Day 365 - Girly Jeans

For the last day in my 365 project I thought it only fitting to make something for my biggest fan and supporter throughout the project, and in fact throughout my crafting times in recent years, my 6 year old daughter Juliet.

My Juliet has never been a jeans girl. She has chosen her own clothes most decidedly since well before her 2nd birthday, and she has always loved layers, and skirts and leggings. She loves dresses now too.

I friend of mine gave us some pairs of jeans that belonged to her daughter, so I thought I would 'girly' them up a bit to see if I could get her to wear jeans every now and then. She loves them, so we'll see what happens. A little bit of pink goes a long, long way.

Nothing to do with the jeans but man she's cute.

Loving herself sick!

I have to admit that day 365 is quite a downer. I feel like there should be fireworks going off, or something exciting to celebrate, but there isn't. I want to keep going, but I don't. It's like the end of a uni year but I'm not going out after my exams are finished.

I'll be back tomorrow with my last post, and, hopefully one last project for this blog. Yes, that's 366 reasons. 

Day 345 - Refashioning one of my Grandma's dresses

I have a special refashion today. Special to me. This is a dress that used to belong to my grandma. In fact she loved sewing and it looks like she made this for herself. She died about 18 months ago but a few months before that she moved into an aged care facility and she gave me some of her clothes. She was a couple of sizes larger than me so this is the first time I've tried a refashion of one of her dresses. Her eyesight being a bit poor there were a few stains on the front so the first task was a wash. :-) This in itself gave me a smile at her memory.

The before picture.

First step was to cut off the sleeves, and then take both sides of the dress in by about an inch.

Then I added a couple of rows of shirring elastic to the shoulders at the front. This elastic was also gifted from my gram, and this was my first time trying shirring. It was really easy, and I will definitely be doing it again soon.

Then I found an old belt meant for another vintage dress that I never wear the belt with, and wrapped it with red lace (also from gram). My Gram was quite flamboyant at times so I felt the dress should have a bit more colour in her honour.

To match the belt I used a red felt brooch which I made very early on in my 365 craft project. I actually pulled apart the brooch and then sewed the front section of it onto the dress by hand, with 2 strands of green embroidery thread.

Here's the finished dress.

Before and after.

Day 339 - Vintage men's shirt + vintage men's tie = girly shirt

Today I was interested in taking two men's items and turning them into something quite feminine. I really enjoyed this refashion a lot, and am happy with the result.

So I started off with this funky vintage op shop tie.

And this vintage shirt my husband bought about 10 years ago for a fancy dress party that was always a bit too small. I didn't let him throw it out because I thought the fabric was awesome. It had these slits at the back.

Ready to go!

First the sleeves got chopped off. Then the top of the shirt and a couple of inches below the collar.

I overlocked the underarm edges and the top edges, then made a folded over the underarms about half a cm to finish them off. Then I made a casing in the top front and back and inserted the tie. This tie was a 70's fat tie so I ended up cutting the fat end off - it was a bit too much but I'm hoping to use it for another project.

I sewed up the slits at the back, crossing over the fabric a little so that I ended up with a more feminine shape.

Once the tie was in I added a large button where I joined the tie ends. Now it's very girly!

Day 321 - Pretty decoupage shoes

Since the 2 big kids have been back at school (three days last week) I have a little bit more time to think, to have thoughts of my own. More ideas for projects have been coming into my head now, after a month or two of struggling. 

Today's inspiration comes from this stunning pair of boots by Michal Negrin. Seen here on polyvore. Brought to my attention by PenelopeHangerRefashions facebook page. They are simply stunning, but at $800 a pair, the likelihood of me ever owning a pair is reduced to a zero.

I purchased these comfortable but boring and plain shoes from an op shop about 4 months ago for $3, with the idea of a decoupage project, but no idea what to use to decorate them. Awesome! Now I had an idea. OK so they're not boots, but we are in the middle of the hottest summer on record where I live, so boots are not really a happening thing right now.

I printed and cut out some pretty pages I found using google images.

Glue. I put masking tape on the rubber around the sole first to minimise glue drops where they weren't wanted.

 These have been glued under and over the pictures.

 After the glue dried I applied 4 coats of polyurethane gloss. I've got a crush on these shoes now.

They went outside to see what a gorgeous day it is today.

Day 309 - Toddler shorts refashion

Today's craft is for a friend. She didn't like these overalls on her one year old, which I turned into a dress. I then used the leftover scraps to make these plain white shorts more interesting with some pockets at the back, strips down the side, and a patch with some lace.

Day 301 - Tablecloth into long shorts

Finished today's project with only a couple of hours left in the day. This could be one of my more out there creations.

I used a vintage tablecloth I found at a garage sale a year or two ago with a few small holes in it to make some long shorts or 3/4 pants. For the back I matched it with some brown corduroy from my craft cupboard.

Tablecloth.

Pants.

Me. What do you think? I little too crazy? I'm loving the colours and they are definitely one of a kind.

Day 288 - Beach Tote

Today I have made a tote bag from a skirt I made a couple of years ago when I started sewing a bit. The way I did the panel was by using iron on applique and then sewing it to the base fabric, but it never sat the way I wanted it too. The iron on stuff was too stiff and I really should have just sewn the fabric as a panel. Live and learn.

Here's the skirt.

First I cut it down the two side seams.

I then cut the pockets off some old jeans.

These became external pockets on the bag. I sewed them to the plain side of the skirt. (The back) And sewed up the sides and bottom of the bag.

I found some gingham scraps in one of my craft tubs to use as a bag lining. I had to join a couple of pieces together but since it will be on the inside I didn't mind having a seam.

I added two more old jeans pockets to the lining. I can't stand foraging in my bag all the time for my mobile phone and keys. Conveniently these also had a little pocket that fits a pen. Again I sewed the sides and bottom, tracing the size from the bag outer I had already made.

Then I put the lining inside the bag.The bag is right side out and the lining is inside out.

I use the method of pressing an inch or so of fabric under at the top of each bag and sandwiching the handle in between the layers before top stitching around the entire top of the bag. In my case I decided to use the waistband of the skirt as the handle so it has a bit of a frayed look from where I cut it off the skirt.

Here's my bag.

 Lining.

I'm ready for the beach now. If only it wasn't 200km away. :-)

Day 285 - Hat gets new life.

Someone complained that they had the most boring hat in the family. So today we rectified the problem.

Before:

After:

Happy Camper!

Day 277 - Pillow case turns pjs and pj bag

Only a few days until Christmas and I am still sewing presents. Today I turned this pillowcase into pjs and a little pj bag. Cute hey?

In less than an hour school finishes for the year. My little girl has finished her first year of school. Well done gorgeous girl. Now to get the others well for Christmas and get more than 4 hours sleep in a night.

Have a great day all.

Day 271 - Vintage Maxi Dress Refashion

A party for Ms Juliet this morning. Her first real party and what a happy girl she was.

Some pics here with her requested rainbow cake.

Then onto some refashioning for me. I picked up this vintage maxi dress a couple of weeks ago from a vintage pop up shop where a woman was selling off her vintage clothes collection. I love the colours and the fit was lovely.

The long sleeves and high neckline were a bit too severe for me so I decided to make small capped sleeves and lower the neckline a little.

The sleeves came in handy for a wine wrapper and a vase sock. Wouldn't want to waste that awesome fabric.