Reworked for Oxfam III

Can't believe its taken me so long to bounce back from the Christmas crafty madness! I felt so drained of creative energy. To get back in the swing of things here's a peek at some of the projects from the Reworked for Oxfam shop I volunteer at:

This was just a black heavy skirt that needed some creativity.
First- a crusty shot with flash: 

And a close up of one of the teapots:

Then one of my absolute favourites! A messenger bag made from men's neck ties.

 The cutest button in the world to close it:

 I even lined the magnificent thing :), so super proud of myself.

 Another shot for fun and adoration:

The rest are not things I made for Oxfam but they aren't important enough to get their own post. I made about a million (it felt like) zippered pouches for presents and for my shop. Each of these beauties is lined and has pleats and a lobster claw closure.

Shew! Time to work on a tutorial for the next installment! See you then :)

Reworked for Oxfam II

My newest reworkings for Oxfam:

This corset was stained and was a bright white underneath the muck. I stained it with tea and sewed on the front lace panel and sewed on the buttons.
Next was a grey skirt which just needed a little something so I made a removable brooch of Zipper flowers:

 

And finally, a little cupcake bag/tote, made from some place mats and a scrap of the sweetest cupcake fabric.

Hopefully these will give you some inspiration to look at you clothes in a different light :)

My reconstructed shirt

Wow I'm afraid of making clothes. Especially tops. Its ridiculous but I'm terrified. And its not unjustified too. Just before dh returned from Peru I attempted a black jersey knit top that failed so horribly i can't bring myself to open the plastic bag that I stuffed it and its sorry remains into. It will just continue to live in my material stash accusingly till it drives me out of my mind. (see? Irrational.). I'm not sure what I was thinking but the jersey knit was the thicker "I should be shorts" type and not the "I'll drape beautifully and cover you sewing mistakes" type. The joys of buying fabric on ebay are never more apparent than when a package arrives and it is nothing like you were hoping for.
To make myself feel better I found a tutorial for reconstructing a men's formal dress shirt into a pretty peasant top. In theory this would be better since it was mostly gathering and shapelessness anyway right?
So with the help of this tutorial, and a visit the a Help the Aged charity store, I give you my peasant top.

I replaced the buttons with blue ones and edged the sleeves in a patterned cotton. Its not a great fit and still a bit starchy and not nearly as soft and flowy as I imagined but it gave me hope for my clothes making future.

And hope has led me to follow some great web advice and cut out a top using one I already love that fits perfectly. Surprisingly (for me!) this simple idea worked and I know have a great black top that has proven to me that I can do this! Will get dh to take pics tomorrow so I can prove to the anonymous internet that I can do it too! Now if I can only stop myself from buying vast amounts of fabric for all these clothes that teem in my imagination...