Shirt dress

I have made this dress from a mans check shirt and some fabric I had in my stash. There was a lot of dithering around and I cut it a bit short, for me, I now wear shorts under it. I am trying out my new ipod and not used to how it works yet so the photos are un-edited.  I have teenage daughter on hand to sort out my technically moronic tendencies, but she can't be there all the time.

Anyway, I like my new dress, it has been good to make some stuff that has been waiting around in draws for some time to be re-invented.  I have not got the hang of selfies yet.   

stitching

My dearest beloved friend in Australia asked me to make an embroidery for her to put on the back of a coat.  I had done a t-shirt for her for her 40th birthday which she had put on the back of another jacket and she decided it was time for another one.  Given no design brief but for a photo of said jacket, I had a bit of trouble deciding where to go.  We have known each other for many years, and from age eleven and for a few years, we dressed similar like, but life dragged us in different directions, physically and style wise, so I had to just bite the bullet and go with whatever my brain came up with.  These things take on a life of their own after a while. Here are some pictures.

 This was designed around a paper-cut/ doily idea, some black fabric paint and stitching and some waves.  I like it but am undecided as to what she will think.

 It is a picture of my house and her house on different sides of the Tasman Sea.  She has recently started to learn to surf, so there is a picture of her with surf board amongst some waves, some clouds and some manuka flowers.

 My new addiction to pinterest was very helpful, although the inspiration search takes up more time than the actual doing.

I made a new blue dress

I made a dress out of some of my Spoonflower material.  A friend had craft night at her house which got me motivated to get a start, I took along my duct-tape dummie, an old sheet (for pattern making) pins a pen and some scissors.  I got a little carried away, having an audience, and was a little gung-ho with the pattern making and scissors and new fabric, but it all turned out ok in the end.  I made some covered buttons to go on the back of the dress which I liked and had a go at shirring, which I also liked and must do again some time.  Today my older child had the afternoon off school, so I badgered her and her friend into doing some styling and modelling for me.

There was great pouting and preening going on and fun was had by all.
I also had my photo taken for the style section of the local paper, whilst wearing this dress, which made me happy, especially as my husband had joked to me that this very thing would happen before I left the house.
They also did a styling of a nice suit I had bought at the op-shop, but that is another post.  

purple dress

My ten year old made a dress over the weekend, with a little technical knowledge thrown in from my side.  But the design and sewing were all hers.  She is great on the sewing machine, and when I did sew a bit up for her, she made me unpick it so that she could do it herself.  Ha ha that will teach me to interfere!

We had a photo session in the garden amid the drift-wood arbor (as I like to call it).  

She found a big fat red ribbon in my ribbons stash, and decided it was just the perfect thing to finish it off.

denim and lace bag

over the weekend, under great command and complete control (hers, not mine) I made a bag for my thirteen year old daughter.  She picked all the fabric and all the ribbons and bibbons and told me how many pockets were required and handed me a pile of old nonsense that she absolutely needed to put into it on a regular basis; ipod, cell-phone, pen knife (every teenage girl should have one), bag of crisps, DVD, three juggling balls etc...  She picks stuff I would never choose myself, and I eventually get my head around it and then quite like it.

 above, all the lace came from friends and the op-shop.  I love this little bit of circles.

 above, the perfect accessory was this little badge/button of vintage fabric that my friend made for her.  cute!

and the lining was this lovely silk (will probably shred in about a week) with little elephants on it and some pink spots for added strength.  here are essential items 1-3.

Her friend was impressed and said I could probably sell these for loads of money, when pressed farther on, how much this could mean, she thought maybe even as much as $20 nz. I have decided not to take it up as my new career, as it took me about two days to make.   

Zombies on photoshop

I have managed to make a small inroad into my previous photo-shop ignorance, and battled with seemingly un-logical technology to make-up a pattern for another Spoonflower fabric contest.  It isn't until October and I do not expect to win as my taste and technical know-how seems to vary wildly with the usual winners, but still I do it because I want to, and I like doing it.  So this is my latest offering.  Ahem!

zombie party girls is  a cut and sew pattern for stuffed zombies, with an extra bit of zombie inspired ( eyeballs, hearts, dripping blood etc) fabric on the side, for anything that takes your fancy.  I had fun designing their dresses, so I hope they look glam enough if not a little dishevelled.

I have just had to change the colours on my entry as informed by my 13 year old that the green was not so good.  I think she is right too, so now it is purple.  also the name is lame, apparently, but I will just have to leave it for now.  Note to self "consult 13 year old before doing anything first."  I already use my 9 year old as my stylist, when I get dressed to go out of an evening.

craft party results

Well the votes have been cast and I have not won the craft contest.  I have taken my 56th placing in very bad grace, and grumbled rather a bit to any-one who would listen, or not.  but I don't know what I expected.  I have had some sweet comments from other spoonflowerets about my design.  I did in fact vote for the winner myself, I like bird mobiles quite a bit.

Pot belly bears (above)

(above) are two others from the top ten

I liked this one and her tattoos.

 and Mr voodoo and Fido was cute, there are photos of this project made up at the link. 

I think maybe my complete non-technical approach makes my designs a bit amateur but I will not give up and carry on regardless.  One day I may make it, and if not I will have spent some time (not) doing it.

craft project

Spoonflower, (who I am rather obsessed with at the moment) have a weekly design competition and this week it is for a cut and sew project for a craft party.  so I have designed a cut and sew dollie.

 this is the version that I have entered, she has a skirt and top and a rather fetching body suit, and cat ears.  If anyone would like to vote in this competition then you can go to spoonflower and choose the ones you like best (mine please). ((edit, I think it should be up in a couple of days) got my timing a bit out and am impatient and over excited, it is the first contest I have entered on Spoonflower so far.)

 some initial design sketches

I have also put a black and white version ( above) in so the crafty people can colour in their own, if they so wish.

I cut out a paper photo-copy and put on her skirt to see how it would look.  Cute I thought.

what more cushions?

Yes more cushions, I think this it for the present moment in time.  

 above and below two sides of the same cushion, an old table cloth,, also used here on a different scale, and a gorgeous old curtain. I love this pattern with the great greens and the overlappering.  I think I have had this material for about ten years.

above  a Marimeko fabric, and an op-shop find, both been around for a while in the fabric pile.  It is nice to get them out in the open, and it brightens up the room no end.

a warm coat for the dog

My dog is a skinny little Mutt, and now that it is getting colder we thought she might need a nice warm coat.  I found an old anorak of the girls and with very little tweaking got it to fit her. 

 It is like a back to front halterneck with the zip on the top and the arms cut off.  and there is a cute little pocket to put her treats in.

She looked very sweet if not a bit embarrassed this morning on our walk to school, but at least she wasn't cold.

more cushions

Here are the rest of the cushions I made the other day. 3 IKEA and one from some fabric a friend gave to me (second from left) which I thought was rather groovey.

 below. This is a little picture I drew and then added a Dr Zeus quote.  I used a iron on transfer for the printer, it didn't come out too bad, but I think it will go in my daughters room.  My girls wondered if I could make them hoodies with rabbit ears, but I am not sure how I would keep the ears sticking up.

bright cushions

I finally got around to making some cushion covers for the sofa.  We had some but they were getting old and some of them were falling apart.  THe unfortunate thing about making cushion covers out of lovely old materiel is that it is quite often not long for this world and will disintegrate sometime sooner rather than later.  Just less than a year ago I went back to England to see my new baby nephew and his mother took me to Ikea where I bought some materiel.  For most people in the world this is not too exciting, but I live in NZ and we have no IKEA, not even one, so it was frightfully exciting, except of course that I can't take a flat-pack kitchen home with me in my suitcase.  I did however buy some materiel, not enough, again serious suitcase issues.

I bought this for my daughter, but I thought it looked a bit plain so I made a heart stencil and painted 3 big hearts onto it to brighten it up.

I am currently out of photo space on my google account, just waiting for the new storage to come through.  Will continue to post after this

little denim bag

 I made this bag for a 13 year old friends birthday out of some old fallen apart jeans.  To make the front of the bag I drew black outline, coloured it in on the computer, printed it onto transfer paper and ironed it onto some denim.  My daughter decided  it needed a butterfly to brighten it up.  The pattern for this one came from a japanese book from the library.  It is meant to be bigger and have a little drawstring purse in its body, which is really sweet, but it would have swamped this bag and its wings would have been too flopsy.

 I used some grey lace from my stash and coloured in some black stripes onto the side panels.  The strap is made out of a faded thick silk scarf. 

The lining of the bag has a little pocket to put an ipod or phone into.