Tag Archives: Butterick 4985

Major surgery

Today’s effort is the result of a little wardrobe surgery.  A few years ago we went to a dress-up evening and our whole table went as 50’s style swing dancers.  All the guys wore jeans, white T-shirts and leather jackets, and all the girls wore polka dot circle skirts and neckties, white T-shirts, black sandals and white bobby socks (see before photo).  All us girls had matching outfits; we went out and bought purple, lime green, orange, turquoise and blue polka dot cotton, made our skirts and the neckties from the leftovers, and mixed and matched our neckties!  It was great fun and we won a prize for the best dressed table.
So, fast forward four or five years and I still have this orange polka dot circle skirt sitting at the top of my wardrobe.  Eventually it became patently clear I was never going to wear it ever again, so what to do?  Couldn’t possibly waste all that fabric, and in my colours too! (apparently)
So here is the result.  It is Butterick 4985 with view B collar again, with the sleeves taken from New Look 6252 but cut short.  What can I say, I really like the fitted style of this blouse pattern!
Because the polka dots are really bright bright white I decided to wear it with a white skirt.  I like the way the dull grey metal fittings on the skirt match the iron ore ball necklace, and the dull silver buckles on these sandals … maybe I’m overthinking all this …  Anyhow, I feel its a nice bright colour scheme for what is shaping up to be an dull grey, overcast, drizzly day.
My daughter has a bit of a break before her next exam, so after completing my office work we’ll go out together for a bit of afternoon tea.

Other details:
Skirt; Old Khaki, bought while on holiday in South Africa
Necklace; bought in Egypt
Sandals; Sportscraft, bought in David Jones

 

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What to do when the “whites” wash turns out pink

I used my old favourite Butterick 4985 to make this top out of pink embroidered “bobbly” cotton, with the sleeves snitched from a different dress pattern Burda 7897.  I narrowed the torso region as always, and constructed a loop closure for the buttons, instead of the usual buttonholes.  When it was finished I felt it was too plain, so I then sewed on random strips and bits of leftover lace, broderie englaise and rick-rack I had in my leftovers tin.  Then I felt it was too “pretty”, and needed some punking up.  So out came a red T-shirt that had been a proven “runner” in the past.  That’s runner in dying terms, obviously.  Yes, it had mistakenly been included in a wash load of all white garments, which I discovered upon opening the washing machine had all turned a lovely shade of pink.  Take a deep breathe and count to ten.  Yes, I did have to purchase all new socks and T-shirts for my sons, but this situation doesn’t have to be all bad.
I could put this quality to good use.  What’s the old saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?  This is the home seamstress’ version.
I soaked the offending T-shirt with my new blouse, purposely scrunching the blouse in a way to result in a random blotchy effect, and hey presto!  I LOVE this final look, and wear this a lot.  Every now and then the pink blotches start to fade a bit, then I just repeat the soaking process.

Today I’m meeting the Monday morning gals, and decided to ride my bike as the weather is perfect, warm with a slight breeze, but not too hot that I’m going to turn up like a sweaty exhausted wreck.  I also visited a friend for her birthday, then rounded up the day with riveting challenging work in the office (ha ha)

Other details:
Skirt; Morrison
Shoes; Timberland
Necklace; self-made during my beading fad

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Denim with a white top

I read somewhere that denim jeans and a white top is a fashion look that is worn more commonly by the general population than any other look.  If this is true, then today I am merely conforming to the norm.
Just a plain top today for a plain sort of Sunday; cooking, gardening and a bit of dying.  That’s the colouring of fabric kind, not the having a heart attack kind.  I hope.  The results of the former activity to be featured in a future post, with luck.  
This top, Butterick 4985, is rapidly becoming my favourite blouse pattern, with adjustments.  Because I have a narrow torso I take in the side seams by about 3cm each side.  This can only be achieved by altering the order in which the pieces are sewn together; I construct the two fronts, and the back section, before sewing the side seams, unlike the pattern instructions.  This way I can achieve a perfect fit.
This fabric was entirely leftover from another project, this dress, that’s how little fabric this pattern uses.  I also used some old buttons from my collection, that I had removed from a previous top I was throwing out.  These are a pretty bluey-grey, made from shells.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who keeps lovely old buttons, just in case.  I’ve inherited some really beautiful buttons from my grandmother and great aunt that I will never ever throw out, but re-use, re-use and re-use again.  Hopefully my daughter will too.
As a result this top cost nothing to make but my time, a bonus for a useful little top.

Other details:
Denim shorts; previously owned by my son
Necklace; self-made

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How to wear menswear inspired pants

Wednesday, 21st October 2009

Just a quiet day at home, so dressed accordingly. Both pieces I’ve worn already recently, breaking my rule. But I’m wearing the pants again today since they won’t be really dirty from yesterday, although they will be now since I walked the dog in them this morning. Working up a sweat!
And the top is such a favourite I just had to pull it out again. It is one I posted about previously here (Butterick 4985, view A sleeves, view B collar), except today it can be seen more clearly.
And again, I like the contrast of the ripped, shabby, lace-y casualness of this top with its antique type buttons against the very tailored, almost-menswear pants. I think the best way to wear menswear is to have something ultra-feminine along with it.
Oh, and this summer I am really loving Revlon’s Blackest Black nail polish for my toenails. I feel so chic and edgy with it! This is such a departure for me, who is usually wearing coral pink or nude tones on my nails. Yeah, for something different!
Other details:
Pants; Morrison
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Morticia? Is that you?


Friday, 16th October 2009

This is one of my more recent creations, made in the last few months. I was inspired by Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2008 collection of black lace “suits” (see below). Yes, I realise its taken me quite a while to get around to it…
I had managed to get black lace from the remnants bin on a foray to my favourite fabric shop, Fabulous Fabrics. The top is Butterick 4985 again, view B (nipped in at the torso as always), but with sleeves hijacked from a dress pattern, Burda 7897. The bottom of the blouse, sleeves and the edge of the collar were edged with black border lace. The skirt was constructed by making the lining from my trusty ol’ favourite Vogue 7303 out of gunmetal blue bemsilk. I then used the same pattern to cut out a partial front and back skirt from the lace, then got creative and added random strips and pieces of the same lace around my dressmaking dummy (Bessie) to “fill in the gaps”. I oversewed the joining seams with a wider black border lace and left the long strips hanging down past the hem of the skirt. The final effect is of a slightly random raggedy handkerchief hemline. I didn’t bother hemming or finishing the lace, as it won’t unravel.
The blue lining was chosen because I liked the interesting contrast under the black(also because I had a perfect size length left over in my stash which needed using up!). I managed to find the perfect buttons to match this colour at Calico and Ivy; beautiful tiny heart-shaped, blue shell buttons; there are four down the front of the blouse. All in all, I’m very pleased with the final effect, and I felt quite dressy enough when I met some friends for lunch at the this month’s Globe Fashion Friday!
Other details;
Camisole; Country Road

Shoes; Micam by Joanne Mercer,
Hobbs
Photo below from Prada Autumn/Winter 2008 collection, www.style.com, see here
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Day 2 of new blog

Sunday 11th October 2009

I know, I’ll get more creative with titles as time goes on, I’m sure.

Today will be a quiet Sunday, what with hubby working, oldest at Uni, middle studying for exams and youngest on camp. So I just took Sienna for a long walk and will be spending the rest of the day sewing, houseworking and trying to understand more about this blog thing.
My picture today is of my typical dogwalking gear, my blouse and cardi were made about a year ago. The blouse is Butterick 4985, view A sleeves and view B collar. Its been a favourite pattern, but even though I’m a size 10 by the envelope it swims on me, so I always take it in by about two inches each side tapering to normal measurements by the hip (I’m pear-shaped). I made it out of cream broderie anglaise cheesecloth, and randomly sewed on leftover bits of cotton lace from another project around the bodice for interest. I also added cotton crochet border lace around the front openings, and sewed on a waist tie of the same stuff to pull it in at the waist at front. The buttons were a rather lovely find; brassy type with like a blue jewel inset, rather like grandmother’s engagement ring. I didn’t hem at all, just topstitched the raw edges with pale blue stitching about 1cm in. I like this look more with each wash as it has frayed and rolled gently, sort of shabby bohemian.
The cardi was originally going to be something else clever out of crinkled polyester net. Ahem, unless you buy the stuff already crinkled no amount of boiling, scrunching or generally attacking is going to crinkle polyester net! There must be some special chemical process by which they achieve this! I eventually had to settle for an uncrinkled look, and finally traced out the pattern from a favourite Marilyn Seyb cardi I had bought in New Zealand and wore to DEATH (but can’t bring myself to ever part with). My version is two layered, the inner layer white net and the outer coffee, sewn together on the serger. The front opening is stabilised with white grosgrain ribbon, simply zigzagged stitched around up one front, around the back neck and down the other front. A single brass rimmed small white button forms closure. This cardi pattern I have used elsewhere and I love the simple open shape of it.
Other details:
Cargo pants: Ezibuy
Camisole: Country Road
Thongs(flipflops): Mountain Designs
Thanks to Tim for taking photo; note to self, must find out how to use camera auto timer…
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