A recycled fascinator

I've been working on an outfit to enter into a competition. I will reveal the rest of the outfit at a later date, but first of all wanted to show my hair piece/fascinator.



I have made this hair piece out of things from around (and outside) the house: a shoulder pad, mens necktie fabric, tissue pattern paper, a yellow napkin, Christmas cracker decorations, foliage from the back yard, and a magpie feather, some eco-fi Kunin felt backing, and hair clips.

Bear in mind, this is not for every day wear!

Bag with removable brooch

A gift for my friends birthday...

I used the same pattern (Made by Rae) as the previous clutch bag I made, which was auctioned for Queensland's Premier Flood Relief Appeal (end auction $33). Although this time I used two alternative pieces of fabric, including a floral print for the band accross the top. I also included a wrist band and flower brooch which can be removed.


All materials are used from my fabric stash, and the black interior jersey material was actually a t-shirt in a former life. The only new item I had to purchase to complete this bag, was the magnetic closure clasp.



The flower is a removable brooch, which I created using an old vintage tissue pattern I purchased from Mornington's Outlook Environmental Recycle Market.



Inspiration to create the brooch came from Miss P..., she blogged about EAB designs vintage pattern tissue flowers. I followed instructions by cutting two long strips of pattern tissue paper using pinking shears for a zig-zag edge finish, gathered using a basting stitch all the way through, and used the same floral fabric as the band on the bag for the brooch center. The little beads and ribbon were given to me by Mum; previously decorations from a christmas cracker (Mum is great at keeping craft stuff like this for me!) I cut a circle of felt, and used a safety pin for the back:

Because the brooch is made with paper, it would not be good to get wet, therefore I thought it would be best that I allowed it to be removed, and that way, it could also be worn as a brooch on items of clothing too:




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Music Coasters Complete

My upcycled music coasters project is now complete...

Before

$3 thrifted coasters from the op shop


$1.50 music sheet from the op shop


After



In Box

(Shadows of self taking photo; fail!)

Top of Box

More shadow fail!

These music coasters have been made as a gift for a relative. Possibilities are endless with these upcycled coasters, my Dad thought about using personal printed photographs which is a good idea, I thought maybe a vintage bird book with images of pretty birds would also look nice. Maybe some comic book coasters! Does anyone else have ideas of what I could do?

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Music Coasters Work In Progress

Yesterday I stepped in as a tour guide for Melbourne Op Shop Tours East Route. I picked up a few treasures, including this music sheet which is for my current upcycled coaster project.


Work in progress:

Coasters $3 from Family Life Op shop, purchased last week

Music sheet cut to size, so I now I need to mod podge those puppies :)

They should be complete by tomorrow, and I will post a picture then!

Handmade Clutch Bag Auction for Flood Appeal

I made a clutch bag today, of which I am auctioning on my other blog for the QLD Flood Disaster Appeal. Check out Recycled Fashion for more details. Thanks a lot x

Freecycled Jam

Freecycle is worth registering to if you have not done so already. The Freecycle Network is a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.

I am relatively new to freecycle, but have already found new homes for outdoor stools, an outdoor kiddy gym that we were no longer using, and a bag of clothes that I no longer wear.

Just about anything you can think of will be given away on freecycle. It is like a big swap shop, and I am all for it.

I have picked up a bag full of childrens clothes for my son, as well as a bag of dinosaurs from another freecycler.

But yesterday I noticed an interesting message; a freecycler giving away home made plum jam!

"I have just turned 10kg of mimi plums into jam and I have way to much for personal consumption, so i was wondering if anyone would like some?"

I thought this was a really kind thing to do, so I went around to her house today and picked up three jars, and I have to say, it is beautiful!


Not all three jars are for my consumption, I am giving away two as gifts for my parents, and my mother in law. To make them look a bit pretty, I simply cut two squares of scrap fabric with pinking shears, and put an elastic band on the top:


Years before the internet, one would simply knock on the door of our neighbour to offer such things, but these days we have all become quite reserved. I think freecycle re-introduces that community generosity we once had.. so I would encourage you to give freecycle a try, you might find some treasures, and meet some lovely kind people too.

Balls!

Oh, hello there, thanks for being patient! Its been a while since I've posted but now the ol' Christmas shenanigans are over for another year, there is more time for craft. Plus, I got a Janome overlocker for Christmas...yey!

For a friends baby boy, I have made some beach balls, made entirely from fabric scraps. The idea is not my own, in fact the pattern can be downloaded for free from purlee.com

They started off like this:

Op-shopped fabric, old jeans, hand-me-down quilting fabric, and Kunin eco-fi felt

and ended up like this




Easy to do, although can be a bit tricky getting the balls into the right shape. I filled mine with soft toy filling, and dried lavender.