Tag Archives: Laundering

Looking deceptively dressy…

06/05/2012 6:04 am \ 17 Comments \ Carolyn

… for chucking a ball for the dog in the park, no?
But actually, nothing I am wearing is dressy in my book, so I’m good. This is another example of comfort dressing, like yesterday.
This dress is stretchy-knit so it is muchos easy-wear, but I always feel a tad self-conscious when I wear it because it is real figure-hugging. Sorta on the va va voom side, y’know 😉
So, I do feel a tonne more comfortable and less self-conscious wearing this dress when I have a big coat over the top, like my good ol’ trench coat here. And can I say, this trench coat has been such a goodie?? I love it utterly. It was my good coat when I first made it, but when I made another one, I started to treat this one as some old throw-on thing, to be worn whenever without thought to consequences, didn’t care what happened to it. When it gets dirty, I toss it in the washing machine on an ordinary cycle. Well, I figure, the materials are all 100% cotton, so how awful could that be? Still, the first time I tried this I held my breath, anxious about its fate. Anticipating a brow-beating, “what have I doooone??!” moment. Which did not come. My trench coat emerged from the washing machine in perfect nick, which earned it double gold stars and a place in my “have-forever” pieces.
The shoes probably make my outfit look dressy; but these clogs have a stacked heel all the way along so they don’t feel quite as high as they look when you are wearing them. And they are an excellent choice for when walking through wet grass and you don’t want your tootsies to get wet.
Honest disclosure; for most of the day I was slouching about with my feet cosily ensconced in uggies, so yeah 🙂

Details:
Dress; Burda 8071 modified, stretch knit skirt and linen bodice, details here
Trench coat; Burda 7786 modified to be double breasted, beige cotton, plaid cotton lining, details here
Shoes; Perrini, had for donkey’s years

Picture taken around 11am; Temperature at the time 20C.
Overnight low: 15C; Today’s high: 21C
Mostly fine and cloudy, patches of sun.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, laundering, MMM12, Sienna

Thoughts on washing…

13/08/2011 5:12 am \ 19 Comments \ Carolyn

(Trying to get back into the swing of taking my own photos? Mebbe…)
Something that is amazing about where I live is the ferocity, combined with the brevity, of storms. It’s funny, my dog is quite protective of me when we are walking during a storm. She sticks close by, is constantly checking over her shoulder to make sure I am still there, and comes running back to sit with me or even try to round me up if I pause to take a photo. Well she is a sheep dog and rounding up is in her nature…
You will be pleased to know we walked back through our front door dry, if a tad windswept. It’s a good thing I don’t have a hairstyle to speak of.
One the plus side, the kite-surfers are having a great day, and washing does dry very quickly around here, yes even during the winter time…
On the subject of washing… how often do you wash your clothes? You might see that the little olive top I am wearing underneath the black one here is the same one I was wearing yesterday over the blue Metalicus one. I reason that a top worn against my skin is dirty after a day of wear and needs washing, but that one worn over another top is OK to go for another day. Obviously underwear, socks and tights are washed after one day of wear. Dresses and skirts I judge by whether I am wearing tights or a top underneath (probably OK to last another day) or if it has been a hot sweaty day then I will wash. Jeans I wear for two or even (gasp) three days if I haven’t been engaging in particularly strenuous activities or if it hasn’t been a sweaty hot day. Not that jeans are ever worn on a hot sweaty day actually… The same goes for cardigans; I will do a wool wash for everybody’s jumpers and cardigan every few weeks. I’m over the preciousness of my cotton trench coat and it now is tossed in the machine on a gentle cycle, probably a few times a year. My woollen coat I plan to send to the dry-cleaner… There is a very small population of one in my wardrobe, (er, my Chanel style jacket actually) which I am too frightened to wash, nor even to trust it to the dry-cleaner! I don’t know what I am going to do about that thing!
What about you? Do you have a rigid plan of attack to your washing, or a more laissez-faire approach?

Details:
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified, black stretch corduroy, details here
Olive top; Cue
Black top; Sexy Woman, found secondhand
Scarf; knitted by me, merino wool, details and my pattern here
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies in Dunsborough

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, laundering, Sienna

To dryclean or not to dryclean, that is the question

28/01/2010 1:55 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

On the weekend I wore this to a wedding reception…
(sorry, didn’t get a picture with my hair up and my make-up all done, this is the old photo from when I blogged about it previously and I did look more glamourous on the night!)
and my husband and I danced up a storm on the dance-floor afterwards. When I got home I laid the dress aside in the laundry, thinking without thinking (if that makes any sense at all) I would drop it in at the dry-cleaners the next day.
But then I recalled a conversation I had a few months ago with a friend who, along with her husband, used to run a dry-cleaning business. She was telling me how dry-cleaners charged a fortune for evening dresses because of the difficulty involved and the high risk of ruining them, how the chemical process was actually damaging to delicates such as silk and actually shortened their life, and how you are far better off washing them yourselves at home. Hmmm. Food for thought.
After all, garments have survived for centuries without dry-cleaning, the magnificent silken and bejewelled gowns of Elizabethan times were, yes, tended and handwashed without the use of chemicals, just good old-fashioned soap, water, air-drying and a hot iron… That’s when they were washed at all, possibly once or twice in their lifetime! or so I’ve read! Even so… centuries later why have we complicated our laundering process, and is it really necessary?
The cleaning instructions provided with most clothing, and how manufacturers often put “Dry Clean Only” on their care labels, are (I think) a kind of fall-back, fail-safe, laundry-guide-for-dummies, kind of attitude. Some labels are quite mystifying. I have a skirt, bought in quite an expensive boutique many years ago, which has on its label, hilariously, “Do Not Wash” and “Not Suitable for Dry Cleaning”! What the…..?! (For interest, I have always just tossed it in the washing machine on a cold cycle, with no dire outcomes)
So, I looked at my evening dress, and decided to wash it myself. This was easy; light swirling in a laundry bucket, thorough rinsing, blah blah, hung out to dry on its hanger with pegs on the straps so I wouldn’t come out later and see it adorning a neighbour’s tree… The difficult part, obviously, was going to be in the ironing of it. I didn’t include a picture of it before ironing, you’re just going to have to take my work for it that it was veeeeery crinkled…. I consider myself a reasonable iron-ess (whatever), but this dress has a multitude of swirly bits, and an awkward gathered/folded bodice on a formfitting underlining…tricky stuff in the ironing department. However, I recently bought a ham from Spotlight for the purpose of making my life much easier in shirtmaking for my husband. And should come in handy pressing my own jackets and my trenchcoat (if it ever cools down enough for me to wear it); the pressing of the sleeves once set in is always a hideous challenge when you’re working with a standard garden variety ironing board… On a side note I just love its cheery tartan cover!

Although it took some time I was pretty happy at how easy it was to iron the bodice of this dress using my new ham, I simply couldn’t have done it without it.
And after, good as new, and ready for that next glamourous soiree…