The Final 'New Dress a Day' challenge

Today is a sad day for upcyclers everywhere with the final day of the gorgeous Marissa Lynch's 'New Dress a Day' challenge.

This girls is a complete inspiration and if you haven't been keeping track for the past 365 days, don't worry, it's all archived here:

http://www.newdressaday.com/


Day 365

Before

 After

A bit of tweaking...

This is not my most dramatic or creative posts, but I am secretly proud of this upcycle. Often you buy something which is a fantastic piece, but there's a small aspect that makes it incredibly unflattering and consequently unwearable.


I found this jacket at an op-shop in Victoria St

 and fell in love with the buttons!

 It cost this much, but it was made by one of my favourite designers and would usually sell for at least $200 dollars

 This is why is was still at the op-shop:

 From the back this rutching looks ok...

But when I put it on Genevieve: instant hunchback!

 After examining it from every possible angle, I decided to deal with the problem by unpicking the back shoulder panel thusly.

I then also unpicked the inside lining, gathered up all the excess material and sewed a new seam.

Shoulder baggage begone!

 I also took some of the buttons off the front and placed them here to liven up the back

Finished product modeled by Genevieve and photographed by slightly smug self.

'Sold as is'

Q: What do you do when you find a gorgeous RED Chinese top in an op-shop and it only has one out of a total of five buttons left?

A: Grandma's Button Box to the rescue!

The top come with a little tag which said 'SOLD AS IS'. This might have discouraged some people, but I had stowed away a tube of sparkly black buttons with a diamond-cut look which were just right for the job. Originally I had the feeling that they should be sewed onto some sort of cocktail dress.

But they looked at home on this number.

Mystery Jewelry Jar - Part 2

So what did I do with the contents of the mystery jar of broken jewelry from my last post?

Project #1

There was a plain silver snake chain in the jar which just needed some cleaning up with a silver cloth. To this I attached a paper crane which I speared with a long silver jewelry pin.

 Close up!

 Project # 2

In my jewelry box I had a beautiful moonstone necklace which my Mum bought me in London. It was one long set of beads (which I don't really wear) so when it broke, I decided to give it a style revamp.


First I attached the broken end to a new place on the chain, leaving a bit of dangle.

 This sweet little horse also came out of the mystery jar, but was being overwhelmed by the large brown beads it was attached to. I freed it up and hooked it up to the end of my new look moonstone chain.

Beautiful, but so delicate! I think that it was originally made in India.

Upcycling Supplies

Here's a quick tour of one of my favourite op-shops in South Melbourne.

 The upcycler can also view thrifting as a means of gathering inspiration, supplies and items to reconstruct.

The $1 bin is a great place to find things to cut up and remake. See it as a fabric remnants bin.

 Ties for making into...pretty much anything.

 Jewelry to remake.

Somebody else's upcycling project!

My Loot?

Furoshiki Skirt

Well here's one from my archives. My FIRST EVER (successful) attempt at upcycling from 6 years ago.

The front panel of this wrap-around skirt is a piece of Japanese cloth called a furoshiki which is traditionally used for wrapping food and gifts. I found it in an op-shop about 9 years ago and knew that eventually (when I learned to sew properly) that it would turn into something awesome. The op-shop was in the Adelaide Hills, which is a veritable treasure trove for thrifting. My Mum and I do an annual pilgrimage to Adelaide each year in December, so stay tuned for some kick-arse photos next month.

The sash for the skirt is a men's tie which is hideously ugly by itself, but matches the mustard tones in the furoshiki perfectly.

Placemat Phonecase

Well, after seeing my brand new phone case, Cam asked me to make him one with a more manly aesthetic. He also has a new phone. I won't tell you what happened to the last one, but it involved a flushing toilet.

The fabric he chose from my collection had been a table mat in a previous life, but it had a gorgeous purple and green pattern of grape vines which suit him perfectly.

 Grape vines grown in our front garden by Cam.

Half a table mat pre-upcycling

 Reincarnated as a durable, but unfortunately not waterproof, phone case.

The Further Adventures of Grandma's Button Box

Button Necklace/Three Strand Bracelet

Featuring: Grandma's Button Box.

While I'm not really into whites, creams and beige, I've been noticing the incredible beauty of mother-of-pearl style buttons and decided to make a necklace using these and some muted shades of gray and black. Of course, REAL mother of pearl would be lovely (see below) but as Grandma's button box didn't stretch to that, I had to settle for some completely acceptable imitations.

 They all had to be fairly small buttons as I only had a packet of medium sized jump rings.

After hooking the rings through the buttons, I added an extra link to make a chain effect and finished the necklace with a small lobster clasp.

 Close-up on Genevieve's elegant swan-like neck. She could model for a late night infomercial channel!

And if you're not a necklace kinda gal, you can always wear it as a bracelet.

Bob the Builder Gets Renovated

As my nearest and dearest know, making gift cards is one of my favourite forms of upcycling. The cardboard I use is generally cut up cereal or soap boxes and the decorations comes from my VAST collection of ephemera.

I was almost at the end of my stash of cards (made several years ago) and with Christmas looming on the horizon,  I was looking for a quick and easy way to stock up my supply.

Exhibit A: Box of 'Bob the Builder language flash cards found at an op-shop.

Originally used to teach language vocab.

 These are some of my favourites.

With the aid of some double-sided tape I covered the back with plain card and trimmed it.

 Result: a set of gift cards which only need holes punched in the corner and some ribbon attached.

The game box also got a make-over with the addition of a happy, munching cow.