Tag Archives: Mmm12

Ugly Places

11/05/2012 7:58 am \ 16 Comments \

I have to admit I was really giggling to myself while taking my photo here today…  with terror!!
Today’s photo mini-challenge in the me-made May group is Ugly Places, and I immediately thought: building site.  Building sites are the epitome of ugly, aren’t they?  Not just the piles of rubbish, but the dust, the noise, the disruption to the whole neighbourhood. This one is like a 2 minute walk away from our house, so I just popped over in the afternoon, assuming the workmen would have gone off somewhere else at midday like they do frequently… well, not today of all days, there was still sounds of building activity going on out the back.  Cursing my bad luck I almost turned on my heel and walked away thinking to go back later, but then stopped myself, thinking for heaven’s sake, get a backbone, woman.  I did a quick glance about and truly there was no one in sight, all the builders were out the back.  So I steeled myself; nothing ventured nothing gained….  and quickly as possible set up my camera on the verge and snapped a coupla photos, as much as I dared! before courage deserted me and I packed up and cleared out with lightning speed.  This was like a thirty second photo op, honestly.  I was supremely lucky that not even a car went past during that time too…  the funniest thing to me was imagining those builders going about their legitimate business out the back nailing and hammering, whatever, completely unaware that some crazy woman was out the front on the street taking a photo of herself, so ridiculous, no?!
Sigh, the things we do… honestly, I cannot believe my audacity.
But y’know what, the truth is that, crazy though this photo was for me; the photo mini-challenges are one of the fun-nest things about the whole me-made saga.
But I will be glad to get back to more secluded spots!

Picture taken around 2pm;  Temperature at the time 22C.
Overnight low: 11C; Today’s high: 24C 
Sunny and warm, in fact a beeeeeautiful day!

Details:
Shirt; my own design, a refashion of a pair of white linen trousers (also made originally by me) details here
Skirt; Vogue 8363, rust red wool/silk bought in Japan, details and my review of this pattern here
Scarf; knitted by me using Noro yarn, details here
Shoes; Betts & Betts Brazilian Collection, I’ve had these for donkey’s years

Later edit: yesterday Dorothy asked who takes all the “wonderful” photos:  thank you for the compliment, Dorothy!  Unless otherwise stated all photos are taken by me, using a tripod and a remote control. 

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hiya

10/05/2012 5:49 am \ 8 Comments \

…

Still nothing.  Consider this a comfortable and companionable silence between friends  🙂

Picture taken around 12pm;  Temperature at the time 21C.
Overnight low: 12C; Today’s high: 22C 
Fine and sunny, some clouds

Details:
Top; Vogue 1248, light coffee cotton with silver polka dots, details and my review of this pattern here
Skirt; Vogue 1248 lengthened and lined, curtaining fabric with satin lining, details here and my review of this pattern here
Cardigan; my own design, green jersey knit, details here, later dyed with iDye in Brown here
Shoes; Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

Cassie’s top; drafted from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, two different shades of blue cotton jersey knit, details here
This top looks so much better on Cassie than on me.  I’m so lucky that my daughter loves to raid my wardrobe, and even better, spirit stuff away so that I can make new stuff for myself.  😀

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Tiny thoughts…

09/05/2012 9:14 am \ 11 Comments \

Me-made May, Day 9:
Isn’t it dreadful when someone with nothing worthwhile to say insists on saying something?  So I will refrain from sharing the tedium of my mundane little non-thoughts today.
You’re welcome.  🙂
Except to say: my best wishes to everyone for a wonderful day!!
And also; No, my new ombre-dyed skirt from yesterday is not the wacky thing I’ve been working on.  The wacky thing will be obvious when it appears.  I’m waiting for a warmer day to show it off.  🙂

Picture taken around 10.30am;  Temperature at the time 19C.
Overnight low: 12C; Today’s high: 22C 
Some breezes, some sun, some rain.  Y’know.

Details:
Cardigan; my own design, leopard print wool jersey, part of a twinset, details here, and see the twinset styled in 6 different ways here
Top; drafted from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, blue knit jersey, details here, and see this top styled in 6 different ways here
Skirt; Vogue 1170 lengthened and lined, blue corduroy, details here and my review of this pattern here
Shoes; Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

In other handmade sightings today, my husband is wearing again the same blue linen shirt from yesterday (it’s OK, he works in an operating theatre where they wear scrubs during the entire working day, so it wasn’t really dirty from yesterday.  Really  🙂  )

And Cassie is wearing the combined beanie/scarf that I knitted for her a few years ago.

Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, blue linen, details here
Cassie’s combined beanie scarf; my own design, various wools, details here

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Ombre dyed velveteen skirt

08/05/2012 10:05 am \ 39 Comments \

So, this is the little dyeing experiment I was referring to; I finished it last night and just couldn’t wait to wear it today!
My new skirt!
I made the skirt using Vogue 1247, of bright lipstick-red cotton velveteen from Spotlight.  I lengthened the lower skirt pieces of the pattern by …er, lots…  😀  and made a separate full lining of rusty red polyacetate from Fabulous Fabrics, by splicing the upper and lower skirt pattern pieces together.  

The waistband is made less bulky, by joining a long strip of the interfaced fashion fabric, cotton velveteen, to a long strip of lightweight cotton for the waistband facing.  I used Rowan shot cotton in Ginger, a small piece of the leftovers from the shirt I made for my Dad here.  

After construction of the skirt was complete, I dip dyed it from the top in a dye bath of 1/4 tsp iDye Brown.  I did not take any pictures of the dyeing process this time, but this is what I did; I stood holding the hem of the skirt and dipped it up and down slowly and consistently in the boiling dye bath, sometimes dipping deeply, sometimes shallowly, different depths each time, constantly checking to see how the ombre was taking effect; for as long as my arms could take it.  In this case, approximately 25 mins before my muscles were screaming  “OMG; STOOOOP!” Then I took it over to the laundry trough for a thorough rinsing.  I laid the skirt flat on a towel and gently pulled it into shape to dry completely overnight.
I am completely and utterly thrilled with how it turned out!
To my mind, the colour transformation of that deep purple-y rustiness in the top section fading to a rich ruby crimson lends the skirt a classiness that it did not have as a plain lipstick-red skirt.
below; the front view of the skirt, before dyeing.  Not so interesting…?  compare this to the above photo; the back view of the skirt after dyeing.  Much more interesting, yes  🙂

I chose to dip-dye the skirt upside down because I wanted to have the darker section at the waistline fading down to the lighter shade.  I know this is the opposite to most dip-dyeing seen around about but I really like it like this.  I think it is a more slimming effect than if the waist band was bright red deepening down in colour to a darker hemline. 
If you’re interested in dip dyeing, I once did a rough kind of tutorial here, which is a good method for if you don’t think your arms have the stamina for 25 minutes of dipping.  And I wouldn’t blame you one bit, my arms are aching something awful today!  A sopping wet lined velveteen skirt is hea-e-evy!

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1247, red cotton velveteen dip-dyed in 1/2 tsp iDye in Brown  (my review of this skirt pattern here)
Tshirt; self-drafted, white cotton dyed with iDye in both Red and Brown, details here
Scarf; basically a very long piece of raspberry knit jersey, seen first here
Cardigan; knitted by me, Jo Sharp’s Knitted Cardigan with the addition of knitted lace edging on the sleeve hems, using Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in Sapote (col 216), details here
Shoes; Betts & Betts Brazilian Collection (seriously; these are older than my children!)

Pockets, in action.  Gotta love that…

Picture taken around 12.30pm;  Temperature at the time 21C.
Overnight low: 14C; Today’s high: 21C 
Had a rainy storm overnight, but has been fine all day

Today is another me-made bonus day! my husband is again wearing a shirt that I made for him!  and btw, I promise that I am not putting in any requests that my family wears my stuff this month.  They probably wouldn’t pay attention even if I did  🙂  The “bonus days” I am showing here are actually normal for my family; and their clothes are, as they always are, being spontaneously chosen by them to wear.  I am just including them here for fun

Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, blue linen, details here

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Banksia…

07/05/2012 6:15 am \ 16 Comments \

… is the name of the plant beside me.  Actually the name given to huge range of plants, this one is a bush, although banksias also come in the form of trees and groundcovers.  Did you know that Western Australia is a botanical world hotspot?  Mum and I visited the Australia Gardens in Melbourne a few years ago, enjoyed a lovely tour with a talk by a guide, and discovered (well, I discovered; Mum already knew) that Australia holds one of the most unique, diverse and huge plant populations in the world, and of that unique population, 95% is from Western Australia.
Interesting, huh?
All this is to distract you from the fact that my outfit is pretty meh today.  I thought it looked nice in the mirror this morning, but I am less enamoured of it in my picture.  What the hey, I am comfortable and perfectly warm.  I do like the interesting little peep of floral cross-stitched silk skirt coming out the bottom.  Ah well, you win some me-made days and you lose some.  🙂
I’ve finished my “wacky” project, and will wear it soon; not tomorrow, but soon.  I’m pretty excited about how it turned out now!  It is weird and wonderfully so!!  Imo, anyway…  😀  
And this afternoon after I have finished my office work I am planning a little dyeing session, on another recently almost-completed project (wish me luck  ;))
Watch this space! 

Picture taken around 1pm;  Temperature at the time 21C.
Overnight low: 13C; Today’s high: 22C 
Mostly fine and cloudy, very very windy.  That is my excuse for the hair  🙂

Details:
Dress; Burdastyle magazine 06/2011, dress 102, purple shot rayon, details and my review of this pattern here, and see this dress styled in 6 different ways here
Skirt; Burda 8071 with the bodice removed, cross-stitched silk dupion, details here (as a dress) and here (turning it into a skirt)
Cardigan; knitted by me, Jo Sharp’s Knitted Cardigan with the addition of knitted lace edging on the sleeve hems, using Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in Sapote (col 216), details here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

Later edit; I almost forgot! today was a me-made bonus day for me, since my husband wore a shirt I made for him  🙂
Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, burgundy linen, details here
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Looking deceptively dressy…

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

… 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.

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Comfort…

05/05/2012 7:18 am \ 18 Comments \

On a sartorial note; today was one of those disastrously uninspired days when I contemplated and rejected just about everything in my wardrobe.  Everything felt hideous to me!  Finally just settled on this blah blah ensemble… not very put together or super-wow or anything, but just some favourite comfy and easy-to-wear pieces.
And obviously, neither could I be bothered with an exciting photo  🙂
It is silly, because I had good intentions this morning and wanted to look nice since I had a very important function lined up: my children were taking me out today for an early Mother’s Day treat.  We had to have it today, since for the real Mother’s Day next Sunday, all of my children are working for some part of the day or another and there will be no overlapping free time in which I can spend time with all of them together.  So, today we had a firm date.  We went to Koko Black, and ate toasted sandwiches and drank hot chocolate and chatted about everyone’s lives and what we were all doing at the mo’ and it was so so so nice to hang out with them and laugh together and really listen to each other… I had the most wonderful-lest time.
I’m on cloud 9 even now.
Oh, what was I saying?  Oh yeah, I wanted to look nice for our outing, but in the end I just could not get inspired.  But who cares?  They didn’t mind.  Of course it didn’t matter a jot what I was wearing.

Picture taken around 2pm;  Temperature at the time 22C.
Overnight low: 13C; Today’s high: 23C 

Forecast was for thunderstorms and rain, but has actually been fine all day with both cloudy and sunny patches.  Maybe a dozen raindrops?  (sigh)  At least we got some rain yesterday.

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767 modified, blue chambray cotton, details here
Skirt; originally Burda 7863 jeans, beige corduroy, details here, later converted into a skirt, details here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

And in a super synchronised synergy, wait for it; two of my children came downstairs rocking me-made items today!  Cassie wearing the little layered skirt I made for her using the leftovers of my Japanese wool/silk, and Sam the corduroy coat I made for him last winter.
Sigh.
I am so lucky to have them.

Cassie’s skirt; Vogue 8363 modified, rust-red wool/silk mix bought in Tokyo, details here and my review of this pattern here
Sam’s jacket; Burda 7767 modified, navy corduroy, details here

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The Daughter of Woman

04/05/2012 2:58 am \ 13 Comments \

I am paying homage to “The Son of Man” the 1964 painting by Rene Magritte.
Today’s mini-challenge within the me-made May group is to be pictured with food, or to be eating or drinking something.  So I took inspiration from that famous work of art, hehe.
Incidentally, this is also my morning tea.  
The artist later ate her subject.
🙁 for the orange

The Son of Man, Rene Magritte, 1964

Picture taken around 9.30am;  Temperature at the time 20C.
Overnight low: 16C; Today’s high: 23C 

It is very humid and the promised rain eventuated… we are getting plenty of it today!
And going by the forecast we are in for a lot more.  You may be interested to know that in Perth rain is a very very welcome occurrence, we really do not get enough.  Makes for a lovely lifestyle I agree, but the farmers will be happy today!
Details:
Top; Vogue 1247, lightweight orange cotton, details and my review of this pattern here
Skirt; Vogue 1247 lengthened and lined, curtaining fabric, satin lining, details here, and my review of this pattern here
Shoes; Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes
Brolly; Charlie Brown, from David Jones
And today is another joyful day of me-made synergy within my household; I was happy this morning to see Sam wearing his shirt I made for him, for Christmas last year.  A me-made bonus day!
Sams’ shirt; Burda 7767 modified, white and navy check polycotton, details here
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