North Queensland Refashion

For the past few months I have become a committed follower of the Refashionista.

This lady takes incredibly ugly 'op' shop dresses and turns them into really cute outfits.

I think it helps if you are young, slim and attractive, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

I purchased this three piece outfit from my local Salvation Army op shop.  I was attracted to the colour.  I love this shade.  The fabric in the skirt and top had a nice feel and the skirt was lined.  

In addition to this is by the Liz Jordan label and it is Australian made.  This gets lots of ticks from me.  The jacket material was a bit special as it is beaded with a pattern and sparkly bits in it.

First the before shots.  As you can see I am not young or slim.  I have a petite curvy figure which can make fitting and purchasing clothes quite difficult.  I am also starting to get 'old lady' arms and I am a bit self conscious about that.

First I cut off the extra length and hemmed the skirt and lining.  Then the skirt had to be taken in a tiny bit around the hips.   The skirt was finished and it fitted beautifully.

Next I unpicked the arm hole facings and the hem on the top. I had to get my sister to help to fit the top.  It was way to big around the bust and I had difficulty fitting the back.  Thank God for big sisters.

 I decided to cut up the jacket to make a small caped sleeve to hide my 'old lady' arms.  This is a photo of the jacket with the sleeve pieces cut out.  In this photo you can see the lovely beaded and sparkly bits I was telling you about.  I used an old pattern circa 1980 for the sleeve as I am not confident to just cut and fit.

Once the sleeves were ready I fitted them into the arm hole.  I machine sewed the sleeve and hand sewed the facing.  The dress was finished but I had the remainder of the jacket and that beautiful sparkly material.  I decided to make a draw string bag to match.

I wore the outfit to an Apex Life Membership presentation for my friend Tracey.  Here are some photos from the night.  I was really happy with the result.

I had the job of being Master of Ceremonies on the night.  Here is a photo of the Life members of the club helping Tracey to cut the cake.

Thanks heaps Refashionista for giving me the idea and the confidence to have a go at recycled fashion.  I will definitely do it again.

Polar bear

I made a polar bear wall hanging for Peter and Jenny as a wedding present. 

The bear would never have been finished without the help of Helen, Bob and Sheree at Townsville Stained glass.  The bear was copper foiled and then Bob cut the glass background.  I soldered lead around the edge of the circle but unfortunately I dropped solder on the lead.  Luckily Bob did a really neat job of removing the solder and blackening the lead.  The bear was then glued to the glass.

Both the bear and the background were made from textured glass to represent the fur and a snowy background.  As we know nothing about snow in North Queensland I hope it all looks pretty realistic.  

My clock

Finally the clock is finished.  It has taken me a little over three months to finish.  Although I have taken a photo of the whole clock it is a bit hard to take it all in so I have also taken smaller photos.  It is a very eclectic design and it contains shells; nuggets; new and recycled glass; a thimble; bevels; a button; 2 crystal dishes; numerous pieces of costume jewellery; and a good luck charm.

Heart mirror

My latest creation is going to be a gift.  I got the pattern from Pinterest.  The pattern was for a suncatcher.  I have increased the size of the pattern and  inserted a mirror.  The heart itself is a very simple (4) four piece pattern.  My stained glass teacher suggested the 3D rosettes.

I will post another photo when it is finished.

Lyn's house number

For my sister's birthday I made her a house number mosaic.  Unfortunately the only thing I had at the time was an MDF plaque for the background.  She will have to be sure that she doesn't hang it where it can be damaged by the weather. 

Lyn's Lamp shade

When I thought of making a lamp for my sister I planned to made a different pattern.  Most of the items I had made required straight cutting and the new lamp pattern was full of curves.  I had just enough glass to make the pattern but after I stuffed up the first four cuts I decided I needed a new pattern.  I used the pattern I had chosen for Mum's lamp shade.  

My sister was happy with it, so that is all that matters.

Entertainment Unit doors

I made these doors some time ago.  You may recognise the pattern from the first panel I made.  (See simple panel - second post.)

As usual there is a story about these doors.  The story is that we cut down an old fashioned unit.  The TV used to sit inside on a shelf but the new plazma TV it did not fit so we had to make alterations.  Kent did a great job on the unit but the doors needed to be cut down as well.  We got 'Locky', our local carpenter, to resize the doors and then I made lead light doors to match.  

The green and clear glass match the french doors which are next to the entertainment unit in the lounge room.

Current project

I am currently working on a mosaic house number.  I am experimenting with gluing the mosaic tiles on to a tile as the number will be on the outside of the house.

This is it so far.  I still have to glue the white mosaic pieces in the middle on the plaque.  Then I have to grout it.  I am also waiting for my man to make a wooden frame so that I can grout the frame to the tile as well.  Hopefully I will get it finished one day.

Liam's paver

This is a paver that Liam started to make but had trouble finishing.  We did have plans to make 3 more pavers to match, but this probably won't happen. 

PJ the fox terrior

PJ was a very smart little dog.  He always had to be the centre of attention and unfortunately that was his down fall in the end.  PJ had my undivided attention until I had my son.  

One night I was late feeding PJ because I was late bathing and feeding my son.  PJ had not had much attention that day so he decided to bite on a cane toad.  PJ had bitten toads before so I wasn't really worried as I had a tried and true plan that had worked previously.  I would just wait for the poison to slow him down so that I could catch him.  Then I would shove the hose down his neck and he would throw up the poison.  Unfortunately on this last night I was taking care of the baby and I waited too long to hose out his mouth.  That was the last toad that PJ ever ate. 

This paver is in memory to a very smart little dog with an attention complex. 

This is a PJ look alike as I don't have any digital photos of the real PJ.