Handmade by Carolyn

Semi-Fauve socks

30/08/2010 6:29 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Just in time to see in the last days of winter (yay!) last night I finished some new SOCKS!! I’m dubbing these the “Semi-Fauve socks”; as obviously only half of each sock bears the wild vivid gaudy colours that was one of the the hallmarks of the Fauve school of artists. From the heel down to the toe is knitted in Koigu KPM sock yarn, colour 2410, a more sombre but still intense navy blue.
He he, before starting these I needed to divide the remainder of the ball of Noro Kureyon sock yarn (colour S102) equally for the two socks, so unwound the ball completely, and started measuring and dividing and of course got into a horrible hopeless tangle…! When he saw me painstakingly teasing out the tangles centimetre by centimetre my husband just laughed but I persisted until the whole gnarled mess had been teased apart and wound up into two little balls of equal yardage. Took at least half an hour… Yes, I am that stubborn and obsessive when I put my mind to it… and I loathe waste… As I did it I was reassuring myself the entire time that I was helping stave off Alzheimers. Isn’t the performance of small hand-eye co-ordination tasks that require focus and concentration supposed to help keep your brain functioning optimally? Well I hope so, because if so then knitting my own socks is sure to be giving me a few extra years of lucidity…!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Calico and Ivy, Knitted, Patons knitting book C11, socks

Rusty cords

28/08/2010 4:01 am \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made myself some new jeans, but (warning, lack of elegance alert) they’re not very exciting. They are corduroy, and I do love corduroy jeans. They are so warm and comfy during winter. But I’m first to admit corduroy is a very casual fabric and sadly not considered in the same class as denim jeans. These are my equivalent of trackydacks. The purpose of my new jeans is just for casual warmth, for when I’m on my bike or the beach, or if on a cold evening I just want to slip something warm on to curl up on the couch and drink tea and knit in front of the TV, so don’t peer too close or expect any chic fabulousness here…hehe.
My two old pairs have really got too old and a little threadbare and mis-shapen through use this last winter so I needed another pair. I used Burda 7863 again, but added a few extra details: namely a zip placket and a little coin pocket that are features present in most ready-to-wear-jeans, but absent from this pattern. The legs have been flared out a little more from knee to ankle to get more of a boot-cut than a skinny silhouette. I also eliminated the pocket flaps and added a kinda nice zig-zag decorative feature on the back pockets. What do you think of this design? (oh, and do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your own butt?!)
I also fine-tuned the fit a little better. This is the third pair of jeans I’ve made from this pattern and the fit is sooo dependent on the stretch of fabric… really the fitting process needs to be worked through all over again with each new pair.

Details:
Jeans; Burda 7863, rust corduroy
Top; Metalicus
Boots; Mina Martini, from Marie-Claire shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 7863, jeans, Spotlight

Daffodil Day

27/08/2010 5:39 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Today is Daffodil Day in Australia.
Like just about everyone, cancer has touched my life too. I have lost family members and friends. One close friend is a survivor. It’s nice to have a reason to buy flowers. I would feel outrageously self-indulgent if I were to buy myself flowers on any other day, but today it feels right. These will sit in the kitchen and brighten up the day of everyone who sees them. And most of the proceeds are going to a very good cause.
On a fashion note; this dress may well get the heave-ho after Self-Stitched September. I still kind of like it, kind of don’t… love the colour but the weird bodice has always been a problem. See how the model on the pattern envelope has her arm folded across her chest? ding ding ding ding! … Something to bear in mind when checking out pattern photos in the future… I’m sitting on the fence about this one… but for today it goes beautifully with my yellow scarf!

Details:
Dress; Burda 7897, dark olive green bamboo/cotton mix
Cardigan; Country Road
Belt; emu leather, don’t know brand
Scarf; d’lux, from Uggies
Tights; Metalicus
Booties; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 7897, dress, Fabulous fabrics

Style Statements…

26/08/2010 8:58 am \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

Personal style blogs, anyone? Personally, I adore personal style blogs.
I just love to look at clothing choices, how people interpret and use fashion, and am fascinated by the ability of clothes to express one’s personality somehow. People-watching is such a fun and interesting thing to do, because you can really tell such a lot about someone, simply by the clothes they have chosen to wear…
Lately I’ve been toying with the idea of composing a personal style sentence for myself, just for fun. I do think I’ve got a distinct style, and this blog is partly to help me determine what it is (you’d think at my age I’d know by now, yeah) A personal style sentence would help me make choices in clothing, and everything else, that I won’t regret later, both in shopping for ready-made as well as in my sewing endeavours.
I’ve already had some debate with Mum and Cassie, about each of our own style sentences, but none of us are satisfied with what we’ve come up with. I thought mine could include the word “sporty” but Cassie disagreed strongly. It’s because she associates the word “sporty” with tracksuits, which I NEVER (ever ever) wear… but I am outdoors a lot and am reasonably active in my life so I think “sporty” could be in there somewhere. “Polished sporty”? Hmmm. Have to give it more thought… but so far I’ve come up with some adjectives to play with: natural, simple, sporty-but-not-of-the-tracksuit-variety (outdoors-y?)…
I once read about a two-woman company, Carrie & Danielle, who assess people’s lifestyles and come up with a two word Style Statement to describe them. Just two! As an example; Modern Luminous. The first word describes your core; the second word is your creative edge. It’s a kind of style sound-bite, or mantra that is designed to streamline your consumption choices. (Oh, and it’s nice to know it’s all positive; no one is classified as Grumpy Stress-bunny, or Whiny Neurotic…phew) While a small cynical side of me rolls my eyes at the narcissistic desire to categorise oneself, the other side of me is attracted to just that. So part of me is “how silly” and the other part of me would just love to know what my two words are…!
Afterthought: this was my ensemble for today’s agenda of dog-walking and bike-riding, followed by grocery-shopping and a smidge of office work. It was good to be out and about on such a glorious day. (and looking forward to the final of the Ben Cousins‘ documentary tonight…)

Details:

Cardigan; refashioned by me from husband’s old jumper, which has already stretched and is overlapped decoratively and fastened with a pin to a new better fitting position
Top; Sexy Woman, found secondhand
Jeans; Soon
Pony necklace; souvenir from girls’ weekend away, some little shop in Melbourne
Boots; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cardigan, my views, own design

Bluey/pink loopy scarf

25/08/2010 5:29 am \ 7 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made quite a lot of these loopy scarves, here and here are two of them… this is the one I made for Mum’s birthday a few years back. She looks lovely in this group of blues and purply pinks, I reckon…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Calico and Ivy, Knitted, scarf

New use for a hole-y old top

24/08/2010 6:17 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

Another re-fashioning project has been completed… yay…
This pure wool top is a pretty shade of pink but had developed some nasty big holes over summer storage. I continued to wear it as a thermal for a while, with its pink edges peeping out and adding a layer of colour to other ensembles but then as the holes got awfully big I sadly accepted it was too raggedy and resigned it to the re-fashioning bag … (you can see one BIG hole centre front lower edge, but trust me, there’s about four other littler ones lurking about there too…)

Firstly chopped its arms off.

I cut some thumb holes in the ends at the correct “thumb” height and overstitched the edges of these holes to finish. Then finished off the cut top edges of the sleeves with an elastic zig-zag stitch.

(Oh, please excuse the weird Adam-reaching-out-to-the-hand-of-God-from-the-ceiling-of-the-Sistine-Chapel pose, tried to achieve a naturalistic hand position and failed, sorry! At least you can see the buttonhole-bound thumb holes…)
With the hole-y body of the top I removed the neck edge, and cut off the side seams.

Opened out the top and bottom of the top (still hinged at the shoulder seams) and cut right up the middle, being careful to leave enough width at the ends of the loop. I also rounded off the square edges of the loop and cut out the hole that was really big.

Dunked the new scarf in HOT soapy water and did plenty of whooshing about (it’s a technical term) to felt up those raw edges as much as possible (have you ever tried to take a photo of your other hand swooshing fabric about in a bucket? It’s a little like the rubbing-the-tummy-while-patting-the-head thing; the same kinda tricky feeling…)

Voila; new hand warmers and a sort of artsy scarf…! This is a good way to re-use an old top that is a colour you love.

Details:

Handwarmers and scarf; refashioned from wool top

Skirt; Vogue 7856 view B with some added skirt bits, grey and black printed cotton

Top and cardigan; Country Road

Boots; Andrea and Joen; from Uggies

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: gloves, own design, scarf, skirt, Vogue 7856, Wardrobe Refashion

Going for the full skirt look

23/08/2010 6:30 am \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

I went through my wardrobe this weekend, to determine how easy it was going to be to fulfill my own personal Self-Stitched September challenge of “all handmade with no double-ups”. I learnt some things; firstly, thirty outfits is a LOT of outfits!! Secondly, and as I thought, the tops issue is the tricky part. I’ve realised during the chilly months I practically live in store-bought cardigans and Metalicus tops! Most of the tops I’ve made are summer weight, so I’m going to have to allow myself the additional clause to wear my trench coat on any day that is a bit chilly! I’ve also realised that most of my handmade separates have been made to “go with” an existing store-bought item that I’ve had for years. Matching up my handmade separates will be an interesting exercise, please be kind if you think one of my ensembles isn’t up to scratch…! Of course I have some tops that go with all the skirts and pants, and vice versa, and some separates that are difficult… Also I’ve got quite a few dresses that haven’t seen the light of day for months… why? because I don’t like them anymore. Obviously I’ve got current favourites I’ve been wearing a lot lately and should be mixing up more… I was debating with myself whether to go ahead and wear some less-than-favourite dresses during September, or to keep some back for reserves, or to ruthlessly evict them from my wardrobe… no one’s getting evicted just yet, but may have to get together a Salvo’s bag or add to the refashioning pile next month, sigh…
This skirt is part of my standard go-to (seen here) for when we go to live theatre or the ballet… it’s very warm (to survive air-conditioning!) and perhaps a little too luxe for day-wear. However, put it on for today anyway… this look is inspired by the latest looks in Australian Vogue; the full skirts with prim blouses, little button up cardigans and “rockabilly” shoes. This is the fullest skirt I’ve got!

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 8296 view B, (expensive!) cream printed wool from Astratex
Top; Brown Sugar
Cardigan; Allure
Socks; (stolen from husband!) Discoverer
Boots; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Astratex, skirt, Vogue 8296

Pink lace dress

21/08/2010 4:50 am \ 16 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new dress for spring, but I’ve persuaded Bessie to model it for today… because I’ve started to think about Self-Stitched September coming up where I’ll be documenting my handmade daily outfits everyday (hope that’s not going to be too boring) and no doubt I’ll be wearing it one of those days and will take a snap of myself then. I’ve decided to challenge myself to wear totally handmade, save for tights and shoes… and to never double-up. It will be a challenge, so I’ll see how I go. May have to pop on a store-bought top or T-shirt getting to the end of it, but I’ll try not to…
I bought this pink lace back in the Fabulous Fabrics sale last December and finally got around to sewing the dress I first envisioned back then… the first hurdle was of course that the fabric is completely see through, so a slip was an obvious mandatory requirement. For some strange mental reason, I determined to finish this slip to moderately high standards, yes, even though it’s a slip. I get these funny urges sometimes, maybe it’s because of reading other peoples’ blogs about applying immaculate finishes that is spurring me on… I’m not always this patient because sometimes you just want to get the thing done, no?
Anyhoo, the slip has French seams on the side seams, and Hong Kong binding on the centre back seam, where the invisible zip is inserted. The lower hem and the bodice facing is all invisibly stitched by hand (OK I do do this to all my dresses), although I’m not 100% happy with how the hem looks and may do a different finish on this (any ideas?)… the silk satin won’t be pressed into a traditional double fold hem as flat as I would like. The ribbon straps have lingerie findings incorporated to enable the straps to be adjustable. The pattern I used for the slip is Burda 8071, and for the dress itself I drafted a heavily modified version of Simplicity 3745. Heavily modified in that all the gathering and pleating and the zip has been removed from the dress in order to streamline the silhouette and to use less fabric. The lace is a stretch so can just be pulled over my head.