Tag Archives: Sienna

Further from yesterday

28/11/2010 3:58 am \ 4 Comments \

Thankyou so much for your thoughts yesterday … and many of your comments resonated quite clearly with me and my own thinking on this subject; I also read a little bit more on Natalie’s findings and summary of her yearlong challenge here.  The bit about recognising the work of experts in their field (ie. shoemakers) and not trying to metaphorically reinvent the wheel, spoke to me.  I also had been feeling, like a lot of post-modernists, that I should be doing more for myself and making as much as I could… relying less on store-bought.  This is rooted in good intentions, but has limitations.  I can’t see myself attempting to make my own shoes or sunglasses, for example.  Is this a cop-out?  Well, no, because although I like to set myself challenges and rise to them, I do understand the findings of the makeshift project that some components of a project can be just so much wasted time for an amateur and that unnecessary self-imposed hardship could be viewed as just plain silly.  And just to clarify: I don’t view Natalie’s challenge as at all silly, on the contrary; I have enormous admiration for her achievement…
On the subject of challenges, well I have already committed myself to not buy any new clothing for myself, and I feel quite comfortable with that one, and actually not particularly challenged by this rule at all.  Thus my need to search for a new challenge?
I also feel that making new garments for myself, like basics such as Tshirts… when I have perfectly good ones already sitting in my drawers, is counterproductive.  So perhaps I’m just not ready for this particular challenge.  The notion of not allowing myself to wear certain items of clothing in my possession just because they happen to have been bought in a store, is not practical, and really doesn’t prove anything to anyone.
But I will continue to make my own clothes, and as the old store-boughts get to the stage of being consigned to the rag-bag, maybe I will be ready to do this challenge for myself.

But not the shoes!!

Details:
Skirt; my own design, based upon a basic three (six?) gore pattern Butterick 3134, printed polyester chiffon
Top; Tbox
Hat; Country Road
Tongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs
Sunnies; RayBan

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A difficult dress

24/11/2010 7:23 am \ 9 Comments \

Oh, so much for horrific leavers rowdy stories… so far I’ve only come across small bunches of delightfully friendly, polite and sweet teenagers who immediately want to pat Sienna and make friends with her.  Having a dog takes down a lot of barriers…  and seeing happy teenagers having fun on the beach has just made me miss my own kiddywinks and I really wish they were here with me…  sigh…
My dress; first time here although it does not qualify as new.  I’ve really struggled with this dress.  This is its third incarnation, nearly two years in the making and I’m still not desperately in love with it… I bought this embroidered silk from Tessuti’s in Melbourne a few years ago, with the intention of making a full-skirted number inspired by a Burberry dress.  Full-skirted, fitted bodice, boatneck and with elbow length fitted sleeves.  I finished my version and it was a perfectly OK dress.  But it didn’t actually look very “me”.  I felt like I was dressing up in someone else’s clothes…
So I decided the full-skirt was the problem; I unpicked this and recut a more fitted skirt.  This was a little better, but by this time the allover embroidery and sameness of the fabric was just screaming at me “TOO MUCH” and I had to put it aside for a few months.  Or a year.  You remember how the von Trapp children in the Sound of Music were all dressed in the curtain fabric so all their outfits were over-the-top matchy matchy??  The dress was like that.  Eventually I removed the bodice and sleeves, recut the skirt again and bought some goldy green silk for a plain bodice.  Sleeveless.
Better.
But still not…. quite…
I look at all my sewing and judge it by this criteria; would I buy this if I saw it in a shop?  And this dress; well I’m not so sure.
The fabric is so gorgeous; soft gold, apricot and muted mossy sagey green, nothing not to love there.  I’m forcing myself to wear it, hoping I will love it more with use.  But I’m not ready to reveal it without a cardigan yet.  I still look at it and can see all the angst in its inception…

Details:
Dress; partly my own design with components of Burda 8071, green silk, embroidered gold silk
Cardigan; Nine, from Labels boutique
Hat; Country Road
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Design

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The lull before the storm

23/11/2010 1:54 am \ 10 Comments \

My title is not referring to the weather, but the fact that I am down here in Dunsborough again, “minding” the beach-house during leavers week.  Yah, the town is expecting thousands of teenagers to rock up any minute now and start being extremely loud, boisterous and drunken.  In fact I have reliable intelligence that some had already started the partay-ing last weekend…  But this morning Sienna and I were up and on the beach bright and early (thanks, Mum for the wake-up phone call…) and all was quiet and beautiful and peaceful… hardly a soul in sight;  the only sound being the swoosh of the tide and the squawking of sea-birds.  So I’m wondering where all the teenagers are, so far.  Too early, maybe?  Sensibly sleeping?  Anyhoo, Mum will be coming to keep me company for today, we may catch a little morning tea and another stroll along the sand… discussing weighty worldly issues such as our sewing and wardrobe plans.

Details:
Shorts; Burda 7723 slightly modified here, greige corduroy
Camisole; Cotton On, tossed out by my daughter and rescued by me
Cardigan; Metalicus
Scarf; silk chiffon, made by me
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Design
Sunnies; RayBan

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In which Sienna has a bad hair day…

18/11/2010 9:01 am \ 14 Comments \

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

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On getting maximum mileage from your patterns

04/11/2010 4:10 am \ 9 Comments \


For the third day in a row, shorts; sorry.   BUT has anyone noticed, this is also the third day in a row I have showcased these same two patterns for shorts and top?  Just to show how different a garment will appear with the use of different colours and textured fabrics, one can get a variety of looks using just a few basic patterns and just getting creative with one’s fabric choices…  don’t be afraid to try out unusual or unexpected fabrics using your old patterns.  And making slight alterations to the length, width and/or embellishments …  you will get a lot more bang for your pattern buck, too.  I swap pattern pieces between different patterns all the time, things like sleeves are very interchangeable er, I’ve only once used one of the sleeve options on this pattern!  The addition of a hood to a blouse, like yesterday, (and the next time I do this I will do a tutorial to demonstrate) will add a whole different flavour to a garment.  For example; take this shorts pattern, merely lengthening and flaring the leg, trying out different shaped pockets on the back; will change the look.  This pattern doesn’t come with pockets on the back, but it’s so very very easy to add them, and in any shape or form you choose.  Check out the last three days and you will see how different this same top and shorts patterns look on each day.
And to answer a query, for the last few days I have been down at our beach house in Dunsborough, thus the daily uniform of thongs (flipflops) and shorts, and the dusting of sand and salt as an accessory…  Dunsborough is in a huge bay, thus the calmness (is that even a word? un-wave-iness? now that’s better…!) of the ocean in this spot…  And btw, it is one of the few places in WA where you can watch the sun rise as well as set, over the ocean.  Love it here.
We are expecting (and wishfully hoping with our fingers crossed) some rain and I just love the stormy moodiness of those grim leaden clouds.  Such a nice change from yesterday.  Today is probably going to bring a balmy pleasantly cool day of 24C (75F).  I will be de-cobwebbing and washing a few windows.  Spring-cleaning, you know…

Details:
Top; Butterick 4985 with different sleeves and a lace collar, seen first here, grey printed and pre-shirred chiffon
Shorts; Burda 7723 with minor modifications, charcoal gabardine
Cardigan; Metalicus, secondhand
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

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The weakness for ivory lace continues

03/11/2010 5:18 am \ 14 Comments \

Hehe, in order to avoid falling into a rut and boring you with repeat photos of the beach I’m making an effort to seek out new locations, variety is the spice of life, so they say.  Thus, the toasty tones of my lovely rocky wall backdrop setting off the all-white ensemble here.  Beautiful wall, no?  It is actually the outer wall of the toilet block down here at the beach.  Yeeeeah, I’m so sorry to completely ruin any romantic notions you may be entertaining about my “picturesque” backdrops… ! honesty in blogging, and all that…  the same beach from yesterday is a mere stone’s throw away from this spot.  That’s even for a pathetic stone-thrower like me with a truly “girly” throwing arm…

So… my new ivory lace hoodie; top 3 in the Great White Shirt project (I’m counting the two I made just before signing up, hehe)
This lace top will be perfect for days like today (a hottie of 35C, or 90F… I know, bit worried about what the real summer will bring…!)  The beauty of lace in hot climates is that it has its own inbuilt ventilation to pick up breezes and thus keep the wearer cool.  In a temperature sense as well as a super stylish fashion maven sense, of course…
Details:
Top; Butterick 4985, with modifications, ivory lace
Camisole (under); Country Road
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, these ones sewn to the pattern with no modifications
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs
(The rest of this post below is technical sewing stuff, so feel free to skip it if you want…)
So; new top.
I didn’t use the KwikSew hoodie pattern as planned!  Instead of racing irresponsibly off to the fabric store willy nilly for white stretch fabric I was a good girl and took stock of my stash first, and of course there were a few lengths of white fabric already lurking in there with no purpose: one was this ivory lace.  It’s not super high quality and not stretchy and I only had about 1.2m… so couldn’t use the KwikSew pattern, but just right for the old standby Butterick 4985.  I have used this pattern a multitude of times already.  I made a few adjustments, obviously the biggest is the addition of the hood.  For this I did use the KwikSew hood pattern piece but re-drafted somewhat drastically; cut it down smaller to suit the finer more delicate fabric I was using here, and also adjusted the neck edge length to fit the collar edge of the top, so the hood actually replaces the collar and is sandwiched in between the fronts and facing just like a collar would be.  I really just treated the hood like a giant oddly shaped collar.  I sewed the hood’s own centre seam in a French seam.   The back neck edge is finished in a flat felled seam.  The open edge of the hood is the selvedge of the fabric, which is a nice sealed flat edge already, making any further finishing unnecessary.Sleeves: I drafted a sleeve with a long flat sleeve cap like a man’s, and the rest of the sleeve is basically a wide and untapered tube.  I like the unstructured casual flappiness of this new shape.

Buttons; I lucked out and found these perfect ivory buttons with embossed roses and flowers, perfect, no? to go with the rose motif in the lace.  Rather than my usual habit of sewing all the buttons the same way up I sewed them on alternately up and down, to try to match the random rose pattern in the lace…

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Thankfully fashionable new shorts

02/11/2010 3:42 am \ 9 Comments \

After I had finished my greige corduroy jeans I had a bit of leftover fabric, not much but too much to throw away… and it didn’t take long for me to haul out a shorts pattern…  I totally love this look below from Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2011, tres cool no?  Except I think those Ralph Lauren shorts could be suede…  And so halleluia for corduroy, which is like the cheapie easy-care version of suede.  The same soft fluffily-textured luxe look without the high price tag and “watch out where you’re sitting” problems of suede.  Plus, love this colour.  In case you missed it, I just can’t get enough of this shade.
This is my now standby pattern, Burda 7723 and I made a few alterations; to lengthen, to widen the flare of the leg, the addition of a zip placket, and instead of a foldover waistband which would result in a double thickness corduroy waistband I made it halfwidth in corduroy and faced with thinner cotton lining fabric to remove this unecessary bulk from the waist band region.  Hehe, besides the fact I didn’t have enough fabric for the full width waistband…
Hmmm, I should really do a review of this pattern, it has been such a goodie and is super easy, plus uses a tiny amount of fabric.  In lieu of the usual two buttons on the waistband I went with an invisible hook and eye closure, to get a smooth uninterrupted waistband; this is a nice clean look and provides a slightly tailored effect, offsetting the casualness of corduroy.
And how nice is it when one discovers one’s own tastes co-ordinate with a new fashion trend?  According to the gurus in Paris shorts are IN; the super mini-skirts we saw everywhere last year seem to be out at the mo.  Thank goodness.  Although do we have to knuckle down and obey the edicts from Paris? well, of course not, but at my age I feel it does get a lot more important to look fashionably smart and up-to-date and avoid frumpy and old-hat looks.  So I am loving the re-appearance of shorts on the fashion radar, it is a good trend and I’m ready for them too.

Details:
Shorts; Burda 7723, with minor modifications, greige corduroy
Top; Butterick 4985, ivory embroidered cheescloth with lace overlays and lace tie at front
Cardigan; Country Road
Sunnies; RayBan

Later* realised I didn’t do anything Melbourne Cup-y today at all, not even a hat! should have worn my mirrored pony necklace, doh…!

Photo below from Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2011

 

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Hoodie McCloud

29/10/2010 6:43 am \ 15 Comments \

Don’t ask me why the silly name I’ve dubbed my new hoodie.  I have no explanation myself.  I surprise myself with my inner loon sometimes…
The lovely Mary had a giveaway and sent me this cute hoodie pattern, KwikSew 3667, and this is my first effort.  I just used some unexciting pale grey marle fleece to try it out, but am already in love with the hoodie in this fabric, and this pattern.  It was very very easy to make up.  Probably took oh, about half an hour, cutting included.  Yes!  (air fist punch)  The most difficult part was… no, I’m teasing…  There was nothing difficult about this hoodie!  I am definitely going to make this one up again, and again.  Not that I’m going down the path of ease and comfort above all else, don’t worry.  I’m never going to be that gal in the bogan tracky dacks.  And while I do like to be challenged in my dressmaking, but it’s also nice to have a quick and easy project every once in a while, a soothing gel to the ego when more difficult projects are getting one down…
Thankyou so much, Mary!
I’m really liking the way style has not been sacrificed on the altar of comfort in this pattern; I think this loose and simple shape is very chic and “now” while still being evening-on-the-sofa worthy.  Look at the below shots from the Dries Van Noten Fall 2010 and Celine Spring 2011 collections (and yes, I am planning this in white too as part of my white shirt challenge).  I loved the Dries Van Noten look when I first saw it and will wear it like this with a silky skirt one day…  But for today I am bike-riding with my friend S so the need for a bike-appropriate outfit.

Details:
Hoodie; Kwik Sew 3667 view A, grey marle fleece
Jeans; adaption of Burda 7863, rust corduroy
Sunnies; RayBan
Thongs (flipflops): Mountain Design

photos below; at left from Dries Van Noten, Fall 2010, at right from Celine, Spring 2011

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