This is a short note to let you know I will be absent from blogging and the internet in entirety for a while. We are going hiking; for the next week we are walking the Cape to Cape walk up the south-west coast of Western Australia, a beautiful 134.5km trek through wilderness and long sandy beaches beaches… and carrying our food and tent, in fact everything we need on our backs!
For a few pictures from when we did this same trek last year, see here.
I’m sorry I haven’t had time yet to reply to any of the lovely comments from yesterday’s post, I have been crazy busy today, but I’m already looking forward to visiting you all again and catching up on everyone’s doings when I get back…
Wishing all of you a safe, relaxing and enjoyable Easter weekend with your family and loved ones.
Later, dudes!
A short break…
Me-Made March, a summary
I thought I would summarise some of my thoughts on the Me-Made March challenge…
well, it was a challenge. I made things more complicated for myself (ha, what’s new) by starting with vague thoughts not to repeat any garments, and then ended up following through on that. So, once I had worn something for the month, I kind of shoved it over to the right hand side of my wardrobe, and tried to make new outfits out of things that hadn’t been worn yet that month… I think this worked sometimes better than other times. On some occasions I had a complete outfit worked out in my head and then spontaneously grabbed completely different things instead. Nearly every morning however I approached my wardrobe having no idea what I should wear that day…
Part of the difficulties lay in the weather; and here are some statistics to bore you with; and I’m not having a whinge but just stating the facts here
1. Perth has officially just had the hottest March on record, yes, a record high month since they even started keeping records in the 1880’s. This added quite a degree of difficulty to my clothing options, jeans and even a lot of my dresses, shirts and long-sleeved tops were out of the picture! Well, only a difficulty because of the self-imposed no-repeat thing…
2. We had a completely dry March; this has happened only six times before in our recorded history. In fact, we haven’t had even one raindrop for 60 days, and there is still no rain expected in the foreseeable future! Well, actually to be honest that didn’t affect Me-Made March at all, just thought I’d mention it just because… well, just because.
Soooo, that’s it. It was fun, and that’s the main thing right?
What day is it today?
Oh yeah. The Tuesday after a long weekend always leaves me a little befuddled. True, I’m easily befuddled.
Details:
Hoodie; adapted from Butterick 4985, added a hood and with different sleeves, white lace, more details here
Petticoat (not seen) Burda 8071, beige silk satin, more details here
Skirt; skirt “m” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, pinky-grey linen mix, more details here
Shoes; Country Road
I’ve been awarded an Awesome Blog award, by Stacy! Thank you so much, Stacy!
Now I’ve got to think of 7 things about myself. Oh dear. This bit is really hard, because I can never think of a thing… but this blog is about sewing, knitting and fashion, so I guess I’ll try to aim in that direction.
1. I can’t get enough of fashion. I subscribe to Australian Vogue, and I get so excited when I see my new Vogue magazine sitting in the letterbox. Part of me just wants to dive in immediately and devour it cover to cover, but I’m strict with myself. I only allow myself to thoroughly soak up little portions at a time, in quiet moments. So I can stretch it out over the month.
2. I hardly ever sew up a muslin. That is how slack I am. Once in a blue moon I will bother with this tiresome task. 99.99999% of the time I’ve felt no need to go down this path, and have just fitted with the garment along the way. This has always worked just fine. I just find muslins to be almost completely unnecessary. Especially for simple daywear. I admire people who go that extra (superfluous) mile, and admit the necessity when dealing with wedding dresses say, or very expensive or rare fabrics, but when it’s a simple little cotton or linen dress well really… Of course I am completely contradicting myself because I recently published here exhaustive pictures of my glove muslins. Yah, I’m a hypocrite, so? And also having said that, I am planning a tailored jacket for this winter, for which I probably will do a muslin. yawn. I promise there will be no photos.
3. Commenting… I guess I might say something here about commenting in blogland. Commenting is kind of tricky, is it not? Everyone seems to employ a different MO. I personally hop over to somebody’s blog to reply to their comment, or if someone has asked a direct question which I think others might wish to know I write the answer in my own comments section as well. I also apologise in both our comments sections if someone has seemed offended by my blog post. I try to visit everybody’s blog who has commented. Sometimes in my travels I’ve noticed that other people reply to comments in their own comments section all the time. This tickles me, that someone might be having a conversation with me in their own comments section. If you have replied to my comment in your own comment section then there is a pretty good chance I haven’t read it because I never return to the same comment section again.
4. I just asked my son for suggestions, and he said “favourite colour”. Thanks darling. But even that helpful suggestion has me writhing in indecision, because my favourite colour changes seasonally. Or monthly. Or even weekly..? I used to have a stock standard answer “white” to that question, to make it easy. But really I love all colours and it would be impossible to pick a favourite!
Perhaps I could talk about least favourite colour combinations. I definitely avoid certain combinations and especially in my apparel. Black and red together is a big one. I look truly awful in that combo. Ill.
5.I’ve been sewing for about thirty years. Wait I might have used that one previously, for some other award. Meh. It takes up another “thing”.
6. Knitting; I’ve probably been knitting for just as long, but less consistently. My mother taught me to knit, as she did sewing too, and my first project was a dark green scarf for our cat Fluffy. I struggled through a few rows, about 10cm worth. It was extremely holey and weird; “arty” is the nicest way of putting it. Like contemporary modern art. My mother finished it off with her beautiful even stitches, and I forced Fluffy to wear it once or twice. She was a patient cat.
7. A final thought, about fabric in sewing; I think the fabric you choose is the deciding factor in how well your garment is going to turn out. Truly, locating a really good fabric supply is the seamstress’ best asset. I once formulated a theory, that you should be able to make something really fabulous out of any fabric and that a person is only limited by their imagination. I do still harbour that belief; but I temper it with this truth, that with really beautiful fabric you are much more likely to have a fabulous result. I might add, that’s been theory hard tested around here and a truth hard won…
So now I’ve got to pick 5 wonderful bloggers to pass this award on to.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it….
Veronica, from Veronica Darling
Sherry, from pattern ~ scissors ~ cloth
Sharon, from Communing with Fabric
Terri, from Rags in the Machine
Jacinta, from ModelMumma
Some funny pictures…
Here are some of the signs that made us giggle around Tokyo…
and btw, these are just for fun and please don’t think I’m poking fun at the Japanese, as I am sure we have unintentionally funny signs here too…
Hope these put a smile on your face, as they did us!
(warning: I take no responsibility for some of the language here…)
I overlooked this photo when I was doing my “shoe” post previously, get a load of these platforms!

In sewing news, I do have few confessions… I made a start on a trial run of the gloves pattern yesterday, and did start photographing the process… but I actually finished the “muslin” gloves this morning… sorry, I just couldn’t stop myself. I had them all the way up to the last stage late last night, when I realised I needed some elastic, which I didn’t have, so I had to stop working on them. And then first thing this morning, I had to go out on a work-related errand (translation, husband accidentally left his mobile phone at home and I had to run it into the hospital to give it to him…) and I took the opportunity to nip into a fabric shop to get some elastic. And finished the gloves as soon as I got home…
So I will start putting up photos of my glove-making experience tomorrow. Mind you, they are just trial gloves, and I am yet to start on my proper suede gloves. Happily, my “muslin” gloves are totally wearable and I’m thrilled with them!
And, oh shame of shames, whilst I was in said fabric shop I also bought some more fabric… 2m of beautiful Australian made winter-white heavy knit, perfect for Vogue 1087, at right. It was so beautiful and just right for me, and I just couldn’t help myself (in the whiny self-justifying voice of a true fabric addict)
So now, I’m making an official pledge… I will NOT buy any more fabric until I have made up TEN (10) more items of clothing. I will ONLY enter fabric stores with the purpose of purchasing necessary finishing haberdashery for said ten items, and I PROMISE under pain of … something or other, insert appropriately unpleasant consequences… that I will ABSTAIN from adding to the stash. The stash will. Be. Reduced!
Another confession… I know I previously made up this pattern here but that stripe-y dress has already gone into the charity bin. The fabric I used for that version was hideously cheap and nasty; important lesson learned, cheap and nasty fabric will result in a crappy dress and not in a worthy representation of one’s time and effort. You’d think I would know this by now.
I guess I did wear it four or five times, so at best it was a wearable muslin?
Tokyo; for lovers of footwear
The shoes to be found in Tokyo deserve a post all of their very own… if, like me, you just adore shoes you might want to skip this post as it all could be too much excitement…
The shoes, like the rest of the fashion in Tokyo, range from tasteful and quiet and just like the shoes we get here, so not really worth getting excessively excited about, I saw ugg boots everywhere, for heaven’s sake!… all the way through to very extreme. Since I grew up influenced by the tail end of the punk era blending into the beginnings of the new romantic fashion era, (anyone remember Adam and the Ants…? confession: I was a big fan, yeah) so I have a soft spot for funky shoes with chains, buckles and a bit of weird and scary toughness in their appearance… but these fabulous examples are something else, no?
Enjoy…
Street fashion in Tokyo
Finally, I have sorted through mine and Lisa’s photos to bring some of the best of the amazing street fashion we saw in Tokyo… thank you Lisa for letting me show some of your shots here! Tim and Lisa got some of the best ones as they were much braver than I about approaching strangers and asking to take their photos. I got the impression though that many of these gorgeously attired people were kinda chuffed to be approached, after all I guess why go to this sort of sartorial effort if you are not trying to impress people enough for them to wish to preserve an image for posterity?
Enjoy!
All the way from beautifully traditional…
to the Lolita look…
Some random impressions of Tokyo (not fashion related)
To do the fashion in Tokyo any sort of justice, it has to be done separately… but here are some other impressions of this amazing city:
Comic books suitable for “all age” (sic), about schoolgirls armed with machine guns? Oh, sure.
A shop entirely filled with identical teddybears? (yes, we checked)
Tiny restaurants…
with awesome food
Plastic food is everywhere. And is that not one fabulous stack of star-shaped “pan cake”? *
Vending machines… see how the top half have a dark blue label underneath and the lower half red? The red ones are hot drinks, and are literally almost boiling!
The loveliest miniature gardens
As well as miniature doorways everywhere
A crazy electrical wiring system
Tea latte, anyone? Yes that is a tea-bag bobbin’ about in the foam there… I think of myself as a tea connoisseur but this was a first for me.
An urban canvas
Must be the skinniest building, ever
I really like that biking is so well catered to, possibly because car parking spaces are minimal… very civilised and a green win for Tokyo. The lower picture shows the way to the bicycle parking lot for the underground railway, how awesome is that?
(* “plastic food” picture taken by Lisa… thank you for letting me use it here!)
Oregon, USA; some impressions
Americans love their cars…
We saw birds of prey, both tiny cute ones…
and iconic majestic ones…
Magnificent scenery…
Even the teddy bears in USA are on a grand scale…
When one orders a hot apple cider in a cafe, this is handed to you and you are pointed in the direction of the urn…!
The people are so nice… on my last day in Oregon Darci very kindly made time to drive out to the airport to meet me! We had a lovely spontaneous sewing chat in the airport coffee shop in the short hour or so I had before we were flying out to Japan.
Thankyou so much, Darci, it was so great to meet you! and thanks also for permission to put this photo up here!

























































































