Brenda Bingle's Bridal Bracelet.

Brenda Bingle was getting married and what better way to remember her special day than by creating a sweet little bracelet. What a beautiful bride she did make in her vintage dress, carrying her vintage floral bouquet. Sweet and demure she was pretty as a picture.

I started with this wooden bracelet which was getting old and scratched.

I raided my vintage card stock which I have been building over the years. Most of my cards date from the 1920's to the 1960's.

I cut a template of the wooden bracelet piece which then I used to centre and cut my card stock. For this project I used Mod Podge as I wanted a gloss finish. 

I think that Brenda looks divine.

Each wooden piece has a different vintage picture.

Sewing Machine Serendipity

For some time now I have been considering buying a new sewing machine. My Singer 5528 was purchased in 1986 and still does the job. I love my faded beauty because she is no frills and tough, but the poor little thing has yellowed badly with age and I have lost all my attachments. Therefore I have not refashioned anything that needs button holes or zippers. I was considering spending $200-$440 buying an up to date plastic, basic no frills machine when what do I spot on my thrift store adventures but a row of 6 sewing machines. Most of them were 1920's-1940's and totally gorgeous.....I was almost hyperventilating with excitement as I was in sewing machine heaven. I would have loved to have purchased all of them. Then out of the corner of my eye....what do I spot but a Singer 5530 in mint condition with all it's attachments. My eyes widened with excitement while my breathing became laboured and intense. There was a sticker on the machine that read "Victorian Knitting and Sewing Machine Repairs". I am guessing that all these machines were donated by this business and perhaps they have closed down although they are still listed in online directories. The Singer 5530 is pretty much identical to the Singer 5528, so I don't even have to learn how to use it. Serendipity I say. I am so excited now as I am going to be able refashion with zippers and buttons....what a bonus. I paid $40 for my Singer 5530 and I believe that it was well worth the money. To celebrate I am going to sit down with a cup of tea and savour my wonderful moment of sewing serendipity. Tomorrow I am going to reward myself by rearranging my sewing space....pics to follow then.

Bye bye Singer 5528......you have served me well, but don't despair. You will be loved again as you are now going to find a new sewing life with Charlotte.

"Sorry Horrie Darling" Jeans

I picked up a pair of Gloria Vanderbilt denim jeans at the thrift store a couple of years ago. They were a deep blue denim colour and they had a good amount of stretch that made them very comfortable. Now I am only 5 foot 3 inches tall or 160cm on the metric scale. Usually jeans are way too long for me but on this occasion I must have stumbled across the only pair of too short jeans ever in my life. The colour and the comfort factor made me turn a blind eye to the silliness of the too short length. Eventually I could not humiliate myself anymore by the length challenged jeans so finally I came up with a fix. Sorry Horrie darling, but another one of your ties bites the dust.

"Ssssh don't tell Horrie, but I have his navy blue tie with the orange embossed paisley pattern"

I have pinned the tie to the bottom of the jeans and machine sewn them in place.

As I wanted to add length there is an overhang of approx 1cm. This I carefully hand sew to the bottom of the jeans.

The legs end up with different widths of the tie. I have also kept the two pointy ends of the tie intact so they are a feature at the bottom of each leg. In this pic you can only see the thicker point but the other leg has the same side detail. This 1cm addition means the jeans are now great to wear with boots during our cold wet Melbourne autumn.

I can also be found at Penelope Hanger Refashions

Mother's Day Sunrise.....

Okay......so this is not a refashion.....but it is pretty spectacular. Mother's Day sunrise exactly as nature intended. Enjoy.

Horrie's Dilly Dally Mother's Day Scarf.

Just because the kid's have flown the nest.......well it doesn't let you off the Mother's Day hook Horrie. Thanks for the nice glass of home squeezed orange juice and glossy magazine. I am just going to stay in bed another hour reading my glossy magazine......so get cracking and don't dilly dally. Surprise me.

Well done Horrie.....how beautiful and you made it yourself from an old tee-shirt? Bravo!

Refashion Workshop.

Excited about holding my first Refashioning Workshop. This weekend I have started the process of getting everything together in a central place so I can see how many refashions I have done.

Yay.....the workshop is next week. Should be a lot of fun.

I wrote a couple of blurbs about the concept of refashioning that were published in the local community newspaper. The second story on this page is written by a local upcycler along with their pictures. Loving that red chair.

Refashioning is such an all encompassing activity that sometimes you forget as to how many refashions you have created...... To get a bit of clarity I have started pulling them out of my wardrobe and placed them in a central area for review. Here are just some that I will include in the workshop.

Tale of Two Striped Tees.

This is the Tale of Two Striped Tees,
on their own they would not suit me.
I do not wear stripes as it is not my style,
so I put them aside and thought for awhile.

What if I chop them and mesh them together,
one of a kind that I can wear forever.
It needs to be quirky, flirty and fun,
something to wear in the bright summer sun.

A frenzy of cutting, scissors noisy and loud,
Fabric flying making Edward Scissorhands proud.
A little snip here and a zigzag stitch there,
it was evolving quickly with pizzazz and flair.

So these two tees that were boring and frumpy, 
no longer make me look old and dumpy.
I love this tee as it is different and divine,
Au revoir all, it's time for a glass of red wine.

Love the flowers. Hate the two tone neckline and the long sleeves. Very bland and ageing.

Close up of my favourite feature, the quirky flowers.

More stripes.

Pinning fun begins.

Mid process. Once the green stripes were attached the tee was cut down the centre and then held together with a simple tie technique.I also cut away the blue striped tee from behind the green striped tee. At this point I am still working on the neckline and I have yet to start on the sleeves.

Finished tee with tie front. The neckline looks better with the buttons undone and that is how I would normally wear it. Shortened sleeves with lace attached to hide a cutting error.

Side view.