Tag Archives: Daily Outfit

tie-dye cardigan

03/12/2015 1:50 pm \ 28 Comments \

I’ve made another little cardigan… the last, I promise! for at least a little while! 
I didn’t really need another one but I said I’d thought of yet another little way the construction of this design could be improved? naturally I just had to try it out…
Fabric; a toss-out from Mum, a cotton or something or another jersey, original provenance unknown.  I barely had enough for the cardigan but just managed to squeak out the pieces; the tie is a little on the short side and is pieced in several places but no biggie, I still got it out! and the joins are lost in the print.  I rather like the tie-dye print and my only concern was to avoid situating a bulls-eye in the boob-al region when cutting out.  Mission accomplished!

Pattern; the Nettie, by Closet Case patterns, modified to be a cardigan with a loose extended neckband that hangs down in a shawl-y type of a way.  The neck band on this, third, version of the design is a little short to be tied in the front like the last two iterations, so I’m planning to only wear them hanging loose like this.

My desire for a super-clean finish is finally satisfied with the insides on this last version… they are super neat and tidy! with no exposed seams or stitching, barring inside the sleeve/armhole.  *happy sigh*

I’ve written my order of construction to illustrate how it all went together…  it’s a little more fiddly than the previous methods but perfectly doable.

Cutting; cut the fronts on a centre fold so they are double layered.  Same picture as the previous cardigan because it’s identical.  I sized up a couple of sizes to get that looser cardigan fit, rather than the tight bodysuit-fit that the pattern is designed for.
NOW; the first step is to sew fronts to the back at the side seams, right sides together.

Now, fold the fronts in half, right sides together, and stitch the front facing to the back at the side seam over the previous stitching, enclosing the seam allowances within the front and front facing.  You will need to pull the pieces inside out a little to make this step possible, basically you are sewing the front piece in a tube with the back piece encased between the two side edges.  Grade seam allowances, turn out and press.

Cut the lower band to fit and stitch to the lower edge, keeping front facings free.  You will need to stitch each front section and the back section of this seam separately to each other, stopping and starting at the side seams; fiddly? yes, but worth it in the end.  Press open then down onto band.

Fold the band in half lengthwise and stitch the short edges, right sides together; trim and grade seam allowances, turn right sides out.

Snip all layers of the band seam allowances at the side seams, and also the lower band facing seam allowance at the same point.

Now, from the shoulders/top; reach inside the front/front facing “tube” and pull the lower edge where it’s stitched to the lower band through along with the loose facing edge and band facing edges.  Align all raw edges, taking care to make sure corners are sitting tight and accurately together because with a stretchy fabric it can be all too easy to stretch them out of place! and stitch the whole shebang together in one seam.  Trim corners, grade seam allowances, pull it all right sides out and press.

Voila!  yes it is a fiddly business but it look at that lovely absence of exposed seams on the fronts!

That last remainder of the lower band facing is turned under, pinned and hand-slipstitched in place.  Hiding those seam allowances, too  🙂

Now stitch the shoulder seams, front to back, enclosing the back between the two fronts as for the previous version of this cardigan, here, in fact the remainder of construction is exactly the same… stitch sleeve seams, finish; set in sleeves, finish likewise; sleeve cuffs, as per this method; neckband, as per this method described for my previous cardigan.

Details:
Cardigan; the Nettie by Closet Case Patterns, modified as stated
Tshirt under; another Nettie, white jersey, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723, details here
Location; Bunker Bay, Dunsborough… we had it completely to ourselves!  so lucky

photos courtesy of Craig
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tie-front cardigan from a Tshirt pattern; a brief tutorial

18/11/2015 6:09 am \ 30 Comments \

Remember recently I made a little paprika cardigan? and I wasn’t super happy with my construction technique of the fronts and could visualise a far better method of getting that front edge nice and neat … well, of course I could not rest until I had seen it through.
Voila; new, stormy-grey-blue cardigan
Essentially, the gist is to cut each front piece on the fold through the centre front; meaning the fronts are double thickness, with one half acting as a facing.  The fold at centre front is its own neat finish with no further need to do anything at all to it.  Also, the front plus facing enclose the lower band between their two layers.  For this reason, this technique works very well with very thin knits.
Fabric; thin blue/grey marl cotton jersey, leftover from Sam’s hoodie and originally a remnant bought from the Morrison sale, although when I say remnant there was at least 5m of it!  Morrison is tres generous with their “remnants”, to say the least!   I still have quite a lot left.  
Pattern; I used the Nettie from Closet Case patterns, which is my go-to basic now for form-fitting Tshirts/bodysuits, however any tried and true Tshirt pattern could be used for this same modification.

I cut my pieces like so: top parts; fabric folded along the right hand side; with the top two horizontal bands being the “rough cut” lower edge band and the sleeve cuff bands respectively; underneath are the back cut on the fold, the sleeves and at the left is the long neckband.  This last is joined right sides together along one short edge to make a double length band on the grain.
After cutting these: the fabric is then re-folded in from each edge so as to cut those two fronts (below) on a fold, with the centre front laid on each fold.  Cut from the inside shoulder edge out to the CF fold at bustline level on a straight diagonal line, to create the V-neck opening edge.

front piece at left is folded in half, front piece at right opened out along CF fold

Construction details:
first, stitch fronts to back at shoulders.  Sandwich the back between the two fronts so that the seam allowances get tucked away between the layers.  You have to twist it around it in a weird funny-looking way but it does work out.

Stitch front to back at side seams, keeping the front facing free.
Then trim the cardigan to the length you want it to be, taking into account the width of the lower band.  Measure the around the lower edge to determine the length of the lower band and cut it to fit; allowing for a 1cm seam allowance at each end.
Pin the band to the lower edge of the cardigan, again keeping the front facings free.  Stitch, between the seam allowances, right sides together.

 front facing free

Turn the band up in half, lengthwise, right sides together, and stitch the short edges closed, ceasing stitching at the end of the previous stitching.  Turn bands right side out and press.

Now fold the facing to the outside, laying it over the lower bands and keeping raw edges even, and stitch lower edge seam through all layers, keeping the stitching just a whiskers’  width outside the previous stitching.  The reason for keeping it just outside is so that the previous stitching does not show through on the right side of the band.
Now when you pull the band out and turn it all back right side out, the seam allowances are nice and neatly hidden away out of sight.  Yay!

outside of cardigan? inside? impossible to tell which is which!

To anchor the front facing to the side seams, I opted to simply lay the front facing down to the side seam allowances, aligning raw edges, and top-stitch from the right side, 6mm away from the seam.  The raw edge won’t fray, and it looks reasonably neat stitched down, also the top-stitching also accomplishes a sort of faux-felling of the seam allowances too.  However this is definitely not ideal and I have to admit I have since thought of a different and better way of doing this bit too! so there may well have to be yet another little cardi in my near future… to see that thought through too… eeek! am I getting a bit obsessive or what? hmmm could be could be…  😉

Sleeves; same technique as for every other Tshirt/cardigan ever invented.  Namely, stitch the sleeve seams, set sleeves in the armhole and stitch.  The raw edges can be finished with overlocking if desired.  
Attach sleeve cuffs, for this I nearly always employ this method, which gives a nice neat finish I think.
Last step; the neckband: pin the long neckband to the raw edges of the neck edge, including the facing, keeping raw edges even, right sides together and stitch.  

Fold the ties in half along the length, right sides together and stitch the long tie ends together, starting at the endpoints of the previous stitching.  Stitch the short ends in a diagonal point, if desired.

Trim, turn the ties right sides out and press.
Turn under the seam allowances of the remaining raw edge of the neckband, press, pin and slip-stitch closed by hand.

Finito!

Details:
Cardigan, the Nettie, by Closet Case patterns with my own design modifications
Tshirt (under); another Nettie, white jersey, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723, pinstripe linen, details here
Thongs: Havaianas
Location; Coode St jetty, South Perth

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teal dress

14/11/2015 12:52 pm \ 34 Comments \

New dress!
Well actually it’s not really  new at all, in fact I made it barely a year ago…  it just feels like a brand spanking new thing somehow just because it’s a brand spanking new colour.

I thought some of the dye batches I’d made up for my Alabama Chanin project still had some oomph in them, and of course I am incapable of throwing out something that still has a use.  I absolutely have to scrounge around to find a further use for it first.  I selected this dress as a suitable victim, ahem candidate for an update.   Its original pale baby blue was never really very good for me, really.   I liked and have worn this dress a lot, but I had to admit the colour didn’t really like me back.  It washed me right out. 
But I still love the fabric; it has an unusual and very charming thing about it, some sort of hard translucent plastic has been “splattered” all over it that sparkle in the sun rather prettily, like random sequins or something.   I only bought the fabric in the first place because I fell in love with those sparkly splatter-dots. 
Anyway; I soaked it, plunged it into an old, cold bath of various mixed up dyes; iDye in Royal Blue, Golden Yellow and small amount of Brown, and left it overnight.  The dye had so much staying power…  the colour came out incredibly strong!  

The buttons on the sleeves were white plastic and I was prepared to change them if the white stood out glaringly hideous afterwards.   However the dye had SO much further oomph left in it that it actually stained the buttons teal as well.  Win!  
Another little happy side effect is that I think the darker colour makes my beloved sparkly splatter-dots stand out even MORE than they did before. 

Moral of the story; you love something but its colour doesn’t love you back?  Dye is most definitely your friend, and well worth a shot  🙂
Do not be afraid of The Dye!
Details:
Dress; dress “f”, from the Stylish Dress Book, by Yoshiko Tsukiori, dyed linen, first appearing in its original, powder blue form here.
Thongs; Havaianas
Location: Canal Rocks, Dunsborough
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paprika cardigan

04/11/2015 4:09 am \ 35 Comments \

I took some time out from making something far more time-consuming and complicated, ahem Alabama Chanin, cough cough…. ooo did I once say I would never get addicted to Alabama Chanin??? yaas, going back on my word, guilty as charged!!  Anyway, I took a day to put together this simple little cardigan from some scraps.  It’s a light and nothingy-to-it sort of a thing with no closure except for a necktie at the bust level.  A little something to throw over a summery ensemble on cooler summer evenings, or to cope with air conditioning.  
It’s mostly made from scraps; a piece of paprika stretch knit from Fabulous Fabrics, leftover from my paprika Nettie bodysuit and I bought a little extra to get out the pieces for this cardigan.  Once again I used the fabric wrong side out, because I prefer the duller, deeper, richer colour of it.  
Speaking of Nettie, I actually made this using the Nettie pattern too! just with a touch of ad-libbing.   Such a good basic pattern and a fantabulous springboard to a lot of other variations.  I can honestly see myself making like a tonne of these over my lifetime, with slightly different additions, subtractions and/or bits and bobs going on.

Changes to the pattern:
I cut size 18 which is a coupla sizes bigger than my usual, so as to get a looser “cardigan” fit rather than the skin-tight bodysuit fit; cut it to hip level with a wider shoulder, a low V-neck, and split the front up the middle.  I added a wide band all along the bottom edges and wide cuffs to the edges of the sleeves, a long wide necktie, which is basically a very long skinny rectangle sewn along the top edge and with the “tie” edges sewn right side together, with pointy points on the ends of the ties, then turned right side out.  The remaining gap of the necktie is slip-stitched closed to the cardigan on the inside. 

 The front edges I finished with strips of red crepe, itself leftover from my infinity dress here.  This was sewn on to the front edges, turned inside and topstitched down along the outside.  It’s a nice stable edge and the crepe takes away any tendency to stretch out, but I’m not wowed by my efforts here and in the making of this thing I conceived a much better way of doing the cardigan fronts.  I’ll probably make another one of these pretty soon, incorporating my imagined improved way of finishing the edge, but I’ll need a lot more fabric than the scraps I used for this one.
Hmmm, that’s all I need; an excuse to go fabric shopping! 

Project happiness factor; front edge satisfactory but I’m a bit meh about it and I’ve thought of a better way of doing it… otherwise it’s not too bad and I’m happy.  9/10

Details:
Cardigan; my own design modifications to the Nettie bodysuit, by Closet Case patterns, paprika stretch
Dress; Vogue 1194, floral stretch, details and my review of this pattern here
Thongs; Rusty
Sunnies; RayBan

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short and rose-y

24/10/2015 9:20 am \ 38 Comments \

…some new summer shorts  🙂

Pattern;  ye olde faithful Burda
7723.  Someone alerted me to the fact
that this pattern has been discontinued…. boooo!  This is fair dinkum one of my favourite
patterns… goodness knows why Burda would let go such a nice flattering design
as this  🙁  However, last time I was in
the fabric store I had a good squizz at the pattern catalogues, and while there are no Burdas like this any more, I noticed Vogue 8836 cut to shorts length might just be a pretty good substitute?  It has the same high rise with deep/wide waistband,
the same slightly flared leg, the same slanted front pockets, the same double
pleats at top to enable decent hand-shoving access to said pockets.
One thing I really loooove
about the Burda pattern is the way the pocket piece extends right into the fly;
which gives you a kind of inbuilt tummy control panel right across the front.  I don’t know if the Vogue has this feature but if not that would be sad, since this is a GIANT WIN!
Alterations; just the usual, the pattern doesn’t instruct to put a protective placket behind the fly but I always put
one in. It’s an easy add-on and always a nice finishing touch to any fly front.
Fabric; some lovely stretch sateen from Fabulous Fabrics; soft, sturdy without being very thick, and the print has a sharp, painterly appearance, like old-fashioned ceramics.  Mum bought it for
me for my birthday.  Actually, the fabric is very lovely and totally deserves to be something far more dressy.  Just that I’m a funny bun when I get an idea
in my head, sorry; and I really fancied some luxe-ish shorts.  I’m excited about the thought of wearing them
both pretty pretty style, with my ultra feminine broderie anglaise top; and also
more contrast-y like, with my more masculine, utilitiarian khaki linen shirt
too. 
The lovely Margo recently posted about showing your sewing creations in action, with an action shot… which inspired the following display of gawky awkwardness.  What was I thinking, I don’t know.
Thought bubble emanating from Sienna; what the flippin’ heck is she doing NOW!????
Action shot!  Sienna knows, you see, that in real life this particular action is pretty much non-existent from my daily repertoire of actions, haha.   Pegging clothes on the line or taking out the rubbish would be a more realistic action shot, if slightly less riveting for a picture!
Oh dear.  Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, ahem…!
Okay! wrapping it up…
Happiness factor; well, a favourite pattern and totally lovely fabric, all going together as smooth as silk.  I’m giving
this project 10/10  🙂
Details:
Shorts; Burda 7723, floral sateen
Tshirt; the Nettie, Closet Case patterns, white bamboo jersey. details here
Cardigan; midnight blue Miette, details here
Thongs; Havaianas
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Perry Ellis skirt, sort of

16/10/2015 9:36 am \ 42 Comments \

New skirt.
The above picture is showing what I actually wore out and about today…  please note the far less glamorous shoes than featured in the remainder of this post!
Pattern; Vogue 1521, a Perry Ellis design from 1985.
Fabric; taupe and white silk/linen mix from Fabulous Fabrics, with a crisp and rather dry and paper-y texture to it.  The taupe was purchased as a remnant, and I added the panel of ivory onto the bottom edge.  I added it underneath the hem, leaving a little overhang of the brown, so it looks more like an underskirt than a pieced addition.  Pockets are cut from some nondescript cream-coloured cottony stuff, from a bundle of scraps Mum gave to me.

So; this is another thing to fit in with my vintage pattern pledge; only my version is terribly unfaithful to the original design.   It is supposed to have an absolute truckload of pleats up the top there.  I got halfway through making it, pinned the pleats and all and I and suddenly just hated it, and veered whimsically off and away for a random new look.
But, I’m still counting this as part of my vintage pattern pledge 🙂 … not because it’s almost the end of the year and I’m running out of time to fulfil it …  😉 well, okaaaay, there is totally that!  😉  Anyway technically these are all the pattern pieces cut out right and they’re all joined up in the ordinary way and all; just that instead of multiple pleats there is just one giant pleat both front and back.   I wrapped the extra width back upon itself, folding the same way on both the front and the back.  And bought it into my waist more with some discreet darts along the top, both front and back, and overlapped the R side pocket with the front pleat a little bit too.  This worked out quite well, I think.
Moral of the story; if you’re hating where something is going but you really do want it to work, because you really love the fabric and don’t want to waste it, or can see some potential in there somewhere … DON’T GIVE UP!   There will ALWAYS be a way to make it work out!
Being that it is so unfaithful to the original look, is this a cheat on my vintage pattern pledge? Meh, I’m not angsting over whether I’m sticking to the letter of the law all that much.  Generally speaking I prefer an avant garde skirt over a safe one.

I maintained the L side pocket closure, which I’ve always though was a brilliant closure/pocket combination deal.  I should do these more often!  And instead of button/buttonhole I sewed on some long tweed straps, made from sewing up a scrap of bias cut piping tweed that was wrapped around a bundle of fabric I bought at the Morrison remnants sale a few years ago.  It’s very nice tobacco-brown tweed and I always knew I’d like to use it featured somewhere in a thing.  I really like how it its rough matte texture looks against the smooth dull sheen of the silk.

Wanna see something funny?  here is my 20 year old self wearing the top I made for myself using this same pattern, thirty years ago.  I know I made both the top and skirt when the pattern was first released, but strangely I can’t remember any of the details of that first skirt!  A bit sad too; I know there are loads of things from my younger years that I’ve forgotten, simply because I have no photos of them..   Here, I’m visiting a rose garden in Pinjarra with my mother and grandmother.  I totally would not remember that outing without the photo.  It’s sad how much of our memories are only cemented in later years by the existence of a picture, to jog them.  

Project happiness factor; given my rising hate for it halfway through (bad) followed by serendipitous ad-libbing and eventual satisfaction (good)  I’m awarding this one 8/10.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1521, a Perry Ellis design from 1985, taupe and ivory silk/linen
Top; my own design; blue jersey dyed black, details here
Shoes; low sandals are 2 baia vista from Zomp shoes… high black are Diavolina from Zomp shoes

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blue Issey Miyake trousers

28/09/2015 7:27 am \ 49 Comments \

To complete my Issey Miyake trilogy; the trousers.
Pattern; Vogue 1693, an Issey Miyake design from 1986.
I used a navy blue cotton drill from Spotlight, buttons from Fabulous Fabrics.
Hmmm, navy blue again.  Can’t explain it but I’m a bit mad for it right now.  Navy; so hot right now!
When I finished these and popped them on; I felt quite happy and positive about them, thinking they looked pretty sharp.  A bit reminiscent of sailor’s pants, which pleases me a lot.   And wide legs are IN IN IN.  One of my favourite pieces in the Paris autumn/winter collections was Dries van Noten’s super wide leg pants; slouchy, relaxed, oversized trousers in the plainest of plain khaki cotton chino.  So comfy, so practical, so unfussy, so damn chic.  I saw, and I wanted!
So I strutted out confidently to my husband to show him, anticipating a comment along the lines of, hey super cool pants! or something like that.  Ha! his reaction: hmmm VERY eighties, aren’t they?  His tone was not the tone of a man who thought the eighties had anything worth resurrecting, fashion-wise.
*pop*
Bubble burst.
Hmm, well, yes; no denying that they are, most definitely, eighties.  A full-on ridgydidge piece of authentic eighties, right here.  But I’m an eighties girl.  Owning that.  And anyway I reckon this shape is pretty NOW too!

In eighties speak we used to say gauchos, but the hip n’ happening term now is culottes, whether rightly or wrongly?  They are very wide at the waistline and pulled in with four big pleats, held into place with buttoned arrowhead tabs to nip in and define your waist, so have that little something different and interesting about them.  They also have satisfyingly deep slanted front pockets, like all the 80’s and early 90’s Vogues used to have.

Some technical bizzo:  the instructions left some parts a little bit shonky/half-done; I went back and unpicked a few spots so I could re-do/overlock to neaten it up inside when I realised that was the case…  Also, the construction of the waistband was a little strange, and so I modified it slightly; instead of hand-stitching the short edges of the waistband facing, I wrapped it around over on the outside of the waistband and front, machine-stitched the side seams, then pulling the front back through so the front is all nicely enclosed between the waistband/waistband facing.  This results in it all being far more securely stitched together.  I still fell-stitched the lower edge of the facing though.

Finally though, I couldn’t be happier with the finished product! so I’m deducting just one point for the dodgy waistband construction issues.
Happiness factor; 9/10

Details:
Pants; Vogue 1693, navy blue cotton drill
Top; Nettie Tshirt with breast pocket, Closet Case patterns, details here
Shoes; bensimon, from seed boutique

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mustard Issey Miyake skirt

18/09/2015 3:28 am \ 55 Comments \

I’m scratching a long-standing itch by making something from this 1986 Issey Miyake pattern; Vogue 1693 …  see, I’ve used it once before, when it very first came out! to make a skirt and the top for myself.   I wore that outfit to a number of 21st birthday parties with my then brand new fiancé, now my husband  🙂  There’s probably a picture lobbing around somewhere of me wearing it, just don’t know where! perhaps in a few of our old schoolmates’ dusty old photo albums shoved in the back of a cupboard somewhere.   My first skirt and top from this pattern was in a sateen with a rather psychedelic splotchy print of bright yellow, purple, a bit of bright orange and I think, splashes of black thrown in there.    I remember being extremely proud of it, haha! I used to wear it with hydrangea purple court shoes, or pumps.  We used to call them court shoes back then.
So, I think maybe it’s ok for me to claim this as a vintage pattern! and item number three going towards fulfilling my vintage pattern pledge… to make five items from my vintage patterns.
Fabric; a loose woven, slubby wool blend from Tessuti’s, Melbourne bought during a holiday over there with my Mum and Cassie.  A bit rough in feel, but in a beautiful, high quality way, if that makes any sense at all; quite thick, probably too thick for the design in retrospect and it was a little difficult to make it work with the pattern,  Almost cried a few times when I thought I’d ruined it, but managed to wrangle it into submission eventually.  Major relief when it all worked out.  I used the hammer a few times to flatten some of the more bulky layers down thinner, so they would fit under my sewing machine foot.

Perfectly matching buttons from Calico and Ivy.
Technical notes; all seams flat felled as per the pattern.

To avoid bulk in the waistband, the inside edge was cut along the selvedge, and this is not folded inside the waistband but left out inside the skirt and topstitched down from the right side, stitching in-the-ditch.  I also cut the overlay against the selvedge and left the selvedge edge out along the edge of the turned in facing.  Same reason as the waistband treatment; to reduce the bulk of having a raw edge turned under.

Also HongKong bounds edges for an inside side edge and the hem, again to avoid as much unnecessary bulk as possible.  For this, I used a beige/light honey coloured poplin voile to make bias binding.  I bought about 2m of this a few years ago and have almost used all of it in HongKong binding for various things… need to get some more, asap!
Happiness scale; 9/10 at having another of these skirts, since the pattern is a sentimental favourite of all time for me.  It lost a point due to my struggles with the fabric, but if I had to do it all over again I would probably still want the skirt in this same fabric.  Feels great on, and like skirt and pattern were meant for each other, like star crossed lovers or something like that, go figure.  Next time I will choose something with a little less bulk though.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1693, slubby mustard wool blend
Tshirt; self-drafted, white/grey stripe cotton jersey, details here
Shoes; Diavolina, from Zomp shoes

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