100 Posts + GIVEAWAY + Festival Report

and sew it seams that this is my 100th Post!!

It's been a great little journey so far - I've "met" some great sewing gals and have enjoyed sharing my sewing adventures and learning about yours.

Before I announce a most fabulous giveaway to celebrate this momentous occasion, I'll fill you in on the Living Smart Festival from last weekend.

What did I wear?

I still had quite a few of the pant bits and pieces from this project, and I added fabric from daughter's outgrown Pumpkin Patch pants, I also used her satin belt for a strip within the other gores.

I made a Simplicity 2364 top from a superfine knit from Martin & Savage. I cut a 10 for the top as others had noted it was on the bigger side. It's a nice top, but next time round I would bring the front fold up a little higher. I'm not crazy about the skirt - it was a fun quick project for this whole recycling theme .....


Here is my friend Nicole, who was a fantastic help and a PR whizz! Here is our open air workshop area ....
Situated right behind us was the stage ... yes ... live music .... yes ... bongo drums ... I didn't know whether to talk about sewing or to teach a Zumba class!
The music was certainly loud and very distracting, but I had a small interested crowd .... the overall atmosphere of the festival was great!
Here is another quick project I didn't get the chance to blog about previously ... take one old cardi ....
and make a beret .... too easy!
Well, you've been a very patient audience and without further ado... it is my pleasure to announce a giveaway in conjunction with those at the Festival who entered on the day, you all have a chance to win this......

• The latest Threads mag (I accidentally received 2)
• A Nicole Mallalieu Day Bag Pattern - very versatile - very easy - very good!
• A Project Runway Brand Spanking New Sewing Case
• 2 pkts quality interfacing - one is a woven lightweight the other a lovely Soft Lite Weft
• 1 pkt Jeans needles - size 80 - not easy to buy - yet a versatile everyday needle (as recommended by Bernina)
• and finally a cute as a button PINK tape measure in a cute as a button little tin

Phew! Open to everyone - a GLOBAL GIVEAWAY!!!

I'll draw the winner NEXT Tuesday 21st September. Just leave on comment on this post - anything you like - and if you win you'll need to email me quick smart or I'll re draw!
Good Luck!

From Denim Jeans to Panel Bag

Every well dressed young Miss needs a fab bag to go with her fab outfit .... and this thoroughly modern Miss prefers to upcycle in the most sustainable way she can ....
Denim would have to be one of my favourite fabrics to sew with.... and sewing with recycled denim is even better - it's soft and strong and full of character.

My friend Nicole and I made this bag using her unwanted jeans. I was keen to try Nicki's new Panel Bag pattern and I was also keen to add a feature of the shrinking sheet effect that I have used previously.
I altered the pattern by adding 5cm extra length to the bottom panel pieces of this bag - I wanted to show off as much as the feature fabric as I could. The shrink sheet is placed underneath the feature fabric and stitched - I used a serpentine stitch with about 3cm gap between each row of stitching. You then steam iron with the iron hovering above the fabric - not touching - the steam makes the fabric shrink and shrivel right before your eyes.


Of course denim loves to be topstitched - I used this Guterman thread - it's an upholstery thread with a denim 100 needle - worked a treat ...


I reused the jean pocket for an internal pocket ...
Added the obligatory brassy rings ... and I also stitched on the jean tag - though it did rip a little as I tried to unpick it - but stitched it on regardless ... the red piping really highlights this bag ...

and a brass magnetic closure ....
And ..... where is she off to this weekend?

Some Trim, Pants Legs and a Jacquie E Halter Neck Top

My friend Nicole donated a big big bag of her clothing that she no longer needed to me. A few things really caught my eye ... firstly the trim that she had already cut off something else ..... that was quite easy to "rip" off the band of white fabric ....

Then there was a mysterious collection of pant legs - just the legs - canvas, linen, this n that ....
And a white halter neck top from the Jacquie E label.
I made a gored skirt pattern and cut some gores from all of the pant legs ...

This is a golden oldie ...

The seams were sewn with right side on wrong side - overlapping - I pinked the raw edge that was upper most on the skirt and the underside edge was overlocked.
I pinked around the hem line of the skirt and sewed the lovely trim on.
I then added the leftover trim around the V of the halter neck, and took up the hem of the top about 5cm and added the trim to the hemline.
Why waste good ribbon on those annoying hanging bits underneath? So I made a little flower which cried out for a red button in the centre.

Phew! Not long now .....

From Retro Tablecloths to Floor Cushions

By now you're very aware that I have been busily sewing for the Living Smart Festival which is on next Sunday at Speers Point Park. Today (Sunday) we are experiencing gale force winds that would probably wipe out any type of marquee or market stalls .... so thank heavens it ain't today!!!

I purchased some retro tablecloths from the Salvation Army a long time ago. I think they have a fair synthetic component in them and the print wasn't necessarily "on grain" but I had a go at making some floor cushions.

The first one I made was a complete disaster - I then read about covering the foam rubber with some wadding - which proved to be a very good idea - I also drew up a cardboard template for each piece of foam rubber - cause each one was just slightly different in measurement.


I used the border prints as best I could for the sides of the cushions and I used a plain fabric for the underside of the cushion.
I piped around the edges - just used a zipper foot to make and attach the piping - though I am wondering whether anyone has had experience with the Piping Foot for Bernina machines - does it make any difference???
On the last one - I got wise and added a carry handle .....
You can see how "not square" they ended up! and how I had to make some strategic fabric joins ... all part of the fun!
I used the longest invisible zips I could get my hands on - the cushions are about 55cm square.
This one is not part of the recycled family - this is some lovely Anna Maria Horner upholstery weight fabric - I had to restore my faith after the first muff up!
A little bit more upcycling to go ... then normal programming will resume.

Take 2 pillowcases ...

Pillowcases, Pillowslips??? Anyway these 2 came from my next door neighbour, they are very old and I suspect the applique was done by hand ???
Dye them a new colour ( I used Procion from Batik Oetero - just up the road no less!) and make a little pillowcase dress. There are tons of tutorials around for pillowcase dresses. I cut away an armhole shape from a previous pattern - made a nice wide casing for some elastic, and then made some bias strips to attach to the armholes that then become ties. The back of the dress is identical to the front - that's where the 2 pillowcases came in handy.


Of course, that is real cute, but I had some leftover fabric ..... a hat! I used this pattern:
and tried to copy the applique design for the hat - difficult to match colours etc but I did my best ..

Of course, I gal needs a bag to go with the hat, so I used the Evening Bag pattern ... I made the straps from boning covered with lightweight pellon and then covered with a strip of fabric pressed through the bias maker - not enough fabric to cut actual bias strips - but it did the job.
Actually it was difficult to get any of this on the grain as I was dealing with scrap pieces - but it all worked out in the end ...
Very difficult to photograph this little trio ....
And here are the leftovers - nah - need to STOP right here!!!
Re Use - Re Cycle - Re Fashion - come along to the Living Smart Festival - Sept 12!