Thrifty Bitch

Thats me!

I, like many people I know, am trying to save money.  I have been asked lately whether it's worth it, money wise these days, to sew my own clothes.  I answered the lovely lady who asked that for me it is.   The main reason I sew is because I love to make things.  It's that simple.  Secondary to that is I can make things that fit me properly, and I can do it in a way that saves me money.

I am a serial op shopper.  I buy clothes, shoes, bags, scarves, the lot.  I also buy fabric, or large garments with enough fabric to use for other garments.  This t shirt cost about 70 cents in materials.  The fabric is half a metre of interlock that set me back a whopping 50 cents, plus about 20 cents worth of thread and a bit of my time that would have otherwise been spent sitting on the couch watching TV.

This one really cost me nothing.  The fabric was a maxi dress that I used to wear quite a bit, but have shrunk out of.  There's plenty of fabric in a big jersey maxi dress for a t shirt.  

 There's plenty of fabric in a big jersey maxi dress for a t shirt.  Both t shirts were made using the patterns from the Meg McElwee's Craftsy course Sewing With Knits. (It's on sale at the moment for too!)

My final thrifty project this week was a mens shirt refashion.  I bought the shirt a few weeks ago because the blue with white pinstripe was lovely, and I have had an idea kicking around in my head for it.

I love it when an idea translates to reality!  This casual top turned out exactly how I had pictured it in my head.  

There was enough fabric in the sleeves to make bias tape for the edging and straps.  I used the continuous method which was a bit of a brain stretch but now that I've done it makes perfect sense.

 Please ignore those spots, it started raining just as I was taking pics.

So there you go.  A weeks worth of thrifty sewing.  I may or may not be procrastinating about starting my blazer because I've never done one before.  I know I'll be fine once I get started but that starting mojo is elusive.

A Little Refashioned Blouse

Last week Joss and I wandered a couple of towns over to check out an op shop I haven't visited before.  As well as a couple of cute vintage kids patterns, some super cheap fabric and a pair of t-bar shoes, I found a couple of nice quality men's shirts in pretty colours.  This one is particularly pretty.  It was a men's small so I didn't have much room for tweaking.

I took off the collar and sleeves and turned it around.  Widened the neckline, narrowed the shoulders and added a couple of pin tucks to the new front.  Then I finished the arm holes with bias binding facings and added a somewhat crooked collar.  No hemming, no sewing button holes, minimal finishing!

The end result is pretty cute, fits well, the weather has turned too cold to wear it outside, not even for photos.  So now you get to see my cluttered studio, and look there in the background in the pic below is my skirt for March's outfit!

Day 4 - Down Came The Rain

It has been raining solidly for the last 12 hours. Our backyard is a swamp, the main street is flooding, the golf course is a river and trees are coming down everywhere! I really hope our hill doesn't tun into an island, I need to shop for buttons!

I'm finding SSS quite motivating. This morning I pulled out a couple of items I had planned to refashion, but never got around to doing. I spent five minutes sewing up this skirt from a pair of my old jeans that I had already cut. Five minutes from ruined to useful! They were wide leg jeans too, so no extra panels needed. Put that together with a plain T and hand knit vest and today's outfit is sorted! Accented nicely by my red slippers, no point in putting on shoes as I have no intention of going out in the deluge!


My other accessory in the photo is Skye, who has come to visit us while my parents are in China.