Tag Archives: Own Design

The clean-up begins…

23/03/2010 6:38 am \ 5 Comments \

So today I’m taking stock of the mess and devastation around our house from yesterday’s storm.  Perhaps an outfit post for the day seems inappropriate but now I’m so in the habit of popping my camera into my backpack I just went ahead and set up for a photo as usual.  Apologies for the fairly boring outfit I’ve chosen today…  Actually I do love the swirling puffy clouds with bruised smudges above, with every so often a blaze of brilliant turquoise to delight us…  The funny thing is it is a pretty hot day again today, and in this photo I was sweltering…  a good opportunity for me to put on my bathers when I got home and get started on a fun activity; I spent three quarters of an hour dredging the pool to the best of my ability.
Paradoxically I’ve always thought of the wind and rain as nature’s way of “cleaning up” the earth’s surface, as in the wind can be thought of as nature’s broom/vacuum cleaner blowing the dust away and the rain washes everything down clean and sparkling like a new pin all over again.  When we visited Egypt and the streets and buildings were so dusty and dirty I remember thinking what this place needs is a good strong wind followed by a thorough downpour to clean up a bit.  I say paradoxical because after a wild storm like yesterday of course the landscape is so much messier than before, and needs so much cleaning up after!!  I guess my simile isn’t particularly applicable after all!
So I’m outside wandering around with rake and broom and the thought “Where do I even begin?” pops into my head regularly.  For one thing, the piles of debris vs. the volume of our household bin.. there’s quite a discrepancy there for a start.  This is going to take time.  I’m finding myself lurching from one job to another without seeming to achieve anything very much at all…  One thing is for sure, my dressmaking hobby is going to go on the back-burner for a while.  My laundry where I usually sew is filled knee-high with piles of wet old towels/rags we used to clean up the worst of the inside puddles… and my washing machine is working overtime today.  
I’d have to say the plus-side of being without power last night, after everyone had got over the initial withdrawal symptoms from electronic entertainment (What? we’re going to miss Bear Grylls?!  Noooooo…!”) was that everybody set to and made their own old-fashioned entertainment by candlelight.  Something we should do more often, methinks…

Details:
Lace top; my own design, cut-away embroidered linen
Cargo pants; urban, from Ezibuy
Camisole; Country Road
Scarf; made by me, turquoise silk chiffon

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Canal Rocks

21/03/2010 1:51 pm \ 5 Comments \

Full day today, this is why I’m posting so late tonight.  We had a busy sociable day, and rounded off by going to watch the sun set over the ocean.  Here, my husband took so many beautiful photos, and also some of me in my outfit I’ve included here.  (I was kinda planning another handicraft post, but these photos are, well, better….)
The rocks here are so alienesque and seismically dramatic, and the ocean so turbulent with booming fountains of white frothy sea-spray with every violent wave…. we were here at midday and the rocks were tangerine and the water a rich vibrant blue, in the late afternoon light, as here, the rocks are paled to golden and the ocean becomes a dark almost sinister grey…
I’m wearing my outfit that was one of my wardrobe refashions, first posted about here, made out of three of my husband’s old business shirts.  I actually love this outfit a lot, it fits my casual and yet funky (I hope!) aesthetic perfectly; I have a desire to look different, without looking so different that I look odd, I think this outfit ticks the boxes.  I know some people insist on having pockets in the garments they make; I’m not so demanding, but in this I did put pockets in the skirt, made out of the short sleeves from the sky-blue top, and boy am I pleased with these pockets!  They enable me to shove my hands down low in the skirt and slouch along the footpath in a casually cool manner… er, as casually cool as I can manage, anyway….;D

Details:
Top and skirt; refashioned from 3 old business shirts
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

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St Patrick’s Day

17/03/2010 5:40 am \ 6 Comments \

How do I know it’s St Patrick’s Day, even though we don’t make a big deal out of it here in Australia?  Why, because the Spotlight stores, which are heavily influenced by American merchandising choices are simply chocka with fluorescent green top hats, fluffy-haired leprachauns, wigs and shamrocks, which will most likely and sadly go unpurchased by Australians….
So, even though I don’t have a single drop of Irish blood in me my outfit for today is influenced by my perception of the Irish manner of dress which is quite different from the Spotlight examples.  My one Irish friend S has quiet and subdued tastes in her colour choices of apparel and kelly green rarely makes an appearance on her person…  I’m wondering if the holiday is becoming more an American tradition than Irish?  Thoughts, anyone?
When we were living briefly in the US we bought this simply gorgeous bedspread from a shop called Orvis, a store which had a beautifully provincial huntin’/fishin’ vibe that truly gladdened my rustic little heart.  This bedspread is made completely from patches of pure Irish wool tweed, which in their previous life provided warmth to Seamus’s and Liams on their daily pilgrimage to the village pub, or so we believe.  We’re always on the lookout for a recycled objet d’art and this one has dressed our bed every winter since we got it, and I love it more and more with each passing year.

On another, only slightly related note: conversation with my son last night illustrating the youthful Australian take on a sainted day…
T: “Do you know what day it is tomorrow, Mum?”
Me: “St Patrick’s Day.”
T: “No, it’s Touch-A-Boob Day”
Confused pause, then “Whaaaaat?”
T(patiently):”Touch-a-boob day.”
Me: “No, it’s not…”
T: “Everyone knows it’s touch-a-boob day…”
Later on…
T: “Dad, do you know what day it is tomorrow?”
C: “St Patrick’s Day?”
T: (sighing) “It’s touch-a-boob day…”
C: “Oh reeeeally…”
We’re so behind the times…

Details:
Skirt; my own design based on Vogue 7303, lace knit
Camisole and cardigan; Country Road
Shoes; so old I can no longer read the name on the inside…
Bedspread; Pure Irish wool, Orvis

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Evening bag, specimen 1

14/03/2010 2:19 am \ 6 Comments \

So a new year brings with it a new round of birthday prezzies to be conceived.
For M’s birthday I made her this little evening bag.  It is made out of some leftover silk hessian (remember the heather purple dress?), with sparkly net overlay (remember the light summer cardigan?), velvet ribbon trimming and with pale pistachio green satin piping and lining.  I used a couple of large silver rings for handle loops and I sewed in one of my own labels, for fun.
I enjoyed making this bag, I think it’s cute and it was a lot less time consuming than the tea cosies of last year….

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Candy floss colours

13/03/2010 8:42 am \ 1 Comment \

The colours in my photos have disappointed me a little as my camisole is really pinker than it appears here.  Today I felt in the mood for an artificial and unnatural candy-floss pop of colour, a peek into the Hello Kitty world with its both hard and soft clashing colours.  Thus my atypical backdrop, a grey and black concrete and glass monolith all hard edges and manmade lines with not a speck of nature to be seen.  (And how fortuitous that the building should have my initial inset in marble and brass in it’s doorstep?!)
I’m also inspired by this Josh Goot dress I spied in the latest Vogue magazine; the colours so sharp, impossibly lolly-pink and  blue with the touches of stark black and white; stepping just out of a sci-fi cartoon world.  Nothing natural here.  Bring on the digital age, yeah.  I would love to have this dress in my wardrobe, but for now I’ll just have to settle for reproducing its colour scheme as best I can with what I’ve already got, but isn’t this fabric out of this world?
Though if I really look at these hues again wouldn’t they be just right for a sunrise peeping over ocean waters lapping onto pristine beach sands, the charred remains of a midnight driftwood campfire scattered about…. the epitome of a natural environs…. ah nature always has one tucked up the sleeve, does it not?  Just when fashion has contrived a seemingly artificial colour scheme mother nature slips in the reminder of a colourama of her own…

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1023 view C, turquoise polycotton
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; Metalicus
Scarf; made by me
Bag; pink satin Olga Berg, birthday gift from a friend
Shoes; Perrini, had these for so many years I’ve forgotten where they came from
Nail varnish; Fools Paradise, BYS

Photo below from Josh Goot, Spring/Summer 10

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Wardrobe Refashion, project 6

12/03/2010 4:57 am \ 23 Comments \

This refashion was actually excessively easy and barely worth a tutorial of “during” pictures, but here it is…
I started out with these drawstring waist, three quarter pants.  They are shapeless and unattractive and only suitable for pyjamas… but the fabric is lovely fine linen in a gorgeous shade of pistachio that I fall in love with straight away… but am I ever going to wear these pants as is?  No way.  Drawstring and elasticised waists are just a no-go in my wardrobe.  I feel they bunch unattractively around my waist/hips, adding bulk to a problem area, and as a recent commenter kindly reminded me, I am not model thin.  Yeeeah…..  If I will take the risk of putting myself out there then people will feel free to inform me of my figure flaws, but hey I can take it.
So here are the before pants:
No way am I modelling these for the blog, they do look ridiculous and I have some pride.

I removed the drawstring and the elastic from the waist casing and cut the leg pieces off just below crotch level:

Now I took each of the legs; in these pants the back leg pieces are wider than the front pieces, so when ironed flat you get a pressing line with the leg seamline just inside of this running down the length of the legs … I marked with pins on the leg backs the line of this seamline that is on the leg fronts, and cut the fabric of the leg backs approximately 1cm in from this pinned line and overlocked the raw edges… Then on the leg fronts (which looks superficially the same as it did before) I stitch in the ditch down the original seamline… this is being pointed to by my unpicker in this photo… and thus a hem is created on each side of the two long leg pieces utilising the original pressing line.  (phew! that probably made no sense whatsoever! the picture can do the talking…)

I fitted these two pieces over my shoulders and pinned them inside the original waistband and stitched them on the top stitching line as well as the bottom stitching line of the waistband casing.  The short crotch seams front and back are re-sewn to be straight seams.  The original back of the pants with its pockets still intact I placed at the front.. and cut new holes for the drawstring at the new front…

There was a little slit at the bottom of the legs (now the bodice), I kept this and sewed it down with a button for an extra detail and to bring it in under the arm and help avoid bra flashing…

Hemmed the bottom, et voila….

I think it looks a little like a scrubs top, but then I do like this look.  The team that brought us Scrubs the TV show introduced to non-hospital workers a whole new wardrobe concept in the sexy loose-fitting comfort of scrubs, (and who didn’t just love “Scrubs”?)  This will be a good light floaty top which will be lovely and cool for hot days.  And comfortable!  Man, I might just still use it for pyjamas as well as day-wear…

Details:
Top; pistachio linen, refashioned from old pants
Skirt; Diesel
Shoes; Timberland

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Making boring black satin “snake-worthy”

09/03/2010 5:24 am \ 5 Comments \

So I’m working on this python print satin outfit, inspired by this gorgeousness of Prada.  (At right, Prada, Spring/Summer 09)  I’ve finished the top.  And I really want some kind of black detailing on the skirt to offset the python print.  I had a small amount of black satin, leftover scraps.  But plain black satin looks so boring; flat, shiny and plain.  I wanted some pizzazz, here.  What to do?
I spent a lot of time contemplating this and trying different things.  I even drove up to Fabulous fabrics and found some really gorgeous black snakeskin-detailed rubber coated jersey that I thought might be fabulous.  Bought 70cm.  It is fabulous.  Love it.  But against the python print skirt, it … just wasn’t working its magic.  It subtle little scales were lost against the python print, which is a pretty bold and striking print.  So I turned back to the black satin and tried to dream up some way of making it more exciting.  I know crushing satin permanently is a chemical process beyond the scope of my amateur skills; it had to be a sewing thing.  So I tried this:
Here’s a bit of black satin.  Not very “snake-y”, now, is it?

Folding the fabric with right sides together, I sewed 3cm-4cm lengths of pintucking, randomly placed to form rough asymmetric triangles and quadrangles.  This part is very random and “artistic”.  I’m aiming for a sort of fluid, languid flow of chaotic lines.

This is what it looks like from the wrong side.

And this is the right side, before ironing.  (Sorry, flash went off and I didn’t realise)  Looks kind of like a quilted eiderdown sewn by five year olds.  Fabulous.

Then I ironed on the right side, being careful not to pull the fabric out too much.  I kind of “placed” the iron onto the wrinkles to set them down as naturally and as scrunchy as possible.
Ironed, right side up.

And here I’ve pressed down the edges in a random wavy line (this is easy with satin) and sewn the finished satin strip along the side of my skirt.

Snaky enough?
I think so!
Stay tuned for the final outfit, shouldn’t be too far off now.
(And I still have that fantastic bit of black snakeskin jersey to make a matching cardigan, woot!)

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“What a curious feeling…”

08/03/2010 5:01 am \ 4 Comments \

When I sat under this tree today I felt a bit like a gypsy-ish Alice in Wonderland.  I had this big solid tree comfortably at my back with its branches swaying and drooping, its canopy of foliage like a whispering crowd of woodland onlookers, I’m looking over a lake sprinkled with silent and watchful ducks and a couple of black swans drifting and foraging in the mud at bottom… all I needed was a cake and a bottle marked “Drink me” though the pool was not of my tears and I could see no dodo… my dog lay peacefully and companionably in the dry grass nearby watching me and waiting patiently for me to finish this strange early morning photography ritual… she’s a faithful soul.
I’m getting braver in my choice of colour combinations; a month ago I would never have worn this top with this skirt.  These golden jewelled sandals always feel so light, sparkly and frivolous on my feet, but the solid brown beads anchor me back down.  I need anchoring, to be reminded me I have a job to do and it’s time to check back into the office and leave my daydreaming for another day…

Details:
Top; Country Road, dyed with turmeric
Skirt; Vogue 7880 view B, multicoloured polyester chiffon
Necklace; made by me
Sandals; Anna, from MarieClaire
Nail varnish; Fools Paradise, BYS

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