daily outfit Archives - Page 36 of 70

Black tights and striped Tshirt

29/05/2013 6:05 am \ 42 Comments \ Carolyn

So yesterday I mentioned I would need some black tights to see me through winter… well I made some, tout de suite. Nothing like striking while the iron is hot!
I used some lovely fine-knit black merino wool fabric, bought from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during our last visit, and my own self-drafted pattern. Yah, nothing else to say about these really. There’s no doubt I will wear them tonnes and tonnes. I’m making a promise to myself that I will still wear my more colourful and interesting tights at least as frequently.

I also made a new striped Tshirt too; since my old navy and white striped Tshirt has been worn so much it’s had it and is now my PJ top. I decided that a striped Tshirt, like the black tights, is another “need” for my wardrobe. A must-have. I know I know *cringe* must-have lists are a dime a dozen and sometimes appear to encompass everything under the sun: but I believe it takes time and trial and error to work out what really constitutes a must-have for an individual. I think that these two pieces are both must-haves in the wardrobe, for me 🙂
I used my custom fit Tshirt pattern, (the pattern that used to be Burdastyle magazine 06/2011, 120, altered completely beyond recognition), and a white and grey striped cotton jersey from Fabulous Fabrics. I stabilised the shoulder seams with Seams Great, many thanks to velosewer for this :). The raw edges of the sleeve and lower are overlocked, then folded under once and stitched with a twin needle, taking care to have the stitching inside and out appearing within the white stripe.

For the neckband; instead of a vertical or bias striped band, this time I decided I wanted the clean look of a plain white band. So carefully cut the strip and folded and basted it so the band is the exact width of the white stripe. The thinner grey stripe appears just inside the fold.
I attached the neckband using this method, and topstitched the seam allowance down to the body of the garment afterwards.

min 9C, max 20C, sun, cloud and a smidge of rain today!

Details:

Tshirt; self-drafted, khaki and white striped cotton jersey

Skirt; Burda style magazine 10/2010, 136 modified, (the Karl Lagerfeld skirt) black suiting mix, details and my review of this pattern here

Tights; self-drafted, black merino wool knit: my tutorial for drafting your own custom fit tights pattern is here

Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

in my family’s mmm13 today; Sam is wearing this hoodie, and Cassie is wearing these handknit socks.

Sam’s hoodie; self-drafted, blue/grey cotton jersey, details here
Cassie’s socks; handknit by me to a 60’s pattern, 2ply wool, details here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, MMM13, own design, Sienna, tights/leggings, top

Paprika legs

28/05/2013 6:38 am \ 31 Comments \ Carolyn

I have made some new tights! and now I have paprika legs. You know, paprika, the hot n’ spicy stuff.
I like the idea of hot spicy legs 😉 you see, my initial impulse was to go with “oompa loompa” legs, but it seemed a little… er, silly? Ridiculous? Too close to the bone?! I prefer the poetry of paprika!
Taking part in me-made May has once again taught me that I have plenty of me-made clothes. So much that I really don’t need to be sewing fripperies for myself. I am going to devote myself from now on to sewing two types of things: challenging sewing, for fun and self-fulfillment; and replacement or maintenance sewing, making essential things that I actually really need.
This is part of the latter.
The colourful RTW tights and leggings I was wearing last year and the year before have finally gotten hole-y enough to be embarrassing and are now retired to become pool-socks. You know, when stockings get old you use them to put powdered pool chemicals in, tie off and then sit them in the swimming pool. So the chemicals can dissolve slowly without getting hoovered up by the creepy crawly.
I bought this rich burnt orange polyester knit last year, specifically for tights when the time came.
I used my own self-drafted pattern, and the piece was big enough to squeak out two pairs. So I made one pair from each of the “sides” so one pair is marginally darker and redder, and the other pair is lighter, a bit more “pumpkin” than red. The differences are very slight. The pair I am wearing here is the left-hand “redder” pair. I figure I will wear these exclusively until they get a hole, and then I can start on the reserve pair.

Verdict: well, the colour is bright but I LOVE it, and think it will fit in beautifully with my autumnal colour scheme. I think cheerful tights will always have a place pepping up the sombre drab neutrals, the blacks, charcoal and browns that are the backbone of my winter wardrobe. So these will be useful.
Now, I just need a black pair, and I think I will be all set for a me-made, warm legged winter…. 🙂

Details:
Tights; self-drafted using my own tutorial for making custom fit tights, rusty orange polyester knit
Top; half of a self-drafted twinset, leopard print knit, details here, and see this twinset styled in 6 different ways here
Dress; the gathered hole from Pattern Magic, charcoal fabric, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

in my family’s me-made efforts today; Craig is wearing this shirt again, Cassie is wearing these hand-knit socks, and Sam is wearing this shirt…

Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767, striped cotton with yellow facings, details here
Cassie’s socks; knitted by me to a 60’s pattern, 2ply wool, details here
Sam’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, navy and white check fabric, details here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, MMM13, own design, Sienna, tights/leggings

Sat, Sun, Mon

27/05/2013 4:51 am \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

Saturday: meet my evil twin… can you guess which is me and which is she?? No, I didn’t think so 😉 I got a question in the Flickr group, do I have a body double… um, no?! and I only have one of this dress too…!
I admit my photoshopping skills are pretty horrific, a strip in the middle of the photo appears twice but hey, it’s my first composite! and anyway, it should be all about the handmade clothes, right? I thought this the best way to show both of the items that I wore today.
Today I wore my mustard bandage dress, and looked like the lefthand version of me all day. I took that photo at around noon. Then in the evening we were going out so I added my ivory trench coat and took that photo at about 5pm. I am “glowing” a bit more in the left one, but that is hardly surprising given the difference in the light at those two times!
So, I looked like the right hand version from 5pm until midnight.At that time I turned into a pumpkin.

min 8C, max 23C, fine and sunny

Details:
Dress; Burdastyle magazine 09/2010, pattern 122, mustard coloured ponte, details and my review of this pattern here
Coat; McCalls 5525, ivory drill with satin lining, details here and my review of this pattern here
Socks (not seen), handknit by me to a 60’s pattern, details here
Thongs; Havaianas
Boots; Sempre di, from Zomp shoes

Today in my family’s MMM13, Cassie wore this shirt, and Sam wore this jacket…

Cassie’s shirt (I originally made this for me, but it looks a lot better on her, so it has migrated to her wardrobe ;); Burda 7767 modified, details here, and my review of this pattern here
Sam’s jacket; Burda 7767 modified, details here and my tutorial for making the welt/patch pocket here

Sunday: sartorially, I have another bout of couldn’t-give-a-toss-itis. Meh.
The good news is that yesterday I learnt how to write a link in flickr descriptions, so now my descriptions look much more neat and tidy, with the links directly back to the original garment post, which is a much better arrangement. So, now I have a word document saved with the code written on it:

whereby ADDRESS is the
web address of your post that you are linking to, and TITLE is what you want
the link to say. Looks so much cleaner now 🙂

min 12C, max 24C, fine and sunny

Details:
Tshirt; self-drafted, refashioned from two old childrens’ Tshirts, details here
Skirt; my own design, refashioned from a pair of old Burda 7863 corduroy jeans, details here
Shoes: Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

I am the only member of my family wearing me-made clothes today…

Monday, Monday… Busy busy busy but not too busy, which is a very good kind of busy to be!

min 13C, max 22C, fine and sunny. And windy!

Details:
Skirt; lace with coffee silk lining, details here
Tshirt; self-drafted, white jersey, details here
Cardigan; self-drafted, black snakeskin-look stuff, details here
Sandals; Misano

and Craig is wearing this shirt and Sam is wearing this hoodie…

Craig’s shirt, Burda 7767 stripe cotton with contrasting yellow facings, details here
Sam’s hoodie; self-drafted, details and my tutorial for making the hood here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, MMM13, Sienna

my home town

24/05/2013 6:31 am \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

The theme for today’s mini photo challenge in me-made May is your home town, so ta da!!!! I walk past this view nearly every day, but my photos will attest to the fact that I usually position my camera to not include the city, if I can. I dunno, a city skyline rarely looks very attractive to my eye. I prefer nature. See, I still got a bit of tree to frame my picture!
See that medium height, square white building to the far right, with sorta “castellations” at the top corners? I can vividly recall that being the tallest building in the city. It has a revolving restaurant, then called Highlite 33, at the very top … can you guess which floor that was? haha! When I was about twelve, my parents took us to dinner there once, for some special occasion. It was pretty swanky back then. My brothers and I were utterly fascinated by the revolving floor, and observed tables inching past windows, goggle-eyed. I remember a toothpick being placed surreptitiously by a window, and cries of glee when we came around to it again. That toothpick was greeted like a minor celebrity at our table.
It’s now inexplicably called the C restaurant. The food critic for our local paper completely ripped it to shreds in a review a few years back, which was a minor scandal and hugely entertaining for everyone. Except the owners, probably!
My outfit: I like the look of blue denim and chocolate brown together. I put the tights on first, and they are so cosy and warm I didn’t want to take them off! so just picked things to complement them. The heels are wearing pretty thin now, so after winter I’m going to transform them into footless leggings. That’s the beauty of sewing stuff yourself… you can improvise and keep a thing kicking on like this!

min 8C, max 23C, fine and sunny

Details:
Dress; Burda style magazine 06/2011, pattern 102, purple/brown rayon, details and my review of this pattern here, and see this dress styled in 6 different ways here
Cardigan; the fitted cardigan, knitted in Jo Sharp soho cotton, colour Sapote, details here
Tights; self-drafted, jersey printed to look like distressed denim, details and my tutorial for drafting your own custom fit tights here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

the family’s MMM; Craig is again wearing this shirt, Tim is wearing this jacket and Sam is wearing this jacket…

Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767, blue linen, details here, and my review of this pattern here
Tim’s jacket; Burda 7767 modified, beige corduroy, details here
Sam’s jacket; Burda 7767 modified, navy corduroy, details here and my tutorial for making that welt/patch double pocket here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, MMM13, Sienna

pink jeans

23/05/2013 5:49 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

Thursday: I think I’m super strict with my colour palette. Bright colours scare me a bit and while I like them in theory, in practise they freak me out and I just have to isolate them, visually; counteract a garish colour by drowning it in neutrals with the rest of my outfit. Or, should that be, showcase? a garish colour by pairing it with “invisible” neutrals? Hmmm, is either, or both more accurate? I don’t know!
So, pink jeans. I love them, and have worn them a lot since I made them last year, but I’ve noticed I will only wear them with neutral tops, most usually white or ivory. Fortunately I have plenty of these 😉
I’ve just looked at these jeans when they were new, and boy have they faded! They used to be soooo bright!

min 9C, max 22C, fine and sunny

Details:
Jeans; au bonheur des petite mains, strawberry pink cotton denim, details and my review of this pattern here. And many thanks to shams for the pattern 🙂
Top; my own design, made from an old pair of cotton pants, details here
Tshirt (under); self-drafted, white cotton, details here
Thongs; Havaianas

today Craig is wearing this shirt, Tim is wearing this hoodie and Sam is wearing this shirt…

Craig’s shirt, Burda 7767 modified, blue linen, details here and my review of this pattern here
Tim’s hoodie; self-drafted, details here
Sam’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, crinkly gingham, details here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, MMM13, Sienna

grey, grey and grey

22/05/2013 8:06 am \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

Wednesday: and I’m getting pretty tired of taking a photo of myself every day for me-made May, but it’s not long to go now. She says through gritted teeth. Oh look I know, self-inflicted and all that. I know from past experience that photo burn-out is par for the course around about now and at the end I will be glad I saw it through, and it is only one month out of the year, so…. hangin’ in there.
I’ve mentioned before about the back view of a garment or outfit being neglected and barely ever seen, in spite of the fact that they are sometimes more interesting. This Pattern Magic top looks kinda bland from the front, but I think the back is kinda cool…

btw, while my photogenic companion often does sit nicely beside me most of the time; she sometimes manages a photobomb just as the timer is ticking down.

min 10C, max 24C, fine and sunny

Details:
Top; from Pattern Magic 3, grey marled jersey, details here
Skirt; self-drafted, grey non-stretchy knit stuff, details here
Leggings; from Pattern Magic 3, charcoal knit, details here
Sandals; c/o Misano

da man is today wearing this shirt…

Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767, mint green linen, details here and my review of this pattern here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, MMM13, photo-bomb, Sienna

grey stripes, ivory and pink

21/05/2013 6:44 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

Monday, Monday. Sorry for the dreary photo. The light seemed quite bright at the time, but I think my camera was more enthralled with catching the contrasting beauty of fluffy grey cotton wool clouds and glittering blue glints in steely grey waters, than me in my outfit. I could almost hear it… get out of the way, woman! You’re blocking the lovely view! Well OK, then, if you insist on standing right there I’ll just make you a big dark blob, hmf, so there, take that…

Details:
Dress and Tshirt; self-drafted, of charcoal and black striped cotton jersey, details here and see this dress styled in 6 different ways here
Petticoat (barely just seen peeking out); taken from another dress, self-drafted of pink stretchy stuff, details here
Scarf; strip of ecru cotton jersey, seen first here
Shoes; c/o Misano

min 10C, max 19C mostly fine

For my family’s MMM13, today Craig is wearing this shirt, Tim is wearing this shirt and Sam is wearing this hoodie…

Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, mint linen, details here
Tim’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, blue check stuff, details here and my review of this pattern here
Sams’ hoodie; self-drafted, details here

Tuesday: it felt a bit nippy this morning, the first morning dipping below double figures for the year. So after all my complaining about a too-long summer, I’m suddenly reminded how far more severely averse I am to cold winter mornings …. wot a hypocrite eh?
I’ve had this skirt almost three years now. It’s been such a goodie, it works with just about everything I’ve got. I can’t believe I got tired of it for a while and almost took the scissors to it to make something else…. o the blasphemy!
I love this kind of outfit for winter; easy and comfortable to wear and the long layers look elegant I think, as well as adding warmth. Stacked draped layers, in natural fibres, with contrasting textures, and in soft solid colours sometimes with a subtle self-pattern. Please note the poetry of the alliterative finish there 🙂

min 9C, max 23C, fine and sunny

Details:
Shirt; Burda style magazine, 10/2010, 102, ivory brushed cotton, details and my review of this pattern here
Skirt; skirt “m” from shape shape, pink linen-cotton fabric, details here and see this skirt styled in 6 different ways here
Cardigan; the fitted cardigan, knitted by me in Jo Sharp soho cotton in colour Calico, details here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

aaaaand today my family are wearing the following me-mades; Craig is wearing this shirt again, and Cassie is wearing this little black skirt

Craig’s shirt, Burda 7767, mint green linen, details here
Cassie’s skirt; Vogue 8363, black suiting wool, details here, and my review of this pattern here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, MMM13

weekend

19/05/2013 11:10 am \ 16 Comments \ Carolyn

Saturday. Was really not feeling it today, and I think it shows. Did not give a toss if I looked nice today or not. Really didn’t. Scraping motivation from the bottom of the barrel. I guess we all have days like this from time to time.

min 10C, max 21C, mostly fine

Details:
Top; the hoodie from Pattern Magic 3, blue knit, details here
Skirt; Vogue 1247, re-fashioned from a pair of navy blue corduroy jeans, details here
Jacket; Simplicity 4698, re-fashioned from a moss-green woollen wrap, details here
Shoes; Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

Saturday night; a night at the ballet got me inspired to get glam. Craig took a piccie of me at the theatre on his phone but the quality was so excruciatingly bad that I cannot inflict that yellow blurry awfulness on you … however here are the components of my outfit.

Dress; Vogue 1087, red knit, details here
Coat; McCalls 5525, ivory cotton with satin lining, details here

In family me-mades, Sam was wearing this hoodie today

Sam’s hoodie, self drafted, blue./grey knit, details and my tutorial for making that hood here

Sunday: and it’s back to not giving a toss… but feeling pretty comfy with it 🙂 Today is a beautiful day, sunny and warm. I got cooking, tidying and minor gardening done, and some sewing too which always puts me in a good mood.