above; this is me, shopping in Mood… eeeek!!! #dreamcometrue
So, during our April holiday in Japan, my lovely friend Yoshimi suggested an idea; that she and I meet in the US for a short holiday together; to go fabric shopping and to meet with sewing friends who we have both known for years but not actually “met” yet… I didn’t have to think for very long because I thought it sounded like lots of fun!
Time away:
14 days
Where to:
San Francisco and New York City, USA
Season:
early autumn, with expected daily temperatures of around mostly 21-24C to one glorious day of 28C
Expected activities:
mostly visiting and hanging out with fellow sewing enthusiasts in the US! we planned for exploring the city, fabric shopping, museum and art gallery visits, and also for one day of bike riding along the shoreline of San Francisco and across the Golden Gate bridge.
Colour scheme:
no particular colour scheme, just my regular palette of neutral/autumnal shades. I picked things that I thought went nicely with my new deep green canvas jacket, which turned out to be a good plan because I ended up wearing it every day.
What I packed:
(from left to right, top to bottom, the number in brackets after each item is the number of times it got worn… all items are linked to their original construction post. I made everything here except for the shoes, the ivory scarf and my gold handbag)
bottle green canvas jacket (14)
white cropped top and “autumnal” skirt (1)
cockatoo print top and skirt (3)
floral dress (3)
mustard merino tee (2)
forest green twist top (2)
white shirt & purple top with leather sleeves (3) pictured together just because I always wore them together
ivory scarf (5)
blue-grey cardigan (3)
bookshelf skirt (3)
striped tee (1)
blue 3/4 trousers (4)
pink raincoat (0)
white sandshoes (8)
black booties (6)
green thongs (0)
black tights x2 (6)
a selection of sockettes (8)
gold handbag
white sunhat (0)
yellow bathers (0)
not pictured; my underwear, pyjamas, toiletries bag, knitting bag
My daily outfits:
or; more messy-looking but definitely more “authentically”…
Thoughts:
Overall I was very happy with the clothing I took, I think I took just the right amount of stuff actually, and wore things pretty evenly. I’ve already waxed poetic about my new Sienna jacket so will not repeat myself by raving afresh here… but, it was for sure the MVP!
The only time I miscalculated my outfit was the day we rode over the Golden Gate bridge… everyone warned us it would be cold and we’d need to rug up. Well, it was actually pretty hot and I sweltered in my merino tee and trousers! I had to go hide behind a tourist bus and sneakily strip my merino tee off from under my, thankfully rather loose and baggy striped tee because I thought I was going to legit DIE of heat exhaustion. Overly dramatic? MOI?!
I loved wearing my cockatoo outfit… it got quite a few compliments, and not just from sewing friends who “knew” it from my blog! I always feel good wearing it anyway, it’s quite unique and interesting; and especially being overseas it felt like a little bit of Australiana too, which made me happy.
I’d made my new Nicola Finetti outfit too, and this was absolutely perfect for that one very warm day in San Francisco. Oh! I was so glad of that one warm day! It would have been perfect if we’d had another warm day for when I met with the New York sewing peeps too, but oh well, c’est la vie. It was ok because I wore one of my favourite dresses that day, the floaty floral number pictured at top, so that was fine. btw, I took that sneaky selfie in Mood fabrics… propped my phone up on a handy roll of fabric and set the timer. It’s not a good photo at all; grainy, badly lit, off kilter and blurry, and I totally love it for all those reasons!
Was there anything I packed that was not the slightest bit useful? Well, my bathers, hat, pair of thongs, and my raincoat; lay completely undisturbed in the suitcase and did not get worn, even once! Four things!! Now, normally I hate packing and taking things for nothing, because of the waste of suitcase space; however I’m not too devastated this time. For one; it’s always a good idea to take bathers I reckon, just in case; they don’t take up much room. There was no need for them but hey, no biggie. And thongs, for the same reason. My hat; well, I dunno, just being in a sophisticated city environment kinda disinclines me to wear something as touristy as a hat. Yes of course I AM a tourist, true, but still I didn’t want to wear it. And not needing my raincoat was a good thing! We were so lucky with lovely fine weather the entire time!! …
Yoshimi, Claudine, Peter, moi , Carolyn ….. btw Claudine’s jumper is one she knitted herself, using wool she spun herself, from the raw fleece if you don’t mind! and then dyed herself too… WHAT A WORK OF ART I ASK YOU!!!
So, I’ve already posted pictures of the ladies we met in California, and it gives me so much pleasure to post these pictures of the New York sewing peeps we met too! As with the California girls, so many of these people I have admired and followed for about a decade and it was so amazing and fantastic fun to meet for real! I’m so grateful to Carolyn, of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic for organising a fabulous fabric shopping day out together with Claudine, Peter, Caroline and Carol, and to Sonja and Yvette for coming out to meet us for dinner later at Carolyn’s favourite restaurant Brendan’s. It was such a wonderful day!
with Carol and Yoshimi in Mood… hehe, that thing behind us made me laugh when I noticed it creepily photobombing our picture!
below: Caroline, Claudine, Yoshimi, Carolyn
Earlier in our NY sojourn, we met up with the fabulous and very funny Marcy in the beautiful Grand Central Terminal! I wish we could have gone fabric shopping with her at her favourite wax print store too!
and we had the most delightful breakfast and visit to Lucy’s Grocery Store with Kyle and Tomasa. It was such a joy to chat at length with these two lovely ladies!
Honestly, meeting sewing friends was the purpose and happily also the highlight of my trip; and dare I say it? even eclipsed the fabric shopping at such a worldwide sewing mecca as Mood, if that is possible. And the fabric shopping in the Garment District is indeed an amazing experience. I have no words actually. It’s truly overwhelming, and everything you’ve ever read about the stores, the size of places like Britex and Stonemountain and Daughters in San Francisco, and the spandex shop and Mood in NYC, the stuffed-full-ness; the sheer ungodly number of bolts of fabric which must surely number up in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands… Pacific Trimming alone, oh my god. What wouldn’t I give to have THAT haberdashery heaven in easy reach?!
OK, I said I had no words, and yet there ended up to be quite a few words after all… Ha!
Finally, Yoshimi was the most delightful travel companion and I’m so happy and grateful that she suggested we take this lovely trip together. I had so much fun and I sure hope she did too. Thank you so much Yoshimi! for your friendship, and I hope we can take another trip together, some day!
randomly; another favourite ootd selfie … I sneakily took this one in the NewYork Met by propping my phone against my bag, on a handy seat… Sneaky!!
Now, seeking a random opinion…usually when photographing my travel wardrobe I lay everything out on the floor, as in the kind of “floor-drobe” that I used to have to steel myself to confront when entering my teenagers’ bedrooms… and this time I tried draping everything neatly over Jane, so it all looks nice and neat and clean and clear. What do you think? Is this preferable to the usual floor-drobe? Or is it not as “real?
versus
yes, I did both…
Likewise, my daily outfit pictures… I think putting the outfits on Jane gives a clear and clean and well-detailed overview of the items and how they go together, and definitely looks quite “nice” compared to my real life pictures where you might not even be able to see details very well. On the other hand, the “real” pictures are, well, REAL.
versus
It’s ok, there’s no “right answer, but still; which do you prefer?
I love the Jane pics, as well as those IRL.
I really like the pictures on Jane but just loved that you posted the real ones as well! Thanks so much for including us in your trip. A fun read! And what an awesome idea!
I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts about your USA adventure. The photos of your travel wardrobe on Jane and also in real life are the ones I preferred over floor-drobe. Thanks Carolyn for this post in particular as I will be trying my next overseas travel wardrobe on my equivalent of “Jane”.
First, thank you for your travel blogs. Love seeing your take on different places. I read the NY blog then went over to catch up on instagram and saw that nasty note from a “psychologist” in 2015. She must be a very unhappy person. Not sure why I am a bit shocked by it but I can’t believe she would write any of that regarding you. And I am so sorry you had to go through that after putting yourself out there like you do and sharing your makes and travels with us. I adore your creativity and all the work and thought you put into all that you do. And I am glad you didn’t let it get you so down you quit blogging. Thank you again for all that you do and share with us.
What an amazing trip! I just had a weekend away with a sewing friend – having uninterrupted time over a few days to chat, sew and swim felt so luxurious! Maybe we need to set our sights on NYC next! I love how you have shown your outfits and single items in Jane- it just makes it a bit clearer to see (and get inspiration from!). – Rebecca @sew_everyday xx
That sounds like a dream trip! I have to admit there was a little jealousy when I saw some of the NYC meetup posts on Instagram, as I’m not that far from there by US standards. (Though it’s far by my tiny state standards, since everyone here thinks more than 15 minutes in the car is a long drive.) Maybe one day, I’ll be able to do a meetup there.
I like the Jane pictures over the flatlay, as it’s easier to see how the garments drape and mix. But I also like the action shots!
I love reading the travel blogs about what you wore, and what worked and didn’t etc. It is so helpful! I like seeing the clothes on Jane, but love the comparison to real life. Seeing the two together is great!
I love ALL your pics, floor, form, and people! What a wonderful trip to take together. I’m amazed at how long we’re all “known” each other, friends without ever meeting. And I’m so glad I got to truly meet you, friend!!!
Great post, what a lovely friendship you have with Yoshimi. A treasure for both of you.
Love your wardrobe choices, they worked very well for you on this trip.
Loved all the pics , on Jane and the real of you , thanks for showing your fabulous trip it is truly wonderful when you can meet up with sewing friends . Love the jacket may need to make one.
Oh that sounds like a fabulous trip! Memories to treasure. As for the photos…hmmm…I love them all but if I had to choose, I’d say the Jane photos rather than the floor ones & for the daily outfit pictures, I vote for the “real life” ones (’cause we get to see the location too). Either way, so glad you had fun! 🙂
Hi There. I really like the floor-drobe because you can see it as a whole suitcase full and what colour palette you have selected but I love the ones of you out and about as outfits rather than on Jane (must have taken ages!) Loved this post today. I am off to make a silk jumpsuit for a Christmas party. Jo xx
I love all the photos and the sensation of being on the trip with you. But if we’re forced to choose, the Jane photographs (singly and as daily ensembles) are the most illustrative of how the clothing articles really work.
Re-post this page, anytime someone claims a capsule wardrobe in a limited color palette is boring. Long live cockatoo duo and bookshelf skirt!
And thank you for this blog. It takes us into the thoughts of a fascinating person and along on wonderful trips.
I like ALL the photos. It’s interesting to see the individual garments, and then how they combine for different weather/activity purposes. I like the floordrobe pic because it gave a better sense of how the whole lot would fit into a suitcase. I did have a giggle at needing a coat every day. If it was 24 degrees here I’d be in a T shirt!
What a cool trip! Not like any other trips! I like to see life behind hand made garments and how makers wear them. Next stop – Europe?