That about describes what I’ve been up to; Doing a little of this, and a little of that.

One thing I did this week that I’m so pleased with is a re-vamping of a couple of sundresses I made last summer. When I first made them, they were so easy. I bought the material with the smocking already done. I sewed them up and added some straps and hardly wore them! So much for so easy.

Last week I was reading in Andrea’s blog: Satin Bird Designs how she had remade a dress into a Maxi skirt. And I knew right away what I wanted to do with those sundresses!

Here’s the first one. Much more versatile than a sundress. I’ve worn it twice this week already!

I didn’t do much to remake it. I counted how many lines of smocking I wanted for the waist band, and cut it off in-between those lines. It was a bit funny when I was doing that because they weren’t perfectly lined up. I was wondering if I’d been drunk when I first sewed it. Then I remember a couple of things: One, I don’t drink. And two, the top was what I’d matched up evenly. So the material may have had a defect in it.

However, as Madalynne so recently wrote on her blog quoting from Norma’s book: “The only reason to tear out top stitching is if… it looks bad from 3 feet away.” So, my issue isn’t top stitching, but taking the heart of the message – I don’t think anyone is going to come up and start examining those rows of smocking and notice they’re not straight. Mind you, some of my friends may do that now. (smile)

And here’s the second skirt, which hasn’t been washed yet so is still a little stretched out in the waist band:

To finish both skirts, all I needed to do was finish that new edge I’d cut. They were already seamed from last year. I didn’t want to change the look on them, so did a lettuce-edge with a small zigzag to cover the loose edges and keep them from fringing in the wash.

I did buy a couple of pair of pants this week that I’m going to cut off and make into Capri pants. The price was just too good to pass on.

My bra is still 3/4s of the way done and sitting on the dinning room table. I decided just as I was putting on the upper band elastic that I was going to change the bra. So no fabric straps on this one – this one is going to have strap tape & strap elastic for the straps – more similar to what I saw in the boutique. I’m just waiting on an order now from Bra-Makers to finish it up. This one is with a custom bridge from Norma’s book.

And lastly, my final bit of this and that. I painted the inside of the tray this morning.

This is only one coat with a stippled effect. I may use some black over the top of it. I’m going to used the Midnight color on the outside of the tray.

Happy creating!