January 2010 - Page 3 of 4 - Handmade by Carolyn

Wardrobe Refashion, project 2

15/01/2010 3:30 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

For my second Wardrobe Refashion project I took the scissors to some three quarter pants that I’ve had for about two or three years. They’ve been good pants and I loved them when I first bought them, but over time the fabric had pilled a bit, “knees” developed pretty soon after putting them on, and the folded waistband, which has no zip, used to pop open in a very unattractive way without warning. However the fabric is a nice textured charcoal linen/cotton blend which I still liked.
I envisaged a simple Japanese style top, something like the beautiful designs I saw in the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the Perth Art Gallery a year ago. That was such a gorgeous exhibition, sigh, the awesomeness as a whole left me quite spellbound and deeply inspired. I have not even close to 1% of his talent, but I thought I might be capable of a simple top, something symmetrical, but with just a few elements of asymmetry thrown in, as practiced in traditional Japanese architecture.
I’m very happy with this result although putting it together ended up a bit more complicated than I first thought – again, just like the deceptive simplicity of Yohji Yamamoto (I have one Yohji Yamamoto top that I was lucky enough to come across in a second hand shop, and it’s quite unlike any other top I’ve seen) The difficult bit on which I spent the most time was in the inserts I put in under the arm which are to avoid inadvertent “flashing” when arm-lifting; and you can’t even really see this part of the shirt! Even though you can’t see them, let me describe them; they are scooped and edged with scraps of self binding…
I kept the waistband of the original pants to use as a belt and my whole family agrees the top looks better with it.
I really like the up-and-down effect of the hem; longest in front, shorter at the sides and shortest at the back. The hems here are the original hems of the pants.
I slashed the neckline of the top off-centre to insert a button closure and used a small amount of lightweight black fabric from my stash to face the neckline. This button closure is functional but not really needed as it can be just slipped over my head anyway… I love this old button I inherited in my grandmother’s haberdashery; it’s texture is a bit like rough stone.
Pretty much all of the fabric of the original pants was used in making this top; I had only the tiniest of scraps left!

Details:
Top; refashioned from old 3/4 pants, my own design
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen
Sandals; Vicenza, bought at Soletta shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 7723, Fabulous fabrics, own design, shorts, top, Wardrobe Refashion

Heather purple dress, part 1

14/01/2010 12:38 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I have been sewing like mad over the past few weeks, what with the kids on holidays and I’ve got a break from my office work as we’re in the process of switching over computer systems, and I’ve nearly finished all of my autumn sewing plan. I finally finished my trench coat the other day; the belt buckle situation was a real hold-up, but I went op-shopping with my daughter and I picked up a nice heavy-ish brass one (attached to a ghastly PVC belt, I wouldn’t chop up a leather belt but PVC, hey, all bets are off!) I only have one item left to do on my plan and that’s the heather purple sheath dress. It was my husband who suggested I take some photos during the construction process and put them up here as a kind of progress report. After all, even my mother probably doesn’t want to look at photos of me every day! so I thought, good idea…. I think I’ll do this on alternate days for a while.
For my sheath dress I’m using Burda 8511, one I’ve used before four times. My first version I thoughtlessly put in the Good Sammy’s bin during a fit of cleaning madness, the second version is here, the third here, and the fourth is a winter dress I haven’t posted about on this blog yet. Although the third version is a loose shapeless dress, on each of the other versions I have fine-tuned the fitting of this dress and am quite happy with the simple chic of this style. For this one I want it to be quite formfitting.
I’m using hessian silk, from Fabulous fabrics, which has a sort of rich magenta warp with a sky blue weft, the final effect is a sort of dusky purple. For the lining I’m using mauve bemsilk, and I’ve got a 46cm “eggplant” invisible zip.
Variations I am doing on the pattern:
1. As this is to be an autumn/winter dress I’m lining the whole thing. (this is a bigger variation than it initially appears!)
2. The back is laid on a centre fold, eliminating the central back seam, and I’m relocating the zip to the left side seam.
3. I’m shaping my own neckline
4. The dress will be fitted to be way more form-fitting, as the original pattern is pretty shapeless. (again, a biggie)
5. The dress will sit above knee, so no need for a rear central slit.

Here are some of the pattern pieces, cut out. The front neckline (at left) is still uncut as I haven’t decided whether to make it rounded or square at this point yet (often a last-minute decision!) On my sewing plan I drew it as quite high necked, but then had second thoughts… I’ve also cut out full dress lining pieces.
As I am doing a whole dress lining, I’ve extended the facing pieces and made a composite facing/lining out of self fabric and bemsilk. (This is something I worked out successfully from the last time I made this dress)

Here are the facing/lining pieces; the front (at right) has been joined and edges finished (overlocked and topstitched down) and the back facing + lining are pinned ready for seaming (the whole bit at the top above the pins will be cut off with the seam!). The shaping and darting markings haven’t been transferred yet.

Here I have pinned the front and back pieces onto Bessie and marked my own fitting darts. These were perfected in my previous efforts using this pattern. Sorry, I’ve realised just now that some of the pins I used are small headed and so invisible in these photos! Doh, camera skills, please…

And here is the front piece with darts sewed in.

These same shaping darts are sewn in the lining also, although here I have sewn them approximately 5mm shallower on each longitudinal dart, for ease of movement. Then the front lining and front are pinned together at the neckline and armhole edge and sewn, likewise the back and its facing/lining piece.
At this point it is essential that the seams start and finish 1.5cm in from the raw edge (my unpicker is pointing to illustrate), and that the gaps at the top for your shoulder seams are exactly the same width front and back. This is real important. If they are not exact, there will be tears. Just saying.

The front (at right) has been sewn, and the seams graded and clipped, you can see I’ve decided on a demure curved neckline, and the back (at left) is just pinned.
At this point I stopped for the day, not because I wanted to, but because the family was starting to grizzle from hunger… must be dinner time already.
More in a couple of days..

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 8511, dress, Fabulous fabrics, own design, tutorial

A dye-job

13/01/2010 1:17 am \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

Looking through my wardrobe searching for new combinations of my clothes to wear each day, I am continually struck by how many of my shirts are … white… Yes, can’t seem to break my white shirt habit; I just love white shirts and always seem to have multitudes. By white, I’m including off-white, cream, beige, etc. My Mum would confirm it’s all I wanted to wear as I was growing up, just a white T-shirt and jeans/denim skirt. I still can’t stop buying and/or making them in the dozens.
This particular tank top I’ve had for about three years and in duplicate, and I have a hankering for a yellow top, so it was off to rummage through the spice box…
Ground turmeric, in my opinion, is a very reliable yellow dyer, with a pretty good colourfast factor. You only need a tiny quantity, and it’s a damn sight cheaper than purchasing a commercial dye, not to mention kinder to the environment, so is the dye of choice for a small item like this one. Of course, if you’re dying a whole sheet set, say, and you don’t want your bedroom smelling like a curry house because you failed to rinse sufficiently well; perhaps a commercial dye may be wiser. Of course a thorough rinsing would be essential anyway if you want to avoid waking up in the morning looking like a serious case of jaundice has struck during the night…
Woah, getting off track like I always do, we’re not dying a sheet set here, just a simple tee, so…
Before…

I soaked the tank top thoroughly, sprinkled a few shakes of ground turmeric into my wash-bucket (probably about half a teaspoon) A little bit of this goes a long way, and I wanted a gentle yellow wash not a really garish bright yellow. I’ve got nothing against garish bright yellow, but not this time…
I used about half boiling water straight from the kettle, then about half cold water, then dunked in the top in one swift plunge…. followed by lots of swirling, whooshing (technical terms), soaked for a few hours for good measure, then rinsed THOROUGHLY. And I’m a good greenie, I poured the rinsings over all my pot plants…

And I have a great “new” tank top to mix and match for some new looks.
This skirt I’ve posted about previously, it’s the same pattern as the skirt I posted about yesterday, but view C. I love this new colour of the top; its an almost lime-y acidic yellow which I think will carry me through autumn and should combine well with and cheer up the grey beiges, greys and even blacks of winter. Am I starting to fantasise just a leetle of autumn/winter already? that’s because I saw on the news last night we are expecting a couple of days of over 40C, oh, joy…

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7880 view C, printed cotton
Top; Country Road; dyed with ground turmeric
Hat; Rusty, from the surf shop at Dunsborough
Sandals; Anna, bought from Marie Claire

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dyeing, Fabulous fabrics, skirt, tutorial, Vogue 7880

Jewel tones

12/01/2010 12:39 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Today I feel a bit old-world-jewel-y, like Aladdin’s cave wrapped around me somehow (yeeah, my similes sometimes, oftentimes leave much to be desired). I’ve always loved this fabric, bought on first sight at my favourite fabric shop, and felt inspired by its gorgeous shades of of gold, bronze, copper and raspberry, mixed in with a whole kaleidoscope of other random colours; it feels rich and warm, and yet in a light floaty fabric that can be worn on the hottest of days. OK, if I’m honest, the cardi is probably not going to stay on all day, forecast for a warmish one. Given the up and down nature of the temp it could be on and off more times that the proverbial … something (brain refusing to come up with any proverbs, here)
Take last night, was a bit chilly so I had to put on my woolly winter dressing gown to get my weekly TV fix of Bear Grylls doing his usual manly surviving stuff. Hmm… yes, ok…
Back to the fashion, I like how the general clash of brights actually go really well with this skirt. The shoes. Even the pedicure fits in, miraculously. Amazing how this baby blue nail varnish has actually complemented all my outfits, er, I’ll leave that one for others to judge, but I’ve loved it.
Got a few appointments today, and errands, been working on my weekly Wardrobe Refashion project (I’m pretty pleased with this one although its been more complicated that first anticipated), and its now off to walk the pooch….

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7880, view B (minus the odd hanging thingys), burnt-out polyester chiffon
Camisole; Country Road
Cardi; Alannah Hill
Necklace; Sportsgirl
Shoes; Neo, bought from Nine West (I think?)
Nail varnish, Litl Boy Blue, Artmatix

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Fabulous fabrics, skirt, Vogue 7880

Cool neutrals

11/01/2010 1:33 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

(Can I just start by saying that I looked back over a few of my old comments and people have written such kind and uplifting comments; thankyou all so much! Especially about my daughter’s ballgown, yes I am so proud of her, and some of the beautiful things you had to say truly brought a bit of a tear to my eye! It was very thoughtful, thankyou…)

Today dug out my favourite pale pink skirt for an airing. I love this skirt. Although pale pink isn’t strictly a neutral it seems to work as one with this skirt here. When I conceived this skirt I had a kind of creative mental maelstrom going on where I worked feverishly on the design with no thought to passing time and it all came together perfectly and was exactly how I envisioned it. The skirt has eight layers, four at front and four at back; the six under layers are attached to the lining separately, graduated and all slightly angled and offset to each other, it’s actually kind of clever and now I don’t quite know how I did it myself. It all just seemed to happily brainstorm together and worked out just right. Very rewarding…
I’m wearing it today because it’s practically cold in Perth … 27C!
Also I just felt like dressing elegant. After a coupla days of casualness I just wanted to up the ante for a change and look like a lady. So it was out with my beloved neutrals and hopefully channelling the sort of beige loveliness that calls to mind the careless cool of a previous era…..
Please note below the incredibly artistic reflective pool shot, in which one can contemplate with crystal like clarity the classy layered fashionableness of one’s ensemble… and be reminded that one should really skim the leaves off the pool before one’s photo shoot next time…

Details:
Skirt; own design based on Vogue 7303, from pale pink silky damask
Top; Tutte, from Mid 70’s, gift from my parents
Camisole; Country Road
Shoes; from an op shop
Nail varnish; Litl Boy Blue, Artmatix
Bag; Gucci

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Fabulous fabrics, own design, skirt, Vogue 7303

Felted table runner

10/01/2010 1:31 am \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

A few years ago my friend L, who’s enormously artistic and creative gathered a few like-minded souls about for a felting workshop. We all met at D’s house, loaded with buckets, soap and bubble wrap and launched into an extremely fun morning making these scarves?/table runners?/ unspecified decorative thingys? I think we intended them to be scarves, but mine ended up too wide and shrunk lengthwise too much. I did wear it once as a sort of wrap around my hips over an all-black outfit and it looked kind of chic like that…
However it’s full-time position is on the coffee table in my front room for visitors to admire (ha ha) as it goes perfectly with the decor; bit of luck there… (the photo below is obv not in my front room, just to avoid a flurry of corrective commentation; the light was better outside…so!)
It’s made mostly of dyed unspun merino, but has a few swirls of various knitting wools and some beads embedded in there as well. Over time some of these beads have worked their way out and been found lurking in corners and under sofas and I’ve reattached them with a few firm stitches. Inevitable for something that has become the favourite sleeping place of a certain naughty puss-cat….

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: felting, own design

A day in the garden

09/01/2010 1:31 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I used to love gardening. Once upon a time, I would go into my garden and a couple of hours would disappear as I pruned, weeded, tended and fed my plants; now it’s more of a necessary weekly maintenance that gets done. Oh sure, I still go to the nursery and get all excited about how my garden could look if I just got out there more, but for the time being my poor garden is taking a back seat to sewing. Well actually it has always taken a back seat to sewing, but now.. well let’s just say that if my life was a theatre, sewing is hogging the first ten rows, my office work sits up in the dress circle, housework is in the back stalls, and gardening is situated in those discounted seats at the side and behind pillars that get limited viewing. Cooking, well, cooking was running late and missed the first act, and had to be let in by the usher and do the walk of shame during the curtain change past everybody else already in their seats.
I made this top at the beginning of summer from New Look 6252, and it’s a great little pattern that uses very little fabric and can be run up in a day. I added a cute little pocket to the front out of some of the leftovers, for interest. This top’s only drawback is that its a “bra strap revealer”, so I have to consider my bra colour when I decide to wear it.
I’m a believer that a visible bra strap over your shoulder is OK if it matches your outfit, although the bra-closure part in the centre of your back with all the hooks and eyes should never ever be seen out in public… I think that the shoulder strap, if it is slimline and of a matching colour or lacy, it can look like part of a pretty camisole under a blouse, and can really add to your overall look. Only if it is pretty and matching, mind, and never if it is obviously screaming “BRA!”
On that completely off-the-track, unrelated note, I’m off to the garden….

Details:
Top; New Look 6252, green linen
Skirt; Old Khaki, bought while on holiday in South Africa
Cardi; Metalicus
Hat; LLBean
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Design
gardening gloves

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Fabulous fabrics, New Look 6252, top

Wardrobe Refashion, project 1

08/01/2010 2:27 am \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

My daughter had an old puff skirt. Three problems: 1, the zip had broken, 2, she now hated it, and 3, most importantly, it was a puff skirt. A puff skirt. The type that if you wore now you would be instantly labelled a hopeless fashion tragic. I found it in the bin, for heavens sake. After only a short rant on the evils of throwing out perfectly good fabric (it was made out of quite nice stiff sturdy charcoal gabardine and had a funky decorative waistband with strips of raw-edged black net caught in) I put it aside for further thought (after a thorough washing, thanks to its short bin occupancy). Now I’ve joined Wardrobe Refashion it was the time to take up the scissors for a bit of surgery…
Below is the before picture (no amount of begging would cajol either my daughter or me to model this thing in its before state)….
I’m actually thrilled with how it turned out. I think that high-waisted bermuda shorts are a very flattering look, sort of retro as well, reminiscent of Katharine Hepburn in that movie where she was a tennis player and pioneered open necked Lacoste sports T-shirts with shorts not unlike my effort here. (It’s entirely possible I have this movie memory completely wrong). I used Burda 7723, and just flared the legs slightly more, made them a bit longer and added some of the decorative waistband as patch pockets on the back, for some interest in this area. Shorts with a plain back can be boring, and a lack of decoration can paradoxically draw attention to an unsightly bum, I think.
Even though the skirt seemed to have plenty of fabric in it I only just got the pattern cut out of it. I used some lighter black fabric I already had for the pocket lining and bought a zip. I had some perfect buttons in my stash already.
Also the puff was originally held up by a black net underskirt; this I saved, slashed latitudinally and rejoined, then added a few randomly spaced knots to produce this rather sweet little scarf. I can feel it becoming a wardrobe staple already…

Details:
Shorts; Burda 7723, modified slightly, refashioned from old skirt
Top; Brown Sugar
Scarf; black net, reashioned from old skirt lining
Shoes; Perrini, had for donkey’s years