I Love These Two Hats So Much

 A while ago I bought a bunch of fabric from a friend of a friend whose mother was retiring from sewing. Boy she had everything from cotton to velvet to wool and so much in between. I also bought a large rement from one of my many fabric store suppliers. It was a upholstery tapestry fabric with a classic vintage look. I decided I needed to get out of my funky hat era for a bit and make something a little more vintage looking. 

I don't always know how something is going to come out. It's kind of a nice surprise. 

So here is the first hat. 

Ok, yes, I used AI for the background. But the hat turned out really nice. A friend of mine saw the picture and said she could totally see this on someone at Burning Man. That would be so cool! 

I lined it with a thick satin lining and the underside of the brim is a dark brown cotton velvet. Both from my friend of a friend purchase. The little flowers are made from wool. I have a very large stash of small pieces that work perfect. I did use my Accucut Die cutter for the flowers. The buttons look like little acorns. 

Here is the second hat. 

Ok, yeah, AI again. I use a app called "photoroom" I really love all the possibilities. 

Yes, I used a kantha quilt for the outside but I was feeling a bit down that day and decided the lining or reverse side needed to be bright and sunny. So I call this my sunshine hat. The yellow side is all regular cotton fabric that I have had for way too long. Glad I was finally able to make something fun with it. 

No the model isn't me. AI again. Yep, they put my hat on a person and it looks awesome!

A Little Change

 I had tried as I posted before to design my one stand alone website. I just gave up. Too many moving parts. So I had a very nice company design (Spiral Bridge Solutions) just a web page to get customers to my etsy store instead. I'm able to use my Curiousorangecat.com url instead of the whole etsy line. 

I still have so much work to do. Curious Orange Cat is doing ok. Not making me the big bucks but keeping me busy which is good. 

So enough of that!

I had some upcycled or decorated jeans on my Etsy site that just weren't getting any love at all. So onto plan B.  I decided to rework them into jean hats. 

Here is the first pair I'm going to work on.                                                                                                                                                                                             

I opened up the inner leg seams. (I noticed the pictures here make the jeans look more grey. But nope...they are very blue. Interesting how that works out. 

I cut off the back pockets to use on a different project later on. 

Now to get out my hat pattern and see if I can salvage these jeans into something else fun. 

A little off center, but I think it will work. Then onto the brim and top of the hat. 

The little bear patch was too far away to include it on the brim. Plus this little crochet flower was on the top tiny pocket and I didn't want to lose using it. So I cut it out and will add both to the top of the hat. 

Here is the layout. I also had a lining I had sewn but couldn't find a hat I liked to use it for. I think the colors will go great with this hat! Plus, I already sewed a wire into the edge of the brim. I'll have to find some fancy funky way to hide the wire later on. 

So Now to get sewing!!!

New Web Store Hopefully Coming Up Soon!

I have been wanting a stand alone store for a while now. But I get way too confused trying to do it myself with some of the major players like shopify. Too many moving parts and difficulty finding the elements that I want. Soo.... I have connected with a new company that has a human doing it for me. It's called Ueni.com. I talked to the owner Joel and he is working on it now. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. I of course will share it. 

This is the banner I hope to use. But he might come up with something better, we will see. 

 

Lack of Motivation

I'm sure it happens to all of us. Just getting out of bed is a an effort. I have Fibromyalgia. For the past two days I had done a bunch of work in the garden and was worn out. So every night before I go to sleep, I ask myself.."what are you going to do tomorrow" to set an intention for the next day.  That night I said I would finish this little reversible jacket I started. I saw the video off of Pinterest and loved the style. I had almost everything done except for some trim along the seam line on one side of the jacket. Yep, procrastinated that day and vegged out instead. The next day I turned on Spotify music and got so much done! 

I draped the trim around the manikin so I would keep seeing it and not get distracted. Did I mention I have ADD too? 

First time I sewed it on, my tread tension was off and the top white thread was showing on the inside red fabric. Sooo, had to rip it off. Sewed again, backwards... ripped it off again. Finally I turned on some music and got my head on straight. I also had to sew the trim on the sleeve seams as well. But of course ran out of the trim. So had to search for something for those seams. Thankfully I found a matching trim although it was a bit wider. But it works. 

So the jacket is done. I love it so much. Of course, it doesn't fit me. I used size Large flannel shirts and should have used xlarge. So it will be added to my Curiousorangecat.etsy.com store soon. I want to make at least two more.

So what do you think?

Want to try it for yourself? Here is the video. No patterns are needed. 

Reversible Jacket Tutorial They are a bit addictive. Have fun!

Custom Jeans Of Your Own

 In my last post, I showed three jeans I decorated for a customer. She said I need to do a better job of marketing myself. Seriously, I suck at marketing. I just want to make stuff!. Still thought I would put the process down just in case you want a pair of your own.

The process starts with a pair of jeans you already have that fit nice. 

I find out what your ideas are and make up some ideas. 

I send as many pictures as it takes until you like what you see. 

Once the design is approved, I sew it all down. 

That's it! Easy peasy. depending on my timeline and what the design is, it usually takes a few days to get them done and in the mail back to you. 

What is the cost? That is an important question. Typically I work at $20 and hour with extra costs for things like the hand made flowers and dots. Usually the cost is anywhere from  $65.00 to $125 plus shipping. 

I hope I can inspire you and I would love to design a pair for you! You can contact me via my email: Curiousorangecat@gmail.com. 

You can also check out my Etsy store for patches, purses and funky hats. Curious Orange Cat Etsy Store

Custom Jeans

Ok, so it's been a while. I told you I'm terrible at this. I still will try to do better at posting more often. 

I have had so much fun designing these jeans for Ms. Jodi again. 

We did three pairs this time. So I thought I would share the process a bit. 

I start out with my Accucut Die Cutter. I have had it since 2002 and it works great! I have a ton of different dies from geometric shapes to lamas. I'll provide a link to the company at the bottom of my post. 

Here is my closet of dies..

Anyway, on to the designs. The first pair she wanted just squares of light colorful fabrics going down the sides. I split the seam on the outside of the pants so I can sew the squares on. (note: I would open the inside seam but on many jeans it's sewn differently and is really hard to sew back the same way.   There have been tears and swear words.)

However, the next two jeans have an inside seam that is easy to sew back up. So those are done differently. 

Here is the white jeans all sewed up. 

 

She likes it to be a little frayed on the ends. I think they look pretty nice. Just a note, my pictures of the fabrics are brighter than real life. 

So on to the next pair. 

These were fun to do. I cut out three birds. Each fabric had Seam a Seam on the backside to hold everything down.  One grey, one red and one black. I cut each part off to make one robin. So I cut off the red belly, the black head and left the grey in one piece. Added a grey wing and sewed everything down. 
I then my favorite die is the vine. It's one of my go to dies. I added the birds and some purple berries. What do you think? These I split the inside seam so I could do the design on the side better. 

Last but not least is this pair. 

I make large patches for jeans and whatever. Like this...

My customer loved them but thought they were too big for her. (she is tiny!!). So asked me to make some really small ones in the same way. So this is what she got. They are 2 inches across.

While I love making these. I don't have a die for a smaller flower like this. So each is hand cut out. She also loves dots. So I made up a few little 1 inch circles on denim. 

I had a really cool die of a branch so appliqued that along the outside first. 

Next was the leaves.

And lastly the flowers and dots. 

These are just laid out to make sure I like the design. Here is a closeup of the design. 

All finished! 

What do you think! I have fun designing these for Jodi. 

A little shout out to her artwork. She will be in a gallery showing. Here are a few of her pieces. (Do you think she likes dots?)

If you live in the New York area, this is in Brooklyn. www.theotherartfair.com/brooklyn/

Hope enjoyed my jeans creations. Want a pair of your own? Check out my next post.

Here is a link to Accucut if you would like to check it out. Wonderful company with quality products. 

Accucut Die Cutter and Dies

Until next time! 

Bunny

Scrappy Sewing Projects

I'm a bit ADHD. That means I have soooo many projects going at the same time, I get a little overwhelmed. So blogging has been put on the back burner. I'm trying.. really I am. 

I have been having so much fun making patches for jeans and whatever. I have the biggest scrap basket I have ever had! I keep telling myself I really don't need to purchase any more fabric. But it's all soooo pretty!

I had to purchase a large laundry basket with wheels to contain it all. 

What to do, what to do with all these glorious scraps! Every night before I go to bed, I ask myself.. "self, what are you going to do tomorrow?" 

Here are some of my favorite projects so far.

I had a customer ask for little 2" hearts to sew on some jeans. At first I balked a bit. Lazy me usually cuts out my flowers with an Accquilt die cutter. But I didn't have this size, so had to cut them all out by hand. I know boohoo. But the customer loved them and I plan on making more. 

Here is how they turned out. (shown with permission thank you Miss Jodi) 

Next...scrappy cat patches. I really had fun making these and plan on making more. 

Next I made some scrappy heart patches for my Etsy store. 

Oh, what else can I do with all these scraps? How about a scrappy hat?

These were so fun to make! I got the pattern from a wonderful lady. Here name is Opal Annie and the pattern is called "The Crazy Hat Lady" on Etsy. They take a while to make and bonus, they are reversable. Here is the reversed side.

So you get a tidy (kinda) side and a scrappy side. The hat also has wire sewn around the outer rim so you can mold it anyway you want. 

Here is another one.. Scrappy side.

And tidy side: 

This all got started with my denim flower patches. I have sold lots of them and they are fun to make. I do some hand stitching on them. Great way to wind down at night watching my British murder mysteries. ( hello Mr. Poirot, Midsomer Mysteries and Vera). 

Well, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed my creations. I have 4 Etsy stores going right now. Yes, a little overwhelmed. One is a fabric store, two are t-shirt POD stores, I just started a hat only store and lastly my Curious Orange Cat store is all about patches, purses and upcycled clothing. Still need to list a bunch of stuff! So stay tuned. Here is a list of all my Etsy store links.

Curiousorangecat.etsy.com

Awayinthewoods.etsy.com -fabrics

SnarkyRemarks.etsy.com - t-shirts with snarky sayings 

Missbunnysays.etsy.com - t-shirts for cat and dog lovers, hobbies, mom, grandma etc. 

Thanks for visiting!