DIY FashionFree Sewing Patterns

Linen Paper Bag Waist Skirt

I think that grey is a very under rated colour.  I much prefer it to black, because it goes with just as many colours, but it looks far less boring.  So whilst I have been on my grey bandwagon, I came across 4m of grey linen on ebay.  It is just thick enough so that you don’t need to make any lining, but soft so that it gathers nicely.

Gathered skirts are probably the easiest item of clothing to make, but to give myself more of a challenge, I have made a paper bag waist skirt with a triple hem.  Oh, and it also has pockets!  I used Freshly Picked’s pocket tutorial to insert the pockets.  For the skirt itself, I just fiddled around with two long rectangles to come up with the design.  It’s one of my very first projects where I made the pattern myself – I’m pretty happy with the way it has turned out!

LifestyleRin's Life

My Best Vintage Finds in 2010

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family  and friends.  This year is going to be a year of frugality, Dave and I  have decided.  Hence most of my clothing purchases will be vintage!

My  wardrobe is a mishmash of new purchases, things I have stolen from my  Mum, and vintage finds from various sources.  Walking into a vintage  store, op shop, vintage markets or a church fete, I am like a child in a  candy store.  I get really excited about the potential treasures I will  find, and will and have spent hours trawling through other people’s  “trash”.  For many years now, I have collected pre-loved clothing, and  when someone asks me where I got something, I often have to stop and  think about whether something was a new store purchase or a vintage  find.  I love that vintage finds are truly unique, and I play games  sometimes, thinking about what kind of person the previous owner may  have been.

These are my my favourite finds in 2010:

Red dress $20

Red was never a colour I chose to wear.  That is, until I found this  dress at a market in Brisbane.  With polka dots and a bow collar, it’s a  vintage classic and I am so glad I bought it.  I now have an exception  to the no red rule;  dresses and accessories excepted.

Blue dress $20

I haggled for this dress and the red dress above together.  Four words  came to my head the second I saw this dress, “500 Days of Summer”.

Celine Bag $3

I have heaps of bags, but this bag has been on high rotation.  It is  just perfect for shopping trips, and looks good enough to wear out at  night for some dancing action.  I could not believe my eyes when I saw  that this bag was Celine.  I grabbed it because I loved the size and  shape.  It had a bit of mould on it, but nothing that a bit of warm  water and sunlight couldn’t fix.  This purchase definitely made my day.

Pendant necklace 50c

Jewellery is a great introduction to vintage shopping, because you don’t  have to worry about the fit.  This pendant is a great statement piece, I  wore it a lot over winter over a turtleneck sweater.

Leopard pants $4

I took a giant leap of faith when I bought these loud pants without  trying them on.  Turned out pretty good in the end.  I cuffed them and  made belt loops for a tailored fit.

Black blazer $3

Buying a blazer and having it fit you like a glove  is unheard of, even if you are shopping for new stuff.  That’s why I am  so amazed by my luck in finding this tuxedo style jacket.  It was a  market find, and I tried it on without being able to see myself in a  mirror.  Dave took a photo for me on his mobile phone so that I could  check myself out!  I wear this blazer with everything, but my favourite  looks is to wear it with a girly, floral dress to mix it up.

Kids & Baby

Handmade Christmas Gifts – Little Girls Clothes

I’m so sorry I have in MIA (missing in action) lately.  My weekends have been consumed by Christmas present making, I haven’t had a chance to update my blog!  The good news is, I have heaps to write about.

First up are these skirts and baby pants for my nieces.  I used a free online pattern from two Japanese sewing websites.  This is actually the first time I have made clothes for kids.  I can see it becoming a regular occurrence, because it is so quick and easy and you only need a tiny bit of fabric.  It’s a good way to use up fabric remnants too.

Have I mentioned how much I love my overlocker?  It truly is life changing; I am so much more efficient and my sewing looks very professional!  I’m so glad I did the 4 week overlocker course.  I used four threads to overlock all edges of the following three garments.  This makes the clothes strong enough even for cheeky kiddies.

Gathered skirt for 4 year old and Baby pants
This set is for two sisters, I thought it would be cute for them to be wearing matching bottoms.  The fabric is a candy striped flat sheet I bought from a charity store.  More and more, I have been trying to exercise upcycling with my sewing.  You can make so many things from one single size flat sheet!

The skirt and baby pants patterns were free Japanese patterns from the NaniIro textiles website.

Red tiered skirt for 2 year old
I made this red skirt out of three different fabrics, one of which is quilting fabric.  I have discovered how to do gathering on the overlocker, so making this skirt was such a breeze.  I can’t wait to see the girls in their new clothes.

Have you been sewing anything to give as Christmas presents?

DIY FashionSewing Pattern Review

Burdastyle Andre shorts with back pockets

This is project number 2 in “Let’s make stuff for my boyfriend”.  Unlike the first project, the knitted scarf, which Dave never wears, these shorts have already had a few outings.  Yay.  Based on Burdastyle Andre, these lightweight cotton shorts fit in perfectly with our Aussie beachside, laid-back, shorts and flip-flops lifestyle.

I lengthened the leg by 20cm, and added two back pockets.  The pockets are big enough for Dave to carry his wallet and phone, because otherwise, I highly doubt he would wear the shorts at all!  I feel like the pockets could have been stitched a bit closer together, but overall I’m quite pleased how these shorts turned out.  Lucky for me, Dave, my Dad and my brother are all the same size, so I am going to make shorts for my family as Christmas presents out of the same pattern.

LifestyleRin's Life

First Overlocker Lesson – I want to make a wrap dress

Last night, I went to my first overlocker lesson.  It is a course that goes for 4 weeks, and at the end of it, I should be pretty confident with my machine, apparently.  I have absolutely zilch experience with an overlocker, or serger, so anything my teacher could teach was going to come in pretty handy.

The first lesson was about taking care of the machine, threading it (!) and learning how to adjust stitch length and the fabric feed.  Threading the machine was so hard.  It is so fiddly, you actually have to use tweezers.  I managed to misread the instruction manual and thread the needles the opposite way as well, which means my classmates had to wait for my teacher to work out what I had done wrong.  Sorry ladies.

In the class, we will also be learning all the different types of hems you can do, and we will make an overlocker cover and a lingerie bag.  How exciting.  Our teacher says the first lesson is the hardest, so I am really looking forward to next week.  Come to think of it, the hardest part of last night was carrying the damn machine from my car aimlessly around the building, trying to find the right classroom.  It seriously weighs a tonne and I had to keep resting so my arms wouldn’t fall off.  Thank goodness I’ll know where to go next week.

Our stylish teacher was wearing a gorgeous Charlie Brown jersey wrap dress, which she purposely wore to show us the various overlocker stitches on the dress.  It made me appreciate wrap dresses more and I plan for one of my first projects with the newly acquired overlocking skills to be a wrap dress.  Like this one by Halston Heritage:

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