What is a group of butterflies called?

 DID YOU KNOW!? I did not until a few minutes ago.

A kaleidoscope! A group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope. So cool!

We are avid butterfly fans here. When we visited Arizona earlier this year we went to the Scottsdale Butterfly Wonderland. What a treat! We honestly didn't expect to have that much fun!  We had butterflies landing on our heads, riding on our shoulders...even the little kids got to help release newly hatched butterflies into their huge conservatory.

I highly recommend it if you are in the area!

So my daughter loves butterflies and asked for a butterfly t shirt. She wanted something simple and casual but with a pretty design. An easy shirt to throw on with jeans and all-stars.  Of course, we got right to work. Here's what we came up with. It's subtle, muted colors, very boho chic:

 

 

And yes, she asked for a crew neck sweatshirt too. We really liked how this sand color worked well with our butterflies:

And this light heathered gray:

Check out the Vintage Dutch Girl Etsy shop for more styles of shirts: oversized unisex fit, hoodies, zip front sweatshirts, and more.

 

Off to design some more!

A

Sparkly Chiffon Circle Twirl Skirts...

I sewed an elastic waist chiffon sparkly circle skirt for my Lil Chick to wear for her garden fairy costume.  Oh what fun she has had twirling around and around!
Circle skirts are so much fun and once you figure out your measurements it's a cinch!  I followed the tutorial at Ikatbag.com. It is complete with good directions, diagrams, and a template.

Also, I have been overly enjoying tagging anything I sew with my new woven labels. (See above in the bottom right photo.)  After working really hard on a project: seam ripping errant threads, remeasuring, fitting, taking in, letting out, trimming etc...it feels like such an accomplishment to tack that label on!   I love them!

Happy Costume sewing! I better get going, I still need to finish a bat costume for Bubbalu!

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 9: Bunk Beds and Windows

Pigs are flying, we finally made it to Part 9 of the Travel Trailer Makeover Series: the Bunk Beds and Windows!

I really decided to abandon the idea of color matching the entire trailer and instead customized the bunks to each kiddo.  Here is what the trailer bunks looked like right from the dealership:

Rather boring, pretty dull. Ruffly curtain in hunter green leaf patter...well. I WANTED to burn it but kept it for possible future resale purposes.

There was too much beige going on in those bunks. I like COLOR.  Back to fabric shopping! I still used premier prints fabric because I LOVE it. I had a few ideas of fabric patterns and combinations but let each kid pick their color and pattern.

Bubbalu chose a navy and orange chevron and coordinating stripes print, Lil Chick picked chocolate brown and light pink elephants and a coordinating polka dots print:

Yeah. Those don't really match. At all. Oh well! It's COLOR.

Also, I decided that in order for me to be able to get away with sneaking into the kitchen area of the trailer at night and eating chocolate necessitated some sort of privacy screen or curtain.

I used a tension rod and these little stick and screw on holders designed for shower curtain rods to hang a polka dot curtain:

I made a tie-back thingy out of the chevron multicolor fabric and velcro, then just screwed it into the side of the bunk bed. Is this a permanent fixture? With my kids? Probably not. How do I know this? Because they have already hung on the curtain and pulled it down.

Twice.

So, the picture above is ALMOST the same, just imagine that the curtain tension rod has a large dent in and is no longer straight. Then yes, it's the same.

For Bubbalu's bunk I make him reversible curtains and valance so that I can change it out if I ever feel like it...and bonus, I didn't think about or notice it until after I was done with the redo but you can see them from the outside and they are cute!

Lil Chick got pink, pink and some more pink.  And some chocolate brown. And polka dots. And cute elephants. Same deal as Bubbalu, reversible everything:

I also decided to do sheets and blanket instead of sleeping bags because I envisioned kids wiggling during sleep and those slippery sleeping bags sliding off the bunks onto the floor with the kiddos in them! So. I cut down sheets and made a custom bunk sized fitted bottom sheet and top sheet with a fitted end (so it would NOT pull out of the bottom).

I was out shopping for trailer stuff and saw the madras plaid and the pink and brown polka dot blanket and pillowcase sets on super clearance!  WITH an extra % off coupon....Score!! I was shocked - Lil Chick's blanket is a PERFECT match color and polka dot size/spacing! I was so excited!

I'm thrilled with the infusion of color and each kiddo feels like they have their own special space.  Add in some tote bins in the very back of the bunks and you have a mini playroom as well! The kids LOVE playing or reading in their bunks. And Mama gets to sneak chocolate late at night. Everyone is happy happy happy! :)

So, here is the official Before and After shot of the bunk bed portion of my Travel Trailer Makeover:

I think this is the last tutorial/talk through of the Travel Trailer Makeover series! Goodness gracious it only took me like 14 months to do 9 posts! Yay me! I should get a bloggy professional procrastinator award or something.

Maybe I can make it an even 10 and do the full trailer walk-through. Yep. I'll do that. In a few months or so.

THANK YOU for joining me on my Travel Trailer Makeover Series! I hope you have been inspired to add a little sass and custom style and COLOR into your travel trailer or RV!

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl


Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

• Part 1: A sassified Shower Curtain

• Part 2: The "before I tore everything apart" Tour
• Part 3: Bright Bold and Beautiful Fabrics
• Part 4: Wallpaper removal, A Dismantled Trailer and New Side Curtains  
• Part 5: Cornici Recoving! 
• Part 6: Dinette Cushions Madeover!
• Part 7: Couch Slipcover
• Part 8: Master Bedroom and Privacy Curtains
• Part 9: Bunk Beds and Windows 

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 8: Master Bedroom and Privacy Curtains...

We have, er HAD, two ceiling to floor plain dark beige curtains instead of doors to separate and give privacy to the queen bed area from the main part of the trailer:

Just like the shower curtain project, they are attached at the top with glide tracks and glide tape sewn to the top edge of the fabric.

Glide tape is flexible plastic strips with little clips every 6 inches or so:

So, I pulled out the fabric and got to work.  The curtains were simple to design, just rectangles with hemmed edges.  I just copied the original beige curtain measurements. Actually, I added in more yardage width wise so it hung nicer and not so stretched flat.

For attaching the glide tape: Using a zipper foot on your sewing machine, set your (hefty upholstery size) needle to a side position:

and sew along the top and bottom of the plastic glide tape strip directly onto the top inside of your fabric:

Aaaaaaand.....Done!

I just snapped the holders into place along the glide strips. See how the extra yardage made those pretty ruffles? (Please don't tell my hubby I said "pretty" and "ruffles" to describe Lumi our trailer in any way shape or form.)

In order for the curtains to hang nicely I pulled a 'use what you have' trick and put fishing weighs in the corners of the curtains and safety pinned them into place:

The previous velcro tie backs were fixed to the wall with a special screw so I just replaced the blah fabric with chocolate brown, the same fabric that I used to recover the valances. (See valance project HERE.)

Add to that a new mattress (yeah, um, the trailer came with a 4 inch thick "mattress" to sleep on. Nope. Nada. Not happening. We spend A LOT of time camping.) and new bedding and the master bedroom area is looking very nice! Ahhh, it felt good to see nice fun colors and have the trailer looking more like us!

And if "by us" that means a wild and crazy mix that happens to blend, then YES, it looks more like us :)

Reminder of what this space looked like: Bedroom and side curtains BEFORE:

And now: Bedroom and side curtains after!

Next will be the last post in this series: the Bunk Beds! Oooh my FAVE part of this project!


Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl



 Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

• Part 1: A sassified Shower Curtain

• Part 2: The "before I tore everything apart" Tour
• Part 3: Bright Bold and Beautiful Fabrics
• Part 4: Wallpaper removal, A Dismantled Trailer and New Side Curtains  
• Part 5: Cornici Recoving! 
• Part 6: Dinette Cushions Madeover!
• Part 7: Couch Slipcover
• Part 8: Master Bedroom and Privacy Curtains 
• Part 9: Bunk Beds and Windows

Black White Coral Aqua Dress Up

Black White Coral Aqua Dress Up by VintageDutchGirl

Animal Print and Stripes Infinity Scarf Trends...

Hiya!

Oh yes, I've been busy sewing scarves like crazy!  I've been following the Women's fashion section on Pinterest in order to see what's current, trending, popular...you know.

* Trend #1. Animal Print Scarves

Classic Brown Leopard:

And Snow Leopard Print Scarves:

Trend #2. Stripes, stripes and MORE stripes!

That's all for today, but I've got TONS more new styles coming! I'll try to keep up on blogging them...I mean really, CHEVRON print!? Yes.

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Travel Trailer Makeover, Part 6: New Dinette! Recover those cushions!

OK yes, this travel trailer factory direct diamond pattern fabric has GOT to go. I decided to attack the entire dinette cushion recovering in one day. Because that's how I do things. Nothing for a loooooong time then a huge flurry of activity. Remind you of my blogging schedule!? :)

So yes, these cushions:

 From this dinette:

Five cushions to recover, including two rather oddly shaped triangular corner cushions. Hoo boy. This is gonna be a big job.

First off I took off the old covers and measured every single bit of them to draw up my cushion patterns. Then I cut out the flat panel patterns from the chevron fabric.....taking pains to make sure the colors and zig-zags lined up appropriately with the other cushions. And making sure the fabric wasn't upside down.

Because if it IS upside down you may waste a good yard or so of fabric. {Ahem}

I had to seriously muscle the foam into some of these covers but wanted to make sure they were a snug fit.  I bought a cover button pack and covered them in parts of the chevron fabric. I used a long, upholstery size needle (see pic) to thread the button strings through the thick foam. Once again, lots of muscle used! My forearms were super sore the next day!

And now, confession time: I did NOT want to struggle with putting fancy, neat zippers on these five cushions so instead I closed up the openings with safety pins :)  Once again, saved a ton of time, and they are all hidden inside the dinette frame anyways!

All in all I was very pleased with how these came out. MUCH more fresh and fun. Here you go, the finished dinette makeover:

 And the before/after side by side shot:

Quite a difference, right!?

Next up: the dreaded COUCH project. OY.

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

• Part 1: A sassified Shower Curtain

• Part 2: The "before I tore everything apart" Tour
• Part 3: Bright Bold and Beautiful Fabrics
• Part 4: Wallpaper removal, A Dismantled Trailer and New Side Curtains 
• Part 5: Cornici Recoving! 
• Part 6: Dinette Cushions Madeover! 
• Part 7: Couch Slipcover
• Part 8: Master Bedroom and Privacy Curtains
• Part 9: Bunk Beds and Windows

Travel Trailer Makover, Part 4: Wallpaper Removal, a Dismantled Trailer and New Side Curtains...

Oh yes. the diamond wallpaper border. I was extremely nervous about this but had decided that if I was going to eliminate all of the other diamond/check gray/green/beige fabric I should also try to remove the wallpaper border:

I had tried to find out online if anyone knew what kind of wallpaper this was and how to best remove it. I found only one lady on an RV forum who said her new trailer had the peel n stick kind of wallpaper boarder and to just peel it off slowly. So, after the hubby's enthusiastic approval ("Sure, whatever you want Hon") I tried to peel back a small part of the border in a hidden spot to see if it would work.

  

AND IT DID! I sent this crazy face text to him:

 

Hee hee :) I was kinda excited. The pink arrow is pointing to the place where I had just removed the wallpaper! I found that as long as I peeled back sssuuuuuupppppeeerrrr slowly it did not leave much gunk behind.

However....

There IS a significant amount of sticky glue gunk left behind.  

I tried MULTIPLE methods at removing this gunk.  The very best method to remove the leftover peel and stick wallpaper gunk is spraying Goo Gone on it and leaving it set for a few hours. Then, come back with a plastic putty scraper (I wouldn't recommend a metal one - it might damage your wall!) and scrape like crazy.

Lather Rinse Repeat. Took about three sessions of spay, soak and scrape on each section. LOTS of elbow grease.

But hey, by the end you end up with a pile of yucky wallpaper and smooth, unsticky walls:

 

And apparently a daughter who is proficient at angry birds.

Next I took all the curtains, window valance thingys, queen headboard, venetian blinds and cell shades down. Fully dismantled and ready to be sassified:

The original, straight from the manufacturer look to the dismantled, oh-boy-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into look:

And you might notice on the taken apart photo, I had already begun to sew the new side curtain panels:

First I laid all the original panels on the new fabric to get measurements....and to take before/after photos :)  Then I serged and finished the edges. On the bottom I left a pocket so they could slide over the wall mounted curtain end holders:

The tops had to be gathered and then velcro sewn on. Yup, these hang from the cornice thingys by industrial strength VELCRO.  I love it! It means whenever my kiddos pull on them (because you know they will) and rip them down, nothing is damaged. It's just velcro. No problem!

Hoo boy, this post is getting too long! Next up: recovering the window cornice thingys.

Amanda - Vintage Dutch Girl

 Check out all the posts from this Travel Trailer Makeover Series!

• Part 1: A sassified Shower Curtain

• Part 2: The "before I tore everything apart" Tour
• Part 3: Bright Bold and Beautiful Fabrics
• Part 4: Wallpaper removal, A Dismantled Trailer and New Side Curtains  
• Part 5: Cornici Recoving! 
• Part 6: Dinette Cushions Madeover!
• Part 7: Couch Slipcover
• Part 8: Master Bedroom and Privacy Curtains
• Part 9: Bunk Beds and Windows