Getting Crafty

So whilst on my vacay, I got my arts & crafts on and felt thoroughly accomplished after measuring and sewing and folding and gluing. These are the fun things I came up with when I wasn't sniffling like a sick puppy.

Bows galore! There are great tutorials out there for bow making. Wanna make the black dropped tail bow? click here!  Wanna make the double layer olive green bow? Watch this video and make one smaller to stack on the larger one.

Bows and compacts and my still unfinished bathroom door.

The red and black bow was a DIY project from left over ribbon.  I'm going to enjoy wearing these. Next project I'd like to get into will be 30s style crochet cloches..I've tried before and it didn't quite work out. With a bit of dedication, I'm sure I can make it - eventually.

I was inspired by a post from DC Metro Retro's blog (scroll down until you see her adorable bobby pin tin - I made one of those too!) and made a few Dorothy Dandridge revamped compact mirrors. All you need are photos printed on paper, glue and clear nail polish! It's pretty simple!

Have you been crafting lately? What have you made?

~The Retro Natural

Retro Dress DIY Dye Job

  Hot heat = poofy hair, que sera sera!

The creative juices were flowing over this past weekend. It was random and I didn't use measurements, just threw in turmeric and a raspberry tea bag and sat back. :)

(Click to view it larger.)

After this, I realized I didn't have a hair accessory to wear with it so the creative juices kept on flowing. I dotted a piece of light tan fabric and then made it into a bow. I don't know if the dots will keep but I'll get at least a few wears out of it.  I found a tutorial over at Vintage in a Modern World's blog on how to make easy, no-sew bows and it was so simple! Then I broke a hair comb that was way too big and glued it on to the bow before I dyed it (silly idea, duh!) which caused the glue to just melt..lol..sometimes you just don't think things through fully. Tis ok! I let it dry and then glued it right back on!

I'll take a photo o the finished bow, it didn't get captured in my photos from the picnic unfortunately.

I wore the dress to a large picnic for the LGBTQ gal community (but very inclusive) rightfully titled Dyke Day and had fun in the sun with great friends.  As you can see in that first photo, my dress lightened up as it dried and then it ended up looking a bit washed out since it was super bright and super hot out. I felt pretty happy with it nonetheless but I think I'd like to re-dye it and see if I can get it to have the same pop it had when it was hanging up to dry.

Got any old light clothing items you're bored with? Give this a try..it's a fun experiment! ;)

~The Retro Natural

DIY Retro Sweater with Appliqué

If you see a vintage sweater with appliqué decor, sometimes you'll notice that it's a bit high in price. If you're like me and can't really be bothered with spending too much on sweaters and cardigans with adorable designs, fret not my retro gal pal, you can create your own! The teal blue cardigan is Roxy by way of Buffalo Exchange and it was under $12 bucks. The flamingo patch was $2.69 with free shipping!

All you need is an iron and an iron on patch from Ebay. Check out this list of iron on appliqués.

 Borrowed my beloved's nerd glasses, they're fun but I don't know if I have the guts to wear them out.

I feel like Poindexter!

Have at it! It's fun and it takes about 5 minutes to do. If you revamp a cardigan of your own, send me a photo, I'd love to see it. :)

~The Retro Natural