Tag Archives: Fabulous Fabrics

Pants the colour of bruised clouds

16/11/2009 5:38 am \ 3 Comments \

I just finished these pants recently and absolutely love this pattern, Burda 7944.  They fit like a dream and went together quickly and easily.  I love the wide legged “menswear” look in pants and these really fit the bill.  Especially love the cuff at the bottom.  I’m planning to make these up again this summer, so no need to draft that pattern from my favourite jeans again!  The fabric from Fabulous Fabrics is  sort of a gunmetal blue/grey linen, but in some lights it looks purple, sometimes almost brown.  Love it.
Last Friday my daughter and I visited the op shop and the rest of my outfit is my finds on that day.  The shoes I posted about last Saturday.  Still can’t believe my good fortune in finding them.  I washed the two tops over the weekend; I’m sure most people wash their clothes before sending off to the Good Sammy’s but can’t always be sure of that so I always launder them myself before wearing just in case.
My daughter expressed guilt that we were shopping there, and that we were “taking the best stuff”.  The thing is; there is always so much stuff at the op shop.  So much.  I feel that even though we aren’t charity cases that any reduction in the amount of stock in the stores would be welcomed by the staff.  Also, I donate quite a lot to Good Sammy’s as well as buying off them, so feel like I’m a pretty good customer.
I like the colour combination in my outfit today; makes me think of the colours of my bougainvillea seen against the heavy bruised clouds of a stormy sky, much like what I saw when I looked out the window this morning.  I must be very susceptible to my surroundings as I so often take inspiration from them, when dressing myself as well as when planning my next creative output.
Saw my friends this morning and trying not to let myself get upset about something tactless one of them said, probably without ill intent.  Visited Spotlight on the way home and by way of compensation I bought some beads to make myself a few new necklaces.  Also arranged with D to visit her house and photograph her tea cosy this afternoon, after my office duties.

Other details:
Top; Aztec Rose, op shop
Cardigan; Saba, op shop
Shoes; Sandler, op shop
Necklace; souvenir from Egypt

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Not to judge a book by its cover

14/11/2009 3:50 am \ Leave a Comment \

Today’s shirt pattern is familiar to those following this blog, I’m even getting a little embarrassed at how often it’s appeared here.  It is Butterick 4985 again, this time with the addition of some little pockets on the front with lace flaps and the sleeves view B joined together at the top seam.  I used baby blue nubbly self embroidered cotton for the blouse and topstitched the pockets and a few seams with double stitching in gunmetal dark blue.  This was mostly to use up this particular colour in my thread stash.  I also added an attached necktie in a bit of leftover border lace, again just to use it up.  This can’t be seen very well in the picture because of the other scarf I’m wearing.
Today’s colour scheme is pastel-ly, with no white.  I really like this soft combination of pale blue, yellow and pink, with the blue jeans.  I have a confession to make: I realise how tragic this sounds, but I thought the cover of “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” to be such a beautiful balance of colours, and really inspired me to copy it in this outfit!  Oh please, if I heard someone say that I would almost pity them, but it’s true!  I suppose we are all find inspiration somewhere, and if you find it in the cover of a book then so be it.  (I could expound the multiple merits of reading this book as it is superb and intelligent and full of pearls… but that is not the purpose of this blog)
I found my shoes yesterday in an op shop.  They were $12, and hardly worn! I fell absolutely in love with them and had to wear them straight away.  They are navy blue suede with elastic criss-cross straps over the top of the foot and a beautifully shaped heel.  It’s often difficult to come across nice shoes in my size, even in commercial shoe stores as I have such big feet (size 10, or 41 in European), so this was an incredible find.
Today has been spent in pleasant industry and relaxation; I worked for several hours in the garden, did some grocery shopping and running a few errands, then met my friend J for afternoon tea.

Other details:
Jeans; Development
Scarf; unlabelled, bought in Labels (how’s that for an oxymoron!)
Earrings; selfmade
Shoes; Sandler, op shop

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Favourite skirt, styled in 6 different ways

13/11/2009 2:34 am \ Leave a Comment \

Something different for today.  After my office duties I am taking my daughter out for a special treat to lunch; Fashion Friday at the Globe, so I’m wearing this dress I’ve posted about before.  Don’t want to post another picture of the same dress, so instead I’m delivering something I promised to do about a month ago, namely showing the versatility of my favourite skirt, first posted about here.
Its made of a slightly shimmery pale pink damask from my favourite skirt pattern Vogue 7303, with my own variation in the addition of three extra layers both front and back, joined onto the lining and separate from each other.  So effectively it has eight different hems.  And yes, it was extremely complex to make.  But worth it.
For today’s post I’ve styled it to be worn as a casual skirt for summer and winter, as slightly more dressy (say if I’m meeting friends during the day) winter and summer, and finally as a semi-formal skirt again for both summer and winter.  So you can see how versatile it’s been in my wardrobe!

Left; for casual summer wear, with a tank top and thongs(flipflops), and right; for casual winter wear

Below left; for nice-ish summer wear, and right; for winter wear (ie. if meeting other ladies or my husband somewhere for lunch or morning tea)
Left; worn as if for a semi-formal outdoor summer function and right; for a dressy winter function
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Achieving a perfect fit (thanks to Bessie)

11/11/2009 4:53 am \ Leave a Comment \

I decided last night to wear this dress today, long before I remembered it was Remembrance Day.  Seemed fortuitous when I saw the RSL poppies being sold on the streets.
This dress is derived from McCalls 4453 view C, which is actually a halter neck top pattern.  However there were many things I wanted for this dress that didn’t correspond with the pattern, so I really only used the bodice fronts from the pattern and the rest was designed by me using Bessie, the dressmaker’s dummy.   The bodice is quite close fitting, with no elastication.  Also the skirt has been elongated, and altered a lot.  Actually I just typed in a whole paragraph detailing how it was altered, and reading it through I decided it was boring, so deleted it!  The result is my own vision, originally intended for a beach dress, but great for a light summer dress too.  The fabric, bought on super special from Fabulous Fabrics, is blotchy red and pink polyester chiffon, with multicoloured and silver sparkles all over.
I really like my colour scheme today, with just a touch of  black.  As a rule I don’t like black and red together as it makes me think “emo”, but I think the stone white of my cardigan makes it all OK.
My sister-in-law asked in a comment how I found the sizing of New Look patterns.  I find them to fit fine, with my usual adjustments.  Through trial and error over the years, I now manage to achieve perfect fit on my own garments pretty much every time.  I’ll summarise my procedure on sizing my own clothing just in case this helps others:

I always use as my starting point the sizing recommended on the pattern envelope.  Depending on what you are making, either the bust, waist or hip measurement will be the most important consideration.  For top and blouse patterns the bust size is crucial, for flared skirts the waist size is crucial, and for more fitted skirts and pants the waist and hip sizes are the most important measurements to consider when choosing your pattern size.
During the cutting stage I take into account my own personal body shape.  All women will have a pretty good awareness of their own shape, and will already know if they are pear-shaped, hourglass, boy shaped or petite (lucky you), round, top heavy, etc.  I myself am slightly pear-shaped.  I take a smaller size blouse or top than I do in pants or skirts.  So, when I am trialling a new pattern of a dress, I generally adjust by cutting the top to my (smaller) bust and waist measurement, then from the waist to hip taper out to the (larger) hip measurement.
To use another example, for a woman with a big bust but small hips, she may cut her tops to her larger size bust, but taper down to a smaller size going on down to the hip.
Patterns usually have the waistline marked, and the hipline is sometimes marked, you may have to work this out yourself but its generally at the widest point below the waistline.
No matter what garment I am making, I usually fit the pieces to Bessie to check during the sewing process, and/or try them on myself several times also to check if everything fits where it should.  I do the fitting for a garment before I do any seam finishing (overlocking or pinking) or ironing, as adjustments can be made quite easily during these early stages.  Once I am satisfied that the garment fits everywhere it should, and I’ve made the necessary adjustments through the addition of darts, letting out seams or whatever is required, I complete sewing the seams and finishing.

Other details:
Cardigan; Morrison
Beaded thongs (flipflops); bought at some little shop in South Africa
Poppy; for Remembrance Day

 

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Wrapper’s delight (and the memories you wear each day)

10/11/2009 4:19 am \ 1 Comment \

Please excuse the terrible pun above, but today’s outfit is an entirely wrapped affair.  The top is New Look 6252 view C, a nice little sleeveless top that wraps and ties at the back (the knot can be a little annoying when you are sitting in a hardback chair, but hey, nothing’s perfect).  I know its boring, oh yawn, yet another white top.  Actually I’ve realised since my clean-out I have way too many white tops, and its time for some serious updating in the form of dying and/or embellishment projects.  However, this was made from the leftovers from another project, which excuses it a little bit.
I wish I could say I made the skirt, but I actually found it in a secondhand shop.  It’s silk, with a slight gilding on the leaf print, which appears to be hand painted although I can’t be sure.  Its a wrap skirt, with a beautifully flared panel on the front that billows and blows around when you walk.
I love shopping in secondhand shops and op shops, not just because of the cost-saving factor, but of all the invisible stories emanating from the clothes.  Everything is jammed in and stuffed in all any-old-how and I love how you have to burrow and delve about through treasure after treasure.  Everything is so unexpected and completely unrelated to the items all around it, unlike in a boutique where new items have been carefully chosen by a buyer, arranged in colour and/or type and presented all pristine and ready for you to buy.  In an op shop you find yourself speculating on individual items, and why they have been discarded.  Something may have obviously been bought in Greece, say, with a label all in Cyrillic, perhaps bought on holiday and now no longer loved.  Myself when I buy something on holiday it becomes like a souvenir that I can’t possibly part with, simply because of the memories bound up in its purchase.  I rarely go shopping by myself and just buy things; my shopping excursions are usually with a friend, or on holidays or some such, so that my wardrobe is often a reminder of those occasions.  For example, today’s skirt was bought when I was out with my friend E and we discovered this secondhand shop.  And the top is leftovers from a trench coat (posted about here) I made with a Fabulous Fabrics gift voucher given to me by the Monday morning gals for my birthday last year.
I bought the beads etc for the earrings when my friend J drove us to the Gypsy Bead shop (now sadly no more) and a bunch of us all got madly into beading.  Oh, the hours we spent around each others’ dining room tables, stringing beads, chatting…

Other details:
Skirt; da Vida, secondhand
Sandals; Anna, bought in Marie Claire
Earrings; self-made

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What to do when the “whites” wash turns out pink

09/11/2009 1:39 am \ Leave a Comment \

I used my old favourite Butterick 4985 to make this top out of pink embroidered “bobbly” cotton, with the sleeves snitched from a different dress pattern Burda 7897.  I narrowed the torso region as always, and constructed a loop closure for the buttons, instead of the usual buttonholes.  When it was finished I felt it was too plain, so I then sewed on random strips and bits of leftover lace, broderie englaise and rick-rack I had in my leftovers tin.  Then I felt it was too “pretty”, and needed some punking up.  So out came a red T-shirt that had been a proven “runner” in the past.  That’s runner in dying terms, obviously.  Yes, it had mistakenly been included in a wash load of all white garments, which I discovered upon opening the washing machine had all turned a lovely shade of pink.  Take a deep breathe and count to ten.  Yes, I did have to purchase all new socks and T-shirts for my sons, but this situation doesn’t have to be all bad.
I could put this quality to good use.  What’s the old saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?  This is the home seamstress’ version.
I soaked the offending T-shirt with my new blouse, purposely scrunching the blouse in a way to result in a random blotchy effect, and hey presto!  I LOVE this final look, and wear this a lot.  Every now and then the pink blotches start to fade a bit, then I just repeat the soaking process.

Today I’m meeting the Monday morning gals, and decided to ride my bike as the weather is perfect, warm with a slight breeze, but not too hot that I’m going to turn up like a sweaty exhausted wreck.  I also visited a friend for her birthday, then rounded up the day with riveting challenging work in the office (ha ha)

Other details:
Skirt; Morrison
Shoes; Timberland
Necklace; self-made during my beading fad

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A spy is amongst us…

07/11/2009 2:09 am \ 1 Comment \

Hey ho, it’s Saturday.  We didn’t get to go to the art exhibition last night but that’s OK.  Around at my brother’s yesterday afternoon they had set up karaoke for my niece’s birthday party, and we mucked around on that for a bit before the girls got there.  Hilarious!  I tried to do “Bat out of Hell” and realised that Meatloaf really had a very good voice after all.  Boy that’s a difficult song to karaoke to!  Furthermore, it was demonstrated why it was a good decision for me to drop out of choir.
This dress I’m wearing today is a recent creation.  It’s New Look 6699, with a few modifications.  Namely the bodice with strap arrangement in the pattern was reshaped into a proper one-piece bodice front and back, and instead of gathering the bust section into the midriff I made three tiny pleats each side.  I inserted a sash to be tied in back of the midriff, and moved the zip to left side seam.  The skirt is flared slightly more that the “straight” one in the pattern.  The best modification is the addition of these huge pockets!!!  Major upgrade of the dress!
I really like the two contrasting fabrics I used, each is white based, with splashes of unusual “ugly” colours and a touch of black.  The necklace adds to the overall random hodge-podge effect.
Confession time: when I made this dress I used an invisible zip I had already, and it really was not long enough.  Meaning that when I take the dress off it would make a hilarious spectacle to an casual observer.  Sort of like a mad battle with a strait-jacket. 

The close up photo of the pot below shows my little spy, who is not visible in the other photo… 

Other details:
Necklace; Surf shop on Rottnest Island
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, bought at Hobbs

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Splash out a bit of colour!

06/11/2009 4:41 am \ 2 Comments \

This skirt, Vogue 2894, is one of my most recent projects.  During my wardrobe clean-out I decided I needed a really colourful floral skirt to brighten things up, so went to Fabulous Fabrics and, voila!  I feel it’s got some great colours to play around with that can match up with a lot of my current garments.  I wore it with a cardigan for this photo and for this morning, but actually it’s now getting a bit too hot for cardigans and am going to have to “summer” things up a bit an the apparel department.
Actually I popped in to Fabulous Fabrics yesterday to pick up some extras to finish up some sewing projects I’ve currently got on the go, and browsing through the pattern catalogues I was a little shocked at how light-on the summer Vogue book was.  There seemed to be much less on offer this season.  Is the economic crisis affecting the home sewing market?  Surely not.  Now would seem the ideal time for people to be getting out their sewing machines and running up their own garments at home for a quarter of the cost they are in the shops…  The added bonus is that you are wearing something unique that you will not see on anyone else.  This is always one of my primary motivations, the cost saving is a secondary consideration.  Although spending less per garment definitely means you can have a much more extensive wardrobe!!!
I wore this outfit to a morning tea this morning (skirt universally admired, which was nice!) and a friend commented that if she saw my skirt in the shop she would definitely be buying it.  Of course I don’t want to see anyone else wearing my skirt but it was nice to hear!  I spouted on about the benefits of making your own clothes as I always do and with any luck, not withstanding my powers of persuasion, I may convert one person to the home sewing crusade.  
After office duties today I will be doing some exam taxi-ing again, and visiting my niece for her birthday, and other errands.  Later I hope to go to an art exhibition with my husband, if he gets home from work in time.

Other details:
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; Metalicus
Bracelet; from a craft fair in Brisbane
Necklace; gift from my friend Becky
Shoes; Neo, bought from Nine West (I think)

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