Monday, July 26, 2010

Ribbon Tee Refashion


Hi! I'm EmmyLou from Sewn and I'm excited to share some refashions on Thrifty Garden Robe! This is a plain shirt I've had sitting in my closet that I wanted to dress up. I decided to take some ribbon and make random rows of pleats going down the front.

I started in the center & stitched across the top of the ribbon barely above the seam on the shirt. Next I made a loop and stitched across the ribbon about an inch down. I kept doing this until I was where I wanted the row to end. Then I cut the ribbon folded it under and sewed that down. I kept doing a row on each side varying the length & I did more like 1&1/2-2 inches between loops. When I was done I had enough ribbon left to do a bow on one side. To cover up the top of the ribbons you fold the collar part down and stitch all the way around about 1/8" from the edge.

I also stitched up the center of each sleeve on a longer stitch length. At the top I didn't backstitch. Then I took the thread underneath and pulled to bring the top thread under. I pulled the top thread to gather the sleeve the knotted both threads together.

The only thing left is to press down the loops into pleats. I did this on a lower heat so I wouldn't melt the ribbon. If you want it more uniform you could measure out each pleat to be exactly the same distance apart, but I like the random look. Thanks & for more refashions for women & little girls check out my blog Sewn!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

That's a wrap



Thai wrap shorts! I adore Thai wrap trousers, I thin they are so very comfy and they are much easier to sew than fitted trousers. This short version has sat in the UFO pile for a year due to me making the crotch seam too short. But they are finished now and I am really pleased with them. They were made of new material I'm afraid but the ribbon I used for the ties was stash and the white cotton I used to add length at the waistband was also stash.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Strong as steel



I improved a cheap corset I bought a few years ago by removing the nasty plastic boning and replacing it with flat steel. All I had to do was un-pick the bottom binding, replace the boning and then stitch back up and re-bind. Easy. I now have a wearable corset.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Cheap t shirt fabric and I MEAN CHEAP !!!

Hi guys,

I've been very lucky and chanced on some great cheap t shirt fabric.   Its freezing cold here in Sydney at the moment, and I wanted to buy singlets for my girls.  They were $8 each in k mart.   I thought, $8 for a singlet for a child?!  No way.

So I found this great cheap clothing outlet which occasionally puts out its excess fabric cheaply and got these three pieces for one dollar each.







I made 2 x pairs of pj pants for 10 year old girls with the pink/blue.


I made a long sleeved t shirt for me from the black and white stripe.   Adjusted the pattern as it was too short, so I folded up a length and gave myself a nice warm band around the kidneys.  I think this is an 'at home' shirt or bed shirt maybe.  Its not the most flattering but I'm wearing it now and its warm warm warm.

And singlet for Miss 12 year old.




With superior twin needle skillz...
blogged here, although there's not much more to add.

lore
x

ps - edited to add a singlet from the white, with some purchased trim.   All up I cost this singlet out at $1 including 20c for the fabric (very conservative estimate), 40c for the wide trim and 40c for the narrow trim.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010












This is one of my first refashions from last year. Ange from "sew i thought" inspired me to see beauty in the not so beautiful.
Saw this jumper in an op shop for $5. It appealed to me because of the cute "aussie theme" and somehow reminded me of my childhood in New Zealand, altho a Kiwi not a Kangaroo, i could quite possibly have had such a creation in my wardrobe back in the 70's.

Standing there in the op shop i had already conjured up and had a visual image of what it was to become.

My beautiful friend Sally moved over to Canada last year and i decided it was to be a special reminder of home so i whipped it up and sent it over to her.

She sent me a photo of her doing cartwheels in the snow on their road trip thru America altho the photo is too small to post so i have my equally beautiful friend Kate modelling the creation.

Firstly the arms had to go, i thought i would be clever and try and felt it so in the washing machine it went and out it came...........to my horror!! there were all these holes in it!!!! Lesson one "you can not felt wool that has elastic running thru it!!"


Thankfully my creative genius was working that day and thanks to the universe, and all the stars being aligned, the southern cross consellation just happened to fit right over the holes!!!!! Blimey! what luck!!! I appliqued those little stars right over the holes and ....tah dah!!
I made a little sweat band out of the Australia on the sleeve too..just for giggles! xx







Hello my peeps! I've finally finished the skirt ive been working on for a friend. Its taken ages! Lots of interuptions from little people in my life. School holidays Yay!!

Anyway, this is my first custom order for a fluffnnonsense skirt so am quite chuffed. Lisa is into sailing so i thought id do a nautical theme for her. The only requirements were blue and green. what you think??

I will post a photo of my skirt that i have modelled this on. I think the next one ill do will be a tree and owl theme, i can picture it already..........browns,oranges and greens. xx

Please escuse the quality of photos. They are taken by my 9 year old son who was less than enthused about doing it.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Probably George


Now I know this isn't a wardrobe item but it does include some thrifting so I thought I would post it here. Plus I'm mighty proud of it :o)


This is a knitted zebra I made for my darling stepdaughters birthday. She requested green and purple but I had no purple wool in the right weight. So yellow it is. She likes yellow so this is ok. The yellow wool cam from my stash and is Cygnet 4 ply. The green was a charity shop find. I got a massive cone of the stuff for £5. I have so very much left!

To see the rest of George's photo shoot hop on over to my blog.