What's not to love about op-shopping!

Just part of my new stash of fabric...When I spotted a stack of Vogue Designer sewing patterns (circa 1980), I suspected this St Vinnies might have some nice fabric in stock. 

True to form, I found crisp linen (pristine white and prints), crepes, real wool and  shiny silks tucked in amongst their stash. 

And the price?  A princely $16.50 for some twelve metres of material.

Spot the op-shop jeans...Seriously, who can tell the difference between my brand new $65 no-name jeans and the $4 Levis I found op-shopping in country Kenilworth? 

It was so hot camping that I bought the jeans on the right to cut up into shorts, but in the end figured they were too nice and deserved better treatment!

Easiest ever way to convert your jeans to shorts

For those with the same urge to cut up your jeans, I spotted the easiest way to do it on some shopbop.com shorts.

Just turn up the edge once to the outside and stitch.  No messing around trying to put cuffs on your shorts - it stops the fraying just a bit and you get a great look for minimum effort!

Wardrobe Refashion Sign On

At Wardrobe Refashion, you can sign a pledge for a minimum 2 months, to not buy new clothes, but craft and create your own instead.  Participants can log their progress on the WR blog. 

Here's my first entry:-

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Re-Fashioning your denims...and the Art of Thrifting!

from ReadyMade April/May 2009Wandering past City Beach, saw some patched denim jeans and said to myself "That'd be so easy to do!" Here's how to attack them, courtesy of a great re-fashioning article in ReadyMade  magazine.

Try it out first on some old jeans- I found a great $8 pair of Levis at an op-shop.

Went out op-shopping recently

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Just to wrap it up...

Updated on Oct 19, 2009 at 15:58 by [Carmen]

Still working on skirts made from a pair of pillowslips (see previous entry) ...

When I told Remo about my sewing business, he insisted I wear something I'd made to our next church meeting.  Luckily, this pillowslip skirt can be made in an afternoon. (Excuse strange pose - I photographed myself in the bathroom mirror!)

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It's a wrap!...skirt...

Thought y'all might be interested in how ideas for new patterns come about.  This one started with a note from a teacher, looking for an easy wrap skirt project for her year 9 students.  Came up with this little mini  skirt, which I quite liked. There was just one problem - as with most wrap skirts, a strong breeze and it all unwraps rather quickly! 

 

Hoping to avoid wardrobe malfunctions, I looked into another wrap skirt style that is a large tube shape (so it can't fly open, exposing your undies!).  Round about the   same time, I spied these little dresses in British magazine Sew Hip, made from a recycled pillowslip.

Figuring one pillowcase would not accomodate my hips, I started work on a wrap skirt made from a pair of pillowcases.  Here's some of the work in progress...Front of Pillowslip skirt Back of pillowslip skirt 

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