Savers restyle

 I found this black dress/shirt/coaty sort of thing at Savers in Dandenong a few months ago and decided that it was very 'me'. The only thing that I wasn't massively impressed with was the transparent lace panel around the waist. This stopped it being work-friendly as most of my colleagues probably wouldn't appreciate a belly button display...

Solution: a piece of black cotton stitched as a panel on the inside of the dress/shirt/coaty thing to prevent gratuitous belly button flashing.

Finished product.

Tie Flower

Here's one more configuration of the humble neck tie.

Basically they're made the same way as a rose ribbon with some stitches to hold it all together and a friggin' huge safety pin on the back. Those with more class may choose to use brooch pins, available to all at the sewing Mecca which is Spotlight.

Cost: $1 from Malvern op-shop. However many second hand shops are getting pretty savvy with pricing silk ties and they can set you back up to $8. I usually look for ones which are patterned, but won't teleport me back to the 1980's

Extreme close up!

Summer Skirts

The weather is heating up in Melbourne, so it's time to refine my summer skirt making skills. Usually with winter skirts, I make a half wrap on a diagonal and then sew it down (see table runner skirt for reference). But I needed a different design for a cotton skirt, so I used an op-shop skirt (bought in South Australia) which fits (but is a bit ugly) to draft the pattern.

For this trial project I used a $4 a metre material bought on sale from Spotlight in an Alice-in-Wonderland key design. It will be worn with my necklaces made from antique house keys and clock keys.

Rear view.

The pattern worked really well and I was on a roll, so I made another one using the same design with Lions! Material also on sale, but actually from the kids section. Big kids like lions too..

 But, I was also super fancy and drafted some big comfy pockets to sit just below the waistband. I had in the back of my mind a skirt I used to own from 'Quick Brown Fox' in this style before it (ahem) shrank in the wash.

Pockets!