Yearly Archives: 2011

…for real.  (the jeans)
Although I last wore them tucked into my biker boots and this time they are hanging out in all their flared glory…  I love the 70’s bellbottom-ness of them, and with ma skivvy here, and ma dip-dyed wrap thing; well, I think I’m just about ready to hop straight into Hair and this is the dawning of the age of Aquariuuuuus!
However, I suspect I’m a little too grey to fit into that era’s rainbow-hued colour scheme.  I’ve got the 70’s silhouette happening but just not the palette; I’m like a stormcloud-hued depressed moan-groan new millenium version of the 70’s here…
My parents had the Hair record and I grew up being uplifted and moved by the joy of those supremely optimistic songs.  Yup, I wore flares ands skivvys and tie-dyed stuff the first time around, and you know what they say about if you were there the first time around…. (don’t go there the second time around) but I am a child of the 70’s so there is no getting away from that.  Anyhow fashion-wise just about anything goes now, and so if one wants to dress like a monotonal fallout from another decade then go for it, yeah!

Details:
Top; self-drafted, from greige/purple-y knit stuff, details here
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified, black stretch corduroy, details here
Wrap; wrap “f” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, cream knit stuff dipdyed in a mixture of iDye Poly Blue and coffee, details here
(socks, not seen but knitted by me)
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Below; recent naughty purchases, am rapidly becoming a pattern junkie…  the two Vogues, completely influenced by shams, whose creations are too terribly superbly tempting to resist emulating; also the Donna Karan maxi from ebay for which I paid ridiculous postage (don’t ask, I reckon Americans charge Australians like they are posting to the moon); and the Burdastyle magazine was completely on a whim.  I think I need help, is there a patternaholics anonymous…?

… of sorts.  Not a repeat of any actual garments, per se, and btw I am not consciously trying to avoid repeats during self-stitched September at all, because I’ve decided that would be silly.  I just want to wear what I want to wear, y’know?  But I am wearing exactly the same pattern combination as I did last Friday, coincidentally.  That is; the twist top from Pattern Magic; this is the cream version and last Friday I was wearing my charcoal version.  And Burda 7863 jeans; today the purple denim version whereas last Friday I had on my black corduroy version.  So, different enough?
And I whacked the scarf on just because I thought the outfit was a tad bland without it, it needed just some extra bit of colour, or something, somewhere.
I just love this scarf, rapidly becoming one of my everyday favourites and it was fair dinkum one of the easiest things ever… just a French seam joining two ginormously long strips; from a pitifully unwanted 80cm remnant of thin soft jersey.  Just goes to show, whilst much pleasure can be gained from a long-term beautifully constructed garment (and it is a rare seamstress who does not aspire to a sartorial work-of-art every once in a while) sometimes the simplest of things can turn out pretty wonderful too.  So moral of the story; always check out those remnant bins.  There may be a fabulous potential scarf sitting in there with your name on it… 

Details:
Top; the twist top, drafted from Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, cream knit stuff, details here
Jeans; Burda 7863 with modifications, purple stretch denim, details here
Scarf; raspberry marle jersey remnant, details here
(also, socks not seen, but knitted by me)
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Spring must really be in the air for me to think about a print, and not just any ol’  print but a floral one yowsa!  Not that I don’t love florals; I do, but in moderation and in general preferably on other people…  🙂
This is an old dress now, that I first made back here, and I’ve worn it here on the blog before.  In fact I was clad in this very same outfit for my favourite day during self-stitched September last year and the dress was a year old then.  It’s stood up pretty well, I reckon…  this is my darling Mum’s favourite dress of my creation,  and I’ve alway loved how the sleeve cuff/ties worked out and thought they were a particularly serendipitous detail.  
So of course I do repeat outfits, sure.  As we all do…  And especially if I have found a fab combo that really works for me, or in this case a dress that needs nothing further to make it perfect for … well, anything!  Even though this is kinda “pretty” I’m not precious about any of my dresses and don’t take particular care with them.  When I took this to Melbourne I rolled it into a ball and stuffed it in the corner of the suitcase – no ironing!- … today I’ve walked the dog, done the office work, had lunch with a friend, and am now curled up on the couch… when I wash it tomorrow it will get tossed in the machine on a normal wash cycle…  You can do whatever you want with a zipless wrap dress in an easy-care fabric, you see, and it will loyally forgive you all your neglect and continue to look as fabudabulous as ever…  
Digressing for a minute; the phrase “easy-care”.  Music to the ears, no?  Think about it, easy care.  Says it all.  Now, if I wasn’t such a snob about linen, silk, wool and cotton and didn’t keep on stubbornly giving preference to all these delicious and decidedly LESS easy-care fabrics, my life would be oh-so-much easier, methinks… sigh.
I made a pink stretch-y petticoat to go underneath, for a bit of extra warmth, that you can’t see in the above picture but is at right.  Thank you Bessie, for agreeing to model a petticoat for the internet; something I am waaay too shy for!

Details:
Dress; Vogue 7748, but modified quite a lot, floral polyester chiffon, more details here
Petticoat (underneath, and modelled at right by Bessie); pink stretchy stuff, my own design
Tights; Kolotex
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

So, I went there.  I might be a tad cosy in my crochet skirt (and probably look kinda like a cosy too, haha, er a tea-cosy that is!), but I decided that if I was going to wear it at all again this year, then sooner rather than later was the go.  I wanted to get at least a few more days wear out of it while the weather is even half cool enough, and well dang! I’m kinda proud of it so wanted to give it an airing over in the self-stitched September flickr group.  Hehe, such a show-off, hmmm?
You’re wondering what I am doing standing here in the kitchen of all places?  The flickr group is having another fun weekly photo challenge, and this week is to be in your workplace, or doing something that feels like work to you.  Well, to pose in front of my computer in the office felt kind of blah blah predictable… plus I did it during self-stitched September last year.  Oh wait, I posed in my kitchen during that challenge too… oh rats.  
Is nothing ever original any more?

Details:
Jumper; self-drafted, made of an acrylic knit (that was originally grey but I dyed it yellow when I realised how awful the colour looked), details here
Skirt; crocheted using Jo Sharp yarns, details and my pattern here
Tights; Voodoo
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies in Dunsborough (now renamed)