Jane Austen and Regency Wear


In the last month I've been making Regency clothes for the Jane Austen party i'm going too on the 23rd of July. I've got my dress, bonnet, spencer jacket and now my corset is almost done! 


My dress was pretty simple. I had a maternity dress that i hadn't worn for ages(even when i was pregnant) so i just made a new bodice out of some taupe chiffon and cream ribbon.

The bonnet i made from a straw hat using this tutorial. The fabric is the same as my dress.

The spencer jacket still needs some work. It need some long sleeves put in under the puffs.And i might even redo the whole thing.

The corset i made from this pattern and instructions. This is the second one i did and it turned out just perfectly. It took me several hours but i got it done in one day. It's extremely fiddly and time consuming but worth it. There are 18 eyelets up the back. I opted for metal eyelets rather then handsewing it. I'm not THAT crazy. lol I need to buy some cords for the back and i need a busk. 

Sorry those are crappy pics. Hopefully Graham will be able to make me a wooden busk for the center of my corset. And maybe i can lose some weight in the next month so i can fit into it. lol So now i just have 3 boys costumes and Graham's to make too. no sweat. 

Ruffle Skirt

I used this tutorial to make this skirt. Turned out good i think. :)

It's 2 sheets i bought at the op shop this morning. Grand total of $3. The elastic was more expensive because i bought that new at Woolies. It was $4 something for a packet. The lace was a curtain my mum gave me.

My {Boys} Creations

I found a pair of ladies pants from Katies at the op-shop for $1. They are now a cute pair of pants for Lachlan. I used a pj bottom pattern to get the general shape. I kept the original band on the pants and added elastic at the back-as you can see in the first pic here.

Super cute!
This was a mens t-shirt. Now it has a v neck and it opens with snap clips on one shoulder.
I made this from scratch. It's just a plain tshirt with 2 snap clips on each shoulder that a bib can be clipped onto. When you don't want the bib on you just clip the white shoulder thingys on.

The Summer {winter} Boy

It's not often you come across blogs that cater to boys. And since i HAVE 3 boys it's rather disappointing. But then i came across MADE. Best blog ever for boys! I can't seem to stop sewing little boys clothes and i always seem to have ideas floating around my head. lol YAY FOR BOYS!!!!

Refashionista!

That's what I'm calling myself these days. I am OBSESSED with refashioning clothes. Also called 'upcycling', refashioning means taking an old piece of clothing and turning it into something else. I raided my husbands wardrobe and found some old shirts that he didn't fit into anymore and made them into new church shirts for Lachlan. I also make a cordaroy jacket and a vest.

The vest was a womans one with some weird neck and i thought it would be PERFECT for my little man. It's brown and just so soft. It was a shame to cut it up. He looked very daper on Sunday but wouldn't stand still for a good photo. lol

Jammies!

Winter is coming up and i realised that Lachlan didn't have many pairs of winter jammies....actually he only has one. So it was time for some sewing!

Tutorial : Jeans to a skirt

I was given a pair of high waisted 'mom' jeans. And even though i AM a mum these are hideous and i would never in a million years wear them. I did try them on and the waist was up near my boobs. So ya. Hideous. SO i decided to make them into a skirt. Why waste good demin, right?

So here's the jeans - a lovely 15 inches from crotch to waist

The first thing you wanna do is cut them off at the top. I measured my hips and then found the spot on the jeans that would go around my hips. Cut through the zip or if you want to keep it - unpick it. I hate unpicking so i just cut right through it and then cut the zip out of the part that was staying on my skirt.

Measure from the top down to how long you want your skirt. Mine is 21 inches. And cut it off on both legs.

You should have something like this -

Next cut up the seams on the inside legs. don't unpick them, just cut neatly.

Next cut about 2.5-3 inches up the crotch. Neatly, like so -

It will look like this once it's folded over. It needs to sit flat because there is nothing you want LESS then a buldge in the front of your skirt. lol If it's a little knobbly at the end just cut the excess fabric away. Sew it down. I used black thread sewn closely to the existing thread and you can't even see it.

Flip it over and do the back. And because the back used to be for your bum there will be extra fabric. So unless you want to look like you have a tail - cut it off

I cut mine on both flaps. Just make sure it sits nice and flat like the front. Sew it down.

Next -With the cut off legs of the jeans you need to make a triangle shape to fill in the gap. Front and back.

Sewn on the front will look like this - so go ahead and pin and sew both triangles on. Now try it on. If it's too big you can just pull in the sides a bit by sewing down both sides equally. I had to to that.

Now for the waist. Grab and old t-shirt and cut about 7 inches off the bottom. Measure around your waist about an inch below your belly button. Take that measurement and subtract off 1-2 inches. Join the seams at the end.

double it over and pin it to your skirt. Since you are pinning on stretchy material, pin the front, back and sides first and then stretch the rest of the fabric around. Sew.

You should get something looking like this!! Now you can hem the bottom but i'm going for the casual look so i'm leaving it unhemmed so it will fray.

And this is the end result!! No more Harold High Pants.

Happy Sewing!!!

Doily Do-over

I was blessed to be given several doilies from my Aunts mother-in-law after she passed away(the MIL not the aunt ;)) So what is one to do with so many doilies? I am not really a doily person. I think they are beautiful works of art and as a crochet-er i appreciate the work that goes into them so i didn't want to waste them or give them away. Some of them are just gorgeous! I've seen cute things been done with doilies on blogs so i thought i would give it a go to do a Doily Do-over!!!

And so i made a shrug. I have never had a shrug and i'm not even su

re i'm a shrug person but i think i can become one with just the right clothes to go with it and maybe if i lost a little weight so i don't look like a quarterback.

I had 4 rectangle doilies that were just the right size. 2 longer one

s for the front and 2 shorter ones for the back.

I sewed them together carefully on my sewing machine with black thread because i was going to dye them since 2 were white and 2 were cream. And thread sometimes doesn't dye so i went with black instead of white. I sewed them down the back, sides and shoulders.

Then i dyed it. It didn't come out black but it did come out this nice greyish blue which i actually really like.

Then i sewed on some velvet black ribbon.

And voila! one doily shrug.

Baby Shirts

So i'm always trying to find ways of saving money. I also love baby clothes AND sewing. I found a great way to combine all of these. Courtesy of this blog. The 90 minute shirt! Why didn't I think of that?! I raided my drawers for unwanted t-shirts and i scoured the op-shops.

This is what i came up with -

The cutest rock star off all time.