Gratuitous skiing shot with no element of handmade-ness
I apologise in advance for this photo. I have no excuse for the inclusion of this picture here, which has absolutely nothing to do with sewing, knitting, nor, I fear, even looking one’s best, as I surely look less than gainly or graceful when zooming down the slopes. Well, I am still a bit proud of this one, since here is the proof. That I can actually get myself from the top of a snowy slope to the bottom in a reasonably respectable manner. Upright, at a respectable speed, and without breaking any extremities. I reckon not too shabby for a committed beachcomber.
Actually, there is an unseen relevance here. Hand-knitted socks do figure somewhere in this ensemble.
These are the slopes of Mount Bachelor, near Bend in central Oregon, USA.
A short break…
I’m just letting you know that I am going to be away from regular blogging for a short while.
We are travelling overseas; visiting friends and going skiing. I am a very bad skier, which is hardly surprising given that we have lived almost our whole lives 2000 miles away from anywhere that ever sees snow, but I still enjoy skiing nonetheless! I should mention my family are much better than me… er, so maybe it’s just that I’m kinda uncoordinated.
We are also spending some time in Tokyo. It’s no secret that I find Japanese fashion incredibly inspiring, so I’m looking forward to seeing some for real and check out people in the streetz and going window shopping. Real shopping? Maybe. I think my no-shopping pledge can be stretched just a little bit when it comes to souvenirs… I love to have wearable souvenirs from our holidays.
Of course, fabric is totally allowed… 😉
Without a doubt the highlight of my time in Tokyo will be meeting up with some fellow seamstresses and bloggers whilst I am there, Yoshimi and Novita. I can hardly wait to meet them and chat about self-fashioning and stuff…! So exciting!
So, later, dudes!
2010 in quick review
I should have done this yesterday, but hey, better late than never…
Last night I sat back and had a quick nostalgic roll-through of the blog and came to the happy conclusion 2010 was a very good year for me; a sprinkling of sad days, yes it’s true, but many happy and fun days, joyous moments with new friends and old friends, and lots of sewing and replenishing of the old wardrobe…
I’ve picked out my personal favourite photos and outfits; just one highlight from each month. For some months I had several favourites and it was hard to narrow down, while for other drier months I was struggling to find even one good one…! (cough, June, cough!) That’s life, no?
Well, I hope you enjoy this little snapshot of my year in fashion, and I am looking forward to another year of sartorial experimentation and lots of creativity… please join me!
Happy New Year!!
January
I joined Wardrobe Refashion and got more serious about re-using old and preloved textiles (first posted here)
February
Started to venture out more with my camera (though still to this day prefer solitude!)… here
March
Hanging out at Dunsborough, here
April
Did the Cape to Cape walk with Craig here (134.5 km trekking and carrying everything we needed for 6 days!)
May
We attended the Amanda Young Foundation Ball here (and I documented the making of this dress during April)
June
Winter-y layers… here
July
got in early with the making of the season’s cocktail dress here. I’ve worn this at least a dozen times over the last season
August
a blustery day with my trench, my favourite skirt (still) and my new cowl knit here
September
a whole month of documenting my daily handmade outfits, this was my favourite day hanging out in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens here
October
Not the first bathers I’ve made myself, but I reckon an improvement on my previous efforts… here
November
Still walking m’dog every day… here
and finally, December… and the Christmas dress here
Olive Twist socks
I have been knitting still, but with less consistency given we’re thick into the silly season…
Here is my latest finished project; socks, of course. Knitted using the Morris Empire Superwash Merino 4 ply, in Olive Twist. You’ve probably noticed a commonality cropping up in all the new socks I’ve knitted using this Morris yarn from Melbourne… they all sport the Beluga heels and toes. This is because over the first two pairs of these I worked out the perfect length of sock that uses up but exactly half a ball of the yarn… meaning ZERO LEFTOVERS, satisfying my thrifty desire for absolute minimal waste in any project…
Do you like my son’s ugg boots? Yes, his feet are pretty big; they make even mine look little…!
They just happened to be lying around in our bathroom where I took this photo, so I decided to put them alongside for fun in the photo, and because the colouring went well with my new socks. You might be able to just read the label, “Made in Australia”. These are of course REAL Australian ugg boots, made by REAL Australian manufacturers, and no American company naming itself the Australian Ugg Boot Company can EVER take this away from us. The legal action attempted by US companies to prevent Aussies using the ugg name caused huge controversy here in Australia. I mean, how would they like it if Aussies started up a company calling itself Genuine US Cowboy Boots, trademarked the term, and subsequently threatened to sue any US manufacturer who was using the term “cowboy boot” as a selling point?
Exactly.
Not nice…
Hehe, OK sorry about that, ranting now over…
Socks; based upon the Ladies Sockettes, from Patons Knitting Book C11 (a circa 1960’s publication), using Morris Empire Superwash Merino 4ply in Olive Twist (col 439) and with heels and toes in Beluga (col 430)
A day off…
‘Tis the season to be jolly… (sung to the appropriate tune…)
but Craig and I are in danger of turning eating, drinking and being-merry into an extreme sport around here lately! Don’t get me wrong, I just love parties and getting together with friends and we have certainly been doing such a lot of this. There has been some sort of party, Christmas-do, or gathering, like, almost every night, over the past week. Yesterday we had a particularly nice get-together with my Monday morning gals and our husbands. It was just delightful. Without a doubt all of our social-butterflying has been lovely. However my poor constitution needs a break or I am going to end up the size of a house, and dyspeptic to boot. Now, I am happily blessed with a cast-iron stomach, and ordinarily I’m not one to look a gift hors-d’oevre or chocolate truffle in the mouth … but dry toast and water is sounding like a pretty nice menu to me right now.
Luckily, I have almost two whole days off before the next Christmas party tomorrow night.
So until then, I declare this bod a rich-party-food-and-champagne free zone…
Details:
Skirt; partly my own design, based on Vogue 7303, python print and black satin
Camisole and cardigan; Country Road
Scarf; jersey knit
Sandals; akiel, from an op shop
Sunnies; RayBan
In which Sienna has a bad hair day…
We are having a mini heat-wave. 35C yesterday, 36C today and forecast 37C tomorrow… (roughly 95F, 97F and 99F respectively) I’m nervous about summer. Yup, not even summer yet, and already we’re cookin’. Not to mention the dog… all that fur… poor poppet. So a few days ago, when the hot hot hot days starting appearing up ahead on the weather report I rang our neighbourhood dog groomer.
Oh, yes Sienna, one of my favourites!” she chirped. “now let me see, when can I fit Sienna in… hmmm (sounds of multiple pages flicking… flicking…flicking) the earliest I have is the thirteenth of January.”
Stunned pause.
“Oh.” Gulp. “Oh, yes, please book us in”
Since when has it been harder to have one’s dog clipped than one’s own hair, for heaven’s sake? Though I’m obviously a bit dense, because I now recall it was the same story last year and still I haven’t learnt about the importance of getting in way early… I’m telling you, looking for extra summertime income? get some clippers and put yourself out there grooming dogs. Around here at least, HUGE demand…
But in the meantime, Sienna is already panting and falling back on our morning constitutionals so immediate action is required. I’ve never clipped a dog before but am always up for a challenge and my overly-confident, can-do brain assured me seriously, how hard could this be? Armed myself with a medium sized pair of scissors (a mistake… now have blisters) and set to work. Like, hours later, simply smothered in dog fur (a daily outfit pic from yesterday would have been hilariously un-glamourous) and with a whole cushion sized bag of new blonde clippings in the bin, and below is pictured the newly coiffured Sienna. (here is the before-Sienna) You know the old saying from schooldays when someone had a haircut “Lost a fight with the lawnmower?” well in all honesty the poor pet looks a bit this way. Today my daughter’s boyfriend stopped in his tracks, staring incredulously before inquiring “what happened to the dog?”
But hey, I did the best I could do. She was a very very good dog, lying so patiently while her inept mistress snipped snipped snipped away laboriously… There are no nicks. And there’s no doubt she is a heaps livelier and happier dog with a renewed spring in her step.
Details:
Top; my own design, refashioned old pair of 3/4 linen pants seen first here
Skirt; Vogue 7303, lime printed cotton
Sandals; Anna, from MarieClaire shoes
Hat; Country Road
Sunnies; RayBan
A burdensome expectation…
Since I stopped buying any new readymade clothes I am finding it easier and easier to dress completely self-stitched on a regular basis, as some of my older store-bought clothes are starting to bite the dust. I’ve always found it difficult to throw out store-bought clothes. Ironically, a garment I’ve made myself is far easier for me to toss out, because I can see all its faults and my inner perfectionist will judge it harshly for not exactly fitting my vision at the time of making it. I look at some old thing I made years ago and see how tacky and “homemade” it looks (all seamstresses know the vast vast difference between the “handmade” and “homemade” look, I don’t need to go into that now, do I?) whereas a garment I’ve bought readymade I just accept happily for what it is.Now on a similar train-of-thought, and I’d like to know if any other self-seamstresses ever get this too… since I’m known for making my own clothes I’m often queried by people as to whether or not I’ve made what I am wearing that day… and if on occasion I have to respond, “oh, not this, I actually bought this”; I’m not kidding, people will go, “oh”, all disappointed, and change the subject, moving right along, and seriously, I feel like I’m letting people down. I feel like a failure, because I’m wearing something I didn’t make… oh dear, just not up to scratch today, hmmm? … Is this ridiculous or what?!
Now tell me whether I’m alone here, or am I being too sensitive? Does anyone else get this reaction from others when they wear store-bought clothes?
Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767, first seen here (borrowed from my son, he’s OK with it) turquoise striped cotton
Skirt; Vogue 7303, ivory wool blend
Coat; my own adaption of Burda 7786, beige cotton
Belt; had since teenager years
Booties; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes
