Tag Archives: Booragoon Skirt

I made a dress, a cool skirt and three tops; aka I actually used all of my 2022 labels, yay!

31/12/2022 1:11 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a few new things, thus appropriately using all my “circa 2022” labels, hurrah! I know, I know, using up labels should NOT be a criteria for making anything, and yet.. and yet… I still felt compelled to do so. And these are all things that I am going to be very happy wearing, so I’m ok with it all 🙂

First up!

this dress, another from my self-designed pattern that Cassie and I are working on right now. I made this one from this dress that I wasn’t wearing any more. I really loved the large scale check linen, but the length and sheer volume of the dress made it unwieldy if not borderline uncomfortable to wear on the beach… which let’s face it; is a large part of my life nowadays. I’m much happier with the fabric usage now since I am more inclined to wear it in this more streamlined iteration! Technical deets; I had to cut many pieces on the bias and there’s a centre back seam in the back bodice, which shouldn’t be there; but I covered it up with a bias cut strip of dark chocolate cotton. Mostly to obscure the complete lack of patten matching here, which was visually jarring to my eyes.

Second! a simple little white Booragoon top. Actually; and Third! I’ve just remember I made TWO simple little white Booragoon tops; one for Lainey for Christmas, which I have totally failed to photograph. Picture this top, just in white.

btw, I didn’t put labels in things I made for others, just because you never know if people are going to get the same kick out of them that I do… Anyway I made another white one for me too… pictured on Cassie here.

This is Cassie’s and my Christmas post for our pattern company this year; I’m wearing my mustard Yallingup dress, Cassie is wearing her yellow Booragoon skirt and the aforementioned new little white Booragoon top. You might be able to see it’s a tiny bit big on her, since it’s my size.

Fourth! I made a new skirt, using some Ikuntji Artists fabric, that I did purchase during this year, using the voucher that I’d won for this outfit. The print is called “Mintjinperri”, by Kelly Dixon, which sadly seems to be no longer available.

Having said that though, I think the print is what totally makes the skirt! Pretty amazing, huh?! The skirt is partially lined with dark blue lining fabric.

The pattern is my own, another that I am developing right now. I made it long, with two side splits, and the also split lining is attached to the splits at the sides.

Something giving me joy? sounds a tad obsessive, but I used coffee coloured thread for most of it, including the topstitched hem, which is the only visible stitching on the thing. A few spots had coffee coloured top-stitching on solid dark blue areas which was a little distressing, so I switched to dark navy blue for these bits.

Fifth! I made the matching, dark navy-blue Booragoon top. Well, I still had my pattern pieces out so just cut it out and ran it up very quickly. I’ve already written just about anything I can think of with regards to the Booragoon, my own pattern, but just know that I’m not making it up again and again just to big note myself, but because I truly love this little pattern right now. It’s very flattering to my figure, and because it’s sleeveless it goes nicely under cardigans in the summer too.

So that’s it! The very last of my 2022 labels, and the very last day of the year too. Seems fitting 🙂

I’m going to try to squeeze in a retrospective post before the VERY end of the day too, so fingers crossed! If I did, then it’s going to be very obvious, very soon!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Booragoon skirt, Booragoon top, dress, skirt, top

a suedette skirt

14/10/2022 6:00 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I made another Booragoon skirt for myself; partly so I could film it and make a kinda helpful – I hope! – youtube video to illustrate some of the more difficult parts of the construction process. I appreciate this is an advanced pattern with some tricky aspects to getting a nice sharp and clean edge to the front panel, and the way the zip is inserted is quite unique, in my experience. SO I hope this helps some! I will be linking to this video in the instructions too…

As the video contains quite a lot of detail shots already, this post is another short and sweet one… you’re welcome!

Please note that this skirt is a cut little longer than the pattern; and I love the more midi length of it! And it’s deliciously swirly!

I used a very deep chocolate brown suedette that is actually beautiful quality; Mum bought it for herself from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during one of our jaunts over there and upon cleaning out her stash has now passed it onto me.

I know, I’m so lucky, am I not? I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to work through my augmented stash now, but am excited to find out. Cassie, with a raised eyebrow opined that it’s (quote) extremely disciplined (unquote) of me to attempt to use up my entire stash before allowing myself to buy any more, but I’m determined to see it through. I may have to allow myself to buy something for Sam and Lainey’s wedding, but I’ll see how I go. I do have some nice fabric already … but mother-of-the-groom worthy? Hmmm.

just saying… pocket

Well, that’s all for now! Until next time!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Booragoon skirt, Booragoon top, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, daily outfit, skirt

the Booragoon skirt and Booragoon top

02/07/2022 9:24 pm \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

phew… I’m beyond exhausted, but also absolutely thrilled to announce the release of our latest two patterns… the Booragoon skirt and the Booragoon top!

So; here’s the story -yes, there’s always a story. That’s what a blog is for, right?!

For our niece’s 21st last year, for which I made this bumblebee cake; Cassie made a self-designed skirt for herself. It was a seriously cool skirt and brought forth many oohs and aahs and the inability to keep oneself from checking it out. Fortunately, not only did Cassie welcome the checking out part, but also excitedly declared on the spot that we should most definitely make it a pattern. So the horses were out of the gate and we were off! Of course, it did not proceed as swiftly as hoped; not only did work get in the way like a great big ol’ nuisance (not like it pays the bills or anything) but Cassie also returned to work after maternity leave was over, which slowed things down a little too.

And while Cassie’s skirt was beautifully made; she had done a massive amount of hand stitching to make the zip insertion and design lines work; which I knew would have be worked on before we could even think of releasing it.

See; the top tier of the skirt has a sharp edged, right-angle panel encircling the waist; very architectural in its genesis; that incorporates the waistband and a front panel. The front panel folds down to hide a zip closure; and the waistband has an attached, very long and skinny tie to further pull it all together. Sounds interesting? It is!

It took a bit of experimentation and fiddling, but I eventually worked out the zip insertion; so you could do it all by machine.

The top is one I’ve made for Cassie many times before; and we both decided the top really complemented the skirt very well; so we decided to release the patterns as a set. But of course you can always buy them separately as well. Actually; while I would rate the little jersey top as an Advanced Beginner level of pattern, the skirt really veers into Intermediate-Advanced level, thanks to the difficulty in mastering those nice sharp angles.. I would never tell anyone not to give it a go, however, Honestly; if I’d been scared off by Advanced ratings in my early sewing days I reckon I never would have got anywhere! I’m a big believer that’s it’s a good thing to push yourself. At the same time, the skill level thing is there for a reason!

We are offering a special, release day sale on the new patterns; the Booragoon Top, the Booragoon Skirt, and the Booragoon Top & Skirt are all 20 % off for the first 5 days, starting today. You even get a little special, and permanent discount for buying the set of patterns, as opposed to separately.

All three options re listed for sale in our Etsy store; here.

Is this a good time to mention that the skirt has a pocket? It’s just big enough for a phone and some small things, and it’s surprisingly unobtrusive. I’ve got my phonon my pocket for all my photos and it can’t be seen at all!

My lovely daughter-in-law Lainey agreed to model for us again; and the set I made for her is an all-in-one colour set; so it gives more of a dress vibe: for this one; I bought cotton from Spotlight for the skirt, and the cotton jersey for the top was a lucky match from Mum’s stash.

This next set is one of my earlier attempts; it was not particularly well made because I was still working out the zip at this point; but I really liked the skirt-over-a-dress look of it so saved the idea for my “real” one, above! Cream cotton jersey inherited from Mum’s stash, brown gabardine leftover from a long-gone pair of jeans/trousers I made for myself years ago.

And this set is playing with a dress-over-a-skirt look, just for fun. Both fabrics inherited from Mum’s stash.

All these different looks are achieved simply by different combinations of self and contrasting fabrics, and I really love this kind of versatility in a pattern!

Working on this pattern also contributed substantially to my #use30 challenge, for which I am quite grateful too, hehe. Thanks for that, Booragoon skirt and top!

Oh, the name? Booragoon is a local suburb here in Perth, and the location for a very popular shopping mall, which was actually both mine and Cassie’s introduction to department store shopping, for me dating back to my childhood years. Well, for Cassie too; but I mention for me in particular just to illustrate how long the mall has been there. It is also where my Dad had his practise for many many years; so when we went shopping we were always popping in to visit him while he was there. So “Booragoon” just has sentimental memories for us both; being a place “to shop” if you like. And we thought the Booragoon skirt and top was that kind of outfit that you might put on in order to sally forth for a day of genteel shopping and maybe a cup of tea and piece of cake to fortify yourself during the ordeal. Aaah, memories!