Tag Archives: Top

Pistachio and lilac

16/04/2010 3:21 am \ 5 Comments \

The last time I went op-shopping at the Salvation Army I found this stunning lilac suede skirt.  Yes, you read correctly, suede!!  I cannot believe the lovely things people throw out sometimes…  It has a very slightly graded frill around the bottom, is completely lined in mauve lining and has a raw edge hemline.  It has one label reading Otto collection, and its care label is completely in Japanese.  It’s in immaculate condition and fits me perfectly.  And I love it.  And it was $10.  How could I walk away from a winner like that?
And since today is a glorious warm and sunny autumn day I’m wearing it with my pistachio linen top, refashioned from an old pair of drawstring pants here.  And my boots, because it was just chilly enough this morning that my feet were cold.  I’m not sure about this old necklace.  At the time I made it I though it was so wonderful, but now I’m going off it a bit…  I put it on because I wanted a bit of … something to add pizazz and fill in in the big open neckline of this top.

Details:
Top; own design, refashioned from old linen pants
Skirt; Otto collection, opshop
Necklace, own design, made by me
Boots; Enrico Antinori, Zomp

Just to show you, Polyvore just had a nautical competition and here is my entry.  Not very classically nautical (like, nearly every single other entry was navy, red and white with stripes tossed in there somewhere) but I was going for something a bit different and fun here.  And turquoise is so hot right now!!

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Pattern Magic; toile 3, “detsubori” no shatsu

27/03/2010 5:24 am \ 5 Comments \

The latest toile from this excellent book.  I think this is a fantastic book if you are a reasonably advanced seamstress who wishes to learn something about pattern manipulation and drafting.  I’ve never done this sort of thing before and I’m finding it challenging and good practice for any pattern alteration and/or drafting I may want to try in the future.  I have no idea what “detsubori” or “no shatsu” mean.  If anyone out there has any Japanese and can enlighten me …? 
For this one Bessie is obliging by being my model for today.  This blouse is a very clever design in how it incorporated the bust dart in to the sculptural er, “things” out the front making them even more, er, sticky-outy…  it’s probably a little eccentric for me, I guess the plus side of these is at least you have a place to tuck a hankie if you need one?  Yeah.  No other plusses occurring to me.
I didn’t do a very good job of inserting the sleeves, but, meh…  This one is going to remain for now just a toile.  Maybe someday when I am far more adventurous than I am now then this made up in a stiff crisp white linen may make a wonderfully avant-garde evening shirt … someday.

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The clean-up begins…

23/03/2010 6:38 am \ 5 Comments \

So today I’m taking stock of the mess and devastation around our house from yesterday’s storm.  Perhaps an outfit post for the day seems inappropriate but now I’m so in the habit of popping my camera into my backpack I just went ahead and set up for a photo as usual.  Apologies for the fairly boring outfit I’ve chosen today…  Actually I do love the swirling puffy clouds with bruised smudges above, with every so often a blaze of brilliant turquoise to delight us…  The funny thing is it is a pretty hot day again today, and in this photo I was sweltering…  a good opportunity for me to put on my bathers when I got home and get started on a fun activity; I spent three quarters of an hour dredging the pool to the best of my ability.
Paradoxically I’ve always thought of the wind and rain as nature’s way of “cleaning up” the earth’s surface, as in the wind can be thought of as nature’s broom/vacuum cleaner blowing the dust away and the rain washes everything down clean and sparkling like a new pin all over again.  When we visited Egypt and the streets and buildings were so dusty and dirty I remember thinking what this place needs is a good strong wind followed by a thorough downpour to clean up a bit.  I say paradoxical because after a wild storm like yesterday of course the landscape is so much messier than before, and needs so much cleaning up after!!  I guess my simile isn’t particularly applicable after all!
So I’m outside wandering around with rake and broom and the thought “Where do I even begin?” pops into my head regularly.  For one thing, the piles of debris vs. the volume of our household bin.. there’s quite a discrepancy there for a start.  This is going to take time.  I’m finding myself lurching from one job to another without seeming to achieve anything very much at all…  One thing is for sure, my dressmaking hobby is going to go on the back-burner for a while.  My laundry where I usually sew is filled knee-high with piles of wet old towels/rags we used to clean up the worst of the inside puddles… and my washing machine is working overtime today.  
I’d have to say the plus-side of being without power last night, after everyone had got over the initial withdrawal symptoms from electronic entertainment (What? we’re going to miss Bear Grylls?!  Noooooo…!”) was that everybody set to and made their own old-fashioned entertainment by candlelight.  Something we should do more often, methinks…

Details:
Lace top; my own design, cut-away embroidered linen
Cargo pants; urban, from Ezibuy
Camisole; Country Road
Scarf; made by me, turquoise silk chiffon

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Canal Rocks

21/03/2010 1:51 pm \ 5 Comments \

Full day today, this is why I’m posting so late tonight.  We had a busy sociable day, and rounded off by going to watch the sun set over the ocean.  Here, my husband took so many beautiful photos, and also some of me in my outfit I’ve included here.  (I was kinda planning another handicraft post, but these photos are, well, better….)
The rocks here are so alienesque and seismically dramatic, and the ocean so turbulent with booming fountains of white frothy sea-spray with every violent wave…. we were here at midday and the rocks were tangerine and the water a rich vibrant blue, in the late afternoon light, as here, the rocks are paled to golden and the ocean becomes a dark almost sinister grey…
I’m wearing my outfit that was one of my wardrobe refashions, first posted about here, made out of three of my husband’s old business shirts.  I actually love this outfit a lot, it fits my casual and yet funky (I hope!) aesthetic perfectly; I have a desire to look different, without looking so different that I look odd, I think this outfit ticks the boxes.  I know some people insist on having pockets in the garments they make; I’m not so demanding, but in this I did put pockets in the skirt, made out of the short sleeves from the sky-blue top, and boy am I pleased with these pockets!  They enable me to shove my hands down low in the skirt and slouch along the footpath in a casually cool manner… er, as casually cool as I can manage, anyway….;D

Details:
Top and skirt; refashioned from 3 old business shirts
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

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Python alert

19/03/2010 4:43 am \ 7 Comments \

I finished my python print satin outfit!  Here in this photo I’m not sure if I look as much like a sleepy python draped lazily down a tree trunk any more than I do an extra from the set of Dynasty… all that satin….  At least I’m not sporting shoulder pads, but give me a dry martini, a grotesquely over-carved balustrade to drape myself over, or at least a gilt-handled door to slam and I’m your woman…
The top is out of Burda 8497, with the only variation in the addition of long pointy cuffs that are permanently sewn closed with these rather gorgeous metal buttons I found.  I considered making cufflinks out of the buttons and going down that path with buttonholes in the cuffs… but nah, this is a much simpler solution; not to mention looks better finished.  Given the struggles my menfolk have with cufflinks I like to just be able to throw on my outfit and swan out the door with minimal fiddling over my ensemble, so it was  “no” to the cufflink idea.
The skirt was kind of based on Vogue 7303, my old favourite which I use as a basic shape for so many projects.  I’ve had enquiries about this one, sadly I think it’s out of print (or I’d get another as a back-up for myself!) but some are possibly floating around on the second hand scene.  It’s really just a good basic pattern, of which there are many many new varieties available in dressmaking stores.
As I posted about before, the panels down the side are satin, which I pintucked randomly and ironed flat, aiming for a scale-y effect with debatable success…  At one point these panels, which are finished off properly, hung lower than the hemline in a randomly wavy point, but I decided this looked a bit odd and folded them up level with the rest of the skirt and tacked them up on the inside.  They’re still up there if I change my mind and want the skirt to look more gothic-y, I can just unpick the tacking stitches and let them fall down again.
The lining of the skirt (not seen here, but posted about yesterday) is jungle green bemsilk.
Over the cooler season coming up I plan to wear this to formal and semi-formal functions with my Icelandic shoes, pictured.  I just LOVE these shoes!!

Details:
Top; Burda 8497, satin print
Skirt; my own variation on Vogue 7303, satin print with satin side panels
Shoes; Kron by KronKron, bought online

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Wardrobe Refashion, project 6

12/03/2010 4:57 am \ 23 Comments \

This refashion was actually excessively easy and barely worth a tutorial of “during” pictures, but here it is…
I started out with these drawstring waist, three quarter pants.  They are shapeless and unattractive and only suitable for pyjamas… but the fabric is lovely fine linen in a gorgeous shade of pistachio that I fall in love with straight away… but am I ever going to wear these pants as is?  No way.  Drawstring and elasticised waists are just a no-go in my wardrobe.  I feel they bunch unattractively around my waist/hips, adding bulk to a problem area, and as a recent commenter kindly reminded me, I am not model thin.  Yeeeah…..  If I will take the risk of putting myself out there then people will feel free to inform me of my figure flaws, but hey I can take it.
So here are the before pants:
No way am I modelling these for the blog, they do look ridiculous and I have some pride.

I removed the drawstring and the elastic from the waist casing and cut the leg pieces off just below crotch level:

Now I took each of the legs; in these pants the back leg pieces are wider than the front pieces, so when ironed flat you get a pressing line with the leg seamline just inside of this running down the length of the legs … I marked with pins on the leg backs the line of this seamline that is on the leg fronts, and cut the fabric of the leg backs approximately 1cm in from this pinned line and overlocked the raw edges… Then on the leg fronts (which looks superficially the same as it did before) I stitch in the ditch down the original seamline… this is being pointed to by my unpicker in this photo… and thus a hem is created on each side of the two long leg pieces utilising the original pressing line.  (phew! that probably made no sense whatsoever! the picture can do the talking…)

I fitted these two pieces over my shoulders and pinned them inside the original waistband and stitched them on the top stitching line as well as the bottom stitching line of the waistband casing.  The short crotch seams front and back are re-sewn to be straight seams.  The original back of the pants with its pockets still intact I placed at the front.. and cut new holes for the drawstring at the new front…

There was a little slit at the bottom of the legs (now the bodice), I kept this and sewed it down with a button for an extra detail and to bring it in under the arm and help avoid bra flashing…

Hemmed the bottom, et voila….

I think it looks a little like a scrubs top, but then I do like this look.  The team that brought us Scrubs the TV show introduced to non-hospital workers a whole new wardrobe concept in the sexy loose-fitting comfort of scrubs, (and who didn’t just love “Scrubs”?)  This will be a good light floaty top which will be lovely and cool for hot days.  And comfortable!  Man, I might just still use it for pyjamas as well as day-wear…

Details:
Top; pistachio linen, refashioned from old pants
Skirt; Diesel
Shoes; Timberland

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Riverside situation

04/03/2010 4:27 am \ 7 Comments \

Little adventure this morning.  Lately I’m in the habit of combining my two early morning tasks of dog-walking with taking my photo, if I’m planning to take one that day, that is.  I have my camera, tripod and the shoes I’m planning to wear the remainder of that day in a backpack, I take Sienna with me and stop somewhere picturesque and set up for a few minutes.  Well today, I’m out on this tiny jetty and it’s quite windy, I’ve got the tripod shored up between a pillar and the backpack to prevent it from blowing over (yeah, it was windy enough that that was a real risk!) and next thing I know, whoosh! my tripod bag is now floating in the river about five metres away.  Bob bob bob, it goes, taunting me,  out of reach.  I look at it with despair.  Should I abandon modesty and wade out to it?  No, the river is over thigh deep at that point…  Sienna is no bloomin’ good at all, she may look pretty but that’s as far as her usefulness goes.  Fetch, she does not do…  I look about for a handy young man jogging in his shorts who may gallantly help me out, but I’ve chosen my time well and there is absolutely no-bloomin’-one in sight AT ALL.  No canoe-ers.  I’ve got the foreshore to myself.  Usually this is a plus as I’m shy about taking my own photo if anyone’s about, but this time I could really do with a helpful man… (couldn’t we all…?!, joking, I’ve got my own man, but he’s gone to work early, dammit)
So I hightail it home, dragging Sienna, not allowing her to sniff or socialise, and luckily my eldest two are still around, and my daughter, never shy of an adventurous stunt, immediately dons bathers and we drive back down, she swims out, it’s about twenty metres out by now, and rescues the tripod bag…
As the song goes, thank goodness for little girls…
As a anticlimactic afterthought, my hat.  It’s newish, well on its maiden voyage anyhow (like my tripod bag).  I bought a single ball of this yummy wool at anny blat at their shop in Paris when we were there six years ago.  I finally made this beanie last year from my own design, just cast onto four double-ended needles and made it up as I went along.  I’m going to make myself wear hats more often.  I wish they were more in fashion.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, fabric handwoven by my Mum
Top; refashioned from husband’s old workshirt, my own design
Scarf; Country Road
Shoes; Timberland, bought in Rome
Cloche; annyblat yarn, my own design

 

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Leda and the Swan

24/02/2010 3:09 am \ 6 Comments \

What to wear when the forecast is for 38C, and your daughter requests that you both ride your bikes into the city to take photos of buildings for an architectural assignment?
Precisely.  After a hot exhausting bike ride you’re probably not going to look glamorous for your photo opportunity.  See below exhibit A, and please excuse the crumpled and bedraggled state of the model.
I know, I know, white lace again, but I needed something cool, loose and comfortable and this fitted the bill perfectly.
I’ll keep this shirt until it falls apart, I think.  Even then I’ll be inventing ways of patching it up so I can still wear it…  It was just made out of quilting cotton, about 3 years ago, as a kind of experiment, and it has been such a winner.  It’s so comfy, and I like to think it looks kinda nice, too…  I used New Look 6483 as a basic T-shirt, but added plenty of my own design variations.  I experimented with pintucking, puffy sleeves, and inserting panels of crotcheted lace for a Victorian-inspired look.
And my little white shorts, from Burda 7723, a great easy pattern.  I’ve made up this pattern once more and flared and lengthened the legs a little and I preferred that look.  These have been indispensable in my summer wardrobe.

Details:
Top; my own design, based on NewLook 6483, cream cotton and crotched lace inserts
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen
Bag; made by my Mum

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