Domestic diva

17/09/2010 2:47 am \ 8 Comments \

The Maternity dress.  Oh, sorry, not aiming to mislead, I’m NOT expecting.  This is just the name I mentally gave to this dress ever since its debut out of the home atelier.  This final form here is quite a bit slimmer in line than its original incarnation, but it’s still a distinct “possible” to go to nine months with triplets in this dress…
Ok, ok, I am exaggerating…  I made this dress inspired by the Duro dress that was making a few waves on the fashion scene at the time, touted as being the dress shape that suited everybody… well not this body unfortunately.  After finishing it and staring aghast at my reflection in the mirror (and being told by the whole family that I did, indeed, look pregnant) I embarked on some frantic alteration; top-stitching the body pleats in order to streamline this thing… or people will have been asking me “when’s the happy time?” and I have been down that path and have retired gracefully from that particular stage of life, thanks…  after reducing about a third of the volume around the waist I was quite happy with the dress and wore it a lot last summer, so all is well that ends well, no?  The big, pleated patch pockets on the front are my favourite feature of the dress.  As well, it is a fabulous garment for hot weather; breezy, light and very comfortable, and I do feel pretty and feminine in it.  Just don’t want to look so feminine as to tip over into fecund…
The socks are handknitted by me, also.

Details:
Dress; Simplicity 3745, white dotted swiss voile and crocheted lace trim
Socks; handknitted by me, Noro Kureyon sock yarn
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

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Colour me Carpark

16/09/2010 8:05 am \ 15 Comments \

I’ve made a new top… and the colour is some sort of colour not really grey but not really brown, but something in between.  Brey?  Gr-own? Or just a darker version of my new favourite neutral; greige…  (later edit, duh, taupe!!)  I went into town today and it struck me my new top was the colour of carparks.  The colour of dirty cement and sooty steel piping.  That makes it sound awful, but really I find the colours, shapes and textures found in industrial and manmade environments can be just as artistically inspiring as natural ones…
The pattern I used is Butterick 4985, except with the sleeves from another pattern, as I prefer these “ordinary” sleeves to the rather frilly fancy ones supplied with the pattern.  I’ve used this pattern many times before…  The fabric is pre-gathered or shirred in an unevenly spaced wavy pattern on chiffon, which itself is printed with tiny paper-crane like motifs in ink blue.  It was only when cutting-out time came around that I noticed that the black shirred lines did not meet up nicely in a pattern repeat at all; all up and down unevenly, making pattern matching an absolute impossibility… I just had to give up on the idea of matching up those radiowaves!!  With the shirring it wasn’t terrifically easy to sew either, so I’m happy with how it turned out.  I just barely had enough fabric to cut out the blouse, so for the collar used some of the leftover lace from Cassie’s latest balldress (see here).  After sewing the sleeve hems by hand, I decided the edges looked unfinished, so I top-stitched some black lace braid along the edge.  I chose these little mis-shapen grey swirly buttons to finish it. 
The skirt; actually I’m not feeling this skirt anymore.  Remember when patched and shabby skirts with bits n’ bobs hanging off them were fashionable? well this skirt hails from that time.  It no longer excites me, I’m into a more tailored and simple pared back look in skirts at the mo.  But I decided to just utilise it for Self-Stitched September, and it does go quite nicely with the top, I think!  I used Vogue 7303 to make a lining (which is blue), then just patched together bits of black lace (see here) to make an over-skirt shape and sewed over the joining seams with black lace edging.

Details:
Top; Butterick 4985 with other sleeves, shirred printed chiffon with lace collar
Skirt; partly Vogue 7303, partly my own design, black lace and black lace edging strips
Shoes; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs
Necklace; my husband’s very first gift to me! for my 21st birthday (not telling the year, so don’t ask!)
Bag; Gucci
Sunnies; RayBan

showing the lace collar, but check out the reflection in the sunglasses, lol!!

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On mixing prints

15/09/2010 4:31 am \ 8 Comments \

Yikes!  Mixing prints!  So easy to get very very wrong…  Now (confession) I am feeling a leetle out of my comfort zone here with the mixing of prints this morning; well on choosing the python print top I did plan to then play it safe with plain black tights but then a little bout of craziness came over me, I threw caution to the winds and grabbed instead these tartan tights that I bought several years ago and that were still folded perfectly crisp and new in their cellophane packet…  I had originally bought these tights with the view of wearing them with a (hypothetical) little black dress but never did.  This is a different look for me for sure, but I reckon these two prints still work together in the one outfit because the colours in the prints are all alike and furthermore in the safe and sombre neutral tones of charcoal, light grey, beige (greige?) and brown, and black.  Plus the very plain little charcoal skirt is a haven of simple, unadorned and unpatterned in the middle to keep apart and help define and showcase the two clashing prints on either side.  So I’m OK with it.  Pushing oneself out of the comfort zone once in a while is good for the soul…
And we are now halfway through Self-Stitched September!  I am really enjoying this challenge of going all self-stitched! (although ahem, the taking of a photo every day is, dare I say it, a bigger one…!)

Details:
Top; Burda 8497 with fold-back cuffs and button cufflinks added, python print satin
Skirt; my own design, charcoal jersey knit
Tights; Tutuanna, some little shop in Melbourne
Booties; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes
Hat; op shop

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The pseudo shirt-dress

14/09/2010 3:05 am \ 5 Comments \

Quiet day here, doing office work at home, so dressed comfy and casual-ish.  Walked the dog this morning.  Doing laundry and will hit up the supermarket later.  Blah blah.
This outfit is what I’ve come to think of as my “shirtdress”; although it’s not actually a dress at all this is still an apt description as it is made of, quite literally, shirts!  Three, to be precise.  These shirts were cast-off business shirts from my husband, all tossed onto the reject pile because of small holes and rips-right-on-seams that had appeared through wear and (literally) tear.  I made myself a new skirt and top out of them, managing to cut around and avoid the areas that had holes in them.  For the original story on this refashion and other views of the outfit, see here.
I’m pretty happy with this set and like to wear it; it’s very easy to wear and I feel a bit funky and unique and out-there when I have it on… hmmm, a bit sad, no?  It’s not really that out-there.  I need to amp up the wardrobe a bit, perhaps.  In fact, this self-stitched September is really proving a challenge to me, I’m finding myself pining for all the store-bought T-shirts and cardigans in my collection, convinced that none of my separates go together… and having to force myself not to just pop on a white top with just about everything…  Really, I’m a white top addict.  My mother will agree that all I wanted to wear growing up was jeans or a denim skirt, and a white top.  So I have moved on from that (a bit) but the white top thing is still deeply ingrained… I feel the pull everyday…  At least this outfit is a complete “set”, so there’s no extra agonising as to whether one is “matching” or not when the decision is made to wear it that day.  Kind of a relief.

Details:
Skirt and top; my own design, constructed from 3 old business shirts, see here
Shoes; Country Road
Sunnies; RayBan

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Ladylike in brown

13/09/2010 5:25 am \ 11 Comments \

This morning attended a ladylike morning tea to celebrate a friend’s birthday, so have thoroughly enjoyed the last hour sitting in the dappled shade of the jacarandas sipping tea from a charmingly cracked and mis-matched pretty china set, ahh, just bliss… but now the fun is over and it’s back to the office…
Now, kind people leave me lots of lovely sweet compliments (and thankyou!) on the picturesque backdrops in my photos; so I’ll let you in on my little photography secret… well I take nearly all my photos in either one of about three or four locations, and it’s amazing how different the effect in a shot can be just by pointing the lens in a slightly different direction.  For example the sunlight is quite bright today so I decided to set up my camera in the shade of a tree for this photo.  I think the muted light shows off the fabric textures and colours of my outfit better than in direct sunlight, which here in Australia can be quite harsh and create either too dramatic shadows on one’s clothes or alternatively bright bright areas completely devoid of any discernible detail… but from where I am standing in the above photo the view I am looking at is this…

So I couldn’t resist kicking off my shoes, rotating the camera 180degrees and stepping out on the beach for one more shot, and decided to show here it to demonstrate the contrast even though you can’t see my dress very well from this angle…!  Which background do you like better? 

Details:
Dress; Burda 8511 from tobacco wool mix, modified to be more fitted and fully lined
Cardigan; knitted by me to my own design, using Jo Sharp Aran Tweed in Brindle
Shoes; Sandler, from David Jones
Bag; Gucci

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Comfort dressing

12/09/2010 2:41 am \ 6 Comments \

Self-Stitched September day 12:
Woohee, taking one’s photo everyday has been quite a challenge, not to mention the embargo on reaching for the same old same old favourites from the wardrobe.  Everybody has favourites and comfort zones and there are some things you just feel like putting on more than other things… fortunately for me today’s garments fall into that category, (yay!)
My new rusty cords; well, my love for corduroy jeans is a permanent.  Actually I’ve just finished a new pair for myself, sure to be wearing them soon…
My top; another favourite, this one an oldie I made quite a few years ago.  This based on New Look 6483, but you only have to look at the illustration on the pattern envelope to see my version is heavily modified and the pattern was but a starting point here.  In fact the top ended up completely different from the pattern, not even the bust darts were retained.  It is made out of quilting cotton and with inserts of crocheted lace.  I can’t see myself ever getting rid of this top.  Occasionally I see sage advice from dressmaking experts telling us never ever to use quilting fabric to sew garments; well rules are made to be broken in my book and this top is living proof that that particular no-no is just a load of hogwash, imo…  It’s been hardwearing and a real goodie.
My scarf; chenille.  Cosy.  Gorgeous colours.  One can ask no more of a scarf!
Socks; my favourite pair, handknit and also in favourite colours.

Details:
Jeans; Burda 7863 with minor modifications, rusty corduroy
Top; my own design, based on New Look 6483, cream cotton with cream crochet lace inserts
Scarf; Colinette Chenille, 3 balls, 80 stitches, garter stitch
Socks; handknit by me
Shoes; Florsheim men’s, found in an op shop last week!!  WIN!
Mug; made by my brother David, a very talented and handy craftsman…

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Green Day

11/09/2010 5:06 am \ 8 Comments \

Aaah, social whirling over and life is back to normal around here for a while…  I do like to go out and get dressed up once in a while and the social season is certainly upon us now spring is here…  but I do hope nobody came here expecting a glamour-puss today because she’s nowhere to be seen!
A normal-ish Saturday so far, spent much of the morning waiting in a ginormous queue to organise foreign money for my son’s upcoming trip overseas; in a week’s time my youngest is going away on a trip alone for the first time (insert brave deep breath and lower lip wobble here…)
So today being a bit overcast and cool, I’m dressed for moderately presentable comfort and warmth; this is perhaps one of the more dubious of my Self-stitched September ensembles so please be kind!  The dress is a favourite seen here heaps of times  (but first and only time for this month! as per my self-imposed rule of no repeats, hehe), Burda 8071 made out of ivory broderie anglaise cheesecloth (to see this styled in six different ways see here)  This dress is really a summer-weight dress, and if I do wear it on a cooler day I usually prefer to wear my Metalicus petticoat underneath, but as I am strictly eliminating store-bought from this month’s clothing I had to think of something else…  The skirt worn underneath is possibly the only version I have of my old standby Vogue 7303 that is made to the pattern as it is in the envelope, and the hooded cardigan is knitted by me to my own design, and is perfectly snuggly for a moody cloudy day.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, slightly stretchy white cotton/lycra
Dress; Burda 8071, ivory broderie anglaise cheescloth
Hoodie; my own design, Jo Sharp Silk Road DK in Ambrosia
Boots; Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

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A glitzy lunch-date

10/09/2010 8:17 am \ 7 Comments \

Ahhh, another day, another fashion parade and champagne lunch…. and no, I’m actually not joking.  Just quietly I’m getting a little fashion-paraded out, and I never thought those words would ever come from me! ….hehe.  No, really, I have seen some truly lovely and inspiring clothes over the past couple of days, and today I was lunching together with my husband, so an extra specially nice treat for both of us.
I knew the venue for today was going to be more glitzy and glamourous than yesterday (yesterday’s was more of a quietly dressy affair) so luckily I had all ready my glam, edgy cocktail dress that I finished recently … I’m so glad I have this dress now, I’m so happy with how it turned out and there’s nothing like being completely prepared for the social whirl of spring that can descend upon you with the suddenness of a tidal wave, causing unwary social butterflies who’ve failed to plan ahead to race out desperately shopping for a springtime dress, any dress, because they’ve suddenly realised they have absolutely nothing to wear and the events are starting to happen now now now.

Details:
Dress; Vogue 1155, bronze silk taffeta, see more details and my review of this pattern here
Bag and necklace; gifts from my husband
Shoes; Misano, from Labels
Sunnies; RayBan

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