fashion Archives - Page 2 of 8 - Handmade by Carolyn

San Francisco and New York, USA; a travel wardrobe

29/10/2019 12:10 am \ 15 Comments \ Carolyn

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!

Yoshimi, Kyle, Tomasa,

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?

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: travel wardrobe

khaki suede top; 6 different ways

20/09/2019 5:22 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

Last week, on a whim; I randomly decided to mini-wardrobe-challenge myself to wear this khaki/olive suede tee for one whole week, styling it differently each day … I’d made it five years ago! back in 2014 and it’s been such a great versatile piece! It’s mostly a winter-y sort of a thing to wear, though it’s quite nice to pop on for a half-warm but not hot day. A transitional piece, is what the cool kids of fashion would say, yeah. Although, what am I talking about?? I’m the cool kid, well I can dub myself so here in the realm of my own funny little blog at least, anyway! #imtheONLYkid

So yeah, I made this 5 yrs ago, using Burda 10/2009;121 and a very realistic dark olive green suedette that I bought in Tokyo during a holiday there; original post is here. I remember Yoshimi bought the same stuff in pale pink at the same time, and made herself a top too. I’ve worn my own top lots over the past five years, ‘cos it pretty much went with everything I own, though I still did develop favourite ensembles with it. One of those I included in my previous 6-different ways post, with my terracotta skirt! but I decided it would be sorta cheating to include that outfit in with this six too. Although it totally should be here too really, because it still ranks amongst my favourites for this year.

Anyway! without further chitchat! I made every item of clothing I’m wearing in the following pictures, with the exception of my shoes. All items are linked to their original construction post.

Below left: worn with my over-dyed Nettie tee, sage green wool tweed skirt, and my self-designed chenille scarf and black tights; and my old black booties. I love love LOVE the olive green and raspberry colour combination together… Need to establish more opportunities for such in Ye Olde Wardrobe….

Below right; worn with an ivory wool Nettie tee, my purple Jade miniskirt, ivory hand knit möbius scarf, black tights, and my beloved motorcycle boots. I guess purple is basically a variation on raspberry, because the olive/purple colour combo similarly speaks to my soul too! Sadly this little skirt bit the dust last year too…

Below left; proving that chambray goes with everything. I wore this outfit on a warmish day during my recent Week of the Olive Suede Top. My blue chambray shirt is an oldie but a goodie, and the little blue denim skirt is another staple. Also wearing unseen sockettes made by moi.

Below right; with my over-dyed Nettie tee, my once yellow, over-dyed corduroy skirt, a scarf knitted by Mum – oh, ok, there is one item of clothing not made by me! – my over-dyed khaki leggings, and hand knit socks. And my favourite desert boots.

Below left; This is my outfit from just yesterday, an unexpectedly very wintery day. Worn with my mustard merino Nettie, my outback wife barkcloth skirt, hand knit mustard cowl, black tights, and my mustard raincoat. Did I mention that olive green and mustard is another favourite colour combination?! Maybe I should amend that to say, olive green and anything?

Below right; I paired the olive green top pretty frequently with white, black to black-and-white combinations; all of which it looked pretty good with, I thought, lending warmth and life to the general colourless-ness, however chic said colourless-ness may be! I picked this outfit for this post though, because it was one of the few times I tried belting the tunic. I actually like it a lot belted; slightly 80s-inspired in a look that makes me nostalgic, in a good way. I think I should have done this more often I think!

Worn with my Eve dress, black tights. and the lovely suede booties Craig bought for my last birthday…

So! Sadly, the tunic has pretty much done its dash now… while the fabric seemed reasonably sturdy it actually was not; and over years of use it eventually developed a few holes from rubbing and little tears, particular around the side splits and the underarm area. I haven’t actually tossed it out, but I may think about repurposing the fabric for something else sometime. Because I still really really love the fabric!

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Burdastyle 10/2009-121, Sienna, top

Japan in the spring; a travel wardrobe

22/04/2019 10:23 am \ 17 Comments \ Carolyn

So, we’ve just recently returned from a fabulous holiday in Japan! had the most wonderful relaxing time and have come back all rejuvenated and charged up ready to dive enthusiastically back into the wedding-related maelstrom that is currently my life…

My typically bloggy habit is to do a bit of reflection and analysis of my travel wardrobe and think about what was good and what… was not?

Time away:

17 days

Where to:

Japan… time spend in each of Tokyo, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Matsumoto, and up in the Kiso Valley area

Season:

early spring, expected daily temperatures of around 4C-ish up to 24C-ish

Expected activities:

as much viewing of cherry blossom as possible! with tonnes of hiking, some biking, visiting the studio Ghibli museum and a hedgehog cafe, shopping for fabric and wool – obviously! and hanging out with my lovely friend Yoshimi

Colour scheme:

mostly pink/red and whites/ivory, with splashes of blue and yellow/mustard….

What I packed:

all items are linked to their original construction post. I made everything here except for the shoes, handbag, and the apricot scarf was a gift from my Mum…

from L to R, top to bottom, the numbers in brackets after are the number of times each item got worn;

yellow/white sundress (2)
apricot scarf, a gift from my Mum (4)
cream infinity scarf (5)
striped sweater (4)
lt blue jacket/cardigan (9)
cream beanie (2)
pale pink raincoat (3)
lightweight ivory sweater (3)
white polar fleece turtleneck (8)
pale pink twist top (5)
pink mohair sweater (5)
jeans (7)
gold handbag (every day)
lime-green hand warmers (5)
3 x pairs of socks, plus 1xsockettes (11)
two lightweight white T-shirts plus lightweight striped T-shirt (every day as thermals)
red mini-skirt (4)
mustard skirt (4)
blue bathers (not even once)
pink thongs (none)
hiking boots (8)
2 x prs of black tights (10 days, sometimes doubled up)
little black walking shoes (3)
black ankle boots (5, plus most evenings for dinner)
(not pictured) my pyjamas, knitting bag, toiletries bag and a selection of (me-made) underwear

My daily outfits:

Thoughts:

After a few weeks of obsessively stalking the weather forecast in Japan, I packed both wintery things and a few warmer weather things too, since it all seemed quite variable. So, it seems like a lot of clothes… but I needed everything!! For most of our trip it was absolutely freeeeeeezing!! and by freezing I mean, yes it actually snowed several times! Those expected temps of 5C to up to 24ish? well, it plummeted to 1C and highs of 11C on a coupla days! brrrrrr… So even my warmer weather lightweight T-shirts got worn every day, underneath everything simply for thermal purposes, and my just-in-case jumpers got worn layered and oftentimes doubled up too, just to stay cosy enough. Several days that you see me wearing tights above, well I’m actually wearing BOTH pairs of tights, doubled up!!

My white fleece turtleneck that I made for our Alaska trip was a lifesaver; it’s funny, I never wear it at home but it’s got worn a tonne on two consecutive holidays now. I know lots of people loooathe fleece, and I’m not the biggest fan either; but for warmth and the fact that it weighs practically nothing, it’s so easily washable in a hotel sink and very fast drying… well it’s a traveller’s no-brainer really.

In retrospect, I should have taken a coat, but you know what? I survived! My old woolly blue cardigan was kind of a coat substitute and I carried it nearly everywhere. It was ok, and I enjoyed that I could get by with what I had brought, but I have to admit I was bored to tears with it by the end of our holiday.

The weather was just so cold I thought I wouldn’t get to wear my yellow/white sundress at all… and I hate it when I think I’ve brought something for naught! but fortunately on our last two days the bitterly cold winds abated, the sun blazed delightfully and I joyfully freed it from its cobwebby corner of the suitcase and wore it two days in a row… yes, I still needed the tights and the trusty blue cardi but still; hurrah!!!

I wore my hiking boots for hiking and biking, my little black walking shoes for city walking, and brought my heeled booties for the plane and for dinners every evening. I love having smart shoes, just in case! and these ones are both stylish and comfortable. I took my bathers and thongs, again just in case! and didn’t even wear them once. Oh well, at least they don’t take up much room… Each of the hotels we stayed in had Japanese style, segregated public baths and I did take my bathers down with me the first time as a precautionary measure, but embraced the Japanese bathing way when I saw I would be the literal only person in bathers. And I didn’t die of embarrassment!

The one thing I really wish I’d brought?? a pair of gloves. My arm warmers were great, but one day biking in Kyoto it was like 3C and sleeting rain and my hands got SO COLD. Craig kindly let me wear his gloves … btw; I think I did an excellent job choosing a husband who has perpetually warm hands and doesn’t need gloves. Very good planning on my part, if I say so myself; hehe.

So that’s that! Now please allow me to bombard you all with a million cherry blossom laden holiday snaps, ahem…

on the Kamo River, Kyoto

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: travel wardrobe

2018; a retrospective

31/12/2018 8:38 pm \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

Ah, it’s the 31st December, when I look back over of my year of making and wearing and do a little analysis… to kick off, some of my favourite pictures/outfits, one for each month. Several of these pictures are not even “blog pictures”; by that I mean have never appeared on my blog, but may just be an outfit or picture that I particularly liked, or may be because of a particularly lovely memory of that day or something…

January

just a particularly gorgeous day and in my happy place…

February

… because I love this outfit so much

March

…the prototype of my first sewing pattern!

April

… the day of Tim and Kelly’s engagement party which is pretty special I think; so I made a special skirt just for the occasion

May

… in Bali for our friends L + L’s wedding; so much fun!

June

… just because of this gorgeous cockatoo fabric! unfortunately also the day my trusty old camera nosedived into the sand and died, and the beginning of several months of annoying “photo improv”

July

… made a raincoat to commemorate the wettest year we’ve had for like 50 years, or thereabouts…

August

… just had a really nice hike, that’s all….

September

… love first “bare leg” day of the season…

October

… luscious lace, and cheers to a lush, rain-engorged garden…

November

… our daily constitutional…

December

… my most recent creation! Thoroughly enjoyed this, and the whole fun experience has sewn some fertile seeds for a new project I’m dreaming of for next year 🙂

What did I make?

So, it’s funny; this year I didn’t feel so productive and could have sworn I didn’t make as much as previous years, and yet when I added it up I made 77 things, including 22 items for others, 2 prs of shoes, and our 2 sewing patterns. Surprised! and even a little embarrassed? This is on a par with last years’ production levels, though to be sure some items this year were definitely on the quick and easy side. Breaking it down: 13 tops/shirts/blouses, 6 skirts, 4 prs jeans/trousers, 9 prs sockettes, 2 prs tights, 2 prs shoes, 6 hats, 1 baby romper, 12 dresses + 2 wedding dress muslins, 3 coats, 1 jumpsuit, 3 sets of lingerie, 2 knitted cardigans/jumpers, 5 bags, and 4 dolls complete with wardrobes. I know, right?! In fact, now I think about it, I actually made 3 further items over and above than this, but those things have not yet been blogged since they are all patterns still in the testing phase and I’ve been sworn to secrecy until their release. One of them is a Pretty BIG Thing, though.

This year I also started making our soap, and think I’ve made enough for several years’ supply already, lol. Luckily, we really like using it, and I also gave several bars away during the year, as little gifts for friends and family too.

What did I wear?

I still keep my OOTD blog up to date and tally up the things I wore and frequency thereof. Documenting one’s outfits is a pretty obsessive thing to do, I realise that, but I still really like doing it. The clothes I wore the most frequently this year can be summed up in the following:

This collage comprises more outfits than I’ve posted in previous years for this category, but I have an explanation: keeping an outfit tally has opened my eyes to the fact that I tend to favour certain wardrobe items and ignore others… and I’ve been making an effort to “spread the love” around my wardrobe more. This might seem like an artificial thing to do, like why force yourself to wear something you don’t love as much as another thing? Why not just wear the things you love the most? But I’ve found that wearing something breeds a love for it, so pulling out not-quite-so-loved things, experimenting with them and finding outfits in which they can shine; is a means to the end of loving them more, thus loving ALL your self-made clothes, MORE; and so getting more wear out of everything. I loathe waste, and particularly waste in clothing, so I don’t want for things I’ve spent care and energy making to be unworn and tossed out before their time. So, I wear them. Make sense? Well, I know what I mean, anyway.

Apart from various shoes/boots and my self-made black tights, all of which are always worn the absolute MOST in my wardrobe; the most frequently worn item this year was my new mustard raincoat with a total of 31 wears, closely followed by my grey Sasha trousers at 30 wears, my trusty little paprika cardigan at 22 wears, and my pink Kelly raincoat and scarlet Miette cardigan both at 19 wears each…

Favourite creations?

Oooh, this one is always so tough… I mean, how does one choose one’s favourite child?? of course it is impossible. Having said that though, I think my favourite creation(s) for the year are something a little bit different; our sewing patterns! Because, yes; of course, during the year Cassie and I released two sewing patterns; our Perth dress/blouse, and our Kimberley rag doll. The response has been fantastic, for which I am so SO grateful. We’re fully immersed in plans for TWO more patterns too! It’s a LOT of work producing a pattern, and I’m eternally thankful to everyone who did support us in this new endeavour this year. MWAH! to all of you. Thank you xxx

As far as favourite made clothes; well, if I really did have to pick… it’s nothing special, far from it! but I really enjoyed making, and I really love wearing my “piñata” outfit! A little bit weird, all very spontaneous, the fabric was such an impulse buy, and I ran it up on my dinky, clunky, plastic-ky little holiday sewing machine, in our holiday house with the bare minimum of sewing supplies. Maybe all that “wrongness” is what combined to give it a paradoxical rightness … and I have a soft spot for those orange pompoms too!

I also really really love my cockatoo outfit and also my floral trench coat… I must be having a colourful moment?!

What are my plans for 2019?

So, BIG THING…. the first part of this year I will be making Kelly’s wedding dress! yes that’s pretty huge. I’ve made two muslins so far… the second one is nearly perfect so with only one tiny adjustment and one further fitting, I hope to actually cut into the real fabric early in the New Year. Scary!!

muslin number 1

muslin number 2

I am also beholden to make two bridesmaids’ dresses; one for Cassie, and one for her’s and Kelly’s mutual friend G. I’m going to tackle those after I’ve got the bare bones of the wedding dress all done and dusted though.

For myself, well of course I want to make a mother of the groom outfit for myself! Yup, pretty excited for that too!! I know exactly what I want, I have my pattern all ready and lined up, and I just need to find the perfect fabric.

In other, more ordinary, sewing plans; the smalls drawer! I did not make much this year and now find myself in need, so there will be more lingerie this year. I am also in a very sad sock situation at the moment, my old socks are all darned and darned and even then darned some more. So my plan is to knit 1 new pair of socks per month. A dozen pairs of socks!

And, yes, I have plans for two new patterns this year. The groundwork has been laid, and I just need to get in and on it; and tidy a few things up. Well, there’s a LOT to be done, to be honest, I only hope I can get enough time together to do all this… obviously the wedding dress is my number one priority. 🙂

Anything else?

Well, finally and of course most importantly of all, I just want to say THANK YOU! to everyone who reads my blog and who takes the time to leave a comment, I am so grateful for each and every kind thought. Thank you all so very much, and I’d like to wish all the best to everyone for a safe, happy, peaceful and wildly creative 2019! Mwah! xxx

Posted in: fashion, sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: random life stuff

grey 3/4 length trousers; 6 different ways

14/12/2018 4:17 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I made these cropped trousers last year, using the Closet Case Patterns Sasha trousers pattern, and a khaki/grey stretch gabardine from Fabulous Fabrics; and they have been heavily worn over the past year, so heavily in fact that they have reached the ecologically recommended magic number of thirty wears in less than one year’s residence in my wardrobe! That’s pretty amazing, I think! It’s funny to me, because I actually wasn’t 100% keen on them when I first made them; thinking the fabric was a tad on the thin and plasticky side. I liked my blue version more, in a more satisfyingly heftier-weight fabric. However! I just wore them and wore them and WORE THEM! The fabric was very comfortable, but I think never destined for a long life; by the end of it they were getting quite stretched out but I forced them into just a coupla extra wears more than they should have had, just so I could say they got up to that magic number 30. I don’t know if it’s just me, but that 30 wears thing? has totally guilt-tripped me into being unable to even think of tossing a thing out, unless I can be quite sure it’s had that number of wears. I know, seems like such a good idea, ecologically sound and all that, but feels little silly in execution?! Mmm-hmm!

So I know they got 30 wears, thanks to my handy dandy stylebook app which counts it up for you, and also my ootd blog, which I update like the awkwardly passe blogger that I am. Does anyone even keep ootd blogs any more…? that’s a rhetorical question btw, since I’m pretty sure the answer is no! Another awkwardly passe thing to do of course, is to talk about “how to style” an item of clothing, which I shall now proceed to go ahead and do, ahem…

So. My 6 favourite outfits with the trousers, and btw, all items I’ve made are linked to their original construction post:

Below, at left; they were light, warm, and stretchy, making them comfortable and practical enough for hiking during the winter, a thing we do on the regular believe it or not. Here, I’m wearing them with one of my warmer jumpers and scarves, hand knit socks, and my trusty old hiking boots which have very sadly also bitten the dust during the year, sob! It’s funny that the grey in the trousers didn’t match up with any of the colours in this crazy jumper, and yet I still think it all worked quite well!

At right, I think out of all these, this outfit was my absolute favourite; worn with my Carolyn white cotton shirt and my apricot split top, sockettes and white sandshoes. This exact outfit had multiple repeat days.

Below, at left; I think this outfit got a few repeats too. My khaki suede, baggy oversized tunic top felt like a perfect match for the sleek grey trousers. Worn also with my raspberry tee which I thought a nice zing! of colour, and the same sockettes and sneaks.

At right; I chose this outfit after one night going through, and getting inspired by, the archives of a favourite ex-blogger of mine, who had a style I LOVED. I think she’s let her archives go, or made them private or something since then though, so I can’t link. Blue check shirt that I originally made for Tim and he grew out of it and gave it back to me – score!, and my little blue/grey cardi that has surprisingly been one of the most useful things I’ve EVER made. And sockettes and sneaks.

Below left; this funny mish-mash of grey/navy blue/mushroomy pink seems like it should be a) a disaster, and b) shouldn’t suit me at all; but I inexplicably loved it! worn with my navy blue merino tee, my tie-dye cardigan and a scarf that Tim gave to me for Christmas a few years ago… Oh, and the sockettes and sneaks like before. I have to admit, these sneakers were like the perfect shoe for the trousers, and I wore them together most of the time. I apologise for the lack of shoe variety!

At right; I love red and grey paired with each other! otherwise simple and basic, but then simple and basic is a nice safe no-brainer isn’t it?! My scarlett Miette hand knit cardi, my cream drape-y tee, and my old blue thongs that also went kaput during the year after a few years’ excellent service. I know! it’s been a year of several old favourites going kaput on me, which is pretty sad. A moment’s silence, please…

So farewell, ye old grey trousers! Your life was short, but practical, and I thank you for going the prescribed thirty-wears distance!

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: 6 different ways, sasha trousers, trousers

ochre challenge

28/11/2018 11:39 am \ 40 Comments \ Carolyn

So I loooooooove the colour ochre, and I adoooooooore linen too, not to mention that I’m a complete and utter sucker for a clothing/dressmaking challenge of practically any description…. so when the Fabric Store announced their ochre challenge I was just like, well point me to the sign-up page!!!

The idea; you buy some of their ochre linen, or ochre merino – yes, yes, I know, you always have to buy something! but I love the Fabric Store anyway, and for the previously mentioned reasons I’m A-ok with buying a bit of ochre linen. Then you have to make something with it. Obviously 😉

I’ve had this idea floating around in my head for a dress with overlays and all random odd angles and “bits” so I drew a few sketches and got playing with some of the very large pieces of paper I seem to always have lying around nowadays since I started designing patterns. And made a pattern. And here it is, in fabric form!

It has a gently A-line shape, pockets , overlays both front and back, seams all hidden inside, and asymmetry EVERYWHERE. There was a bit of technical head scratching about laying the pieces down on my 2m of fabric, and then getting the seams inside and hidden, especially because of the overlays; and getting the “bits” to sit how I wanted them to, but I think it all came together in the end just exactly how I wanted it to. I’m actually pretty thrilled to be honest! because it’s quite fun and flirty, the colour is YUUUUM! and I think it’ll be really nice for a casual day dress in summer. I might even make this into a pattern, if there’s interest? Please do let me know!!

So, I’m pretty sure I NEVER pull this pose in real life and yet I’ve noticed that somehow I’m compelled to do it for blog poses on a frequent and regular basis?? #weird

Details:

Dress; my own design, made from 2m of ochre linen from the Fabric Store
Shoes; made by me, at the Shoe Camaraderie workshop, details here

Posted in: fashion, sewing \ Tagged: dress, own design

10×10 challenge, winter

05/08/2018 3:31 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

This is my fourth, and possibly final time taking part in the 10×10 challenge; I always said I would complete a full four seasons and … now I have! While I’ve enjoyed doing this challenge in previous seasons, I didn’t really this time. Why not? well I’ll delve into that later.

The scenario; you pick 10 items of clothing, including shoes, and wear only those items for the following ten days. You can freely add accessories like hats, scarves, gloves, bags, jewellery and tights, as needed. Because this was a winter round for me, I added tights every day, and scarves a few days too. Well, it was cold!

My selection; four tops, two skirts, one dress, one raincoat, a pair of hiking boots and my knee-high black leather boots. I made all items except for the two pairs of boots.

From L to R, each item is linked to its original construction post. The number in brackets after each item is the number of times I wore it during the 10 day period.

all tights also made by me…

The outfits:

Thoughts?

Just as predicted, I found winter to be the most difficult season in which to do this challenge! To be fair; it’s been so dingy and very very wild, wet and stormy which is something that will always make me feel a bit miserable anyway. But as far as the challenge goes… well fashion is obviously one of my major passions and winter is that time when I really get into playing with layering and the mixing and matching of as much of my wardrobe as possible. I guess it’s the one of those tiny pleasures that takes my mind off the winter blahs. Sounds a bit pathetic, I know; but this round I just felt a little resentful, like I was needlessly depriving myself of something fun in my life.

I chose all my items fairly quickly and without putting much thought into it, all very easy wearing and I loved wearing them all. Even though a coupla pieces are new, namely my raincoat and my little ginger/mustard skirt; they’re all tried and true favourite winter silhouettes so I knew I’d be happy with every piece. I did really love my jewel/spicy colour scheme. Something sorta noteworthy to me is that my black leather boots are the only item that I’ve picked to be in two different capsule wardrobes… I also had them in my first, spring, 10×10. Hmmm, obviously they’re very very “me”!

I wore my raincoat every day – so happy and pleased with that thing!! – and even though the pictures don’t reflect it, I wore my hiking boots every day too! Where I walk Clara every day is a natural swamp during winter, and hiking boots are the best footwear option. Off topic, but I kinda giggle to myself whenever I remember how making shoes to cope with my daily walk during winter was the biggest source of angst to me during my Year of Handmade. I think that’s why I’m proudest of my knockabout walking shoes than I am of pretty much any other pair! Boy, I put those things through their paces. Shoes that can withstand my daily winter walk can fair dinkum withstand ANYTHING.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. So, I’ve completed four seasons of 10×10 now. Will I do this again? Probably not, but never say never! There are very few sewing peeps who get into this game, just one or two, or possibly three including me. So funny! I’m not sure why not. It is very nice and reassuring to know that the things I am making suit me and my lifestyle very well, and that they are capable of mixing and matching up acceptably too. The 10×10 experiment is a very good way to thoroughly test that they do, so it’s got that going for it. But…. I am reeeeeally looking forward to wearing something else tomorrow!! So much choice!!! Aaaaaaaagh!

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: 10x10, daily outfit, wardrobe challenge

10×10 challenge, autumn

10/04/2018 10:01 am \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

Sooo, I took part in the 10×10 challenge again! #gluttonforpunishment No really, I actually do enjoy doing this a lot, even if I get a little bit tired of my chosen pieces by the end of it. I like the capsule aspect of it, and let’s face it; a wardrobe challenge is always gonna suck me right into its gaping maw. Really, it’s just a fun little diversion in the scheme of things. The fact that this one’s only ten days long makes it quite manageable and painless. I mean, this is coming from someone who voluntarily subjects themselves to quite strict, year-long wardrobe challenges, so you know, we all set a different bar.

So, the scenario; you pick ten items of clothing, which you will wear over the next ten days. You are allowed to freely add accessories like hats, scarves, gloves, bags, jewellery and tights, as needed.

My selection… two dresses, and three tops, three skirts, two pairs of shoes; a pretty easy-to-mix-up arrangement. I made everything except for those blue thongs…

from L to R, all items are linked back to their original construction post; the number in brackets is the number of times each thing got worn during the challenge.

white linen Hunter tank, pattern by Jennifer Lauren Handmade … (2)
navy chambray top, our own Perth blouse pattern … (4)
apricot top, design variation on a pattern from She Wears the Pants … (2)
black/white striped skirt, V1247 … (2)
ivory skirt , V1247 … (2)
red floral skirt , V2894 … (2)
denim dress , V1316 … (2)
pink/navy dress , V1351 … (2)
my handmade clogs … (5)
blue Roxy thongs …(5)

the outfits:

Thoughts?

No stunning new insights I’m afraid. I’d initially chosen my little hand-knitted teal Audrey-in-Unst cardigan, which I thought toned in quite nicely with all my other things, but the weather turned out to be so muggy and humid! Rapidly realised that cardi was never going to get worn … a giant waste of valuable 10×10 real estate! Moral of the story, check the weather forecast! so I swapped it out for my loose and breezy red floral skirt. Which was an absolute delight to wear. Man, I love that thing. A surprise hit was my navy blue Perth blouse. I basically whipped that thing up just to test my pattern… and I’m enjoying it so much! I did like it as soon as I’d made it but am only just starting to appreciate its versatility and how nice it is to wear. My two favourite outfits for the challenge were the navy blouse with my red floral skirt, and the same blouse over my navy/pink dress… loved wearing both of those outfits and I just cannot choose between the two.

Though, of course I liked all my outfits… all these things are pieces that I love to wear, which is why I chose them, obviously. One thing I’m getting from these 10×10 challenges is that I feel like I’m really making clothes and shoes for myself that I LOVE, that I’m comfortable in now, and my things GO together just how I like them to. This is a very reassuring thing.

Will I be doing the next 10×10 challenge, which is officially the summer one, but for me will be a winter one? yes I think so. I think the winter one is probably the most difficult one; I mean when the weather’s warm, it’s easy, because you can just throw on a frock and your shoes; two pieces and you’re good to go. In winter, you really need the layers just for warmth. I’m imagining piling on the same ten things day in day out. Or maybe you can avoid that? be more creative, if you’re clever with the choices? Hmmm, the challenge of it… I can feel myself getting excited for it already!

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