What used to be jeans

Recycling, upcycling, refashioning - call it what you will, I love turning clothes I won't wear into something that someone will wear.  This dress started life as a couple of pairs of jeans and a shirt which came in a bag of hand me downs, which sadly didn't quite fit me.  Since the jeans had wide legs I figured I'd harvest the fabric and make Isabella a dress.  This one is based on a size 7 (Aldrich, naturally) block, so is roomy and long, but wearable.

This shot shows the petal sleeve a bit better.

And the back.  I reused the pockets too.

I don't like to waste the unused bits of clothes I cut up, so the leftovers of this dress (and a few other rework projects) are destined for another life as various things.  I have so many pins on Pinterest of things I want to do one day.  Seriously, I'll have to live to be really really really old to do everything I've ever wanted to do!

And poor Isabella didn't get this dress till today because she was unable to wear dresses for a week and a half because of this.

She took a tumble from a four foot tall jumping box at kindy (thanks to a shove from an impatient class mate) and landed awkwardly on her foot.  An x ray showed no break, but apparently it can be hard to be sure in young children, and it was clearly badly sprained so they put this on - partly plaster, partly cotton wool and bandage.  She spent 12 days crawling, riding on her three wheeler and being carried.  No dress till she was walking again.  The cast came off on Tuesday and she is now limping around like a champ, and delighted to get a new dress.

Meeting the locals

Funny you should ask if I'm in Wellington Grace - I actually live in Dunedin (way down the east coast of the South Island), but just last week I was in Wellington, catching up with family.  The trip included the obligatory visit to Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand), where I met these guys.

Comments regarding the number of trolls in the picture invited! (J? K? M? - go on, you know you want to!) Phone pic courtesy of the sister I went with because I forgot to pack my camera.

That is my Alabama Chanin skirt I'm wearing.  It is really really really comfortable and I love it to bits.  I think I need about twelve more, but with pockets.

New Alabama Chanin Skirt

So I finished my slow skirt.  Made from the left over fabric from my epic hand stitched dress project this was kind of a filler project while I worked out what Alabama Chanin project to tackle next.  These things are great to take to craft nights or just have on hand to pick up and put down as the desire to hand work something takes me.  I thought I'd run out of enthusiasm for the time consuming process after making one project, but I've made myself three corset tops, a tank top, and a dress before this skirt, not to mention fingerless mitts for me and four Kindy teachers, and a corset top for my sister.  I've started the new dress for me, and seriously I LOVE working like this!  I love the process and I love wearing the garments when I'm done.  Anyway, here it is on my dummy.  (I've no idea why it's a bit lopsided.  I didn't notice till I put the photos on the computer, and just couldn't be bothered retaking them!)

Instead of the foldover elastic at the waistline I added a separate casing with elastic, which I attached with a zig zag chain stitch.  I was nervous that this wouldn't stretch enough to get over my hips, but it's just fine.  Yay!

I hate taking photos of myself, but in the interests of showing how it looks on I put it on for some shots.  I wouldn't normally wear a T shirt tucked into it, and in fact I have some more of the peacock underlayer fabric and when I have time I'm going to make a plain corset top to wear with it.

Both twins got in this pic with me.  Can you spot Nicholas?

To close, I put myself on the Sewintists map.  Where I am currently the most southerly pin in the whole world.  There has GOT to be someone south of me who sews!