Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sage green lounge suite

04/10/2011 9:49 am \ 32 Comments \

I am so proud of my latest project that I will not sully the experience by babbling about it…

Oh OK then, I will.  Cannot resist a little showing off, hehe…  ðŸ˜€
Remember this?  Going back yonks ago I wrote about re-covering our lounge suite (way back here!), and mentioned that it needed doing again soon; well, I have finally got my act into gear and got it done.  Took me from 8am Sunday morning and finished around 10.30pm Sunday evening, but it was done, and I am pretty jolly proud I kept it confined into a one-day project too…  yippeee!

(this is the “before” cover; 2 yrs ago)

We bought this lounge suite twenty years ago, and I’ve recovered it approximately every five years.  I’ve found the old covers are really on their last legs by this time… yup, we have three teenagers, three cats and a dog, so I guess we are pretty tough on our furniture!  This is the fourth time I have re-covered this lounge suite and I think the outcome gets better and better each time.  Nice to know practise really does make perfect, yes?!
This time I am nearly completely satisfied.
I took a few photos during to illustrate the process, but really it’s not a difficult thing to do, just, well, tiring.  Tiring just because of the unwieldiness and bulkiness of it all…  Struggling around with large swathes of upholstery weight fabric and draping and pinning, removing to carry over to the sewing machine, sewing, over to the overlocker, overlocking, carrying back to the lounge, re-fitting etc, is just a fairly draining exercise, full stop.
We chose this heavy hessian-like fabric which has a ecru warp, and a variegated weft of grey and sage green threads through it, resulting in a refreshingly light and bright sage-green/grey hue. 

 To make my covers, I’ve kept one each of the important pieces from my first re-cover of this suite to use as a template for each new cover and this helps massively each time… 

I cut out the bigger pieces first and lay them in position, wrong sides out.  Pin together, smoothing out any bubbles and aligning the grain to be as straight as possible, overlocking all the raw edges and sewing along the pinned lines.  

I incorporated a fold, where the back of the seat meets the backrest, for some ease and to lessen strain on the back and seat areas of the cover when you are sitting on the couch.  Yes, lounge suites need ease too!

Each cover and cushion cover was pinned and fitted together and basically finished inside out, and only turned right side out when it was ready for final fitting in place.  Craig took off the old covers, and fixed a broken strap in the innards of one of the couches, which we only discovered was broken when we took the covers off!  He also stapled the edges of the finished and fitted-into-place covers underneath to the wooden frame of the couch, and re-screwed the little wooden “feet” back into place over.  Most importantly, he made dinner so I could continue working on the seat cushions undisturbed…. 🙂
 Each of the four seat cushions has a zip on the back edge, so these can removed for individual laundering, if necessary.

I just love it.  We all do.  It’s not a new suite, but it feels like we have one now.   Everybody is trying to be eco-conscious and green in all our choices, which means re-using and re-cycling as much as we can; but there is no denying the truth that something new, and especially something big like your lounge suite, is a very uplifting thing to have in your life.  Agreed?  So our lounge suite is not new, but it sure feels brand new all over again, and I feel good about achieving that newness buzz without having to go down the path of actually buying new furniture.  And it gives the whole room a lift and makes everything feel so fresh and clean again… 
And hopefully will last for at least another five years!!

(What will I do with the remains of the old covers??  Well to start with probably two new dog bed covers.  We only have one dog, but she has two beds…  go figure.  Spoilt, or what?!)

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Some foot fabulousness; hand-knit by Mum

03/10/2011 7:19 am \ 18 Comments \

My mother gave me a special gift for my birthday recently, two works of art designed to adorn the foot-al region of my person: a pair of her famous Turkish socks.  Well, famous in our own family, anyway… traditionally she has only made these for the males in the family so I feel pretty honoured and privileged to be the first female recipient of a pair; cough cough, did I hear gender privilege anyone?  Ahem… 
Putting my Mum’s creations here on the ol’ blog is always a humbling experience, as it just highlights to the max the vast superiority of her handiwork and creativity to my own.  I usually turn out socks of the very basic kind, true I choose yummy colours that I love but there is no difficulty level in that, and my socks themselves are pretty utilitarian in style.  When I lay eyes on Mum’s work I feel dead boring in my own output.  sigh
The pattern, as in decoratively, of these socks is created in the fair isle knitting method, that is carrying the unused colour loosely at the back of the work and bringing it forward when it is needed, and the pattern, as in construction-wise, of these socks is the Turkish method of knitting socks.  That is, starting from the toe and knitting up the foot to end at the top “hole” that you stick your foot in.  This method is the opposite from my usual preferred way of sock knitting, the English method, starting at the top and finishing at the toe.   Knitting socks in the Turkish method of course has the huge advantage which is that you can knit contentedly away, making each sock exactly the same length until you have used up your available wool… and not run the risk of running out of wool halfway down the foot section, a terrifying possibility with the English method.
But I digress; I know from experience that knitting one’s own socks is a passion reserved for just the initiated few; so instead of me dwelling on the finer points of sock manufacture, please instead admire Mum’s work above…
On a side note; modelling socks, definitely my favourite.  You may not be surprised that I am kinda low on my modelling mojo.  However socks… well!  No need to worry about a bad hair day, weird facial expressions and who knows (or cares) what hideousness I am actually wearing elsewhere on my person?  My feet are looking beautiful, so yay!

Socks; handknit by my mother using 8 ply yarns

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A weepy day…

30/09/2011 9:17 am \ 43 Comments \

… not because it is the last day of self-stitched September natch, which would ordinarily make it a day of yay!-ness.  No, today is the last day of school for my son Sam and we attended a mother/son service together in the school chapel this morning.  It was pretty moving and I will admit to the lump in the throat and a few odd tears…  One thing the boys do is to present their mother with a rose, and it was a pleasant surprise to me when the colour of the rose Sam gave me accessorised my ensemble so well … fortuitous, or what!  We had morning tea together and strolled around the garden and chatted.  So a sorta emotional morning; but nice and sweet emotional, not horrid emotional, so that’s OK.
Thoughts on the dress:
You’ve seen this exact ensemble before, when I introduced this dress here on the blog.  I was pretty happy with how these raspberry pink sandals went with it, really says “summer!” I think.  I just may have been saving this dress for this special occasion this month…  ðŸ™‚  It received several nice compliments from friends, which is always a plus, hehe.  It is super comfortable to wear, and the skirts ripple and swish most satisfyingly around your legs as you walk, and in the breeze, so I’m pretty happy with it.  I can see it getting a lot more use for barbies, parties and get-togethers over the next few months as the social season starts to kick in and roar into life.  The last few years my party dresses have been relatively colourless (the three lace dresses I wore recently during this month; the pink, the beige-and-silver and the beige-and-black, are all ex-party dresses from previous years)  So you can see this super-saturation in colour is a big departure.  Good to have something different once in a while, yes?  I reckon it’s always wise to be well prepared with a fab party dress way in advance of the social season.  The last thing you want is to be madly running up some complicated number in panicky desperation mere hours before a big event.  Much better to have worked through any problems of a pattern and/or fabric in a stress-free environment… and I’ve already discussed the teething problems I had with this pattern!  But it all worked out to the best in the end; realistically if I’d ended up with the planned white version working out then that would have been yet another colourless party dress, right?  So it was meant to be, I reckon.

Details:
Dress; made utilising the twisted front design from Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, teal silk jersey and with a yellow lycra petticoat of my own design underneath, details here
Sandals; Pedro Miralles, from Soletta shoes

Self-stitched September; I was planning to write some claptrap insightful meaningful thoughts on my feelings about self-stitched September this time around, but hmmm.  I don’t want to say this the wrong way… I really appreciate the great community that Zoe sets up each time, and there is a little core group of people that always make it worthwhile.  We leave supportive comments for each other and I look forward to seeing what everybody has been sewing and how they put it together.  However I did receive one dodgy comment when somebody called me a show-off.  That made me think I didn’t want to do it any more.  But when I start something I see it through, so I finished off the month, in hopefully as non-show-off-y a way as I could.
I’ve written before about how one tiny seed of negativity can sadly and wrongly wipe out a whole host of positivity.  It is wrong and it shouldn’t be that way.  But it just is.  So I am a bit doubtful if I want to go there again.
But to finish on a positive note; the other nesting black swan I mentioned has successfully hatched her brood today (or last night maybe, in between yesterday’s walk and today’s walk anyway…) I was thrilled to see four cygnets in this batch…  So it is baby season in a big way down at the river… here are some more brand new families that I have seen over the last few days.  Please enjoy the baby bird cuteness!

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The Futuristic Nun

29/09/2011 1:57 pm \ 13 Comments \

Self-stitched September, the penultimate day!!
Some thoughts on the day; lovely weather, things are warming up beautifully around here!  Walking this morning was so lovely, the highlight of my day.  Apart from that a fairly uneventful schedule; office work, cooking, blah blah blah.  Oh I forgot, I have been sewing!  And I have a couple of new things to show off now!!  But I’ll hold off until after self-stitched September is over.  I’ll write more about my thoughts on the challenge this time around, tomorrow… when it is actually over (tiny yay!! with a self high-five that I’ve almost finished)
My dress; I know it’s kind of an unusual one… I made it a few years ago inspired by the fabric.  I’ve always loved the contrast between the heavy shimmer-y grey/purple fabric and the flimsy white fabric that is a pseudo petticoat.  Together they reminded me somehow of a nun’s robe.  Soon after finishing it I read a report about a runway show (I think it might have been Rick Owens, or Helmut Lang, someone like that??) and the journalist described the parade as like being confronted by an army of futuristic nuns stomping down the catwalk… well who could resist an image like that?  Certainly not me.  So that is how I’ve always thought of this dress.  It isn’t a copy of any dress, or doesn’t even look like anything that was in the collection, but I picture sister Perpetua giving aid to the needy on board a space-ship being garbed in something like this.  You see I do sometimes play little games with my apparel, even if they are very silly games, hehe.  I wore my brown cardigan for some of the day too.
Yesterday a birthday gift from my parents arrived.  LOOOOOK!
Here are some of my favourite projects, that will probably be attempted first.  Ohmygosh, I just have soooo many plans…

Details:
Dress; my own design based on Burda 8511, grey/purple shimmer-y stuff and white cotton, white velvet ribbon
Cardigan; my own design, of Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed in Brindle
Shoes; Country Road

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Sherbie jacket

28/09/2011 2:51 pm \ 21 Comments \

… so named because it is exactly the same colour as of one of my favourite childhood lollies.
Thank you for the feedback on the Spring colour challenge yesterday!  I am still up in the air over whether I will actually join in officially or not; but in the meantime I have chosen a colour palette based on stash fabrics that I want to make up, and realised that this little jacket fitted in with it perfectly!
I’m embarrassed to admit that I made this about three years ago, and have barely worn it.  It has probably been worn about three times in total!  But I was doing a bit of clothing rotation; cleaning out my wardrobe and sorting out some warmer weather gear for the new season and came across it again in a suitcase of spring clothes and decided it was high time I brought into regular circulation.  It is actually quite a goodie if I say so myself… 😉 and I plan to make it a staple for this spring.
It is Burda 7723, a pattern which has been seen here quite a lot.  That is because I have made up the shorts loads of times… but the jacket just this once.  It is of sherbie-apricot coloured raw silk, and has a contrasting darker apricot coloured hessian silk collar and pocket flaps.  Those pocket flaps are not just for show, there are real pockets underneath but they are pretty small and probably not useful for anything bigger than a mobile phone, house key and a credit card.  Well, all a woman needs, hehe…. 🙂  The jacket is fully lined in black acetate lining fabric.  Goodness knows why I chose black, I guess I must have thought it was a cool idea at the time.  I’m thinking the black lining looks a little weird now…
Some thoughts on the other things;
The pale pink layered damask skirt made about four years ago, I was super sad to spot a few areas around the welt seams where the fabric is starting to wear through age… and I still adore this skirt.  Noooooo!
The little sleeveless white wrap blouse, another old spring/summer staple.
Now I have to explain the extra random piccie below, I feel like a bit of a fool because I stuffed up.  I went out on my walk and took a nice picture for self-stitched September, and to show off the jacket… and thought that was that.  Then remembered that today was day of the mini-challenge; the night-shot; doh!  So normally I can’t bear there to be more than one photo of the same outfit in a post.  You’ve probably noticed that I will generally have one photo only, except for details shots or a back/side view or if there is some extra added feature and so on…  I’m just like, one shot is enough already!  But I just have to join in the mini photo challenge, so I nipped out to our street tree and took a night shot too… and there it is below.  So I’m sorry if you too hate multiple photos of the same outfit; and I sympathise.  But unfortunately you just couldn’t see much detail of the jacket in the night-shot, so it just had to be done!
But the good news; I did learn how to take a night shot on my camera… something that is new to me.  The shutter speed is set to 30 seconds, and I just stood as still as possible for those 30 seconds.  That is why you can see some car lights zooming down the street behind me!  I’m just amazed the picture worked out… pretty cool, huh?

Details:
Jacket; Burda 7723, apricot raw silk, darker apricot silk collar and pocket flaps, lined in black acetate
Top; NewLook 6252, white seersucker
Skirt; my own design based on Vogue 7303 (a basic A-line skirt pattern) pale pink shimmer-y damask, to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here
Sandshoes; Country Road

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Green is good

27/09/2011 11:25 am \ 12 Comments \

Just to explain the winter-y-like apparel; well it has been insanely wet and windy today; everyone here is incredulous about how cold it is for this time of the year.  I look fairly dry here, but I was rained on earlier and then blasted dry by the wind…  Whatever happened to spring?!
Some thoughts on my outfit; I really like how all these sludgy greens blend harmoniously together, and almost unconsciously I’ve been slowly accumulating more items in these colours.  I would like for them to be more of a staple colour in my wardrobe because I think they suit me.
Lately I’ve been toying with the (alien) idea of actually planning my wardrobe… up until now I have just happily made stuff up as whim and whimsy took me; buying fabric that I loved, and making up things as inspiration and need has hit.  But I’ve been reading up on Collette’s “fall” challenge and even joined up! although for us southern hemispheries it is a Spring challenge…!  I’ve looked through my stash and selected a few pieces of fabric that go together nicely and started planning a little mini collection of pieces that should actually go together. Even though my current random approach has always worked out quite well, I’m sort of excited at the thought of being more organised.
But I do have a few reservations; mostly that I will rebelliously lose interest in making something if I feel “I have to”, even if it is me who in the first place told myself that I had to.  The planning stage is always the fun part, and the actual sewing up can turn out to be a bit of a hard slog, maybe even a chore.  I want my sewing to be fun.
Has anybody else found these challenges to be successful, or are they difficult to follow through?

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767 with modifications, dark olive linen, details here
Jeans; Burda 7863, khaki stretch gabardine, details and my review of this pattern here
Scarf; knitted by me, from a wool kit
Socks; not seen but knit by me also, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

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Not the same dress at all…

26/09/2011 9:59 am \ 20 Comments \

Looking back at last year’s self-stitched September, I can definitely see how this spring has been colder, and we have had a lot more rain.  I was wearing a lot less during last year’s challenge, and complaining petulantly about the lack of rain.  And unfortunately we will be having an unseasonal cold snap for the rest of the week; meaning I cannot actually wear just yet several of my new creations for the last few days of self-stitched September.  I have just finished two new dresses and am starting on a new skirt, but they are all just a tad too summery for right now and will have to wait a bit. 
But I still have some suitable nice things that haven’t been worn here for a while.  This may at first glance appear identical to the dress I wore two days ago, but it is not.  Trust me…  True, these two dresses were made up using the same pattern.. but wait; that dress was silver and beige lace; this dress is black and beige lace.  And this one is sleeveless (better view here) See, huh?  Totally not identical at all  right??  :))  I’m sure anyone could appreciate the vast difference between the two dresses…   any true lace-lover will completely concur with the wisdom in buying these fabrics and sewing up two NewLook 6699’s, without apparently fully realising that I would end up with two pretty similar dresses.  Totally understandable, I’m sure anyone could make the same mistake  fabulous wardrobe decision.
Well, they were made a year apart from each other, so I can be forgiven.  Sort of.  But perhaps I should hold off from buying any more lace just yet, hehe.
And worn with my little snakeskin cardi for wind protection.

Details:
Dress; NewLook 6699, black and beige lace, with ivory silk lining
Cardigan; my own design, rubber coated knit embossed with a snakeskin print, details here
Tights; Kolotex
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

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Red, white and blue

25/09/2011 6:03 am \ 15 Comments \

Self-stitched September, Day 25
Thank you all for your beautiful birthday wishes yesterday!  I was very very touched that so many lovely ladies took the time to wish me well, and I did have a delightful day and evening too, thank you.
Today we met up with extended family for a breakfast in Kings Park, because as well as my birthday yesterday it is my mother’s birthday in a few days.  So we had a BIG meet-up.  And I bullied requested nicely for Craig to take my photo today for the challenge… and since I usually take all my own photos of my creations it is kind of funny to me to see how weirdly self-conscious I look when someone else takes my photo.  Eek!  Who is that woman and what on earth is she smirking at?!
Now; for the self-stitched stuff…
This skirt, one of the first really ad-hoc and creative things I attempted, donkey’s years ago, will be a lifelong keeper I think.  Years later I still really love it, and am proud of it.  I feel sorta shabbily feminine when I wear it, which I think are adjectives I could happily include when describing my own style.  Along with alternative and slightly weird too, hehe.  Up until now I have only ever worn it with either white or blue tops.  Ever ever…  A red jacket is really branching out.  Now I’ve got them on together I can’t think why it didn’t occur to me to try different colours with this skirt sooner!  Proving to myself yet again that see, doing this self-stitched challenge can be quite educational, in really forcing me to stretch my sartorial wings and really use my own wardrobe…  
And the “crisp white shirt” which is not particularly super crisp any more and I really should get onto making myself another, pronto, because this is now a firm staple in my wardrobe which I can’t imagine a self-stitched life without…
And my little red bracelet sleeved jacket which I love more and more with each wear and am looking forward to wearing even more now the spring weather is approaching.  Yay! for spring!

Details:
Skirt; my own design, various cottons, front and back views here
Top; Burda 8497, white cotton, details here
Jacket; Vogue 2894, red silk hessian, details and my review of this pattern here
Sandals; Pedro Miralles, from Soletta shoes

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