Tag Archives: Top

Ghost Paw

22/11/2009 3:17 am \ 2 Comments \

Yesterday at the nursery we bought three of these new kangaroo paws, the colours of which I think are absolutely stunning.  The stems are dark purple and the paws at the top are sage green.  So unusual.  We are pulling out a bed of roses that have never performed all that well and replacing them with these and a few other native plants.  But while they are still in their pots I decided to use them in today’s photo shoot.
I made this outfit for last summer and wore it a lot then; the top is McCalls 4454 view C and the skirt is Vogue 7880 view B.  The straps and edging on the top are a lovely thin natural coloured crochet border with black velvet ribbon woven through, some of the latter I used to make a little bow on the bodice also.  The bottom edge of the top and all the edges on the skirt are finished with a black rolled hem done on the overlocker.  The fabric is a self embroidered soft sage green.  The days are warming up but this purple Metalicus cardigan is thin enough to wear on a mild day like today.
After a bit of gardening we plan to visit my brother for his birthday ( and photograph my sister-in-law’s tea cosy!)

Other details:
Cardigan; Metalicus
Thongs (flipflops); bought in some little shop in South Africa

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Romance in an everyday basic

18/11/2009 6:03 am \ Leave a Comment \

Today the sky is white white white, and the wind is swirling and billowing about in the trees every which way.  So naturally I feel compelled to wear a white lacy top and to try to curl my hair. Seems a bit random? well I can see the connection anyhow.  Just seemed fitting.  Wuthering Heights, again?  Although me curling my hair is asking for trouble.  I could hardly brush it after.  Serves me right for dreaming up yet another way of procrastinating on all the work I need to do…  As it turned out the sun popped out from behind a cloud just long enough for me to get a sunny picture…
The top I’m wearing today is an oldie.  It was made from quilting cotton with crocheted lace strips inserted in the front and back.   I used this pattern New Look 6483, with a few variations obviously.  In my usual fashion, once a basic pattern has proved itself in terms of fit I then feel compelled to improvise with each use.  I was trying to copy a top seen in a Vogue magazine, for which I’ve just hunted unsuccessfully and I can’t remember the designer I’m afraid.  My version has been a very useful top; reasonably pretty, loose enough for warm weather and very comfortable for casual days.
This New Look pattern is an excellent basic pattern with no frills.  It is a simple matter to add interest with a few minor variations.  In this case I squared the neckline, altered the sleeves by puffing them up, inserted horizontal and vertical crochet strips on front and back, added a few pin-tucks, made a front bottom panel longer and gathered it to fit, added border crochet strips…  Well quite a few variations, but I was just playing with it at the time and the end result seems to be a keeper in my wardrobe as it has resisted every seasonal purge.  Admittedly white/off-white lace is rarely tossed out by me as I’m strangely drawn to it.  The whole aura of nostalgia and romance as represented in late Victorian era photographs and illustrations has such timeless appeal, no?

Other details:
Jeans, Development

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Not to judge a book by its cover

14/11/2009 3:50 am \ Leave a Comment \

Today’s shirt pattern is familiar to those following this blog, I’m even getting a little embarrassed at how often it’s appeared here.  It is Butterick 4985 again, this time with the addition of some little pockets on the front with lace flaps and the sleeves view B joined together at the top seam.  I used baby blue nubbly self embroidered cotton for the blouse and topstitched the pockets and a few seams with double stitching in gunmetal dark blue.  This was mostly to use up this particular colour in my thread stash.  I also added an attached necktie in a bit of leftover border lace, again just to use it up.  This can’t be seen very well in the picture because of the other scarf I’m wearing.
Today’s colour scheme is pastel-ly, with no white.  I really like this soft combination of pale blue, yellow and pink, with the blue jeans.  I have a confession to make: I realise how tragic this sounds, but I thought the cover of “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” to be such a beautiful balance of colours, and really inspired me to copy it in this outfit!  Oh please, if I heard someone say that I would almost pity them, but it’s true!  I suppose we are all find inspiration somewhere, and if you find it in the cover of a book then so be it.  (I could expound the multiple merits of reading this book as it is superb and intelligent and full of pearls… but that is not the purpose of this blog)
I found my shoes yesterday in an op shop.  They were $12, and hardly worn! I fell absolutely in love with them and had to wear them straight away.  They are navy blue suede with elastic criss-cross straps over the top of the foot and a beautifully shaped heel.  It’s often difficult to come across nice shoes in my size, even in commercial shoe stores as I have such big feet (size 10, or 41 in European), so this was an incredible find.
Today has been spent in pleasant industry and relaxation; I worked for several hours in the garden, did some grocery shopping and running a few errands, then met my friend J for afternoon tea.

Other details:
Jeans; Development
Scarf; unlabelled, bought in Labels (how’s that for an oxymoron!)
Earrings; selfmade
Shoes; Sandler, op shop

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Major surgery

12/11/2009 1:37 am \ 7 Comments \

Today’s effort is the result of a little wardrobe surgery.  A few years ago we went to a dress-up evening and our whole table went as 50’s style swing dancers.  All the guys wore jeans, white T-shirts and leather jackets, and all the girls wore polka dot circle skirts and neckties, white T-shirts, black sandals and white bobby socks (see before photo).  All us girls had matching outfits; we went out and bought purple, lime green, orange, turquoise and blue polka dot cotton, made our skirts and the neckties from the leftovers, and mixed and matched our neckties!  It was great fun and we won a prize for the best dressed table.
So, fast forward four or five years and I still have this orange polka dot circle skirt sitting at the top of my wardrobe.  Eventually it became patently clear I was never going to wear it ever again, so what to do?  Couldn’t possibly waste all that fabric, and in my colours too! (apparently)
So here is the result.  It is Butterick 4985 with view B collar again, with the sleeves taken from New Look 6252 but cut short.  What can I say, I really like the fitted style of this blouse pattern!
Because the polka dots are really bright bright white I decided to wear it with a white skirt.  I like the way the dull grey metal fittings on the skirt match the iron ore ball necklace, and the dull silver buckles on these sandals … maybe I’m overthinking all this …  Anyhow, I feel its a nice bright colour scheme for what is shaping up to be an dull grey, overcast, drizzly day.
My daughter has a bit of a break before her next exam, so after completing my office work we’ll go out together for a bit of afternoon tea.

Other details:
Skirt; Old Khaki, bought while on holiday in South Africa
Necklace; bought in Egypt
Sandals; Sportscraft, bought in David Jones

 

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Wrapper’s delight (and the memories you wear each day)

10/11/2009 4:19 am \ 1 Comment \

Please excuse the terrible pun above, but today’s outfit is an entirely wrapped affair.  The top is New Look 6252 view C, a nice little sleeveless top that wraps and ties at the back (the knot can be a little annoying when you are sitting in a hardback chair, but hey, nothing’s perfect).  I know its boring, oh yawn, yet another white top.  Actually I’ve realised since my clean-out I have way too many white tops, and its time for some serious updating in the form of dying and/or embellishment projects.  However, this was made from the leftovers from another project, which excuses it a little bit.
I wish I could say I made the skirt, but I actually found it in a secondhand shop.  It’s silk, with a slight gilding on the leaf print, which appears to be hand painted although I can’t be sure.  Its a wrap skirt, with a beautifully flared panel on the front that billows and blows around when you walk.
I love shopping in secondhand shops and op shops, not just because of the cost-saving factor, but of all the invisible stories emanating from the clothes.  Everything is jammed in and stuffed in all any-old-how and I love how you have to burrow and delve about through treasure after treasure.  Everything is so unexpected and completely unrelated to the items all around it, unlike in a boutique where new items have been carefully chosen by a buyer, arranged in colour and/or type and presented all pristine and ready for you to buy.  In an op shop you find yourself speculating on individual items, and why they have been discarded.  Something may have obviously been bought in Greece, say, with a label all in Cyrillic, perhaps bought on holiday and now no longer loved.  Myself when I buy something on holiday it becomes like a souvenir that I can’t possibly part with, simply because of the memories bound up in its purchase.  I rarely go shopping by myself and just buy things; my shopping excursions are usually with a friend, or on holidays or some such, so that my wardrobe is often a reminder of those occasions.  For example, today’s skirt was bought when I was out with my friend E and we discovered this secondhand shop.  And the top is leftovers from a trench coat (posted about here) I made with a Fabulous Fabrics gift voucher given to me by the Monday morning gals for my birthday last year.
I bought the beads etc for the earrings when my friend J drove us to the Gypsy Bead shop (now sadly no more) and a bunch of us all got madly into beading.  Oh, the hours we spent around each others’ dining room tables, stringing beads, chatting…

Other details:
Skirt; da Vida, secondhand
Sandals; Anna, bought in Marie Claire
Earrings; self-made

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What to do when the “whites” wash turns out pink

09/11/2009 1:39 am \ Leave a Comment \

I used my old favourite Butterick 4985 to make this top out of pink embroidered “bobbly” cotton, with the sleeves snitched from a different dress pattern Burda 7897.  I narrowed the torso region as always, and constructed a loop closure for the buttons, instead of the usual buttonholes.  When it was finished I felt it was too plain, so I then sewed on random strips and bits of leftover lace, broderie englaise and rick-rack I had in my leftovers tin.  Then I felt it was too “pretty”, and needed some punking up.  So out came a red T-shirt that had been a proven “runner” in the past.  That’s runner in dying terms, obviously.  Yes, it had mistakenly been included in a wash load of all white garments, which I discovered upon opening the washing machine had all turned a lovely shade of pink.  Take a deep breathe and count to ten.  Yes, I did have to purchase all new socks and T-shirts for my sons, but this situation doesn’t have to be all bad.
I could put this quality to good use.  What’s the old saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?  This is the home seamstress’ version.
I soaked the offending T-shirt with my new blouse, purposely scrunching the blouse in a way to result in a random blotchy effect, and hey presto!  I LOVE this final look, and wear this a lot.  Every now and then the pink blotches start to fade a bit, then I just repeat the soaking process.

Today I’m meeting the Monday morning gals, and decided to ride my bike as the weather is perfect, warm with a slight breeze, but not too hot that I’m going to turn up like a sweaty exhausted wreck.  I also visited a friend for her birthday, then rounded up the day with riveting challenging work in the office (ha ha)

Other details:
Skirt; Morrison
Shoes; Timberland
Necklace; self-made during my beading fad

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Denim with a white top

01/11/2009 3:59 am \ 2 Comments \
I read somewhere that denim jeans and a white top is a fashion look that is worn more commonly by the general population than any other look.  If this is true, then today I am merely conforming to the norm.
Just a plain top today for a plain sort of Sunday; cooking, gardening and a bit of dying.  That’s the colouring of fabric kind, not the having a heart attack kind.  I hope.  The results of the former activity to be featured in a future post, with luck.  
This top, Butterick 4985, is rapidly becoming my favourite blouse pattern, with adjustments.  Because I have a narrow torso I take in the side seams by about 3cm each side.  This can only be achieved by altering the order in which the pieces are sewn together; I construct the two fronts, and the back section, before sewing the side seams, unlike the pattern instructions.  This way I can achieve a perfect fit.
This fabric was entirely leftover from another project, this dress, that’s how little fabric this pattern uses.  I also used some old buttons from my collection, that I had removed from a previous top I was throwing out.  These are a pretty bluey-grey, made from shells.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who keeps lovely old buttons, just in case.  I’ve inherited some really beautiful buttons from my grandmother and great aunt that I will never ever throw out, but re-use, re-use and re-use again.  Hopefully my daughter will too.
As a result this top cost nothing to make but my time, a bonus for a useful little top.

Other details:
Denim shorts; previously owned by my son
Necklace; self-made

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Top that doesn’t suit me?

27/10/2009 6:09 am \ 2 Comments \
Just a day working, running errands, doing chores, gardening and a bit of grocery shopping, so didn’t feel the need to dress to impress.  This top I made about two years ago, and dug it out from the top of the wardrobe just to put it in the blog.  I feel like I’m wearing some real golden oldies lately… need to move on to some new stuff tomorrow…
The top pattern is my own design, polyester net cut out and draped over Bessie (the dressmaking dummy) to fit my vision.  The front has a slightly draped, cowl-y effect, and the front piece was cut about 12cm longer in the side seams, then gathered and pleated to fit the back side seam in the bust region.  I feel this makes a nice soft pleating effect over the bust.  I was going for a slightly medieval sleeve feel with the extended bit on the end of the sleeve, with limited success as I find this flappy bit extremely annoying when I’m doing housework.  The fabric is see through, so I sewed in a soft jersey “vest” lining in the body seams.  This top was sewn entirely on the overlocker making for a very quick construction; I spent perhaps ten times as long cutting, draping and pinning onto Bessie to get just the right effect.  For an artistic effect, I have put all the seams on the outside of the garment.  Not surprisingly this makes for a very comfortable top!
Even though I feel this top has had its day and I’m ready to toss it out, its been a lovely flattering shape and design and one I plan to use again.   In different colours.
In the latest Australian Stitches was an article on finding the colours that suit you, and I spent some time studying it last night, and besieging my husband with inane questions like “is my skin ivory or beige?” and “are my eyes unusual green or are they just hazel?” before he glazed over.  Seems they are introducing a new system with new categories, with names involving Bright/Dusky, Warm/Cool and Dark/Light.  I’m still not sure what I am, but I know that this top is probably not in my colours!  I had my colours done years ago, and after a lot of pfaffing around with swathes of fabric I was pronounced to be an Autumn.  I’ve been quite happy to be an Autumn.

The jeans are favourite summer jeans, washed so often the care and fabric label is washed white!  I do remember however that they are New Zealand made, from tencel which is light and cool for summer.  The shape is so flattering I traced it out last year and made an identical pair out of white linen which has been just as good.  I might try this again this year out of a different fabric.

On right is a picture of the wounded modelling her stylish sock, which I might say she has done her darndest to strip off.  I think purple and pinky/beige are her colours, no?  Maybe a Spring?

Other details:
Jeans; Development
Thongs/flipflops; Mountain Design
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