DIY girls summer dress

This is the second little dress I made for my older daughter, they are such easy dresses to make. It only takes about 30 minutes to make the dress, then add 15-25 minutes if you do the pockets. I can't wait to get all dressed up with them tomorrow, I love weddings!

The fabric was from a garage sale last week, I got two supermarket bags of material for $4 each! So this dress would have cost under $1 (NZ) to make! I added some little pockets to the pattern to make it extra special!

The pockets in progress, I added a little pieces of lace 

Over locked all edges apart from sides, then sewed up sides, then over locked. Pressed the underarm, neck and bottom hems. After stitching the hems I threaded some lace through the front and back to create the straps

 

So this is the second dress finished, bring on the wedding! Fingers crossed it's a lovely spring day!

For the pattern measurements copy the pattern on my last blog, just add 2cm to the top, side and arm opening, then about 10cm to the hem. (This is for a three year old)

Happy sewing!

DIY Summer baby dress

This is such a great pattern and I love sewing for my girls! We are going to a wedding tomorrow, so I have made the girls matching dresses (in different fabric's), this is for the youngest. It's so much fun sewing for girls, so many pretty things to make! Well here is the first one... (I have added a photo and measurements of the pattern at the bottom of the blog)

The fabric was from a garage sale last week, I got two supermarket bags of material for $4 each! So this dress would have cost under $1 (NZ) to make! I added some little pockets to the pattern to make it extra special!

The pockets in progress, I added a little pieces of lace

Finished pockets, turned then over and pressed (I use my iron every step of the way!)

Over locked all edges apart from sides, then sewed up sides, then over locked. Pressed the underarm, neck and bottom hems. After stitching the hems I threaded some lace through the front and back to create the straps

Finished product, I'm very happy with it and it looks so cute on!

(1) length at the top - 9cm
(2) side length  - 29cm
(3) bottom - 21.5cm
(4) length - 40cm

This size is for a one year old, you place the long side (2) on the fold of the material and cut two.

1m of lace is needed for the straps 

Happy sewing!

Hanging ballet shoes

These are some gorgeous little china ballet shoes I picked up from a second hand shop for 50cents, I had them sitting on a shelf then decided they would be gorgous hanging up. So I attached a piece of lace and here they are...

 The vintage lace was in a bulk bag a brought from a garage sale, so the whole thing cost about $1 (new Zealand) to make! Another bargain! 

Now I've decided I really have to start making some Christmas presents, so that's my next mission!

Storage, storage

My house lacks storage so I have had to come up with ways to hide things away! These are just a few things I have do to de-clutter my house and just make life a bit easier...

 Tye a piece of lace around books, that way when the kids pull everything of the shelves it's less tiding up!

 Store small pieces of fabric in old draws under a chair

Same idea, store toys in draws under the couch, it's amazing the tiny spaces that can be used!

And again, using a draw under the couch to store blankets, then it's handy to reach when you need warming up!

Instead of just placing toys on a shelf, use a basket then you can fit more 

Use the space under the cot, again put toys in baskets

 I found this gorgeous vintage suitcase at a garage sale for $2 (NZ), great for wooden blocks, the kids love opening and closing it and because it's so light weight there is no worries of jamming fingers

I keep these two cardboard boxes in the top of my wardrobe full of presents for up coming birthdays

And I know that this isn't really 'saving space' but I just love my vintage jewellery!

Yay! I have a vegetable garden!

I am so excited to finally have a veggie garden, I love growing my own food, it is so satisfying and it tastes so much better! So my lovely husband built it for me and I did the rest...

I was going to get a kit set wooden garden from Bunnings for $78, luckily we had a look at the wood prices, we ended up getting fence pales for only $3.50 per 1.8m, so the whole garden only cost $17.50!! 

Next step, I added a few bags of compost (so smelly) and potting mix. Then I put down some stepping bricks to make it easier to access the garden. Next step, I hammered three stacks into the ground for my trellis.

Finished garden! I have to say I am very proud of myself! 

So we have beans, radish, lettuce, leeks, spinach, tomatoes and broccoli, yum! When I got the six pack of leeks I thought it was just six, wow was I pleasantly surprised, they were all stuck together and turned out to be about 30 plants!

 Delicious climbing beans!

Radish, one of my favourites! So good roasted, then added to a salad with steamed carrots, fresh tomato and coriander finished with a white wine vinegar dressing (2 parts olive oil to 1 part white wine vinegar, some honey, salt and pepper)

Tomatoes, I just hope we don't have a frost!

I have watered it and laid a few snail pellets, I would love to know if there is an alternative to using pellets? I had to put up a make-shift chicken netting fence so the kids don't eat them!

Well I can't wait to get cooking with my yummy veggies, I will add some more photo's when it's looking gorgeous!

 

 

My favourite finds!

These are just a few cute things I have brought recently. I love picking up bargain's when ever I can but every now and again a new piece of clothing with catch my eye!

This is the new item of course it still looks vintage! It was from Just Jeans for $50 (which is a lot for me, when I normally make my own clothing or buy vintage!) My mum and my aunty brought it for me! I just fell in love with lace, so beautiful!

 This is a gorgeous little hand bag, I got from a second hand shop for $2 (New Zealand). It is so cute and fits just the essentials... cell, cards, coins, keys and something I couldn't live without... my bright red lip tint!

Some nice material I picked up from a garage sale, it was $4 for the lot. That also included three cake tins!

 More material from the garage sale, I love the dots! I'm going to make some cute little dresses with it!