Well I am so stoked about this little number. I will wear this again and again. Causal or fancy. I love the sleeves and I love the length and I love the bow and I love the waistline. I am so proud of my workmanship on it; I feel like I'm wearing a bought dress! Could be the new little label I have on the inside! (see January 2015 dress)

The pattern is actually for a size 16-22 but I made some guesses and then accommodated with extra fabric and trimmed later where necessary. 

It took me about 9-10 hours to make. Bit confusing in some parts but I finally got the hang of it! After this dress my slip-stitching game is very strong. It's where you go in and out of the edges and the technique makes it so you can't see the thread. 

There is something about this material that is so soft and malleable. It was so easy to work with! I have a bit leftover so might need to make a circle skirt. 

The pattern says to include a petticoat but its a little warm for that right now! Do you think it needs a petticoat anyway though?

Materials: Rose Doona cover from RSPCA Sherwood ($5), sewing pattern from Indooroopilly McIntyre Centre (50c), zipper from Everton Park Lifeline (20c) 
Cost to make: $5.70

Well this pattern was only half there! I was missing the pattern piece for the bottom tier of the skirt which I guess is what happens when you buy second hand patterns! Luckily it was the same length as the second tier of the skirt, just not the same width, which is why it is shorter than the picture. 
I figured it would be an awkward ankle length for me anyway as I am quite long and tall so I just used the same pattern piece that I used for the second tier. It actually worked out better though as that was all the material I had from the sheet, so I had only just enough material for the dress! 

And what a tremendous fit. One of the most flattering dresses I've made so far. Great for my waist and I love the ruffles so much! Lots of practice for gathering what with all those tiers on the skirt and the ruffling on the neckline! I really like how it can be a strapless dress but because of the fitted waistline it doesn't need any stiffening or boning in the bodice to keep it from slipping down. Which I love as that saves money on materials, and boning is very hard to come by in op shops ;) 
I may make a red rose belt for the dress as well as the colour is very much like the picture for once. 

All in all a great find, and not too many materials required either. A plus for this pattern :)

Hours: 15.5
Materials: Paled Red Double Flat Sheet from Indooroopilly McIntyre Centre (approx. $6), Sewing pattern (20c), zip from Spotlight ($1.80 but free with my voucher), elastic donated by Pat, bias binding donated by Pat, 
Cost to make: approx. $8.00

I had only just enough material for this dress! Had to do the lining of the bodice in a different sheet though as I ran out for that but I thought I would go for the super long dress instead of the medium dress (see pattern picture) for this time. 

Super in love with the back; it was literally the whole reason I made the dress in the first place! It would be great with a neat hair up-do but it was a bit too cold to get too creative with my photo shoot! 
Love the back more than the front, as it could be more flattering for my chest; it really could sinch in a bit more underneath my bust. That is quite easy to alter later though if I choose. 

It took approximately 18 and a half hours to make. Very stoked with the end result; even if it is a little pale: the picture doesn't show the colour of the floral very well. 

I will have to make more bows like this one. The pattern told me to put netting on the inside of the bow which is what has made it stiff and sculpted. Unfortunately I only had fluoro yellow netting and I was worried that the bow would be tinged yellow but it turned out ok. If I was making them in less of an experimental way I would get the right colour. 

Materials: flowery single flat sheet and mattress cover from Ipswich St Vinnies (approx $5), pink bodice lining from Nov 2013 dress scraps, zip from Reverse Garbage ($1), yellow netting in bow and sleeves from Reverse Garbage (used 25c from $6 roll), interfacing donated by Pat, sewing pattern from Bridgeman Downs Uniting Church Garage Sale (25c)
Cost to Make: approx. $7.00

Well what fun times!

I don't know if you know this, but I LOVE complimentary colours. That's where you pair up colours that are on opposite ends of the colour wheel. When the colours are put together they just make each other pop! My favourite complimentary colours are orange and blue, but the other pairs are red and green, and then purple and yellow. This also counts for variations of the colours, for instance; pink, which is a different version of red, goes with green. 

I'm so surprised I haven't done a complimentary colours dress before but I had this mosquito net that I found that had to be used for something! Yes, that's the tulle skirt part. It is a mosquito net. I bunched up the bottom edges as I'm sure you can imagine how long a mosquito net is. It came with a couple of flowers on it, which are the ones on the waist. 

I used a fairly simple dress pattern for the underneath part. I knew the skirt would be more detailed so I just used one that had a flattering neckline and was the right length for the blue petticoat. Unfortunately it did nto flatter my bust line so I had to put more darts in. 

Sometimes there is just not quite enough leftover from a sheet to make another dress so I'm glad I could use up the rest of my blue sheet from my October 2012 dress for another project. 
Because of the random colour of the top I actually used my Spotlight voucher that I got for Christmas, to buy a peach coloured zip. 

After putting it all together I realised I needed a little more bling and decided to go with pearls at all of the bunches and on the flowers and then had to put it on the top as well! It really ties the whole thing together :) 

Materials: Sunset Orange mattress cover from St Paul's Thrift Shop Ashgrove ($2), Blue flat sheet donated by Deirdre G, Blue mosquito net from Currimundi Lifeline ($6), zip from Spotlight (free-$1.50), pearl necklace from Everton Park Lifeline ($3), sewing pattern from St Vinnies in Sumner Park (50c)
Cost to make: $13.00

This is the petticoat underneath that is attached to the top part.

I have had this dress pattern for a long time and finally got a chance to have a crack at it. It's a little left of centre and it's a little hard to put it in a specific genre but it is a bit fancy dress, hence the name. However  the pattern had no photo of a model wearing the finished dress, just a drawing, so I had no idea how it would turn out.
Although I know the style doesn't suit me, too much collar, I do appreciate my workmanship on it. There are no unfinished edges and I feel like I have done a really good job of putting it all together. I've never done button up cuff sleeves so that was a good learning curve!

It is actually a size 16 so it is a bit bigger for me, even though the old pattern had measurements that would have fitted me as a 12. It was a little confusing but I can easily alter the dress later. 
All in all it is a bit adorable and I can use it for a dress up party if need be! 

Materials: Sewing pattern from an opshop (so long ago I cant remember), pink bed sheet from QUT Kelvin Grove OP shop (underneath the refec), white bed sheet used for collar donated by Natalie K, interfacing donated by Pat, buttons made by me, zip from old project of Mums, hook and eye from St Vinnies Sumner Park
Total cost to make: $5.05

How delightful!

This one only took me about 3 days (slowly) and it is a lovely little number. Perfect for picnics or daytime dates :) I had a fair amount of material left over to make accessories with as well. I might redo the collar though; I wish the frill on the collar was a bit more frilly. If it was longer it would be a much better ruffle. 

I have been asked to make some dresses for a feature film produced by some very talented people, and I will show you more about that later when the time gets closer, but the film is set in the 1930's and the 1940's so the dresses I make have to fit in that era. How exciting! I love doing retro looks even if the war time fashion is not as ambitious as some of my previous designs. A lot of clothes from that time were more understated and conservative so I am having a go at trying to replicate this, but with my own little bedsheet twist of course :D This dress is the first one I've made for it. 

Materials: Bed sheet from Cannon Hill St Vinnies, zip from Reverse Garbage, interfacing donated by Pat, sewing pattern from op shop ages ago :P
Total cost to make: $8.50

I also had enough time to make a jumpsuit! Yay! 

Materials: Bedsheet from Arana Hills St Vinnies, Zip from reverse Garbage, sewing pattern from 
Cost to make: $6.50

What a stunner! Lots of extras on this one though! The sewing pattern didn't seem to factor in a couple of things and I had a few extra jobs to take care of before this beauty was finished. 
I had to put extra arm hole lining in as the netting on the inside of the sleeve is super scratchy on your armpit and shoulder! Not fun. 
Then because I was using polyester it kept fraying and fraying and fraying! Had to put some material around the edge of the gathered skirt that connects to the top because otherwise it would fluff everywhere! 
Even though I pressed down with an iron on the hip sash the pattern seemed to think that would suffice! Not so! Had to sew that little one down otherwise the lines would come undone. 

I know the zip is not the most ideal but I had to work with what I had. Hopefully an OP shop will deliver a lovely array of different coloured zips soon. And it does up very nicely at the back as there is a hook and eye; I just felt too uncoordinated at the time to clip it in as I had an owchie on my hand. 

In the end though; super lovely result. Really happy with the fit and I am a sucker for puffy sleeves. Plus I feel like I've done the world a favour as there is one less set of polyester bed sheets. I'm not sure why someone would want to sleep on them; they are not ideal!

Materials: Green polyester bed sheets from Salvos in Sherwood, Sewing pattern from Mackay Vinnies, Yellow netting inside sleeve from Reverse Garbage, Zip from Reverse Garbage, Interfacing donated by Pat, Buttons made by myself, extra armhole material donated by Pat.
Total Cost to make: $9.70

Well it was a bit of a close one this time. Had so much work and so many other things going on that I only started this dress on the 23rd day of the month! Cutting it very fine....

In the end though, it was a simple design with lots of fiddly bits. Not the most slimming for my waistline; it doesn't quite accentuate it how I like but I am so in love with the back that I don't mind. 

And the COMFORT! It's like a fancy casual dress but I'm not restricted in movement at all! Luuurve :)

Materials: Flat sheet and mattress cover from Graceville McIntyre Centre OP shop, zip from Reverse Garbage Woolloongabba, Interfacing donated by Pat.
Total cost to make: $7.00

Merry Christmas! As you can see I’ve opted for a slightly less obvious Christmas theme: the understated present. Ok, you caught me; I just really wanted to use my only polka dot material! It is oddly hard to find that kind of material, probably because everyone loves their polka dot bed sheets to death. Anyway, I had high expectations for my December dress and was going to go all out, but time did not permit so I made this simple A-line or princess cut dress. The pattern is actually meant to be ankle length, my mother was going use it but then just gave it to me, and I wanted something a little more summery for our Christmas weather.

I can alter it later but at the moment the dress is a bit too big so I made a bow and belt out of the pillowcase that came with this sheet, to hold it in nicely. You can’t really notice but there are yellow dots too. It feels lovely and light and was very simple so I’ll definitely have another go, maybe with a more standout colour though.

Material: Bed sheet from Indooroopilly Macintyre Centre

Well what a find this material was! An old kids bed sheet set maybe? 
I had to alter a couple of times; I think the pattern is older than I think and it's also got French right next to the English (so even tinier). Great top part though: I think I can alter and modify it to suit many different types of retro strappy looks with varying bottoms and make many more simple summer dresses, or jumpsuits...

Oh, by the way, I made the buttons. Yes. Couldn't find 8 that all looked similar, in my collection, so my Mum suggested I make my own. I bought a button making set from Spotlight with my birthday voucher (Thanks Nads!) and I was going to do plain red but then my Mum had this adorable heart material leftover from her patch-working  I think it fits nicely because it matches the strawberry with its seeds on the outside :)

Material: Bed sheet set from Graceville Macintyre Centre
Buttons: Homemade with material from Mum