Girl's dress recon

We have some kind neighbours who often give children's clothes they no longer need (they have 3 girls so it works out well!) I loved the fabric and full skirt of this Pumpkin Patch dress but the halter neck was a little too lacking in modesty for my taste.

A pair of sharp scissors, a sewing machine and 30 minutes later... it's a skirt! I have had such precious little time to sew lately and this was such an easy alteration to make, it's even lined. The cost of the elastic and thread come to about $1, what a bargain :)

And most importantly, it passes the twirl factor!

Craft container revamp

I tried to paint this wooden container ages ago and never liked how it turned out. It's been holding my paint brushes and knitting needles. Not one to be fond of being reminded of crafty failures I thought I'd try something different. I gave it a couple of coats of Jo Sonja in white.....

Measured out a cute blue spotty fabric (that I've also had for ages), slapped on some Mod Podge, wrapped the fabric around, slapped on some more Mod Podge....

Added some Farbenmix ribbon that I've been harbouring for way too long, and glued on a little quirky sheep button. Now I don't mind seeing it on my shelf!

Mmmm, chocolate cake...

I've been enlisted as chief photographer and editor for my boy's latest Lego project. Sleepyhead needed a bed for this scene, so I made one out of polymer clay and a fabric scrap. The things we do for love.

Hope you're having a great week, God bless. 

Winds of change

This week I have done things differently - you may have noticed my absence here and it has been deliberate. Time away from blogging, facebook, twitter and all things online has allowed me some breathing space this week. Not only that - but I have committed myself to taking the children out every day while the weather is fine. What an improvement this has made! Yes, I'm totally exhausted but in a good way. Now to share some of our week with you:

Lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake, recipe here

I love how my 5 year old has such a strong mothering instinct, she attracts little ones wherever she goes.

I love how my children are growing and changing and feel so blessed to be a part of it.

Op shop finds + daytura flowers = happiness!

Enjoying local sights.

Jar makeovers with paper, mod podge, colour papers and ribbon.

I printed out an old picture I like, soaked in tea and dried. Then coloured lightly with watercolour pencil and sealed with mod podge. Attached and layered with mod podge also. Tied a velvet ribbon around and placed some dried poppy heads in. Easy!

I've re - committed to my desire to live fully on baked bread. I'm going pretty well with no bought bread for about 2 weeks. I bake it every second day.

Slow and steady wins the race. I hope I've finished stippling this quilt by M's 4th birthday next month!

Rock cakes are a constant favourite here. I'll try to post the recipe on my other blog sometime soon.

If I haven't visited your blog lately I do apologise - I don't want to become one of these bloggers who expect comments but don't give any. Perhaps you'll decide to remain silent today in protest!

Hope your week has been as productive as mine. God bless!

Turn a top into an apron...

I bought this top at an op shop for a few dollars. When I put it on at home it didn't suit me and looked very apron - like. Well, a girl can never have too many aprons! A pair of scissors and a sewing machine later..... Here's an overview of what I did:

I started by cutting straight up the middle of the back so that when laid out it looked like this.

Then I cut out the sleeves, just following the seam lines (cut out the seams too.) Because of the style of the yoke and neckline, mine now looked like this.

Next I folded it exactly in half and cut an "apron shape" - that is that sort of curved look where the sleeve was. You can either "wing it" or use an existing apron as a guide for the shape. I also cut a few inches of excess from the back edges for a good fit when wrapped around.

The next step is to overlock (serge) all raw edges, which in this case was right around the sides and the top ties of the apron. Using the tie that came with the top, I cut it in half before attaching it by the raw edges to the sides where I wanted the apron to wrap around and tie at the back. Once all the edges were tidy and finished I sewed the ties at the top together to form a loop to go over my head.

Don't you think it looks much better as an apron?!

Skirt recon

We were given this skirt, it was a size 10, a bit grotty and stained and, well, you can see, not in the best condition. However, "G" could see it's potential and "wanted it!"

First I cut out the dodgy old zip and seam and made an new, zipless side seam. I also cut off the original waistband and made a casing for elastic.

Next came the fun part - dyeing!

It was first dyed in a light turqoise colour and hung out to dry. Then I attempted graduation dyeing with a darker blue by dipping just the bottom hem for 10 minutes or so, wringing it out and wrapping in plastic overnight. Washed out again, hung out to dry and.......

Voila! A brand new skirt with a marvellous twirl factor!

                              
                                                      Guess who else wants one now?

From dress to shorts...

Another recycling project for me. This rather unattractive girl's denim dress into......

A nifty pair of girl's summer shorts. The pocket lining is also from a recycled girl's shirt. I'm loving this free fabric thing!

Free sewing

We tend to be a hand - me - down magnet as a family which is mostly a good thing, but involves sorting through bags of clothes we often don't want and that end up in the charity bin. Recently I saved a few items that were made with nice fabric but in a style I didn't like or were too big for my girls. Cut out the seams etc. and ta - da! Free fabric.
So here is the first installment, a top made from 2 other tops. The crocheted flower was a gift, so, apart from the thread and the sweat of my brow the top was completely free.