Tag Archives: Daily Outfit

Denimen. Ineminem.


First garment for the year!

The credit for the cute pocket and the funky piecing and top-stitching goes to Mum of course  šŸ˜‰  Yes, remember this Vogue 8561 skirt that she made, and
passed on to me because she didn’t like it?  Unfortunately that particular combo of pattern and fabric was kinda unforgivably frumpy.  I think the older you get, the far less
you can get away with anything remotely frumpy.  When she saw it on me even Mum said ā€œoh just toss it out Carolyn,
it does nothing for you eitherā€
But it was of lovely, new fabric; slightly stretchy denim from
KnitWit? I think? and waaaaay too nice to ditch so hastily; and I liked the idea
of a little blue denim skirt in my wardrobe.  Key word there: ā€œlittleā€.  And blue denim; always a favourite!
So the unfrumpy Vogue 1247 came to the rescue… I
spliced the upper and lower skirt pattern pieces together and managed to cut a
front and back from the very lowest portion of the skirt, keeping most of the
original hemline intact.  
Interesting, huh? that the hemline circumference of that long long original is almost exactly the same as it is in this much much shorter skirt.  Explains a lot, in retrospect it was pretty constrictive and difficult to stride briskly along in….  and I’m a strider.
I cut out
that adorable little pocket from the top and re-attached it to the skirt;
because imo it was the hands-down highlight of the original skirt and I just had to keep it!  The original dress zip was unpicked and
re-used in the CB seam, and I found a piece of non-stretchy denim in my stash
with a wrong side having an excellent colour match, leftover from a skirt
Cassie had made for herself.  From this, I cut
a new waistband, and to reduce bulk and avoid that quintuple layer of fabric
you get in the joining seam of a traditional waistband, I edged the inside raw facing
edge with pale blue bias binding (leftovers from this shirt) and stitched them
together in-the-ditch.  I re-used
the same heavy-duty hook and eye closure.
Voila!  I think
this is a far more flattering and usable skirt in our climate, and there is no
doubt it is going to get a heck of a lot more wear now!
Details:
Skirt; a refashion of a Vogue 8561 denim skirt, using a
modified version of Vogue 1247, my review of this pattern here
Top; the top portion of a dress from Pattern Magic 3 by
Tomoko Nakamichi, of white cotton jersey, details here
Thongs; Havaiana
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Check-mate

… because I’ve made something in a check, and I’m accompanied by my best-est mate  šŸ™‚  The former, a rarity; the latter, far less so!
So, the searing-est of searing hot scorchers are but just around the corner, and like a war-wife stocking her air-raid shelter before the blitz, I am laying in supplies… I have made a new pair of shorts using Burda 7723, altered by lengthening and flaring the legs slightly, and adding a zip placket.
This is the eighth thing I’ve made using this pattern… yeah, so I’ve come to the conclusion that this pattern is one totally cruddy pattern which does not work for me at all… hehe, joking!  Just seeing if you were paying attention.  Obviously, this has been one of my favourite and most used patterns.
The green gingham was given to me by my friend C from her late mother’s stash.  I can tell it is a really old old fabric, a cotton gingham of a solidly satisfying quality you just don’t see very often anymore.  Seriously, I don’t want to come across all “oh-all-modern-stuff-is-crap-compared-to-the-good-old-days” since I think that is not true at all: but; a Case in Isolation…  like the proverbial man; good gingham is hard to find now.  This is a very good gingham; crisp, strong, thick and tightly woven.  The white has slightly yellowed to a pale-ly creamy ivory through age, but as this suits my colouring I consider it a plus.
Now.
There is actually something  rather special about my new shorts….  šŸ™‚
this is the very first garment fully made on my baby sewing machine; my tiny elna Opal, that lives in our beach house!  YES!  

I have used it for hemming curtains, but I really wanted to make a proper and complete “something” entirely using this weeny little machine while we were at the beach house, so took down everything I thought I might need.  Of course, I get started and quickly realise I did NOT have everything that I needed!  I remembered after the fact that I usually finish off a few internal raw edges in this pattern on my overlocker, which of course I did not have with me.  However, I did have a piece of white voile with me, which I had taken down just in case, like for pocket lining or something.  I did not use it for pocket lining, but it was sliced into bias strips and I finished off all the raw edges inside my new shorts with HongKong seaming.  This is a kinda high-end finish I would not normally bother with in a casual pair of shorts, so my overlocker’s absence really forced me to lift my game here!

Also, I also belatedly realised that my baby machine does not have a zip foot, meaning I had to insert the zip using its one and only foot, a regular wide one.  So the front fly top-stitching around the zip turned out a wee bit wonky… but that’s OK.  Seeing those sweetly crooked stitches on my machine’s very first garment is like looking at my child’s very first piece of kindergarten art.  
Likewise, the baby machine does not do buttonholes, that I can work out anyway: so instead I handstitched a keyhole buttonhole using embroidery thread in a tight blanket stitch.  Another example of a maybe higher quality finish than I would otherwise have employed!  Maybe I should make more things while I am away from my “real” sewing machines  šŸ˜€

Just for fun, and “why not?” I added strips of bias-cut gingham in the pocket opening edges.  I was planning to put some welt pockets in the back with bias-cut welts too; but the unheard of happened, and disaster struck… I ran out of thread!  
(heard in Perth, all the way from Dunsborough)  “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Oh well.  It’s not like one ever uses rear pockets… they’re just for show and I guess there’s already plenty of visual interest happening with the check and all.  But once something is in my head and I haven’t been able to see it through; it’s Unfinished Business and niggles at me.  Hate that.  Maybe I’ll bring these shorts down again the next time and put those welt pockets in… maybe.  We’ll see.  šŸ™‚

Details:
Shorts; Burda 7723, green cotton gingham; my review of this pattern here
Top; the ponytail top from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, green jersey, details here
Shoes; bensimon, from seed
Hat; Country Road

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A fluttery cloudy thing

This wasn’t actually supposed to be a real dress.  I was playing about.  I have to confess to a few struggles
with my fabric… that had a mind of its own and a recalcitrant disposition.  If fabrics can be anthropomorphised;
this fabric would be a will o’ the wisp, absent-minded girl with a head full of
poems and fairy tales and dreams, given to wandering barefoot on sunkissed
white beaches and forgetting that her library books were due back.
But it has been coaxed into a coolly flitter-y
flutter-y dress, which I think it wanted to be all along in its heart of hearts.
This is the Loose Flare Drape Dress; pattern no.11 from the
Japanese pattern book Drape Drape by Hisako Sato.
The fabric is a very lightweight, very soft, pale grey
marle jersey knit, part of a massive quantity I bought from the Morrison
remnants sale.  A fabric I picked
up because I liked the soft cloudy-grey colour and the slightly fuzzy texture,
but was actually extraordinarily flimsy and difficult to work with.  It clings and flutters and slips all at
the same time, it is very drape-y and almost sheer.  It likes to curl up tightly on itself, and the sketchy ā€œstripeā€
in the fabric is whimsically slanted at a slight diagonal.
But happily ever after et cetera; the thin floatiness
of the fabric is a near perfect match for this pattern… I’m thinking of
rustling up a halter-neck bra to wear with it, but in the meantime it’s being stoushed
in the beach-bag to do duty as a cover up.  
It may even stay there if I don’t get around to the
halter bra, since it is just the right shape and style to go over my
bathers.   And it is so ethereally summery; a
flattering and exceptionally easy-to-wear dress, edgily short and cute-ly
flippy.
The dress is an A-line halter neck dress with a wide
and swing-y skirt; and a full length, full skirted lining for which I used the
same fabric.  The loose flare piece
referred to in its title is a separate piece attached in with the halter neck
at the left side and sewn into the armhole, to flow free and loose across the
front of the dress.
This piece is what makes the whole dress, of
course.  The extra piece is a very
simple idea, and it swishes and flutters so prettily against the dress.
The only adjustment I made to the pattern was to
leave off the zip and just to sew up the side seam.  Well, it’s stretch fabric.  I’m currently of the opinion that zips in a stretch garment
are a complete waste of money, time and effort. 
Naturally I reserve the right to change that opinion
any time it suits me. 
The fabric isn’t the only one here subject to
whimsy.
Details:

Dress; the loose flare drape dress, pattern no.11 from
Drape Drape by Hisako Sato, made of lightweight grey marle jersey knit

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here’s a thought…

Details:
Top; from Pattern Magic 3, of grey marle jersey knit, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723 modified, of grey/beige corduroy, details here
Thongs; Havaiiana

The last day of the month, the time of reckoning is at hand; and verily, an unexpected snag has raised its ugly head…  
You see, while I, of free will and sound mind (ha!), elected for this year to account for how much I spend on sewing my wardrobe and on everything sewing-related really, including all the random bits and bobs for Craig and my children; I’m shy when it comes to personal gifts.  Like, the birthday pressies I made for Mum and Dad this month, and Christmas is coming up, and since my family do read my blog…  and yeah, seeing a price tag on a pressie is so so tacky, don’t you think? and all the love and the care and the thought, and the hours of sewing, ahem that go into a handmade gift are not accounted for, but become somehow negated when a number is placed upon it.
I didn’t think of this in the beginning, since everyone’s birthdays and Christmas are at the end of the year it has taken me this long to twig that this might happen…
SO I have decided on a plan.  I am still going to tally and publish the costs of my sewing habit but there is going to be an addendum for this and next month.. a Secret Tally.  I’ve already made things for my children and for Craig that I have tallied separately throughout the year, and I will add the costs of everyone’s birthday and Christmas pressies into that at the final tally next month.  So, those costs will still be accounted for and published, but as part of a separate, whole and unitemised sum.  
My own personal clothing expenditure will continue to be itemised… does that sound fair and open and honest?
I hope so, because whatever; that is how it is going to be!

So behold, the noble n’ neat, nitty-gritty for November…

Fabric;
previously accounted for
Patterns;
Vogue 1247, used previously
Lingerie holders;
gift
Total
cost: free
Fabric, hook and eye closure, bra cups;
all leftovers and recycled from previous set
Blue chiffon and white lace for the new crotch; $10.87
Patterns;
used previously
Elastic; $3.49
Underwires; $2.49
Total
cost: $16.85
Fabric; after using a birthday gift voucher from friends, $4.98
Zip; $2.30
Total
cost: $7.28
Miscellaneous purchases
no miscellaneous purchases this month
Total costs for November:  $24.13
the Secret Tally, to be accounted for next month:
A random thought for the day…
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All laced up with nowhere to go

I’m joking… of course I’ve got lots of nice places to go  šŸ™‚
I’ve made a lace skirt.
My very luvverly, very perceptive friends again gave me a Fabulous Fabrics voucher for my birthday.  Ohhh, they know me so well  šŸ˜€
I try to do justice to their annual awesomeness by adding something appropriately beautiful and worthy to my wardrobe… last year’s voucher became the red dress, my favourite cocktail number; and then the spiral leggings.  Ok, the leggings were not-so classic but nonetheless a very designer-y perennial and something I am still pretty pleased with.
Anyhoo, I’m returning to the classics with this year’s birthday voucher … ta da.
I used my voucher for this pale latte coloured, heavily configured lace and a length of caramel coloured silk charmeuse for the lining/underlining.  For the waistband I used a piece of grey/beige handkerchief linen leftover from a little something else I have made very recently; that has not appeared here on my blog yet … it’s kind of a secret for the moment.  To be appearing in due course  šŸ˜‰
The shapes of the pieces in this skirt are kind of based on those of a beautiful Chanel skirt I checked out while we were in Milan.  I saw a skirt of heavily configured lace like mine, fitted but with no waist shaping darts, all the shaping in the side seams so as to minimally disturb the lace design, and a shaped, narrow yoke/waistband.  I saw and I liked.  I took note.

I used Vogue 1247… !  yah, you’d never have guessed, right?  šŸ™‚  The pattern has been fairly drastically altered: with the pieces spliced together, minus the pockets and re-configured to eliminate the waist shaping darts.  The dart allowance has instead been removed from the side edges so as to not spoil the lace design; also the pattern normally features a high straight waistband, and I have lowered this a touch and shaped it into the waist also, so it is more like a narrow yoke than a waistband.  

This is a great solution to the dilemma of fitting a lace skirt with minimal marring of the lace design.
The top of the skirt sits lower, at my natural waist.  The centre back seam has the invisible zip closure, and is a straight seam with perfectly matched lace motifs.  I hand-basted the zip in place, and the seam before machine stitching, in order to match up the lace motifs as well as I could.

The silk charmeuse underlining/lining skirt has all French seams.  Instead of sewing the darts in place I folded the dart allowances into pleats which are just folded at the top and stitched in the seam allowance.  This is a better way of treating the darts in a skirt lining; less strain on the fabric.  This is another feature I’ve seen in high-end skirts.

I wore it for its maiden voyage here in a formal ensemble to go to a Christmas function; showing it off, tizzying it up y’know  šŸ˜‰   but I will also treat this as an everyday little thing, grunge-ing it down with casual loose tops.  I’m picturing it with my khaki army shirt, or my billow-y white shirt.  I’m very partial to that high/low look y’know.  Very me.  šŸ™‚
Toodles, friends!

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1247 heavily modified, latte lace with caramel silk charmeuse lining and linen waistband, my review of this pattern here
Blouse; Vogue 1170, ivory silk charmeuse, details and my review of this pattern here
Shoes; Misano

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You little ripper

Recognise this thing?  šŸ˜€
And something else looks familiar too… oh that’s right, I have shown this dress here before already.  But there has been a small but significant alteration…  can you spot it?
No?
I wore this dress for the first time on the day I photographed it for my pattern review with a little camisole on underneath; and all was hunky dory.  Didn’t notice anything amiss.  Then the weather warmed up more, and the second time I wore it out without any insulating, protective layer on underneath… and woooaaatch-y!  Those tough-guy industrial-strength brass zipper teeth might look super cool but they turn nasty when scratching up against soft and tender tummy skin!
Urgent action was required… fortunately I had a strip of leftover fabric.  
I’ve added a full-length zip placket.  Actually, I think it was pretty dumb of me not to think of this in the first place, hehe.  I concede that.  Doh.  Well, I’ve thought of it now.  Better late than never, no?

Much more comfy now!
I’m amending my review; and most importantly: must remember to tick that box “minor update only”.  It’s embarrassing when you forget to tick that, yes??  Your review shoots right up to the top of the heap, and it’s like there is no.  Going.  Back.  
Woops.  Oh sorry about that, people; I’m not really trying to force the same review on y’all twice.  Really.  I’m not.  Hehe.  (cringe)

Details:
Dress; Burdastyle magazine 09/2008, dress 109, powder blue brocade with exposed brass zips, details and my review of this pattern here
Sandals; akiel, from an op shop

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Kitchen witch

Some kitchen couture!!
With all the gorgeous aprons popping up in the sewing blogging world at the mo’ I thought I should show why I did not take part in the big sew-along this time… you see; I have a very nice little selection of perfectly lovely handmade goodnesses to choose from when it comes to cooking-related apparel; already!
All of which are of quite high sentimental value to me since they were hand-crafted by my two favourite ladies in my life; my Mum and my daughter Cassie.
I own two aprons and one pair of oven mitts.  Actually I have one other pair of oven mitts too, cruddy old ones which I actually use.  The ones Cassie made are too good to muck up  šŸ™‚  But I do wear the aprons.
They are both quite simple in line and style BUT the divinity is in the details.
Firstly; the striped apron above was handwoven and made by my mother, and I have been using it all my adult married life.
It is all cotton; the fabric handwoven by Mum on a big floor loom in a plain weave; and has twill tape attached for the neck bizzo and the waist ties.

I just love the colours Mum chose  šŸ™‚

Secondly; I have an apron and oven mitts set; made by Cassie when she was in year 11 for an Art assignment.  

This was term project, culminating in this apron and oven mitt set, a framed painting, and a whole portfolio of sketches.  The name of the project is Eve’s Temptation… thus the sprinkling of cherries (innocence) and apples (temptation) over the textiles.  The fruit is all embroidered in three different reds, plus yellow and black, and is richly textured.

The embroidered bits were all created by Cassie devoting hours to madly feverish back-and-forth sewing on my daggy little sewing machine, that ahem, does not do embroidery.  It overheated and broke down during the saga, which was pretty devastating to both of us, for entirely different reasons!… but we won’t dwell on that melancholy time; my machine was repaired, Cassie finished the project with a fresh perspective on respecting other people’s property, and we remained friends ….  happily ever after etc etc!
The black designs are screen-printed and with some random areas of machine embroidery for a bit of added texture, and Eve’s red lips are embroidered too.  Also all done on my very ordinary non-embroidery machine.

So you can see I’m pretty right in the apron department.  I am so lucky to have such clever creative women in my family!

(I am also wearing here my Bamboo shoot top from Pattern Magic; and my curtaining skirt from Vogue 1247)

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feeling blue

I took this photo during our holiday on Rotto but never put it in with the other travel wardrobe photos… the blue skirt was appearing too often.  But I still think it’s a nice photo so I decided to post it after all.

Details:
Raincoat: self-drafted, of non breathable nylon ripstop, details here
Top; top “a” from shape shape, formerly known as Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, of white cotton, details here
Skirt; Vogue 1170, blue corduroy, details heremy review of this pattern here, and see this skirt styled in 6 different ways here
Thongs; Havaiana

I’ve been a bit sad and have lost some of the blogging joy over the past few days… thanks to a very sarcastic nasty comment on my blog I discovered recently.  A few might have seen a recent blog post I wrote about it … but probably not many because I deleted it soon after publishing.  I also deleted the mean comment too eventually; Craig told me I should have left it to allow everyone to read it, but rude comments upset me.  I just don’t want hurtful stuff on my blog.  I usually prefer to be all Positive Pollyanna.  
The commenter took exception to my review of Natsuno Hiraiwa’s Pattern book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, or shape shape, which she interpreted as a personal attack on her character.  Apparently she was an author of one of those scathing reviews on amazon about Natsuno Hiraiwa’s book.  Of course it goes without saying that she had nothing nice to say about my own makes from the book!  She outlined her alleged long sewing history, I guess as a means of “proving” her superior level of sewing expertise, thus granting herself the authority to override my positive review of the book.  Despite admitting again she hadn’t even used the book.  She classed me a “spoilt Anglo Saxon sewer” (and btw I have used Burda magazine patterns a lot too), and very sarcastically dissed the skirt I had made, skirt “d” pictured at the top of my review.
So.
I don’t like to drone on about my own history since I prefer for my handiwork to speak for itself… plus one thing I’ve learnt from the internet is how lots of people can talk until the cows come home about how utterly expertly fabulous they are at something without ever offering any evidence to support their claims; so I will not.  I have posted about some of my really old stuff under the label ancient history.  
However, for the last three years I upped the ante to the max and took on sewing my entire wardrobe; and this has been documented pretty thoroughly here on my blog.  I have not bought any clothes in all that time.  In my real life, I am literally the only person I know who sews all my own clothes.  I really enjoy doing this; I love clothes and I love the challenge of creating them myself, and it gives me something to do in my spare time.  I’m a busy person, and don’t like to be still, so sewing keeps me happily and productively occupied in the hours when I am not doing my official work in the office, cooking, housework, and on the weekends when my husband, who works very long hours, is on call or at work.
Blogging about it started out in a small documentative way; but has built up to become so much more to me, a community of wonderful like-minded people, with whom I share a common love.
Of course, I know I am very lucky and undoubtedly I am spoilt in many many aspects of my life BUT …. I’ve still put in many hours to get to the level of sewing expertise I am at, and I put in quite an effort to make things the best I possibly can.
I also put in quite an effort to present my creations in a fun, lighthearted and interesting way here, and to make my blog the best it can be.  I’m not the sort to make a half-hearted effort.  And I prefer positivity over negativity.
Anyway, I don’t even know why I’m baring my soul defensively in this way… just feeling a bit down I s’pose.  I hope I am not over-sharing in an embarrassing way.  

(I wrote this a few days ago, and I’m feeling more cheerful now  šŸ™‚

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