Hand-me-down Horror No. 2 The French Maid

Yay here it is, I couldn't hold out any longer in fact, I even got on Skype and gave my Mum a VIP viewing back home! I actually finished this dress last night but have been busy again today back on the sewing machine finishing up two more projects not related to the Hand-me-down horror feature, will post soon though.

I can't believe that such a simple change could turn an old work horse of a dress into this cute little number. The Crochet trim (yep I'm totally addicted to the stuff, all shapes and sizes of it) just makes this boring dress pop and obviously brings some focus up to the neckline, where previously there was no pizazz, no nothing.

I salvaged the Crochet trim from this hideous dress, which in the photo actually looks wearable (kind, sorta) but this photo was taken after the dress was dismantled, imagine 3 more tiers of fluff, Crochet lace and ribbons, ick ick ick . I'm still thinking of things I can do to this dress to make it less of a horror so stay tuned this puppy may be back for a second lap. Currently it reminds me of something that Katie Price would wear with no underwear underneath to go to a parents evening, yuck!

(Google Jordan or Katie Price for images of this trampy UK sensation)



Before pics of pink salvage dress and boring black dress from wardrobe.

Hope you like this one folks, I'm dead chuffed with how it turned out.

Vintage lace cushion 100% recycled materials

I love to recycle fabric, clothing, you name it, and since I am a sucker for a mixed bag of vintage trims at my local thrift store I had a stash of small lengths of vintage lace and different trims.

Cue project idea, a thrifted Dark Blue Linen skirt for the front, a thrifted Blue Velvet dress for the back and before I knew it the cushion was finished. The inside cushion form was also recycled, with a former life as a bed pillow that was flatter than Kate Moss'. I cut in into two giving me these perfect sized inserts, then pulled apart the stuffing and refluffed it all, then one went into the Union Jack pillow and the one left over became this cushion.

Total cost :$2.00

You gotta love a project that you can make out of nothing.

Icky dress turned Delish

Now I've had this dress in my vintage stash for a while because it had 'something about it', incidentally this is also the same response I give to my hubby when he asks me of my opinion of a ruggedly handsome tv star, 'Hmmm, there's something about him darling'!

Anyway I digress, (already? good start!), I loved that this dress had some great Mod charm to it, and the great classic colour, you can't go wrong with Navy Blue right? but it's a little too minimalist. I do not subscribe to the less is more school of embellishment, I'm a more is the new black kind of girl, but for this piece I managed to dial it back.

I started by whipping off the pockets, taking it in a good few inches either side and raised the hemline by a good 4 inches! I had some perfect Crochet lace for this that I'd had for an age with no idea what to use it for, so I followed the seaming around the neck, added some around the hem and Bob's your Mothers Brother (Translation: UK speak for Eh Voila) it was a super cute mini.

Sadly I have to wait until Spring/Summer to wear it as it's pretty snowy here in Alberta.

So let me know what you think, I am prone to flattery, compliments, feather fluffing and all other kinds of niceness, and like I said, less is definitely not more!