Dress Redo

Over spring break the past week, I did a little thrifting with my lovely friend Haliee! Can I just say, I used to hate thrift stores so much! I didn't like the smell and thought everything in the stores was ugly. I wish I could go back and tell myself otherwise! Now I can't stay away from them, and I am debating shopping almost exclusively at thrift stores...

Here are my reasons why: 

1)There are a lot of issues with the textile industry regarding labor issues and the bad treatment of workers that I really don't want to keep supporting.

 2) I am a college student and therefore have no money. 

3) It forces me to be creative and then I also have crafty things to do! 

So here's a dress I got from Goodwill, 

Just kidding it actually looked like this..

Nice shape huh?? No. But I loved the pattern and the color, and there was plenty of fabric to play around with!

(Sorry for the blurry picture! I was too excited to start sewing!!)

To start I pinned the hem if the dress up, because I knew I definitely wanted to change that.

Sometimes it is easier to do this while wearing the dress, and you get a better estimate of the length outcome! (I had to redo this step a few times because I pinned it way to short the first time)

This is when it was too short!

FINNALYYYYYYY I got the hem where I wanted it and cut off the extra, which I saved to make the belt later!

I waited to sew this till the end, so I could take on the back and make that seam lay down nicely. 

This dress had gathering on the front and back, so to take in the back I used my seam ripper to undo the stitching like the picture above.

Here is the back after the stitching is all out.

The gathering added a lot of fabric to the back, so I just sectioned some out from the middle, 

pinned it, and cut off that triangle scrap of fabric.

Next I sewed the back of the dress together again and the hem. (The hem I just sewed around what I had pinned and cut off the extra few inches that I had not cut off earlier).

This part just kinda happened, I cut some of the fabric in the back to make a cut out then sewed it to finish the dress. I probably didn't need to do this step, it adds some extra work. I just kinda followed my heart on this, and I love it!

This is the hem I cut off earlier. To make this into a belt I undid the hand stitching of the original hem, cut the lighter colored fabric on the picture above so that I could fold it under the darker and sewed up again!

 

And here's my end product:

Hope to do more dress redo projects soon! 

Love Becca 

Spring Cleaning

It started out that I was just going to do my laundry today, but now I think I am going to clean everything out! And sort through clothes and extra stuff.

Over the past summer as we were moving to our new house, I got rid of almost half the stuff in my room. Including basically anything I had in excess. From clothes, papers, shoes, and a lot more, it just felt good to downsize.

Now living in an dorm room I feel like stuff accumulates even faster. And because it is spring (and the weather is starting to feel like it too!) I want to have less clutter and just be able to enjoy the last part of the school year! 

Here are some progress shots. As you can probably tell I usually make more of a mess than before when I declutter, but it is totally worth it in the end!

Here is my plan of attack:

1. Laundry

2. Sort through clothes

3. Clean under my bed

4. Get rid of old papers 

5. Redo my wall by my bed 

6. Take all trash out

7. Re-organize 

Look everything is where it should be now! And I know it is hard to tell but you can see the top of my desk!!! (That is really rare for me!) 

Last word of advice on dorms, STAY ORGANIZED! It seriously helps!

Love Becca 

Women's Retreat

This weekend I went to Take Heart, a women's retreat with The Navigators (campus ministry)! It was so refreshing and the speakers were all amazing!

One of my favorite things I learned from this retreat was having a quiet heart. So basically being content or fulfilled. I hadn't thought about that before, but really having a content heart means being  satisfied that God has a plan. God is giving me (and you!) his absolute best plan right now. Sometimes it's messy and doesn't always look like what we want it to, but if it is God's best plan it's probably a pretty darn good plan! 

On another note look at how cute this is!!! (crafts are aways a perk of women's conferences!)

What it is, is a baby food jar filled with dirt and seeds, that will hopefully become flowers. I say hopefully because plants are not my strong suit (I have killed two cactuses or cacti...close enough). I have had good luck growing veggies in the past so maybe i can grow flowers who knows?!

The outside we used scrapbook paper and modgpodged it to the jar. I used three different patterns and made it striped. I also found a cute little flower and button for the top! The top really has no function other than keeping the dirt from spilling when we were traveing home. Anyways this was really fun!

I feel like I should also mention it felt like an artic tundra out there! For real though, Iowa needs to get its act together I expect it to be at least above freezing by this time! But...I will say I still think the snow is really pretty! 

I am learning to be content with the snow and see the beauty in it, but Lord knows I need his help!!!

Love Becca 

Mom's Chai

This stuff smells like heaven (tastes like it too!) I think it has magical powers to make any day better!!

My mom sent me some of this mystical mix she made, in a care package (as well as other homemade goodies). My mom is amazing when it comes to baking and comfort food! If only she could mail one of her chicken pot pies!

I'm not sure where she got the recipe from (I think it was a family friend) but this sweet drink is just what any college girl needs to get through a long night of homework!

Let's all take a moment and be honest night is the only time I really get homework and studying done (not nessicarily the night before it is due, that sometimes happens though) There is just a new kind of focus (almost like a super power) that you get when studying at night, I can't even explain it! You know it when you feel it!

Back to the Chai, I think I could live off of this. It is spicey and creamy and sweet and perfect. Also my dorm room smells amazing because of it! I seriously recomend finding a similar recipe, it is great to have on hand!

Love Becca