Refashioned Maternity Dress

Nope, it's not my maternity dress - thank goodness! Isn't it hideous? It's almost like someone wanted to punish women for getting pregnant! Aldona, my cushion-making partner in crime, donated the baggy monstrosity to me and told me to do whatever I wanted with it. 

So I came up with something very different to a baggy, shapeless maternity dress. I started by unpicking it, then ironing each piece to flatten it out. Then I made a whole new dress out of it - a tiny, low-cut, fitted, halter dress. It's completely different from the original dress, and not really something I would normally wear, but it's good to try new things when sewing, right? The bodice pattern came from Style 1911, and was matched to my trusty pencil skirt pattern, with the high waistband removed. I also chopped four inches off the bottom of the skirt. 

Here I am, looking down the top of my dress and hoping it doesn't slip. Since I'm not exactly *ahem* blessed in the bustal region, I decided to add some straps to hold it up and prevent an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. I had more than enough of the grey fabric to make up the new dress, but decided to add a bit of interest to it by using a tartan fabric for the midriff. The midriff piece was an offcut from another shapeless monstrosity - a 1980s maxi-length skirt I'd recently shortened. 

The other adjustment I made - which can't be seen in these pictures - is to add boning to the sides of the bodice (sewn into the lining) for more support. Yes, boning! My first time! It adds some structure to the top, and prevents it from slipping and sliding about too much.

Hairband - Diva, dress - selfmade, tights - supermarket, shoes - Office

Padded Camera Bag

Finally got off my arse and made myself a little padded bag so I can bring my cameras out and not worry too much about them getting knocked about. 'Professional' photogs will be aghast to find out that I've so far been carrying my 'gear' in filmsy little canvas totes bags, or perhaps even worse, stuffed into a pocket. Yes, even my SLR!

I did think about getting a camera bag/case a while back, but I simply could not grow to love those bulky, flashy 'look-at-me-indulging-in-gearfaggotry' type Crumpler bags. They're just so...acrylic! So I held off, searched around unsuccessfully in op-shops, and then finally said to myself: 'Hang on a minute, I have a sewing machine, I have piles of fabric, I can do this!' 

So I did, and I glad to say that it came out pretty much the way I envisioned it in my head. Which isn't always the case when you're working without a pattern, and adding details willy-nilly. Most of my materials came from my stash, except for the padding, which I spent all of £0.99 on. Extravagant, I know! It was a little pink fleece baby blanket from the 99p Shop down the hill, cut up into appropriate sizes than machine-quilted onto the green lining fabric to secure it. 

And...lots of pockets. Inside and out. I also added two strips of elastic, stitching them to the lining at  intervals of about 1 inch, to hold film, lipsticks and other essentials. The strap came from a huge roll of cotton webbing that I got from an op-shop ages ago for £1.

Here it in, in action, with my Halina 35x hanging round my neck on two strips of green cotton bias binding. So profesh...

Prowler

The weather's been fairly, well, London-ish recently, and all I've been wanting to do lately is stay in my PJs or wrap myself up in a blanket constantly. Which is all fine and dandy when I'm at home, but apparently, it's not the done thing when I'm out and about.

So I took matters into my own hands and whipped up a solution. I got one metre each of leopard print faux fur and a red/blue plaid flannel fabric (two of my favourite patterns!) and sewed up a reversible vest, with detachable (and reversible) hood. Can you tell I'm big on reversible items. No 'making-of' pictures, as I wasn't certain it would work. Didn't follow a pattern either, just cut and pinned and held my breath. And here's the end result.

I made the hood slightly bigger than usual, so it would go over my other hoodies or even hats. That way, I'll never need an umbrella. Stupid things are only useful if you want to poke someone's eyes out anyway.

Vest - DIY, black hoodie - some store in Hong Kong, blue flannie - KMart Boys section, t-shirt - hand me down from Hansen, jeans - opshop, beanie - opshop, bowler hat (2nd pic) - eBay

I premiered the vest last night on a supermarket run, and guess what? It's like wearing a blanket and PJs TOGETHER! Best thing ever! Expect to see lots of this little baby in the coming months...