from this...

to this...

A little bit cryptic, but this is my little present to my retreat buddie Jodz and I don't want to give it all away - just a sneak peek! ;)

I discovered the neat retro purple apron in the sock bag, of all places, and I decided that it would be better re-fashioned/up-cycled into something great for my purple loving friend Jodz!!

On a side note, I am LOVING my little wristlet pincushion, so useful and comfy on my wrist! :D

And yep, I am starting the countdown to this weekends retreat now! Only 4 sleeps to go, hehehe!

repurposed | cute yarn holder

This is something that's been sitting in my brain for a while, just waiting to come out...

Cute Puppy Yarn Holder

closed and ready to use...

a little something I added at the last minute...

and to prove that cat's LOVE craft!

or at least cat's always turn up when it's photo time!!!

What do you think?

I used an old cadbury drinking chocolate tin inside so that it would keep it's shape - great re-use! :D

I am LOVING making crafts with what I have on hand, it's fun figuring out what you can make with stuff that's lying around!

Off to do some holiday stamping with the girls now - FUN, Fun, fun! :)

inspired jean refashion | sewfunky rendition...

loving the details...

denim & chenille go great together!!!

Never mind, the bad photoshopping skills, what do you think?

refashion | bag from dress...

Not sure how it'll work due to the small neck/handles, but I loved this little woollen dress and the embellishments that were on it, so I thought I'd give it a try!

inspired jean refashion | A & B is for...

Briahna & Aimee...


Yay, I finished making some more of these great door bags today!
Now, Aimee & Briahna don't have to be jealous of Hope!!!

inspired jean refashion | H is for Hope...

This was inspired by the little tote bags that Kristy, of Paisley Jade fame, made recently!

I now have three others in the process of being made! :)

Maybe, I've got my crafting mojo back?!!

Unfortunately, my photography skills suck bigtime!
I'll try and get Mr Sew-Funky to take a better one... ;)

ties, ties, ties, and yet more ties...

what to do with all the ties!?!

Yeah, I kind of scored big time at Mr Bo's yesterday. Think, THIRTY ties...

Here's the story;
My first visit to Mr Bo. Jumbles I decided to not get any ties, seeing as how they had a big huge bin of them. I figured it would be safe to wait until the next time I visited. Then, on my next visit, I looked for any sign of the tie bin and found none! Not even one tie was left! We are talking about 100's of ties here folks. So, I decided that the next time I saw some there, I'd buy all the ones I liked. Hence 30 ties!

Now, what to do with so many ties.

Hope wants a tie skirt.

I've seen tie quilts.

I'll definately make some buttons out of the good quality silk tie fabric, but what else is there to so with them?

I could become a tie monster...

Yeah, that does look like fun...

jeans refashioned into shorts... #2

Once again, I forgot to photograph the jeans before I cut into them, but the first couple of pictures show kinda what they looked like before.

And, the fifth and sixth photographs show the results a pair of scissors and a few stitches can make to an old pair of capri jeans...

jeans refashioned into shorts...

Hope had a wee accident with the bleach and her favourite jeans/trousers...

What to do?!?

Refashion them into shorts, I say!

new shorts just in time for
summer hol's with Nan & Gramps..

the offending bleach marks...

one very happy 12 year old!

new peg bag | refashioned

So, I've been needing something to hold my pegs for a while. Having a family of 5, means that there is LOTS of washing and therefore lots of pegs! So what to do...

As soon as I spyed this jersey at Mr Bo. Jumbles I knew it was perfect. It was already a little felted, and I just threw it into a hot wash and dried it in the drier once to make just that little bit more felted!

All I needed to do was;

1. Cut off the arms. You don't need them for this project, but you could use them for something else (a softie, perhaps?)


2. Sew up arm holes.


3. Sew up the bottom.


4. Insert a coathanger, and TAH DAH!

Now my sewing area may finally be tidy...

well, dreams are free - right?!?

Maybe not, but the pillowcase I used to make this desk tidy thing was!

I will try and put a tutorial up for this tomorrow, I'm just too tired at the moment and the lighting is TERRIBLE for photo taking. Still, I leave you with a photograph I've just taken at my first attempt! I'm quite pleased with the results, now all I need to do is throw the odd threads and fabric in here instead of on the floor!!! ;)


And, yes I am back to using the old brother. I had huge problems today with the tension on my old bernina, I was about ready to throw the darn thing! grrrrr! I think I need a new sewing machine, just have to convince the husband of it's importance...

The sewing tidy came about as an idea that was formed over coffee with Lianne - Thanks Lianne, is this what you were looking for?

bags from rags...

well, not really rags, but from old singlet t-shirts. I had an epiphany this afternoon whilst looking at some old tops that Jodz gave to me a month or more ago. Yes, I finally got round to looking in that bag you dropped off Jodz! I didn't really need any more tops, plus it's too cold around here to think about summer yet...

I think the only downside to these bags is that you wouldn't want to overfill them. I don't think your family's weeks worth of canned food is gonna do any good, because the straps are just too skinny.

Anyway, they are so super easy and I took a few photos to do a tute. Here goes...

the singlet bag

1. Choose a singlet, I liked this one with beading on the front.

2. Turn inside out, and then sew up the bottom seam. I used zigzag because the material is knit.


3. Fold up the bottom seam to meet the side seam in a triangle. Then sew across the triangle about 2 inches in. This gives your bag a boxed bottom. On my singlet it was easy to figure out where to sew, because the bottom had a cuff - you can see it in the above picture.


4. I then sewed the "triangle" down to the bottom of the bag. You could just skip this step, especially if you wanted a smaller bottom to your bag.

the inside

what it looks like on the outside...

5. Snip the threads and you're done... A very quick project that's quite satisfying!

I've made 2 already!!!

great for storing all that cupcake material you bought at Spotlight - hehehe!

knitting needle bracelets...

I have seen these on many blogs in the past and since I have heaps of odd needles I decided to give it a go. I used the instructions on the diy life website, and they were fairly basic to make. They are also very addictive and I ended up making 16, yes, you read that right, 16 bracelets!

I have no idea what I'm gonna do with 16 needle bracelets, although they look nice hanging from the door handle...

The easiest skirt EVER!

So I was looking at the latest CRAFT magazine and they have a how to on making your own skirt from a tablecloth, and I thought I could make it even easier than theirs by not having to do side seams or having to insert a zip. I'm all for making things easier on myself!

I bought a tablecloth from Spotlight for the express purpose of refashioning it into a skirt. I have had my eye on these cloths for a couple of months, but being the cheapskate I am, didn't want to pay the "exorbitant" price of $10 for it ;). So, when it was marked down to $5 this weekend I could hardly contain myself! Originally it was $45, so I think I got a real bargain here!! And it wouldn't matter so much if my circle skirt plans went awol at $5 outlay!

So here's what I did, I folded the skirt into half and then half again and I got my handy sewing scissors and chopped the centre out. I didn't even do any math - which could have been disastrous, but thankfully wasn't! I then zig-zagged the middle edge and folded that edge over twice to make a casing for the elastic. Threaded my bodkin with elastic and then pushed the elastic through the casing. Sewed the elastic at the right place and put on my new skirt! EASY PEASY!!!! No hemming to be done, no zip and no side seams!

This skirt is oh so twirly, that I couldn't resist twirling around and around till my head was so dizzy I thought I'd fall over!!!! It's fun not growing up ;)

Next time I'll wear it with my favourite brown T, I was just so excited about getting pics that I didn't think of how the black would look with it!

refashioning & headbands

We just had a fashion shoot (not quite!) to show off the refashioned jeans and new headbands, I made today, look like. Note to self; don't stand next to Bree if I don't wanna look HUGE!

My favourite pair of jeans were on their last legs, and I was sad until I thought about making them into capri pants - so I can wear them a bit longer - YAY!

The headbands were made with a very UGLY late 80's shirt. I don't think the shirt was ever in fashion!! I bought it at Mr Bo.Jumbles (a thrift store that has everything in bins and you have to sift through ALOT of crap to find anything good) yesterday. The tutorial/pattern I used for the headbands can be found here. It's a lot better than the bands I made for Christmas because the elastic is hidden!

I found the skirt Bree is wearing at Bo.Jumbles too! So cute and in fantastic condition - She, of course, LOVES it!