WiseArts

I had this perfect pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans: Relaxed fit. Bootcut. Fit like a glove and perfectly broken in. I think I had them for about 8 years until disaster struck. A terrible bowling accident. I was releasing my ball for what was sure to be a strike, but accidentally kind of stepped down wrong, half fell down and *RIIIP*—one of my leg seams had ripped from the knee almost clear to the crotch! I was so glad I had a sweatshirt to tie around my waist so I could finish playing.

I was terribly saddened by the loss of these favorite jeans, but around the same time, I was lucky enough to have downloaded this Liberty Jane Jeans Pattern for American Girl Dolls! Instead of tossing out the jeans, they would live on forever as a pair of adorable jeans for my doll collection! At first I was going to create the jeans exactly to the pattern specs, but then I found  a little article about adding a zipper to the Liberty Jane Jeans Pattern. I had to do it. I started looking for a tiny zipper, but then I thought, why not use the zipper straight from the jeans? Zippers can be cut to size, so I could make it fit! And then I started thinking, why stop at the zipper? I decided to make the doll jeans as close to the originals as possible!

	I carefully removed the original Tommy Hilfiger branded tape from the zipper shield, so I could add it to my tiny jeans. I removed part of the actual waistband from my jeans and cut it down to the right size. I love the red contrast stitching on the inside! I also added on tiny belt loops. I couldn’t use the original jeans button since it was so large, so I found some dolly-sized ones online.
I cut a logo from a rear label inside my jeans to use as an appropriate-sized pocket emblem.
	My original jeans had an embossed leather label. It was far too big to use, so I decided to make my own! I cut an appropriate-sized piece of leather, and used a Creative Heatworks tool (bascally a woodburning tool with interchangeable points) to brand my label.
	Finally, I used a few different grades of sandpaper to add wear similar to that of my jeans. I think they turned out so adorable! Definitely one of the most detailed teensy things I’ve ever sewed! Those belt loops were tricky!

Last weekend I completed my second MS150 bike tour! It is the most fun way to raise money for a great cause—finding a cure for multiple sclerosis. Last year, I completed the ride on an old Trek mountain bike and did only a bit of training, but this year I had my stylish new road bike and a lot more training under my belt! It made a huge difference. I felt stronger during the ride, and much less pain afterwards! Thanks to my great sponsors, I raised even more money than last year too.

I was a member of my company team again this year, which is definitely the way to roll! As a member of a large team, you get a private team bus to take you to the starting point, and you get a private team tent to party under at the halfway point. Every year there is a contest for the best-decorated team tent. Our team picked a decorating/party theme of Mexican Fiesta this year, so our tent was decked out with colorful decorations, maracas and sombreros!

Our team mascot is a banana, so I decided I’d make our mascot into a pinata to go along with our theme!

First, my dear husband created this amazing 3-dimensional cardboard base for me. I filled it up with candy, added a strap to hang it up with, and taped it shut.

Next, I covered the cardboard base with a layer of newspaper strips. I used a paste made from flour and water. It’s messy, but washes off easily.

Then I wrapped this with a layer of crepe paper (it’s the stardard stuff on a roll that you buy at party/paper supply stores). I used the same flour paste on this.

For the next layer, I made slits in the crepe paper before I glued it on in order to get that authentic pinata look. For this I used YES! paste. I think it’s really designed for scrapbooking and book arts, but it worked swell for this. It’s a little thicker, allowing me to apply more accurately than I can with the flour paste, so only the non-slit edge gets glued down to maintain that “fluffy” look! I also added on arms and legs made from twisted-together pipe cleaners. I just poked holes in the pinata and stuck them on with gobs of glue.

Finally, I added facial features, hands, and feet that I printed on a laser printer. I printed two of each hand and foot as mirror images of each other and glued each set together with the pipe cleaners in between. The face parts were laminated before I glued them on to make them more sturdy.

We named him Juan! When he was hung in the middle of our tent, a sombrero was added, and maracas were taped to his hands. The kids on the team had a great time busting him open and eating all the candy goodness inside! It was a fun addition to the party.

This evening I took part one of a class on textile surface design. One of the projects we worked on was marbling fabric using shaving cream and acrylic paint! It was fun. My friend Isolde took the class too. Hope she’ll post hers!

To make these, we spread cheap shaving cream on a plastic bag (surface protectant), dripped thin acrylic paint on the cream, and then swirled it around using various implements (fork, chopstick, spatula…). Then we took a piece of cotton muslin and patted it down over the whole mess. Left it to soak/set for about 5 minutes, then peeled it off and rinsed it under running water. I liked making swirl patterns! These aren’t quite dry yet.

I think I’ll do some cool random stitchery over these later on…

Cross-posted at Thing-a-day