Category Archives: Uncategorized

Secretarial duties

20/10/2009 4:24 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

Tuesday, 20th October 2009

Today did my duty as secretary of the Ladies’ Auxiliary at school, so dressed secretary-like. Kind of.

This top is McCalls 4454 view C, but made using pieces of leftover silks I had from previous projects and some velvet ribbon I had bought for something else, but not used. The ripped strips of silk were sewn to a bemsilk facing version of the camisole after draping, pinning and fitting on Bessie, (my faithful dummy) and another lining attached inside to hide the bits and ends.

I really like the combination of grey, purplish grey, and bronzy browns; giving it subtle smoky style, and the soft, shimmery layers of translucent silk are sort of ethereal. The ripped edges form a rebellious and untailored contrast to the pants.

The necklace pendant is also self-made.

Other details;

Pants, Morrison

Shoes; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: accessories, beading, Fabulous fabrics, McCalls 4454, own design, Sienna, top

Patchwork

19/10/2009 9:16 am \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

Found this one and only picture of the other version of the dress I posted about earlier today here, from McCalls 4454, elongated to dress length; the one made out of patchwork fabric bought in Calico and Ivy. It was bought as a collection of “fat quarters”, from which I cut large, medium and small squares. The squares were pieced and the pattern cut out so that the smallest squares were at the bodice of the dress, and getting larger in size down to the hem of the dress, at which all the largest squares were. All were on the diagonal.

I loved the seaside-y colours; it may not look like much from the back but it really was a lovely dress and got a lot of compliments. Sigh. I think it got a rip in it eventually.

I think it looked better than its follow-up, partly because of the pretty fabric, and partly because the skirt was a lot more billowy, a better look for me.

(On a pictorial note, I’m at the top of Mount Lycabettus looking out over Athens …. we walked up to the top and back and really earned our drinks! It was fab!)

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Calico and Ivy, dress, McCalls 4454, own design

Bouchee dress

19/10/2009 5:49 am \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

Monday, 19th October 2009

Meeting my Monday morning gals today, so I’m wearing the hot pink Metalicus cardi they gave me for my birthday to show it off. I’m not sure about my dress this morning. Not sure because I always feel I look like an elephant in it. Its from McCalls 4454 view D, which is actually a little top pattern. I used it because I really like the bodice arrangement, and just drastically elongated the whole thing to dress length. I also added some triangular inserts to splay out the skirt and hemline, and added (artistic touch!) two HUGE pockets diagonally and randomly to the front. The pockets were also to cover some discoloured areas; as the fabric was originally from the remnant bin at Fabulous Fabrics because it had partially faded in patches.

Its not been a bad dress as its very cool to wear in summer, but … all ladies like to avoid looking like an elephant. So this may be its last outing. If you are a pear shape, like me, then its probably best to avoid long A-line dresses with no waist definition. I think I need waist definition. The funny thing is I made this same dress (see here) before using patchwork fabric bought from Calico and Ivy, and it looked great (shrug).

The necklace was also made by me, during my beading phase. My ladies this morning admired it!!! Still, they’re always nice to me!

Other details:

Cardigan; Metalicus

Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs

Bag; Gucci

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: accessories, beading, dress, Fabulous fabrics, McCalls 4454, own design

To sleep, perchance to dream

18/10/2009 8:16 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

With the lovely warm summery weather here to stay, fingers crossed, its time to don summer jammies. My choice this year is sort of what a saucy fifties housewife might choose. The colours of mint green combined with red are kind of fifties, I think. The lace with red ribbon is very lingerie, and not pairing it with either black, red or white saves it from being tarty. A final touch was the three apple buttons, (Eve, gettit?) left over from a baby jumper I knitted many moons ago. The shorts have POCKETS! Well, I had enough fabric, so why not. The shorts were made using last year’s summer pyjama bottoms as a template, cut off short. The top is McCalls 4454 view C without the tie. I’ve used this pattern many times, and usually modify it by sewing it much narrower at the torso (about 4cm each side) and inserting a left side zip, but this time its as is and about 5cm longer.

My husband wanted to know why I’m not modelling it, well, ahem I think that’s obvious, no? But thanks for the suggestion…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Fabulous fabrics, McCalls 4454, pyjamas

Golden glow

18/10/2009 2:51 am \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

Sunday, 18th October 2009

Mum in a comment asked how I was planning to spice up my life….well, that’s a curly question! But a good starting point would be to spice up my wardrobe, as if I needed an excuse to do something to my wardrobe…

Our moods and emotions are determined and defined in terms of colours, red roses are given on Valentine’s Day, black is worn to funerals, brides wear white dresses, etc etc

So, here we have one cardigan, found in a secondhand shop. Oyster white. Sure its a useful colour which will go with lots of outfits, but isn’t going to turn any heads now, is it? I’ve been known to dye fabrics with ground turmeric with great success, but this time I went with a Dylon pack, from the chemist. (I’ve also got an old red T-shirt which has proven fantastic for adding blotchy pink swirls to a boring blouse, but that’s a story for another post….) One chemical bath later…

Other details:

Cardigan; Country Road, found in a secondhand shop

Camisole; Country Road

Skirt; Vogue 7303, olive corduroy

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dyeing, Sienna, skirt, Vogue 7303

Trying artistic photo shoot…

17/10/2009 4:24 am \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

Saturday, 17th October 2009

Tried to do something different with the photos today. Every day I discover something new about blogging, so… proof; that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

This is my favourite skirt pattern again, Vogue 7303, view A with the skirt overlay. The cardi is one I posted about here.

Other details:

Camisole; Country Road

Art; Jane Flowers

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cardigan, skirt, Vogue 7303

Summer, here I come!

16/10/2009 12:24 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

Today while in town I purchased my new bathers for this summer and here they are. Tres beautiful, non? I can’t wait to try them out at the beach tomorrow; surf and sand, yeah! Its about time the weather gods smiled upon us! And, no, there is no way I would model these for the blog, (in answer to my husband) Elle McPherson I am not…unfortunately….
No, they’re not homemade, but I’m including them in the interests of full disclosure of my wardrobe. Plus, I love them… Bathers; Jessika Allen for Jets

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: bathers

Morticia? Is that you?

16/10/2009 11:12 am \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

Friday, 16th October 2009

This is one of my more recent creations, made in the last few months. I was inspired by Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2008 collection of black lace “suits” (see below). Yes, I realise its taken me quite a while to get around to it…

I had managed to get black lace from the remnants bin on a foray to my favourite fabric shop, Fabulous Fabrics. The top is Butterick 4985 again, view B (nipped in at the torso as always), but with sleeves hijacked from a dress pattern, Burda 7897. The bottom of the blouse, sleeves and the edge of the collar were edged with black border lace. The skirt was constructed by making the lining from my trusty ol’ favourite Vogue 7303 out of gunmetal blue bemsilk. I then used the same pattern to cut out a partial front and back skirt from the lace, then got creative and added random strips and pieces of the same lace around my dressmaking dummy (Bessie) to “fill in the gaps”. I oversewed the joining seams with a wider black border lace and left the long strips hanging down past the hem of the skirt. The final effect is of a slightly random raggedy handkerchief hemline. I didn’t bother hemming or finishing the lace, as it won’t unravel.

The blue lining was chosen because I liked the interesting contrast under the black(also because I had a perfect size length left over in my stash which needed using up!). I managed to find the perfect buttons to match this colour at Calico and Ivy; beautiful tiny heart-shaped, blue shell buttons; there are four down the front of the blouse. All in all, I’m very pleased with the final effect, and I felt quite dressy enough when I met some friends for lunch at the this month’s Globe Fashion Friday!

Other details;