Revitalise your wardrobe... for free!

Some time ago I changed a black jumper by adding buttons down the back of the spine of it, following a fashion at the time. That jumper still resides in my wardrobe and I still wear it to this day, because it still looks quite new even though in reality it's nearly 4 years old now. A modern twist to it, that's all it needed, and I've had longer use from it.

It's been a while since I've tried breathing new life into my old clothes, but at this point in my life there is now more need for it than ever! We have recently had an offer accepted on a new house, and are currently in the process of paying out for solicitors, surveys, conveyancers, etc... And it ain't cheap! Last month I managed not to buy any new clothes, and was lucky enough to get a load of hand-me-downs from my friend who was getting rid of a big bag of goodies to the clothing bank. I managed to get two whole new gym kits for nothing! Same goes for this month, too. No clothes shopping, essentials only.

Yet another lazy Sunday sprawling before me today. It's the middle of the afternoon now, and already I've attacked a couple of items. Here, I'd like to share 3 Quick And Easy Ways to Revamp Your Old Clothes with you.

1. Re-hemming a dress:

The quickest and easiest way of changing the look of something like a dress is to make it shorter!! I bought this simple t-shirt dress from Matalan last summer, and I love the shape and colour of it. However the length is a little on the long side and it can look frumpy if I'm not careful. It came to below my knees before... not especially flattering!

Here's my result, but for simple instructions on how to do it yourself, click for the no-sew solution, or here for those of you brave enough to get the sewing machine out!

2. Make a cardigan fit your curves more snuggly:

I saw this tutorial here about how to completely change the shape of a cardigan. I have one in my wardrobe that was rescued from a bag of stuff my Mum was throwing out, but it's a little shapeless around the waist. I'd love to wear it over a vest so it's almost tight, but would show all the (limited) good parts of my body!

First turn the cardigan inside out and mark with fabric pen, then pin along the line. Careful to mark it up to the armpits but not over the pre-existing hemline, otherwise you'll end up with a hole there! 

Then using a machine, sew along the line removing the pins as you go. Cut the now excess material away. Your garment should be considerably smaller in size. This can be done to the arms too in the same way. See the tutorial link posted above if you want to do this.

3. BUTTONS!!!

Like I have ALWAYS said... there is no better way to jazz up your clothes, your books, your furnishings, whatever than with buttons and plenty of them! Also, pin-on roses work too.

Take one quite grubby, fairly underwhelming black body con dress to begin with. This is mini-skirt length and has never really done my hips any favours. So SNIP SNIP!

 I hemmed my new black t-shirt and then started raiding my button tin. I found the white rose broach off something else. It's been sitting in my sewing box for a while, so nice to find a use for it! I have a large selection of buttons, but in the end opted for a pearly one as it smartened the whole look once on the t-shirt.

Using needle and thread, sew the button on to the middle of the rose. Then take a safety pin big enough to hold the broach without it drooping, and sew a few loops of thread over the non-fastening side. I added a dab of all-purpose glue on to the back to secure the pin fully.

Et voila! Plain black tee transformed so simply! The dream is to have different broaches for all occasions, colours, outfits, seasons... then you're really taking 'multi-purpose' to a whole new level!

So three simple ways... which one are you going to try first??

BBxx

Birthday Vegetable Hamper

Dad is a really difficult person to buy Christmas and birthday presents for.
Traditionally, I always buy him a pack of coaltar soap at Christmas time along with obligatory wine accessories, novelty socks and smellies. Birthdays are harder, and over the past couple of years I've baked him cakes or bought him, err... umm... more socks??
Not this year! My parents have been through quite a hard time recently having just moved out of a pub and now trying to find work all over again. They've been away on holiday and come back fat and brown (and happy), so Mum warned me off my initial idea of buying something sweet, stating that they are both back on diets as of last week.
I went into town today to have a look for things. In B&M they sell a lot of odd food items in amongst all the homeware, toys and kitchenware, and I found a big himilayan pink salt grinder for a bargain price of £2. It suddenly occurred to me that Dad might get more out of a 'useful' gift that will double up as a motivator towards him losing weight.

And so the idea of a hamper seemed the best shout!

Hemel has started hosting a diverse range of fruit and veg stalls three days a week, and some of them are really good for picking up more exotic items for a reasonable price. Dad's really into his cooking and trying out new recipes and ingredients, so I picked some more usual things whilst I put together the hamper items.

As well as the pink salt, I found a cinnamon and sugar grinder and a jar of garlic and rosemary in olive oil in B&M. I can't recommend this shop enough for things like this - all three items were cheap as chips, and they were things I hadn't seen in bigger supermarkets.
One market stall were selling bowls of veg and fruit for £1, so I picked up some oyster mushrooms for Dad to maybe make a nice risotto or mushrooms on ciabatta. Figs are a favourite of my Mum's, and I know she enjoys these with cheese particularly.

Butternut squash - a staple in my own kitchen, as it's incredibly versatile and goes a long, long way. I use it for soups quite often, but it's brilliant roasted too with spices and olive oil
The hedgerows lining our driveway are thick with blackberries at this time of year, and they don't come better than freshly picked and put into this box of treasure... would make an awesome crumble, especially with some of the sugar cinnamon ground on it!

The veg stall had HUGE peppers, so one yellow one and also a bowl of those long, pointy red peppers add a shot of colour in the box, which looks so pretty.
My landlady also gave me two garlic bulbs grown in her own garden to add to it. I also put in a couple of Sainbury's recipe cards. Look out for these; they release new, seasonal cards at the entrance to the store every 3 months with simple, tasty recipe ideas on them. I put a recipe for peppers, mushrooms, crumble and butternut squash in the box for inspiration.

Dad was, thankfully, chuffed! My best friend told me once that her grandmother gives her a hamper of toiletries for her birthday each year. Nothing fancy, just what she uses daily, but it's one less expense she has to pay out for and it's nice to give gifts that actually have a use sometimes.

What would be in your dream hamper? Something useful? Something pretty?

BBxx

How to jazz up doilies, Kirstie's way...

As you all know by now, I am a HUGE fan of the woman who made crafts cool again, the one and only Kirstie Allsopp, and her new series 'How to fill your home for free' is as creative and inspiring as her previous ventures to try and bring us all round to her way of upcycling, crafting and decorating your home.
Her new show heavily features how to upcycle old furniture, giving existing or unwanted pieces a boost and instantly changing the way you look at a room. It ties in nicely with the news we received this week - we had an offer accepted on our first home!! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! ... Ahem. But it's ok - because Kirstie has pretty much taken care of all the furnishings we'll have, because I'm not planning on going to IKEA once! No no, I'm planning to keep myself very busy with decoupagé, painting, distressing and fiddling about with scaffolding boards too. If you have no idea, what I'm talking about, go to 4OD and watch her new series. It will amaze you.

In the mean time, Kirstie gave me my Bank Holiday Monday activity in this week's episode: DOILIES.
I so happened to buy 6 lace doilies from a bootsale some time ago, planning on doing this with them:

But I didn't. Through lack of confidence that I wouldn't end up setting my flat on fire.
So there they sat in my sewing box all this time, until now.
Kirstie showed us all that doilies can be cool again, by simply dying them the colour of your choice and adorning your upcycled home furnishings!!

Here's what I did:

1. Prepare what you need; I used one sachet of Dylon purple dye, a plastic mop bucket, 6 lace doilies (and I also used two white pillowcases I had with a bed set, which would match the rest of the set better if they were in fact purple!) table salt, and rubbergloves and apron.

2. Prepare the dye according to the packet instructions. Then add your fabric to it and stir for 15 minutes without stopping.

3. Then over a 45 minute period, stir intermittently. After, rise out the fabric under a cold water tap, then I put all mine into the washing machine and put it on a super fast warm rinse for 14 minutes at 30 degrees.
Leave on a drying rack somewhere warm to dry.

4. Iron your dry doilies so they sit flat on the surface you want to put them on.

5. ADORN!!!!

I'm really impressed! Yes, it's a little bit twee, but they do look pretty and certainly not at all frumpy or old. It gives them a nice modern twist, and they cost next to nothing to jazz up.

What did you do with this lovely sunny bank holiday??

Lots of love,

BB xxx

Patching up for winter...

I finally finished it!
This has taken me the best part of a year to make, from cutting out all the squares (a painstaking task before I discovered the rotary cutter!) to hand sewing the entire thing together and finally binding it. I am so pleased...

This is made up of Tom's old shirts, pillow cases, duvet covers, curtains, various dresses and skirts and fat quarts that I bought when I first got the bug for this stuff. It's come out smaller than I planned but it will still keep me warm sat on the sofa when the weather gets chilly again. It's far too humid and sticky at the moment!

I'm already planning the next one... Gotta have something to keep me busy until winter 2014!

xx

Dolly didn't work quite enough...

Hello all,
I get paid on the 28th of each month, and three days later, I am left with very, very little of my wages once all my outgoings have been taken out. At the start of the new year, I took some of Frugal Queen's advice (check out her blog in the list on the right there) and wrote out all of our income and outgoings as they happen for each month, and calculated what was left for us to have as disposable income. The result? Pretty depressing.
This month, like every other, is tight. I have now put in place the food menu for each week, and two weeks in I'm definitely a fan. I love the fact that I know what we're eating each night - it eliminates choice for me, which is a good thing, because if left to it I definitely go for the more calorific version of dinner. This way, I'm eating meals that have already been thought about. It also means that we've wasted NO FOOD whatsoever, and when we went shopping we bought only what was needed to make the meals we wanted for the following week. All good.
But even with that measure in place, I am still ridiculously poor this month, and have had to turn down several social events, have "no spend" days in at home, and generally try and watch every pound.
It's got to a point, however, where I feel that it's no good just watching what goes out, I need to start putting back into my finances too.

So on Saturday last weekend, I updated my CV and took it into Hemel town centre, and flung it at everyone who would take it! A few online applications later, and I have a job offer to consider for weekend work in a Pizza Express, some work on Saturday lined up in a cafe in Ashridge, and my mum has even said she'll give me more regular shifts at the pub too. Sorted - extra work, in a flash!
It's when I achieve stuff like that that makes me start to wonder about this whole unemployment problem in this country. The fact is that in one afternoon, I have managed to secure extra work, therefore extra income, for myself with very little effort. There are no excuses! Some people make things, other people sell things they don't need - which reminds me, it's nearly bootsale season again - and supplement their monies in whatever way they can, if they're desperate enough. You've just gotta be inventive, willing to try something new or different to what you're used to, and keen to work damn hard. This'll mean I'll be working a 7-day week from now on until things drastically improve.

What have you done when financial times are hard to improve things?? Clean suggestions only!!

BB xx

Time for some SERIOUS slimming!!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!
Put on weight at Slimming World. Half a pound. Measely, I know, but I had been aiming to lose 3lbs this week and that feels like a massive kick in the teeth. I am obviously not doing this seriously enough, I know that. I need to start being more open about this fact and start being more open minded in general about the ways I can make sure that I LOSE and not put on. As Tom rightfully pointed out, the wedding is only a year away, but if I don't sort this out now, before I know it it'll be February next year and I'll be exactly where I am now, moaning. I have a plan though. I've been meaning to do this for AGES, and tonight I finally sat down and did it.
I present... My Food Menu:

I can add the little tabs as I make new things, but otherwise it helps me to plan out what I eat each evening and breakfast (lunches are easy, I take Mugshots or pasta salad with me, syn-free either way) and also make sure I use up all the food in the fridge as the week goes on so as to avoid any wastage whatsoever. I have a list for food that needs using up asap, and then put defrosted frozen meals on the menu for one or two nights in a row. Homemade soup days tend to be those based on there being a lot of veg in the fridge that needs to be used. I hope it works - it'll give me a plan to stick to and also a way of reassuring that there is food in the house, and therefore eliminating the possibility of snacking on bad things out of laziness hopefully.

How do you menu plan in your home? Do you use tools to keep it up to date?

BBxx

Quiet weekend in...

Hello!
So I haven't seen my fiancé since Monday, as he's had a horrendous week at work including 3 overnights as well as day shifts, then went straight from there to a 3 night stag do. He's on his way home now, and I can't wait to see him and practically attach myself to him! But I can't complain; it's not actually been that bad a weekend...
I don't get paid until tomorrow, but I managed to budget enough so that I could go and buy some wadding for two quilting projects I've had on the go for a while now. At the beginning of the month I bought a lot of different materials very cheaply off eBay and once I had it all I started to create a baby-sized quilt for one of my friends who will be giving birth in July. After the success of the gift I made my mum at Christmas, I've well and truly got the bug for it now! It's been something to indulge in and waste the hours of the lonely weekend away, but with productive results at the end of it. I've still got to slip-stitch the hem to the back, but it's otherwise done. Take a looky:

I'm especially pleased as from start to finish, it's only taken me 3 weeks. Winner.
The other quilt top is one I made way back last year but never had the courage to go the next step with until recently. Tom's mum is currently hand-quilting a massive quilt she's made, and I'm considering doing the same thing, as this other one will struggle to fit through my sewing machine.
Slimming World tomorrow - dreading it!! The good thing about finding something as all-consuming as quilting is it kept me from snacking and eating copious amounts of stuff I don't need to eat. So fingers crossed!!

BBxx