Loving: My Dowry Pincushion

I have been meaning to post about this gift for a little while now.  For Christmas I recieved the most gorgeous pin cushion ever by my team at work, found by Karralee (K - when are you going to get that food blog up and running?).   It is made by Dowry, who are a mother and daughter team based at the South Coast.  They design and hand make clothing, furnishings, dolls and other things from old discarded textiles as well as vintage fabrics. Everything is handmade in Australia. Check out their website, they make very cool things.

Charlotte Skirt Sewalong contd

I fell a little bit behind on the Charlotte Sewalong but am happy to say that I think I am now up to date.
The skirt has darts, is sewn up, adjusted, invisible zip inserted and lining sewn in.  Phew.  I think I stretched the material a little bit sewing up the second side of the invisible zip so it is a bit puckered (pre pressing) but it's not so bad, and given it is linen will hardly be noticeable with the rest of the creases that naturally occur.  (I hope).  For a first invisible zip ever, I'm pretty happy with it.

The fit of the skirt is also great.  I took it in a little bit using the instructions from the sewalong.  Adjusting the lining then to fit the adjusted skirt was a bit fiddly because my adjustment on the skirt was a bit random, but I think the skirt sits well with the lining.  I tried it on and Ben said that it is a great fit over the bum, so that is a good sign., oh and it goes with my shoes!  I predict this to be a work (horse) skirt..  at least until the winter.

So, I can breath until the next post in the sewalong.  

FINISHED! Bird Wings for Alice

I put my head down this morning and finished these bird wings for my beautiful niece Alice, for her 5th birthday.  I really hope they make her fly -  she is starting school in February!  

The pattern is based on this tutorial from Llevo el Invierno.  Eri has lots of amazing things on her blog so do check her out.
You might remember I made wings last year for another little girl, Hannah, but this time I made a few adjustments to improve the wearing (I hope).  I added a collar with velcro (rather than just ribbon) and also wrist cuffs with velcro. It's not super classy, but I hope it will help the wings stay on and also remove the choking hazard that Ben is always so worried about.

Just like last time I used some gold leatherette for the back.  I really tried hard with the sewing at first to make it look nice but then decided not to worry too much as I think the uneven-ness adds to the charm.  (I would say that !).

This would be a good project for anyone looking to stashbust!!