Happy New Year!

So, I've been saying "Happy New Years" all day because it sounded right to me and came out naturally. But then when I went to write the title to this post, I looked at it and realized that perhaps it was not grammatically correct. So I battled for a few seconds, typing the "s", then deleting the "s" a few times before settling on the singular version. Considering that this was my biggest challenge today (and I even went on a backcountry mountain tubing adventure this morning), I figure the last day of 2012 has gone pretty well.

Happy New Year, you guys! I hope everyone has a great but safe night!

See you next year ;)

j.

Food Comas & Leather Elbows

sweater {Old Navy} - leather elbow patches {DIY} - jeans {Flying Monkey via Century 21}

I hope you all had a great Christmas! I was spoiled this year by having FOUR different dinners in a row. I started out with roast beef, then moved on to spiced beef, followed by turkey and finishing with a grand finale of my Nana's homemade perogies, arguably my favorite dinner of the holidays. Needless to say, I probably don't have to eat for at least two weeks.

This is the leather elbow patch sweater that I DIY'd before Christmas. I really love it. I have already worn it twice, once with jeans, like above, and I even dressed it up and paired it with a red and black plaid skirt for one of my holiday dinners. Who knew leather elbow patches were so versatile. 

I don't want to hurt your feelings now, but as of tomorrow I will be in Hawaii for a couple weeks. I'll try and keep the posting of palm trees and crashing waves to a minimum. However, I will be on Instagram and since photos of palm trees on Instagram are probably almost as frequent as photos of your latest meal and best duck face, I am making no firm promises. If you wanna torture yourself, follow along (@jlovesstyle)!

j.

Leather Elbow Patch DIY

I'm baaaack! And I come bearing a little how-to on leather elbow patches. I had been wanting a sweater with leather elbows for a long time but never did find the perfect one so I decided that I could make one. All you need are the items above. I've given you a step-by-step guide below, it was really quite simple. I'll also share a few tips that I learned along the way.

Yep! It's really that easy. I did encounter a few difficulties so here are a few tips so you can avoid them!

-Since it's the sleeve and you only want to stitch through one layer of the sweater, getting to the inside was a bit tricky at first. I found it much easier to get at it through the neck hole instead of the arm hole, if that makes sense.

-I was pleased to discover that the leather did not shift that much during the sewing process but I pinned it at the top, just in case.

-Grow an extra layer of skin on your fingertips or consider wearing band-aids. My fingers are still sore from that darn needle!

-And the most important tip...line up the second patch with the first one BEFORE you sew the entire thing on and discover that it is a good three inches higher than the first one.

I LOVE how it turned out, stay tuned to see the whole sweater in all it's leather elbow patch glory!

j.

Be Back Soon

 

Image via Pinterest

 

So sorry for the radio silence, friends. I'm afraid it's going to be quiet for the next two weeks as well. Finals are here. Barely alive. Wish me luck to get me through these last few classes. I'm going to need it. And a whole lot of caffeine.

Until then,

j.