When Leah Reena Goren’s beautiful Feline Karma Dress first appeared at Anthropologie a couple months ago it immediately catapulted to internet popularity. Along with pictures of the dress have been rumblings about making DIY versions, and I decided to try my hand. I’m still hoping to snag the dress (please go on sale!) but am happy with the shirt it inspired me to make!
If you can, support Leah’s designs via the Anthropologie link above or her Etsy, which includes many beautiful items!
I’ve been wanting to learn to sew for years, and my lovely husband surprised me with a sewing machine for Christmas! I have been having an absolute blast using it! So far I’ve made a few too many pillows, a tote bag, two aprons, and a knitting needle case.
I’d ultimately like to make clothes, or at least learn to alter my own clothes. I have a major fitting problem–for every ten items I take into a fitting room, nine go straight back to the shelves because of fitting issues. Until I can make my own clothing, I made something similar to clothes–an apron! Aprons are one of the reasons I wanted to learn to sew because I really love them. I find half-aprons more comfortable, so that’s what I’ve been making.
Need a last-minute homemade gift?
I’m sure many have their shopping finished, but some of us aren’t that perfect, okay? I’m always amazed at my sister-in-law Melissa, who smartly begins shopping months early. The rest of us are just avoiding the mall this week.
So here are things that you can make in just a few hours.
Since we’re moving back home to Texas in just a few weeks, I felt I needed to make something to commemorate our time here. So while Joseph was out of town for a bit, I embroidered nonstop. I don’t even want to know how many hours I logged on this. No exaggerations, I worked from the time I woke up until I went to sleep every single day for three weeks. The top and bottom are lined with all the countries we’ve visited in the three years here: Austria, Germany, Italy, Egypt, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia. In the center are some sites we’ve seen, circling around the Eiffel tower. Clockwise from the top: the Dolomites (where we live), a castle, the Great Pyramids of Giza (with a tiny camel!), Venice, Milan Duomo, and the Colosseum. I drew them all myself except for the Eiffel Tower. I liked the…
I’ve been knitting for a while now–my mom taught me the basics when I was 14, and everything else I picked up through books and online (things really took off when we got high-speed internet and I could watch tutorial videos!). I decided it’s finally time for me to learn to crochet, and YouTube videos helped tremendously. I watched a couple explaining the chain stitch, and that’s simple enough. I had a hard time figuring out what to do from that point and how to go onto the next row–this is the only vide I found that explained it. After that I was ready to go–crocheting is very easy! Crocheting is very tactile, which took me a while to get used to. Â It allows a lot of creativity and is not very structured. Â I think I prefer knitting still; it’s strange having to search to pick up the next stitch…