Vintage Silk Scarf Cushion

I love scarves and I have lot and lots of them! I collect them and they sit in a drawer and unless they're woolly and warm I just forget to wear them. I just never think, 'I know this outfit needs a scarf!'
So as a result I had a little clean up of my scarf collection and amongst the cashmere, wool, silk, chiffon and pashmina scarves  I set aside some that I could use in sewing and crafting projects.

I loved the particular silk scarf I used, it was made in Japan and the colours made me feel so summery! But I find square shaped scarves really hard to wear and the colours of this was perfect for sprucing up my living room!

So I turned it into a cushion cover. I think it worked pretty well. The back fabric was also recycled material (I bet you can't guess what it used to be!? Yup a pillowcase!)

I'm back baby! (And I made a tie!)

Hello! Remember me? Sorry for lack of posting but now I finally feel a bit settled and ready to re-start this neglected blog! I've been busy busy busy!

But now I'm back and let me show you some of the things that have kept me from blogging:

So I recently went to a wedding it was lovely! I made cakes for the wedding which I will post about when I get my photos back. I was also in charge of decorating which I will also post about at some point in the near future!

For said wedding Will couldn't decide what tie to wear, but he knew he wanted it to match his purple shirt. So after trying in vain to find one he'd like we decided it would be best if I made him one. I luckily had the excellent craft book S.E.W by Diana Rupp which I reviewed a while back!)It was nice and simple and I even made it with polka dot lining. It was made from my favourite recyclable item- a pillowcase!

Once it was a pillowcase.

(Click 'Read More') To see more pictures.

Another Pillowcase Skirt

I Spent last night making this skirt whilst watching the trials and tribulations of the characters on Eastenders. It was a pillowcase with a gorgeous broderie anglais trim. It seemed a shame to waist it so I hemmed it to the bottom of the skirt thus killing two birds with one stone.

The pillowcase was hella see through so I made a lining for it out of an old white duvet cover. All in all the skirt cost me less than 50p to make, which makes me a very happy sewer!

Spring Birds

I am desperately hoping the weather hots up soonish. It is so cold still here in the Midlands! I still have to wear my Winter coat! Brrrr! Anyway whilst wishing I could truly believe Spring had arrived I got all crafty in a Spring like mood and I turned this....

Into this...

Click to read more!

I phone Sock

I had a little bit of spare material left over from the pillowcase skirt I made. I recently got an I-phone and was dithering about what case to get to protect it. I wasn't sure if I wanted a flip one, a skin style one, a sock style one....There are just too many to choose from so I decided to take the decision making into my own hands and make myself a sock for my I-phone.

It was so simple and easy to make and took me less than twenty minutes! I just measured my phone and worked out how much material I needed. I made a casing for the top so it was a nice tight elasticated fit. I'm just loving red at the moment so luckily it matches my bags, shoes, purse and other things. It must be an Aries thing being a fire sign and all.

Because it is a sock for my I-phone and I use my phone for taking pictures for the blog I can't get a picture of my phone inside the sock! Doh! Ah well just use your imaginations!

How To- Make a Skirt from a Pillowcase Tutorial

I bought this pillowcase ages ago from a charity shop and only just rediscovered it. It has everything I love.. polka dots and flowers! Plus the colours and panelling almost have a nautical theme about it. Anyway I turned it from this.......

To This!

I think it was 50p well spent!

Click 'Read more' to see my tutorial for how to make a pillowcase skirt yourself!

I'd rather be thrifting....

Rather self explanatory! 

How to- Make A Circular Tablecloth Into A Full Circle Skirt.

My tutorial on how to turn a tablecloth into a kimono is reaching a high level of popularity on the Cut Out and Keep website. (#13 in the top 20 last time I checked.) I am absolutely over the moon, the response I have had for that creation has just been great. Such nice comments!
It got me thinking about how else can I use a tablecloth in other re-fashion projects? I then discovered this gorgeous full circle table cloth in my local charity shop and its fate was decided right there and then.
It went from this .........

To this..........................

A full circle skirt! The print just automatically decided its fate! It was too vintage to be any other type of skirt I think a 50s style suited it down to a T! If you are interested in how to do this project yourself you can find the how to if you click 'read more'.

How to- Turn a single little kid's duvet cover into a double big kid's duvet cover tutorial.

I am the biggest kid at heart and love cartoons and anything that remind me of my childhood. I became very aware that there were a lot of very cool, retro single duvet covers in my local charity/thrift shops. Alas they were too small! I am by society’s standard an adult now, so sleep in a big grown up’s bed! So how could I get around the problem of loving the too small duvet covers and having a too big bed? Simple! I refashioned and up cycled. Here follows my tutorial.

You will need:

• A cool, beloved or retro single duvet cover.
• Single Pillowcase to match. (optional)
• A double duvet cover/ or enough material to compensate for the lack of one.
• Matching thread
• Tape measure
• Tailors chalk
• Pins
• Calculator (if you suck at maths like I do!)

Key

• SDC- Single Duvet Cover
• DDC-Double Duvet Cover
• PC-Pillowcase

What will this become!?

I bought this lovely pillowcase from my favourite type of shop- charity! I just loved the vintage retro print. I am currently making it into something to wear I wonder if you can guess. I'll post the completed version when I'm done! 

Accidental Kimono Tutorial

Very easy Kimono top by Minnie Burton

I am no expert! This is how I made my kimono style top! It was originally a table cloth that I was planning to make into a full circle skirt but I cut the waist too big! So I toyed with the idea of making it a poncho style top, but then inspiration struck and I wanted a gypsy style kimono! :D

My illustrations for directions are designed on MS Paint so please over look the god awful shaky hand drawn diagrams. They may not look neat but they hopefully will work!

Accidental Kimono

I made a kimono style top completely by accident! It was originally a table cloth that I loved the fabric of, so I decided to make it a full circle skirt. However I made the hole for the waist way too big and was pulling it over my head to work out how to fix it when I noticed it would make a pretty banging kimono/poncho style top. I think it worked rather well. Looks pretty cool too. Excuse the lack of ironing in the pics!