Crafty Wonderland’s Super Colossal Sale was amazing to Richard and I this year.  We took a lot of time to set up our booth to make it really eye catching, which if you are a vendor is a pretty critical element to a good sale.  Another necessity for a good sale is choosing your shows wisely.  Participating in a show that is well run and marketed, which Cathy Pitters and Torie Nguyen have in spades can make your sale experience incredible.  No matter where you live, Crafty Wonderland is a show that is worth traveling to and selling at. 

Our booth was hoppin’ almost the entire time of this 2 day event.  Richard and I both loved meeting shoppers, new shop owners interested in carrying our work and the sheer joy of selling our art. We hung the DIY Lounge sign on the front of our booth even though we were selling for our other businesses, Knot Ugly Designs and Sinister Concept.

We had so much fun and we are truly grateful to all of the folks who came out and shopped, which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 people I think I heard.  It was an honor to sell next to all the amazing handmade artists who’s work was represented at Crafty Wonderland and the biggest thank you of all to the show organizers.

Learn more about Crafty Wonderland from this video that DIY Lounge produced and directed about Crafty Wonderland.

I am re-reminded again and again that this is a great community and I am so fortunate to be part of this amazing artistic scene!

by: Jen

Phew, this is a busy time of year!  Richard and I have both been selling our art at art and craft fairs all over Portland, Oregon.  I create my work under the label Knot Ugly Designs and Richard has been selling his work under the business name Sinister Concept.  Our art and  sales have really been the focal point for both of us for the last few months, which has left less time for DIY Lounge.

You might be wondering, what’s happening with DIY Lounge? Well, we’re working on a number of different projects, such as emceeing at the Scrap fundraiser, speaking on a panel about DIY culture and getting a new HD video camera.  Recently, we’ve decided to shift our focus away from the TV show concept and back in the direction of crafty videos.   We will definitely continue making craft videos featuring Richard and I, as well as online video tutorials.  We’ll still offering Birthday parties and other art parties at both collage locations in Portland Oregon, too.

This Saturday and Sunday Richard and I will be selling our work at Crafty Wonderland.  The sale hours are 11am – 5pm at the Convention Center in Portland Oregon.  We hope to see you there!

Richard has been on vacation celebrating his Birthday, so there won’t be a vlog post this week.  Instead I’m going to show you what I’ve been up to.

Creativity isn’t tidy.  I am constantly surprised at the amount of mess that I can produce while crafting.  When I’m not working on the DIY Lounge TV show or on the DIY Lounge video tutorials, I’m making crocheted and reconstructed apparel and accessories under the name Knot Ugly Designs.   Right now I just have hats in my Etsy shop, but I make many other items, such as reconstructed sweaters, reconstructed shirts and I am working on a dress prototype right now.

I recently cleaned up my studio, which is a combination sewing studio and the DIY Lounge TV studio.  Something like a good old fashioned cleaning must be photographed because it might not happen again for a long time.  When you are creative you MUST live with a certain amount of mess, but here are some pictures of the momentary clean that is my studio.

The DIY Lounge sign is where the DIY Lounge TV studio is.  At the left is where my sweater collection lives.  I will cut the crap out of these sweaters in the very near future.

Here’s another perspective.  You can see the bathroom off to the right.

Here’s more sweaters that have been cut up, but still have a lot to offer, so I keep them for the next project.  I have them hung on a rolling rack with a lower rack set up so I can see all of my sweaters at a glance.  Off to the right you can see my sewing studio.  I’m not totally done decorating in there so I will leave that to photograph for another day.  Trust me, I don’t judge anyone else’s creative mess, but remember a little cleaning every once in awhile can really help keep you on task and can allow for more creativity.  Not to mention finding those items that you put in a that safe-place-so-you-would-remember-where-it-is-later and then promptly lost, or maybe that’s just me.

by: Jen

This is the perfect top for a cool summer day.  It’s made from a fleece sweater and a t-shirt that were old and tired. I put some pizazz back into these items by reconstructing them into a perfect fitting halter top.  One of the benefits to making a halter top out of a thick stretch material like fleece is that you can create a top that can support your chest even if you are larger chested and looks very flattering as well.  If your chest is smaller or you don’t need as much support you can make this top out of a long sleeved  t-shirt.  This top will also be designed to fit your shape.  You’ve never had a halter that fit you so well!

Supplies:
Long sleeved fleece sweater  (you can use a wool sweater – cotton sweaters will lose their shape and won’t work)*
T-shirt *
Sewing machine or serger
Fabric scissors
Straight Pins
Measuring tape
Buttons (I used 7 buttons, you pick how many you want)
Fray check

* You must use stretch fabric for this project.

1. Remove sleeves of fleece shirt where the sleeves and the body connect.

2. Cut sleeves up the side along the seam, where the side seam that makes the sleeve a tube and lay it out flat.  Remove all of the seams so only fabric is left, no stitching.

3. Hold the wider end of the sleeve at the base of your breast and wrap it around your neck.   This is half of your halter top’s top.   Cut away extra fabric at the small end of the sleeve that goes past the middle part of you neck.  It’s easiest to do this while looking in a mirror.  Add a 2 inch  seam allowance at the top or the bottom of the sleeve, you can adjust this as you work on the piece and shorten it if you want to.  Hint: if the halter top’s fit is  a little tighter then it will be a perfect fit with better support.  Now cut the other sleeve the same as the first one you just cut.

4. Next we want to decrease the size of the narrow end of the sleeves.   This is the part of the halter that fits behind your neck.  It depends what you like, but a halter that is wider at the back of the neck provides more coverage and looks very elegant.  Don’t go wider than 7 inches at the smallest part of the sleeve, if you do go wider it may be too bulky around the neck.

5. Set aside the sleeves and get ready to work with the body part of the sweater.  Cut away any extra parts of the body of the shirt, removing the neck, sleeve holes and cut off the bottom seam, so what you are left with is a tube.  Hold the body part of sweater up to your torso in front of a mirror.  You want the tube to be long enough to go down to where you want it to hit, for me that was the middle of my hips and to extend to the underside of your breasts.  Cut away extra fabric and use straight pins when needed.

6. Now hold the tube A.K.A. the cut up body of sweater up to your torso again.  Use pins to mark and cut away extra material from the sides of the shirt so that the lines of the top match your curves of your torso below the breasts.  No need to add a seam allowance.

7. Put away the tube and get ready to work with the t-shirt.  Hold the t-shirt up to your chest just below your breast.  Place a pin at each side of the shirt where the sides of your body are.  You want to cut a band as wide as your body is under your breasts cut this piece 6 inches long. Cut 2 of these at the same time then cut 2 more.  Now that you have 4 pieces that is as wide as your chest and 6 inches long, fold 2 of the pieces in half, so the piece is as wide as your chest and 3 inches long and do the same thing with the other side.  The reason we are using t-shirts that are 4 layers thick is that we want the piece under the breast to be strong enough to help support your chest.  Now pin these pieces together, cut off 1 inch from one side of the folded in half pieces.  Then sew each of the pieces that are folded in half to each other creating a smaller tube.  This will be the band that goes under your breast.  It needs to be the tightest part of the top because it will help support your chest.  Because we are working with stretch fabrics this won’t feel tight.

8. Pick up all your cut pieces and move to the sewing machine or serger.   I used a serger for mine.   If you use a sewing machine use the overlock stitch.  If you don’t have a modern sewing machine you can use a zigzag stitch set on it’s longest stitch length, but this will have a rougher look.  Stitch the sides of the tube.  Then pin together the small band to the tube and stitch these two pieces together.

9. Pin the narrow end of the sleeves together and then sew.  Wrap around your neck and position over chest, wrong side facing up.  Decide how much cleavage you want to show and pin the wide end of the sleeves.  Add an extra inch in length because once this top is on your chest will pull the cleavage line down.  Now stitch where you have pinned.

10. Pin the wide part of sleeves to the top of the band.  Decide where the middle of the band is and line that up with the part you stitched on the wide part of the sleeves then once you’ve pinned the sleeves to the band, stitch.  This is the time to adjust the neck of the shirt if needed.  A snug fit in the chest will provide better support.

11. Stitch the bottom of your top.  If you are using a shorter sweater or top you may not need to remove the seam at the bottom from the original top.  You can also leave the original seam on if you want a longer shirt or possibly a mini dress that is super short.

12. Sew on your buttons where you put in that cleavage seam.  Now test out your top.  It should be a snug fitting, supportive hott halter top!

Next week I’ll show you that chair that I’ve been working on . . .

by: jen

This summer has been an amazing and crazy time for the DIY Lounge crew.  We’ve had so much support and interest in this project and have been approached by many people offering support in whatever way they can.   Jen and I have been producing blog content and beefing up our networking and marketing efforts.  We’ve been attending many events such as “The Summit of Awesome“, which have have been hotbeds of like-minded people who want to further the idea of a more crafty world.

As you may know, our fundraising effort with Kickstarter.com was unsuccesful but this has been a blessing in disguise.  So we are embarking on a new effort with the fundraising site, Indie Go-Go, which we will launch this fall.  We are very excited about this new fundraising site which allows us to keep all the money raised even if we don’t meet our funding goal.

Last but not least, we have had an addition to the DIY Lounge family. Our director, Patrick Cummings who has been extremely busy filming the upcoming season of “Axe Men” for the History Channel welcomed a new baby boy, Declan Riot.

Keep your eyes peeled for our weekly cocktail/crafting recipes, tutorials and more video content.

Don’t Deny Your DIY!

Richard

We are beyond pleased to announce that, Mark Montano, author of “The Big-Ass Book of Crafts”, Dollar Store Decor: 100 Projects for Lush Living That Won’t Break the Bank, and many more, will be appearing at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale. Mark is also the star of many TV projects including: WeTV’s She’s Moving In, and TLC’s While You Were Out and many of you will recognize him as the face of the Yudu.  He will be on hand to sign his brand new book, The Big-Ass Book of Home Decor: More than 100 Inventive Projects for Cool Homes Like Yours.  Mark will also be doing a Make and Take and generally spreading his crafty goodness around Portland.

DIY Lounge will be interviewing him for the upcoming Pilot Episode in our booth so come by and say hi.  It will be so nice to introduce him to the amazingly creative denizens that call Portland home.

See You All There!

D.I.Y. Lounge will be a sponsor and presence at the upcoming, Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale.  We will be on-site taping the event, showcasing artists and their wares and promoting our upcoming TV show.

We are very excited about having a presence at our favorite Handmade Bazaar.  Cathy Pitters and Torie Nguyen have been wonderfully supportive of our fledgling show and we hope to return the favor by showcasing this great event.

This time Crafty is going to be a two day event, Saturday May 1st and Sunday May 2nd from 11AM to 5PM.  Remember the admission is free and the First 200 Shoppers receive some goodie bags filled with some handmade goodness.

So stop by our booth and say hi.  We will be selling raffle tickets for some amazing prizes with all proceeds going to produce the TV Show.

See you there!!!

Today Jen, Patrick and I shot footage for the new Kickstarter and YouTube Teaser.  Talk about super easy and fun.

The day started with us taking advantage of the coolest craft store in the U.S., Collage on Woodstock.  We then made our way over to the one and only Bakery Bar where we shot some footage of us molesting some fondant.  Our favorite vintage furniture store, Lounge Lizard was next, where we took complete advantage of the abundance of mid-century furniture and accessories. We them scampered over to the fabulous Scrap to show our viewers what recycling really means.  The day of shooting ended up with us at the Alibi Tiki Bar punch drunk from too much fun and a bit of Mai-Tai.  Even though it was only noon we worked hard for that cocktail, so don’t judge us, plus it was really more of a prop than anything….*hiccup*

DIY Lounge, the Multimedia Experience (Extreme Working Title) is turning out to be sensationally easy and rewarding.  We can’t wait to share our experiences, education and knowledge with you, our faithful fans.

Stay tuned for the new Teaser and remember:

“DON’T DENY YOUR DIY”

For those of you that don’t know, Jen, Patrick and I have been accepted to Kickstarter to raise some much needed capital to film our Pilot Episode.  Kickstarter is an amazing site and if you don’t know anything about it, then please check out our project to get more acquainted. This is an all or nothing funding project which means  If we don’t hit our goal you pay nothing.  No amount is too small and everything is appreciated but we do have some amazing incentives for those donating substantial amounts. Once again, thanks so much for your contribution, support or well wishes.  All are welcome.

Visit our Funding Site by clicking above on the image

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