Fabric-a-brac - May 2016

This year is flying by, today I went to my first Fabric-a-brac of the year! Fabric-a-brac is as always a good chance to catch up with sewing friends and find a few treasures.

As with many times before I  volunteered to help in the kitchen along with my friend Emma, we arrived a little earlier than normal and decided to help with the set up as well.

Emma and I decided to do a mini sewing challenge for the day and made the same dress, the Sigma dress by New Zealand pattern company Papercut Patterns.

This is the first time I've made a dress from Papercut patterns but I don't think it will be the last, because apart from lengthening the skirt on this dress (I'd been warned by other sewing friends that the skirts on Papercut patterns  were a bit short) I made zero changes to this dress pattern and it fitted really well! Emma mixed up her version a bit and added a different skirt, she used the Fen skirt from Fancy Tiger Crafts. 

Here's another pattern that Rich took in the courtyard when I got home from fabric-a-brac, unfortunately by this stage the fabric had creased A LOT!

This fabric is from the LAST fabric-a-brac back in October, just thought I'd share that to show I DO use all the fabric I acquire at these events. Also the detail of this fabric is really sweet, its covered in little embroidered flowers.

This time around I tried to keep purchases to a minimum, I had one thing I REALLY wanted to buy at this fabric-a-brac and that was bias binding. I wanted bias binding and I wanted a LOT of it as I love using it to sew with and I'm lazy and don't want to make my own unless I have to. I bought all this bias binding for $3 and I was pretty stoked!

I also bought this pattern and I do have costume related plans for it for my mid-year work function, but it is kind of worth getting without plans because its just so awesome.

One of the nicest things about fabric-a-brac is having the chance to catch up with friends you haven't seen in a while, Ria came along after my shift at the cafe and we went and had lunch with was fun as she's been busy at work and I haven't seen her for a while.

I hope you folks are all having a fun weekend, maybe I can use some of that bias binding tomorrow (or go hiking!).

Woodland Creatures Swap

At the end of last year I had pretty much lost interest in doing swaps on Craftster as pretty much none interested me! However, this year there's been a bunch of different swaps I've wanted to do. The most recent package I've completed, that has now been received by my partner was for a Woodland Creature Swap.

I made my partner an adorable hoop, the cross stitch design is another from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. The pattern is called "Quilters Love Fall" and I  thought it was a very woodland design - even if the main woodland creature is a human.

I also made a bunch of pouches, because I'm pretty into making pouches right now and I want to use all the fabric (and there's a lot that needs using!).

First up is this little flowery zipper purse. The outside fabric and zipper pull were both fabric-a-brac finds. The wee pocket is made from fabric-a-brac fabric too, its made from the scraps of my well composed dress.

This adorable ribbon was part of the wrapping on a present Alicia sent me, Alicia uses the best ribbon which I hoard in the hope I will get around to using in  craft projects. I actually used some for this project so hurrah!

Finally my partner said she likes bunnies so I lined this purse with bunny fabric that I bought from Fabric Destash Central - I only bought a small amount of fabric, so it was perfect for lining.

The second purse is made from fabric that may be familiar, I picked this up at a recent fabric swap. I picked the fabric up for the sole purpose of using in this swap and I actually used it, rather than letter in hang out in my "cave" for no reason.

This purse is also fully lined with fabric I received in a swap shortly after we moved into the house, so I've had it for a year - so its not too bad in terms of hoarding. Right?

I also made a third drawstring pouch that I didn't take a separate photo of, but it's made from some cute mushroom print fabric I also got from fabric destash central and trimmed with more of Alicia's ribbon. The drawstring itself is ribbon that I've had forever!

So that's it, another swap package! I have to say I was pretty happy with the cross stitch and all the pouches. I love sewing them right now - who wants one?

Handmade Christmas Present

I always have a million ideas floating  around my mind of what I could make my family near Christmas time - t-shirts for my brothers? shorts for my nephew? a shirt for Rich? an apron for my mum? But in the chaos that is Christmas I usually end up making nothing. So when I actually managed to make one Christmas present this year I was pretty impressed with myself.

I ended up making a dress for Sophiia, its another fancy party type dress and I used the same pattern as I did for the Princess Sophiia Dress. This dress is pretty much identical to the Princess Sophiia dress except for two things. First of all the fabric choice.

I don't really like making pink things for girls as whenever I'm in a store that sells clothes for kids all the little girl clothes seem to be pink and I don't like it - little girls should have variety too!

I totally opted out of pink and chose this fabric with a bunting print. I bought it from a New Zealand Fabric Destash Group on Facebook, if you're interested you can find the group here.

I also decided  this time around I wanted to add some trim to the dress, I'm trying to not always take the shortest possible route when it comes to my sewing projects and take time to add things like pockets and trim if I think it will actually make my projects better.

Your eyes do not deceive you, this is glitter ric rac - just when you thought ric rac couldn't get any better. I bought this ric rac at fabric-a-brac in its original packaging for a couple of dollars.

 

I should have perhaps given the dress a bit of a better iron before taking the photo - rookie error! I was pretty happy with how it turned out though. 

Also unlike the Princess Sophiia Dress I can actually share an action shot of this dress with a photo my brother added to Facebook on Christmas day.

The dress is a little too big for Sophiia right now, but hopefully she will grow into it soon and my Mum said she might be able to add a couple of darts to help the fit. Even if neither of those things work out its a great little dress up frock still.

Also you might notice Lukah is wearing a suit, he asked my brother to buy him a suit for Christmas so he can "dress up nice" when they go out to dinner. When I spoke to him on Christmas I told him next time he comes to visit he should bring his suit and we can have a fancy dinner, his response? "Do you think I should bring the tie or the bow tie when I come, because Dad bought me both to wear with my suit" - I love that kid, he's so cute.

Fabric-A-Brac - October 2015

I've done many posts in the past about Fabric-a-brac, its a twice a year fundraiser we have here in Wellington where people sell all kinds of fabric, patterns,notions and other sewing bits and pieces.

I usually help out in the cafe, but I decided to take a break from volunteering this time and just hung out with friends (I'm sure I will be volunteering again next time fabric-a-brac rolls around).

I always love checking out all of the patterns at the event, you really never know what you might find!

Then there's all the fabric, lace, buttons and everything inbetween! I was very tempted to buy that sparkly velvet.

Although I didn't work in the cafe I did visit it obviously, they had the most delicious brownie.

What treasures did I find at fabric-a-brac this time around? First up the patterns - I was pretty restrained this time round.

This pattern is a size too small for me, but I hope I can size it up as its so cute!

Although there's not much call for tropical dresses like this in Wellington, I think I can make a dress from this for my next overseas trip.

A modern pattern? Say what? I loved the lines of the red dress - I have a lot of crazy prints that this dress would work with.

Next up is the fabrics - again I didn't go too crazy. I bought a metre each of these cute Halloween fabrics from the same stall.

There was something about this green cotton that just screamed "buy me!" - I have a total of three metres. Also this photo doesn't really capture the colour of the fabric, its more emerald green.

Finally this check fabric, I never used to be a fan of orange, but its grown on me lately. Also look at that adorable embroidery!

Finally I bought this ric rac - its yellow AND sparkly, how could I leave this behind? Also how cute is that packaging.

I also noticed this sign when I was up in the cafe when I  was having tea - I'm thinking of entering. Any suggestions as to what I should make with my fabric-a-brac finds?

Fabric-a-brac - April 2014

I always love attending fabric-a-brac and today was no exception. The last week or so in Wellington has been pretty wet and miserable, but that's no reason not to hang out with your friends and buy fabric.

I volunteered in the cafe like last time - making cups of tea and helping out. There was some amazing food donated to sell, look at these cupcakes, they have glitter and everything!

After a couple of hours in the cafe, I stopped for a cup of tea and some cake in the cafe with Ria and the Wellington Sewing Blogger Network girls. I should have taken more photos of this - but I forgot. I did take photos of my cake and tea though.

Here's a few more photos of the event - I like the bunting, everything is better when there is bunting involved.

 

Here are my purchases for the day, the first will seem like the least interesting, but its actually what I set out to buy today. It's some black wool to make myself a winter cape. It's pretty much perfect for what I wanted and only $5 for a metre and some off cuts. 

Soon as I saw this cheesy New Zealand themed fabric I knew I couldn't leave it behind! It's kind of like a tourism postcard from the 1950s in fabric form. Rich and I have a trip booked to Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia in June/July - hopefully I can turn this into a dress before then.

Next up is some very sweet floral cotton, its another fabric I thought would be useful to make a dress or possibly even a maxi skirt for our trip. Mostly I just thought it was very cute.

The photo totally does not do this fabric justice - GOLD LUREX! $2 FOR TWO METRES! As soon as I showed this to Kat she said "wow that is so you!" and it totally is - sparkles forever. I'm going to see if I can make a wrap dress from this fabric. Gold Lurex is totally office appropriate right?

Look! I bought something for some selfless sewing! One of my best friends LOVES Winnie-the-Pooh and now apron making is kind of my thing, I thought I'd buy this so I could make her a Winne-the-Pooh apron.

I thought this fabric was just too good to leave behind - its sharks, with sunglasses, being awesome. I think this one is destined to become some kind of top at this stage, but who knows what may happen.

I almost wasn't going to buy this fabric - but then, $15 for 3 metres of beautiful quilting cotton? Quilting cotton is usually about $15 for 1 metre in the stores. Also I love the print a whole lot - stars!

Usually at fabric-a-brac I find one "I just have to have it because its awesome" fabric - this time it was this peacock fabric. I just love it! I think its some kind of rayon or viscose. I think I want to make some kind of skirt with it to showcase that amazing pattern.

I think tomorrow I may start on that cape! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend xoxo