Uncategorized Archives - Page 17 of 177

the Perth dress pattern, new size range

28/08/2018 3:09 pm \ 11 Comments \ Carolyn

This much-requested new pattern has felt like a long time coming… I had a lot of requests from ladies wanting our Perth dress/blouse pattern to be made for a larger size range… so ta da! this new version is for sizes 46-54. It’s now available here in our etsy shop; CarolynandCassie, as a pdf and also a paper version in limited numbers.

I apologise for the delay; we’ve had to contend with a computer issue that has been pretty devastating, some extremely costly software that we desperately needed in order to function has been practically obliterated, it’s been so difficult… All I can say is thank God for Craig who eventually managed to work it out.

Anyway. No one wants to hear about computer blurb, yeah? On to the pattern!

ye all-important size info….

Sam’s girlfriend L is in our new size range so I asked her if she would kindly model for us. I’m so happy she agreed because she is super cute! plus now I had a good reason to make something for her, hehe… The dress I made for her is in a rather beautiful cloudy-sky print, cotton drill from Spotlight, with a white contrasting collar. I absolutely adore this on her!

My favourite part though is the crisp white collar; just love this look! the button is a little wooden one from my stash

Thanks so much L; for being such a totally gorgeous model!!

I also made two blouse versions for my sister in law, Sandi. This first version was initially a bit big on her, which totally did my head in – what did I do?!!! – but eventually I worked out it was all due to a very stupid mistake which I am too darn annoyed and exhausted to even talk about how this happened, suffice to say that one should ALWAYS check the test square BEFORE leaving the copy shop. I know I personally will never ever neglect this ever again!! #superannoying

I took it apart and re-made it to fit properly, just because ~~I’m a glutton for punishment~~ well really, I cannot bear to waste perfectly good fabric! And also, Sandi really likes it 🙂 #allswellthatendswell which is why I went to the effort of re-fitting properly. I cannot say how much I LOVE an appreciative recipient! makes it all worthwhile in the end, yeah? The fabric is a really very nice charcoal and white striped linen, that I ?think? I bought in either Tessuti’s or the Fabric Store in Melbourne, during one of our visits there. The only giveaway that it was initially made to a larger scale is the the overly long collar points, which I just left as they were.

The blue and white striped version, which was correct all the way from go to whoa, yay!! is a rather lovely shirting cotton from Homecraft Textiles.

Yes! Homecraft Textiles actually stocks a really nice little range of crisp shirting cottons… who knew?! certainly not me, since they were hidden way back at the very back of the store behind the vast wasteland of lurid polyester satins and “chiffons” and fleeces that takes up like 90% of that store. One day I was hanging around in there and discovered it. EUREKA!!!

Oh! Something else I made for Sandi recently, which is completely unrelated to our Perth dress pattern so if this seems a little random and out-of-the-blue, sorry! but this seems like a good a time as any to lob it into Le Blog… I promised to make a custom-fit top pattern for Sandi, for her birthday, she put in a request after I had done the same for Mum, a few birthdays back. So I made this one… The shorter, open front T-shirt over a longer one underneath in a contrasting colour is a design modelled to a favourite top she has already. We chose and bought the fabric together from Fabulous Fabrics. I’m kicking myself I forgot to take a picture of her wearing it, because she looks so lovely in these moody pinks and blues. AND she professes herself to really LOVE this one too. This just makes me so happy! See what I mean about a grateful recipient?

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, own design, Perth, perth dress

more soap…

22/07/2018 7:04 pm \ 10 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I’ve been making some more soap, trying to develop a few new recipes of my own. Ever since my first go at soap-making, I’ve perused the oil selection at Coles with a lot more interest… and came home with a few new goodies to experiment with. Specifically; macadamia oil and avocado oil. Following the good advice a few kind commenters on my previous soap-making post, this time I used a soap calculator to help formulate my quantities, thank you Becky and Barb! for letting me know there was even such a thing! My recipes also contain different proportions of the other oils I already had, olive oil and coconut oil. I’ve been seeking out the paler yellow olive oil now too, because I wanted the natural colours of the new oils to be predominant …

And since I’m providing recipes here that include the highly toxic and corrosive compound sodium hydroxide, here are a few very important safety tips…

WHEN HANDLING NaOH, ALWAYS WEAR RUBBER GLOVES, PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR AND CLOTHING THAT COMPLETELY COVERS YOUR ARMS.

Never let it get into contact with your skin. When mixing into water, work outside as much as possible so as to avoid inhaling the fumes. Never under any circumstances put your face over or near the container you are mixing it in.
Ensure you are not going to be disturbed for the time you are working with it. Keep all pets and children well away.
If you must take your lye solution inside, keep all windows open and work underneath a range hood with the fan on full blast.
In the case of spills, clean up with copious amounts of water… i.e. a garden hose if outside. If you do happen to splash some on your skin, IMMEDIATELY put the affected area underneath a tap, and flush with water running fully over the area for several minutes at least. If you can see a visible burn or the area continues to sting and burn after copious flushing then seek medical attention immediately. NaOH is not to be trifled with!

Making your lye solution; FOR ALL RECIPES: When mixing NaOH into water, put the full volume of your cool or cold water into a clean, thick sided, glass container that has no cracks, and can hold at least twice the volume of the water you are working with. Add the NaOH to the water, a little at a time, stirring with a metal spoon. You can stir with a wooden spoon, but you may find the solution gets a little discoloured with tannins from the wood. NEVER add water to NaOH, ALWAYS ADD NaOH TO WATER. This is because as NaOH dissolves in water it generates heat and fumes, and is potentially explosive. If you have trouble remembering which is the correct way to mix the two: when I was at school we learnt this little ditty… and the exact same principle applies to working with a strong alkali like NaOH.

(Picture of a gravestone)

“May her rest be long and placid,
she added water to the acid;
The other girl did as she ought-er,
and added acid to the water”

Substitute alkali for acid, it’s the same situbar. After the solution mixes clear, it will be quite hot. Do not seal the container. Supervise it until it cools before using.

Moving on…. here are my recipes:

Macadamia Soap (7/10)

I absolutely love the dreamy cafe-au-lait colour I got with this mixture! whether it’s horrible to use or not I do not know yet, but will definitely update here and write a little review when it’s cured and I use it.

200g coconut oil
500g macadamia oil
300g olive oil
300mL water
137g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing NaOH.

Gently heat the coconut oil until it is liquid, then add the other oils.

Outside, carefully add NaOH to the water, a little at a time and stirring. Let it sit for a few minutes, uncovered and under constant supervision, until jar feels lukewarm and no longer hot, and fumes are no longer visibly emanating from the surface before mixing it into the oil.

Pour NaOH solution all at once into the oil, and commence stirring with a stick mixer not running. After a few minutes of this, turn the stick mixer on and keep “pulsing” and mixing for about 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes visibly “gelatinous” in appearance.

This mixture took a lot longer to set than my previous batches… at least 48 hours before it was hard enough to remove from the moulds without distorting them at all. I’m hoping this means it will be a really nice, moisturising soap

This recipe has larger quantities and so obviously produced a lot more soap than my previous recipes, I had an old Brie container and used this to mould the excess into a nicely oval-shaped bar of soap, but it was still overflowing and these bars are each quite a bit bigger and thicker. I chopped up some macadamias and sprinkled them on top for both decoration and as an identifier down the track, seemed like a good idea at the time! but then I decided I don’t like how it looks on top of the soap and will think of something different in the future…

Avocado Soap (5/10)

250mL avocado oil
400mL olive oil
110g coconut oil
200mL water
90g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing NaOH.

Exact same procedure as for the previous recipe…

This mixture got to the gel stage a lot more rapidly than the macadamia soap. The avocado oil was quite a strong natural “grass” green in colour, which gives this soap its creamy yellow-y green colour. This is the entire batch from this recipe: avocado oil is quite expensive and the bottle a small one, thus the smaller quantities.

I just used my 24x24cm cake pan lined with baking paper, there wasn’t enough mixture for the silicone moulds too. The bars are quite deep though.

Just a note on how I’m choosing these quantities, it’s pretty easy to let the olive oil just take over your recipe since it’s so cheap compared to other oils, however I wanted to keep the “special” oil up there as a major-ish component and not just a token one! While for sure, costs are something you always want to consider, I still want to experiment with the more interesting oils, like macadamia and avocado and am quite excited to use both these ones once they cure too!

this is the full quantity of soap produced from this recipe… yes, the avocados are there for pretty, illustrative purposes only and are not required for the recipe!

Update:

I’m rating the Macadamia Soap a good solid 7/10; it’s nice soap to use and I probably will make it again. The macadamia oil makes it a little more expensive to make than some of the others which I why I’m rating it down just a little.

The Avocado soap is getting a slightly low 5/10… I mostly likely won’t make this again. The avocado oil was quite expensive, that pretty green colour faded as the soap dried, leaving it a regular old pale yellow colour, and also I just wasn’t keen on the, albeit subtle, fragrance of this soap. It just smelt a little on the…. “foody” side, is the only way I can think of putting it!

My other soaps, pure Olive soap (4/10), Coconut soap (7/10) and Buttermilk soap (9/10) are blogged here

Posted in: crafty stuff, Uncategorized \ Tagged: recipe, soap

Elementary, my dear Sherlock

15/07/2018 3:21 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

Yes, I know; a complete mis-quote of an already mis-quote… *braces oneself for outraged Holmes enthusiasts*

But wot is this new thing I’m wearing ‘ere then?! Is it a jacket…? no, a cape…? some tweedy, distinctly Holmes-esque thing, somehow exuding English-ness, an air of briskly strolling in the country, of hounds-at-dawn, roaming in-swathes of fog and mystically swirling mist, stalking the streets of London or out on the Baskerville moors? Fittingly, I’m accompanied here by my very own hound, who while certainly a fearsome and diabolical creature at times, is however sadly lacking a Baskerville lineage.

So, I was mindlessly browsing Le Internet, checking out new-to-me pattern companies, something I am wont to do, randomly, late at night and way past my bedtime,… and clicked Add to Cart on the Cape-Sleeved Jacket by Trend Patterns. Followed by… Purchase. So daring!!

It’s a rather interesting and lovely style, not something I’ve seen anywhere else: a longline open jacket with notched collar and interesting “sleeves” that are more like an intriguing hybrid of sleeves and cape. I searched my stash for a suitable victim, and unearthed a grey/black houndstooth-y check suiting; given to me yonks ago by ?I think? Mum, though I’m not totally sure. It had exactly the right weight and style for this design, but the colour was pretty dead and cold and flat and looked absolutely terrible on me… so I squandered more time than I care to admit to, attempting to dye it. It was a rather large piece, so I’d started out leaving it to soak cold in a large tub of yellow dye. This had almost no effect, so I added orange for synthetic fabrics. This had a tiny teeny little effect. So then I dried the fabric, and cut out the jacket pieces, which made for a smaller bulk of fabric for the dye pot, and boiled it all up with the same dye mix. Finally; SUCCESS!!!!

helping…

from left; original colour… after soaking… after boiling

The new shade of tobacco was rather warm and pleasing, and deemed acceptable. Of course the big problem about dying pieces, already cut up; as opposed to one single piece of fabric, is that the pieces frayed a bit, and also got stretched out and distorted somewhat in the boiling/dyeing process, and so I’m not 100% confident that my final jacket is all that perfect or beautiful… but I did my best! carefully steaming everything back into the shape of the intended pattern piece.

Lining; fully lined with chocolate polyacetate lining fabric, from my stash, probably originally from Fabulous Fabrics since it’s a really nice quality.

below; see how the front armhole is open right up to practically shoulder level? I think it’s worth pointing this out since I actually had no idea it was like this from the line drawing and remained ignorant right up until it came time to add the cape facing…

That’s not a criticism btw, just an observation. I really love my new Sherlock Holmes jacket, and I really loved making it too; but I’ve admit; it was not a particularly easy project. Even given the fact that I complicated things for myself a. dyeing and b. deciding I absolute HAD to have in-seam pockets – which were a big success in the end if I say so myself. I’m so glad I put them in. Actually I can’t imagine a jacket without pockets of some kind.

How did I put in my pockets? so I remembered to take a few pictures but not many, so hopefully my written explanation will suffice… I cut the front armhole piece (below, at left) and the front panel (below, at right) as pictured; and in addition, a pocket opening facing piece (below, middle) with the same upper edge as the slanted edge of the front panel (at right) I also cut a pocket lining (not pictured) from the same chocolate polyacetate lining fabric used throughout the jacket… it’s the same size and shape as the pocket bag extension (at left) and with a slanted top edge equivalent to that of the pocket opening (at right)…

the pocket opening edge is that slanted edge showing out from under the square inner edge of the paper pattern piece, and that little extra piece is the pocket opening facing. The facing is interfaced (see below), stitched along that slanted edge leaving a 1cm free at either edge of seam, and under stitched. I cut a pocket lining using the same chocolate lining fabric that lines the whole jacket and stitched this on to the lower edge of the pocket facing. Then stitched the pocket and pocket linings together around the long curved pocket edge. The remainder of the jacket construction proceeds as normal, and the pocket is nicely hidden away between the jacket outer and lining

So; what was tricky about making this jacket…? well, the steps are illustrated with photographs, not drawings; so if you’re the kind of person who often goes on the illustrations then it’s not always clear which pattern pieces or which seam you might be looking at in this photograph or that one…. and there are 27 un-numbered pattern pieces… Maybe I’m just dumb, or losing it or something, but I’ve been sewing clothes for myself for over forty years and there were bits where I was scratching my head and had to read and re-read over a couple of times to “get” it.

It’s also pretty important to mark the marks, notches and dart lines carefully and securely. As far as this project goes, this is where my brilliant plan to dye my fabric pieces fell apart a bit since a lot of these little marks were dislodged and lost while dyeing, and notches disappeared in fraying edges, and it was pretty hard to re-instate everything accurately. To be honest, there were several times I felt like heaving the whole lot in the bin and starting over anew, with fresh new fabric, particular since I hadn’t even liked my fabric all that much in the first place!!

I think numbering the pattern pieces would have been a HUGE help, and then to use those numbers in the instructions. Another thing, the instructions are…. kinda sparse. The term “bag out” is used several times … I’ve always been a little thrown by the term”bag out”. I mean, I know what it is… basically just another way of saying stitch the outer and lining layers together. See, I grew up under the tutelage of the long-term pattern companies like Vogue, McCalls and Burda; and “bag out” is not a phrase that ANY of them EVER use, as a rule. Also, “bag out” is incidentally Australian slang for picking on someone, like rudely giving them a really hard time, so seeing it pop up in sewing instructions is always a moment for pause 😉

After all this; I actually quite happy with how my jacket turned out, and am even little keen to make it up again. I think my attempts to dye the fabric just made the project a whole bunch harder than it needed to be, and I’d like to give the pattern a second chance, and to do it properly, make a really good and proper tailoring job of it next time. I would also like to add a few more pockets, to the inside and the lining, like a mens’ suit jacket has.

Details:

Jacket; TPC13, the Cape-sleeve Jacket by Trend Patterns, grey tweed overdyed with orange dye
Shirt; the Closet Case patterns Carolyn pj shirt, white cotton, details here
Skirt; Burdastyle 10-2010; 136 (the Karl Lagerfeld skirt), in black suiting, details here
Tights; my own custom fit pattern, details here
Shoes, designed and made by me, details here

My cape-sleeve jacket feels so very very Sherlock Holmes to me that I couldn’t resist just popping over to London for a more appropriate photoshoot location….

jk, of course. Hurrah for the wonders of photoshop!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: cape sleeved jacket, Clara, coat, daily outfit, dyeing, jacket, pattern review, photoshop, pocket, trend patterns

scraps cardigan

24/06/2018 3:54 pm \ 50 Comments \ Carolyn

A couple of years ago, I went down to help Mum clean out her “doing room”, the obvious outcome of such an exercise being that I then took home an embarrassingly huge amount of fabric and yarn supplies to add to my own stash…. we did manage to throw some stuff out! Not much though!!

This is just the wool. All scraps and leftovers …. scary, huh?

There’s no rhyme nor reason to the colours or thicknesses of wool there, it’s just a completely random hodge-lodge of odds and sods and bits and bobs. Hmmm, well you know me…. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!

See, I reasoned there had to be at least ONE cardi in there.. somewhere…! it just had too be found! So I selected a bobbly, chocolate yarn and just cast on…

And I found it! a cardigan, I mean 🙂

I picked out a mostly autumnal colour-palette of warm golden mustards, greens and browns though there is a pretty solid presence of randomly thrown in purples, greys, orange, chartreuse, raspberry and pink too. Some of the yarns are tapestry wool, some are real knitting wool. Around all edges is a border of the same, bobbly chocolate yarn; which I’m pretty sure that Granny used to knit a set of three matching jumpers for my brothers and me when were all quite little…

Apart from the crazy mix of wool, it’s a pretty basic stocking stitch cardigan with a rib border along all the edges. I made-up my own pattern, loosely inspired by the free Miette pattern in that it is cast on at the neckline then I increased stitches at four places to create raglan sleeves; all knit in one piece, and with a single wooden button closure at the neckline. With a bit of careful measuring and halving and rationing out of yarn I made sure the two sleeves are reasonably identical to each other, a small modicum of order and method! but otherwise the colours in the body are pretty random.

knitting under the strict eye of my supervisor…

So, yay! for what is basically a freebie!! It’s kinda crazy but I’m very happy with how it turned out.

I did sort of write down a pattern, but it’s in such extreme shorthand that even I can barely work out what I did now! Sometime, when I’m feeling super enthusiastic, I might even have a good look at my notes and transcribe them into something resembling a pattern. Until then…!

Details:

Cardigan; my own design
Trousers; the Closet Case patterns Sasha trousers, grey stretchy stuff, details here
Tee; Closet Case patterns Nettie, details here
Scarf (on the rocks); knitted by me, details here
Socks; knitted by me, details here
Boots; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

I’m wearing it today too! with the same Sasha trousers, my grey Vogue 1152 dress and my new kicks from Trenery 🙂

So, nothing to do with knitting or what I’m wearing, but I was cleaning out my phone, and found this picture of some apples I bought a couple of weeks ago… how cute are these?? they called them Mothers Day apples at the grocer. I bought some for myself since my own mother is away at present 😉

Posted in: knitting, Uncategorized \ Tagged: cardigan, Clara, daily outfit, Knitted, knitting, own design

jenny overalls/jeans/trousers

08/06/2018 5:36 pm \ 31 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some rather cra-a-a-a-zy, and yet rather out-there groovy-baby jeans!

And they double up as overalls too! should I ever feel the urge to wear a pair of overalls… 🙂 Sneaky conversion between the two by way of a few flat buttons inside the waistband coupled with buttonholes on the bib and straps… #havingmycakeandeatingittoo

So, these are the Jenny overalls/trousers pattern by the ever clever and uber-cool Heather of Closet Case patterns. Actually I made TWO pairs of Jennys!… but first things first; this blue denim pair are my first. To be honest I don’t know if I’m ever going to blog my second pair because I’m suffering from a retroactive hate for the fabric I used… but we’ll see! Heather asked for us to make them with the bib if at all possible, since she wanted to check out how the bib bit looked on chests. So I bravely went there. Initially I was pretty sure I would prefer to wear them as jeans, but now I’m actually a bit torn since the bib bit is rather cute?! I’m just not sure if I’m “cute” enough to get away with it, you know? I think I have a good grasp on what my style is, and “cute” is likely a stretch for me. I’m keeping my options open, but so far I’ve only worn them out in the wild sans bib #notbrave

The upper part of the legs I cut from a piece of blue cotton denim that was given to me by my friend L when she cleaned out her garage, but it was a smallish piece, not big enough for the whole jeans. So obviously, I had to make up the difference somehow. Remember my maisa jean jacket? well I actually kept all those leftover bits, most of them were the original pockets and waistbands; and I had great fun cutting and arranging and cobbling them together to make up the diff… all that patchwork does make the legs a little heavy, because of the double layers of fabric in the pocket buts, plus embroidery and rivets and belt loops, but overall (haha, see what I did there) it’s not too bad! My love of how they look outweighs the weight… if that actually makes sense!

I’ve worn them a couple of times already, whoops! It’s not that long ago I would not allow myself to wear things until I’d blogged them; must be mellowing out in my old age, hmmm. They’ve actually attracted several individual, real-life compliments from random passers-by on both occasions… this is extremely rare for me, and it’s pretty nice to hear!

In the below picture you can see the closure; a lapped zip in the side seam and disappearing inside the pocket. I really love this discreet and clever feature, although being right-handed I find it a little awkward to do up that waistband button situated where it is slightly to the back of the right side of my body. On subsequent pairs I think I’ll probably switch this closure to the left side of the trousers. Having said that though, the instructions for inserting the lapped zip are outstanding! I’ve inserted about a million lapped zips in my time, to the point where I barely follow instructions anymore, however I followed these ones to the letter, without “thinking about it” (you know what I mean) and my lapped zip is immaculately and perfectly aligned. I should follow directions more often!

Details:

Jeans/overalls; the Jenny overalls by Closet Case patterns, cotton denim and recycled old denim jeans
Tee; the Nettie by Closet Case patterns, white jersey, details here
Cardigans; both the Miette, a free pattern by Andi Satterlund, details of the red one here, the mustard one here
Shoes; made by me, details here

Soooo; I usually like to get at least one ” out in the wild and actually wearing it” photo of the things I make… well, ~~the little monster~~, I mean; Clara, and I were waiting for Craig to finish scoping out Bunnings (baby door for the patio at the beach house) and on the spur of the moment I just propped my iPhone up in the grass outside. Bam, photoshoot, DONE!!! Who needs a fancy camera and a tripod, anyway?! Oh, OK, if I’m going to even pretend to be a blogger then I guess I gotta keep up appearances, at least some of the time… 😉 Anyway it’s not a particularly good shot of my jeans, more like flipping’ terrible; but on the other hand Clara happens to be looking rather beautiful in a wolf-prowl-y sort of a way… Please admire that her coat is looking momentarily spiffy and fluffy and washed and brushed! #didntlast

btw, people often accuse her of giving side eye in my pictures.. it’s only because her eyes are actually half blue, half brown! which makes for a particularly side-eye-y sort of optical illusion!

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Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Clara, Closet Case files, daily outfit, jeans, jenny, jenny jeans, trousers, Wardrobe Refashion

a chattering of cockatoos

06/06/2018 4:29 pm \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

‘Ello, cocky!

First things first, I have some very exciting news! For one month starting now, Spoonflower are offering a 10% discount on purchasers of ANY Spoonflower fabric by using the code “carolyn10” at checkout. Pretty awesome, huh?! I’m beyond thrilled to be able to pass on such a cool offer to anyone who reads this blog!

Now, if there’s anyone still left reading who hasn’t raced off already to scroll through the millionty-and-one gorgeous prints on offer over there…. my new outfit; and how gorgeous is this particularly amaaaazing print, huh?

my PS tute for making your photos coloured/B&W like this is here

Fabric: cotton sateen, the gorgeous print designed by su_g on Spoonflower. I was contacted recently by Allie, of Spoonflower who asked me if I would like to be a part of their roundup of “makers of Australia”… would I?! well of course I was totally honoured to be invited! and immediately raced over to Spoonflower to check out the Aussie offerings, and discovered there were SO MANY really lovely designs, it was super hard to choose just one… however I just kept coming back to this one and in the end couldn’t resist its humour, its artistry, and of course its Aussie tongue-in-cheekiness.

The Andy Warhol-inspired portrait grid of the humble cocky, designed by by su_g on Spoonflower caught my eye and made me laugh straight away; subtly Aussie, artistic, and witty with a bonus irreverent swipe at the serious art world on the side! So fun and actually it’s rather fabulous too, yes? those lovely bright beautiful colours, I knew whatever I made with it I just couldn’t go wrong! but ultimately decided its amaaaazing eye-catchiness would be the best set off by the most basic of simple shapes, a plain little pencil skirt, and rather featureless top… yes all very plain, all the better to perfectly showcase that chatteringly gorgeous print!

So, did you know that the the collective noun for cockatoos is a chattering? other acceptables are a clattering, a cluttering, a crackle, and last and least excitingly, a family…. I like chattering, personally 😉 and did you also know the term for a group of seamstresses is a “scolding” haha! Hilarious!! NOT how we like to think of ourselves, usually! Unfortunately there isn’t one for bloggers, as yet; but writers have a “worship of writers”… which is weird, no?! But I digress… #yetagain

oh, I also added two new pairs of black tights to my current stable … boring? yes… most worn things in my winter wardrobe? also yes… I use black polyester stretch from Spotlight, the pattern is self-drafted. My tute for how to make your own pattern for tights is here

Patterns: the top is pattern 4, the epaulette top, sans the epaulettes; from the Japanese pattern book “she has a Mannish style” by Yuko Takada… I’ve made this top up five times previously so obviously I love it!! here, here, here, this one for Cassie and lastly here. The skirt; so I keep calling this Vogue 1247 but really I’ve adapted and fine-tuned to the point where it barely has any of its original lines so I feel a bit of a fraud describing it thus. It’s basically just a very plain, darted pencil skirt with a straight waistband and central back zip.

Thoughts… so it does look quite a simple project… deceptively so! she declares with a dramatic twirl of her moustache!! Just kidding, it really was; though I ended up deciding to take the annoying, time-consuming, but ultimately necessary step of tracing full size copies of all my pattern pieces; both sleeves and a full size front skirt piece, both back skirt pieces, and front and back blouse pieces… why? TO FACILITATE THE ALL IMPORTANT PATTERN MATCHING TETRIS, OF COURSE!!! Given the size of those cockatoo motifs, which are actually quite large, well it took a little bit of doing, that’s all I can say…

My plan, in a nutshell; the back has a white dividing line down the centre back of both top and skirt; I knew it would be basically impossible to pattern match around the zip any other way; and then the front of both skirt and top has the opposite, a panel of cockatoos centrally aligned down the centre front of both top and skirt. Little bit of a difference twixt front and back, not a very obvious one…

I also carefully arranged the pieces so there would be a full cockatoo square at the lower hem of both skirt and top… I didn’t want for a row of cockatoos to be chopped in half! Same with the sleeves, and I also managed to arrange the sleeves so my favourite two cocky-portraits were the placed centrally on each sleeve. Obviously I also wanted for the colours to be somewhat “random” and not have an obvious double-up between top and skirt, or either side of the skirt back… It was actually pretty fortuitous than I managed to get all this just how I wanted… super lucky actually… there lots of re-arranging of pattern pieces and sighing and brow-furrowing and even a short period of time when I thought I’d have to order more fabric in order to not completely stuff up *wipes sweat from brow * very fortunately I eventually got the layout I wanted!!

Hehe, I realize now that was a rather looooooong nutshell! with probably a lot of introspective agonising that makes no sense at all, but well; it does to me. In a much more succinct nutshell; laying out the pattern pieces took almost as long as to make the outfit!!

Construction; I fully underlined the bodice and the skirt with pure white cotton voile; bought from Spotlight during one of their “buy the whole bolt and get 40% off sales” I find plain white voile to be one of the most useful fabrics to have on tap, so there was that time Spotlight announced this oft-repeated sale when I took the bull by the horns and just went for it! The cotton voile adds some structure and body to the sateen, which probably doesn’t have quite enough on its own to be a fitted skirt, really. The blouse could have gotten away without underlining, I think; but I opted to treat it the same for the sake of continuity, to give the top and skirt the same visual heft. The sleeves however, are not underlined. And if deep hems are a sign of quality, then yay! ‘cos my hems are DEEP!!

Lastly, because I love to be reminded of the provenance of things, if I can then I like to attach interesting selvedge info on the inside somewhere, in this case, the left side seam on my top…

And lastly lastly, because this bit of awesomeness is really worth repeating… for one month from now, Spoonflower are offering a 10% discount on purchasers of this, or in fact ANY Spoonflower fabric by using the code “carolyn10” at checkout. If you’ve ever been even a little bit tempted to try Spoonflower out then maybe this small incentive could be that time?!

I hope you enjoy looking through all the amazing and gorgeous designs over on Spoonflower as much as I, and thank you so much to Spoonflower for this very kind, generous opportunity and offer!

Details:

Top; pattern 4, the epaulette cut and sewn from the Japanese pattern book “she has a mannish style” by Yuko Takada, organic cotton sateen fromSpoonflower, in a print designed by su_g
Skirt; the vestiges of Vogue 1247, kinda. Actually just a plain pencil skirt… organic cotton sateen from Spoonflower, in a print designed by su_g
Tights; my own design, black stretchy polyester… my tute for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here

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Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, own design, She Has a Mannish Style, She Wears the Pants, skirt, tights/leggings, top, Vogue 1247

white palm leaf lace

23/05/2018 1:22 pm \ 45 Comments \ Carolyn

So, we were going to Bali to attend our friends L&L’s wedding in early May… and I decided I wanted to make a special new ensemble to take away with me. Not to wear to the wedding, because, well … is ivory still a no-no for a wedding guest? I’ve always thought so, but then I did notice a few white-ish ensembles at the wedding anyway. So maybe times are a-changing… but I digress.

In any case, I took a different dress to wear to the wedding.

So… this outfit. Craig and I were planning some special dinners while we were in Bali, because this was a meaningful holiday for us for a reason totally unrelated to our friends’ wedding… it’s our 30th wedding anniversary this year! and the last time we were in Bali was for our honeymoon. When we heard L & L were planning their wedding there, we decided we’d make this trip a kind of second honeymoon for ourselves. And I wanted something new for the occasion 🙂

I bought the very unusual lace fabric from Tessuti’s in Melbourne, during my girls’ trip over with Mum and Cassie. It’s quite a dramatic fabric, very stiff and with a “painted” feel to it… I will admit to a small “what was I thinking?” moment afterwards! but some of my favourite ensembles have come out of crazy, challenging fabrics, so I try not to let that impede the hurtling of the creative train~~wreck~~ at all…

I underlined throughout with a creamy cotton voile, that I bought from the Morrison fabric and clothing sale… honestly one of my favourite sales to go to here in Perth, though it is very much a lucky dip. You can get amaaaaaaazing bargains, at the same time there can be a lot of weird and horrible stuff too that you simply can’t believe Morrison would ever use for their beautiful clothing line! But it’s nearly always super cheap, so well worth a look in! This creamy-coloured voile was $10 for a whole roll. Awesome sauce!!

Patterns… the skirt is my regular ol’ standby Vogue 1247, lengthened, with the pieces spliced to eliminate the horizontal seams. btw, Sanni asked about this pattern and how it’s keeping, and the truth is that it is indeed getting pretty tatty!! I really should trace it on something tough to preserve it because it really is a winner and no doubt I will be using it, yet again!

The top is the Collins top, by Sydney designer In the Folds. Emily put out a call on IG for contributors to a kickstarter to help her to get a print run of her previously pdf only patterns, and since she had been kind enough to send me the Acton dress pattern a year ago I wanted to pay it forward … the reward was this pattern! which of course I am super thrilled about. It’s a pretty popular pattern, and I thought its exaggerated swing shape would sit out nicely in the stiffish lace, and make a cool counterpoint to a little fitted miniskirt underneath. I underlined both garments throughout, with the exception of the raglan sleeves, which are just the lace.

Neckline bound with self-made bias binding, from the same cream cotton voile as the underlining.

To keep things light, I just trimmed all the raw edges inside with my pinking shears

The lower edges of the lace are just trimmed evenly with my rotary cutter, the voile is hemmed with a narrow, 1cm hem.

Skirt waistband; cut from a different piece of thicker, naturally crinkle-y, cafe-au-lait cotton, also bought from the Morrison fabric and clothing sale. For closure on both skirt and top I used small mother-of-pearl buttons, found in Le Stash.

Do you wanna hear something funny? See that trapezoidal piece at the back, lower edge of the top? I cut that piece out upside down… with the palm leaves pointing UP instead of down like they are everywhere else… not once, but twice! Once was bad enough, but I couldn’t believe my own stupidity when I found myself doing the same thing, a second time! *facepalm and it was an absolute miracle I had a large enough piece leftover to cut it out a third time in one piece since I really had bought only just enough of the lace in the first place. It is very slightly off-grain… but hey! at least it’s the right way up!!

wot is this pose then, eh?

So that’s it! I really reeeeeally love it, but then again I’ve always had a predilection for white lace things. This one is not too sweet or “young” for me, but just nicely sophisticated enough, I think. I wore it to two separate dinners in Bali, and the tropical feel of the palm leaf motifs combined with the cool airy breeziness of lace and voile in the humidity of Bali made it the most perfect of perfect things to wear for our special outings.

Verdict; very happy 🙂

Oooh! before I forget! a post script/public service announcement… I recently received an email from the Great British Sewing Bee! *cue excited squeal when I had a split second of thinking they were having an Aussie version.. however sadly, NO…the email was to let me know that the next UK season is open to applications and asking me to spread the word. I mean, if we had one here I would love it if someone let me know about it! so I’m like, OK! Also, if we did have one here I would be SO onto that in a hot minute, and if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere where you do have these things, well what are you waiting for?!

THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE is looking for a new collection of brilliant amateur sewers for the fifth series of BBC Two’s The Great British Sewing Bee. For more information or to apply please go to: www.applyforsewingbee.co.uk

Closing Date: Midnight May 28^th 2018

Details:

Top; In the Folds Collins top, in a stiff lace underlined with cotton voile
Skirt; based on Vogue 1247
Sandals; (white) designed and made by me, details here
(turquoise) la Soffita di Gilde

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Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Collins top, daily outfit, in the folds, skirt, top, Vogue 1247

saving a little bit of sunshine

18/05/2018 6:29 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

So, once upon a time I picked up a lovely remnant of fine-grade sunshine-yellow linen from a sale at Potters Textile … and then at some point decided I wanted to make a yellow skirt. I plucked this, my only piece of yellow fabric, from Le Stash; and selected Burda 2/2015;109, which I’ve been admiring and coveting for some time. I traced it out, noted very happily that the pieces fitted perfectly on my piece of yellow linen with practically nothing to spare whatsoever, cut it out and made it up without much further thought.

And lo, it was horrible. I can’t even begin to describe just how frumptastic it looked. I didn’t even take a picture of myself wearing it, it was that bad, though I did have the presence of mind to force it upon poor Jane to model before taking the scissors to it again.

It actually looks quite nice on Jane here, but trust me, it didn’t look nearly so nice on ME.

I don’t blame the pattern, which I still think will be quite nice with the right fabric, of a stiffness and body that can hold its own with a pleat. In a lightweight linen? NUP.

Anyway, obviously I cannot bear to waste a lovely piece of fabric, and particularly one of such a sunny disposition. And this time I listened to what it was whispering to me in its tiny, squeaky, linen-y little voice (yes, Virginia, fabrics DO have a voice) and realised that this delightfully lightweight loveliness wanted to be a delightfully lightweight, breezy little TOP. Of course I granted its wish. Who am I to deny a fabric its destiny?

Fortunately it wasn’t too difficult… the skirt had long long ties to go around the waist, and it was easy to open out the waistband and let out each of the pleats just a little, to allow what was previously the waistband to be an underarm band instead, and re-jig the old side seams. I harvested what was remaining of the waist ties to be shoulder straps for my new top, unpicked the two big pockets, and re-cut one to be a triangular insert to go in the previous skirt opening to fill in that gap, and re-cut the other to be a big kangaroo pocket to go on the front of the new top. By the way, the old side seams are now at the centre front and back of the top, and the previous centre front and centre back, which is where the big skirt pleats were before, are now situated at the underarm seams. Finally I stitched a buttonhole and a button from my stash to the newly extended underarm band so it can close, since the ties are gone.

Et voila! a bright and sunshine-y little top. I love it in this guise so much! it’s hard to remember how sad and tragic it was as a skirt. I took it to Bali, when we went there for L and L’s wedding – ah such a wonderful time we had! I’ll have to write something about that here soon 🙂

note; Craig does not take pictures of me as a rule! but I basically forced him to each day we were away. I’m like, but it’s me-made May!! Reaffirming long held suspicions that the depths of the feminine nature will forever remain a mystery best left unsolved #instagramhusband

Now we’re back home and winter is creeping slowly into Perth and I’m reluctantly putting it away with the other little summer lovelies… but am happy to think it’ll be waiting in the wings, an cheerful little thing for when summer rolls around again. 🙂