Tag Archives: Unique Clothes Any Way You Like

Smoky scraps, and a collar

17/03/2011 6:53 am \ 16 Comments \

This little top made out of the scraps from Craig’s new shirt is one of my New Things; mental run-through of them yesterday and I realised this was totally appropriate for hot weather, plus went well with this little skirt that itself is the result of scraps…  Actually (lightbulb moment), my entire outfit here is made from the leftover scraps from shirts I have made for Craig…  the skirt out of the leftovers from this shirt and this shirt…
Hmmm
I’m going to be giving myself a complex…  with all the talk of feminism floating about; what would a feminist make of the fact that I am clothing myself from my husband’s scraps?!?

Details:
Top; adaption of top “a”, Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, leftover shot cotton
Skirt; my own design, leftover linen scraps, inspired by a Celine skirt, details here
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, Hobbs shoes

Sewing details; should you be interested…
I had only the tiniest amount of fabric, so took out the pattern for top “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like (Natsuno Hiraiwa) which uses very little fabric.  

A little experimenting with the top I’ve already made from this pattern gave the gratifying knowledge I could get it on without having to undo the buttons; fabulous, as there wasn’t really enough fabric for the button band.  There definitely wasn’t enough fabric for those long shoulder ties, but there was just enough that I thought I could get a little straight foldover collar out of that strip that was left…
This is so easy, here’s a short how-to…
Simply measure around the entire neckline (not just half of the front, as I’ve misleadingly pictured here), remembering to allow for that seam allowance by measuring 1cm in from the edge.  Cut a strip of fabric to this width, plus seam allowance (I had just enough from that top little bit of fabric, yay!)

Sew the short edges of the band together to form a loop.

Attach right sides together to the neckline…

and fold over to the inside, slip-stitch in place, then topstitch on the outside for a nice neat finished appearance.

The inside seams are all French seams.

The armholes were finished with self bias binding.  Luckily you only need a miniature amount of fabric to make your own bias binding, so it’s usually pretty easy as well as cheaper, and it looks nice, to make it out of your leftover scraps to finish your garment.

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Neutral, but nice

11/02/2011 6:48 am \ 16 Comments \

I don’t know why I feel the need to apologise for a neutral look, but I do.  Yah, I know how silly that sounds…. The simple fact is that I’ve tried wearing this skirt with colours both vibrant and muted and it just look all kinds of wrong.  This skirt simply looks so much better when paired with neutral earthy toned colours… so there it is, and luckily I do have a pretty big collection of both pale and dark, drab putty-coloured stuff to mix it up with.
So to answer some comments from yesterday, did I buy myself any shoes when in Tokyo, well the truth is that sadly I did not (cue chin wobble with brave choked little sob.) and why not? So it may not be obvious from my photos, but I am fairly tall, and with very big feet, and the women of Japan are obviously all petite and with dainty little feet.  And after asking to try on about three or four pairs of shoes that interested me and being told in each case that sorry, but these do not come in “showboat”, (not in those words obviously, the sales assistants were all unfailingly courteous and polite, but that was the general message being conveyed here…) I just gave up and lived vicariously through Cassie as she happily tried on and rejected and narrowed down the fabulous array of footwear available to her ladylike little feet.  The good news?  Craig’s shoes actually do fit me, so I just possibly might dare to sneak off with them once in a while…  
So yeah, perhaps I should have just swallowed my pride and asked to try on some of the menswear selection?  What would you have done? 

Details:
Skirt; skirt “d” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, but Natsuno Hiraiwa, silver grey crepe: to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here
Top; Country Road
Scarf; a souvenir from Venice
Sandals; Vincenzo, from Soletta shoes
Bag; Gucci
Sunnies; RayBan
Nail Varnish; Fools Paradise, BYS

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Plain and simple

04/02/2011 8:12 am \ 16 Comments \

I was thinking of calling myself Plain Jane today; but didn’t want to offend any Janes out there.  I’m sure Janes have suffered enough, having a phrase like that readymade and just waiting to be lobbied at them whenever they care to step out looking minimalist and unadorned.  In fact, the existence of the plain-Jane tag, whilst handy for the English teacher to demonstrate assonance, has probably caused a lot of Janes to go to great lengths to ensure they look fabulous and decidedly un-plain on a daily basis.  An example I look to is my own friend Jane who is one of the most glamourous women I know.  Sorry, Janes, I shouldn’t have even mentioned it…
When I put on this top this morning I was determined to wear it the other way around, with the buttons at the front.  After all, it is designed to be worn both ways, and I wanted this versatility when I made it.  But I decided I don’t really like it that way, and switched it around yet again.  I really should force myself to wear it the other way around more…   
Once upon a time, I would not have made nor worn something like this top, because I had a thing that a loose-fitting garment would not flatter my figure.  But really, what does that matter?  And what does it mean?  Looking through the pictures in this pattern book I could see that the girls modelling looked lovely in the loose comfortable clothes, and so I went ahead and made them up.  And the important thing here should be about how you feel in your clothes, as much as about whether you look nice or not.  If not, we may as go back to the days of the corset…
So, maybe today is a bit plain and minimally coloured and embellished, but essentially I am cool and comfortable.  In this kind of scorching heat; these are my priorities!

Details:
Top; top “b” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton
Skirt; my own design, charcoal jersey knit
Sandals; Vincenza from Soletta shoes
Necklace; from the surf shop on Rottnest Island (another souvenir of a great holiday!)
Bag; Gucci
Nail varnish; Revlon Crimson Sparkle
Sunnies: RayBan

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Some new stuff

02/02/2011 10:12 am \ 17 Comments \

Since I picked out some photos from Oregon yesterday, I thought it the appropriate day to wear and show the souvenirs I bought whilst there… and then I also remembered and pulled out this new top that I finished only just before we left on our holiday but didn’t get a chance to photograph for posterity.
The top is made from some of my Christmas fabric; a crushed shot silk from Fabulous Fabrics.  It is woven with a brilliant orange weft onto a bright turquoise warp.  It never fails to amaze me how such bright bright colours when interwoven in this way can result in such a dullish coloured surface.  As well, the fabric doesn’t look as glossy as I have come to expect with silk.  Because I am suspicious by nature I did a quick burn test to check if it really was silk or a synthetic masquerading as such, and it passed.  So I presume the reason for the lack of silky sheen is that the crushed nature of the fabric breaks up the surface plane resulting in smaller areas to catch and reflect the light at any point of view. 

The pattern is Burda 7834, a little top pattern Cassie bought and made for herself and which I snuck out of her collection to use for myself… because I liked hers so much, hehe.  She had cut out an 8 for her own top, but it was a pretty simple matter to grade the necessary areas up to a 10 to fit me.
So I really should do a review here of this great little pattern… buuut I’m not.  Sorry.  Maybe later.  Been feeling a little flat and exhausted since we got back actually… not sure whether to blame the heat or post-holiday let-down.  Or just me…
And you probably can’t tell from this photo above, but it is blowing a bonafide gale here.  Even standing within the sheltering boughs of this tree we are being buffeted about by insanely strong eddies… and I was really timing the photography here to coincide as much as possible with a lull between gusts to avoid looking too hilariously windswept.  Man, I’d forgotten how blustery it can get on the foreshore in the afternoon…
Oh and please note Sienna’s lovely new professional do.  She has had a visit from the mobile doggie beauty salon and especially wanted to show the results off here today…  Doesn’t she look absolutely gorgeous?? a bit better than the hack job from before, hehe.

The pendant on my necklace is a tiny real pine cone that is encased in gold.  Isn’t it beautiful?  I really don’t go for accessories in a huge way, but when I do they tend to be small in scale and delicate.  Large scale chunky jewellery annoys me big-time, and I have to force myself to wear the bigger pieces I do have.  I once read something in a Trinny and Susannah book about accessorising, where they decreed (as they do) that women with large bones should gravitate to large scale jewellery and small-boned women will feel more comfortable with small scale jewellery.  So maybe this means I have small bones; although I have to confess I’ve always thought of myself as tall and big-boned; with “child-bearing hips” as they used to say… so I don’t know really!
The earrings have stones in them that are called Mount St Helens emeralds, although of course they are not actually emeralds at all, but really made from fused ash from the volcanic eruption.  So, yeah, just regular green glass …  But still pretty, and uniquely from that part of the world.

Details:
Top; Burda 7834, crushed shot silk
Skirt; Skirt “m” from Unique Clothes Any WayYou Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, pink/grey linen mix
Shoes; Perrini, had forever
Sunnies; RayBan
Necklace and earrings; bought in central Oregon USA

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The two things together

06/01/2011 8:45 am \ 14 Comments \

I’m not sure if this outfit is too severe.  Perhaps.  But this is the thing; I wanted to see these two pieces both together as they were designed to go with each other.  Both being from the same designer.  Japanese designed clothing can often be very architectural and pared back.  And I love this sharp, slightly futuristic minimalism that Japanese designers offer.  And it’s a look that I think is very indefinably now.
So, yeah, here’s me trying to be all super fashionable…
Yet other times I’m romantically lacy and floral, and other times a bit sporty; thus the schizophrenic nature of my sartorial tastes… these very different styles are constantly clashing together in my wardrobe, sometimes meeting in a mishmash of an outfit for a day, sometimes donned in a pure distillation of a recognised style.  
Perhaps it’s just that I like to experiment in both my sewing and with my “look”.
Today I am purely Japanese.
Oh, except for the raggedy old hat (romantic)… and the tennis shoes (sporty)…
So I guess, not so purely Japanese after all! 

About the other pictures; I snapped these samples of the local wildlife floating past the jetty this morning.  Black swans, natch, our state fauna and emblem, and after which this river is named.
And the jellyfish… relax, these ones are harmless.  I learnt to swim in this river, as did my kids, and one soon learnt to gently swoosh them aside during swimming lessons!

Details:
Top; top “b” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton, first posted here
Skirt; skirt “d” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, silver crepe first posted here, I styled this skirt styled in 6 different ways here
Hat and shoes; Country Road

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Silver skirt; 6 different ways

16/12/2010 2:59 am \ 14 Comments \

Fun times, styling up my own wardrobe!  For today I had a blast playing with the skirt I finished recently; skirt “d” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, made from a silvery grey crepe.  The loose swishiness of this skirt, the sleek unadorned styling, and the soft dove grey neutral colouring lends itself so well to many many pairings.  Although going by the looks I chose I think I’m too much in love with the paler neutrals in my collection right now, as they are so overly well represented here…  Whassup with that??  Slipping back into my old colourless ways…
Anyhoo, without further ado arranged here in order from wintery and through to summery;

At left, styled for wintery elegance; and at right, worn more casually with a fluffy cardigan and lace-up boots…

At left, a simple but smarter look suitable for the office (my “pager” is actually my camera remote, haha); and at right, just hanging out in ma hoodie yeah…

At left, worn under a light dress for softly pretty summery layers; and at right, tucked up under the armpits, the skirt transforms into a kinda dress!

And which look am I wearing for today?  Well today is quite warm, so I am sporting the last look.  As my underarm measurement is a little bigger than my waist measurement I had to undo the top button, but I like the look of this; more interesting than if all the buttons were done up.  It is amazingly cool and comfortable this way.  Just as a safety net I pinned it to my Tshirt on the inside, up under my arms, to ensure the skirt doesn’t slip down back to waist level…  Yaas, with my bust size this would be a distinct possibility…!
Thank YOU, o great inventor of the safety pin, for this stupendously wonderful gift to the sartorial world.
Which look here do you like the best?

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A happy discovery

15/12/2010 1:51 am \ 14 Comments \

Ever since I found that runway shot from Celine with the floppy linen pants I have been slightly obsessing about them.  Starting to think that I really needed some, that if I didn’t get myself a pair of floppy linen pants in my wardrobe that I just had absolutely nothing worthwhile to wear at all… I couldn’t go about my daily business… that everything was just going to self-destruct…  Well, not the last.  But definitely that a pair of loose floppy linen pants was kind of an essential, that I had to have, but now.  Then I discovered that of course I already do have some.  Tucked away, fairly floppy, and just begging to be worn with the loose white top, so I could look tres fashionable, just like in the Celine photo.
Ta da!
Problem solvered, crisis averted.  Sometimes burrowing about in one’s wardrobe brings pleasant serendipitous moments, when an old garment is rediscovered and donned straight away with little cries of joy.  Hello, old friends.  You will be worn again this summer, promise.
And the white top, with the attached shoulder thingys.  I tried tying them up today, sailor style.  I like this way.  Ahoy there, me hearties.  No that’s not right.  That’s pirate speak.  Hehe.  Ay ay cap’n.   That’s more the go.
So although these pants are not super floppy, and are a sort of gun-metally bluey grey and I am really craving the wheat colour, I think for the mo’ these will be fine.  I’m trying to work with what I’ve got here.
I wish I could make everything that inspired me.  Too time poor, sadly. My sewing is always a compromise between filling gaps in my wardrobe, and more inspired projects involving fabrics and patterns that really capture my passion at that time…
Sometimes (often) I wish I had a more co-hesive colour scheme happening in the wardrobe, that I could just grab anything anything and it would all go together like a dream, because I was one of those wonderfully organised people who only shopped and sewed to a plan.  But I’m not one of those people.  Sometimes I wish I was, but I think I would probably get bored with my carefully planned and co-ordinated, perfectly matching wardrobe and just perversely get the urge to bust out with something random.
So I think I’ll just continue with the whimsical buying of fabric and yarn just because I see it and love it, that is not planned but passionate.   And just make it work.

Details:
Pants; Burda 7944, blue/grey linen, to see these styled in 6 different ways go here
Top; “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton
Sandals; Anna, from MarieClaire shoes
Sunnies; RayBan 
photo at right from Celine Spring/Summer 2011

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B is for beach

10/12/2010 4:41 am \ 6 Comments \

This is my newest project; top “b” from the Japanese pattern book “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  It is designed to be worn both ways front and back however desired and has a button band up the centre of the front… or back, take your pick.  All the internal seams are finished with flat felled seams and the armhole edges are bound with self-fabric bias binding.  I’ve had this crisp-ish white cotton in my stash for a while, probably at least a year ulp, thinking it would come in handy for something or other one of these days and it finally has.  Yay! for using up a bit more stash!  
I really like the boxy, undefined shape of this top; the unfittedness of course being the factor allowing one to wear it either which way… but also making for a delightfully cool and breezy shirt to wear during the hot hotter and hottest days of summer.  The Fremantle Doctor can just sail right on through these big loose armholes to refresh and revitalise me on a scorcher.
Hehe, I know what you’re thinking and you can just stop right there;  just to explain, the Fremantle Doctor is the name given here to the afternoon sea breeze…  
An added bonus here is that this shape is gloriously trendy at the mo’, see the big boxy white top in the photo below from Celine Spring 2011?  Nice to think my sewing efforts are resulting in something super fashionable every now and again…  well, I try.
Now perhaps I just need to make myself a pair of loose floppy wheat-coloured linen pants in order to really nail this look right down to the ground…?
This is the fourth white shirt in my Great White Shirt project.

Details:
Top; “b” from “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton
Skirt; Vogue 7303, raw silk
Sandals; Perrini, had for many many many years

Below at left, worn the other way around; at right, from Celine Spring/Summer 2011

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