Tag Archives: Daily Outfit

Me-Made May 2014

31/05/2014 1:17 pm \ 35 Comments \

So once more I have LOVED taking part in me-made May again this year!  I participated in the Flickr group every day but decided to just write one summary post here on my blog about my experience; which is this one!
So what to say, what to say…
My pledge….  I went 100% me-made, including all underwear, hosiery, sock and knitwear, all of my clothes.  The only exceptions were, as usual, my shoes.
Did I enjoy it…? YES! always  ðŸ™‚  I love looking at everyone’s outfits and feeling like part of a community.  I think that for those of us who sew our own clothes, this is the best way for us to have our own annual, if virtual, seamsters’ convention.
Did I learn anything…? well that I have plenty of clothes (blush) with no gaps that need filling really, and nearly all my current wardrobe is made by me, which is a pretty excellent stat, if I say so myself.  I kinda half-tried, not-very-strictly to go without repeating an item during May, which seems a very silly and shallow goal but a goal that has the well-intentioned side effect of forcing me to rootle out things in the wardrobe that I am not wearing very much and attempt to integrate them more fully amongst the very well-worn items.  I think it’s good for me to force this every now and again, because let’s face it; I sew a lot, because it’s my hobby and I love it.  But actually wearing everything that I sew doesn’t always happen fairly and equitably.  I do wear my own creations all the time, but like everyone I have favourites.  Me-made May is always a good opportunity to play at styling more of my own closet. 
And did I repeat any items…? my two pairs of black tights, my navy and paprika tights, my burnt orange Nettie bodysuit and my ivory Pattern Magic twist top each got worn twice.  Everything else got worn just once, and I managed to really mix it up with some new outfits that I really enjoyed.  It was fun playing about and trying to make the most of my wardrobe.
Favourite outfit…? can’t decide, I like lots of ’em
Least favourite….? well yes, there were a few less than stellar days and I have singled out some items that should and most likely will, exit gracefully from my wardrobe.  Some things that I have acknowledged are undeniably shabby.  Photos do not lie.  A few things have been moved to the “potentially for the Salvoes” bag, and I am going to try very very hard to actually deposit them in the bin sometime.  It’s going to be tough but I think I can manage to do it.
How did taking the photos go….?  well this time I found it to be pretty easy and no biggie actually!  I’ve traditionally complained about taking photos of myself during me-made May, but that is probably because I’ve traditionally set a certain standard for myself and burned myself out.  This year, I had more of a no frills approach and set myself a time limit of ONE minute, and NO MORE in which to take my photo.  And that was that.  Also, I am already taking a quick photo every day for my daily outfit photo blog too so it has become just “a thing” that I do once a day anyway, a part of my daily routine.  Occasionally while on holidays I get Craig to take my picture; and he has a pretty low tolerance for this activity so the process is still quite speedy with minimal fussing allowed!
So that is that for another year.

The entire Flickr group’s photos are here, and all of my May outfits can be viewed separately in my own MMM14 Flickr album here.

And also; today marks the last day of Yoshimi’s and my joint photo blog; the year-long photo maisonette experiment.  I’ve really looked forward to and enjoyed looking at Yoshimi’s photos every day.  It’s been a fun, enjoyable and very interesting exercise for me; and Yoshimi, thank you so much for saying you would join in taking part with me. I know you are very busy with your work and family so I am so appreciative that you agreed to make the commitment.
Also I hope that everyone who did view the blog enjoyed the differing, and sometimes very similar views of our daily lives in Japan and Australia respectively.  Thank you to all those who did stop by!  Your kind words were always very much appreciated  🙂

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , ,

Little black polka-dots

23/05/2014 6:32 am \ 38 Comments \

I’ve made a dotty little cardigan  ðŸ™‚  Yes, it seems like I’m turning out new stuff everyday, but the truth is that some of my recent items have been finished for up to a few weeks or more and it is just my photo-taking that has been lagging.  Not the pink lingerie, which I  really did only finish yesterday.  But certainly this cardigan and my yellow skirt.  I have me-made May to thank for kicking me into action, photo-wise  ðŸ™‚
I bought this coffee and black polka-dot knit fabric in Tokyo while shopping there in January with Yoshimi and Cassie.  I can’t remember the name of the store but think it was Yoshimi’s favourite knit store?  The fabric came in several colour ways, each of which I loved!  at first sight!  with a passion!  and it was soooo hard to pick just one.  I spent ages and ages, dithering over the gold, the teal, the purple, the coffee.  Obviously coffee won in the end, but there was inner angst at leaving the others behind.  The store owner gave us each a pen and a lolly, just for shopping, or maybe to thank me for leaving at last  ðŸ˜‰

I bought another absolutely divine burnt-chocolate knit at the same store, another hard-thought out decision.  Seriously, the fabric shopping in Tokyo is too fabulous for words.  I would so love to go every year!
So, I like polka dots, but I particularly like them if they are either :
A. a bit randomly placed 
B. irregularly sized and 
C. a bit splodgy and undefined in their outline
Yes, yes and yes.  This one ticked all the boxes!

The design is based roughly upon the shape of a favourite RTW cardigan with a few minor shaping modifications.  I sewed all seams on my machine then finished the raw edges on my overlocker, and stabilised the shoulder seams inside with Seams Great, a gift from velosewer, thank you Maria!

The neckline band is cut on grain because there is almost no stretch in that direction and I joined the pieces on the bias; a joining seam can just be seen in the top right section in the picture below.   I started joining band strips on the bias like this on my raglan-sleeved baseball tee, did it for all my Netties; and it’s become my new little “thing” to do because it greatly reduces seam allowance bulk in the band at that joining point and so makes for a much smoother and neater band.  I can write a little how-to if anyone is interested?  

I finished the hems and bands by hand because I wanted the finishes to be as invisible on the outside as possible.   I applied a strip of iron-on interfacing to the quarter of the front band strip that was going to be the outside bit to stabilise it; sewed the band onto the front edge by machine, turned under the outer seam allowance and hand-stitched it down inside.

The buttonholes are by machine though.  I practised a few buttonholes on scrap to make sure my machine wasn’t going to chew through the fabric before going at it for real.  I was pretty pleased that they actually worked out pretty good  ðŸ™‚
The black buttons are from Fabulous Fabrics.

Details:
Cardigan; my own design, coffee with black dot knit with only a little widthwise stretch.
Tshirt; never blogged, it’s just a plain self-drafted thing in beige jersey
Skirt; Burda style magazine 10/2010-136, (the Karl Lagerfeld skirt) lengthened, black wool suiting, details and my review of this pattern here
Tights; self-drafted, black merino, details here and my tutorial for drafting your own custom fit tights here
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes
Sunnies; RayBan

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , ,

Incredi-Yellow!

21/05/2014 6:45 am \ 38 Comments \

I think every year I seem compelled to make for myself one skirt in some extremely garish shade.  This year isn’t get away scot free either.
I bought this brilliant daffodil yellow pin-wale corduroy from Spotlight a few years ago.  And I apologise for my painfully predictable choice of another Vogue 1247 skirt.
So, I put some thought into thinking of something new to write about the pattern here.  I’ve used it a lot so clearly its got a lot going for it and so it shouldn’t be hard to write some fresh and original new praise for the pattern.  Truly I wish I could expound long and freely and with poetic abandon upon the multitude merits of the humble Vogue 1247 skirt. But the well of words has run dry.  So my love just has to be expressed wordlessly and in the mute evidence of the sheer number of them that have rolled off the sewing machine.

OK, lining.  I can say something about that.  I wanted to line it, so I could wear it with tights during winter.  So, when in Spotlight recently I checked out the lining situ-bar.  It was poor.  But they had something called Dancetime Satin which was both cheap and a not-terrible colour.  See, here’s the thing; my most favourite-ist skirt lining of all time has been the ivory satin I used in my curtaining skirt; another Vogue 1247.  It’s been a sheer joy to wear this skirt, every time, and part of it is in the quiet hidden luxury of the rich lining with its sheen and its cool slipperiness.   But there’s satin and then there’s satin.

Like a fool, I fell for a low price.
I have some hard-won advice for everyone; do not ever, under any circumstances, EVER, buy Dancetime Satin.  Unless you are planning to set fire to something quickly.
Dancetime Satin is like demon’s spawn, put on this earth in order to torment the unsuspecting home seamster.  Truthfully.

Really I should have given up on it, sought out some regular polyacetate lining from Fabulous Fabrics.  But I struggled on with the Dancetime Satin lining, and because there was some leftover I made some bias to finish the lower hem.
I’m hoping it proves itself nice to wear, at least.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1247, lengthened and lined and more A-line, yellow corduroy, my review of this pattern here
Top; the twist top from Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, charcoal ponte, details here
Tights, self-drafted, black merino knit, details here, and my tutorial on how to make your own custom fit tights here
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

Not that the back view of this skirt is particularly noteworthy, but I’ve realised I’ve pretty much never provided on my blog a back view of this Pattern Magic twist top.  I love this top.  I want it to last forever.

LATER EDIT;
this skirt has received a dye bath and now looks like this:
pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , ,

Navy blue tights

20/05/2014 4:17 am \ 20 Comments \

I really really wanted some navy blue tights.  Basically I have two, yes, two! navy blue corduroy skirts for winter, and a coupla hand-knit cardigans including this one which are mainly midnight blue and which I want to dig out and wear more, quite a lot of other navy blue stuff too, ahem *blush* and so matching tights seems like a Plan.  Man, I’m getting so sensible lately.
Anyway…  *ten minutes of sewing later*   DONE!
Well, apart from the fact I had to go back to the fabric store twice, but I’m not counting that.  No, I’m not.  I had a small disaster wrt the fact that you really should check twice before laying the pattern piece down to really make sure as in beyond reasonable doubt that the degree of most stretch is going to be horizontally; or around your legs.  More importantly, around your hips.  Because if you get it wrong you might not be able to get your brand new freakin tights up over your freakin hips.  But let’s not dwell on that now.  The past is in the past and I’m moving on.
I have tights.
Fabric is a rayon/viscose from Fabulous Fabrics.  It’s fabulous, warm and with terrific recovery, and my second attempt is perfect.
Actually I do have several other new things to show here, but my photo-taking and documentation is dawdling.  I’m taking part in me-made May, which has become kind of like the unofficial Annual Seamsters’ Convention, albeit a virtual one.  I’m in the Flickr group, and I’m trying to spend a sensible amount of time on it all so blogging-wise I’m pacing myself.  New things to appear here very soon.
Later dudes!

Tights; my own custom fit pattern, details and my tutorial on how to make your own custom fit tights here
Skirt; Vogue 1247, navy blue corduroy (made from old jeans) details here
Top; loose draped top from drape drape by Hisako Sato, white crinkly jersey knit, details here
Cardigan; hand-knit by me using Patons 8ply wool, to a Patons pattern, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , ,

white linen Olive blouse

14/05/2014 10:55 am \ 36 Comments \

Hi peeps; new blouse!
Amity of Lolita patterns emailed me a few months ago asking if I would like to test their new blouse pattern, the Olive. Thank you so much Amity!  I lurve trying out new patterns!  I finished it a little while ago and have been sitting on it; awaiting the go ahead to Reveal.  And ta da!  Apparently I’m part of a “blog tour”.  This is a new thing for me.  No, I hadn’t heard of a blog tour before either.  It’s kinda exciting  ðŸ™‚
The Olive blouse is a fitted blouse with a waistband, pleated peplum and elbow length sleeves.  It has two variations; view A has a draped chiffon overlay, vertically aligned flounce and a rolled chiffon flower on the front, also with or without a little gathered frill on the sleeves too.  View B is, literally, the no frills version.  Closure for both versions is by invisible zip in the side seam.

So, I did make view A, with the overlay and flounce.  Although I left off the flower and the sleeve frills. The sleeve cap is pleated into the arm scye with six teensy little pleats.  Tres cute, non?!

My measurements put me at a size 6, however a quick recce of the pattern pieces decided me to size up to an 8, and I am glad I did.  It is quite close-fitting.  Linen is a fairly unforgiving fabric with zero give to it however, so I reckon if I was using something like a stretch sateen then the given size would probably be fine.

OK, so that’s what my blouse used to look like!  It can be seen from the very top picture that it looks a little bit different now.  It’s been de-flounced.  Sadly I’ve realised I’m not a flounce kinduvva person.  I de-overlayed it too.  To replace the flounce I made shaped button- and buttonhole-bands for the left bodice seam.  This is fully functional and fully button-and-unbuttonable but since I still use the invisible zip to get it on and off the button band is effectively decorative.

I really like mine with the button band, sort of casual and therefore more suited to my fabric choice; a fine-grade white linen from Fabulous Fabrics, the same fabric I used for my patchwork Zsalya dress, with white buttons also from Fabulous Fabrics.  I think it’s still quite feminine looking with the sleeve length and the pleated peplum. but has a certain something else to it now, I don’t know what.  Dentist?  A rumpled one, after a long hard day at the drill.  Yes.  OK, I’m totally on board with that.  A little known fact is that I do actually have dentist blood running through my veins.
Anyway, whatever it is, I do think it turned out very “me”!
But I jest.  Seriously now the blouse is a classic style and so therefore quite versatile  and would work with lots of fabrics.  The jazzy style A in satin or silk would be a very pretty evening blouse and the plainer style B in sateen or crepe would make a very smart option for work.
Since I acknowledge that I do have about a zillion white shirts I am toying with the idea of dyeing it.  Or maybe not.  I’m dithering.

Details:
Blouse; modified Olive blouse by Lolita patterns, white linen
Skirt;skirt “m” from shape shape by Natsuno Hiraiwa, dusky pink linen/cotton, details here
Thongs; Havaianas

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , ,

Olive Frankenstein skirt

12/05/2014 5:49 am \ 36 Comments \

I am notoriously bad at tossing out old scraps of fabric. Particularly if I really really like the colour.  
And I really really like olive.
So; after finishing my patched pockets skirt I still had some promisingly largish pieces of grey-green corduroy and olive-green moleskin leftover, and I unearthed from my “useful scraps” bag the remains of a different pair of grey-green corduroy pants that both my boys had worn at the age of eight to ten or thereabouts.  Yeah, I keep stuff a long time.  The knee areas were a bit thin in them all but there was still some nice sturdy fabric to be had there.  And the colour!

oh ok I agree, doesn’t look very promising…

So I’ve made a little skirt; just a casual knock around kinda of a thing.  It is patched together from three different fabrics but it still looks quite plain I think since the colours are so similar to each other.  I’m pretty chuffed with it!  Of the pluses of working with old unwanted textiles; it’s green, it’s economical, you can sew to your heart’s content unfettered by fear of failure.  If you’re reworking with the constraints of an old garment it exercises the ol’ brain cells a bit.  And so a successful outcome feels like a mega bonus!

The boys’ old cords had kinda cool, oversized patch pockets on them that I’ve always liked and kept because I thought they might come in handy one day.  I used these pieces with the pockets still in situ.  Some of the leg fabric of these pants had previously gone into making the Green parliament, here.  I also added some oddly shaped patch pockets to the back of my new skirt too, just because the back was a bit boring-looking without them.

Technically speaking; I used the upper skirt pattern pieces of Vogue 1247 to cut the waist to hips part with the waist-shaping darts but the overall shape of my skirt is more A-line than the pattern.  This is pretty much my favourite “little skirt” silhouette at the moment.
I used an invisible zip in the back, an old button harvested from something else long forgotten, long ago, and plain white cotton to face the waistband,  I made a bias strip of the same plain white cotton to finish the lower raw edge, turned up the lower edge once and stitched in the ditch by machine to hem.  I reckon this is the best hemming method for thick fabric since bulk is minimised by only turning up once and a bias strip looks a lot neater and prettier than overlocking. Also if you are short on fabric you can still get a nice deep hem without losing length off the skirt. . 

Details:
Skirt; my own design based upon Vogue 1247, made from three old pairs of jeans
Shirt; my own design variations upon Burda 7767, deep olive linen, details here
Thongs; Mountain Designs

this picture just because it made me laugh… o well hello there!
pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

White linen Zsalya dress with patchwork

07/05/2014 1:12 am \ 58 Comments \

Hello!  I’m wearing a new dress. The cool fingers of winter are tickling at the edges of our days so obviously I had to make a light and fluttery, floaty white linen thing for myself.  It was only logical  * 😀
Actually, the truth is that I made it a while ago now!  when we were still getting very hot weather and I have worn it several times already.  The pattern is the Zsalya from Kate & Rose patterns.  Kati emailed me to ask if I would like to test one of their lovely new range; thank you so much for the opportunity Kati!  It was so hard to choose just one!  The Zsalya is a dress or top pattern with two sleeve variations, and I made the dress with short sleeves.
I knew straight away I would love this design.  It has no closure, you just slip it on over your head and it is easy breezy, and as cool as.  In all senses of the word.  ðŸ™‚
The sleeves are quite cute.  I like how they are tightly gathered in at the top which lends them a sweetly pert and boxy shape, and they have a pretty petal-shaped hemline.

The neckline is so clever.  I think it’s my favourite feature of the dress.  When I first looked at how open it was I considered putting in a little rouleau loop and button closure, but you know what? there is absolutely no need.  Gape-age just doesn’t happen, thanks to the clever design.  The crossover yoke is open so you can get your head through quite easily, but once the dress is on it all sits nicely flat and closed with a safe and demurely high neckline.  Clever!
I edged the neckline with a patchworked strip of bias cut cotton scraps; this was simply sandwiched between the yoke and yoke facing before stitching them together.

I made my dress in a handkerchief grade linen from Fabulous Fabrics, and the patchwork border is comprised of various scraps from previous projects.  I was inspired by this image. About once in a blue moon I actually find a need for those bitsy odds and sods of leftover cottons that are pretty much good for nothing, that I hoard like a crazy old fabric-obsessed miser.  This was one of those rare occasions.  Vindication!
The patchwork panel is backed with a white linen facing to stabilise it.

I added in-seam side pockets  ðŸ™‚

Really, even though it looks blustery as all get-out in these pictures and it was, it was also quite insanely hot and muggy on the day I took them.  So a loose little linen number was actually just what the Fremantle doctor ordered!  I was getting bored with all my summer dresses so it was nice to have an excuse to make a new one.  Summer dresses are such fun, both to make and to wear.  And even this late in the season it’s always nice to have a fresh and new-ish summer dress waiting in the wings of the wardrobe over winter  ðŸ™‚

* Mr Spock, of course

Details:
Dress; the Kate & Rose Zsalya dress, white linen with patchwork details
Thongs, Havaianas

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Gold Miette

25/04/2014 1:27 pm \ 33 Comments \

I have knitted a cardigan.  And weeeeeeee! this is the final thing in my eleven piece swap.   Finished… hurrah!
The Miette is designed by Andi Satterlund, and is available as a free download here.  
Such a great little pattern.  Clearly I love it a bunch since this is my second version in less than six months  *blush*  and I used the exact same wool too; six balls of Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran.  This time in colour Gold, 360036.   
Actually, the truth is that when I went in to buy the wool for my first Hunter/Forest green version I dithered and agonised for ages between the two colours.   Like, for so long it was embarrassing.  I loved them both.  Finally I chose the green, obviously; but the golden mustard kept haunting my thoughts.  I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  And I knew that it hated being left behind. It really wanted to come home with me too.  Really, it did.
In my original swap plans I had proposed not a cardi but a jacket; in a really nice mustard, open weave fabric which was a Christmas gift from Tim.  But the closer I came to Cutting The Fabric, the more doubt crept insidiously in.  The fabric is really very nice.  I was bound to ruin it.   And thinking about it; I really prefer wearing knitted cardigans to jackets, most of the time.  I remembered the Gold wool.  The colour is identical, and perfect.  Aha!  Swift justification for an acquisition!!  I raced joyfully, but hastily, to the wool store.  What if it had sold out?  But there it was, patiently waiting for me.  Clearly, it was meant to be.  Thus; I made a cardigan instead of a jacket.
And I still have my lovely mustard fabric, which I think would rather be a skirt.  Some day when I get up the courage to take the scissors to it.  ðŸ™‚

Details:
Cardigan: the Miette, in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran col. 360036 Gold)
Top: the loose drapey top from Drape Drape, in rayon/linen knit, details here
Skirt; Vogue 1170 in ivory leatherette, details here and my review of this pattern here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , ,
Switch to mobile version
↓