Duct Tape Dress Makers Dummy

I decided that I needed to get a dummy or mannequin so I'd be able to make tops and dresses more easily. After looking on ebay and seeing they cost upwards of £50, I tried an alternative.
A quick search found quite a few methods for making a duct tape dummy of my own body.

Using two rolls of duct tape and an old hairdye-stained t-shirt I was able to make one. Well, it actually takes two people to make as one person has to wrap the tape tightly around you while you slowly begin to feel very claustrophobic and unable to breathe.


Then there is the most difficult part where you have to cut down the back of the dummy, through the tape and the t-shirt, and painfully close to your skin. Then it will look something like this:


The next step is to stuff the dummy with screwed up newspaper and tape the back together:

The dummy is then ready to use, like so:

Bedroom Painting

I painted a canvas for my bedroom. The flower shapes were traced from some wallpaper samples. Even though its a fairly large canvas I think I need an even bigger one for it to suit my bedroom, and perhaps next time I will do a more abstract design.

Key Bag

I made this little bag so I could keep keys all in one place within a drawer.



The fabric is from a free swatch and the bead was part of an old necklace, with part of a hair bobble hooked over it to keep the bag closed.

New Shoes

I bought a pair of shoes from Primark but realised afterwards that I wasn't too keen on them being bright blue.

So I got some Dunelm fabric paint in black and painted them with one cover, and then ironed to make sure the paint doesn't wash off. You can still see the flower design through the paint but I like this because it makes them less plain.

Blackberry Cover

This is a cute holder for my friends mobile phone, using a purple silk fabric lined with white felt, with a velcro fastening.

I particularly like the ribbon tied through the button, I prefer it to just having the button on by itself.

Desk Organisers

I found this tutorial and decided to have a go myself because I had an abundance of stationary that needed to be organised.

I washed a tin can, then I cut the wallpaper to the right height to fit on the side of the can, and I used cellotape down the edge to secure it. I thought it looked so good that I wolfed down another tin of baked beans and made another one.

Gift Bow

I found instructions for how to make a bow to put on gifts here, and though I'd have a go and I'm very impressed with my effort.

I used brown paper but I think it would probably look good using any paper or even spare wallpaper that has a nice pattern.

Tutorial: Lace Skirt

I'm going to show you how to make a lace high-waisted skirt.

You need:
Lace fabric
A plain fabric, to go behind the lace, which can contrast or match the lace colour (unless the lace is not see-through in which case you would not need a backing fabric)
Elastic for the waistband
Sewing machine, scissors, pins, tape measure, thread.


Start off by cutting the fabric. Cut both pieces together and fold them in half.

I used a skirt I already had as a template, and cut it a couple of inches larger to allow for seams.

Or you can measure the height and width you want the skirt to be and measure the fabric to fit, again leaving extra room for seam allowances.



Fold over the top of the fabric and pin it to make a seam at the waist. Make sure that you leave a wide enough gap so that your elastic will fit inside it. Sew it using a medium running stitch.



Fold the skirt in half with the right sides of the fabric facing eachother (the right sides being the outside- the part people see) and pin it to create a seam to go down the side of the skirt.
Thread the elastic through the waist seam at this point and then sew over it as you sew the side seam.



Try the skirt on and if it is too large then sew it again a bit smaller. I also add curves to the top and bottom of the seam so it fits better. Then trim the excess fabric off.


Finally, turn over the fabric at the bottom to create a seam, pin it, and then sew it. Make sure that the height is the same all the way around the skirt before you sew it.


Et voila! A high-waisted lace skirt.

Camera Bag

I thought I'd make a cosy little bag for my new camera. The blue patterned material was from Ikea, and I used a white felt to line it and velcro to keep it closed.

I was going to add wadding to make it extra-thick but I had cut the fabric too small (as I always do) so had to leave it out, although I don't think it needs it because the two fabrics make it thick enough. I left a boarder with the white felt to give it an interesting touch. And the camera fits in it perfectly yes!

Buns

I treated myself to baking some buns after I handed in my dissertation, so here are a few:

For the buns I used the good old 4, 4, 4, 2 recipe, such as this one. I didn't use butter I used a spread instead (which actually said "not suitable for baking" on the tub, but they came out fine!) and added a bit of vanilla essence and raisins, and some jam after baking to a few.
For the icing I made butter icing and added red food colouring. I made far too much though which is why most of the buns had a thick layer on. I found a few days ago that butter icing doesn't keep very well in the fridge (hence why the very dark pink one at the bottom of the photo looks a bit crystalised-ish) so I tried to use it all up at once.
I enjoyed making them but have decided not to make it a regular occurance seeing as its basically just sugar and butter, and the eating isn't as enjoyable as making the pretty icing patterns. Which is why it is just as good to ice mini-muffins from Aldi: