Handmade by Carolyn

Top; Gone a bit Batty

2012-02-01T15:04:00.001+08:00

My latest project. Do you like the name? I know, right? I could get a job at Anthropologie, thinking up delightfully poetic tag-lines for the clothing, for sure. I am sometimes capable of romanticism, and dreaming up evocative monikers, conjuring up a magical wonderland way of thinking and engaging the senses in a positive way. I could have gone with something along the lines of Black Magic, or Chocolate Swirl or Liquorice Twist. Nicer, yes? But a twisted sense of humour prevents me from behaving all "delightful" all the time.
Besides, have a look at it, spread out on the lawn, recovering from its dye-job. Decidedly bat-like, I think.

So, this is one variant of the design from p47 of Pattern Magic 3, by Tomoko Nakamichi. Like much of Pattern Magic 3 so far, I thought this a very easy project. My thoughts with this one, a very drape-y knit is essential to allow the pointy bits to flop down into each other attractively; and when you put it on you have to pull and fold the layers to sit just so or it can look a bit weird.
Side views:

It started out its life this colour below, and then subjected to 1/4 tsp iDye, in Brown. I initially bought 2m of this brilliant blue fabric which as well as being very cheap had the added advantages of being very light, very drape-y and 100% cotton. However I only have room in my life for one bright blue top and so dyeing was always on the cards for anything made out of the leftovers.

And yes, I have been doing a lot of dyeing lately. Actually, to say I have run a dyeing marathon would be no exaggeration. I've been on a fair dinkum dyeing bender!!
But results of the exciting dye-fest will have to wait until pictorial evidence has been collected. You have been warned...
I finished the neckline and armholes by simple turning under the raw edge and topstitching with a twin needle. This is a great and very easy finish for knits, not as polished a finish as the banded edge, but the perfect choice for something like this top where bands would have visually been too much detail on a top that is already chocka with textural detail. Those little shark fins at the hips are as much detail as the eye can take in my opinion, and the plainer the rest of the garment the better.

Details:
Top; from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, bright cobalt blue cotton jersey dyed with iDye in Brown
Shorts; modified Burda 7723, of yellow embroidered cotton, details here
Sandals; Misano, from MarieClaire shoes

Over-exposed and super highlight-ed to show up the folds better... and doesn't this make the sky look amaaazing??

Tracing through the years

2012-01-31T12:54:00.002+08:00

I have a small collection of Burda magazines from the late 70's and early 80's. These were bought new back then by my mother for her own use and I have them now for safe-keeping. I loved looking through these magazines, and still do! These were absolutely fascinating to my younger self, and part of the inspiration behind my decision to sew for myself. Along with, naturally, my mother herself; hugely influential to my creative self. A very inspiring lady who was always either spinning, weaving, dyeing, knitting, sewing, or all of the above; magnificent creations for her own wardrobe. And still does today!
Something that interests me now is that the very garments that I loved the most back then are still my same favourites today. What does that say about me? That my tastes have not changed much? I would like to think I am so happily consistent and not all over the place like a dog's dinner which is how I sometimes feel sums up my tastes... Looking closely at my chosen favourites I can see I'm attracted to a simplicity of line, an absence of clutter in the silhouette, and a certain... something else. I guess what that nebulous "something" is; is my "style" that I am still trying to define today. I did notice that something made up in neutral colours and particularly in white, always attracts my attention, and is almost guaranteed to be one of my long-term "favourites"; LOL! That predilection has not changed!
Back then, the patterns came in one size, or two if you were lucky. The patterns did not come in all sizes, nested together like they do today. So, say one might see a dress that one simply had to have. Looking at the small print, one would then either be transported with joy to discover that it was indeed blessedly in one's own size, or at least close enough to enable one to fudge-fit it to oneself; oh happy day! One the other hand, one might be plunged into doom to see that the one dress you loved the most was only available five sizes too big. Darn!
Another thing; the pattern sheets themselves. You think today's Burdastyle patterns are difficult to trace? Take a look at this!

That is a pattern sheet from the May, 1977 issue. Compared to Burdastyle magazine today. 05/2010, to be more accurate...

I've put my tape measure in there for an idea of scale....
I think we've got it easy today, girls!
Just for fun, here are some of those 70's styles. I would welcome these two garments happily into my wardrobe.

Some other lovelies from the Spring/Summer 1977 issue...

Finally, I have decided to go ahead with putting out here my wardrobe addition costs, as outlined here. So, completing my summary for January... I think doing a monthly overview will be better than giving a cost each time... a better distribution :)

My Darling Clementine top
Fabric $34.60 (includes a portion of the shipping cost)
Pattern; Vogue 1247, first time used $7.00
Thread; $3.20
Total cost: $44.80
A Sludgy Little Skirt
Fabric; all leftovers
Pattern; Vogue 1247 used before
Zip; $1.00
Dye; $7.77 (bought during Spotlight's 40% off sale)
Total cost: $8.77

A sludgy little skirt

2012-01-28T11:02:00.001+08:00

Hooo boy. We are having an insane heatwave right now... been 37C or above for over a week now. Australia Day was 42C, phew... We all spent the entire day in bathers, in and out of the pool. The fireworks teetered on being cancelled because of the fire risk, but luckily at the last minute some clouds rolled in, the temps dropped and we even got a few fat raindrops! And then the fireworks competed with an amazing lightning display (pictured below) Today is supposed to be another 42C-er, so I am in my bathers ... again!
But unable to resist a smidge of sewing, as can be seen. And dyeing.
I've made a skirt. Now, it probably doesn't look very exciting, but I know this will be a wardrobe staple that I will wear into the ground.... You see, part of building up a wardrobe that is well-suited to each individual woman, that you enjoy wearing and is versatile and comfortable, is recognising items of clothing that are indispensable for you and your own particular style. For a while now I've been wanting to replace an item that I determined long ago is one of my own indispensables; a short straight sludgy coloured skirt. I was pretty sad when my old khaki corduroy one finally died, it got all stretched out around the waist in an ill-fitting and ugly way, and for the last six months of its life I could only wear it with long shirts hanging out over the top, which was an utterly ridiculous state of affairs, so I finally said goodbye to it. I tried to move on, do without it, but eventually conceded I really wanted another skirt just about exactly like that old one, and soon!
That skirt was thisclose to perfect, but of course a skirt does not qualify as actually perfect in my opinion unless it has pockets. When I checked out the line drawing of the skirt in Vogue 1247; I was pretty excited ... Little skirt; check! Plain and basic; check! Pockets; check AND check!!!! These are all the features adding up to the perfect little skirt in my book... and it also has a waistband, something I am currently into in my skirts.... WIN!
I made the skirt from purple stretchy denim, the leftovers from my plum jeans here. The waistband is black corduroy, with its wrong non-fluffy side out, leftovers from these jeans, and instead of folding the waistband in half so it is self-faced as suggested in the pattern, I pieced the waistband in half horizontally with a lightweight cotton (shot cotton in Ice, also a leftover) to reduce bulk around the waist... just a personal preference. The pockets are lined with the same lightweight cotton.

The waistband is a contrasting black; for the following reason.... usually I add a bit of length to my pattern pieces, but I was working with scraps here and could only cut all my purple skirt pieces to their pattern-stipulated length... and this skirt is short! Now, I like my skirts short it is true, but this one was going to be really short... even by my standards. So I didn't hem, but instead enclosed the lower raw edge of the skirt in the same black bias binding used for the HongKong finishes on all the other raw edges inside the skirt. And cut a new black waistband, so as to have the colour of that black edge picked up somewhere else in the garment.

The HongKong seaming does constitute part of the pattern instructions and there is a pattern piece to aid you in constructing your binding. I dutifully cut this out and make up the continuous bias binding as instructed. However it was too skinny to work effectively on my thick denim fabric, so I ended up cutting a whole new new lot of 50% wider bias binding in black quilting cotton. Which means I have 6.5m of skinny off-white bias binding now, to use in some other project :)

I dyed the finished skirt using 1/4 tsp of iDye in Brown. I'm very happy with this final colour. It is very satisfyingly muddy and richly sludge-y, wouldn't you say? I would describe it as eggplant, rather than either brown or purple. A sort of deep n' dirty purple, that reads as a strong chocolate brown on first sight, but still recognisably has that warm purple-y base underneath when you look at it more closely.
(at left: front, before dyeing, at right; the back after dyeing)

Inside the skirt: at left; the front, before dyeing, and see the pale blue waistband facing? and at right, the back view after dyeing the skirt... that 100% cotton waistband really picked up the brown dye beautifully compared to the denim, which having some synthetic elastane in it didn't pick up the colour quite as vividly....

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1247, purple stretch denim and black corduroy waistband; dyed with iDye in Brown
Top; top "a" from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, of white cotton, details here
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs shoes, details here

Pattern Description:

Short straight skirt with deep front pockets set in a horizontal seam.

Pattern Sizing:

6-12; I cut the size 10

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?

Yes, except that mine is 5cm longer because I did not hem, but finished the raw lower edge with black bias binding.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Yes

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I just love this skirt pattern; the slight A-line shape with a minimal flare, and the pockets most of all. The smaller pattern pieces also enable you to make use of smaller leftover pieces of fabric, which is a big plus...
I like the HongKong seaming in the skirt and the French seaming in the top; that the instructions are encouraging users to finish their garment to high standards.

The skirt is very short as it is, but that is the easiest thing to alter in a skirt pattern...

Fabric Used:

Medium-weight stretch denim, corduroy waistband, lightweight cotton for the waistband and pocket facings, quilting cotton for the bias binding.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I finished the lower raw edge with bias binding instead of hemming; this skirt is short! In stead of the self-faced waistband, I pieced the waistband horizontally in two halves; the outer half is the fashion fabric and the facing half a thin lightweight cotton. I thought this a better choice to face the thicker denim I chose for the skirt fabric. Likewise the pockets are lined in lightweight cotton.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I will definitely sew this again sometime! Probably lengthened... :)

Conclusion:

A short straight fitted skirt, AND with deep pockets? it doesn't get much better than that!

For interest: the lightning vs. fireworks over Perth on Australia Day...

photo by Matt Titmanis; source

Australia Day

2012-01-26T00:32:00.001+08:00

Today is Australia Day, and what better cuisine to enjoy than a meat pie and sauce served on a paper bag. Mmmm mmmm.
Fabio approves.
Wishing all a perfectly wonderful day!

My darling Clementine

2012-01-23T17:39:00.002+08:00

I have made a new top!
A nice floaty loose top perfect for our fiercely hot summer days. And we've sure had a few stiflers lately :S so I will be wearing it immediatemente.
I used Rowan shot cotton... again. This colour is Clementine (and please note I am wearing it with my little lime-print skirt, hehe! gettit?)
I am so addicted to this fabric! It is gorgeously light, an almost not-even-there type of fabric. Which is great for this particular pattern. Why? Well, the pattern specifies French seams throughout, and has a number of convergent seams. Like where there are pleats on both front and back, joining together at the shoulder seam, and particularly! that centre front bit, where there are six French seams all converging to a single point in a star-shape, and themselves all being joined in a final French seam too... if your fabric was even a little bit bulky I would class this a quite a tricky area to get looking nice, and particularly situated where it is, right boom in the centre front of your top it pretty much has to be perfect! Luckily this shot cotton is so marvellously light it wasn't too horrible a job, and I think I got it looking quite neat and tidy.
Of course you don't have to do the French seams here if you wanted to make life easier for yourself... which I stubbornly do not ;)
I used a newbie-to-me pattern Vogue 1247. This was a Christmas present from Sam; but I'm still adding the cost of it to my little 2012 personal-clothing-expenditure ledger, since in reality I chose, sourced and bought it myself!! and he just "gave" it to me. We are very practical when it comes to present-giving in our family...
This pattern is classed as Average; a rating which was a little head-scratching to me. I guess maybe the instructions for finishing throughout with all French seams made them decide to up the difficulty rating a notch, since I can't really think of any other feature that could make this pattern anything other than a very easy project easy imo!
The neckline is finished with a narrow self bias strip... Noice, no? at right; that convergence of French seams from the inside view

I really like the bias-cut facings, folded out over those kimono sleeves....

Narrow hem...

Since the neckline is quite wide I slip-stitched lingerie holders to the shoulder seams to keep those straps outasight, these were a gift from the very lovely Yoshimi... thank you so much Yoshimi!

Probably this top would be far more fabudabulous on a lady with.. er, more fabudabulous assets, but I'm still pretty happy with how it looks on me. I am planning to make the little skirt too, and will review that separately.
Ciao, bambini!

Details:
Top; Vogue 1247, shot cotton in Clementine, from here
Skirt; Vogue 7303 modified, lime print cotton
Sandals; anna, from MarieClaire shoes

And that colour? See below the happy marriage of a light pumpkin warp juxtaposed against a truly neon orange weft; giving rise to that beautifully citrus-y iridescence..

Pattern Description:

Very loose-fitting top; wide V-neckline, kimono sleeves with fold-back facings, the body of the top falling softly from shoulder pleats, interesting geometric seaming on the front creating a nice textural feature.

Pattern Sizing:

6-12, I made a straight 10 (Later edit in response to a comment: this is my usual choice, and I would say the sizing runs true to other Vogue patterns I have made up. It is supposed to be a loose-fitting top!)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?

Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Yes.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I really like the very loose and unstructured shape of this top, and the fact that it will be delightfully floaty and cool for our scorching summers. It's pretty easy to make up. And one just slips it on over one's head with no closure, making it soft and simple to wear. The interesting reverse-situation of the bust darts and the convergent seams at the centre front are nice subtle design features, and best showcased in a plain solid-coloured fabric imo.

And since I did choose a plain solid-coloured fabric with no nap this also meant I could lay the pattern pieces down either side up, allowing a far more efficient pattern layout and leaving myself with plenty of leftovers!

Fabric Used:

Lightweight shot cotton

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

No alterations. I added lingerie holders at the shoulder seams; that very wide neckline means strap exposure would be a given otherwise!

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I will like to sew this again (I always say this and then it could be years before I do! however I would like a few more of these in my wardrobe, if not right this minute then certainly in another colour in another season.

My only advice is that if you are going down the path of French seams throughout as recommended in the pattern, then a thin and lightweight fabric is essential; all those French seams converging together are quite bulky on the inside, and would be difficult to get nice and neat in anything thick. Of course you could always leave off the French seam finish on that horizontal central seam if your fabric was not co-operating...

Would I recommend this to others? yes!

Conclusion:

I love it! The design of this top strikes me as very fashion-forward. Something about the spare minimalism of the silhouette, the sharp lines of that geometric seaming, the beautifully drape-y kimono shape. I could imagine this particular top design on a high fashion catwalk.

Coming to my senses...

2012-01-20T13:34:00.001+08:00

Employing that pleasing dichotomy of minimal with steam-punk in my outfit today... yeah?
Dichotomy.
Is good stuff.
Now, I've had a re-think. And thank you all for helping me to come to my senses! I did feel a little out of my comfort zone after posting yesterday, and after sleeping on it I felt even worse about it ...
The specific cost of my personal things is, I have decided, personal. It feels very uncomfortable for me to be publicising it. That's just the way I was brought up, so I'm not going to excuse that.
Even amongst my closest friends I would not dream of announcing how much an outfit cost. That would be like extreme bad manners... so why did I think I would be OK with doing the same on the blinking internet?? (face palm)
Besides, the numbers I put down here are meaningless to most people who might even read my blog, apart from other Australians. And only fellow Perthies will understand about the fabric and yarn limitations here... And I do not want to attract judgement, condemnation or pity from the inevitable comparisons, which I would certainly do if I really started publicising how much things actually cost here... so I will be keeping tabs on my clothing creations this year, in exactly the guidelines I laid down yesterday, but I will probably be keeping the figures to myself.
Unless I change my mind again :)
A woman's prerogative, you know.... ;)

Details:
Top; top "b" from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton, details here
Skirt; Vogue 7303, ivory wool-mix suiting
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer; from Hobbs shoes

Necklace; urbandon , here
Isn't this the coolest thing?! My new favourite accessory...

Crunching the Numbers...

2012-01-19T14:58:00.003+08:00

I've been pretty inspired by reading some posts by other bloggers on the sum total of their clothing expenditure; particularly Waves with her very interesting breakdown of her clothing costs for 2011 and her feelings and thoughts on the same, and Terri with her plans to stick to a set budget for 2012 and the documentation of such in her blog, and Veronica with her strict accounting during her very impressive Sew Weekly year of 2011.... and I have decided to put my own expenditure under the microscope.
A self-audit. Yikes! Nail-biting stuff, no?!
When Craig and I were first married we were frantically saving and had a very strict control on our costs; I totted up all our incomings and outgoings constantly and stuck to a budget rigidly.... but all that is in the past now! I haven't had to add up each and every cent for a few years, and although I don't think I spend a lot I really have no idea unless I actually do account for myself... and so...
I am going to keep tabs on all the costs of my clothing creations for this year.
Now someone accounting for a RTW wardrobe has it pretty cut and dried, as your clothing just comes with a price tag attached and bob's your uncle... when you are making your own stuff things get a bit more complex... so I've jotted down here a few basic guidelines as to just how I'm breaking it down...

Time frame: I am going to start my accounting from the 1st January to include all the clothes that I finish making in 2012.
Fabrics costs: I'm counting all the materials for all garments made this year. If I don't have the receipt for the fabric anymore and can't remember what it might have cost (some of my fabrics are years old!!) then I shall make my best guestimate. If the fabric was a gift, I'll state that, and count it as free.
I shall not include fabrics bought this year unless I also finish the garment this year. No really, this makes sense. It does! I'm costing my actual clothing here you see, not potential clothing...
Also, the first time I make something out of a piece of fabric I shall include the cost of the entire piece in that garment, and any leftovers used down the track will be considered as already accounted for.
Pattern costs: I shall include the cost of the pattern I use; but only the first time I use it. That is, the full cost of a new pattern will be included in the cost of a garment the first time I use it, but each subsequent time I use the same pattern I shall consider that pattern already accounted for and not include its cost again.
Likewise, for haberdashery: the first time I commence using "something", I shall include the cost of the entire"something" in the cost of that garment, but not for any subsequent garments. So, say, the first time I pop a new reel of thread on the machine I shall count the cost of the entire reel in the cost of that garment, but not for any garments after that until it is finished. Likewise dyes and other sundry bits and pieces...

Does all that make sense? I realise some of those rules might seem a bit odd and are going to seemingly inflate the cost of some garments at the expense of others that will appear artificially inexpensive, but that is the simplest way I could think of doing it...

And please note...! I'm not planning to change my habits at this stage, but merely account for them... This is not an exercise to see how cheaply I can possibly make everything! (Cheap? moi??) There will still be plenty of silk and lace popping up here... (sigh) well, let's just say I would like for that to happen!... I still passionately love beautiful fabrics and yarns, and interesting designer patterns, and I'm not going to deprive myself! I believe my time and effort is worth good quality supplies, and my aim all along in making my own wardrobe has always been to make it the best I can. Still being fabric efficient, naturally. I really just want to see how I am going, cost-wise. So, I will continue to source fabrics and yarns to meet my standards of ethics; supporting my local fabric store as much as I can; and buying fabrics and yarns from countries that have ethical manufacturing practices.

But in the meantime; here is a breakdown of my costs in adding to my wardrobe this year, so far...
The Double-Sleeved shirt:
Fabric $34.60 (includes portion of the shipping cost)
Sleeves; from an op shop shirt; probably cost around $3??
Pattern; been used a whole bunch of times! so free
Buttons; $5.20
Thread; $3.20
Total cost: $46.00
The Calico Cotton cardigan:
Yarn; $80.55
Pattern; $5.95
Buttons; $6.05
Total cost: $92.55
The Sorta Missoni dress:
Fabric; a gift from the lovely Passiona Cottee
Bodice; leftover scraps
Pattern; been used stacks of times, so free
Zip; $2.20
Total cost: $2.20
The Blue-Collar Crime top
Fabrics; leftovers
Pattern; the third time it's been used
Snaps; part of a box of 50 that I bought last year for the boys' birthday coats, still going strong... so I'm counting that as free too
Total cost; free!!

Details:
Shirt and skirt; refashioned from 3 of Craig's old business shirts (so if I was costing this, it would be a freebie!), details here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes
Reading specs; a permanent new addition to the wardrobe (sigh...)
and btw, Bessie is wearing a sneaky peak of my next creation... you saw it here first!

Hot pink shorts; 6 different ways

2012-01-18T11:56:00.001+08:00

So, shorts, and particularly linen shorts are always going to be a warm weather thing and perhaps not an obvious candidate for "see how useful this item of clothing is!".... But I am an Aussie after all, and typically lead a very relaxed and outdoorsy lifestyle that means shorts are an essential part of my wardrobe for just about half the year (I wouldn't choose to wear shorts in winter personally, although I've seen a few magazines trying to sell the idea of shorts-with-tights look; that's just not for me, sorry...)
And I do like to use these 6 different ways posts to showcase garments that have proven themselves runaway useful little wardrobe builders, and that I have grabbed and put on regularly, and have enjoyed wearing. And these shorts that I made using Burda 7723 are sure fitting into this category.
Ergo.
So here are just a selection of the daily outfits that I have worn including my pink shorts lately, each photo taken on each of the days that I wore them... and I've given a few thoughts on my styling choice and how I felt wearing each of these outfits on the day...
At left; I just wanted to try this one because this is the jacket designed to match these shorts in the very same pattern. I felt a little oddly formal wearing this out and about, although I absolutely loved these colours together (reminded me of Frenchy's fab outfit with the pink hair in Beauty School Dropout, Grease) But maybe jacket-and-shorts together is not strictly "me"? At right; with a chambray shirt, sleeves casually rolled up? Definitely "me"! A gardening and sewing day, bliss.

At left; felt quite fashion-y and rather dressed up in this outfit, even though it is actually just a linen shirt buttoned up and tucked in... I received a few compliments! Worn out meeting up with some gal pals... At right; with my little white linen Pattern magic top. Wore this out and about, walking the dog and running errands, and it felt like a perfect match. Will wear this one over and over again...

At left; with a little coffee-coloured, triple-collared shirt, and a light cardi (to avoid sunburn) I thought this cardigan would be a good colour match but was interested that it made my shorts look purple! Loved wearing this, it was a great outfit for a cooler day, and I do prefer a cardi-with-shorts look... At right; with a pale chartreuse loose linen top and matching scarf. I really like the colour wheel opposites here, and the fact that the greens are so pale against the vividness of that pink peeking out underneath. And that it's so comfy and cool...

I've been pleasantly surprised at how this rather in-your-face, look-at-me colour has settled happily into my almost pink-less wardrobe, and how much I have enjoyed them... years of avoiding hot pink because of some misguided fear that it would mark me as "not serious"; I think I've relaxed a bit! So, which one of these outfits would be the most "you", do you think?
(And fyi, the outfit I am wearing today is the last one with the pale chartreuse top and scarf.)

Blue-collar crime

2012-01-15T11:10:00.003+08:00

The charge; gratuitously making for myself the same shirt, a second time. Namely the Vogue 1248 triple collared shirt. Well, how many collars does a girl really need?? (tsk tsk)
No plea entered, as the defendant is so clearly guilty as charged.
Sentenced; to wear it during a humid 37C day and attempt to look cool, calm and collected for a picture.
Verdict for that one; hmmm... what do you think?
OK, I've made another loose 'n light little triple collared shirt. Again?? And so soon after the last effort? I seeeee. Shouldn't you be starting on some of those (ahem) piles of other new patterns, awaiting your attention?
Well those three collars were just begging to be constructed in three different colours, no? I was simply itching to give it a try... and after all that Christmas shirt-making I had just the right selection of leftover scraps to piece together what I envisioned would be a kinda cool look. Not just tri-coloured collars, but a tri-colour shirt, like allover...
I really like this sort of patched look. The blocks of various blues together reminds me of those refashioned denim jeans garments that you see; made of cutting up and re-patching together old blue denim jeans to give a mixed up patchwork of varying shades of indigo. It also reminds me a little of another look I admired in Celine pre-fall 2011, below. Still going with that refashioned denim jeans vibe; I've topstitched all the seams in orange.
The shirt is all shot cotton, bought here. The left front and right back are Sky, the leftovers from this shirt, and the darker blue sections are True Cobalt, the leftovers from this shirt. The right front and left back are of a very pale blue named Ice; and technically speaking this might not qualify as a leftover scrap. I bought this about two years ago with the original intention of making another shirt for Craig, but the very pale baby-blue colour did not find favour... so I have gradually been using it up bit by bit for facing, pocket and lining purposes in other projects, but so far it has not been used in any publicly viewed part of a garment! I managed to cut the pieces for this shirt out of what is left after all that nibbling. So, does that make it a leftover, or not??
This cotton is thicker and more robust than the thin voile I used for my first cafe latte version of this shirt pattern, so the collars do not sit as flat together. But on the other hand, the snaps on those buttonbands feel a lot more secure, and less likely to rip the fabric. Speaking of the buttonbands; I wanted the third blue fabric to feature here, so the four of them have been constructed as separate wraparound bands that sit up over the body of the shirt. That took a bit of extra fiddling and measuring, but nothing drastically difficult.

(below right; from Celine pre-fall 2011, source)

All the seaming in the body of the shirt is flat-felled, and the raw edges of the armhole facings have HongKong finishing, using bias strips cut from the Ice shot cotton.

Details:
Shirt; Vogue 1248, different shades of shot cotton, in Ice, Sky and True Cobalt, my review of this pattern here
Skirt; Vogue 1248, cotton voile, my review of this pattern here
Thongs; ?? crappy blue and white rubber things nicked from my son's wardrobe. I think he must have grown out of these years ago...

Burda 8071; a rogue's gallery

2012-01-12T21:51:00.001+08:00

In my previous post I mentioned flippantly that I had used this pattern nine times, well I was wrong! I have made ten dresses using this fantastically versatile pattern, or at least using key elements of it... and I like to think that the different fabric choices and other little twists have given each one their own distinct personality, so each one stands out as being different from the others in some way.
Below is version 1, never appeared here on the blog before.. because this is the best picture I have of it, and I no longer have the dress, unfortunately! It was made straight -up to the pattern with no changes. The fabric was quite interesting; white cotton with red taffeta ribbon sewn through in a criss-cross fashion just like a corset lacing, and also blue fabric cut into strips and sewn through the fabric in a running stitch (difficult to describe)

Version 2, I still have, but have been using it as my painting dress for a few years. Hmmm, taking real good care of my dresses, huh?? but anyway I was a bit over it and needed a painting dress sooo (blush) at least it is getting worn still, right? The dress part is quilting cotton, printed with golden wattle (Australia's national floral emblem), the bodice is denim, lined with green and white gingham, which is the fabric I used for the pocket flaps also. The little pockets have a pleat in them, and buttons from my grandmother's stash, which will be retrieved before the dress is given the final heave-ho, don't worry. I ran a naive style, pale yellow running stitch around all the denim edges...

Version 3, I no longer have this one either, nor even any pictures of it! but I have reproduced it here, hehe... (and just because I love mucking about, drawing fantasy dresses in my Fashionary) This was of grey/silver metallic cotton, that had a dull metallic sheen to the surface... I made up the gathered bodice version of the pattern and used ivory piping cord for the bodice gathering cord come shoulder straps. It was actually pretty cool, but the sheen on the surface of the fabric didn't last very long...

Version 4; a cocktail dress, using pale pink silk taffeta, and with a heavily sequinned and embroidered overlayer. Shifted the invisible zip closure to the right side seam and added net sleeves, attached to the shoulder straps.

Version 5; back to the princess seamed bodice, made of ivory broderie anglaise cheesecloth. Have worn this one a bunch of times on this blog, and did a 6 different ways post on this dress too. Just the colour and the very plainness of it has made it an incredibly useful little wardrobe builder, and it has been a staple in my wardrobe for the last four years or so... now sadly probably on its last legs if I'm being honest with myself... :(

Version 6; using an old navy-blue polo shirt of Craig's for the dress part and some navy and white striped cotton for the bodice, this is still a hot weather favourite. I used the sleeves of the Tshirt to make inseam side pockets in the dress also, and widened the body of the dress accordingly to accommodate them. (dressmaking details here)

Version 7; adapted the princess seamed bodice to have wider shoulder straps. This dress has an embroidered pale gold silk taffeta skirt and a pale green silk taffeta bodice. I was never super happy with that bodice and eventually ended up removing it. This is now a very successful high-waisted skirt.

Version 8; a beige/pale gold satin petticoat, made to wear under a silk-taffeta cocktail dress/coat. It also went perfectly under this silk chiffon dress, that has been since passed onto Cassie, but I kept the petticoat! Don't worry, she has her own petticoat...

Version 9; a pale pink satin petticoat, made to wear underneath my pink lace dress. This ensemble has also been seen a tonne here on the blog...

and finally
Version 10; the Missoni knit and linen dress I posted about just previously. With the gathered bodice, and with the body darts drafted out of the skirt piece, so as to keep the pattern of the fabric intact.

So! Obviously this pattern has been enormously successful for me in my wardrobe and I highly recommend it! It is simple, versatile and a creative and imaginative seamster can create looks all the way from extremely casual, to lingerie, to extremely glamorous, just by juggling about with different fabrics, different trims and employing a healthy dose of imagination :)

Sorta Missoni

2012-01-10T12:29:00.001+08:00

Firstly, thank you so much for all those lovely comments on my cardigan! I was overwhelmed to read so many kind words... and with regard to my little rant; also to stress that I am not down on Burdastyle per se, which has so many talented and madly creative people to delight and inspire; but just their sucky anonymous ratings system... yes anonymous. A situation beloved by trolls, am I right? It's just a mystery to me why they've still got it... but in short I shall continue to virtually hang-out at Burdastyle and contribute, while simultaneously and quietly acknowledging that the ratings system blows.

But on to far more exciting affairs, ahem; my new dress. The lovely Passiona Cottee sent me this gorgeousness in fabric form in a very generous give-away last year; thank you so much Passiona!
The fabric immediately struck me as very like a Missoni style of fabric, maybe a diffusion line? I wish I knew for sure... The fabric has the signature Missoni design; those distinctive stacked zigzags in a multitude of colours (although having said that I do actually possess a genuine Missoni scarf, seen here, that has hardly any zigzag). Close inspection of my sample revealed seemingly every shade of green under the sun. Das is gut. Green is definitely me. Adding interest to the colour mix; a bit of rust, a dash of salt-and-pepper, a hint of sky blue, the odd startle of vivid orange and even a few rows of ivory; all melding together in a disparate and yet pleasing cacophony of oily swampy shades...
Missoni is a stalwart of the Italian fashion scene and so I wanted make it up into something Italian inspired, and dreamed up this design with a blouse-y linen bodice reminiscent to me of those loosely gathered Italian peasant tops... I only had the teensiest bit of the knit fabric really. Actually, (warning; eco boast following) I used basically the entire piece of fabric... and the bodice is the leftovers from this shirt... so the dress is green in more ways than the obvious, hehe...
I used Burda 8071, a real tried and true, standby pattern that I've used heaps of times before. Lost count actually... (hmmmm just did a mental count, and including two dresses that have gone years ago, I've used this pattern nine times now. Yowza!)
The dress piece was cut with the right side on the fold, to eliminate as much of this side seam as I could. Also, in lieu of body darts which would have destroyed the regularity of the zigzag design, I cut the exact allowance of each dart from straight out of the side edges of the dress pieces (I've done this before too, for this dress here. Works a treat for where sewn-in darts in the fabric are not what you really want, but you still want the shape).
I hand basted the remainder of the right side side edge invisibly together from the right side to ensure the pattern was matched perfectly.
For the left side seam of the dress piece, I cut and sewed bias strips of the khaki linen along the seam allowance, to stabilise the knit fabric behind where the invisible zip is inserted... and the zip was hand basted in place, again so I had complete control of matching up those zigzags as closely as was humanly possible. Yeah; I am neurotic that way, it's OK I admit that... but I am pretty pleased with the results.

The lower hem, well unfortunately the lower edge of the fabric was not in super good nick and was already unravelling in some spots; the stitch loops were threaded through with one flimsy stay-thread which was not doing its job very well. I carefully pulled this out bit by bit, darning where needed, hand embroidering the edge in a tightish blanket stitch leaving lumpy decorative (I hope!) blobs on the points of the zigzags. I'm hoping it looks a bit like a crocheted edge... just the type of crafty finish that I think finishes off this slightly rustic dress to peasant-y perfection.

Dress; Burda 8071, khaki linen and knit fabric.
side view ... and I'm chuffed that I can barely tell that side seam.

and back... Rustic frolicking-in-the-fields would ensue, except that it is a pretty warm day...

Calico cotton cardigan

2012-01-06T14:29:00.000+08:00

The good news: I've knitted a cardigan!
I bought this perfectly lovely ivory cotton yarn at the beginning of last spring, and started this cardigan when I had finished the garter stitch jacket. I can be a pretty quick knitter if I'm in the mood...
The buttons; nacre, with that distinctive subdued sheen that I love, are favourites that I have used on many projects before. They are from Fabulous Fabrics.
This is a great pattern. I like the shaping, done in a dressmaking style like darts in the body, and not shaped in the side seams which is how I've knitted the shape into jumpers and cardigans up until now. A good method. I'm chuffed with this pattern, and will use it again. With variations.
You see; I have bought up quite a lot of this yarn lately and so (this is embarrassing) as well as my fabric stash I now have a yarn stash too. Up until now I have bought wool to knit up immediately leaving myself only with scraps and leftovers.
Why have I changed my ways? well now we come to the bad news:
I got word just before Christmas that the Jo Sharp Knit store here was closing down and was selling off its stock. I am extremely sad about that. I can't bear when local stores and particularly local craft stores, close down. But anyhow, of course I just had to pop in and check out the remaining stock, and bought... a bit... of yarn ;) Now I have enough supply for at least a year's worth of knitting, including a few more little cotton cardigans like this, so it is a good thing that this pattern worked out!

Details:
Cardigan; knitted by me, the Fitted Cardigan 04, version 1 with the lace edging and three-quarter sleeves, in Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton; colour Calico (shade 216)
Camisole (under) Country Road
Skirt; self drafted, charcoal jersey knit
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

Ahem, I wasn't sure whether to write about this here or not, since I don't like to be all sulky sad-face here, buuuut... my double sleeved shirt got such a low rating on Burdastyle that I removed the project. I just felt so depressed about it. Actually I don't whether to even continue on that site. I'm just losing faith in it a bit. OK, a lot. The ratings system is just too awful. I know they've copped a lot of flack for having that rating system, I've been reading the complaints for years, but it is still there. I don't rate other people's projects myself because I think to give a low rating is mean and counter-productive and often completely governed by personal taste. One might not choose to make or wear someone else's project, but I reckon that is not a good enough reason to give it the thumbs down. Speaking on behalf of my shirt, it was pretty darn well-made if I say so myself. A tailored shirt is not an easy project, and is something that's taken me a few shirts to perfect. Particularly when I'm going to the effort to custom fit. Which I am. And as well, anyone who has attempted refashioning with an old garment will know it is way more of a challenge to get a good result than with a perfect piece of untouched new fabric.
Soooo, there it is. Rant over. Sorry about that. Good natured posts should resume soon... once I've got over it.
Have a great day, everybody!

A double-sleeved shirt

2012-01-04T11:39:00.003+08:00

Remember I said I had made 6 shirts over the past month and a half? well here 'tis t' sixth!
This blue shirt was was intended for one of my boys and was pretty much finished, but I was getting more and more disillusioned with it and realising that they would probably not find it in the least bit cool. The colour and the fabric are too flat, the style is too old, and the whole deal is not hip at all... :(( so I set it aside and made other plans for their pressies...
Then I recalled an editorial picture I had seen and loved, of a Celine shirt from pre-fall 2011; which appeared in that picture to have double sleeves. A long sleeve of a different colour peeping out from underneath a prim high-collared short sleeve shirt... I had loved this look and mentally filed it away for future use. Now whammo realised that I had the perfect candidate all ready and waiting!!
So, I went online to find a picture from the original release of the collection (below) and saw straightaway that the sleeve that inspired me is not in fact a double sleeve, but appears to be a single and pieced sleeve with a seam at the midpoint... but by this time I was in love with my falsely inspired idea of the double sleeve and so this was what I set out to do...
I have had this long sleeve, white linen men's shirt (below) sitting in my refashion pile for... ahem, mumble years. Er, hazarding a guess at five? ... cough cough. It doesn't fit anyone in my mob, but is still pretty well-made and the linen is a lovely fine quality. I took the scissors to it and liberated its sleeves (the rest of the shirt will be put to good use, don't worry...)

source

Taking the blue shirt; well I had to cut off my perfect flat felled sleeves and flat felled side seams (a wrench!) and resize the shirt to me, since all my boys are a lot bigger than me. I'm afraid I just didn't have the heart to go through re-flat-felling these seams again either, since I was getting severely "shirted-out" by the time I had got to this one; number six. I was kind of like, oh yeah, whatever, run 'em through the overlocker (brrrrrrrrr! and 10 seconds later) yup, that'll do.
I didn't unpick the pockets either, and just left them completely in situ. This is why they appear quite big on my little chest and are disappearing into my armpits. Hey, I can live with that. The white linen sleeves were also quite massive on me so needed resizing as well... this turned out to be more challenging that it sounds, since the sleeve seam was a French seam and double top-stitched down in place. Tricky! I got there in the end, but the insides are not gorgeous... basically I ended up just overlocking the raw edges of my new seam and double top-stitching this down from the outside to match up with the remainder of the original seam as it goes down in the cuff. The cuff and the placket both are perfectly double top-stitched, and I wanted to keep all that intact and mimic this finish as much as I could. I think the seam matched up pretty good, yes? Can you see where the old topstitching ends and the new begins?

I wanted the sleeves to be fully separate from each other as the white sleeve emerged from out of the blue sleeve, which was a bit of a puzzle to mesh together... I ended up deciding to sew the blue sleevecap in flat, sew up and finish the sleeve and side seams of the shirt; and then after this set in the white linen sleeve. This meant the white sleeves could only be machine stitched in so far.

I completed the set-in by hand.

Last step; to topstitch the allowances of both sleeves together down to the shirt body...

Just to show the garment full-length... (might not wear it this way much)

Luckily I hadn't yet done the buttonholes on the shirt and so could put them on the "female" side of the shirt. I love these gorgeous wooden buttons from Fabulous Fabrics, the same ones that Sam chose for his shirt here.

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767 modified, of shot cotton in Sky and with long white sleeves from an old shirt
Skirt; Vogue 8363 modified, of burnt orange raw silk, details here, my review of this pattern here, and see this skirt styled in 6 different ways here
Shoes; Bensimon, from seed

Flat-felling a curved seam

2012-01-03T15:52:00.002+08:00

Flat-felling gives such a nice finish to tailored items, but if you try it out on a seam with a bit of a concave curve happening it can end up looking messy and not much of an improvement to the looks of the garment after all!
I wondered whether running a line of gathering stitched along the seam allowance might help to solve the problem of turning under that excess fabric around the curve and help it sit nice and flat. So I tried it out on the sleeve cap seam allowance of the next shirt to roll out of the atelier, Craig's birthday shirt, and it worked like a charm... I did take some pictures to illustrate but unfortunately a couple seem to have been lost in a recent computer clean-up :(( so for the missing pictures I shall attempt to explain as best I can... :D
So.
The sleeve cap has been attached flat to the body of the shirt, and the sleeve and side seams of the shirt are still unstitched. I want to flat-fell the seam allowance along that top curve of the sleeve cap. The sleeve cap seam has been pressed up towards the body of the shirt...

Lift up the top layer of the seam allowance and snip the underneath allowance to just less than half its width, just as you would with a straight flat-felled seam (tutorial for that here)...

Now run a single line of gathering stitch along the wider upper curved seam allowance, at the halfwidth line.

Now turn under the raw edge along the line of gathering stitches, treating the line of stitching as the fold line. If the curve is not very pronounced, the gathering may only need to be pulled in just a little... Distribute and ease out the gathering as needed to achieve a flat a finish as possible.

Press and pin in place.

(missing picture here, sorry) I topstitched the seam allowance down from the inside of the shirt; taking great care to keep the topstitching a perfectly even distance from the seam stitching, that is using the seam stitching as the guide to gauging the width of topstitching. If you forget this and aim to topstitch using the folded edge as your guide, it may end up looking a little uneven on the right side (because not even the most careful of us is Perfect at folding under and pressing an exact width fold), and this you want to avoid. After all, the appearance on the outside of the garment is what counts!
To illustrate; here is the underarm at the 4-corner point where the sleeve seam meets the side seam: Below; inside the armhole, that flat-felled edging has a few little bumps along that folded edge because of the allowance not turning under completely even-width so doesn't appear super perfect..

but below; the outside does. So I'm OK with that...

(another missing-in-action shot, so below is an "after" shot) Now I stitched the sleeve and side seam in one go; and flat felled this seam allowance.

Because this seam here is a convex curve the seam allowance has less fabric along the raw edge than the seam, (rather than more fabric as in for a concave curve) and so it folds under more easily. However because there is less fabric, you need to stretch out the seam allowance a little when flat-felling it down. In my experience this is a lot easier to achieve than dealing with the excess fabric in a concave curve, but very rigid fabric may either need a bit of a snip around very tight curves, or alternatively a HongKong finish may be more suitable.

(Hmmm, diverted a little into mathematics territory there, but I hope that helped to illustrate the point!)

I don't know I would bother with flat-felling the side-and-sleeve seam of a long sleeved shirt,; sewing neatly up the inside of a long tube is probably high up the list of things that are disproportionately difficult with consideration to actually how much it really improves the look of the shirt... but I've found sewing up the inside of a short-sleeved shirt to be OK and not too much of a hassle.

2011; a year in review

2012-01-01T14:37:00.002+08:00

A favourite picture from each month of last year. May has two, because I could not choose between them...
January; here.

February; here

March; here.

April; here

May; pretty chuffed with my ballgown, here. I made the accessories and the evening gloves as well, here

May; I just had to put this dress in here as well since it is my favourite garment of the year... here

June; here. This is one of my favourite pictures I've ever taken for this blog.... just the colours of the morning sky and the glassiness of the river and "the twirl" (a mini-challenge within the Me-Made June Flickr group)

July; here

August; here

September; just a really lovely day out; here

October; here

November; bathers! here

December; here

Soooo, 2011; apart from underthings, and one scarf, a souvenir from our holiday in Japan, I did not buy any RTW clothes at all this year! I made things... lots of which I was very happy with. The dawning of a fresh New Year has got me freshly and newly excited about all the fresh new possibilities for making fresh new things. Fresh! New!
On that note; resolutions, of the handmade variety...
A more determined effort to de-stash (oh, we've all heard that one before!)
Continuing to work bit by bit through the challenges of the Pattern Magic books.
And Wardrobe Refashion has gone :( but I'll be keeping to my pledge to make all my own clothes. Although the enthusiasm for making my own underwear still eludes me... but maybe 2012 is the year to change that?

Really, creating based purely on whim and passion is my joy and has served me well so far; so I shall continue wandering aimlessly but happily through the process of making, seizing the inspiration wherever it hits, perfecting techniques as much as I am able, and just seeing what pops up...

Best wishes to all for a wonderful New Year, and I hope it brings all you have been hoping for!

Craig's shirt

2011-12-30T14:31:00.000+08:00

The penultimate shirt, for now... (and I am definitely thinking of something different to make for my boys next year!)
This particular shirt, another Burda 7767, was made using shot cotton in True Cobalt, and is a Christmas present for my husband. I had just made for him a special (imo) new shirt for his birthday recently, but I ran up this other new one as well since I didn't want him to feel left out when the others were all opening their gifts of handmade clothing on Christmas morning. However. This is the sixth mens shirt I've made in the past six weeks, and you might imagine I was becoming just a tad shirted-out by the time I came around to this one...? (if so, you imagined correctly) It was a struggle for me to get enthusiastic about finishing this last one to the standards (ahem) I've set myself and that my menfolk have become accustomed to... :)
In fact it only had the very last little touches put to it just last night :D
The warp of this fabric is a deep periwinkle and the weft is only a barely lighter blue, leading to an extremely subtle "shot" effect unfortunately. Almost too indistinct... in fact to be blunt I was quite disappointed with this fabric when it arrived. I'm used to the Rowan shot cottons really wowing me with their iridescence, but the colour of this one seemed pretty flat to me when I received it. The perils of internet shopping.

So, the fabric being very plain, the shirt really needed some interesting bits and bobs to lift it above the overly mundane. Even though Craig does like his shirts plain-ish I still thought it needed a little bit of something...

There are added arrowhead shoulder tabs and cute little miniature arrowhead sleeve tabs.
It also has weirdly funky diagonal pockets. Hmmm. They seemed like a good idea at the time. I don't think he ever uses them much, anyway.

So! ...as mentioned above; this is my 6th shirt in as many weeks... but I have only posted five! Has all this crazy shirt-making made me see a double shirt somewhere, where there is but one? Well, no. I can still count.... so here's the story; I had practically finished another shirt originally intended for one of the boys' Christmas presents before I decided the fabric was just not right for any of them and put it aside, uncertain what to do with it. And then inspiration struck and now that shirt is in the process of being adapted into something, just a little bit different, and for me... results to appear here sometime soon.
Watch this space...
Later dudes!! (signing off feeling pretty lighthearted since I have finally finished with The Shirts)

Tim's shirt

2011-12-29T16:40:00.004+08:00

I made a shirt for Tim; again Burda 7767 (blush). And I'm embarrassed to confess that there are still a couple more versions of this in the wings too... sorry! I hope lots of mens' shirts will not get too repetitive... in my own defence they are all just a leettle bit different from each other in some way. I hope that is noticeable.
But back to this particular one...
I've noticed that Tim, and lots of young men now, are all wearing their shirts a lot more shrunken in appearance to the classic "men's shirt" silhouette. More fitted to the body, and with shorter and smaller sleeves. So I tailored this shirt accordingly; and in case you're wondering, Sam didn't want for his shirt to be "trendy" like this although I actually did make his a little more narrow in the body than previously too.
I made the sleeves shortish and when he opened his present asked him if he would like them hemmed fashionably even shorter but he said he liked them this length.
I went with snaps for closure, and left off any tabs - there is a good reason for this; below. The arrowhead pockets and their square-cut flaps are cut with the grain and are matched against the shirt background but with no attempt at fancy bias stuff; again, a perfectly good reason for this is coming right up.
The reason for leaving off my "regular" young mens shirt details? well, to use a technical term... this fabric was a blinkin-nightmare to work with, and almost killed my enthusiasm for men's shirts entirely. I seem to make a habit of choosing very sewing-unfriendly fabrics (like here) for Tim's shirts but he always professes love for them and wears them a tonne, so in the long run I'm just happy that he is happy!
The problem with the fabric? crinkly and stretchy. A totally hideous combination for tailoring. You'd think I'd have learned by now, right? I always tell myself it will be easier; this time, and then it never is. My best attempts at making two identical shoulder tabs were so dissimilar I just couldn't put them on the shirt, and just the pockets and pocket flaps were enormously difficult... getting that irregular stretchy check to match up. I know, sounds ludicrous to say that the humble pocket flap almost defeated me, but there it is. I even made up a set of pocket flaps and tabs in a different fabric, but decided in the end they just looked wrong. Honestly Sam's shirt was a walk in the park compared to this one. I fair dinkum revelled in that non-stretchy fabric!
But this fabric was the stuff I just knew Tim would love in his new shirt, I could just picture him in it, and knew that it would sew up into the kind of cool shirt that he would probably pluck out himself if he spied it in a trendy, young mens' boutique. So I just had to go carefully and get there in the end, through sheer determination.
Needless to say there is no flat-felled seaming on this thing. Raw edges all overlocked, and simply top-stitched down just like that. And applying the hammer to the shirt when putting in those snaps felt goooood...
And you know what? Got those darn checks to match up, eventually!

Cassie's dress

2011-12-28T20:39:00.002+08:00

I made a dress for Cassie.
Soooo, in clothing my boys I have played about as much as I dared, adding fun little details and extra bits and bobs here and there to their handmade garments, perfecting the tailoring... but the fact remains that the most glorious and drool-worthy fabrics, the ones I get really excited about when I enter the fabric store, are usually best suited to girls. It is so much harder to find really exhilarating fabrics for boys. A daughter is such fun to dress up, and I have dressed Cassie up her entire life. And I am still indulging in lovely fabrics and designs just for her as often as I can!
This fabric always called to both of us whenever we entered Fabulous Fabrics. If it looks anywhere near half-divine in these pictures then let me assure you it is ten times more divine in the flesh. So to speak. (In the "fabric"??) It is a fluid silk printed with an other-wordly underwater design of strange and disharmonious hues; impressionist seahorses suggested in blotches of emerald, lime and crimson, floating in a deep khaki tracery of seaweed, itself stark against a watermarked sea of unlikely cloudy pink, mauve and royal purple.
Quite beautiful, no?
To make the most of the print, I started out with a real oldie pattern that I have had for a few years, originally a gift from my friend P from her mother's stash. Vogue 7610 is a very simple shift dress with straight side seams (the reason I chose it) and adapted it as follows;
(Warning: dressmaking details following, boring to anyone not interested in dressmaking)
The design had wide front shoulders gathered into the back shoulders; I redrafted these to be the same width so as to eliminate the gathering. I decided that gathering would detract from the print and only the plainest of designs would allow it to shine as much as possible...

I laid the front and back down together, overlapping at the right side seam, and cut out the dress as one whole piece, eliminating the right side seam. Again, to preserve the print intact as much as I could...

Instead of four separate little neckline and armhole facing pieces (unnecessarily narrow and awkward little things if I ever saw them), I cut a whole bodice facing, again all in one (pictured above) and eliminating the right side seam. I left the natural fabric selvedge in place to act as the finish to the lower edge of the bodice facing.
There was just enough fabric to make a kind of narrow obi belt with long skinny ties, but she can substitute one of her long skinny leather ones that wrap around several times about her waist if she wants to dress it down.

I left off the pocket. I had not enough fabric. I was left with literally tiny scraps totalling up to about 15cm square when I had finished. Fabric efficient, or what?!
After a spot of secretive measuring of her existing dresses, plus a few surreptitious try-ons on myself, I determined that the left side seam could also be sewn up and no zip would be necessary for closure. So simple! So basically this is a two piece dress, with no closure. The facings were under-stitched (in pale pink) as much as possible, the raw edges overlocked to finish, and the lower hem hand slip-stitched in emerald green. I agonised somewhat over the thread colour here, but I think the stitches are happily near-invisible, yes? Along with the horizontal placement of the pattern piece onto the print, achieving the perfect hem depth was the next most agonising detail; it is deep enough to make the dress short enough for her tastes, but not so deep as to cut into and unbalance the overall print placement on the dress.

Sam's shirt

2011-12-27T16:16:00.000+08:00

I made a shirt for Sam...
Hmmm, sounds extremely deja vu-y given that this is what I nearly always make for them, for seemingly every occasion requiring gift-giving. But you see, all my boys are sweet enough to appear genuinely pleased to receive my shirts as gifts, and what is more, actually request them.
To have my shirts in demand is such a nice ego-stoking state of affairs, ahem. Plus I do so much enjoy the tailoring process. Yes, really...
So how could I not comply with their wishes??
Using Burda 7767 (shock!) with modifications, and he came with me to Fabulous Fabrics himself (genuine shock!) and chose the checked fabric and the wooden buttons to go with it. This fabric is a polycotton, non-stretchy but with a permanent crinkle in it.
Fair warning; excessive chit-chat about pattern matching coming up...
Below; the back yoke... when one is working with checked fabric like this, it is imperative to a rabid obsessive like me that that slight concave curve of the upper back edge be spaced evenly across as well as for the straight lower yoke edge be exactly even across the seam-line, and for the stripe to not disappear very slowly down into one side of the seam, which especially in a crinkly fabric like this can happen almost without you noticing... and require unpicking and re-doing, ahem. Anyone who has sewed with stripes and checks has visited that one before, I'm sure.
Probably why I have this lazyman's preference for solids when tailoring...

Also, just an aside, when I am using less stable fabrics, such as this crinkly fabric, to make tailored shirts; I cut the two yokes one with the grain and the other cross-grain as pictured below. I find this gives a bit of extra stability in an area of high strain.

Purely decorative buttons, one on each sleeve hem.

I went to enormous pains to match up the check pattern on the bias-cut arrowhead pockets as it relates to their corresponding bias-cut arrowhead flaps. They are perfect, if I say so myself. I'm not even going to mention how much minute twiddling, precision-pressing and adjusting this took... oh wait, I just did :) LOTS! Also please note that the two pockets and their flaps are exact mirror images of each other. Over Christmas Day lunch I started what I thought was a very interesting conversation with some female relatives about this sort of dressmaking minutae... until I noticed them glazing over fairly early in the piece and stopped. Incidentally, do other seamsters find that variations in the structure of clothing is a compelling and perfectly good topic for conversation, and that it is inexplicably hard to incite any passion at all in "ordinary" people who take their clothing totally for granted and don't notice nor even care about the All-Important Details?! sigh, I guess this is why we blog...

So, back to the shirt at hand... oh, and by the way, please note the collar has purr-fectly symmetrical pattern placement. Thank you.
And tabs, matching mirror images of each other.

Okaaay then, that's it.

Introducing Fabio

2011-12-26T11:03:00.002+08:00

After our Christmas lucky-dip yesterday I have become the custodian of a funny little fellow

He has been christened Fabio.
After an eventful Christmas day, Fabio is having a quiet one today, as is the rest of his new family.

On the other hand, guess who plucked out the silk scarf that I made?

I promise there was no collusion; it was the last pressie left in the bag and she was the last to "dip"!

I reckon my husband (once again) thought of the best Christmas gift idea. We each opened something like one of these.

A small silk surprise

2011-12-24T09:56:00.004+08:00

I think it is safe to put this here since no one in my family is going to be reading my blog at this late stage in the game...
And if you are a family member reading this, then quickly; avert your eyes! Now! :D

There is to be one of those Christmas lucky-dips-with-a-strict-budget at the family gathering this year and I racked my brains to come up with a wearable something, both lovely and of high quality as well as handmade. My gift had to be for a girl, and had to suit any one of a range of hair and skin colours; from beautifully grey, to a pale ash blond, to rich chocolate-y black, and to a true strawberry blond. All divine hair colours on their individual heads, and for each of which I would rejoice in choosing just exactly the right colours, if only I knew which fair hand would be the one to pluck out my own little offering...
I spied this absolutely delicious silk chiffon at Fabulous Fabrics, and could buy just enough for a little scarf. With its shades of warm pale pink, blue-y murky green, bronze and with just a little bit of black I reckon it is perfect. It spoke to me a sense of dusky, pastel, subtle and yet warm and rich, all at the same time. What a find!
Simply edged with a rolled hem in black.

And just because this picture below made me smile (seeing Sienna's furry face always does) and just because "finding the dog" is fun...! can you spot her this time?

Details:
Scarf; silk chiffon (and don't worry, it was only worn for just these few pictures before being safely tucked away)
Dress; modified Simplicity 3745, pink lace and pink border lace, details here
Petticoat; Burda 8071, pink satin, details here
Sandals/thongs (new! a present to myself!); Misano from Marie Claire shoes

(impatiently) What? Not more photos... let's go, already!

Aegean gracefully....

2011-12-22T19:13:00.002+08:00

(Forgive the pun; I couldn't resist! You don't want to be anywhere near me after a few drinkies... Really)
You see, today is my husband's birthday; and I have made for him a shirt using Burda 7767 (surprise!), of Aegean shot cotton.
At the risk of self-big-noting... ah what the heck. This is my most well-finished shirt to date, if I say so myself. I went down the path of extra immaculateness as far as inner appearances go, and flat-felled the armscye seam allowances as well as the side and sleeve seam allowances. In some fabrics this might be tricky wicky, but in this amazingly lovely fabric (about which I have previously raved) it turned out to be very achievable... I'm pretty chuffed at how it turned out!
(below left; view of side, armscye and sleeve seams inside the shirt, right; lower hem and both inside and outside view of side seams)

Modifications to the pattern; well, I absolutely love this pattern (obviously, as this is just the latest in a very very long line of my efforts with Burda 7767) but it is super-basic. Honestly; great pattern, but it is pretty much a blank canvas... So once again my long-suffering husband is the innocent victim of experimental, and fortunately minor, mucking about; which he will have to wear out and about in the big wide world for everyone to see... This time I tried out "coat of arms" shaped breast pockets, and shallow, extra wide pocket flaps that extend out well beyond the edges of the pockets. This feature is echoed in miniature on the sleeve hems, with their own little "coat of arms" shaped tabs tucked under a turned-up sleeve cuff. Kinda ups the funk-factor in an acceptably low-key way, no? Well, I think so... Since the sleeve cuffs obviously run the full distance around the sleeve hem, I toyed briefly with the idea of extending the breast pocket flaps to fill the entire width of the shirt front to fit in ... but decided that might be too weird for my husband to consent to wearing. Sartorially speaking he is a pretty conventional bloke, actually; he likes stuff to be ... plain. I think I shall have to work him up gently to wackier stuff like that.

I sewed decorative buttonholes onto the collar points; now one of my favourite standard features to add to a man's shirt, and curved the lower hem. The last is a given, now.
The colour of the fabric is a result of an ultramarine warp with a bright turquoise weft, giving it that iridescent oceanic glow. Kelly green for the thread and the buttons just seemed to "go".

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767 with modifications; of Aegean shot cotton

below; the Superman pose

Now our Aegean Superhero is being taken out to a slap-up birthday dinner by his wife and kiddies. Cheers all!

It isn't easy being green...

2011-12-20T11:54:00.003+08:00

... at Christmas time. Oh tosh. Of course it can be VERY easy!!
Something I feel guilty about every year is the massive pile of wrapping paper that gets tossed out on Christmas Day. We go through our wrapping paper on the day, salvaging bigger unripped pieces to recycle as much as we can, but the "keep" pile gets smaller each year and after you've cut off the mangled bits the pieces get smaller too. And the next year there're always one or two bigger pressies that need LARGE amounts of wrapping paper and one always ends up buying a few more rolls just to keep yourself topped up in wrapping paper and just because you don't want to run out...
and I feel guilty about buying new paper all over again.

well not this year!
I decided to go really green, and use newspaper this year. Remember my eco-friendly gift bags? Yes, I am still making up those to use in all my other gift-giving too. Actually I really do like the muted and monochromatic look of newsprint; the rustic look of it appeals to me more than bright glossy sparkly paper.
The little tags were made using a piece of lightweight cardboard found rolled inside a poster, and the little gingerbread man stamp I've had for years, from back when I was really into card-making and made all my own cards. Actually, I still do make most of my own cards... which doesn't take up very much time since my designs lean towards the very simple in style, which is my style.. A time-consideration thing there as well as my personal taste.
Just to make it all a bit more personalised; I select parts of the newspaper that suit that person. So, Tim is into cars in a big way, and Cassie is fashion-conscious. Sam loves the comics and the puzzles, and then for my man who loves to dream of travel... the luscious scenery in the travel section.

So, no guilt come clean-up time. And let's face it, it is the gift inside that really counts, right?!

On the rocks...

2011-12-17T22:49:00.000+08:00

... in my on-going part-time quest to get great pictures with my dog; can you see her? She is there in the picture... just.
Camouflaged well in amongst the rocks...
Blue and green together is such a great summer time colour combination. They look so fresh and clean together.
In sewing news; I am squeezing an insane amount of sewing in amongst glasses of champagne, canapes, and strawberries and small pieces of chocolate fudge cake impaled on skewers so you can dip them into a chocolate fountain... and btw, YUM (it's a tough life but somebody has to do it) But all my current projects are top secret coal-and-dagger stuff; mwahaha. To be revealed at a later date....

Details:
Top; from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, green cotton jersey, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, details here and my review of this pattern here
Cardigan; Metalicus

ps. she is the slightly more orange "rock" at the top left.

Blue bunches top; 6 different ways

2011-12-15T16:01:00.000+08:00

I thought this little top, from p58 of "Pattern Magic 3" by Tomoko Nakamichi (seen first here), might be a versatile little thing from the very first, since I tried wearing it both frontwards and backwards and it looked equally OK both ways... And then I started playing around with it and found that it could literally be worn in six different ways, and I don't just mean jamming it randomly into six different outfits! although I did put together six different outfits too.... just because it is fun, y'know :)

At left; the top worn in its intended form as it appears in the pattern book, that is with the round neck and ties (or "bunches" as I think of them) at the front, and the V-neck at the back...... And at right I am wearing it back-to-front and with the V-neck at the front and the ties hanging down at the back. Oh, I know the details are covered up some in this picture but well I had to throw in just one slightly winter-y option into the mix! And really I'm just trying to show how the top is all-seasonal, layering with light cardis during the cooler months too... (if you want to see this "way" fully and without a scarf and cardi over the top it is shown better here)

Also, the bits that form the "bunches" can be taken out and folded down against the body, and then the top can be tucked into a high-waisted garment. This way it just looks like an ordinary little plain tank top. I dunno if it is just me but I do think the round-neck at the front (at left) is a tad more dressy while the V-neck looks more casual.

Lastly, those "bunch bits" can be left loose and free, and the top takes on even more different and interesting shapes. Again, I think the V-neck and the longer length at the front (on the right) is somehow a more casual look.

Interesting, huh? Who would have thought that one little top could work in so many ways?
Oh, what am I wearing today? I am wearing the fifth outfit; "all out" and with the round neck and shorter length at the front (just above, and on the left) I reckon it looks pretty funky like this too...
Which "way" do you like the best?

Iceberg garter-stitch jacket

2011-12-13T23:22:00.001+08:00

With impeccable timing I have finished a toasty warm little knitted jacket. Yeaah, just in time for these really hot hot summer days ahead, hehe... I'm a bit sad about having to pack it away for a while, but that's my own silly fault for starting my new winter cardi during winter.
;)
It is the shorter (version 1) Garter Jacket from Jo Sharp Knit 6... As soon as I laid eyes on this design I loved the boxy shape and interesting stitch arrangement but when I saw an actual made-up example in real life I thought it was a bit bulky and a bit big in the body for my tastes. So I took a punt that using a finer gauge yarn could work out quite good.... and I think it did! Basically instead of using the thicker gauge Aran Tweed recommended in the instructions I used the thinner DK Tweed, knitted up to its own recommended tension (not the one in the pattern instructions for the thicker yarn) and I also knitted up the very smallest size. I still followed all the instructions for number of stitches and rows etc... but the smaller scale gauge of the thinner yarn resulted in a smaller and finer cardi; not too thick and just right in my opinion.
Another bonus to this approach was that I needed only 9 balls, as opposed to the 11 balls required in the thicker yarn.
Those gorgeous wooden buttons are made by Dad. Thank you Dad! I am lucky to have such a clever father.

Details:
Cardigan; Garter stitch jacket from Jo Sharp Knit 6, in Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in colour Iceberg
(the individual pattern is available by digital download here)
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified, rusty stretch corduroy, details here and my review of this pattern here

A handmade Christmas, II

2011-12-10T10:14:00.001+08:00

some Christmas decorations...
a series of mittens and gloves, of a single width of felt and decorated in various ways. These made nice and simple little gifts for friends. The little glittery gold bell was made by a 4 yr old Sam, and he made 4 of these in different colours and shapes. Cassie made the stuffed stocking

a fairy... a lot of girls of my age would have come across this project, made out of safety pins and beads. I think it was out of a magazine, or on Better Homes and Gardens, or something like that. A group of my friends and I all made one together. Her place is on the top of the Christmas tree, when she has a fairy light stuck up under her skirt (keep it clean now) she actually looks pretty speccy*! (* Aussie slang for spectacular)

... beaded snowman and white beaded and embroidered pillow both from kits (by me); the blue sequinned and embroidered stocking by a pre-school Cassie

Using up some leftover wool, one year I made a series of knitted envelopes filled with pot pourri, to give to friends. The star buttons are made from Fimo clay, painted with acrylic paint and with glitter sprinkled onto the wet paint. (the gold and green ball was a kindy project by Sam too)

A few years ago I got really enthusiastic and made everyone in our family a glitzy Christmas stocking; big enough to be worn on a real adult foot, believe it or not... These are all of satin, each front and back double-layered and padded with old ironing board padding (yup, I keep stuff like that, just in case; sad, huh?), and with velvet cuffs, all decorated in an individual way. They each have a cotton loop to hang them up, even though they never ever actually get hung up since I baulk at having nails hammered into our beautiful jarrah mantlepiece... (that's an over-my-dead-body sort of a thing) They usually lie flat around the bottom of the Christmas tree.

A handmade Christmas

2011-12-09T08:23:00.000+08:00

I do admire other people's Christmas trees, the ones which are all glitzy and sparkly and beautifully colour co-ordinated, sometimes even with a new colour scheme each year, but it is just not for us. We have a small artificial tree that we use each and every year. It was bought when we were first married 23 years ago and our collection of decorations has grown and been added to over the years and each one tells a story. Hardly any of our decorations have been bought cold, as a finished object.
Some of them are souvenirs that we have bought on overseas holidays, or are gifts from dear friends. Our most precious decorations are the ones that our children made with their own chubby little fingers, and proudly brought home from kindy, daycare and preschool, and even sometimes as they got older too! I used to be into beading and embroidery, and so made some decorations too... and some of our decorations are little things I did with the kids as fun little activities, to fill in those long weeks when Craig was working and we were home alone.

According to Aussie tradition, these gumnut babies have to be hung somewhere so they can "see" a gum tree. (embroidered and beaded on cardboard by me)

one year, Cassie and I ceremoniously transformed her Kelly dolls into elves and pixies... Tim made the sparkly gumnut elf with googly eyes...

Cassie made this beaded gingerbread man...

you can make cool decorations using origami too... one small sheet of paper is all it takes!

the advent calendar... when my children were little this would have 3 lollies tucked into each heart pocket, and it was such a treat to take one out just before bedtime... ! The top heart would have 3 Freddoes; it was a tight squeeze to get them in there but you've got to have something a wee bit special for Christmas Eve!

a clothes peg with toothpick arms and wrapped up in embroidery thread makes a cute Father Christmas... don't you think?

a pine cone. stuffed randomly with glued-in cellophane and tinsel, makes a pretty good table decoration I reckon. This is the very first one Tim brought home from kindy, and the beginning of my obsession with non-commercial handmade decorations...

A tale of a purple dress

2011-12-06T11:48:00.001+08:00

Once upon a time, an avid seamstress took a trip far far away to Melbourne. There she visited the fabled Tessuti’s and spenteth up big on fabric. Including a piece of slippery dippery shot rayon-y stuff in a wonderful plummy-chocolate-y sort of a colour. The rich and gorgeous colour of a ripe eggplant. The fabric was borne home, lovingly folded and put carefully away and just taken out every now and again for speculative draping over the seamstress’ faithful dummy Bessie, before being re-folded and tucked away again, awaiting the Perfect Project.

The months marched by.

The lovely fabric was still sitting there, taunting the seamstress, Perfect Project-less, and fast becoming that dreaded stuff; Fabric That is Too Good To Sew Up. The seamstress realized this and took it out again, determined to make something utterly fabulous with it. She cast about, more seriously this time, for the Perfect Project. The beguiling dress 102 on the cover of 06/2011 Burdastyle magazine caught her eye, again… actually the very reason she bought this magazine. It was a promising looking number for summer; loose and elegant, and just the thing for flowy slippery dippery sort of fabrics. The seamstress did all her prep, and then bravely sliced into the precious fabric. She made up her dress, pinned up the hem, and hung it up for the requisite couple of days (being an old hand, she knew all the rules regarding bias-cut) Then she put it on. Lo, and the mirror reflected back to her a frump. A complete and utter frump.

The seamstress realized that her delicious and expensive fabric the colour of an eggplant had magical powers and had transformed her into one... just like when Cinderella was transformed into a pumpkin (oh OK OK, that was the coach not Cinders… but you getteth the idea)

Bitterly disappointed, she took it off and hung it out of sight for a few days; busied herself with easier projects, like making Pattern Magic stuff out of scraps. Then took out the Eggplant costume again (for this is how she now thought of it) Studied it. Had a brainwave, and chopped off 14cm. Pinned the hem, hung it up for the next few days again, blah blah. Tried it on. Lo, and the shorter length had worked wonders! Gone was the bulbous look! The seamstress felt victorious. Hand-stitched a narrow hem. And wore the dress out. And catching sight of herself in a shop window, noticed in a certain light a sheerness to the dress, the shadow of underwear showing through, that had not previously been apparent in the bathroom mirror…

Doh!

She despaired, but briefly; rallied and then quickly made a little slip-on petticoat. It was thrown together somewhat, but finally the gods were smiling on the seamstress because the petticoat was perfect.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Details:

Dress; Burdastyle magazine 06/2011, dress 102, purple shot rayon

Petticoat; self-drafted, from lightweight navy blue polycotton (the last leftover bit after making this)

The fabric is shot rayon; with a red warp and a dark blue/grey weft, giving it an overall browny-purple hue. Craig took this last candid photo which illustrates quite well how the fabric takes on different colours in the light (a hallmark of shot fabrics)

Pattern Description:

Flared bias-cut dress with an oval neckline which according to the magazine description “accents an alluring décolleté “ (hehehe) Small gathered cap sleeves, inseam side pockets, no closure necessary.

Pattern Sizing:

European 36-44; I made the size 38

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?

Yes, except that mine is 14cm shorter.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Not too convoluted, by Burdastyle standards.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I really love the neckline of this dress, the cute overall shape of the bodice part of the dress and the fact it will be wonderfully cool and comfortable this summer.

Unfortunately the pattern is a little… odd-looking in its finished form :S I think this might well be due to the bias cut, which when combined with that gathered neckline; well I should have foreseen how huge this would make the front of the dress look. I am not fond of the maternity look, been there done that and at my age I’m well past all that!! However, looking closely at the dress I thought the baby bump effect was created partly by the length of the dress, and that the weight of the fabric caused the front to curve back inwards towards your body, in a sort of “bulbous” effect. I took 14cm off the length and I think this drastically improved the shape of the dress. The removal of this extra weight of fabric allowed the hemline to sit up and flip out more fully, giving more of an A-line rather than an eggplant silhouette.

Fabric Used:

Lightweight shot rayon, with a very slippery silky feel to it

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

Contrary to the instructions I sewed the pocket pieces to the dress before sewing up the side seams. Why would you sew up the side seams before attaching the pockets anyway? That doesn’t make sense to me at all.

The instructions tell you to attach the sleeve binding before sewing up the side sleeve seams… I sewed the side seams of the dress, then sleeve seams and then set in the sleeves; then I attached the binding to the lower edge of the sleeves and slipstitched it over by hand. Just a personal preference…

The “bigness” of the dress combined with a quite long length added up to an unfortunate overall frumpiness… so I ended up taking 14cm off the length and this improved the silhouette of the dress enormously, imo.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I’m curious as to whether this would look better in a straight-cut; and I might just try this out sometime… Otherwise it might be worth reducing the width of the neckline (and thus some of the excess fabric from out of the front of the dress) to see if this reduces the unfortunate “baby bump” effect.

Would I recommend this to others? well, this would definitely make a fabulous maternity dress!

Conclusion:

My first reaction to the unhemmed dress at the longer length was disappointment, but taking off that crucial 14cm in length and I am happy! I really like this at the shorter length. But I wouldn’t make this again, at least without trying a few adjustments, like taking away at least a bit of that excess fabric around the middle…

This might work better in a lightweight cotton or something else not as slippery and slithery as the fabric I chose. Bias cut rayon is not much fun to work with.

Flat-felled seaming

2011-12-04T15:22:00.003+08:00

Flat-felled seaming is a good finish for a seam where there might be some strain and so where a bit of extra strength is a good thing, such as shoulder seams. You see it on jeans too... Also where double topstitching a seam allowance down is indicated, such as the armscye seam allowance on a tailored shirt, or the princess seams on a tailored ladies' shirt. I used flat-felled seaming in the latter way on my little triple-collared sleeveless shirt made last month, and took a few photos to illustrate...
Sew the seam and press the stitching, as normal...

Press the seam allowance to the side that it is to lie permanently...

Carefully snip the underneath seam allowance to just less than half its width, taking care to NOT snip the upper seam allowance...

Fold the upper seam allowance over the lower narrower one, encasing it inside, and press... This is pretty easy to get nice and even if you are sewing a relatively straight seam, such as a shoulder seam. It takes more careful pressing to get this bit nice and even if you are flat-felling a slightly curved seam, such as a princess or an armscye seam. If the fabric was not pliable and the edge was very curved I would even consider running a gathering thread along that upper seam allowance to help it fold in and sit flat, but we're talking extreme couture stuff there! Something for another tutorial...

Stitch down...

Finished! and doesn't it look nice from both the inside (at left) and the outside?
It might seem like a bit of extra work, but it is only a leetle bit of extra work, really! Increasingly, I'm aiming for my clothes to look just as good on the inside. I think well finished garments are such a joy to wear, to launder and to, well, just to have.
Sounds so dorky, but I do get such a buzz if I feel something is truly the best I could make it...

Aquarama

2011-12-02T09:23:00.002+08:00

I made a skirt for my daughter…

I used another piece from the bundle of fabric given to me by my friend C, from her late mother’s stash. Going by certain clues (only 90cm in width, a stapled-on tag from a long-gone local store with imperial measurements penciled on it) this piece must be at least 35 years old, and probably the loveliest piece of the lot; densely woven, light/medium weight and slightly crisp with a matte crepe-y texture. It cut like butter and sewed together beautifully. I don’t know if it was expensive, but it feels like it could have been quite expensive… and I even started to wonder if it could be silk so I did a burn test on a scrap. Well, it shriveled up faster than you can say “omg, where has my skirt gone?!”

SO, a fairly important modesty as well as a safety tip there for Cassie….

The print, of random wave-y rows of organic turquoise blobs on a snowy white ground is pretty cool… don’t you think? Lava lamp-ish, sorta. Optimistic and space-age-y both, just like the 60’s and 70’s were. So a bubbly kinda print for a bubbly kinda skirt, y’know. I think it works well, stylistically. And she likes it!

I used Burda 7370, the 2-layered skirt in view B but without the extra insert bits. I knew she liked this shape, since it is a pattern we bought together for her recently and she has made one up for herself already in a denim-blue burnt-out jersey. Having Cassie’s perfectly custom-fitted version for comparison made this second version an easier job for me…. Incidentally, I think it is interesting that Cassie has exactly the same fitting issues as me; taking in several centimetres off the waist is a given in any skirt pattern.

The skirt lining is of pale blue shot cotton in Ice, hemmed by folding in twice and machine stitching. All the raw edges inside the skirt are overlocked to finish, and the hems on both layers finished with the rolled hem on my overlocker.

Details:

Skirt; Burda 7370 view B, turquoise and white print synthetic crepe, at least 35 years old

Camisole; Country Road

In twirl mode...

Pattern Description:

Flared skirt, either two or three layers, two yoke variations and side zip

Pattern Sizing:

European 32 (US 6) to European 42 (US 16). I made the size 8.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes, except that I left off the extra inserts.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

very easy

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

Love the cute flippiness of this skirt, a perfect dancing skirt for a girl who loves to dance like my daughter. It looks adorable when on, swishes about gloriously and accentuates her waist beautifully.

I’m not thrilled that it requires such a lot of fabric, but that is just stinginess talking… The first time she made up this pattern and we were buying the (not particularly cheap) fabric that she had chosen, I really had to bite my tongue at how much it was costing! However she did a superb job of making it up. And she’s worn them a lot. This version pictured here is the second skirt using this same pattern.

Fabric Used:

Light/medium-weight synthetic crepe

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

The pattern is gorgeous just the way it is. The only alteration to the instructions I would suggest is my usual one; when inserting an invisible zip I get a much better and smoother result by sewing in the zip BEFORE sewing up the rest of the seam allowance below the zip. This requires some careful measurement to get the lining and skirt seams lined up and sewn up perfectly, but is worth it for the superior finish.

I finished the lower hem using the rolled hem stitch on my overlocker.

Other than that, the only adjustments I made were just custom-fitting issues, taking in a few centimeters off the waist.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Probably will sew this again for my daughter.

If you love to dance and twirl about then do I highly recommend this one!! My daughter cannot resist sashaying about, just by putting this skirt on!

Conclusion:

Uses a lot of fabric, but is so cute and feminine and so darn flippy that it is well worth going there. My daughter went out dancing with her friends, was the only one in her crowd not wearing a miniature mini dress, and the only one who didn’t have to worry about constantly pulling down said miniature mini dress whilst on the dance floor. She enjoyed that freedom, and said that she got lots of compliments… win! Apparently she got offered lots of free drinks too... hmmm

Situation (ab)normal...

2011-12-01T15:20:00.001+08:00

I wasn't sure whether to address this here, but I did get some comments about my disappearance from blogland (and thank you for noticing, and commenting! It was nice to be missed!)

So, here is the story in case it happens to anyone else...

If you didn’t notice, then for one awful day my blog was temporarily removed from online, and my account temporarily disabled. Although the word “temporary” was scarily not used… I was completely horrified when it happened. Losing my blog, and my profile; I felt like I had lost a part of myself. It was a very glum day!

I was given an option to send a message to google, which I did. Then sat tight and waited. Then my husband, who is a bit of a computer whiz, turned up and started working at it, which I implored him not to do (thinking he might only make things worse) We applied to change my password, which involves getting a link sent to your nominated email address, and here it was important to have that back-up email address there since I no longer had access to my google one, remember, my account had been disabled! A password reminder link was sent to my backup email, which could only be activated by a code sent to my mobile phone number, also entered into my original google profile (thank goodness I had filled all these options out) We managed to change my password, and at that moment the problem was fixed; I had access to my profile again and my blog was restored. Such a relief!

Even so, Craig and I are unsure whether google had received my message and acted on it really fast, at that very moment; or whether it was our changing the password that did the trick. Apparently, there was “unusual activity” on my account, possibly a hacker, which caused the automated shutdown, designed to protect my blog.

And, if that is the case I have a personal message for that hacker… if you are reading this, then CURL UP AND WITHER, SCUM! You need a life, mate, or at least a hobby, so go out and get your own and don’t try to poach on mine!!! (hairy eyeball, pointing the bone)

During my downtime I did some serious self-searching. Would I be happy without my blog? Should I just let it go? Should I start again? I have backed up my posts as web archives along the way, so I have all my old posts for my own reading should I ever lose it online for good. I started doing that about a year ago, and am glad I did so since this little scare… My blog has become more than just documentation of my self-made wardrobe, my sewing, knitting and handcrafting. It is an artistic journey too. It has sometimes taken on the mantle of a pseudo diary, particularly during those self-stitched months. Those months are interesting to me now, and will be more interesting to me to look back on in the future too, since those months of my life stand out from the months around them, with a clear jog-the-memory of what I was doing and thinking and my moods and so on. I want to keep that…

But, more than that, my blog has become something else that I hadn’t fully appreciated when I started it… I have become part of a real community of like-minded people! Would I ever want to give up those friendships? Well, naturally I would not! I’ve met such a lot of people by this medium that I could never have met nor got to know otherwise. I know most of us haven’t met up for real, but that doesn’t mean I feel any less of a kinship with many of you. Just like when I met Yoshimi and Novita and Darci, we had an immediate understanding and friendship, even though we were actually meeting for the first time. And I feel it would be the same with many many others with whom I exchange words of encouragement via our blogs and websites… sounds strange; but in an increasingly virtual world and a global community blessed with instant easy communication, we are making friends. A new modern form of friendship, but friends just the same. It would be awful to lose all that!

So, in short, I am very glad to be back, and I also take this opportunity to thank all of you who do read my blog, who comment, and who take an interest.

THANK YOU!

(A bouquet of flowers picked from my parent's garden. It doesn't get any more beautiful than this, imo)

Dreaming, of chocolate

2011-11-29T17:08:00.002+08:00

Y'know how you see some patterns, and you're like, oh so easy!! but you go ahead and buy or trace-out or copy-as-exactly-as-possible anyway?
That's how I felt with this Tshirt pattern; top 106 from Burdastyle magazine 06/2011. I just liked the shape of it, exactly as it appeared in the magazine; the subtle kimono sleeve, the boxy looseness of it. So I hauled out the ol' tracing stuff and spread out the sheets and traced out this very very basic Tshirt/dress (you can make it a bit longer, and surprise! it is a dress! in true Burda magazine style, they elongate top patterns and give it a different number, making out it is a whole new pattern) even though all the while wondering that there was really nothing to it and maybe I was wasting my time and my tracing plastic. And my final thought; there really is nothing to it! Too easy!
However; made up, I am still enamoured of the cute shape and the very easy-to-wear and flattering kimono-sleeve. I will make this top up again, and properly next time. Because I admit it, this particular example is far from... well, gorgeous. To be honest, I think it is soon to become my bed-time attire, ... woooh, such a glamour puss, no?!
But, here is my reasoning ... remember this sundress? (below right) It has been a hot weather staple for quite a few years and I have finally bid it adieu. The zip pull was finally paintless, the straps had come adrift and been reattached with zig-zagging (discreet, but still unacceptably visible upon close inspection) a couple of times each, and the fabric is ... old. I eventually realised it was not doing me any favours at all... But I still loooovee this colour, and there was plenty of fabric in the dress.
The thing with using old fabric for making new clothes is that; well obviously you are using old, and worn, and many times washed fabric, and usually that all shows and not to advantage either! Old fabric gets thin, stretched and mis-shapen in some parts of a garment and not others, and so has limited application for smart new items. But I still like to use old textiles as much as possible, saving the planet and so on and so on. Assuages the guilt of my eco-conscience, if you like.
The neckline of this Tshirt here is slightly higher and not-as-sharply-V as the pattern, and instead of facings for which surprisingly there was not enough fabric, I made bias strips to finish the neckline and sleeve edges. Since the original dress was cut on the bias, so the Tshirt is too. And it is a little shorter than the pattern stipulates, again due to fabric shortage. And even though this is just going to be a jammie top, the shoulder seams are flat-felled and the side seams are French seams. Well, one may as well practise where one can, right?
Y'like?

Details:
Top; Burdastyle magazine 06/2011, 106 modified slightly, chocolate brown bobbled and embroidered cotton, a refashion of a sundress also originally made by me
Trousers; (hmmm, these are getting pretty old too...) self-drafted, based on a pair of old jeans, of white linen, details here

Funny...

2011-11-27T15:44:00.005+08:00

In the midst of catastrophe; a funny story, this snippet from Saturday's West Australian. Please enjoy. It certainly gave me a laugh. That poor moggy!

In regards to the bushfire; the firefighters saved about 370 homes in the path of the fire. I was utterly amazed to see on the news the helicopter view of some of these houses; looking like perfect little oases stuck in the midst of acres and acres of grey-white ash with leafless black tree-trunks poking out of the ground all round; absolutely incredible!! Such a fantastic effort...

In the past nearly-a-week, I've been doing my yearly duty of staying at our beach house, guarding it against the expected hoards of drunken marauding teenage school-leavers. Well, that is how the media like to portray leavers, anyway... I can only guess whether the extras diverted from the bushfire areas are here, since as usual it is pretty quiet and I've only seen small groups of teenagers sitting about together on the beach, enjoying themselves in a cheerful yet still civilised way. Honestly, I don't know what all the hysteria about leavers is. Most of them seem pretty nice kids to me. Sienna is an absolute magnet on the beach for pats.
On the other hand I am getting rather lonely now. Sienna is sorta good company, but...
I'm reeeeally looking forward to when the family turns up tomorrow for our "family" part of the holiday.

Details:
Dress, modified Burda 8511, with wave-y pocket welts which (oops!) you can't even see here... linen with raw silk pocket welts, details here
Cardigan and hat; Country Road

I'm sorry I've been so bad at replying to comments lately. The internet is so cut-in-cut-out at the mo, I've thought I was going to grow old and die!! I keep getting kicked off the internet which is soooo frustrating. So if my commenting has seemed a little distracted in the last week, then now you know why...

The day of the bushfires

2011-11-26T05:29:00.004+08:00

(Wrote all this yesterday, but our internet here is being veeery dodgy at the mo)

Thank you Robyn, for your thoughtful well-wishes; our family and house are safe. I was a little bit concerned about my parents who are both active in the volunteer rural firefighting community, since I couldn't contact them by phone for over a day. I found out tonight they are both fine.
The news about the bushfires has been terrible though. Overnight, 39 houses in Margaret River and Prevelly have been lost and thousands of acres burnt to the ground. In small towns like these, that is pretty devastating. The weather conditions over the past two days were high winds and extremely high temperatures, adding up to ideal bushfire conditions. This weekend is schoolies weekend, and 350 schoolkids bound for Margaret River and Prevelly have been diverted to Dunsborough, our town; and where we have been for the past few days. There are other people who temporarily evacuated to Dunsborough, who will have found out today whether or not their properties have been lost.
I took this photo while walking on the beach yesterday and obviously at this moment didn't know what was happening. The good news is that cooler temperatures and a little bit of rain today have helped the firefighters enormously.
And I think everyone is just grateful that there has been no loss of life...

Details:
Top; my own design based on top "a" from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, made of scraps of "Smoky" shot cotton, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723, charcoal gabardine, a wardrobe refashion of an old skirt of Cassie's, details here

Hot (pink) pants

2011-11-23T19:12:00.001+08:00

G’day, peops!

Remember when I mentioned a piece of hot pink linen that had befriended me in the fabric store and then beseeched me to give it a new home and some purpose in its life? (ahem) Well I’ve done the right thing by this piece of lolly-bright fabric fabulousness and transformed it into something that I am already excited about wearing a tonne of times this summer! A bomb of times! A colour bomb! A Barbie bomb! Wait, I doubt if Barbie is considered very cool, or even PC anymore...? so mebbe scratch that one…

I used Burda 7723, again; my go-to shorts pattern now. Such a nicely tailored shorts pattern; with a slight flare enough to make them "cute", a wide high waistband that sits securely and firmly at one's true waist, and good sized pockets. The last feature making it a definite win all by itself... I also think this shape just really suits my style and my figure too, I think. In the past I’ve altered this pattern slightly each time I've made it up; to make them more flared, flat-fronted and longer respectively, but this time I made it up just as is. Oh, except for my usual modification; the addition of a zip placket. Well, naturally why wouldn’t you put in a zip placket? uses hardly any fabric and you see them in even the cheapest and most badly made RTW shorts so it is completely beyond me why patterns continue to leave this minor, but telling little detail out. I once did a sort of tutorial on how to add a zip placket to any fly-front pattern, here.

Now just to diverge for a sec into photography territory again, I know lots of other fashionable seamsters aren't interested in the slightest in photography; but I am. So ...

I first thought of photographing this ensemble against a bright white wall, in the strong midday sunlight; thinking that the intense shades of cobalt blue and hot pink would stand up well to the lighting challenge. But I was still a bit amazed at the incredibly deep shadows created... also I realised that you couldn't see the shorts properly with the tie thing-y in the front hanging over the front of the shorts. So I tucked in the top, and moved over to a shady spot. But the photos I took, even though they don't show the shorts very well, still intrigued me in an artistic sense so I decided to put one in here as well. And btw; I do not photoshop or alter my photos apart from cropping. This is how it is! (although oftentimes I wish my face could always be in shadow like this...)

When you look at pictures of clothes, do you prefer realism; as in showing the dressmaking details as accurately as possible; or do you like to see a bit of artistry in the photography as well? Me, I know I like a bit of both... but I've said enough about that in the past so I won't repeat myself.

What aspect of fashion photography do you appreciate the most?

Details:

Top; blue "bunches", from Pattern Magic 3, of thin cobalt blue cotton jersey, details here

Shorts; Burda 7723, hot pink linen

Crescent moon

2011-11-22T11:51:00.002+08:00

Now my new little top here is a very quick and easy, yet still interesting design. And like all the designs from the Pattern Magic series; very very clever too, and another example of a "why hasn't anyone thought of this before" sort of a garment. This one from Pattern Magic 3, by Tomoko Nakamichi.
The names of the designs are so interesting, are they not? Some of them are so full of imagery and poetry. Like this one for instance. When the garment is laid flat you can see at once the inspiration for its moniker. Crescent moon. How clever and beautiful. Just typical of Japanese design and their artistic sensibility towards shapes and images in nature; a concept I really relate to.
For this I used some more of the leftover jersey scraps from the bundle given to me by my friend C, from her late mother's stash. I had to cut and join the darker blue fabric to get a piece large enough, but that is OK since it is the bottom layer and the seam just looks like an underarm side seam whilst you are wearing it. To finish; the raw edges were overlocked, turned under once, and topstitched down from the outside.
I love the way that when you are wearing it, from the front it just looks like you are wearing a rather ordinary cropped little Tshirt, with maybe just the stripe as its lone interesting feature. However as one turns around, it transpires one is wearing an elegant little draped cape, with a flattering, widely scooped back neckline.
And since capes are "in", albeit for the northern autumn/winter scene right now, I'm serendipitously fashionable too. In a summery southern hemisphere sort of a way...
Rather chic, yes?

Details:
Top; from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, two different colours of cotton jersey scraps
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, details here
Camisole (underneath); Country Road
Thongs; Mountain Designs

Ginger shot cotton shirt

2011-11-20T12:20:00.001+08:00

Dad had a special birthday recently, and I made a shirt for him! Photographed here in his natural habitat...
I used shot cotton in Ginger, which has a bright-ish ruby-red warp and an intensely curry-yellow weft; two colours which combine to make this wonderfully intense bronze-orange colour; perfect for my Dad's olive skin and dark brown hair. I think he looks great in this colour!
And the fabric... well, can I just diverge into a rave for a tick? Ohmigosh! but this shot cotton is such a dream to work with...truly, every seamster needs at least one shot cotton shirt in their sewing career, just for the sheer pleasure of cutting, pinning together and sewing this stuff! I've made a couple of shirts of this fabric for Craig, here and here, and myself things from the leftovers, and I cannot get over how absolutely fab is this fabric. Seriously, sewing induced bliss or what, wow... (calms oneself)
Now, back to business...
There were some slightly nerve-racking fitting issues; since this was to be a surprise birthday prezzie I couldn't actually measure up the birthday boy himself without giving it away, so Mum had given me some measurements over the phone. But I was still pretty nervous when it came time to take the scissors to this luscious fabric... and then Mum and Dad came up for a very fortuitously timed stay, and one time they were out I slyly tip-toed into the bedroom and feeling like a rather sneaky and devious sewing-sleuth, measured up all the dimensions of one of Dad's shirts and jotted them down (maniacal laugh as I zoom out and back to the sewing room, tape measure a-flying...). And luckily the fit is spot-on and Dad reckons it's pretty comfy and stylish!
I used Burda 7767 again, (might have to start compiling yet another Rogue's gallery for this pattern soon...) with a few adjustments; namely, added two breast pockets with curved lower edges and curve-edged pocket flaps, shaped the lower hemline in a shirtwaist curve, shortened the sleeves, and added a nice V-detail at the centre of the sleeve hems with a decorative button at the apex of the V, for which I wrote a tutorial here.

I flat-felled the armhole seam allowances, but I don't know if I would do this again. Y'know, how sometimes you are so busy making the insides look perfect you start to forget that it is the appearance on the outside that is actually of paramount importance, yeah? My flat-felled seams do look pretty good (if I say so myself) but it was a fiddly process and topstitching from the inside impacted on the neatness on the outside. I wasn't as happy as if I had just overlocked the armhole seam allowance, pinned them down and topstitched them down from the outside, like I usually do...
I debated about using either of the ruby-red or the curry-yellow colours for topstitching; I usually like some sort of contrasting colour, or at least something that stands out somehow, but I ended up going with a burnt orange that sorta matches the overall hue of the fabric. And with little matte chocolate brown buttons. And btw, those buttonholes on the collar are intentionally left uncut, since they are purely decorative and you are not supposed to do up those buttons on a casual shirt; I think they look neater that way.
Isn't he a handsome bloke?

Details:
Shirt; Burda7767 with modifications, shot cotton

Bamboo shoot

2011-11-18T10:31:00.000+08:00

...that is the name of this top; my latest foray into Pattern Magic, by Tomoko Nakamichi.
The folds/tucks on the front of the design are like the new shoots on bamboo, spraying out to each side in graduated offset arcs.
I chose to make this design into a little top with short cap sleeves, a buttoned up back, and a wide loose waist band; necessarily a shortish top because of the constraints of my fabric. Yup, I was using up scraps, as per usual! From this linen shirt I made for Craig... (I know it may seem like most of my clothes are made from scraps, and I have to admit a fair whack of them are! The thing is, I loathe waste with a passion... and have been known to hoard scraps for years.... hehe. Some day I will have to round up in one post the projects I have made, purely from scraps)
Anyhoo;
I like this style of blouse, it brings back strong memories to me of the blouses we used to wear in our winter school uniform, over our plaid wool skirts. Except our school blouses had a collar and were buttoned up at the front, naturally. This top is quite loose, so I can leave all the buttons done up except the top one and slip it over my head. This means only the top button needs doing up behind my neck, which is good, since I discovered that doing up that middle button requires a solid command of yoga... And about that; I'm thinking it is about time some new moves were introduced into the Yoga repertoire along with saluting the sun, and the down dog and all that; may I suggest "lady doing up her back buttons/zip"? I think that would be a pretty useful new move, yes?
The neckline is faced, the side and shoulder seams are flat-felled, and the armhole seam allowances are finished with HongKong seaming. The buttons are the little shell buttons that I bought in Tokyo, whilst out shopping with Yoshimi, Novita and my daughter Cassie, so I felt it was quite right that I use Japanese buttons for a Japanese designed garment. Fitting, yes? The buttonholes on the button band are vertically aligned, whilst the buttonholes on the waist band are horizontally aligned, this is a little feature that I recalled from my old school blouses, and wanted to have it in this blouse too.
The darts/folds were a little tricky. In the photograph in the book, it doesn't look as if there is any stitching yet, but just folded in place. When I first stitched mine in place they didn't look nearly as nice... so I unpicked and re-stitched and pressed them one by one, slightly inside their seam allowance, so the stitching is hidden just inside the fold, about 3mm. This seemed to do the trick, and looks more like the picture in the book.

Details:
Top; based on the "bamboo shoot" design in Pattern Magic, by Tomoko Nakamichi, finished blouse of my own design, white linen
Skirt; skirt "m" from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, pink linen/cotton, details here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

So, with regard to the Pattern Magic series, I have some further comments it might be worth noting here for others wishing to make use of these excellent and very innovative design books... I have made up a few designs from all three books now and in my opinion the third book has by far the easiest projects; being both very easy to fit (they're all stretch-knit, and really, who can't fudge fit a stretch?) and also that they are all in the form of complete and finished garments.
A lot of the designs in the first book are in the form of design concepts, a fabric manipulation "idea" that one can take and build on; apply to some nebulous garment, the exact form of which is entirely up to the individual. I like this flexibility, but it does take extra thought and some dressmaking experience to self-draft those little extras that are needed to get yourself a finished and wearable item. For example, take the sleeves on my new top here... the Pattern Magic book does have dimensions for a sleeve sloper to get you started. I discovered in my very early experiments in this book that the sleeve needed tonnes of adjusting to make it work for me. Eventually abandoned the given sloper and made my own (the one I used here) based on the measurements of my bodice sloper and partly on sleeves in patterns I already had. I found that the one in the book had a very shallow sleeve cap, that was like a straitjacket on my ginormously hefty arms ... Actually I'm joking there. I'm not hefty by Australian standards at all, but when I am working with Japanese patterns I often feel a bit, er, well huge... by comparison. Let me put it this way, when I am tracing the designs from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, I use the largest size, whereas in Vogue patterns I am a 10, and even then I always take in several centimetres off the waist.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a complaint about the books! I love these Japanese pattern books with a passion, they are completely without parallel in the pattern world and I just wish more of our "ordinary" patterns would take note and branch out a bit. Get out of that rut. Just thought I would say more about my experiences here in the hope it helps anyone else wishing to make something out of these excellent books.

Old things...

2011-11-17T16:13:00.002+08:00

... this will be the very last of my "old things" posts. I promise.
I've done a mammoth sort-through of the photos and I think this is it! (heaves a sigh of relief...)
Firstly, some costumes...
Sam as "Link". I thought he was so cute in this. He loved this little outfit and often wore it just for everyday wear. (if you would like to see what this cute little jigger looks like now, go here...)

Sam, as... guess who? Hehe, the famous Harry Potter, natch, compete with broomstick and Hedwig the owl.
On that note, a black cloak is such a useful thing to have in the dress-up box. It can be the basis for so many costumes.

Here is the same robe again, worn by Cassie as Hermione, complete with ~~Garfield~~ Crookshanks the cat... I threw together the skirt and tie as well, but they do not bear close inspection...!)

(I've shown this picture before... but here it is again just to illustrate the versatility of the plain black robe as a costume), Tim and two of his mates as Grim Reapers. I made all three of their costumes.

Tim's same costume again, this time worn by me to an Arabian Nights party. I didn't want to hire an outfit and I didn't want to make some bejewelled thing I would never wear again, and as every single female I have seen in the Arabian region is dressed something like this, so I was like, yeah this'll do. I naively assumed other girls would have the same idea... As it turned out I was literally the only female dressed (I thought) anywhere near authentically! Also the only one not heavily sequinned and baring plenty of belly-flesh... I confess the costume was abandoned when we decided to start dancing! Don't worry I had a skirt and top on underneath...

So, away from costumes now, and a ball-gown of my own design that I made for balls in years gone by (Sorry for the headless shot but my face and my hair look awful in this picture...!) It is silk organza, overlaying silk and silk jersey layers, three layers in all. It had a beaded and embroidered neckpiece, both beaded and embroidered by me, that is...

A dress I made for Cassie for her graduation dance at the end of primary school. It was a simple turquoise cotton halter neck dress, the fabric had metallic gold lines randomly strewn across. I also made her jewellery, of turquoise glass fish beads and strands of gold wire.

Some rather lovely (if I say so myself) wide-legged white pants that she wore almost constantly for a summer, and a little white broderie anglaise blouse. Both my own design.

Going way back, and this shirt is from a Vogue designer pattern that I believe my mother still has my copy... I know I also made and am wearing here the small-waisted and very flared skirt from the same pattern too...

I made both the skirt and top and also my necklace here. The top was an experiment, I flipped the shoulders out in a twist to get this cowl-like effect. It used to get a lot of compliments, believe it or not! (my friends are very kind) We are sitting on one of our sofas in its first slipcover, made by me too... (now looks like this)

Some more dresses. I really regret now I never got any good pictures of these two. The white and red one was rather nice; it was a dress, but looked like a matching skirt and camisole when I was wearing it, as it had layers in several graduated lengths. My own design. The patchwork dress, also my own design, took lots of planning; I bought the fabrics separately and cut and pieced them together, then made the dress. It has smaller squares at the top, graduating to larger squares around the midriff, and then down to the largest squares at the hemline. It is all on the bias, with a handkerchief hem, and I loved it!

A drop waisted, handkerchief hemmed dress of white dotted swiss voile, pictured against a rather famous backdrop. I still have this Vogue pattern too, actually...

Lastly, and this is the only garment in this post still in our possession (apart from the Grim Reaper come burqa outfit, that is); a cardigan I knitted for Craig. It is knitted in the fair isle method. This is a picture Craig took of me wearing his cardigan on a holiday last year (isn't he sweet, giving his cold inadequately-dressed wife his nicely pre-warmed cardigan to wear, hmmm? What a gentleman!)

And some close-ups of the cardigan I took today...

showing the right front, and at right the wrong side of the fair isle knitting... (as is correct, the yarn is carried over at the back with no weaving in, only if the distance is four stitches or less...)

And that should be all folks!
From now on, I will only be showing newly made stuff here....

Khaki skinny jeans; 6 different ways

2011-11-15T13:39:00.001+08:00

It's hilarious to me now how when I had first set out to make these jeans I was slightly skeptical whether I would wear them much... they have so become the backbone to so many outfits! I think I was nervous about the skinniness of them; and whether I could even carry this look off. But I came around! I've worn them countless ways already on this blog... (I've just counted, they have appeared twelve times hehehe :D, but trust me I've worn them stacks more!) The firm but stretchy nature of the fabric make them comfortable and easy to wear, the very simple shape and the drab unobtrusiveness of the neutral colour mean they never steal the show, but just set off so much of what I've got, beautifully. They have been incredibly useful in my wardrobe.
So for today I had a bit of a play at mixing them up a few more times...

Admittedly, during the winter I have worn them almost exclusively with my biker boots. I really like the solidness of the boots visually counteracting the skinniness of the jeans above. At left; air force blue along with the khaki, and my crochet scarf; at right, looking a bit more classic when worn with my Chanel-style jacket

The jeans are skinny enough to pass for tights when worn underneath my (current) favourite dress; at right and looking a bit smarter; for a splash of colour I've always loved the slightly military colour combination of red and khaki together.

At left; if I was heading out to a summery soiree the jeans set off an unusually styled little top and jewelled sandals; and more casually at right; I really like the simple contrast here, the sorta "modern-ness" of the plain jeans when worn with a romantically embroidered floaty ivory top.

Which outfit am I wearing today? well the weather is now delightfully warm and today might be their last gasp before the really hot weather hits, and I am wearing the last casual summery outfit with the ivory top.
Which look here do you like the best?

Knot buttons; a tutorial

2011-11-14T14:30:00.000+08:00

I made knotted buttons of self fabric for my Kelly-green cardi; and Gail asked for a how-to... well I had taken a few photos while I was making them but had sorta decided against posting a lengthy series of pictures in that post because I thought people might find it not interesting; so thank you Gail, for asking!
I saw this knot in a Vogue pattern (1107) and even though the Vogue instruction sheet has a nice computer-drawn set of diagrams, a lot cleaner and neater than my efforts here; I have re-drawn them because I'm not sure whether for me to photograph even one step from the Vogue pattern instruction sheet and put it here is trampling copyright (does anyone know??) But just in case I am not going to even go there....!! But I can't see how a knot is "owned" by anyone so I did my own drawings and instructions and I hope they are clear enough. It is not a particularly difficult knot.
Firstly I made two long spaghetti tubes of the fabric. You make these by folding a 2.5cm (1") x (roughly) 25cm (10") long rectangle right sides together and sewing along one long edge in a narrow 6mm (1/4") seam, cutting the two machine threads to be nice and long long long. Trim the seam allowances of the tube and thread those long tail threads into a needle; and feed back through the tube to turn right side out (with the blunt end of the needle leading, for obvious reasons!) to make a long narrow cord for knotting.

Now for the knot...
(Note: in each step; the new instruction is in bright green, with the previously executed steps in grey.)
Firstly hold the cord with your left hand with a short tail and loop the end over itself and to the right...

Then loop the long end back over the first loop again and under the first junction...

Thirdly; take that long end and weave it through the four loops of cord created in the first two steps; first over, then under, then over, and finally under and out...

Gradually tease closed and tighten the loops of the knot together to be a nice, firmly and evenly arranged knot.

One at a time, cut the ends, turn under and slipstitch the ends neatly and invisibly on the underneath of the knot.

Voila! C'est fini!

A sleeveless top, con latte

2011-11-12T22:19:00.000+08:00

I've made a new top!
This is the little top from Vogue 1248, made of a light cotton voile the colour of pale milky coffee, and with miniature metallic silver polka-dots dotted sweetly all over like a starry starry sky...
the most interesting feature of this top is that it has a triple collar. This, I love. How cool and easy is this idea? so simple and so cute and yet you don't see multiple collars very often, if at all. When I was planning the top, I thought how wonderful it would be to make the collars in different colours to really show off this feature but couldn't find matching weight fabrics in colours I liked, and I vetoed as being too wasteful the idea of dyeing tiny little collar-sized pieces of fabric. So in the end I took the easy route of just using all one fabric. Next time... and yup, I am already plotting a next time, mwahaha (watch this space!)
The top also has snap-opening plackets both front and back, and I chose silver snaps to match the tiny silver dots on the fabric.
I'm not thrilled with the snaps... because my fabric is very very light and just may be too fragile for snaps, yikes! Undoing the snaps I am veeery carefully and slowly prising them apart, absolutely terrified of ripping the fabric. But this is completely my fault for not putting in heavy-duty enough interfacing to stabilise the plackets enough, something to bear in mind.
Another unusual feature about this little top; the two fronts and the two backs just go into the collar; with no shoulder joining seams, or any shoulder at all, for that matter! So really my calling it a sleeveless top is not going far enough; it is more specifically a shoulderless as well as a sleeveless top. I just went with "sleeveless" because; well, "sleeveless and shoulderless top" up in the blog post title is not super-succinct but is a bit of a mouthful and would have just befuddled and confused and had y'all going, "wha'?? no sleeves and no shoulders, well how can there be any top even left?".... but yeah, one's shoulders are bare too. This will a good feature for summer in a hot hot climate like ours; just as long as one remembers to slather on that suncream before heading out.
Following the "finishing off as well as I can" policy; the princess seams are flat-felled, the side seams are French seams, and the armhole facings are edged with self-fabric HongKong seaming but with the fabric reversed so as to have the silver dots hidden inside.
(left; inside the top and clockwise; HongKong seaming around the facing, flat-felled princess seaming, French side seaming: at right; that interesting triple collar)

Details:
Top; Vogue 1248, pale coffee cotton batiste with tiny silver polka-dots
Skirt; Burdastyle 10/2010, 136, made of black suiting, details and my pattern review here
Shoes; Misano, bought from Labels boutique

Pattern Description:
Top: fitted front and back snap closing
Pattern Sizing:
4-10 in this envelope, I made a straight size 10
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?
yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
yes
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I totally adore the triple collar feature!! Sooo cute! Will be doing this one again for sure, and using different coloured fabrics to highlight the three collars next time...
The length is a nice one which allows the top to look equally good out loose as well as tucked in.
Fabric Used:
very lightweight cotton batiste
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I didn't make any pattern alterations, but I did flat-felled seams on the princess seams, French seams at the side seams, and applied self-fabric HongKong seaming on the armhole facing edges.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, I am already planning my next version in multiple fabrics, to show off that adorable triple-collared feature...! I do recommend this cute and slightly unusual little top pattern to others too.
Conclusion:
Initially I was a little skeptical about this top pattern, as I tend to shy away from clothes which require special undergarments, but well, logically if you own a halter neck bra then you should wear it at least once in a while, no? And I do love this cute little top, I think the shape is flattering, feminine and quite unusual. My husband likes my shoulders on show like this, and I think the high neckline still gives the top a modest flavour and doesn't make me feel too exposed so it is a win all round!

Kelly-green cardigan

2011-11-10T15:00:00.002+08:00

Remember how I mentioned fashioning a little cardi out of the leftovers from the ponytail top? Well, here 'tis!
If I say so myself this was a minor miracle in cutting out; why? Well I originally had bought this Kelly green jersey to make a St Patrick's Day thingy which was actually cut out but not made up. It struck me early on in the piece that the finished garment would be tres hideous and could never ever been worn without inviting well-deserved mockery, so it was abandoned before any actual sewing was done. However, the perfectly-good-for-something-if-only-I could-work-out-what-it-was fabric was too good; a great colour (as long as it was separated from the St Patrick's Day concept) and there was too much of it to just ruthlessly toss out. Luckily the pieces I had cut out were big enough to get the Pattern Magic ponytail top, and there were still some reasonably good sized pieces and scraps left after that, so I played with them. This is the result of my "play"; at my kind of "Play-Station", if you will, hehe. The back of the cardigan is quite short and the two fronts are quite skinny and so give a rather sex-ay decolletage, but y'know what? I like that. I feel like the unusual shape is happily avant-garde and cool.

Something that may not be immediately apparent on first sight, but which amused me while I was making the cardi is this: the whole cardigan is made of just one fabric, and thread, and that is all. I used pieces of the same fabric for all the trims, and the buttons and closures are all made of the self-fabric also. Interesting little factoid, yes?
The closure is with long strips of self-fabric that were laid horizontally and topstitched down on the front of the cardi... as they go off the front edge these are faced with the same fabric (for stability and to lessen stretching through use) to make ribbon ties at the front. The front opening edges of the cardi were decoratively finished with two separate long strips; the underneath one is a wider straight cut strip, and then with a pinked narrower strip sewn on top. I'm really happy with the look of this, it is an interesting edge but still a unobtrusive as it is of the same fabric. The pinked edges remind me of banksia leaves...

The front lower edges are left raw, and the back lower edge of the cardi was finished with a strip like this: (I did this because the lower back edge is subject to stretching, and so this strip is cut on the grain to stabilise and strengthen this area)

The sleeve tabs were made in the same way as the front opening edge trim and faced with self-fabric facing, and I made knot buttons of the same fabric to decorate...

While making the trims and buttons, I also amused myself by comparing what I was doing to Chanel's jackets, which famously are often edged with trims made of the self fabric in various incarnations. So my own secret joke is to think of this as a Chanel-inspired cardi. Of course there is no quilted lining and the hemline is not weighted and therefore no real resemblance at all to a Chanel jacket...! but well, I did say "inspired" and one has to use one's imagination here! Another little fact about Chanel's earlier work is this: at a time when such fabric was considered only suitable for men's underwear, her clothing was made of knit jersey ... another tenuous little link, no?
But all the oddly shaped pieces and non-classic silhouette are very un Chanel!

Details:
Cardigan; my own design, Kelly-green cotton jersey
Dress; Simplicity 3745 modified, pink lace and beige border lace, details here (this is my other pink lace dress and not the one from yesterday's post; embarrassing to admit I have two pink lace dresses but this is my more casual everyday one so that makes it alright, yes?)
Petticoat; Burda 8071, pink silk satin, details here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

(it's hard to know where to put your arms when you're trying to show a side view, isn't it?)