Broderie anglaise upcycled {Dressmaking}

I am very excited about this new top. As soon as I saw Mathilde's simple et blanc I knew I had to make one ... somehow.. Finding the right underskirt to upcycle was probably the hardest part of this project. I watched many items on Ebay pass by - not enough broderie anglaise, dodgy cream/yellowy colour, polyester fabric... Until I found the right one. 

Then I had to find a pattern. It is loosely based on the Nuisette featured in Intemporels pour futures mamans (as in a sewing book for pregnant women - as I mentioned it is loosely based). I loved the simplicity of the front and the curved back. I made a muslin (seen on my facebook page) - and off we were. 

And I am really (really really) pleased with the result, can you tell? It is a very simple top except for the bottom border. It is long enough to cover my hips and it has a slight A-line shape that is flattering. I will be able to wear it with jeans, shorts or maybe skinny trousers (yeah as if that ever happens). I used a 70/10 sewing machine needle as the fabric is lightweight (more on how to choose your needle here)

The original underskirt

Here are my five tips if you are going to buy a second-hand underskirt:

- the price: they seem to be quite popular on Ebay (especially the cotton one) - so beware. It is a very easy top that does not require a lot of fabric, so I would compare the price of a broderie anglaise border and see how much you are willing to spend accordingly. 

- seams and side seams: you cannot really see it, but at the back the broderie anglaise seam is not flush with the side seams (that is how I got the underskirt). If you can ask the seller where the seams are, you may be able to have a better finish. 

- fabric: there are a lot of polyester underskirts out there, it will not be the same finish - just make sure you know what you are buying.

- stains: there was a little one on the underskirt that I managed to remove with some vanish - again beware, these may have been stored in a cupboard for a while

- broderie anglaise: there are some beautiful designs out there, wait for the right underskirt, it will come, and it gives you time to assess how much they go for. 

I am sure this top will appear in many Saturday mixing handmade and highstreet posts - and by the end of the summer you will be sick of it! 

{DIY} Updated Umbrella Stand

When we bought our current house, we redid quite a lot (we only kept the bath tub of the existing house) - and created an entrance. Until now we had ignored the entrance - and casually dumped our coats and bags on the shoe bench. It's been driving me insane bothering for a while, then I had Baby MiH and well it became priority 1000 on our to-do list, until my Mum offered us her old umbrella stand. Then the entrance could have 'entrance' furniture and look like it had a purpose, even a personality! 

I have known that umbrella stand for like - ever. It has been sitting next to the table in my parents' entrance, not really a feature, useful I suppose - but well not exactly my style. But as long as it was in their house and not mine, who cared. My parents redid their whole entrance recently, and suddenly the umbrella stand was up for grabs. Mr MiH rolled his eyes (like a serious rolling) when I said we are taking it with us. The deal was, I was going to update it, and if he did not like it we would get rid of it - as it was free it did not matter. 

To be fair to Mr MiH he came up with the genius idea of using Brasso to make the top of the stand shine - and it made a world of difference as a first step. The second step was spray painting - I believe I did 4 coats in the end (we used masking tape to protect the brass top and the inside). 

And here we are a brand new umbrella stand in our entrance. I love how the flower pattern is still present, and how it looks well ... so different - with so little effort. 

I sent the picture to my Mum - after the new stand was formally approved by Mr MiH of course - and she loves it, thinks that it looks much better than the original - R-E-S-U-L-T. 

You see that cushion covering the shoe bench... well it is starting to really bug me ... I have ideas already, stay tune!

The other life of a blanket {thrifted and upcycled}

I thought of a new series for the blog - the One Hour Project, and this was supposed to be my first project, except that it took me all afternoon, and evening to make it - and that is for one cushion only, when I need two. An hour project I don't think so - thrifted and upcycled definitely!

I bought this pure wool vintage blanket probably 6 months ago - and yes, it had been sitting at the top of the stairs for that long. And now that I am on a cleaning drive (but still sleeping loads), it had to be made into what I always had in mind - new cushion covers for our spare bedroom. 

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway - open until Friday night**

I bought the blanket for the blue stripes on the side - thick and thin stripes next to each other which provided a lovely pattern especially if it was to be seen on a smaller item. 

You can find two for sale on Ebay now

I was expecting the project to take an hour because the concept was simple:

• To cut out two squares out of the blanket with the same pattern (55 x 55 cm for a 50 x 50 cm cushion)
• Sew an invisible zip on the side (the one with the blanket stitch that ran around the whole blanket),
• Sew the two pieces together on the right side, 
• Hand stitch, and have a blanket stitch outside the cushion cover as the fabric frays.  

So nothing special, except that the thickness of the blanket as well as how the fabric frayed made it rather difficult. My sewing machine played up whilst sewing the invisible zip. 

I used some lace yarn for the blue hand stitch

But I did get there in the end, and I really love it, so simple, but so stylish for the second bedroom - and well as the blanket cost £10.00 to start with, and I had all the other material needed.  

So I added a touch of warmth to the spare bedroom - just need to make the second one, hopefully I can use what I learnt for the first one, and make in less than 6 hours.. There's a challenge!

Upcycled {Quilt}

Moving house presented the opportunity to go through Mr MiH's wardrobe. He is really bad at throwing things away, really. I am on the other hand able to get rid of things very easily (except handbags). You can see the tension in the house, Me: 'why are you keeping this, it is broken?'  Him:'I will fix it... one day'. Hmmm. Anyway, I must have rubbed off on him, because he did get rid of some of his shirts (frayed at the collar and cuffs - not a good look). And here came the idea of turning them into a quilt! This is of course a win-win for Mr MiH - he gets rid of shirts, but can still enjoy them (yes, I got more as a result) and I get free fabric. 

I have been longing to get on with log cabin blocks for a long time since I saw Kevin Costner's sofa in a mag.   Upcycled shirts were perfect as I got a lot of different sizes of fabric pieces, but as I only needed strips of it, it did not matter. I did buy some extra shirts and charity shirts (the XXL versions for a pound) and received some donations from family members as well. 

I am really lucky - his shirts are mainly blue or white - with a couple of pink ones (which he was very happy to get rid of). So it was all easy to follow the bi-colour inspiration. I made a rough sketch of what I wanted to achieve and the number of blocks I would need (a bit daunting - may become smaller). 

This quilt is supposed to be a picnic blanket... which may prove useful now that summer is finally upon us in London. I used some Michael Miller fabric with butterflies for the centre of the block which fitted the purpose. 

This is very much work-in-progress. It took for ever to prepare the shirts, cut out the pieces of fabric, wash, iron them and cut each into strips. And then pregnancy sickness stopped any progress. I was really disappointed that only 4 blocks were done (I had 8 in mind). I am hoping to make some more over the weekend, I may actually be using this quilt some time this year! 


Today I am linking up to W.I.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.