Tuesday Tutorial: Wet Dog Hood to Black Bear Hood, Replacing a Fur Hood

Here's a simple tutorial on how I went from wet dog hood to furry black bear hood. I am just kidding, this is all fake fur, no animals were killed in the making of this tutorial!  

I sported this wet dog hood all of last year, since my hubby put it in the dryer after a wash. It used to be nice and fluffy but after the dryer washing, not so much. It wasn't a big deal last year because I was wearing hats, but this year, I have been employing my hood for warmth to avoid hat hair and well, it was quite embarrassing.  

I sewed the edge of the hood on my sewing machine before cutting it off. That way, the stuffing would be somewhat contained. 

Wet dog fur off! 

I then cut the excess stuffing so it wouldn't get in the way of sewing. 

This is how it looked at this point. 

I found this cute little fake fur scarf in the 99 cents store. 

I measured and cut off the excess

Much better!

I then sewed the edge of the "black bear" scarf to the edge of the hood. Sorry for the cluttered photo. I was also listening to my iPod and on the computer while I sewed. Yes, I multi-task.

Bye bye, "wet dog" hood! Don't get me wrong, wet dogs are okay, just not on my hood! lol. 

Hello foxy mama! Or should I say black bear mama. I love the way it came out and am no longer embarrassed to wear my hood! 

Local Bronx Designer/Vintage Seller: Mixy Mitzy

If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE jumpsuits! However, I recently had an epiphany that I don't always have to make them, I can actually buy one! What a concept, lol.  Not to long ago, I decided to poke around on Etsy and see if I can find an affordable one. Low and behold, I landed on Mixy Mitzy 's shop and fell in love with this 80's jumpsuit with kitchy seashell shoulders. I actually know the owner of Mixy Mitzy as we are both members of the Bronx Artisans of Etsy Team. She (Shiloh) also happens to be a really cool Bronx person, designer, and vintage seller. As she lives close by, I immediately messaged her and asked if I could go try it on.  It fit perfectly!

This beautiful curly head was modeling it on her shop. I immediately fell in love with it!

Love the glittery seashell detail. 

Here are some other cool items from Mixy's shop that I absolutely love!

Upcycled Urban Skirt

60s Wool Dress

Embroidered Oaxacan Dress

As well as vintage clothing, you can also find some of Shiloh's own designs, pdf sewing patterns, fabric, and stickers. Make sure to hop on over there and check these, and other great items out! 

To know more about Mixy Mitzy, go to http://mixymitzy.com

Tuesday Tutorial: Infinity Scarf from Sweater

Curl shrinkage is real people!

I usually cut my hair during the winter. I don't really notice the "shortness" of it because my hair shrinks about 4 inches when it's curly. When I do the winter cut, I simply flat iron it straight and I have long hair again. But this year is different. I want my hair to be long and curly by the time the summer rolls around so I need to keep the scissors at bay. The problem with that is that I won't have the option of winter straight hair because by now it has lost it's shape and looks too long and lifeless. So winter curly hair it is.  

I apologize for the blurry iPhone pic. 

I decided I needed a thick scarf that would cover my ears since hats tend to flatten my curly hair. If I need more warmth,  I also have my hood as a back up. Here is a tutorial on how to make a thick infinity scarf from a sweater. 

  I started with a large sweater

 I cut the arms off

 I opened them up

 I cut the body in half

 Then I cut the top of each half like so.

 I opened up each torso half and lined them up bottom to bottom.

 I stitched them, right sides together.

 I then added the opened sleeves on the bottom and sewed.

 Then I cut the inside of the sleeves to make it even with the sides it was sewn to.

 Fold in half and sew along the edge of the top making a tube.

 With right sides together, sew the ends to make a round tube.

I had my hair straight in the left photo, thus the hat. The scarf is wide enough to cover my ears and I can even put it over my head in case it gets super cold, like it did a couple of weeks ago.

 I really love it.

What do you think? How do you keep warm in the winter? Hat? Hood? Thick scarf?

Screenprint Cut-Out Tunic: Armor/Vulnerability Collection

Happy New Year! It's time to start blogging about fashion again. For my first post of the year, I wanted to show you this cut-out screen printed sweatshirt tunic I have been working on last year as part of the armor/vulnerability collection I have been working on and wrote about here. This is the third piece. The two that I showed before had a faux lace print (the beige dress and the grey sweatshirt). This one has a print made from a picture I took of a gate. For this post, I'll also share a little of my creative process with you.  

Here's the picture I took of a gate in front of a building near the Central Park Zoo two summers ago.

I played around with design ideas on Photoshop

I decided on the image which seemed playful.

First image from www2.prgov. Second image from sangriataina.webs.com

I was not trying to channel Taino imagery in any way but the print ended up looking a little like el Sol de Jayuya. El Sol de Jayuya is a petroglyph shaped like a sun found in the town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico. Many of these petroglyphs were carved by Taino natives which inhabited the island before 1493. 

I screened and printed it onto this deconstructed sweatshirt. The idea of the gate was to symbolize armor and the cut- outs were meant to represent vulnerability.

Front and back. The front consists of three panels and the back is one solid piece. 

The cut-out ended up a little lower than I wanted. I plan to do a sweatshirt version where the cut-outs will be higher.

Note to self: take your hair elastic off your wrist before you take pictures.

Would love to hear your thoughts. These will all be going up in my shop for custom orders soon.