Plodding on

Moving day is now only 5 weeks today.  EEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!

 

We're plodding on with the sorting and packing.  There's just so much stuff accumulated over the last 25 years and since I'm the only adult dealing with it (don't even get me started on that!!!) sometimes it feels overwhelming.  However, I'm being very ruthless and I'm letting go of a lot of 'aspirational clutter'  You know, the stuff that you collect for the life you aspire to one day.  Some of it has been very useful it helping me get started on this frugal lifestyle but some of it is just plain old clutter.

 

I've recycled, sold and given away a lot of things so far but now it's time to step up a gear.  Freecycle is getting a big listing today!  Time is running out.  Out of the next 35 days I'm not going to be here for 11 of them due to events planned long before the move.

 

One of those events being a family wedding in Stornoway.  I bought the above fabric online (risky I know but I can't spare a whole day to go to my favourite fabric shop in Glasgow!!)  It's a fine cotton lawn style fabric in beige and black.  I'm planning on making the dress with a black bodice and a large polka dot skirt.  I just hope I have enough time to finish it!

Finally, just a wee note to say I'm now a contributor on Refashion Co op There are a lot of very talented folks out there and I'm so chuffed they've allowed me to join :-)

Procrastination

Yeah yeah, I know.  I should be sorting and packing but that's dull.  Today I made a dress :-) 

I put in a zip.  Not my best effort but no worse than some shop bought dresses I own!!

I love this style of dress. It suits my pear shape!  Pattern is Simplicity K2444 and fabric is some old cotton my mum had.  It's a mock up (muslin) of the dress I want to make for the wedding.  But it's so bright and cheery I might just wear it anyway.

Ok, back to packing and sorting!

Packing

Hmm, this packing malarkey isn't going as well as I'd hoped despite help from Emma.  So far all I've managed to pack is my knitting stuff.  For me knitting is a winter hobby, clicking away as I watch TV in the evening so I won't need it between now and September (although I haven't packed the socks I'm knitting, they're a great portable project for waiting rooms!)

But I'm having a wee bit of difficulty with my sewing supplies.  Mostly due to the fact I'm in the middle of several projects (including a corset for my friend's 40th) and I've decided to make a dress for a wedding next month.  My sewing area is rather a mess!!!

I've narrowed down my dress for the wedding (which will be in Stornoway) to these 2 patterns. 

And I'm sure I've some suitable fabric in there.  Somewhere!! *sighs*

I've also been playing with paint.  Have a look on My Upcycled Home blog.

Refashioned clothes

Remember that plain white shirt? Here it is after dyeing it red.  What I didn't realise was that the thread wasn't cotton so it stayed white!  But it looks good with the white contrasting against the red.

I cut off the big collar and left a small mandarin style one.  I shortened the sleeves.

I removed the buttons hoping to replace them with red ones but I didn't have enough in my stash.  So I had to sew the original ones back on!

Can you tell I'm rather pleased with it? :-)

Remember this shapeless dress?  I unpicked the back darts which were in a weird place and chopped the bottom off.

Summery floral tunic style top!

An M&S cotton wrinkle dress 2 sizes too big, weird colour combination and one of the straps was actually sewn twisted!!  I removed the bottom layer and re jigged the straps.

I would have liked to alter the bodice but it's asymmetrical and one side has a zip.  Don't think I'd wear it in public but good for pottering round the garden.

None of the above cost me a penny as they were all donated by my lovely mum.  Even the red dye was free!

Can't beat free clothes :-)

Spotty Dress Refashion

I finally got round to finishing taking in this dress.  It was 2 sizes too big so it was an easy fix to take in under the arms.

Since I'm a classic pear shape (ie hips much bigger than bust) I didn't need to alter the skirt part.

It had a belt that was rather flimsy so I used it make a matching flower with a big button from my stash following a Youtube tutorial.

It kinda gets lost on the dress so I'll probably wear it on a cardi or jacket so it gets noticed.  If you look closely you can see the Teenager reflected in my sunglasses!!

I love this dress.  It's just a simple cotton one but it's lined and now it fits me perfectly.  Plus it was free :-)

Sorbetto and other free clothes

Inspired by The Great British Sewing Bee I finally got my act together and started stitching again.  Blogland is full of lovely sewing blogs and websites and I've spent a few months procrastinating, collecting stuff and planning on how to expand my wardrobe without spending a lot of cash.  My annual budget is just £120.  So far so good.

 

So, the Sorbetto is a free downloadable pattern from Colette. www.colettepatterns.com Very popular in blogland and had great reviews so I duly downloaded it and made this from a remnant piece of fabric!

 

It's far from perfect but I love it!  In fact I finished stitching it this morning and am now wearing it :-)

I wanted the finish to be of a high standard so I dredged up memories of Home Economics at school (think I'm the last generation where girls were taught sewing and cooking and boys were taught woodwork!!) and did French seams. I thought a contrast bias binding would look good but in retrospect I don't like it.  I made bias binding for the arm holes and did bound seams (kinda by accident as I stitched the bias binding on the right side by mistake!!)

 

I think it looks good from the inside too :-)

 

I need to wait for the teenager to come home and take a decent pic of me wearing it but hope this one shows what it looks like on me.  Next time I'll make it longer (I have a long body!!) and take it in an inch on both sides under the arms as it gaps a little.  It fits nicely across my back.

This is my next project. My mum was having a clear out of her wardrobe so I acquired several black bags of clothes.  This flimsy flowery dress from Asda does nothing for me so I'm going to alter it into a tunic length top.

This is a lovely lined dress. It's got a Target label and cost $49.99.  Mum doesn't remember buying it or how she came to have it!! It's 2 sizes too big for me so I'm going to take it in.

So from the above I'll have 2 tops and a dress and it hasn't cost me a penny!