Wednesday, March 23, 2016

My Konmari Journey Part #19: Knitting & Embroidery

This is the last section of the hobby Kimono! Woohoo! I'm tackling knitting and embroidery supplies since I don't have much of either.




All that's left is sentimental items and photos and then we're done with Konmari! Yay!

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Pattern Sale Part 2

More patterns for sale! Just like yesterday, all patterns are complete unless otherwise noted. Prices do not include shipping from the US.


 Advance 7015 1950s evening dress pattern size 12 bust 30 $15


Simplicity 3750 1950s dress pattern size 14 bust 32 $10


McCall 7259 1950s blouse and skirt pattern size 12 bust 30 $5


McCall 7580 1950s dress pattern size 14 bust 32 $10


Butterick 6943 1950s dress pattern size 32 bust 14 $10


McCalls 8918 1950s day dress size 14 bust 32 $10

If you would like to purchase one of these patterns, email me at girlwiththestarspangledheart[at]gmail[dot]com and I can get you a shipping quote.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Pattern Sale Part 1

As you may have seen, I recently Konmari'd my sewing patterns and decided quite a few of them needed new homes! I have quite a few patterns that I'll be listing and there will be a second batch tomorrow.

Patterns are complete unless otherwise noted. Prices do not include shipping from the US.


 Simplicity 2801 dress pattern late 1940s Size 14.5 bust 33 $10


 Simplcity 4759 dress and jacket pattern 1950s size 11 bust 29 $5


 Butterick 9274 blouse pattern 1950s size 10 bust 31 $7


Advance 5588 dress pattern 1950s size 15 bust 33 $15


McCalls 5079 1950s/1960s blouse pattern size 14 bust 34 $5


 McCall 8423 1950s dress pattern size 14 bust 32 $10


Butterick 4433 1950s gibson girl style blouse size 14 bust 32 $5


McCalls 3973 1950s summer blouse pattern size 12 bust 32 $5


Simplicity 3010 late 40s early 50s dress pattern size 14 bust 32 $10

If there is something you want or if there is something else that you are looking for, please email me at girlwiththestarspangledheart[at]gmail[dot]com.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

My Konmari Journey Part #18: Sewing Tools

I'm finishing up the sewing stuff today! We're almost through Konmari and I'm so excited! Check out this video to see how I do in this last category.



Once I finish up my Konmari, I'll owe you guys another sewing room tour. I'm still working on it but I have moved a lot of stuff around. If you missed the first one from right after we moved it, here it is!

Monday, March 14, 2016

Camping is coming!

Way back in January 2015, I blogged excitedly about the potential for period camping trips. After dabbling in the SCA in Ohio, I was ready to dive right into new and exciting costuming opportunities in Florida. Well, it's been over a year but I'm finally getting to go on my first period camping trip this weekend! Huzzah!

Can't wait to be more than just a Ren Faire girl!

And even more exciting, the hubby is on board for joining in on the fun which means I get to make menswear! Yay! :D I'm so excited to get back into costuming. I have so many lovely things that I don't get to wear very often plus you can never have too many new dresses.


One of the new things I'll have to take into consideration when costuming is that pretty much all of our events will be outdoors in summer type weather. Bring on the linen! While it's not very exciting, my first project for me will need to be more linen shifts. I do have some nice cotton ones but Florida summers are going to require linen.

 1160-1180, England

As for my man, I'm deep in the researching phase. He's not at all interested in Elizabethan (too frufru) so I'm digging way back and looking at 12th century menswear while he's starting at the other end and looking at armor. Hopefully, we can meet in the middle with a time period he likes both the armor and everyday clothing for.

Yumminess! (Portia and Brutus 1486-90)

Meanwhile for me, I'm dreaming of 1490s Italian loveliness! I still have my Borgia dress to finish plus I'd love a more working class version because it's so pretty!

Friday, March 11, 2016

Where I do Bible Journaling

Between my Konmari Journey and picking up Bible Journaling, I've done some serious rearranging and reorganizing in my crafting room. (See the before here.) Once I completely finish, I'll do a full video tour but I did want to give you a peak into wear I do my Bible Journaling.


This 50s kitchen table is one of the few vintage pieces of furniture that I have in my home. Vintage is not my husband's interior decor style so I don't think I'll ever live in a perfectly retro home but I do have a few touches here and there. I try to keep a minimal amount of supplies out since this space also doubles as my sewing space.


I keep most of my stamps in a small basket. I adore stamping and I have a lot from my scrapbooking days. This allows me to easily flip through them and find the stamps I'm looking for.


Next to it, I have a small pile of bits from Illustrated Faith that I keep handy incase I want to use them. If I had more of these tip in bits, I'd probably want to keep them in a box or bin but since it's just these few, they don't get out of hand.


In the opposite corner, I have the box my journaling bible came in which I use to hold my Illustrated Faith devos and some other bits that I want to keep handy. I love the print on the box so I'm glad that I found a place to use it since my bible is now too fat to fit in it! I also have my Whatever is Lovely scrapbook paper, my Illustrated Faith daily chart and a book for a bible study I'm taking.


In my Illustrated Faith baggy, I have my most used supplies: washi tape, my faith based stamps and one of each size of my black micron pens as well as stamp blocks and a tape roller. I think of this as my on the go bag. All I'd have to do is throw in a few inks and I can journal on the go. I don't like to store my inks in here since storing them flat is better for them.


My other supplies live in this rolling storage tower. Pens, pencils and colored pencils live in the top drawer. Gelatos, inks and my stamp cleaner in the second drawer and stickers and microns in the bottom drawer. This is not full by any means but it was a storage container that I already have and it works really well for me.


The other things I keep handy on my desk are my journaling bible, of course, my journal where I do my daily written journaling and a list of verses I want to journal on. I get theses verses from loads of places-sermons, bible studies, my daily reading on days when I don't have time to art journal.


 One of the biggest changes I made to this room was putting my table in front of the window! I love the natural light I get in the morning and it's great to look out and see all of that Florida loveliness while I'm hanging out with God.


 Do you enjoy having a neat and tidy work area or do you prefer a creative clutter for your creations? Do you have a separate crafting space or do you work in a common area of your home? If you've blogged about your crafting space, I'd love to see it so leave a link in the comments!

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

My Konmari Journey Part #17: Sewing Patterns

Today I'm going to Konmari my sewing pattern stash. This means taking out every. single. pattern. I own and laying them out on the floor all at once. *gulp* When they are all packed away, it sure doesn't look like I have that many.... I have an extensive collection of vintage patterns and quite a few reproduction patterns plus historical patterns that I've drafted myself. Ok. I can do this!



 I included a nice pan over of all of my sewing patterns and while you can't see 100% of each cover (not enough space!!!), there are some really cute ones! I ended up deciding to purge about half of my vintage patterns. Now before you panic, they are not going to go to a donation center (alas, most places just trash vintage patterns :( ) and I'm planning on selling some of them but I haven't gotten around to that yet. I did pitch a few modern and repro patterns that I cut up and made alterations to because they won't really be useful to anyone else.

It was really liberating to let go of these patterns. I have a much different sense of style than when I started on this vintage journey and it's nice to let go of patterns that aren't me or that I don't think I'll ever make. Instead, I can just focus on the ones I really, really love!

Have you ever let go of patterns? How large is your pattern stash?