My life as a fairy-tale

Images from: 1. Olivia Malone 2. Olivia Malone 3. Romantics 4. Girl Meets NYC 5. crazyfor-you

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm so very excited, because I was lucky enough to receive something I have been craving all year: an overlocker!!! I can't wait to set it up, I can finally lay double-turn hemming every single peice of material to rest.

I've been really inspired by these photos to attempt to make a cape this week. I'm not sure if I want to make it a complete costume peice, or attempt something actually wearable. I have a couple of vintage patterns I was thinking of altering, and I was thinking perhaps a short elbow length hooded cape with front-fastenings to wear over dresses?

Image from: imdb

Where The Wild Things Are has also inspired me to make a cape similar to Max's wolf-suit, in long white and grey patterned fur, with a hood and perhaps some kind of animal ears. My only problem is I'm a little worried about transferring this idea into any kind of wearable garment. But I'm really excited to attempt bringing the cape into my normal wardrobe (despite the fact that its summer and absolutely boiling here in Melbourne), or making it for my next costume party!

Let me know about your lovely Christmas presents or sewing ideas!

xS

Trish Hunter Finds

Yes lovelies, I know its been months and months and months since I last posted anything, but I had to quickly share this super awesome link with you.

I discovered this blog through a fateful article around logies time in the mX (sorry to any non-Aussies who wont understand the references), and it has since become one of my favourite distractions. This girl NEVER stops vintage shopping!!!

Now, Trish Hunter Finds is celebrating the opening of her new online store, filled with lots and lots of reasonably priced vintage goodness (theres a tooled handbag there I particularly have my eye on). You can visit here:



Please visit and give her lots of love, or at least gasp over the amount of things she seems to find on a daily basis.

Now that she's stimulated me to start blogging again, I may have to post some photos of some of my favourite op-shop and market treasures from the last couple of months. Stay tuned!

xS

Rug up and be happy

Hello again loves! Again, I have to apologise about my self-enforced hiatus over the last month, but exams end next week, so hopefully you will be hearing a lot more from me then! I had forced myself not to blog until the end of the exam period, just as I’ve attempted to barricade myself inside the house for the past month, but alas, both of these turned out to be impossible. And being inside the house so long has basically made me a facebook addict, so decided that blogging wouldn’t be so bad either!

Anyway, there’s something about winter, whether it be the cold, the rain, the greenhouse junkie heating or the inability to leave the house most days of the week (which is great if you need to study!) that makes me want to start on some cosy craft project. Every winter I take up knitting again (despite the fact that I can only ever make scarfs and gloves), only to abandon it in the spring. I never seem to have the attention span, or the talent, for long or detailed projects. But if you’re like me, are looking for am easy craft project this winter that doesn’t involve pearling, or are simply cold, slightly poor and in the mood to recycle, this next project should keep you happy!

Ever chucked a woollen jumper in the wash only to discover its shrunk so small you can’t even fit it onto your cat (if you were in the mood to try)? I made these lovely mittens last winter from a jumper that had sadly undergone that transformation. You can also make these by felting a woollen jumper from an op-shop. And best of all, they’re oh so simple to make!

Felted Mittens

You will need:
- An old, shrunken or op shopped jumper (make sure its 100% wool, synthetics wont felt)
- Paper, scissors, pens, pins, needles and thread


Step 1: If your jumper is not pre-shrunk, washing it on a high heat setting should do the trick. You will need to felt it so that the wool will not unravel on cutting. To do this, the jumper should be about half the size after washing. You may need to wash it more than once for this to happen. To test the material, make a cut somewhere on the jumped and test for fraying. If it starts to fray, you may need another wash.

Step 2: Trace around your hands on a piece of paper, leaving about a centimetre around the edge. You will only need one template for each hand, as your jumper has two sides. Cut out both templates.

Step 3: Lay the jumper down in front of you. Using the templates, work out where you are going to cut the mittens from. For mine, I lined the templates up along the bottom edge of the jumper. This way, the pattern around the bottom edge became the wrists of my mittens!

Step 4: Pin the templates to the jumper, making sure you pin right through the front and back of the jumper. As your jumper has a front and back, each template will produce both sides of the mitten.

Step 5: Cut around the templates, then sew around the edges. I hand sewed a running stitch which I left on the outside of the mittens (I think it looks cute like that), but you may like the use a machine or a different stitch. As the wool has been felted you may need a larger needle, as it can sometimes be difficult to cut or sew through.

Try them on, and you’re done!! The only downside to this project is any wasted water if you have to shrink the jumper yourself. Luckily, mine was pre-ruined.

I hope that made sense! If you’re confused, shoot me a comment, and I’ll try my best to help. Otherwise, I’m sure some talented person on the web has thought of this before me, so Google should do the trick.

Hopefully I shall talk to you soon! Stay warm!

xS

These are a few of my favourite things

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long lovelies, but work is really getting the better of me. With exams fast approaching I barely have time to breathe! But while I procrastinate over my next writing folio (which I've been doing since the Easter break... its due Monday and I've barely started!) I just had to show you some of the high points of April! My favourite finds of last month! I hope you'll love them as much as I do.



I bought this lovely dress from an op shop for $15. It was a little pricey for me as far as op shops go, and I had to alter it a fair bit (which I think may have been a mistake... I think I took it up too high), but I love it ever so much! The material is so cute! It also looks lovely as a blouse under a high waisted skirt, and I've worn in to work like that a couple of times. I've been aching to wear it more but its been so cold lately...

I found this jumper a couple of weeks ago in some of my grandma's old clothes and I'm utterly obsessed with it. When I showed it to my sister however, she looked at me incredulously and asked, 'Don't you think you're getting a bit too kitsch?'. So I was fairly worried about wearing it out, but when I took it cautiously to uni last week I got a lot of compliments. Some of them may have been sarcastic... but I'm taking them as compliments. I'm so happy to have found it just in time for winter, even if it as a little confusing (see that leopard print on the shoulders? Thats vinyl! On black velvet!).

And lastly, my fabulous skates! (I'm getting better!)

But now, I should probably go back to writing my stupid story... Thanks for all your comments on my poem by the way! I submitted it with another I wrote later which I think works much better (I'm actually kind of proud of it) and I did really well. As well as I could wish for!

xS