Tutorial Tuesday: Dashiki Refashion

Back in July, I collaborated with House of Estrela, an amazing refashion blog, and shared this refashioned dashiki over at her place. 

Here, I will share the tutorial in it's entirety including a couple of extra shots. As is custom with my summer projects, my sons are in the photos. Although it is more difficult to create in the summer, this time does allow me to include them in the show and tell process. It's all good and it's all me baby!

You start by taking a v-neck shirt that fits you well

I love the dashiki because of the power it emits. I bought my dashiki back in 1998 in a flea market in North Carolina while visiting my sister. I was newly married,  had no children and was continuing to explore my cultural and political identity. I did feel quite empowered in it and wore it often until it got too small for me and tore.

Here's the tear, boo hoo. 

I cut the entire design off of the body of the dashiki. This is what I was left with. 

I pinned it onto the front of the t-shirt first for proper placement.

Then I continued pinning on the dress form. Don't look at the background. The house gets messy during the summer, don't judge! lol

Here's a back view with backpack just thrown in the back ground. Yup, it was the beginning of summer. 

This is how it came out. I love it!

Here comes one of the kiddos 

 "Stay Strong Mother!" I first heard this from Liela Joy Marie Fuller; author of Life's Reflection. I interviewed her here.

 And here's the other kiddo. Not so little anymore, he is going to pass me soon. 

  We had such a great summer. My little one spends more time in summer school than this one, so we got to have alone time and bond. I love him so much. 

Back view

What summer projects did you accomplish? How did you work with the kids during the summer?

Vacation, Special Needs, and What I Wore

Vacationing with a special needs child can be tough. I often wonder if it would be easier to stay home; routine, familiarity and sensory stuff at our disposal. However, a different environment allows me to learn more about Dan, see how he responds to new situations, expose him to new things, and enjoy him in a different context. So here's a little run down of our vacation, what I wore, and how we all did. 

Dan trashed our hotel room the minute we got there, lol.

The first day, I wore this top I made 2 years ago. I love it! It's a racerback with a draped color blocked front and low peter pan collar. So comfy and great for vacay. 

We spent a lot of time in the hotel pool downstairs. One of the things that keeps Dan calm is water. If he were in water all day, he would be so still and peaceful.

My oldest also enjoys water but is less adventurous in the pool. 

On the third day we made our way to the shore. I loved seeing this sign. Stronger than the storm...

I wore this shirt on the third day.  Small shirt to draped  tank, tutorial here

 Near the shore, we stopped to play miniature golf. Dan was not into it at all and he would not let go of his blanket but it's all about exposure to new things.

My oldest, on the other hand, loved it! He is land, while Dan is sea. Opposite sides of the spectrum indeed. 

Amusement park rides also calm Dan down. He loves motion. Water and motion are his favorites!  Here we are on the same train ride we took last year, I wrote about it in this post and took the same exact picture. This year I knew the drill; I went straight to the customer affairs office and asked for my bracelet, the bracelet that allows Dan to ride free because, well, he's "special".  It's interesting that they put the bracelet on the mother and not the child. Last year was the first year I had to grapple with the fact that Dan does indeed act "special". I couldn't hide behind the the late bloomer label anymore and he outed me as a special needs mom. 

My special needs mom coming out bracelet. 

All in all, we had a great time and it was a much needed change of scenery. 

The end of the summer is approaching. Would love to hear what you all did!   

The Case for a Dog

I don't like dogs, or cats for that matter. I don't really like pets in general. I know this is not the popular thing to say these days. Everyone I know is a nature loving, animal adorer, including my husband and two boys. It's a running joke in my house, "mommy hates animals!", "mommy why don't you like dogs?" "How can you hate God's creatures?"

In my defense, it's best that I not be near any type of animal.  I can't even keep my plants alive. For our wedding someone got us this very exotic plant from China that didn't even need much watering. Well, I didn't water it at all, I forgot!  In college, my boyfriend, now my husband, gave me  hamster, I was so overworked with school that I forgot to feed him and he died. I felt aweful. If it's not screaming and hollering for food, I'm not going to pay attention. I have other stuff I need to do like print and sew. I just don't have time to care for one more living creature, especially with two special needs children that require so much attention.

For 16 years I have been able to blame my landlords for us not having dogs/cats. They do not allow them in our two family house and I am so super grateful! For years, I would tell the kids and my hubby, "it's not me, it's Joe and Rachel (names changed), they don't allow dogs or cats in the home. But it WAS secretly (or not so secretly) me. Now we are planning to move and that protection has gone out the window. Now my hubby is specifically looking for a place that allows dogs. I can no longer hide under someone else's rules.

And why does my husband demand that we have a dog? Well look for yourself at these cuddly pictures of my youngest with our friends's dog, Rocky.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Really? This is blackmail? How can I say no to a dog with this last photo of my little Dan tickling Rocky's ear? So not fair!  Even I melt when I see these. Dan remains absolutely calm in in Rocky's presence. They were frolicking for a good long while in the grass as I took these pics.

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

And here he is with my niece's little dog, Toby.  Dan was perfectly content hanging out in the kitchen while Toby jumped and snuggled all over him. I have to face the truth. Dan loves dogs and for some reason, it calms him down. 

However, for me, it gives me heart palpitations. I can deal with these sporadic pet visitations but to have one in my home day in and day out and know that I will have to be the one to take care of him/her while my husband works outside the home and the kids go to school, well, that is just not appealing to me. It's like having a new baby. All I keep thinking is this creature getting into my fabric and other sewing notions, It's hard enough keeping Dan from messing with my things. These are the choices you face when you decide to be a mother. Some parents say, "i'll do anything for my kid" and I'm sure they are thinking of shielding their child from a gun toting intruder. For me, "doing anything for my kid" might just require taking in a dog.  

So what's a crafty girl to do? For those of you who have pets (and it feels like the whole world does, except for me) how do you keep your sewing room, pet free? What is life like with pets? I need cute cuddly stories to help me deal and prepare for the inevitable, I will soon be a dog owner. Maybe. 

FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING ON ALL DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

Hello! It's been a while since I have posted. Summer camp ended for my big boy and now I am shuttling him back and forth to basketball camp. My little one ends summer school tomorrow so it's about to get crazy here! lol. 

In the meantime, I am offering FREE (domestic and international) SHIPPING on everything in my etsy store, Nelesc Designs. This will last until Monday, September 9th, the first day of school!  

This was a crew neck top I reconstructed by scooping the neck and shortening the sleeves.  I have this in all sizes,
S-XXL. 

So head on over! The shop is pretty much stocked with icons in various sizes, S-XXL.

Draped Jumpsuit

Okay, so here's the draped jumpsuit that I promised to show pics of from this post. I am sorry for the grainy pictures. I need to figure out what I am doing wrong. Any suggestions would be welcomed. 

Anyway, back to the jumpsuit. It's no secret that I like draping and I love jumpsuits. So I decided to put the two together. I like this draped jumpsuit but it definitely needs to be tweaked. First of all: It's a bit too drapey on the sides. I don't need any extra baggage on these Puerto Rican hips, lol. 

I love the top. I again, used recycled neck bands from other t-shirts for the arm hole bands thus the little color play.

Since this has a racer back,  I couldn't pull it up from the bottom without creating an opening so I had to open up the shoulders and sew in snap tape. It has three snaps for a closure on each side. It's a little bulky, thus the big hair to cover it. I need to think about this if I make it again. 

Yes, a bit too much drape for my taste. 

All in all, I would wear this one in public but I want to make another one with my corrections to see how that one comes out. I'm hoping to offer a pattern for this jumpsuit in the future so stay tuned! 

Rocker T-Shirt Reconstruction

I absolutely LOVE doing t-shirt reconstructions! I'll never stop doing these, no matter how rich and famous I get, lol.  Here's my latest. 

I bought this t-shirt in Old Navy. I loved the words and guitar print combo, so cool! It wasn't particularly super big, it was just unflattering.

I decided to take it apart; the entire front, sleeves and all, from the entire back.

Then I cut it in this shape. I was intending to make a cowl neck line.

Here's the back shape. I used a self drafted pattern for this.

But then I thought "this is a rocker t-shirt, it needs a more dramatic transformation than just a cowl. I am a big fan of asymmetry so I looked in my leather stash and decided to add a patch on one side. I also folded the neckline into this asymmetrical shape and stitched it on the side.

Here's what it looks like from the back

My best air guitar! lol.

I really love the way it came out. Since I truly believe in the transformative power of clothes, it's a special piece that can be saved for times when I don't feel like a rock star. 

I'm always interested in knowing what you think and I read each and every comment.

Behind the Seams: My Sewing Space

Here's a little behind the scenes view of my crazy sewing space. Books on the shelf behind me vary; sewing, Puerto Rican history, art history, special needs mothering, and yes cookbooks. You know the cookbooks are my hubby's, not mine!   

Then you have my helmet hats on heads and bins of fabric and supplies, oh and I left my sewing lamp on for this picture, my bad. I wish it looked a little neater but it's controlled chaos, I know where everything is. 

By the way, I just finished this blue jumpsuit. I'll take pics soon and post about it. 

How is your sewing space looking these days? What's on your bookshelf?