A sweater skirt

Following on from my previous projects of sweater skirts, scarf and pants, this is another skirt for my mini, this time made from three thrifted and unloved baby jumpers (sweaters).

I found these three jumpers at the op shop for 50 cents each in the baby section. I cut them into strips, and then joined them together with my overlocker. I used the overlocker again to attach a band made from ribbing that my mum had given me a while ago. I didn't use my sewing machine at all.

As usual, Ms J is very pleased. She wore it that day, and the next. It would probably look a bit better if she took it off long enough for me to give it a press. Love that girl, rocking it as a model. xxxxx

Rockin' the denim

Here's another refashion of one of my old t shirts. I won this (glow in the dark) top in a competition way back in my uni days. It's about 20 years ago. Yikes!

 I chopped it today and added it the the denim jacket I got for Dylan at the op shop the other day.

Jacket.

T shirt. Barely worn as it was a really narrow fit that squashed my chest making it look like I had a mono boob. You know the type?

                               

Mr D rocking the jacket! With his sweater pants.

Yes Mum, I do need to sit in mud whilst wearing wool pants.

Oh look, Dad's home. xxxxx

My Nan's towels to a lovely picnic rug.

I have been looking at these towels longingly since I first got them from my Nan. The colours are so vibrant after all these years, and I wanted to make something great with them. I finally took the plunge and was brave enough to get my scissors and sewing machine out for this project.

I used her towels, another hand towel I found at an op shop, and an op shop plastic tablecloth to put on the bottom to make it waterproof for damp ground.

First I cut the towels into rectangles. The first cut is always the toughest.

Then I sorted out my design, and decided to add a doily to the centre.

Sewed all my pieces together, and here is my rug.

The kids love it, and so do I. Now we can enjoy these towels for picnics and play, and make many wonderful memories with these as our backdrop. Thanks Nan. xx

Explorer socks to toddler leggings

If you were a reader of my old blog you might remember these sweater pants I made for my little man. I love them and he got lots of compliments whenever he wore them. There's a link to them here.

Ever since I made them I've been thinking about a sock version, and then I stumbled across these old explorer socks of mine when I was getting out some winter clothes yesterday. I wasn't sure if he was too big for me to make them now, but they look adorable on him. A little snug, but very cute.

Here are my socks. These are thick woollen hiking socks.

I cut the toes off and then cut each sock from the top down to the heel.

Then it was just a matter of turning one sock inside out, putting the other one inside it, matching the two cut seams and sewing them together. The heal to top of sock area became the crotch seam.

Then I made a little casing at the top and put some elastic in.

I'm feeling some serious love for these.

By Sharon Newth

Love shack t shirt merger

I have a pile of old t shirts that stay in a box. I keep them for sentimental reasons, and they have wonderful memories attached to them. Some are now more than 20 years old!

I wonderful year when I spent two nights a week and some weekends at acting school.

A magical place with a beautiful people who captured my heart and my soul.

My high school musical.

My first visit to Africa.

Our school rock eisteddfod when I was teaching.

I've been contemplating a use for these for some time now, so today was the beginning of giving them a new life.

So here is the t shirt I got at my first real concert. The B-52's in 1990. I was 17 and I remember every delicious second of it as if it were yesterday. The image is in perfect condition but the t shirt is all stretched and thin.

I'm combining it with an almost new t shirt that somehow went into the wash clean and came out stained.

I cut the first t shirt into strips and lay them on top of the orange one.

Then I pinned and sewed them on with a large and pretty rough zig zag stitch. I wanted it to be a bit grungy.

I'm loving the colours with my citrus skirt which I found in this awesome vintage and second hand shop in Rosebud, Victoria. Have a look around in there if you are ever down that way, they have some lovely things and the prices are really reasonable.

Converting a tea towel into an apron

My Mum's birthday is this week so I decided to make her this apron using one of the gorgeous Irish linen tea towels my Nan had stashed away in her cupboard.

Step 1 - Find an awesome tea towel.

Step 2 - Get some ribbon (I reclaimed this ribbon from a birthday present wrapping)

 Step 3 - Cut 2 diagonal pieces from the top of the tea towel for the arms.

 Step 4 - Fold the raw edges under and then under again so that the raw edge is hidden. Then sew along the 2 edges. I used a double row of stitching because I think it looks a bit nicer.

Step 4 - Cut your ribbon into three pieces, one piece to go around your neck and one on each side of your waist to tie around your waist. Sew them on as shown below. In the picture above you can see that I used a cross to strengthen the bond where I sewed the ribbon on, just to be sure. I also folded the ribbon under twice before sewing to hide the raw edge of the ribbon (like a hem).

Step 5 - This is an optional step. I'm making it a bit more girly by adding some lace. I gathered the lace a little by sewing 2 rows of stitching along the top and pulling the top threads. Then I sewed this gathered lace to the bottom of the apron to make a frill.

Finished!