Author Archives: Kathleen Brewster

Coffee bag Couture

by . Posted on
14 Dec

The theme for Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 2019 was based around recycling. This dress was made from the foil lined bags coffee beans come in (Thanks Oaklands for collecting them for me)

I cut the flat parts of the bags apart and then cut them into small squares. I punched holes around each piece and then added crochet stitches in silver thread. Sewing the crochet together made the dress flexible. Where I needed to shape around the body I cut a custom piece to fill the space.

To go with the dress I made a cape of fringe. This was made from Mormors coffee bags as their supplier had a nice black outside and silver inside.

Op shop Wedding Dress

by . Posted on
21 Jun

For Breakfast at Tiffany’s I challenged myself to make a “Wedding dress” out of only what I could get at the local op shops. I had seen dresses made of doilies and found them to be mostly horrendous so I had set myself a difficult task.

I used a mix of tablecloths, doilies, White business shirts, lace trim from tissue box covers, bed linen and lace from the sewing supply section. These came from Op shops from Pambula to Bega and every town in between.

Scrap Hexagon dress

by . Posted on
13 Mar

Scraps of fabric take up a lot of space and I have never been sentimental enough to waste any of mine on a basket of scraps. I have however cut hexagons out of most of them and kept them for quilting.

For Breakfast at Tiffany’s this past year the theme was inspired by using recycled materials and I was inspired to see if could make them into a dress.

Hexagons like this always need to be sewn together by hand. Very time consuming but has the advantage of being portable so I can work on the couch.

I pieced the hexies together over my dress form set to the measurements of the model for the bodice. She came over for a fitting to refine the shape around the neck and arms. The skirt was one large rectangle draped into pleats at the front and joined at an angle at the back allowing the skirt to flare out more and create a little train.