Category: DIY

DIY

Swishy Skirt

Sarah James-Wallace

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Hello! How have the last few weeks treated you? We had enjoyable school holidays at home, made very indulgent by watching a lot of movies – more than I’ve ever watched in my life in fact! Our daily routine was to start a movie around 9pm, go to bed at 11pm (the kids) or 1am for the adults, wake at 9ish and do it all over again the next day! It was fun to show the kids some movies my husband and I enjoyed growing up, like Crocodile Dundee, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and While You Were Sleeping.

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In between all this movie watching we also found time to go to the beach and for some house decluttering and creative projects. I enjoyed making the skirt (modelled above) for Portia. She picked out the fabric from Spotlight for this free pattern I found on Pinterest. The skirt is pretty simple to make with a waistband in the front and elastic in the back. The online tutorial from Anna Elizabeth Made was really well written and simple to follow.

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We’re back doing online school now, but I’m excited that the kids are able to return to face to face school next week. A significant step in the return to a little normality.

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How has the pandemic been treating you? Have you had to work even harder than usual or have you found time for creative projects and movie watching? Do tell!

DIY

Pinafore Princess

Sarah James-Wallace

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I’ve kept myself sane during this last week of online schooling (where the chorus of “Muuuum I need help“ rises to a crescendo about ten minutes in and continues intermittently all day), by getting stuck into a sewing project.

I bought some tea towels from Spotlight in an end of Christmas sale a few years ago and have been using some instructions from a lovely book called granny chic (you can buy a copy here) to make half aprons for Christmas presents.

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In order to make one of these beauties all you need is a tea towel (a used one from your cupboard works just fine), some lace to sew across the bottom, some old doilies or napkins to sew onto the front as pockets and embellishments and some vintage sheets to use as ties. (You just cut long strips from the sheets and hem them, although you can use twill tape if you prefer).

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The fun and creative part is choosing which doilies and lace to put with each tea towel and mixing and matching the colours. It’s a thrifty project that makes use of items you may already have at home.

Some other things I’ve found helpful to deal with the pandemic pandemonium:

  1.  Reading books about troubles or disasters others have faced to put this time we’re experiencing into perspective. Turia Pitt’s book Everything to Live For has been good for this, as has Last Truck Out (a mission story about wartime Broome);
  2. Planning and creating for events in the future when hopefully the situation will have greatly improved (making Christmas presents has helped me to look forward to something positive);
  3. Limiting social media time. There’s a lot of bad, sad and alarming news, particularly on Facebook, some of it true, some of it not. Some of the rare good news is coming from our Christian prophets (link here if you’re interested in what they’re saying).

Thankyou to my beautiful pinafore models, Portia and Popcorn. I’ll leave you with one last photo from the end of the photo shoot, as boredom was setting in! What coping strategies are you using to navigate your way through this time?

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DIY

Trash to Treasure

Sarah James-Wallace

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I recently stumbled upon the blog collectivegen.com by Geneva Vanderzeil. There’s a great tutorial on there about how to make DIY textured chalk paint and turn ugly vases into something more beautiful! This is a great project to make if you’re quarantined at home, as you only need the vases you want to transform, a small amount of paint and some baking powder. I’ll link the tutorial here.

I had a go using some vases I found in an op shop for a couple of dollars (pictured above). It was a quick project and I’m really happy with the results :

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Let me know if you have a go and how they turn out – social isolation is a great time for crafting!

DIY

Father’s Day DIY

Sarah James-Wallace

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Father’s Day is almost here, so I’m sharing something I made recently for my Dad. I gave him his present early (when I travelled down to the farm to see my new niece), as sadly we won’t be seeing each other on Father’s Day.

I found the oil drum pictured above at a recent antique fair held in Geraldton. I snapped it up, as I knew it would be something Dad would appreciate for his collection of oil and petrol paraphernalia. Once I got it home I started pondering how I could value add to the gift. I finally settled on the idea of making a cushion to sit on top, so Dad could use it as a seat when working in the shed on the farm.

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Here it is in all its glory in the shed and here’s how I made it! I used some oilcloth I had at home for the cushion as I needed it to be durable and easily cleaned. I folded the oilcloth with right sides together and used a large circular object as a template (in this case a pizza stone) to cut out the cushion. Next, it was just a matter of sewing around the circle on my sewing machine (the oilcloth was surprisingly easy to sew through) and turning it right side out. The cushion was then stuffed with fibrefill and I hand stitched the opening closed. So easy, and I was really pleased with how it turned out! Most circular cushions need notches cutting into the seam allowances before turning the right way out. Not so here, as I was in too much danger of cutting right through the seam on the thick fabric.

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I think Dad loved his present! In fact, a war erupted between Mum and Dad as to where it was going to be kept. Mum wanted it at the house as a stool at the front door for putting on boots, but hopefully Dad got to keep it in the shed. Looks like another is needed for Mother’s Day!

DIY

Making Mittens

Sarah James-Wallace

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In the recent school holidays we embarked on an exciting trip to Tasmania. Usually we opt for an “escape the winter” holiday (even though winters in Geraldton are very mild), but this year we decided to really embrace some glacial weather in all it’s glory.  None of us had any winter gloves, so instead of investing in pieces of clothing we were unlikely to use much again, I decided to make the girls some mittens from some old woollen jumpers.

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I was really happy with how they turned out (although I made a few mistakes along the way), so have decided to share the DIY on here. It’s a really simple project that reaps generous rewards. You can either use old woollen jumpers or sweaters (if you’re American) as they are, or felt them by washing them or tumble drying them at high temperatures. The turquoise jumper I used was felted, but the tangerine one was as is.  Some patterns encourage you to use the sleeves, but unless the gloves are for a toddler, they will be too small. I used the waistband of the jumpers for these gloves.

Firstly, you place one of your hands on a double layer of the jumper with your fingers together and your thumb in the natural position in which it sits when your hand is flat.  The bottom of the waistband should end at your wrist. Draw around your hand and then add a seam allowance plus a couple of centimetres for wriggle room. Cut out your mitten and use this one to cut another identical mitten. Sew right sides together on your sewing machine, turn right side out and then it’s done! Easy peasy! You can now have some fun embellishing the mittens with a bit of hand embroidery. Some pitfalls to watch out for : I made the turquoise ones too short in the wrist, hence the need for the extra cuff and the tangerine ones were too tight in the wrist, necessitating some  unpicking and resewing.

This holiday was the first time our kids got to experience snow, so there was great excitement! Some pictures of the mittens in action to follow . . .

 

 

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It’s the little things . . .

Sarah James-Wallace

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Just sharing a couple of quick projects from the last few weeks on the blog today. It really is the little things that can make an ordinary day special and lift the day to day mundaneness of some of our routines.

My daughter recently embarked on a 1,108 kilometre trip north to compete in a swimming competition. My husband travelled with her, but I wanted to do something special to let her know I would be thinking of her too. When I discovered the free swimmer printable, I knew it would be just the thing! She awoke to the glass of juice (a special treat in our house) pictured above for breakfast before leaving. She loved it!

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The second project comes from another free printable which I filled with gummy bears and left on my kids breakfast plates on Valentines Day. ❤️ Both the projects come from one of my favourite sites, Oh Happy Day! The link for the swimming straws is here and the Valentine’s Day project here.

Do you like doing special little projects to make ordinary days special?

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Back on deck . . .

Sarah James-Wallace

3FA6B3D2-43CC-4583-B632-C4E75B9AF0C9Well, it’s crunch time – back to school and back to our regular routines. Above is probably where I’d rather be, suspended in a continual summer of swims at sunset, but all good things must come to an end and I love our regular life too!

I’m not a fan of the beginning or end of things, much preferring the middle – so I find back to school times unsettling. I’ll be a lot happier by around week three when I know how the year is shaping up and what it’s likely to hold.

I’m also a chronic back to school crier, however old my kids get (they’re now in years 3, 5, 7 and 9). I always find myself wiping away a few tears as I drive away from the first day drop-off. It’s a big deal to entrust their care to someone else.

To ease the transition into the new school year I followed a tutorial to make some treat bags for the first day breakfast table from Oh Happy Day.  I love how they turned out – the little apple pompom is so cute!

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Now that school is back, I’m back into my regular blogging schedule. I’ve got a couple of kids’ parties to share with you and then it’s back to completing my American road trip travelogue!

Do you like the return to school and do you cry on the first day like me!?