From Free Bin to Fabulous

After not posting for a couple weeks in a row, I'm trying hard to get back into the habit of posting every weekend, which explains the new post so soon after the last one. Anyway, it finally seems as though spring has descended upon the Boston area. Yay!

This cardigan is so incredibly easy to make and is perfect for a chilly spring day. Did I tell you about the "free bin" at Smith College? It's a box in the lobby of Anya's house - what they call dorms at Smith - and students put in anything that they want to give away. Anya's found not only clothes, but linens, and shoes, too. She says things never last very long in there and it's really a great way to find things to upcycle!  Anyway, she found this long sleeved tee one day. It's a pretty color but ended up being just a little too small to be comfortable. As you should know about me by now, I'm a big fan of upcycling so, instead of just putting it back into the free box, she gave it to me to transform. All I did was make a simple cut up the front of the shirt, add some pretty vintage looking ribbon along the cut edges and it's a new cardigan! It's the perfect accessory for a chilly morning and looks really cute!
So, next time you're tempted to give away a long sleeved tee because it's too small, think about transforming it into a cardigan instead!

Darling Dolls

Sorry I've been a little behind in posting lately! Lots of homework in the past couple weeks took up all my time. Well, not quite ALL of my time since I did manage to make these three dolls. I have a new baby cousin who's now just three weeks old. We went to meet her and, since she has two older sisters, we decided to make a doll for each of them.

 Aren't they cute? They're our version of the Black Apple doll by Emily Martin.

 I love how each one is just a little different. I do need to give Anya some credit here - she is the one who painted the faces and made the little animals since we thought it would be fun for each doll to have a special friend. We just found out that the little girls love their dolls and sleep with them every night (yay!) but they fight over the little bunny. Oops! We'll be visiting them again in another couple weeks so my next project might just be making another little bunny and maybe a few more little animal friends. I have another little cousin (another girl!) who is due in June who also has a big sister. I just might have to make another couple dolls for them, too.

See you next week!

Sarah xo

(black apple doll photo credit: http://theblackapple.typepad.com/inside_a_black_apple/dolls/)

The Rad Hatters

 This season, I’ve been making hats out of polar fleece that are based on the adorable cloche hats of the 1920s. I made two – one for me, and one for Anya.

Peppy Miller from the movie The Artist rocks a cloche hat.

I tend to not wear hats very often, but I am really happy with this style because it’s extremely comfortable and warm in our especially snowy weather of late, and they’re not too tight so they don’t squash my hair.

I added flowers and buttons to the side as a decoration, which is very flapper-esque indeed.

The charcoal grey one is mine, and the white one is Anya’s.

I really like the contrasting green stitching on the leaves and flower of Anya’s hat.

These hats are a nice complement to the fox hat I made Anya for Christmas!

Schoolgirl Skirt

When you think of plaid skirts, what do you imagine? Catholic schoolgirl uniform, Scottish kilt, Merida from Pixar's Brave? I was never a huge fan of plaid patterns, but I saw this specific plaid and loved it! It wasn't too big or overpowering, so I knew it would work for a cute little skirt. I also happened to have the perfect pattern to use with it :)

(look at my beautiful face)

This skirt was super simple to make, just a few pieces and a zipper! The waistband took a little longer to make, but it still wasn't too difficult. For this photo, I just styled it with a simple cream sweater, hunter green tights (although they look grey in this photo), and my black leather boots that I wear almost every single day (sorry, but I love them!!). Really, you can wear any neutral color with this skirt, since it's blue, red, and green. 

I think I will be wearing this to school a lot!

Sarah xo

Oscars 2014

The Oscars have just barely started tonight, and it has already been an eventful evening. The Oscars is one of the biggest fashion events of the season, and it never ceases to disappoint. Here are a few of my favorite dresses of the evening



Per usual, Jennifer doesn't fall to dazzle with her classic Dior dress. It's usually a little unusual to see a red dress on the red carpet, but taking a risk is always a good thing. I absolutely love the peplums (I can't resist a good peplum!)



I had never heard of Sarah Paulson before this evening, but now I'll keep an eye out for her! As soon as I saw this dress I knew it was an Elie Saab, and it turns out I was right. In my opinion, you can never go wrong with an Elie Saab dress.



Emma Watson could wear a paper bag and still look adorable, but fortunately, she wore a beautiful Vera Wang dress instead. I love the modest high neck, and the clean and simple lines of the dress. Red lipstick is the perfect final touch!



Naomi Watts looks gorgeous in this classic Calvin Klein gown. I ADORE the capsleeves (of course), and think the statement necklace looks perfect against the clean, white backdrop.



and my favorite dress of the night HAS to go to Lupita Nyong'o.  Relatively new to the awards scene, Lupita has never not looked perfect on the red carpet. This might be my favorite so far, a custom Prada dress that she helped design. Is there anything this woman can't do?!

The awards season is almost over, but this has been a great one for fashion!
Sarah xo

Hip Animal Sweaters

Hello everyone!
So while it was 80+ degrees in El Salvador, it is, unfortunately, still freezing here in the Northeast. That means sweaters for at least a few more months! Fortunately, I have many cute sweaters, and many of them I have decorated myself.
You may remember a while back I did a tutorial on how to create an adorable animal sweater (http://ofcupcakesandcapsleeves.blogspot.com/2013/09/diy-animal-sweater.html) which I wear all the time and Anya got a little jealous that she didn't have one :)
Since I had already put a cat on mine, I decided to put another small creature on hers, a rabbit.
I used the same procedure as I used for the last sweater, just using a rabbit stencil instead of a cat stencil.
Here's how it turned out!

I love the color of this sweater, and the bunny is so cute!

Will any of you be trying this trick to liven up your old sweaters?

Sarah, xo

Return of the Peplum

On this snow-covered day, I present you with my newest creation: a cranberry colored peplum top with short sleeves. I made it with the same pattern as the no-sleeve peplum tops I made a few months ago in pink and blue.

 throwback

It has princess seams, which I think are always so pretty.

The fabric I used for this shirt has a very interesting provenance, actually. It came from the Boston Ballet Costume Shop Yard Sale, when the Boston Ballet costume shop sold bundles of scraps of old costumes in plastic grocery bags and sold them for a dollar. I found this lovely, slightly heavy, rich cranberry-colored fabric there.

What I love about this shirt is that it can easily be dressed up or down – with black pants and a nice necklace, it becomes the perfect outfit for going out somewhere dressy. Or, with jeans and a cardigan, I could wear it to school.

Yesterday I went on a Joanne’s run and got some grey stretch for a t-shirt peplum for Anya – I’ll post a picture of that one when I’m finished!