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Finally, someone I know is having a baby so I have an excuse to make Bitty Booties.
It's just a standard felt/embroidery floss/satin ribbon affair, but the triangle at the base of the opening is reinforced with a soft little recycled scrap of my favorite material, Tyvek, rather than the recommended leather or suede.
Hey there! I've been so busy recently that i haven't managed to post on here. Here are a few things i've worked on recently.
Pattern: Azalea from Burda Style
Fabric: All recycled underskirt- tablecloth
overskirt- net curtain
yoke and belt- silk fabric
decoration- crocheted doilies
See more details here and my how-to here.
Pattern: Emily from Burda Style.
Fabric: Recycled men's shirts and scraps of floral fabric for the collar and cuffs
see more details here and my how-to here.
Toasty Toes!
Pattern: my own
Fabric: Recycled woolen blanket for the outer and recycld fleece for the inner. Amy Butler fabric for the binding found in my scrap box.
While we were out on NC's Outer Banks, my husband and I spent most our time playing with our cameras and trying to take fish portraits through aquarium glass.
We also went to a couple of antique stores but I had no luck finding any vintage patterns on this trip. Instead, I came away with a smart rattan handbag that only wants a fresh lining and a tablecloth that is simultaneously lovely/odd.
I'll try to get pics posted soon of the tablecloth but I do have a couple of pics of my current WIP:
I purchased this purse about ten years ago and had been planning on using the Egyptian motif tapestry fabric to make a different type of bag. Upon closer inspection, I found that the bag was in very good shape and that it was really only the cheesy plastic lining that needed replacing.
I've cut the old lining out to use as a pattern for a new one but I still need to choose the fabric and decide where to put the phone pocket.
Elizabeth emailed me with the following:
I thought you and all of the Refashionistas might be interested in a contest we're co-sponsoring. It's a new, Project Runway-like clothing design competition called Baby Lock Passion for Fashion! (http://www.americansewingexpo
.com/contests.asp).
This competition is brand new and will be held in conjunction with the American Sewing Expo on September 28-30. It's very similar to Project Runway, but all participants need to enter is $20 (jury fee), a completed entry form, and one fashion garment. Not only do participants get to try out their design skills, but the competition will be judged by Chloe Dao, the winner of Project Runway, Season 2. And the winner of the contest will win a trip to Fashion Week in NYC, as well as a Baby Lock Espire and a private meeting with the design staff of the Simplicity Sewing Company.
The contest is open to everyone, not just US residents.
The inside is yet another swath of those wonderful knockabout pants that have been remade into so many projects already.
The covers are padded with felt to make them a little stiffer. I guess normally one would use interfacing for this purpose, but since one of my crafting tenets has been "no new materials," I made do with what I had around the house. Worked out nicely, if I do say so myself.
Speaking of no new materials - I am very excited that almost immediately after joining Freecycle, I will be the proud receiver of some unused fabric that a nearby woman does not want. I have no idea what it looks like; her post just said that she had a variety of things. I'm really sort of unreasonably excited about it, I have to say - I mean, for all I know it's going to be hideous. But honestly, it's like a birthday present in the middle of year for some reason. I'm a silly person. Anyway, I'm picking it up tomorrow - I wonder what I will get!
Working too much (sigh). Have been doing a bit of mending & finishing: my old teddy now has two eyes, elastic fixed on kid's trousers, a couple of tutus finished for a friend's kids, a fleecy hat & poncho combo for 3 y.o. birthday girl, new sleeve ribbing on hanging-in-there hoody (bought in Vail 10 years ago when I was there for a wedding - old but comfy). And total purchases of new wardrobe items = ZERO, niente, zip, naught, none wotsoever. Actually that's if you don't count the bookshelf / storage solution bought from certain swedish maze place. In my defence, I did look at a few op shops but no joy, and things got desperate. And, I can't wait to be let loose in there now. Doesn't it look different?
I have recently been given bags of fantastic fabric leftovers and samples from my neighbors, friend's mums and MIL's and things were getting a little bit out of control. Just got to get my kid's third birthday out of the way then me and the janomes can spend lots of quality time together. Enjoy the weekend!!
Hello! I AM ELIZABETH. I am signed up for 4 months of this here challenge, beginning in June, and this is my first post. (I know, I am a lagger.)I made a dress for my friend to kick things off, and then got super busy, and ended up not making anything for myself yet. I will do more next month!
Here is the lovely t-shirt that my slender friend would have drowned in:
Thanks to some inspiration and instructions from Oh My Stars, I turned it into a halter dress. I modified the halter2 project a bit: making it a dress, adding darts, scooping the back lower, and attaching the straps diferently. I love all the ideas on that site, and how those ideas give me more ideas.
Only an afternoon job, and voila!:
If it doesn't take that long, why don't I have a bunch of cute dresses? Dang, I MUST rise to this challenge.
Here's a back view for ya. I split the straps in back and tied in glass beads:
I have also posted this project on my blog, The Crafts of Destiny. Come on over for a visit. I love having crafty blog-friends.
Uh oh its been a while since I've posted and I've been doing a lot more knitting than sewing as I had an ectopic pregnancy removed last week and can't really sit comfortably at my machine BUT I did hem some jeans yesterday if that counts! And I do have these lovely patterns which will be turned into a dress before we head to japan in a week.
I've also allowed myself some bargain fabric shopping and bought 3 metres of black broderie anglaise for a summer dress for $2 a metre and some pink stretchy lace for belly bands to hide my muffin top for $1.50 a metre.....and thats aussie dollars. Photos next week of my wardrobe for japan!
I wasn't planning on posting in here again until after I get back from vacation (leaving tomorrow) but I had some unexpected time to sew this week. So I present, a boring muslin dress!
This is actually just a partial mockup for a dress that I've been planning to make all summer, which was inspired by some gorgeous tie-dyed pleated chiffon I picked up at the Hancock going-out-of-buisness sale. This is for the underlayer, which is actually going to be brown, but since I can't get either fabric anymore I'm not taking any chances on the fit. It will definitely need some work before I can go to phase 2, which is going to be draping the sheer part on top of this-- sides need to be taken in (which should hopefully also help fix the gapping issues on the armholes and back) and I need to raise the neckline a bit. So not much to look at, but hopefully it'll be cool when it's done. If nothing else, it'll give me something to dive right into when I get home to take my mind off of job-hunting and the crazy temp job that's the week I get back. (If you want to see what it will hopefully look like when it's done, I have a sketch in my blog.
Also got to do some thrifting this past week-- all I got in the way of clothes was a royal blue cami to wear as a beach coverup (it goes perfectly with my thrifted-years-ago board shorts!) If I'd had more time, I would have stenciled something on it because it's very plain, but that can be a future quick project. (Picked up some cds too while I was there.)
So happy refashioning, and hopefully I'll be sewing up a storm in a few weeks and can have something more interesting for my next post. :)
I was out on a lab retreat in Emerald Isle, NC a few months ago, back when the air temperature was comfortable enough to not make someone want to dash themselves against the cold ocean waves.
I hung onto a few of the most interesting shells. Usually these would languish as "decoration" in a planter of succulents, but, having some leftover fine, coated copper wire from a failed ornithopter experiment, I made a pendant instead.
I finally got around to taking a picture of it when I was photographing some other pendants. I've strung it on a very long piece of yarn because I'm no expert and making chains or clasps. As a result I can just slip it over my head (it's hiked up in the picture!). Some people find the texture of the shell kind of freaky, but I love it.
