We owned…

19/03/2011 5:18 am \ 11 Comments \

Today’s setting reflects our morning’s activities, namely going to another school to watch our son’s “away” volleyball tournament; if you’re curious the title gives the outcome, btw…  
So I commandeered my husband briefly into service as a photographer, wonderful right? saving that little bit of hassle and extra time that a DIY photoshoot takes…  you’d think, but my husband thought I was crazy, wanting a photograph beside some lockers when there were some truly lovely gardens just barely metres away, but I’m like, “no these are perfect!”  Not to mention private, my primary concern in photo-taking… He could only see a set of grunge-y old un-beautiful lockers.   But, variety (in backgrounds) is the spice of life, no?
Also he was pretty incredulous that I specifically walked over to a little bit of abandoned schoolyard rubbish for a shot of my shoesies, but I reckon it wouldn’t say “boys’ school” without a bit of crud about somewhere.  Neat, and teenage boys… two mutually exclusive concepts.
This is a top that I’ve shown here before, but forgot to put up any detail close-ups, so I’ve included some below for those interested in such things.  It is made out of crushed shot silk with a brilliant orange weft on a brilliant turquoise warp, giving it this wonderfully pearlescent greyish pink hue.  And the silver grey skirt, essentially from one piece of fabric, with just a few extras such as waistbands and button bands, making it one of the simplest pieces in my wardrobe.  By simplest, I mean in the uncluttered minimalist sense.  But it was pretty simple to make too.
I’m also wearing a necklace with a pendant that I made during a beading fad a few years back.  It’s like a little “spray” or “bouquet” of beads on little individual twists of wire all then bound together at the back, strung on some kitchen string.  Perhaps I should get a nice leather cord for it, hey…

Details:
Top; Burda 7834, shot silk, my review of this pattern here
Skirt; skirt “d” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, silver grey crepe, to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here.
Sandals; Vincenza, from Soletta shoes
Necklace and pendant; made by me
Nail varnish; Bright Light, BYS

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Out to lunch…

18/03/2011 10:20 am \ 11 Comments \
Me-Made-March, Day 18
Wore this thing today… had a lovely lunch and a very fun time with some girlfriends… and viewed a fashion parade (think, very high end Australian designer, hint, CD…).  Get this, this was a swisho lunch at a very upper-crust hotel restaurant in Perth, and the clothes were all in the category of either very very short, very tight or very midriff baring outfits (you thought my skirt was short? this dress was granny-length by comparison, believe me…).  Additionally, all in the most exquisite and expensive fabrics, either heavily beaded, or embroidered, eyelet, cut-away embroidery, delicate laces, really the most exquisite array of fabrics to make a dedicated fabric lover to positively drool… and priced accordingly.
At a gathering of mostly over thirty year olds, we were all collectively wondering about the designer’s wisdom behind the continuing habit of parading such stuff to us no-longer-teens? The entire audience consisted of mature women, with taste and money.

The fashion, whilst sartorially well suited to the under 20 age group, was naturally way too expensive for that age-group.  There were the aforementioned little dresses and teeny skirts and corset tops, crafted in the most exquisite beaded and gilded silks and laces… beautifully constructed and utterly lovely, but not for the likes of …well, anybody we could think of!
In fact we all agreed that the only souls in the rooms able to wear the clothes were the late teens modelling them, and only then if they had very well heeled parents, and even then we imagined the girls would only consent to wear them if they were inexplicably not into grunge-y beachwear like all their peers here.
The whole thing was kind of strange and ridiculous…
I came out and immediately donated some money to a Japanese tsunami/earthquake relief fund.
Details:
Shoes; Sandler, found in an op shop
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Smoky scraps, and a collar

17/03/2011 6:53 am \ 16 Comments \

This little top made out of the scraps from Craig’s new shirt is one of my New Things; mental run-through of them yesterday and I realised this was totally appropriate for hot weather, plus went well with this little skirt that itself is the result of scraps…  Actually (lightbulb moment), my entire outfit here is made from the leftover scraps from shirts I have made for Craig…  the skirt out of the leftovers from this shirt and this shirt…
Hmmm
I’m going to be giving myself a complex…  with all the talk of feminism floating about; what would a feminist make of the fact that I am clothing myself from my husband’s scraps?!?

Details:
Top; adaption of top “a”, Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, leftover shot cotton
Skirt; my own design, leftover linen scraps, inspired by a Celine skirt, details here
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, Hobbs shoes

Sewing details; should you be interested…
I had only the tiniest amount of fabric, so took out the pattern for top “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like (Natsuno Hiraiwa) which uses very little fabric.  

A little experimenting with the top I’ve already made from this pattern gave the gratifying knowledge I could get it on without having to undo the buttons; fabulous, as there wasn’t really enough fabric for the button band.  There definitely wasn’t enough fabric for those long shoulder ties, but there was just enough that I thought I could get a little straight foldover collar out of that strip that was left…
This is so easy, here’s a short how-to…
Simply measure around the entire neckline (not just half of the front, as I’ve misleadingly pictured here), remembering to allow for that seam allowance by measuring 1cm in from the edge.  Cut a strip of fabric to this width, plus seam allowance (I had just enough from that top little bit of fabric, yay!)

Sew the short edges of the band together to form a loop.

Attach right sides together to the neckline…

and fold over to the inside, slip-stitch in place, then topstitch on the outside for a nice neat finished appearance.

The inside seams are all French seams.

The armholes were finished with self bias binding.  Luckily you only need a miniature amount of fabric to make your own bias binding, so it’s usually pretty easy as well as cheaper, and it looks nice, to make it out of your leftover scraps to finish your garment.

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Not that I’m counting…

16/03/2011 3:51 am \ 16 Comments \

… but we are just past the half-way mark for Me-Made March… yay!
When I’ve already taken a picture of myself in this dress, and what’s more wearing these very same sandals with it too, it’s so sorely tempting to just use that same photo for the MMM flickr group, but I guess that is not the point, hmmm?  That would be cheating, and someone might notice.  Anyhoo, I’m happily getting used to packing my camera in the backpack for the morning walk now so taking the daily photo is not too bad.  But just ask me in a week…
I’ve made myself some new little things lately and am dying for the weather to cool down enough so I can show them off here… yes, new things!  (I just know my Mum will tut-tut at that one…!) but remember how last month I pledged to make ten things using up my fabric collection before I was allowed to buy new fabric?  well I have made seven new garments since.  That 7 includes Craig’s shirt, the Japanese cotton dress, the matching shorts and the yellow shorts; all of these I have shown here… there are some other things, and I’m currently putting the finishing touches to an army jacket for me; thick khaki cotton and with lots of tabs with big shiny snaps and a fur lined detachable hood, and I’m so disgracefully proud of it!!  But I just can’t show it off here yet because when I’ve had to put it on during construction to check how it’s fitting etc, as well as when I’ve worn it to show my family, I’ve started to expire from heat overload within seconds so off it comes.  But I’m pretty excited about wearing it for this winter…. stay tuned…!

Details:
Dress; modified NewLook 6699, made out of leftover cotton scraps from other projects, see details here
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs shoes
Nail varnish; Bright Light, BYS

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Mad dogs and Englishmen*

15/03/2011 2:57 am \ 13 Comments \

That old line about mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the midday sun kept popping into my head as we were out here this morning.   Although technically speaking, it is before nine o’clock in the morning and nowhere near midday yet, but it’s already 28C **, and on such days we get out early so Sienna doesn’t burn her tootsies on the pavement.
But it’s true, I do indeed have English blood in me.
Additionally it’s good to see we have a sane dog…
This is the little dress I made out of one of Craig’s old polo Tshirts, and the scant remaining scraps from the striped business shirt I made for him.  It has proved itself a fantastic little knockabout dress for hot days, I’m so super happy with how it turned out.  It’s not glamorous, but so comfy, cool and practical, and was basically like a free dress.

Details:
Dress; my own design, based very loosely on Burda 8071, made from an old polo Tshirt and striped cotton, for the lowdown see the details here
Sandals; Sportscraft, from David Jones
Nail varnish; Bright Light, BYS
Sunnies; RayBan

*”Mad Dogs and Englishmen” a song by Noel Coward, 1931
**28C = 83F in the old measurements
Sienna thinking, oh boy, here we go again with the photos (doggie eye-roll), well, I’ll just wait over here in the shade while you get on with it…

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Chocolat

14/03/2011 6:24 am \ 12 Comments \

This is another dress made years ago, that periodically gets worn a lot, and periodically gets shoved into the back of the wardrobe because I’m tired of it, only to periodically rediscover it with cries of joy when those hot hot days roll around again, as they are.   Another little mini heat-wave is happening, so it’s back with the coolest of cool of my dresses.
This has always been called in my head the Bouchee dress.
Just to explain; you can get chocolates here called Bouchee, which are shaped like elephants, hehe…
Rather a silly name… but I like silliness in apparel sometimes.

Details:
Dress; based on McCalls 4454, a camisole pattern, elongated and with large triangular inserts in the skirt, handkerchief hem and two huge square patch pockets added, chocolate self-embroidered cotton
Necklace; made by me, tutorial here
Sandals; Anna, from MarieClaire shoes
Sunnies; RayBan
Nail varnish; Bright Light, BYS

 

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Burda 7723, a pattern review

13/03/2011 6:17 am \ 17 Comments \

These shorts aren’t new here on the blog, I made them over a year ago and have worn them a zillion times since, although not for Me-Made-March yet.  Since this version here was my first attempt at this now fairly well-worn pattern, and the only time I’ve made them up exactly to pattern I thought it was high time to review it… albeit belatedly.  The review I submitted to Pattern Review is below, if you’re interested.
Incidentally the shirt is another of my most-used patterns, Burda 7767 that I’ve made up possibly a dozen times now (?I think?), and also the first cab-off-the-rank from this pattern and the only version made up exactly to this pattern too!!  Hehe, it’s pretty rare for me to stick identically to a pattern the second or more times around… and not introduce little variations and/or improvements (that’s debatable…) for subsequent garments.  Not always fabulously successful alterations, I hasten to point out…  but that’s the beauty of being handy with a needle, if you’re not completely happy you can take steps.  Like I did yesterday…

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767, pink linen with navy blue top-stitching and buttons, close-up details here, my review of this pattern here
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, close-up details here
Thongs; Mountain Design
Nail varnish; Glamourpuss, BYS

Pattern Description:
High-waisted shorts; with double pleated front, fly front, front slanted pockets.  There is included as well patterns for a pair of trousers, and two variations of a jacket.
Pattern Sizing:
European 34-44 (8-18)  I made up a straight size 10
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?
yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
very easy
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I love just about everything about this pattern!  The pattern is very well drafted and goes together easily and well.  The pockets are generous and deep, and the double pleated front allows enough fabric fullness for you to shove your hands down deep in those pockets with plenty of room.
Some very very minor issues; it doesn’t have a zip placket, but this is a super easy feature to add yourself.  Also the waistband is not shaped, so subsequent times I’ve made up this pattern I’ve sewn a diagonal joining seam in the centre back of the waistband to accommodate my sway-back.
Fabric Used:
linen
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I added rear patch pockets.  Subsequent times I’ve made up this pattern, I’ve lengthened and flared the legs slightly,  added the aforementioned zip placket, and for one version re-drafted the front piece to eliminate the front pleats, as I was using heavily embroidered fabric and wished to avoid the extra bulk of the pleats.
As mentioned above, I’ve sewn the centre back seam of the waistband with a diagonal seam, to accommodate a swayback.
The waistband is designed to be a double width, that folds in on itself to form its own facing; for two versions of these shorts using bulkier fabric I joined a strip of fashion fabric to a strip of thinner cotton fabric to become the inner facing.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I’ve sewn this shorts pattern up four times now.  It is my tried and true go-to shorts pattern.  I highly recommend this pattern!
Conclusion:
Absolutely, this is one of my favourite patterns that I turn to first when I’m considering a pair of shorts.  I think the shape is very flattering and I love the wide waistband, that sits firmly and securely up high on the waist, holding everything in.

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Get shorty

12/03/2011 5:10 am \ 13 Comments \

Feeling stunned at the tsunami in Japan; relieved that my friends there are OK while simultaneously horrified at the devastating footage we’ve seen…
Briefly; this morning, this dress still looked like this…
Frumpy, yes?  I just felt dowdy.  
So it got some ruthless treatment. 
I’m sure I’ll wear it a lot more like this.

Details:
Dress; modified NewLook 6699, ivory silk, grey cotton/linen and lace, details here
Sandals; Vincenzo, from Soletta shoes
Nail varnish; Glamourpuss, BYS

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