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Chair off the street

My son picked up a chair on the street that looked like this chair. It's an Ikea chair and he liked how it fit his back. Hmmm... I couldn't stand to look at that worn out vinyl. I offered to pull it apart and make a cover. It was really easy to pull apart; 4 screws holds the arms to both back and seat, and the seat is screwed onto the roller feet. I pulled the covers off.. the seat was stapled down and the back was zipped on. 

The cover on the inside. There are the toggles... they are only about 2 cm long. You can see how the cover is pieced together. See the toggles are sewn onto the cover separately so I unpicked them too and saw it had some elastic underneath it. The toggles get pulled through from the front of the seat back to the back or underside of the seat. 

Pieces all separated and as you see it was worse than the one advertised on marketplace. I decided there was no point making all that seaming so I just lay it on the fabric and made it one piece for the seat and one …
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Recent posts

What to do with a shower curtain.

Hello... long time no see. I've been busy but not much time for sewing, although my mind is always on it and planning. In my head I look so well dressed! I did make a great Ottobre wrap jumper for a friend's birthday in an amazing French terry, but I didn't get photos (in June!) so that'll have to wait. I've also been sewing for an office chair recover - my son picked it up on the street and I said I would make a cover for it. I finished today but I'm too tired to write up the post so that'll be next. In between I made these....


This is my old shower curtain from years ago. It wasn't so good that someone would buy it at the op shop but too good to toss. Shower curtains are quite strong fabric and so I made shopping bags out of it. I made about 7.  They aren't the same size but the process was the same. A rectangle; sewn up one side in a doubled over seam for strength, sew up some straps, square off the bottom and turn the top over twice with the st…
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Vintage McCall's 5049

I bought this pattern at the church op shop late last year. It's so cute. Obviously not for me...  but my friend's daughter.  She's 8 and very tall for her age.  The fabric is a beautiful piece of Thai silk that was given to me by another friend's mother in law in January when we got home from our holiday.  It was just enough to get this pattern out.


I had some trim that I bought years ago and I love pink and silver. There was just enough for the front   but I wish I had some for the back too. I really don't like plain back when there is fancy on the front. I like it fancy both sides!


I used all the length of the fabric and made ties for a halter neck as I didn't have my friend's daughter here and I wanted her to be able to wear it immediately she got it.


Gosh I love the little silver sparkles. The fabric is so lustrous and crisp but also very fine.


The pattern has a little pair of under shorts... on the pattern it should have some elastic around the legs …
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Special silk dress and a 50th

In 2003 I made this Burda dress (6/2013 #105). I've seen this pattern as an envelope pattern about 6 months ago so look out for it if you like it (although I know it was old and probably out of print). It wasn't a style I thought would suit my pear shape, but I'm surprised how flattering I think it looks.



I made it out of this nice quality polyester which I picked up at a Brisbane Spoolette's High Tea and I really love it still. It's makes me feel great when I wear it. 


A few years ago (ok many - 2012 in fact) my beautiful friend went to Vietnam and thought to bring me some silk! What a friend. She has amazing taste and bought me 2 1/2 metres of a white and floral satin silk. For the first 5 years after she kept asking me if I'd made anything with it, and in my head I had made about 100 things but nothing was quite right. She stopped asking then.  Truth be told I wanted to make this same Burda pattern but decided in my head it wasn't enough fabric.  Come earl…
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Novelty prints and a refashion

I get drawn to novelty prints but really they aren't for me. I don't really know why. When I was in Melbourne in 2016 I bought some nice cotton knit with 'flat cat' and in Spotlight a couple of years ago I bought a moustache print (that I noticed they still sold online the other day). Alex's pjs were getting too small and ratty. He was wearing a t-shirt that was bought in light blue to wear under his school shirts in winter as it was just a bit too cold for just his jacket but too hot to wear a jumper (sweater) with it. It was worn out and stained and soft so he loved it but it had to go. I threw it away while he was at his Dad's.

I've used this Simplicity boxer pattern a lot. It covers all sizes, uses small bits of fabric and is quick and super easy 1 piece pattern so there is no side seam.

I've used this Simplicity boxer pattern a lot. It covers all sizes, uses small bits of fabric and is quick and super easy 1 piece pattern so there is no side seam.  …
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Holiday spoils, part 2.

** Edited to add, I still cannot comment on most blogs (even replying on mine??) and I really appreciate the kind comments especially re my Mum. 
So, more holiday sewing stories. We have friends in Cologne and we stayed with them for 4 weeks in Germany with a rail interlude for Alex and I of about 12 days meeting our friends in Paris for a long weekend and two weeks in Ireland, mostly county Clare. I've spoke of the rail strike that tried to thwart our trip but we reorganised it and got to do nearly everything we wanted. 
I did find Cologne had a Stoff & Stil shop. I was so excited and it was right around the corner from a museum we wanted to go to. Gosh I was so excited. It is a large, beautiful shop. Really engaging with so much terrific stuff. 

The racks above held patterns - all on display and you pulled the front out like a drawer and picked your pattern. To the right they had samples made up. I thought that was terrific as you could see how fabrics behaved and of course…
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