Summer Sewing Maxi Style

It's a fair cop Guv' I've been enjoying our UK visitor and the amazing Edmontonian Summer, my camera has just about given up and my pc (yep still flogging that dead horse, no laptop for me) has all but rolled over and died. In true stubborn Taurean style, I will not be beaten though, so prepare to cringe at some crummy phone camera blogging.

I've been desperate to get back to sewing clothing and quite frankly hate everything in my wardrobe You know how it goes, get pregnant,  inflate like a life saving device with the rip cord yanked out, then give birth, deflate like a beach Lilo, slow and indistinguishable to the untrained eye.

Well, this beach Lilo has now got back to her pre baby, fighting weight so get your mince pies (eyes)round this super duper Maxi I rustled up using an existing cross over dress as a pattern, and squint at the clearly miniscule photo I could find to show you the full dress, Gah phone camera!.

I just fell in love with the fabric, it's as soft as Pj's, and the pattern reminds me of a Summer sunset, and the best bit? it was $2.50 a mtr. Gotta love a new dress for less than $10

 

 

Outside a nearby school, I love that the photo looks like it says Holy Crap either side of my noggin!

 

I have more plans for refashioning too, no idea how I'll get decent photos on the old Blogeroo but I'm soldiering on people, so bear with me!

 

Hand Me-Down Horror 11 - Bouquet du Mumu

This is another off my Wip list which I just happen to be storming through (yahooooo!!). It was a Red  70's Mumu that still had it's original tags on, how sad it had never been worn, until now.

Cue the shears, a waist length piece of wide elastic later and Bob's your Uncle a cute and completely wearable skirt. This was a lunch time project, hemming this by hand took longer than the rest of the construction put together.

Hope you like it people, it's a super easy project even you scaredy cats can try.

Hand-Me-Down Horror 10. Sneak Preview

Finally got round to making something out of this monstrosity, how many times have you seen something like this in a Thrift store/Charity Shop? Floor length pleated to the nth degree, Yuck right? stay tuned people I'm pretty proud of how this one is turning out.

This is the fabric opened out but before I'd even ironed it, I only unpicked one seam in case I needed to piece two pattern pieces together across a seam.

People start looking at thrift stores for these types of skirts, lots of useable fabric for little lay out. I also used a sewing pattern from Burdastyle for this one so it's something you can try out too.

Hand-me-Down Horror no. 9 - Keep your hands off my lucky charms!

So this is the dress that I demo'd the first tutorial on, I was sneaky and tried to keep as much hidden as possible.,

I've had this little puppy in my stash since I did the Ugly to awesome thrift store run, now I know I'm not buying anything new as part of my 2011 pledge but since it was possibly for a challenge I thought I'd indulge, and since it cost me a $1 obviously it didn't break the bank.

This one looks the most simple of all the restyles I'm sure, but I'll be darned if it wasn't a Royal pain in the butt, I shortened it, a bit too much but still wearable. I hacked off the sleeves, I took it in about 3 postcodes and that was just to make it fit, yep everything I post fits me and I would actually wear, I don't stop until the article is wearable and in a finished state, otherwise what's the point right, also another part of my 2011 pledge to actually finish things I start, (harder than it seems for me anyway!)

Finishing touches, hacking off the uninspired buttons and adding something much more 60's bold, I also top stitched (posh words for stitching that is visible and can be decorative) in a large stitch size around the neckline in a contrasting white. The zip wasn't required as I could lift the dress over my head so I took that out and of course saved it for another project. Seriously I save everything, buttons, zips, elastic you name it!


Uninspired before shot Urggh

Hand-Me-Down Horror No. 8 - Don't know why, there's no sun up in the sky...

This skirt reminds me of the (British Comedy duo) Morecambe and Wise Sketch 'Stormy Weather' hence the title

This was a basic Old Navy skirt, in Camel cord and I'd like to preface this post by stating that I don't profess to have any skills at all with Embroidery, in fact I have a love hate relationship with the stuff. I love the way it looks on me but I hate the way it looks when I try to do it! .

I ummed and ahhhhed about whether to post pics then my hubby talked some sense in to me, if I start editing what I put on here, i.e only posting what I think is top notch then I'm not being true to myself and also if I am inspiring people to sew, then I should really show them that not everything works out, fact of life!

I do like that it looks like a child has sewn it, and my hubby rather sweetly said that both a little girl and an Adult could wear it, which probably means that I look like I shopped at Gap Kids! oh well, back to the drawing board!

So here it is, my measly offering of Embroidery, it was inspired by a project in this book.

Complete Embellishment - Techniques and Projects  by Kayte Terry

More Adult appropriate dress tomorrow I promise!

Hand-Me-Down Horror No. 7 - The Side Boob Slayer

So I started and finished this in one night, an easy peasy transformation, just chopped off the sleeves to give it a Racerback, I had to add a small bust dart to give it some more boob coverage, (no-one likes a stray side boob). I then Bias taped the raw edges and that's yer lot. Now I know I said easy but making sure the left and right sides matched was a real pig but I got there in the end. I also had a moment of horror when I thought I'd run out of bias tape but thankfully (as I'm still working from stash and scraps) I had a spare length just long enough to finish the job, phewee!!.

A big thanks to all the new readers, I can't believe that I managed to get 1000 views let alone 2000+ and all the different Countries you are logging on from is truly unbelievable, I will admit that more than once I've had to Google your cities to find out which Country you're in, but then that's coming from someone who would probably not be able to locate her own (adopted) Country on a globe. Ooops!

Hand-Me-Down Horror No. 7 - Sneak Preview

My gorgeous little fella baby Noah is teething at the moment so whilst I am still sewing, mainly when he's asleep at night, I may be giving a few more teasers to give me more time to get the refashions completed and actually ironed (No Mum I have not thrown away my iron and ironing board but I may have to dust it off!!). Still posting and sewing every day though, don't you worry about that!

So this is number 7, an 80's horror which is soon to be given some flair, no Rick Rack used on this one either, scary huh?

Check back soon to see what became of this button down dress...

See I can sew from Scratch too!!

So I had a bit of a break from the sewing machine and messed around with my glue gun last night, lots of fun, mainly the peeling glue of my knuckles, mmmmh yum! as such, here is a photo of a dress I made from new fabric but using a 1970's Vintage pattern, oh how I love vintage patterns, and I'm such a sucker for a fluffy poufy sleeveS.

It has an Empire waist, Bias tape bound neckline, flutter sleeves, Bias tape pockets and a little bit of elastic on the back to cinch it in a little and I did away with a zipper as it fitted over my head without undoing it, which is great.

What no Rick Rack I can hear you say, (esp Lacey!) nope for this one I was in the midst of a Bias Tape obsession I have still yet to kick, I literally Bias tape anything, even the seams you can't see, crazy huh! 

I love this modern fabric, I seem to have a recent fascination for the Red, White, Blue combo, wonder what caused that?! missing home maybe, not the Grey skies, Rain, Gas at STG 1.25 per litre, nope none of those, but oh how I love the romance of picturing me back home!

At the moment I'm working on my first Sweater (Jumper for you folks back home) recon, I started it ages ago and couldn't decide if I liked it but seeing my good buddy JDawg (yep I'm so Canadian these days I have friends with nicknames!!) the other day got me thinking about it again, so the next one's for you lady. Hope I haven't jinxed myself now.

Anyway hope you like this one and yes I am aware that outside in Edmonton we have something close to 2 foot of snow but I just can't get the hopes of Spring/Summer out of my mind so here is another Summery number.

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.

What's it all about... Ruby?

I started this blog for a few different reasons, but mainly to keep track of my crafty projects that seem scattered all over the joint otherwise.

Here goes,

1. I have the worlds biggest scrap bag, honestly I can't bear to throw anything away so look out for me on a future episode of Hoarders, possibly to be entitled 'the house the Hoover forgot'
So back to the subject again!, in 2011 I really want to work on reducing my scrap mountain, Mount Scrapapalooza if you will.

2. I also have WAYYYYYY (repeat to fade) too many projects that I've started and never finished, seriously it's a continuing joke that I just start projects for fun but am not interested in finishing them. 2011 is the year to bust those WIP projects.

3. I also have an embarrassingly large stash of everything crafty, I literally never need to shop for supplies for new projects, except I do because, well ladies we all love shopping am I right?

So here's the dealio friends, in 2011 I'm making a pledge to:

• Finish min 2 wip projects to every one new project I start.
• Any new projects must be completed properly start to finish.
• Work through my scrap bags for new projects.
• Once scrap bags are gone/manageable get stashbusting.

If you're up for the challenge and want to join in let me know. I'm going to be posting pictures of what I've finished (wip projects) and new projects too so keep up with progress and feel free to share links of projects you've finished too.

Projects for the homesick

I am a proud Brit, and yes it is much easier to be proud of your home country when you're miles away, so to remind me of home I made this cushion out of recycled fabrics I had from other projects, the Navy Blue is a thrifted shirt and the other fabrics are scraps from numerous bag projects I had to hand. Gotta love a project which costs you zero, yep I love a thrifty project too.

I have THE worlds biggest scrap bag and any project that means I get to use up my scraps I am all over, so look out for new projects in the forthcoming months that get to use up some of my fit to bursting scrap bag.

P.s I have a backlog of craftiness to upload so lots of new(ish) projects on here that I've been enjoying for a little while.