Check it out.

So check this out. Wardrobe Refashion.

It's a group blog for people doing exactly what I'm doing: not buying new clothes, but making everything out of pre-existing clothes (either their own or thrifted). I just happened upon it yesterday – the last day for signing up. In fact it was already "today" in the site's home of Australia, but they were nice enough to let me in on that technicality.

Another big excitement – check this out:

A brand-new (to me) sewing machine! Actually I've inherited it from my grandma Louise, who's 94. It's a Singer Touch-n-Sew from circa 1968, in perfect pristine condition including all the original spare parts and instruction book.

Official Helper Fizzgig is shown here with part of the first project I we made on the new machine. I took two men's button-down shirts (one donated by a friend, the other fished out of the laundry-room trash can – and yes, I washed it – but can you believe someone just threw a shirt away?) and made a cute little gored drop-waist skirt. It wasn't even intentional, but the way it ended up, I can easily take it apart, take in the seams and re-gather it if I lose weight. (I hope I have that opportunity.) Here's Blanche with the disassembled shirts in an earlier stage of production.

The rug is also from Grandma – handmade by her, I believe, or at least by someone. The finished skirt turned out well, but I've already worn and washed it and thrown it on the clean-clothes heap, so pictures will have to wait until it's ironed.