Vintage fabrics, jewellery making and more

The RRR shop over at Etsy has had a bit of a spring clean recently. I've dusted it off and started listing some goodies that i've been collecting for a while now. Being a crafty soul myself, I really wanted to create a shop that sells supplies I would want; stuff that can actually inspire creativity and not all the mass produced tat that you often have to sift through first.

Amongst plenty of jewellery supplies, i've also got some gorgeous vintage fabrics that are in the shop (or in the process of being listed!).

Japanese Sewing... I need this book!

I've been seriously lusting after this book (which I am patiently trying to wait til payday to buy...).

 

Stylish Dress Book

Full of beautiful simple Japanese style and has been translated to English. It has 26 full patterns inside including the lovely tunic dress on the front - total bargain at £11.18! I'm hoping I might be able to make some of the gorgeous dresses i've been madly pinning to my Pinterest page...

Handmade bag birthday present - tree of life

So my latest labour of love is a birthday gift for my mum. She's a total hippy; loves anything to do with nature, caring about our plant and animals, and wants World Peace!

It's the first time i'd made a bag and was definitely a learning curve, although i'm pleased with the end result. It's a strong little bag too, although my sewing machine went through a lot of punishment to get to the end!

I harvested a pair of my old jeans for the body of the bag, and spent most of the time patchworking and embroidering the main image. I used leftover fabrics and old zips for the rest.

I love the underside of the strap and I feel like I need to make some clothing with the same fabric - it looks gorgeous against the denim!

The main embroidered part of the bag. I patchworked a selection of fabrics for the background and then cut out the body of the tree from felt (below). I then embroidered over the top for more detail.

The felt tree cut out to gauge size and positioning of the background.

The main body of the bag was mostly made from patchwork denim.

The inside of the bag. I used more of that lovely fabric to make a small pocket and mobile phone pocket. I used old saved zips for both the pocket and main bag.

I hope my mum likes it! I think I want one for myself now...!

How to make handmade slippers in under an hour...

Yes really, in under an hour! These little slippers are so quick to knock up from fleecy fabric and they don't need hemming which makes the process even quicker. You'll have to excuse my camera work; I took pictures at the start and the end but sort of forgot to take some in the middle (!!). Anyway you get the idea...

Draw round feet

Cut them out - my son used the opportunity for some arty camera work!

Cut out your soles (you will also see at the top right some triangles - you can cut a rectangle in 2 on the diagonal to make 2 triangles. You will need 4 of these triangles - see the above diagram)

These slippers literally took me just over 1/2 an hour, but take an hour to get them just right. My son loves them calling them his "Elf Slippers"! 

My attempt at sewing a 50s style dress!

Earlier this month I blogged about a free 1950s pattern that could be downloaded online, courtesy of the V&A museum. I promised that I would take some pictures and post them for all to see...

"The Golden Age of Couture" at the V&A museum... a FREE 1950's dress pattern

In a bid to get everyone making a bit more and to embrace reusing old fabrics, i've offered people over at my little Facebook page a link to a free pattern I found some time ago. The pattern is based upon a 1950's ready-to-wear dress from the couture collection that was displayed at the V&A museum and has been sized for a modern day 10,12 and 14. You can download the pattern and print either on A4 and stick together or take to a print shop to get full size. It comes with full step by step instructions and pictures to help you through.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/create.php

Loving again - giving a second life to vintage

So here at Revive Revamp Remake you know i'm all about making the most of what we have, reusing and giving life to stuff that has been forgotten. This brings me nicely to the new Vintage Phenomenon that is rapidly taking over the world! With vintage clothing and styling being the new cool I had to discuss it in my blog... after all whilst people are hunting down the next "must have vintage dress" there is one less person buying another mass-produced-soon-to-be-thrown-away piece of clothing.