M(a)Y Mending Month III

I haven't done this now, but I thought it'd be nice to share with you. 

I bought this old looking jeans, but it happens that they´ve frayed and got a hole too big after just a little use. Since they are skinnies and tight, it would look like I had a piece of flesh wanted to run out of the hole. I didn't like it at all. 

So, I thought of something to fix it, and this is what I got: I sewed with a zig-zag stitch, a piece of black lace in the holes place. Voilá! Now it's wearable again, everyone loves it, and it's become one of my favourites (no kidding, I am wearing them right now!).

The Black & White Striped Dress

As you might know by now, the lovely ladies from Project Run and Play, have recently launched a sister site that goes by Project Sewn. It's sort of a similar thing, but instead of kids sewing, this one is about selfish sewing, it is: sewing for ourselves. 

The first season/competition has started just a few days ago, and the rules are a little different from the ones over Project Run & Play. The first theme is Black and White, and here's my contribution... 

I really enjoyed all their weekly themes when I first read them last month, but I didn't mention anything about it here, because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to sew along this time. I hoped so, and hoping was all I could do. You see, Spring is supoused to be a wonderful thing, right? But not in our home. Daddy suffers a lot with allergies, and he gets moody and stressed and it infects me too and I lose all my sewing disposal. 

So, I am really, really happy that I have finally done something I was planning for far too long. If I had made it to the 3rd week of The Sew Off competition, this is what I would have created. But I didn't and if it wasn't because of Project Sewn, I believe I wouldn't have finished (or even start it) yet. 

please just look at the dress and never mind my face... it was so windy, that all the front pictures of the dress looks awful... if not for my face, for the weird shapes the dress would get from the wind. Believe me, this was one of the best ones. 

Remember what dress was the very first I made when sewing along with Project Run & Play for the very first time? Exactly, the black and white striped dress for my daughter. Mine is a matching one. I had a lot of this fabric that I had bought like 4 years ago to make my nephew's Carnival costume (a prisioner), THIS one here. Back then I bought a large amont because I've always wanted a striped (B&W) dress. 

I used a pattern from a spanish magazine Patrones for the bodice and black band, the skirt was just gathered together and sewn to the top. It closes on the left side with an invisible ziper. The only thing I didn't like about this dress, is that the arm holes turned out too tight. They do fit me, but it gets a little uncomfortable. The problem was that I had to resize my pattern and I am almost sure I did it a size smaller. =( 

My sister saw the dress when it still was in construction the other day, and she was like "Who's pregnant?". lol She thinks it looks like a maternity dress, and honestly I do too, but I don't care. Having a second child is on my plans so I will feel pretty happy to wear it on a second pregnancy. 

Here's how it looks on the back. I just love the red of the shoes with black and white clothes. It's such a wonderful contrast. Don't you agree?!

And just because my little pie was playing around us and wanted to be part of my photoshoot, here's one of my favourite photos from today... Can you guess what's she's wearing? I'll give you a hint... soon there will be more about it. Oh, and yes... I did get my dress all wet!!!

So, now is time to go HERE to see what all the rest of the ladies are doing. 

In Project sewn you can vote for the designers but you can also vote for sew alongers. Great isn't it?

I think this is a wonderful incentive for sewing mammas that spend all their time on the little ones and forget about theirselves most of the time. 

M(a)y mending month II

I have a 21 year old niece. And she buys a lot of clothes everytime the season/fashion tendency changes. So, after each season, I always get a lot of clothes from her. The problem is that most of her clothes won't fit me on the boobies. She's an L and I am an XS. Which pretty much annoys me when there is something I really like.

Lately I've discovered I've got a thing about greys and browns, so I just couldn't donate one of those shirts she gave me. Here's my solution to fix the problem... 

I don't have a picture of it finished, (sorry!) but it looks just great. 

M(a)Y mending month I

As said before, this is the month I decided to go through the huge pile of clothes waiting for any kind of mending. There are mostly pants. I have a very thin waist and pants fit me well everywhere but always have to be a little taken in the waist. Since mending isn't really my favourite thing to do when it comes to sew, some of them have been waiting for years. Yes, you read it right, years. Some I never got to wear!

There are also button shirts with too puffy sleeves, tunics to be hemmed, seams to be done, etc etc etc. 

Today I am sharing one of the easiest things I had to do, and kept posponing for years... so you can see how much I hate mending... lol ... now, honestly, I don't understand why on earth it took me this much to just do a few stitches. 

I had these lovely pair of pants that fits me so well, I love the colour, the fabric, the shape, everything. It closes with a button placket on the front, and right under the placket there's a few stitches that used to unite both pieces of fabric together (I mean the right and left pieces), so my underwear wouldn't show. 

After using it just twice, those stitches fell apart and I never got to sew them together again. When I decided to go for the mending pile, this was one of the first things I did. I didn't even use the machine - I felt lazy to change the thread and did it by hand. It took me less than two minutes. Et voilá! I got myself a new pair of pants (back). 

July Refashion Month Announcement (Edited)

Have you been wondering about the Refashion Month button on my sidebar? Maybe you've seen it in some other blogs?! I will tell you all about it now.

Last year, I had a Refashion month in July here at House of Estrela. It was something small, most of anything, something personal. I did have one guest though. I have enjoyed it so much, and ever since my love for refashioning has only grown bigger.

So, YES, I am planning a new refashion month this year. Again in July, but this time around I wanted it to be bigger, much bigger, so I have invited a few of my favourite refashionistas and bloggers. Of course some of them couldn't make it. I was actually afraid most of them would say no to my invitation, so I couldn't be more honoured to have all of those amazing ladies sharing their skills with us. I can't stop thanking them enough for dedicating their time to my blog event.

Curious to know who's in for the challenge? Here's the line up!

Max California - Alida Makes - Feather's Flights - Nelesc Designs - Threading my Way - Serger Pepper - Mammy Made - Do Guincho - Sewing Mamma RaeAnna - Made with Love by Hulibug - Winter Wonderings Wanderings & Whatnot - Theresa's To do's - Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!  - Mikelina Makes - Charity Shop Chic - Sew Chibi - Wunderbar Life - MellySews

I'm sure you'll want to come back in JULY to see what everyone comes up with. 

EDIT, May 15th: I'm so happy and honoured to announce that I will have two new guests joining in for the fun:

Carissa from Carissa Knits and Jillian from Refashionista! 
This is getting better and better!

Self Challenge for May

You know how I love a good challenge, don't you? So, when I looked to the pile of clothes I've been acumulating because they just need a little fixing I made my mind: I had to dedicate a whole month to mending those pieces. and I've started already. I will try to share as much as possible of those little fixing into my clothes... Did I mention I just  h a t e  mending?

It's going to be a good challenge for me!

Oh, and by the way... my Flower Fairy Dress was featured at Pam's Threading My Way! Thanks again, Pam!

Knock it off |sew along|

So, I told you about this dress I've been sewing lately. What I didn't tell you is that it was a knock off I had planned when I started it back in January. The KCW was the starting point for me to get my hands on it again, and the knockoff series over Heidi's blog was the perfect timing for me to show the finished product. 

It was done yesterday after dinner. But I thought it was too long, and unpicked, cut and pin in place again. I didn't feel like continuing sewing after that and only finished it this morning. It took me about 5 minutes. 

The inspiration (original) piece was the dress romper from the cathalogue from LaRedoutte. It costs 59,99€... I really liked it, but there's no way I was going to pay basically 60€ plus postage to order it. Especially when I could hit it for free! No cost at all. Oh I am so lucky I can sew some. 

I'm so sorry I haven't got a better picture of the original. =( But I guess it's enough to compare, right?!

I did make a few changes though, and I think it got even better... at least for me! errr...

Most important thing: baby G. loved it and did not refuse to use it. That's a bonus. But she was too moody today for photos. Too bad!

Again, I used fabric and supplies that I already had. The dark denin was given to me by my mother-in-law, and the lining are left overs from single sized sheets that I have turned into crib sheets. Since I didn't have 8 of the same colour buttons, I tried playing with them and mixed two tones of blue. What do you think about it? Honest answers are needed, please!

Oh, and just because I am very satisfied with it, here's one more picture.