All that Jazz

I have been on the hunt to find or make a neon sign that says "jazz" but have not yet found what I have in mind. So in the meantime I have decorated a shirt to suffice. I found this cropped navy sweatshirt at the local thrift store. It originally had large white bell sleeves sewn under the sleeve ruffle. It was a cute design, but it looked absolutely dorky on me, and wouldn't be practical for working or dancing anyway, so I cut them out. I knew this navy was going to be the perfect background to have text stand out on, so I just needed to find some embellishment materials in the form of ribbon. In my stash I dug out some vintage poppy red lace bias and gold rickrack, both in their original packages. First I trimmed the sleeves with the lace, mainly to keep the raw edges of the knit from rolling, and to give the ruffle a highlight of the poppy red. Then I wrote with ribbon and sewed it on and voilà! As improvised and vibrant as the music itself. Off to spend the weekend dancing to vintage jazz!

Polka

With chillier weather I withdraw to my sewing machine, so lately I've been tending to my pile of clothing items to alter. At the top of the pile I have been tweaking and embellishing this dress. In the original condition it looked awkwardly short on me, so I am adding the black eyelet sleeves and coordinating trim on the hem to balance it out. I also removed the red sash from the back and added on the collar rickrack. Dances await!

DIY Rickrack Rose

If you love these Modcloth necklaces as much as I do, then you will be delighted by this tutorial!

Materials:

Rickrack ribbon in the color of your choice

A needle and matching thread OR a hot glue gun 

Step 1: To make a rose that is 1 inch in diameter, cut a 30 inch length of rickrack. For a rose that is 0.5 inches in diameter, cut a 15 inch length of rickrack.

Step 2: Fold the length of rickrack in half.

Step 3: Starting from the folded end, weave the rickrack together, as pictured above. It will naturally start to twist, so you will have to flatten it out as you go.

Step 4: Pinch the folded end of the rickrack and start rolling it up.

Step 5: As you roll the rickrack, make sure you sew or hot glue it in place at frequent intervals.

Step 6: Sew or hot glue the end of the rickrack length to the bottom of the rose. If you'd like you can mount it to a fabric or metal backing to cover up any unattractive stitches or glue lumps.

Step 7: If you prefer the open petal look, unfurl the bottom edges of the rose.

Now your rose is complete and you just need to decide what to do with it! You could, for example, make it into a ring, a brooch, or a headband decoration. Or, you could make a matching rose for a pair of earrings, or several roses to sew onto a purse or a shirt. I decided to mimic the look of the Modcloth necklaces and create a rose cluster necklace.

I sewed two half inch roses to a 1 inch rose and attached a jump ring to each so the group would sit nicely on a chain. As you can see, I didn't bother to put a backing on the cluster.

Ta-da! It's amazing what you can make with a little bit of ribbon and time!