pillowcases for noelle..

oh boy, i think i am trully mad about noelle, everything i did, it must be for noelle.. including these pillowcases.. store bought fitted sheets only give two pillowcases, while noelle's bed has 4 pillows. so two will be the same color with the sheet, while the other two would be a borrowed pair from other color sheets, and in our house they are white, grey, cream and brown like choco milk sets. imagine, that hot pink crashed with other colors?? I HATE THAT!!!

so, on my first trip to textile trader's @ osborne park one month ago, i saw this huge basket and it says $1 a piece. WHAT??? my eyes got bigger, my heart pounding excitedly and my hand crazily throwing and picking those fabric remnants.. most of them are in a good condition, no rips but sometimes there are stains, fabric pull, discoloration, stuff like that.. BUT i got many many many beautiful pieces.. and i always picked those which has minimum 1,2m length and 1m width.. these white and pink cotton fabric are huge, 1,5mr in length and 1,2m in width. i took two of them, one white suede like fabric, grey-black stripes jersey, white-navy jersey, leather like fabric, stone blue jersey. i got heaps for cheaps, and 1kg pillow fillings for $5!!!

i made one small pillow (half width of regular pillow) and then browsed tutorial for making pillowcases. never crossed my mind that there are so many styles for pillowcases.. forgot their names, but i opt to this style.. it's like envelope so i am going to call it envelope pillowcases..

firstly, i wrapped the pillow with the fabric to get the idea of how the case will look like. the opening both upper and lower must be overlapped and the pillow can't be seen from the opening. i marked the lines of the opening, and then i spread the fabric flat before cut it 90cm x 55cm. i use both fabric remnants and still got some leftover which will be perfect for the small pillow's case :)

one thing i hate about cotton fabric is they will FRAY so they need to DI OBRAS or sarger (spelling) to avoid fabric fraying. and the problem is, i dont have the sarger machine so i made this pillow with double sewing (outside, inside) to prevent fraying. with WRONG SIDE facing you, fold the 55 cm side by 0.5cm then fold again, pin, then sew. you will see the fraying threats is inside the folding. do the same for the openings side.

after you got both opening secure from fraying, arrange the fabric so it become like envelope, RIGHT SIDE on the outside, overlap for the openings, then pin the right and left sides, sew. you will get envelope with frayed sides. trim the excess fabric as close as 3mm to the stitch line, flip the case so you got WRONG SIDE on the outside. iron flat those pillowcases and you'll get smooth and flat sides.

sew with 0.5cm allowance from the outer side. do the same for the other side. flip again the case, and VOILA! you got your envelope pillowcase.

iron flat again.

i guarantee they wont fray, ever!

try on the pillow

back side, with opening

front side

lovely fabric, lovely pillowcases, made with love

green wardrobe

i am really really in to green lifestyle.. that's why i started to refashioning clothes, and pay a visit (or two) to thrift stores to find bargain clothing/stuff. sometimes i found a brand new t-shirt or dress for cheap! and perfect for my (learning to) sewing project because i hate to spend money on textile shops for my "unpredictable" projects result :D

if you never considered refashioning your old clothes, you should try it! refashioning is A BIG NEWS at the moment, you could type refashioning and you'll get millions link like Wardrobe Refashion and Threadbanger where communities of fashionistas swap ideas/projects/tutorials to make or update something become beautiful clothes/accessories/bag/shoes/whatever you could imagine from recycled clothing/materials. refashioning offers the opportunity to create a piece of clothing that preserves the best features but also creates something fresh and fashionable, and original because you won't see it on anyone else but you a-k-a haute couture. it's unique and will not drill a hole in your pocket!

and, my main reasons doing refashioning is : i love earth! textile waste and landfill is a huge problem for us, resident of earth. fast fashion and constantly changing trends have exasperated the problem by creating more demand for cheaply manufactured clothes that are worn only a few times before being thrown away. the manufacturing of these clothes also have a wide range of environmental impacts and ethical implications. by recycling and reusing clothes, we can reduce both waste and the impacts associated with the manufacture of new clothes.

so, on my previous trip to thrift shop (here it called opshop) i got this tshirt and canvas bag for $2 each.

the white tshirt got lovely print on the chest that suits the colour of the bag

so, i was thinking about making aplique for the bag.

and there was also a small print on the left back.

i was thinking about making a short pants for noelle.

i saw a lot of tutorial but never try it.

this is my chance!

here's the closer look

my canvas "messenger" bag

shorties for noelle too bad it's a bit tight for her :(

but i love how it turned out, i can make shorties neatly YAY!!!

it was like a 30 minutes job.

definitely will make another one sooner or later.

30 minutes sewing job!

another wardrobe refashion, another tank top die but reborn into noelle's pillowcase top.. did not get the chance to take BEFORE photo because noelle hid the camera somewhere but my hand was itchy to get started so i snip snip snip, pin pin pin, sew, sew, sew, slip the knots and VOILA! this dress is finished in 30 minutes, more or less.. for full tutorial please click here but mine was shorter because i used bottom part of my bandeau/halter style tanktop so the maximum length less than 30cm. but that's ok, that's fine with us because we still can make a pillowcase top!

smiley baby, i guess she's happy with her NEW top..

there she goes, and mama is ready to find another sewing idea!