dolin bliss

Humble beginnings to fun summer top!

I know, I know... I haven't posted in ages.  I won't bore you with any excuses and get right into the fun stuff.  I have been crafting and will share what I have been up to in upcoming posts.  The first thing I wanted to share with you is this fun summer top I made from an old pillowcase that I bought for a buck.  I followed Betz White's tutorial on the Craft blog.  The only thing that I did differently was add more of the shirred stitching.  I totally recommend this project!  It was easy and done in a couple of hours.  Some great summer almost instant gratification.

- Here is what I started with, a vintage pillowcase with a sassy floral print.

- Ta-da!  A great summer top for those hot days, which we have been having a lot of here in San Jose.

- Here is a close up of the shirring and strap.

- I even put in bra strap holders on the under side of the straps.  I hate having to adjust visible bra straps all the time.

Check out this tutorial on Craft and try it out.  You don't need an old pillowcase to do it, either, you can use any piece of fabric that is large enough.  

I also wanted to give a big ol' THANK YOU to the ladies at StyleSubstanceSoul!  They were kind enough to feature my Refashioned Crochet Embellished Tank on their site, here.  

Some recent vintage finds...

As I am sure you already know or can guess, I have a thing for vintage fabrics and linens.  Oh, who am I fooling, I have a big time thing for almost anything vintage.  

Anyhow, I have found a few treasures recently while browsing the thrift stores:

Here are some fun and funky treats... I am thinking of using the second one from the top for some pillows in the living room, the turquoise color is close to the color I painted one of the walls.  

On to the vintage linens, I found all of these in one store and I could have bought more.  What a score! I am still not sure what I am going to use my growing vintage linen collection for, but I do I know an inspired idea will come to me sometime.  

The past couple of weeks I have been busy with some freelance work that I am really enjoying.  I have been doing the technical editing for a new sewing book.  This work is just right up my alley!  I have to read the instructions make sure they are clear to people with a range of sewing skills, from beginner to expert.  While comparing the instructions to the sample projects and the patterns.  AND the best part about this is that I get to do it all from home!  I am almost done with this project and would like to continue doing work like this. Let's hope they like my work.