Tree Seat

I was busy last week but I said I would share what my husband had made with the free decking boards  he was given.  It has been a week but to be honest the next day when I wanted to photograph the finished seat it rained, I managed to take a good photo as soon as the sun made an appearance so here are the images of our new tree seat.

Here is the shape all cut and laid out on the floor, he made a tiny one first which I forgot to take a picture of just to check his measurements. The whole deck below it needs re-staining, that will be another days job.

Here it is complete with legs, I don't think it needs a back rest. It just gives this little corner of the garden a bit of interest.  We had some paint left from the garden arbour so he managed to paint it all to match at no cost, he just finished painting and then it rained.  The paint was ok, it's under the tree and I think it was quite quick drying.  I had to wait a couple of days though to take a picture without rain.

The rather past it fence has come down at the side also this week as we have opened up that top bit of garden. The remaining fence at the back is a bit mismatched as you can just see the other fence panel poking over the top in the picture. We are going to get some reed screening to cover the back fences to make it more attractive.  The arbour is also moved to the top in new position so I will take more photos as it all takes shape up there.

I was really pleased with this as it didn't cost anything, the bits of deck were given as the owners were throwing them away and the bits of paint were left over.  The tools my husband already has as these mount up over time when doing jobs around the house, also some were passed on from his dad. 

 I saw a garden tree seat here...

It's very nice but £129. If anyone is interested in a seat like this but doesn't want to make one the site is Coopers of Stortford

Girls dresses

I was asked to make two dresses after last weeks experiment in making the baby girl dresses.  The lady asked if I could make her one with the little orange birds on but I only had a small piece left and she needed size 18-24 months.  I asked if would be ok if the back was different if she really wanted that design as I have looked and the store online where I got it no longer has any. She said yes as this was the pattern she liked, she also wanted another dress making form the little design I sent her last week with the wildlife creatures on it.  I have been busy today making these up.

Front

back ( yes it needs an iron!)

I had to incorporate a little of the bird fabric into the back as the panels that come over with the button holes show at the front. I also added a stripe across the back, there was just enough.  I really did use every last bit of that fabric!

Front

Back

I have done buttons on these dresses at the shoulders as they are for a slightly older child but it would probably be ok to do the same on the smaller sizes.  The lady who these dresses are for also asked if I could do some matching hair slides...

I have enjoyed making these today so I hope they are well received. My husband has been outside all day making something with some free decking boards that a colleague of his was going to throw out, it has turned out really well so I will share that tomorrow. Has anyone else been busy creating today?

Dress Mannequin

Today when my husband came home he had a box with him,  the children were wanting to know what was in it, maybe something exciting? For me yes but not really for them, I had ordered a dress mannequin of Amazon and here she is...

I would have liked to take a picture in the daylight but it has been so overcast today that I have just used the image from the Amazon page. Hopefully she will be wearing some new designs or refashions soon and you can see the real thing then.

I used to have a proper dress form that was adjustable before I moved, unfortunately the stand broke and after that it was sat in the cupboard for a while, we did try it on a tree stand but it was quite heavy for it and kept falling over.  I have often though I should have kept it and we probably would have come up with a solution by now.

A dress form such as the one above which is like the one I had is £115 now, I should have kept it.

 Anyway I have this one which is a size 8-10, the measurements of the mannequin are about an inch bigger than me all over which is not too bad as I will just make things very fitted on it and you still have to try them on yourself eventually for final fit. The smaller size would have been too small, I think you would struggle to get one of these that fits exactly as we are all so different but it is good to be able to hang clothing ,see the back, check hems and try different things out on it.  The mannequin was £22 so a fair bit cheaper than a dress form. This was an item I put on my wish list, now often I will put things on my Amazon list and just later take them off. It is good for this reason as an item sits there for a while and then after a few weeks or a month I might think nah, I'll take that off. Other things I might later decide that yes I would like them, it is usually books or music (quite often used at a low price from an affiliated seller)  My husband knew that I wanted this and that I would still want it later so he said just order it. I did just that, sometimes I think if there is something you will get use from such as an item for a hobby or also an activity or course that will make good use of your time, then there is nothing wrong with investing a little bit in something for yourself.