Hello! I’ve finished the second part of my little autumn wardrobe-lette… a new skirt! using a printed, upholstery-weight cotton canvas from the Fabric Store in Melbourne, the fifth fabric from the top in this pic of my Melbourne acquisitions…
I absolutely fell in love with this print at first sight, in fact the very minute I spotted it I GRABBED IT! Not even counting the rather yummy autumnal colours… it reminds me of bookshelves, stacked not quite full, with the colourful spines of the books tipping over a bit into the gaps between them. I love libraries, in fact it’s been a lifelong daydream of mine to have a room that is completely lined with shelves of books, from floor to ceiling, and a big squishy armchair right in the middle of the room, either faded rusty-red or bottle-green velvet, can’t decide but either would be nice, big enough for me plus at least one cat, and with one little curly-legged side table just big enough for a stained glass lamp and a cup of tea perched on top. *sigh*
Wait, where was I? oh yes ahem…SKIRT.
Pattern; Vogue 8363, one I’ve used many times before, actually I’ve just counted and have made it TWELVE times previously! You can look at ALL of them by clicking here….
Some of the many reasons I love this pattern so are; a) gorgeously deep slanted side pockets, in fact I can’t help noticing I have my hands shoved deep deep down into those pockets in, only like, every single picture. They’re just that wonderful, I simply can’t resist! Also b) straight side seams, making it a nice one for pattern matching, c) double darts in the back which lend themselves very nicely to the wide hips/narrow waist/slight sway back adjustment that I usually make. I tend to use view D for the pockets, which has a button front placket at the centre front; I obviously eliminate this though and instead have an invisible zip closure at the centre back. I also like to cut the skirt part roughly two sizes up from the waist part, because I like that boxy with nipped in waist silhouette on me.
Also, this time I added belt loops because I decided all that psychedelic tipping-stripe-y action could probably benefit by being visually reined in with a solid, sombre, no-nonsense belt. Now it’s finished and I’ve worn it thus, I think yep, this was a good idea
Partly because I stingily didn’t buy much of the print, and also partly for the same visual grounding reason as having a belt: I cut the pocket bags in a thick chocolate brushed twill, a small bit of leftover fabric harvested from Craig’s old pair of chocolate moleskins and which I used to make this skirt, also Vogue 8363.
Inner workings; I had to piece the chocolate moleskin to get pieces big enough for the pocket bags, but the seams are tucked down deep in the pockets… I used plain black cotton for the waistband facing and pocket facings. Because I’m a bit of a stickler for matching threads, I switched threads on BOTH my sewing machine and overlocker several times during the making of this skirt!
Above, I spaced it to turn up the hem exactly between two horizontal stripes in the print. The lower edge of the skirt is finished in bias cut black cotton, the same as for the inner waistband and pocket facings. See that little tiny row of mustard stitches along the top? I initially started hemming with black thread to match the bias; but quickly realised that even though I made my stitches as tiny as tiny could be, that row of minuscule black dots did show up on the right side of the skirt if you looked closely enough, and I didn’t like it!! So I switched to the same mustard thread that I’d used in other seams, which disappears nicely into the print.. so they’re pretty much invisible on the right side, which is the main thing!
Above; I chose a mustard invisible zip. When it came to placing the belt loops, I put two on the front, spaced just outside the waist-shaping dart; and three on the back, the outer two just outside the outer waist shaping dart, and one in the centre back. It abuts the waist closure, which I wondered would make it difficult to put in the belt; but it doesn’t, it slips through just fine and isn’t a bother at all. Oh, and waistband closure? there’s a wide hook/eye stitched in under there.
Also, darts?! One of the most serendipitous things I discovered about this print is that you can barely make out any darts at all! can you even see them in the above picture?? they’re just buried there in amongst those higgledy-piggledy books. WIN!
I’m wearing today paired with my basic black Tshirt because I wanted the skirt to take centre stage in this, its own dedicated post… but I also think it looks quite nice worn with the, as yet one other piece in my autumn mini-wardrobe, the apricot top. Actually, I only picked up the apricot crepe because of this fabric!
sorry for the blurriness. Clearly I’m busily dashing off on a very important mission… like, to get the leaf blower
Details:
Skirt; Vogue 8363, printed cotton canvas, my review of this pattern here
Black Tshirt; self drafted, details here
Belt; had this for about 30 years
Black shoes; designed and made by me! details here
Above picture:
Apricot top; the epaulette cut and sewn, pattern no.4 from “she has a mannish style” by Tuko Takada, details here
Brown and ivory clogs; also designed and made by me, details here
Also; on Eagle Bay beach, Western Australia… Every time we come down here I have to walk along the beach and clamber over the rocks each day. This is one of my favourite places on Earth.
OH! I forgot to blog about this before, in fact I just checked and I made this back in February! bad blogger! but I also made another little work dress for Cassie, another Named patterns Inari tee dress. This is my fifth Inari made, my third for Cassie, she loves the style just as much as I do! Also it’s like a perfect little design for work, plus being easy and comfortable to wear, and quick to run one up. I incorporated the same 
I cut the neckline and all pieces as is, and diddled about with the lengths to get the look I wanted… as follows:
Hello! I’ve finally finished these black leather clogs; that have been on the go for nearly a whole year now…. eeeeek!!
The last time I went down to visit Mum and Dad: Dad had some pinewood he’d cut himself from a “weed” pine on their block… and he very kindly helped me to shape the blocks on his bandsaw, and have the use of his sander to do some further shaping while I was down there… I’m so lucky that Dad has all the perfect equipment for this!
Once I got home, I sanded down the soles even further, stuck some cork to the bottom and the heels, and applied five coats of satin varnish. Ohhh, wait, getting ahead of myself… before that, I’d fancied the idea of a nice deep, chocolate brown wood, I thought it would play off nicely against my chosen black leather. So I bought some walnut stain and gave them a coat. They looked um, not good, but I persisted (“maybe they just need MORE of it” famous last words) and did a few more coats. Then they looked DREADFUL. A day or so of deep depression later, and I’d regained the energy to set up the sander again and sand it all off. THEN I did the soling/ varnishing thing to my clean, new soles. *sigh* Lesson learned; wood looks better in its natural colour.
just felt vaguely frumpy in them and peeled them off straight away. I’m just not feeling this style any more, feel like it’s becoming a little bit dated. Is it just me, or are skinny jeans appearing decidedly passé right now? Anyway; OUT THEY GO!!! Well… maybe just to the time-out box for a while. I have this box you see, that I chuck doubtful clothes into, and in a few months or a year or so I’ll check them out to see if it’s easier to make a decision then. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even have that box since it’s a kind of hoarder-ish thing to have and really nine times out of ten the items within get the flick! but for the one item that gets a reprieve I’ve always been glad I kept it after all. Sometimes, you and your clothing just need a bit of a break from each other. A trial separation. A conscious uncoupling, with the door open to re-coupling. Yeah. *madly justifying hoarding tendencies to oneself*
Like most bloggers, when taking my pictures I usually try to pick some nice location as a backdrop to my creations, something that has the colours and the “feel” and/or just some general overall appropriateness in subject matter or whatever, that I think enhances whatever it is I’m showcasing.
The bottom layer is thin cork-covered, contact paper, cut to size, stuck on – more liquid nails, yo!! and then three layers of clear, enamel varnish to seal and strengthen.
My dear friend 
However.. modifications happened along the way. Of course they did. My dress has the same bones, but the original is actually a very boxy design, with quite a pronounced dropped shoulder. I’m sure it’s a lovely design for the right fabric; as in, something with plenty of natural “flop” that allows those shoulder seams to drop gracefully down over your upper arm.
