Tag Archives: alterations

Bargain Buy & Brains Trust

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On Tuesday I went to the dentist which is adjacent to my latest favourite op shop. I popped in and found a pair of fitted white stretch pull-on trousers for the princely sum of $4.

Of course, they were too long and needed taking up. The next question was what is the correct or most flattering length.

I was unsure and turned to the collective brains trust of some of my online fashionista friends. After a couple of attempts I settled on this length.

Here are the trousers hemmed, pressed and ready to wear.

Upcycled Dress

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Last week my younger granddaughter was wearing a dress that was just about too short for her so I offered to alter it by adding a frill to the bottom of the dress.

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I foolishly thought that it would a relatively simple matter to buy a small piece of plain green poly cotton fabric to match.  I went to Spotlight and none of the dozens of plain green fabrics were even close to the colour I needed.  So, I ended up choosing a piece of Christmas fabric to do something a bit different.

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I set to work with this piece which cost me $5.  I added a deep contrasting frill and then used the remainder to make some bias binding to trim the existing frill at the top.  I also changed the shoulder straps.

Here is the result.

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The Christmas fabric means that the dress will have limited opportunities to be worn, however, it is still better than the original which really too short.

Izzy is excited at the prospect of a ‘new’ dress to wear for her Christmas concert on Friday.  It will probably also be worn a few more times in the next couple of weeks.

No Visible Change

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I have finally made it to my sewing room and done a small project.

This is one of 4 dresses that I own which are all the same style.

They are perfect in every way – except one.  The do not have any pockets.

001I have another dress that I bought recently and to my delight it has 2 large set-in pockets which are really handy but totally invisible.  This made me realise that it would be a simple project to add pockets to the existing dresses.

The first pocket is done and I am very happy with the result.

002Here is a view looking into the pocket.

003Finally, this is the inside of the dress.

004While this may not be feasible in a tight, fitted dress it is certainly easy in a dress with some fullness below the waistline.

I wear these dresses to work and as I am in an open office I tend to listen to music with earphones on my iPod.  I can leave the iPod on the desk but it is much easier to have it in my pocket so that it comes with me whenever I jump up from the desk to go to the printer/photocopier etc.  Handy to pop a handkerchief in, too.

Do you look for pockets in garments?

Super Sunday

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Whatever I write tonight will not do justice to all that we have done today.  Miss O and Izz did not wake until almost 8am but it was non-stop until they went to bed at 8pm.  Who knew that 12 hours could be so exhausting?

We started the day with pancakes for breakfast then I did a couple of loads of washing and some sewing alterations.  First up I re-did the elastic in both pairs of pyjama bottoms.  Next was letting down the hem on Miss O’s dressing gown.

2012-07-08 01I also added ribbed cuffs and neckband to Izz’s pyjama top.

2012-07-08 02We left home at about 11.30 and went to a strawberry farm at Beerwah were you can pick your own fruit.  2 buckets and we were underway.

2012-07-08 03The girls very quickly figured out that the best ones were red right up to the top of the fruit.  Izz still needed reminding that it is best to pluck the fruit rather than clutching them in your hand!

I had packed a picnic lunch so the next stop was Glasshouse Mountains township and the park.  We had ham and avocado sandwiches, home-made sausage rolls with our own tomato sauce, home-grown mandarins and freshly picked strawberries.  The playground, complete with flying fox provided heaps of fun and games.

2012-07-08 04Then it was next door to the visitor information centre where the girls discovered a wall puzzle of different dinosaurs as well as an interactive history of the mountains on a touchscreen.  This centre is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Finally, we headed home via a local fruit stall and chose a few things including a pineapple to use on our pizzas for dinner.

Later this afternoon, I made 3 batches of muffins and of course had lots of help.  2 batches were made with added berry yoghurt and coconut which I cooked in small patty papers and they will be frozen and used for snacks for daycare.

Dinner was pizza followed by strawberries, ice-cream and a pancake then it was showers and bed for 2 little people.  After a very busy day we had absolutely no arguments about bed and sleep.

They are not the only ones who will sleep well tonight.

I hope you have had a great Sunday, too.