Wonderful hair

from here

Foil nails

Sewing patterns and projects

despite having a large collection of sewing patterns I find that I continually come back to the same ones again and again. Probably because I tend to base a project on a detail of a pattern that I like and draft or use other patterns for the rest. Below are my most used and abused patterns and some of the projects I've made from them.

This is one of the first patterns I got right back when I first started sewing, I like the fit and the fact that the waist is close fitting making it perfect to use for 50s (my favourite era in case you haven't already worked that out) garments. However the pattern itself is from the 70s meaning that the collar is extremely wide and extremely pointy so I often end up drafting the collar myself.

this is one of my more recent sewing projects, I made it out of just 1m of fabric that I had left over from another dress in this post. I used the above pattern and made the collar a bit longer and more rounded, I also made it shorter to be tied at the front and added some material in the back for ease of movement. the Skirt I'm wearing it with in this photo is also home made and is probably my favourite skirt, circle skirts just seem to hang so well.

This is one of my earliest sewing projects, which I have posted about before, it is simply the above pattern with a circle skirt added with a waistband.

I was absolutely thrilled to find this when i was picking over an op-shop one day. I've used the dress pattern a couple of times and now that winter is coming I can't wait to try the adorable little jacket that comes with it.

Have I mentioned how much I love circle skirts?

I have used the middle shorts pattern to make a number of shorts and rompers as well as one amazing pair of trousers inspired by these ones

I love this pattern! Those collars! Those waists! Those sleeves! 

well as you can see after rebooting and restarting everything I could think of last night my computer appears to be working normally today so many more posts to come. Cheerio.

radio silence

I'm not sure how or why but my computer doesn't seem to be handling things to well at the moment and something as large as uploading photos puts it into cardiac arrest (hence my dropping off the radar for the last week), which is heart breaking as I had some nice things to post. So I will be maintaining radio silence until my computer is recovered (tomorrow? we can only hope). But keep checking as I will have a mountain of things to post when my computer is back on-line. 

Until then cheerio my dears.

Oh my... now I wish I had a costume party to go to.

My life according to my camera

My fabulous teacup earrings

Paper cutting art

tops of spoons to be made into rings and pins

A hint at a tutorial I have in the works

Some inspiration from my sewing room

I recently tidied up my sewing room and gave it a make-over. Here are some of the highlights from its overhaul:

My bookcase 

 This dress I got from an op-shop, however it is quite small so i am going to make it into a blouse.

Bits of paper just seem to collect on my desk and I can't bring myself to throw them away so all the pretty ones are currently strung up along the ceiling.

Trunk, picnic basket, tea chest and birdcage

Vintage postcards in cardboard frames from Typo, there are more vintage postcards stuck elsewhere as I managed to pick up a pile from an op-shop for 5c each.

Another cardboard frame this one holding my earrings (and upside down)

Bird bunting on my feature wall.

I like my sewing room to be interesting, it's so much easier to be creative when you are surrounded by interesting and beautiful things and it's much nicer for other people to come into as well. It also means that nearly everything is in plain sight, which is good, as I tend to be rather muddle headed when it comes to remembering where I keep things. hopefully I will be sewing a lot more now that everything is in order.

Time for an outfit post.

This is my Friday night outfit. Mostly I just want to show off the dress (my latest sewing project) here's what I'm wearing....

very serious here, the cardigan is from dotti, shoes from valley girl, bag from target, ring (just visible on my left hand) is one i made from an old spoon. and here I am posing like a silly sausage:

Tutorial time!

How to make a dress out of a men's shirt

1. Start with a men's button up shirt. the larger the better. 

2. Cut off the sleeves leaving about 10cm.

3. roll up the sleeves to desired length and sew to secure.

4. gather at waist. this can be done by adding a drawstring or simply by adding elastic at the waist. if your feeling extra creative you could try shirring the waist.

this is great as a dress to quickly pop over a swimsuit or wear with boots and leggings for cooler weather. wear it with:

Vintage bathing suits.

I have been wanting to make a vintage style bathing suit for a while now, its just a matter of sucking up enough courage to try swim suit material on my sewing machine as I tend to steer away form stretchy fabric. below is my inspiration. Look at those tiny waists!

Retro Safari.....

..... is actually the best shop. If you happen to live in or near Perth (Australia) I would definitely check it out. Lots of vintage clothes and super cheap (I'm talking dresses for $25 and shorts and tops for less.) here's a few pictures from their website:







I bought these shorts today:



They are amazing.

Retro Safari can be found in the Plaza Arcade.