As I was clearing out the cupboards ready for a new winter I came across some forgotten outgrown dresses that I couldn’t bear to throw out. I removed the gathered skirts which I attached to some old knitted tops that were too short to be worn by themselves but still fit on the neck and arms. I was pleasantly surprised by their reception! They will work well with some woolly tights or leggings and may even survive one more refashion or repurpose as the gathers mean there is plenty of fabric in the skirt to play with.

The finished dress

Well this old skirt in a beautiful floral poly cotton just didn’t work on my post natal pear shape anymore. So I marked and cut off a white camisole top, removed the skirt waistband and jiggled the width of the skirt to fit the white top.

It needed a bit of messing around to make it all fit but I LOVE how it turned out. It looks great on with a really flattering length and a streamlined figure. It really was a surprise, just need some pics of me in it.

Camisole top, all cut up

This pretty pink dress became rather unflattering on a post-natal shape so I decided to cut it up. The top portion became a ladies’ cami-top for the summer and the front part of the bottom became a cute little summer dress with a buttoned silk round neck. The silk fabric from an old sari was rather tricky to work with and needed a good lining to keep it together but even so, curvy sewing proved challenging but it looked lovely in the end. The model was unwilling to provide me with a good photograph (it looked stunning on) so I had to make peace with these on a hanger.

I got really excited about this project. A travelling board game with a difference. Made from old scraps and clothes. A little piece of patchwork quilting and some felt pieces that are held on with velcro. There’s even a handy little pocket at the back to hold all the pieces since they don’t all fit on the board at once. And its great, easy to pack and quite eye catching.

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So I had to try this again. This time a pure circle, no patches, no seams, just a covered waistband for extra comfort. Its so easy, done mainly using a serger. Most of the effort went on smooth cutting.

I had to try a circle skirt but decided to patch it in eighths from my daughter’s ‘grown out of’ clothes. Its simply patched with a serger and roll hemmed, then attached to an elastic waist band. Raw and simple. She loves it!

And my littlest one needed a pouffe too so I did a fishy one for him with an inner cushion and a patched zipped cover for washing.

I actually got ASKED to make something by a friend for some MONEY! Wohoooo! but then I felt bad to take money from my friend so I said I would not charge but she did insist so we agreed on covering costs – what a rotten business woman I am!

So this was the bunting I made for Reuben’s elder button in the same colours just mirror imaged.

I’ve never made a quilt before so I had to give this a try. Even though not a true patchwork quilt it was a lot of work and I’ve been learning along the way. I’ve used a printed patchwork effect for the front, cotton sheeting for the back and polyester wadding for the well, wadding.

Its not perfect as I didn’t follow all the rules about starting in the middle and working outwards but the it still looks good and I am especially pleased with the mitred corner binding as I have never done any kind of binding before. I even made the binding strips myself.

This was for the my son’s second birthday and he does love it.