Relive your childhood dreams and make your own chia pet!

A co-worker of mine (thanks Em!), recently suggested that everyone in our office should have an effigy in the form of a chia pet. I wasted no time in going home and making a representation of Dave, myself and Lol. Here's how easy it is to make one yourself:

You'll need:
A pair of stockings

Some grass seeds

Sand

A jug of water

A cardboard tube

Needle and thread

Take your stocking and tie a knot in the toe end. 

Cut off any excess material.

Insert the cardboard tube into the stocking so you can start filling it.

 

Start off with some grass seeds for the hair and then add sand until you have something that sort of looks like a head.

 

Tie a knot in the other end of the stocking and cut the excess off.

 Now you're ready to be a little creative.

Make a nose by pinching some of the sand.

Tie a knot around the nose with some thread and cut off any excess.

Create one or a group of your choosing.

 

Add some google eyes and accessories.

Now all you have to do is watch the grass grow!

The grass should start appearing in about a week.

Take off any accessories and dunk your new friend in water once every couple of days, making sure they also get some sun!

DAY 4

DAY 6

DAY 8

DAY 10!

Sunday Sessions in Haute couture-style

Unfortunately, the term "Haute couture" (French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking") is illegal to use unless you meet certain criteria set by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris.

The rules are as follows:

• Design made-to-order clothing for private clients, with one or more fittings.
• Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
• Each season (i.e., twice a year), present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs/exits with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.

......I don't quite qualify, so I will settle with the term Haute couture-style, and while I may not have 15 employees or hold Paris runway shows, I do have a truck-load of photos of my dress's progress:

1/4 of the material necesary for the skirt lining alone

Lining and extra long tulle before the additional tulle underlayer is added to make the skirt fuller

petalo numero uno

additional layer of turquoise silk decided against

tulle, tulle, silk, tulle, tulle

Wedding Dress Round Two - The Final Version

silk and lining being marked and cut out

fusible interfacing ironed onto silk

 This is actually really tricky to get right

Attaching fusible interfacing to fabric:

1. Cut out pattern pieces in the interfacing.

2. Sew the interfacing onto your outer fabric just outside the seam allowance being really careful not to warp the silk and using a 4.5 stitch length as this stitch will be removed shortly. 

3. Lay the fabric flat once it is sewn to check that it is flat. Unpick and resew any sections that have been warped. It'll be worth it in the long-run.

4. Cut the interfacing outside the seam allowance off. When sewing seams, you want to avoid any unnecessary bulk. This is especially important in a boned garment because the boning and its casing are going to add bulk themselves. This is why you go to great lengths to cut off any unnecessary interfacing as it's quite thick material.

5. Iron the interfacing onto the silk, again, making sure that the silk doesn't warp as the ironing creates a permanent seal between the interfacing and your fabric. If this goes wrong, it's back to square one.

6. unpick all your stitching and go over once again with the iron to ensure all interfacing has fused. 

hand made boning casings

I ran out of interfacing after 6 panels, so this is where the bodice has to end today

completed lining

front of bodice. all seams need boning but I am waiting until I have sewn the entire bodice before I do this (except for the centre seam) so that I can make sure it fits perfectly and can easily make any seam changes

A month-or-so in the life of my sewing machine

Sewing. The craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread.

Sounds a bit standard, right?

Below you'll find some of the things I made over the recent Christmas holidays:

Apologies for the poor quality photos.

cotton box pleat skirt
fabric from Tessuti
pattern by me

sheer top.
I took the pattern off a top in my wardrobe

love this material!

am a bit of a fan of this band 'Die Antwoord'
I made this t-shirt and then painted it with this image in acrylic.
the image comes from some Sydney graffiti that I found and loved. 

ZEF $O FRE$, Indeed!!
...I also made a plain white version of this tee

shimmy shimmy

mind the wrinkles
made this simple box-pleat skirt and painted my bunny character on it

simple stretch stripe skirt. made a plain black one too
I also had some random items in my swing kit, so made this  one-shoulder thingy

....it adds a touch of pizzaz

floor length fine blue and white stripe dress with braided straps
I also made an obscenely long square bead necklace. I love the sound it makes.

very comfortable black jersey dress with beads and twisted straps 

fin.....for now....