Uncategorized Archives - Page 132 of 177

“Rooster”, a drawing

26/10/2010 3:00 am \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

Of course my first love is sewing, but very occasionally from time to time, I dabble in other creative stuff.
This is a pencil drawing I did for my father’s birthday a few years back. Mum and Dad now have it hanging in their kitchen, and I took these photos the last time I visited them down in the country.
I know we have an abundance of livestock here in our house already, but if I could be allowed to have just a few more I would choose to get some chooks. We always had them in our garden when I was growing up and my parents still keep chooks today. I love their attitude; they are such busy, comfortable, bustling sort of birds. Their gentle grandmotherly clucking is a very soothing sound to have in the background. Plus they are productive. And a good way to dispose of kitchen scraps. Maybe one day…
Funny memories: we always named our chickens. This sometimes caused problems, particularly when a favourite was being served up for dinner. “But we can’t possibly eat Ophelia!” would go up the protest. After a while Mum and Dad learnt to keep quiet about that aspect of farming.
In later years and when my own children were staying over with Granny and Grandpa for a holiday, no one would breathe a word about the absence of Fang or Fluffy from the chook pen, and the subsequent appearance of roast chicken on the dinner table. One learns to deal with it…!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: drawing, random life stuff

Crisp white shirt; check

25/10/2010 4:40 am \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

A while ago I identified a hole in my wardrobe; supposedly a basic that no woman should be without, and have now dutifully filled it. One crisp white shirt; check. Now my husband can relax that his white linen shirt will be safe from my clutches. Well, mostly safe, hehehe (cue evil witch cackle).
I used Burda 8497; a wrap front and tie-at-the-side-of-the-hip style that is flattering to a person of my proportions, I think. And a very feminine style. Rather than a button up, which is a little more masculine. The fabric is a poly-cotton, easy wear but not luxe, so I left the edges all nice and snowy-pristine with no topstitching and I think this ups the stylishness factor a touch. This pattern just allows for ordinary fold down hems on the sleeves, which can be a little boring and middle of the road; so for this shirt I drafted sharply pointed fold-back cuffs which are each permanently sewn closed with two pewter buttons masquerading as cufflinks. This gives the cuffs a vaguely evening-y or business-like air to them, yes? And adds a bit of interest to what is otherwise a quite featureless sleeve.
And for my morning tea with some friends this morning I jazzed it up with a screamingly colourful in-your-face gypsy-ish skirt of many layers.
Aaah, the weather is so divine at present. Walking along the beach yesterday and this morning was a sheer joy. Everybody is making the most of these days to the max, whilst simultaneously trying not to whinge about the lack of rain …

Details:
Shirt; Burda 8497, white poly-cotton, pewter button “cufflinks”
Skirt; Vogue 7880, printed cotton
Sandals; lasoffitadi Gilde, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 8497, skirt, top, Vogue 7880

Glazed Ginger socks

23/10/2010 1:04 am \ 7 Comments \ Carolyn

Finished some new socks! These are the first out of the sock wool I bought in Melbourne. This is the own brand produced by the store (now how often do you come across that nowadays, hmmm?) Morris and sons, 100% Australian merino 4-ply. I ended up buying about eight balls of different autumn-al shades because they were just irresistible, like little warm fluffy balls of autumn. Just my colours…
These are primarily in Glazed Ginger, or colour 410, but let’s face it naming a colour with a number is sterile and boring and completely un-evocative of anything. I like a little daydreaming with my wool purchases, thankyou.
The biggest concern when knitting socks is how to evenly halve the wool to go between the two socks. So these were kind of an experiment to see how much “sock” goes into one ball. I worried one ball might not be enough for the two socks, so I knitted the heels in a bit of another colour. This one Beluga, another wonderful name bringing to my mind that Bond movie scene where Valentin gets dunked in his own vat of caviar and comes out blackly oily and dripping in expensive sludge… hehe… Or, if you prefer, colour 430. Obviously, the toes got finished off in this colour too. So these socks will provide a measure for how long to knit the other socks, using this Morris sock wool.
And for this photo-shoot, Zoe contented herself with watching from the sidelines…

Details:
Socks; adapted from the Ladies’ Sockettes, Patons knitting book C11 (circa 1960-ish), Morris 100% merino in Glazed Ginger and Beluga

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Knitted, Patons knitting book C11, socks

A good hair day

22/10/2010 9:01 am \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

Of course, as every woman knows, a day involving a hair appointment has a high chance of being a good hair day and then, ipso facto, a very good day indeed.
Having my hair done is a favourite self-indulgence. Well, OK, ahem, I do have a few self-indulgences (no-one mention shoes, please), but this one is quite high up on my list! It comes from being incapable of doing my own hair.
At my mum’s suggestion I experimented with a new way of wearing this skirt; skirt “m” from the Japanese pattern book “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa. The garments therein are designed to each be worn in a number of different ways. This skirt is quite unshaped to the body and so can be swivelled around so the zip and er, flap (for want of a better description!) sits anywhere around one’s hips. Today I tried it pushed back in on itself to create a kind of big pocket. This could make it handy for keys or a tissue, in a pinch!
What do you think?
Below is how it looks with the flap “out”.

Details:
Skirt; pattern “m”, from “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like” by Natsuno Hiraiwa, apricot/grey linen/cotton mix
Top(under) Country Road
Cardigan; Metalicus, secondhand
Scarf; Country Road
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: shape shape, skirt, Unique Clothes Any Way You Like

Deep Purple

21/10/2010 8:15 am \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

Busy busy busy…
Have you ever had one of those days in which you race madly from one thing to the next and are receiving phone calls and text messages like on no other day (usually when one is halfway through some transaction or other important thing)
Aaargh!
But I still tried to look smart because of a few social things I had happening where I knew everybody else would be looking nice. I’m dying to get back to my sewing machine… it’s been a few days since I did any sewing and am now suffering withdrawals… plus the need to get through a small mountain of new fabric from Melbourne (blush!)
This dress has been such a goodie. To think I felt unsure when I first made it… The colour was a departure. I think the simple unfussy sheath style is a look that suits me. It’s great to just know one’s best looks when you are scrabbling about desperately through the wardrobe. Having a kind of style diary like this blog has helped me with this a lot.
Have you ever made or bought something about which you were a leetle doubtful at first and that later became a mainstay in your wardrobe?

Details:
Dress; Burda 8511, with modifications for fitting and lining, purple raw silk
Cardigan; Saba, op shop
Scarf; alta linea, gift
Shoes; Sandler, op shop
Bag; Gucci

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 8511, dress

And the winner is…

20/10/2010 4:37 am \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

I must admit I felt quite excited as I riffled through the entries using my high-tech lottery determination system to single one out…!
Thankyou to all those who participated and left a nice comment, you are all awesome, and so kind!
Shannon, I will pop over to leave a comment on your blog about arranging to send you your prize.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: giveaway

Bathers, 2010

19/10/2010 4:57 am \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

I’m feeling veeeeery brave, putting a picture of myself up here, in my bathers! Last year I was way too shy to do this. Please note I’ve modestly veiled my face, so no one can recognise me… (lol)
So I’ve made this year’s bathers for myself, the first project from the fabrics I bought in Melbourne from the Fabric store, on Brunswick Street. If you can you read the printing in the selvedge of the fabric, below, you can see it reads “Zimmerman”. Well, this is quite a classy Australian swimwear brand and I was pretty chuffed to see end-of-roll bolts of their fabrics stacked up at the back of The Fabric Store. I haven’t seen the Zimmerman range for this season yet, but I am curious to see what they’ve made out of this very fabric! I made a tankini, altering the one swimwear pattern I have to do this. I just drafted the body skirt part and added it on to the bottom of the bikini top at front, and redrafted the back piece accordingly. I had initially cut these body pieces quite long because they are self-drafted and I always allow myself plenty of extra fabric in case of problems; and at first I was planning for the ivory waistband of the bottoms to be on view when I was wearing them. But then decided I like the look of the top long and pulled down over the bottoms; so this feature is now hidden. I cut up an old bra to use for cups inside the bodice.
I didn’t set out to make the bathers “retro” in appearance (a word I’m getting a bit bored with in the sewing world, but not as bad as “vintage”) but they have turned out quite… old-fashioned. There. “Old-fashioned” is a less overused and therefore much more preferable term. I’m going with old-fashioned…
And, just because everybody loves a photo blooper I’ve included one below for your amusement, taken accidentally while I was setting up.

Details:
Bathers; McCalls 2772, with some modifications, navy blue with ivory polka-dot swimwear fabric
Hat; Country Road

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: bathers, McCalls 2772, own design, Sienna

Chain and tassel necklace; a tutorial

18/10/2010 4:53 am \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

As soon as I saw it I loved this chain and tassel accessory made by the enormously creative and beautiful Maegan, who in turn was inspired by a Blugirl original, and I wanted to have a go at making my own… Maegan made hers as a lariat, which would be a much more versatile accessory; but I made mine as a fixed necklace. This is because I knew in my lifestyle a lariat would probably end up either tripping me up, strangling me, or slipping off entirely without my noticing…
so I bought 2 packs of 1m (40 inches) of gold chain and two black upholstery tassels, medium size. I already had some 10mm jump rings and a necklace hook and loop. If you are at all into making your own accessories like this it is very handy to also have some pliers and a wire cutter small enough to work with these little fiddly bits.

The chains I bought conveniently had jumps rings attached to each end already, so I just used one of these to join them together to make one long 2m (80inches) chain.

Arrange the chain to your satisfaction. I went with three loops around the neck and left the ends hanging down in uneven lengths.

At the back of the neck, find the three links that are as close to centre back as possible and string a bit of scrap yarn through them all. Tie this in a loose knot.

Laying the chain down on a flat surface, cut through these three centre back links using wire cutters.

Loop the two jump rings through all three chains, and add the hook and loop closure.

Prise open the last ring on each chain end and thread onto it the top loop of the tassel, close the ring securely.

Use a wool needle to pull the top loop of the tassel back through the “top-knot” and out into the middle of the fringe-y bits, to hide it inside.

It can be worn with the ends hanging down loose or loosely tied up which is less swing-ey and sway-ey when you walk about as briskly as I do. But I think I like it hanging loose better. What do you think?