2012 - Page 17 of 24 - Handmade by Carolyn

Inspirational piece by Yoshiki Hishinuma

24/04/2012 5:27 am \ 20 Comments \ Carolyn

Hey peeps!
Today I thought I would hit y’all up with some fabbo inspiration type stuff, like yo.
I mentioned cleaning out the wardrobe recently… I have a few garments hanging in my wardrobe that have been there for years, that will never be tossed out even though I don’t wear them anymore; for a number of random reasons. Including stuff that is amazing and/or inspiring to me in some artistic or sartorially interesting way.
This Yoshiki Hishinuma blouse falls into that category.
It is a deep grey/taupe, polyester chiffon blouse; that has been heat set into randomly spaced, slightly wavey, deep permanent pleats, laid flat with the pleated folds in place, and then rollered over with some sort of stiff plastic creamy-yellow paint. When one wears it, the pleats open, revealing the unpainted grey chiffon sections … It must have been constructed completely right up until sewing on the buttons stage before “painting”, since the buttonholes are painted over also. The buttons themselves are of nacre, sewn on with the rough side facing out and the polished bit underneath.
I bought it in a second hand shop about 7 years ago, and it was already a wee bit damaged then. But I loved it so much, so I still wore it carefully for a further year before it deteriorated even more and then I stopped wearing it because I was worried about ruining it completely. Particularly, the paint in the underarm area was very vulnerable to wear.
I have kept the blouse because it is utterly unique and beautiful, and I have often thought about reproducing the concept myself.
Somehow…

On the back; one can just see the faint embossed shadow of the front collar points in the paint.

It is made in Japan; of course.. in my opinion arguably the most inspiring sartorial country on the planet, and interested fellow aspiring creative-clothing devotees can read more about the designer here and view some others of his pieces here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: inspiration

On matters of the feet…

23/04/2012 9:24 am \ 18 Comments \ Carolyn

I went out shopping with my good friend J on the weekend, and … well, a picture is worth a thousand words…. no?

In which case two pictures must be worth two thousand words…

Tres awesome, yes? Now I am really looking forward to winter!
In the meantime; I am currently digging weird and ugly colours for the toenails. Oh, did somebody say what’s new?!

I got this fantastic murky olive shade by mixing three colours; gold, mint green and black. I think it is perfect for autumn!

That reminds me of a funny little anecdote from my teenage years; a friend was talking about how C, (a boy in our class at school) had “the most awful colour eyes, like a murky horrible greeny brown colour, like a swamp, a really really yukky colour…” she stopped suddenly, leaning in closer to me, then “Hey, your eyes are exactly the same colour!”

😀

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: nail polish, random life stuff, shoes

Ultramarine corduroy skirt

22/04/2012 5:17 am \ 42 Comments \ Carolyn

Remember in my review of the Vogue 1170 skirt I mentioned I had already made a second version? Well I finally got my act together and took some photos…
This ultramarine cotton corduroy caught my eye; (hardly surprising really 😉 ) and I just grabbed the bolt on a whim during Spotlight’s 40% off sale. I had a sudden urge to add a touch more blue to my life. Part of my on-going campaign to maintain some colour in my wardrobe. I cleaned out and re-assessed my wardrobe recently and realised I still didn’t have very many fun and colourful options there. I also realised I didn’t have as many “bottoms” as I thought too, thus the appearance on my blog here of a little flock of new skirts recently.
And, speaking of colour; just wait ’til you see my new jeans too… hola!! I’m dying to show them off here … soon… 😉
I made my skirt with a few minor adjustments to the pattern; I added lining, using the spliced pieces of Vogue 1247 as my pattern. (I bought the acetate lining from Fabulous Fabrics, since the lining fabrics in Spotlight are the most hideous on the face of this earth….)

I overlocked all the raw edges inside; didn’t go with the HongKong seaming this time because of the lining. Plus it is just corduroy…
My pockets are approx 5cm deeper (each pocket piece cut approx 10cm longer). I added 10cm in length to the lower skirt pieces, as I did on my first version. Can you imagine how short this skirt would be without that extra length? Yowza!!

As stipulated in the pattern, I hemmed the lower edge with a facing. Since I had added 10cm in length to the skirt pieces, this made my facing pieces different from the pattern, but it was a simple process to use my new longer skirt pieces as the template for the facing. I managed to cut the facing out of the leftovers from the shirt I made for Craig here; a perfect colour match! and just saying; it took some cutting and piecing magic to get those facing pieces cut out all along the correct grain from my scraps…! I was chuffed that I got it out successfully!

The shaped facing method is a nice way to hem a long curved hemline; one that I have used a few times before off my own bat, but this is the first time I have seen for it to be a recommended method of hemming in a commercial pattern, with a pattern piece provided and all. This is something I really like about the Vogue designer patterns; they often come with those nice little extra finishing touches to push you in the right direction; methods which are not the fast and simple methods that we have become accustomed to from modern commercial patterns. Sometimes I wonder if the big pattern companies “dumb it down” for the home seamster; assuming he/she is not capable or willing to go the extra mile for those professional finishes, that interesting seaming, or an otherwise complex garment. Vogue designer patterns are rarely guilty of flipping out quick, slap-it-together, do-it-the-easy-way patterns, and for that I loooove them!
(Please don’t think me elitist here; I like the quick-and-easy patterns for basics too; but it is nice to have the option, y’know? )
And; of course this is not what I am actually wearing today, not the heels nor the gloves!, but I just wanted to have a bit of fun with my photos. You just have to mentally add the red carpet, the velvet ropes, the minder and the little dog in a bag. I briefly considered having an actual dog but the reality is that she is way too big and hairy for any of my bags… 😀

This is one of those times when taking one’s own photo turns out to be very useful… looking at this one above is when I noticed that that hem at the centre back seam inexplicably dipped in situ, something that was not apparent looking at it flat. I’ve fixed this problem now, but didn’t bother with setting up for a new photo… 😀

The lovely stamped pewter buttons were kept from off an old shirt.

Conclusion; a casual version of this interesting skirt pattern, and a fun and colourful addition to my wardrobe!
LATER EDIT: got bored with the ultramarine colour and dyed it, this skirt now looks like this

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1170 with minor modifications, ultramarine cotton corduroy, my review of this pattern here
Top; top “a” from the Japanese pattern book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton, details here
Shoes; Raymond Castles, had for yonks, nearly 30 years
Gloves; Vogue 7949, red cotton jersey, details and my review of this pattern here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: skirt, Vogue 1170

Gingham PJs

20/04/2012 4:25 am \ 32 Comments \ Carolyn

I do apologise for the complete and utter lack of chicness and elegance today, and this is not an ensemble one would ever see gracing the pages of Vogue magazine… but I’m sure every woman secretly harbours an undying love for flannelette PJ bottoms in her heart… yes? I know I know, we are supposed to spend our days swanning about in some elegant little number complete with gorgeous heels, and then at home slip into some sort of lace-y, slinky, satiny little thing for our down time…
But seriously. Let’s get real here. Our secretly favourite part of the day is really when we get to throw off the elegance and put on our extremely unsexy and unflattering but warm and cuddly and oh-so-comfy ginormously huge elastic waist pants; and curl up on the couch with a book and a cup of tea.
Or is that just me….? 🙂
I am taking part in two pyjama parties here! (ooh, it’s been yonks since I went to a pyjama party!) firstly Terri‘s Pyjama Party today, over in her secret room. And also Karen’s Pyjama Party; only that party was planning to make their pj’s over a period of a few weeks. As it was, my old pj bottoms ripped a bit when I sat on a splinter recently… it’s OK, I’m not sad; they were old and getting pretty thin about the bottoomba *, but I did need some newies, fast!
(* bottoomba; old family word, pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable)

So I ran out to Spotlight, the fabric was bought and I made these up in about half an hour, that same afternoon, to wear that same night. Yah, I know; I am not known for my patience. But well, these are just pj’s for goodness sakes! the easiest make in the world…
My pattern is kinda self-drafted… when my very last pair of store-bought pj pants wore out I cut them up for a pattern, added a few little modifications of my own and have been using that ever since.
They have an elastic waist, two inseam side pockets and a false fly. Normally I loathe false anything on a garment, but paradoxically I really do like a false fly on pj’s. Just a random excuse to sport a few cute and really fun buttons, for no reason other than frivolously whimsical decoration. You know, the sort of button you secretly fall in love with but could never use on a real garment 🙂 These buttons were leftovers from these shorts here, when I had to buy a card of 4 buttons but only needed 1.

Details:
PJ bottoms; my own design, gingham printed cotton flannelette
Tshirt; Country Road, old enough now that it has been delegated to sleepwear

Pocket:

False fly:

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: own design, pyjamas, Sienna

Grey stripe dress; 6 different ways

18/04/2012 3:35 am \ 18 Comments \ Carolyn

I was chuffed when Robyn suggested this dress would be a good candidate for a mix-up and match-up; thank you Robyn! And you were so right, yes, indeedy, this is an excellently versatile dress…
It is self-drafted and I was inspired by a Metalicus dress, pretty much my favourite RTW label. Everything in their range of thin stretch garments layers together and goes together so beautifully; so it is all very easy to wear. When I made my dress (dressmaking details here); I envisioned that I would be able to layer it up and down and all different ways, to go with a lot of things already in my wardrobe. These non-colours are good for any time of the year and any season… also being very light and flowy means the dress has no “structure” itself, making it very easy to throw over and under other things, it can adapt to different functions and not just be worn solely as a stand-alone dress.
And stripes are so hot right now! (thank you Zoolander for that awesome quote)
So here are just a few of the “ways” I came up with after a bit of a play session in my wardrobe…
First up, well (obviously) worn as a dress. I made it specifically the perfect length to go over this white petticoat, so this is the way I have worn it mostly so far 🙂 But at right; it can also work as a petticoat itself, worn under a shorter open dress.

It doubles as a tank top as well as a petticoat, when worn under a big skirt. Actually I wore this outfit last week, and it turned out to be a good idea… this skirt is very pouffy already, but I would love it to be pouffier still! and having a full-skirted petticoat on underneath gave the whole thing a welcome extra ounce of pouffiness. I liked that! And at right, put a light Tshirt and optional cardi over the top, and the dress is a skirt…

At left; the dress is a pinafore when worn with a Tshirt underneath. And at right; the subdued colours are a natural choice for winter too, so here is all layered up and ready for winter; with long johns, tights, a little jacket, gloves and a scarf.

What am I wearing today? well today has a definite and very welcome autumnal air to it, so I am wearing the pinny version just above with the raspberry half-sleeved tshirt underneath and my purple-y raspberry scarf… but one thing I learnt even in this short play-about with this dress is that I have so many more options and I’m really looking forward to wearing this dress a bunch this autumn and winter… What do you think? how would you wear this dress?

Posted in: fashion, Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, dress, own design

Sapote cotton cardigan

16/04/2012 2:19 pm \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh g’day peeps! May I present to you my latest completed knitting project…
This is another version of the Jo Sharp Fitted Cardigan. I have knitted this pattern before, my first version is here. I really loved that knitted lace on the lower edge of the design, and I decided to make this newest version with the edging on the sleeves as well. This took just one extra ball of yarn over the amount stipulated in the pattern, a small extra cost I was happy to pay considering I was buying during a 30% off sale. Yeeeeah!
Great colour, huh? This colour is called Sapote, and is named after the fruit which comes in several colour varieties. The black sapote when ripe is a beautifully deep and rich purple-y brown colour, and has paler, caramel-brown woody-textured seeds… which inspired my choice of buttons for my new cardigan. Whaddya think?
I have to confess; I finished knitting this cardigan a few months ago, and for ages have been searching and searching for just the right buttons. I was hunting for deep chocolate-y purple buttons, something the exact same shade as the yarn… and failing. But eventually and fortuitously I checked out a photograph of the sapote fruit, and noticed the colour and texture of those seeds, and how perfectly natural they looked nestled in the flesh of the sapote fruit, and realised that buttons of this colour and texture were what I should be searching for… and then I found them straight away! It was meant to be.

source

Details:
Cardigan; Jo Sharp’s Knitted Cardigan with the addition of knitted lace edging on the sleeve hems, using Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in Sapote (col 216)
Shirt (under); my own design, made from a pair of old white linen trousers, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, details here
Thongs; Mountain Design

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cardigan, daily outfit, Jo Sharp, knitting, Sienna

Tips for sewing with PU laminate (leatherette)

15/04/2012 3:20 am \ 20 Comments \ Carolyn

(I should have posted this straight after posting my PU skirt, but I forgot… oops!)

I’m not really an expert on this “fabric” but I thought I would just jot down a few little techniques I used when making my skirt, in the hope that they will help others…
I’ve read that there is a teflon foot that one can use for working with leather and other “hide” like fabrics such as poly-urethane laminated cloth, PVC and other plastics; fabrics that have a “sticky” surface that adheres to the underside of the foot and so do not pass through the machine easily. However, I didn’t want to buy a whole new foot just for the tiny amount of topstitching and stay-stitching needed for one, or even a few, garments; so I decided to try out my usual method for tricky fabrics… I cut tissue paper into strips and hold this in place under the foot of the machine as I am sewing, laying it in place as I go and feeding in new strips as needed.
This worked a treat!

I used a denim needle, and set the machine to a slightly longer than normal stitch (3mm) and after stitching I simply pulled the paper off of each side of my stitching. Easy, and free! since the tissue paper I use is… well, you know when you buy breakables and it gets wrapped up in a few sheets of thin tissue paper at the point of sale? Well I keep that paper just for this purpose; waste not want not, and all that…. and cut it into strips when I need it. Re-using and re-cycling!
Obviously, I didn’t need to use the tissue paper when I was sewing seams, fabric right sides together, since the backing fabric had a regular fabric-y texture that passed through my sewing machine just fine; and I found I didn’t need it for top-stitching the HongKong seaming down either. The tissue strips were only necessary for the very small amount of top-stitching and stay-stitching called for in my pattern, which is great since it can be a kinda fiddly technique. If one was top-stitching leather frequently then sure, it might well be worth investing in that teflon foot.

Incidentally, the tissue strip method is one I do use a lot of the time; any slippery and delicate fabrics such as silk and polyester chiffons, silk charmeuse, also with lightweight wool and rayon knits, and especially and always sewing delicates on the bias to avoid stretching; if I experience any difficulties I turn to the tissue paper treatment. Also, the few times I have cut up and re-fashoned RTW knitted jumpers and cardigans; the tissue paper strips work like a charm enabling me to sew these highly fray-able, and more bulkier knits on my regular machine as well. In fact all knits; from the very fragile to the very heavy hand-knits, will all go through one’s machine with ease using this method.

But getting off track there; back to the PU…
My second tip is for the waistband; sewing the waistband facing down inside. My usual method using regular fabrics is to stitch a virtually invisible fell-stitch, picking up a scant one thread on one side then a scant one thread on the other, hiding the running thread under the fold of the waistband. In this fabric however, I worried that this would not be sturdy enough. Picking up just a scant fold of the PU, my thread ran the risk of not getting through to the backing fabric and just piercing the flimsy layer of laminate which could easily just tear away. I did not want topstitching visible on the outer view of the waistband, and hand-stitching big ugly visible sturdy stitches, even on the inside of a garment, was not an option (years of conditioning cannot be ignored here!)

So I turned in the seam allowance of the waistband facing, and machined a nice even line of topstitching along just inside the fold by a scant 2mm, keeping the interfaced outer waistband free. This provided a firm stitching line along which I could anchor the stitches, securing the waistband facing down to the waistband/skirt seams allowance. It also provides a focal point, a visual foil that draws attention away from those small hand stitches. See how those fell stitches are nearly invisible to the eye?

And no stitching visible on the outer waistband…

My last tip, a kinda obvious one hehe; I realised when I went to hang up my new skirt that the skirt hanger was going to leave permanent big ugly pinch marks on my beautiful pristine waistband. So I hand stitched (fyi; blanket stitches) on some ribbon hanging-loops to the sides … I say no! to big ugly pinch marks!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: seams, tip

Clipped Wings; a top

14/04/2012 8:45 am \ 18 Comments \ Carolyn

Here is my latest from Pattern Magic 3, by Tomoko Nakamichi; this is the top from p61/91. The seamlines at the side and centre back seams of this top are gently angled out, causing the top to fall in a series of rather lovely, loose, triangular folds around the small of one’s back. Interesting, and also quite flattering. I loved the wide high square neckline and the elegant long raglan sleeves. I also loved that the top has a bland front view and a busy back view. But to be honest; I wasn’t sure I loved the look of the “bumps” (pictured below).

Without understanding the Japanese text, I think that the aforementioned bumps; two protrusions sprouting from the back of the raglan sleeve seam right where one’s scapulas sit; are intended to be the focus of the project, the challenge to be mastered from drafting and making up this piece. But I’m afraid I just thought they looked a bit …er… odd. As though if one was thinking of transforming oneself into an angel then the top was all ready with some pouches to accommodate one’s budding wings. But sadly I am no angel 🙂

I went ahead and made up the top with the angel-wing bumps, for no better reason that to prove something to myself. The long suffering Bessie modeled the bumpy version of the top for a photo (oh, it’s OK, like a true professional she doesn’t really mind how strange are the clothes I make her wear)

below: the winged version; pre-clipping; see those bumps on the raglan seam?

Then straight away I unpicked that back raglan seam and sewed it up again, sans bumps! Sorry, but sometimes the authenticity of the design is of a lesser consideration to me than the wearability, and I pretty certain a non-sewing observer would consider those bumps, clever little feature though they are, and definitely not an easier option than a straight seam; to be a mistake on my part. So. Off with their heads!

I used a rather nice cotton knit jersey from Knit Wit, in a light grey marle with distinct yellow undertones. I bought a long length of this fabric last year, specifically for the purpose of running up Pattern Magic projects. This is the first time I have bitten into it, having now used up the jersey knits in the stash given to me by my friend C. Future projects using this grey fabric may or may not be subjected to some sort of colour treatment 🙂

I overlocked all the raw edges before sewing any seams, and the neckline, sleeve hems and lower hem are folded in once and finished with a twin needle on my sewing machine. If you look real closely, you can see that I used a creamy-ivory thread and a white thread in the twin needle. I didn’t bother with winding a second spool with the creamy colour that matches the yellow tones in my fabric, but y’know what? I think it turned out kinda cool. The more I look at those two different colours the more I like that effect. Will probably do that again!

Details:

Top; from p61/91 of Pattern Magic 3 (by Tomoko Nakamichi), and made of grey marle cotton knit jersey

Shorts; Burda 7723, hot pink linen, details here, and these shorts styled in 6 different ways here

Thongs; cheapies from Kmart (I know, but it was an emergency purchase. My previous beach thongs broke)

(below; spot the dog…)

(btw; Beryl commented wondering whether the extra challenge I alluded to for Me-Made May was a pregnancy… NO! but thank you so much for even considering me in that age bracket….! I am flattered; but no, I will be travelling during the month of May!)

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, Pattern Magic 3, Sienna, top