Santorini socks

18/05/2010 3:00 am \ 6 Comments \

Socks!
When my very talented mother starting knitting socks I must admit to a sneaking moment of thinking “What on Earth…?” but she proved herself to be ahead of the zeitgeist and it was no time at all before I became just as hooked on knitting my own socks, too…  Except that Mum knits socks for all the family whilst I am still selfishly knitting only for myself, except for a couple of my old pairs that have shrunk in the wash which have only then been passed grudgingly along to my daughter with the proviso that she never ever throw them out…!  See how mean I can be?
More than a few friends have given me the sideways stare when it becomes known I am knitting my own socks.  After all when shop bought socks are so cheap, and after you’ve bought your wool, and spent hours and hours knitting, its obviously not a cost or time saving exercise here.  But I will say this in defence of sock-knitting; it is enormously rewarding, and no other single handcrafting exercise has ever been the equal in teaching me the importance of keeping alive old traditions.  
It’s a Zen appreciation of time and energy spent on a small task.
This pair of socks I’m modelling here today was my first pair of socks, called the Santorini socks, because they were partially knitted whilst I was there.  They have developed one hole in 3-4 years of use, which I darned.  When you have spent 20 or so hours making something, you do not toss out lightly, but mend if at all possible.  Which goes back to what I was saying before. 
These were made using a pattern from my mother’s old booklet; the Patons Knitting Book No. C.11, subtitled Gloves and Socks for Toddlers, Boys, Girls, Men and Ladies.  I like how back then ladies were ranked last in the list, even in a pattern book aimed at this market…  This pair of socks is the only time I have made the socks exactly to pattern, all subsequent pairs have some small variation or two…
The booklet cost my mother 1’6, which is one shilling and sixpence.  Yes,  such was the currency in use in Australia prior to 14th February 1966, when we changed over to Australian dollars with 100 cents in them.  A little history lesson, there.  See how instructive this blog can be?!

Details:
Socks; Ladies Sockettes from Patons Knitting book No. C11

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Feeding the soul

17/05/2010 9:00 am \ 4 Comments \

Stopped in this morning at Samudra, one of my favourite-ist cafes, ever.  The ambience in this place is breath-taking.  They grow most of their own produce to make up the menu, enabling a guaranteed fresh and seasonal selection to chose from.  Although the attraction to me isn’t necessarily the food (I could never be accused of being a foodie) but the atmosphere; the abundance and health of the kitchen garden, the majesty of the surrounding trees, the gorgeous chairs and tables made of wood sourced from everywhere, so some furniture is of huge slabs slapped together any-old-how, others of recycled parts of jetty and fencing, and some of hand-adzed old logs, the randomness of it all is what is so charming to me.  The table decorations are always comprised of some sort of seasonal or natural offerings, today it was bright lime-green gourds heaped up about in casually artistic disarray.  It is such balm to the soul to just be there.  In an ideal world I would just go there with my laptop and sit there every day; order a “Jubilant Juice of Joy” (a divine concoction of fresh OJ, lime juice and mint leaves blended) and make this my office away from home.  If only….
This skirt I’m wearing is an oldie from a  few years ago, made using Vogue 7856, view B, and free fabric that a local designer was throwing out.  There was so much of this fabric I made another skirt and a jacket out of it also; I think it was free because the black floral screen-print was a bit scrappy in places, but I just went over the scrappy bits with a black felt-tipped pen (or Sharpie) where it was visible and that seems to have done the trick.  After I had finished the skirt I realised it went up quite high at the sides, way too high for a winter skirt… so I ad-libbed some wide triangles of black cotton to the side edge seams underneath for contrast, interest and modesty.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7856 view B, grey printed cotton, with black cotton add-ons
Cardigan; Country Road
Scarf; Luxe, from Uggys in Dunsborough
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggys in Dunsborough
Bag; Gucci

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Cosy brown cardigan

16/05/2010 7:09 am \ 13 Comments \
Wintery weather is well and truly upon us today (glum face).  We even got a little wet on our beach walk here today.  Just a light misty shower thank goodness…  eau de “wet dog” is not my favourite fragrance to have around in the house and car…
Traditionally as the weather turns cold and stormy and wild my thoughts start to turn to knitting and I get more excited about getting out the old knitting needles and hunting through the available wool and yarn stores.  I’m not there yet, still daydreaming about my current sewing projects for now, but it won’t be long before I’ll be curling up in front of the TV of an evening with the rain and wind battering on the windows and with a knitting project in my lap.
As well as the usual socks, which are always in the process of construction (ooh, haven’t shown you any of my socks yet!) this year I plan to make an infinity scarf, a few of which I’ve seen on the net, and a slouch beanie/beret or two.
This is a cardigan I knitted last year.  I bought 7 balls and just made it up as I went along.  It’s a very cosy cardigan and colourwise I just love the tiny flecks of gold and burgundy mixed in with the rough brown/grey marle.  My favourite part of this cardigan is the button on the front, handmade by Dad.  He sliced a bough of birch tree (grown in Mum and Dad’s own garden), drilled two tiny holes in it, and hand polished it to produce this perfect button.  Isn’t it the most beautiful button ever?  Dad is an extremely talented craftsman, and his handmade items are always hotly sought after prezzies at Christmas time…
Details:
Cardigan; my own design, Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed in Brindle
Jeans; Development
T-shirt; Country Road

Sneakers; Lute, from Betts and Betts

 

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Nice little stormcloud cardi

15/05/2010 4:39 am \ 12 Comments \
My husband has had this jumper for about ten years and hasn’t worn it at all for the last five years at least.  When I found it in our toss-out bag I knew straight away I couldn’t ever throw it out, because we bought it for him together when we were in Paris… ah, holiday memories.  I’m quite sentimental about stuff like that.  Admittedly it has expanded in size substantially over the years and flatters no one any more.  See the before photo below?  Hoo boy.  Enough said.  It’s also pilled and old, but the cloth is a fine woven cotton knit which is lovely and soft to wear and so worth keeping.  Time to get out the scissors…  Don’t worry, it’s not a designer item or anything…
I thought long and hard before embarking on this re-fashion.  I thought about re-sewing the seams so it would fit my husband again, but he was over it…   and I also fantasised about various exciting and asymmetrical avant-garde shapes before decided a nice ordinary little cardi in a classic shape would make me the happiest.  So.  I kept the sleeve and bottom rib edgings (although I’m already wondering whether it would be better with the sleeve ribs turned under and invisibly hemmed on the inside, what do you think?)
The shoulder seams were encased and reinforced with blue bias binding, and the neck edge with a small scrap of blue tape.  I knew those tiny scraps would come in handy some day…
I hand rolled and sewed the raw front edges and attached a medium sized hook and eye for closure.
What do you think?
Details:
Cardi; my own design, refashioned from my husband’s old cotton knit jumper
Jeans in both before and after photos; old corduroys from Just Jeans
Tops; both Metalicus
Scarf; Country Road 
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Pattern Magic; project 4

14/05/2010 11:43 am \ 14 Comments \
It might seem as though I’ve forgotten about my pledge to work my way through the very excellent book Pattern Magic by Nakamichi Tomoko but I haven’t.  It’s just that other sewing projects (such as ballgowns) have intervened and new wardrobe requirements have surfaced as the weather has got colder.  Lately a few naughty new additions to the fabric stash has meant the door to my laundry cupboard no longer closes without Bessie standing outside, her firm butt and her steel foot preventing an absolute avalanche of fabric…  so it was time for me to self-discipline and get back to the to-do list!  And I had purchased this fabric ages ago from the cheapie table at my favourite fabric store and it was just sitting there, waiting to be made up into something… anything…
Anyhoo, here is my latest effort.  I hadn’t got very far into drafting this particular pattern before I realised I was totally going to wear it.  Not only was the colour of this fabric close enough to the air force blue I am currently craving for my winter wardrobe, but I think the dress design is so delightfully different from your run-of-the-mill shift dress without being so odd as to attract sideways glances in the supermarket.  I think an avant-garde pattern made up with a very plain utilitarian fabric such as this sober blue crepe is a happy partnership that works pretty well, if I say so myself!
I started with the bodice drafted at the first stage of the book.  Next step to take a few body measurements enabling you to extend the bodice to get a simple undarted front and back of a shift dress, you then cut out a circle on the side seam and slash the pattern in a sunburst from this circle and fan out the resulting triangular pieces; this is how you achieve the gathered hole at the side seam… hard to explain, but the excellent diagrams in “Pattern Magic” illustrate how to draft the pattern very clearly. 
And here is the dress…  Different, no?  I think my husband was anticipating a bit of flesh exposure happening with this dress, but nooo! … 😉  Plus it’s now definitely too chilly in Perth even for teens to be in their midriff tops!… (Chilly being a relative term here in Perth!)
I just love Japanese sewing books for this reason, their illustrations are so excellent as to make understanding the language not so necessary that you can’t follow the instructions.  I’ve recently acquired through a loan from a friend another superb Japanese pattern book that I plan to work through straight after this one.  Being totally and completely in Japanese though, including the title and cover page, I am unable to supply the name of my borrowed book until further internet research has been carried out…
Details:
Dress; from Pattern Magic, by Nakamichi Tomoko
Top underneath; Metalicus
Boots; Mina Martini, from Marie Claire
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Toasty warm layers

13/05/2010 4:21 am \ 9 Comments \

So you can probably tell by my windswept hair in this photo that the weather today is a blustery foretaste of winter to come here in Perth!
On a whim this morning while trying to decide what to wear, I put this op shop skirt on under the purple heather dress and it felt so warm and cosy I kept it on.  And I really like how the three striped layers of colour looks from top to bottom of this outfit.  Previously I wouldn’t have thought of wearing a skirt under a dress but I think it works in this case when both are straight and plain and in lovely toning colours.  They look a little off-parallel here, but trust me, that is the wind effect and the hems actually line up quite well indoors!
And remember when I announced I would be replacing the lining of this skirt because of its annoying tendency to cling to my legs?  Well today being so brisk and all, the lining-clinging-to-the-legs feature of this skirt turned out to be a plus.  Toasty warm legs!  The lining’s going to stay after all!

Details:
Dress; Burda 8511 with minor adjustments, purple hessian silk
Skirt; Salvation Army op shop ($2!)
Cardigan; Country Road
Boots; Enrico Antinori
Bag; Gucci

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Lounge suite re-cover, version 1

12/05/2010 4:19 am \ 4 Comments \

My post last week entitled “Lounge suite re-cover” should really have been given the addendum “version 3”, as it is the third re-cover this suite has endured…  
After searching high and low for a photo of the first re-cover this is unfortunately the best I can come up with.  Rats.  I’ve not been particularly good in the past with photographing the stuff I’ve made, but I’m trying to do better in this respect… after all I set up this blog as a kind of record of all my sewing efforts both past and present and it’s been so frustrating that some of my favourite projects have gone and I have no pictorial record of them anymore…
This first cover (made in 2000) was made in light blue/grey corduroy that was on super special from Textile Traders.  Naively reassuring myself I was “of course!, capable of whipping up a new cover for our lounge suite…!”  I blithely bought twenty metres and faced my first struggle when I had to somehow get this huge bolt of fabric into my car to get it home…  Eventually worked out how to put down a few seats (my husband had always done that for me), opened the flap into the boot that I didn’t know was there before and discovered it with some relief in the carpark that day…  Finally manhandled the roll of fabric in the car and drove home with it half in the boot, half poking between the front car seats and resting on the dash beside me, my youngest son wedged firmly between the fabric and the car door in the back seat.  A Laurel and Hardy moment in our lives…
This was a huge project for me, being the first time I had tackled something as big as this.  I spent days struggling with large swathes of corduroy, pinning and measuring, refusing to admit defeat.  I was one immensely proud seamstress when it all came together at the end.  I was like, sure I can make clothes for myself, but now upholstery…! Now I’m gettin’ somewhere!, achieving a whole new level of competence here.  So this project marked a minor watershed in my sewing life…so to speak.
It was a tough and hardy cover but in retrospect the colour was deeply impractical…. when you have three children that will eat their Vegemite-on-toast on the couch in front of the TV whilst your back is turned; when chocolate treats are passed around in front of a late night movie… yeah, you get the picture.  The pay-off is a couch that is a sheer embarrassment if friends come around to visit; not to mention the mother-in-law…  (only joking, my mother-in-law is very understanding about furniture that suffers the onslaught of children and animals on a daily basis, lucky for me!)
(sheepish explanation for the huge mess in photo 2, my excuse is that it was Christmas Day, post present opening…)

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Khaki jeggings

11/05/2010 5:55 am \ 21 Comments \

I’ve submitted my first Pattern Review … er, review. This is for Burda 7863, the slimline pants I’ve just finished for winter. I wanted slimline pants this season so I could wear them tucked into my biker boots, and I’m definitely planning to wear these mostly in this way. However only half the legs are visible when boots are on, so for my review photo I thought I’d better show them in their full length as here. Without further ado, here is my review…

Pattern Description: 
Ladies slimline pants in either three quarter or ankle length with fly front, button up waistband, curved inset side pockets, patch back pockets with flap. Waistband sits at natural waistline. For two way stretch fabrics only
Pattern Sizing:
European 36 (US10) to 48 (US22)
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
I made up the ankle length only but, yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
very easy
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
It was a very simple pattern to use. The envelope rates it as average difficulty, I’d say a beginner could easily make these pants successfully. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. What I didn’t like; according to the Burda sizing I have size (US)12 hips and size (US) 10 waist. So I laid the pattern pieces down on some well-fitting jeans I already have and was suspicious the (US)12 hip would be too big, consequently I cut my leg pieces to accommodate size 12 hips but basted them together along the size 10 sewing lines. As it turned out the size 10 fit perfectly and I finished the seams to size 10 and removed the extra allowance.
Fabric Used:
Khaki/grey stretch gabardine for the pants and the back pocket flaps were made in a contrasting beige cotton. Topstitching in contrasting light tan thread, pewter shaded metallic buttons. To reduce chance of “pocket shadow” on the front of the pants I used a scraps of a very lightweight brown synthetic I had for the pocket piece.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
No pattern alterations. Instead of double rows of topstitching as recommended in the pattern instructions I used single long stitch topstitching in a lighter coloured contrasting thread, as I like the more simple look this gives.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I would definitely sew this again! I already have some black stretch denim waiting with this pattern’s name on it…!
Conclusion:
I chose this pattern because I wanted slimline pants for winter and all my other pants patterns are widelegged because I had it stuck in my head slimline wouldn’t suit me. I am thrilled I took a chance with this new pattern type and felt very trendy and hip the first time I wore them! With the waistband sitting high at the natural waistline the pants are a big improvement on the low-rise skinny jeans of the last few years; the higher waist removes the risk of muffin-top happening and using a firm stretch fabric results in a figure hugging, body sculpting silhouette that I couldn’t be happier with…! This are definitely not “mummy jeans” but stylish and smart.
I would class them as “jeggings” the new name for pants that are too thin for the name “jeans” but too tailored and smart to be labelled “leggings”

Details:
Pants; Burda 7863, khaki stretch gabardine
Top; Cue
Ivory scarf; Country Road
Blue scarf; My DIY version, from a refashioned tank-top
Belt; from Salvos op shop
Booties; Django and Juliette

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