A couple of DIY's: Totoro print on an existing dress and a Gilmore Girls tunic for my friend

Lately I've been feeling tired all the time. I have 8AM classes almost every day, and I'm stressed out.

So what better way to cheer myself up than a cherished relic from my past? That is, Studio Ghibli's Tonari no Totoro (My neighbor Totoro).

The movie came out when I was 2 years old, and my first memory of watching it is probably around age 5. I remember that my aunt and uncle had the movie on VHS (yeah, I'm that old), and every time I went for a visit I wanted to watch it. So the movie Tonari no Totoro has been a part of my life for... 23 years now? Wow. It's about time I made something related to it!

This time, I didn't make the dress myself from scratch - it's from Goodwill and it cost me 3,25€. It's this nice, thick stretch jersey in midnight blue. I simply added a picture on the hem:

That kind of silhouette is easy to add to existing clothing, and it gives clothes such a nice, personal touch. :)

Simply draw the design you want on a piece of self-adhesive book cover, cut out and attach the stencil onto the fabric. The stencil can of course be made of other kind of material, like cardboard, but I've found that the book cover plastic is the best because it's stuck on the fabric and hence there's no risk of it moving while you paint over it.

Remember to put something on the other side of the fabric to prevent the fabric paint from seeping through and on the other side of the dress/skirt/shirt or whatever you're painting. I usually put old magazines or newspapers inside the dress when I paint over the stencil.

Once the paint is dry, iron over it without steam for a couple of minutes. Easy as that, and now you have a unique piece of clothing that no one else in the world has!

***

So, although I didn't sew that Totoro dress, I did sew something else a few days back.

My friend Stormiina is a huge Gilmore Girls fan. She's probably watched the series ten times over and has a Gilmore Girls quote ready at hand for pretty much every situation. (Whereas I've watched the series once... perhaps I should watch it again. Team Logan all the way, btw. Or occasionally Team Jess.)

So I bought this sheer black stretch jersey from Goodwill for 1€ and made her a tunic with a quote.

Oy with the poodles already



"You never hear the word 'oy' and not smile. Impossible. Funny, funny word. -- If you put oy and poodle together in the same sentence, you’d have a great new catch phrase." - Lorelai

Stormiina doesn't know that I made her this, so that's why I'm scheduling this post to be published in a few hours, after I've given it to her. :D

With that said, I'm going to to get ready for a nice little get-together at Stormiina's house, and by the time you read this, I'll be over there, eating snacks and drinking a few well-earned ciders. ^_^ (I sure hope the tunic fits the recipient! :D)

So, what do you think of the Totoro print and the Gilmore Girls tunic top? :)

love,
scoundrel