More Magnificent Op Shop Finds

Remember that 20 cent broderie anglaise I posted about a little while ago. Here is what became of it:

Matched with a little blue floral and plain blue cotton (and lined with some other cotton) it became a delightful little girl's dress. Op Shop sewing is my new favourite thing and a couple of weeks ago the sewing stash increased with more wonderful op shop fabrics.I intended to post about it and took a few pics, but time got away from me. In the meantime some of the smaller pieces were turned into things. Highlights include:

 This large piece of thai silk. It has been hemmed around the edges so it has taken up residence as a lovely table cloth. Yes I know it is a little bit posh to use thai silk for a table cloth - but it was only $2 so I don't feel that guilty.

These pink beauties haven't been used yet, though the houndtoothish one is earmarked for a dress, and the paler pink number for a skirt. The top one is over 3 metres by 90cms wide, while the bottom one is over 4 metres by 112 cms wide! Neither cost more than $4. Bargain prices for amazing vintage fabrics.

 And just when you thought it couldn't get any pinker it is time ... for some more pink:

This cute pink gingham was purchased for the princely sum of a dollar. It must have had a bad turn with the iron because by the looks of it, it used to have a former life as seersucker cloth. It had a few bubbles to it but these had lost their groove. It also made it a little stiffer than other fabrics but I thought it had character. It served its intended purpose well - as one of the dress I submitted for the Dress a Girl Campaign. I know I've said it before, but it is a great cause, so go check it out! I used this pink dress to practice button holes, and added a few bits of trim and patches I had in the stash.

Don't worry, it wasn't all pink as you can see by the assorted collection below:

 Most of these were at least a metre in length, and ranged in price from 50cents to $2. A quick wash and they were good to go. Some were used as lining. The grey is earmarked to become a work dress. The brown stripes became pyjama pants (intended for the lovely other half but were so botched by my lack of sewing skills that they remained as mine.) Most of the other fabrics also became (or will become) girls' dresses. Wanna check them out? Well you can't, because that's for another post ... but if you really must know the blue dress at the beginning of this post was also submitted. Along with 18 others!

Dressed for Success

I'm currently knee deep in tartan material and a skirt sewing pattern that has me puzzled. I'm sure I'll solve it soon, but I'm so new to using paper patterns that is can be a bit overwhelming. I thought, in an effort to regain my sewing mojo I'd show you my recent sewing success(es). I fell in love with this tutorial, it is a fat quarter dress and uses up the small bits of fabric I have lying around the place.

First I made a practice dress, sized for an 18 month old, with some awesome leftover fabrics. It turned out so well I'm going to hold on to it to give it to one of my friend's daughters one day.

This was the first time I had top stitched, and it was a great dress to learn that technique. I also made a lined version, adapted from the pattern but not following their lined version (which looked wonderful but seemed a little fussy and I thought my tweaks would work ... they did.) The lining is the same as the hem colour (a light blue floral on one side, dark blue on the other.) It is one continuous piece each side, attached to the same hem join as the original pattern. I can't describe it very well but suffice to say it did the trick.  Not the best photo just you at least get to see the colours.

I also used it yesterday, to make this dress, size 5 for a friend's daughter. Pattern with a purpose, let's just hope it fits.

Not bad really. The tutorial was excellent, and helped me learn a few pointers about sewing, like topstitching and serging edges.

 The only problem is, now I'm addicted to this one pattern! And I don't have any kids of my own so it is almost a little creepy to be making them. It isn't that I'm clucky, or that I want kids yet, but I thought if I cut my teeth on little people's clothes then if I made a mistake I would waste far less material. The lovely other half agrees, and instead of being freaked out by my toddler clothing making binge he supports it. My sewing space shares the room with his computer so it also means we get to hang out in close quarters while he smashes cars or shoots bad guys (or writes thesis) and I sew to my heart's content. And now that I have the hang of it I feel almost confident enough to tackle a me-sized article of clothing. Hence the skirt, though the pattern fiasco is putting me off a little. I'll let you know how it goes.

I have sewn a few other things lately. I finished my Mum's pressie, but wont show it here until I've given it to her. I also finished the lovely other half's apron, with beer fabric and a fabric I had printed which is little mariokart figures. He loves it!

 

 A couple more bags have joined the fold too, a magnificent flamingo one (I've already worked out who I want to give this to, I just have to get it to her) and a Frido Kahlo one which is just glorious. I'd give this to my Mum but she already has so many of my bags she mightn't want it.

Ok, back to the drawing board, well in this instance the cutting board to tackle that skirt. At any rate, if I stuff it up it is only opshop fabric I am ruining. And check out this opshop fabric haul I got the other day. Seven different fabrics ranging from 1 metre lengths to just over 2 metre lengths in a couple of cases. Altogether it cost just under $10, and included another couple of metres of yellow cotton (not pictured) as well as the awesome lace. I'm using the two metres of tartan for today's skirt.

And no, this isn't a sewing blog, it is still my teetotal 2012, it just seems I've replaced one addiction (social drinking) with a new one (sewing.)