new to me

These two absolutely had to come home with me, even though I felt they were overpriced at $4.99 each – I couldn’t resist.

This was more in my preferred thrifting budget – 99 cents. It is a nice size, but I still haven’t found the perfect spot for it. I don’t have much blue in my house, but I couldn’t walk away from this one either.

This sweet apron was also a steal, and I love it. The red and blue combination with the kitschy print just kills me.

I posted awhile back about how much I was digging (har!) mushrooms lately, and I was also in need of some new S& P shakers so this was meant to be. I am tempted to repaint the little dots on the mushrooms a nice bright white, but other than that I am so happy with this little find.

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One another, much less frivolous topic – I have donated a listing to this worthy cause in support of the people affected by the Australian bushfires. 100% of the proceeds from this listing will be donated to the Australian Red Cross. If you want to make a cash donation you can do that here.

 

 

 

 

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red is best

One of my thrifting finds last week was this great skirt. I fell in love with the pear print and had to have it. I think it is much happier now as a dress for Stella. I have been making dresses from skirts for a long time now – experimenting along the way – but with this dress I finally felt like I hit on a technique that worked perfectly for me. No swearing, no tearing stitches out, no wasting time, and it fit perfectly. The little tights she is wearing are warmies from the same thrifting run. I love it when I can find small ribbed sweaters in solid colours. Stella is so tiny that it is hard to make sweater pants for her that fit like tights. I love the way the bigger ones look, but I do like to use the smaller ones as tights under dresses, especially in winter.

I am uploading more sweater tights into the shop today, and hopefully some dresses this weekend. I attempted a model session with Stella but she wasn’t so much into standing still. She was all right for these dress pictures, but it quickly turned into a spin around in circles, jump up and down while shouting ” I wike to MOVE IT MOVE IT”  kind of session and I am not so into that.

These are some of the photos I ended up with. I am still struggling to get the perfect lighting with it being so dark out all the time. I keep ending up with shadows and a weird white balance, even when my camera is telling me it is the right settings. (Oh Film…sometimes I do miss you so.) These aren’t even close to what I am trying for, but for now they will have to do. Any tips for me would be totally appreciated!

These will all be listed today or tonight in my shop. Have a great weekend lovelies! Hope some crafting time finds its way to you (and me).

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I heart thrifting

It has been pretty quiet on the crafting front since Christmas, but after a very successful thrifting trip on the weekend I am beginning to get my motivation back.

Some sweaters waiting to become pants, skirts and hats. I have almost perfected my cutting technique so that I can get a hat, a pair of pants and a skirt out of one sweater. Almost. Some sweaters have a mind of their own, but I’m a stubborn recycler.

This little vintage coat is to. die. for. Seriously cute. I need to find the perfect fabric to make a new lining and it will go in my etsy shop.  I have a few more little coats like this to refurbish- Iguess I should finish them before winter is over!

This pile is some of the skirts and dresses I found on the weekend – destined to become aprons and toddler dresses. I am really in love with the red print. That one might have to become a Stella dress.

I am hoping to update the shop with more warmies and coats over the weekend. I will keep you posted!

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one room at a time…

 

I have been wanting to rearrange Stella’s room for a few months now, and this weekend finally had enough free time, energy and motivation to make it happen. I had quite a few handmade things that I had stashed away until she was old enough to leave them alone if I told her too, like this quilt on the chair, and the dolls on the dresser. The quilt is from my mother-in-law and I think it was made for her when she was  a girl. The dolls are Madame Alexander dolls that were given to me by my grandmother when I was little.

This quilt was my baby quilt, and it gets to hang on the wall because sadly it is a bit worse for wear. I associate this blanket with so many of my childhood memories. My Grandma Margie made it for me and it went everywhere with me for longer than I care to admit.

The curtain on the right is the closet door. Stella has a little fort in there with her dolls, and she likes to play peek a boo with the curtain. She also loves having the picture board in her room, and naming everyone in the pictures. This cubby shelf holds her socks, shoes, hats and blankets, as well as her books.

The dollhouse I found a few years ago in an antique shop. It is a bit too fragile for playing with, so it sits on the high shelf. I would love to find a vintage furniture set for it someday, but so far I haven’t had much luck with that.

These four dolls are the Little Women dolls. The embroidery in the back is a pattern from Wool and Hoop, and the bird is a little pillow I made a few years ago.

This embroidery is my favourite one of a set my MIL made for my sister in law when she was little. She has had all boy babies, so she was going to get rid of them if you can believe that! I gladly took them home with me and I LOVE them.  The embroidery is impeccable, and they are so special to Stella because “Nana made dose!” I took the original embroidery out of the slightly dated frames they were in and added the quilt piecing and binding around the edges. They are backed with a nice corduroy. I am really happy with how they work in her room.

This little deer was made by our dear friend “Ambers” for Stella’s birthday, and the Alice in Wonderland giant paint set is from my childhood. It had something like 100 different colours in it and we LOVED it when we were kids. I still love it, and it would be great to find a refill for it or something.

This is  a bird mobile that I made for Stella last summer when she was going through a bird fascination phase. It is just stuffed little birds tied to a tree branch.  Pretty simple.

I don’t know why we have never put a comfy chair in her bedroom before. It is one of those things that seems so obvious once you have done it, but it never occurred to me before. It has made everything cozier in there – putting her to bed, reading stories, comforting her if she has a bad dream etc. Much better than laying on the floor beside her bed or sitting in the hard rocker that we had before. Only took us two and a half years to figure that one out!

So..one room down. Only…uhhh…8 more to go. No problem right?

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projects on my mind

:: making caps for this project

:: getting ready for a little open house this weekend

:: doing some more online marketing inspired by this

:: doing something about the complete chaos that is my studio

:: baking bread that doesn’t weigh 5 lbs a loaf

:: update for the shop

:: numerous Christmas gifts since it is already coming up too fast

Also, thanks to a fruitful thrifting trip today I have these to work on:

Vintage toddler coats that I plan to fancy up like these ones

Vintage linen that I plan to make into some art for Stella’s room

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Non project related but also scored on my thrifting trip today:

I am counting the days until this fits Stella.

I heart apples.

This vintage colouring book is ridiculously large, CANADIAN, and as yet not coloured in at all.

This cape is vintage, British, child size and PERFECT.

What projects are on your mind these days?

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can’t handle the cute

Stella and one of her best buds modeled some coats for me today. The coats are vintage and had nasty fake fur collars and trims so I just spruced them up a bit. I think this is something I want to do more of.

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second chances

I was looking back through my photos tonight and thought I would share my top 10 ways to re-purpose clothing items into other items.  I have been working with recycled fabrics more and more, and I love the process of changing something into something else. I find it much more creative and challenging because each piece has different elements to work with, and each piece is a different process of designing and creating. Here are my ten favourite transformation processes.

1.  Adult Sweaters into Baby Pants

 

I make a LOT of these and they all come out so differently depending on the type of sweater. I have used all kinds of sweaters, all sizes, colours, textures and the one thing in common is how cute they look on those little baby legs. I love to put them under dresses and skirts, but they are really adorable on their own too.

2. Adult Sweater into Baby Romper

This project needs a very specific type of sweater, but when it works, it doesn’t get much cuter. Total seams: 3 plus sewing on the straps.

3. Adult shirt into Baby Dress

I have found this process works well with lots of women’s button up shirts. Basically, you just make everything smaller and take out the collar. Easy peasy.

4. Adult Skirt into Toddler Dress

For this dress, I used a light cotton skirt that had a lining. I added in pleats across the front and back until it was the right size, cut in arm holes and added shoulder ties.

5. Kid’s Skirt into Baby Dress

 

For this dress I used a kid’s skirt and just added a yoke to the top. Sometimes you need to take the skirt in at the sides, or shorten it, but this is a super easy project and works well with lots of different kinds of skirts.

6. Mini Skirt into Handbag

  

This is also a really easy upcycle. Take out any zippers, sew the bottom closed, and add in a lining and handles. I especially like to use skirts with pockets and pleats.

7. Skirt into Half Apron

The options for these are ENDLESS. Basic process involves cutting up the back, adding ties, adding pockets and embellishing. I have had a lot of fun with these.

8. Sundress into Full Apron

This is also an easy flip with lots of room to add creative touches. Sundresses with pockets in them are my favourites!

9. Skirt into Smock

This is a really fun process as well. I just add ties in the back and a halter tie at the neckline and then whatever embellishments I feel led to. These are my go to style of apron for everyday.

10. Skirt into Full Apron

This works really well with a fuller poufy skirt. I just made the bodice and added it to the skirt, cut the skirt up the back and added ties.

I hope this list inspires you to experiment with some recycling projects of your own! It was fun to look back over some of the things I have made. Now I need to start working on ten more ideas!

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new this week

Just wanted to share some new items with you. These are heading to Bo-Peep Boutique on Saturday along with some other yet to be made dresses.

I also have been working on some new designs for dresses from recycled shirts and skirts and such and this is one I am particularly happy with. This one will go in my online shop though.

What do you think?

The trim and printed ruffle fabric are new materials, and the body part of the dress is a thrifted shirt, one of those huge ruffly, mumu ones that don’t look good on anybody, lucky for me!

I just did a huge stock up of sweaters and skirts so there are lots of pants, aprons and dresses in the works. I just need a huge pile of time now!

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second chance

This is what happens to a vintage handmade smocked sundress when it comes home with me.

It turns into a flouncy little girl’s skirt and….

…a flouncy little girl dress.

It wasn’t put together very well, (which is the main reason I was OK with cutting it up) and so I had to resew most of it except for the smocking, which is surprisingly good considering how the rest of the dress was finished. I don’t have a serger and so I use French Seams to finish everything on the inside. It was a fairly long dress with a wide ruffle on the bottom, so I just cut of the bottom half and finished a few hems. This is the first time I have re-purposed a dress like this but I like how it turned out so much I think I will keep my eyes open for more dresses like this.

I like that the dress can go from a dress for a little girl to a shirt for a bigger girl. The smocking stretches out quite a lot and I think I put the ties where they will work for a bigger girl. I guess they could always tuck the straps in too and wear it strapless.

I added a ribbon ruffle to the bottom using grosgrain ribbon and I am quite happy with how it turned out considering I took the Chicken’s example and didn’t pin anything. Stella has a pair of pants that have a ribbon ruffle and I have been wanting to try it for awhile now.

I also added a little ribbon rosette with a button in a spot where the fabric (being vintage) was a little thin.

I think I am going to keep the dress for Stella, since I can’t help it, but the skirt is now in the local shop. I think it is about a size 5, give or take a few. (The elastic is pretty stretchy).

 

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thrifty goodness

Today, needing to get out of the house, I did the thrift store walking ”tour” and came home with some good finds. There is about 4 second hand stores all in walking distance and it is one of my favorite ways to kill a few hours. I find it totally doable even with Stella because even if she breaks something - I can probably afford it! I just load up the stroller and bring lots of cookies to distract the child. And today I brought Amber, my friend whom Stella loves dearly – an even better distraction than cookies! We walked out of one store before Amber, Stella thought we were leaving her and lunged over my shoulder for the door screaming “Ambers!!! AAAAMMMBERS!!! Pretty hilarious. So…here is some of the haul:

                                             

I love this vintage jewelry box. The music part still works when you pull out the drawer and the paper cover is in really good shape. It totally reminds me of my childhood and the little ballerina music boxes we all had.

                                            

I also found this great piece of vintage fabric. It is a heavy twill and I think it will sew up nicely into a bag or something. I also brought home some rickrack, some blue twill, embroidery hoops, a great little leather purse, and two more sweaters to make into warmies, and two bunk bed ladders that I intend to use for display stuff in the shop. Pretty good entertainment for under $20. And just to make my day complete this stack of fabric was waiting for me in the mailbox:

                                               

This is all going into halters and dresses for the other grad fashion show I am doing, and I am really excited to see how they come out. The one on the top is made of bamboo and it feels AMAZING.

We wrapped up our afternoon with a mini photoshoot on the deck since it was so nice and warm. It was great to hang out on the new deck finally, except for the part where Stella kept running straight for the edge of it where there are not yet railings.

Fun times, fun times.

    

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