Uncategorized Archives - Page 2 of 177

South Korea and Japan; a travel wardrobe

13/04/2025 5:17 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

hello! so as I mentioned in my last post we have just got back from a nearly month-long trip through east Asia, and just for fun I’m assessing the usefulness/workability of my travel wardrobe as usual…

BTW; if you’ve ever been to South Korea and gone on a tour to the DMZ, you might recognise that this picture is taken near the border between North and South Korea, near the entrance to the Third Tunnel. It’s forbidden to take photos at the lookouts and in the tunnel, and they ensure compliance by confiscating all your belongings before going in! however taking photos in the carpark here was allowed. More of my holiday snaps are at the end of this post, if this is more interesting than my clothing…

Time away: 21 days

Where to: South Korea and Japan

Season; early March to beginning of April, the early days of spring

Expected activities: exploring new cities and towns, plenty of hiking, plenty of sightseeing, hanging out with my friend Yoshimi… we visited Seoul inc 1 day to the DMZ, 4 days hiking throughout Kunisaki, Hiroshima, Kochi, Kyoto just briefly, the Hida region outside Nagano, Tokyo

Colour scheme: mostly warm browns and autumnal shades

What I packed:

everything is made by me except shoes, bag, umbrella and gloves

from left to right, top to bottom; everything is linked to its original “making’ post. the number in brackets is how many days it got worn during the trip.

long brown coat(7) purple cardigan(4) orange corduroy hoodie(5) yellow raincoat(5) mustard cowl(5) brown bag

mustard tee(5) white fleece top(4) dk green tee(4) red tee(3)

brown corduroy jeans(5) brown skirt(7) purple skirt(8) striped tee(2) brown tee(3)

black hiking boots, black booties, 2x black tights(16) 2x sockettes(5) 2x knitted socks(9) pink thongs, bathers, umbrella, gloves

not pictured, my pjs, toiletries bag and underwear.

Oh! I forgot to mention in my previous post that I made 4 new pairs of black tights before going away, taking only 2 with me… but they’re really not worth a separate post. They’re practically identical to all the black tights I’ve made previously. Unbelievably I forgot to pack a pair of gloves so I had to buy those charcoal ones in Perth Airport before flying out, whoops! These are possum wool so are divinely soft and warm. I do not regret this purchase at all!

My daily outfits:

note; the first and last days were essentially worn for two days each because of our drawn out travelling schedule

Thoughts:

We’d been to Japan just one year ago so I deliberately chose a completely different wardrobe to take this time, with the exception of my indispensable white fleece top and yellow raincoat. I decided I just couldn’t do without these things! I was really happy with my more autumnal colour scheme, felt very different to the more spring time colours I would normally gravitate towards for a spring-time holiday.

I was determined to pack light, and took as little as I dared! I generally get quite bored with my choices after a trip like this and I didn’t hate everything by the end of it, so that’s a nice outcome. Everything got worn multiple times and went together pretty well too. I know my outfits look kinda the same a lot of the time, but there’s a range of different tops and skirts underneath those coats, I promise! You start out the day thoroughly rugged up and by lunchtime you’ve often stripped off some of those outer layers.

The weather forecast had hinted at rain, so I popped in that little telescoping umbrella; and it turned out that even when I had on my raincoat I’d use the umbrella sometimes too! For example, it’s actually hailing on us in picture 6 above! so it was nice to have the little bit of extra protection. Also you don’t always want to wear a raincoat, especially if you’re in a city, and then suddenly it’s pouring.

My long brown woollen coat looked so nice and stylish and was pretty fabulous in the windy cities, like being wrapped up in a snuggly cuddly blanket. It’s so voluminous that it also doubled as an actual blanket sometimes … comes in nice and handy when you’re spending long hours in transit somewhere. 🙂

For the first two thirds of our trip, I honestly thought the purple cardigan was going to be a giant waste of suitcase space… it’s pretty bulky and took up more room than anything else. It is also, however, toasty to the extreme and the last 4 days temps dropped down below zero with snow each day… and so out it sprung from the suitcase to blessedly justify its existence. I also half-doubted that the new striped T-shirt was going to be particularly useful either, however to my surprise a couple of days in Hiroshima and Kochi were quite warm and humid and I was glad to have a lightweight option after all.

I correctly predicted that I wouldn’t wear either my bathers or my thongs… but as usual I don’t really mind taking them because they don’t take up a lot of space, and I still hold out that you just never know if you might need them *shrugs*. Everything else I took was absolutely worthwhile and I was relieved that I had enough choices to keep my fussy self happy.

What did I see other people wearing:

well, Yoshimi has made some really cool jeans and beautiful shirts which was a joy to see!

hmmm, what else did I see? Lots of people wearing black, mostly. It felt very late winter with everyone hanging out for spring. Apart from in the main parks where the sakura is bursting forth in stunning profusion, one sees girls in either ball gowns or at least wearing lots of pink. It’s kind of de rigueur.

Something that stood out to me in the cities was that quite wide leg jeans seem to be fashionable right now; and with lots of cargo pockets, and just in general baggier, longer and loose-fitting clothes. People were also wearing lovely coats and trench coats which is really nice and kind of a novelty to me still. People don’t wear coats that much where I live, so I really love seeing them in other places.

Of course in Japan I always enjoy seeing kimono on the streets. For convoluted reasons, this trip I seriously checked out a lot of kimono and obi in department stores and was totally shocked at the prices. I mean, of course these are absolutely beautiful one-off pieces that feature weaving and embroidery of the highest quality, and I also know that you can buy cheaper second hand ones too… but well, the newer ones are really priced so high that it’s hard to imagine anyone being able to afford them, really.

Here are a few of my favourites…

this one above is my absolute favourite!

I really loved how this kimono and obi matched each other so beautifully…

In general, here are some of my favourite photos of the holiday…

Seoul forest…

climbing up to Seoul tower

pilgrimage to 10-31 Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Yoshimi and me

we saw a tv crew filming in the park while we were there, and then Yoshimi sent me this, hahaha…

check us out…!

making a tiny snow duckling… I know I know, I’m such a dag

pilgrimage to Seoul forest

did we all watch squid games?! btw I would have failed this round…

matcha tea with Yoshimi

near North/South Korea border; ribbons of hope put up by South Koreans wanting to be reconciled with relatives in North Korea

Hiroshima. so moving…

loved this rooftop bar…

along Meguro river, Tokyo

hiking…

this was really cool and I’m so glad I read about it beforehand… in South Korea you can customise your own travel card. I picked one of my favourite pictures of our family, taken by Cassie’s now husband during our skiing holiday in Hokkaido a few years ago…

egg bread, a popular street food in Seoul, omg so yummy. I’m definitely going to try to make this!

Posted in: fashion, Uncategorized \ Tagged: travel wardrobe

water lily dress, a raincoat, and a stripey shirt

05/04/2025 9:19 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

hello!

I’ve been making a few more things lately…

first up; a dress! I bought this screen printed linen a few years ago from the Injalak Arts Centre, the design is Mandem (Water Lily) by the indigenous artist Eva Nganjmirra. The pattern I used is an old favourite by now, Vogue 2900.

Something charming about this screenprint, I discovered; was the designer’s “signature” of sorts…of course, I had to carefully cut around this and place it some where semi-prominent.

I decided the pieces had to be highlighted in some way more than just mere seamlines, and utilised a method I have written about previously here… namely this is a bias cut strip that is inlaid over the pieces before joining together. I had a small length of mustard linen, leftover from this dress, that I used for this purpose.

Unfortunately there wasn’t enough to do every single seam and edge like I have done in previous examples of this method but I just did as many of the more prominent bodice seams before I ran out of it.

I know I’ve used this pattern quite frequently but it really is such a beautiful dress design that I don’t see myself every tiring of it any time soon. Of course I really should branch out more and I’m resolving to try more new patterns this year and not fall back so often on the old favourites. In the meantime though, some of my recent as yet unblogged projects have failed this resolution already whoops.

I think my only, somewhat trivial criticism of this design is its lack of shape in the waist area. I have a pretty high waist to hip ratio that isn’t really suited to this drop-waist design however I still stubbornly persist in wearing it. Sometimes I think I should try to modify it to look less “boxy” but the bodice pieces are so beautifully proportioned in themselves I’m not really game to fiddle about with it.

I wore this along with my me-made mustard clogs out to a meeting with friends recently and managed to grab a quick street shot. I’ve always liked to get a real world photo the things I’ve made if possible, but it’s sometimes difficult. If the coast is clear, like this time, I can quickly prop my phone up against my bag on the footpath and take a sneaky timed photo!

My little grandson G randomly ran up to join my while I was taking my more staged photos, which was happily fortuitous since he happened to be wearing a little T-shirt I made for him recently using leftovers from another, s yet unblogged, project to appear here soon. Once I get my act together!

I used Butterick 5510, a great little pattern that I should probably buy in a bigger size now! The blue and white striped jersey was tossed out by my friend N during her fabric purge recently. It’s quite nice stuff, if you don’t mind the suffering that comes with matching stripes in cutting and piecing. Fortunately I don’t mind this toooooo much. Maybe just a little, but only if it’s just every now and then.

I lenthened the T-shirt considerably because it’s really way too short otherwise. I don’t know if all my kiddies are just super tall or not but I’ve always found commercial patterns to be ridiculously short and wide.

Please note careful stripe matching. Oh, another problem with this pattern was the rather small neckline. After cutting it and subsequently realising it was actually pretty tiny, I recut the neckline, cut some extra neckline edging and pieced it. One join is pretty good, the other less so… I’m pointing the two out here. Hopefully they’re not too terrible! I’m pretty sure G doesn’t mind though, and at least it fits over his head!

I also some leftover raincoat fabric from when I made my sister in law Sandi’s Mundering raincoat, back here; so I drafted and ran up a new raincoat for T. He’s grown out of his yellow one, blogged here, which will be passed on to G this year. I lined it with the breathable sporting fabric, a length of which I bought for raincoat vents years ago. The zip, cord and eyelets happened to be in my stash already too, hurrah.

The pockets are just patch pockets. All seams are sealed on the underside using seam sealing wax that I bought for this purpose years ago from the camping and outdoor outfitter store, BCF.

I think he likes it! He looks pretty cute in it anyway, and I think it turned out a pretty good fit considering I drafted it just using one of his T-shirts. Phew!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Butterick 5510, dress, Gilbert, own design, raincoat, t-shirt, Theo, Vogue 2900

refashioning some things

23/02/2025 8:20 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

hello! I’ve made a new outfit by refashioning some other previously worn old things… from a skirt and old jeans, I’ve made a new/old tunic top and some new/old shorts. I realise I probably I should be using some of the new fabric already in my stash instead of “already used” fabric – truthfully I am not very sensible a lot of the time – however if I really like a fabric but not the garment so much then I do feel like it just makes sense to reuse the latter if I can. Actually, I have been making a number of things lately, and from my stash! but just haven’t got around to taking photos or blogging them yet. For some reason, I’m finding taking photos to be the biggest challenge now.

Anyway, previously I had this skirt, and some of Mum’s old jeans.

I really love this fabric, but it was ultimately a bit on the flimsy side to be a skirt really. I am, obviously, much happier with the new things. To be honest it’s just a casual and fairly unexciting outfit but it is the kind of very comfortable and practical outfit that suits my lifestyle very well for the time being.

For the new top, I partially used a pattern from the Japanese pattern book, Stylish Dress Book, but just for the yoke. I stitched up the pockets on the old skirt, cut out armholes and stitched it to the yoke. The armholes are bound with the same linen. The denim yoke is cut from old jeans, and lined with indigo-dyed linen. I added a pocket harvested from off of an old pair of jeans.

I made the denim shorts using a heavily modified Pietra shorts pattern by Closet Core patterns. My version is a lot more A-shaped than the original and there is absolutely no elastication at all.

My littlest grandson G enthusiastically rushed over to join me modelling here … he was so cute and funny! You just have to imagine his huge delighted smile here! My legs are a little wider and I tapered off all pieces toward the top substantially to make it close fitting about my waist, and inserted an invisible zip in the centre back seam.

I cut the legs to be a little wider at the bottom edge, and substantially tapered off all pieces toward the top to make it more close fitting about my waist. Closure is by an invisible zip inserted in the centre back seam. The facings and hem edges are bound with pretty gingham printed cotton, leftover fabric from a very recently finished dress.

I removed the pockets from the jeans, unpicked all the old topstitching thread, and re-stitched these to the shorts back. I had just enough burnt orange to finish the yoke and pocket on my new tunic top, and used a vibrant and sharp lemon yellow for the shorts. These, along with the jeans in the first place, were inherited from Mum.

Worn above with my white Booragoon top, blogged here, and below with a matching Sorrento bucket hat in the same MaaiDesign wide checked linen, blogged here.

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Closet Core patterns, pietra, shorts, Stylish Dress Book, top, tunic, Wardrobe Refashion

a checquered tale of a checkered dress

18/01/2025 5:19 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a simple little dress… Now I have to admit that such apparent simplicity is actually the anticlimactic outcome of a long, convoluted sewing-and-unpicking, journey which I’m a little embarrassed to relate. This is one of the failed projects from 2024 which I mentioned in my roundup, and just recently got around to fixing up.

I’d bought this quite nice, slightly spongy, heavily textured cotton check a long time ago now, almost certainly from a Melbourne trip. I’m pretty sure it was Tessuti and further have a feeling it was reasonably expensive thus why I really wanted to make something worthwhile from it.

Iteration Number One:

I started out making the Original Digby Cleo dress. This is a lovely and feminine design, which involved stitching a LOT of self-made, bias-cut channelling for lengths of elastic, to mimic the look of a shirred bodice. I had high hopes and the result was very pretty, but sadly in the end it was just too young-looking to suit me. Cassie modelled it for me for these pictures here, but didn’t really want it either, and I wanted to make the fabric into something I could wear. Out with the unpicker!

Taking off all those long (long) lengths of bias cut channelling took quite a long time, made even more painful with the memory of how carefully I had stitched them on in the first place to perfectly line up the channels with the lines of checks, as well as switching up threads depending on whether I was stitching on a black row or a cream row, this additionally making it more difficult to see the stitches I was unpicking. I know, I wonder about my own sanity too, sometimes…

Anyway. Iteration Number Two was essentially the same dress sans the elasticated channels. I reused the same shoulder straps to be a halter neckline and allowed the otherwise unaltered dress to hang like so. I actually quite liked it like this and wore it with a little T-shirt underneath a few times.

However, after about six months of this I finally realised what the fabric really wanted to be. I believe fabrics do tell you what they want to be, even if it takes a little time. Some are shy and take years to let you know, but you just need to trust in the fabric, let it sit there quietly, and it will eventually let you know what its final form should be. Out with the unpicker once again!

In the end, Iteration Number Three, the final iteration, was very straightforward to achieve. I settled upon a modified version of a dress from the Japanese pattern book Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, specifically dress R. My final version is more narrowed at the top end, and with the yoke also narrowed in width and the neckline substantially more “filled in”. I also left off the sleeves through having absolutely no more of the check fabric anyway, and finished the armscyes with self-made black bias binding. I removed the original inseam pockets – and a big thank you to past me for overlocking all the raw edges separately from each other! – and repositioned them appropriately for the dress’s slightly new form. The yoke is black cotton denim, cut from the leftovers from my wide-leg jeans from last year, and lined with plain black poplin. I did decorative white topstitching just for fun, and added a completely frivolous and not-useful-at-all coin pocket to the front yoke, also for fun. I also reused the “made in 2024” tag that it had from its inception.

Small anecdote; I’d ordered new “made in 2025” labels from the same place Intensely Distracted, back in December. They were taking a long time to arrive, and I was just starting to wonder what on earth had happened to them when they finally showed up 2 days ago. Attached to the envelope was a big green “Opened for inspection by ABF” sticker, also inside was a little note explaining that my goods were opened and inspected by Australian Border Force and found to contain no problematic components so were being forwarded to me in full. Amazing that this very innocuous packet of sew in labels was suspicious enough to get yoinked out for a personal inspection…

Anyway, the dress! I’m so happy with its final iteration. I feel like such a bold check is most perfectly suited to a very simplified style like this, much more age appropriate, not too fussy and a lot more me. And it feels so lovely and light to wear. I absolutely love it! I first wore it just the other day, when I took my oldest grandson Arthur shopping for his 5th birthday present. I know, 5 already! I can hardly believe it. We had such a lovely morning shopping together, just the two of us, choosing something he liked. It was so funny because he liked literally everything! and it was actually quite difficult to narrow it down to just two things. Then after we got home we spent a bit of time playing with his new toys and it was such a nice time. I love being a Granny!

please excuse the totally gratuitous Clara pic…

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Clara, Cleo dress, daily outfit, dress, Original Digby patterns, Stylish Dress Book

black/white striped jumper

30/12/2024 2:21 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

hurrah! I’ve just finished my knitted project for December, aka the last monthly knit for the year! and possibly the last made thing for the year, depends whether I can get my already cut-out thing done in the next day or so. 🙂

I have to admit I was quite excited about this one, but it was definitely the most time consuming of the knitted projects for the year, just because it’s the biggest that I started from scratch… I had quite a diverse collection of random whites/creams and blacks/charcoal and decided to attempt the classic black and white stripes. There was quite a lot more of the whites than black so the white stripes are a shade wider than the black ones. Also the sleeve and bottom hem sections are in the white colour way too. There is just a very tiny amount of leftovers, nothing to speak of really, which makes me pretty happy.

As previously I made the design up myself, it’s a topdown, knitted-in-one piece, just like my pink jumper from August previously, with a raglan sleeve increase. The only difference really is that I knitted a rib finish for the edges so they don’t curl up, unlike the pink jumper which was stocking stitch throughout, thus the edges curl up on that one.

Speaking of the rib finish, I tried something new I’d seen on instagram, and I’m truly sorry I cannot for the life of me remember who it was who posted it so I can’t give credit for the idea. Basically, they said that rib is often uneven in appearance and that’s due to the difference in the way the wool goes around the needle in knit and purl stitches. They suggested the following; for knit stitches, knit through the back of the loop… and for purl stitches, wrap the wool clockwise around the needle – which is the opposite from normal. Apparently it uses a little less wool, anyway I gave it a go and I think the rib does look a little bit neater than my usual efforts.

I’m really happy with this one! the classic white/black stripes will be so easy to wear and I’m looking forward to giving it lots of outings in winter. I was a little worried about the bobbly cream coloured wool – are the bobbles going to be too hideous?! scary! but in the end they’re not twee to an unbearable extent and I’m ok to just let them be.

In case you’re curious, is it too hot right now to be wearing it on the beach like this? and the answer is of course YES. aah, the things I do…! I actually wore just a light top, carrying the jumper in my beach bag and popped it on briefly for the picture, and it was still enough to make me question my life choices!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: jumper, Knitted, knitting, own design

Maldives; a travel wardrobe

11/12/2024 12:54 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

hello! So as hinted in my new bathers post just recently, we have been on an absolutely gorgeous holiday to the Maldives… this is our third visit, each time as well as this time staying on Velassaru. I know, I know, there are lots of other islands in the Maldives and maybe we should be more adventurous but we just love this charming little place; as well, our theory is that if it’s not broken then there’s no need to fix it! As usual, I’m compiling a little summary of my travel wardrobe…

Time away: 7-8 days

Where to: Velassaru, the Maldives

Season; mid to late October, the tail end of the rainy season

Expected activities: not very much at all! lots of swimming, lazing around and reading

Colour scheme; white, blue and pink … really just the prettiest and lightest summery colours in my wardrobe

What I packed;

from left to right, top to bottom, everything is linked directly to its own “making” post…

denim skirt, raspberry cardigan, white top, floral dress, pink dress, beach coverup

large polka dot dress, small polka dot dress, navy/white dress ~~(not yet blogged, and wow, I cannot believe I forgot to blog this dress!)~~, blue floral dress, orange polka dot bathers

light blue shirt, yellow shorts

blue bag, pink thongs, white sandshoes, 2x white sockettes, white hat, raspberry crocheted hat

not shown, nightie and a selection of underwear, my toiletries bag

My daily outfits;

Thoughts;

After two of basically the same holiday then you’d think I’d have got it right by now! I took a different light summer dress for each day, and this is a good strategy for a very warm, beach holiday like this one. I absolutely love all of these dresses and so I felt happy and fresh and comfortable in all of them. I also learnt my lesson from last time and took a pair of light sandshoes for our daily (gentle) exercise routine, for which I also wore the day 1 (pic 2) dress because it was already a bit sweaty by then. I don’t have a dedicated “exercise outfit” but sometimes I wonder if I should make one… ?

For the flights I went for comfort and warmth, but not too much warmth. The plane is always cold, but then you’re dying from the heat immediately as you alight in Male, so one’s outfit choice must always comprise some compromise! I did opt to wear my new shirt over my plane outfit coming home, just for that little bit of extra warmth.

For most of each day I was just in my bathers(pic 5) and beach coverup for swimming and sitting by our private pool and the ocean outside our own cabin each day… I don’t really wear my bathers out and about on the island like a lot of people do, because I’m shy that way. I know it seems counterintuitive since here I am posting my bathers on the internet like this! but well, I hope you know what I mean. And then I would wear actual clothes for the times we were amongst other people, like our breakfast session in the island cafe and then from 5pm onwards, which was the time we wandered over the beach bar for our happy hour drink. I became particularly fond of a mocktail called “pink sand” which was a divine mixture of pineapple juice, crushed mango, pink passionfruit juice and pulp, strawberry juice and coconut water. Mmmm!

what did I see other people wearing; a new category! speaking for myself I absolutely LOVE checking out other peoples’ outfits so I know I’m interested! First of all, observed nationalities during our week were; Russians, South Americans (sorry, cannot be more specific since I sadly cannot tell the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, but did see one Argentinian football t-shirt in there), Swiss Germans, South Koreans, Italians and Chinese. We were the only Australians.

I’ve noticed men generally wear the same global mens’ uniform of shirt/T-shirt and longish shorts combo, no matter what the nationality. If a couple has booked themselves in for a “beach shoot” then he will invariably wear a white linen shirt and white trousers.

Women, however, are a completely different kettle of fish and fashion-wise the sky is the limit … for the aforementioned “beach shoot” the woman will almost always be in something almost like a ballgown. In case you’re interested; no, Craig and I did not do a beach shoot!

For everyday beach and poolside wear, women will be in anything from lace and jewelled caftans, floorsweeping maxi dresses and palazzo pants, giant sunhats and giant sunglasses, chiffon, silk, lace etc… to more ordinary, what I would call “normal” summer wear like shorts and blouses, or pretty light dresses, and all the way through to near nudity! I’m not judging at all btw! I love that everyone can just do their own thing. I also noticed some women who had a different bikini with a different matching beach coverup for every day. I personally don’t think I could do that, it seems kind of extravagant? even though I myself normally swim every day I still have just one pair of bathers. Though honestly, is having a different dress for every day really any different?! I don’t know… food for thought. A debatable concept!

Trending note: lace coverups and neon, solid-colour bathers seem to be quite popular.

Anyway. I shall now sign off by boring you with some of my favourite Velassaru views…

coming back from dinner our little cabin always looked so cosy and welcoming… and can I just point out the tiny fairy lights embedded in the bottom of the pool? So cute and pretty!

breakfast time views…

could never tire of this view from our cabin …we spent our days meandering between the pool and the ocean and the deckchairs and then all over again…

nom nom…

this unsuspecting heron probably plays a starring role in about a million holiday photos… #naturalborninstamodel

definitively NOT a ballgown. #kindaboringeh

Posted in: fashion, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, travel wardrobe

Innes nice?

09/12/2024 1:10 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

… so I made another thing recently… well two actually, but only one really, in the end. The first was Not Good…

Hello Innes dress, and welcome to my wardrobe… a pattern by Homer & Howells.

That was 2020 me blogging, now handing over to 2024 me, today… I’m shocked, really, that I have so far failed to blog about this dress, that I made about four years ago now… why did blogging slip my mind? I have no idea. Anyway here it is, finally. I decided to take it away with me on our recent beach holiday away and of course it was divine to wear over there… The only fault that I think I am going to rectify straight away is that it doesn’t have pockets. Which is silly since its roominess could so easily accomodate some.

I really love the subtle sweetheart neckline , and of course the chic length. I didn’t have enough of the white so added a panel of other fabric to the bottom, to get the proscribed length. Fabrics are a white cotton/linen mix, and a remnant of navy blue, slightly metallic stuff, both fabrics are I think originally from Fabulous Fabrics. I’m pretty sure Mum gave me the blue fabric.

Below is the first, tester version of the dress that I made… I used a sorta nasty pink and purple satin that was also inherited from Mum. I think she also inherited it from someone else at some point and never used it for obvious reasons. I used it to test the pattern and wore this version as a nightdress for a season.

I just want to say here, how much do I miss that white wall space in our old house?! SO MUCH!

… and here is my better version again, out in the wilds (haha) of the Maldives! worn with my raspberry crocheted hat. I actually crocheted that very hat during our previous holiday to the Maldives!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, homer and howells, Innes

new/old denim skirt

10/11/2024 1:49 pm \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

hello! I’ve made a new skirt, using all bits and pieces from old denim jeans .. or should that then be an old skirt? Hmmm.. a debatable concept!

I like using old textiles to make something different, however it must be said that old fabric often does look old, and not necessarily in a good way. In this case, the denim is actually very well-worn and I may or may not subject it to a brief navy blue dye bath, just to maybe jzoojz (spelling?) it up a bit? as yet, undecided…

I used our own Carolyn & Cassie Meelup skirt pattern, and I think this could be one of the first ones I’ve made for myself without a lining? well, it is just a denim skirt! The skirt is partially cut from a pair of Tim’s old jeans shorts, and a bit extra from some other, previously cutup, old jeans.

The pocket linings are a lovely cotton lawn, leftover from this old favourite dress… I picked off the old pockets from the shorts and added them to the back of the skirt, and another one to the right front. I also made a large, slanted edge patch pocket for the left front, and this one has a totally superfluous coin pocket on it too… superfluous in that I put one in the right hip pocket too. This brings the number of pockets to a grand total of eight! Hurrah for pockets!

The hem of the skirt is the original hem of the jeans shorts, and I unpicked a little to sew the side seams, before resewing the original hem in place. The original topstitching on the jeans shorts was a mixture of navy blue and a kind of dull, mustard-y orange, but all my new topstitching is quite a brighter orange.

The buttons were harvested from off an old cushion here. The buttons for this skirt don’t matter at all actually since they’re not seen on the outside at all. Just one more of the things I love about our pattern!

It’s a bit daggy, let’s be real, but I guess I’m an 80’s girl at heart really so daggy is set in stone into my DNA. I’ll happily wear it as a knockabout skirt on the weekend and when I just feel like slouching around. It’s fun, very comfy, and I often kinda like that scruffy vibe anyway, hehe.