Thanks

Thanks to all my models for modeling my upcycle outfits for the op shop to cat walk,  so proud of you all, about 6 weeks when into my collection ,  but i loved every min of it,  thanks to my husband for cooking my dinners and bring me wine while i sewed,,,, 

All the work i did on my course this year paid off, and i got  "Highest academic achievement"  2012 

looking forward to a rest, closed the door on my sewing room, while i work on getting my two art papers finished,,  now there is art stuffed all over my dinning room  and lounge lol

Zip outfit

  Zipped

This started with a few zips from the Hospice shop, First off to make a bodice,, then the project got bigger and I had to go back to hospice shop and by every zip they had, so I had enough to make the bodice and matching shorts. About 150 zips, on my first attempt, I matched up the threads, took me hours to just do the front of the bodice, remade it using nylon thread instead, much easier , once bodice was done, and cut into shape, it was on to shorts, took a bit of thinking on how I was going to do this. Took a couple of tries, to get it right.

pants suit from skirt

Summers coming

This skirt and knit tee shirt was another gem from the hospice shop.  It is so colourful, made of cotton, and it required no ironing. 

Reminds me summer is on the way, maybe a trip to Fiji, just roll it up and throw it in a suitcase.  It’s cool to wear.

There was so much fabric, it was great to work with, I cut the skirt in half and made a new skirt, added a knit band, then draped fabric to get the top how I wanted it, with a sexy back. Then I sewed up inside leg to 

 make it into shorts, putting a band on the bottom.

 

Adding the final touch with a scarf, which suits the model beautifully?

Fun, cool, colourful, outfit.

leather dress

From not so hot to hot hot hot

Wow it pays to live at the hospice shop, this leather jacket had undone at side seams, but that was ok.

I took out the lining, cut the sleeves off, undid the side seams and shoulder seam, cut off button holes and buttons, sewed up pockets, but left them there as a feature. The long opening zip from a black shirt was added to the front.

To give the dress some length, I added the bottom of the sleeve to the shoulders, leaving the buttons to add interest, then bound the edges, and glued the hem.

Out of the sleeve jacket I made a hat. Using a button off the jacket front for top.

One….. sexy black leather dress. For $2 plus thread and needles

Leather dresses are very much in for the 2012/2013 season. Leather is becoming softer and softer and in many colours.

off to lunch outfit

Out to lunch we go

This is a knit I just fell in love with when I saw it at the hospice shop.  The inside of the fabric looked great, lots of colour and just a bit different. It started life as a long straight skirt and shirt.

I undid the skirts waist band, to give more length, and made it into a fitted dress, using left over bits for the flowers.

With the top, I liked the structure, so I looked at different ways of wearing it.   I took the sleeves out, buttons off, hand sewed up the button holes, took it in, and turned it upside down as a wrap around top, with a lovely soft draped neckline.

This dress and top is easy to wear, up to date, and the top can be worn a few different ways, makes for a nice top with jeans, or black fitted dress.

I used just about every bit of fabric, using one of the sleeves as an outfit for my tiny dogs “ Johnboy”.

 

Skirt and shirt with a difference

Black and white

I started with a very outdated knit wool skirt I found at hospice shop, and I felt it could be made into a more up market piece, that would be fun to wear.  I turned it upside down and cut eight strips down to half way, ironed on fusing, and placed wire under fusing,

I also added elastic to the waist.  By sewing the strips along the bottom, painting liquid stiffener to help keep its shape, and bending the wire gave it a funky look.  The strips now stand out from the body permanently.

The shaping of the shirts took a lot of thinking about, one problem was the shape across the shoulders of each shirt, I threw out idea of adding a zip to front and instead joined them with a slight gather and shape across top. I then used adding the sleeves as ties.

Shirt dress

 Shirt dress  made from mens shirts

This dress was inspired by my love for cotton dresses, sadly I cut up a lovely mans shirt as I loved the strips, to get this outfit.

The skirt used just about every little piece of fabric. I started by undoing the shirt and then joined all the pieces together to make a long strip, made a circle that went around me,, then made the top part out of a women’s short sleeve shirt, (the long opening zip was removed and used in a leather dress)

The darts were taken out, and I cut out the top using a pattern made, an invisible zip was put in down the back.  The collar of the shirt was joined to neck edge, and the sleeves made into a belt, then the black shirt cuffs were made into loose cuffs.  

I am back

Hi everyone, sorry not been in here for a while, been so busy with my fashion course,  i dropped out of 2D design,  it was to much stress, but still have patten making, have wonderful tudor for that, and she also takes History of fashion, which i love,  think the construction tudor has killed my love to sew, but hopefully after the course it will come back,  here is what i have done so far, there is strick rules on what we can do for the first year, because most have never sewn before,,   so just cause i have made these clothes, doesnt mean i will ever wear them, cause me not like

This was my first assignment in class, its a skirt that goes up under the bust. with pin-stitching panels on each side,  two threads was run thru the needle,  kick pleat at back , little cut out V at front top.. i got 89% for this skirt , cause i put the kick pleat the wrong way and cause , if i top stitch i will put the colour on to bobbin, and i got marks off for saying i used one thread , not two,  but hey i was learning,, learning to ask every step of the way,  not that i was given all the info

next was trousers,  fly front, jean pockets, and i just did one patch pocket at back, didnt want to lose marks if they were a mm out, lol   93% lost marks for my back belt loop being 3 mm out,,   but thats ok,  going to be great summer pants, , had to make a second pattern as i put on weight before sewing them lol

The well it was a bodice, this fabric look great made up as shorts, but a bodice , what was i thinking,  still zip up the front, v neck, and peplum,,  i even put my own was labels in,  98% for this one, getting better,  have no idea where i lost a mark, could be i open the seam on the princess line and not have it flat, that's what i am thinking,

then it gets worse,,  this was not the pattern i had designed, but it was changed to what the tudor thought would look better, its horrible, who would wear it, not me, once it comes back from marking, the pleats will be removed,  and peplem added, or maybe it will be added to the rubbish bin, but while she is marking my work and i want good marks, have to do what she says,

Shirt is next, but i have already did a re run on my dress,   watch this space

Hi there, back again,, been busy with doing my sewing and patterns for my fashion tech course, i am on top of things so thought i have a day sewing for me,,  repairing clothes, trying to make pants bigger,  lol and made this dress into a skirt, love lace,, and didn't have a black lace skirt that i could wear to tech or dancing,


Here is the dress, i cut if off just under the bust, took off the bit of lace,, lucky the lace from the skirt when right up,  i undid the lining from the skirt, it was attached about 8 cm down side seam.

lifted the lining up passed top of lace and cut it off shorter,  over locked the two together, lace and lining, then attached a wide piece of black lace,   wow new skirt , i will get a lot of wear out of, will look great with big jumper and boots,

not sure why its sideways, cause in my pictures its not.

NURSING CHAIR

Look what you can do with a couple metres of fabric, it was a chair given to me, (thanks Liz) $20 of fabric, it now has pride of place in one of my bedrooms, think its a nursing chair.   

I did gathers around the base, as i felt that was easier then getting the pleats right.

 in the back ground of this pic you can see a captains chair i did up, found that in a garage sale, for $15, its oak, it was painted pink on the top and white legs, the cane bottom had been replaced with wood, which i covered,, love this chair,  oh it does have one old leg, but i am ok with that,

Wall decoration

What to do with a bare wall and no money to decoration it with something,

here i have stenciled large words all across the wall, didnt take long , but looks better than a bare wall,

Crystal window decoration 

What to do with that old broken crystal chandelier, use what crystal beads and drops are left, thread them , put little hooks evenly along window frame and hang the crystal and enjoy, mine is hanging in the toilet window, 

TOP INTO CUSHION

Hi there, one short post today, as i have lots of home work from mt fashion tech course ,,,  plus i am feeling in the need for a nana nap later.. lol  no i not a nana,


This cushion i have posted a pic of -  was a top, it was a knit top, plain back, beaded front, round neck, no sleeves,

Which i kept hoping it would grow bigger, as i grew out of it, ..  it wasn't wide enough once cut so i added a satin fabric on each side and a plain back,,  now i can enjoy my top/cushion every day. the other choice was to cut all the beads off and keep them with all the others i collect.

Welcome to my home............................................

Well I have had a good day, getting heaps of little jobs done, even had time to stand under the feijoe tree , eating the fruit straight off the ground, ,  yummy,,

 

This posting is about my collections,,  how I have to have everything that I can find with the Paris, Eiffel tower / busts, shoes and fashion,,,,   these are a few that are around my home.

 

Yes this treadle sewing machine still has the sewing machine in it, and it still goes,, took me about twenty years of wanting and wishing for one, then i found this one is perfect condition . weighs a ton.

OMgoodness, pics wouldn't go where i wanted them to, these are some,  coffee time