Decorating a new place - the real reason for moving!

We are moving. Up until now we have lived in my aunt's house while she has been working in Norway as a nurse. Now she has announced her "home-coming" and we have to find a new place to stay.

Luckily, we found a lovely little flat not far from both of our parents and some of our friends. The only reason I say "luckily" is because we have sold our car (!). If we live close to either of our parents we have easy access to a car whenever we feel too bound down and bored of things within "walking distance". Of course, it is not the only reason!! It also means that my mum won't have to walk that far to come and do the cleaning and general house keeping while we are out driving in her car... haha, I only write this because I know my mum isn't reading this :) :)

One of the absolute pleasures of moving into a new place is the chance to decorate completely empty rooms! Over the past few months we have changed our interior decorating style. We have always had second-hand furniture, mix-matched tree sorts, all kinds of colours and it has all been a bit messy and old-fashioned. Now we are streamlining the style to being more of the same basic colours which I can then spruce up by adding cool, homemade pillows or hanging colourful posters in my black frames.

I can't wait to get a more classic look in my home. Lots of white furniture, preferably old, quirky drawers or cabinets with cool designer items on top with magnificent colours. This also means that I get to go antiquing so I can look for a new cabinet for my dinnerware and Royal Copenhagen collection. Yes!

One of my ideas is also to get some vintage looking art on the walls. I found these free printables via howaboutorange.blogspot.com - originally from designeditor.typepad.com, and I just love them!

Cool, vintage cameras put in a classic, black frame. It doesn't get much better than that! All you have to do is download the files, take them to your local copy-store and they can make it any size you want. I still need to get my copies printed, but it will be done! I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished results in the new flat.


I have also been on the look-out for pillows, so I have an actual excuse/reason to make new pillows cases. I have so much cool fabric tucked away in my craft boxes and it need to be used! Well, I might forget about the fabric I already have and then pay fabricrehab.co.uk another visit to order some of their cool, vintage fabrics. There are some of the retro fabrics they stock that I find it hard to live without - especially the Geekly Chic line. They got me hooked and I am a true fabric addict. Oh my goodness, I am getting extra excited about the prospect of all this work!

It is going to be so great to live a place, where we are not living there on borrowed time. Don't get me wrong, it has been absolutely lovely living in my aunt's house, but there has always been a deadline over our heads. It will be great to not have that. Even if Lady Luck blesses us with a child at some point we can still stay in the flat if we need to. It is big enough for that. So we are set for the next couple of years!

I'll post pictures of the sewing projects I will embark on when we move. And most likely, I'll also post updates on the interior decoration, because I am getting oddly excited by that prospect right now. Maybe because we have been living in someone else's furniture for a 1½, and it is going to be so great to see our own stuff again outside of a storage box!

July 1st, please come now!

First piece of clothing: Done!

I have done it! I have actually made myself a piece of clothing. I am so proud!

The maxi dress trend tends to come back every summer, and I have always wanted to be able to wear one. Being a plus-plus size girl, it can be very difficult finding something - anything, really - that doesn't make you look like a whale caught in a circus tent.

So I thought... Hey, I've got loads of fabric and I know how to work that sewing machine. I'll just make one!   Just as I had the thought it occurred to me that my imagination is making me promises my sewing skills can't keep. But what the freak, I'll give it a go!

All I had to do was to copy the "pattern" of one of my favorite tank tops - of course factoring in seam allowance and various body parts that bulk out a bit -  and then decide how wide the dress should be at the bottom. I love swirly dresses, so of course I wanted to be as wide as the fabric I had would allow. It didn't turn out quite as swirly as the little girl version of me wanted, but it turned out just perfect for the adult version. Who needs to twirl and swirl anyway... Who am I kidding - I'll add extra fabric later to make it more swirly!!

This being my first piece of clothing and all, I am very happy with it! Sure, there are little errors and things I want to change, but no one notices those things except me. So why bother, right?!

What do you think??

I can wear it with or without the belt. With the belt makes it a bit more dressy. Having no belt makes it much more comfortable, for one, but also makes it more casual-slip-on-wear-to-the-beach-ish.

Hopefully I will get loads of opportunities to wear this dress over the summer. Until now the weather has been lovely, so here's to hoping it will continue.

Do you want to make one too?? I can give you a few tips :)

Thanks! Have a great sunday evening :)