Monthly Archives: October 2010

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One year in cyber-space; and a Give-Away

12/10/2010 4:34 am \ 32 Comments \

Today exactly one year ago I started blogging here about my sewing, and as it turned out, some other stuff too! 🙂
To mark the occasion, I thought it might be fun to wear again today the same dress I did on my very first blog post, a quiet celebration for it being the First Dress Here, so to speak.  Although of course, at the time it was only about a year old… far from the oldest thing in my wardrobe.  I think my photo taking has improved a lot, what do you think?
(photo at right from my blog, 12 October 2009)

And to thank YOU, lovely readers, I decided to have a GIVE-AWAY!
I did put some thought into this: since my blog is supposed to be about sewing, knitting and looking your best; I tried to have a little of each represented… so I have selected a sewing pattern, a knitting book and a little arm bracelet to give to a loyal reader.
The sewing pattern is New Look 6317, it is multi-sized from 10-22, and is still pristine and uncut in its envelope.  I think this is referred to as “factory folded” in ebay speak, but since I don’t go there hardly ever I could be wrong…  It is both easy and versatile, and includes a simple straight skirt, a jumper or sweater, and a coat pattern; all very simple and uncluttered in cut and line so a pattern ripe for customising in however way you wish.

(Using this pattern, New Look 6317, you could easily re-create either of these designer looks for yourself; at left from Michael Kors Fall 2010, at right from Yves St Laurent pre Fall 2010)
The knitting book is “Wild Tea Cosies” by Loani Prior, an Australian knitting designer; you might remember some of my projects from this book I’ve posted about here in the past.  It has a fabulous variety of fun designs, all using only a few balls of wool, and all quick projects that will take a fraction of the time of a full-sized knitted garment.  Coffee drinkers; you could just as easily adapt these designs to a coffee pot as for a tea pot.  This is a book that a beginner (who knows basic stitches) can cut their teeth on, and work their way up to some of the more complex designs over time; and I guarantee you won’t get bored with your project as it will be finished in a flash, and you can delight your friends with some crazy and unique gifts.
The beaded bracelet is just a silly little thing; a variety of black beaded strands, tied up with a black gauze bow.  It is elasticated so can slip over your hand to sit snugly and chicly on your wrist.  Cool, no?
Unlike other (kinda mean) giveaways I’ve seen in blog-land, this is open to Everyone in the World!  And also, obviously, this is one I’m funding myself and I’m not receiving any endorsements or sponsorship by doing this.

You can enter into my give away by doing the following:

1. Becoming a follower of my blog (please leave a comment here to let me know if you do, so I know you are there)
2. If you are already a follower, just by leaving a comment on this post,
3. IF you have a blog, by linking to my blog OR by mentioning this give-away on your own blog.

This give-away will be open for a week, so next Tuesday, 19th October I will randomly pick one from the comments I receive here and announce a winner…
and thankyou for reading!

Details from top:
Dress; New Look 6699, with some of my own adaptions, coffee and black lace over ivory silk
Sandals; Joanne Mercer for Micam, from Hobbs shoes
Necklace; my own design

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To sleep, perchance to dream

11/10/2010 3:46 am \ 13 Comments \

With the change in the season, comes a need for change in all areas of apparel, including the mundane and practical such as sleepwear…
I did have a few highblown and fancy ideas for my summer jammies this year, but got real and decided to be practical… for over a year, this purple fabric has languished in my stash.  It wasn’t always this gare-ish colour.  In fact I bought it as a subtly beautiful white-on-white floral-embossed fabric.  About two years ago, hehe.  Was uninspired for a year or so.  Then had a brainwave, hopped over to the dye section of Spotlight one visit and purchased some vivid purple dye.  Had visions of a vivid deep deep purple blouse, with, I dunno, raspberry buttons, or something equally exciting.  Can you imagine?  This is when I was trying to colour up my wardrobe, my only excuse.  Plunged the fabric enthusiastically into the dye bath.  Even took a photo, of my “work of art in progress”, hehe.  As you can see, the differences the embossing made to the nature of the fabric surfaces made for a less than beautiful end result.  At the time I likened it to a sort of Willy Wonka-ish nightmare after a too-rich evening meal.  With a slight shudder, I stuffed the fabric quietly into the back of my fabric cupboard, and moved on, got on with life.  An important dye-ing lesson learned; TEST A SCRAP FIRST.

But a year later, I’m coming round, getting realistic about using up the stash.  The fabric is nice quality; fine and thin, not terribly crushable, is breathable.  I’m not as horrified by the print any more.  I figured this could work as pyjama bottoms.  I also had an old Tshirt that I was no longer wearing (I know, old Tshirts are so passe as sleepwear, but this was still in very good nick and still looks pretty good, just I’m not into it any more)
So voila.  The pyjama bottoms are drafted from an old nicely fitting pair that I had from years ago and have kept rolled up with my pattern collection for this very reason.  I added pockets, because I had some leftover after cutting out the main pieces, and so why not…  and some ribbon ties at knee level in case I want to bunch the pants up to knee level when the temperatures ramp up.  The waistband is enclosed elastic and the lime green ribbon tie at the front is purely decorative, I also sewed on a false fly and three non-functional lime green buttons on the fly.

Details:
Pyjama bottoms; drafted from old pair, purple dyed cotton mix
Pyjama top; Aztec Rose

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Bless her little cotton socks

09/10/2010 3:25 am \ 14 Comments \

You don’t have to tell me.  It is crazy to be knitting white cotton socks.  But honestly, these are just shorty ankle socks and take up about two or three evenings each in front of the TV, so why not?
I thought you might be amused with some of my outtakes from when I was trying to get a photo of these socks.  After all, really, how hard could it be, propping the camera on a small pile of books, and simply putting the feet in front… it’s not like I have to worry about a bad hair day or a weird facial expression or anything.  But I didn’t count on the determined stealth attack of this creature, desperate for a little quality one-on-one time with the household provider of all things good and fishy…  and she will not be denied her stab at supermodel-dom…

Details:
Ankle socks; like all my socks, adapted from the Ladies’ sockettes in the Patons knitting book C11 (a circa 1960’s publication), knitted from Rowan cotton glace 100% cotton, shade 726

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the Prodigal dress

08/10/2010 2:49 am \ 4 Comments \

So after assessing my wardrobe for Self-Stitched September and deciding that some of my old things could happily be rejected because I hadn’t worn them in months; I spied (with my little eye) this dress in the potential toss-outs, and kinda fell in love again.  The colours are exactly what I am dreaming about for this spring/summer season; and funnily enough the new fabrics I’ve just bought in Tessuti Melbourne are all variations on this kind of smudgy sludgy khaki/chocolate/grey/taupe kind of a colour…
So, like the prodigal dress, it has been welcomed back into the fold with open arms and joyful coos of delighted discovery and is back into circulation.  It’s nice for warmish days when I’m aiming for edgily smart.  
When I first made this dress I mentally dubbed it the Futuristic Nun, and I still feel a cross between space-age, thanks to the shiny but still quite rugged nature of the taupe stuff; and ecclesiastical, thanks to the severe cut of the tunic contrasting with the snowy white virtue of the attached petticoat.
The whole dress is quite shapeless, slips over my head easily, and is only given form by the (also attached) thin white velvet ribbon that wraps around my waist several times and ties in a loose monastic knot.

Details:
Dress; partly my own design, based on Burda 8511, taupe stuff(?), white cotton, velvet ribbon
Sandals; Franco Burrone, from Marie Claire shoes

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Trench Skirt; a pattern review

07/10/2010 6:38 am \ 15 Comments \

This is my pattern review, and some close-ups of the trench skirt I completed recently; seen below and a larger view here.
The skirt is pattern 107, from BurdaStyle magazine 8/2009.

Pattern Description:
Knee-length flared skirt that fits smoothly over hips and waist, creating a slim line.  The horn buttons and buckle, welt pockets, self-fabric belt with large carriers, and the double button rows are reminiscent of trenchcoat styling.
Pattern Sizing:
34-42, I cut a 36
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished it?
yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
yes
What did you particularly like or dislike about this pattern?
I love this pattern, and its trench styling.  Love the way it looks like I had taken a trench coat and just chopped the top off…  Because of this styling I think the top ends up a little bunched around the waist, which is just how a trench coat is supposed to look when it is belted, but I’m not sure whether the slight bulkiness that this adds to the hip area is flattering (or not!).  Despite the pattern description; in my opinion this skirt does not create a slim-line, in fact I think the sizing runs a touch big.  But I love this skirt and am definitely going to be in it a lot.
Fabric used:
Sturdy cotton drill
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I made the pockets a bit deeper and wider as the pocket pattern piece looked laughably small (I guess I have big hands!).  I finished the raw edges on the inside with Hong Kong seaming.  The front skirt facing fell short of facing behind all the buttons/buttonholes so I used scraps to sew behind and stabilise the buttons and buttonholes which the facing did not back.
The pattern came with a belt piece, which I did sew up, but actually I prefer to use with this skirt a leather belt I already had; looks more professional.  In my experience self-fabric belts, no matter how sturdily interfaced, do not look so wonderful after half an hour of wear, or even less…
Would you sew it again?  Would you recommend it to others?
I might sew this again.  It is a very handsome skirt with nice details, right on trend for the military look and the current fashion for trench coats.
Conclusion:
Love it!

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Me and the best friend

06/10/2010 4:21 am \ 7 Comments \

Nice to be back here with my big furry best friend again …
On our last lovely balmy evening in Melbourne we met friends for dinner down by the Yarra River and chinwagged into the late late hours.  Our friends had been reading the latest Stephen Hawking book The Grand Design, explaining further the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, and posing discussions such as “why is there something rather than nothing?” and “why do we exist?” and other esoteric fare…
I decided to keep quiet about the fact that my current reading material is the Sookie Stackhouse Chronicles, a decidedly more lowbrow offering…  This is a sometimes camp series about a Louisiana waitress who is a psychic and is also dating a vampire; lol!  Yeah, I do read worthy books (really!), but also I like to escape now and then into black humour and small-town soapie-style fun too…  life is too short to stick exclusively with serious.
Y’all agreed?  Darn tootin’…

Details:
Skirt; partly my own design, based upon Vogue 7303, layered white stretch lace, see full length here
Tshirt; Country Road
Cardigan; my husband’s old jumper, refashioned, see here
Necklace; made by me, tutorial here
Sandals; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes
Nail varnish; Santorini Sunset, NP

 

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Details…

05/10/2010 1:02 am \ 16 Comments \

Some details of the skirt and top from the previous post; top “a” and skirt “m” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, (hmmm, yes, the title is a bit of a mouthful…) by Natsuko Hiraiwa.
The skirt is a big rectangle with the lower hem shaped in a slight curve…

The dress zip is inserted in the top edge of the skirt, perpendicular to the body… I added a skirt hook and eye closure at the top.

The fabric is a lovely crinkly linen/cotton mix, with both salmon pink and grey in its colouration.  The skirt is lined completely with soft taupe muslin.  The lining and skirt are attached together at the top seam, and hang separately down on the inside of the skirt, and I hand-stitched the side slits together on the inside of the skirt… why?  Because I can’t bear for a skirt lining to slip in and out of view through the slit in a slit-sided skirt, I reckon it looks real sloppy when you see it happen.

The top has two long sashes inserted in the shoulder seams; these can be worn either both hanging down in front (as seen in the previous post below), with both draped around the opposite shoulder:

or with one hanging down in front and one draped over the opposite shoulder as in the top picture; my preferred way.  Or you could tie them loosely in front, like a sailor-inspired look, will have to try this one out next time!
Got loads of washing and house-sorting-out to do after our lovely sojourn away, so…. later, dudes!

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Yes, Japanese

03/10/2010 8:33 am \ 12 Comments \

My newest ensemble, my first two projects from the Japanese pattern book, Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  This is top “a” and skirt “m”.  I apologise for the poor quality of the photos here, even though I am blessed with a helpful photographer, the most wonderful location thanks to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, and the soft light filtered down flatteringly and greenly through lofty overhead leafy boughs bathing all in an pretty fairytale glow, my poor travel camera is on its last legs and is cursing me with grainy cruddy pictures, so my apologies.  To make matters worse the battery is very dodgy, meaning I currently do not have enough juice to take any detailed photos of the latest creations, these will have to wait until I am back in Perth…
The top is made out of white swiss voile and has two long sashes attached in the shoulder seams, which can be worn long and hanging down either front or back as pictured below, or with one flipped nonchalantly and in a cool sophisticated arty way over one shoulder, which may be made out in the above picture.  I like it the latter way…  The top buttons closed down the left side seam, and for this I used four buttons of blue-y grey/green nacre.
The skirt is of some crinkly fabric; a cotton/linen mix in a smudgy slightly greyed shade of apricot, bought from Tessuti fabrics on my last trip to Melbourne about eighteen months ago.  As it was a little sheer I lined it completely with a soft taupe coloured, thin cotton muslin.
All the side seams for the top and the skirt are finished with French seaming, and the corners on the top sashes finished with mitred edges.
Oh, and thankyou so much to Donna, who gave me a Kreative Blogger award!  As I have already received this previously I won’t fulfill the award requirements again (if you wish to have a read of the ten things about me for the award then you can click on that link in my sidebar), but it was so sweet of Donna to give this to me, and I am honoured and flattered that she thought of me, thankyou!

Details:
Top; “a”, from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white swiss voile cotton
Skirt; “m”, from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, grey/apricot linen/cotton
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

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