Tag Archives: Daily Outfit

Burdastyle 10-2010-111A, a pattern review

02/03/2011 5:50 am \ 15 Comments \

Remember I wrote I’d made some matching shorts to wear under this little sundress?  Well, here they are.  Whew, they are so so short and flimsy I probably wouldn’t be wearing them on their own like this if I didn’t have a completely quiet non-sociable day dog-walking and house-cleaning planned, oh, yeah, hehe and of course a bit of office work too (I have to say that bit because my husband sometimes reads this…)  These little things are no more substantial than boxer shorts, so I feel a bit underdressed in them here.  But on the beach I was OK since there were not many people, and those that I did encounter today were equally if not more sparsely attired.
Actually I made these about 2.5-3cm longer than the pattern stipulated, as long as my scrap of fabric allowed me to make them, so can you imagine how tiny these would be otherwise?

Details:
Shorts; Burdastyle magazine 10-2010-111A, Japanese cotton
Top; “b” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton
Sunnies; RayBan

Here is the review I submitted for this pattern:

Pattern Description: 
Shorts with fly front, faced waist, welt pockets, slanted front pockets and underlay with button for internal closure.  This pattern basically does for three different garments in the magazine; short shorts, bermudas, and longer trousers, with a few different pattern pieces and modifications.  To save myself future effort, I traced out the pieces and variations for all three at the same time.
Pattern Sizing:
34-42.  I traced a size36, graduating out at the hips to a size 38 because I like a bit of flare, plus I was using flimsy fabric that wouldn’t have looked nice in a form-fitting garment.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?
yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Now here I have to be honest and say no, they were not, particularly!  If you’ve never sewed a welt pocket before, the instructions provided for sewing these would be awfully confusing.  I’ve sewn plenty, and these instructions still had me scratching my head a bit over what was the joining line, the abutting line and the stitching line.  And as for the instructions for the underlay, zip and the waist facing, well these were VERY confusing also.  When I read the instructions out aloud to my family it sounds hilarious because they are so crazy confusing….  like trying to build a space station or something…  I misunderstood the zip attachment and sewed the zip in place with a nice curved topstitching on the shorts front.  This turned out to be wrong.  Right near the end I had an a-ha moment and had to unpick the zip almost completely to do it the right way NOT attached the the shorts front, but only the facing, so I could insert the waist facing all neatly tucked in and finished around the zip tape and underlay as the pattern intended.  This was one of those times when an illustration ala how the envelope patterns do it would have helped a tonne.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like that only a tiny amount of fabric is needed for these shorts.  I think I had roughly 60-70cm of 115cm fabric, which was just enough except for pocket innards, for which I used other scraps.  The pattern is well drafted and fits together well.  I like the clean lines of the shorts, no pleating or waistband gives them a contemporary and streamlined look.
What I don’t like; if I’d made them up to the pattern they would have been too short for my liking!
Fabric Used:
Lightweight cotton.  The pattern recommends brushed wool.  I think a thicker fabric like this would work really well.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I added about 2.5-3cm in length.  These would have been way too short for me to wear out in public otherwise!
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, I do recommend this cute little pattern, and now I “get” the instructions I will sew these again in a more appropriate fabric, such as corduroy, and definitely adding the extra length.  Although if you are under the age of twenty, the shorter length would be fine.
Conclusion:
I sewed these to wear under a short little sundress of the same fabric, for modesty.  Their streamlined non-bloomer-y shape makes them perfect for this purpose.  So I am very happy with them.

 

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First day of Autumn!

01/03/2011 6:50 am \ 12 Comments \

And the first day of Me-Made-March, and the all-self-made self-challenge.  So here we go with the daily photos…
Neutral today.  Surprise!  Playing it safe again.  Well, hopefully still nice with the lace-y embroidery and all.  And I just needed to be cool.  As they quipped on the news today, it may be the first day of autumn but somebody forgot to tell the weather…  

I always walk past this tree on my morning walkies with my doggy.   And often paused to look at it.  Each time noted the twisted tortured complex beauty of its trunk.  And wanted to photograph it.
I love trees.  I expect this is already blindingly obvious from the number of times I picture them here, but… I really do love trees.  I don’t think I could bear to live somewhere where there were not lots of trees.  Often I like trees more than I like some people.  I guess that comes across as hopelessly hippy dippy, and don’t worry I’m not going all earth mother chanting crazy peace-out head in the clouds opt out of the real world here… I do like lots of people too!  Just that I find trees very comforting and I don’t always find people to be comforting…

Did anyone watch the Oscars last night?  Well, let’s be honest, who cares about the Oscars, but what about the red carpet bit beforehand…. the only interesting bit.  I was out last night, but got my husband to record it for me to watch later.  Recording is the best way, because I can just fast forward through all the boring talking and entertainment and actual awards rubbish, and just slow down for the shots of the gowns.  Looking forward to checking those out.  Any highlights, anyone; favourites for me to look out for?

Details:
Dress, and petticoat underneath (not seen); both Burda 8071, broderie anglaise cheesecloth and silk satin for the petticoat
Top; my own design, cut out embroidered linen
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, Hobbs shoes
Sunnies; RayBan
Nail varnish; Fools Paradise, BYS

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Another hot day… and some glove stuff

23/02/2011 4:03 am \ 9 Comments \
Strange thing.  When I logged onto my blog this morning, it popped up and said I am following no blogs!  How did that happen?  I don’t recall going through and un-following any blogs… perhaps I am a far more active and computer-savvy sleepwalker than I ever realised… 

Has this ever happened to anyone else???
Anyway, I am sweltering…  without a doubt my bathers are the most worn items in my wardrobe this summer; I am in and out of them at least four times a day.  In and out of the pool.  I’m a believer that if one has a pool (which we are hugely fortunate to have) then one should not use the air conditioning.  The downside to this is that Perth has not dipped below 22C at any point over the last ten days or so, meaning all night we are stifling.  The only pleasant time of the day is first thing in the morning, when we do get down to around 22C and it is bliss to get outside of this oven of a house and flop into the pool, again.  Of course, by mid afternoon the aforementioned oven is a cool cool haven compared to the fierce heat outside!  Every now and then the family gets jack of it and switches on the air conditioning despite my rants about greenhouse gases etc  Oh I’ve just googled and 22C is 72F on the old scale.  Highs generally 36C, or 98F.
In glove stuff…  Lauriana and Darci have both made a start on their gloves, which is fabulous… and I am waiting to see how they go on their muslin gloves.  I am still unsure about cutting into my lilac suede skirt.  In fact as it has been hanging in my laundry awaiting its execution I am starting to regain a new fondness for it and am fantasising about all the great combinations I could make with it…  as a skirt.  It may well find its way back into my wardrobe.  I do have another op shop suede skirt that is a very 70’s beige and that I have never worn.  I might chop this one up instead.
Lauriana mentioned an unusual seaming around the thumb in her store bought leather gloves… and I got out my own leather gloves to have a look, and on all of my four pairs of leather gloves that I currently own there is the same strange gusset/flap arrangement sewn into the thumb area too  (see below).  I’ve never consciously noticed this before!  This feature is definitely not in my Vogue glove pattern, and what is more I think this sort of seaming would be way beyond my capacity to draft for myself.

Details:
Top; Country Road, originally white and dyed with ground turmeric
Skirt; my own design, charcoal grey jersey knit
Necklace; made by me, tutorial here
Sandals; Anna, from Marie Claire shoes

Gloves (below) a souvenir from Venice.  Look at this lovely detailing on the back….

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A new sundress

21/02/2011 7:41 am \ 29 Comments \

I made a new sundress for myself… using the summer-weight cotton fabric I had bought during our shopping day out in Tokyo with Yoshimi and Novita.  Japanese fabric!  This now is one of my wearable souvenirs from our trip…!
The weather has been so so so so hot! that I still need some light little sundresses, even though perhaps I should be starting to think about autumn and winter sewing now, with days as hot and dry as we have been getting it is hard to believe it is ever going to get cold!  Dabbling my feet in the water here was so nice I really didn’t want to leave this lovely little spot and get back to my daily chores, plus a mountain of office work that I’ve been putting off… woops, sewing has been so much more interesting to me lately I forgot I had to do actual work as well!
I used a Burdastyle pattern, dress 114 from the 5/2010 issue… and have to say I like using the patterns from this series.  It’s economical and feels a bit more of a challenge to make stuff this way.  It’s not as though I’m new to this sort of tracing-out-of-patterns, as I made many many things from the Topkids magazine when my kids were little, but I haven’t done it for a few years so it feels a bit new.  And yes, as a commenter said on one of my posts previously, the pattern instructions are usually a lot more challenging too, because you are not walked through with helpful little illustrations like the conventional envelope patterns.  I think I’m very visual, because I find that way heaps easier.
Before I hemmed this dress I tried it on and it felt a bit too short.  Which is funny, because it’s not as though it’s actually any shorter when compared to many of my sundresses, but because of the very wide pouffy swirly A-line skirt it did feel shorter… if that makes any sense…  so I hemmed with a very narrow hem and also made some little shorts to wear underneath from the leftover fabric.   Fortunately I just had just enough leftover to squeeze out one pair of shorts… and so I am perfectly safe from a strong breeze showing the world the colour of my undies.  Back when I was little my mother used to make me lots of little dresses with matching bloomers to wear underneath, and this is the same principle.  Except these are not bloomers but tailored shorts with a zip and welt pockets, and all…  I’m not showing the shorts off here, because I have way too much class to lift my skirt on purpose… you just have to trust me that they are there and I will show them off on a future post.

Details:
Dress; Burdastyle 05-2010-114, Japanese cotton
Shorts; (worn under) Burdastyle 10-2010-111, Japanese cotton
Hat; Country Road
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs shoes

Pattern Description:
A-line sunback dress with empire seam under the bust has a skirt of two gathered tiers, and side seam zip.
Pattern Sizing:
34-42, I made size 36, and made it a little wider at the bust
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?
yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
yes
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
It is super easy!  There are only two pattern pieces to trace out, the skirts are just rectangles. 
I love the loose flippy feel of it, it is a comfortable and lovely style well suited to our hot dry summers.  This same super-flippiness however also compelled me to make a little pair of matching shorts to wear underneath!  If you wanted to, the instruction provide dimensions for a third tier to make the dress a maxi length.  I didn’t think the maxi-length would have suited this print, however.
The only thing I didn’t like, well, it’s my own fault, I wanted pockets and inserted them in the side seams, and that lower tier falls at just the wrong place, just where I wanted the pockets to go!  No biggie, the pockets just sit a few centimetres lower than I would have preferred.
Fabric Used:
Cotton
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I cut out the back bodice wider and higher to have more coverage, I did this to to avoid bra-strap exposure.  
I added inseam pockets, which sit just at the top of the lower tier.  As I mentioned above, this is a tad too low, but I can live with it.
I added about 3cm to the length of the lower tier, and I’m very glad of this little bit of extra length.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I probably would sew this one again.  I highly recommend it as a very easy, pretty and feminine little sundress.
Conclusion:
Great little dress; cute, very comfortable, feminine, cool and breezy.  I am going to enjoy wearing this one!

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The colours of Valentine’s Day

14/02/2011 2:42 pm \ 14 Comments \

I’ve been off colour for a few days, and feeling blue… but I’m not complaining, as things are definitely looking more rosy today… This evening my husband and I strolled down to the river together for a picnic under the paperbarks to celebrate Valentines Day.  We don’t go out just the two of us very often at all, so it’s nice to make the effort once in a while, no?  
As well, last Friday we went to a BIG party where some good friends celebrated their silver wedding anniversary, so it really feels lately like romantic celebrations are in the air…!  I wore my Sandwich Bag dress and it was the perfect dress for partay-ing in a sweltering summer evening.
But for today, what could say romance more softly and prettily than pink? so I dug out the most romantic pink dress I own and put some pink champagne in the fridge to chill.  And after yet another oppressively hot day like today, it was enough to just chuck some chook on the barbie, chop it up into a green salad, chased down with a few dark chocolate truffles for afters…  a simply lovely feast!
Wishing everyone an equally gorgeous Valentine’s Day evening … 

Details:
Dress; based partly on Simplicity 3745, pink and beige lace
Petticoat; Burda 8071, pink silk satin
Hat; Country Road

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Neutral, but nice

11/02/2011 6:48 am \ 16 Comments \

I don’t know why I feel the need to apologise for a neutral look, but I do.  Yah, I know how silly that sounds…. The simple fact is that I’ve tried wearing this skirt with colours both vibrant and muted and it just look all kinds of wrong.  This skirt simply looks so much better when paired with neutral earthy toned colours… so there it is, and luckily I do have a pretty big collection of both pale and dark, drab putty-coloured stuff to mix it up with.
So to answer some comments from yesterday, did I buy myself any shoes when in Tokyo, well the truth is that sadly I did not (cue chin wobble with brave choked little sob.) and why not? So it may not be obvious from my photos, but I am fairly tall, and with very big feet, and the women of Japan are obviously all petite and with dainty little feet.  And after asking to try on about three or four pairs of shoes that interested me and being told in each case that sorry, but these do not come in “showboat”, (not in those words obviously, the sales assistants were all unfailingly courteous and polite, but that was the general message being conveyed here…) I just gave up and lived vicariously through Cassie as she happily tried on and rejected and narrowed down the fabulous array of footwear available to her ladylike little feet.  The good news?  Craig’s shoes actually do fit me, so I just possibly might dare to sneak off with them once in a while…  
So yeah, perhaps I should have just swallowed my pride and asked to try on some of the menswear selection?  What would you have done? 

Details:
Skirt; skirt “d” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, but Natsuno Hiraiwa, silver grey crepe: to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here
Top; Country Road
Scarf; a souvenir from Venice
Sandals; Vincenzo, from Soletta shoes
Bag; Gucci
Sunnies; RayBan
Nail Varnish; Fools Paradise, BYS

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Easy breezy

07/02/2011 7:07 am \ 14 Comments \

Still been blowing an absolute gale around here; with the tail end of cyclone Bianca lingering about.  A plus; the stiff breezes have thankfully kept the temperatures down with pleasantly glorious days of around 32C, which is (imo) the perfect summer’s day temperature, and a deliciously cool change for us lately!
It was nice to catch up with ma Monday morning gals again, after the summer hols had had us all off to different parts of the globe for our various family breaks.  Today we resumed our standing appointment, met up for morning tea and exchanged all our latest goss within the group…hehe.
Now, I am always up for a challenge.  Although I do, yes, get mired sometimes in the bread and butter sewing of necessary clothing I do like to stretch my sewing wings once in a while and attempt something quite unexpected and frivolous… and late last year I bought a glove pattern; Vogue 7949.  Lauriana expressed an interest in us doing a sew-along together, would anyone else like to join in?  I am planning to use this particular pattern, but obviously others wouldn’t have to use the exact same pattern but one of their own choosing if you like.  Since this is a complete first for me I plan to work through step by step and will document my progress, for fun…  this actually could be a huge disaster, or I could end up with some lovely new gloves for winter.  Sitting in my stash is an old lilac suede skirt I found in an op shop.  This has sadly developed an unsightly bulge-y “bottom” from sitting down in it as well as some ugly “polished” spots, but most of the suede is in really good nick and I would really like to refashion it into some dreamy and unusually coloured gloves… thus the purchase of the glove pattern. Anyone keen?  If so, drop me a comment and together we’ll see how we go.

And in other news from in the sewing/blogging world, as another little challenge for next month I am going to take part in this:

‘I, Carolyn of Handmade by Carolyn, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March ’11. I endeavour to wear
all handmade clothing each day for the duration of March 2011′


Details:
Dress; Vogue 1152 with fitting modifications, chambray cotton
Scarf; gift from my parents, from their trip to Italy
Sandals; Akiel, found in an op shop
Nail varnish; Fools Paradise, OPI

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Plain and simple

04/02/2011 8:12 am \ 16 Comments \

I was thinking of calling myself Plain Jane today; but didn’t want to offend any Janes out there.  I’m sure Janes have suffered enough, having a phrase like that readymade and just waiting to be lobbied at them whenever they care to step out looking minimalist and unadorned.  In fact, the existence of the plain-Jane tag, whilst handy for the English teacher to demonstrate assonance, has probably caused a lot of Janes to go to great lengths to ensure they look fabulous and decidedly un-plain on a daily basis.  An example I look to is my own friend Jane who is one of the most glamourous women I know.  Sorry, Janes, I shouldn’t have even mentioned it…
When I put on this top this morning I was determined to wear it the other way around, with the buttons at the front.  After all, it is designed to be worn both ways, and I wanted this versatility when I made it.  But I decided I don’t really like it that way, and switched it around yet again.  I really should force myself to wear it the other way around more…   
Once upon a time, I would not have made nor worn something like this top, because I had a thing that a loose-fitting garment would not flatter my figure.  But really, what does that matter?  And what does it mean?  Looking through the pictures in this pattern book I could see that the girls modelling looked lovely in the loose comfortable clothes, and so I went ahead and made them up.  And the important thing here should be about how you feel in your clothes, as much as about whether you look nice or not.  If not, we may as go back to the days of the corset…
So, maybe today is a bit plain and minimally coloured and embellished, but essentially I am cool and comfortable.  In this kind of scorching heat; these are my priorities!

Details:
Top; top “b” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton
Skirt; my own design, charcoal jersey knit
Sandals; Vincenza from Soletta shoes
Necklace; from the surf shop on Rottnest Island (another souvenir of a great holiday!)
Bag; Gucci
Nail varnish; Revlon Crimson Sparkle
Sunnies: RayBan

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