Friday, September 16, 2011

Dreaming of glass etching

Hmm... I seriously just want to run to the next craft shop and grab a tube/bottle/whatever-package-it-some-in of glass etching cream. I am itching to etch ;p 

I bet it would make some really cute Christmas presents for the ladies in the family (a.k.a. super experienced housewives in the shape of Mom and Sister in Law). But I am also wondering if it's worth it to just splurge (hm, or maybe not, I don't really know how much glass etching cream costs in Frankfurt, silly me, LOL) on something that might be a total failure.  But then again, this is why it's called 'learning', isn't it?

Now... what will I say again to Mr. Herr to justify the spending... hmmm......

Friday, September 2, 2011

Refashion: Mempercantik T-shirt hitam

Aku sudah cerita bahwa sebagian besar pakaianku berada di Yaman?  Yah, pasti sudah tahu ceritanya berkalkali, hahaha.  Singkat cerita, aku perlu beberapa kaos kasual, dan aku memutuskan untuk bertanya pada suamiku apa dia punya beberapa kaos lama yang sudah tidak dipakai.

Aku mendapatkan beberapa kaos putih (padahal aku nggak suka kaos putih), dan dua kaos hitam.  mau pakai yang hitam ah...tapi sebelumnya, kayaknya seru kalau dipercantik dulu.

Karena kaosnya agak besar, pertama-tama harus dikecilin dulu dari samping, supaya lebih pas, dan ada pinggangnya sedikit.  Karena lehernya sedikit ketat, aku potong juga bagian 'kerah'nya.  Biar cocok sama lehernya, bagian lengan pun aku potong sedikit ujung-ujungnya.  Pas sudah dipakai, bagian-bagian yang dipotong ini agak menggulung sedikit, lucu dan modis.  


Berikutnya, buat beberapa pola dasar dari koran bekas, lalu coba-coba di T-shirtnya, pola seperti apa yang ingin dibentuk.  Aku memutuskan membuat pola dari lingkaran-lingkaran berbagai ukuran.

Main-main juga dengan benangnya.  Kalau kurang yakin hasilnya seperti apa, coba dulu merenda samplenya.  Semua benang yang kupakai untuk proyek ini adalah benang katun 100%, untuk menghindari aplikasinya mengkerutnya beda-beda waktu dicuci nanti. 


Mulai merenda, lalau sesudah selesai, pasang aplikasinya sesuai selera.  Aku memakai benang hitam untuk menjahit semuanya, kecuali yang putih. Untuk lingkaran yang paling besar, aku sengaja tidak menjahitnya berkeliling, karena aku mau memakainya sebagai kantong kecil.  Kalau ingin membuat kantong juga, pastinya aplikasinya dipasang di tempat yang enak dipakai, mungkin pasang polanya waktu t-shirtnya kita pakai.
Kaos 'baru'!!
kantong 'rahasia'
NB:  Tadinya suamiku agak kurang yakin pada hasilnya, tapi sesudah selesai dia suka juga.  Dan waktu dipakai untuk liburan ke Spanyol, banyak orang yang bertanya dan memuji, hehehe.  Sedikit kreativitas, warna (dan kenekadan) bisa menghasilkan sesuatu yang bagus, kan?

Refashion: Dress up a plain black T-shirt

Did I tell you that we left most of our clothes in Yemen? Yeah? I bet I explained it like a thousand times already, LOL.  Long story short, I was in need of some light, casual T-shirt and decided to ask my dear husband for any old shirts he no longer wears.

I ended up with some white shirts (I hate white shirts, but that's another story), and two back ones.  I decided to start wearing one of the black ones, but first it needs some prettifying, no?

The shirt was rather big, so first step was to take it in in the sides a little bit.  The neck was also a bit too high, so I simply cut around it.  To match the neck, I also cut some centimeter off the sleeves, and left all the edges raw  (they ended up curling up really nicely, so that was good).

Next I made some rough patterns from some old newspaper, and played around with them on the shirt.


Next step is to play around with the yarn.  If you are unsure on how the yarn + pattern will come out, make some trial swatches.  I chose to use only 100% cotton yarn, to avoid having the applique shrinking at different paces.


Crochet away!  Finally attach the applique on to your shirt.  I used black thread for everything, except for the broken-white circle.  I also deliberately did not sew all the way around the biggest circle, to create some sort of pocket, just right for something light like one key (not a whole bunch, mind you) or some tissue paper.  If you decide to make a pocket out of one of the appliques too, make sure you place they pattern in a comfortable place, probably a good idea to pin the pattern on while you are wearing the shirt.


Voila! A 'new' shirt!

My 'secret' pocket!
PS:  My husband was not too convinced at the beginning, but he was quite impressed afterwards.  The shirt also got a rave review during a trip to Spain, so, there you go.  A little bit of color, creativity (and not to mention a bit of guts), goes a long way :)