Maternity skirt

A couple of weeks ago I was miserable about the lack of decent maternity clothes in Broken Hill, and the increasing awkwardness of my own clothes with a growing belly.

I decided [after looking in all the retail stores] to go to the opshop and find clothes to 'refashion'. I bought  a few pieces that I thought might work, including this bias cut plaid skirt.

Following the ideas from this Instructible , I refashioned the skirt. Now its important to take the directions from this type of deal with a grain of salt and sensibility. As such, I did some things differently like allowing more height in the front of the giant band, which helps accommodate my  abdomen better than a straight band.

I took quite a lot off the length of the skirt. I shouldn't have gotten something bias cut, as it does not look pretty on my bountiful bottom. Shortening it made it work much nicer on me.

I did swear some time ago that I would never wear those maternity skirts and pants with the funny bands, but I have to say that I was most ignorant when I said that, and these kinds of clothes are REALLY comfortable, and if well made, look great too. 

Score!!!

Paula brought around these fantastic items that were left over from her church's garage sale this week. She though both of them were "odd" enough for me to like. She's right. I love them!! The lamp is just gorgeous. Its all plastic, apart from the electrical bits, and clips together. The box is a bread box, see the close up of the graphic on it below. It won['t work in my kitchen but will keep my scissors and other sundries very sung and safe.



Andrew thinks these are two of the world's most hideous items. I think they will go perfectly in the baby/sewing room when its finally done, and give light and organization to many sewing adventures.

Tab gives you wings

2009 has been a year shockingly devoid of dress-up parties. This means no costume making or wearing, and for some of us, its quite the tragedy.


Jewels [above] and I have particularly felt the sting of this injustice. We were very happy to find out that our friend's daughter Grace was having a disco dress-up, and we were invited! Grace was turning 8 years old, but that didn't stop us!!

Jewels wanted to be a fairy [she's actually a fairy in human disguise] so I made her some magic fairy wings. These wings are made from 4 wire coat hangers [very tough old ones that were difficult to bend but held their shape superbly], 2 pairs of pink stockings [one size fits all wings] some electrical tape, string and white wide ribbon. To decorate I used pray glue, PVA and glitter. See below the full view of the wings.




The second set of wings are the ones that I wore. I was a fairy Godmother, so I wore my "practice" wedding dress, and a wonderfully crocheted cotton lace shawl. The wings are a rectangle of mesh curtain, over two bent wire hangers. Fairy God mothers have very simple wings. I stitched the curtaining to the hangers at the top, so it would stay in place, and let it drape from there. It gave a raggedy effect that I liked. Fairy God mothers cannot eclipse their magic work, so they must have smaller and less glittery wings.

I like these two wings very much. I have a dream to play with wire and cellophane and make a wonderful pair like I've seen elsewhere on the net. One day perhaps :)

The Men of 662 Chapple st

Andrew and Algernon pretend to be arch enemies. I caught them however in a peaceful moment watching TV.

Andrew building our floor. Note the Australian workboots... I swear he'll loose a toe one of these days!

Time Capsule

The floor in our second room is done! The walls need to be built still before we can use it however. I'm very impressed with Andrew's work.

I did something very exciting before the floor was finished. Seeing as we found a bunch of newspapers under the old lino when we pulled it up, I thought that it would be fun to leave something behind for the future.

I didn't have much time or many resources, but here's what I did. I used snaplock plastic bags to protect my items for the future. I figured that they don't break down for 100 billion years, which is why we use them sparingly and that once sealed, they stay shut. In this way I protect these items from dirt, air and water for another day.

I put in a Cornerstone Community Prospectus and Newsletter and a little note saying that in 2009 when the floor was rebuilt, the property belonged to them. The next bag holds a Big W catalogue, and a computer catalogue. After that I put in a Woolworths catalogue. These are because when I found the old papers, I found the advertisements and prices of things to be much more interesting than the paper's articles. Last thing that I have included is a "This Month in Broken Hill" brochure, with lots of "Broken Hill" type things in it. Its mainly for tourists, but I figured it could be interesting for another generation too [should they ever want to time travel, they'll have a guide!]

If any one has any great suggestions of something that should be 'time capsule-ed', let me know before the walls are finished, and I'll stick something in there too.  I only wish there were some way I could know it would all be found one day... but its fun to do in any case!

List 2

This list was found in the carpark at the Centro-Westside Plaza in Broken Hill. It was lying on the ground, where it was obviously trodden on before I picked it up.

On the list was the following:
Spray & Cook
Paper Towels
Rubber Tongs
George Foreman

These are all things that make me think of someone in a caravan, or going to a BBQ. I think "George Foreman" would be more useful in a caravan however. The handwriting suggests the writer to be at least 60 years old, which also points toward a "Grey Nomad".

This list was written on the back of a coaster from the Democratic Club.

List 1

I often see people's shopping lists, crumpled in a trolley, or on the ground in the carpark as I do my shopping. I've decided to collect them as I see them.

Lists can be very interesting. What types of things do people buy? How do they arrange the list? What do they write the list on?

Today's list was found in a shopping trolley. 

Items on the list are:

deoderant

facewipes 

vitamins

jeans west

free creams

laybys.

Nappys.

Rockmans.

Face thingos.

I've transcribed the list exactly as it is written with spelling and punctuation. I'm guessing that the writer was a young mother, judging from the nappies and writing style. 

An interesting item on the list is "free creams". I wonder if it is a cream which is "free' from a certain ingredient, or if someone was handing out free samples?

The last thing that caught my attention was the texture of the paper. It appeared to have been torn from a notepad, but was quite heavy compared to normal note paper, and has a smooth feel. The answer is found at the bottom of the page, where it is written "Waterproof Notepad".

Newborn Gown

Tech Specs: Butterick 403. View 5.
Materials: Off white cotton voile, Velcro.

I've made the first garment for our baby, and I must confess I have gone for romance over practicality.  I can't find the age of the pattern, but its the style and fashion of the 1960's at latest. This is the kind of layette where both boys and girls were dressed in the same clothes as infants.

The gown is very light, and long, which will keep our baby cool on the hot Broken Hill days, and the length won't matter anyway, as I'm quite certain our baby will not be crawling/walking for many months after it's birth!

I love the simplicity of this gown, but the pin tucks give it a very sweet detail. The arms are so tiny and have so many gathers that I'd have to say its the hardest inset sleeve I've ever done. Next time, I'll differ from the pattern and set the sleeve before sewing the underarm and side sleeve.

The pattern called for ribbon to be threaded through the casing around the neck, and a further 3 ties down the back. I replaced these with 4 small velcro tabs, taking care to round the edges so that baby's delicate skin won't be scratched.

This pattern contains 12 different garments, so I'll probably make a few more in the next couple of months. I hope baby doesn't mind me playing dress-ups with it.

1970's pattern comes good.

The second time I've attempted to use a 1970's pattern recently. The first, not so good. This pattern though I thought could work as a maternity top in the 'short' version.

I actually begun making this 5 weeks ago, where it didn't quite look right, my belly wasn't big enough yet, and its not a style that would suit my body shape normally. However, I've grown a lot in 5 weeks, and now it just looks cute. [In my opinion]

Tech Specs: Style 1338, Veiw A. 

Materials: textured cotton cheesecloth, recycled black buttons. 

I think this would work great in View B with a light woollen fabric. I'll try to see if I get to it this winter or not.

Here's a 'belly picture' for those of you who have been asking. Its just on the same size as my bottom now.