Duvet Dress

Last weekend Meg and I had a virtual "sew-a-long" - I say virtual as Meg lives in Philadelphia and I live in Wellington, obviously Saturday afternoon arrives in New Zealand a lot earlier than it does in the USA so lets just say I got to the party a lot earlier than Meg did!

I didn't seem to get as much done at the sew-a-long as I wanted to - but I did finally finish my "Duvet Dress".

Recently I've been reading a lot of stuff about "green" sewing and re-purposing fabrics, so when I recently found a duvet cover at an op shop that I liked, I thought I would try and make it into something.

I have the feeling that Duvet may be a New Zealand English word? So to my Australian friends its a "Doona Dress" and for my American friends its a "Comforter Dress" and for those in the UK and further afield - I'm not sure what you may call it - I'm sorry. No wonder English is such a difficult language to learn!

Rich decided to get a bit artsy with this second photo! To be honest, I'm not sure if I entirely like this dress - but it looks better in these photos than it does in the mirror (at least I think it does). Perhaps its just because I'm used to wearing brighter colours it feels a little dull? Perhaps with a bright cardy and tights I will feel more comfortable in this dress.

Also, the dress is made of quite thick fabric seen as it used to be a duvet cover. Which normally wouldn't be so bad seen as it's autumn, but on the day I wore it to work this week the air conditioner was broken and it was 25 degrees in our building which was just too hot. All the guys were taking off their ties and rolling up their sleeves - and I was boiling in this frock!

I've been having a pretty super Easter so far - even though its pretty quiet. Lots of walking, hanging out with Rich and crafting. Fun times. Much of the crafting is related to craft swaps so I can't share pictures yet - but I am working on a frock which is made from some pretty awesome (vintage) fabric that my mum sent me. Hopefully I can share that with you all sometime soon. Have a super Easter Sunday xoxox

Autumnal Frock

Hello World! Just a super quick post as I don't have much interweb time tonight, but I just wanted to share with you my latest frock - it's actually fairly simple but I have been lacking the motivation to finish it off. I don't know why - its seems like craft projects are like that sometimes. I am sure every crafty girl (and guy) has a pile of UFO (unfinished objects) floating around their house.
Here's a bit of a close up of the fabric the dress is made from - very autumnal I thought. The fabric was on sale for half price at the fabric store and I just had to grab some as I thought it was adorable.
This dress is another one form my book "Chic and Simple Sewing" that I bought when I was on my last overseas holiday. The book was a bit expensive - but it's totally worth it as there must be 10-15 patterns in the book and given what a single pattern is worth at the fabric shop I think it's actually not too bad. Plus I am still learning to sew and sometimes store bought patterns confuse me! In other news, I'm making a list 35 goals I want to achieve before I turn 35 - it seems most things relate to craft, baking or travelling (which isn't too surprising). One of my goals is to sew one hundred wearable items. Not all the wearable items have to be for me of course! They could be for Rich or a friend or family member (like the nieces and nephews) or an item for a craft swap.

I've decided the only way I will get to be a better seamstress is by sewing more and more! I know on hundred things is quite a lot but I have two and a half years to complete it - I think I can do it!

Does anyone have any other suggestions of what I can include in my list? I'm only up to 26 things so far which included making a gingerbread house, visiting Tasmania, making a layered rainbow cake, visiting the USA and volunteering overseas for a short time. Reading through my list to date I have decided I am not a terribly complex woman.

I hope you're all having a good week so far and I shall try and catch up on my blog reading tomorrow xoxox