fashion Archives - Page 5 of 8 - Handmade by Carolyn

the year of handmade, 9

25/11/2016 3:57 pm \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

above is a small selection of my favourite outfits for the past month, the whole year’s worth can be viewed in my Year of Handmade flickr album, here…

Wellhowyagoingyeahalrightthanksyourself??

OK, so wearing my own clothes and shoes really has become like second nature. I think I’ve reached the stage in the challenge where it almost feels over, where I’m plodding along with it, can see that light at the end of the tunnel so I’m just kinda wishing it would hurry up and get here! I’ve started ticking off the days one at a time. 90 days to go!!!!

The stages I go through with every single time-based challenge I’ve ever undertaken are always the same, so my current feelings of meh-ness shouldn’t really be a surprise. To start with there’s the honeymoon period where I’m all fired up with excitement, followed by a slightly difficult period of adjustment once the initial euphoria is over, then a stage of acceptance where I’m just ok, still enjoying the challenge and coasting happily along on an even keel, then I slowly descend into an impatient restlessness. Well, a year is a long time. I’m sure as the end gets even closer I’ll get a small mental boost of excitement at the thought of successfully completing the challenge. I hope so!

And it will be so interesting to compare how comfortable my old rtw shoes are on my feet compare to the self-made ones I’ve been wearing all year, whether they really are totally amazing or whether I just remember them with rose-tinted spectacles as being more comfortable and better than they are and I’m just hypercritical of my own self-made shoes and feel like every single fault stands out like a whopping huge glaring error that simply must be able to be seen from a mile away, just because, well you know, that’s how makers are. I have a sneaking suspicion it will be the former, but we’ll have to see.

Speaking of shoes, to be honest, they are never far from my thoughts these days! 😉 my white oxfords are proving to be my current favourites… they go with everything and I think they look quite nice and well made too, if I say so myself. They even look a bit fashionable. My new white sandals are proving very useful too. I think I can even cautiously predict that if there are no disasters I won’t need to make any more shoes. Although I probably will. *sigh* you know what they say. Makers gonna make. It’s a weird affliction, and there’s not much point in fighting it.

Posted in: fashion, Uncategorized \ Tagged: year of handmade

the year of handmade, 8

22/10/2016 9:21 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

I’m now 8 months into my year of handmade! two thirds of the way through… Above is a small selection of some of my favourite outfits from over the past month, the entire collection so far can be viewed in my Year of Handmade Flickr album for the challenge, here

What to say, what to say… well, I’m still chooffing along, one foot in front of the other, which is an excruciatingly apt analogy since my one big Challenge out of the thing continues to be my shoes! Clothes have presented no problems whatsoever, I’ve been wearing all my own me-made clothes for many years now so zero dramas there. I guess doing this challenge while I was still learning how to make shoes as opposed to feeling comfortably accomplished at it; well that has been the kicker. I still consider myself an advanced beginner, or maybe a low/intermediate shoemaker and am under no illusions as to my abilities. Or lack, thereof, ahem. There have been times I’ve positively longed, longed, I tell you! to just slip on a pair of old sneakers, or a pair of chic high-heeled pumps or pretty stilettos, none of which I am capable of making myself.

So, I guess as a natural follow on from that, I now have a HUGE appreciation for well-made rtw shoes. So far, I’ve mostly avoided going into shoe stores; it’s just been better for my own self esteem not to! because my own shoes do not compare. Anyway, just recently I did; Cassie and I went into Zomp because she wanted a new pair of shoes for herself. Well, I don’t know what I looked like… I think I managed to keep my cool on the outside, but on the inside I was positively drooling. Seriously! Picking up, handling all those lovely shoes, inspecting them all over with hushed and awed reverence, like I was holding my newborn baby for the first time or something… ok I’m exaggerating but honestly, not by much. Possibly it was inevitable that RTW shoes would get set upon a mental pedestal for me right about now. It’s like, in my current new state of awareness, a pair of well made shoes is like the most amazingly beautiful little work of art. Seriously. It’s not easy to make a shoe, let alone a matching pair; and with my newfound appreciation from having struggled to make my own, I’m blown away by how amazingly, perfectly constructed most rtw shoes are.

I know that sounds rather dramatic, yes? well I expect only those of us who have ever gone this far will ever understand what I mean here. I’m wondering what it’s going to even feel like, going back to rtw shoes… will it be amazing? a relief? nothing special? a letdown? Hmm, I can hardy wait for that day to find out 😉

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: year of handmade

the year of handmade, 7

26/09/2016 8:01 pm \ 25 Comments \ Carolyn

I’m seven months into my Year of 100% Handmade; just five short months to go!! above is a selection of my favourite outfits in the last month, the whole kit and caboodle can be seen in my Year of Handmade flickr album here…

Yeah, so I’m still really enjoying the challenge, and of course I absolutely love wearing all my own clothes and shoes. Although, I am looking forward to warmer weather so I can start wearing some of my newer, spring-y shoes! I picked a really bad year to be doing this thing though… we’re officially having the coldest and wettest winter in like thirty years or something. Obviously I’m excited about wearing my own shoes… but when it’s bucketing down with rain?! which it’s been doing a LOT?! eeeeek! It’s a little heart-wrenching, to be honest! I’m sometimes tempted to whip off my precious handmade ~~babies~~ shoes and just slosh through the puddles and mud in my stockinged feet, shoes clutched protectively to my chest. I don’t, though. I stay normally shod, like a regular person, albeit sobbing on the inside and hoping like mad that my dinkie little handmade shoes-ies are going to come out of it ok.

Fortunately, they do. Surprisingly, everything is holding together just fine. My trusty winter boots are not just warm but completely waterproof, so yay for that! So chuffed about those things. Some of my casual walking shoes… not quite so waterproof, ahem, but shoes do dry out. I’m still wearing them all! My paisley oxfords are my go-to, casual “walking shoes”. They’ve done miles and miles and miles, they’ve been rain-drenched and subsequently dried… they then started to wear quite thin under the balls of my feet. I just glued new soles onto the bottom. If I can say one good thing about being forced to wear my shoes in the worst of worst weather; then it is that it’s proved to me that my shoes can take it, and are tougher and not quite so flimsy-whimsy as I feared. Confidence-boosting stuff 🙂

New soles. ‘Nother month of miles

Posted in: fashion, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, year of handmade

the year of handmade, 6

26/08/2016 10:21 am \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

above is a small selection of my outfits for the past month, the whole lot so far can be seen in my Year of Handmade flickr album, here…

So I’m halfway through my year, wooooot! I’m feeling so pleased with myself and how it’s all going; with the end of winter on the horizon I truly believe the most difficult bit is nearly over now and I’m REALLY looking forward to shedding some layers, getting into some warmer weather gear. I’m pretty bored with all my winter wardrobe – standard procedure for this time of year! even though I think the last month saw me getting more “interesting” in my wardrobe choices,discovering new combinations, and mixing and matching things up a bit. Anything to generate some excitement into the winter blahs.

Something funny; I’m still pretty shy about telling people in my real life about this project. Hardly anyone even knows that I’m doing this thing. It feels like a huge thing I’m doing in my life right now and for some reason I just don’t ever bring it up in conversation… like, on the weekend I met up with a bunch of old school friends and while everyone was talking about their kids and their lives and their own current activities etc, I just didn’t even mention the fact that I make all my own clothes. Not sure if it’s that I worry that people are going to think I’m crazy, or not normal, or a raving loony; generally I have always marched to the beat of my own drum anyway. Also, I’m often a cripplingly introverted person. This probably sounds counterintuitive, since maybe I don’t come across that way on my blog here… it’s different when you’re just tapping away on a keyboard all by yourself and it’s easy to imagine no one ever looks at it. Like, I talk about myself and my stuff here, but not really in real life. Weird, huh. Maybe I just feel like I get it all out here thus obviating the need to mention it for real. Ha!

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: year of handmade

something 80’s

24/07/2016 10:23 am \ 17 Comments \ Carolyn

So; like, we were going to this 80’s themed party, and, like, EVERYONE in this particular group always dresses up to the max! Not dressing the part would be heinous! and of course I had to be fully self-made, ‘cos of my challenge. Also, like, I had to be warm. It’s like the middle of flipping’ winter! Like, duh!

So … remember…. ? Flashdance…? Fame…? Yep, a baggy-rific parade of dancercise warmup gear, headbands, leg warmers *shudders* I remember it well, oh how I remember it oh too TOO well.

Fortunately, or maybe not so fortunately? I had nearly all the components, already. Dear god. My red jumper is the real 80’s deal, that I knitted for my husband, way back then, and blogged here. I purloined it from our old, knitted stash. Slipping in here…. I now never ever throw away hand-knits. I’m embarrassed to say that I have actually thrown away nearly everything I knitted in my childhood and teens, and how I regret it. Some of that stuff was actually great. Like, I’m so sure!!

I am also wearing my black Carolyn pyjama shorts, my raspberry tights, my paprika bodysuit, my neon green arm warmers – gotta have some fluoro in there, somewhere!, and my little soft, black oxford shoes, that pass for dance shoes, in a pinch. I certainly boogied and grape-vined my little 80’s-lovin’ heart out in them last night and they stood up to the challenge beautifully, thank goodness. I’m always inordinately pleased when my handmade shoes prove themselves! You little beauteeeeeehs!

I’m also wearing pseudo leg warmers and a purple headband, made from some old Tshirts languishing in my refashioning bag. For the leg warmers, I kept the old hem in place, and used this as the casing for some elastic, to hold them up on my legs. Neat, huh? No need to sew a new casing!

And of course, the Ponytail, and the Rayban Wayfarers. Oh yeah. Mandatory stuff. Oh yeah. And, naturally, I wore my sunglasses at night.

Everyone’s costumes were so much fun: there was a Warwick Capper; laugh!! and John McEnroe… actually TONNES of mullets in general… a David Lee Roth, a Lene Lovich, a Frankie goes to Hollywood dude, a Pretty Woman, a few girls dressed similarly to me, lots of Valley Girls. My husband was a pastel-perfect Miami Vice style dude. And the music was a fun-filled, boppy trip down memory lane. A totally righteous time was had!

Posted in: fashion, sewing \ Tagged: fancy dress

the year of handmade, 5

23/07/2016 4:30 pm \ 11 Comments \ Carolyn

Ello ello ello!

Another month, another roundup. Five months… done! Above are just some of my favourite outfits for over the past month, the whole lot can be seen in my Year of Handmade Flickr album, here.

Hmmm, what to say, what to say. OK, what I would really like to say is this; thank you so much to everyone who is showing an interest in my challenge here, and taking the time to leave the occasional comment saying so! I really do appreciate each and every comment. I’m really excited by the number of people saying they would like to do the same thing one day 🙂

There’s not really much that’s new to say about my challenge per se, which is chuffing along just fine. I really do have plenty of clothes and now shoes too, to be able to go all me-made for the entire year. I don’t have much doubts anymore that I’m going to be able to do it, not anymore 🙂

What else… maybe I could say something fluffy here about dressing for winter…

So; winter, my least favourite season. I loathe being cold and wet, and pine for warmer weather. However, I do like dressing for winter. It’s probably the only thing that makes cold weather tolerable to me! joking, but only a little. I mean, I love dressing for hot weather too, of course, mostly because I love everything about hot weather… but dressing for cold weather IS a lot more fun I think. Reason being; you have so many more options for mixing and matching colours and styles and so you can be far more creative. In summer you can just toss on a little dress and boom! done; you’re ready to go. This is easy and fun, but I do find I get really bored with all my summer dresses by the end of it. During winter, with loads more components and therefore combinations in an outfit; it’s more interesting and you’re not so likely to get bored with your things. I reckon I could probably go all winter mixing and matching stuff and possibly not repeat an outfit* Ergo, it’s a much more exciting time of year in which to get dressed.

To take a couple of examples… in my compilation above; I’m wearing each my purple Jade skirt and my charcoal twist top twice, in different outfits each time. Oh, and my ivory sweater. And the raspberry scarf. They’re all such great basics in my winter wardrobe this year, my most worn pieces! and all are getting mixed and matched a TONNE. In fact, it was impossible for me to find six outfits in which I was not wearing at least a few things twice, in the six outfits. Not counting my gloves, my winter boots and black tights of course, which are doing constant duty! Point being; my winter wardrobe is not huge and things get repeated all the time BUT each and every outfit will still be a different combination of things. Mixing and matching my clothes is just one little shred of winter that I find to be fun and enjoyable. Yeah 🙂

Hey, you take what you can get! Roll on, spring!

*Does that mean I have too many clothes? Hmmm, probably; but then I love fashion and I love to sew so that is possibly always going to be a problem. If you can call it a problem!

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: year of handmade

the year of handmade, 4

24/06/2016 2:01 pm \ 16 Comments \ Carolyn

gday howzit going, yeah good thanks. (Aussie terms of great endearment)

So, I’ve been going for four months now wearing 100% made-by-myself clothing and shoes, yay! I’m a third of the way through! Only eight months to go!!! Oh dear, that’s slightly depressing. I do not want to look at it in that way at all! 8 months, eeek!

Above is a selection of some favourite outfits for the past month, the entire shebang so far can be viewed in my Year of Handmade Flickr album here…

Do I have anything new to report? well the making of my winter boots felt like a mini game changer, I just love those things so much and feel like they go really well with my preferred winter uniform of a little skirt or short dress with tights. When wearing them my feet are perfectly warm, and I feel comfy and confident and dare I say it, awesomely shod! Yes, I dare! I love them THAT much. So please excuse a bit of preen-y, prideful boastfulness, ahem.

Everything is chooffing along just fine. My yellow tape shoes are wearable, but I’ve worn them in the country, in the rain, and in the dirt and so they’re embarrassingly dirty and a wee bit revolting now. That’s ok, I don’t mind having a pair of hard-knock shoes! so I haven’t tossed them out or anything. I’m also using my black taped derbies for walking Sienna in the mornings too. At least the dirt doesn’t show up on the black!

Something (obvious) I have learnt: DIRT AND WATER ARE THE ROOT OF ALL ~~EVIL~~ SHOE DAMAGE Seriously. Dirt is bad, water is bad, dirt and water combined? well good luck to your poor old shoes surviving that!! Walking on the beach, or through fully wet and muddy grass is like the worst things you can do to the life of your shoes. Yes, I did say it was obvious.

I’ve had to perform minor repairs to several pairs of shoes during the last month, however I’m pretty confident that they’re hanging in there alright and that each time I’m repairing something I’m learning more about how to improve them at the same time so the same little issues won’t happen again.

Also; I avoid mud and puddles like the plague now! or at least, immersing my shoes in those things… 😉

So, maybe this is a good time to talk specifics; my ongoing shoe issues are all bound up with identifying and then obtaining high quality glue and soling materials here. It’s not so much that good gluing and soling materials are not out there, obviously good supplies are out there, since plenty of shoemakers are making awesome shoes. Let’s just say, it’s more a case of; the information is in obscure and often out-of-date places, and even when someone is using a particular product and you can and do get hold of it for yourself; there is scant information on the correct application, and then almost nothing by way of review, telling you whether it actually worked for that person long-term, or not! This has made it quite frustrating at times. Those of us delving into making shoes have to play this game of trial and error and sort it out of ourselves.

Soling: I’m still using rubber sheeting from Bunnings, which is fine really, considering there’s nothing else in Perth. Trust, me, I’ve looked! However, after much umm-ing and aah-ing I have taken the plunge and bought a sheet of crepe soling from the US, at heinous expense. Fairly excited to see how it’s going to measure up, and perform. Results to appear here, in due course.

Glue: I’m currently using Parfix Gel Bond Contact Adhesive. Advice from a local shoe repairer was to get hold of Bostik Gel Contact Adhesive, which is apparently available in Bunnings. However it has not been in stock in either of the three Bunnings stores I have visited which is why I bought this brand instead. This has been pretty good, but I’ve learnt a few valuable lessons on getting the maximum performance from it.

Here for posterity are my current findings; and please note: I am far from an expert, and it could be that a proper trained shoemaker disagrees with the following and I am actually doing something else completely wrong that I just haven’t worked out yet. However, adhering (hehe) to these guidelines has ensured me a pretty well problem-free experience since.

Better results are obtained in a slightly warm environment… say 20C and above. If it’s a very cold day, I’ve found it’s better to warm up the rubber in front of a heater. My experience is that rubber moulds to the bottom of the shoe far better when it’s a bit warm.

Thoroughly “rough up” all surfaces before use by giving them a good solid sanding down. Use high grit sandpaper, or even start off with a rasp or metal file.

Wipe off surfaces with a dry cloth to remove all “bits”, and then follow manufacturer’s instructions for application and wait time. When putting the two layers together I use a hammer to gently hammer all over; in the case of the shoe sole, I apply the hammer pretty liberally and firmly.

Can I just say, the hammering bit is enormously satisfying *evil chuckle*

You can leave the tin of adhesive open for a while and even leave the brush perched on top and unwashed for up to, say, three quarters of an hour with no problems. Any longer and it’s better to wash the brush; soak and swoosh and dab it around in turps, and then remove the adhesive pretty promptly. It’s actually quite easy to pluck and roll the adhesive out from the bristles after a good “turps”-ing; it becomes quite rubber-y and not particularly sticky and can be pulled out without much fear of it gluing together your fingers. If you want to do some more adhering, use a fresh brush, or wait until the first brush is fully and completely dry of turps. Do not let the adhesive get turps in it, because it seems to slightly spoil it, and it becomes just a little bit less effective the next time you use it.

OK, my year of handmade report deviated somewhat into shoe-talk.. whoops, sorry about that! Well, I guess it was inevitable that the “challenge” for me in my Year of Handmade was always going to be all about the shoes!

Posted in: fashion, shoes \ Tagged: shoes, tip, year of handmade

little yellow skirt; 6 different ways

08/06/2016 1:11 pm \ 30 Comments \ Carolyn

I found this post in my drafts, and came thisclose to deleting it but then hesitated… see, I stopped writing these 6 different ways posts because I started to worry they were boring to anyone reading my blog. But then I just thought that was silly. Because you know what? I just kinda like them. I like looking back on my old daily outfits, seeing my old favourites, what worked and what didn’t… and this little yellow skirt was a goodie that I got a lot of wear out of before I dyed it a different colour. And I think I might even compile a second 6-different ways post in the future for its new caramel incarnation because it’s been equally fab as a caramel skirt too!
I made this skirt in yellow corduroy using Vogue 1247 and posted it here; and then proceeded to wear it A LOT, it seemed to work really well with a lot of stuff. These outfits are ranged from summeriest for the first picture through to winteriest for the last. It was better as a winter skirt, being corduroy, but was ok on cooler spring/autumn days too, when it made a nice sunshiny splash on a nice sunshiny day. I’m almost wondering why I dyed it!! but I just remember being a bit sick of it and since it turns out that I love it even more as a caramel skirt then I don’t regret dyeing it at all, of course! Although maybe, just maybe I need another yellow skirt in my life… *wink*

Most of these pictures are from a time before I was making my own shoes, however one outfit, the top right one with the orange top and blue denim shoes is an entirely 100% self-made outfit; since I did make those shoes! All items of clothing are made by me… I haven’t put in any links but any questions as to individual items seen in these pictures please ask in the comments and I will supply pattern information as required 🙂