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 ...

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 :)

Stephanie's Boobholder

I needed a warm cardi or jacket to wear out last saturday night ... it was only saturday morning that I realised I didn't have anything in my wardrobe to match the rest of my outfit. I had some stash yarn that was the right colour and was thick enough to knit up fast, but even so, I thought it was abit much to think that I could complete it in an afternoon! (but of course, I had to give it a shot :D) ... so, armed with my 2 balls of Katia Himalaya, Stephanie Japel's Boobholder pattern, a cup of tea (several actually!), and some old Taggart re-runs on TV, I set about knitting :D

Ta-daa! ... five, non-stop knitting hours later, it was finished (I even had a perfect button in my stash!). I wore it on saturday night, over a black long sleeved skivvy ... it fits great and feels great, and kept me nice and toasty warm on a cold Adelaide night :)

(The only changes that I made to Stephanie's pattern were to eliminate the puffy sleeves, and to decide, by trying it on, when to divide for the body and sleeves)

From drab to ...

... well, pretty fab actually ;D

I joined the online Cut Out and Keep community and found some really good tutes, this one being my favourite so far :)

This project was so quick and easy that I didn't even think to take before shots ... basically, these were old t-shirts (in my bag of

clothes destined for the Goodwill shop), sliced up the middle and threaded with elastic or ribbon, to make awesome shrugs ... really, could it be any easier? I don't think that I'll ever be able to throw away a t-shirt again ... these are so cool :D