Sunday, December 30, 2012

Robot Chair

The Chair - Before
and After
Bought this chair on trade me, some poor mother had spent hours upholstering it for her daughter, and her daughter sold it to me. I needed to update the floral cushion. have chosen a Robot design (well, found it in my stash and decided to use it up now before Robots are uncool)! Also made a robot cushion and pillow case.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Christmas Decorations

I've been making these for a while now as I knew that if I left it to December then nothing would happen. Have a couple of buntings cut out but only managed to finish one in time!
I'm not sure anyone else will appreciate the hand applique on the letters but it was good to do when I didn't want to do anything too challenging.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Home Sewn Icebreaker Jacket

I bought this great icebreaker material at the local fabric-a-brac. Icebreaker clothes are made of very cool material for outdoor wear. I'd been saving this material for a while, and decided to use it to make my first ever boys sweatshirt. Shows the importance of making something new out of cheap material first! The zip is even with the bottom and the pockets align, but it finishes an inch short of the neckline. Shows which end I started at! Its nice and warm, but I really should finish off the sleeves for wearing next winter. Still, if I wait till next winter to do the sleeves, it won't matter how much eldest son has grown in the meantime!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Dining Chair Upholstery

The concept for these was sound. Just didn't really work out in reality. Turns out the material is a bit slippery, so youngest son hates with a vengeance these covers, and pulls them off any time he can. So when they are not in the wash, they are on the floor. On a good note, the tall upright part of the cover works well, and it hides the lovely apricot colour of the current upholstery. On the other hand, I only used the fabric because I had about 10 meters of it, not because it goes with our colour scheme!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Captain Underpants

Captain Underpants - Just to show my versatility with Duct tape and black material, I made a captain underpants outfit for son's dress like your favorite book character.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Christening Dress - adding the glamour

My fabulous niece (ish) was getting Christened, and I volunteered to make a christening dress. I then quickly re-volunteered to bling up any pre-made dress that the mum wanted to give me! Went for cute rather than sparkle, but added in some home made broaches, one for big sister as well.

Green Jacket

The back of my refashioned green jacket. I left the bottom edges the same so it looks a bit full at the edges at the moment. Will go well with my new jeans when they get made!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

I'm signing up to Me-Made-May 2012

I've just pledged - 'I, Gillian sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavor to wear four home sewn or refashioned items each week for the duration of May 2012' . Tomorrow it will be the green and black checked jacket I refashioned on the weekend. I have taken some construction photos, but got distracted by two hours of trying to get my over-locker to work! Eventually re threaded it with four different colours and went back to factory settings. Finally rechecked my seam width and put it back to what I noted it was before I tried my rolled hem - and it started working again. Then both the needles broke. So I decided to leave it for another day. Put a heavier duty needle in and its working great now. Don't have the heart to change the threads back to the same colour just now so will only overlock the insides. I saw this great tutorial last night on how to add a kick pleat to a straight skirt, so am going to try it out on some winter material I bought on sale last year. www.afashionablestitch.com

Saturday, April 28, 2012

The 'it's only taken me 6 months to complete' top

I have been trying to get rid of those annoying things in life - the little niggles. So I set aside two days,and finally finished this top for my friend. This is what happens when you say, "I'll make you a top as a thank you"
and then agree to copy a top - without having actually seen the top in question. So first I had to learn to copy a garment via a night school course. Then figure out the sewing order, how to sew raglan sleeves, shirring elastic and rolled hems. Okay, if you look closely you can see I didn't actually roll the hems, I just overlocked them and sewed them on my normal sewing machine. I just wanted to get it done at this point as we were now at the end of summer... I quite liked the end result and it will be flattering, but it was a bugger to sew. Also finished off a couple of baby outfits for friends that are pregnant now just in case I get busy when it comes time to celebrating the new arrivals.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

I've found my inspiration for the lounge

 Unfortunately it is s only available from cittadesign.co.nz as aprons or tea towels. So I'm thinking cushions and canvas stretched print? Lots of colours to use as a jumping off point, and will go with the blue denim cushions I've made for the couch.
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Unfortunately, when I went to pick up the tea towel I ordered I realised that the bird figure was way to huge and would not fit on the front of the cushion. Also, husband thought I was joking when I sent the link through to him - not a good sign. So back to the drawing board for design inspiration - a delayed process as I gave up fabric buying for lent...