Yellow Adirondacks For My Back Porch Spruce Up

I am loving yellow this summer so I painted some neglected Adirondack chairs I found on Craigslist for my Back Porch Spruce Up.

The back porch isn't  done but it's come a long way from the clutter collecting station is was .

Before and after!

 When going from dark to light you should PRIME!

The first chair I didn't prime and it needed twice as much paint as the chair that I primed.

I used pastel yellow spray paint.

 The area near my screen door is perfect to display two of my vintage tin French signs.

We finally replaced our screen door! That's my no sew banner tutorial from last week.

We use this old basket for picking fruit from the trees.

Happy Summer!

Sew & Tell Saturday July 12

Welcome to Sew & tell Saturday!

This week I'm featuring Patriotic sewing projects!

Stars & Stripes Infinity Scarf by Tonna at USS Crafty

Bandana quilt tutorial from Scattered Thought of A Crafty Mom

Patriotic outfits at Two Many

A Patriotic pageant outfit at Sews & Bows

And my own patriotic contribution, a red white & blue tye dyed upcycled t shirt and handpainted shorts from earlier this week....

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A Manly Apron For My Dad

This was a project I made for my dad for Father's Day but it's a great and easy apron to make for any time. Especially summer time barbecues.
And its not fussy or corny.

My dad loves to grill.

I love my dad!
He and his wife Rita, my stepmom, are so much fun.
To read a post about how cool my dad is you can click here. There are some great photos of him growing up in New York City and even one of me as a grubby little 70's kid.

Busy pretending to read Rachel Ray....

It was a great Father's Day!

Would you like to make someone in your life a Manly Apron? 

This apron was super simple to make. I used a free printable you can find here on Lovely Indeed, and then opened it up with my Silhouette cutter software and fed some freezer paper through the cutter, using a number one size blade because the freezer paper is very thin.

I bought a basic apron sent from Fashion Art Projects so I didn't have to do any sewing which was great! Because I started the apron on Father's day morning and needed it by the afternoon.

I ironed on the freezer paper to the apron and used black paint to paint the stencil.

My dad loves his apron!

A Striped Tye Dye Shirt for July 4th: Summer Of Joann

A few weeks ago I was invited by Joann Fabric & Craft stores to make a project with my kids based on 72 kids projects featured in Joann's Spring Kids Crafts Ideas.

The project on my left was my inspiration.

I had made some hand painted American flag shorts for Gigi last year and they still fit her. They tend to do a lot of growing UPWISE but not so much WIDTHWISE at this age.

A red, white, and blue tye dye t shirt was just the thing that she needed to go with her shorts!

We were going to the home of our good friends, who have a lovely home in the hills of Malibu for the fourth of July after a day at the beach. They are a creative family, and built their own home themselves. They raise chickens, grow their own food ,and run a successful pre school on their property. It's just lovely! And they have great parties with lots of DELICIOUS food!

Here is my friend with a few of her former students!

Handmade Tequila ice cream sandwiches !

Our hosts, Everett and Deene.

Everett can still do backflips!

A Malibu view.

The shed/ workroom/ outdoor dining room.

We ate at a long communal table our host made himself.

It was a nice Independence day.

I love the simple beauty of these water bottles in a rustic setting with a vintage tablecloth.

Here are some directions to make your own striped tye dye short. The directions from the original Where's The Beach T Shirt Project shown above can be found here.

I cut down a ladies fitted T I bough at Joann. I chose the fitted t because I liked the smaller neckhole.

I sewed up the sides and lifted up the armholes , using one of Gigi's tees for a template.

I used my hairbands to section off the t shirt then soaked the t shirt in 1 tbsp.soda dye for twenty minutes. We squirted Rit Dye in bottles mixed with  equal parts water on each section, saturating the fabric really well.

It sat for an hour before I removed the bands and  rinsed it. 

Stop by Joann discover-connect to get a 20 percent coupon for Joann stores today!

Sew & Tell Saturday and Sewing The Trends Wrap Up

Welcome to Sew & Tell Saturday!

Where you can share your sewing projects and find new sewing blogs!

Today I am sharing a little wrap up from my first blog series:

Sewing The Trends

In this series I invited several sewing bloggers, many who post their projects here on Sew & Tell Saturdays, to research the fashion trends for Summer 2013 and create their own look based on one.

I think they did a beautiful job and I hope they will inspire you in your own sewing projects and to maybe start sewing more for yourself. You deserve it!

 I am linking below to each of their posts.

I hope to make this a yearly event!

Thanks to all the talented ladies for participating !

 Abby from Sew Much Ado takes on the PatternBlocking trend.

 Bethany from Lil Bit & Nan  takes on the tropical trend.

 Stacy from Boy oh boy oh boy crafts takes on the Asian trend.

Shannon from Little Kids Grow mixes prints with her design.

 Alida form Alida Makes sews the chambray fabric trend, 

Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings sews the maxi skirt trend.

Mercedes from Aventuras De Costuras ' takes on the floral trend.

Marie's from A Stitching Odyssey's takes on the metallic trend

High waisted bikini by Melissa from I Still Love You.

Mie from Sewing Like Mad takes on pattern blocking.

What a great lineup!

Now lets' see what you have been working on!

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A 1941 Sailor Girl Dress: Darla's Day Out

Today in The United States Of America we celebrate Independence Day.

Our family will be visiting with friends on the beach in beautiful Malibu, attending a cookout in the afternoon, and then watching the fireworks from the pier!

I though I would share one of my all time favorite patriotic sewing projects from my archives.

The 1941 Sailor Dress from April 2012....

Let's pretend.

It's 1941 and this little girl's daddy is a soldier coming home on leave today.

Her name is Darla.

Mommy and Darla came to the station early and Darla wants to look at the train tracks!

Darla is wearing her best dress made by mommy especially for today.

It is so patriotic, isn't it!

Mommy and Darla took a special trip to the city to buy her new leather shoes as well.

The man in the shoe shop gave Darla a pinwheel and she loves it.

Darla also loves to go to the train station because it's fun to explore there. Mommy often takes her out for an ice cream on days like this too.

She has such a nice mommy, doesn't she?

This is an old farming town and only one train comes a day so Mommy lets Darla play around the tracks.

Things were a lot different back then!

Children Darla's age played unsupervised outside for hours and no one called Child Protective Services!

Darla loves to find pretty rocks.

Darla also loves to play with her pinwheel. Lucky for Darla there is a nice breeze so her pinwheel affords her endless amusement!

Darla is starting to get weary of waiting....

There is the train off in the distance...

Daddy will be here soon!

Hip, hip, hooray!!!

Back to reality....

I used this pattern from 1941.

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