Tag Archives: Shape Shape

A happy discovery

15/12/2010 1:51 am \ 14 Comments \

Ever since I found that runway shot from Celine with the floppy linen pants I have been slightly obsessing about them.  Starting to think that I really needed some, that if I didn’t get myself a pair of floppy linen pants in my wardrobe that I just had absolutely nothing worthwhile to wear at all… I couldn’t go about my daily business… that everything was just going to self-destruct…  Well, not the last.  But definitely that a pair of loose floppy linen pants was kind of an essential, that I had to have, but now.  Then I discovered that of course I already do have some.  Tucked away, fairly floppy, and just begging to be worn with the loose white top, so I could look tres fashionable, just like in the Celine photo.
Ta da!
Problem solvered, crisis averted.  Sometimes burrowing about in one’s wardrobe brings pleasant serendipitous moments, when an old garment is rediscovered and donned straight away with little cries of joy.  Hello, old friends.  You will be worn again this summer, promise.
And the white top, with the attached shoulder thingys.  I tried tying them up today, sailor style.  I like this way.  Ahoy there, me hearties.  No that’s not right.  That’s pirate speak.  Hehe.  Ay ay cap’n.   That’s more the go.
So although these pants are not super floppy, and are a sort of gun-metally bluey grey and I am really craving the wheat colour, I think for the mo’ these will be fine.  I’m trying to work with what I’ve got here.
I wish I could make everything that inspired me.  Too time poor, sadly. My sewing is always a compromise between filling gaps in my wardrobe, and more inspired projects involving fabrics and patterns that really capture my passion at that time…
Sometimes (often) I wish I had a more co-hesive colour scheme happening in the wardrobe, that I could just grab anything anything and it would all go together like a dream, because I was one of those wonderfully organised people who only shopped and sewed to a plan.  But I’m not one of those people.  Sometimes I wish I was, but I think I would probably get bored with my carefully planned and co-ordinated, perfectly matching wardrobe and just perversely get the urge to bust out with something random.
So I think I’ll just continue with the whimsical buying of fabric and yarn just because I see it and love it, that is not planned but passionate.   And just make it work.

Details:
Pants; Burda 7944, blue/grey linen, to see these styled in 6 different ways go here
Top; “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton
Sandals; Anna, from MarieClaire shoes
Sunnies; RayBan 
photo at right from Celine Spring/Summer 2011

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B is for beach

10/12/2010 4:41 am \ 6 Comments \

This is my newest project; top “b” from the Japanese pattern book “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  It is designed to be worn both ways front and back however desired and has a button band up the centre of the front… or back, take your pick.  All the internal seams are finished with flat felled seams and the armhole edges are bound with self-fabric bias binding.  I’ve had this crisp-ish white cotton in my stash for a while, probably at least a year ulp, thinking it would come in handy for something or other one of these days and it finally has.  Yay! for using up a bit more stash!  
I really like the boxy, undefined shape of this top; the unfittedness of course being the factor allowing one to wear it either which way… but also making for a delightfully cool and breezy shirt to wear during the hot hotter and hottest days of summer.  The Fremantle Doctor can just sail right on through these big loose armholes to refresh and revitalise me on a scorcher.
Hehe, I know what you’re thinking and you can just stop right there;  just to explain, the Fremantle Doctor is the name given here to the afternoon sea breeze…  
An added bonus here is that this shape is gloriously trendy at the mo’, see the big boxy white top in the photo below from Celine Spring 2011?  Nice to think my sewing efforts are resulting in something super fashionable every now and again…  well, I try.
Now perhaps I just need to make myself a pair of loose floppy wheat-coloured linen pants in order to really nail this look right down to the ground…?
This is the fourth white shirt in my Great White Shirt project.

Details:
Top; “b” from “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton
Skirt; Vogue 7303, raw silk
Sandals; Perrini, had for many many many years

Below at left, worn the other way around; at right, from Celine Spring/Summer 2011

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Pinky pink.

08/12/2010 6:19 am \ 15 Comments \

It took me a while to settle on this outfit today.  I had originally planned to wear my brand new top, from the pattern I was tracing out yesterday (yes, it’s finished!!) but it was lacking the right buttons to finish it off completely.  I had sewn on two complete  and different sets of buttons from my button bag, and ultimately just felt dissatisfied with each set…  so I had to trek out to the fabric shop to locate the perfect buttons today.  And I was very good and only bought one other piece of fabric whilst I was there.  And it was from the remnants table, so I am, you know, doing my bit, helping out the fabric store in getting rid of unwanted fabric.  I’m doing a good deed.  Practically a community service.  Not a self-indulgent or unnecessary purchase at all (cough cough)
Also while there I purchased two patterns I’m pretty excited about for my autumn sewing plans… lookee below.  The jacket pattern is one I’ve read about on other sewing blogs and am keen to give this a go.  Apparently it contains details on reproducing couture construction techniques, so I’ll be following these carefully.  The only problem I’ve discovered in my experience with Vogue top and jacket patterns is that they seem to be set on a default fitting for quite big-busted women.  On me, an only slightly blousy top ends up looking like a deflated balloon and kind of ridiculous.  I find Burda patterns to fit beautifully with no adjustments required.  I don’t know if this says anything at all about the relative shapes of the average American versus European woman or not.  Japanese patterns fit me well too.  But I am determined to work very properly and meticulously with this one and make it a rip-roaring success…  Promise I won’t get bored and try to whip through so I can just move on!! (a recurrent failing…)
The gloves are a no brainer.  Yah, always looking for a new challenge, hehe…  Keep you posted on how these go…!!

Details:
Dress; Simplicity 3745, significantly modified, pink lace
Camisole (under); Country Road
Skirt; “m”, from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, apricot/grey linen mix
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs
Necklace; a gift from my friend K

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Eating humble pie…

22/11/2010 4:17 am \ 10 Comments \

Yah, OK, so I went to the vintage fair.  And it was pretty cool.
What can I say, the last post I wrote I was still feeling grumpy and unsociable, heat waves have that effect on me.  Sunday brought a breeze and a divinely cool change; refreshing and invigorating to mind, body and spirit, so we felt inclined to get off our butts and DO SOMETHING!!  yeah!  As our Canadian friends here say, get yerselves oot and aboot!
So I enjoyed it. 
One thing I found interesting on browsing and checking out the inside of garments is how a lot of “real” vintage evening wear  from the late 40’s and early 50’s was made of nylon, rayon, polyester etc, as at the time these were often considered superior to natural fibres.  An interestingly different view to the one we hold now… And how horrible the zips often are in these garments, big and clunky and obvious.  Ahhh, the blessings of the modern invisible zip.  We’ve come a long way in some areas, that’s for sure.
I got a Glomesh bag!  I do have one already that my parents gave me for a birthday present, sometime in my teen years when you could actually buy them new, hmmm, showing my age there!  My original one is beige, and in perfect condition, of course!  The one I picked up yesterday is a teensy bit tarnished, but in pretty good nick overall, and anyhow, I really wanted a gold one.  I also bought a set of cake forks, which we needed, for only a dollar more than an almost identical set I bought a few months ago in a real op shop; and this great Charles and Di Wedding commemorative mug.  My husband didn’t “get” this last purchase, cries of omg, Carolyn, how tacky can you get?!!, but hey, I think enough time has passed that this sort of memorabilia is no longer tacky tacky but an interesting relic and symbolic to all of us of… something indefinably 80’s…  anyway I can see the irony.  And I’m looking forward to people’s reaction when I serve them a cuppa in this…

Details:
Skirt; skirt “d”, from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, silver/grey crepe
Top; Aura
Belt; made by me, see here
Sandals; Anna, from MarieClaire shoes
Bag; Glomesh

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Dove grey skirt, Japanese

09/11/2010 10:08 am \ 12 Comments \

So I’ve made a new skirt, this one is skirt “d” from the Japanese pattern book, “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hirawai.  I’m already in love with its tendency to flutter and float about my legs as I walk in little ripply silver waves, promising to be delightfully cool to wear during summer!
The skirt is cut in one piece, which is a strange almost tear-drop shape, with only three other pieces for the waistband, and two separate button plackets.  I chose these three large nacre buttons for closure to complement the soft silver grey of the fabric.  Actually I made this using the wrong side of the fabric out.  The right side has a much more shimmery shiny metallic silver finish to it, but I chose the dull dove grey wrong side with a slightly felt-y texture over this as I’m not really a disco ball kind of a girl.  Although come to think of it I do have some silver sequinned fabric in my stash… calling to my inner disco queen, a flashy persona buried deep within the prosaic Australian exterior…  I must have bought it knowing she was down in there somewhere, hehe.
The shape of the skirt piece means that the one seam in the skirt joins a with-the-grainline edge on to a cross-grain edge, requiring absolutely straight-as-a-die cutting and sewing to avoid horrible wrinkles and bagginess around the seam.  If it wasn’t for this need for accuracy here I would rate this skirt as a laughably easy project… of course if you are working with a very stable strong fabric then this wouldn’t be a problem… but I chose this slippery crepe; wonderful draping qualities but with a tendency to shift and stretch.  I think I did an OK job with the seam, and I like how it cuts across the body diagonally providing a subtle random off-kilter focal point to what is otherwise a featureless A-line skirt.

Details:
Skirt; skirt “d”, “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hirawai, pale mauve-grey crepe
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; my own design seen first here, black jersey printed with rubbery plastic snakeskin scales
Shoes; Perrini, had for so many years I’ve forgotten where they came from
Sunnies; RayBan

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A post-modern bustle

05/11/2010 1:09 am \ 7 Comments \

So today I’m trialling a new way of wearing this skirt, and I have to say I think this one is my favourite… I did like it how I wore it previously with the flappy bit over the hip and wore it that way first since that is how it was modelled in the book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hirawai and I also thought this way was interesting.  But when the zip closure is swivelled around to the back, the front of the skirt takes on an appearance of monastic simplicity, a smooth sheath uninterrupted by darts, gathers or any other fabric manipulations to mar the smooth fall of cloth…  and from the back is this sort of droopy bustle which I think makes quite an interesting rear view, no?
Today am leaving the beach house 🙁 and heading into the bush to spend a few days with my parents 🙂  Depending on whether Mum and Dad’s internet service is behaving itself I may or may not be doing any internetting at all…
Oh, and I’m happy to report this morning I got my confirmation email, accepting me as a Lifetime pledger for Wardrobe refashion!!  You may have spotted my upgraded button already in the side-bar…  I have already been living my sartorial life in this way for most of my adult years now anyway, with just the odd new purchases slipping in here and there, and just thought it was a good time to make a definite commitment to reducing consumerism and doing my bit to promote the rewards of creating one’s own wardrobe.
For good measure:

I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of “new” manufactured items of clothing. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! 

Details:
Skirt; skirt “m” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hirawai, grey/apricot cotton linen mix
Camisole and cardigan; Country Road
Sandals; Marco Santini

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A good hair day

22/10/2010 9:01 am \ 12 Comments \

Of course, as every woman knows, a day involving a hair appointment has a high chance of being a good hair day and then, ipso facto,  a very good day indeed.
Having my hair done is a favourite self-indulgence.  Well, OK, ahem, I do have a few self-indulgences (no-one mention shoes, please), but this one is quite high up on my list!  It comes from being incapable of doing my own hair.
At my mum’s suggestion I experimented with a new way of wearing this skirt; skirt “m” from the Japanese pattern book “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  The garments therein are designed to each be worn in a number of different ways.  This skirt is quite unshaped to the body and so can be swivelled around so the zip and er, flap (for want of a better description!) sits anywhere around one’s hips.  Today I tried it pushed back in on itself to create a kind of big pocket.  This could make it handy for keys or a tissue, in a pinch!
What do you think?
Below is how it looks with the flap “out”.

Details:
Skirt; pattern “m”, from “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa, apricot/grey linen/cotton mix
Top(under) Country Road
Cardigan; Metalicus, secondhand
Scarf; Country Road
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

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Details…

05/10/2010 1:02 am \ 16 Comments \

Some details of the skirt and top from the previous post; top “a” and skirt “m” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, (hmmm, yes, the title is a bit of a mouthful…) by Natsuko Hiraiwa.
The skirt is a big rectangle with the lower hem shaped in a slight curve…

The dress zip is inserted in the top edge of the skirt, perpendicular to the body… I added a skirt hook and eye closure at the top.

The fabric is a lovely crinkly linen/cotton mix, with both salmon pink and grey in its colouration.  The skirt is lined completely with soft taupe muslin.  The lining and skirt are attached together at the top seam, and hang separately down on the inside of the skirt, and I hand-stitched the side slits together on the inside of the skirt… why?  Because I can’t bear for a skirt lining to slip in and out of view through the slit in a slit-sided skirt, I reckon it looks real sloppy when you see it happen.

The top has two long sashes inserted in the shoulder seams; these can be worn either both hanging down in front (as seen in the previous post below), with both draped around the opposite shoulder:

or with one hanging down in front and one draped over the opposite shoulder as in the top picture; my preferred way.  Or you could tie them loosely in front, like a sailor-inspired look, will have to try this one out next time!
Got loads of washing and house-sorting-out to do after our lovely sojourn away, so…. later, dudes!

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