Moses Lake craft blogger publishes first book

MOSES LAKE- Disney Powless' "real life" keeps her pretty busy.

The Moses Lake mom spends her days home-schooling her seven-year-old daughter Paige, taking care of her two foster babies, attending various church functions with her husband (Moses Lake Church of Christ pastor Micah Powless) and hanging out with friends.

And her online life is equally as demanding. Powless runs the craft blog Ruffles and Stuff, which to date has about 10,600 followers.

She also occasionally produces content for print craft magazines such as Fresh Style, Mollie Makes and Altered Couture, as well as contribute to other craft blogs and e-zines. Powless has also found time to create special projects for craft stores, including Craft Warehouse and Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Over the past year or so, she has also managed to fit in writing and publishing her first book.

"Little Fixes: 54 Clever Ways to Extend the Life of Kids' Clothes" was released earlier this month. The book is published through Stash Books, a unit of C&T Publishing.

Powless said "Little Fixes" is a giant step-by-step guide to refashioning children's clothing.

"It's all about transforming kids clothes when they've gotten too small, or they're in the wrong season or covered in stains," she said. "Most people would just say throw it away, but you don't have to."

Powless said she slowly got into refashioning clothes after her daughter was born and began to grow up and grow out of her outfits.

"She really went through clothes quickly, she was petite and things never seemed to fit correctly," she said. "It was frustrating and then one day I thought, 'I know how to sew so why don't I figure something out?'"

Powless eventually did figure it out, and posted some of her projects on her blog.

"People just loved it," she said. "That's when it clicked, because when I first started my blog I knew I wanted to write a book about something some day and I realized this could be it."

Powless got right to work. Her first task was to come up with more refashioning projects, especially ones for boys.

"That was half the challenge because at that time, we didn't have our boys so everything I had done was for our daughter," she said.

After getting all the projects together, Powless had to do them all. She also had to find models to wear the clothes and photograph them in the outfits for before and after shots.

Luckily, she was able to recruit her daughter's friends and other kids from their church, she said.

"It took about six months to do everything on my side, I did all the photography and editing and then it took them (Stash Books) about a year to get it all laid out and printed," said Powless. "So it took me a while, but it was a lot of fun and it got done."

She said she hopes parents get a lot out of "Little Fixes."

"The great thing is the projects in the book are all super easy projects - some don't even require sewing," said Powless. "I know that I wouldn't want to spend an entire day doing a project so I made sure they were all doable."

Some of the projects in the book are projects that Powless has done in real life countless times, like turning a dress into a skirt.

"Since my daughter is a smaller child, things would get too short before they got too tight," she said. "A lot of her dresses got too short but she didn't want to let them go, so I turned them into skirts."

Although she just published her first book, Powless said she is already thinking ahead to future books.

"I go through a lot of phases, it seemed I was really into sewing and clothing refashioning, but now I'm really into DIY party decor," she said. "I think I would want my next book to be about that and how to throw a party, with the emphasis on being creative and doing it on a lower budget."

Powless said she sees crafting as problem solving.

"Growing up, my mom taught me to look at things differently and problem solve, and to be crafty those things come together," she said. "A lot of people think they're not that creative and can't make anything but they really can."

Powless said that's the main reason she continues to blog - to inspire people to find different solutions to challenges like needing to get new clothes for their kids or needing to throw a party but not having the budget for it.

"I want to get people thinking about other things they can do and get them to realize they can be creative," she said.

Powless' book is available online through Amazon (a link to purchase the book is on her blog www.rufflesandstuff.com). "Little Fixes" will also be available at Hastings in Moses Lake.

Powless will hold a book signing there on October 4.