DIY Bina Wrap/Cardigan/Blouse/Scarf {or Dracula Cape}

Why hello, hello, and happy Monday to you! How was your weekend? Ours was pretty busy - we had an event with Bryan's company Friday night, a wedding in Annapolis on Saturday (don't you love the photo booth trend?), and then I ran the Vienna Turkey Trot on Sunday (Smokey & Bryan were there to support and even ran across the finish line with me). Fun times!

Anyway, I'm finally getting around to posting about the wrap I made last week. I recently came across this pin from the Fine Craft Guild to make your own Bina Brianca wrap. I hadn't heard of the wrap before, but since it sounded like pretty much the easiest project ever, I decided to give it a try.

64" fabric =Dracula cape

I got my fabric from the clearance section at Joann for $4.50 a yard, and overall, I followed their instructions, so there's no need for me to repost them here.... except that initially I didn't read the tutorial very carefully. I saw that it said 64" wide fabric, so I went with that, without paying attention to the further detail below about determining the length. Result? Dracula cape. If you want to make a nice cape, use 64" fabric. Otherwise, you may need to do some cutting. After this initial fail, I ended up going about 38" tall, 64" across, and using 12" arm slits (the 14" recommended seemed a little large to me).

Once I de-capeified it, here's what it looks like in a few more of the different styles. For more (with directions), see the Bina Brianca website. I doubt I'll ever wear a lot of the options, but even as a plain old cardigan it's really cozy - plus it's basically wrinkle-proof so it's great for traveling (and I always love traveling in big drapy sweaters that can double as a blanket).

And here's what it looks like laying flat:

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Cinch up that trench: DIY ribbon belt

I have a basic black trench coat that's great for not-too-cold rainy weather, but sadly, I lost the belt for it a while back when it slipped off unnoticed on the metro one day. Without the belt, it just looks like a shapeless black sack, so I've been avoiding wearing it other than going in & out of the office or walking around the neighborhood.  I wore it a could days ago when we were still getting the tail end of the Sandy rain, and had an impromptu thought that maybe I could make a belt out of something in the hall closet (aka the 'closet of doom' where we stash basically everything - open at your own risk!). I had some black ribbon with white trim and thought that maybe the ribbon could work as a belt.  I think it turned out pretty well for a quick & cheap replacement belt. Although mine is just black, this could also be a good way to add a splash of color to a jacket too! (The knot is kind of funky in this pic - take a look at the ones below for a better idea).

Materials:

• Ribbon (I used about 6 yards of 5/8" ribbon)
• Sewing machine & thread
• Scissors

All I did was measure a piece of ribbon around myself to see how long I wanted it, then I sewed three strips of ribbon together since my ribbon was narrow. After the three ribbons were together, I double folded the ends so the cut edge was hidden and sewed them.

The end result sort of reminds me of a floppy seatbelt (but in a good way... if that's possible...). The thickness of the ribbon seems good for a jacket belt - it's thick enough to give it some durability and is easy to tie and untie. It's nothing fancy, but I think it works as well as the original.

Here are some more pics of the finished product:

Like usual, Smokey wanted to get in on the action. It's hard to take pictures when someone keeps laying on your work!

And I had to include this timer pic fail. Not exactly quality photography, but I kind of love it. Our puppy is such a goof.

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