6 different ways Archives - Page 4 of 6

Hot pink shorts; 6 different ways

18/01/2012 3:56 am \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

So, shorts, and particularly linen shorts are always going to be a warm weather thing and perhaps not an obvious candidate for “see how useful this item of clothing is!”…. But I am an Aussie after all, and typically lead a very relaxed and outdoorsy lifestyle that means shorts are an essential part of my wardrobe for just about half the year (I wouldn’t choose to wear shorts in winter personally, although I’ve seen a few magazines trying to sell the idea of shorts-with-tights look; that’s just not for me, sorry…)
And I do like to use these 6 different ways posts to showcase garments that have proven themselves runaway useful little wardrobe builders, and that I have grabbed and put on regularly, and have enjoyed wearing. And these shorts that I made using Burda 7723 are sure fitting into this category.
Ergo.
So here are just a selection of the daily outfits that I have worn including my pink shorts lately, each photo taken on each of the days that I wore them… and I’ve given a few thoughts on my styling choice and how I felt wearing each of these outfits on the day…
At left; I just wanted to try this one because this is the jacket designed to match these shorts in the very same pattern. I felt a little oddly formal wearing this out and about, although I absolutely loved these colours together (reminded me of Frenchy’s fab outfit with the pink hair in Beauty School Dropout, Grease) But maybe jacket-and-shorts together is not strictly “me”? At right; with a chambray shirt, sleeves casually rolled up? Definitely “me”! A gardening and sewing day, bliss.

At left; felt quite fashion-y and rather dressed up in this outfit, even though it is actually just a linen shirt buttoned up and tucked in… I received a few compliments! Worn out meeting up with some gal pals… At right; with my little white linen Pattern magic top. Wore this out and about, walking the dog and running errands, and it felt like a perfect match. Will wear this one over and over again…

At left; with a little coffee-coloured, triple-collared shirt, and a light cardi (to avoid sunburn) I thought this cardigan would be a good colour match but was interested that it made my shorts look purple! Loved wearing this, it was a great outfit for a cooler day, and I do prefer a cardi-with-shorts look… At right; with a pale chartreuse loose linen top and matching scarf. I really like the colour wheel opposites here, and the fact that the greens are so pale against the vividness of that pink peeking out underneath. And that it’s so comfy and cool…

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how this rather in-your-face, look-at-me colour has settled happily into my almost pink-less wardrobe, and how much I have enjoyed them… years of avoiding hot pink because of some misguided fear that it would mark me as “not serious”; I think I’ve relaxed a bit! So, which one of these outfits would be the most “you”, do you think?
(And fyi, the outfit I am wearing today is the last one with the pale chartreuse top and scarf.)

Posted in: fashion, Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Burda 7723, shorts

Blue bunches top; 6 different ways

15/12/2011 8:01 am \ 16 Comments \ Carolyn

I thought this little top, from p58 of “Pattern Magic 3” by Tomoko Nakamichi (seen first here), might be a versatile little thing from the very first, since I tried wearing it both frontwards and backwards and it looked equally OK both ways… And then I started playing around with it and found that it could literally be worn in six different ways, and I don’t just mean jamming it randomly into six different outfits! although I did put together six different outfits too…. just because it is fun, y’know 🙂

At left; the top worn in its intended form as it appears in the pattern book, that is with the round neck and ties (or “bunches” as I think of them) at the front, and the V-neck at the back…… And at right I am wearing it back-to-front and with the V-neck at the front and the ties hanging down at the back. Oh, I know the details are covered up some in this picture but well I had to throw in just one slightly winter-y option into the mix! And really I’m just trying to show how the top is all-seasonal, layering with light cardis during the cooler months too… (if you want to see this “way” fully and without a scarf and cardi over the top it is shown better here)

Also, the bits that form the “bunches” can be taken out and folded down against the body, and then the top can be tucked into a high-waisted garment. This way it just looks like an ordinary little plain tank top. I dunno if it is just me but I do think the round-neck at the front (at left) is a tad more dressy while the V-neck looks more casual.

Lastly, those “bunch bits” can be left loose and free, and the top takes on even more different and interesting shapes. Again, I think the V-neck and the longer length at the front (on the right) is somehow a more casual look.

Interesting, huh? Who would have thought that one little top could work in so many ways?
Oh, what am I wearing today? I am wearing the fifth outfit; “all out” and with the round neck and shorter length at the front (just above, and on the left) I reckon it looks pretty funky like this too…
Which “way” do you like the best?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Pattern Magic 3, top

Khaki skinny jeans; 6 different ways

15/11/2011 5:39 am \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

It’s hilarious to me now how when I had first set out to make these jeans I was slightly skeptical whether I would wear them much… they have so become the backbone to so many outfits! I think I was nervous about the skinniness of them; and whether I could even carry this look off. But I came around! I’ve worn them countless ways already on this blog… (I’ve just counted, they have appeared twelve times hehehe :D, but trust me I’ve worn them stacks more!) The firm but stretchy nature of the fabric make them comfortable and easy to wear, the very simple shape and the drab unobtrusiveness of the neutral colour mean they never steal the show, but just set off so much of what I’ve got, beautifully. They have been incredibly useful in my wardrobe.
So for today I had a bit of a play at mixing them up a few more times…

Admittedly, during the winter I have worn them almost exclusively with my biker boots. I really like the solidness of the boots visually counteracting the skinniness of the jeans above. At left; air force blue along with the khaki, and my crochet scarf; at right, looking a bit more classic when worn with my Chanel-style jacket

The jeans are skinny enough to pass for tights when worn underneath my (current) favourite dress; at right and looking a bit smarter; for a splash of colour I’ve always loved the slightly military colour combination of red and khaki together.

At left; if I was heading out to a summery soiree the jeans set off an unusually styled little top and jewelled sandals; and more casually at right; I really like the simple contrast here, the sorta “modern-ness” of the plain jeans when worn with a romantically embroidered floaty ivory top.

Which outfit am I wearing today? well the weather is now delightfully warm and today might be their last gasp before the really hot weather hits, and I am wearing the last casual summery outfit with the ivory top.
Which look here do you like the best?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Burda 7863, jeans

Burnt-orange skirt; 6 different ways

14/10/2011 9:25 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve been playing with my recently finished burnt-orange skirt, styling it up for a variety of seasons and the different degrees of formality that my lifestyle requires. When I bought this silk hessian I knew its autumnal shades would go with a lot in my wardrobe. But I had such fun putting together outfits based on this skirt… OK, sure I always have a lot of fun playing in my wardrobe, but this time was an easy breezy spoilt-for-choice kind of a fun; because this skirt really goes with just about everything I own! I could have had twice as many outfits as I have pictured here… either a sign that I have far too many clothes (a distinct possibility), or that I am getting a lot better at colour matching my fabric purchases to each other, and to myself and my own colouring. The latter can only be a good thing; the former… hmmm, well we won’t go there…
I made this little skirt during the tail end of winter and styled it then with charcoal grey and black here, and I thought the colour of the skirt added a nicely rich yet still citrus-y zing to those sombre winter-y shades. Naturally the orange will also look fresh and tangy with a pure white top during the warmer months, so I avoided that obvious choice here, with just one exception which I’m guessing will be a much harder item to mix-and-match in my wardrobe…
namely this avant garde white dress, at left. It’s quite short on its own so really needs at least a little skirt underneath. To be honest, I’m already re-thinking this white dress (it’s pretty ….er, voluminous) and have a few new plans… watch this space. But in the meantime, wouldn’t this be a good choice for a half-way glamorous, semi-formal summer do? Just imagine the champagne glass in my hand… yes?
At right; for a more casual kind of a summer’s day, well my top here is of shot silk, with an orange warp and a blue weft, so its resultant drab pink colour is actually a mixture of the other two colours in the skirt and scarf of this outfit… how’s that for painterly colour analysis of an outfit? Sorta impressive…huh?

For days of middling temperature:
At left; Casual required? I would wear this outfit, and thus serendipitously be sorta colour-blocked. The current fashion buzz-word.
At right; going somewhere nice? Mixing the burnt orange with milk chocolate brown, khaki and rich brown leather; and getting into those toasty autumnal sorts of shades here.

Going winter-y:
At left; I wore these denim-y blue garments with my rusty red skirt during SSS11, and I really like them with the burnt orange skirt too. Will definitely wear this on a cold and casual day next year… hopefully these tights will hold out that long, fingers crossed :S
And lastly at right; for a semi-smart winter’s occasion, the burnt orange colour works beautifully with the rich jewel shades of ruby red, purple-y red and with the chocolate brown in my tights, boots and bag… well rugged up, and these colours are psychologically half warming me up already!

What am I wearing today? well I met with a friend for her birthday lunch, and I wore the “brown” outfit with my slouchy boots. It was perfect for visiting a cafe, and for these pleasantly warm but not hot days that we are getting now.
Which outfit here do you like the best?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, skirt, Vogue 8363

Purple sheath dress; 6 different ways

06/08/2011 1:41 pm \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

I made this silk hessian dress using Burda 8511 about a year and a half ago and yes, this dress has appeared here in a number of mixes already. I have found the simplicity of the design to be a wonderful canvas for accessorising and layering, and the colour has proven itself to be trans-seasonal. (look at me, pulling out all those professional-sounding stylist-type words there, hmm?) Trans-seasonal, meaning the soft violet colour is quietly pretty enough to fit in happily into a neutral cold weather ensemble, but still has enough personality to hold its own with the stronger colours of the warmer seasons; and I’ve worn it on all but the hottest of days. Being fully lined it is kind of unsuitable for the full-on heat of summer, but it’s been such a goodie for any day of lesser temperatures. So here we go…
Firstly, and feeling uninspired, I went to my go-to smart/casual winter styling for this dress at left. Hmm, well maybe it is a tad ho-hum, well of course any dress goes with all black accessories… at right my next, more summery attempt at styling this dress; well now lookeee, it goes well with ivory too! T’ank you Captain Obvious. I’m all set if I ever get an invite to a garden party here. Anyhoo, you can see what I mean here about the neutral-friendliness of this colour…

OK, so now getting more adventurous with colour and thinking about the warmer days ahead here… how I would wear this for a typical day spent walking along the beach?, well like this, at left. As well, the shape of the sheath is not overly fitted so the dress can work successfully as a tunic, and for a more dressy event on a summer’s evening it can be worn over a slightly longer A-line skirt for an extra layer of colour, and with an equally colourful necklace and heels to dress it up.

And finally for the cooler days we have been getting during winter, at left the colour is not an overwhelming look-at-me shade, so that it blends OK with other smudgy neutrals, at left; and at right, on a particularly cold winters day I can really rug myself up with a scarf and denim jacket, and with some bright cheerful tights to visually punch it up. This last look is the one I am wearing today in soccer mum and weekend going out-and-about mode. It was cold this morning, 5C!!! I’m so over winter, sorry…

And happily my wardrobe brainstorming session has given me some new inspirations for different ways to wear this dress to see out winter and to welcome in the warmer days of spring!
Which look here do you like the best?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Burda 8511, dress

Black straight-leg jeans; a post mortem, and 6 different ways

06/07/2011 8:14 am \ 22 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I mentioned yesterday that my year-old black straight-legs had bitten the dust, but I hadn’t gone into much detail and I thought it would be helpful to any others starting out with their own pair of jeans to list here the two reasons I think they had died so quickly.
Now I’ve made six pairs of things I would call “jeans”, and these black straight-legs were only my second attempt so I did make a few rookie mistakes which are now glaringly obvious to me now, but at the time I just didn’t see… so while I am definitely no expert, it is true that we are all learning with each new garment so if this aids anyone at all, then fabulous…
First mistake; the fabric I chose just wasn’t suitable for the pattern. I know, sounds glaringly obvious now doesn’t it? But at the time I had firmly decided I wanted black denim jeans, so as soon as I found some black denim that had a small amount of stretch in it I just bought it. However, I didn’t put nearly enough thought into it really; and my fabric really was both too thick and not stretchy enough for what is a very close-fitting jeans pattern. Result, the jeans fitted like a stiff, tight glove, which was fine as long as I was standing and walking about, or sitting demurely upright in a chair. Luckily, 90% of my day is spent in one of these ways. If however, I wanted to curl up on the couch in the evening, which is also a part of my day, the jeans were pretty uncomfortable!
Second mistake; I used a dress zip, instead of a jeans zip.
(at left, a dress zip in jeans, bad idea; at right; a jeans zip, now we’re talking!)

Another glaringly obvious mistake now, right? But a person setting out to make their first pair of jeans might, like me, just blithely buy and insert a dress zip like usual. Be warned; all will be fine for a year or so, then the combination of that thick, strong, non-stretchy fabric and a weak little zip, means that during one of those curling-up-on-the-couch times, something is gonna give. In the case of these jeans it was the zip…
Lesson learned!
However, while I was a bit sad, I now have my new black flares to comfort me… and I did get an enormous amount of wear out of the black straight-legs jeans. I went back to check through my own photos to see how many pictures I took… it turned out only seven! However, you have to believe me, these jeans were worn a tonne during last winter… I guess I just don’t take my own photo nearly as often as I thought! 100% of the time I wore them with my biker boots, and it is interesting to me to see that in all of these photos bar one (and upon reflection, all the other times I wore them too) I tended to either mostly match the black, or to stick with a predominantly neutral palette. I’m not a believer that black “goes with everything”. In fact, I view black to be as much of a prima donna colour as white is, and needs to be treated accordingly with respect.

Which winter-y outfit here would you pick as your favourite?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Burda 7863, jeans

Turquoise pencil skirt; 6 different ways

26/05/2011 2:33 am \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

These posts are a guilty pleasure to me; it’s such fun to play around in my own closet and dream up a whole lot of new ways in which I could possibly wear an old favourite to suit a variety of situations… for this one I chose my turquoise pencil skirt, made from a real oldie pattern from the late seventies, Vogue 1023. So old that my mother originally bought this pattern to make my concert band performance skirt, for when I was in high school, lol! I can’t believe I’m even owning up to that here… what’s that old saying about, if you remember it the first time around then you’re too old for it the second time around, or some such rubbish? Obviously I’m ignoring that advice. And anyway, Mum made the ankle-length version for me back then…
I made this version of the skirt about eighteen months ago now, details are here, as part of my then plan to inject Colour! into my wardrobe and life. The colour has proved a slight challenge sometimes to this diehard neutral lover, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it turn out very useful, and worked really well with lights and light neutrals, and also with brights. Not so good with darks and drabs, but meh… still been a great cheerful little skirt to have in a fab colour.
So here we go…
At left, on a summery day, going casual and primary-colourful; and more business-like at right, being a demure little pencil skirt it can suitably and happily go to the office worn with a tucked-in buttoned-up striped shirt

At left; contrasting that turquoise with its colour wheel opposite, apricot and orange; and at right, a more monotonal look

When the weather turns a bit colder the bold colour stands up to a bit of sharp contrast… at left, I am currently loving the slightly strange juxtaposition of blood red and turquoise; and at right, the turquoise manages to transform to beautifully winter-y when worn with winter white and strong chocolate brown accessories.

What am I wearing today? Well, the richness of ruby red combined with the jolt of turquoise just above is such an unexpected and therefore striking colour combination; I just love it! This is the outfit I am wearing today. And although you probably can’t see it in the photo, my toenails exactly match my skirt. This minor detail pleases me…!
Which look here is your preference?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Vogue 1023

Lacey, sort-of Duro dress; 6 different ways

15/04/2011 6:11 am \ 16 Comments \ Carolyn

Oooh, I do enjoy doing these more than is healthy. Playing about in my wardrobe, I mean.
I made this dress, a modified version of Simplicity 3745 out of white dotted swiss voile and a crocheted lace for the border and bodice trim about two and a half years ago and have worn it tonnes of times since. I’m sure I will wear this one to death. I was inspired by a minor infatuation in the fashion world for the Duro dress. The funny thing is that initially I wasn’t one hundred percent happy with it. The shape of the dress with its V-neck and gathered areas both in the bodice and in the skirt was new for me. I felt the bodice made me look a little bit matronly in the bust. This is kind of hilarious as I am really the complete opposite of matronly in the bust area, so yeah, the dress was a new experience. But initial “is it really me?” thoughts notwithstanding, the dress has had plenty of outings. So I guess it turned out to be “me” after all. The presence of lace helped, probably.
White is sometimes seen as a difficult colour to mix and match, a prima donna colour much the same as black which can swamp and downplay any other colour. But I had no troubles playing with this dress and creating six different seasonal looks. In fact it was heaps of fun!

The light colour, airiness and laciness of the fabric says “summer” all by itself, so in the warmer months the dress is ready to go with a colourful scarf as its only adornment, below left. To be honest, the lowness of that neckline does mean a scarf makes me feel a lot more comfortable in this dress…
If a fancier summer ensemble is required the all-white look is always elegant, with a little cardigan, heels and an elegant bag all that is needed to dress it up for a half glamorous soiree, below right.

For a casual day, a few drab neutrals downplay the rampant femininity of that frothy white lace at left, and on a cooler day the freshness of white gives a lift to a warm richly textured and coloured scarf, a denim jacket and some slouchy boots, to make a nice outfit for meeting some friends or the husband out somewhere, at right.

On colder winter days, the dress has enough of its own personality than it can stand being toughened up a bit with all-black accessories such as biker boots and a little black leather jacket and a long skinny scarf. Actually I have worn this exact outfit several times last winter but never took a photo for the blog. And for a smarter day look, the lace border of the dress looks interesting when peeping out from under a winter coat.