Lady Pepperell Re Purpose

I made it into roud 3!!!! Thank you to everyone who voted for me! This is my round two entry for So You Think You Can Sew hosted by Ashley from MommyByDay CrafterByNight Voting begins Wednesday January 11, 2012 at 8:00 am EST and ends Thursday at 8:00pm EST. I hope you will vote for me as the competition is seriously talented! The three contestants with the lowest number of votes will be cut and the top six will move to round three!

This week our challenge was to re purpose something. I was in a bit of a panic as I've found it difficult to find interesting things out here in the wild west. When I lived back east there always seemed to be something interesting lying around.

A while back, I purchased a vintage Lady Pepperell flat sheet from an Etsy seller. I fell in love with it but I was waiting for inspiration to hit me before I went to hacking away. Through my panic and a few bad attempts at re purposing some old dresses, I started imagining a bustle skirt and thought the sheet would be perfect. So, I set to creating with my fingers crossed.

When I was halfway through with the skirt I saw an old bed skirt and thought I should make an appropriate top to go with the skirt. It was a fun pink satin bed skirt with a tulle overlay.

I spent the better part of a day messing with the straps trying to create something fun and unique. When it came time to add the ruffles to the top and the butt bustle, I pulled out an old blue pillowcase to add a bit more color. I tossed in some older stock lace I had sitting around and made up one of those little roses from my last round project and voila I was content. I had to move the furniture around in my son's room, so that I could use the walls as a back drop for the photography. I got really lucky too, with the setting sun coming in through the window at a decent angle. I did have to edit the top of Garrett's precious, fuzzy head out of one of the pictures, but I'm just glad he got to help me out. Eventually, I will find the time and energy to put this dress on my daughter, Alice and get a few timeless photographs. In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy it and that it may inspire you to rummage for old fibers and create something original.

If you like what you see and love to sew or want to learn be sure you swing by my shop and take a look around!