Alterations - How to spend a couple of hours on a hot Sunday morning

Following yesterday's denim cut off start, I am continuing the theme of alterations.

My lovely generous mummy sent me some charity shop bargains again, and for a change they actually fit, in fact they fit so well that I have one cropped pair of trousers that don't need anything doing to them!

But there are some minor alterations to be made to the two shirts she sent, one simply because the buttons gape a bit and it just needs a stitch to hold everything in and decent, and the other shirt has a small hole and way too much tight elastic around the arms so I am going to remove the elastic and get rid of the puff sleeves.

In the meantime Thea is sorting out her wardrobe and has a pile of requests of her own, one dress to be altered to a t-shirt, another pair of trousers to make into shorts, this time with turn ups rather than a frayed edge.

So coffee and a biscuit then off to the studio.


Edited:-

OK it is now Sunday night, and the alterations plan went well as long as it lasted, then things took an embellishment twist.

I started off by cutting and hemming a pair of jogging bottoms for me to wear for work, then moved on to the stitch for my gaping buttons, but by the time I had shortened Thea's dress to a t-shirt I was bored.

Which meant that by the time I got to the brown shirt that just needed a small hole fixing and some elastic removing I couldn't just stop there, out came the ribbon and lace basket and I found this bit of pom-pom trim, which was just long enough to attach to the sleeves, then I added a couple of wooden beads to the neckline ties.  Another original for the summer.


This morning we started the day with a quick visit to a local small car boot; there was not much there to be honest but at least we left the house and had a change of scenery for a couple of hours.  Whilst there about the only bargain that I found was this piece of vintage 70s floral fabric, only a small remnant but enough there to make up another bag.  And while the weather was way too hot for gardening (36°C in the shade today) I stayed in my studio and got another bag sewn up.

My plan for this week while Thea has a free day is to get another little photoshoot sorted for the collection of bags I now have ready for listing on Etsy.

Productive Day in the studio - new bag design on vintage fabrics.

The lovely weather is continuing - not - lovely for ducks perhaps. With the grey skies looming overhead with the threat of yet more heavy rain I decided to shut myself away with my stereo and my sewing machine in my studio.

I designed another easy bag on my very useful plastic coated publicity material, lit the fire and started cutting away.

I finished sewing up the bag I started the other day, finished it with some wooden beads,

 then used the same vintage 70s cotton to make up another bag in my new design with some hand crocheted flowers to add a bit of detailing, then had a go at another nautical themed bag in the same design.

 Very pleased with the way these have turned out, and also how my new design works, only two pieces, a round bottom, then a single cut of material to form the tube body of the bag, then this pattern piece is folded in half and creates the template for the handle.

Very productive day.

Next few projects - planning my photoshoot.....

The next few projects will be all about wardrobe refashions with a skirt due to become a top, a top to cut up for the collar and a sarong to go with it to become a dress and a length of material to form the skirt of another top.

As you can see I have once again drawn up detailed (ha) plans on scraps of paper and pinned them to the assorted items to remind me that they have been sidelined for projects.

 I started this afternoon with finishing off the bag handle from the bag yesterday, and running a line of trim all along the hemmed edges for a neater finish. 











 This is now the selection of bags to be photographed and uploaded on Saturday to Etsy.

Having got the last of the bags sorted out I turned my attention to the T-shirt a friend donated the other day (you know who you are).  I had told her that it would make a great waistcoat, and it was time to put my money where my mouth was or something like that. 

Anyway, while hunting around in the studio for bag materials I had found a woolen skirt that I had forgotten about, and thought that would make an ideal waistcoat back, so using the paper template I cut the other day from another waistcoat, I cut out the back, then slightly altered the sides and the length to reflect the look I wanted to acheive with the waistcoat style.

See more photos tomorrow -  now that I have managed to successfully bribe my model and convince another friend to lend me their house as a backdrop, my basket of goodies is packed and hopefully the sun will be on my side tomorrow and I can get a mini fashion photoshoot done.  Half of the items will be available for sale on Etsy, some are for me and some for Thea to keep.

Shoe fetish - moi?

I had no motivation today, not a drop, not a trickle, not a teeny tiny 'ickle bit.

I don't really know why, but I think we all have days like that, days when we wish we had stayed in bed with the covers drawn up.  I did manage to drag myself out of bed, had my coffee, tried to read a new book (which was so bad I had to abandon it at the first chapter - you know it is a bad sign when you find three spelling mistakes in the first two pages) then went and watered the greenhouse.

I decided that the best thing to do other than dragging myself listlessly around the house and garden, was to shut myself in my studio.

So with my MP3 player set to play my new Johnny Cash downloads I shut the door, turned the lights and the sewing machine on and got on with the bags I cut yesterday.

And instantly felt lots better.........

....  so with my newly motivated self, I pinned together the black bag lining and the outers ready to be sewn up, and cut another tweed bag and the lining.  One skirt recycled, one dress recycled.

Rather than make material straps for this bag, I took some old brown suede trousers, and cut a single shoulder strap from them, and also some strips to make a suede hem for the bag opening, as well as a button flap.

After work, I finished assembling the bag, got it sewn together, and found a lovely vintage button to use as the fastening.  No photos today as I forgot to charge the battery in my camera - will get some uploaded tomorrow. (edited on Friday to include photos)

Hurrah for the studio - saved by a recycled bread oven!


When we were out shopping yesterday, Brendan got some new shoes.

New shoes are my absolutist most favouritist new thing to have.  I love how they smell, how they look in the box, I  love trying them on, posing in the mirror with them and most of all I love wearing them.  I was very sad to get home without a new pair of shoes for me, but then new shoes are really far down my list of things I need to buy.

Once upon a time in a land far far away, when I wore a boring grey suit to work and added up columns of figures for fun, I used to buy a lot of shoes, I mean a LOT of shoes.  A LOT OF SHOES.

In fact when we moved, and downshifted and switched lives with some French peasants from a century ago a lot of people asked me what I was going to do with all my shoes, I replied quite naturally that I was going to bring them to rural France with me - obviously.  What else would you wear when planting spuds in the rain in a muddy field, but some cerise kitten heels from nine west?  As for letting the chickens out, well I have a pair of 5 inch stiletto heels in a very fetching patent black with some contrast piping in turquoise!

I don't really need 200 pairs of shoes, these days I only ever wear my muck boots, and a pair of faux UGG boots as slippers.  I can't sell them though, one day I may need to wear a pair of cream sandals with crocheted flowers and a metallic sculpted heel - probably to plough the field with.

Foraging bags

What do you get when you cross a conference attendee's gift bag with an old tweed skirt - well a foraging bag of course.

A lifetime ago I used to attend conferences for work and these bags were being given out as you signed in full of bits of promotional blurb and pens. At the end of the conference I managed to scrounge enough bags to outfit my daughter's Brownie pack as well as her gym club, not to mention the hundreds of pencils the conference hosts donated to her school too.

Full of sewing enthusiasm after the other day's successful bag efforts, I set up my studio this morning, and got this tweed skirt unpicked and ironed flat ready to be sewn up into something new and exciting. As it was unlined and I did not have anything suitable to put with it, I took these cotton conference bags out of storage and thought I would jazz them up and turn them into foraging bags inspired by my friend's foraging basket search at the flea market last weekend.

The tweed was simply cut into panels as allowed for by the skirt pattern they came from, then sewn to the cotton bags, creating folds and tucks for useful pockets - notebooks and pens, maps, books, paints and brushes, gloves or a water bottle and some cake. I used long strips of tweed on the handles finished with a bow, some vintage buttons at the base of the straps then added some vintage lace motifs.

These will be photographed in full for listing on Etsy shortly.