Second hand re-size

What do you do when you find a really nice cotton skirt in the op-shop but it's a size too big?  

Well of course you attack it with your unpicker and your sewing machine to get the perfect fit.

I found this beautiful and light "Colorado" brand skirt in my local oppy and fell in love with the green floral print and the black border.  Despite it being a size 14 and despite it falling off me I bought it anyway.  It sat around for a few weeks while I considered what to do with it to make it fit.  It had a back zipper closure and a lining of white cotton, I could sense possibilities but couldn't quite work out a way forward.  I kept pinching in the sides and knowing that it would look really hack to just sew up the side seams a bit tighter which would have nasty flow on effects for bunchy lining and fabric volume at the waist.  I told myself: "Come on Caroline, you do so much sewing, you can do something smarter than that!"  Then I had a eureka moment and I picked out the zipper and sewed up the lining and the back seams to the waist and then sewed the lining to the skirt front where they met at the upper edge of the skirt.  Now I had a skirt with no closures, but still too big.

Noticing that the facing of the waistband was wide enough to accommodate a nice wide piece of elastic if I made it into a casing, I sewed a seam around the waist of the skirt where the facing met the inner lining, picked open a gap at the back seam and threaded in my elastic.  Adjust to fit, sew elastic ends together, poke back inside casing and slip stitch the opening closed and you have yourself a new skirt with a fit just perfect for you.

A great sense of satisfaction, I love a good save of something old into something new.

Op shop blues

A trip to the op shop yesterday yielded a few surprises in blue.

Three metres of a navy blue linen with a very pleasing white print.  At 140cm wide there's plenty of fabric here to make another summer dress (I admit that this summer I am becoming rather addicted to dress wearing!)

And a rather lovely, if not a little chunky, Arabia Finland teacup sitting amongst the Christmas themed pottery.  It wasn't cheap by op shop standards though, I can tell you!  I have managed to track it down to being a Sinilintu (bluebird in Finnish) teacup from the mid-60s, and I did see one website that described it as a chocolate cup.  It really does look like something for a nice hot chocolate rather than tea, don't you think?  It seems to be quite a rare item so I wonder how much it's actually worth?  I guess I'll never know.  This folky design is so me but I won't be becoming a collector in a hurry or I'd break the bank.

This is more like it

A little bit of beach action on the weekend - so good for recharging the batteries.  Most importantly it got us all out of the house and out of town.

We shopped at the Eumundi markets and then drove onto Noosa for a body board and a swim (and a spot of reading and lying out on the sand for me).

Thought this post was entirely devoid of anything crafty?  Well, look again.  See that skirt?  The second one made by me from this tutorial.  I made it reversible so at 2m of two different quilting cottons it was more expensive than I usually spend on fabric for garment making, but it really is two pieces in one.

I have to admit that I made this skirt some time ago, just never got around to taking any photos of it.  The wind at the beach couldn't have been more helpful in showing off both sides of my skirt.

Oh, and that's baby M too, at almost 12 weeks.  He's starting to be called Mr Porky around here, he's getting to be a solid little boy!

Found

One crocheted rainbow granny square blanket.

Soft and snuggly.

Perfect baby size.

Perfect lap size.

Just showing it off so you can admire it too!

More than $9 worth

Recently I took my little guy for a trip on the train to the BrisStyle Indie Twilight Markets in the Brisbane city square.  It was a great way for us to fill a Friday afternoon and early evening.  The colourful pavement lights, the statues in the city square and the train ride home in the dark were a big hit with the four year old and of course I got to check out the lovely crafty offerings.

We only made one purchase - a soft cube kit from Voodoo Rabbit.  My boy was very excited about it as there was a little tinkly rattle ball to sew inside, the fabric to make the cube had cute drawings, and seemingly a story...but I quickly noticed that the story was not in a language I recognised at all. 

I had a stab at it, maybe Turkish, I asked? No, the lady at the stall revealed it was Hungarian text on fabric printed in Japan.  I bravely promised my boy that his Dad would be able to work out the translation for him.

The cube kit sat in the sewing room for a few weeks and we got it put together over the weekend.  We bought stuffing, little fingers pushed in volumes of the stuff to fill the cube, in went the little rattle ball (this was a very exciting bit) and eventually when all was ready I sewed the opening closed.

And the story?  Not one to resist a linguistic challenge my husband has worked it all out.  Its not really a story, more some statements about the pictures - things like "Hello Elephant, what are you doing?", "Balancing on the ball!", "How clever!".

This soft cube has been belted all over the house, tossed, caught, thrown in faces, almost knocked glassware off the bench...all this entertainment for the three of us for $9 was a real bargain.

To market, to market

This last weekend I spent a lovely Saturday morning attending the BrisStyle "Markets 101" information session down at Hamilton.  I rugged up tight as the old church hall and a cold Brisbane morning were not a winning combination, but a few cups of tea during the talks did a lot to keep me warm and the lovely morning tea items on offer kept my blood sugar and my interest levels up! 

Since opening my online shop a lot of people have asked if I will start attending markets.  Maybe yes, maybe no, any market aspirations are in the future though as I would need to invest in some "hardware" like tables and racks and signs etc. and besides, in 12 weeks time I will be welcoming a new baby, so one thing at a time I say!

Never the less, this post does have an alterior motive...I am actually helping to organise a market at the moment (on the other side of the table, so to speak). The Red Hill Kindergarten annual fair is on the 30th July at Woolcock Park, Red Hill.  This is the major fundrasing event of the year for the kindergarten and the Fair is a fabulous community event attracting thousands of local residents. It's a serious business - BBQ, drinks, cakes, carnival entertainment with rides and animals and kids activities are all on offer, and that's just the start of it! Typically the Fair has around 40 stalls operating on the day that sell all manner of crafty items like jewellery, bags, clothes, toys and stationary. There are still a few stall places available if any Brisbanites fancy joining in and holding their own stall on the day.  Interested? Simply contact myself, or email redhillfair.stalls@gmail.com for an application pack and details.

Surely its not too late

To talk about last weekend, that is.  I had a little trip to Melbourne last weekend, mostly the purpose was to visit family, and I managed to squeezed in a catch up with precisely two friends.  I missed the rain deluge that hit Brisbane and instead enjoyed marvelous sunshiney Melbourne spring weather, and made it to the Finders Keepers Markets at the Docklands.

I had a fabulous time wandering around all the stalls, there were almost too many stalls to take it all in.  It was great to see it so busy and so successful for everyone there who was selling their wares. 

There were some stall holders that I have seen at the Brisbane markets so it was good to see them again, and I absolutely made sure I had a chat to Nicole of Yardage Design, she's really lovely.  I was pleased to take home a little bit of yardage myself...

...and Mum and I shared a purchase of a pair of house slippers each from Chimney House Shoes...

...and this tea towel caught my eye from Almond Tree Frames.

I left with $5 still in my wallet too! 

Of teapots and postcards

I went along to the Saviour of the Lost Arts Craft Fair held in King George Square in Brisbane yesterday afternoon. I had a good poke around the stalls, did lots of admiring of all the lovely things on sale, and had a nice chat to a few stall holders.

I made one purchase - a tea cozy.

Now there are several sectors in my life that will wonder what on earth I bought a knitted tea cozy for, and I dare say it won't get much use, but its so fun! Just look at it being all cheeky and flaunty over my red enamel tea pot. "Look at me, look at me! Want a cuppa?" it says to me. I passed over more conservative stripey options in favour of this number.

In my jet lag induced sleeplessness last night I got to pondering about the tea cozy and its origins. I had a rather scientific conversation with myself about the properties of the materials that tea pots are generally made of and how glass and metal are really bad thermal insulators and how porcelain is much better at keeping the heat in. My conclusions were that tea cozies came about in times when regular folks had metal tea pots and porcelain ones were not that accessible...then I went to sleep.

A lady who knows all about tea pots and a good cup of tea is Beth from Do what you love- Love what you do. She has some pretty detailed instructions on how to make and drink the perfect cup of tea. She's also the organiser of the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap. I have never made a stitched postcard, or a postcard at all, so I am going to join in with her.

Do you do postcards when you holiday? Or do you consider them daggy? Or maybe they are great just for the reason that they are daggy. Maybe you look for the most daggy ones to send for a laugh. I have to admit I didn't write one postcard the entire time I was away. Sometimes we still get them from friends and family, we even have a draw in our filing cabinet for the ones we don't want to throw away. I always remember my husband blowing my mind with his postcard technique, he used to write one sentence only and post it, done. And there was I labouring over a whole holiday commentary in a tiny space and not forgetting room for the stamp. No wonder I gave up on it all, daggy or not.

Nook (and cranny)

Did you ever wonder about nook and cranny? What are they?

A "cranny" is a crack or small hole in something.

A "nook" is a little out-of-the-way corner of a house or any sort of secluded, sheltered spot. (via)

Put together, "nook and cranny" is thus equivalent to saying "remote corner and small crack," places that only a very thorough search would reach.

Sooo, you probably guessed, I headed off down to Nook last week. It sure was a little out-of-the-way secluded spot, filled with all sorts of lovely goodies, all very beautifully presented. I did have to search to find it though as I almost never drive around south of the river here in Brisbane, all those one way streets and no turns in Southbank and West End drive me mad. Lets just say I took the scenic route, I looked in every nook and cranny for Nook, and then I found it.

The nook and crannying was worthwhile. I purchased a fabric basket kit from Ink and Spindle. This is going to be fun, hope I don't get a fabric basket bug from this adventure.

Up In Annies Room

I purchased another pendant from Emma at Up in Annies Room at the Red Hill Fair at the weekend. I have previously mentioned that I really love her work. This time I bought a scrabble tile pendant with pink flowers. The letter on the back is O - not sure what that relates to in my life, but its a common garden variety vowel, so that pleases me.

The blue one is the one I purchased at the BrisStyle markets in early July, the number of the domino is 7 - my lucky number.

Today I went to the Mathilda's Market at the Brisbane Town Hall. I had a good time and met a few folks. There was a lot of products available for baby girls, and I don't have a little baby anymore, and I don't have a girl...there were attempts to offer products for boys but I found most of them just too cutesy for a nearly three year old. There was one lovely stall selling knitted jumpers for boys - called Motley Monkeys. I had a nice chat to Kylie at the stall and bought a stripey jumper for my boy - it looks really fantastic on him so money well spent I think.

I was also impressed by the toys on offer at Honey Bunch. Very professionally made and displayed, much my style of things and extremely cute to boot.

Weekend Bounty

On Saturday morning I dragged the family down to the BrisStyle Markets. Well, I didn't really drag as we stopped for a spot of breakfast before hand at a local cafe, then I got my itchy little feet over to the market itself. I was very impressed by both the turn out and the stalls packed with all their individual loveliness.

I purchased a blue domino pendant with little white flowers from Emma at Up In Annie's Room and wore blue tops all weekend just so I could wear the pendant (totally LOVE it). And bought myself a subscription to Peppermint Magazine and a copy of Mixtape zine. Got home, popped the little one into bed and sat down with coffee and two great reads. What a great day.