seams. This fabric, as amazing as it is, is the same on the right side of the fabric and the wrong side. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that about this chambray, but I ended up doing the first step of the french seam on the wrong side of the shirt and didn't realize until I had graded my seam allowance. That led to a double french seam (which i'm sure I just made up haha) and a lot more yelling.
On a brighter note, because the fabric is double sided I was able to do the alternate archer pocket. Yay!
All in all the pattern is amazing and I'm already cutting out my fourth Archer :) don't be surprised if I end up with twenty of these.
My husband was kind enough to take these pictures for me. If you want to see more head over to my flickr.
Pinocchio Revealed
Aloha! As I mentioned in this post > > Sneak Peek< < , 2014 is the 30th anniversary of SVA's MFA Illustration program. I did a pattern based of a Pinocchio figurine (courtesy of Carl Titolo) in honor of the celebration. Since the show is still a few months away and my patience is at an all time low, I decided to post it to my portfolio page. Check it out if your ability to wait is as horrendous as mine.
