Disasterous refashion

Once upon a time a girl had a pair of lovely green satin knickers.  They were a Christmas gift from some friends and in the sales she stumbled upon the matching camisole.  In a cruel twist of fate however, the camisole was only available in a size too small or several sizes too large.

"Oh no!" cried the girl.  "Whatever shall I do?"

She racked her brains and decided to buy the smaller top, thinking with her magic sewing skills she would be able to transform it into a camisole fit for a princess.  But it was not in the stars for our young heroine, as we shall see if you turn the page...



It's so beautiful

By now you must have guessed that I am the fair maiden in the fairy story.  I figured it would be a quick and simple refashion, unpick the side hems, insert some black lace and there we have it, a lovely matching cami for my french knickers.  How wrong I was.



My sewing machine HATED this fabric, even remembering to put on a fine needle didn't help.  The thread kept getting snarled up, the fabric tore at the drop of a hat and an accident with the iron left one of the bottom lace panels a bit frazzled and holey.



Font credit

When I finally turned it right ways out, I realised that there were several gaping holes and the hems were misaligned.  By this time I was too frustrated to continue so I threw it back into the pile of clothes to refashion (a sizeable pile) and swore loudly at the dog.  Since then I haven't got the courage to pull it out again, it might have to be a bin job because every time I catch a glimpse of that lovely green fabric I feel this knot of burning frustration in my stomach and I'm forced (FORCED I tell you) to pour myself a large glass of wine.  I hate throwing away fabric, even fabric scraps make me feel guilty since they'll just sit in a landfill site and rot away for the next thousand years.  But it's even worse to throw away useable fabric, just because it upsets you so much to look at it.

Any suggestions folks?  I'm going to hang onto it for a while and see if inspiratio strikes but I think this little guy's days as an item of clothing are numbered...

I have a craft room!

I can't believe it's been 2 and a half weeks since my last post, where is the time going?  I think of things to blog about all the time, I guess I need to start writing them down otherwise clearly I don't get round to doing it!  A Beautiful Mess recently posted 2 really interesting and inspiring articles about creating blog posts and planning them properly.  I actually already carry a little notepad round with me wherever I go, I use it for to do lists, shopping lists, things not to forget, it would be very easy to start noting down blog ideas.  We've also already got a massive whiteboard in the flat, so again, it would be easy to start organising the blog a bit better.  Hmmm...ideas to percolate on...I'm in no rush at the moment, just enjoying having a job and a real life for the first time in 8 years!



Which brings me nicely on to my topic of choice...I HAVE A CRAFT ROOM!!  This is something I've been dreaming about for years now, a room of my own to fill with fabric, wool and notions.  To have my sewing machine out permanently so I can sit down and sew for just 20 minutes if I want to, without having to go through all the faff and hassle of unpacking everything I need, then repacking it at the end.  To have my fabric and wool out on display, so I can be inspired by a particular print or colour. 



This all hinged on the fact that I don't need a study anymore, yay!  The box room was my study, meaning we couldn't use it for storage as much as we'd like.  A day spent dismantling furniture and moving boxes around and suddenly the box room is for storage and the spare room is an empty blank canvas to fill with craftiness!



What exciting things lie within?  Patterns, clothes to alter, batting, stuffing, embroidery hoops...


Andrew has his computer set up in one corner, which means I can sew and he can play computer games, 'together alone time' we call it!  The fireplace is now uncovered as well, so in the winter we can have the fire on while we craft and play.

Even the dog got involved, helping me sort which fabric was staying in the trunk and which was going on the shelves.



Ah, is there anything more satisfying and inspiring than a day spent organising your craft room?  It made me super productive too, I finished a So Zo t-shirt to vest and 4 stuffed hearts for my Etsy shop.  More on those to come...

Summer straw hat make over!

This was a really simple make-over of a 'straw hat with naff raffia flowers' to 'straw hat with awesome floral scarf'!  I've had the scarf in my drawers for about 7 years now, it was free with a magazine I bought in my first year of Aberdeen (I don't know why that's stuck in my head but it has.  I think it was my first 'grown up' magazine purchase i.e. not Just 17) and I've always liked the colours but never been sure how to wear it.



Apologies for the lack of proper 'before' picture, I didn't take one myself and the Marks and Spencer website has that stupid 'zoom in' function where you can't download the picture itself.  Stupid M&S, not letting me steal their photos for free... Hopefully you get the idea with the tiny picture though!  I really liked the classic floppy-brimmed straw hat but wasn't a fan of the raffia flowers, luckily they were held on with the minimum of thread, so it was a simple job to cut them off and replace them with this scarf.



A few stitches in the relevant places to stop the scarf slipping off and we have a winner!  I'm a big fan of make overs, an easy and thrifty way to update your look and reuse old clothes.  Perfect timing for the lovely warm sunshine Edinburgh has finally been enjoying!