Tag Archives: Fashionary

paper-dolls…

15/01/2013 2:06 pm \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

10-15 January

I’m kinda excited about the paper-dolls; the nerdiness and and childishness of it really appeals to me. And the stats… monitoring my handmade wardrobe, what I am wearing, how I’m wearing it and with what frequency… omg; the latent geek emerges. Of course there are so many more important things in life to be monitored. But this blog has never pretended to be particularly d and m. Just the trivia, my friends, just the trivia. The fun stuff 🙂
Thank you for the compliments on my drawing, but seriously, y’know I really wasn’t kidding when I said my drawing skills are not all that crash-hot. My paper dolls only look good because of the Fashionary …. you see, the figures on each page are already drawn in for you, naked, in very faint red dots. All you have to do is draw in your clothes. The line drawings on pattern envelopes can be quite helpful for that bit. Then you just dot-to-dot draw in the rest. And then colour in. Yeah. Everyone’s opinion of my drawing skills is dropping dramatically, right?
I bought my Fashionary, and also one for Cassie here. And btw, this is not an endorsement; I received no freebies and I paid full price for both 🙂
It’s been super humid and muggy here lately, a by-product of tropical cyclone Narelle off the coast. The weather girl informed us that we reached our minimum of 27C in the middle of last night and then the temperature started rising and was over 30C by 2am! Sooo hot! The rest of today was hideous, as you can imagine!
It’s been a while since I wore these sandals and I love the brightness of the turquoise and aqua set off against the sludginess of my eggplant purply brown dress. This photo is re-visiting how I sometimes used to try to take somewhat arty outfit photos; looking down from high at my toes, trying to get all the colours and textures and the gist of the thing in one shot.

Hmmm. 😀

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Fashionary, nail polish, paper-doll project

the paper-doll project

10/01/2013 5:00 am \ 44 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve been thinking about things for the year ahead. Apart from continuing to make all my own clothes, I mean… that’s a given 😉
It’s fun to set little goals to think about and complete. I like list-making and box-ticking, if that explains anything.

So, this year I am going to wear only my own self-made clothes, and sketch the outfit I am wearing each day in my Fashionary. I’ve written before how much I enjoyed and was thoroughly inspired by Natalie Purschwitz’s journey, and this is kind of a homage to her Makeshift project. Although Natalie made her own shoes as well as her clothes; which blows my tiny mind!! So needless to say, making my own shoes is way beyond me. Actually it’s probably impossible in Perth.
However I can do the clothes! and document them.
I’m calling this the paper-doll project.

1-9 January

The outfit on the right was drawn on white paper separately and then stuck on with stickytape afterwards… this is because my first attempt at drawing that skirt underneath looked horrendously weird. Awful. Since I completely suck at drawing. I’m hoping this project will change that.

However, I did like the way the white paper stuck on top made my outfit look just like it is; an all-white outfit, and not just like I had forgotten to colour it in. So I started drawing all the other white garments on white paper, and sticking them in for other days.

So practice makes perfect and hopefully my drawing skills will improve and… oh, who am I kidding; I just like fiddling about with paper and scissors and coloured pencils and sticky-tape, doodling fashion-y type stuff. Playing fashion designer! I loooooved paper dolls as a child. This is fun!

The hairstyle on each paper-doll is the hairstyle I had for that day too. Since I basically rotate between three hairstyles; ponytail, “out” and messy bun (day 8) then this shouldn’t be too challenging to draw 🙂
The other reason I am doing this: well, apart from fun, and does there need to be any other reason, really?? of course no. But I started out using my Fashionary as a brain-storming and planning tool for my future creations. But it didn’t take long for me to notice something of a downer; only about half the things I’d drawn as a firm “yes” for a future project, actually end up looking like I initially planned. I’ve found that by the time I finally get the fabric and the patterns out and get going I’ve often mentally moved on and incorporate a whole host of little changes!! There is no point in showing examples here, suffice to say they are many!

It’s cheering to see the creations that did get made but the drawings of things that might have been but are not and never will be; are a bit sad, like wasted space and wasted effort. This year my Fashionary is going to reflect the clothes I actually am making, and choosing to wear. 🙂
(I didn’t put in any links to the construction posts with photos, but I can do that if it is useful to anyone 🙂 )

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: drawing, Fashionary, paper-doll project

Fashionary

10/02/2012 5:18 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

Thank you for those compliments on my sketch in the previous post; but I have to own up right now that I’m not really much of an artist… I cheated! 🙂
My “artistry” is all thanks to the Fashionary….

I first heard of the Fashionary about two years ago and immediately got one for myself and one for Cassie that Christmas (and posted about here). I bought them here; and if you click on that link you can see how other truly artistic people are producing absolutely beautiful fashion drawings like mini works of art in their Fashionarys, compared to my very basic sketches depicting my prosaic little sewing plans in a practical manner without frills nor spills. That is pretty much why I do not usually post my pictures of my own rather ordinary sketches up here….
But I still use it to mock up most of my ideas before they get made, and I looove to play with it!
Why?
well first and foremost, it is fun! It’s like being in kindergarten all over again, except in a grown-up and (ahem) acceptably adult format…. It caters to that wannabe fashion designer inside of me, yet dispenses with that pesky requirement to have any actual drawing talent…
Since it is so easy! Just like doing dot-to-dot drawings when you were a teeny kiddy…
Most of the notebook comprises pages of these templates of figures; 3 to each single page. You can get a female one or a male one. They are drawn in with very faint red dots; like so…
and since I realise they are very faintly drawn in and you might not be able to see them very well, I have pencilled one in to show it off better…

When a new sewing plan or outfit or something starts to transpire in my head, or maybe if I am toying with ideas, then it is sketching time, and even better; colouring-in time…
Here’s one I prepared earlier 🙂 (it’s unrecognisable, but the one on the left is supposed to be my Sunset maxi-dress, lol!)

And a hint of autumnal things to come 😉

Cassie, a far more well-organised person than her mother, also keeps samples of the fabrics along with her sketches, and actually remembers to take it shopping with her. This is an excellent idea that I really must adopt too… would take the guesswork out of thread and button matching…

I find my Fashionary useful to keep me on the straight and narrow, to keep me to my fabric and sewing “promises” to myself if you like. The act of drawing up my design sort of commits me to it. Like, there it is all drawn up and coloured in, now I have to make it happen!
Once I’ve completed sewing the garment I put a little tick beside it, thus satisfying my list-keeping-and-ticking-things-off tendencies.
And, did I mention it is fun?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, drawing, Fashionary, inspiration

White, with a navy grid

07/02/2012 1:21 pm \ 33 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new little top…. well, just a summer version of a T-shirt really, from scraps, the leftovers from this shirt. Constructively finishing off another small wad of fabric from my stash. Smug self back-patting ensues.
This stuff is pretty good top/blouse/shirt fabric. It is uncrushable and beautifully light. Sam has been wearing his shirt stacks. And luckily has no neuroses about his mother having a garment in the same fabric, although for both our sakes I have undertaken to only wear it if he’s not wearing his.
We do have some pride. 🙂
I had dreamed that this top would be cut on the bias, with those gridlines laying diagonally across the design, and to have little kimono/cap sleeves, like my preliminary sketch below. I thought it would look pretty cool like that, and had been thinking about it long enough that my heart was virtually set on it. But cutting on the bias is such a fabric hog, demanding way more than I actually had and so my plans were sadly not to be…. Visiting the fabric store to purchase just a leeettle bit more to indulge myself was pretty tempting as the fabric was not price-y, and still plentifully stocked. But I had to admit that doing so would utterly defeat any aspirations to green-dom. sigh
So …
I used the pattern for top “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, a very simple design that really does use a very tiny amount of fabric. In its simplest pared-back form this is a fab basic little top pattern. I ~~grudgingly~~ economically cut the pieces out on the straight…. which might not look as cool as my original idea, but is very effective for stash busting 🙂 And it is a good useful and casz little summer top.
The seams are all French seams. It doesn’t have any closure but can just be pulled on over my head. I left off the stipulated bias finish to the armholes and neckline, and instead made three sort of tubes or funnels to finish the apertures off. The sleeve tubes are just single fabric width, and sewn into the armholes and finished with a little hem, and the neckline tube is doubled over, and slipstitched invisibly down on the inside.

Details:
Top; modified top “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, in navy and white check stuff. I have made this pattern up twice before, here and here….
Skirt; Vogue 1248, white cotton voile, details and my review of this pattern here
Thongs; Mountain Design

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, Fashionary, own design, shape shape, Sienna, top, Unique Clothes Any Way You Like

Autumn sewing plans

31/12/2009 4:45 am \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

I bought this great fashion diary (called a “Fashionary”) online before Christmas, one for me and one for my daughter. It’s great for planning outfits as it has figures pre-drawn very lightly on the page ready for you, which makes it so much easier for a non-drawer like myself, with no worries about getting the body proportions right… Lots of fun to be drawing and colouring in just like in kindergarten again!
I’ve mapped out an autumn sewing plan, with some items I’ve already completed recently such as the blue/grey pants, navy blazer and the green/brown print silk dress, other projects such as the green knitted cardigan, beige trench coat, blue skirt and mustard top are all currently in progress. The other fabrics were bought the other day. Actually feeling like I was a bit too conservative and perhaps I should have bought more fabric … may have to go back while the sale is still on…
I’m trying to put more effort into finishing garments off properly and perfecting something so I’m completely happy with it. In the past I tried to finish things off quickly so I could move onto the next thing, but now I’m more about the process. It’s the journey, not the destination , as some wise person once said…