Easier-than-ever-to-sew maxi-skirt!

So you read the title and think 2 things: 
1) "So many hyphens!"
2) "A maxi skirt is already easy to sew, so what's she talking about?"

So I say,
1) "Hyphens forever!"
2) "By using a wrap-around skirt!!"

Presenting Exhibit 'A'

Is she gonna perform a magic trick? Disappearing act?
Is she wearing any pants??

This, my friend, is a wrap-around skirt from circa 1999...(oh 90s trends how I love-hate thee). To make a short story short, fab print, lousy functionality. Still, I wore a few of them back then.

So you say: "Now what?"
So I say: "Sew the 2 vertical open ends together - don't have to worry about finishing the seams since it's already done!"

Pin &sew

I keep talking: "Then you'll have a cylinder, so fold and sew down the waistband (accommodating the width of elastic you need to use and leaving an opening to insert the same). Insert elastic."

Elastic ready to go!

I continue: "Sew close elastic opening and wear immediately."
So then you say "That's cool!"

Hey wasn't there a different watch in the first pic?

And I say: "That's a wrap!" Get it???Get it???
Adieu till my next blog :D

Random Random Things and Craft Things - 2

Some more photos of random craft projects...

Handmade paper card + sketchpens (and a bit of cutting and sticking)....

...Then, leftover lace + thread + bag

equals bag makeover! .....

..... and finally, tin can + wine crate lid + white acrylic paint =

a cute little porch light by the front door :)

Come On Baby And Rescue My Bag!

Ah! After another long pause, I'm back! 
Sometime last year, I had bought what I thought was a real cute bag, smart-looking yet casual and small. Well, I guess I loved it too much. Check out what happened to it:

 Yeah. I know.

So anyway, I left it to collect dust for about a year since I couldn't bear to let it go. And then one day,

an unused dress gave me an idea. Look at it! Such a wicked print! But unfortunately, it never got worn because it was made from some bizarre-synthetic-itchy-something-unbreathable fabric. Bad news for me, yet I couldn't let it go either. Enter scissors. Enter fabric glue (bless!).

 It was time to combine the two into something new! (Rhyme-time or what!)

 Cut and paste to the best (fastest, rather) of my ability....

 Work in progress, people!

 

 Almost there!

Completed!!!! Does that look good or what!? So chuffed!
Have you got any bags to rescue? 

Random Random Things and Craft Things - 1

Hey look!Matchy-matchy!!!

 In case you're wondering, those be my bracelets from once upon a time: macrame!


A little gift I made for a friend:

 Until next time!

Repurposed - Oven mitt

A while ago, someone gifted us something I didn't quite understand. What was it? A table runner? Too short. A wall hanging? But it's two-sided. Completely perplexed, I turned to the internet....and found out that it was some thing called a garden flag. okay...I didn't really have much use for it, so let it add to my stash because it's cute, right?
Fast forward, possibly more than a year later, I recently got myself a cooking range, with a built-in oven, woohoo!! I've never baked before that, but I love it now! Okay, so I haven't tried baking cakes yet, but I hope to get there someday :). right, back to this garden flag. It occured to me that since this already had a layer of fleece in it, and was also made of cotton, I could totally turn it into an oven mitt! Perfect!!
I was inspired by Prudent Baby's oven mitt tutorial right here, but a bit lazy to follow it, so I just made up a pattern and carried on.

Here's the finished product: quick and easy! Well, except for a couple of corners...

And I also made some kinda-large kinda-coasters out of leftovers :)

Quickest project!

Today's creation is my quickest so far, not in terms of time spent on the project, but time between ideation(is that the word?) and implementation! :) Usually I write down ideas somewhere and delay working on them till much later - possibly months!
Anyway, this is a simple case I made to hold one of those reusable hot & cold gel packs :) I re-used fabric from a bag (from a hotel - used for hanging the morning newspaper in- that's why the "good morning" :) ) and some leftover ribbon (so that I can tie it around my wrist if needed)

And totally random, but there's a baby bird living in the tree outside my front door! So close!

Tutorial - New Insoles For Old Shoes

Aiite...so I love my ballet flats and use them till they fall apart. Unfortunately, this means there is tremendous likelihood that they will begin to look nasty. Now the outsides aren't usually tough to clean, not that I mind, but the insides....now that gets to me.
So, since one of my pairs of flats were looking gruesome, I decided... new insoles! Woo...
You'll need:
Old insole - to use as a pattern
Thin foam - I used what I had in my stash
Fabric - to cover the foam
and of course, pins, sewing machine, thread, pinking shears and/or scissors.


Here we go:
First I took my old insole and placed and traced (rhyme much?) onto the foam. 2 pieces, for 2 feet!

Next, I laid the foam sole onto my fabric (on the fold) and cut with a random seam allowance (ok, approx 1/2"). So now, I have 2 pieces of fabric, again, one for each foot.

Now, I thought I'd be clever and make this insole washable (good intentions, but unlikely to actually wash it in the future), so instead of cutting 2 pieces straight away for each sole, I decided to break the pattern into a pillowcase-style. So the second piece of fabric will be divided into  2 more pieces, with overlap, so that when I finish, I can flip out the casing, and slide the foam in. Confused much? Great!

Line up everything and stitch all! Right now, I really admire those who can write clear tutorials....

Turn inside  out yeah, through the flap

Slide (actually, squiggle and wriggle) the foam insert in.

Oh my god, we're done!

Put them in your shoes (throw out those old ones, hon!), put on your shoes and dance about!!

Are you gonna restore some shoes now? Tell me about it!

Macrame Bracelets

The other day I found a tutorial for an amazing macrame knot, called the Josephine knot...Totally charmed by the name and the look I made a set of bracelets in super summer colours...love wearing them together!

Edit 05 September 2014: I made a tutorial for you, check it out here!