Tag Archives: Own Design

Casual shopping chic

17/12/2009 3:21 am \ 2 Comments \

Blah blah; shopping and Christmas preparations on the agenda today.  Came home yesterday to piles of mail and a to-do list a mile long, plus a few parties on the horizons, it’s back to happy chaos in our house!
In the wardrobe department I am now planning for autumn; and I have a few sewing projects waiting in the wings and plenty of ideas about what to do next.  My mother brought along a fantastic DVD for us to watch while away; a Threads magazine production with great sewing tips by Louise Cutting, a lady who is a full bottle on all things sewing.  She had a great new way of sewing collars that eliminates the front seam altogether that I plan to try, I’ll give details when I try it out…
Anyhoo, today being a day of errands and chores I’m just dressed for shopping and looking smart but functional.  I’m wearing my linen pants, drafted by me from my favourite jeans, and my light summer cardi made out of a double layer of net sewn together at the shoulder, side and armhole seams.  I’ve included a close-up of the front area to show how the front edges were finished with grosgrain ribbon simply zigzag stitched in one seam.  This is a wonderful little top for very hot days as it looks quite chic and funky and covers your shoulders while still being very light.

Other details:
Pants; white linen, self-drafted
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; coffee and white net; self-drafted
Necklace; souvenir from Murano, Venice
Sandals; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes
Sunnies; RayBans

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Warm rocks and wet sand

12/12/2009 6:37 am \ Leave a Comment \
Beach-combing this morning; my husband was deeply disappointed that Mr Cappuccino Man seems to be taking a day off…  So peaceful and blissfully tranquil out on the bay, we shared the beach with about fifteen people and everyone calls “good morning!” to each other, so nice; Sienna and other dogs sniffing each others butts politely along the lines of prescribed doggie etiquette… She trots past flocks of seagulls that chatter to each other in a vaguely outraged manner like little old ladies, and genteelly hurry along in a “don’t show them you’re scared” kind of a way.  We brewed a pot of tea and had some of Mum’s muffins with yogurt for brekky out on the patio…  It’s going to be a hot one today, so swimming again this arvo.
Other details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, fabric hand-woven by my mother
Top; New Look 6483 with my own variations, natural cotton and crotchet strips
Hat; Country Road
Sunnies; RayBan

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Sandy salty toes

08/12/2009 5:54 am \ 1 Comment \
So, here we are at the beach house, and blissfully happy.  The sun is broadcasting diamonds upon the water and the sand is scrunching white and squeaky clean under our bare feet.  This morning the tide was so far out we walked over a hundred metres out and we’re still just cooling our calves.
Today I’m wearing my white linen pants that I drafted from my favourite jeans, and a white top made from some leftover fabric that I posted about previously here.
Other details:
Pants; white linen, self-drafted from other pants
Top; Butterick 4985, view B collar, view A sleeves, white self-striped cotton
Cardigan and hat; Country Road
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

 

Sienna is in heaven when we’re on the beach.  She’s whizzing and scampering about like a mad thing; its as though she too senses the ordered chaos of city life has gone.

 

Btw, have you ever seen ducks on the ocean?  Lookee here!  Who would have thought?!

 


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Summer trench coat

01/12/2009 3:53 am \ 2 Comments \

Every so often I feel the need for a dressmaking challenge, a change from the workaday shirts, blouses, skirts and pants that can be run up in a day or two.  When my Monday morning gals gave me a Fabulous Fabrics voucher for a birthday gift a year or so back I wanted to make some sort of classic.  So I opted for this trench coat pattern, Burda 7786, view A.  
The pattern was a great pattern, one I will use again; though ended up being not extremely challenging.  Large amounts of double topstitching, but all the seams were simple straight easy seams.
Home seamstresses will concur that half the hurdles of DIY are sourcing the fabric you envisage for a project; in this case I went with this seersucker in spite of its white colour which wasn’t my ideal.  I really wanted more of a beige or tan or even chocolate coloured cotton, as a classic trench coat colour but couldn’t find anything which fitted the bill.  I feel this white is a bit too “lab coat”.  As my original career was as an analytical chemist when I wore a lab coat day in day out I’m keenly aware of avoiding the lab coat look!  However the belt on this one makes it less lab coat, and even though its a bright bright white this has ended up being a good useful fashion choice for summer.  I think I’ll keep it going for another summer in this guise, then will probably dye it for next summer, for a change.
There was enough of this fabric leftover for me to make a little top, posted about here.
Wore it out today to meet some friends for morning tea, then it’s back to the office…

Other details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, olive corduroy
Camisole; Country Road
Sandals; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes
Gold necklace; my grandmother’s
Pink necklace; self-made

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Dad’s birthday present

26/11/2009 2:32 am \ 1 Comment \

I’ve resolved to include in this blog more pictures of projects in the making; however my latest project had to be kept a secret as my Dad reads this blog!  I chose this coloured wool for a scarf for him because I think Dad is an Autumn like me, or more accurately I should say I am an Autumn like my Dad!  This lovely wool leapt out at me as soon as I laid eyes on it at Calico and Ivy and I knew it would be perfect to complement his wardrobe as I see him wearing dark brown or green jumpers a lot during winter.  Also my husband bought himself a scarf recently which he has been wearing a lot even in this hot weather, and I am quite liking the look of scarves on men just as a decorative accessory and not necessarily as a functional neck warmer.
I used three balls of Lang Mille Colori, made in Italy, colour 914, and 3mm needles (if you plan on making this, bear in mind that I knit quite tightly and a “normal” knitter will probably be using 4mm or 4.5 mm needles, check your tension if in doubt)
Cast on 24 stitches (incidentally the age Dad was when I was born!) and knit 1, purl 1 until end of row.
Next row; Purl 1, knit 1 until end of row.
Repeat these two rows until wool is finished.
Easy peasy!
This, of course, is moss stitch.  I debated over using moss stitch as I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it.  I love the look of it, but hate doing it.  All that wool forward, wool back; breaks up the easy flow of knitting and requires concentration.  However, scarves only really look any good if the back looks the same as the front, and I think garter stitch can look a little amateurish.  I wanted Dad’s scarf to look smart, so moss stitch it was.
When it comes to knitting scarves where there is not really a defined front or back, the knots and joins can sometimes be a problem as you can’t just hide them in at the back.  I usually just tie a really tight and tiny knot and then weave the ends in a best I can (see close-up picture).  If you can hide the very fluffy end bit inside a strand of wool in the knitting, so much the better.  I know this sounds nit-picking (or should I say knit-picking?!), but these little finishing touches can make a big difference between an obvious homemade job and a smart and beautiful piece of wearable art.
Many thanks to Dad for agreeing to pose for the blog!

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Strings of pebbles, washed smooth and soft…

21/11/2009 4:15 am \ 1 Comment \

This is a necklace I made a few years ago at the height of my beading phase.  I loved these uneven lumpy beads that remind me of ocean-smoothed pebbles on a European beach in that particularly gorgeous mix of smoky purple, grey and muted rose that they have up there.  
This necklace was carefully planned down to the placement of each and every bead and the random-looking twists and knots are the result of intricate and precision placement  …  ha ha ha, not really …  It looks jumble-y and spontaneous because that’s pretty much how it was made!   The only planning was to string small lengths of the small beads interspersed with either two or three medium beads and an occasional large thrown in.  The necklace was twisted, knotted and fitted to Bessie (the dressmaker’s dummy and sometime model) before separating the strands into “neck-sized” lengths, tied off, and a lobster claw and jump-ring knotted to the ends.
Today a busy day in the garden is planned and probably another trip to the nursery, maybe some afternoon tea with my husband somewhere?  Hope so.

Other details:
Skirt; Desire, op shop
Cardigan and camisole; Country Road

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Romance in an everyday basic

18/11/2009 6:03 am \ Leave a Comment \

Today the sky is white white white, and the wind is swirling and billowing about in the trees every which way.  So naturally I feel compelled to wear a white lacy top and to try to curl my hair. Seems a bit random? well I can see the connection anyhow.  Just seemed fitting.  Wuthering Heights, again?  Although me curling my hair is asking for trouble.  I could hardly brush it after.  Serves me right for dreaming up yet another way of procrastinating on all the work I need to do…  As it turned out the sun popped out from behind a cloud just long enough for me to get a sunny picture…
The top I’m wearing today is an oldie.  It was made from quilting cotton with crocheted lace strips inserted in the front and back.   I used this pattern New Look 6483, with a few variations obviously.  In my usual fashion, once a basic pattern has proved itself in terms of fit I then feel compelled to improvise with each use.  I was trying to copy a top seen in a Vogue magazine, for which I’ve just hunted unsuccessfully and I can’t remember the designer I’m afraid.  My version has been a very useful top; reasonably pretty, loose enough for warm weather and very comfortable for casual days.
This New Look pattern is an excellent basic pattern with no frills.  It is a simple matter to add interest with a few minor variations.  In this case I squared the neckline, altered the sleeves by puffing them up, inserted horizontal and vertical crochet strips on front and back, added a few pin-tucks, made a front bottom panel longer and gathered it to fit, added border crochet strips…  Well quite a few variations, but I was just playing with it at the time and the end result seems to be a keeper in my wardrobe as it has resisted every seasonal purge.  Admittedly white/off-white lace is rarely tossed out by me as I’m strangely drawn to it.  The whole aura of nostalgia and romance as represented in late Victorian era photographs and illustrations has such timeless appeal, no?

Other details:
Jeans, Development

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“Not too crafty” It bag

17/11/2009 6:40 am \ 3 Comments \

Here is another knitted project, a bag that was knitted free-form with no pattern.  After casting on I just randomly did a few cables and whatnot and literally knitted until the wool ran out.  I popped a vinyl “bag” of the same size (made from padded table protector vinyl sold off a huge roll) inside for strength, and then lined with a blue and white print cotton on the inside of that.  The gold chain is attached firmly to the vinyl inner bag so that the bag can take a reasonably heavy weight without sagging unattractively.  Closure is by a magnetic snap, and the old diamante brooch is just pinned on the outside flap for looks.  I’ve hardly ever used this bag, but after the lovely compliments I got today perhaps I should use it more often.  Main problem; you can’t carry an awful lot in it just because of the small size.  It’s really just an elegant day bag for a few essentials.  (I forgot to put in a pen and had to borrow one; great secretary, huh?)

I wound up my secretarial duties today for the school Auxiliary and handed over my files and notes to next year’s secretary; as my daughter has finished school I will no longer be doing this job.  The end of an era, still can’t really comprehend it, I guess it hasn’t really sunk in.  I’ve made some great friends through that school so I’ll keep on seeing those friends I’ve made, hopefully.  I can’t deny it was a relief to hand over the “secretary” bag, though!  We had a lovely lunch after our meeting and I’m now sitting at my desk trying to recall what we discussed at the AGM for the minutes.  Post champagne, this could be a problem…

Other details:
Diamante brooch; bought about 20 yrs ago from secondhand store at Fremantle Markets
Top; Tutte, from Mid 70’s, gift from my parents
Camisole; Country Road
Skirt; Rodney Clark; op shop
Sandals; Marco Santini, from Marie Claire

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