Our Farmhouse | Toy Kitchen Makeover

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We’ve had this little toy Hape kitchen with us since Felix was a toddler. It’s cute enough but I’ve never been a huge fan of bright orange and red it felt better placed in the kids’ room instead of out in the main living space. Bea really likes playing house, so I thought I’d give the little toy kitchen a quick update (I started this morning, so under 4 hours total with drying time) and move it to the family room.

See also: Mama loves a makeover.

So here’s what I did: first I unscrewed all of the orange parts - two front handles and the kitchen ledge and cleaned them well. I found some matte black spray paint in the basement and gave them a few light coats outside.

Meanwhile, I removed the backsplash and painted it white (again, with what I had on hand). After dry, I got do to the fun part - painting on the tile (or more accurately, the grout lines!) I used a pencil to make a 1.25” grid and then “painted” in the grout using a black chalk marker. I’ve always wanted to do this layout with subway tile, so this little project is a fun way to envision it. I made sure to do my pencil strokes on the light side so a quick coat of white paint would cover up pencil marks.

Once I screwed this panel back on, I ran my black marker along the crease were it meets the countertop to give it a crisp, perfect finish. I got pretty lucky that my “tiles” fit perfectly. I love how the small scale makes them look realistic!

I wanted to do something about the red knobs, but they weren’t coming off easily to be spray painted. I tried some craft paint but it didn’t grab onto the lacquered finish - so I just used the chalk marker on that too.

Finally I spent way too much time styling it out. Those little wooden “vases” are napkin rings and I grabbed some of my faux plants to make it cute. There’s also a little iron owl trivet on there.

Guys - this project was easy, quick and totally free because I used supplies from my stash. Also a good way to get out my need to renovate and finish a space while my other projects are currently being demo’d.

Let's do a Whole 30!

With just about two weeks until the new year, I’ve started to think about what kind of fresh beginnings I’d like to take on. I actually kept my 2018 resolution (second hand first!) and plan on only sewing my own clothes in 2019! But today, I’d like to focus on health. Guys, I have been eating so poorly lately and I feel it. Not enough good stuff (green anything? Christmas tree cupcakes do not count!) So much sugar and fast food - it’s no wonder I feel gross. My skin is crying out for help. My digestion is not happy. I need a change.

I haven’t done a proper, all out Whole 30 in years - I’ve been either pregnant or nursing for the past five (which meant I was nauseous or needing to keep my supply up) - and now that I’m not supporting another person - it’s time! My main goal - repair my gut and cure my acne (from the outside in!) I think I can do it by removing dairy, sugar and gluten from my diet - those are my most likely triggers, but by doing a full elimination plan (removing soy, all grains, and legumes, and then slowly adding them back in) I can be sure. On the acne front I am also going to be sure to eat more foods with probiotics (like sauerkraut and kimchi) and taking zinc to repair my gut lining. Plus I know I feel better when I’m eating real food. I’m about 15 pounds heavier than when I became pregnant with Felix, but I actually feel pretty good about my body’s shape. I wouldn’t mind a little breathing room in my jeans, but I don’t want to lose too much weight because I don’t want to sew a whole new wardrobe (well… I do… but there’s only 24 hours in a day!)

I know from experience, doing a bit diet overall can be overwhelming. I’ve combed through my archives for some posts that will help:

How to Plan for the Whole 30

My Whole 30 Results

Follow Up to the Whole 30

Whole 30 Breakfast Ideas

Whole 30 One Week Menu + Shopping List

Healthy Meal Ideas (not paleo/Whole 30!)

Will you join me? What kind of health forward goals do you have?

Inspiration | Yellow Regency Vest

For my latest historical sewing project, I’ve been working on a yellow linen Regency era vest. Before I debut the final piece (although it’s not a secret, you can see my progress on Instagram!), I wanted to share some of the inspiration behind my color, silhouette and embellishment choices!

Although I’m making my vest from an extant museum piece, I’m not copying it exactly. I’ve used popular color combos of the time (yellow and white), trims (Hussard inspired buttons and placement) and motifs (like the Napoleonic bee embroidered on back!). I’ve also modified the construction, but I’ll go into that when I show you the finished piece!

What are you guys sewing/crafting these days?

Time Traveling | Making My Blue Brain Hat

I love hats! Especially the fancy, floral, floofy numbers from bygone ears. For a large part of history, women wouldn’t leave the house without a chapeau!

For my 1780s look, I decided to work with a straw hat I had in my stash. Once upon a time I thought I might have a go as a milliner and thus collected a lot of straw hat bodies and blocks to make new hats of my own. This base was actually a modern hat, but the size was perfect for this project. Here’s what it looked like when I started.

After removing the inter and exterior bands I started steaming the hat out. Moisture allows the straw to relax and take a new shape (which is why you may have noticed if you get a straw hat wet at the beach, it will lack the definition it had when you bought it). I wanted it to have a very shallow crown, like a bergère hat that was popular in the 18th century. I knew I’d be covering the hat with fabric, so an identical shape wasn’t necessary - just the rough form. I also found that I could flip the back brim up and it would hold nicely, which I knew would be a good place to slip in some decorations. I gave the whole thing a good steam and let it dry.

Next I started on my fabric covering. Around the brim I created half inch pleats using a cotton sateen, a bajillion pins and a ton of patience. I first pinned the pleats to the edge of the interior brim, as you can see at the right. As I brought them to the edge of the brim, I let them spread just a bit and then brought them back in on top where the brim meets the crown. This was an easy place to become too perfectionist and fiddle! One thing I like to remind myself about historical sewing is that imperfection is historically accurate. We’ve become so accustomed to huge racks and full size runs of identical garments it’s no wonder something handmade feels a bit foreign to the eye with a little jumping stitch here or a slightly bigger pleat there. I’ve started to really love what a handmade piece looks like - one of a kind!

So anyway, when I got the brim pleats to a place I liked with pins, I hand sewed it down to the straw.

With the whole brim complete, I moved onto the brainy bit at the top. I used the same fabric but in a darker shade of blue and I love the combination of the two. For this part I turned to The American Duchess Guide to 18th Dressmaking (which I highly recommend!) and used their tutorial in the 1780s section to create the texture. Once it was all pinned in place, it also got tacked down with heavier buttonhole thread.

Now that the top of my little hat looked perfect, I set out to make the inside of the crown just as lovely. I made a very large and shallow tube (only a few inches deep) which I gathered at one side and created a drawstring channel at the other. The gathers were drawn in to match the circumference of the crown and sewn down. The drawstring channel was also draw up using a piece of string, tied, trimmed and tucked into the new crown covering. I also made two ties that were tacked down before the gathered interior crown bit went on. These let me to pull the hat down tightly and further emphasize the flipped up back!

Lastly was the question of feathers - how many and in what placement. After trying a bunch of different combinations, I settled on just one white feature layed horizontally in the back and tacked down.

In all I used 1 yard of light blue fabric and just a half yard of the darker blue. I had enough leftover to make a matching waist sash/belt to coordinate everything together. Because there are so many pieces to an 18th century kit (shift, stays, petticoats, bum rolls, socks, shoes, buckles, gown, fichu, apron and hat to name a few) I think I’ll keep my costumes from this era in the same general color story with this pretty blue as the common link.

I can’t decide if I should make one more gown (I do have the fabric on hand) as a birthday present to myself (it would photograph so beautifully in the snow!), do some modern sewing or start planning for the next era. I realized when I was sick for a day earlier this week that I cannot not have a project sitting around to pick up and play with. And as all of our outdoor chores are coming to an end for the season and it’s time to sit by the fire for the next few months, I do think another lap project is in order. Are you interested in progress shots or is a big reveal more fun? I’m not sure which way to take this one on. Let me know what you think!