Free Beginner's Crochet Dishcloth Pattern :: and Learning to Read a Pattern

If you've been following along with my Blue Corduroy Crochet Lessons series, you now should know how to make a slip knot, do a chain stitch, and single crochet.  

Ready to make a cotton dishcloth and practice your new skills?

This Free Crochet Dishcloth Pattern is the perfect way for you to put your new skill into action creating a useful item.  There are three variations on the single crochet stitch to help you improve your skills and keep you interested.  One is the basic single crochet, the second helps you get in the rhythm of skipping stitches and doubling up on stitches, and the third is a combination pattern including chain stitches and single crochet stitches. 

Reading a Crochet Pattern

Learning how to read a crochet pattern can take a bit of practice.  The key is understanding the abbreviations used.  It can feel a bit like cryptic code solving.  Because we're starting off with a basic pattern, there are only 2 abbreviations you need to crack this code!

CH = chain stitch.  The pattern will tell you when to chain stitch and how many to do.  

SC= single crochet. The pattern tells you when and where to make each single crochet.

The other thing I find useful when following a pattern is to not get overwhelmed with trying to understand the whole pattern all at once.  If I just take it one direction, one stitch at a time, then I usually find it much easier to comprehend.

The pattern will also suggest what yarn to choose and which crochet hook to use.  So you don't have to wander around the yarn shop getting distracted by all the beautiful options!

Enjoy making your cotton crochet dishcloths, I'd love to see yours when you're done!

Enjoy making your cotton dishcloths, I'd love to see yours when you're done!

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Blue Corduroy Crochet Lessons :: Slip Knot and Yarn labels

Who wants to learn how to crochet, raise your hand!

I'm so excited to present a series of crochet tutorials starting with the basics and working our way up to more advanced techniques so that you can crochet everything you've always dreamed of!  Dishcloths, scarves, baby blankets, bonnets, granny squares....what are you excited to make? 

We're going to start at the very beginning with a slip knot. Ruby and Ginger will be helping me make these videos.  I set up a Blue Corduroy channel on YouTube, and if you subscribe, you will have easy access to step by step crochet lessons.

How to Make a Slip Knot

Learn how to do a simple Slip Knot! This easy tutorial for a slip knot is the first step in learning how to crochet or knit.

Getting to know your supplies is a must when learning a new skill. Yarn and crochet hooks come in all different sizes.  A thicker yarn will produce a bulkier finished project and will need a larger hook than a more delicate project with thinner yarn.  But how are you supposed to know which yarn goes with which hook?

I'm a big fan of asking the sales clerk for help, they almost always have all the answers you need.  But if you're left to your own devices, the yarn label has an easy to read chart to tell you exactly which hook and/or knitting needles to use.   

HOW TO READ A YARN LABEL

Yarn Thickness

When you flip the label over to the back, you'll see on the left side the yarn thickness, on this particular label in the photo below you'll see that the yarn is a SUPER BULKY #6.  When picking out projects to make, it is very handy to know what size yarn will produce the desired look. 

Recommended Knitting Needle Size

Moving to the right of the yarn size you'll see a square box with knitting needles crossed on the inside.  This image tells you to use a knitting needles size US 13, or 9 mm.  If you were to knit a square swatch of 9 stitches long and 12 stitches high, with the appropriate knitting needles, it should measure 4" x 4" (or 10cm x 10cm)

Recommended Crochet Hook Size

Moving to the right of the knitting needle box, you'll see a crochet hook icon.  This particular yarn label suggests a crochet hook size US M/13 or 9 mm.  Notice how the crochet hook and knitting needles sizes correspond? Very handy!

Laundry Instructions

At the far right of the yarn label are the laundry instructions.  This is something you definitely want to pay attention to if you plan on laundering your finished product. Thankfully, it also tells you in words underneath the drawings on most labels, because I can often forget what each symbol means. This particular yarn wants to be hand washed, lay flat to dry. No iron, no bleach.

A Special Note about Tension

Some people will naturally crochet or knit with a very tight stitch, and others will make their stitches looser.  It's funny to notice in yourself, if your feeling stressed out about something, your stitches can become tighter and tighter, without you even trying!  

Each pattern usually comes with a "gauge" and this is a simple way of working up a small portion of the pattern to check on what size your stitches are compared to the pattern makers.  If you tend to work tight or you've chosen a slightly thinner yarn than the pattern suggests, you may need to experiment with a larger needle/hook or different size yarn.  

Grab my FREE Crochet Dishcloth Pattern for Beginners!

Natural Color :: a Book Review

Natural dyeing has slowly crept onto my radar over the last few years.  With all the amazing projects I've seen with simple easter egg natural dyeing, and shibori indigo dyeing, I've definitely had it on my mental list of crafts to try.  

What I didn't realize until I read "Natural Color" by Sasha Duer was the deeper impact underlying the fun process of making colors from your own backyard.  The idea of "slow" fashion, and how our manufactured clothing is colored with chemical dyes that cover the largest organ of our body (skin), and how that can be compared to fast food choices verses cooking with real life-giving ingredients.  This idea added a whole new dimension to my desire for natural color.  Now, not only do I want to dye a linen pillowcase a pretty color, but to lay my head on something dyed with lavender sounds like a wonderful way to sleep!  And the possibilities are endless. 

"Natural Color" by Sasha Duer was a beautiful introduction to the process of natural dying complete with specific projects to get you started and such lovely pictures along the way.  She shares recipes by season so that whenever you plan on foraging, you'll have plenty of materials for extracting color.  The idea of creating beautiful colors from avocado pits, mint, aloe, eucalyptus, redwood pinecones, pomegranates, and loquat leaves amazes me.

Dyeing has also felt so daunting with all it's chemistry.  Sasha Duer explains the plant dying process very thoroughly, from gathering your plant materials to caring for your dyed fabric.  She talks about the different fibers, waters, and mordants (aids the dye in sticking to the fiber) and explains thoroughly yet simply.

With Ginger's new love for spinning wool, we though the perfect place to get started would be to dye some of her homespun fibers.  Because this new craft was so daunting to me, we though we would start with the most basic of projects and move forward from there.  

We chose to use Loquat leaves.  There are lots of trees in our neighborhood and believe it or not, "Natural Color" informed us that these loquat leaves would produce a beautiful coppery/ peachy color.

After foraging, we washed the leaves and then cut them into smaller pieces.  We then simmered the leaves in filtered water for a half hour.  After the water cooled, we put in her washed and rinsed fiber and let sit in the dye bath over night.

The results were such a soft pastel color. My one mistake was to send the pretty balls of yarn off to the Grandmother's without taking a picture first. Our next project we hope to graduate to experimenting with mordants that have the potential to drastically alter and/or enrich our color results.

I received "Natural Color" by Sasha Duer from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

How to add Paper Dolls to your Homeschool

Making paper dolls is such a rich way for the kids to really get to know any character they are learning or reading about.  It really forces the child to pay attention to specifics such as hair color, facial features, dress style, and habits.  It also makes them feel very acquainted to the character after "making" them all afternoon.  The familiarity they feel becomes a lasting knowledge of the person.  All the more reason to surround your child with books full of characters worth getting to know. 

“What kind of books? "Sories that make for wonder. Stories that make for laughter. Stories that stir one within with an understanding of the true natures of courage, of love, of beauty. Stories that make one tingle with high adventure, with daring, with grim determination, with the capacity of seeing danger through to the end. Stories that bring our minds to kneel in reverence; stories that show the tenderness of true mercy, the strength of loyalty, the unmawkish respect for what is good.”
― Gladys M. Hunt, Honey for a Child's Heart

When we were still a part of a homeschool co-op, Ginger learned how to make paper dolls.  It was a craft that went along with a book they read in first grade, "The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain.  She kept those paper dolls in a little brown paper bag fixed into her notebook and fondly visited those paper dolls often.  Every now and then she adds to her collection of characters, usually from history readings or favorite story personalities.  

How to Paper Doll Like a Pro: 

1) Find a template you like.  (I've included one at the bottom of this post) Print it out on thick paper and cut out.

2) Decide what character (fictional, historical, or totally made up) and gather supplies to inspire your vision.

3) Draw on a face.

4) Yarn makes great hair. Ginger has had lots of fun designing new yarn hair styles.

5) For clothes you can draw directly on the paper doll, you can cut out clothes to stick onto your paper doll, using paper, tissue, fabric, etc.  Also here is where the sky is the limit as far as accessories and embellishments.  Just grab all your craft supplies and go crazy!

It's been so fun to watch Ginger's paper doll making skills grow the more she makes them, and I always remind her to write her name, the date, and the name of her character on the back of her paper doll so that when we look back through them, we're reminded of these times.

The Doll ginger is making today was inspired by our history reading about the first settlers of North America from England and how they met Pocahontas and her family.  Pocahontas by the D'Aulaire's is a beautiful book for inpsiration.

She also put to good use some of the feathers we painted a while back.  Here's the How to Paint Feather's blog post I did to see how we made the painted feathers.

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Nature Journaling and Foraging Elderberries

This year we are going to be studying the science (or is it the art) of wild edible and medicinal foraging in our homeschool.  I'm slowly gathering resources to support and guide us through.  But to start with, we had to learn the rules of foraging.

RULES OF FORAGING

• Never forage closer than 100 feet from a road or parking lot
• Never collect from areas treated with herbicides
• POSITIVELY identify ALL plants
• Avoid burning plants, smoke may irritate
• Teach children thoroughly

As we discover new plants we will be adding them to our nature journals. Each plant and each experience will warrant different journal entries.  Here are a few ideas if we don't know where to start:

JOURNAL ENTRY IDEAS

• Drawing! Probably always a drawing. It will help us see our specimen in more detail not to mention remind us in the future of what the specific plants look like.
• Labeling of botanical parts, learning new terms as we go.
• Health benefits of each plant or part.
• Which parts are edible, which parts are poisneous. 
• How to use or prepare edible and medicinal portions of plants.
• Recipes we use or want to use
• Locations of where we found the plants, or may be likely to find the plants.
• A narrative about an actual experience in finding or preparing the plant.
• A poem either of our own, or by a famous author that speaks to us about the plant.
• Scientific vocabulary terms that apply

A few nature journaling books that might also help get you started are: 

Keeping a Nature Journal by Claire Walker Leslie

The Laws Guide to Nature Journaling and Drawing by John Muir Laws

Drawing and Painting Plants by Christina Brodie 

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden

Our First Lesson: Elderberries

What perfect timing, as our school year was about to begin, that my friend gets word from her friend that the elderberries on her parents property were ripe and ready! We had a great tour of a section of their 100+ acres and collected from the many elderberry bushes/trees scattered throughout the property.  We got to touch, see, smell, and taste first hand this magnificent wild medicinal edible, always making sure to only harvest the ripe berries, and leaving plenty for the birds.

Elderberries have been called a complete medical chest unto themselves.  They are high in vitamin C and iron and strengthen your immune system.  The berries work to remove viruses from the body and remove deep congestion, whether it be in the lungs, kidneys, or joints.

Foraging and Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook by Dina Falconi and Wendy Hollender has a gorgeous botanical print of this powerhouse along with an elderberry syrup recipe on their Botanical Arts Press website.

I've begun collecting resources and information on foraging and using wild foods on my Pinterest board Wild Weeds.  And am still in search of more helpful books and guides to learn from.  If you have any favorites, please share!

Valentine Nature Crafts for Kids

Here's a list of some fun valentine themed crafts for nature lovers and crafters of all ages.  Even the most simple idea here can feel like relaxing soul therapy for the advanced crafters out there, or a great way to get little hands involved in the season.  Follow the links to find the directions (photo credit to link below)  For more crafty ideas, follow my Crafty Pinterest Board.

Fruit Loop or Cheerio bird feeder hearts, how simple and fun! From Sweet and Simple Living.

These fairy wands are just darling!  Made from a twig or a piece of driftwood.  Let's do Something Crafty tells you how.

February is a perfect time to treat the birds!  I just love these heart shaped bird feeders.  Find out how to make them at Intimate Weddings.  We made these a couple years ago and they're just darling!

For the very beginner seamstress, or a fun group activity, this heart garland sure is cute!  Directions over at Made by Rae.

These string hearts look like a great way to decorate the window!  DIY at Family Chic.

I love this idea of taking a nature walk and finding all the naturally occurring hearts.  Read more at Fireflies and Mudpies.

These nature valentines are the perfect alternative to more sugary treats.  Get inspired at Wilder Child.

For the kid (or adult!) with a bit of sewing experience, these hearts by Blair are fabulous! Find how to make these at Wisecraft Handmade.

Heart String Art, find out how at Love and Cupcakes. These look like they could decorate your room all year long!

Painted heart rocks, via Color Me Katie.  The possibilites are endless with paint and rocks my friends!

Simple Macrame Orange Bird Feeder

We did a lot of nature crafting this winter.  Not only for our Nature Pals, but also to satisfy our own crafting addiction. These orange macrame bird feeders were one of my favorite parts of a natural holiday decoration installment the girls and I did in our local elfin oak forest.  

After we cut the orange in half, and scooped out the yummy stuff we cut 8 equally length strings.  I didn't measure, but maybe an arms length.

We tied them all together at the bottom, then sectioned the strings out in pairs into four different sides (north, south, east, west).  Those pairs, we tied into knots, about an inch away from the very bottom knot.

Next, we divided the pairs of string into new pairs, pairing neighbors strings together.  And then tied those into knots about an inch or inch and a half up from previous knot.

Then we slipped in the orange half filled with bird seed into the newly formed string cradle and tied another knot with all 8 strings at the top so that we could hang it on a tree.  A very simple macrame project that our neighborhood birds have been happy to snack from.

Along with our orange macrame bird seed holder, we dried some citrus slices and strung up some festive cranberries.  The birds seemed to love the bird seed and cranberries best!

I gathered most my inspiration from my "crafty" and "Christmas" board on Pinterest, and even highlighted a few in my post of "Ten Nature Winter Crafts for the Family".

**Note: We went back after about a week and grabbed anything not eaten yet so as not to litter our nature walk.**

Keep in touch! I'd love to see what you create! You can find me on Instagram @emily_bluecorduroy we're always in nature up to something fun!

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xo Emily

Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas

I asked my 13 year old daughter Ruby to share a gift wrap idea post with us.  She has her own Esty shop called Ruby by the Sea, and is an amazing photographer (she takes most of my product photos) Thanks for sharing Ruby!

Since I was 7 years old I've enjoyed giving Christmas presents to my family.  This is the first year I'll have enough money to give real gifts (as in not a set of 30 self-made finger knitted necklaces!), and I would really love to have those real gifts packaged pretty.

Here are 10 Christmas wrapping ideas that I hope inspire you too.

Simple brown paper decorated with a cute stamp!

Below are two stamps I love on Etsy...

Bee Stamp from Nora Jane Etsy Shop.Tree stamp by Talk to the Sun

How about re-using the old road maps you haven't needed since Google Maps came around?

Cute & simple.  I love how the brown paper and twine make the antlers pop!  I saw an antler stamp at the craft store the other day... might have to invest in that! (found via We Lived Happily Ever After)

I will definitely have to try this! Feathers and stamped brown tags.

Brown paper with white polka dots, twine, and a doily.  Isn't this just beautiful?!( Found via Pinterest.)

Click here for the DIY via Love That Party

Simple white paper and string and a sprig of rosemary!  This would be pretty with any greenery... perhaps eucalyptus?

A colorful assortment trims.

So now you need a gift tag?  1) cut out a little pear shape from a scrap of fabric and glue it to a square of brown paper 2) Make the scrap of fabric look like a little bird by adding details with a fine tipped black pen. Found here.

Or click here to download these free printable gift tags!

Quite a few of these ideas are featuring brown paper.  If you don't have any on hand, I find that an inside out paper grocery bag works great!

Did you try any of these packaging ideas?  I'd love to see what you came up with!

For more, visit my Pinterest board, Gift Wrapping.

How to Make Your Skinny Jeans into Boot Cut Jeans

These skinny jeans look great on Ruby, but she's just not comfortable in the tight jean leg silhouette.  She's a boot cut girl through and through.  I bought these cute embroidered skinny jeans for Ruby a few months back in desperation. She was running out of clothes, but we couldn't find any new ones that "fit" and were her "style".  Anyone else have this problem with their thirteen year old?

We decided to take her only pair of jeans, that just didn't fit any more, and use those to turn her cute new ones into a boot cut leg.  I did a bit of seam ripping up to about the knee on the skinny jeans, then inserted a triangular chunk from the leg of the old jean. You may find it helpful to look at this step by step tutorial from Hello Natural.

Once we used the legs of the old jeans to fill in the legs of the new jeans, we still had enough left over to make some cut-offs.  The old jeans still fit Ruby around the waste, they were too short as pants, and a bit too tight on the thigh for shorts.  We cut them as short as she prefers, and again, added a triangular gusset along the leg to give these shorts a comfortable fit. One old pair of jeans, turned into two functioning new wardrobe staples.  I can't tell you how happy this makes me. 

Some other quick wardrobe alterations we've done recently:

Boho Style Jean Short Cutoffs

Turning Your Dresses into Skirts 

T-shirt to Tank DIY

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Ten Nature Winter Crafts for the Family

I'd be crazy if I said we were going to do ALL these crafts this holiday season!  They are all so inspiring and festive though, I know whichever ones we do end up making are going to give us so much satisfaction.  We do have a fun plan for early December where we are going to need a few of these crafts to pull it off.  Can't wait to show you what that is!

image via Sense and Simplicity blog

There's nothing I love better than crafting with supplies on hand.  These twig stars use a variety of random parts and pieces, looks like you could incorporate what you find on a walk around the neighborhood.

image via Katy Elliot blog

Cinnamon and applesauce make up the dough for these ornaments.  I can just imagine the way the house would smell while making these!

image via Eclectically Vintage

Orange and clove pomanders were almost my favorite thing to make as a kid.  Super easy, and super festive!

Macrame Orange Bird Feeder via Blue Corduroy

What?  Feed the birds from an orange?  yes please.

image via sortra.com

This blog post from sortra.com has 36 ideas of what you can do with pinecones.  We love to paint pinecones!  And this year I'm really in the mood for sparkely pine cones!

image via HGTVgardens.com

More ways to feed the birds.  Yes, we love to feed the birds, and yes, we have a plan brewing, I'll tell you all about it in a few weeks!

image via The Little Corner Tumblr

More glitter, more nature.  I figure if we stick with just a couple elements in our holiday making, then everything will look good together.

image via Garden Mama blog

These sure look like fun, and think of the endless ways you could decorate that clay.  Perhaps a great gift idea too!

image via View Along the Way

I've never been much of a wreath maker, but this simple box tree and closet hangar wreath might be easy enough for the girls and I to make ourselves.

image via 3squeezes

Yarn and sticks.  They were meant to go together.  Great for monogrammed ornaments, or gift tags.

You'll find some more seasonal craft inspiration at The Crafty Crow. She always has something fun going on over there for all ages!

If you have preschool age kids, Jess at Scrumdilly-do! is full of hands on fun ideas.

And I'm always adding to my Christmas and Crafty Pinterest boards.

Keep in touch! I'd love to see what you create! You can find me on Instagram @emily_bluecorduroy we're always in nature up to something fun!

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xo Emily

Turn your dresses into skirts

This is not a new idea.  And you've probably done it before.  But, If your like me, even if you've done it before, sometimes a little reminder can turn the light bulb on.  My reminder was meeting a couple of sweet mama's at the beach the other day.  They were both wearing such cute skirts, and I made the mental note "I need some new skirts".  The next day, at Goodwill, I find two dresses, one was too big, the other was not a flattering fit on my bod.  The light bulb turned on.  

I can't even tell you how easy it was to turn this Billabong tube top dress into a long skirt.  It already had the elastic waist for heaven's sake!  All I had to do was cut that top part off, and hem the bottom to be the right length.  Done!

This dress was a bit large in the bodice, but I really liked that fabric and that bohemian feminine airiness.  Because the hemline was already so pretty on this one, I started at the bottom, figured out how long I wanted it, and cut the waist, keeping in mind how much extra I needed to make the elastic casing.  After the casing was sewn up and elastic threaded through I was done.  

Two new skirts added to my California beach mama fall wardrobe.  

Here's another post to easily turn your t-shirts into tank tops.  Or how about changing the buttons on your sweater for a new look.

For more fall fashion inspiration, come visit my Pinterest board Cozy Town.

3 Great Natural Sunburn Remedy Recipes

We just went camping last weekend, which I highly recommend for getting you into the summer spirit.  Nothing like hanging out in the sunshine all day, with nothing much to do but surf and roast marshmallows.  But dang, all that sun!  Ruby got the worst of it, she forgot to put enough sunscreen on her legs.  And all our faces felt a bit sun kissed.  

I've got a few remedies to help ease the pain of too much sun.

ALOE AND LAVENDAR SPRITZER

My favorite go to for relieving the extra sun exposure is a mixture of pure aloe water and lavender essential oil in a spritzer.  Even if you're not sunburned this combo is so refreshing on a hot day.  The aloe water also is a great moisturizer without the greasy feeling.  you could spray this on your face before applying your makeup to keep your skin fresh.  Mind Body Green has a great article on many more benefits of aloe.  

1. Start with a glass spritzer bottle, I like the 2 oz. and 4 oz. sizes. (you can grab these at your local health food market, or online at Aroma Tools)
2. Drop in a generous amount of lavender essential oil.  I used about 10-15 drops in the 2 oz. spritzer.  I get my lavender oil from Doterra.
3. Fill the rest of your bottle with the pure aloe water (you can find some here at Vitacost, or at your local Natural Health Food store, just make sure your not buying a sugary drink, or one with other ingredients you don't want spraying all over your face)

Vinegar and Coconut Oil 

This is a great double team combo for painful sunburns.  For quick relief, and for speeding up the healing process.

1. Grab a washcloth and get wet with cold water.  
2. Add some apple cider vinegar to your washcloth and dab onto burned skin liberally. You'll notice an instant relief of the pain.
3. Let dry completely.
4. Rub your coconut oil on skin.  This will help moisturize, but also will speed up the healing process overnight.

Hydrate and Heal

Now that you've treated your sunburn on the outside, don't forget to stay hydrated on the inside. Drink your water!  All day.  And protect your sensitive skin by keeping it covered and out of the sun as much as possible while it is healing.

Some more wonderful natural healing remedies that I've discovered, but haven't tried yet at Cosmopolitan, and Secret Tips from the Yummiverse.

Check out this post for a list of all natural baby safe sunscreens. Is yours on it?

Crafting with kids :: Fourth of July American Flags

The girls just love waving American flags on the fourth of July, and this year we made our own!  We invited a couple friends over, got out the paints, and made a fun afternoon of it.

My first plan of action, always, when crafting with kids, is to gather my materials ahead of time.  We headed to the beach to collect our flag poles, aka driftwood.  We also got the acrylic paint, fabric glue, foam paintbrushes, and a star hole punch from our local craft supply shop.  And then I cut some white sheets into rectangles.

The girls kept the far left side of the flag white, since that will be the part that rolls around and gets glued to the driftwood.  Red stripes, and a blue field to start with.  Best to let this layer dry for a few minutes.

Next step was to make a star stencil with the star hole punch.  The girls were extra excited about the stars!

Painting over the blue field with the star stencils and white paint.  Make sure the blue paint is well dry before you do this step.

I loved all the star patterns.  No two flags were alike.  Maybe not historically accurate, but who's counting. 

The final step was putting a line of glue on the back of the blue edge of the flag, put the driftwood on the glue, roll the fabric around the wood once and put another line of glue down to hold the fabric in place.

And then forever wave your banner high!

Easy 3 Step T-shirt to Tank Top DIY

Sometimes you find an awesome t-shirt at the thrift shop, and sometimes you don't really like the neck line on it, it almost feels like your getting strangled, you think.  And then sometimes you decide you'd actually rather have it be a tank top.  So you buy the t-shirt anyway, because it's only $2, and you decide you're going to turn it in to what you want.  Because, really, all you need is some scissors, maybe some pins, and about fifteen minutes.  I showed how to cut off the neckline of a t-shirt in a previous post.

3 Easy Steps to Turn that T-shirt into a Tank Top

Step One:

Lay your t-shirt flat.  Grab a favorite tank and lay it on top of the t-shirt, and mark off with pins where you want to cut.

Step Two:

Cut off your sleeves.  On this t-shirt I decided to cut off the sleeves just to the inside of the seam, tapering in a little bit towards the neck at the top.  The variations here are endless depending on what sort of look you're going for.  

*tip.  I cut off the front of the sleeve and the back of the sleeve separately, only cutting through one layer of fabric at a time, in order to have more control of what and where I was cutting off.

Step Three:

Cut out neck.  I used my pins as a general guideline.  You can use washable ink if you want to be more specific about where to cut, or just go for it.  

*tip.  I marked my midpoint on the front neckline, so that when I cut to that point, I folded over what I had already cut, so that the other side would be an exact match of the first side.  If you like even necklines, I suggest this method.

Looking for more simple DIY alteration projects?  Try these Simple Boho style Jean Cutoff's!

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Now you're ready for a summer day at the beach!  Have fun!

xo Emily

family pride, an embroidery project

Living as long as I did on the East Side of Santa Cruz, it was normal to hear the young surfers call out with pride where they were from and where they felt they belonged.  You would often hear "East side, my side!", or "ESL" (east side local), or "East Side Pride".  This was in opposition to the surfers on the west side of town.  The West Siders.

Now that I live on the central coast, it's fun to see the young surfers do their Morro Rock handshake, or their "3 stacks and a rock" hand sign.

I'm bringing that pride of place and belonging into my living room.  Pride of family.  We may start spray painting this "W" in random places, and we're definitely learning a hand signal.

To make your own family pride initial, visit

Lollipops

, where I explain

how I did it

.  And you, too, can start your own gang.