Day 87 - Shoe Reno

I bought myself a second hand sewing table on Ebay a few months ago and the previous owner left a few bits and pieces inside. There were a few buttons and trims. The saying one man's junk is another man's treasure comes to mind. :)

One of the things in the sewing table drawer were these buttons that you cover with fabric. I decided to cover them with one of my favourite vintage fabrics in the gorgeous greens that I adore. Then I wondered what to do with them next. I tried them on a few tops and dresses in my closet, but ended up choosing a pair of old and comfy shoes. Here's how it went down.

Day 86 - Vintage fabric cushion covers

About a year ago I went to the beautiful St Andrews Market http://www.standrewsmarket.com.au/ and there was someone there getting rid of a huge stash or vintage fabrics. Needless to say I was in absolute heaven and she was selling them all for $1 a metre. I came home with about 12 metres of awesome fabric for $10. Very happy customer I was that day.

Here is one of the one dollar finds which is a vintage linen and absolutely stunning.

I've been looking at it for ages, not sure what to make, when today I made a spur of the moment decision.

Cushion Covers. Look how drab mine looked.

And now I love them. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

 

Day 85 - Painted Wooden Bead Necklace

Today I have used this bead painting tutorial by the most talented Laura Parke at http://www.agirlwhomakes.com/2012/03/diy-painted-wooden-bead-necklace.html.

I found it a lot harder than it looks, but here's what I made.

Day 84 - Quilt repurposed to dress.

So I did buy this chenille quilt last week (a bargain at $4.50) with the intention of making some little boy's clothes, but this was the first thing I had a burning desire to create.

Some inspiration from the fashion world - Native American influenced fashion.

 (Photo sourced fromhttp://i-will-dream-of-you.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/summer-trends-pt-1-native-american.html)

Firstly, I lay Juliet's favourite dress down on the quilt to copy the size and shape for a dress. I cut it out along the edge so that I could use the fringe for the dress bottom.

The favourite dress was fully lined, which I didn't want to do, so I cut some facings for the top from the corner of a vintage sheet that has been used to line quite a few projects so far.

Next came a section of one of my old skirts. The front of the skirt had already been used for day 11 http://365crafty.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/day-11-what-to-do-with-old-skirt-and.html. I cut a strip from here and sewed it onto the bottom section of the front of the dress to create a contrasting strip.

Then I sewed up the sides of the dress, added the facing, and added a couple of cute buttons from my stash.

Considering the quilt will be used for many more projects, the whole dress would have cost under $2 - and what a happy little girl wearing it now. :) How cute!

Day 83 - Long weekend crafting with the kids

Liam got this crafting kit for his birthday last year so today's craft is using the kit to make 'climbing critters'. You put them together and decorate them with bits and pieces and rub on transfers, and then you can make them crawl up the string, if you have the skills. :)

Day 82 - Shirt Dress Refashion

Ridiculously, I purchased this shirt dress in the final stages of my pregnancy. I loved the fabric, the dress was on sale, and I had a gift voucher to spend. I was also at the stage of pregnancy where almost nothing I owned fitted and I was reduced to wearing my husband's t shirts. Basically I was not thinking straight and couldn't wait to get 'my body' back.

Once I got back to the stage of being able to wear normal clothes, I pulled this out and discovered it looked absolutely awful on me. It was too big and the style made me look twice my size. Unwearable!  Note to self - shirt dresses are not my look.

This refashion was going to be an alteration but it ended up being a bit difficult as the dress was fully lined and made up of two separate pieces sewn together. I settled on this skirt which is pretty cute.

I unpicked the casing around the middle and removed the elastic, cut off the top, took some fullness out of the skirt by taking it in on each side, and made a new casing and inserted the elastic back inside it.

Any ideas on what to do with the top half? :)

Day 81 - 4th use of one metre of fleece.

The fourth use for my metre of fleece is a heat pillow. I reused the wheat from an old wheat pillow that was worn out and 'leaked' wheat. A ten minute project! Cosy, cosy for winter. We've been getting some zero degree nights here. Brrrrr.