Tidy drawers and Making Shirts

After the big clear out I have been very busy. Why does life always get in the way of the stuff you really want to do? Anyway, i have found things much easier since i thinned out my wardrobe. The logistics of picking something to wear in a morning have been a joy! Not having to wade through things i know i am not going to wear to find something makes the whole process much more enjoyable. So i have decided to perhaps swap the clothes i have weeded out for more accessories, especially hats and belts, definately not scarves! I got started on Saturday night loading up all my swaps, not very rock and roll for a weekend i know but I don't get out much! So far have swapped a polka dot pencil skirt i hardly wear as it shows my knees, for an amazing 60s velvet hat, a smock top i've worn once for a brown cardigan, to replace my nearly worn out brown cardi i love and a gorgeous 1950s jacket top for a bright yellow cardigan. As I have lots of dresses, cardigans are always useful and yellow is my favourite colour. I have recieved my hat already:

but due to the most stressfull day of the year at work i totally forgot to post my swaps today however i have emailed the lovely swappers to explain and they are all fine about it! Like I said earlier, life does sometimes gets in the way.

Continuing with my wardrobe organisation i thought about my underwear. Now, its not often i do that but everything is just chucked in a drawer jumbled up. I have bras and pants, tights and socks, stockings and neck scarves (random I know) all jumbled up in the same big draw. I have decided to move all the everyday underwear i.e. bras and knickers into baskets in my wardrobe and thought i'd have a go at making some dividers for my drawers so i can see what i have. I have a beautiful dressing table that belonged to my boyfriends Grandma and the drawers are huge, I particularly want to see what i have in the tights department, having lots of dresses and very pale legs, i wear a lot! But I want to try and fit my hats and gloves in too, so here is everything i want to put in, in the drawer as it is

The curious black cat is Peggy, who is forever helpful!

A cardboard box, some fabric scraps, some double sided tape and a hour later i have a new drawer! Here is Peggy checking out the new sections.

I now have eight sections, four for tights and stockings, two for neck scarves and two for hats!

I have always been a Blue Peter kind of girl and love to make things myself. So having come accross this website http://www.burdastyle.com/ I fell in love. Not only do i get to be really nosey and see what other peolpe have made, they also let you download patterns for free! I love this Shirt: http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/show/3640 And thought it would be perfect for work so this is going to be my first project. obviously to go out and spend a fortune on fancy fabric would not really sit well with the aims of my project so i have to resist the urge to go to Cole Brothers Haberdashery and head for my local charity shop. I come back with the following:

A piece of vintage cotton big enought to get the pieces of the blouse out for £1, a contrasting orange check shirt for the collar and cuffs for £1 and a bag of buttons for 50p. So if i manage to actually make this shirt, it will have cost me £2.50! Well, I have made things before, mainly simple dresses, curtains and cushions, never anything involving a collar. After downloading, printing off and sticking the pattern together (which takes an age itself!) I have got the pieces cut out ready sew in one night. The next night, in my head it will be like in the magazines when they recomend things like this. Ooh its easy, you just follow the pattern and then a pristine, gorgeous garment appears before your eyes! However in reality it is not quite that simple. I managed to get the darts in, front and back sewn together and the front bit where it fastens together sewn down all by myself. But the collar just seemed to be in a different language! So i took a trip to my Mums, she is used to me deciding to do ridiculous projects and is quite willing to indulge me. Having made a lot of my clothes when i was little she is like an encyclopaedia of sewing knowledge! She showed me how to construct the collar, turn it and attach it to the shirt. This sounds all very simple, but believe me, it isn't and unless you are very practical or have a very patient Mum or Nan willing to humour you then i wouldn't recommend trying a shirt for your first project. But after all that i have got the collar on:

I haven't tackled the cuff yet, but i will keep you updated with project shirt.

So that is it for this evening. Hopefully over the next week i will get more swaps listed, do more swaps and also I want to create a log of everything I spend, swap and make. Heres to good intentions!