Finished Ruffle Shirt

I finished the bulk of this shirt about three weeks ago and then had a long pause due to lack of buttons. I used the Built by Wendy Sew U book's shirt pattern and based it upon the ruffle shirt. The fabric was from a bag of fabric remnants that a friend gave me for Christmas. It is a cotton/poly mix I would guess. I wanted to try out a shirt pattern and thought I have nothing to lose using this fabric.

At first I made it with long sleeves but they just looked so very wrong,so I chopped them off and added elastic in the casing to make them a bit more gathered. I wanted to make fabric covered buttons then decided I was too lazy. But a trip to a haberdashery convinced me to make them as there were no buttons I could find that would suit this fabric colour (also the prices - 65p per button!) These buttons are so small that it was a really fiddly job to do them but I am pleased now with the result.

The pattern was easy to follow, but the only thing I would say is you don't literally follow one set of instructions, but go through the shirt chapter in the book, finding the relevant sections to this shirt version and pick them out. So I did have to engage my brain. Just a little.

Some pics of it on me soon, it is just a bit cold here today for short sleeves and I just realised Little I has repainted the bathroom sink with pink toothpaste, so I must go and do some cleaning.

Thrifty 365 challenge

I posted this post or a version of it on sunday morning and it disappeared (so frustrating)...so here I am trying again. After not buying any RTW clothes last year I decided to join in with Sarah's thrifty 365 challenge.



She is something of a creative powerhouse, I don't know how she manages to do so many challenges and sewalongs along with the rest of her life! Her challenge gives me the chance to carry on with what I was already doing last year (ie not buying new RTW clothes) but to expand upon it in a coherent way and to examine further our spending habits as a family. Other bloggers are also doing this, such as Ms Scruffybadger and of course Ali is examining her consumerism and working out what to buy through her Fashion on the Ration challenge. Zoe has already sparked interestng debates in her comments section with her thought provoking articles.
Red dress for £2 - it is huge and currently a bit grubby but I think it could have good refashion potential. Look at the great button and pocket detailing.

Buying only second hand clothing or making my own clothes has quickly become the norm for me and it is odd how it has become just part of life for me not to buy new RTW clothing. Here in my cosy little corner of the internet it seems that lots of other people are in agreement but out in the Real World, not many of my friends and acquaintances do buy second hand.


Anyway, looking back at January I think I may have fallen into a pattern of buying too much even though it is second hand. The only bits that are not useful though are the teacups...they are just pretty.
So this is the spends for January,
January:

• Ikea duvet cover and pillow cases to use as fabric for sewing £4
It's the pink /red fabric under the teacups in the photo.


• Two small wooden cd racks for childrens' story cds. £1 each
Green and white dress - on examination I think this one was home made.


• Two 1960s/70s dresses £2 each - great for a refashion


• One pair jeans for me £3 (worn a lot already)


• Three canvas belts 50p each for bag making
  
• One chess set £3 (Teaching T to play chess last year was a great, great, great idea but we had a cheap plastic set and have broken and lost several pieces)
  
• Two teacups and saucers £1

The dresses and the tea cups came from a nearly new sale that is held once a month for a local church. I blogged about it in December, I saw the green and white dress in December, didn't buy it and then thought about it for the next month! The sale has clothing and household stuff, videos, toys, shoes and bags. One of the best bits about it is that when you come to pay, an elderly man with a big beard and not many teeth sizes up each purchase before declaring a price. An elderly lady writes all purchases down in pencil in a note book and does her sums. This is the kind of shopping environment I like! Plus some more elderly ladies are on hand to serve tea and cakes.

And just a note - have other UK residents noticed how charity shops are changing? Not all, but some are becoming so smart, with colour coded clothing displays, and increased prices. A friend of mine who is a veteran charity shopper thinks it is due in part to Mary Portas's BBC series, unfortunately I don't think you can see this anymore on the BBC iplayer but here is a related news article (and another interesting critique here) last year on revamping charity shops. I still like the junkier, more eccentric charity shops which have a distinct whiff about them.

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Notes of a novice seller

I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks. Magpie Mimi and I have been chatting about supporting each other with branching out into selling stuff that we have made. Any one else who is interested in joining in please leave a comment here or over at Mimi's blog.

Look I even made my first ever teeney weeney blog button to go along with this project! That was a learning curve in itself.

I am hoping that by doing a regular post on this I can push myself to make progress and not just give up. I am not setting out to tell people how to sell or how to set prices (there are lots of resources out there already for this) but sharing experiences as I go along, and hopefully we can also read Mimi's experiences too and any others who want to join in.

So, when I say selling "stuff" that is quite vague. Well, I have a box of bags that I cut out three months ago to stitch up. I love making bags, I love planning the construction and working out how to make different versions of them. Most of my bags are from re-used fabrics and some are for kids, some for adults. I have been making bags on and off since I was a teenager.
A long time ago I did a a painting degree, and I have sold paintings, prints, cards and brooches that I have made in the past, but not for a long time and being a procrastinator I have been thinking about and planning this for a long time. A by-product for me of having an artschool education is that I am imagining the crit before I have even made the objects.

To give myself the momentum and to stop me from procrastinating into oblivion I have decided to post about my progress and experience in this new venture once a month, right at the start each month. If anyone else wants to join in and share experiences, please do...come on...you know you want to. Mimi and I did discuss starting a blog just for this purpose but we have decided for the time being to stick to each of us writing about it on our own blogs.

This is my step plan for February:

1. Get my new sewing machine (thanks to my Christmas presents from family and Mr Minnado I have scrabbled up enough money for a new-to-me sewing machine) - done it today!! More news to follow

2. Get out the box of half made bags and FINISH them before starting any new bags

3. Get out the sketchbook and draw designs for applique

4. FINISH the half made brooches

5. Book a stall at a local village market

6. Research local craft fairs for summer

Hmmmm...do-able? Well, now I have gone public I had better get on with it.

Nora refashion

Stupidly I have lost my "before" photo of this t shirt. It was a long sleeve

v-neck with a brown ribbon trim with buttons on it. I took off the trim and made the yoke using the Nora pattern from Ottobre Autumn 2010 blogged about here. I used one of Mr Minnado's worn out t-shirts for the yoke and added three buttons from the button box.

I am thinking this yoke would also look good on a jersey dress...also a striped yoke on a black or navy top for a nautical feel...the possibilities are endless.

Finished Nora

I finished the Nora top from Ottobre magazine on wednesday but it has been so gloomy and dark here I struggled to get a decent photo. I wonder if other bloggers find it amazing how different colours look in different photos and light conditions. The sun has come out today so here is Nora. I made it in a light grey jersey knit which I bought last year on ebay. I have resolved to stop buying knit fabrics on ebay without seeing a sample first as I like this fabric but it is quite clingy and reveals EVERY lump and bump. If I had had it in my hand before buying I would not have bought it! But such is the the Ebay madness and impulse. I was determined to use this fabric up and not waste it.

It is a top which is plain and not much by itself but I think it will be a really useful basic item. Due to the lump revealing quality of the fabric I think I will wear it with cardigans.

The pattern was quite straightforward to follow and the tracing was easier than I had imagined. I did find it a bit strange to follow a pattern entirely with text and no diagrams as I am quite a visual learner. While sewing the yoke I was thinking how great this pattern could be for refashioning and using with contrasting yokes, so you may guess what is currently on my ironing board awaiting finishing.

reading list and kids these days

Oooh, I have some new-to-me books. In the middle is "Green is the new black" by Tamsin Blanchard subtitled: "How to change the world with style". I will report back on this....And bottom of the pile is the great "How to be an explorer of the world" by Keri Smith (link to her blog, go on, check it out) - it is a book of things to do which can help reignite creativity and alter the way you look at the world around you. I bought it so I can do some of the projects in it with my kids but it is actually aimed at adults. What is everyone else reading?

So preschoool is not quite what it used to be....this is some of the work Little I bought home last week, her photoshopped pictures of her lego model.

Traditionalists out there be reassured, there is also a sandpit, climbing frame and home corner.

In sewing news:

I am hemming my Nora top from Ottobre this afternoon and working on another t shirt refashion from the box of clothes sent by Fabulous Emma. I hope to share pictures soon.

Refashioned T shirt

Before

After

So, you may have noticed in my last post that I mentioned receiving a box of clothes in the post. Well, after some inital confusion, it turned out they were from a friend who decided to donate to me and said some of them are for refashioning. (Thank you Emma, you are very lovely)

This was my first attempt. I am slightly obsessed about yokes and have been thinking about combining jersey knits with wovens. So I decided this long sleeved brown t-shirt gave me the perfect opportunity to have a play around. Here's the result. I used the shirt front pattern from the Built by Wendy Sew U book and traced a yoke adding my own curve. I then sewed it onto the shirt with a zigzag stitch and cut away the original neckband. I toyed with the idea of adding the apples fabric to the cuffs but decided that could push it into the realm of twee-ness.

Thank you to those who entered my giveaway. Bodthepod is getting the Sew magazine and Ali's name was picked out of the bowl (highly scientific method) to recieve the Burda mag.