milk maid

What do you get when you cross a sheet, a doily and an old tablecloth? 

An 'old fashioned dress' of course! 

My lovely little dressing-up-girl has been reading The Chain of Charms series, a story set during Oliver Cromwells Puritan reign in England, telling of the adventures of a Gypsy family. It's written by Kate Forsyth, an Australian author and while there is lots of adventure and magic, theres also a great lot of history - which to me equates to learning! 

Of course, by the time she'd finished the series she was very keen for me to create a Gypsy gown and after a bit of rummaging around in my piles of amassed op shop 'fabrics' and rifling through various story books, we settled on the design. 

When I finished it, I was pretty excited to note that all of the fabrics had been repurposed from second hand items! 

The funky red underskirt is an old polycotton sheet and the light blue over skirt is a tablecloth. I made the bodice from a lovely piece of linen that was languishing in a box of fabrics in our local op shop, and the lining too - another sheet off cut! 

She's wearing a vintage embroidered tray cloth (you know, smaller than a table cloth but bigger than a doily!) and an old peasant style blouse that was in my stash to cut up for something else. 

Even the pattern for the bodice was a vintage op shopped pattern! 

She loves it and has worn it every day...... but sadly (for me) and happily (for her) we have decided that it's not quite the thing for a Gypsy to be wearing. We are sure they would be dressed in old silks, satins and tattered velvets, so it's back to the sewing table and stash for me!! 

This one is now considered just a 17th century country maid dress, the sort to wear when you are picking chamomile flowers for drying or checking on the cows!! 

I love re-using or re-purposing and get really excited when I use up some of the loads of op shopped fabrics that I bring home ...... have I mentioned how much I love fabrics? 

Meine kleinste hat vor kurzer zeit etliche Bücher über Zigeuner  gelesen. Dann natürlich muss man ein Kleid dazu haben.... und Mama macht es schon! Das Kleid ist nicht so schwer zum nähen, aber ich hab wollen alles von mein eigenen Stoff 'stash' brauchen.... und hab es geschafft!! Das rote ist eine altes Leintuch, eine hellblaue Tischdecke war gebraucht für den Überrock, das Oberteil ist ein Stückchen leinen Stoff und auch ihr Kopftuch ist ein besticktes spitzen Deckchen.

Es ist ja toll geworden aber wir denken es schaut nicht so ganz richtig Zigeunerisch aus, sondern mehr wie ein Mädchen aus denn siebzehnten Jahrhundert.... und so machen wir bald noch eines aus samt und Seide und bunte Farben!!         

Purple Pocket Power

Nothing spectacularly exciting happened here this weekend, so I'm going to show you the purple corduroy dress I cut out for my Fairy Girl a while ago. As usual, I used an old op shop pattern and tweaked it to suit, so I'm pretty happy with it - in fact it was all thrifted, even the zipper! I had just enough of the cord fabric but had to cut the front one way and the back another, which means that the 'nap' of the fabric is different from front to back and is noticeable in certain light. It's only an everyday dress so it's not drastic but generally I like to keep my pattern pieces all going the same way. If you automatically do this every time you cut out a garment , then you wont have any problems with the patterned fabrics or those with a 'nap' like corduroy or velvets. 

You can see in this photo what I mean about the 'nap' or 'pile' of the fabric - not terrible but not something you want on a dress for fancy occasions! Oh and excuse the wrinkles..... she was in a hurry to wear it with those shiny red shoes!! 

Just thought I'd show another little hint - about pockets. Starting on one side with the opening towards the back of the machine, stitch down about a centimetre (1/2 inch for any US readers) then angle it slightly and stitch again going backwards as shown. Then down again and backwards back up to the beginning to stop anything from unravelling. When you get to the other top side do the same. This gives the pockets a little extra strength when small hands stuff treasures into them !!! 

I'm just rereading this and it is a bit hard to follow, but try it on the sewing machine and I'm sure you'll work it out! Let me know if this was a help. 

My lucky day

A couple of weeks ago I entered a giveaway on growmama and was delighted to win the booty!! Indeed, it's the first time I have won any giveaway, so it was doubly delightful... and because this is a first I am devoting a whole post to it - well almost! Today, when the Best Man returned from the post office, he handed me a nice little package all done up with crisp brown paper and my name on it!! 

Here are the contents - all lovingly crafted by Melissa at tinyhappy, just across the trench in New Zealand. I've been admiring her handy work for a while and love the detail in her fine watercolours. The photo at the top doesn't do the tiny bird justice, as its a bit washed out with the light. 

This one is a bit better and shows the little drawstring bag that I will use to keep any ongoing embroidery in (another tiny baby singlet, perhaps?) I am quite partial to little bags - zippered, drawstring, rolled - you name it and I will find something to use it for! 

Thankyou Melissa and Anissa!

 Later in the day, I popped in to the little op shop here in our town, and picked up this set of gorgeous old children's books. Aren't they just lovely? All the embossing on the covers, such a nice shade of green and loads of interesting drawings and paintings inside.

 I am hoping that the kids will put them to good use but I have a feeling that wont be the case. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that it is only I that has a fondness for these old tomes and that I should just admit that I bought them to look good in my bookcase. 

There, I feel better now for having 'fessed up!!  

A hopeful beach fairy

I've finally managed to take a photo of the Fairy Girl in her birthday dress (not her original one!) Yesterday we had howling winds and snow and although the sun was out today it's still very very cold - maybe around 10 degrees C. But I badly wanted to show my latest creation so I coerced asked her to model for me. 

She's a sweetie and smiled even as the goosebumps were spreading down her bare legs! 

I'm really pleased to be able to say that all of the dress bits came from the op-shop - fabric, vintage pattern, doilies and the zipper - all at different times but all added to the stash to be used at the opportune moment! 

She has pronounced it a beach dress and was pretty chuffed that we are heading north later this year and will be able to go to a "warm beach". There's only about a month of weather warm enough to visit the beach and swim, here in the deep south of The Great South Land (for us ex mainlanders anyway!) and never warm enough for me to swim at all ........ it needs to be a balmy 40 degrees plus before I bare all for a sea bathe!! A hot summer day here is 30!

We do like the beach in the cooler months too but we just don't do any swimming, just walking and beach combing. 

So at least my sweet girl is all set for the shore. I think I'll make myself an all in one neck to knee swim suit next ....that should do the trick!!  

Wool and cotton

We have some new additions to our little menagerie. 

Since we've lived here - about 2 years now - we've always battled with the long grass in our paddock. We had several calves in there for 6 months in the first year and then last season we had the pasture cut and baled. But in between, the grass grows very long and lush and hard to wade through.

So now we are sheep sitting for a while.

They are not too friendly but they do spend their day munching, which is just what we like!! I think they are Wiltshire (but I must check on that) which means that they don't need shearing. I'm expecting little bits of fluff all along our fences soon -  the birds will be very happy in spring!  

And the cotton? Well ...... thats an exciting addition to my doily stash! 

I love. love. love. them! My kids think I'm loopy "Mum, not more doilies"! but I just don't listen to them. 

Don't they look so lovely casting lacy shadows on the doona cover? 

Does any one else share my Doily Love?