a gem from my friend Ash.

My friend Ashlee recently told me about this website -

http://www.ciaovogue.com/

She is not wrong in describing it as an "amazing website, it is a simplistic catalogue/visual reference of US and UK Vogue magazines from the 60′s and 70′s."



Also this one http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Which she pointed out for its copies of old women weekly's from the 1930's but i discovered it also have photos, diaries and letters as well a book and journals are going right back through Australian history!!!

Old Dress, New Skirt

When I was about 15 (so about 6 years ago now) i brought a dress from Target.. for the first 4 or so years i wore it out to friends houses, the movies, shopping etc, the next couple of years of its life it was only worn in the house as it was getting a bit old. Then recently it literally started to fall apart, the straps began to break apart as well as the the whole top section really... So as i couldn't bear to part with a much loved piece of clothing, and i don't like buying new clothes anyway, I decided today was the day I would give it a new life.. IT WOULD BECOME A SKIRT!!

I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like before cut it, but I think i must have one in he archives so will edit the post when i find one!!

Step 1: Cut off the top leaving 1 inch of material above top part.





Step 2: Turn it inside out, and fold over the extra inch and iron down, to make a tunnel for elastic.

Step 3: Sew along the edge of this tunnel leave a inch gap at the back ( i made the mistake of accidentally leaving the gap at the front, which meant i didn't get a nice finish!)

Step 4: Get some length of elastic, attach a safety pin at one end, and using the pin to grab, pull it through the tunnel. Once all the way through make sure there is some overlap and pin through the fabric into the elastic to hold in place ( I didn't do this very well, so there ended up being a gap between the beginning and end of the elastic.. but it still turned out okay)



Step 5: Sew a box with a cross in it - this hold the elastic in place, and is neat ( mine wasn't very neat...)





Step 5: Tidy any threads, Turn it in the right way, give it another iron and put it on!!

Step 5: Show your cat your handy work :)

wearable origami

this is a pretty rad skill. give it a go here :http://increations.blogspot.com/2008/09/origami-bracelet.html

i want to make a fabric on spoonflower!

this is a spoonflower fabric design by papersparrow (andrea lauren). her designs are great. i'm going to buy a whole truck load of them...but first:

i really really really want to make a fabric on spoonflower but i haven't got the faintest idea where to start! i can draw a little and i love love fabric but how can i translate that into fabric?

if you don't know what spoonflower is, it's a pretty amazing website where you can buy fabrics by the metre designed by individuals and crafters and at home designers and self starter no good nicks like steph and me. AND you can design your own and pay for it to be professionally finished! MAGIC, right?

Anyway, instead of getting overwhelmed I'm setting myself the spoonflower challenge... check this space for themaybepile's designs. coming very very soon.

check out papersparrow's fabric's here.

i love love tania patritti

ok so i should've posted this on wednesday as it's about inspiration and wisdom Wednesday but (as is becoming a bit of a trend) i'm a few days late. i wanted to give this post justice because i've recently had a few (half-hearted) attempts at making softies myself and thus have a new found respect and adoration of this very talented princess of plush.





tania patritti sells har handmade stuffed creatures under the name of "ninon". I'd seen her stuff around for a while but only really honed in on her awesomeness when i read about her in Jo Waterhouse's book Indie Craft (which by the by is a pretty awesome publication if you get a chance, check it out). In Indie Craft tania discusses her method saying "I never make patterns; every piece I make is one of a kind... i usually cut directly on the fabric". Amazing! sounds super tactile and creative. I've been knitted a lot recently and fell sort of confined by patterns at the moment. I can't wait to bust out.

Like me Tania is a self confessed fabric addict and I'm definately going to give plush's another go this winter. give me something to snuggle in to on the cold Melbourne nights. maybe i could donate a few to charity. if you know of any good ones let me know.



you can check out more of tania's stuff on her blog www.superninon.blogspot.com

or on her etsy: www.ninon.etsy.com

do. yourself. a favour.

How to hold an Afternoon Tea Party

Today's tutorial is on How to hold an afternoon tea party!

Step One:
Decide on a date, place and time ( the best time for an afternoon tea party is around 3pm)
Then find some invitations and send them out to your friends and family.



Step Two:
Decide on what to bake, make and buy. Ive put in brackets what i decided.

Traditional English Afternoon Tea are served in three courses. Savouries ( sandwhiches and quiches), Scones ( freshly baked with cream and two choices of jam), and Sweets ( trifle, hedgehog slice, lemon slice, carrot cake, messy meringues with passion-fruit and blue berries, fairy cakes and birthday cake).









Then you need to select a range of teas ( english breakfast, french earl grey, green rose, and vanilla mint.) We also served coffee and punch!

To add a personal touch I made napkins, and table cloths - Easily done by cutting fabric into squares or rectangles of sizes of your choice, and then hemming all of the edges.



Ainsley then made tags for the tea and also name tags for our punch cups.





Step Three:
Once everything is prepared for the day, put on a party dress and enjoy yourself!!

to market , to market

themaybepile Monday

After one successful market at Parkdale Primary school early last year, when then had a second attempt at Elwood Primary school, but unfortunately it was a WASHOUT.



But you can learn from every experience, and we learned to come prepared for every circumstance!

There is a market at Elwood Primary ( Scott Street, Elwood Victoria 3184) on the 2nd of April between 9am - 1pm - so come and visit us, at our third attempt at holding a successful market stall.

Also if you have any advise leave us a comment!