April 2016 - Handmade by Carolyn

totally local, natural dyeing

28/04/2016 4:02 pm \ 38 Comments \ Carolyn

Above: top row L to R; indigo, avocado skin, bracken, lower row L to R; coreopsis, chopped avocado pits, whole avocado pits

Progress report. I’ve been fiddling about with natural dyeing for my Totally Local outfit… this is the new name for the challenge known last year as 1 year 1 outfit; where we make an outfit for ourselves using ONLY locally sourced materials and absolutely nothing NOT!!! Yep, for us that rules out zips, thread, and even fabric! making it quite a challenge. That’s ok, I love a challenge. The “totally local” is the brainchild of Nicki, of this is moonlight. I enjoyed myself so much last year I wanted to do it again, and have been brainstorming ideas and hatching plans for my outfit for this year, mwahahahaha.

My outfit from last year is here… and it’s all very… colourless? isn’t it? That’s because I opted to use just the natural undyed merino and alpaca wool for my outfit, which is all white or off-white by default. The only one shot of colour in my ensemble is the brilliant chartreuse sour-grass dyed crochet border on my underwear, which is hidden away! Yeah that was a bit silly, wasn’t it?! Anyway, this year I am aiming for a bit more colour in my ensemble, and so have been gathering lots of materials and bits and bobs to make some pretty COLOURS!

So here’s the run-down…

I’ve been buying skeins of handspun, naturally white merino wool from Bilby Yarns. This merino is 100% Western Australian, grown, sheared and, well, everything locally. The fleece was spun by two lovely local ladies, Beverley and Gwen. Literally, nothing about this wool has ever stepped foot outside of the south west of Western Australia, so it qualifies for the challenge perfectly!

You might remember that last year I used naturally white merino yarn that had been handspun by Beverley, for the kangaroo paw embroidery and sewing-together of my felted dress. I still had some of that yarn left over and simply bought some more, as Beverley spun more. In some cases, I bought it still wet from its wash!

Now on to les couleurs…

Blue: I owe this beautiful shade of indigo blue to Nicki from this is moonlight, thank you, Nicki! Nicki sourced and nurtured a pot of local indigo… I think it was with the assistance of Trudi Pollard? (not sure, maybe Nicki can correct me if she reads this!) and then, when she learnt she would be going over to the eastern states and would not be taking her indigo pot with her, generously offered to share it with a few others of us local girls who are doing the project, . Thank you so much, Nicki! we had a great fun day, dyeing with various locally sourced dyes that Nicki had built up. I personally only had eyes for that enormously difficult to obtain BLUE. I soaked a few of my skeins, gently wrung them out and bought them home unwashed and still full of the dye, to “steep”. Those skeins turned out intensely blue… practically navy! So, at home, after a few weeks of sitting, I soaked those skeins with some fresh, new, white merino, and the washings gave me this lighter shade of mid-blue above. I’m planning to keep and use those deeper blue skeins, probably next year, because for this year, I really wanted these more washed-out shades.

My blue wool above is pictured here with some of my own indigo plants, that I am careful nurturing and trying real hard not to kill. I do hope to use these for dyeing… one day. Obviously that is not about to happen anytime soon, though.

Pink; from avocado pits, merino pre-mordanted with alum. My avocados were grown on a market garden in Wanneroo, and I bought them from Scutti’s, my local greengrocer. Basically, I bought them while in season and have been hoarding and freezing the pits and skins all summer! Once I had enough pits to play with, I gently brought my wool to the boil with some unbroken pits as described in this method here, and left it to cool in the dye and then to soak for a further four days, as the colour of the pot deepened. I was seriously blown away by how beautiful the colour turned out! so I’ve been collecting more avocado pits and will probably do some more wool this exact same shade. I LOVE IT.

Apricot; this is the result of dyeing with chopped up avocado pits, plus skins; merino pre-mordanted with alum. Again, boiled gently for half and hour or so, topping up with boiling water as needed, then left to cool and then soak in the solution for four more days. I quite like this colour, and may do some more of it.

Light sage green; this is the result of dyeing with avocado skins with some avocado flesh left on them… same method as above. This colour is alright, quite soft, a barely there grey/green. Green seems to be another one of those elusive shades that is quite difficult to obtain from our local resources. I may or may not overdye this one a touch… just waiting and seeing for a bit …

Yellow-y apricot; just a few coreopsis flowers, on merino pre-mordanted with alum. The coreopsis flowers are grown in a garden in Willagee, harvested and dried by the owner, and are available through Bilby Yarns. To get this soft colour, you really do only need just a few flowers. For my first experiments, I used lots. Haha, the joke’s on me, because that first batch turned out brilliant, BRIGHT orange. For this shade I kept a close eye on it; taking it out to check and rinsing a few times, dipping for just a bit longer until I reached this nice soft shade.

Pale, rusty pink; this is bracken, on merino pre-mordanted in alum. I gathered the bracken from my parents’ place. Hehe, funny, story, I half-jokingly asked Mum… “would it be alright if I picked some bracken for a dyeing project?” After a short incredulous pause Mum says, “Carolyn, pick as much as you like!!!” To explain, Mum and Dad have a large property, with loads and LOADS of bracken, and Mum HATES it with a deep fiery passion. It is a native plant so she lets it be for the most part; but when we first got the block it was overgrowing the paddock quite severely and Mum wanted to put in an orchard. I have memories of my Dad driving all around the paddock with a log chained to the back of his land rover, dragging it across the bracken, trying to clear it away. It’s such tenacious stuff, it grew back over and over and over again! Year after year it kept popping up all over the place. Mum eventually got enough cleared for her orchard… but it was a massive effort.

That frond in the picture above is dead and brown… obviously, since I’d just boiled the living daylights out of it for dyeing!! I did pick and use quite a big bunch but forgot to keep just one little frond aside for a demonstrative picture with my wool… but if you can imagine, it is actually quite a strong, bright green in colour, so this beautiful, port-wine/pink shade it gave was a lovely surprise to me.

I love all those beautifully soft pastelly shades, and am so happy how they blend together so tonally and gently. In the process of dyeing I did get a few other stronger shades, that while I like them very well in their own right I’m still undecided as to whether to use them for this particular project… as follows:

From left:

Bright orange: from a large number of coreopsis flowers. It’s lovely, but maybe not a good match with all my pastels…

Moss green; a result of one dip in indigo, plus a dip in the coreopsis bath. I really love this colour, but again, quite strong and vivid …

and deep navy blue, from Nicki’s dye-pot. I’m not sure how I managed to get such a deep shade from the pot! I’m wondering if it got caught up in some indigo sludge at the bottom or something… but this is a very strong colour for a single dip in natural indigo!

Mustard: I seriously adore this mustard, the result of one dip in coreopsis and then a further dip in avocado skin dye. It does go so nicely with all the other colours! but is one of the “strong” ones, so I’m still um-ing and ah-ing over this one too…

So that’s it! to summarise; I’m pretty excited about all the lovely colours you can get dyeing with local plants. The only one that I would describe as difficult to obtain locally is the indigo, of course… if we did not know someone who had nurtured and cultivated a special dye-pot then blue would not have happened for me this time, so I am so glad and grateful that Nicki got one! Blue is the hardest of colours to come by naturally. The other plant sources; the coreopsis, avocado and bracken; are all plants that are grown right here in Western Australia for some reason or another. Also, of course don’t forget sour grass! this is a rampant weed around these parts, and last year I picked some from my own garden and got this bright acidic yellow colour, as described here. I’m currently carefully nurturing some more ~~weeds~~ precious sour grass, with a view to getting some more wool in this colour too…

Look at this divine array of colours!! I’ve got some colour decisions to make, designs to design 😉 in short, I’m getting pretty hyped to continue on with the next stage of my totally local outfit!

from top to bottom: coreopsis (light), chopped avocado pits, bracken, whole avocado pits, avocado skins, indigo (light), indigo (dark), indigo + coreopsis, coreopsis (dark), coreopsis + avocado skins, sour grass

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dyeing, one year one outfit, totally local

Morgan boyfriend jeans

26/04/2016 4:20 pm \ 35 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some boyfriend jeans! Hehe, I actually made these aaaaaaaages ago! and have been dying for the pattern release, just so I can wear them more often. They’re so comfy and easy to wear, they’re my current favourites. I really really love them 🙂

Pattern; the Morgan jeans by Closet Case patterns, named for the lovely Morgan of crab and bee. They are a mid-rise, button-flied, slightly cropped leg jean with a skim-the-body fit *deep breath* Wow, there are so many descriptors attached to jeans now, yeah? Jeans are no longer just “jeans” but there are so many defining clarifications that come with each style. These are quite different from any of the jeans I have made before in shape and fit, but of course they are still “just jeans” in the sense that they have all the features of jeans beloved to us all, like the 5-pockets for example. Heather kindly asked me to test the pattern, and this is my first go, off the bat. Apparently the leg has been widened slightly since I made these.

Fabric; these are designed for a non-stretch denim, so I found a nice, crisp, deep dark charcoal cotton denim, mid weight and with absolutely zero stretch to it in Spotlight. No stretch, and the jeans still feel fantastic! I also used coppery-brown Guttermann’s upholstery thread for the topstitching, and copper-y coloured jeans buttons, all from Spotlight. The grey cotton for the pockets and waistband lining is the same fabric as my grey gardens dress (Fabulous Fabrics).

My first button fly! I wasn’t sure if I’d like it at first, I thought it would be bulky; but now I’ve got it and have worn it a few days, I realised my fears were unfounded, and I really do like it. Also, it’s nice to have something a bit different, yeah?

Pockets, with lots coppery/brown topstitching #topstitchingporn

Leather patch on the back. I cut this from one of the last scraps of leftovers from my Danish suede jacket. I forgot to add it at first, doh! but it does make them look just a little more ready-to-wear, no?

Alterations: initially that waistband was quite gape-y in the small of my back, a usual thing for me. I’m quite hippy, I suppose! so I took in several inches off the waist at the centre back, tapering out in a straight line out to the hips. And shortened the waistband at centre back, correspondingly. This is my usual adjustment to fix that problem for me, and worked just fine for these too. I didn’t alter the position of the pockets, so on my jeans they are situated a little closer and more slanted inwards to the centre back seam than the pattern intended, but I thought they looked ok and didn’t need moving.

hadn’t added the patch at this stage…

I love how they look rolled up a coupa rolls, this makes them three quarter on me and I really love this, a little bit 50’s capri pant-like. I love how they show off a pair of little lace-up shoes. Hehe it’s probably a bit obvious from my shoe-making efforts that I’m SO right into the flat lace-ups at the mo! btw, those red sandshoes in my beach pictures below? are fully dead now, (sob) I’m pretty sad about that, I thought they were cute. #needmoreredshoes

Top picture is my current outfit of the day… I actually put on something else first thing today, inwardly wanting to wear my Morgan jeans and moaning once again that I couldn’t yet, because you know, the Reveal and all. And then I saw on IG that Heather had released the pattern. So I could wear them, yay! Other outfit sloughed and abandoned, Morgan jeans donned with joy and delight 🙂

This style is perfect for the weather we are getting right now; which is starting to get a little crisp in the morning but still quite warm during the day and not cold enough yet for socks! Not too hot, not too cold, but just right. These are going to get worn a tonne …

Details:

Jeans; Morgan jeans by Closet Case patterns, non-stretchy cotton denim
Top, (white) loose drapey top from drape drape by Hisako Sato, cotton jersey, details here (black) self-drafted Tshirt, details here
Raincoat (top picture); made by me, self-drafted, details here
Shoes; red sandshoes (below), made by me here, yellow shoes (top picture), made by me here

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Closet Case files, daily outfit, jeans, Morgan, pattern review, Sienna

the year of handmade, 2

24/04/2016 4:00 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

above; a few of les outfits de handmade from this month. The whole lot can be seen here

So, my second month of wearing exclusively head-to-toe handmade clothing is up… how’s it going? well, still ticking along … 🙂

As predicted; clothes are easy, and so far so good on the shoe front, but winter shoes are still worrying me. I’m quite nervous as to how they’re going to hold up in wet weather. I’m appreciating now that I am VERY tough on my shoes, I do a lot of walking every day, and through rough-ish terrain on a regular basis too, and I rack up a lot of steps. My floral sandshoes have already bitten the dust and my red sandshoes are on their last legs… already!

The florals; I wore them in full-on torrential rain, they got completely sodden and filthy and after four days they looked like the dog had chewed them up (she hadn’t)… Binned!

Also, during the month, I went away to my parents’ place and wore my red sandshoes every day; they stood up OK to five days of walking in the bush, and they’ve had another coupla days of the beach and doing it tough in the rain too.. but they too got sopping wet and I can see they are not going to last much longer either. It’s that yoga matting I used for the lining in both of them, it’s just not very tough nor stable so I doubt I’ll bother with that ever again. Oh well, it was an experiment, that was a big fail, at least I know now for sure!

The good news is that so far my funny yellow tape shoes are promising to be OK in the wet weather…. *crosses fingers* I hope I haven’t jinxed them now…

Honestly, one thing I’m gaining is a huge huge HUGE appreciation for how tough wet-weather shoes have to be, as well as the difficulties of constructing them to be so. When you think about how even the cheapest and flimsiest of cheap shoes hold up so well to sloshing through puddles, in stormy and rainy weather, well it’s pretty impressive, really.

Anyway, I’m halfway through a pair of real leather shoes… finally! so I have high hopes that the fabulousness that is leather will make them all of amazing and awesomely tough and weather-resistant, just on the merits of that. HIGH HOPES… pinning them on you, leather. Please don’t let me down *hairy eyeball*

At least, if all else fails, well, those tape shoes are very easy things to make …. 😉

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: year of handmade

black derbys, and some tights

19/04/2016 10:28 pm \ 38 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! We’re Carolyn’s feet; don’t know if we’ve been introduced yet, but hi there!! We’re here today to model some more shoes that she’s made… *sigh* yep, we’ve managed to avoid too much of her self-made nonsense for years and years now… we’ve just kept to ourselves, all quiet and unobtrusive down here, hum de hum hum, nothing to see here! and thought we might just have got away with it but NOPE!!! it seems we could not go by unnoticed forever *deeper sigh*

Oh well. Today we are wearing a new pair of ridiculous shoes, made out of tape again… I know, right?! you’d have thought that one pair was enough, but NOPE!! Carolyn got into the painting supplies in the shed and eventually unearthed a roll of black all-purpose builder’s cloth tape, and whipped these up. OK, so we have to admit, they are a bit of an improvement on the yellow pair, quite a bit sturdier and actually engineered to a slightly higher degree on the inside. The lining is made of an old, well-washed black Tshirt… so it is nice and cuddly soft on us, mmmmmm… Then Carolyn made proper heel counters and toe puffs on her lasts using stretch cotton denim and PVA glue, so these shoes are a lot more like real shoes. We have to hand it to her, she does seem to be actually improving infinitesimally with each new homemade pair of shoes she’s forced upon us.

She was shamed into showing these to an actual real shoemaker, who happened to be around at the same time Carolyn was out with her mother one day, and her Mum thought nothing of announcing to him what Carolyn was up to, and made her hand them over for inspection… laugh! We thought Carolyn would die of embarrassment right then and there! but rather surprisingly the shoemaker actually praised them and reckoned she was doing great. We figured he was probably was just being nice to her, polite, you know. He even urged her to get going on her leather supplies because he reckoned she’d get much better results. It was totally the wrong thing to say, of course; because she got home all fired up and immediately got out her leather supplies and started cutting into them. Dammit!!! we could have kicked him!! Now we’re just waiting with bated breath to see what she’s got in store for us next… honestly, if we had eyes they’d be rolling so hard right now. But we don’t, so you just have to imagine we’re doing it… on the inside.

Oh, and what else is new? the weather’s been getting fresher, so she got in and made a few new pairs of boring black tights. Four. ALL black! *yawn* Seriously, but that girl has no imagination. These are going to last all winter. Well, at least we’ll be warm.

Ok, well that’s all the news for now… Feet; signing off!

*my tutorial for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here*

Posted in: sewing, shoes \ Tagged: own design, shoes, tights/leggings

Martha goes Impressionist

17/04/2016 5:49 pm \ 43 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new dress for Cassie! does’t she look swish and smart and ultra-glam? Well, I reckon so 🙂

Pattern; the Martha dress, from Tilly and the Buttons. I was recently contacted by Joanne from Tilly and the Buttons and asked if I would review the pattern, and I was like, an excuse to sew? hells yeah!! I thought the dress would look really nice on Cassie. And it does!

Fabric; a medium/heavyweight jacquard, quite lustrous and with a rich subtle sheen to it; in a weave of pewter grey/ navy blue/ mauve threads. It makes me think of moonlight reflections upon water. Although when I asked the family for naming suggestions, Cassie suggested corroded steel, and Craig suggested concrete cancer. Oh nice. Very poetic; yeah thanks, family!

Origins; well a week or so ago; I went down to my parents’ place ostensibly to help Mum to clean out a room of “stuff”. Obviously that meant that I came home with a large chunk of that stuff. To be added to my own ever-growing pile of stuff that itself needs a good going-through. *sigh* So I have a few more bins of fabric at my disposal *double sigh* More fabric! oh woe is me 😉 Anyway, this particular piece caught my eye as being a great candidate for the dress. It’s stiff enough to cope with all the shaped seaming going on in the bodice of this design, and also gives a beautiful twirly flare to that full skirt.

in full twirl mode!

I didn’t have much of it, plus it had that directional, woven-in pattern, so I cut out the skirt pieces on the grain rather than on the bias as recommended in the pattern. I think it’s absolutely fine on the grain. And even with the more economical layout, I just barely had enough fabric to cut out the pieces. I have the merest scant handful of scrappiest scraps left… I reeeeeeeally wanted the knee-length skirt rather than the mini, so I was so pleased that I could squeak those out!

Sizing; Cassie’s measurements correspond to a 2, so I cut out the 3 and custom fit to her through all those bodice seams. The bodice ended up pretty close to a 2 after all, apart from the lower back princess seams, which got taken in a good deal more, so the waist is more like a 1. The skirt pieces were tapered out along the side and princess seams to the 3 at the hemline; so the skirt is a tad more “flared out” than the pattern stipulates. Hey, the more flare the better, right?

I was a little wary of the Mandarin collar; I just knew it wouldn’t go with Cassie’s style, so left that off. My first plans for the neckline were to eventually cut away the shoulder/top edge to be a more boat neckline sort of a shape, which is a universally flattering neckline in anything, in my opinion… but during bodice fitting it was still as is, no cutting, and Cassie got to a point where she hated the highness of the neckline and pretty much threatened that she would not wear it. Aiyiyiyiyi! I promised her that she would love it by the time I had finished, but even I myself, by that time, was starting to think a high neck, even in a lovely boat line; would still not really work for this particle print …. the print was too busy? neck-to-knee it would all be a bit overwhelming? whatever the reason I could sense disaster looming on the horizon.

Anyway I had a brainwave… I suddenly thought of putting in that long front slit. I did it without consulting her, and just messaged her a picture of it while she was at work, and she immediately texted back enthusiastic approval. Phew!!! Saved!

I’d cut neckline facings from grey cotton leftovers, drew on a centrally placed line for the slit and stitched the facings on, carefully skimming around that line. I then cut the slit, under stitched all around the neckline including the slit edges, and turned the facing inside. On the outside it is stitched down by “stitching in the ditch” invisibly along the shoulder seams and also along those princess seams. Seen in the picture as a navy blue line of stitching each side of the facing there, since I couldn’t be bothered changing the navy blue in the bobbin for pale grey, hehehe.

What other mods… oh I also added inseam side pockets… well of course! I’m sorry to bang on about pockets all the time like I do; but pockets, if at all possible, are just a must-have in my opinion! I cut these from more scraps of grey cotton.

OK, so that’s that! Cassie absolutely loves it, and I do too. I even think it has Veronika Maine or Cue vibes to it; which is a very good thing. These are two of my favourite Australian clothing labels, and if I was to ever decide to buy clothes ever again I would be popping in there like a shot. Heck, sometimes still I do, just to get inspiration!

I’ve even done a “proper” pattern review, below. How long has it been since I got all official like that? ages, that’s what!

Pattern Description: the Martha dress is fitted with bust darts and gentle princess seam panels at the bodice, flowing into a bias-cut panelled skirt. It features a contemporary Mandarin collar and closes with an visible zip at the back. Choose from short sleeves or three quarter bell sleeves, with knee length or mini hemline.

Pattern Sizing; 1-8. This is a new-to-me pattern company, with new-to-me sizing, and so I like to size up for the first thing, just in case! My daughter’s measurements correspond to the size 2 so I cut out a 3 and then custom-fitted to her through the side seams and those handily situated princess seams. It ended up being whittled back down to the expected size 2.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it? in essence I think it does, although I made a few design alterations and my fabric choice is very different from the recommended so there’s that too. Actually, I think my heavier weight fabric makes the biggest difference.

Were the instructions easy to follow? very easy! The pattern envelope says it’s suitable for “Improvers” which I thought was cute! I’ve been sewing for a long long (long) time, but I’m sure I still have room for improvement 😉

What did you particularly like/dislike about the pattern? I think the pattern is absolutely fine… though I did make several modifications to fit personal taste. I particularly like the swingy, flared gored skirt, it sits out beautifully in the stiffer full-bodied fabric and twirls gorgeously. Not that Cassie does a heap of twirling! but still 🙂 I wasn’t so sure about the Mandarin collar, and neither was Cassie so I finagled something else instead, but that’s purely a matter of taste and not a fault of the pattern. I can see the mandarin collar is perfectly well-drafted and I would consider using it in a different design, like, say, with a sheath dress.

Fabric used; a medium/heavyweight, semi-glossy jacquard that has some body but is still reasonably flow-y The pattern recommends lightweight fabrics like crepe de chine and lawn, but I really think all those fitting seams in the bodice and the 6-gored skirt could really benefit from a thicker weightier fabric

Pattern alterations of any design changes you made; I left off the sleeves completely; instead I scooped out the armscye by a bit and finished the edges with grey cotton bias-binding, under-stitched, turned inside and hand-stitched invisibly in place.
My fabric has a directional, woven-in design; so to save the visual integrity of that, I cut out the skirt pieces on the grain rather than on the bias as recommended in the pattern. I think this is a perfectly doable option for this design. Plus, you will save fabric!
I also left off the mandarin collar…the neckline I cut a little lower both front and back and finished with a facing, cut from the same grey cotton. The centre front of the neckline has a long, faced slit.
I also added in-seam side pockets.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I probably will sew it again one day, using some of the other sleeve/length variations. It’s a nice, simple and classic design, which with the right fabric could be put to use as anything from a work-dress suitable for the office to a party dress.

Conclusion: A successful outcome! After some tense earlier moments during the fitting before I’d sewn in the bodice slit yet and she declared that she wasn’t going to wear it, my daughter was thrilled with it in the end and is planning to wear it to work as well as to dressier, evening-out events! An honour, if not a relief for the maker (me) indeed 🙂

Disclaimer; this pattern was given to me by Tilly and the Buttons for my honest review. All opinions are most definitely my own. There are no affiliate links on my blog and never will be; I am in it because I love sewing 🙂

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Cassie, dress, Martha, pattern review, tilly and the buttons

grey gardens

15/04/2016 8:11 am \ 50 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new dress… a sweet little autumn dress. It’s a quiet dress, and demurely plain in colour; which really throws up the details of the design into the spotlight. The colour fits in with my current clothes-making criteria; to have things in my wardrobe that go with as many of my self-made shoes as possible! since I will be wearing only my own shoes this year and some of my shoes are kinda colourful and not basic.

Pattern; Vogue 1152, with minor modifications. This is the second time I’ve made the pattern up for myself, my previous version has just been transferred to the “possible good sammies pile” since I realised I barely wore it last year. The additional modifications I made to the pattern for this new version are in line with the things I grew to dislike about my first version.

Fabric; soft slubby cotton from Fabulous Fabrics. I love the grey; a soft and warmish, almost yellow-y kind of a grey, if that makes sense, and one that actually suits me, I believe. This fabric originally came out in four colours; red, blue, white and grey, and I bought some of each colour! pretty groundbreaking stuff for me, I generally would not be so extravagant but the fabric really is beautiful quality so I just had to! Actually I’ve just revised my memory; it came in black too, which I did NOT buy and did kick myself over shortly after.. Doh! This is the last piece I bought to be made up… I’ve previously made up the blue as a dress here, the red as another dress here and the white as a shirt and shorts set here.

Pattern mods; the V-neck in my first version was so low-cut as to expose the bridge of my bra; so I either had to be sure to wear a pretty, colour co-ordinating bra that day, or a scarf knotted at the front. So this time I raised the height of the V-apex by about 2.5cm… at least I’m decent now.

Sleeves; left off the cuffs, removed about 12cm in width from the middle of each sleeve and lengthened them by 10cm; instead of lots of pleats at the top there is just one single inverted (box) pleat at the top of the sleeve cap. I also made a separate tab or strap that is sewn near the lower edge of the sleeve and wraps around it, catching in the fullness of the sleeve and buttoning upon itself. Shell buttons from my stash. A buttoned tab is not the kind of thing you see on a dress sleeve very often, it is the same principle to the tab/strap that you put on the end of coat sleeves, but I like to be different, appropriating and subverting details like that here and there and thus customising my clothing in some small way. Just one of the reasons I sew for myself!

Also, maybe I’m just a rebel, I hardly ever follow a pattern obediently and just always have to deviate in some small thing. Just one little bit of me in there, somehow, somewhere.

I added an extra row of elastic casing in the back to pull it in more, like I did for the first version, because otherwise it all just looks a bit pouffy back there.Also; added inseam side pockets – well naturelment!.. and lengthened the dress by about 15cm.

Below is my full outfit for today… I included it here because I’m absolutely loving how the grey looks with my mustard cardigan! so much so that I’ve worn this same outfit twice this week, throwing it on again the minute it came off the clothes line! There’s just something about mustard and grey together, I just have a thing for it. Though I’m sure it will go really well with all my other cardigans too. As well as my shoes and some tights. It’s a real autumnal dress, and I can’t wait to mix and match it with all the rest of my more cool weather-y stuff during me-made May. Hurrah for new dresses! 🙂

Details:

Dress; Vogue 1152 with slight modifications, see my first version and original review of this pattern here
Cardigan; the Miette, a free pattern by Andi Satterlund, details here
Shoes; sandals worn below made by me here, black thongs in the first picture made by me here

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, Vogue 1152

Magdalena Dusk; an Alabama Chanin project

09/04/2016 9:22 pm \ 77 Comments \ Carolyn

Finally! my Alabama Chanin outfit! It’s finished, and now done and dusted! Yay! I may look all cool, calm and collected on the outside here but on the inside I’m cheering like a madman.

Phew. This project has been quite an undertaking… quite an undertaking, to say the least. I had received a length of beautiful Alabama Chanin cotton jersey in colour Dusk from the lovely Lisa, of Lisa’s Carolina, and I really wanted to do the fabric justice, to honour its Alabama origins and make something worthy and not to do things by halves. I decided I just had to go the whole nine yards and make another full-on ensemble. The Full Monty Alabama Chanin. Obviously!

There was enough of the blue to make one skirt and a few bindings, so I needed to make some more colours…. I bought some plain white cotton jersey from Spotlight, cut some scraps and played about with dyeing; experimenting with greys, greens, greeny-blues, blue-y greens, blue-y greys and greeny-greys, plus I’d also had some pink cotton that I dyed blue, to get some purple-y blue into the mix too.

candidates!

Ultimately I rejected my purple- and grey-toned experiments and settled upon greens; shades of teal and sea green, which I thought subtly highlighted and championed the dusky blue the absolute best, toning it without drowning it amongst other shades of blue. I think; if you’re trying to showcase a colour in an ensemble/design, then it’s best for that colour to be the only one of its shade, and for the contrasting colours to be all a different shade and variations of each other, not of the showcase colour. As clear as mud? Yep, I thought so! Sorry, maybe that’s not making much sense, but at least I know what I’m talking about.

Pattern; all patterns are from the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, by Natalie Chanin. I made a full-length skirt, a fully-embroidered mid-length skirt and a fitted tank. Every single component is sewn by hand, in the Alabama Chanin way 🙂

So: the mid-length skirt! Which is the biggie in my ensemble, taking a few months to embroider the pieces! The skirt itself is my precious Dusk Alabama Chanin cotton jersey, and the motifs I’d dyed some white cotton jersey from Spotlight to be a teal/sea-green and to purposely be a little variegated with strong tones paling to lighter tones appearing shaded in an ombre kind of a way across the piece. All the details of the stencilling and early preparations pre-embroidery, are fully described in this post here. This part actually took aaaaages, or it felt like it at the time. Obviously, once I got embroidering then that was the bit that REALLY took ages! I had decided upon blanket stitch embroidery to attach the motifs, using light tan Gutermann’s upholstery thread. I liked the colour and the look of the embroidery, but this particular stitch was probably not the ideal choice. It is an enormously time-consuming stitch and I found myself questioning my own sanity/stupidity in choosing it, many a time. I’m glad I did persevere now though, since I really do love how it looks. Although it did take a lot of time, it wasn’t too bad, since our trip to Japan involved several plane, train and bus rides with hours and hours and hours of enforced sitting, so I got plenty of embroidery done during those times… I had completed two whole skirt panels by the time we got home! YAY! I then would have finished pretty quickly if I had then not dropped the ball for the next few weeks… oops. But once I put my mind to it and got going again I finished the embroidery pretty soon; and with the embroidery done the whole ensemble felt practically home and hosed!

I joined the pieces, hand-felling the seams using the same light tan upholstery thread as the embroidery;and I found a light yellow/beige fold-over elastic at Spotlight that looked quite nice for the waistband binding.. not that you’re ever likely to see that bit! It’s actually button elastic, for waistbands, and has buttonholes in it along the fold, but that’s ok. The colour is great, and since fold over elastic is a rare beast in Perth, in any colour, I counted myself pretty lucky to have found it!

The full length underskirt: originally white cotton jersey from Spotlight, and I dyed it to be just slightly variegated, strong teal-y/sea-green. I wanted it to be a little bit uneven in its shade, so as to fit in with the whole handmade, rustic aesthetic of Alabama Chanin. The underskirt is entirely handsewn with emerald green upholstery thread, with felled seams, and a single strip of randomly hand-ruched/ruffled cotton jersey around the lower edge. I’d originally stitched on three evenly spaced strips of ruffled cotton, but removed the upper two, because three rows didn’t look as nice as I’d hoped. The upper edge of the petticoat is finished with teal elastic, handstitched on with herringbone embroidery stitch. This was the first piece to be finished in this ensemble, believe it or not!

btw, I’ve had some feedback already that some think the underskirt is too long… opinions?

Tank top; white cotton jersey from Spotlight, dyed in the lightest shade of eau-de-nil green, and with armhole and neckline binding in the Dusk blue Alabama Chanin cotton jersey. The tank top is handsewn with light tan upholstery cotton, the same as the skirt embroidery, with felled seams and herringbone embroidery to attach the neckline and armhole binding.

All the details, summed up succinctly in just one pic:

So that’s it re the outfit…

And now for a little story about that weird and bizarre, modern-day phenomenon, the blog photo shoot…

I’d delayed posting this because I wanted to take some really nice pictures with a pretty background, something better than just these ones taken in our boring old garage… so I pick an absolutely beautiful location at my parents’ house … and a hopefully beautiful time of day … dusk would be an appropriately poetic time of day, yes? because the colour of my Alabama Chanin fabric is named “dusk” Ok, perfect! However turns out dusk is actually a terrible time to take pictures, … all my first batch of pictures were a giant fail… everything very dark and you can hardly see a thing, ha! So I disconsolately packed up to go back to the house; to try again the next day.

And did I mention my chosen photo shoot location is a paddock quite a long walk from the house? Honestly, the things we do… I walked down in jeans, disrobed, re-robed, in the paddock, as you do…. TWICE, on two consecutive days… all under the bemused and intensely interested gaze of a mob of kangaroos. Well obviously, they must have been admiring my Alabama Chanin finery? hmmm?

hey guys!

The second day I timed my arrival to be just before sunset, with that lovely pre-dusk golden glow … and wasn’t til I’d got all set up and going with my pictures I realised I’d left my sunnies back at the house and so I’m squinting in Every Single Picture… (groan)

And in the end I felt like the “boring” garage photos weren’t really all that bad and actually the details show up pretty well against that quiet blank background, so I’m posting a few of those too. Sorry for the picture overload.

Moral of the story; blog photo shoots can verge on the ludicrous

Anyway!! it’s done… Thank you so much to my friend Lisa, of Lisa’s Carolina, for the gift of the Alabama Chanin cotton. It’s such a gorgeous colour and I hope I managed to make something that is worthy of the fabric 🙂

Details:

Tank top, skirt, underskirt; all patterns from the Alabama Studio Sewing + Design by Natalie Chanin. Blue cotton jersey is from Alabama Chanin, other fabrics from hand-dyed by me. Embroidery design, half of the Magdalena design by Alabama Chain, embroidered in blanket stitch.

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: alabama chanin, alabama studio sewing + design, dyeing, embroidery, handicrafts, skirt, top

don’t let the grass grow under your feet

03/04/2016 3:04 pm \ 34 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some rather funny sandals. Grassy, you know. What, isn’t that normal? Well, you know, you see some materials, you get an idea and you’ve just got to run with it. 🙂

Cassie brought some small pieces of fake grass home; samples from her work that were getting thrown out, and I was instantly like, o yeah, summer-y sandals! I was allowed to have one piece and she plans to make some thongs for herself from the other one.

Design; my own.

Materials; fake grass, free sample; white vinyl from Clark Rubber, contact adhesive and black rubber for the soles from Bunnings.

The grass is sewn into a really stiff thick plastic backing that was pretty difficult to cut neatly, or at all actually. I used a stanley knife for that bit, and for cutting slits along the edges for the upper tabs to go through, and sanded off the sharp bits with the heaviest duty sandpaper I could find. I played with pieces of cotton on my foot to get the pattern pieces how I wanted, and then cut them from white vinyl with 3-4 tabs along each long side, to insert through the grass to fold down underneath. The vinyl is fabric-backed already, but I glued on some thick white cotton as well, for some extra strength and resistance to stretching. Hopefully, anyway! I also topstitched all around the edges of the vinyl, which I think looks nice and neat.

The vinyl tabs underneath and the black rubber soles are glued underneath to the grass backing with contact adhesive, so it’s all held together firm and strong.

cat contemplates shoes…

Are they going to get worn very frequently? Hmm, time will tell! They are kinda weird but I reckon fun and funky, and the fake grass means they’re very soft and comfortable to wear. Like slipping on a pair of soft comfy slippers! And I like that they’re o so summery. You know, green green grass, plus clean, crisp bright bright white. *blissful sigh* I love summer. It’s great since today the weather has forgotten it’s autumn and has turned up the heat with a cloudless blue sky. Picnic weather. Actually, they do feel just right for a picnic. Also, looking at the bright green plastic-ness reminds me of Christmas trees. Yes! The perfect sandal for Christmas do’s!