Wardrobe Refashion

It's been a bit quiet on the blog lately, but I promise I have been busy sewing!

When we got back from overseas, I found myself sorting through some of my clothes that I haven't worn for a little while. I came across a few items that I decided to re-fashion rather than pass along to a secondhand shop.

My favourite so far is this one:

I bought this dress while on holidays a couple of years ago on the Central Coast of NSW, and loved it. I'd planned on teaming it with a pair of jeans (too short for my liking to wear as a dress), but it just didn't work. I could never bring myself to part with it, but didn't know what to do with it. So ...

I turned it into a skirt! All I did was to chop the top part (bust and above) off and add a waist band made out of stretch jersey fabric. I didn't even have to hem it, as I didn't even touch the bottom of the dress!

Easy, and cheap!

Spot of Colour Labels + My Hooded Tunic Top Design

Can you tell it's been busy in our house lately? I can't believe I actually finished all of my sewing projects before we head overseas tomorrow!

The first thing I am really excited about is that, a few weeks ago, Ash designed some clothing labels for me so that I can get cracking on making things and selling them on Etsy. I'd heard really good things about World Sale Label on Etsy, so I decided to order some labels through them. I bought the standard type (see the pic below) and also some folded over labels that can be sewn into a side seam. They arrived in the mail last Friday, just as I was finishing off some items for a friend of mine, so I just had to sew in a label. And I can't believe how great it looks, it really finishes it all off I reckon.

The second thing I'm a bit excited about - proud even - is the hooded tunic top that I've made. A few weeks ago, I made the rash decision that I would design and make a top for myself - probably not the smartest idea, when I had a list of projects to finish and an overseas trip just weeks away.

So I sketched out what I would like in a top, found a tank top in my wardrobe that fitted me well, and started drawing a design out on tracing paper from that. I'm not sure what my Mother in Law thought when I turned up that night to sewing class with my design and a couple of pictures off the internet as inspiration, but she helped me along those few weeks and now I have an awesome top to take overseas with me!

Here it is:

I actually didn't have quite enough black fabric for the hood, so I used some leftover red and used that for the tie as well. I'm so glad I did, I think it really makes it.

(P.S. Sorry about the pasty white skin - I'll try and remedy that in the next 6 weeks! Also, don't look at the messy bookshelf - I've run out of room!)

See you in a couple of months everyone :)

Another one for the guys ...

It was a great day for my husband when I discovered that our local Spotlight store had acquired good quality camouflage material. I bought a couple of metres for him, and I'm sure he's been waiting for his opportunity to get something made out of it.

That day came on Saturday. We were preparing for our overseas trip and I expressed my concern about Ash having to put his expensive tripod through with all of the other checked luggage, in case someone pinched it off the conveyor belt. So, Ash had the idea of making a bag for it - he still had webbing from his Backpack Cover that he made last year - and I agreed to make it for him.

I think he must have been to eager to wait for me to start making it, so the next thing I know he's cut out the material and he's all keen to sew it up, which he did! And he did a great job too! We'll have to see if it stands the test of time - and travel.

Girl Skirts

I've been wanting to try out these cute skirts for a little while, I've seen them on quite a few blogs lately professing them to be the easiest skirt to make. So I was happy when I got a chance to make these for some friends.

The blog tutorial I ended up following was this one: Simple Skirt Tutorial by Dana Made It. As you can see, there's not much to it - plus the pattern is just one big rectangle! I decided to line both of the ones I made, which meant I could also hide most of the seams. If I get to make some more, I'd like to play around with doing a two-tiered one, and also using bias tape. There's just so many options with a skirt like this!

So, here's the two that I whipped up:

The purple one is actually made from leftover fabric from another skirt I made for my Mum's birthday last year (Simple Skirts) that I ordered from www.fabric.com, and the green one was part of the "All Star" Riley Blake half yard set that I ordered a couple of months ago.

Travel Wallet

As the countdown to our holiday continues, I've been busy sewing and trying to finish off projects before we leave.

This week, I made us a personalised travel wallet which I drew up a design for. I was going to buy one - there's so many cute ones on Etsy - but, as a result of having dual citizenship, I have two passports, so I wanted to have space to store all three (Ash's as well) and have them easily accessible.

As well as the passport pockets, I included a side pocket for tickets/e-tickets etc, a couple of velcro fastening pockets (yes, I went with the easier - and cheaper - velcro option as opposed to my original zip plan) for foreign currency. We're visiting 4 seperate countries so I'm expecting we'll accumulate some leftover change along the way. And, two pen slots - the most annoying thing I find on a plane is filling out the customs form, only to realise you don't have a pen in your backpack and trying to borrow one off someone else on the plane.

So here it is:

By the way, the fabric I used was "All Star" by Riley Blake. I got 6 half-yard lots of the different styles in this collection, and they are all super cute. Made it hard picking which ones to use!

Travel Accessories

My husband and I are going overseas in 5 weeks and 6 days (not that I'm counting!), so I thought some personalised travel accessories might be in order.

I made a laundry bag for us each. As always, Ash requested camo material (our local Spotlight now stocks the proper stuff, so he's pretty excited about that).

And toothpaste and toothbrush holders as well. Check out the cool fabric I got from Spotlight. Very fitting for travelling huh!

Lots more projects on the way, stay posted :)

Little Girl Dress

A little while ago, I had a good friend visit and I showed off some of my sewing projects that I was in the middle of to her. One of my projects is to make some of these gorgeous dresses, among other things, to sell on Etsy in a few months' time. Well, I hadn't even starting sewing yet - I'd cut out the fabric only - and I'd made my first sale. Hooray! It was a great boost to my confidence, because I wasn't sure if I was being too optimistic.

Here it is.

It's made of corduroy, and the facings and pocket of cotton (Riley Blake's Rainy Days and Mondays line). Perfect for winter!