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Alice In Wonderland

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Have you seen the previews for Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland movie? It looks amazing. I love Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. I have this beautiful Alice in Wonderland import fabric that I got from This and That from Japan (Lisa actually has a few versions you should check out)…and used it to make this skirt and shirt set:


I used reverse applique for the skirt (see tutorial here). I drew images (heart and teapot) similar to the ones on the fabric onto interfacing and then ironed it onto the wrong side of the fabric:


Before sewing the skirt together I pinned the applique to the backside of the skirt and stitched around the edges:


The best part of reverse applique is cutting out the final image:


A funky Alice in Wonderland-inspired twirl skirt (pattern to be out soon):


To make a set, I took a plain white tee and screen printed a magenta crown the front and added a spade shaped reverse applique:


The finished shirt with rhinestones attached:


Another Alice-inspired dress….using a Disney Cheshire Cat shirt:


With one of the sleeves made from a teapot print:

Seen anything cool lately that is Alice-inspired?

The World Traveler: Vintage Travel Patches (Tutorial)

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I’ve was blessed as a young girl to be able to travel with my family, though I always felt like we could have been in a National Lampoon movie with all our adventures. Most of our trips revolved around golf courses with my dad and sister’s golf. One of my most vivid memories growing up is my brother saying “what a tourist trap” about every place we went. We all loved the “tourist traps” though and I would collect little things from each place for my art journals. My one regret: the Loch Ness Monster Visitor Center in Scotland. Picture this: my sad, longing face pressed against the car window as my dad sped straight through the town of Loch Ness because he and my sister were late for a tee time (I was 20 years old).

Anyways, in the spirit of the world traveler, I made patches to resemble those vintage luggage stickers that covered suitcases long ago……


…..and covered this little “Tourist Trap” dress in them. My favorite part of the dress is the “touristy” knit print for the skirt…..Clark Griswold would be proud!


I can’t get enough of these clipart book/CD sets. The one I used for this project is “Old-Time Label Art” and it is full of vintage travel labels, crate labels, etc…..all high resolution and royalty-free:


First, I printed out the images on transfer paper. (I’ve said it before, but I am now officially hooked on Dharma Trading’s Super Soft Transfer Paper.) Just make sure to print your images in reverse! Note: the fine lines you see in the bottom images are from my dying ink-jet printer….RIP printer.



Then I ironed the images onto a plain white knit. Note: The secret to the transfer process is ironing on a hard surface….using all of your body weight (i.e. don’t use an ironing board!)


I cut out each image and used fusible web to create an “iron-on” patch (you can actually IRON on top of this brand of transfer paper!).


I stitched around each patch to secure to the dress.


Before sewing the dress together I washed all the pieces again to lightly fray the edges of the patches to give them more of a vintage feel.


The main part of the dress was a travel shirt that read “Havana Cuba.”


Patches from all over the world!


Even one that reads “See America First”……which we plan to do as a family this summer in the west!

Roll Up Your Sleeves

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Ever save something for years and years never having an idea for them and then it just hits you one day? For me it was these name patches I picked up at a flea market in 1996 (so I’ve been holding on to them for 14 years!!!). My college roommate Seema and I loved looking for eclectic finds and these were a great one. Seema put one on her jacket she wore all the time….I’ll have to ask her what the name was.


If there are any traits I hope my daughter takes from myself and her father they are: self sufficiency and determination. Is there any greater feeling than being able to fix something yourself? Don’t get me wrong, I like to outsource things to the experts too….but I also like being self sufficient and I know I can do almost anything with just a little research and determination. I’m not afraid to roll my sleeves up and figure out a plumbing problem or a appliance issue. This morning I was just staring at these and thought what a great homage they would be to the self sufficient hard worker!

I made this “roll up your sleeves” dress….for the little girl who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty!


These patches still had some iron-on adhesive left on them, but I added some additional fusible adhesive and stitched around the edges.


Thanks to “Lonnie”, wherever you are, for passing the torch…or wrench.

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