Hurricane Sandy!!

I guess the downfall of living at the beach would be that any sort of tropical system in the Atlantic will affect us. Sandy has been my first storm to impact Wilmington since I have been here. My mom came to visit me today, which was perfect because campus is dead (no Halloweekend here). We went to lunch and went shopping, and had tons of fun. I miss her a lot, so it is awesome when she comes to visit. I dressed specifically for rain today, and I was thrilled to get to wear my duck boots!!

Shoes: Sperry Topsiders, Socks: Target, Brown Jeans: Forever 21, Cardigan: Banana Republic, Watch: Charming Charlie's

After my mom left, I got into some sweat pants and decided to just chill for the rest of the night. I sat down and monogrammed a few things. My mom got me a fleece vest today, and I was really excited to monogram it when I got back. I also did a pair of running shorts; I am slowly but surely on my way to having everything I own being monogrammed.

Oh How Pinteresting!

I'm in love with this outfit! Neon pink and polka dots! Can it get any better?

How amazing is this bag? I want it! It is so versatile and adorable!

Halloween costume this year? 

I love the anchor on this and just about everything else about it! So cute!!

I don't have a winter jacket or pretty much any jacket that isn't a sweatshirt. I don't like to get hot when I'm inside, but when I'm outside I pay for my pickiness. I think that a fleece vest would fix my issue. This North Face one is adorable, but I don't know if I could make that fun pattern work on a daily basis.

Monogram Obsessed?

At what point does a love for monograms become an obsession? I am going to be known as the monogram girl in my dorm because literally everything I have is monogrammed. Here are some of my favorite monogrammed items.

My acrylic monogrammed necklace.

My norts! I am almost positive every girl I know has this pair of Nike shorts, so now mine won't get confused.

My towels for college. I think monogramming towels is such a fun way to add color and personalization.

My Tommy Hillfiger tanning mat. I got this as a birthday gift and I adore it. It is perfect for laying out anywhere where there isn't a chair or comfy spot.

My rain jacket.

My croakies!

This is my favorite koozie ever. I think it is hilarious, and so me!

Last, but certainly not least, my iPhone case. I wish I could still use this case, but the last time I did my phone shattered. 

I like to think that monogramming things is sort of an anti-theft strategy.

Apex Embroidery Designs

I have had my Brother PE 500 embroidery machine for about 2 months now, and I couldn't be more happy with it. When I first got it, I was struggling because there are only 5 built in fonts and it was difficult to make monograms from any of them. I determined that I was going to have to go online and find fonts to buy and download. It turned out to be super easy; I wrote a whole tutorial on it here. My absolute favorite place to get fonts is Apex Embroidery Designs. Their website is so well laid out and easy to use; they also have specific instructions on how to download the fonts and which type of file to use. I only have 5 embroidery fonts and 3 separate embroidery designs, but they are all from Apex Embroidery Designs. If you have an embroidery machine and are looking for fonts I would definitely check them out!

Excuse the user error on the "c" in this one. It was late at night.

DIY Frat Collection T-Shirts

I love the look of The Frat Collection t-shirts, but the price is not to my likings. I understand that they give some of the proceeds to charity, but still its just a t-shirt. I had some friends over a while back and we decided to make these. My friend Laura had already made one so she was the mastermind behind them. Thanks, Laura! I've seen a few posts about how people have done these, but they used fusible backing to just put a piece of fabric on an already existing pocket. This method just looked sloppy and unfinished, so I prefer my way of doing it.

Materials:

Plain solid color t-shirt

Scrap fabric or fabric quarter

Thread

Straight pins

Shears

Ruler

Sewing machine

Iron

Step 1:

Cut out a 6" by 7" rectangle of fabric (adjust size based on how big you want your pocket)

Step 2:

Fold one of the shorter ends of the rectangle down about an inch and press it (this will be the top of the pocket)

Step 3:

Fold both of the longer sides in a half an inch and press

Step 4:

Sew a straight stitch at the top of the pocket

I sewed about a quarter of an inch away from the fold to make the pocket look like a pocket

Step 5:

Fold and press the bottom corners of the fabric up to create the point. You may have to cut some of the fabric off of the bottom to get it to look right. Also, I would recommend using another pocket shirt as a guide for how to point should look.

Step 6:

Next, try on the shirt and pin the pocket where you would like it to go. Then pin all around the edge of the pocket.

Step 7:

Using a straight stitch, sew all around the pocket. Make sure you don't sew over the top of the pocket, so that it remains a functional pocket. 

I decided to make another one and monogram it. I think this one looks much better than the first. I guess I learned from my mistakes. 

Link Ups:
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/2012/08/flaunt-it-friday-113.html
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2012/08/frugal-friday.html
http://what-about.co/show-friday-15-august-3-2012/
My Repurposed Life
Whipperberry
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/2012/08/features-simply-creations-link-party-68.html
http://www.504main.com/2012/08/tickled-pink-no-109.html
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/2012/08/inspire-me-fridays-70-anything-goes.html
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2012/08/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-borsa-bella-design-co-giveaway.html#more-38180
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/08/pink-saturday-august-4-2012.html
http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2012/08/sns-146-diy-link-party.html
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2012/08/show-and-tell-saturday-080412.html
http://www.iamonly1woman.blogspot.com/2012/08/check-me-out-saturday.html
http://snips-and-spice.blogspot.com/2012/08/sunday-slice-its-party-6.html
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/sundae-scoop-link-party-37/
http://www.raisingmemories.com/2012/08/2012-summer-sharing-time-giveaways.html
http://itssoverycheri.com/2012/08/05/its-party-time-8-5-2012/
http://diyshowoff.com/category/other/diy-project-parade/
http://www.serendipityandspice.com/2012/08/manic-monday-linky-party-29.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SerendipityAndSpice+%28Serendipity+and+Spice%29
http://www.craft-o-maniac.com/2012/08/craftomaniac-monday.html
http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2012/08/mop-it-up-mondays-28.html
http://www.sumossweetstuff.com/2012/08/market-yourself-monday.html
http://www.sewcando.com/2012/08/crafttastic-monday-link-party.html
http://www.marvelouslymessy.com/2012/08/a-marvelous-mess-74-and-features.html

Brother PE500 Embroidery Machine!

For graduation my grandma was kind enough to buy me an embroidery machine. I got the Brother PE500 embroidery machine. I absolutely love it! I have zero experience with embroidery; I avoided it at all cost in freshman year apparel development. With that said, this machine is perfect for beginners. It has diagrams on the machine to help you thread it, the owners manual is very straight forward, and the parts require little assembly. I mainly use the machine for monogramming, and I monogram everything. It used to cost me $20 a piece to monogram things at a local shop, but now I can do it for free! Although there are certain things you can't embroider (odd shaped things mainly), a vast majority of my belongings are able to be embroidered. The machine comes with tons of patterns and 5 fonts. However, none of these fonts are particularly good for monogramming, so I decided to download some more from the internet. I thought this was going to be super difficult, but it wasn't at all. I used Apex Embroidery Fonts because they had a large amount of fonts to chose from and their prices were reasonable. I purchased the fonts, hooked my machine up to my computer and just dragged the fonts into the E drive. I will post an in depth tutorial later on. Here are just a few things I have gotten around to monogramming.

The running shorts were just an experiment since I wasn't sure how to position the hoop, but eventually I figured it out. This was the first pair I did and the monogram is positioned way to close to the crotch area. Luckily, I only used a cheap pair of Target shorts.

This is just what the screen looks like when you are setting up the image you embroidered.

Things I Want to Get Monogrammed

I really want a Brother PE 500 embroidery machine, so I can monogram everything I have. The list has gotten incredibly long; if I were to get an embroidery machine my life would be so much easier. 

1. Hair Bows
2. Clutch
3. Pajamas
4. Bath Towels and Hand Towels
5. Towel Wraps
6. Button Up Shirts With Pockets
7. Koozie
8. Running Shorts
9. T-Shirts with Pockets
10. Baseball Caps
11. Floppy Hats
12. Backpack
13. Throw Pillow
14. Pillowcase
15. Laptop
16. Folding Chair
17. Wastebasket
18. Hairbrush
19. Storage Baskets
20. Sewing Machine

What else should I add to my list?