Pillowcase Dress (for Adults!)

There are tons of tutorials out there to make a pillowcase dress for a child. Here's one for an adult that actually looks good- and doesn't look like a pillowcase, either.

Seriously, how cute is that? See the original article here. 

Crafty Thrifting

I can't resist thrifting. If you don't check thrift stores for craft and sewing supplies, I highly recommend it. My favorite thrift store has a nicely organized craft section, with a dresser of fabric ordered by size, but sometimes a store will have a wall of grab bags: a bag of random ribbon or yarn for $1, or a bag of notions for 50 cents- these are pretty common finds at almost any store.

Now that I've been trying to get into pattern sewing, I take an extra look at the pattern bin to see what's there. Full-price, new patterns can cost $10-20+, so it's worth a look, especially because thrift store patterns usually run 25 cents -$1. Of course, that means lots of terrible looking fashions, but definitely some that can be salvaged, great vintage finds, and sometimes a new one, too.

Last weekend I came across two embroidered gingham aprons for $1 each, a pile of useful notions, and some pretty rosebud fabric.

I also scored this 70s dress ($2), which fits me perfectly.

Any good finds lately? I'd love to hear about them!

What I Wore Wednesday

It's time for "What I Wore Wednesday" again! So many people are linking up at The Pleated Poppy now- it seems like no matter how early I link up, there's always about a hundred participants already. If you haven't stopped over yet, make sure you do so!

This is a really simple outfit, but I liked it a lot anyway. And I love wearing that little red belt.

I'm wearing:

White Cowl Neck Tee: Charlotte Russe, $4

Skinny Red Belt: Goodwill, $1

Jolt Jeans: Nordstrom Rack, $14

Black Flats: Rummage Sale, $1

Simplicity 9494: A Little Progress

This week I started work on Simplicity 9494, a 1994 pattern which I thrifted for 75 cents. So far so good! I'm really excited about the super cute back of it, so I thought I'd show off my progress.

It's a Design Your Own Dress pattern, with two lengths, three bodice front styles, and about 7 back styles (some better than others). This makes for a lot of pattern pieces! Here's some of the suggestions.

Obviously, it's a 1994 pattern, and 90s fashions aren't really something anyone should revisit, but I think that my plain teal fabric (which is actually a bedsheet) will make it look less out of date. I'll be out of town for Memorial Day weekend, but fingers crossed that you'll see a finished post by sometime next week

Tiramisu Recipe (easy and inexpensive!)

Some of you tiramisu purists or culinary experts might not care for this recipe, but if you'd like to make an easy tiramisu without raw eggs or alcohol, this is a great option.

1 large frozen pound cake (or two packages of ladyfingers, which I couldn't find)
1 cup freshly brewed strong coffee
1/4 cup sugar, divided
2 tsp vanilla, divided
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
3 cups cool whip topping
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Slice the still-frozen pound cake into thin strips, and arrange on the bottom of a 12x8 baking dish. Mix coffee, 2 tbps of the sugar, and 1 tsp of the vanilla. Brush half the mixture onto the pound cake in the dish.

Beat ricotta cheese, remaining 2 tbsp of sugar, and remaining 1 tsp of vanilla in a medium bowl with electric mixer until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spoon half the cheese mixture onto pound cake in the dish.

Add another layer of pound cake, and brush with remaining coffee mixture. Top with remaining cheese mixture. Sift cocoa over the top of the dessert, and refrigerate for several hours, or overnight. I garnished with chocolate syrup and strawberries; you can finish it off however you like!

1980s Belted Muumuu Dress: Complete!

I know, that title doesn't sound promising at all! I made this dress from McCall's 3511 (view D) from 1981. Normally, I would not consider a pattern like this (especially as it's actually a maternity pattern!), but I was feeling inspired by Mena of The Sew Weekly. She took a 1990s muumuu pattern and made a cute floral dress from it, which when belted, doesn't look like a muumuu at all!

Since I'm still very much a beginner, I thought the McCall's pattern would be worth a try. After all, there's few patterns more forgiving of fit mistakes than a muumuu. It did take some considerable adjustments; I had to take about four inches off each side to de-maternity it. I also shortened it considerably and left off the shoulder buttons and pockets, although I think they might be cute with a different fabric. 

I'm not crazy at all about the fabric I used, which is some kind of polyester blend and is a little too girlish for my taste. I got about 3 yards for $1 at St. Vincent de Paul, though, so it was worth a practice go-round, especially because that was the total cost of the dress.

The pattern came to me courtesy of my friend Emily,who gave me a bag of patterns that used to belong to her great-grandma. I think I might try it again someday, but with a different pattern that's less shiny and probably not baby blue with flowers and butterflies. Still, for an 80s maternity dress in a mystery fabric, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

What I Wore Wednesday

It's Wednesday again, and time to link up to The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday link party! And as usual, I'm posting the WIWW: Thrifty Edition

Basically, after the longest winter ever, I only want to wear dresses and skirts this summer. We've only had a couple of truly hot days so far, but a high of 64 degrees today sounded pretty much tropical to me.

Here's the look without a cardigan (which is navy, even though it's hard to tell in the pic), although I spent most of the day at work in a chilly library, and left it on.

Tomorrow I'll be showing off another finished dress, so don't forget to check back!

I'm wearing:

Navy Cardigan Sweater: Secondhand

White Scoopneck Tee: Kohls, $4

Pink and White Plaid Skirt: H&M (about two years ago), $10

Skinny Blue Belt: Thrifted by a friend

Shoes: Savers, $4

Iced Coffee!

Is there a "proper" way to make iced coffee? I'm not sure, but this recipe works for me. The secret is to make iced cubes out of coffee, which look kind of unpleasant in your ice cube tray, but make for a tasty, non-watered-down summer beverage.

1 part milk

1 part (or slightly more, to taste) cooled coffee

3-4 coffee ice cubes

Favorite flavorings: I like to use chocolate syrup or cinnamon; sometimes I'll add a little bit of chili powder.

That's it! The next time you've got a little extra coffee in the pot, remember to fill up your ice cube tray!

Anda/Butterick Dress: complete!

It was several weeks ago that I mentioned working on a "one-hour pattern." for a dress. Don't worry, it's been done for at least half that time. I made this dress, which is a lot like Burda's Anda pattern, from Butterick B5211 (view B), which was on sale for $1 at Joann's a couple months ago.

The yellow gingham fabric was actually an inexpensive score from St. Vincent de Paul. There wasn't quite enough of it, though, so I had to improvise a bit, which meant leaving out the pockets, as well as the neckline facing. This was probably for the best, since the fabric is pretty thin. The original pattern also included a belt. I like a contrasting belt better, at least for this dress, so I opted not to make it.

The key to this dress is to use a lightweight fabric. It's pretty large and shapeless (and needs to be, since it doesn't have any closures). A fabric that's too stiff won't fall well and will make anybody look wider than they are.

Despite how long it took me to complete and post, this really is a one hour pattern, and extremely easy to make. This was my first project that I used both my serger and my dress form to make, and, although not necessary, those are definitely great tools to have!

If you're interested in making this dress, or Anda, I recommend checking out Grosgrain's "Frock by Friday," She makes Anda in a week and gives lots of helpful hints along the way. This link will show you the steps, but in backwards order.  

Have you made a similar dress? Let me know how it went!

What I Wore Wednesday: The REALLY thrifty edition

Simply Step Back isn't a fashion blog. It's a blog about being thrifty and creative, or at least that's what I aim for. When I do post an outfit or link up to The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday link party, I always try to include some of my thrifted or handmade items.

That said, this might be my thriftiest outfit yet.

I'm continuing to embrace this high waisted skirt with a tucked in shirt look even though I thought I hated it for a long time. What can I say? I'm either flakey or my fashion taste is maturing. I prefer to go with the latter.

I'm wearing:

Salmon colored tshirt: St. Vinnie's, 75 cents

Polka dot skirt: St. Vinnie's, $1.50

Black flats: Rummage sale, $1

Everybody Everywear: Florals!

It's "Everybody Everywear" Florals day. I don't wear a lot of florals, but I do have this shirt, which actually used to belong to my mom. I couldn't decide if it went better with a light blue skirt or a more severe black one, but I ultimately went with the black, to keep from looking too much like an Easter egg.

 I had a little trouble with the photos...the first round got mysteriously deleted, so I had to quickly take a couple more. Here's the cardigan version (there's one of those for every outfit, just in case).

I feel a little bit Donna Parker in this for some reason, although Donna never would have worn her skirts this short!

I'm wearing:

Sweater: Secondhand via my aunt's closet

Floral button down: Secondhand via my mom's closet

Skirt: Kohls, $9
Shoes: Steve Madden via St. Vinnie's, $3

Click the box above to see hundreds more floral-themed outfits from other bloggers, and stay tuned for a double feature of outfits this week; tomorrow is What I Wore Wednesday!

Let not your hearts be troubled: Calligraphy for Mother's Day

I've been working on calligraphy a little bit more.

I rarely share personal information on my blog, but some of you might know or remember that my mother passed away in December of 2010. This is from the gospel reading that she selected for her funeral service. Practicing calligraphy goes a little easier when I have a phrase or two that's of particular significance to me. As you can see, I've still got some practicing to do, but I'm enjoying it.

Today I'm celebrating mother's day with my aunt and her family, and thinking of my mom, who would love to spend this sunny Mother's Day drinking a Diet Coke and reading a book out on the deck- her idea of a perfect day.

Happy Mother's Day to all my readers who are moms; I hope it's a special one!

New fabric, new ideas!

School's out for summer! Until my summer semester classes start in June, that is. Until then, I'll be working and enjoying summer in Madison.

My dad recently got back from a trip to Germany, and he brought me this Burda magazine...all in German, which I don't speak. Some of the projects look like I can figure them out, though!

It's got patterns for all the clothes in this picture, plus a lot of other neat ideas. Unfortunately, the directions might pose a challenge.

I also dragged my roommate to Joann's recently to hit up some of the red tag clearance fabrics. Here's some of my finds.

These will hopefully become fun summer dresses before too long!

ADORABLE Red Panda Button for ModCloth!

Is this not the cutest button you've ever seen? I think so. My friend Emily at the cute octopus designed this button for a ModCloth competition. If she makes it into the top five she'll be a finalist and that much closer to winning- which includes a few hundred of these little guys getting produced by ModCloth.

  If you've got a Facebook account, click here to see all of the entries and vote for Emily's sweet red panda.

Delicious Links!

That's Delicious as in the social bookmarking site, not recipes...although there's some of both at my Delicious links page. I've mentioned it before, but you should check it out! I save all my favorite links, projects, recipes, ideas, and more to this site.  I update it often.

You can browse it by checking out the tags on the right hand sidebar. If you use multiple computers, like I do, this is a great way to keep track of all the pages you like without having to constantly email yourself links.

Click here to see my Delicious page!

JUMBO Floss Bobbins from Wild Olive

Remember back when I posted these fun embroidery floss bobbins, free to download from Wild Olive? Mollie has added a set of new jumbo bobbins, also free to download! They're perfect for bias tape, ribbon, or anything else that might get in a big messy jumble in your craft room. And they're also really adorable, which doesn't hurt either.

LAST week of class!

The end of the semester came up fast and brought a lot of time-intensive projects. But it's the last week of classes (in fact, all my projects are due TODAY) and then I'll be back into doing the things I like- spending time with friends and family, sewing, cooking, crafting, and blogging. I also brought my rollerskates to Madison when I was back home over the weekend, and I'm looking forward to spending some time outside in the sunshine.

More to come soon!