Take one thrifted tablecloth, Part 2

The good thing about buying manchester instead of fabric off the bolt, is that it goes such a long way ... definitely value for your buck (especially when it's thrifted!) :)

After making my dress out of the tablecloth I bought from Savers, I still had heaps left to make some much needed aprons. I couldn't decide on waist or full length, so of course, ended up doing both :D

The pattern for the waist length one came from Cath Kidston's Sew! book, the only change I made to the pattern was not binding the pocket top ... the tablecloth had a neatened edge, so I saved myself a step by utilising that instead.

I did the same thing on the hem of the full length pinny ... I love this pattern, especially the way that the curved side edges wrap around the back giving maximum coverage :) The pattern is called the Patternless Kitschy Apron by Jordana Paige and its a freebie from here

...ok, guess I'm off to do some cooking now then :D

Take one thrifted tablecloth

I bought a beautiful quality tablecloth from Savers measuring 175cm square, so of course, my first instinct was to cut it up and make something out of it that I would actually use :D

TaDa! ... a cool summer dress from a vintage sewing pattern (also bought from Savers).

The pattern is Style 4589, dated 1974 and described as "misses' dress or tennis dress and panties". Don't think I'll be needing the tennis dress and undies anytime soon, but I'm sure that I'll be making the dress again (view 1, the blue dress on the right).

Somehow I always seem to make my summer things in the middle of winter, and have to find warmer accessories so that I can wear them straight away ...

thought that it worked pretty good with the shrug that I made here

... and there is still a lot of tablecloth left :D ...

a joint input skirt

This skirt has to be the easiest skirt ever :) I used a pattern to make it, but next time I think that I'll just wing it ... it's a circular skirt with shop bought ribbing for the waist.

My sister

went on an op shopping trip, and bought me back this awesome new Hobbylock overlocker (thanks sis!). Being as it was pre threaded with black cotton, I searched around for something to try it out on ... I found the white and black fabric that my daughter no longer wanted, along with her circular skirt pattern.

An instant, joint input project, that resulted in a really cool, easiest ever skirt :)

Girly things

.... so here is the reason that I've been a slack blogger of late ... a brand new grandbaby :) ... pretty good reason don't you think ;D

It's been good to make some girly things, there are so many awesome things to make (notice her cool 'itty bitty baby dress' from this post) ... I love it!

I would have liked to be making tiny knitted cardies and hats, but unfortunately, long sleeved woolens are not of much use for an aussie summer baby, but I did love this Confection Shrug pattern. It's a bit big, but totally cute (and practical :))

And thanks to Kate Atherley for this super-easy training sock pattern. The socks were my first venture into cuff-down, heel-flapped socks. It was so easy to follow, and came out so good, that I'm looking forward to making some adult sized ones ... thanks Kate :)

... and then some sewing :) .... on an op shopping trip a while back I bought some upholstery fabric samples for $5 with the thought of making a quilt ... I loved the colours and designs but decided that the furnishing fabric might feel a bit rough, so instead, we now have a very sturdy, reversible play mat for the new little miss :)

A dress, or three

Finally, finally, I got around to making my Enid Gilchrist simple empire line dress... I drafted it out and sewed my 'muslin' here ... I don't know why it took me so long to make it for real, but I'm pretty happy with the result :) I made a couple of mods to the pattern, making the neck and armholes slightly lower than the pattern ... the neck was purely a design choice, but going on my past experience making Enid dresses, the armholes would otherwise have been a bit tight.Next time, I will also put in a back pleat on the skirt ...standing up is fine, trying to get elegantly into the rear seat of a friends car was no so fine! :D

The other two dresses were mostly made by my daughter ... after nearly finishing them, and then realising that they were too big for her

(and not wanting to be bothered with taking in the seams some),

she gave them to me (minus zip closures and hems) :)

I love them both, but especially the yellow floral one (awesome thrifted sheet from Savers).

For the white and blue one she used New Look 3968 and the yellow floral, Butterick 4980

KCWC Day 1

My first sewing project for the kcwc just had to be a baby dress :)

... I sometimes get fed up with using commercial patterns. They're expensive, flimsy, and more often than not, they don't turn out right in the size and fit ... so instead, I bought a super-cute, newborn baby halter neck dress from the op shop, and made my own pattern ...

I traced around the bodice and took measurements of the skirt...

and then just used the original as a construction guide :)

So easy!

Looking forward to day 2 :)

...and another Enid

So I think that I may be running the risk of overusing my new favourite Enid Gilchrist pattern ... but it's just so quick, and easy, and awesome lol

This dress was made from the same pattern as my Ikea dress.

I made it as a winter dress, to be worn under a cardi, out of some brushed cotton that I bought for $3 from the new Savers Recycle Superstore here in Adelaide (such an amazing op shop!). I also bought the zip there, in a bag of 10 for $3.

I've already got 3 more dresses cut out and ready to sew, along with some skirt versions ... spring starts next week, so I'm more than ready to get started on some nice summery clothes :)

That 70's Skirt

Browsing through some old sewing patterns at the op shop, I found a little book dating from about the 70's, containing heaps of miniature dressmaking patterns. Not knowing what it was, I did a quick Google search, and discovered the world of Lutterloh :) It seems like such a cool, clever idea ... you take just two body measurements (bust and hips), and using the Lutterloh measuring scale, draft out the patterns from the miniature schematics. The book I bought was Supplement number 135, and didn't come with the scale ... however, I ordered the current Lutterloh complete system(which includes the patterns, instructions and more importantly, the scale tape) :)....so here we have skirt pattern number 105 (from supplement 135)... the illustration was a bit vague so I wasn't totally sure how it would look (or whether it would fit!), but unbelievably, using only my hip measurement, it turned out great and was really easy to draft :) I can't wait to make more!

Bibs and Bean Bags

I was looking for some quick little projects to use up some small scrappy bits of fabric, and found this really cool bean bag tutorial ... I love the idea of having throwing, counting games :) These bean bags not only helped with reducing my fabric stash a tad, they also helped with my pantry clear out, using a packet of pretty old lentils that had been forgotten about! (Each bag took half a cup) :D

The bibs were made from an old, 1971 Simplicity baby pattern (another Op Shop find). I doubt that this pattern differs at all from its modern day equivalent (other than its awesome 20c price tag!) ... I love to use patterns that have been used

before, especially all those years ago! ... its cool to imagine who made it and what their fabric choices were like etc. My favourite pattern finds are the ones with handwritten names, notes and corrections on them

... it's made me think that I might start slipping a small photo of my finished projects inside the pattern envelopes, so that in many years to come, when my patterns are doing the Op Shop circuit again, the new sewers can see exactly what has been done before :)

Getting started with my Enids

I 'discovered' an old Enid Gilchrist book in an Op Shop a couple of years ago (Play Clothes for Children, costing 20c). Since then I've been collecting her books ... some from Ebay, but mostly from op shopping. I've managed to collect quite a few, ranging from baby patterns right through to adults. There seems to be a lot of baby books around, but not so many for women ... I guess that people find it easier to hand-draft the smaller clothes (personally I love the adult ones as the fashions, dating from about the '50s, are awesome :)) I've even managed to double up on a few of her books, but other than sending one to fellow collector Tracy, I thought that I'd hold onto them as spares (most of them are falling to bits anyway ... it's so cool that they've been well used :)

So,after a million attempts to take my measurements and agonise over which size I was, I drafted the basic pattern (I knew that all those excess rolls of christmas wrapping paper would come in handy!). Now either my body measurements were not taken too accurately or there is a lot of ease calculated into the patterns, because I needed to go down a size from what I thought. Just to make sure that I had the size right, I quickly made this

dress in scrap fabric (without facings,

turnings, zips etc), and I'm very pleased to say that the fit is perfect:)

Now to find some cool (matching!) fabric, to make my first Enid for real ... I can't wait :)

Inspired to Sew

Now that I'm back home again after my few weeks in the UK, I've got a mad urge (yep, even madder than usual!) to get into my knitting and sewing :-) My instant gratification came in the form of this apron, which, according to the pattern is supposed to be a top (just thought that my girls would give me absolute heaps if I wore this out in public as a top!!)....hence, it will definately be worn as a pinny. As far as I can tell, the only thing making it a top, is the fact that the skirt part goes all around at the back as well as the front.
The pattern was one of my op shop buys for 20c...a McCalls 2 hour sampler wrap top/dress from 1983. I love the finished look of it (although I did have to put a couple of darts in the top, to prevent a drapey neck), and I love that fact that it did take less than 2 hours :-D

Just a few days before my hols, I had an another awesome find in the op shop (another 20c bargain!). I found a really old, coverless copy of Enid Gilchrist's Play Clothes. I'd never even heard of her before, and was really surprised at how many sewing patterns and information were in one book. Of course, as soon as I got home, I googled Enid's name, and couldn't believe how many things she had published, for both adults and kids. I got straight onto ebay and bid on a whole heap of her books. They were all here at home waiting for me when I returned from overseas....sooo....I had a few days of awesome jetlagged reading :-D
When I was searching for info on her, I found this amazing blog called Inspired by Enid. I was really happy to find another Enid fan, and even more so when I realised that the blog belonged to Tracy from Madquilter, one of my favourite crafty bloggers :-D (Tracy, I've got a couple of doubles that I don't think you have..Suits and Dresses 5 to 12 years and the New Idea special publication Baby Book...if you don't already have them, let me know and you're more than welcome to these :-))
I'm not sure yet, what I'll be sewing next, but I'm having great fun trying to decide ;-D

Playing catch-up!

I've got heaps of stuff to blog about....
Having been overseas for the last few weeks....
I guess I don't really know where to start ;-D

Here's a peek at my crafty happenings of late, in picture form...there'll be more details to follow :-D
(it really is good to be home!)