It’s only been the last few years where Halloween has really taken off in Australia. We never used to celebrate it as children back in the “Old Days”. My kids were keen last year after our neighbours dropped an orange balloon and a note in our box asking if we were interested in participating to put the balloon out the front of our house. What a great idea.

As I am new to Halloween I hadn’t really prepared so I whipped out the face paint, a cat mask and a tee which I sewed earlier for a Cat in the Hat costume. The rest of the kids came out looking smashing and off they went. I soon realised I hadn’t given them anything to collect the treats in and shoved a few plastic bags in their pockets. They did the job but I decided this year I would do better.

I have loads of old pillowcases at the moment that were donated by St Kilda Mums as they can’t use them for health and safety reasons. I am using them to make dresses, buntings, aprons and anything else I can think of for the up and coming St Kilda School Fete.

Whilst researching “recycled pillowcases” I came up with a few posts on Halloween Treat Bags!! What another great idea. I decided to test them out. They are very simple and I think look fab.

Firstly, cut a potato in half and carve out a triangle shape. Get some orange fabric paint and dip it in.

Get an old pillowcase, preferably white or a light colour. Put a piece of paper inside so that the paint doesn’t come through onto the other side and stain your table (I figured this out quickly). Come up with any design you like for the pumpkin and stamp away. I let my kids do the stamping and they decided on eyes, nose and scary teeth! You can paint a shape like a pumpkin or just leave it with the stamps. Let the pillowcase dry overnight on a flat surface and press on the wrong side when it is dry to set the paint.

Meanwhile make the tie. Luckily, I had some old orange tee fabric and an old black tee. I cut strips, braided it and made a tie.

Now here is where your sewing skills come in. Before making the casing for the tie sew two button holes big enough to thread your tie through at the top and in the centre of the pillowcase. Fold over and sew around creating about a 5cm casing. Thread your tie through using a big safety pin.

Ta Da! A BIG treat bag for Halloween.

As you can see from this post I am not in the midst of a cold Melbourne winter, I am in fact in balmy Bali on a family holiday. My sister had a significant birthday (fifty, ouch) and invited family and friends to join her in Bali. Of course we jumped at the chance to join her celebrate. We have had a fantastic time here on the beaches, in the pool and just generally relaxing. Perhaps a few too many G&T’s and Nasi Gorengs but I’ll worry about that when I return home.

About a week before we came over I noticed I had a little summer dress cut out in my UFO box (unfinished objects). I had cut it out almost a year ago and didn’t bother to get started on it. After all the sewing I’ve been doing for the School fete lately I wanted to do something for myself and something quick. This was the perfect project.

The fabric is a gorgeous Liberty of London Tana lawn from Tessuti Fabrics called Red Stefan. It is 100% cotton and a bit pricey but once you start sewing with it and wearing it as I have now found out you won’t be at all worried about the price of it. It is soft and beautiful to sew.

I used a Burdastyle pattern 50’s Halter Dress edition 07/2012 style #133. This dress pattern was first published in burda Modern (now burda style magazine) back in 1950. The instructions are a little tricky to follow but if you are not a complete beginner you will figure it out pretty easily by looking at the picture provided. The trickiest part being the insertion of the piping into the band on the bodice. It’s actually quite easy to do but the instructions use too many complicated words which just confuse you. Remember just follow the picture! I only had 1.5mtrs and not the required 2 mtrs so I altered the skirt to be just slightly narrower than a full circle. It worked just fine.

I used the smallest size but due to my depressingly small bust and I still had to shave a few mm’s off the upper bust line. It still needs a bit of filling out which was fixed by using a very padded bra. Who needs a boob job! The bodice is lined in the same manner as the outer bodice which I really loved. It has a real 50’s look about it with the pointy boobs and small waist. The halter really accentuates this too and I love the piping detail.

I hadn’t quite finished it before we boarded the plane to Bali so I grabbed the needle and thread and packed in in my suitcase. I figured it would be a perfect dress for Bali. All I need to do was hem and hand stitch the lining in which I finished in our outdoor lounge area in the villa. It was such a different sewing experience, bikini on and needle and thread in hand!

Highly recommended pattern and fabric.

This trip also happened to coincide with mine and Tony’s anniversary of 14 years together which we celebrated at the Rock Bar in the beautiful Ayanya Resort. It was gorgeous watching the sun go down and sipping Lychee Martinis and the dress looked perfect!

This is my entry for the Tessuti Awards 2013.

The brief was to create a knee length (or just above) dress that’s all about the WOW and NOW factor. Something that would fabulous at a red carpet event, swanky cocktail party, the races or a fancy formal wedding. You must use either their Flame Red fabric which is a french taffeta or the Phantom Black, a dobby spot which is also a French fabric. The prizes are amazing, a flight valued at $2500 is first prize and an overlocker is second. I was not sure if I wanted to enter as there are so many amazing and creative sewers out there and last years entry’s were incredible.

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I have not been doing a lot of sewing lately. I think there are a number of reasons.

It’s winter and I like sewing summery stuff.  I race bikes and have been doing a lot of training lately and I started making a tailored jacket that I have got sick of so can’t seem to get beyond that.

Last week my friend emailed me to see if I would make up a skirt for her friends little girl. I had no choice but to get the sewing machine out again. Whilst sewing this gorgeous little skirt my mojo came back and I figured out a few things about myself.

I like quick projects that I can sew in at least a couple of weeks. I like dresses and skirts mostly and I like pretty fabrics. I think my jacket has become boring. I am a Gemini after all! I tried to do memademay and gave up after a week!

Anyway, in short I think sewing the skirt has given me a lift. I have cleaned out the cobwebs in the sewing room and sorted fabric into wovens and knits, work in progress and future projects.

This is the skirt I made up this week. It is the same pattern as the tutti fruitti skirt I made last year.

Ok, I know this is a blog about my sewing but I am so proud of my son at the moment that I just have to share with my fellow sewers.
My seven year old son Oliver raised money for the Childrens Cancer Center by having his hair shaved off.
He initiated the idea himself and raised over $600 for the charity.
Here is his own little blog about it.

http://oliverprysten.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/the-head-shave.html

Tessuti are currently running a sewing competition using their fabric called “Gridlock”. You can sew anything you like using this fabric for your chance to win $1000! Sounds great, so of course I went online and ordered a couple of meters.

I was in the middle of sewing my Hot Summer Rose outfit when the comp started so didn’t really get going on it until about a week ago. I had my mind set on sewing a tailored jacket for some reason. Perhaps because I have seen some great tailored jackets on the runway and RTW lately. I envisioned a pair of tailored shorts to go with it. The comp finishes tomorrow night (April 3rd) when I will be sailing the high seas to Tasmania with my boys. Unfortunately I am nowhere near finished, in fact I really have just started as far as tailored jackets go. It has taken me a week to cut all the many many pieces of muslin, lining, organza, lining, canvas etc etc. I have just started hand sewing the canvas to the front.

Even though I won’t be able to enter it in the comp, I am still eager to get it done. Here is my work in progress report so far.

I traced all the seams and notches onto the calico to create a muslin. I also thread marked all of the seam lines. I had thought about skipping this process as I had googled it and alot of people had thought it was a bit of a waste of time but I totally disagree. I think that it has saved me alot of heartache down the track. It makes lining up the seams really accurate.

I have 80cm of this Gridlock fabric from Tessuti to give away. Fabric is a double-sided Jacaranda blue/ivory 77% Poly 21% Cotton 2% Elastane jacquard. Width:125cm 

I think it would be the perfect amount for a cute little A line skirt or some funky shorts or maybe a vest? 

Check out these amazing creations made for the competition at Tessuti and congratulations to the winners. Just leave a comment below and sign up to follow me. I’ll pick a random “winner” on April 30th.

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