I totally resized Gran’s unwanted denim dress for a closer fit. I removed the sleeves and separated the top from the skirt. I popped it over Scarlet’s head and put in new darts. I stitched the skirt back up to the top. Hey presto.

I used two of Gran’s unwanted skirts for this feathered applique top. I quickly stitched up a basic throw-over-your-head t-shirt. Then used the off-cuts plus a few scraps of goldie fabric I had stashed away (also second hand) along with bonda-web and machine stitching to create the feathery bib.

I love this colour so much. I had to do something super summery with it. Only one thing for it – a playsuit! I chopped off the length of the trousers into shorts, hemmed them up. The waistband was originally a size 20 and I decreased it to about a size 10 by cutting trough the waistband and shortening the elastic and stitching it up again. I created the top from the off cuts from the length. I made a pattern using my dressmakers dummy to do so. I whizzed through some straps and stitched on a couple of second hand buttons. Ready for the sun!

I used the rest of the lesser pink jacket to create this skirt. I wrapped it round Scarlet and utilized the buttons to be fastened down the hip. I cut off various sections to add to the length and stitched together the gaps. The sleeve I had left from the jacket created the flounce at the back. I stitched this in place for affect.

This item was made out of two unwanted items – a bubble gum pink blouse and a lesser bubble gum pink jacket. I popped the first mentioned on to Scarlet back-to-front to utilize the buttons and give a smooth front. I chopped off the collar and sleeves and trimmed the length and hemmed it all off. Next I took the lesser pink jacket and cut off several strips and simply stitched em up.

I love shorts at the moment. Maybe because it’s so windy round Brighton and because of this, skirts can seem a skittish choice. Thus this blouse became a pair of shorts. I used a classic Eighties trouser pattern I picked up at Snoopers Paradise some time ago. Fitting the pattern on was a bit tight but with a bit of slicing and stitching various pieces of the ex-blouse together I got there. I took trip to the hab for a bit of binding to give the waistband a little more wear-ablility.

Originally a blouse, I cut this item in to several sections and stitched them together to create this panelled one shoulder dress. I placed darts at the bust and round the back. I picked up a couple of frogs from my local haberdashery and added a couple of poppers to fasten.

I was surprised how quick and simple it was to transform this funny looking old blouse. I chopped off the sleeves and then I cut them in half along the length. This gave me enough to add to the end to create a skirt then I sewed the old sleeve sections on to the end. Initially, I had planned to turn this floral long sleeved blouse into Ingrid (a bodice) and Twiggy (a mini skirt) but I liked the wrap over, kimono style at the front so decided to keep it as it was.

I had plenty of the red Chinese scene print fabric left and realized I’d need a bag to go with the dress for our friends’ most special day. It would need to be quite sizable as I have a terrible habit for needing everything at such important and special occasions! Luckily I had some bright red velvet fabric left over from a long evening gown I had a taken up a few years ago so utilized that. I started with a basic envelope shape in the velvet and trimmed the front edge with the Chinese print and added the roses. The roses are just simple cut out flower shapes layered on top of one another and stitched on. I also added a thick strap in the Chinese print and lined the inside of the bag with a blue and white tweed which adds strength to the bag carrying my many things and a jolly contrast to the bright red.

My mum picked up these two lovely fabrics from a charity shop. Aren’t I lucky Chris and Sandra, our friends from uni in Lampeter are getting married (Congratulations!) and they’ve invited us to the Wedding at the end of May. We are very excited. For this wonderful occasion I’d like to wear something smart and quite lovely for them… The two panels of fabric were not so large that I could go mad with the shape and volume of skirt etc… In fact even the blue was not wide enough to go round my hips (damn cakes and chocolate) so the strip of red was a must. I felt it would look most in place at the front. It was at that stage incredibly short (not a wise choice at all) so there was no other alternative then to add another red strip and I felt this would look rather fetching around the waist in a wide sash. So it was to this extent a design of necessity. I added a subtle dip at the chest and darts from bust to waist and from waist to hip. I stitched in a zip of the right length and hey presto.