Sew Is Life

I have had fabric ideas flying through my mind all weekend for my #sewingdares challenge. Read the previous post to find out more about this ‘DARE’. And this is what I came up with, I couldn’t find any oil cloth in my current fabric library so I headed down to Spotlight and picked up this beige/white spotty number. The oil cloth will be perfect for the interior of the makeup bag, so spills and powders can be easily wiped away.

For the exterior I decided on a houndstooth tweed. I bought a plain black zip and now I am looking for a red ribbon…maybe a velvet one to finish it off. 

It’s very ‘London-esque’ inspired. If you have been following Sewislife for a while, you would probably know I’m very much a Cath Kidston fan, and this polka oil cloth reminds me of her bag designs.

I shall be back soon to share my step-by-step process of sewing this makeup bag. I can’t wait to get started and show you guys the end result!!

Wish me luck ;)

What would be your ideal small sewing project?

E x

I am currently stuck in a sewing/DIY rut…due to factors outside of this blog. But I promised myself in 2013 to not let stress get me down and I would put some time aside for my favourite hobby, sewing - it is the one thing that truely relaxes me because it’s when I am in my creative element :)

So I caught onto the bug that is #sewingdares on Twitter. It all started with Gillian at Crafting a Rainbow throwing the tagline out there and a whole heap of sewinistas in the Twitterverse heard! I actually caught on from Leila at Three Dresses Project and she has dished me the dare to sew a ‘make up bag/case’. 

I haven’t sewn one before, so it will be a new challenge! I love it! That is the purpose of #sewingdares. To have fun and not take things too seriously.

Care to join in?

If you are up for it, jump onto twitter and demand a dare by including the hashtag #sewingdares in your tweet and you will receive your next sewing mission from one of the girls or I’m happy to ‘dare you’ (you just have to let me know your level of sewing, and if you have a blog I can check it out and give you a challenge that you haven’t done before).

Head over here to see what all the fuss is about. The love of sewing is spreading worldwide!

My #Sewingdares challenge

A make up bag is the perfect dare, given I am such a beauty buff and into my skincare. Honestly I can never have too many cosmetic bags! Plus they are such cute gifts to give to a girlfriend.

Here are some ‘brainstorming’ drawings I did the other day to get me started (please forgive my scribbles, I used to study art in school but it’s pretty clear that I have lost ALL my drawing ability).

Next step, to fish through my fabric stash and pick out some favourites.

Which design do you think I should go with?

Too be continued :)

Enjoy your weekend All! 

E x

This year I decided NO MATTER what…I’m going to enter the Tessuti Awards 2012. I am not sure I managed to muster up the motivation and strength to complete this sewing project, there were a few late nights, sore back and sore hands but I finished it!

This competition runs every year, by Tessuti Fabrics, a company based in Melbourne. They sell designer fabrics to the keen sewinista and each year they run competition with a specific theme, this year’s was ‘Spots & Stripes’ and it had to be a dress suitable for race wear. The 1st prize this year was $5000 to spend on a trip of the winner’s choice.

For me, it wasn’t about the money or winning in the end. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could sew a dress and wear it. In the past 2 years, since I started sewing I would only sew PJ pants and skirts for myself. The rest of the sewing projects were clothing for the kids, bags and homewares.

When I finished the project my inner sewinista was jumping for joy, throwing confetti into the air! It was such a great feeling to finally say I sewed a dress. However, I couldn’t take photos of me wearing the dress because I still had baby weight to lose. The photos I uploaded to the voting site were pretty crap, as the dress hung on a hanger behind my bathroom door…

So one beautiful, sunny day this week I decided to try the dress on again and it fits. Woot woot! And just when the competition has come to an end…*sigh*.Here they are anyway, Hubby helped me to take the photos in my parent’s backyard :) 

And did you notice it has a peplum! I love peplums…

What do you guys think? Would you wear something like this to the races?

E x

It’s been a while since I have completed a sewing project. It’s been a bit of a battle sitting down in front of the sewing machine too long with my reach getting further and further from me because of my ‘Buddha’ belly. I can’t keep away from my ‘sewing-sister’ too long though, otherwise I get the sewer’s ‘Itch’.

So…right now I am going through a headband phase. I don’t usually wear headbands, but I love the thought of having a few different patterned ones for when baby arrives.

One particular reason, my hair has grown at legendary speeds due to the pregnancy growth hormone. Plus I had a big chunk of hair snipped off last November in Malaysia and I have noticed it has grown 5 inches longer in the past 8 months. It’s become thick and unruly, but definitely healthy and shinier.

I came across this tutorial by sayyestohoboken.com, it is such an inspiring little blog run by stylishly crafty blogger, Liz Stanley. Thanks Liz!

Here is how my headband turned out. I am going to make a matching one for my friend, who is having a birthday soon. This is a perfect present idea for a girlfriend.

FABRIC OFFER: Duckcloth is offering FREE SHIPPING for the month of June. Use promo code FREEJUNE at the checkout.

Click here to read the tutorial and check out my step-by-step photos:

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