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Archive for the ‘Craft Nights’ Category

A few READY TO SHIP strapless dresses … FYI!

Posted in Craft Crowd, Craft Nights, dresses, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

My head is spinning.  Maybe even literally, I can’t tell.  Christmas season is fun, isn’t it!?!

In addition to planning a leadership party at my house Sunday night, and a Craft Crowd Make-It Merry Christmas craft night at my house on Monday night, and two kids’ friends hangouts on Tuesday, and a Chistmas Bazaar on Friday….I have decided to make a few READY TO SHIP strapless dresses in my freakishness spare time.

Soooooo….just in case you’re still looking for that perfect gift or that fun dress to wear to your company party…here are three options for a size Small/Medium.  Each dress is Ready To Ship immediately … this means it’s already made…and each dress is $55.  They usually sell for $68-81 but hey, it’s a recession.  (Don’t worry, if you need larger – or dare I say, smaller – sizes, those are coming OR you can suggest a size!)

sorry it's a blurry photo...but it wouldn't be a proper So Sew Something post without the gratituitous blurry photo!

There, that's better! The belt is an OBI belt - similar to the one shown in my Etsy shop on the Asian fabric. NOTE: the pretty white shirt is from LOFT and is shown so that you can see how cute these dresses look gussied up for winter!

Probably my newest favorite - I'm digging the RockaBilly vibe ... it's shown with a green/blue houndstooth sash, but I can just easily create a red or yellow sash that would look "rockin'!"

I mean seriously, can there EVER be enough houndstooth???!!!

Love this fabric pairing - striking Michael Miller fabric paired with vintage style polka dots - totally sweet and charming ... throw on a motorcycle jacket and you've all of a sudden got a tough chick...well, a pretty tough chick!

And now for the close-up!

So there you have it – three more strapless dresses from the girl who can’t stop making them!  I love wearing these year-round, and I think you will too.  Feel free to take one of these off my hands …for my blog readers, I’ll even throw in FREE SHIPPING!  Just let me know you read it on my blog!

Merry Christmas lovelies!

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Austin Craft Crowd !!!

Posted in Austin City Craft, Craft Crowd, Craft Nights, DIY on August 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this post … to sum up my excitement – ALOT!

You may remember back in late June or early July, I announce a new organization I and some pals started up for local Austin crafters.  Our goal was to get Austinites together to craft and to give back to our city.  We chose a fitting name: Austin City Craft.  We were thrilled.

We were, however, NOT informed!  There is a delightful fabric shop in Dallas, TX, that carries the name Citycraft.  As we discovered, the name Austin City Craft was just too close for comfort.  We were politely asked to discontinue use of the name and so we did.

We went back to the drawing board.

Think. Think. Think.

Email each other.  Email each other.  Email each other.

It got crazy.  Some ideas were crazy.  Some ideas were just plain old weird.

But one was Awesome.  We chose it.  We have it.  We love it….

Ladies and Gentlemen…the women of our organization formerly known as Austin City Craft are proud to announce our new and improved name….

 

Don’t you just love it!?!

You can find out a little bit more about us by visiting our blog: www.craftcrowd.wordpress.com

I hope you’ll visit the blog … and better yet … visit and craft with us in Austin!

Now…if only I could get my sewing machine back!

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City-Wide Sewing Class – what a blast…with a tiny bit of bad news…

Posted in Austin City Craft, Craft Nights, DIY, Sewing Lessons on July 16, 2011 | 10 Comments »

Well, the day finally came!  Austin City Craft’s City-Wide Sewing Class was held today, and 21 new sewers entered “The Club!”  It was very very exciting.  We had giveaways ranging from pin cushions to a seam ripper to pretty flower straight pins to fabric to keychains to a real honest to goodness brand spanking new sewing machine!

Coming from all over the city (and this is the broad use of the word “city”), 21 ladies came in empty handed and left with a brand new pair of “stylish” (and this is the broad use of the “stylish”) pajama bottoms.  CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!

Here are LOTS of photos from the day.  Yes, there’s a lot – I did my best to make sure that every student was captured (thanks to Charlotte’s impromptu role of photographer).  You’ll also see the four co-teachers that worked so hard to make these 21 sewing dreams come true.  You’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to learn of the “tiny bit of bad news.”

Yep, it was FUN!

This is the set up that greeted each student.

Sweet sewing fingers of an eleven year old!

If these machines could talk...

Me and Ginger showing off the kazoos that each student received ... shocker alert: they didnt work.

A give-away winner! FREE FATQUARTER!

More crafty giveaways! We have show we're crafty folk, right!?!

Winner of the sewing machine. But remember - we're all winners just for being there.

BFF ... aawwww!

I love these gals. Clockwise from top left: Tiffany, Sarah, Charlotte, Ginger, me, Lacey. Thank ladies! We're making memories for sure!

And…I simply canNOT close out these photos with anyone except Charlotte.  She was simply just supposed to open the building and have the tables set up.  That’s it.  Done for the day.  Instead – she stayed ALL day, too photos, helped teach, made coffee, cleaned up, etc, etc. etc.  Thank you Charlotte.  I love this photo of you!

We all want to thank everyone for participating…and i want to especially thank the four of you who were tremendous teachers today.  Furthermore, thank you Lacey for helping make the pincushions, key chains, etc.  Ginger for making pretty much everything.  Tiffany for helping me cut fabric, arrange patterns, hand sew pincusions, and climb latters.  Sarah – you’re so clutch!  Thanks for coming in at the last minute despite jetlag.  I pray you get that adoption taken care of fast!!!

And now for the bad news.

And really, it’s just a tiny bit bad.

We can no longer call ourselves Austin City Craft.

It’s been a good run.  We had a month.  We purchased domains, set up a blog, created a Facebook page, started an Etsy shop, and held our first (and o-so-cool event). So it was good while it lasted!

Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere – we just have to go forward under a different name.  (Long story that goes something like this: Trademark violation!)

So, we are on the prowl for the perfect name.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I’m still Robie and this is still a sewing blog … so let’s go sew something!

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Austinites – Learn to Sew this Summer AND help the community!

Posted in Austin City Craft, Craft Nights, Sewing Lessons, Uncategorized on June 15, 2011 | 7 Comments »

Well, I have been waiting a LLLOOOOOOOONNNNNGGG time to make this announcement.  Even still, we don’t have all the fancy logos/identity pieces ready … but I just couldn’t wait to make this announcement.  Are you sitting down?  Well, stand up!

Coming to Austin this Summer…

Austin City Craft!

An organization that brings crafters from all over the city into one room AND gives back to the city through charitable donations and volunteerism, etc.

More details will be coming soon…like a website!  But for now, I wanted to fill you in on the KICK OFF EVENT!

City-Wide Beginner Sewing Class

Sponsored by Austin City Craft

Saturday, July 16th

9am – 4pm

$50* – includes ALL supplies (except sewing machine)

3811 Harmon Avenue
Austin, TX 78751

This is an amazing deal – I am so excited about this I can hardly stand it.  Where else and when else can you learn to sew – including READING A PATTERN!  for $50 … and to top it off, proceeds from your payment go to local charities.  I’m so pumped!

If you’d like to know more about what you’ll learn, click here.

In short:

        • limited to 50 people
        • must pay in advance (we gotta buy the supplies!)
        • all supplies included with the $50
        • Machine NOT included, bring your own
        • must be 12 years old or older (children under 16 must have a parent enrolled as well)
        Contact me at robiedodson at gmail  for more details and to reserve your seat.

Have I mentioned I’m excited!!!

I wish I could literally teach all of Austin, but hey – 50 ain’t a bad start!  Come on, sign up now!!!

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Just another Make It Monday – whoa, Oh, I wish it was Sunday…you get my point!

Posted in Craft Nights, DIY, tagged , , , , , on February 22, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Gosh, I was doing so good for about 7 days in terms of keeping up with new content on my blog….that was because I was actually CREATING NEW CONTENT.  Novel idea!

Well, for this preggers, a persistent cough and sleepless nights have kept me away from my sewing machine for fear that I might fall asleep and gouge my fingers right through the needleplate, right over them there feederdogs…not a good idea!

So, I decided to take this opportunity to post pictures from our Most (albeit no-so-) Recent MAKE IT MONDAY!

This time around we tried our hands at GLASS ETCHING!

I’ll post the pictures and then at the bottom I’ll offer a few tips about getting the best results…I’m still quite a novice, so these are just a beginner’s thoughts!!!

Warning - not all of these pictures are worthy of photography awards...but the girls sure are darling, aren't they!

Fabs in front...Theresa on the left NEVER has any other expression on her face!

who turned the lights off all of a sudden???

You can see we are serious crafters!

Now this table was into some serious etching!

One thing you can do during this project is create your own design/template out of contact paper. That's what's going on here...or atleast that's what it looks like!

Two of the most darling ladies I know...and not too shabby at etching, either!

good thing we had a few no-shows!

Yeah, so this is blurry, these girls are too cute not to include this photo! (Sorry Fabs and Theresa, but there's no way I'm gonna zoom in on your glass!)

Like a good Texan, she made her Texas template from memory!

Claire personalized her kitty's bowl....nice kitty.

gotta love those Moustache glasses!!!

This is Misti's fabulous free-hand design...just before she washed off the etching cream! gorgeous!

Okay, now for a little how-to / mini explanation / tutorial…

1. Purchase Glass Etching Cream.  It’s a little hard to find, but if you have a Hobby Lobby you can find it there.  Otherwise, click on the link for Amazon.  It’s a bit expensive, but it goes a LONG way!!

2. You’ll also need paintbrushes of various sizes, a disposable bowl for the cream, gloves if you prefer, a cover for your work surface…and contact paper + exacto knife + self healing mat – if you decide to make your own stencil/decal.

3. All you do, after you’ve created or chosen your stencil, is peel the sticky part off and place it on your glass.  Dip your brush into the etching cream, and apply an even coat of the cream all over the design.  ***One major key to a nicely finished etched project is that you apply the cream evenly.  We learned that putting way more than necessary was actually a safe bet!

4. The directions on the bottle say to leave the cream on the glass for 5 minutes.  I personally think the ones that stayed on there for much longer had much better results.  Just give the old trial-and-error routine!

5. When you’re ready, wash off the cream with luke warm water, dry your glass…and, to be safe, run through the dishwasher.  You’re done.  Easy as that!

6. So….it really is “easy as that”…but for some reason it’s not “easy as that!”  It just takes a while to get your groove on this project, atleast for most of us.  While it wasn’t my favorite project ever…I’ll definitely give it another try…someday!

If you have your own suggestions for good Etching techniques, please share!!!

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Photos from a DIY Date Night aka. Etsy Craft Party!!!

Posted in Craft Nights, DIY, Uncategorized on June 19, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Most of us!

By now, you’ve probably already said to yourself…”Self, I wish I had gotten off the couch and made a key chain last night!”

Well, I’m not trying to make you feel worthless, but I do think it’s appropriate to share photos from our excellent adventure last night!  In case you hadn’t heard, yesterday was Etsy.com’s 5th birthday.  We celebrated in style at my house by having a DIY extravaganze…. handmade food (soooo yummy!), handmade items, all created by women wearing mostly handmade goods!!!  I think the photos will speak for themselves….definitely let me know if you’d like to be included in our next great DIY adventure!

The "Covered Buttons" table

The "Felt Applique" table

Me & Lacey working the "Scrabble Tiles" station

Megan working the Scrabble tiles!!!

Catherine: the lucky (and PROUD) winner of a Pabst Blue Ribbon toothbrush set AND a Meetup pin!

My kids walked in on a PARTY!!! What could be better for a 3 and 4 year old?

Faith: celebrating her win (and her PRIZE) for best handmade food!

Tif, Me & Faith. If DIY'ing doesn't work out for us, we're taking our show on THE ROAD!

Deanna showing off her darling little felt Owl!

My lovely new Ugandan friend showing off her Silhouette.

This was a memory for those of us in attendance. Not my classiest memory, but a memory no less!

The San Antonio Ladies!

Thanks for making these jenny rose!

The Banners/Bunting table

Naturally, there was a DANCE OFF competition to settle the "best all around" competition

Can a silk flower ever be TOO big??

closing out the night: Jenny Rose and Faith with a stolen camera!

This really was a spectacular evening.

At one point, I looked around my house and realized that I had no idea who most of the people inside were.  How fabulous is that!?!  There’s something about the art and process of simply making something that really does draw a community together.  hmmmm.  So many options!!!

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Etsy Craft Party video from AdoredAustin.com

Posted in Craft Nights, DIY on June 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Oh my goodness…last night’s Etsy Craft Party was just the epitome of FUN!!!  I expected to have a good time…but OH MY STINKING GOSH, it was a BLAST!!

I’m going to try to post photos and do a recap later on today or this evening.  In the meantime, I thought I’d direct you over to my dear friend’s blog: http://www.adoredaustin.com – she has just posted a very fun video that includes some of the highlights…it doesn’t show the “Dance-Off” that took place at the end, but other than that, she got a good shot of everything!

http://www.adoredaustin.com/2010/06/recap-etsy-craft-night.html

Be sure to check back later for more photos!!!

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