A groovy new dress baby!

The last week of the holidays saw the kids and I venture out in search of adventure and treasure. We found ourselves at an awesome local thrift store. The kids made a beeline for the toys and I found a whole corner dedicated to patterns and material. They must have known I was coming!

A fair bit of it was either too tiny or too awful or just didn't feel nice to touch. Then I stumbled across this beauty!

 

 

 

Such a great retro look, it reminds me of a 70's pattern you'd find on a cushion in a room full of shag carpet. Groovy baby! Even better, this was a decent amount of material. Enough for a dress and for the bargain price of $2!!

 

My material measured 56" by 32". I folded it right sides together matching up the short edges and straight stitched all the way down with a 1/4" seam.

 

Next I made a 1/2" casing along the top edge of the top, leaving a gap to feed my elastic through. I didn't measure the elastic, just wrapped it around where it would sit on me and snipped it off where it felt firm but not tight. My favourite way to thread elastic is to attach a safety pin at one end, pin the other end to my material so I don't accidentally pull it through, and then overlap the two ends, and zig zag across them. Once that is through, close the gap in the casing.

 

Now comes my favourite step. Shirring! For this you need elastic thread, which you can find in the elastic (not thread) section of Spotlight.  Wind this onto your bobbin and set your top thread to the longest straight stitch. I use the edge of my presser foot as a guide so my rows are all the same distance apart. Sew one row at a time. I like to backstitch at the beginning and end of each row and also tie the two ends of elastic together. Make sure as you sew subsequent rows that you're keeping your material smooth as any wrinkles will gather and stay tight, and you want this to stretch!

 

I have 19 rows of shirring on this dress. My inner self is screaming for an even 20 but it really isn't needed. I can't promise I won't sneak back to the machine though! Basically you just want enough rows of shirring to cover all the way down to underneath your boobs.

 

I didn't bother with hemming this one, being a lovely jersey knit it won't fray and my cut edge is nice and tidy.

 

And now the moment you've all been waiting for......

 

 

 

Funky and fabulous. Happy days!

 

 

 



Tutorial: Necktie Necklace

I've seen some really funky neckties turned into necklaces floating around lately so I had a go at making my own. The kids and I went hunting for the perfect tie, which we found at good old Vinnies for just 50c.

To make this necklace you'll need the tie, a tape measure, pins, and a needle and thread.

This tie was 58 inches long and after measuring around my neck I decided I wanted the finished necklace to be around 34 inches. I left 6 inches untouched at the wide end of the tie, however I do think that perhaps 4 would have looked more balanced now that I've stared at it for a while.

 



 

After pinning there, I originally placed pins every 2 inches for roughly 24 inches, then decided that was too close and removed half, leaving me with 4 inches between each pin.

 

I then folded my second pin over to the first and secured it with three small stitches which I then tied off.

 

 

 

 

 













 The next fold I brought the pin to line up with the back of the first fold. Pictures really do help my explanations!

 

 

 

When stitching this fold into place, make sure to catch the underneath of the previous fold otherwise you'll end up with lots of folds hanging loosely on the back side.

 

 

 

Continue to fold and stitch like this until you've reached the end of where you pinned. I used three or four small stitches and tied them off after each fold so as  not to have long floats of thread trailing along the back.

 

When you get to the last fold, turn your tie over and stitch down the back of that fold but make sure your needle only goes through the back layer of the tie, you don't want to see random poky stitches on the front.

 

 

 

Then drape your necklace on yourself and pin the ends when you have decided that you like the way it is hanging. I stitched around the point of the thin end, again just putting the stitches through the back layer of material to keep it neat and tidy.

 

 

 

And there you have your fabulous new necklace! I've decided to leave mine plain as I love the polka dots as they are, but I think a more solid tie would look fantastic with a vintage button or some pretty beads. It adds a great focal point on a plain top, and took less than half an hour to make.

 

Happy days!

 











 

Old jeans? Bag them up!

I was filling a bag of clothes I don't wear any more when I came across my old favourite jeans. I love donating to thrift stores but even more than that I love upcycling!

Enter the most fabulous FREE bag pattern recently released by Swoon Sewing Patterns for Pellon. The Laney Hobo Bag .

All of my favourite patterns come with really clear instructions and lots of photos to help along the way and this one doesn't disappoint.

As well as my old jeans, I cut up a pair of 3/4 cargo pants (instant pockets!) and less than 1/2 a yard of coordinating material. This pattern calls for interfacing which I already had, however from memory I paid around $8 at Spotlight and I didn't use all of it, and I didn't use it on the denim.

Forging ahead!

 

 

The side panels of the bag fit perfectly on the legs of the jeans, good thing I am not any shorter! After some rummaging through the fabric stash and some fussy cutting on the side of the cargo pants I had all my pieces ready to go.

 

 

Three hours later I was rocking my fantastic new bag. I had everything I needed on hand, however even if I had needed to purchase coordinating fabric and interfacing my bag would have been under the $15 mark and that's a bargain for something so cute AND practical!

 

 

Oh and wait for the best part...... did I mention the bag is reversible!

 

 

Yep! Two bags in one. I love how this turned out, and it is a great feeling giving new life to old clothes. Happy days!

The Izzy Top and my first ever blog!

Today's crafty adventure was an upcycle of a pillowcase thrifted for just one dollar! 

 

 

It came as a set of two so make sure you check back to see what becomes of the other.  For this upcycle I used a great FREE pattern from Climbing the Willow called The Izzy Top . It has a huge range of sizes from 18 months up to 12 years.

There wasn't quite enough material in the pillowcase to get an entire top, however I was lucky enough to dig up some navy and cream from my ever growing remnants pile to finish off the bodice.

The instructions that come with The Izzy Top are really thorough. Lots of pictures to walk you through step by step, super beginner friendly which is great for me!

I  made the size 3 today for my Pixie. She put it on as soon as it came off the machine and as you can see is a wee bit pleased with her new pretties.

 

 

Super cute and comes together really fast. Will definitely be making more of these!