Blue lace, her gown was blue lace

A couple of weeks ago I went to the closing down sale at the Two Squirrels shop, the Nest (don't worry, they're opening an online store). I got four dresses and two purses. I had to get four dresses. They were only $10 each!


One of the dresses I got was this lace 60s one (err..I actually already have a really similar one). It had a couple of little stains on it and there was some fading on the shoulders but I was convinced I could do something about that.

I bought some Dylon dye in a colour called Ocean Blue. I've always found using dye a bit hit or miss. Sometimes it turns out great, sometimes you end up ruining whatever you were dyeing. I decided to take the chance with this dress though.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The stains and fading are unoticeable now and the colour is really bright. I did manage to momentarily dye my thumb blue because I didn't realise there was a hole in one of the gloves I was using. It washed off after a day or so.


I got this crochet purse from an op shop a while ago. It was in good condition apart from some dark stains around the top. After my success with the dress I decided to try dyeing it. I used black but it turned out more of a navy blue colour. The stains are gone though.

There aren't many occasions which call for the wearing of lace cocktail dresses in my life so I'll probably just wear it for everyday wear. I mean, it's always cocktail hour somewhere in the world, right?

Lemon Tart

These are the "real" version of the shorts I showed you in my last post. The fabric is a drill cotton with lemons on it from (where else?) the kids section at Spotlight. I wanted the lemons to run across the shorts sideways so I cut the fabric on the crosswise grain rather than parallel to the selvedge.

I forgot to mention the best part in my last post. There's a pocket! I love pockets.

I accidentally made this pair a smidgen too big. I cut the waistband extra long because in the last pair I had to do it in two pieces as I didn't have enough fabric. I can't be bothered unpicking the waistband to take them in though.

You can kind of see the buttons up the side. They're plain white ones from my favourite button op shop. Buttons are pretty much the only thing I ever find there, but they always have a good selection.

I wore these and the other shorts while I was in Wellington and I have to say, I'm a bit of a shorts convert. They were pretty comfy for walking around in and I didn't have to worry about flashing my knickers because of the wind.

Little Bo Peep

My nephew: "That's a nice...what is that? A skirt? Dress?"
Me: "Shorts. They're shorts."

It's probably unsurprising that my seven year old nephew couldn't quite figure out what I was sewing given that I haven't worn a pair of shorts for a few years. Shorts aren't really my thing. Until a couple of weeks ago I didn't even own a pair, unless you count my PE shorts from when I was 13. I decided that I needed a pair for my trip to Wellington because it's a notoriously windy city and I didn't want to spend the whole time holding down my skirts.

This is my wearable muslin pair, made from some vintage cotton that my Mum gave me. She op shopped the fabric years ago. It has a girl playing with a sheep or goat or some other animal on it. My nephew reckons it's a dog but I'm pretty sure you're not meant to feed dogs grass.

I used McCall's 5458 from July 1960. I left off the bows and used buttons up the side instead of a zip. There was only a metre of fabric so I had to do some creative piecing together to fit it all in.



Since I didn't have a top that matched the shorts (oh, the horror), I had to make one. I used the Port Elizabeth pattern, which is free on burdastyle and which I have made about six times now. The fabric is some apple green broderie anglaise with flowers printed on it.

I've also made my final pair but haven't got a photo of them, yet. They are bright yellow with lemons on them. I mean, you didn't expect me to make sensible shorts did you?