Tag Archives: Jacket

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  Will the nautical look ever go out of date….?!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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International Suit-Up Day

13/10/2010 3:19 am \ 11 Comments \

What uuuup?!
I was planning to do something else for today, but when my son informed me last night that today was International Suit Up Day, well, how could I not?  Barney is our family’s favourite character from How I Met Your Mother, and his sayings are oft quoted around our house, er and not just by me.
So I hope everybody else is suitable suited up for a business-like day, and no, I don’t think that includes tracksuits, people.  C’mon.  Even if you don’t wear a suit on a daily basis, and I certainly don’t, even if it’s months or perhaps years since you “suited up”, go and dig up that dusty old thing from its hanger, release it from its dry cleaner’s bag and pop it on.  Just for the day, and just for fun!
My suit is looking a little dated now, and I’m thinking I need to tailor a replacement, but this project will have to go to the end of a very long list of projects I have mapped out…
As for my photo, well I’m supposed to be climbing the corporate… oh, I’m sure you get it.  A metaphor pictorialised.

Just a few other updates; 
My youngest son is home, safe and sound; and it is so nice to have him back with us and everything feels normal again with us all back in the house, I feel so much more relaxed when all my chicks are back in the nest…
And thankyou so much for your lovely comments yesterday for my giveaway.  A few have commented and don’t want to go into the draw for the goodies; that’s totally cool too, and I understand that lots of people have a full pattern collection already and I’m just thrilled that you took the time to comment.  It sounds cheesy but each and every comment gives me such a buzz and I look forward to reading my comments with huge excitement everyday… truly.
The giveaway is just something to mark the day, and my way of saying thanks to you for reading.

Jacket; Simplicity 4698, grey and black suiting cotton
Skirt; New Look 6509, grey and black suiting cotton
Top; Sexy Woman
Shoes; Misano, from Labels boutique

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Domestic diva XI

27/09/2010 2:33 am \ 13 Comments \

Hehe, realised that my most loathed domestic duty has not yet been immortalised here; the dreaded office work… (groan)
I used to be an analytical chemist (yes, with a degree n’ all…) and so led a reasonably interesting life with every day different from the next in terms of the samples I was required to analyse and for what.  I used my brain; that long neglected part of the body that begs for me to find something new for it to do… poor thing…  Nowadays I run our office mostly from home, and while it is necessary work and somebody has to do it, it is … just not my forte.  Said lamely…
Once, early in this career sea change, I had finished our tax after dogged hours pouring over paperwork, and had proudly mentioned it to my friend D, a proper accountant.  She replied with touching faith in my abilities “Well, that wouldn’t have taken you very long, surely?”    Er, hehe.  Give me a lab with an HPLC and a sample of pesticide with the order to develop a procedure for the identification of, and then determine the purity level thereof, thankyou…
And yes; I often do dress up like this for work, even if I don’t have to run out on an office-related errand.  I feel more professional, and Pavlovian-ly think it makes me more efficient.  Said hopefully…

Detail:
Dress; Vogue 1087, navy blue striped jersey knit, for my review of this pattern see here
Jacket; Simplicity 4698, navy blue raw silk (really should do a review of this wonderful pattern too…)
Shoes; Sandler, op shop

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Jacket inspired by ?

17/08/2010 9:54 am \ 11 Comments \

Well, I’ve reduced my refashioning bag by one half of an item; being that the pockets of this new jacket used up one leg of Sam’s old khaki corduroy pants that had holes in the knees…  so I’m gettin’ somewhere, if not very fast!!  I also managed to use up some stash fabric, which I’ve decided I don’t like very much…  Bit of a story behind this fabric; well, I’ve had a failure.  I don’t like to dwell on failures, but I’ll just mention it briefly then move quickly and smoothly right along and it will be in the past, never to be referred to again.  Right?  Right.
Well, I had downloaded a free Alexander McQueen jacket pattern at some point, the link is here; if anyone wishes to torture themselves with nightmare-ishly difficult patterns then feel free to go for it…  I think I missed out on some key page of the instructions, because after two attempts with lots of unpicking I still had something looking like this…

Hideous, no?  Well, we live and learn… I might still have another go at this pattern, using fabric that is not patterned, not so loosely woven and not a wee bit stretchy, all three qualities contributing to a very bad jacket-making experience.
So instead I stitched up the below very simple jacket pattern of my own design.  I don’t love this jacket.  I think it will be OK for casual warmth when I’m walking the dog, maybe I will come to love it more with use.  Its problematic genesis has prejudiced me against it, poor thing.

I basically copied the pocket design off a designer jacket I saw in Vogue magazine (although my pockets are not as ginormous, and the purpose of mine is to cover up seams of patched together fabric), but I don’t know who the original designer is, if anyone recognises it and can tell me I will gladly acknowledge the source…

Details:
Jacket; pattern drafted by me, pockets from Sam’s old childhood pants
Jeans; Country Road (these are going in the refashioning bag too, soon)
Top; Country Road
Shoes; Lute, from Betts and Betts

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Going to the game

26/06/2010 5:29 am \ 2 Comments \

Once again, soccer Mum mode… today I lucked out, got myself a nice sheltered spot sitting in the sun and managed to knit continuously throughout the game; bonus!!  Yeah, I can finally knit without having to watch what my hands are doing and it’s wunderbar…
Our game was a draw so, m-yeah (shrug) better than a loss, no?  Now the weather is absolutely freeeezing I’m well into the knitting swing once again.  When I got dressed this morning we had just hit our minimum of 1C so I just threw on this blue-hued mishmash of garments and was out the door with a minimum of hemming and hawing half-dressed in front of the wardrobe…  Oh, I did at first have on some little black knitted handwarmers too, but I’ve taken them off here after warming up in the sun.
Can you believe it?  1C!!!!!  I can’t remember Perth ever being this cold before!  I have clear memories of when I was a teenager and hearing on the radio the minimum one morning was 5C and my friends and I thought we were dying…!  I’m kind of over winter already, my least favourite season; it’s too cold to sew much, or at least my way of sewing which involves lots of fitting to myself during construction, which necessarily involves undressing… brrrr! just can’t do it!
I’d much rather be curled up on a couch or in the sun with a pile of wool and a pussycat on my lap and a dog at my feet.
Can you tell I washed my hair today?  For many years I’ve washed my hair religiously every second day, and for the past month or so I’ve been experimenting with leaving it until the third day because I felt it was looking a little frizzy.  Later last night I took another look at yesterday’s blog photo (it was day 3 hair)  and felt mildly revolted at the sight of my hair.  If I hadn’t been so rushed yesterday I would have washed my hair and re-taken those damn photos!  Too late!  So I’ve made a decision; my hair is definitely two-day wash hair.

Details: 
Jacket; Simplicity 4698, navy blue raw silk
Top; Metalicus
Jeans; Soon
Scarf; souvenir from Paris
Boots; Mina Martini, from Marie Claire shoes

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Splitting up a suit, 2

14/06/2010 6:07 am \ 8 Comments \

Here finally is the jacket from the suit I made a few years ago (see here and here)… made from free fabric and using Simplicity 4698 … again.  Yes, I do re-use patterns a lot, glad you noticed!
We had some very welcome rain last night.  Welcome because it’s been so dry lately, and whilst I rejoice in endlessly sunny days with open arms and no complaints we do need the rain so much too…  No doubt by the end of winter I will be complaining nonstop about wet weather but for now we are happy.  Looking back over my blog I can see it last rained on 21st May… and it is supposed to be winter!  Actually it’s been quite handy having this little daily snapshot here to remind me of each day’s doings and yes, the weather too.  My gosh, I can hardly believe I’m stooping to talking about the weather, so stiff, but in a fashion blog it is an immediate and relevant factor in one’s apparel choices for that day, so consideration of the weather is quite appropriate so here we go; rain this morning, but fine the rest of the day and not too cold.  I’m as warm as toast in this get-up here and happy to have found a way to put on this white elephant of a suit jacket, so all is well…  My friend A paid me a compliment on the jacket this morning (without knowing I’d made it, bonus points!) so perhaps it deserves more airings?
Today’s random picture below; seen on my walk this morning

Details:
Jacket; Simplicity 4698, grey and black cotton
Jeans; Burda 7863, khaki stretch gabardine
Jumper; Cue
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggy’s in Dunsborough

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Navy blue jacket

24/05/2010 6:13 am \ 7 Comments \

Digging through my winter wardrobe is producing some old creations…  This jacket I made about two years ago and wore quite a lot for the last two winters.  This year I looked at it a bit sideways, wondering if it would “do” for this year, but I think so…  Sometimes I feel as though this jacket is a bit “classic” for my taste.  I wouldn’t describe myself as a “classic” dresser.  I don’t know how I would describe my oeuvre, but it’s not classic…
This jacket is made of intense navy blue Indian silk hessian, I mentioned I used it here, for dying.  When I wash this thing the water is like ink.  Seriously, I kid you not…  I dyed a white shirt pale blue from the washings of this jacket once… yes, on purpose!  Amazingly the jacket is still as intensely dark dark blue as ever.
I had read somewhere that in couture jackets iron-on-interfacing is a huge No-No, capitals intentional, and they use a very light strong fabric instead.  So when I made this I decided to bypass the iron-on interfacing, as an experiment.  But what to use in its place?  I don’t know what they actually use, and short of pulling apart a couture jacket to see for myself I don’t know how to find out.  And is that going to happen?  No…!
In view of the clues “light” and “strong” I decided to try bemsilk, as both the sew-in interfacing and as the lining.  And do you know what?  It worked a treat!  It made the sewing process a bit more challenging as bemsilk is so darned slippery-dippery, but the jacket is, yes, it is light and strong, with no stiffness.  The beauty of the silk hessian is how it looks as smart and tailored as linen but without the very high crease factor.
The pattern I used allows for a lining in the shoulder/back area of the jacket but is otherwise unlined; I decided to line the jacket fully, sleeves and all.  And I’m very glad I did, not just for the warmth during winter, but also the aforementioned un-colourfastness of the fabric… all my shirts would have ended up with blue underarms if this jacket was not lined!!  Wisdom in hindsight!

Details:
Jacket; Simplicity4698, navy blue silk hessian
Skirt; Vogue 7303, bottle green cotton velveteen
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; Metalicus
Stockings; Metalicus
Boots; Fornarina, from David Jones

 

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