Tag Archives: Vogue 7303

A burdensome expectation…

11/11/2010 7:03 am \ 16 Comments \

Since I stopped buying any new readymade clothes I am finding it easier and easier to dress completely self-stitched on a regular basis, as some of my older store-bought clothes are starting to bite the dust.  I’ve always found it difficult to throw out store-bought clothes.  Ironically, a garment I’ve made myself is far easier for me to toss out, because I can see all its faults and my inner perfectionist will judge it harshly for not exactly fitting my vision at the time of making it.  I look at some old thing I made years ago and see how tacky and “homemade” it looks (all seamstresses know the vast vast difference between the “handmade” and “homemade” look, I don’t need to go into that now, do I?) whereas a garment I’ve bought readymade I just accept happily for what it is.
Now on a similar train-of-thought, and I’d like to know if any other self-seamstresses ever get this too… since I’m known for making my own clothes I’m often queried by people as to whether or not I’ve made what I am wearing that day… and if on occasion I have to respond, “oh, not this, I actually bought this”; I’m not kidding, people will go, “oh”, all disappointed, and change the subject, moving right along, and seriously, I feel like I’m letting people down.  I feel like a failure, because I’m wearing something I didn’t make… oh dear, just not up to scratch today, hmmm? …  Is this ridiculous or what?!
Now tell me whether I’m alone here, or am I being too sensitive?  Does anyone else get this reaction from others when they wear store-bought clothes?

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767, first seen here (borrowed from my son, he’s OK with it) turquoise striped cotton
Skirt; Vogue 7303, ivory wool blend
Coat; my own adaption of Burda 7786, beige cotton
Belt; had since teenager years
Booties; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

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Me and the best friend

06/10/2010 4:21 am \ 7 Comments \

Nice to be back here with my big furry best friend again …
On our last lovely balmy evening in Melbourne we met friends for dinner down by the Yarra River and chinwagged into the late late hours.  Our friends had been reading the latest Stephen Hawking book The Grand Design, explaining further the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, and posing discussions such as “why is there something rather than nothing?” and “why do we exist?” and other esoteric fare…
I decided to keep quiet about the fact that my current reading material is the Sookie Stackhouse Chronicles, a decidedly more lowbrow offering…  This is a sometimes camp series about a Louisiana waitress who is a psychic and is also dating a vampire; lol!  Yeah, I do read worthy books (really!), but also I like to escape now and then into black humour and small-town soapie-style fun too…  life is too short to stick exclusively with serious.
Y’all agreed?  Darn tootin’…

Details:
Skirt; partly my own design, based upon Vogue 7303, layered white stretch lace, see full length here
Tshirt; Country Road
Cardigan; my husband’s old jumper, refashioned, see here
Necklace; made by me, tutorial here
Sandals; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes
Nail varnish; Santorini Sunset, NP

 

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Domestic diva VIII

24/09/2010 6:08 am \ 15 Comments \

For those of you wondering if the domestic diva series is nought but a ploy then wonder no more, for I do actually do housework around my house as well as sewing, er which OK admittedly has got unnecessarily high priority in the scheme of things.  And my pretty pale pink iced chocolate mud cake, baked today here in my kitchen by me and pictured below will definitely go to good use, later on I may put some little pink and white striped candles on it, light them, wait for my family to sing me a little song, and then blow the candles out.  Yes, today is the one day in the year reserved for my turn at this particular activity…
I have been showered with birthday pressies and spoiled rotten by my friends and family, which is a nice thing for a domestic diva, no?
To celebrate in the sartorial way, I am wearing some of my favourite creations; the pale pink skirt which, like my blue patchwork skirt the other day, was created mostly patternless in a maelstrom of frantic sewing activity one magical day when I was hit by an urgent inspiration; and miraculously turned out just the way I envisioned it, this is not always a foregone conclusion.  To see this skirt styled in six different ways, see here.
My top is my own design, made from a pair of old three quarter pants, for the original story, see here.
I did not make the adorable little brooch, it was a birthday gift from my dear friend S.  This comes from a range made in Western Australian using a bits of old china plates to make new and very pretty and whimsical decorative items.  Isn’t it sweet?

Details:
Skirt; partly Vogue7303, mostly my own design, pale pink damask
Top; my own design, charcoal linen/cotton mix, seen first here
Shoes; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes
Pin; Mashida, gift from a friend
Roses; gift from my husband

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Domestic diva VII

23/09/2010 5:21 am \ 10 Comments \

Went on a recky (translation; Aussie slang for reconnaissance mission) through the husband’s side of the wardrobe for this morning’s outfit.  Oh, btw, that’s just the shirt here, not the skirt hehe, in case you were wondering…

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767, blue linen, seen first here
Skirt; Vogue 7303, green cotton velveteen, see first here
Socks; handknit by me, using Patonyles sock yarn, seen first here
Belt, kept from some old cargos that have long gone
Hat; Barmah, leather stockman’s hat
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti


Re yesterday’s post: my husband reckons I was far too mysterious and should not have told just half a story.  I can see now he was right and I wasn’t fair.  Talking about private stuff makes me uncomfortable, but I appreciate that many of you are now like my pen-pals and we are interested in each other’s lives and not just visiting each other for the sewing and fashion so I should try to open up more…

A friend lost her son to cancer.  He was 24.  He had been ill such a short while, so while the end was not unexpected it was still too shocking.  Of course would always be too shocking, no matter how much time you have to prepare, of course.  I saw her and the family yesterday and they were just amazing.  So loving and so positive.  My friend C makes me want to be a better person.
That’s all.  Just go and hug your children.  I am.

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Colour me Carpark

16/09/2010 8:05 am \ 15 Comments \

I’ve made a new top… and the colour is some sort of colour not really grey but not really brown, but something in between.  Brey?  Gr-own? Or just a darker version of my new favourite neutral; greige…  (later edit, duh, taupe!!)  I went into town today and it struck me my new top was the colour of carparks.  The colour of dirty cement and sooty steel piping.  That makes it sound awful, but really I find the colours, shapes and textures found in industrial and manmade environments can be just as artistically inspiring as natural ones…
The pattern I used is Butterick 4985, except with the sleeves from another pattern, as I prefer these “ordinary” sleeves to the rather frilly fancy ones supplied with the pattern.  I’ve used this pattern many times before…  The fabric is pre-gathered or shirred in an unevenly spaced wavy pattern on chiffon, which itself is printed with tiny paper-crane like motifs in ink blue.  It was only when cutting-out time came around that I noticed that the black shirred lines did not meet up nicely in a pattern repeat at all; all up and down unevenly, making pattern matching an absolute impossibility… I just had to give up on the idea of matching up those radiowaves!!  With the shirring it wasn’t terrifically easy to sew either, so I’m happy with how it turned out.  I just barely had enough fabric to cut out the blouse, so for the collar used some of the leftover lace from Cassie’s latest balldress (see here).  After sewing the sleeve hems by hand, I decided the edges looked unfinished, so I top-stitched some black lace braid along the edge.  I chose these little mis-shapen grey swirly buttons to finish it. 
The skirt; actually I’m not feeling this skirt anymore.  Remember when patched and shabby skirts with bits n’ bobs hanging off them were fashionable? well this skirt hails from that time.  It no longer excites me, I’m into a more tailored and simple pared back look in skirts at the mo.  But I decided to just utilise it for Self-Stitched September, and it does go quite nicely with the top, I think!  I used Vogue 7303 to make a lining (which is blue), then just patched together bits of black lace (see here) to make an over-skirt shape and sewed over the joining seams with black lace edging.

Details:
Top; Butterick 4985 with other sleeves, shirred printed chiffon with lace collar
Skirt; partly Vogue 7303, partly my own design, black lace and black lace edging strips
Shoes; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs
Necklace; my husband’s very first gift to me! for my 21st birthday (not telling the year, so don’t ask!)
Bag; Gucci
Sunnies; RayBan

showing the lace collar, but check out the reflection in the sunglasses, lol!!

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Green Day

11/09/2010 5:06 am \ 8 Comments \

Aaah, social whirling over and life is back to normal around here for a while…  I do like to go out and get dressed up once in a while and the social season is certainly upon us now spring is here…  but I do hope nobody came here expecting a glamour-puss today because she’s nowhere to be seen!
A normal-ish Saturday so far, spent much of the morning waiting in a ginormous queue to organise foreign money for my son’s upcoming trip overseas; in a week’s time my youngest is going away on a trip alone for the first time (insert brave deep breath and lower lip wobble here…)
So today being a bit overcast and cool, I’m dressed for moderately presentable comfort and warmth; this is perhaps one of the more dubious of my Self-stitched September ensembles so please be kind!  The dress is a favourite seen here heaps of times  (but first and only time for this month! as per my self-imposed rule of no repeats, hehe), Burda 8071 made out of ivory broderie anglaise cheesecloth (to see this styled in six different ways see here)  This dress is really a summer-weight dress, and if I do wear it on a cooler day I usually prefer to wear my Metalicus petticoat underneath, but as I am strictly eliminating store-bought from this month’s clothing I had to think of something else…  The skirt worn underneath is possibly the only version I have of my old standby Vogue 7303 that is made to the pattern as it is in the envelope, and the hooded cardigan is knitted by me to my own design, and is perfectly snuggly for a moody cloudy day.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, slightly stretchy white cotton/lycra
Dress; Burda 8071, ivory broderie anglaise cheescloth
Hoodie; my own design, Jo Sharp Silk Road DK in Ambrosia
Boots; Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

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It’s a jungle…

06/09/2010 4:30 am \ 4 Comments \

Self Stitched September: Day 6;
Trying to zip my way through my winter options now as the weather heats up, and truthfully I’m a little roasting in this jumper here today…!
I was very inspired by the Marc Jacobs A/W 2010 looks of glamourous skirts made of luxe glittery fabrics, paired with slightly grungy oversized knits on the top… I do like unexpected contrasts in fashion as I think surprises (even in something as mundane as the clothes we choose to wear) add an element of playfulness and fun into one’s day.  And couldn’t we all do with a bit more fun and joie de vivre in our day, well, yes thankyou!  And although this skirt is not particularly super-luxe, I still enjoy the little hint of the glossy python print satin with it’s decadent 70’s nightclub air about it, a huge contrast to the staid almost un-fashionable farmyard practicality of a thick chunky knit.

Details:
Knit jumper; my own design, made from Jo Sharp Silk Road DK
Skirt; my own design variations on Vogue 7303, python print and black satin
Tights; Kolotex
Booties; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

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Urban Sport style

04/09/2010 5:31 am \ 5 Comments \

Self-Stitched September, day 4… 
I made this black parka a few years ago, completely inspired by the “urban sport” vibe of the Marni Spring/Summer 2007 collection, anyone remember this sort of look?  Although I copied the shape and style from the designer collection, I drafted the pattern for my version myself.  I was really taken with the slightly sporty appeal and loose comfort of this look at the time and I still think it is flattering as well as easy to wear.  I was particularly pleased with how the oversized crumpled collar turned out.
The skirt is one I’ve worn loads over last autumn… you’ve seen it many times.  It is made using Vogue 7303 again, out of a cheerful brilliant orange raw silk, seen here first.
Husband and children all out and occupied; I visited the library this morning to reserve next month’s bookclub book (Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig), then faced the Saturday morning supermarket crush.  Got three loads of washing on the line, house tidy and am feeling virtuous and accomplished; so with a clear conscience will spend a few hours now having some quality time with my sewing machine and the fabric stash …  yes!! (air fist punch)

Details:

Parka; self-drafted, black cotton drill
Skirt; Vogue 7303, orange raw silk
Leggings; Metalicus
Shoes; Perrini, had for so long I’ve forgotten where I bought them…

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