Tag Archives: Own Design

Bush jumpers

05/06/2010 10:37 am \ 5 Comments \

Today I have for you two bush jumpers…
(btw, the above title is supposed to be a play on words as here in Australia a “jumper” is what in the US is referred to as a “sweater”…  I’ve lived over there so I am aware of the lingo differences! could fill a book with funny anecdotes of these!)
Reminds me of the old joke from many years ago: What do you get when you cross a sheep with a kangaroo?
Answer: A woolly jumper
Sorry.  I know.  Not as hilarious as it was thirty years ago…
I do have a kind-of funny generation-gap story for today; today Mum and I had morning tea with some of her friends.  Visualise, if you will, mostly retired ladies sitting around a table in the country pub.  Newly arrived lady comes up to the table and says, with dramatic flourish and eyes shining with excitement: “Girls I have some very exciting new for you!!”  Queries of “Oooh, what, what?”  Pause for effect, then “Last night I heard a barking owl!!!”  Cue all-round cries of surprise and delight…  I was later informed that barking owls are endangered, thus the great importance of the announcement.
I expect in twenty years or so I might be very interested in barking owls too.
I knitted this jumper for myself about five years ago, just bought some wool and knitted to my own design. It’s been a while since I followed a proper knitting pattern actually.  A few years later and I feel it is best suitable for the country; warm but not very gorgeous.  I think I made it too wide across the shoulders.  It’s very loose and bulky and feels a bit like I’m wearing a man’s jumper.  Don’t expect any close-ups.

Details:
Jumper; my own design, knitted from Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed in ?Natural?
Jeans; Little Big
Boots: Andrea and Joen, from Uggy’s in Dunsborough

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Satisfyingly swishy skirt

26/05/2010 2:33 am \ 5 Comments \

Dug this skirt out again from the recesses of my wardrobe… I don’t know why I’m not wearing it as often as I once did.  I love it.  I made this last summer; not the summer we’ve just had but the one before that.  When I walk it twirls and swishes around my ankles in a most satisfying way, and always attracts compliments.  This morning on our dog walk (can you see Sienna’s furry butt behind a tree in this photo?) a lady crossed the street to say something nice to me about it… little incidents like that can give one a lift for hours, no?  I’m going to make an effort to give more compliments from now on.

Details:
Skirt; my own design variations, based on Butterick 3134, first posted here
Top; my own design, refashioned from my old 3/4 pants here
Booties; Django and Juliette, from Zomp

 

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Ruthlessly cutting off 4 inches of python…

19/05/2010 4:04 am \ 10 Comments \

Something had been bothering me about this python skirt (first posted here) and I finally realised what it was.  The length.  It just wasn’t me.  I think skirts suit me best when they are either quite long, like mid-calf to ankle length, or above knee.  Just below the knee or sitting just at the knee is not a good look for me.
It’s a peculiar thing how a skirt length can suit some women so well, and just look frumpy and awful on others.  One’s OK hem length is a personal thing.  It’s taken me a while to work this out, and I’m realising it’s no good fighting this innate truth.  Once you have determined your OK Hem Length (let’s call this your OKHL), then it’s a good idea to stick to it.  Yes, hem lengths are dictated to us by current fashion trends, but every once in a while you just can’t wear it, no matter how fashionable it is.  It may be the OKHL for some fashion mavens but not for you.  Luckily the hem lengths of today’s fashion change faster than anyone can keep up with so any one of them will still be in keeping with a current trend from some design quarter…
Determining her own OKHL is every woman’s quest in her sartorial life.  It takes time and persistence and, yes, mistakes to get this right.  We’ve all had this experience.  You come across it in a boutique, the most fabulous skirt you’ve ever seen, has you racing into the changeroom with inner whoops of joy, already mentally buying it and the trying on a mere formality to see for yourself in the mirror how utterly gorgeous you are going to be in your new skirt… then it’s on, you look in the mirror, whoomp.  All your excitement evaporates at the hideous reflection of yourself in that skirt in the mirror.  It’s all …wrong.  You feel like it’s you.  The skirt is perfect, but its you who are not.
Well, my friend, at least half the time it won’t be you that is the problem, but the hemline of your fabulous skirt.  It’s just not your OKHL.
It’s no coincidence that a lot of the “re-fashions” I see on Wardrobe Re-fashion are simply either the shortening of a too-long dress/skirt or adding-on of strips of fabric to lengthen a too-short number.  OKHL’s are being realised here.
I feel a lot better about this skirt now.  What do you think?
Have you determined your OKHL?  What were your experiences in working it out?

Details:
Skirt; my own design variations on Vogue 7303, python print satin
Top; Metalicus
Shirt; from Tinga Safari Lodge, borrowed from my husbands wardrobe
Belt; from my cargos
Boots; Mina Martini, from Marie Claire

 

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Cosy brown cardigan

16/05/2010 7:09 am \ 13 Comments \
Wintery weather is well and truly upon us today (glum face).  We even got a little wet on our beach walk here today.  Just a light misty shower thank goodness…  eau de “wet dog” is not my favourite fragrance to have around in the house and car…
Traditionally as the weather turns cold and stormy and wild my thoughts start to turn to knitting and I get more excited about getting out the old knitting needles and hunting through the available wool and yarn stores.  I’m not there yet, still daydreaming about my current sewing projects for now, but it won’t be long before I’ll be curling up in front of the TV of an evening with the rain and wind battering on the windows and with a knitting project in my lap.
As well as the usual socks, which are always in the process of construction (ooh, haven’t shown you any of my socks yet!) this year I plan to make an infinity scarf, a few of which I’ve seen on the net, and a slouch beanie/beret or two.
This is a cardigan I knitted last year.  I bought 7 balls and just made it up as I went along.  It’s a very cosy cardigan and colourwise I just love the tiny flecks of gold and burgundy mixed in with the rough brown/grey marle.  My favourite part of this cardigan is the button on the front, handmade by Dad.  He sliced a bough of birch tree (grown in Mum and Dad’s own garden), drilled two tiny holes in it, and hand polished it to produce this perfect button.  Isn’t it the most beautiful button ever?  Dad is an extremely talented craftsman, and his handmade items are always hotly sought after prezzies at Christmas time…
Details:
Cardigan; my own design, Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed in Brindle
Jeans; Development
T-shirt; Country Road

Sneakers; Lute, from Betts and Betts

 

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Nice little stormcloud cardi

15/05/2010 4:39 am \ 12 Comments \
My husband has had this jumper for about ten years and hasn’t worn it at all for the last five years at least.  When I found it in our toss-out bag I knew straight away I couldn’t ever throw it out, because we bought it for him together when we were in Paris… ah, holiday memories.  I’m quite sentimental about stuff like that.  Admittedly it has expanded in size substantially over the years and flatters no one any more.  See the before photo below?  Hoo boy.  Enough said.  It’s also pilled and old, but the cloth is a fine woven cotton knit which is lovely and soft to wear and so worth keeping.  Time to get out the scissors…  Don’t worry, it’s not a designer item or anything…
I thought long and hard before embarking on this re-fashion.  I thought about re-sewing the seams so it would fit my husband again, but he was over it…   and I also fantasised about various exciting and asymmetrical avant-garde shapes before decided a nice ordinary little cardi in a classic shape would make me the happiest.  So.  I kept the sleeve and bottom rib edgings (although I’m already wondering whether it would be better with the sleeve ribs turned under and invisibly hemmed on the inside, what do you think?)
The shoulder seams were encased and reinforced with blue bias binding, and the neck edge with a small scrap of blue tape.  I knew those tiny scraps would come in handy some day…
I hand rolled and sewed the raw front edges and attached a medium sized hook and eye for closure.
What do you think?
Details:
Cardi; my own design, refashioned from my husband’s old cotton knit jumper
Jeans in both before and after photos; old corduroys from Just Jeans
Tops; both Metalicus
Scarf; Country Road 
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Long n’ skinny scarf

10/05/2010 6:10 am \ 7 Comments \

Today is the first time I have showcased this scarf on the bloggeroonie.
I made this about two years ago when big woollen loopy scarves made a small splash on the fashion scene.  I bought three balls of lovely soft black wool, cast on 23 stitches and simply K1 P1 rib stitch until all three balls had been finished.  Sorry, can’t remember the brand of wool.  I think it could have been Debbie Bliss.  The result is a marvellously long affair that wraps easily three times around my neck, with plenty to spare for artistic looping and draping and for the ends to be left hanging loose (as here) or to make a loose knot if desired.
I’m also wearing in my new winter shoes.  They actually only “sort of” new; I bought them last October in the post-winter sales, always the best time to buy good quality winter shoes.  Since I’ve got very big feet I’m often lucky enough to find my size in the after season sales… well there’s got to be one advantage to having gigantic feet…   This morning is the second time I’ve worn them this season, and my poor feet are now a little tender; ouch!  Hate wearing-in new shoes; well I did fall in love with the witchy vibe of these little booties and plan to wear them a lot so this painful early stage has to be borne…
Has anyone got any tips for a non-painful wearing-in of new shoes?

Details:
Skirt; my own variations on Vogue 7303, lined, python print satin
Top; Morrison
Cardi; own design, snakeskin printed rubber coated jersey
Scarf; knitted by me, no pattern
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

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Bottle green Basic

08/05/2010 2:36 am \ 10 Comments \

I made a new skirt!
This latest is the result of wanting a little quick and easy skirt that I could just throw on for any occasion, something like my olive green corduroy skirt that is such a staple in my wardrobe.  Plus my desire to incorporate a little more green in my wardrobe.  I used to have a lot of this colour once upon a time, but my green options have dwindled somewhat over recent years, suffering from my obsession with neutrals.  Plus I had seen this skirt at right in the Celine parade and thought how great the bottle green looked with all the other creams, whites, beiges, caramels and other light neutrals in the collection, and as I have such an overabundance of aforementioned neutrals in my wardrobe I thought it was high time for a return to an old favourite.  Thus, green.
Having said all that here I am wearing my new skirt with no such light neutrals as displayed so gorgeously by Celine but with the wintery shades of teal and my new air force blue scarf…. ah, paradoxical, no?  But I like the look of the green so much with these “dirty” blues just as well, so this is how I am wearing it for today… no doubt when spring starts to sprung (spring?) then I’ll be pairing this little skirt with my beloved neutrals as planned…
Sorry for the old chestnut Vogue 7303 rearing its head once more on this blog.  I only bought 70cm of fabric and needed a pattern that could cope with such a small amount.  This trusty old pattern is getting kinda fragile and is patched together with sticky tape in places, and its envelope is dog-eared and tattered, but still I keep turning to it.  Besides its economy with fabric, another plus is its sheer simplicity; it took less than an hour to run this number up.
I am constantly vacillating between wanting to source new and exciting patterns for my wardrobe, and then when the time comes reaching for the same old basic tried and true patterns…  I like to do both and don’t have a set formula when it comes to choosing my next project but just work on whim and fancy…  What do you do?  Do you use a pattern once and then move on to the next exciting challenge, or do you keep returning to the favourites in your pattern collection, or is it a bit-of-both?

Photo above from Celine Spring/Summer 2010

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, bottle green cotton velveteen
Top; Metalicus
Scarf; refashioned from an old tank-top, here
Boots; Fornarina, from David Jones

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Knotty blue scarf

06/05/2010 6:56 am \ 8 Comments \

It’s been an embarrassingly long while since I did a re-fashion.  My big bag of toss-out garments is still sitting there, taunting me.  And this re-fashion is so … trite, it’s barely worth the label “re-fashion”.  Still, in my defence, there was not a lot of fabric to play with in this one, meaning, not a lot of re-fashion options.  But I like scarves.  And, bonus, I’m making a start on incorporating some air force blue into my wardrobe for winter.  Win!
So, starting with an old tank-top of my husband’s.  This is actually the top half of a pair of summer jammies, from a men’s sleepwear range brought out by Ian Thorpe the Aussie Olympic swimmer, that I’m chopping up here.  Sorry, Thorpie…

I simply cut off the top part of the tank-top at underarm level, and the bottom seam, for a raw edge.  The side seams were cut out also to get the raw edge, and the front and back remaining rectangles cut into three roughly equal width pieces.  (OK, very roughly…)

  
These were overlocked together, right sides facing.  When overlocking I also cut out the remains of that logo….  I didn’t use matching overlocker thread, but it doesn’t matter as these seams are to be hidden by knots.  

Where I’m knotting the sides are folded in slightly, just to hide the seam stitching, and simple knots positioned to hide the seams.

Et voila, a new air force blue scarf…

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303 lined, winter white wool crepe
Top; Metalicus
Cardi; Metalicus
Boots; Enrico Antinori
Scarf; refashioned from old tank-top
Bag; Gucci

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