Tag Archives: cassia bark

Sew 348 – Silk wrapped cinnamon

Bark and silk Christmas decorationsMr Darcy is so helpful. Suggest he pick up a bag of large cinnamon/cassia sticks when visiting a favourite Asian grocery and he arrives home with four bags!  The bark smells so good and represents great value. Some of it has now morphed into Sew 348 – Christmas decorations and potpourri bags created from a repurposed sheer silk shirt.

I’ve been looking at this op-shop found shirt (see photos below) for a while, wondering how to best utilise its embroidered silk fabric and clear plastic buttons after deciding I didn’t want to wear it as a top. With the arrival of the bark, it’s repurpose was determined.

I began the filleting process, cutting off the bottom of the sleeves to create bags and making strips across the bodice to become ribbons and bows. Continue reading →

Sew 346 – Upcycled flower power

Upcycled Christmas flowerAdmiring some beautiful big pink decorations on a Christmas tree in our local Brisbane News newspaper inspired me to create a variation using lily pods and an unworn jacket repurposed into flowers.

The jacket was amongst a bundle of clothes given to me for refashion by my friend Robyn Sheptooha earlier in the year and it was likely to be moved on (not natural fibre) until I saw its potential to return to Robyn as bespoke Christmas decorations.

Taking lotus lily pods (which Darcy gathered from a north Queensland friend’s property) and cassia bark (similar to large cinnamon sticks), I glued them together to create flowers bases (see photos at bottom).   Continue reading →