Tag Archives: Fabulous Fabrics

Eating humble pie…

22/11/2010 4:17 am \ 10 Comments \

Yah, OK, so I went to the vintage fair.  And it was pretty cool.
What can I say, the last post I wrote I was still feeling grumpy and unsociable, heat waves have that effect on me.  Sunday brought a breeze and a divinely cool change; refreshing and invigorating to mind, body and spirit, so we felt inclined to get off our butts and DO SOMETHING!!  yeah!  As our Canadian friends here say, get yerselves oot and aboot!
So I enjoyed it. 
One thing I found interesting on browsing and checking out the inside of garments is how a lot of “real” vintage evening wear  from the late 40’s and early 50’s was made of nylon, rayon, polyester etc, as at the time these were often considered superior to natural fibres.  An interestingly different view to the one we hold now… And how horrible the zips often are in these garments, big and clunky and obvious.  Ahhh, the blessings of the modern invisible zip.  We’ve come a long way in some areas, that’s for sure.
I got a Glomesh bag!  I do have one already that my parents gave me for a birthday present, sometime in my teen years when you could actually buy them new, hmmm, showing my age there!  My original one is beige, and in perfect condition, of course!  The one I picked up yesterday is a teensy bit tarnished, but in pretty good nick overall, and anyhow, I really wanted a gold one.  I also bought a set of cake forks, which we needed, for only a dollar more than an almost identical set I bought a few months ago in a real op shop; and this great Charles and Di Wedding commemorative mug.  My husband didn’t “get” this last purchase, cries of omg, Carolyn, how tacky can you get?!!, but hey, I think enough time has passed that this sort of memorabilia is no longer tacky tacky but an interesting relic and symbolic to all of us of… something indefinably 80’s…  anyway I can see the irony.  And I’m looking forward to people’s reaction when I serve them a cuppa in this…

Details:
Skirt; skirt “d”, from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, silver/grey crepe
Top; Aura
Belt; made by me, see here
Sandals; Anna, from MarieClaire shoes
Bag; Glomesh

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Thoughts on the “vintage” trend

20/11/2010 4:35 am \ 11 Comments \

A friend passed on to me tickets to a Vintage Market on this weekend, promising “Vintage and Retro Men’s and Women’s Clothing and Accessories”, and sorry, but I can’t help but feel a bit yawn-y about the whole thing.  And hate to sound cynical, but the current fad for “vintage” is just becoming a tad too commercial for my liking.  I’ve even heard stories of ladies who have been op-shopping like mad for this event, scooping up masses of clothing and up-marking it to put in their own “vintage” stalls in the market… well count me out.  
I’ve got nothing against op-shopping, per se.  Well, I have done it myself once in a while…  Op-shopping (if done when you can afford not to, I mean) is of course partly a political statement of one’s non-dependence on commercial and new products, and how better to make that first-impression “I rebel against the system” message than in your clothing?  As well as satisfying one’s artistic desire to dress uniquely, not to mention saving a few dollars at the same time; so it’s not surprising this is a long-term favourite occupation of real bohemian souls… 
But is one being truly thrifty or merely conformist when following the “vintage” trend?  Or worse, opportunist, as in the case of the Market sharks vendors.
So I think I’ll just be occupying myself with sewing and gardening this weekend.  Plus I’ve already got my own “vintage” (hahaha) treasures; this dress is very Jackie O, don’t you think?  I picked it up when she had her White House garage sale… of course I’m joking, I made this myself about five years ago, and no pseudo-retro or “vintage” pattern was used either, just an ordinary one.  Sorry to disappoint.  I’m merely wearing it to stay cool.
Funny thing when I was putting this on this morning; I put it over my head just as usual then struggled a little to pull it down, and I couldn’t understand why it felt tighter than usual.  Then went to pull up the zip.  The zip was already up.  Lol!

Details:
Dress; Burda 8511 slightly modified to fit, printed synthetic stuff (thus the “indestructible” dress)
Sandals; Franco Burrone, from MarieClaire shoes

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Navy blue blazer; 6 different ways

15/11/2010 7:00 am \ 18 Comments \

Oh this was so easy it felt like cheating; after all, it’s not so much a matter of hunting about to find what will go with a classic navy blue blazer, because of course everything goes with this thing!  So rather than just put together random seasonal outfits I went with the idea of showcasing how a navy blue blazer fits in beautifully with so many of the “looks” that are re-introduced and re-cycled into fashion season after season.
I made my blazer using Simplicity 4698, a classic silhouette that is (I think) still in the catalogue today, using deep navy blue raw silk, and lined with matching deep blue lining.  Closure is by a single large silver button.  Being blue, rather than the usual black, I think has enhanced its usefulness.  The fashion gurus advise a black blazer as an essential wardrobe basic but in my wardrobe the blue version has substituted quite happily for and therefore been just as versatile; and furthermore a more interesting option than the expected black.  Although I am still considering making a black one too … one of these days…sigh
So below left; for casual winter days, the (almost) all-black biker or rock chick look.  It works, and I reckon is chic-er than a black jacket would have been.  Below right; going nautical for summer?  Well then, navy blazer mandatory.  Will the nautical look ever go out of date….?!

Below left; Grunge, anyone?  Probably not a look rocked by the over 25’s very often, but I think the classic tailored lines of the blazer lift the whole tone of this look up a tad and make it a very viable weekend bushwalking and picnic option for a well-dressed woman.  At right; Naturally the obvious finishing touch to a business appropriate outfit (please just pretend I am wearing flesh-toned tights, which I do not have on in this photo and which would probably be mandatory in the office with an above-knee skirt, right?)

Below left; worn with romantic lacy layers one is prissily transformed into something resembling a turn of the century school schoolgirl.  That is the last century just gone, obviously…  I really like this old-fashioned look, my favourite here… well, I am just an old-fashioned girl at heart…  Below right; with a floaty full-length skirt and flat strappy sandals, channelling the bohemian/hippy look straight from the seventies.

Today I’m sporting the prim and feminine schoolmarm look just above…  But which of these looks here is your look?

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Dress with, er, lace

13/11/2010 4:52 am \ 19 Comments \

OK, so my lace addiction is so well documented by now, no need to make any lame excuses… I saw a dress kind of similar to this in a boutique window and I wanted to make something like… as well, the Dolce and Gabbana Spring 2011 is a big inspiration and I’ve bookmarked a few looks for my inspiration folder.  Didn’t want to go crazy over the top with lace however as this is more than well represented in my wardrobe already, hehe…
I had bought the fabric a few months back and thought about it for a while, as you do… when I got the urge to embark on it one Sunday lunchtime I set myself a little challenge.  I decided to see if I could get a whole dress finished by the end of the day.  And I’m happy to say that, apart from the hem, I did.  Including the Hong Kong finishing to the seams, and hand-stitching the bodice facing on the inside and to the zip tape; and hand-stitching the lace on the midriff.  I had only bought about 70-75cm of this Italian lace (rough measure, because they do not cut motifs in half, obviously) which was just perfectly the exact right length to go around the midriff with the tiniest of leftovers, and very fortunately the lace motifs matched up perfectly so that two were perfectly and evenly spaced on the front, and three were perfectly and evenly spaced on the back.  This serendipity of perfect spacing is a matter of pure luck, not clever planning; the patron saint of dressmakers was truly smiling upon me that afternoon! (and, who is the patron saint of dressmakers, btw?)

(at left, the front; at right, the back)

As usual the hem took a few weeks of further contemplation…  I finished it this morning, so I’ll be able to wear it out to a dinner with friends tonight.  Because I decided I wanted the dress longish, like the Dolce and Gabbana collection, I made a wide bias hemming strip.  Hemming in this way gives you the high quality of a deep hem without any loss of length; for this I used for this the same black cotton as the Hong Kong binding. 

The fabric; the bodice is slippery-dippery ivory silk crepe and faced in the same fabric; the skirt is a divine-to-work-with nubbly linen/cotton mix, with woven pinstripes in charcoal and ivory.  The skirt is unlined as I want it to be cool in summer, and anyhow I felt it unnecessary to line this one.  Just a dressmaker’s instinct.
The pattern; I’ve used this New Look 6699 pattern quite a lot, and made just a few adjustments to get the look and silhouette I wanted for this dress; demonstrated in the pictures below.  Firstly, the zip has been inserted in the left side seam rather than the centre back.  This allowed me to eliminate the whole centre back seam and the back pieces are cut as one piece each (see below left, these pieces are all cut on the fold).  Not having a centre back seam enables the details of the beautifully worked lace to stand out and shine, uninterrupted by a distracting cut-and-join right in the middle.

I wanted for the skirt to be slightly long and A-line rather than a pencil style, so tapered the sides out just a little (pictured above left).  The bodice in this pattern has a sun-dress style of shoulder strap at the back, which incidentally I’ve never used and did NOT want for this dress either; way too casual a look.  So the back bodice piece and shoulder strap piece were pinned together and the back bodice cut as one piece, (pictured above right). 

Details:
Dress; based on New Look 6699, ivory silk and charcoal pinstriped linen
Shoes; Sandler (I’ve had these for years)

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Dove grey skirt, Japanese

09/11/2010 10:08 am \ 12 Comments \

So I’ve made a new skirt, this one is skirt “d” from the Japanese pattern book, “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hirawai.  I’m already in love with its tendency to flutter and float about my legs as I walk in little ripply silver waves, promising to be delightfully cool to wear during summer!
The skirt is cut in one piece, which is a strange almost tear-drop shape, with only three other pieces for the waistband, and two separate button plackets.  I chose these three large nacre buttons for closure to complement the soft silver grey of the fabric.  Actually I made this using the wrong side of the fabric out.  The right side has a much more shimmery shiny metallic silver finish to it, but I chose the dull dove grey wrong side with a slightly felt-y texture over this as I’m not really a disco ball kind of a girl.  Although come to think of it I do have some silver sequinned fabric in my stash… calling to my inner disco queen, a flashy persona buried deep within the prosaic Australian exterior…  I must have bought it knowing she was down in there somewhere, hehe.
The shape of the skirt piece means that the one seam in the skirt joins a with-the-grainline edge on to a cross-grain edge, requiring absolutely straight-as-a-die cutting and sewing to avoid horrible wrinkles and bagginess around the seam.  If it wasn’t for this need for accuracy here I would rate this skirt as a laughably easy project… of course if you are working with a very stable strong fabric then this wouldn’t be a problem… but I chose this slippery crepe; wonderful draping qualities but with a tendency to shift and stretch.  I think I did an OK job with the seam, and I like how it cuts across the body diagonally providing a subtle random off-kilter focal point to what is otherwise a featureless A-line skirt.

Details:
Skirt; skirt “d”, “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hirawai, pale mauve-grey crepe
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; my own design seen first here, black jersey printed with rubbery plastic snakeskin scales
Shoes; Perrini, had for so many years I’ve forgotten where they came from
Sunnies; RayBan

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Daffodil Day

27/08/2010 5:39 am \ 6 Comments \

Today is Daffodil Day in Australia.
Like just about everyone, cancer has touched my life too.  I have lost family members and friends.  One close friend is a survivor.  It’s nice to have a reason to buy flowers.  I would feel outrageously self-indulgent if I were to buy myself flowers on any other day, but today it feels right.  These will sit in the kitchen and brighten up the day of everyone who sees them.  And most of the proceeds are going to a very good cause.
On a fashion note; this dress may well get the heave-ho after Self-Stitched September.  I still kind of like it, kind of don’t… love the colour but the weird bodice has always been a problem.  See how the model on the pattern envelope has her arm folded across her chest? ding ding ding ding! …   Something to bear in mind when checking out pattern photos in the future…  I’m sitting on the fence about this one… but for today it goes beautifully with my yellow scarf!

Details:
Dress; Burda 7897, dark olive green bamboo/cotton mix
Cardigan; Country Road
Belt; emu leather, don’t know brand
Scarf; d’lux, from Uggies
Tights; Metalicus
Booties; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

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Pink lace dress

21/08/2010 4:50 am \ 16 Comments \

I’ve made a new dress for spring, but I’ve persuaded Bessie to model it for today… because I’ve started to think about Self-Stitched September coming up where I’ll be documenting my handmade daily outfits everyday (hope that’s not going to be too boring) and no doubt I’ll be wearing it one of those days and will take a snap of myself then.  I’ve decided to challenge myself to wear totally handmade, save for tights and shoes… and to never double-up.  It will be a challenge, so I’ll see how I go.  May have to pop on a store-bought top or T-shirt getting to the end of it, but I’ll try not to…
I bought this pink lace back in the Fabulous Fabrics sale last December and finally got around to sewing the dress I first envisioned back then… the first hurdle was of course that the fabric is completely see through, so a slip was an obvious mandatory requirement.  For some strange mental reason, I determined to finish this slip to moderately high standards, yes, even though it’s a slip.  I get these funny urges sometimes, maybe it’s because of reading other peoples’ blogs about applying immaculate finishes that is spurring me on…  I’m not always this patient because sometimes you just want to get the thing done, no?
Anyhoo, the slip has French seams on the side seams, and Hong Kong binding on the centre back seam, where the invisible zip is inserted.  The lower hem and the bodice facing is all invisibly stitched by hand (OK I do do this to all my dresses), although I’m not 100% happy with how the hem looks and may do a different finish on this (any ideas?)… the silk satin won’t be pressed into a traditional double fold hem as flat as I would like.  The ribbon straps have lingerie findings incorporated to enable the straps to be adjustable.  The pattern I used for the slip is Burda 8071, and for the dress itself I drafted a heavily modified version of Simplicity 3745.  Heavily modified in that all the gathering and pleating and the zip has been removed from the dress in order to streamline the silhouette and to use less fabric.  The lace is a stretch so can just be pulled over my head.

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Leopard twin-set; 6 different ways

19/08/2010 2:43 am \ 15 Comments \

 

I haven’t done one of these for a while and I just felt like doing another one, thanks to my enthusiasm for my new leopard print twinset!
I foresee the future usefulness and versatility of this twin-set is in the fabric and the print.  Firstly the jersey is close knit and of high quality that looks quite luxe; and here I’m just going to say I reckon it pays off in the long run to spend a little more on quality fabrics.   Your clothes will last longer, they will look better, and most importantly you will look better in them too!  Isn’t the time and effort you put into your dressmaking worth a good quality fabric?
Secondly the print is a mix of ivory, grey, charcoal and just a touch of black, a particularly useful colour combination to have in a print.  I don’t know about other ladies, but I have a lot of solid colour neutrals in my wardrobe and not many prints.  Although I love neutrals with a passion, just occasionally I feel I look a little uninspired and dull when I wear them as a set of unrelieved solids.  Every now and then a print, and particularly an exotic print like this, is what is needed to refresh and add a touch of interest to a mix of blocked neutral solids…
Of course the beauty of a twin-set is that it can be split, the top and the cardigan can work separately with other garments as well as, natch, together.  Is this cheating, doing a six way styling feature using essentially two garments?  Well I don’t think so… anyway here ‘tis…
When going casz, the top and cardigan works just as well for summer and winter…
At left, when a tiny bit more chic-ness is required, say for shopping or running errands about the neighbourhood; and at right, for the first time I’ve included an option for business attire!  I don’t have very much need for business wear in my lifestyle, but I think this combo is smart enough for this purpose…
And for a more dressy option when say, meeting friends or the husband for lunch, or going out in the evening (the ensemble at right is how I wore it last Saturday night for a soccer wind-up dinner and presentation at Sam’s school, he won fairest and best trophy for his team!! so proud… )

 

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