Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Betty Jo's Give Away

To round off Blogtoberfest I am having another giveaway. These nice crafty goodies will go to the first person I draw from the comments list...
so leave me a comment telling me the first BIG crafty project you remember attempting. One of mine was in my High School textiles class, where I spun a big bunch of wool, hand dyed it with leaves and flowers and knitted myself a rainbow coloured jumper...which I later sold at the Camberwell Market as a starving uni student. Drat and Double Drat for that.
Anyway here are the prizes....2 lovely vintage fabric aprons to keep or refashion.Cute apron material...

A McCalls Easy Sewing Booklet circa 1961- maybe use for collage if you don't fancy 60's fashions. A Patons Knitting Book for girls 6-16 years, circa before decimal currency!!And a Flying Duck Brooch by Betty Jo Designs...only 2 exist as there were only 2 doilies with the duck embroidery, although I scrabbled very intently in the basket at the op shop!
I'm sure to add some extra goodies over the following week, keep checking in!
I'll draw the winner next Wednesday evening November 5th....so go for it!!

33 comments:

  1. Ooh, lots of goodness!
    The first big crafty project I recall, was when I was in HSC, my dad built me a frame for a big piece of canvas (about 4 metres by 3 metres) and I copied a dinosaur pic from an old 70's comic and painted it up. Then hang it on my wall. I think I was in a bit of a Lichtenstein phase. Still have it too, I should dig it out and take a pic :D

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  2. Great giveaway!!
    One of my first really big crafty projects was just like Drewzels...
    I did a really big painting, about 2 x 3 metres big, of a frame from an old 60's vampire comic and then gave it a surfy/hooker quote. LOL I would have been worried if I was the teacher/my parents!! Very Lichtenstein too.. LOL Ah teenagerdom. :D

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  3. Hello there, My first major sewing project I attempted with little supervision was in grade 7 Home Ec. class. Sewing our very own pinny in a glamorous beige linen, I recall WAY too much nattering and not enough concentrating. The result being said pinny sewn to my school skirt! Luckily things have improved since then.

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  4. oh my goodness! What an incredible giveaway, very cool bootie indeed! My first biggest crafty attempt would have to be a fully lined blazer/jacket thing I did in grade 10! took a whole term and a lot of swearing!!! Also that same year I did the same as The Mama Belly! I made a pinafore sort of thing! It was in chocolate brown linen and I really thought I would wear it but of course I didn't!!!

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  5. oooh cool stuff!
    My first biggest craft project would have to have been when I was about 10 years old and decided to 'build' a house for my barbies from cardboard boxes. I made 'wallpaper' out of computer paper and watercolours and even laid carpet scraps!

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  6. I was crap at High School Textiles so I've tried to block it from my mind. I do remember making a felt scottie dog soft toy in primary school though

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  7. My first big project was in home ec at high school in the 80's. We made horrible t-shirts out of crappy knit fabric and some cotton shorts to match. I sewed through my finger in the process and threw a big hissy fit at my teacher! It was a total disaster, I guess that's why I prefer to knit!

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  8. Yes, mine was an 80s disaster, too. I made a pair of track pants in 'acid washed' pale blue fuzzy knit fabric, with pastel rainbow ribbon down the outside seams. I made the legs too long and too wide, and when I put the ankle elastic in (my home ec teacher insisted), the pants looked like onion-shaped harem pants! Truly foul.

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  9. ohhhh let me think ... I can remember finger knitting a whole ball of wool ...I was about 6 or 7 and I don't remember what I did with it. And I also made a 'loom' of some kind and spent hours weaving wool on the loom. I love doing fiddly projects...today I am working on my first quilt which is BIG for me !

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  10. I knitted a too large cardigan in highschool. It took ages, and I've never attempted such a big knitting project again. I like things that take less time and have instant gratification...

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  11. What a great giveaway! I remember when I was about 8 making little outfits for a Barbie doll I owned but never played with and I loved making little bracelets out of coloured wire - oh and I used to paint landscaped out on our patio too!

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  12. An oversize grey cable knit jumper that I loved to pieces - I wore it with a short tight black skirt and cowboy boots - this was the 80's. I wore it for years (with jeans when commonsense kicked back in and it is still floating around mum's somewhere!

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  13. Ooh, can I be in the running to win?

    My first big crafty project was, I think, a scarf. Hey, when you're 7, knitting a scarf is big news. I was taught at school. But I was (still am) left-handed and the teacher didn't understand why I couldn't knit right-handed (and I didn't have the knowledge to know what the problem was. So she would get mad at me and call me stupid and really, it wasn't the best introduction to knitting. However, almost thirty years later, I taught myself how to knit and this winter knitted four scarves. I do have plans to move on to something a little more complex someday - but I'm sticking it to the cow-teacher and showing her (in thought) that I didn't need HER stinking lessons...

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  14. Awesome goodies! I remember trying to make doll clothes without sewing when I was about 10 or 11. My poor barbie dolls looked like raggamuffins and I had a lot of fun! big hug to you for your generosity!

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  15. I made a couple of things in high school in home ec but they were just like pillowcases so they were easy. I think the first major thing I really made (that I actually finished) was when I made my rock and roll skirt for my birthday party this year.

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  16. Love those aprons!!!

    My first attempt ... that i can remember was a dress for my Barbi doll ... It was a very nasty looking animal print dress that I made sew tight she had to be sewn into it.... I am pretty sure she is still wearing it to this day!

    Will have to find her next time I visit my mum to find out for sure :)

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  17. What a fab giveaway. I LOVE the flying ducks. They are sooo good. I dream of having ceramic flying ducks on my walls, but never ever seem to come across them.
    My first crafty attempt was a hand-sewn felt frog filled with rice in 2nd grade. He was pretty good I recall. And later my first failed machine-sewing attempt was a cushion cover in Home-ec class. It was a traumatic event and haven't made any more cushion covers since then, but I will one day! I will conquer the cushion-cover fear, yes I will.

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  18. When I was about 9 I decided to attempt patchwork. I wanted to use paper-pieced hexagons but I couldn't quite draw the hexagons right so ended up with pengatons.

    They pieced together nicely but then had to think of what to do with the patchwork once finished. I decided on an apron because my grandmother always wore an apron at home.

    I backed it with gingham and made a waist band and ties and gave it to my grandmother. She thought it was wonderful and keep it carefully folded in her drawer. She never wore it because she thought it was very special.

    After she died mum gave it back to me and I still have it.

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  19. What a great giveaway!

    My first big craft project was a sculptural sailing raft when I was a kid, it was made up of old wood that I nailed together along with an assortment of other found objects including a flipper. Crazy stuff but I remember it so clearly :) It even had a flag for a sail.

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  20. wow i can remember a few and as a result i try really hard not to make clothes for myself...one of my favorite "mistakes" was a pair of LIME (yes lime)
    terry towelling track pants and it gets worse...
    i wore it with a matching fitted bonds t-shirt...
    oh there more....and clear plastic hight heel "jellies"
    shoes...my hair was also bleached at the time...i just though i would add that fact so you get a clear picture in your mind...
    luckerly i have burnt all photographic evidence...
    (as it could quiet easily be used against me)
    especially by the kids...

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  21. Yeah! Look at all that great stuff!You know, my first Big crafty project was actually this year. I never did textiles at school, never learned how to knit and was hopeless at art. So I went down the accounting path and stood firmly in the world of numbers...until I found this world of blogging, saw amazing things I wanted to do too, jumped in, bought a sewing machine and started to sew! The first Big thing I did was actually very Small - a pair of baby shoes. Maddie has long since outgrown them, but I'll be keeping them forever :)

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  22. Cool stuff!

    My first big craft project was at age 8, when I embroidered my first set of pillow cases! I still have them. I sometimes use them but then I think, shouldn't they be in a frame or something?? LOL

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  23. What a fantastic giveaway! My first big project was probably when I was in year 2 or 3 or something, and in my class we all had to knit a small square and in the end we made a "patchwork" knitted quilt which we gave away to a charity. It was the first time I ever knitted so that made it big.

    Or else it was 8 yrs ago when I picked up my knitting needles once again (I had to refer to a book cos I forgot how to knit!) and made a scarf with 3 COLOURS! :D

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  24. in year 7 we had to make a bag. I made a backpack out of fuzzy leopard print (which I am still working my way through). It was an uphill battle, difficult and exhausting and well unrealistic. At the end my teacher said my mum had made it and refused to mark it, which resulted in a huge fight between parents teachers and school, after which I didn't sew for 11 years. But i got through it, eventually...

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  25. what a fun giveaway!

    when i found out i was pregnant with my first, i had a dream (yes, crazy, i know) about a quilt - a blue background with yellow applique stars. i didn't have a sewing machine, so i bought the fabric - flannels and batting and safety pins and thread and an embroidery hoop and blanket binding and set to work. i appliqued the stars by hand. i quilted the whole thing by hand. i stitched the binding on by hand. and i got it done in time for my little girl to use it! a pic will find it's way onto my blog sometime!

    (bitsofsunshine.typepad.com)

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  26. oh my gosh, I love those aprons!
    I remember doing crafts with my mom as a kid but the first big thing I did by myself was in 8th or 9th grade I made my own Halloween costume. I was a Butterfinger Candy Bar and I sewed up the big yellow "wrapper" and cut the letters out of felt and sewed them onto the wrapper. I wish I had kept that constume or at least had some pictures of it. :(

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  27. what a fantastic giveaway! My very first crafty adventure from memory was threading my own needle and sewing random running stitches on scraps of fabric from mums sewing room floor. Doesn't sound so big but hey, I was only 3 or four.

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  28. Wow, that is some giveaway! I really wish that I could remember the first big project I undertook. I remember making a couple of dolls from instructions in mum's "Golden Hands" magazine when I was in my early teens. And I remember the skirt I made in year 7 textiles. Hmmm, shall start thinking some more.

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  29. Ooooh - thank you for this great giveaway! I particularly like the aprons :-)

    I remember making a tissue-box cover and roll-up knitting needle holder for my mum in sewin class when I was about ten. I found out the other day that she still uses the knitting needle thingy (26 years later). How bizarre!

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  30. The brooch is amazing ... My first big crafty project I remember (apart from being taught to knit scarves which seemed to morph into triangular blnkets - was a cushion cover woven with wool on a bike wheel loom ... don't be jealous!

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  31. woo hoo love this giveaway!
    the can can girls are calling to me, my sis would love that apron!

    my first real project was a reversable swing top for my daughter....it was super cute!
    and got me addicted to this sewing gig!

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  32. My first big craft project was when I was just a wee thing. I made a complete house for a small doll i had out of a shoe box. I remember making bedding, cushions for the tiny couch, all kinds of wall dressing and some clothes for the lovely lady herself. I still remember it as one of my favourite projects and often think I will try and recreate it one day.

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  33. The first big crafty project was a doll I made from a kit. The kit came with porcelain doll head, hands and feet and then I had to sew the muslin body and attach the limbs and such. She was a Gibson girl style figure and I then hand sewed a dress for her. This had to have been about sixth or seventh grade. A few months ago, my Mom brought the doll by and she was still holding together, even though the orginal fabric for the body wasn't all that good. I remade the body and fixed a few of the less great seams and am planning a new dress for her as the old ones fabric is falling apart. However, looking at the job I did all on my own, I am pretty impressed with how okay my sewing was back then. :)

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