1920's Costume

The theme for my husbands work xmas party this year is 1920's. It is being held at a hotel and it will be set out like a casino.
All the girls are a bit excited because we get to dress up. YAY!!
I was thinking of making my costume from scratch... some material, laces, fringing and bling and THEN!! ......I was hit by a bolt of BRILLANCE! and this is what i came up with.
I was originally thinking about taking the lace off the top that i didn't really wear and put it on a dress like NOIRIN did in her post (loved that idea!!) and then i thought...hmmm, if i attached that to a skirt it would be drop waisted (aka 1920's ). In the back of my wardrobe i had this silk skirt. Its hard to explain but is sorta rooshed (cant spell) with jagged hem. It was long so i cut if off and added it to bottom of shirt.
Then OFF went the sleeves. The lace insert and the top looked a little more "evening" with out the sleeves.
I then tottled off to the markets where there is a shop that sells lots of laces, fringing, patches, embroidery bits etc. found what i was looking for almost straight away and only took a few minutes of procrastinating to come to my final purchase.
Two lace inserts of 3 butterflies joined together $7.00
One elastic wide band thingo for dropped waist &3.00
SOOO very excited, i stitched them on. I used one butterfly panel to go down the centre front and then cut the other one in three and added another butterfly to the centre and one either side. i sewed them on a little uneven so that they would sit up a bit and flutter.
Thought i would hitch the side of the skirt up too so i made a flower (of sorts) out of the leftover sleeves and added some thrifted black beaded earings to centre for a bit of bling.
I found the head band at a store on spesh for $4.95 and thought that looked quite the cute.
Total price for refashion.....$25.00 YAY!! xx

Silk Scarf Wrap Skirt

Hey there........my stash of "collections" is slowly dwindling and being "repurposed" in to something that is more functional and purposeful.
I whipped up this wrap skirt out of 6 scarves and 3 mens ties. Quite a breeze to make altho that silk is a slippery sucker to sew!!. Used a silk scarf for each panel of the 4 panel skirt and lined the 2 back panels with another two on the inside to make it less see thru. I used one of the ties to make the waistband and the other 2 for the straps to "wrap" around. Its as soft as "silk" to wear... hopefully ill get a bit of wear out of this this summer instead of scarves sitting on a shelf looking pretty xx Hope you like it xx

Reinventing my Collections xx

My sewing/crafting vibe at the moment is focusing on using up my enormous stash of "collected items". I am a chronic collector/op shopper and a little bit of a hoarder so in order to show respect to my "found things" i am slowly re-purposing my lovelies into functional/practical and pretty items that can be used rather that just "stored" on a shelf.

I got the idea for the table runner from a post i found that someone had made a kitchen rug out of pot holders. OOhh i thought!! ive got a few pot holders.... . I thought a runner would be good because it can be functional and a nice talking point too. I stitched it all together using coloured wool and did naive stitching like cross stitches and little bows and knots. The photo of the runner on its own is pre-stitching and in the photo featuring both tablecloth and runner is completed.

Ive also made a table cloth out of tea towels and doilies (yet another collection i have ). all very shabby chic to fit in with my shabby chic tastes.
The pic of the table cloth and runner ensemble was from a "girlie dinner party" i had recently. So much colour and texture on that table!!! Everything looked so colourful and happy. Even the vegetarian feast and the plates (yet another collection) all worked in well together. What a great night we had!! xx

Now i just need to find a "functional" use for my buckle collection, button collection, tie collection, doiley, fabric.............
xx grin xx Kelly

Mona Lisa Skirt

Hi there.
Here's another fluffnnonsense post.
I've started making this skirt ages ago and then put it down... BIG mistake!! I've had a little bit of time these school holidays so i thought i'd get around to finally finishing it.
Its made from all recycled, upcycled and thrifted materials.
The Mona Lisa was a teatowel which was so beautiful i just knew it had to be featured in one of my skirts. The fabrics, ribbons, fringing and beading are all thrifted. I like to stick to just a few colours and add lots of texture into my skirts. Its wrap around and i use mens ties for the ties for extra cuteness. xx

shabby chic hankie curtain

Hi there....

The other week I found these hankies in the oppy shop. They had a big pile of them and they had all been lovingly crochet around the edges. I considered leaving some of them for others but ended up taking the lot! I had a plan!!!! A total bargain of 50c each hankie, the appreciation of the time and effort someone had taken on that edging was not wasted on me! They were coming home to be adored and cherished and displayed.

They were to become a shabby chic curtain for my daughters room. Firstly, I laid out the hankies into a pleasing colour way. Then I joined the hankies together by hand knotting each intersection of crochet. (i later discovered that this was easier by machine). The beaded fringing was new but on special for $9 a meter so that counts as thrifty right??. I had some crochet edging that i bought previously at an oppy and dyed it. I used this for the tabs and the bottom frill. The doileys were also from my embarisingly large stash.
I am soooo happy with how it turned out. Im going to take a picture into the ladies at the oppy where i bought the hankies coz they were curious as to what i was going to do with them.

Hi there, I'm Kelly, Ive been following this site daily and was a big fan and contributor to Refashion Wardrobe. Refashioning is how i roll! I love tweaking, refashioning, upcycling and anything crafty.
This is what i have for you today...

I bought this HUGE Kaftan looking thing the other day for $2. saw the potential.... this is what a made.. a little summer strapless dress with vintage buckle and a tie from a tie xx I may end up putting straps on it with the left over fabric ??? what you think??