Mummy Me!

We kicked off Halloween this past weekend with Zoo Boo. Our local wildlife zoo decorates the zoo for Halloween for 1 day and all ticket proceeds go to feed the animals through out the winter. I made my costume out of a tea stained sheet, a cream colored table cloth, 2 t-shirts from the husband, and a pair of Ralph Lauren white corduroy pants found at the thrift store!

Because I utilized my stash, total cost was under $5!  That's nothing to moan about =:} It took 2-3 days for strip ripping and finally sewing.  I wasted some time figuring out strip placement so they looked more like bandages and not ruffles.  I do believe I'll add a few to tie the top tighter round my middle but other wise I'm happy.  It comes off in 3 pieces, hat, top and pants.

Quite comfortable really, with room for a warmer layer of clothing underneath, just like this Mummy likes it.

Daughter's Halloween costume--done!

We went to Scotland over the summer, and saw a parade with a lot of pipe bands, and this seemed like a doable costume to plan for this Halloween. The kilt and blouse she already had; the vest and hat are mine; we bought the socks and shoes. I made the bagpipes, the sporran (little pouch in front of the kilt), and the tabs on the socks. The pipes are made to be fitted around an alto recorder, so she can still "play" the recorder in its disguised form. Pipes and sporran are made from an old scrap of herringbone wool, a cut-up black t-shirt, wooden dowels, a crocheted belt, an old pin, and some craft felt. Still need to make a strap so she doesn't actually have to hold the thing constantly while partying in costume. ;)

Real Refashions!

Here are a couple of tops that I made for my youngest
 This was a xl ladies sweatshirt I found at the thrift store.

This was a polar fleece top found at that same thrift store.  The bird was cut free hand from the same pink as the top above and the button is vintage from my stash.

Pattern info is on my blog :)

Thrifted sundress to skirt…

Sorry for the poor before photos, I took them late last night when I decided to start this project!

I got this dress from a jumble sale on Wednesday, it was 20p (!) in fact everything was 20 or 30p but by the time we got there (approx 15-20 minutes after the doors opened) it was a scrum with ladies elbowing each other out of the way for the chance of a bargain. I got a few things, but I saw some beautiful fabric disappearing into people’s carrier bags *sigh*…

Anyway, I like the fabric but the dress is totally not me – it also felt a bit maternity with that not-quite empire line and huge bump-framing bow in the front.

So I decided to take the top off and make a skirt out of the rest.

The back was shirred so I decided to rip the stitches along that not-quite empire line and cut across the middle of the shirring, making that the waist so I wouldn’t lose the casing for the bow/belt and could use the elastic instead of a zip.

You probably can’t see but there are gold holographic sequins on that top, *shudder*

I sewed bright pink bias binding around the top to stabilise it and added a casing to the top of the shirring to hold a wider piece of elastic. I also pulled the shirring tighter by pulling the elastic and tying a knot in it.

I took about 8 inches off the hem, re-hemmed then rethreaded the belt. All in all, it was about an hour’s work and now I have something I’ll actually wear!

For more refashiony goodness, check out my blog wipster :)

Beccy

Swap-o-rama-rama Report

So I took my daughter and her girlfriend to the Swap-o-rama-rama in Venice CA last month. Great fun! The girls enjoyed the applique station a lot. Meanwhile, I found some goodies to play with:Sat at a table folding and thinking for a while, then put two items back and cut up the other two. I handsewed the whole thing because sewing machines make me use a lot of rude language :) After I got the body of the garment sewn (just two seams), I sat at the embellishments table and made yo-yos with buttons out of the back of the velour shirt. Then it was ridiculously hot in LA for a week, so I couldn't wear my creation, but today I finally did:
I might play with it some more, but it's wearable now and I like it as a layer.

Gnomey

How is everyone?  It's starting to really feel like fall here, we even gave in and turned out the heat...I hate that bill :)  I only have a couple thing to show you today.  First up is this little gnome top for my youngest



And a pair of wristwarmers I made for a friend...


All the pattern info and stuff is over on my blog :)