Upcycled kimono fabric top

I originally bought two of these pieces of kimono silk to use for my wedding dress, almost 8 years ago. The concept didn't work out and the fabrics have sat in my stash for all this time. The white piece was a gift from a friend that I have used as a scarf. I needed the extra fabric for this project though so it was time to refashion it.

This Simplicity pattern is a new favourite of mine

- one of the few that is generous rather than stingy with its measurements. 

There was just enough fabric to cut the top out! The front and back both have seams down the middle, but they look fine.

Kimonos are made from panels of fixed-width fabric, which is why I knew that I could use the two completely different pieces.

The embroidered piece is stiff and has a lot of loose threads on the back that would catch on everything.

I decided to line it with fabric from a dress that I didn’t wear because the cotton was too thin. Green is my favourite colour!

It made the front bulkier but way more comfortable. It also made the seams less bulky. Time to sew the front and back together!

The next question was sleeves or no sleeves?

I went with the sleeves, sewed them on and created a collar.

I hemmed the bottom, turning the cotton to the front for a contrast. 

Finished top!

Thought about wearing to to work for frock up Friday, but the outfit was a bit much!

#lovelypennypatterns

My Brother's Japanese Jacket

I lived in Japan for 9 months, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. They also have amazing textiles... so my family members all got a kimono. I regret not buying more, now that I can do all sorts of things with fabric, because I would have some amazing dresses by now! Next trip... though I'm starting to eye this one on the wall....

As he was unlikely to wear it as-is, my brother asked me to turn his kimono into a jacket.
No before picture, sorry, this post was semi-retroactive. It was a black kimono with a patterned bottom though. Phoenixes, even.
What I decided to do was unpick all of the pieces. It was a thin, silk kimono, so it wouldn't be a very warm jacket. I scoured the shops online and found a decent men's jacket that would fit my bro.

I wrapped the bottom pattern around the body of the jacket and pinned it into place

Pretty much a perfect fit!

It sounds odd, but the blacks matched really well, too, so the addition doesn't look out of place.

There was an extra motif, which I pinned to the sleeves of the jacket for extra detail.

Because of the thickness and shape of the sleeve, it was too hard to get all of this through my sewing machine. So I had to hand-sew all of it! This is the sleeve partially done:

It was going to look great when it was done!

I ran the back of the jacket through the machine- hand sewing would have taken forever!

And here it is, minus all of those pins:

Op Shop Refashion: Denim pants to skirt

This refashion has been sitting on my pile for a while. I wanted to turn this pair of denim shorts into a skirt. The first step was to cut the legs open.

The front seam doesn't sit very well when you convert it, so I have to open it up and stitch it flat.

I has to rethink how this would work, given that it was raw edges that I was pinning down. I decided to seal them instead. 

 This would mean that the edges wouldn't fray and would be more comfortable to wear.

 After that I patched the gaps with dyed cotton napkins and a bit of lace.

 Back and front: 

 This is destined for my Christmas craft stall! 

#lovelypennypatterns

Star Wars Bedsheets refashioned into a dress (and three skirts!)

I'm going through a dress phase again at the moment, and I'm not afraid to wear interesting things to work. So when I found these Star Wars Stormtrooper bedsheets in an op shop I had to make something!

Cue favourite pattern: 

There was plenty of fabric for a full-length dress, so I folded and pinned my pieces. I wanted to get more than one garment out of it, so I didn't necessarily follow the grain of the fabric... but hopefully it won't stretch too much.

I also cheated and combined a couple of pieces- sometimes I'm lazy! It's for me, so it doesn't matter so much.

The other skirts that I cut out:

1) Rockabilly pattern, just needs the waist band on it in this photo:

Finished:

2) Rockabilly pattern for my nerd skirt, in progress:

3) Flared skirt:

Four garments out of two bedsheets is good recycling! 

Keep an eye out for the finished dress!
#lovelypennypatterns

Disney Cosplay: Ursula from The Little Mermaid - Part 3

Part 1 and Part 2 of this costume are done - onto the finishing touches now.

Step 4 - the Bling

Ursula wears a gold shell around her neck, the one she uses to capture Ariel's voice. She also has purple shell earrings.
I started with two snail shells that I picked up in the bush. Not sea shells, but I had looked and had no luck finding an intact shell of a good size to use. I could have made one from scratch, but I haven't dabbled much in clay or foam so this was a good option. I did two so that I had a test one, wanting the big one to be the final one.

I filled the holes in with multipurpose filler, taking care not to stuff too much in as I was worried that it might expand.

After a week set aside to dry, I started painting. It was very pale at first, and patchy, so I knew that I would have to layer the paint.

After a number of layers they look more like this! They really shine under the light, too.

I did try adding a varnish over the top to seal the colour in, but all of my tests came out lumpy. It was like it was reacting with the paint. We even tried my husband's spray-on varnish, but it was way too blobby. So I left the shells as they were and hoped that I wouldn't encounter any water that might wash the colour off!
I glued loops of wire on the back to hang the shells off and was very happy with the finished results:

Onto the earrings.
Same process as the gold shells: found matching shells on the beach, filled the holes, and painted layers of bright purple on. Because the colour was less transparent, it took half as many coats for these.

I went and found earring attachments after some puzzling about how to connect them, needing the shaped pieces to glue on to hold the shells to the ear hooks. 

It was the simplest and most attractive way of doing it.

With the bling done, it was just the final touches left!

Step 5 - hair and makeup

I found out that Ursula was based on a real life drag queen - that explains a lot!

The makeup was achieved with a trip to a costume shop in town, because I needed thick colour to put on. I used a brush for my face below, but a sponge should give a smoother colour.
At some point in the future I would like to figure out how to airbrush colour on so that I could be all-over purple for this outfit.

I have to decide whether to just do my face (which would be a lot cooler up here) or my whole upper body - everything that shows above the dress. I'll probably go with just the face, because I'll be doing it all myself on the day and it will be hard to reach my back.

I did try a wig, but decided that I like white hairspray instead. It will be thicker on the day than what I did above!
There are some props that I could carry as Ursula:

• The contract that Ariel signs
• the sea witch's lipstick and mirror
• The two eels, Flotsam and Jetsam 
• Triton's crown and trident

But I decided that I was fine as-is. Now to wait until the day to put it all together... photos to come!
#lovelypennypatterns