5 things to make your campsite glam

We are in training for a large camping trip next year at some point, so we spent the weekend in Echuca to test our organisational and survival skills. We had the tent, the ice box, the industrial 4WD strength matress for a good nights sleep.

But chatting around the campfire at night, a question was formed in our minds "What would Candice de Ville do?". Candice being our modern day retro style icon. If you haven't visited her site, Vintage Current, pop along and check out all the tips hints and ideas for making your life more retro-stylish.


1. Stylish headpieces

One morning in the campsite when our hair was everywhere, we commented that Candice would have a do rag or turban on her head. She would make sure that she was composed and stylish as she stepped out of the tent at 5.30 in the morning.

Fashion turban by CurtainRoad

Headscarf by OGood

If you are interested in learning how to do a headscarf property, Candice has a tutorial on youtube!

2. Retro inspired cutlery

As we camped in a group, the discussion of cutlery came up. It was easier to distinguish which cutlery belonged with if they were colour matched or they had electrical tape or nail polish on the handles signifying which set they came from. But who says that cutlery has to be boring? Check out this lovely set from Lark.

Colour Block Cutlery by Lark

3. Eat in style

Candice would eat in style. Rather than grazing, which is what you tend to do when camping. Eating while standing or putting things away. Why not dress your table and make your meals a little more civilised!

Vintage Red Gingham Tablecloth by A String or Two

There are modern day versions of this that are waterproof. Ikea has plastic coated fabric that is still quite stylish and retro.

4. Time for tea! 

It is important when glamping to make sure that you remember afternoon tea. This melamine tea set is rather lovely.

from SwankySafari

I'm loving this orange enamel tea set. Boil your water up, steep your tea leaves.

Set by Montmartre Vintage

We had an Air Pot set up for hot water which came in handy for either washing hands or a cup of tea without boiling a billy.

Airpot by Vintage Loves and More

5. Bunting

This idea probably takes things a bit too far, but bunting can be used to define a camp space or where tent lines are. Given that most tents are quite natural in colours, a bit of colour won't hurt? Will it? I would look for the extra long outdoor bunting, rather than the baby nursery bunting as it needs to survive rain and wind!  Take some cable ties along to secure your bunting as well.

Oilcloth bunting by Billy Bobbin.

I could keep going! What about retro wellington boots? The plastic martini set? The ideas are endless!

I hope you enjoy my picks!

Paper Book Bunting

The school Library where I work is celebrating it's patron next week so many decorations are being made in her honor.

The Library was also weeding their collection and disposing of damaged books so I rescued Anne of Green Gables and make it into a bunting for the Library!

 

The thread that I used was Gutermann 100% Polyester CA 02776. Thicker than normal thread, normally used for top stitching. I've been using this thread for things like paper buntings and the simple Colouring in books that I made my daughter a while back.

Stitch length was the longest that the machine could do. In between each paper bunting, I pulled the thread through the machine to maintain tension and counted to "five" to get a gap. You could sew them closer if you wanted to.

Rather pleased with the outcome. I could imagine that you could photocopy random pages from the classics onto fabric and make a fabric one if you wanted to.

Tomorrow I am off to do a sewing workshop. I have been making bags for a while, but I want to hone my skills. It also gives me a chance to sew, which I desperately need at the moment for my mental health.

Book Bunting

Next week our School Library is celebrating the patron of their Library. We had some damaged books that were being thrown out, so I decided to make a bunting ..

Yes or No?

Nine Patch Quilted Cushion and Bunting.

Ahh Easter Weekend, time to spend with family and friends and perhaps finish a few of my one thousand projects! Lovely Leanne hosts the blog, one thousand projects and I can definitely relate. I might not have 1000 projects kicking around, but ask my hubby and he will tell you that I probably have too many for my own good!

I knocked over another UFO, cushion for daughter and bunting from left overs. This project was finished before the "sarah" project, I've just posted them in reverse order!

When I started to decorate my daughters bedroom last year I wanted to make her as much handmade stuff for her room as possible. I started patching this pillow and then changed my mind about the type of sashing. I unpicked and then used the lovely Kokka linen that I found at GJ's in East Brunswick.

I quilted it with a layer of cotton batting, using calico as the backing fabric. Then I did some simple stitching around the outside of the nine patch using Perle. I used 4 different fat quarters for this plus 1/2 a meter of linen.

The cushion is made to fit a 50cm Ikea feather cushion insert.

But what about the offcuts? Well, I decided to make her some matching bunting for her bedroom wall.

In hindsight, I would swap around the bunting so that every second one is linen. I could even over-engineer it and do a matching linen love heart on every flag, but it is up on her wall now and looking lovely.

Another project done and dusted .. oh did I tell you that I am moving house on the weekend ... best pack a few boxes in between finishing those projects!

Bunting Pillow for Sarah

What started as a quick finish on an UFO last night turned into a crafty bonanza for a party Tori and I were off to today.

Tori insisted that we make something for her friend Sarah who was turning 4 even though we had bought her something for her birthday. I am sure that someone has done this type of design better than I have, but I will share anyway.

Tori went through my fat quarter collection and chose a bundle and then I "shortlisted". The bunting on the pillow is held on with some fancy stitching that my Janome does. The linen is a gorgeous Kokka blend (GJs) that is so easy to sew with and the pillow is backed with the pink butterfly pattern fabric (Spotlight).

I actually made the bunting first, the pillow was an afterthought from offcuts that I wanted to use up. A bit of freeze paper and double sided interfacing and I had a pillow cover. The pillow is made to fit an IKEA 50cm x 50cm feather pillow (I quite like feather).

Tomorrow I might post all about the UFO that I finished!

Are you doing crafty things this Easter?

Bunting Bag (Custom Order)

I never really knew what a bunting bag was exactly before I took on this custom job. It is very much an American term used to describe a travel garment commonly used in prams.

The client wanted a bunting bag that would suit the personality of the recipients. We discussed some ideas, I sent back a few sketches and then I did some embroidery samples. Decided that the embroidery would look better on red rather than black and then started to sew. The end of sleeve mittens were the trickiest part of the project and I am sure if I made one of these again, I would do it the “easier” way. I want to make my little girl one for next winter in purple with little bat embroidered on it.

Anyway, onto the technical stuff! The Bunting is made from Arctic Polar Fleece, PolyCotton Tartan and Wool Wadding for extra warmth. The brief that I was given was “warmth”. The Bunting has a custom Wolf Howling embroidery done on my trusty Janome 350e and the “tags” with Konstant Kaos on them are also done on the Janome (how I love my Janome).

For more images of Konstant Kaos creations, check out my livejournal scrapbook.