What I did on my (non) summer vacation

I can't believe summer is gone already. Though I didn't get the warm weather I crave, I did get a huge boost of creative energy. I've always been a DIY girl (thanks mom and dad) and would rather paint/fix/figure it out myself than pay someone else.


Lately, I'm not alone in this camp. The deconstruct/reconstruct/hacking/crafting trend is no longer just for scrapbooking mom's and birdhouse-building retirees. Whether forced into finding more cost-effective alternatives to Barney's and Roche-Bobois, or just inspired by Project Runway and HGTV, everyone seems to have the inclination to be wildly creative. Some of my favorite evidence...
Ikea Hacker, The Pale Blue Door, Etsy (of course), Maker Faire... more to come.

Due to the lovely flexibility of working as a freelancer and the not-so-lovely unpredictability of regular income, combined with an oh-so-slight aversion to blatant consumerism, I've recently started to make my own clothes again. Heaven help the guy who accidentally leaves a dress shirt in my house, for soon it could just be, well, something that no longer looks like it came from the men's section of Thomas Pink. Truly, I've become obsessed. Here are my reconstructed deconstructed XLs... it was a productive summer.