Welcome to Day 1 of the Sisboom Patterns Upcycle Blog Tour! Now if you know me at all, you know that upcycling is something I do ALL THE TIME! What’s not to love? You get something incredibly unique, you might be repurposing something you already own so it’s like free fabric, or something really cheap from a charity shop and you are possibly saving something from becoming landfill!
I was shopping for another project (that I can’t show you yet – wink, wink), when I found this awesome curtain! It was about 5m wide and 1.5m high – soooo much fabric to play with! It cost me $8 and I have loads left over after using it for 2 projects so far. I lined it with some white cotton sheeting I also got from the op shop a long time back. I got about 6m x 3m for $8!
Did you know that the average Australian buys around 27 kilograms of new textiles each year and then discards 23 kilograms into landfill? I’m sure the statistics are similar in most parts of the world, but this is a big reason why I love shopping in charity stores and upcycling.
I had a look through the Sisboom Patterns website and decided that the girls Betty Ann would be a great pattern to use in upcycling! I wasn’t sure at that time what “fabric” I would be using, so I went for something that wouldn’t be too fabric hungry ;-).
It’s a beautiful and simple design with elastic in the back and no buttons or zips. It comes in sizes 18 months to 14 years which is excellent value!
I overlocked the edges of the lining and hemmed the bottom before I started. Then I tacked the top of the lining and the curtain together and treated it as one outer piece for construction.
I love how it turned out, especially with that border hem.
It is winter here right now, so instead of brown sandals my girl wore boots and socks! It was a bit chilly, but she was a good sport for having her picture taken!
Her headband I made for her to wear to a wedding a few years ago. I started with a purchased baby headband with a pretty chiffon flower on it and cut it off (because it was on wide elastic which i didn’t like). I pulled apart a fake flower. Cut part of a doily (again from a charity shop) and dyed it with coffee (because tea just wasn’t dark enough that day)! I also cut out a funky felt flower centre. I stiched and glued it all together with a crystal to finish it. I also dyed the thin white elastic with coffee.
We added a denim jacket to warm her up, because what is better than blue and white together? The jacket was also an opshop find from a while back. It cost $2 and I put it in a bucket of bleach to get it the lighter blue I knew she would like. We’d seen some in Target the week before for $30…
I hope you like my take on Upcycling and that I might have given you a few ideas!
Warmest Wishes,
Brooke x
July 3, 2017 at 11:30 pm
This looks so great with the jacket and boots! It is a great mix of casual and fancy. The headband just tops it off. And I swear you are sewing more now that you are working!
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July 4, 2017 at 12:45 am
This looks beautiful Brooke! Such gorgeous fabric and you chose the perfect pattern to showcase it! I love it!
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