Recovering a bedroom chair.

My first project for our new home is a blue bedroom chair that I will make a loose cover for.
At first I thought it would be a nice little chair for Baby C's room but I like it so much I think it will live in my room and I will look out for a chair with arms for the baby's room.

I plan to make a loose cover with box pleat trim.


The first stage of the project is to take the ruffle trim off. Looking underneath I found it was stapled on and so I took to it with a screwdriver to prise the staples out.


After removing the trim there were staples that needed to be removed with a pair of pliers.



Here is the chair without the trim.



The next stage will be to make a paper pattern for the cover.

Spoke too soon....

A couple of posts ago I made the rash declaration that my life was settling down. It isn't or it didn't, but it might.
I am now in the process of moving back to the England to live permanently, I have found a house to rent and now need to furnish it with virtually no budget. I thought I might give the blog a re-vamp too and keep you up to date with how I get on with my beg, borrow and styling.

And you know one of the best features of the house? A brand new fabric store has opened up on the corner of the steet - it must be fate!

Birthday bargains

August is my baby girl's birthday month and to celebrate I am offering all the baby girl dresses in my etsy store at 25% off. Grab a Birthday Bargain at just $30.
Sale runs from 1st to 30th August.

Here, there and everywhere.

I really am still here. But I've been visiting in the UK a couple of times, moving into a new flat and generally being busy doing nothing.

But now life seems to be settling down and thoughts are turning to all things crafty. Not only the ever expanding list of unfinished and not to mentioned un-started personal projects but also for my lil shop.

I have started giving it a wash and brush up with some new photos of the dresses and next up is listing some more vintage patterns.

As ever there are more ideas than time but my aim is to do a little each day. Wish me luck!

I really am still here, except here isn't there anymore

In otherwords I've moved to France and am only just beginning to catch up with myself.
I have been sewing, but in December is was all Christmas gifts and since then I have made one top and one pair of trousers for me.

I have two main wardrobe problems at the moment. I am a size larger than my pre-pregnancy size and I am currently living in the snowy Alps after the sunny Canary Islands. This means that even if I have clothes that fit they are generally not warm enough. My new pair of trousers took my total trouser tally to three. So sewing for the shop is on hold for a while. I have however got around to taking my shop off vacation mode and re-listing my maternity patterns.

So if you or anyone you know is expecting and want some cute, vintage patterns do please check out my shop.

A little catch up

You may have guessed from the post free few months that my baby girl arrived and has been keeping me busy so this blog and Etsy have been on hold for a while.

I am just checking in to say "woohoo - I´m still here" and "thank you" to Half an Acre for my blog award.

Here are my six favourite blogs to nominate, not all sewing or etsy related....

A dress a day
Koji´s kitchen
Word imperfect
In a land of milk honey and cider
A little sewing on the side
The ardent thread

Meanwhile I have manged to get some sewing done.


I was experimenting with a new dress design that could also work for tunics.

I cut the fabric out before Baby C was born, but only got around to sewing it some eight weeks later, so the day I took the picture was the only day it fit her!

I like the off-centre fastening but I´m not sure the off-centre tucks work so well, they look a little off balance to me.

And of course this was just an excuse to post a picture of Baby C!

Not doing much

As the title of the post suggests I am not doing much at the moment. Baby C is due next week so I am mostly lying on the sofa, eating biscuits and watching Jane Austen adaptations.
Its a hard life.

So really just a post to say why I'm not posting.

More regular posting will be resumed in a few weeks when we have the phone and internet connected at the apartment and sproglet has arrived.