A whole lotta sewing!

Hello Friends
Life has been quite busy lately, in a productive sort of way.
It started off with sewing my caravan curtains. (of which all 12 drops are done!Will do a post on that with a before and after when I put them up)A vintage quilt (still need to do the padding and backing).
From there things progressed to doing some clothing alterations. After first sorting through my cupboard (as I do every season-packing away the winter clothes and digging out all the summer things again.)I came across a skirt I never wear anymore and had a brilliant idea to turn it into a dress for my daughter.

 

I couldn't believe how easy it was. Since the skirt was shirred already and fitted her perfectly around her chest, all I had to do was cut some of the bottom off, make straps, sew the straps on, make a new hem and TA-DA!! Brand new dress for her! She loves it!

I then found another skirt I sort of liked but didn't wear too often cos of the nun-length. The sort of odd length that ends below mid-calf.(hence "nun" length) I am not against long skirts, in fact I like them. But I think nun length is very unflattering (on me that is).
So I cut quite a bit off as I wanted it to be knee-length and then with the excess I cut off, I made ruffles and sewed one along the back of the skirt, coming up around the front. I then took the other ruffle and made it into a sort of ruffled flower and sewed a button in the middle. I love how it turned out! It is 100x better than the original ever was!


 

From skirt alterations to actual sewing clothes from scratch!
Now, let me start by saying, I cannot make clothes!! I can make blinds, curtains, cushion covers, quilts, etc but I don't know how to sew from a pattern. I really wanted to make myself and my daughter a pair of cotton PJ pants. I wanted something pretty and floral for myself and just couldn't find anything in the shops that fitted my "style". I'm not fond of tight fitting PJ pants, I like them elasticated, easy to wear and breathable! I also wanted something light for Spring. Fleece is just a bit too warm now that the weather is getting warmer. 

I began searching on line and came across a tutorial from Ducky house.(click on "Don't get out of bed pants") Perfect! I went and bought half a meter of gorgeous material which was only R32 ($3.80 or £2.30 (150cm wide)Which is a bargain considering a pair of PJ pants could cost me anything between R100-R160 ($12-$19 or £7-£11). I even made a pattern first like she suggests in the tutorial! So proud of myself! my very first pattern!

 

 The pants were so easy! I couldn't believe I actually did it!




 

This morning, I whipped up a little pair for my daughter, it literally took me an hour from making the pattern for hers to finishing them! If, like me, you haven't sewn pants before, give this tutorial a shot, it is really easy and there is nothing to be afraid of! hee hee.

I also made a top, and did a tutorial on it! I will post that in a bit! xxx