Parcel Tape Bracelets.

Screen printers go through huge volumes of parcel tape. I collected a bundle of the cardboard inners from Visible Arts and decided to make some bangles.

I started off by Mod Podging a layer of fabric to the cardboard. It becomes quite stiff with all the glue. I smoothed down all the lumpy bits on the inside.

Using the fabric as a base, I wrapped lace around the tube to create different designs.

I used a hot glue gun to add felt to the inside of the tube. They were slightly too big on the wrist with just the fabric and lace, so I thought it would help make them a little comfier and also a better fit. I ordered a pile of different colour felt off cuts from eBay a few months ago to make felt badges so had a few colours to choose from to match in with the designs. I actually decided to make a feature of it and choose fun colours.

In case I don't get to blog again this week, Merry Christmas everybody xx

Re- vampery

So yesterday, in the wake of me realising I have to make a whole heap of stuff to sell on this market stall I'm going to be doing, I went on a revamping spree. I've been collecting old clothes from friends for a little while now; most people if they're having a clear out will give me a little nod to a bag in the corner to look through before they take it to the charity shop! It makes me very happy giving clothing a new lease of life, so I had a fun day. Here's a few snap shots of what I got up to, mostly adding lace to things it seems!

 

 

Skirts from Tshirts and Batwings.

I've always loved revamping and recycling clothing, so when Becca gave me a big pile of her and Dan's old clothes I knew exactly how to put them to good use. I thought the easiest way to make them would be to slice across from armpit to armpit, overlock the edge and then fold over and stitch down to create a channel for the elastic waistband. Tada!! haha

I kept the hem of the tshirt as the hem of the skirt, but added lace from my big collection to the edge. This is the only one I've made with the carousel horse repeat on it so far, I've just done it as a stripe down the front but I'd quite like to do another with it printed all over.

There was another purple tshirt but it had a big print on the front, so I decided to use the back of that for the front of the skirt and do the back of the skirt in a different fabric (does that make sense?). There was this great grey leopard print wrap around dress in the pile too so chopped a bit out of that!!

I was given a huge amount of fabric a few years ago by a friend who's relative had passed away and had a large collection that they wanted to go to a good home. I'm slowly working my way through it and still finding gems. The thing is I always look through it with an intent or purpose (whether I need a certain colour or type) and often don't look at it properly if its not what I need there and then! You have to, to be able to do anything else otherwise I could easily spend all day playing! In this case I went through finding anything that had a stretch to it and was suitable for the style of skirt. This first pastel stripe one is a thick Lycra and was really lovely to sew with, there were others on this post that were more challenging!!

I've made some really cool things out of this fabric before and I had just enough left to do a skirt. I actually made it last year maybe longer ago for myself but didn't wear it for some reason.So when I was searching for things to print on I knew this needed something else.

This is a lovely silky wool jersey. I think its the best colour, really jewel looking. The print is a darker shade and then the lace is a darkish bright green that I picked up in a charity shop in Leytonstone in London when I was visiting my sister one time.

This must be from the 80's, I'd love to know what the lady had in mind when she bought it, I'm thinking a suave polo shirt but I'd love a dress with a little with collar, really Fred Perry looking I think. Anyways I just went for a white zebra and this pretty scalloped white lace.

This one was awful to sew! The jersey is super lightweight and silky so I guess I should have expected it. I've already sold this one to my friend Susie who popped to see me at Buffalo where I was doing a little stall. Can't wait to see her twirling round in it.

This one has a different feel to it because the fabric is heavier than the others. It's definitely more of a sweater weight rather than tshirt but I loved the colours so wanted to include it. The pink frilly trim is really fun and came from the suitcase of habby I was given a few weeks ago. I'm realising I do get a lot of stuff given to me...

I also made a a couple of tops. I've made a few vests that aren't finished yet and I also made a couple of different sized bat winged tops. These 2 are the ones that are finished so far, but there are a few more to follow in a later post :) I used more of the blues and green stripe and added a wide pale pinky lace to the hem. The print is a water based pinky maroon that I mixed up, although it looks much redder in the picture.

The print is a drawing that I did not long after I left uni, the zebra is from the same sketch book. The fabric is really light weight with a bit of a slub in the weave. Its much shorter than the other top but I quite like the shorter style with the bat wing. I'm going to put all of these up on the folksy page so I guess which ever sells better I'll make more of.

This dress is one of mine that I picked up a few years ago but haven't been wearing recently, hence the update. I've used a white plastisol for the zebra which is an oil based ink as I don't have an opaque water based white and thought this would be better for the occasion. I usually prefer using water based inks as they're less harsh environmentally and also there's more scope for playing around with different colours as you have to wash the screen out after about 4 prints on average to stop the ink from drying and clogging up the stencil. Plastisol has other benefits as it doesn't dry in the screen so you can do larger runs of printing. Its the standard ink I guess for tshirt printing, but sits on top of the fabric rather than sinking in.

Vintage Pattern Vintage Fabrics - Heaven!

I had a treat of a job when Hollie from Broken Girls Club asked me to make her a collection of vintage dresses. Out of the pile of patterns I had recently been given she choose one she liked and brought me a big bag of beautiful vintage curtains, bed linen, fabrics and lacy trims to make them out of.

There were some absolutely stunning fabrics in the pile she gave me so I hope I've done them justice! These first 3 are a size 16 on the vintage pattern but nowadays sizes I'd say more like a small 14. They were all curtain fabrics so have quite a nice weight to them, like the original one I'd made.

The next 2 dresses are about a size 12. These were made out of much lighter weight fabrics and give the dress quite a different look. I think they seem a bit more casual but still sweet and would look great with a netted petticoat. The yellow and white one had to be the prettiest bed sheet I've seen in a long time.

Love the patchwork print of this duvet cover, translates really well into dress fabric. I've also made the next 2 out of the same duvet but using the contrasting fabric from each side. the pinker one is a size 12 and the white is the first of the size 10s.

Such a cute ditsy style print. The last two dresses are also a lighter weight fabric bit they were actually fabric lengths rather than duvets or curtains. The blue with double white heart repeat print is delish I really wanted to keep this one for myself. The skirt is super full, the most gather out of all of them; because of all the different types of things being used it was difficult to regiment the fullness of the skirts. The pink dress is a lovely brushed cotton with a small amount of stretch to it. I found some old turquoise rickrack in a suitcase so popped that on too.

Phew... so that's been my busy week! Pretty epic but I cant wait to go and see them in the shop in Morgans Arcade in Cardiff. Hollie's dropped off another bag of fabric and some vintage dresses with broken zips and sleeves to repair so she's keeping me super busy at the mo! all good x