Day 208 - Little Golden Book Bunting.

We love books in our house and have hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful and well loved children's books. Sometime I come across one that has been damaged, or that we bought second hand with damage done to it.

I have been thinking of a way to recycle this particular book for a while, and decided today to combine my love for bunting with my love for children's books.

The book in question.

A scribbled on page.

This was so easy to make.

I cut out identical shapes from all of the pages. I chose this shape because it showed off the pictures best and didn't waste too much of the page.

Then I simply sewed it to some ric rac with a small zig zag stitch. If you can't sew a hot glue gun would work just as well.

I love it! Aidan had a bare wall in his room that it's just perfect for. The pictures are so bright, interesting and colourful.

Day 207 - Vintage Madness

It's refashion time again. I bought this vintage dress a while ago, and I got it cheap because it had a little tear/fray near the armpit. I wasn't too crazy about the collar and buttons either, but I love the colours and the pattern.

Here's the dress.

 

And the frayed bit.

First, I decided to chop off the sleeves, collar and buttons.

Although I'm not usually a lace or a pink girl, I somehow felt compelled to add this pink lace to the neckline, which is part of a stash of lace that used to belong to my grandmother. So it's a little bit special to me. Ok a lot special.

Then I needed to add a button, and the perfect one could not be found in my sizeable vintage button stash, so I had to steal one from this bag I made a couple of years ago (which is looking a little shabby now)

And here's the result.

I can't decide whether to go with or without the lace tie above the waist though. What do you think? I love using supplies from my Gram's stash, it makes me smile every time I wear them.

Day 206 - Sultana Box Cars

Today was one of those horrible overcast days with an icy wind, perfect for indoor activities. We have a huge stash of boxes and bits and pieces that should go in to the recycling bin, but I keep them in the pantry for days like this.

Aidan and I made some cars using sultana boxes, toothpicks and UHT milk bottle caps for wheels. Then we raided the reclaimed button tin for extra bits and pieces.

Materials.

Little A painting his car in green, his favourite colour.

Aidan's car (driven by none other than wolverine) is a sultana box, with a toothpick for an axle and milk bottle caps for wheels. We poked the toothpick through the box and cut a little flap in the top to pop a driver inside. The hub caps are scraps of green fabric and the headlights are recycled buttons. He has a bead for a steering wheel.

My car uses recycled buttons for the headlights, steering wheel and wheels, and a little piece of straw for the exhaust pipe. A little folded scrap of paper makes up the seat for my Lego driver.

We raced our cars after we made them, and it turns out green actually is a much faster colour than pink, even though my car has racing stripes. Who knew?

Day 205 - A mixed bag.

Today I had what I consider to be one of my most important sewing tasks ever. Fixing up the very special blankie that belongs to the son of a friend. He was in very bad shape and in need of day surgery, but most definitely needed to be home for bed time. I took one look at him and knew this would be an extremely delicate operation indeed.

Here is what he looked like when he came in for surgery.

I picked him apart and did some darts to the blue silk side which was most important to preserve, trimmed a little and sewed him back together. He is looking a little like a map of Australia now. He's not overly pretty, but his life has now been significantly prolonged and I'm very glad he didn't fall apart under my watch. Hope the little man is happy with the changes.

Both Liam (7) and Aidan (3) are obsessed with superheroes at the moment and Aidan bought this little stuffed toy during the holidays. Stuffing was escaping within hours so he also got a repair today and Aidan was very impressed.

While I was on a roll I thought I would do a couple of super quick refashions so that I can now wear 2 things that have been sitting in my wardrobe unworn for ages. I think it's pretty awesome that these two things can get a new life so easily. The 2 'refashions' together took about 10 minutes.

The first is a maternity top from when I was pregnant with Dylan (now 10 months). It had shirring at the top which just became the waistband when I cut off the shoulder straps. It's a really comfortable skirt for summer.

The second is a dress that used to have a diagonal hemline with elastic. Not really me but I loved the rest of the dress and wore it a couple of times.

I didn't really feel comfortable wearing it for everyday wear so it lived at the back of my closet. I forgot to take a photo before I chopped, but all I did was cut off the elastic bottom and even up the hemline. Now it's totally wearable.

I've had a wonderfully productive day. How about you?

Day 204 - The Poppy Tunic

Today I made this tunic from a pattern over at makeitperfect. I made a couple of minor changes to it but basically used the pattern. I cut it out 2 months ago and finally got to the sewing part this morning.

I had a blissful couple of hours of sewing with 2 kids at school, Aidan at his occasional care for 3 hours and Dylan having a little sleep. Haven't had this time and space for a couple of months so I really enjoyed it.

I'd love to thank everyone who voted for Juliet in the Brag Your Best Buys competition and tell you that she won 2nd prize. So thankyou everyone. She did really well.

Here is my poppy tunic. I got the green base fabric and bias binding from a thrift shop and the orange contrasting fabric from spotlight. I think my camera is dead so excuse the dodgy photos. :-(

Day 203 - Bed Restoration

During the holidays the kids and I went to the op shop (we had to really, it was op shop week so it would have been rude not to), and found this old wooden dolls bed for a few dollars. Since I seem to be on a bit of a doll theme at the moment I thought I would fix it up today and surprise Juliet when she got home from school. She thought it should be pink and rainbow, so I decided on pink with a rainbow on the head of the bed.

Here is the bed.

I cleaned it up a bit and used a bit of muscle to remove the stickers that looked to have been on there for 30+ years.

Gave it a couple of coats of pink paint. This little guy here kept coming for a look. He was very interested in this project. This was during the first coat.

Then I thought this cute vintage pillowcase would make a good mattress cover.

Here's the finished product.

Another happy customer.

Day 202 - Bear needed a wardrobe for her new clothes

It's the last day of the school holidays today, so sadly we must soon return to reality. I am looking forward to spending more time with the two little men, but will miss the freedom and slower pace of the holidays immensely.

After her two personal dressmakers had been at work yesterday, it became clear that Pink Bear would need a wardrobe to accommodate her burgeoning fashion collection. And so, a wardrobe was made, from a cardboard box, some paper, a cardboard foil roll, and an enormous blue broken ring that belonged to the princess of the house.

Coat hangers were shaped using pipecleaners.

 And Pink Bear is now one very happy little fashionista. Happy Sunday everyone. We are off to ride a steam train.