funky fashion show

This weekend in town we had Eco-fest and as part of the entertainment there was a funky fashion show. This was really for school age people but the nice lady Christine, from Labels,  said anyone could enter so I enlisted my 8 year old to model for me and we were on to it. 

 This was the start pile. Blanket, boys school trousers and an old blue sparkly frock I'd had in my stash for at least 3 years, 

This was my pattern which I made by putting an old sheet onto duct-tape dummy and drawing on the expected shape with felt-tip pen.  (The duct-tape dummies have been a revelation in the dress making department, they make pattern making so much easier, you can pin material onto them and they stay still for-ever and don't make a fuss.)

The design idea for the coat was taken from this one above from Goldie London.  Isn't it beautiful?

I didn't quite have time to put on buttons, the trousers were held up with safety-pins, the sparkly top was unfinished at the sleeves and the hem, but my daughter actually loved the blue top and said she may wear the coat and trousers.  Result!

 and sloping around on stage in a really blurry photo. 

 My other beautiful and older child, made a brilliant paper version of her school uniform out of used printer paper and brown paper painted with the many test-pots and old paint pots we have in the garage.  Again the photos are not good, but it looked so realistic.  

 Paper clothes are not v practical though, any movement out of range was met with a ripping sound and required a paper patch to be glued on.  There were loads of brilliant outfits but I didn't ask anyone for permission to publish their photos on here so I thought it better not to.  

And last night me and husband went to a fancy dress party.  The theme was "heroes and villains".  I decided to go as Vivien Westwood and set off to the op-shop with this in mind. About 3 hours before the party I got a chance to make my outfit and this is how it turned out.  Dress made from extra-large mans check-shirt, chopped up, pleated, shorter-sleeved and pink slipped.  I'm not sure what Viv would think of it but my pre-teen thought it was fab (not her word) except for the pink slip bit.  I wore her cool red converse and  long stripey socks, I don't know what the babysitter thought!  And a grey wig, yes I know! but the orange wig at the $2 shop wasn't pretty and I am a vain girl.

Husband went as DentArthurDent from Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy, in a rather nice wool dressing gown from the op-shop and some very fetching pyjamas.  He didn't have the right foot wear and he forgot his tea-cup, but he was well prepared for most other eventualities with a towel.

And it was a lovely party, good crowd, great costumes, yummy food.  

heart-shaped biscuits and eco outfit

I made some biscuits today as my poor children have had none in their lunch boxes yet this week.  My oldest child has to hide biscuits  from me  and my husband as we have no self-control and  tend to eat them all very quickly.  I made pretty heart-shaped ones half chocolate, half plain with a little icing sugar heart in the middle.  It all got less tidy when I had to squish up the left-over pieces to cut out again, they are more marble effect.  The table-cloth is my daughters from a Sunday market jaunt a couple of years ago.  I need to buy it off her to make cushion covers as it is so pretty, it has roses, big pink and big blue spots and little black spots!  

the motley selection of items you see before you is my raw materiels for a little outfit I want to make for a fashion show at our local eco-fest.  I am meant to have something to show the lady organiser tomorow, so I better get cracking.  I am making it for my little girl to wear hence her duct-tape dummy (see below from previous post) in the picture.

the idea is that you put on old well fitting clothes,

cover them in duct tape,

cut yourself out down the back,

stick up the cuts and then stuff your little body double with something. We used newspaper, but old clothes or proper stuffing could be used. I'm sure with a bit of practice they could look quite smart.

I have found mine very useful already, taking in some jeans that were always too loose around the waist at the back and starting on a skirt made from an old top. so much easier pinning things neatly on a dummie shaped like me. 

A junk to funk fashion show, I think this is made from chopped up Vogue magazines

,

And all these other amazing designs were created by  Polish fashion students.  Pretty clever stuff.  My design will not be as clever as this, but I will try my best and show the results when I have finished.

Sunday Market bargains

Me and the girls and one of their friends went to the Sunday Market yesterday,  we haven't been for a while and I forget how marvellous it is.  It's like an English car boot/flea market cross and we always come away with something, for not very much which at the moment is a good thing.  So this is what I got.

 I thought this t-shirt would make a nice colourful cushion cover, I like these old fashion style tattoo designs, I don't think I would wear the T-shirt though.  The lady was selling so many hippy clothes that I would have worn in the late 80's early 90's it made me feel a little nostalgic, but also a little queasy.  Especially the purple tassle top.  We live and learn (sometimes) (hopefully).

 This is a childs top and the perfect size for my little girl.  I had to bribe her to try it on for me with the offer of chocolate cake, she looked adorable and tres cool in it, but I fear she will never wear it,  but it was only $1nz so it was worth the risk.

 A little strappy black top with nice embroidery was bought to make dolls dresses or maybe something else.  It made a very cool little dress with very little effort as I used the strap already in place and just had to sew a back seam  attach other end of the strap at the back, and some poppers.  Voila!

It has nice colours and I am hoping that I can do something with it to make it more wearable. its quite short already so may have to add some other materiels I obviously thought I was thinner than I am.  Or the dress was bigger.

So there we go, I probably spent $6nz in all so not bad, but I did resist the fresh donuts and hot chips. Don't anyone tell my husband there is a fresh donut stall at the Sunday Market please.

suzanne huskey

click this link to see more of suzanne huskeys wonderful fabric trees.  She has so many other  

projects all ecologically minded.  I love the story about the choir in the forest and also love the dressed up house, a very clever girl with good attitude.

I am making two dollies at the moment, one for a school auction and one for a little girls birthday present.  I will post on them soon, am really enjoying the process, but today I had to weed the garden as we have a builders skip in the drive that needs filling and plenty of weeds.  Managed to get rid of some tree trunks that have been lurking under the deck for about four years, and some lovely contorted willow branches that I had been saving, but had got grown over with weeds and muddy slime.  I had fun jumping on the top of the skip to make more room, but the worst is done and the skip is full and I can now do dolly stuff tomorow  (once I have been to the gym).

The Dolls Pyjamas , dolls I have made( some of them).

My Sister’s Dolls

My sister thinks her dolls look best
when dressed in pinks and reds.
I think my sister’s dolls look best
when they have no heads.
Robert Pottle

I thought it was time for a dolly post.  I have been making these for about 4 years now for my daughters and their friends and other special people.  It takes me a long time to make them, they are all different and all come with a selection of outfits and a little bag to put their outfits in. 99.9%recycled ( sometimes I can't find the right colour wool at the op-shop for their hair or embroidery threads for their faces) Their faces are embroidered, they usually have some old embroidered bits on their bodies and old lace for their knickers and the clothes are all made from old treasures.   I have just finished another one but couldn't put her on here as she is a present for someone and they haven't had their birthday just yet.  In a few days.  I have also embroidered a face for a boy doll for my youngest. This was hard, boy faces don't come naturally to me

My dolly sits at the top of this blog, she has a partly green face and green flowery tattoos.  Due to her colouring she is difficult to dress, and so generally is naked.

This dolly has a golden evening dress and a pink party dress and also a t-shirt, little denim skirt and a rather nice bag to store all her clothes in. 

This one has a beautiful dusky pink evening frock and hair flower and a rather good pair of fangs

This one has already been showing off her red riding cape in a previous post but she is a dolly of many parts and also has flowery tattoos and a turquoise off the shoulder top.

White lacy top and green velvet skirt. 

I made this for my best friends 40th.  This is her day frock but she does have a blue sparkly disco top and pink skirt too.  The bag is made from kimono fabric and lined with a felted pink jumper material.

This little dolly was named Margarita by her owner, she has a red flamenco dress and I designed her a butterfly tattoo.  inspiration comes from many directions and certain people 

 

A little bunch of them got together to catch up and have an outfit swap/share.  There is a wedding dress and a pink flamingo swimming costume in there.  They had swimming goggle key rings at the swimming pool which fitted just right,  how cool is that?