"The warping night air having brought the boom of an owl's voice into her darkened room. . . "

from "A Barred Owl" -- Richard Wilbur



I am so excited about this bag! The original bag that I used as inspiration was the Kate Spade owl bag-- but it is $425... and I love the bag, I am not willing to shell out that much $$$! Plus, the Kate Spade bag is nowhere to be found anywhere so I thought it might be fun to make a tutorial for a version of it. :)

The original:



I think this bag is so hilarious and fun-- here's the little owlie guy again.



I saw this bag a while back, but for some reason it never occurred to me to try and make it. So I went to my basement to find materials and it just so happened that my mom had old snippets of leather and snakeskin from her seamstress/sewing business days... I ONLY used the tiniest scraps that I found that I thought could be made into NOTHING else. I found the perfect colors to make a different version of the bag.

I also used an old, old bag that I loved in middle/high school. I am glad I get to save some of the scraps that would have been thrown away and also give a favorite old bag a new life. :)



Meet Bridget. I love, love, love this crazy dog. We rescued her a few years ago and because we were her third owners she was obnoxious. My mom would make my little brother go outside and throw toys to Bridget until she was completely pooped out but Bridgey could never get enough attention! My mom got so fed up with Bridget eating mail, packages, the backdoor steps, and terrorizing our cats that she took Bridget to the vet and the vet told her about doggy Ritalin... so now, America, we are a society that drugs our dogs too. I'm happy to say that Bridget has been drug free for a few years now and she is still the most wiggly dog around Central Indiana. ;)

But Bridget really liked the owl bag.


"Please, please, please? That owl looks tasty!"

See the snow on my shirt? Bridget kept doing this:





Natalie: (my sister taking the pictures) Stop Bridget!
Bridget: D'ohuuuhhh???



Blanket stitch around the suede, old antique golden buttons for the eyes.





Owl belly.



My New Years' nails-- festive! I love the turquoise with the yellow of the owl's eyes as well as the brown. I just love all turquoise. ;)

SO-- if you are like me and have been looking around on the Internet for this bag, you should try to make it! It looks detailed and complicated, but it is just a lot of small, simple, geometric shapes put together.

Link to tutorial. :) I also just realized that Kate Spade was in my sorority... and the owl is our symbol... How SWEET.

"... and you covered your nose with motheaten fur collar"

from "Kaddish" -- Allan Ginsberg


Sorry for the delay in posts, but I'm done with school for the year and in January, I am off to NYC for my semester internship at the greatest show on television! :D I can't wait to wear some crazy stuff that attracts odd looks in Central Indiana. (I still love you, Indiana.)

I made this fur scarf from faux fur I bought at the fabric store. It is actually quite soft, and the only things that were harmed in the process were some acrylic creatures. For the above photo, I linked the two ends together with broaches to make a shawl-like wrap.



Some broaches to link a shawl or any scarf together. These were my grandma's-- obviously she was a very cool lady.

Other ways to wear a furry scarfette:

Tucked into coat...


Tucked into itself, (directions)


Start by making sides of scarf uneven.


Pull the sides across each other, make sure the shorter side is at the length you want.




Ta Da!

Last way to wear it:

Tossed over the shoulder.


For this, I would recommend pinning a broach on the side of your neck to hold the scarf in place. Otherwise, it gets to be a bit annoying.

HOW TO MAKE FUR SCARF:

1. Buy faux fur. I chose this type because it was the most realistic looking and it does not feel like plastic. My opinion: if it feels like plastic, then it looks like plastic, then it most likely does not look so great. I bought a half yard and it was great.

2. Once you have a half-yard, fold the fur so that the fur sides face each other and then sew up the outsides, leaving one end open so that you can turn the scarf inside out and reveal the fur. (You can hand sew this or use a machine.)

3. Turn the scarf inside out so that the fur is on the outside.

4. Hand stitch the remaining open side closed. The fur should cover your stitches so you do not have to be a proper stitcher.

The next couple of days I will be making some Christmas presents and celebrating! I hope everyone has nice holidays, I should be back to blogging more regularly. (That is the plan)

:)