DIY Light Shades

We had serious hideous light shades in our hallway. 90's frosted glass domes - you know the ones! I have been thinking about what to do about them for some time but I didn't want to go for the easy option of buying purpose built light shades.... So I went to Pinterest and pinned some inspiration. I love how pinterest opens my eyes to what things could be rather than what they are. All I had in my mind was something vaguely resembling a shade...  Then out shopping I found these woven food covers....

All I did was cut out a whole in the top and Voila!

Total cost: $20 and about 10 minutes :) 

I now can glance up while I walk through our hallway without cringing! Which reminds me there are plenty more DIY improvements to be made.. What next? 

Oh No Not Another Doily Idea! (oh but this ones a goodie!)

I'm sick in bed today, this is day 3 of an awful flu type thing. Hot and cold sweats are so much worse in 27 degree heat! I always seem to get sick after a crazy busy spell. I can almost pinpoint when it will happen. And what a crazy busy spell its been! Two (very last minute) craft fairs in which I had no time to plan, Luca's First Birthday, family staying, Christmas presents to make and then Christmas! Cleaning our house to rent it out over New Year, packing up and staying with my parents, 3 nights at Gisborne's New Year festival Rhythm and Vines (this has been going for 9 years in Gisborne) this year had a sell out crowd of 29,000. I have gone to all but 2 of them. We were given VIP tickets this year and I have to say I will not be going cattle class again. I am getting too old. Anyway so it has been a very very very busy couple of weeks and I am now utterly exhausted. Lucky I have a few creations up my sleeve to blog about, and keep me from feeling totally useless while I am stuck in bed!

Yes, another Doily Idea! Organic Cotton Stretch with Doily Knee patches. I had these little doily circles left over from my DIY Doily Dress and came up with idea for my Cousins newest addition, a little girl who was born in December.

Just simple Organic Cotton Stretch with a doily circle on each knee

Girls clothes a so much fun :)

Happy New Year Everyone.

DIY Doily Dress

I have been meaning to post this all week... except I never remember to take photos of the finished garment when I'm actually wearing it out! I am really happy with how this dress turned out as not all my own designs do... 

My first idea came from my cousins blog when I saw the cut up doily she had left over from some christmas decorations she had made. I thought, hey that looks like a purpose built neck line for a top or dress... 

I rummaged through my little pile of doilies and found this one

I snipped out the centre..

rummaged through my stash of fabric and decided this lilac organza would fit the bill.

I am "borrowing" my mums dressmaking dummy and I tell you it makes designing/fitting clothes a breeze! 

I literally took the length of fabric - about 1.5 meters and chopped it in half pinned it to each side of the doily with a few gathers on each boob and one in the centre back. Pinned the side seems loosely and it was ready to be sewn.. 

Here it is before i had sewn it, I decided after to cut it just above the knee. I didn't even hem it... probably will have to at some point though!

Here it is, worn with a tan leather belt and some peep toes. 

I really like the scooping back too :)

I wore it out on Friday night, Matt and I had a very rare night out at a Christmas party and it's definitely a party dress...  Now I just need to find a few more occasions to wear it too, and work on the hang over it gave me!

xox

Cotton Candy! From Sheet to Shorts...

I have been collecting the odd cotton sheet from 2nd hand stores / Thrift stores for sometime now. If you can find one in good condition, without the worn middle then you have yourself a huge piece of fabric to play around with. I mostly look out for vintage floral ones, but this week I found this delicious cotton candy striped one. The cotton is fantastic quality and is still lovely and thick. The colours are "me" too. Although I did intend to make the boys pants/shorts from it.. I thought no, I will make something for me this time.
I found a pattern from one of my Burda magazines and got to it....

How cute is that sheet! $3 from The Sallys!

 Cotton Candy

My new sewing toy.... great time saver!

a dotty guide to cut out

Finito!

So what do you think? 

Tutorial: Play Shorts from Business Shirt

So I actually made these to be apart of KCWC but I got a bit busy with family towards the end of the week and didn't end up posting them..

I love recycling and repurposing clothes. Its so easy to do and makes me feel good that I'm throwing less away or reusing something that someone else has thrown away..

First find yourself an old Shirt....

I bought this one for Matt at a secondhand store for a dollar but got it home and realised it was a womans shirt, so into the fabric pile it went...

Next, get your pattern pieces, I have used a Burda kids pants pattern folded up to make shorts, Cut you pattern pieces from the shirt.... 

I placed the pattern right down on the hem so I didn't have to hem the shorts (: Lazy I know. But anything to make it faster! 

I cut my pockets out of an old pillow case just to add a bit more colour and detail. 

Next, Sew your pockets on to each front panel. and topstitch them to make a tidy finish.

Now place your two front pieces right side together and pin. Overlock and sew seem.

If you have a pockets on the old shirt your using, cut one (or both!) off and sew it on to one of the back panels. 

Next, place back panels together, right sides together and pin. Overlock then sew seem. 

Now your almost ready to sew both sides together, but first, if you have pockets you will need to pin them in place and top stitch the pockets so they don't move. 

Next, place front and back panels together right sides facing and pin in place. Overlock and sew seems together.

Now you will need to cut a piece of ribbing for the waistband. Measure it around you  boys waist to get a firm fit. Sew the waist band in a loop and fold it over so the seem is hidden.

Now pin the waistband to the shorts, line up the waistbands seem and the back seem to begin with then pin from there in even intervals. Overlock and sew waistband onto shorts stretching the ribbing as you sew.

Finally topstitch the waistband in place. Tidy up all excess tread and your done :)

Thanks for viewing :) Hope I made sense!