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

Dyeing, dyeing, always eco dyeing - this time silk dresses!

Take a gorgeous silk dress with gold embroidery:

Fill it with gum leaves, grevillea leaves, tea leaves and rusty objects:

Wrap it into a tight bundle:

Repeat with the second silk dress:

Lots more grevillea leaves on this one:

Wrap it around a rusty piece of metal:

And once both are wrapped, boil them in gum leaf dye for an hour.

They looked promising on the line afterwards:

Drying - love that copper!!

 Promising colours and patterns:

There's green in there, even after a wash in the machine!

Nice mix of copper, grey and black.

 Check out the spring:

 And the results... blown away!

Have to try that one again!

#lovelypennypatterns

Silk Skirt Refashion to funky denim skirt

I bought this beautiful hand-painted silk skirt at a craft fair at the end of last year.

It's not the usual colours that I go for, but the stall had drawn me in with a plethora of brightness and I had to have this.

Problem is.. I don't like it. How silly does that sound?
I took it home, tried it on and thought 'Yes, I love this!' then hung it in the cupboard and haven't worn it since. 
Why? 
Every time I put it on I feel like an overweight hippy. There's too much flow, maybe there's too much yellow (which I don't wear), and I put it back. It's also quite transparent, so I needed to wear a slip under it and that's really hot up here.
It was going to go in the present box, but sometime during a sleepless night I had an epiphany: I can turn this into a denim refashion!
There are dozens of examples online where people have taken the top part of a pair of jeans or shorts and added a flowing skirt to the bottom. I think the blue will offset the yellow in the skirt, and I'll like the style more (since I've made two of these skirts already).
I thought I would go shopping and op-shopping to find some denim to cut up, looking for light denim, because I thought that would suit it better. But I had a denim skirt that I didn't wear enough in my cupboard, that I had already been eyeing for a refashion.

Because the silk skirt is transparent, I needed a layer under it. The picture below already makes me happier!

As it's a denim skirt I can just put the silk skirt over it and not worry about a layer underneath.
I went back to the silk skirt and unpicked the waist band so that I could remove the elastic.

Silk is strong, but when you pair it with denim it is a big difference in weight of fabric. I didn't want the silk ripping because of this so I sacrificed some of the top to fold the silk to make it stronger before I attached it to the denim skirt. This served a second purpose of shortening the silk skirt too, as it would otherwise be too long when attached to the denim. 

Much happier with how this sat on!

I also used a trim when I sewed the silk down, which added more strength again and would help stabilise the link between the silk and denim. 

It was very easy to sew onto the denim then, with some gathers so that it would sit nicely. 
And final product: two skirts that I didn't like/love, made into one skirt that I do!

#lovelypennypatterns