UFO’s

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Posted on October 9, 2011

I haven’t posted for a few days as I was determined to clear my sewing room of some of the unfinished projects. Some of them were physically started and not completed and others were just in my imagination and not even started.

Anyway, here are some of the finished items.

Shorts for Izz.

And a pair for Miss O.

This is another pair of shorts for Miss O using a different pattern.

This playsuit is one that I didn’t finish when Miss O was a baby (I did make 7 others) so it will be donated to charity. Perhaps they will be able to use it in Christmas gifts.

A tiny blouse for my niece for her birthday.

And a pinafore to go with the blouse. This is made from the leftovers of the pinafore I made for Miss O earlier in the year.

A summer blouse for myself. I have had the material for 2.5 years and started making it last summer. This is a tried and true pattern that I made from a purchased blouse. I have made several using the same pattern.

This is not strictly something that I made. I bought this dress for Miss O a few weeks ago at an op shop for $8. It is ‘Fred Bare’ brand and in excellent condition. There were a couple of small stains which were removed using Sard Wonder soap and a good wash. The hemline is scalloped at the sideseams and had a facing which was pulling away in places. I removed it a replaced it using plain fabric. I salvaged the facing fabric and used some of it to make this matching shoulder bag.

It is a great feeling to have a collection of finished items ready for use rather than half-finished projects and fabric taking up space.

I still have several things to do including a pair of summer pyjamas for Miss O, dress for Belle and 2 polo shirts for The Duke. I have drafted the pattern for the pyjamas from an old Enid Gilchrist pattern book and am about to start cutting them out.

What unfinished projects do you have?

Thrifted and Gifted

Ready, Set,Sew

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Posted on September 15, 2011

I have my next sewing project planned which is to make a dress for my niece who is almost 12 months. She won’t wear it for another 6 months or so as she lives in the Northern Hemisphere. Tonight I assembled the things I will use and I hope to do it on the weekend.

Here is the fabric and buttons I will use. The floral print fabric was given to me recently from my friend whose mother who no longer sews. The plain blue came from my mother-in-law’s stash of fabric. The buttons are ones that I found at the op shop. Priced at 5c each I buy buttons if I see ones that I think will be suitable for my sewing – particularly on children’s clothes.

The pattern I am going to use is from an Enid Gilchrist book that my mother gave me. The books are mostly over 50 years old. I have about 6 of her books and although some of the clothes are a little dated there are lots of good basic designs.

I have made dresses several times using this pattern. This first time was for my sister when I was only 10 years old. I have made dresses for my daughters and more recently, my granddaughters, from this pattern.

This is Belle, aged 12 months in a dress from the pattern.

Here is one I made for Miss O. She wore it on her first birthday.

Even a version for Christmas.

Head in the Clouds

Shopping For Something Special

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Posted on August 26, 2011

In my quest to live a greener, simpler life with less stuff I rarely go shopping except for basic foods. When I do shop it is for a specific purpose such as buying a gift or something I need for a sewing project.

I also buy from op shops where it is feasible and appropriate, as buying second-hand goods stops those things being sent to landfill and there is no additional carbon footprint from the production of new manufactured items.

Whether it is second-hand or new, I do not go browsing and shopping for the sake of it. I know of people who go op shopping to minimise the cost of their need for a “shopping fix”. This still tends to result in lots of extra “stuff” being bought. It can actually be worse in terms of acquiring stuff as op shop goods are generally cheaper, thus enabling more to be bought.

Today I went to an op shop in the city but it was almost like a boutique compared to the basic op shops in the suburbs and country towns. There are 2 op shops in Maleny so I went there is the hope of finding what I was looking for. The purpose of my expedition was to find some things I needed for my costume for the themed dinner at a work conference on Thursday evening. Our table is 1960’s and we have chosen Woodstock as our theme.

Here is what I bought.

A cheesecloth sundress which I am going to turn into a long skirt – $6.50

A single bed doona cover to make into a tablecloth for our table – $8.50

And finally, a top from the Nepalese shop in Maleny – patchwork,tie-dyed and hand-painted. It even has bell sleeves.

I need to make a shoulder bag and I may make a vest as well.

Now I am off to start re-fashioning. Next week I will post some photos of my outfit.

The Things We Do

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Posted on August 21, 2011

Today we have been at home doing the things that are part and parcel of our lives.

The Duke has spent the day sanding the piece of furniture he is restoring. Apart from a little more on the mirror frame it is now all ready to be finished with a clear lacquer. We have new handles for the drawers and also the mirror attachments.

I have been sewing. Here is the bag I have made for Miss O for part of her Christmas gift. It is the same style as this one that I have done for Izz.

I also made 2 more reusable sandwich wraps. I had made 2 for Miss O and Izz a while ago and recently Belle asked if I could make a couple more as they are a great success. She also wanted some smaller wraps for putting pikelets or small muffins in for their lunches at daycare.

These are the sandwich wraps.

This is a mini wrap. I will give it to Belle to try before I make any more.

This evening I used pumpkin, cabbage and broccoli from our garden in our meal. While the oven was on I made a batch of pear and passionfruit muffins for snacks. The pears were over-ripe and needed to be used and the passionfruit had been frozen from when they were cheap at the markets.

Despite the cold and the rain we have had an enjoyable and productive day.

The Value of Op-Shopping

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Posted on August 11, 2011

Sometimes you get more than you bargain for and you are on the winning side.

A couple of months ago I bought this hooded jacket at the local op shop for Miss O. It was $5.95. Like everything else, op shop prices have increased significantly in recent years but I still thought this was pretty good value as it did not appear to have any marks and was generally in very good condition.

Miss O loves the jacket and the story could end there but the unexpected bonus was that I was able to trace a pattern from the jacket and used it to make other garments.

There was a similar jacket. I used snap fasteners rather than a zip.

The same hood pattern was used on a dressing gown.

And now I am making a hooded jacket for Izz. Here is the hood so far. I will post some more photos when I finish it – hopefully on the weekend.

I did not have a pattern for a hooded jacket so I have probably saved myself about $15 compared to going and buying a pattern.

Patterns are expensive and I am always happy to find any way that I can create clothes from existing patterns or garments.

Although I cannot draft patterns from scratch I do make patterns from existing garments. I had a sleeveless shirt which was a perfect fit and when it wore out I disassembled it and made a pattern from which I have made at least 6 other shirts.

I currently have a dress which I love and although it is far from worn out I intend to try to make a pattern from it also. More on that another day.

SMS – Saving My Slippers

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Posted on August 3, 2011

I have a pair of slippers that I bought from the Australian Geographic shop about 12 years ago. They are polar fleece with ribbing around the ankle and a heavy-duty synthetic fabric sole. They are only really suitable for indoor wear.

I wash my slippers from time to time and when I was hanging them on the line yesterday I noticed that there was a split in the sole. The polar fleece lining was still intact but I decided that I would try to mend them to prolong the life of my slippers.

Here is the slipper showing split in the sole.

It took a bit of fiddling but I managed to use my sewing machine with a zigzag stitch to repair and reinforce the sole. I am hopeful that these will now last a few more years yet.

You can see the zigzag stitching below.

While I was turning the slipper inside-out I decided that perhaps I will be able to make something similar. Polar fleece fabric and ribbing are readily available. It will just be a matter of looking for something suitable to use for the soles.

And this shows the stitching from the inside.

I will add making slippers to my list of possible projects for ‘one day in the future’. Meanwhile, the existing slippers should be OK for another few years.

A One-Off Designer Original

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Posted on July 30, 2011

I did not post last night as I was having a blitz in the sewing room. I keep promising myself that I will sort everything out and store my very projects and stash appropriately.

I have achieved quite a bit in this room over a period of time but one of the things that always seems too hard is the dressmaking patterns. I bit the bullet yesterday and decided that the majority of the patterns would not be used again – outdated style, wrong size etc. I checked all of the pieces to make sure they were complete and then put them in a bag and they went to the op shop this morning. There are probably still a few that should not have made the cut but they can wait for another day.

With the room a bit clearer I decided to start on my latest project – bags for Miss O and Izz for Christmas. We have bought tickets for them to go to the Wiggles concert but as we all know, 2 and 4 year olds need something to open on Christmas morning.

This is the bag I made for Izz. It truly is a designer original. I think you will agree that you won’t find one like that in the shops. I made the entire bag from scraps. The main fabric is blockout curtain material that I used to make curtains for Miss O’s nursery. The redtrim and tab was a small piece in my stash, the handles are lined with calico and the tab has a velcro fastening.

Here are a couple more views of the bag.

I have started one for Miss O with different fabric so will show you that another day.

I have almost finished a summer blouse for myself from fabric I bought over 2 years ago and cut out last summer. I still have to do the binding on the armholes as well as the buttons and buttonholes. Since I do not have any suitable buttons I will go to Lincraft during the week and see what I can find.

Speaking of buttons I did find some in my op shop expedition yesterday. I found these in the jumble in a big basket.

They cost me the princely sum of $1.30 (5c each). Here they are all sorted out.

I finished the hand-sewing on the oven mitt and am pleased to report that I used it tonight and the old towel that I used as wadding was very effective in resisting the heat while removing a Pyrex dish from the oven. I have cut out all of the pieces to make 2 more mitts. The one thing worth remembering is that you need 100% cotton fabric when making the oven mitts.