O for awesome in Oamaru

Having started feeling reasonably ambivilant to going down to Oamaru Heritage Week for the long weekend, I finished our getaway with fresh inspiration and a head somewhat distracted by design possibilities. Work/home/life in general has had more than its fair share of stress lately, so going away seemed like just another thing to get through. However leaving Christchurch gave me the opportunity to leave my worries behind as well. And just enjoy myself - have some much needed family time and fun. Andy was in the demonstration team for Bike Polo (which came about in the late Victorian era by the way) - who would have thought?!?!? Except back then they played on rather unforgiving bikes on grass. Its a bit more technical these days. Anyhow, I have taken some pics of my experience of some of the Victorian themed Heritage week. Interspursed are some rather exciting Steampunk costumes - Oamaru being the Steampunk Capital of NZ - that celebration happens in June each year, so that will definetly be on the cards for a visit!

10 years young!

and i'm not sure how we stayed sane packing in all that we have....but I wouldn't swap it for the world! So blessed to have 2 adorable tamariki and a wonderful husband to share life's ups and downs...
So we are off to the movies and out to dinner for Mexican to celebrate, whilst the kiddies are having a sleepover at Grannie and Grandads...

Never did like wearing white, so i went with bronze...

cows behaving themselves for this shot

And here are some of the pics from our gloriously happy day at Mt Hutt Retreat, just 10 short years ago...

ummm....what can i say?!?!?

Rakaia river bed with clouds gathering in the distance

some of our friends and whanau sending happy thoughts our way

A beautiful spot looking up to mt hutt for our ceremony

2 little forest faeries friends..

the start of our journey as Mrs and Mr!

 Awesome to look back 10yrs...Had so much fun creating my wedding dress and the forest faerie outfits.  A perfect, fun filled day - and now 10 crazy, adventurous, challenging, fufilling years on with 2 beautiful, amazing kids along for the ride....

a random pic of fireworks at the pier this week...

the final frock stars refashion

Day 4 and 5 sorted of blurred into each other, and culminated in a late night of slightly wobbly hand stitching and blurry eyes

back view

bow detail at the bodice

front view

i decided to make a head piece with the belt

It's not entirely how I wanted it - I think I could have done a bit better, but I'm happy with it considering my short time frame due to my rather busy existence of late!
My lovely husband got it overnight couriered for me down to Fairle...and i am looking forward to seeing all the before and after images of shock frocks to frock stars! Yay!

Day two of shock frock to rock frock!

I got to use my new sewing shears for the first time today - i am still mourning the loss of my old Toledo shears - they were cruely butchered by a person who was supposed to be sharpening them!
However here is the progress from day 2:

the upcycling begins

I tried the collar look, but it immediately gave an Elvis look, so ditched that idea for now.  Have cut the pleated skirt and soaking it to get the pleats out, which will give me more fabric to play with.  I am currently searching through my stash to find some floaty fabric that goes with it, to experiment with a flowing skirt look.  

Stay tuned for the next installment of  my frock stars upcycling project!

Frock Stars Rock!

I randomly came across Frock Stars last week.  What a find!!! Some lovely ladies in Fairlie who have an op shop have come up with the fantastic idea to hold a competition with some of their 'ikky' old op shop frocks.  So I now have 4 weeks to transform my frock into a thing of beauty - there are different categories - children, non dress item, street wear, evening wear and day wear...

Eveningwear just happens to be inspired by fairy tales this year, so that is where i am heading.  At the moment i am floating somewhere between the lady of the lake, and the little mermaid.  Here is my frock to begin with:

my lovely polyester op shop dress

in all its pleated polyester glory!

The label says for young women of all ages!?!?

and its made in NZ 

so who knows where this one will head - I am excited to find out what lovely creative journey Frock Stars will take me on! Oh and here is the link to their website:

http://www.frockstars.webs.com/

Princess club

25% of children in Aotearoa live in poverty.  A quarter of all NZ children - its just so wrong.  Our country has slipped further and further down the OECD list of countries for living conditions.

There are many organisations that work hard to address this problem, like the Sallies, City Mission, KidsCan school lunches, food banks, etc.  One place I found a few years ago that is attempting to address this issue in the eastern suburbs of Christchurch is Golden Harvest Trust.  Mel, (an amazingly hope filled woman) and a team of up to 100 volunteers run community clean ups, food parcels, and groups for kids.  The group that caught my attention is Princess Club.  Run for 4-12 yr old girls, they gather weekly and learn essential life skills, all with a Princess theme.  There is Princess Friendship, Princess Manners, Princess Trustworthy to name a few.  Once a month The Palace (a gorgeous space in the Hampshire Street Shops in Aranui) holds Ester's Pamper Palace.  The girls are treated to manicures, foot spas, hair wash and do ups, and they get to wear a gorgeous princess gown.

When I arrived there was one rack of dress ups.  Within a year 120 dresses were hanging on purpose built racks with 80 pairs of princess shoes and 60 tiaras.  A momentus year of design and creation, with lots of volunteers coming and going - assisting with shoe do ups, tiara making and stitching.

Here are some of the results:

black donated dress before

black donated dress after

close up detail to hide stitching

matching tiara to complete the look!

70's bridesmaid number 

refashioning underway!                  

a crazy nightie that the girls loved

crazy nightie becomes empire line gown

my 1st refashion - it was ripped and stained 

beaded detailing for extra princess appeal

$5 opshop taffeta gown

in the throws of a makeover -
lacing to be added

donated fabrics line my shelves

tiara making sessions in the school room

my lovely chaotic work space - rm 14, wainoni primary

a donated shoe rack with
donated shoes

the girls loved this, but too low cut!

solved that problem with insert of satin

snow white makeover

a stax dress that was a tad too small

so I added some bling to the back 

take 1 Pumpkin Patch dress

add some sparkle and bling...

and you have a gown fit for a princess!

butterfly tiara - so much fun to make!

So that's a bit of what i did for most of 2010.  Interrupted slightly by earthquakes, then 2yrs of study, but I am finally able to get back and volunteer some time with Princess Club, starting in May 2013...Yay!!!! :)