Comfy

Going for comfort on the last day of BCTF :) If you are visiting I am on Stand 236!

posted from Bloggeroid

The second skirt :)

So I have been putting my new found skirt skills to the test and made my second skirt yesterday. As soon as I saw the fabric in an antiques shop in Skipton with Chrissie on Wednesday I knew it was destined to become a member of my wardrobe. Want to see?

It's a Rupert Bear skirt!!!!!!!!!!! It was a curtain (I've only used half a curtain and there is another one) and it also came with a duvet cover and pillowcase that the girls have already claimed!

Ta Da!!! I realise it's not to everyone's taste (and I don't think Matt will be coming out with me when I'm wearing it) but it fits quite well into my wardrobe. Now I need to search for some Postman Pat and Star Wars curtains :)

Skirt Stitchery

At the weekend I went on a fabulous course run by Rachelle from Ted and Agnes called Skirt Stitchery where she teaches you (very well I may add) to make an A-line skirt.

Photo taken by Ted and Agnes

There I am on the right, stitching away!

My first ever machine sewed zip :)

Skirt with no lining and not hemmed but it looks like a skirt!

Photo by Ted and Agnes

Eating the delicious lunch provided by Rachelle - it really was yummy and now I have her to blame for a new addiction to Appledore with cinnamon!

And the skirt out and about in action yesterday :) I already have the fabric for my next skirt ironed :)

A couple of things

It seems that Harry approves of my messy desk! I didn't look at his face while taking this so I didn't see if it was disgust or joy at my messy desk. Or maybe indifference, he is a dog after all!

I also did some mending. This dress has had a stain on the boob for a while that was really obvious (I think the previous owner dripped tomato soup down herself!) and while I wore it a couple of times, it was glaringly obvious. The pocket came from an old apron that had a hole in it (the rest has been used for chickens which you will see soon) and while it doesn't match at all, it looks quite good. It doesn't jar quite so much in real life :) I'm probably going to wear it today so I'll try and grab a photo.

That's my two things - do you have anything nondescript and not that exciting going on in your life at the moment?

Mending Monday :)

I actually did some mending and adjusting on Friday but it's Monday now so I'm going with Mending Monday as my title :)  When I put the Christmas decorations away I found another bag of clothes that needed altering (some have been there for a couple of years!) So I decided to get busy and redo some of them.

I bought this skirt at a jumble sale two years ago and all it needed doing to it was the hem taking up. By 15cm but still, it was only a hem!

I decided to go fancy with the hem and did a triple hem :) I went very carefully and slowly so that it wouldn't wobble too much.

And here it is modelled - not a great photo but you get the gist!

This dress only needed the buttons changing on it - done in 5 minutes!

This dress was more of a problem. The patch you see in the photograph is a result of a previous Mending Monday but I'd developed two holes under the arms that were a cross shape. The dress is made of a light cotton so tears easily if a hole develops and that is what happened here. I LOVE this dress and have had it for about six years so I don't want it to break just yet. I mended the holes by lining them up as best I could, pinned a similar fabric behind the hole (right side out) and sewed like hell over the top of it with my machine! It has worked so far but I've already seen another small hole - better get to it before it develops into a much larger hole!

I also covered up a corporate label on a thick canvas bag that Matt got from a conference in December with some pretty fabric but I haven't taken a photo yet. It needs some pretty buttons and trim adding first.

Do you mend clothes? Do you alter clothes? Is your mending pile as large as mine?

Sunday Snippets

I made some robot garlands.

I tidied my craft room - the desk really is tidy, honest!

I turned 35 and my sister sent me this cool card she made :)

I contemplated stealing these pillowcases from my mother in law but I think she might notice they are missing!

I modelled my newly shortened skirt - more on it tomorrow :)

A trip out in the snow

So I got it into my head that today would be the day I visited the clog makers near Hebden Bridge to buy some yummy orange clogs I have been coveting for a while. However, someone was in such a rush to get out on the school run and then onto Hebden that I forgot to check when said clog makers was open...... Yep, you guessed it, it closes on a Monday! Ah well, at least I know where it is for next time!

I did have to drive through this though to get there - lots of snow and it was laying quite heavily on the roads. For that reason I didn't stop at the charity shops of Hebden but did at the ones in Todmorden.

This was all I managed to find in Tod - 4 home magazines at 30p each for me to chop up and put in my inspiration book. If indeed there are any inspiring pictures in there that is! Luckily I had to run some errands back in Burnley so I got to go to two charity shops en route!

These bowls were 50p (for the pair) from my favourite shop Emmaus. Emmaus has had a change round and now has an extra room :)

I also grabbed this skirt that I had seen before Christmas. I liked it then but when I went back it had gone. Imagine my delight when I spotted it on the sale rail this morning! It needs taking up but I can do that :)

So all in all a good day out!

More thrifty finds

I know this is meant to be a craft blog but I am still finishing off the stickers etc from yesterday and will probably be a while doing that so thrifty finds it is! These were all found in a YMCA shop next to Sainsburys (which is opposite Ikea) in Manchester. The shop shut on Saturday though (boo) but they are hoping for new premises soon.

This cushion was £1 and I couldn't leave it behind. I'm going to change the bottom fabric to something more exciting but I'm not sure what yet.

This scarf was only £1 too and though it's not really appropriate for the June weather here, I couldn't leave it behind. Although the weather here has been shocking lately!

I also bought this handmade bowler hat for £3.99. It was made by Christys' of London and I don't know if that is good or not but it's fab to wear. I am wary of looking a bit like an extra from Cabaret though so I might have to do something with it. Maybe a Liberty covered bowler hat?? I might have to ask Chrissie from Hat Therapy for advice :)

We also got a present for someone and a Barbie aeroplane for the girls for £3.99 which despite missing the tail fin was in much better condition that the one we had seen a couple of months ago for £15! So all in all a good day out!

Twirly skirt!

The Skirt is very good for twirling :)

:D

The numbers involved in skirt re-vamping

Bet you didn't know there were so many numbers involved in skirt re-vamping did you? Well there are!

The aforementioned skirt!

20 - the number of English pennies I had to spend to get this skirt (I know - bargain!)

16 1/2 - the amount (in cm) of fabric cut off the bottom of the skirt to transfer it from frumpy into nice :)

36 - the number of pins used to hem the new hemline

10 - the number of minutes needed to sew the new hemline as I had to keep stopping to remove pins!

less than 1cm - the seam allowance on the new hem hence why I needed so many pins!

8 - the number of pincushion chickens I can make from the piece of offcut fabric :)

39 - the number of business cards I can make from that same offcut.

5 - the number of twirls needed to determine that the skirt is now the right length!

2 - the number of skirts left to shorten  :D

I'm linking this post to My Creative Space :)

Thrifty and fabulous Thursday

Thursday was a busy and fantastic day :) I went to see two shops - one already stocks Swirlyarts items but the chickens just weren't selling there so I collected them and have arranged to take in some new stock to see if that fits the area better than the chickens did! Fingers crossed! The other shop is in Accrington and is called One Planet and stocks Fairtrade, upcycled, and recycled goodies along with local items. As my stuff is upcycled and eco friendly AND I'm local I thought my work would be a good fit. And the manager agreed! So I have another order to make for there too :)

As you may have guessed it was also a good day for thrifting - and when I say good, I mean fantastic! Be warned - they are lots and lots of pictures!

The bottom 3 books were 3 for £1 and the top one was 20p. All look brand new!

These magazines were 20p each and have already been cut up for my inspiration book!

This is a huge piece of fabric and it was only £1!

This pair of tablecloths was also just £1 :)

Two shirts - the one on the right is a Fat Face one and cost £2.95 and the one on the left cost £3.49 and has tiny birds all over it!

This dress was £1.00 and is for Tara.

This tank top is for Anya but I'm not sure she likes it so her sister may well get it instead! It should have been £38 but I got it for £5.99 - still complete with tags :) It's handmade too!

Two cardigans - the one of the left was £4.49 and the navy one was £3.99.

This large button is actually a mini sewing kit :) It was mine for £1.

The Fraggle Rock jigsaw and the napkin rings are for Anya's Attic - I couldn't resist!

This little guy is part of a pair of bookends and were £2 :) He is resting on the best buy of the day......

A bookcase for £4! Yep really :)  The girls books were stored in two orange boxes and they weren't easily accessible so I'd wanted a bookcase for that space for ages. The thrift gods answered my prayers!!

And these clogs were £1 too!! I'm not sure if they are branded or not but the label inside is ripped.

I'm sure I have seen clogs with this kind of yellow and blue label before but I can't for the life of me find any reference to it at all. Does anyone else know if I'm right or if I'm imagining things? :)

*Yeah* The Eternal Magpie swooped in and told me that they are Torpatoffeln clogs :) I don't have to wrack my brains (and google) now to find them!