Sunday, May 31, 2009

Heritage Costumes

I volunteered myself to make some heritage costumes and have been having a fabulous time digging out all the bits of lace that I have had stashed for years.

Photobucket

The first dress I made out of sheets - the blue floral I bought from the Salvos for $2, however after I cut it I realised it was so thin that i's almost see through, so I grabbed an old white poly cotton sheet out of my linen press to make a sewn in lining. I also added some hot pink ribbon to look like it was laced up (not quite authentic, I know, but it was fun!). The bonnet and apron are made from another sheet, but this one must have been fabulous quality fabric (it feels gorgeous) because it was soooo hard to get the pins into!!! Never again!!

bonnet

sheet apron

There will be more to follow :)

Monday, May 4, 2009

Not quite what I imagined!

This has been sitting in my UFO pile for a few months now. It's a velour Henrika dress and I had decided to applique a fairy to the front but she looked nothing like what I had envisioned when I started out. Anyway I have come to the realisation that any sewing project is a learning experience, even those ones that don't go to plan, so I finished it off so it can be worn. At the very least it's very soft and snuggly, I never used to like velour - I thought it was nasty and kinda cheap looking but that was the synthetic stuff. Now that I've discovered how soft and beautiful cotton velour is I'm kinda wishing I could get away with wearing a velour dress myself. Hmmm, maybe not a good look but I could maybe get away with some soft cosy tracky daks!!

velour henrika

henrika applique