My own brooch board.

~ Tuppence Ha'penny Vintage brooch board ~

Inspired by the above brooch board (instructions are blogged about here), last night I tried my hand at making my own.

I had a vintage frame, quilting wadding, and some red felt, and within minutes I had my very own board. While my vintage brooch collection is still very small, I am excited to have such a nice display for my dressing table.

~ Small beginnings ~

~ Brooch purchased from LoveMissP ~

~ 80's rainbow brooch purchased from WildTeaParty ~

~ Vintage brooch - thrifted ~

Sam xox

A thrifty refashion.

I am super excited about this blog post! Do you remember this pillow case I thrifted a few months ago?(If you look closely at the pile of clothes photo you'll see it poking out). I thought the pattern was simply beautiful, and for only 50c, I thought it a steal. I admit at the time I had no idea what I would actually do with the fabric, I mean, it was only a single pillow case right?

The lovely bundle has been sitting on a shelf in my sewing room for a while now, probably thinking it had been forgotten. Not a chance! Inspiration struck me today, and with a little courage I took to it with scissors and thread, and within an hour I had whipped up a cute autumn skirt.

The first thing I did was stitch the hem down. First reason being I hate hemming and figured why not get it over and done with first. The second reason was I wanted a straight hem line so I could line the fabric up with the selvedge of some neutral calico I wanted to line it with (I wanted to keep the selvedge on the calico and make it a feature, by letting it fall a few centimeters lower than the hem of the floral fabric

I then cut out two rectangles of neutral calico the same width as the floral fabric, with the hem of the floral panel sitting slightly higher than the calico selvedge. I then secured the two fabrics together using a large gathering stitch. I stitched the skirt together down one side.

I cut a long thin rectangle from both fabrics and sewed it together to form a thin waistband. I then sewed the waistband onto the skirt.

I then sewed in a side zipper and finished the side seam, and voila! My less-than-one-hour-50-cent-creation was complete!

~ That's calico popping out underneath ~

~ The calico lining ~

Drum roll please! As I was home alone and couldn't find my tripod, please prepare for a photo with a quality so bad it's really not worthy of being on a blog, but here goes anyway...

~ If you squint you can see the skirt on me ~

I am super impressed with how this skirt turned out. It was super quick and easy to make, and best of all, I don't think it looks like a pillow case anymore.

Sam xox

psst! Just wanted to wish my lovely Jamie a happy 12 year anniversary (of when we began 'dating'... not marriage. We didn't get married when we were 14) :-)

The Madeline mini bloomers.

I finally whipped up my first pair of Colette Patterns bloomers this weekend. These are the Madeline mini bloomers and the pattern is available for free on the Colette Patterns website.

I used a soft pink quilting cotton and some burgundy ribbon. I followed the pattern pretty loyally until I came to the leg elastic bit. Instead of the pattern, I sewed a simple tube hem and gathered very thin elastic in each leg. I then sewed some lace over the top of the hem stitching line, and finished it off with some ribbon bows.

This is a very easy pattern to follow and the result is a very comfortable fit. The bloomers do not cover a lot of leg (hence I did not model these) but the pattern could be easily adapted by lengthening the legs to make a cute pair of shorts, or even three-quarter pajama pants.

A pattern I will definitely make again.

Sam xox

Vintage decor.

If you are a lover of vintage decor you would love the apartment of a friend of mine. Every time I visit I feel like I've stepped back in time, and discovered a treasury of objects from years gone by...

Don't you just love that tea cup collection?

Sam xox

Monte carlos.

Seeing that the hot cross bun recipe was a bit of a hit with you all, I thought I would share another.

You see, there is a bit of a 'thing' in my office at the moment for Monte Carlo biscuits. Packets of these treats appear regularly during the working week, and are quickly consumed by us. We have a great appreciation for this biscuit, with one staff member committing to naming his first born son Montgomery Carlos in honour of this great baked wonder.

I found a recipe for these in my "The Country Women's Association Cookbook" (thanks mum!). For those who aren't from Australia, the Country Women's Association was formed in 1922 and is an organisation that aims to improve the conditions for women, children, and families living in Australia, especially those in remote and rural locations. It is our largest women's organisation, and currently has 25,500 members! Go girls!

Here is their recipe...

Monte Carlos

Cream 115g butter and 1/2 cup sugar in bowl. Add 1 well-beaten egg and beat well. Add 1/2 cup desiccated coconut and 2 teaspoons golden syrup, mixing well. Sift in 2 cups plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. Mix until dough forms.

Break off small pieces and arrange on a greased baking tray. Bake in a 180C oven for 15 minutes. When cooked, fasten two biscuits together with raspberry jam and icing.

Sam xox

Vintage knitted skirt.

What a lovely craft day! I spent time at Mill's place doing some sewing while she continued working on her vintage knitted skirt. This time I actually took some photos! Here is a photo of Mill's awesome woolen knitted skirt thus far...

Isn't she clever? She is following a vintage knitting pattern and is using circular needles. In the photo above Mill is holding the skirt the right way up, so the top bit actually has elastic knitted into it, to form the waist. The main part of the skirt is made up of thin vertical grey lines and at the bottom will be a number of star bursts then the hem.

The skirt is turning out to be really beautiful. The wool she is using is 100% and is beautifully warm. Mill is planning on lining the skirt to prevent it stretching when worn, and at the rate she is knitting, she might be wearing this beauty by the end of the month!

~ Mill baked some orange biscuits for us to have for morning tea ~

~ Recognise the bag Miss P? ~

I spent today making a muslin for my Simplicity 7032 scalloped jacket and skirt pattern. I have some beautiful pink gabardine fabric to make it from, but I wanted to be sure it would fit before I cut into my good stuff.

I made a muslin of both the skirt and top. The pattern itself is for a 34" Bust, which I am up top, but my bottom half measurements were larger than those printed on the envelop. Turned out though, the skirt fitted brilliantly! I am excited about this because it means I now have a vintage a-line skirt pattern that needs no modifying.

The jacket was easy to sew together. The scalloped edge was a bit tricky, and it didn't sit quite right. I have a feeling this was more due to the calico I was using than the pattern itself. But the jacket did fit nicely, and I am so excited to start cutting out the 'real thing' this week.

If the pink is a success, I might make another in royal blue... or red!

~ A lunch fit for ladies ~

In other news, to commemorate the end of daylight savings and the beginning of the cooler months, I had my hair dyed from blond back dark dark brown. I keep seeing bits of my hair on my shoulder and thinking "whats that?!" then I realise it's my hair... I am sure I will be used to it in a few days.

Sam xox

The universal language of sewing... almost.

I find it very exciting to discover, with the help of the internet, some wonderful sewing blogs written by fellow sewers in languages other than English. I love seeing their photos and admiring their different styles, and with the help of google translator I can most often understand the main points of the blog post.

Tonight though, I have to say google translator let me down. I was trying to read a blog about a sewn jacket, and this is what google gave me in English:

"...but it sounded a bit like more like a new species of choice but something you had on it, and say the woman who wants to associate himself with a whale?Apart from that, everything is great!"

After spending minutes re-reading the post and studying the pictures, I still cannot work out what was said...

Hopefully the weather will be kind this weekend and I can show you my new blouse!

Sam xox