Tag Archives: Simplicity 3745

The summer in review

01/03/2010 4:38 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

Today is officially the first day of autumn. Seems kind of hilarious given that it’s going to be 37C again, and will continue to be in the high thirties for another week or so… anyhoo, I thought I’d review my most worn items of clothing over the past summer. Now I don’t take my photo every day, and I am making an effort to rotate through the wardrobe and wear everything once in a while, but that being said there are still the favourites that I turn to time and time again on my days “off” from posing for a photo because a. they are comfortable and b. I feel good in them. So I guess these clothes sum up “my style” for the summer (inverted commas because I’m still a bit hazy on what the heck my style even is!)…
It’s been an extremely hot summer with comfortable days few and far in between so it’s hardly surprising that the coolest items in my wardrobe have been the most popular, which means lots of white… even so I was surprised at how consistent my colour palette has been, and strong and bright. I seem to have gone for greens and raspberry pink quite a lot this season. For the five or six semi-formal functions I’ve attended I’ve gone for the beige lace dress I made at the beginning of last spring (for which I’ve received many compliments from very kind friends); I made it under the influence of the “nude” colour trend that was about at the time. Not all of these clothes were made by me, but I tried to be honest about the clothes I’ve turned to most frequently and this included a few store-bought items and one op shop item; in the evenings, or when I’ve required a light cool cardigan, my turquoise and hot pink cardigans from Metalicus have been my go-to’s, and without a doubt my most worn accessory has been my cheap little necklace I bought from the surf shop at Rottnest about four years ago… even so looking over these I’m pretty pleased that most of my daily wear falls in to the handmade category… how about your wardrobe? Have you worn mostly your own clothes lately?

Details:
Dresses;(nude) my own design variations based on New Look 6699, two types of beige lace and purple shot silk
   (white) Simplicity3745, spotted swiss voile with lace trim
Necklace; from the surf shop on Rottnest Island
Skirts; (lime print) Vogue 7303, cotton
     (white cotton) bought from Old Navy, Capetown South Africa
   (olive green) Vogue 7303, corduroy
   (red floral)Vogue 2894, cotton
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen
Tops; New Look 6252, lime green linen
   New Look 6252, white seersucker
   (pink) Aztec Rose, op shop
   (apricot) Country Road
Cardigans; both from Metalicus

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 7723, New Look 6252, new look 6699, own design, Simplicity 3745, Vogue 2894, Vogue 7303

Valentine’s Day picnic

15/02/2010 3:41 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

A hot hot hot Valentine’s Day yesterday, but by sunset a light breeze rippled through to freshen the air and the river foreshore was romantically dotted here and there with picnicking couples quietly toasting the day. As the sun set the sky put on a blazing show of colour, signalling another day of sunshine to come….
As my grandmother used to say: Red at night, shepherd’s delight, red in the morning, shepherd’s warning. It goes without saying that we have had no red mornings for quite some time now….
I wore my white dotted swiss voile dress from Simplicity 3745 that has been such a useful cool little dress in spite of my initial misgivings that its vaguely maternity-like shape would not suit me; and my hot pink Metalicus cardigan, by sunset the temperature had dropped to the extent I was glad I had the cardi with me.
We sipped champagne and beer respectively, and feasted on feta-and-salmon salad and mangoes; and it was gorgeous. A nice contrast to last year, when I booked us into a usually nice restaurant where we were “assembly-lined” through a fairly unimaginative set-course menu at a grossly inflated price…
(Oh, and in case anyone was wondering whether my “chocolate-y” hints of the day before were noticed and acted upon, well ahem, they were not. I think my husband needs hints of a far more direct variety in future!!!)

Details:
Dress; Simplicity 3745 with minor variations; white dotted swiss voile and lace
Cardigan; Metalicus, gift from my girlfriends
Scarf; from Italy, gift from my parents

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dress, Fabulous fabrics, Simplicity 3745

Merry Christmas!

25/12/2009 9:20 am \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

Merry Christmas to all!
Got up at the crack of dawn to pop a 6kg turkey in the oven, followed by prezzie exchange, off to the beach, then the family descended on us for lunch! Phew!
Was given a new camera for Christmas, and I’ll be spending this evening studying the instruction manual… should be producing high quality photos pretty soon, haha…
For now, here are some of the images of my Christmas (please excuse funny unfocused photo of me at right. Methinks the cameraman had had a few too many…)

Other details;
Dress; Simplicity 3745, white spotted cotton voile with lace trim
Sandals; Anna, bought at Marie Claire shoes
Nail polish; Santorini Sunset, Napoleon
Earrings; self-made

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dress, Fabulous fabrics, own design, Simplicity 3745

G’day, Mr Bobtail

11/12/2009 6:03 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

Today we spotted our first bobtail lizard of the trip. I feel so worried for the poor little blokes; partly because of the fast cars on the roads and also the receding bushland, and they are so slow-moving. We managed to coax him to turn back from his journey toward the road and return to the safety of his coastline scrub. Probably in his mind we were gigantic thumping monsters out to get him. Really we had his very best interests in mind!

We took these photos in the bush out front of our place, between the beach and us. It’s shady and cool; a light breeze stirring the leaves of the peppermints, the constant chirp of crickets and occasional warble of magpies.

It’s been great having Mum and Dad here; went swimming at the beach yesterday, then played card games last night, ate chocolate and watched movies. Today breakfast at the Bunkers Beach café, then another swim. The most beautiful beach in the world, and only about a dozen people on it. That’s why we love this place. Bondi and about a gazillion people? No thanks…

Other details:

Dress; Simplicity 3745, white spotted voile and crotcheted lace trim

Cardigan; Saba, op shop

Hat; Country Road

Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

Sunnies; RayBan

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dress, Fabulous fabrics, Simplicity 3745

“Duro” dress

30/11/2009 2:09 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I made this dress from Simplicity 3745 view C (no bow), out of spotted swiss cotton voile with a crotcheted lace trim. I was inspired by the “Duro” dress that was touted in Vogue magazine as being flattering to all figure types. Well, I dispute that theory, as when I first put on this dress to show my family they all said it looked like a maternity dress. And I looked pregnant. Well, no thank you very much! I’ve already been there done that (quite a few years ago) and it’s not a fashion look I’m aiming for, actually! So I sewed down the pleats in the back to try and slim it down a little (see picture below). I thought this improved the look of the dress a lot. I also added big pockets, both for practicality and to add interest to the front of the dress, and lined it with plain voile as the single layer of swiss voile was completely see-through. Even with this lining it is still a light floaty dress and will be cool to wear on hot days. I’m particularly happy with the look of the crotcheted lace trim. Can’t get past my love of white lace…
Today I’m meeting the Monday morning gals for lunch at Cottesloe beach, as its our last Monday before the school holidays we may only see each other sporadically for this time. Some of us are going to the beach for a swim first; well, I intend to swim even if none of the others do! Others may just sit on the beach looking pretty. That is definitely not my thing.