A Teeny Tiny Too Tight Dress Re-fashion

I picked up this gorgeous vintage dress at the oppy a few weeks ago (I can't quite remember which one as I seem to visit lots of oppies and collect lots of pretty things and lose track of where they came from).

Although it fitted me, can you see just how tight the elastic waist was gathering in the before photo?

When you can't breathe anyway, having tight elastic around the bottom of your ribcage is really really uncomfortable!

It was also ever so slightly too long for me.

It took over an hour of unpicking to open up the elastic casing and then unpick the elastic which had also been sewn into the middle seam of the dress (they certainly sewed things to last back in the day), but it was really simple to overlock it and sew it all back together again.

I now have a cute dress which I can wear in Summer (as long as it's not too hot as the fabric is quite un-natural), and over a long sleeve top and leggings in Winter. Perfect!

A little change goes a long way

I had a very fruitful oppy expedition with my sister more than a week ago now..... and one of the things I found was this lovely dress.

The length was wrong, and it had these weird ties connected at both sides, so you could pull it in from the front, or from the back to give waist definition, but either way, the opposite side just looked stretched and strange!

A very quick and very easy re-fashion was all it needed. It probably took me about thirty minutes in total.

I snipped off the ties (leaving them about 3inches long), overlocked the edges, turned them in and and stitched them down to make belt loops.

I cut four inches from the bottom of the dress and overlocked and re-hemmed.

Then I took the dress offcut and the tie offcuts, and joined them together to make a belt.

So... $4 and thirty minutes of my time. What do you think?

Frilly

I was driving around running errands earlier this week when I spotted a sign for a new Op Shop.

Now that's the sort of sign that I can't resist, so I immediately added it to the days itinerary!

When I walked inside, it all seemed familiar..... and suddenly made sense. One of the local churches is undergoing a renovation and so they've moved their Op Shop onto the grounds of a different local church so that they can keep trading.

Even though I hadn't visited that oppy since late last year, the lady behind the counter still remembered me from when I was madly buying all the random knitting needles for my Fringe Festival Exhibition last year.

I came home with two whole shopping bags full of goodies, but this was my favourite find of the day. I haven't actually tried it on yet, so fingers crossed that it actually fits!

A Very Merry Christmas to me - part 2

More goodies just for me!

I bought myself this super sweet embroidery kit from the very lovely Magdalena from The Craft Revival.
I'm taking it along on my mini beach holiday (it's too short to take the machine). I've had a little mini sneak peek inside - it has absolutely everything I need, even a sewing needle!

I also picked up a sweet little Polly Pratt mini needle book from Anna - also a perfect holiday size!

On Sunday, we went into Ballarat to have a browse around at some of the vintage / secondhand shops.

I found this lovely vintage dress. I'm not quite sure whether this colour suits my skin tone, but I'm going to try it with a red slip underneath and just see.

I also found this gorgeous rose embroidery which has the ugliest plastic frame I ever did see.....

.... and to think that someone actually chose to have it professionally framed with that (quite a long time ago according to the old six digit phone number)!

Frocktober

After Saturday's magnificent oppy find, I came home and felt the tinglings of op shop regret....

You know the feeling.... you picked something up, turned it over, felt the fabric, checked the price, pondered... and then hung it back on the rack...

I was sooooo happy when I returned on Monday to find them both still hanging there....  'twas meant to be.

Picky Picky

I love a giveaway.... and it's come to the time to pick a winner of the gorgeous 100% polyester baby vintage dress.

I could try to refashion it, but I really don't want to ruin it, which is why I'm very sadly giving it away for a new life with someone who can actually wear it (and be able to breathe and sit down without splitting a seam).

So without further ado, the random number generator dictates that the winner must be.....

Number 14 - which was Mookah who commented 'Oh yeah....I was a slim size 10....about 20 years ago! Not for me baby.'

Redraw.... and the winner is Drewzel who commented: Gorgeous honey! Sorry it didn't work for you :(
Don't count me in the draw though, I'm only size 10 in my dreams!

This is harder than it seems..... maybe the dress is trying to tell me something

Redraw.... and the winner is Susan who commented: I think it might fit me ... we're a pretty similar size. I'm sure it will got to a good home in any event.

Yah! We finally have a winner.


For the Mookah girls and Steph, I'll pop a little consolation prize in the mail if you would like to email me your snail mail addresses.

Thanks so much to everyone who played along.

Devastated

 
I went on a little op shopping mission with Beccasaurus last week, where she spotted this magnificent vintage dress. We're both a similar size, but I have quite narrow shoulders so it was more likely to fit me (OK, I admit that I might have been doing a happy dance in my head that it was more likely to fit me - sorry Bec).

It's been sitting on my kitchen bench ever since, so I thought it was about time to try it on (with the intention of wearing it to the market today).....

....and now I want to cry

It fits my shouders and my hips, but it's too tight around the boobs and the belly region.

So what to do???

I know that there are plenty of vintage dress lovers out there in blogland, so I'm giving it away.

It's labelled a size 10.5, so when comparing to my current size, I'm thinking that it will fit a slim size 10 or smaller. Frances is approximately a size 8 and it fits her quite easily.

It's 100% polyester baby and in great condition except for a small seam on the front which needs a little bit of re-stitiching. I haven't tried to wash it yet, so it's in the exact condition that I found it at the oppy.

If you think it will fit, leave a comment and I'll draw a random winner Monday night (Melbourne time).

A little red dress

I had a fun day out with Bec today..... a scrumptious lunch (we both ordered a big breakfast of course), and then we spent the afternoon checking out some lovely handmade and crafty shops.

I found this gorgeous vintage red dress at a new and very cute little shop in Yarraville named Mandrake and Willow. They stock lots of lovely vintage and handmade items.

I bought it home and teamed it one of my flower brooches....

We also found another new shopfront for The Craft Circle. They stock everything that you could ever need for all different types of felting (nothing acrylic - all pure wool). They also have hand dyed and commercially dyed felt sheets, plus books, craft kits, and sorts of lovely things. The website hasn't been updated yet but they're at 52 Williamstown Rd, Yarraville.

After all that eating and shopping and excitement, we ended the day at the gelati shop - PERFECT!

Blogtoberfest Day 6: Frocktober

Channelling James Bond

I haven't had a chance to show off the fabulous vintage dresses that I scored at the Talbot Market a couple of weeks ago, so Amy's Frocktober theme for today was the perfect opportunity.

I made a date - me, the self-timer on the camera, and the blank wall in the spare room. I probably should have invited a hairdresser......

....and a stylist with an iron

This colour does nothing for my pale skin.... not a keeper

Aha! But this one is my favourite..... the perfect SuperPops dress!

As Liesl commented:

Faster than a speeding overlocker.
More powerful than a craft hammer.
Able to leap tall stashes in a single bound.
Look! Up in the sky!
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's SuperPops!


Don't try this at home folks.... you may topple over.