Spotlight Archives - Page 6 of 8 - Handmade by Carolyn

Teal dress and, er, white lacy thing

04/02/2010 1:10 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

I apologise in advance for the appearance of a yet another white lacy number. I actually made this about a year ago and don’t wear it very much, especially not since I became aware of and then started feeling embarrassed about the glut of white lacy clothes in my wardrobe….

I wish I could say I made this teal dress, but it was a birthday gift from my darling husband who wanted to buy me some clothes so I wouldn’t suffer from the creative burden of having to sew my own, without perhaps considering how much I love said burden…. like an addict loves the drug that enslaves them. My friend D first coined this metaphor as it applies to creative types and I relate, really I do. No sooner am I putting the finishing touches onto one project than already my brain is feverishly planning the next sartorial experiment… and I’m really making an effort to slow down and plan more carefully for economy, practicality and versatility!

I do adore this dress, like I do nearly all Metalicus for its spectacular ease of wear combined with intense beautiful colours. With varying degrees of success I’ve tried at times to reproduce some of my favourite items but the difficulty is, as always, getting hold of fabric…. The usual seamstress’ complaint. This dress is from the wool range, and amazingly it’s incredibly cool to wear in summer.

The bag I made about two years ago and first posted about here.

Details:

Dress; Metalicus

Top; my own design, white cut-out embroidered linen

Bag; my own design, cream wool

Shoes; Sandler, op shop

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: accessories, Fabulous fabrics, Knitted, own design, Spotlight, top

Tea Cosy, specimen 10

31/01/2010 1:35 am \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

Here is the tea cosy I made for my sister-in-law A for her birthday last year, photographed in her kitchen amongst some of her adorable knick-knacks. She has their house full of beautiful things, so wherever you look is yet another beautiful vignette of lovely objects arranged just so. I think if she chose she could have been an interior designer, or a photographic stylist as she really has the “eye”. I chose these warm earthy colours for her cosy as they are very indicative of her warm, earthy personality; she has a big heart and a caring, friendly demeanour that impels people to warm to her immediately. The pattern is a Roly Poly, from the book “Wild Tea Cosies” by Loani Prior.
The little blue milk jug at the back is also made by a family member, but I’m not sure now which one. My father, my aunt and my brother have all made beautiful pottery pieces, which are treasured by all of us, so it is the work of one of them, must make it my mission to find out.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Knitted, Spotlight, tea cosy, wild tea cosies

To dryclean or not to dryclean, that is the question

28/01/2010 1:55 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

On the weekend I wore this to a wedding reception…
(sorry, didn’t get a picture with my hair up and my make-up all done, this is the old photo from when I blogged about it previously and I did look more glamourous on the night!)
and my husband and I danced up a storm on the dance-floor afterwards. When I got home I laid the dress aside in the laundry, thinking without thinking (if that makes any sense at all) I would drop it in at the dry-cleaners the next day.
But then I recalled a conversation I had a few months ago with a friend who, along with her husband, used to run a dry-cleaning business. She was telling me how dry-cleaners charged a fortune for evening dresses because of the difficulty involved and the high risk of ruining them, how the chemical process was actually damaging to delicates such as silk and actually shortened their life, and how you are far better off washing them yourselves at home. Hmmm. Food for thought.
After all, garments have survived for centuries without dry-cleaning, the magnificent silken and bejewelled gowns of Elizabethan times were, yes, tended and handwashed without the use of chemicals, just good old-fashioned soap, water, air-drying and a hot iron… That’s when they were washed at all, possibly once or twice in their lifetime! or so I’ve read! Even so… centuries later why have we complicated our laundering process, and is it really necessary?
The cleaning instructions provided with most clothing, and how manufacturers often put “Dry Clean Only” on their care labels, are (I think) a kind of fall-back, fail-safe, laundry-guide-for-dummies, kind of attitude. Some labels are quite mystifying. I have a skirt, bought in quite an expensive boutique many years ago, which has on its label, hilariously, “Do Not Wash” and “Not Suitable for Dry Cleaning”! What the…..?! (For interest, I have always just tossed it in the washing machine on a cold cycle, with no dire outcomes)
So, I looked at my evening dress, and decided to wash it myself. This was easy; light swirling in a laundry bucket, thorough rinsing, blah blah, hung out to dry on its hanger with pegs on the straps so I wouldn’t come out later and see it adorning a neighbour’s tree… The difficult part, obviously, was going to be in the ironing of it. I didn’t include a picture of it before ironing, you’re just going to have to take my work for it that it was veeeeery crinkled…. I consider myself a reasonable iron-ess (whatever), but this dress has a multitude of swirly bits, and an awkward gathered/folded bodice on a formfitting underlining…tricky stuff in the ironing department. However, I recently bought a ham from Spotlight for the purpose of making my life much easier in shirtmaking for my husband. And should come in handy pressing my own jackets and my trenchcoat (if it ever cools down enough for me to wear it); the pressing of the sleeves once set in is always a hideous challenge when you’re working with a standard garden variety ironing board… On a side note I just love its cheery tartan cover!

Although it took some time I was pretty happy at how easy it was to iron the bodice of this dress using my new ham, I simply couldn’t have done it without it.
And after, good as new, and ready for that next glamourous soiree…

Would I hesitate to wash garments myself next time? No!!
What do others do with their evening wear?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dress, Fabulous fabrics, laundering, Spotlight, Vogue 1105

Glossy wooden beads

27/01/2010 3:16 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

Got heaps of office work to do today, so may not enter the laundry (where my sewing machine is situated, taunting me) until it’s all done… I also had a few errands to run, so took time out to sneak down to the foreshore for today’s pictures.
This necklace that I made last winter was, unlike my Chanel style chain belt, one of those serendipitous projects that just flew out of my imagination and took all of about 20 minutes to make. Just a few packets of glossy brown beads and a packet of silver charms, strung along some shoestring, knotted periodically, added a catch at the ends, et voila!
Tres chic, non?
Today is my parents’ wedding anniversary, so congrats, Mum and Dad!
I’m currently working on my next next Wardrobe Re-fashion, I’ve already got this week’s in-the-bag and ready for Friday but my next one is a little more complex and is occupying my mind, I’m itching to get in the laundry and work on it some more, but I’ve procrastinated long enough and sadly have to go and do some real work now…

Details:
Skirt; Rodney Clark?, Louis?, op shop
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; Vertice, mid 70’s
Necklace; self-made
Sandals; Neo, from Nine West (I think)
Bag; made by my mother

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: accessories, beading, own design, Spotlight

Chanel style belt

25/01/2010 2:49 am \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

From Chanel, Spring/Summer 2010 RTW

How cool are these gold chain belts by Chanel this season? Often a designer piece inspires me to have a go at reproducing the “look” myself. It’s not that I’m setting out to reproduce a designer item exactly, but …. well if I could afford Chanel this would be a completely different story but the real deal is sadly not within my reach. Realistically. So my only option is to scrabble together something myself.
Here is what I started with, 1.5m each of thick, medium and thin chain, a packet of jump rings and a packet of gold charms. I didn’t really know in my head how ornate I wanted my end result to be, so I overbought a bit… I also took the large lobster catch off one of my own necklaces (it didn’t need it as the necklace could be just slipped over my head)

Started out by just draping the large chain loosely around my waist, to sit at just mid hip/waist height, and attached the lobster catch (modelled on Bessie, here, but I did the fittings on myself)

Then I started looping and attaching the medium chain across the front, joining with jump rings. After a few of these they started to drive me mad. Jump rings just cannot cope well with the thickness of the links in chains, besides being really difficult to get on they also become very distorted. I got some of this 32 gauge jewellery wire I already had, and started “sewing” the chains in place instead with lots and lots of “stitches” (at least 10 per joint, for strength). This worked heaps better.

I draped and stitched all the medium chain and left just the end hanging loose.

Then I started with the skinniest chain, and …hmmm. Breakage after breakage later and me getting increasingly frustrated … at this point I considered abandoning the whole project. Jewellery making is not my forte…at this point if there had been a Chanel shop around the corner I might have just stormed in and maxed out the credit card out of sheer bloodyminded-ness…. However venting one’s rage using the family finances is rarely productive, and anyhow there is not a Chanel shop around the corner…. sensibly, instead I decided that was that and the belt was finished. I’ll find something else to do with the remains of the skinny chain.
I selected one charm to attach to the end of the chain. I used a “thongs” (or flipflops) charm, just for an Australian touch.

And voila… After sleeping on it, I’m actually quite happy with the end result. I can see it over a pair of tight pants, in fact I’m fantasising right now about customising a pair of bootlegs Chanel style as well….

Final verdict?
Well, if you can afford to buy a real Chanel belt, then what are you waiting for. The real Chanel belt is probably a beautiful piece of real jewellery, and will be far far superior, for sure.
You need patience and perseverance to work with these fiddly jewellery components, give me sewing anytime… However, all said and done, I’m happy. My version will look nice for a season or two, as long as I take care of it and don’t tie it into knots in the meantime.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: accessories, beading, Spotlight, tutorial

Tea Cosy, specimen 9

24/01/2010 12:07 am \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

Here is the tea cosy I made for my mother-in-law for her birthday last year. She loves the beach and spends a lot of time walking and swimming on the beach, so I took the soft blues and browns of the seaside for inspiration. This tea cosy is my own design, just cast on what seemed like a good number of stitches and started knitting, winging the design. I love the bobbly yarn I found for the top-knot, it reminds me of that coastal grass that we call “pussy-tails” in WA because the flowers look tiny miniature fluffy cat-tails.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Knitted, own design, Spotlight, tea cosy

Wardrobe Refashion, project 3

22/01/2010 12:17 am \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

Not a terribly exciting re-fashion this week, but I’m still pretty happy with the result. Before; an old work shirt of my husband’s that he was tossing out. Pro’s; it’s made of sturdy thick cotton knit with a lovely blue-marle denim-y colour that has a lived-in comfortable feel about it, and it has a nice button up front with attractive metallic-look buttons. Problem areas, it was HUGE, it had a kind of daggy “sporty” collar and two too many logos. I hate logos. I don’t really want to walk around looking like a billboard for somebody else’s business, thankyou very much.
It may not look like a dramatic difference, but this shirt has been re-constructed completely, apart from the button up front which I kept untouched and the bottom hemline is also the original. The collar was removed. As the logos were embroidered onto the fabric they couldn’t be unpicked without leaving an unholy mess behind (or should I say, a very hole-y mess!), so the sleeves were shortened, removing one logo, and I added a small self fabric pocket, covering up the other logo. The shirt pieces were rejoined to become a much slimmer, more feminine shape.
I think the new streamlined look of the T-shirt is now quite attractive and will be a useful new resident in my wardrobe.
I made my skirt also, about four or five years ago and I posted about it previously here.

Details:
Shirt; refashioned from my husband’s old work shirt
Skirt; my own design, various cottons and cheesecloths
Sandals; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: own design, skirt, Spotlight, top, Wardrobe Refashion

Olive green corduroy skirt, 6 different ways

21/01/2010 2:39 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

My olive green corduroy skirt out of Vogue 7303 has been incredibly useful in my wardrobe and is something I grab without thinking on a regular basis, secure in knowing it will go with just about anything else I own. With one small exception, it can go anywhere and do anything. The exception, natch, is for dressy wear. It’s a corduroy skirt. Corduroy spells casual, no getting away from that.
Could you make a ball-gown out of corduroy, I wonder, and carry it off? Perhaps it could give the same look as velvet, in the right design, maybe? That’s food for thought…
Anyhoo, getting off track, as per usual…
This skirt is a fantastic skirt in that it has worked for me in all seasons; hot weather all the way through to cold weather, and the olive green colour is so handy in that it goes with every other colour (yes, Virginia, olive green is a fabulous neutral). I mean obviously it goes with the usual creams, white, black and brown. But for today I have tried to style it with all the colours of the rainbow to show just how great a colour it is.

Being a mini(-ish) it can be worn in hot weather; here it is casual, and then a little more smart, say for shopping…

Then, the corduroy texture still looks appropriate if the weather is a little cooler…

Finally in the winter it scrubs up pretty good with tights and looks kind of mod (OK, the sun is blazing brightly in these photos, you just have to use your imagination and conjure up a bit of rain and cold wind to get the winter vibe in these pictures…)