Handmade by Carolyn

An in-seam side pocket is a pretty simple, basic and close-to invisible pocket, and is a modification I make to a heckuvva lot of my own sewing projects. It can be added to most garments that are loose enough to allow you to comfortably have your hands shoved inside ie. not anything tight and close-fitting like a pencil skirt.
If you have a good-size-for-you pocket piece already, use this, otherwise just lay your hand down on the fabric and draw around it. Give yourself a 1cm seam allowance, and allow a plenty wide opening straight edge at least the width of the very widest part of your hand... otherwise you may have trouble getting your hands into your pockets! Yup, I learnt that one the hard way once....

Cut 4 pocket pieces with the straight opening edge on the grain. If you don't have enough fabric for 4 pieces, you can just cut 2 mirror image pocket pieces from the fashion fabric, and then cut the other two pocket facings from another, tonally unobtrusive fabric OR if your fabric is bulky, you can optionally cut the pocket facing pieces from a lightweight, thinner fabric to reduce the fabric bulk in your garment.
Decide where on your garment you want the pockets to sit. Pin the pocket pieces (fashion fabric) to the back piece, and the corresponding pocket facings to the front piece and stitch together in a narrow 1cm (3/8") seam allowance.
Finish the edge with overlocking or HongKong seaming, if desired, and press the pocket and pocket facing pieces out.

Pin front and back right sides together, aligning the pocket seams exactly.

Now sew the side seams of the garment in a regular 1.5cm (5/8") seam allowance, to a point just a couple of stitches below the the junction of the side seam and where the pocket bag seam will start. Back sew those few stitches to the start of the pocket bag seam, turn and continue sewing around the pocket bag. Do the same back sew for a couple of stitches up in to the pocket opening at the lower edge of the pocket bag seam, and then continue sewing the remainder of the side seam. The seam junctions, with the narrower pocket SA within the side SA, will look like so:

Finish the seam allowances with either overlocking or HongKong seaming, if desired.

Press the pocket bag and all seam allowances towards the garment front. To keep the pocket bag permanently sitting frontwards, stitch all the seam allowances to the garment front, in a short row of stitches at the upper and lower pocket opening of the pocket. Stitch from the right side of the garment, and just go forward and reverse a few times.

E finito!
Optional; I also stitched the lower edges of my pockets to the lower hem allowance of this top to give them an extra tethering point but you wouldn't ordinarily do any more stitching. I just lucked out with the size and space there!

... the sign of the scorpion.

Scorpio was always going to be the difficult one. I literally had zero idea what to do, right up until about last week. Googling scorpion images I did see some rather cool designs for scorpion tattoos that I quite liked. Which led to doodling stylised scorpions and thinking that I could do some printing, and then the practical wardrobe consideration that some of my older lingerie sets are starting to get to the end of their life, underwires starting to work loose, picot edging on some pieces starting to unravel... Boom, decision made.

I forgot to take many pictures of my design process ... but these are two of my preliminary sketches for my scorpions. My final design had seven writhing scorpions, which I applied to the fabric first one way and then the other, to lose any obvious repeatability in the print. Ahem, probably a completely unnecessary thing to do considering the tiny pattern pieces in lingerie!

The fabric is a sandy coloured cotton jersey, bought as a huge roll at the Morrison remnant sale last year. The set used but a teensy portion of this! I wanted the scorpions' colour to be sort of variegated, not flat; so I used two colours, an apricot-y pink and a yellow-y mustard, put down on the screen in unmixed blobs. The marbling turned out to be real subtle. You can just see it if you squint a bit ;)

To economise my print, I first laid out my pattern pieces in the most fabric economical layout I could, and roughly marked each piece out by dotting about a centimetre outside the cutting lines of each, using a purple water soluble pen. This was to ensure that I covered each pattern piece with my print fully, as well during the printing process I cut out some pieces and printed them separately to achieve better placement of the print.

Patterns: the bra is KwikSew 3300, modified to have a foam cup insert as described here. I left the straps plain and unprinted because I've got a couple of bra-strap-revealing summery tops, so a nice unobtrusive beige strap is just the ticket. I left off the sliders because the only ones I could get were brilliantly snowy white. which would have looked awful. So I just went with a plain strap, with a length of the lingerie elastic sewn between the back and the strap providing the wearing ease. Both pairs of matching undies are the bikini portion of McCalls 2772, a pattern I've used a lot for undies. I used unprinted self fabric for the panty liners but it blends in so perfectly you can't even see them in the picture above!

I usually use 1cm lingerie elastic on my lingerie.. and when I went to get some more of the pale yellow, Spotlight only had the 1.5cm width; aaagh!... so I had to use this wider stuff on the upper sections of the bra. Oh well (shrug) you can only see that it's wider on the inside!
You can probably also see the hand pick-stitching around the perimeter, my version of under-stitching that secures the bra lining to the foam cup. I don't know if this stitching is necessary or not?but I just don't like the idea of the foam cup not attached to anything, possibly floating about in the wash. I stitch it all together, just in case.
I did make some teeny mini-bows using orange-y mustard coloured ribbon, and trialled sewing them on the set as decoration, but took them off. That scorpion print is plenty busy enough already!

I've made another new set of lingerie... fairly plain and simple and prosaic but that's ok since plain, simple and prosaic are my middle names. Three more of my middle names, that is. I have lots of de facto middle names, deployed in this blog selectively and when it suits my purposes to describe the various facets of my personality and how it applies to my wardrobe.
*eye roll at self-craziness*
The bra has no foam insert, thus the sad, limp, popped-balloon kind of a look it has in its picture above... It does have an extra, underlining layer of cotton jersey in the lower bra cup which gives it a nice thickness. But no padding = no visual appeal, I do admit that. Droopy and deflated :( It looks heaps better on an actual body.

The fabrics have all been in my stash for yonks; an ivory coloured cotton jersey (Spotlight) that I've also used for all my white Tshirts and a white stretch lace (Fabulous Fabrics). Also, white lingerie elastic and decorative mini-bows made using creamy-peach coloured ribbon. Unlike my previous lingerie set which was all yellow-y, the presence of pure white here enabled me to use the bright white rings and sliders on the straps of the bra. It's a pain that Spotlight has such limited colour range; maybe I should get global and go internet-notion-shopping for other colours. Maybe...
I made the straps using this very pro-looking ivory lingerie strap elastic. I spotted it in Homecraft Textiles, and bought some to try it out.

yo, looks like a REAL bra!!

Pros; it looks real clean and neat, and gives the bra more of a professional RTW look, plus it is very strong and sturdy and feels like it will last for aaaaages, even possibly outlive the bra itself and be re-cycled for future bras too.
Cons; looks definitely "lingerie-y" if it was to peep out under a top, whereas I think a turned-out fabric strap looks like a little camisole and doesn't scream "BRA!!!" quite so loudly. Plus it's more expensive to buy notions like this as opposed to making your own straps from the same fabric as your bra. Oh well, I bought enough to make one more bra, sometime down the track.

I bought the white stretch lace to fix up these undies, and there was so little left on the roll at the time I just bought the rest. Fortunately, that happened to be just enough for the bra upper cup pieces and another pair of Tanga knickers. These knickers are the easiest thing in the world to make and they look super cute on, but I hated that awful seamed crotch in my first pair and ended up re-constructing the whole crotch... for this second pair I eliminated that crotch seam right from the word go. I cut both the lace crotch and the cotton jersey panty liner using the panty liner pattern piece. I cut two strips of regular elastic 10% shorter than the length of the crotch edge, laid them inside the edges of the panty liner, turned under to encase and pinned to the inside of the crotch piece and then zigzagged all layers together, stretching the elastic to fit. This makes for a very comfy pair of knickers, with no.. er, wedgy issue :)

don't worry, these are as yet pristine and unworn

The other pair of matching knickers is the bikini bottoms of McCalls 2772, in the same ivory cotton jersey as the bra. I really like my lingerie sets to co-ordinate together in some way, and it tickles me even more when the two pairs of undies in a set are different from each other but both still recognisably match the bra, somehow. The mix of cream, white and ivory in this set is very peaceful and calm, and very pleasing to my eye. And I expect it will be nicely unobtrusive under my pale summer wardrobe.

Details:
Bra; KwikSew 3300, cotton jersey and stretch lace, my review of this pattern here
Lace knickers; Tanga knickers, a free downloadable pattern here, modified to have no crotch seam
Jersey knickers; the bikini bottoms of McCalls 2772 with lingerie elastic attached as for knickers.

(I've pledged to wear only clothes handmade by me this year and to sketch my daily outfits in my Fashionary. I'm calling this; the paper doll project)

24th-27th October
from left:
powder blue silk tunic top and dress
blue bell-sleeved top, refashioned denim skirt
chequered elisalex, black faux snakeskin cardigan, black wool tights
coffee lace skirt, white trees top
sage-green/oyster white ball gown
sew bossy dress

28th October-2nd November
from left:
Aquarius dress
top with golden curls, ivory curtaining skirt
giant polka dots dress
coffee lace skirt, royal blue PM hoodie
billowy black shirt, little charcoal skirt
billowy white shirt, wedgwood blue damask skirt

The lovely Yoshimi the Flying Squirrel will be literally flying! and over here! She has revealed her travel plans, so now I may say something too... I am thrilled to say that she is coming to visit me on her way to the bloggers meet-up in Melbourne. I will be so happy to see her again, and am super excited to show her around Perth! I'm planning for, and hoping that she will have a really wonderful time here, and I know she will have an absolutely brilliant and fun weekend at the Melbourne meetup with TJ and Maria and all the other Melbourne gals too. Exciting stuff! :D

In current doings, I've been mucking about with fabric paint again today...

I bought this lightweight mustardy-chartreuse silk in ?Tessuti's? I think? during my girly trip to Melbourne with Mum and Cassie last year and it's been burning a hole in my conscience. I've reeeeally wanted to make something interesting with it but couldn't think what and it was fast becoming too precious to cut up. Finally I've thought of something... hopefully this will turn out cool in the end.

My initial grand plan was of a more realistically shaded horse, with sharply defined edges outlining rippling equine muscles and tendrils of mane billowing gorgeously in the slipstream... those pie-in-the-sky ideas had to be abandoned when experiments revealed that the paint bled like the blazes on this silk. Oh well. Embrace the limitations, and all that! And a serendipitous one; since the splodgily abstract nature of my print brings to my mind the markings of an Appaloosa horse. Ok, I'm happy!

source

The technical blahdy-blah...

I drew my design, gave it a grid so I could enlarge it to a good size to fit my piece, and then traced it onto the fabric using water soluble pen, although tracing probably wasn't necessary in the end. I mixed a hefty blob of black fabric paint into about 2 cups of water, in a plastic spray bottle... just one of those cheapies you see in the gardening section of the supermarket for your seedlings. Some experimenting was necessary to determine a good ratio, giving a solution that was thin enough to spray without clogging up the nozzle, and yet had enough paint to leave a mark on the fabric.

Cut out my stencil and sprayed away. I also sprayed the other pieces; and as lightly and as thinly as I could, painted in some mane and body contouring streaks with a paintbrush, separately.

This will be appearing in wearable form, tout de suite...

In other sewing news, I have decided that I might quietly do a stitchers guild SWAP this year. I've bought a few Australian Stitches magazines over the years and, like lots of people, Lynn Cook's wardrobe planning was always my favourite bit. I discovered that following her example was an established sewing blog thing-to-do last year, with rules and a time frame and a competition as well! man, I'm so behind the times :)
Anyway, I've really admired everyone's SWAP wardrobes, and thought that maybe my own rather random sewing efforts could do with a bit more planning... so sensible! a new concept for me :) I might not actually enter my SWAP into the official competition... I mean, you are only allowed to make one thing before 26th December, whaaa??? don't know if I can wait that long! But I do like the whole idea of following the rules and making a co-ordinating mini-wardrobe. So I'll see how I go. The stash has been raided for some likely looking candidates and I've sketched out a plan of attack...
The horse-y fabric may or may not become the first "thing" :)

My purple flares have been such favourites ever since they rolled off the sewing machine; an unlikely wardrobe staple. Who would've thunk purple jeans would turn out to be such useful things in my life?? Ask the ignorant old-me back then and she probably would have been doubtful... anyhow they have been and I'm rewarding them with a little retrospective.
I made them originally in 2011 using Burda 7863, and in addition to these outfits here they have appeared in a supporting role in several other of my 6 different ways posts too. A few of the following pics are from previous me-made months, some not...
Below, at left; worn with a rusty corduroy tunic top. Boy that top was gorgeously toasty warm. I need another one before next winter; at right; worn with a little self-scarfed top and my brindle knitted cardigan.

Below: at left; worn with a purple Tshirt and a hoodie refashioned from a pair of jeans, at centre; with a grey-dyed-yellow woollen top, and at right; with a plain white Tshirt and thongs on my feet. Admittedly uninspiring, but I included it because this latter outfit has pretty much been my lifetime uniform and so is probably the most "me" ensemble here!

Below: at left; tucked into biker boots and with a long white top and my f-leather jacket, At right; and yup, this one does make seven different ways but (shrug) I almost didn't include this last picture, they're on the saggy and baggy side and look a bit awful now, and so faded!!! but I guess that just shows how much they've been loved. Worn with my green jacket-thing (later dyed) and a raspberry jersey scarf.

Hmmm; what colour to make next, I wonder... ?

... I received a belated birthday present from Mum and Dad.
woa. Further experiments in, effectively, creating your own fabric designs. Eye candy, indeed. It's rare for me to get this excited about a(nother) sewing book. Ha ha! well, we all know that's a lie... beautiful fabrics? a concept that is but always going to reel me in, the proverbial hook, line and all.
Prior to my birthday, Mum had offhandedly asked me: did I like embellishments? Embellishments. A concept that has gained a bad rep, thanks to scrappy leftovers rosettes, and sweatshirts sporting appliqued quilting cotton prints outlined in squiggle paint. I world-wearily said no. But I've changed my tune now. This is the new and improved version of embellishment, a modern and yet still authentic approach.
Appetite whetters include...

my favourite..

no, actually this is my favourite

no, wait, this is ..

oh hang on a sec... this

omg, shut the front door! gorgeous!

I would dearly love to get into this. Could I incorporate some of these ideas into my mini wardrobe plans?? hmmmm, possibly. *rubs chin, glint in eyes* yes, quaite possibly.

(tagged "book review" but really this is just my first impression. I will write something more in-depth and intelligent once I've actually used the patterns and ideas in the book :) )

...or a more playful and therefore more apt title would be; Fun with Fashionary! I've been planning for my 11 piece SWAP and doodling and colouring-in like it's going out of, um, fashion? :)
Fashionary have released a new sketch panel, which I am using to map out my autumn/winter sewing for next year. Autumn/winter seems a looooong way off, but winter stuff is generally more time-consuming, plus I reckon it's a good idea to put in just a bit of thought. Summer is easy; handful of little dresses, bob's your uncle. A winter wardrobe needs to be mix and match-able since you want to be able to layer everything without your ensemble looking like a dog's dinner. Thus, planning...

The new Fashionary sketching panel contains two pads; one is for garments alone, the other has the familiar croquis marked for on-the-body fashion sketching; and I used both! A new feature is that there are some side view croquis. Although I actually didn't make use of it this time, I think having the option of a side view could really come in handy.

The sketch panels are a workaday version of the Fashionary sketchbook; comprising loose sheets of perforated, concertina-ed pages and are an excellent tool for the sort of informal playing-with-ideas kind of brainstorming that comes with putting together a cohesive collection... particularly if you are like me and couldn't bear the thought of ripping pages from out of your lovely hardbound Fashionary sketchbook. The panel comes in one of three different designs; women's, men's and there is now a children's version. I have the women's version, natch! Included is a card with examples of flat sketching samples, to help you in drawing realistic and well-detailed garments if, like me, you can't really draw to save yourself, and a page on which to record an complete set of custom body measurements. Very helpful! Each set has 8 panels, with 9 pages per panel, and with the templates printed on both sides, so there're plenty to play with. A whole tonne of really inspiring fashion artwork created using the Fashionary notebooks can be viewed on the Fashionary site, here and here
Planning a wardrobe collection way ahead is very sensible! and y'know what? I enjoyed it... I checked out my fabric stash, then sketched out each of my garment/fabric/pattern ideas, and dealt them out on the table like playing cards to see how everything worked together and see what stood out like a sore thumb. I had a couple of early definites that got discarded at this point when I could see quite plain and clearly that they were not going to work with anything else. Too often, I make something that I think is going to be omg so useful, only to find that; um, it doesn't actually go with anything else. Mixing and matching sketches of my little collection was an educational rehearsal. I grouped and regrouped and pulled out the ideas that didn't fit in. Once it was whittled down I stuck them onto the wall behind my sewing machine, to keep me motivated and on the right track to get them all done. Well that's the plan!

So, the Chosen Ones are...

Two of the things in my plan are a patchworked tweed wool skirt and a mustard cropped jacket, represented as such in the top picture but drawn back to front in the above picture because I'm dithering on those and may swap those two around. Undecided on that one... but optimistic about everything else. The olive ensemble at lower left is a proposed Alabama Chanin project. Also, there are two plain lightweight white shirts in the eleven things. That might sound generic and boring, but I reach for a plain little white top a heckuva lot and so I need lots of them!

As per the swap rules I'm aiming for the eleven garments to be sewn between Christmas and the end of April. This may or may not actually happen :) It's an experiment. I may be all like, ooh this is easy!; breezing through the list happily and without disaster... or I may be like, what the heck was I thinking, everything's totally hideous!! *bale* I don't do that much, but I don't wanna jinx myself here. Disasters do happen. Eleven sounds ambitious, but then it is probably no more than I would make in that time anyway. It's doable.
Between now and then I will make a few more summery dresses and things for myself to supplement my summer wardrobe, plus there's Christmas sewing to think about!

... the sign of the centaur/archer.
My new dress doesn't have a centaur, but it does have the next best thing... a horse! Plus; the requisite bow. And two arrow(head tab)s.

Ha! (mutters sotto voce) nailed it... :D
This is made using pattern number 35, from Patrones 7, a magazine given to me by Merche in a little exchange we did last year; thanks Merche! Cassie got to the magazine first and made this little top, and now I have something from it too :)

Um, so the dress turned out very... retro, I think. This was not the effect I was going for, btw. I was going for modern and summery. I think I got WW2 era and autumnal. Slip on a handknit woolly cardigan, put flesh-coloured nylons on my pegs, sensible brogues or wellies on my feet and victory curls in my hair; and this is exactly the kind of ensemble my grandmother would have worn as a young Englishwoman in the 40's. I didn't think the pattern "looked" retro when I picked it for my dress, in fact I thought it rather modern and timeless. Funny thing. Seriously I have no idea what happened, twixt design and execution, but something sartorially timewarp-y happened.

The fabric is a mustard silk crepe, originally from Tessuti's in Melbourne? I think? I spray-printed a negative-space horse on the front skirt, and random spots all over the remainder of the dress pieces. The dress is fully lined with silvery grey silk habotai from Fabulous Fabrics. The greyness of the lining filled me with anxiety at first. I could have got a perfect colour match if I'd chosen polyacetate lining but I had my heart set on silk habotai and grey was the least offensive choice. I just went for it... and y'know? I've worn it a couple of times, and am so glad I did go with allover silk, because it is seriously sooo beautiful to wear! We had 34C yesterday, and no kidding I felt like I was wearing nothing, the silk habotai is sheer heaven; divinely light-as-air and fluttery and slinkily gorgeous against the skin.

Also; the colour. (Sings) love it! This project was an obvious contender for my swap, but I'm not going to count it since something else is going to be my one allowed thing before Christmas. But of course the excellent thing is that both the colour and the style of the dress will fit in beautifully with my autumn wardrobe too. And I can just enjoy wearing it on its own for now. Yay!

The bodice is cut on grain, but the skirt pieces are cut on the bias.
Bias cut silk; for both dress and lining. So yeah, ok; bias cut dresses look great and hang gorgeously, but they hog the fabric like nobody's business and make for a dang masochistic sewing project! Now I remember why I only make these very occasionally ;)
I sewed all seams as French seams, using strips of tissue paper to prevent those bias side edges from stretching out. The closure is by invisible zip in the left side seam, and I stabilised the bias edge first by stitching a strip of the silk habotai selvedge to the seam allowance, like so. Before hemming I left it hanging up for five days, and it was interesting that the bias didn't drop out very much. But it did just a bit; just enough to reiterate the old rule of thumb; yes, always hang a bias cut garment for several days before hemming!

I hand-sewed the sleeves and lower hem in a narrow rolled hem, but I got lazy with the lining and just whizzed it up on the machine. Not a total masochist, then!

(I've pledged to wear only clothes handmade by me this year and to sketch my daily outfits in my Fashionary. I'm calling this; the paper doll project)

3rd-8th November
from left:
Japanese cotton dress
bamboo shoot top, grey/green layered skirt
watercolour floral dress
blue bell-sleeved top, wedgwood blue skirt
sandy and gold top, ivory curtaining skirt
white trees top, little denim skirt

9th-14th November
from left:
sew bossy dress
navy grid on white top; hot pink linen shorts
folded painted silk IM top, ivory curtaining skirt
Sagittarius dress
sandy top w gold bits, little denim skirt
blue bell-sleeved top, coffee lace skirt

15th-19th November
from left:
Sagittarius dress
sew bossy dress
chequered elisalex dress
wedgwood blue skirt, white Tshirt
grey/green layered skirt, white wrap shirt
watercolour floral dress

20th-23rd Novemberfrom left:
bathers, blue PM hoodie, pink linen shorts, blue bell-sleeved top
sandy and gold leaf top, ivory curtaining skirt
white trees printed/button top, coffee lace skirt
Aquarius dress
red/pink floral skirt, white Tshirt
chequered elisalex

I saw this awesome world map fabric in Spotlight and just couldn't resist. Novelty fabrics just make the best mini-skirts for summer. Simple and understated but still interesting and quietly eye-catching. Best worn with a plain white top.
The fabric was sold by the panel, and I used Vogue 1247, splicing the pieces together to make one solid front and one solid back. I put the invisible zip closure in the left side seam, so as to have as much seamless and uninterrupted flow of map happening as possible, and wrapped the button closure just a bit further along from the side seam and around the corner to the back. Believe it or not, this looks much better than having it right boom on the side seam, less bulky and gives a more streamlined look.

The waistband is faced with plain ice-blue lightweight Rowan cotton, bought from purl soho about two? three? years ago. Unlined, because it's practically summer; overlocked raw edges and a bias-bound and hand-stitched hem. Australia is on the front.
That's it.

Oh, and also, um, so yes. It can be seen that my Constant Companion has had a haircut. A rather drastic one. The tail. That was a shock. Did not expect that. I'm still not used to it, and am hoping it will actually grow back! Think I'm going to have be a heap more specific when liaising with the dog-groomer from now on! In the meantime, she's answering to Miss Rat-tail O'Skinnypins, thanks very much.
But what do I know; she's pretty happy. Puppy-like frolicking ensues :)

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1247 modified, printed cotton drill, my review of this pattern
Top; the bamboo shoot top from Pattern Magic, white linen, details here
Sienna in summer attire

So; red dress.

I pinned this dress a while ago because I really loved the little shawl collar and the shape of the bodice and wanted to reproduce it for myself. I used a particularly nice, crisp and slightly slubby cotton from Fabulous Fabrics and the pattern is based on dress M from the Stylish Dress Book, modified as outlined below. I am pretty pleased with how my self-drafted collar turned out :)

It’s always nice to have a couple of fresh, new, cool and breezy little dresses ready for summer and so this one needs no other reason for being, really… but I confess a major reason for making it was also to have something to wear to the Wildcats games. We got season tickets this year and had barely even entered the car park to attend the first game when I couldn’t help but notice that 99.99999% of the spectators were wearing brilliant cherry red. AAAgh! Wardrobe alert! When we were first married a gazillion years ago we used to go to all the Wildcats games but back then no one dressed in the team colours. You just went along wearing whatever and cheered on your team. Nowadays the crowd is a sea of red, red and more red. If you’re not in red you stick out like a sore thumb. Appropriately hued spectator attire was required, toute de suite.

Actually I do already have one bright red dress but basketball fans generally do not turn up wearing slinky cocktail dresses, ahem. That would have looked even more weird. This dress fits in nicely while still being a bit “different” from the mob.

My wardrobe ethos in a nutshell, really!

Additionally the dress has Christmas possibilities. Festive, yet please note the capacity for accommodating a large lunch and the ease with which it can be lightly tossed on over bathers. If Christmas Day is 40C like it has been for the past few years then yes.

Details:

Dress; modified dress M from the Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, red cotton

Sandals; c/o Misano

Some technical notes: I modified the pattern by adding a gradual Mt Fuji shaped curve to the top of the front skirt and cutting away a slightly less sharp curve away from the lower edge of the front bodice. To make the shawl collar I spliced together the back and front bodice pieces at the shoulder and traced around the neckline, adding a tiny wedge at the centre back for turn of cloth. The dress has no closure because it is loose enough to just slip over my head.

I added slanted patch pockets for a change, just because inseam side pockets are taking over my wardrobe and I felt the need for some variety. I like the invisibility of inseam pockets, but it is nice to have pockets as a visual feature on an otherwise plain dress too. These are sewn on at a slant for easy hand access and have a purely decorative folded flap at the top.
I also removed width from the sleeves, so they fit into the armscye with very little gathering.

There has been progress; I've been mucking about with Alabama Chanin stooff, partially making a little fitted tank top to test for size and to allow me to get a feel for the techniques. It's only half finished, and I've set it aside now to concentrate on my second and "real" Alabama Chanin project :)
I have outlined some of my thoughts in the hope that they may be useful to others starting out with Alabama Chanin too. Particularly for Australians: the thing is; the AC book is not written with us in mind; which is fair enough of course but we can't always get hold of the listed materials here. I am trying to use only materials that are readily available here in Australia.

Fabric: a couple of the boys' old Tshirts from the toss-out bag. I harvested the fabric for the neck and armhole bands from the sleeves.

yes, the same fabric as above, and no the colour is not off. it got dyed after this photo was taken

Thread: button craft thread is specified. This is more correctly known as button and craft thread, and Natalie Chanin describes it as “one of the strongest threads (the Alabama Chanin team has) found”. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything of this name in Perth so I'm using Gutermann’s upholstery thread from Spotlight. It is the strongest in the Gutermann range and is typically available in about a dozen shades.

all-purpose thread at top, the upholstery thread below

I traced the full front and back pieces of the Short/Long fitted dress, fitted top and fitted tunic pattern as one piece each and will just folded back the excess portions when tracing each thing. I'm generally a bit of a slacker when it comes to checking for fit but since there is a heckuva lot of hand-stitching in these garments, I think a careful check for fit is pretty important! And I am sooo glad I did since I found it necessary to make a substantial sway-back adjustment.

Stitching:So, to machine stitch or hand-stitch? I totally cheated and stay-stitched and basted by machine! I’m undecided about whether or not I will hand-stitch all the seams in my final garment… part of me thinks it would be better to save that effort for the decorative stitching on the motifs. In some cases I allowed the knots to fall on the outside or right side, a sometimes feature of AC work. I decided this is not a finish that appeals to me, so I will probably be concealing them on the inside from now on.

The stencil; I bought the plastic sheet for the stencil from Jacksons Drawing Supplies and enlarged the Anna’s Garden stencil from my copy of the AC book. The whole process is very time-consuming, so the design should be one you're absolutely sure that you will like. I totally wanted to design my own stencil but decided to play it safe with one that I know from looking at the beautiful projects in the book looks really amazing. Using a proven design is good practice for getting a feel for how proportions and size of the motifs work for the embroidery and appliqué techniques. I think once I have a few projects under my belt then I might branch out and try my own ideas.

Printing: y'know, I've got a feeling this is going to be the most difficult part to get right out of the whole exercise...! I haven't found any sprayable textile paints as recommended, so I experimented with a watered down solution of the Permaset textile paint from Jacksons Drawing Supplies, that I use for screen-printing, mixed in a regular spray bottle. Results: disastrous! It bled underneath the stencil and the edges were unclear and blurry. NO pictures because it looked so awful :(

Attempt number two; tried stippling undiluted textile paint with a stiff and bristly paintbrush. This is effective, but took forever! This may be worth it for small areas of stenciling, and when I want to use just a small amount of the textile paint.

Permaset textile paint, stippled on with a dry brush

Permaset textile paint (Jackson's Drawing Supplies), sample pot of Dulux household acrylic paint (Bunnings)

Attempt number 3; since textile paints are actually quite expensive, and since for some techniques the painted sections are just cut away and discarded anyway, I tried using a cheaper paint. I bought a sample pot of Dulux acrylic household paint and a small foam roller from Bunnings. This worked beautifully! Because this is just an experiment I applied it lightly and roughly here, without giving too much attention to getting perfect coverage but it would be pretty easy to get completely even coverage using the roller, if you were aiming to keep the painted sections partially intact in the final design.

Obviously, household paint is only a good choice if the motifs in the final design are going to be completely cut away because it is stiff and inflexible and not comfortable to wear. In the case that motifs are to be left partially or completely intact then proper textile paints would be necessary.

the Dulux acrylic paint, rollered onto my "real" project :)

Something I noticed when comparing my sample with the ones in the book: my stitches are teeny tiny compared to theirs! Hmmm, might have something to do with why this has taken me sooooo long! but very small stitches have always been my thing. In my "real" project I am making an effort to do larger stitches... the project will go along a lot faster and will look more "Alabama Chanin-y" although that's not so important to me as authenticity to my own personal style.

...the size of those stitches!!!!

I didn't get very far along with this little sample top, but I do quite like it and may actually finish it... one of these days... once I've finished my swap items, that is :)

Woooh!! I've been sucha mad but very happy sociable-whirly butterfly lately... firstly I had the very great pleasure of spending a few days with the lovely Yoshimi during her visit to Australia; we had a terrific time generally popping about; shoe-shopping, beach-going, eating- and tea-drinking, canoeing, koala-cuddling, and of course tonnes and tonnes of chatting! Thank you so much for coming to visit me Yoshimi, I throughly enjoyed spending time with you and am honoured to count you as a dear friend :)

And then! last weekend I went on a fabulous long weekend jaunt over in Melbourne with Mum and Cassie, and was thrilled to spend one delightful morning with Julia Bobbin and Jorth! two totally gorgeous girls who are both just as lovely and as funny and as delightful company in real life as you can imagine they are from their blogs. Thank you so much for meeting with me, girls; I had such a nice morning tea with you and it was great fun sitting and chatting, of course we had tonnes to talk about, sewing bloggers always do!

So, a trip to Melbourne, the fashion capital of Australia, but also the capital of roller-coaster-like weather, requires some careful wardrobe consideration. I needed my clothes to cope with the weather plus leave plenty of room in the suitcase for fabric shopping... ahem (blush) well, Christmas is coming up soon!! that's my excuse :D

Time away:
5 days
Where to:
Melbourne
Season:
the last days of spring/first days of summer. The forecast was kinda crazy, ranging from almost winter-y all the way through to height of summer-y. We had one rather fresh morning of 9C with a brisk, almost arctic wind, and also one day with a sweltering maximum of 38C. Amazing!

Expected activities:
lots of city walking and morning tea-ing, shopping and a couple of exhibitions. Wining and dining each night

Colour scheme: mostly soft spring-y shades of ivory, cream and blue, with a floral dress and apricot and orange playing a supporting role. Silver!

What I packed: (each garment is linked to its original construction post)

(left to right; top to bottom)

watercolour floral dress
powder blue silk tunic and petticoat
apricot Alexander McQueen kimono coat/top
clementine cotton blouse
ivory silk blouse
ivory rope and caramel leather belt
little blue denim skirt
ivory skirt
white Tshirt, for underneath the kimono top
silver sequinned skirt
grey/beige linen blouse with tie waist
calico cotton knitted cardigan
caramel leather wedges, red thongs, white bathers, ivory evening shoes, pale yellow bag

It might seem like too many outfits for the number of days, but some days called for a casual and/or formal and/or weather change partway through

Thoughts: so the half-empty suitcase plan worked; I came home with a suitcase bulging with masses of gorgeous fabric to make Christmas presents for my family, and a little bit for me plus two new pairs of shoes... um, also for me (blush). And I managed to neither freeze to death nor to pass out from heat exhaustion but still look reasonably and appropriately attired, thank goodness. Woot! Actually I had thought that I over-packed; but it's always good to have some leeway, just in case. To prove that point, the hem of my floral dress snagged and partly fell down on the first day. Yes, I totally could and should have bought some thread and fixed it but I just lazily shoved it aside for when I got home. Bad me.
I wore my sequinned silver skirt ensemble each evening, boy I love wearing that skirt! Feels so crazily over-the-top and indulgent and very not-me. Love that.

My caramel leather wedges are so comfy and go with everything, and it's important to have a bag that can works for both day and evening, I think.

It's really hard to estimate just what Melbourne is going to feel like weather-wise, sometimes the numbers just don't convey it. The first day was 25C but it felt freezing thanks to that morning low of 9C. A pair of jeans would have been great right about then, as well as to wear on the plane... but everything I took went well together and got worn.
And a blast was definitely had!
Now I have to get cracking on that pile of fabric.... :)

The thing about plane trips: the thought of spending four or five or even more hours sitting in one spot with absolutely nothing to do is an almost unbearable concept to those of us with busy hands, and when you have a huge hand-sewing project on the go it is even more so! I was determined to not let that time go to waste so went into my recent interstate flights prepared. Scissors, even little plastic kindergarten ones, are verboten on a plane but you are allowed to take on dental floss and the tiny little floss-cutter at the top can be used to cut your thread. It doesn't make a very clean cut but it does the job in a pinch. I also pre-cut plenty of lengths of threads beforehand to minimise the number of times I needed to make a cut.

If you are fortunate enough to be in Victoria any time this summer then hie thee to the Bendigo Art Gallery to view the Modern Love exhibition, a selection from the archives of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Museum in Los Angeles. You'll need to set aside the bulk of a day to get out there and make the most of it, but man, it is so worth the effort. This is the creme de la creme of high end sartorialism; and Mum, Cassie and I spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours oohing and aahing in happy wonder.
Each and every piece had something about it that delighted the eye and set it apart; a design element, a fabric, a silhouette, an embellishment, a system of piecing; a sleeve here, a pocket there, a random safety pin somewhere else, and one cheeky mirrored fig leaf just where it should be.
Photos are allowed, so despite the abysmal lighting conditions we did... punch-drunk, I took photos of everything; but am just whittling it down to my absolute favourites here.

Vivienne Westwood, from the Anglomania collection of 93-94. The bias cut tartan jacket has over-sized pocket flaps, and very interesting shaping at the front achieved by a single diagonal tuck at the collarbone, into the collar.

Thierry Mugler, 92. That chocolate brown inset pocket piecing, lower front. I mean, omigod. A seamstress can but gape in awe.

Vivienne Westwood, 89-90. There's that fig leaf. Well, a mirror is always a handy thing to have on one's person...

at right, source

Comme des Garcons, 2011. terrible photo because it was in the deepest darkest corner of the gallery, but this was Cassie's favourite piece in the exhibition. Rei Kawakubo created this intricate bunchy kaleidoscope of a dress using her own silk scarves that she has personally collected over many years. It is paired with a simple pair of white sand shoes, similar to how it was styled in the runway show. This is about as feminine and glamorous as it gets in the CdG world. And absolutely wearable.

Christian Francis Roth, 91-92; that piecing... :O

Vivienne Westwood, 94; crazy woollen tweed pantaloons, with a vaguely Scarlet O'Hara-like air about them of being constructed from the furnishings of a late Victorian sitting room; tasselled edging and all. It's all about the tassels here. I love it. Ponders: could I get away with a skirt sporting a lushly tasselled hemline, in suburban Perth?

Dolce and Gabbana, 94-95; looks like cow hide, is actually constructed using animal-rights friendly rayon/cotton plush and vinyl. A simple style and silhouette; of course the novelty fabric is what makes it... lends it that cowboy/rockstar vibe that's going on. This is very very cool. Mental note; keep a look out for cow-hide plush....

Alexander McQueen, 02-03; denim jacket, raw edges, an overall lived in beaten-up appearance like a favourite pair of ancient levi's. But with structure and form, and a mass of decorative double rowed top-stitching; a nod to the flat-felled seaming that is a seam-strengthening functional feature in the aforementioned jeans..

Calvin Klein, 88; nothing head-swivelling here, but the 80's girl in me just stopped in her tracks and ohhh-ed blissfully at this point. A blousy, laid-back sportiness as expressed in a deluxe fabric. I just adore this ensemble. And I actually do already have a pattern that could step in and fit the bill here... and some shot taffeta... hmmm...

Franco Moschino, 92; I've included the picture at left from the Bendigo Advertiser since mine is pretty terrible, but this piece was Mum's favourite. We all loved the styling of the exhibit; the black and white striped, wicked-witch-of-the-east tights looked playful and edgy against the frou-frou puffs and bows of jewel-toned satin.

Tony Maticevski, 13-14; this softly sculptural, neoprene dress is the first Australian design to be acquired into the collection. Loved the complexity of this dress; formless, organic and futuristic, although we all wondered how it would go with staying on your shoulders, though. Wouldn't you just love to see the pattern for this?
From a distance I first thought that adorable little bouquet of pink and white flowers was an actual bag. It isn't, but it reminded me of one of the tea cosies designed by Loani Prior for her book "Wild Tea Cosies", from which I made quite a number of tea cosies a few years ago, and I reckon it would be pretty easy to whip this up as a pompom bag. Would be cute, no?

tea cosy by Loani Prior, photo source

For some more eye candy, Yoshimi also took this wonderful picture of the Alexander McQueen 2008 peacock gown during her recent visit to the exhibition.

This is but a very small sampling of the lovelies on display, to see more whizz on over to Bendigo Art Gallery before 2nd February 2014. Fabulosity awaits.

(I've pledged to wear only clothes handmade by me this year and to sketch my daily outfits in my Fashionary. I'm calling this; the paper doll project)

24th-29th November
from left:
red dress, calico cotton knitted cardigan
map skirt, bamboo shoot top, calico cotton knitted cardigan
red cotton dress
cream and crochet top, greige corduroy shorts
pistachio linen top, embroidered yellow shorts
apricot A McQueen kimono, little denim skirt, white Tshirt, calico cotton knitted cardigan

30th November-4th December
from left:
watercolour floral dress, calico knitted cardigan
powder blue silk tunic and petticoat
ivory silk blouse, silver sequinned skirt, calico knitted cardigan
clementine blouse, little denim skirt
apricot A McQueen kimono top, sandy linen top, ivory skirt
grey/green layered skirt, white Tshirt

4th (pm) - 8th December (pm)
from left:
chequered elisalex
Sagittarius dress
red dress
giant polka dot dress
LS ivory blouse, wedgwood blue mini
LS ivory blouse, silver sequinned skirt

9th-14th December
from left:
white trees printed top, ivory curtaining skirt
sandy waist-tie top, wedgwood blue damask skirt
Japanese cotton dress
giant polka dot dress
red dress
PM knots dress

Hoo boy, it's been so hot lately! and this is such a busy time of year, plus I have a whole host of things to do and make before Christmas and all I want to do is read and/or flop into the pool .... but no time for that just yet!
This will be my penultimate paper doll post, and I have started jotting down the thoughts in my head about the whole obsessive practice of making ALL my own clothes/avoiding ALL RTW things... a happy lifestyle choice that is both accountable and self-sustainable while embracing and finding an outlet for my inner creative? or merely self-inficted craziness!?
The jury is still out.... but at the moment I'm leaning towards craziness ;)

Just some eye candy :) ... in an uncharacteristic, er, fashion, our very own WA Museum is currently showing two fashion exhibitions. Perth's Aurelio Costarella has a 30 year retrospective happening concurrently with Frock Stars, a selection of iconic garments by contemporary Australian designers garments from the Powerhouse Museum, and some friends and I all agreed; clearly this needed prompt checking out...

The Aurelio Costarella dress above, with the silk ribbon, free-range embroidery might just qualify as one of my favourite dresses of all time. My friend L, remarked "oh, that is so you, Carolyn". Thinks; ah, she knows me so well. She then added, "you could easily make something like that". O I wish!

Below; Akira Isogawa. I can remember when this design was for sale in David Jones, I tried one on. A few years ago now... it was so utterly beautiful.

Below; Romance was Born's Iced Vovo dress. Inspired by the Aussie bikkie. Obviously this one caused a bit of a stir when it appeared on the catwalk. Would love to have the guts to wear something like this. I'm pretty sure my Granny used to wear a cap like that for swimming, back in the day.

More Aurelio Costarella, leather "fish scales", with a bolero of layered ruffled chiffon, chartreuse lace and heavily embroidered silk with matching ostrich feather bolero...

That drape and that gloriously pooled train. Bias cut elegance, by Aurelio Costarella.

Ice blue chiffon, Dion Lee

This gown took my breathe away, impossibly glamorous against prehistoric bones... Aurelio Costarella, again.

The Aurelio Costarella Retrospective is showing until 2nd February 2014, Frock Stars until 27th January.

Capricorn; the sign of the goat.

Baaa. No, not me. So the "goat" is in the form of my new knitted mohair jumper, or I reckon it's more like a Tshirt really. And this is the very last thing in my zodiac series... Yay! Finished! :D

This is the Mohair Sweater, available for digital download here, knitted in Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Kid Mohair Infusion col 617 (Rosehip) I bought the yarn a few years ago, when Jo Sharp closed down their shop here... (sad face) oh I still miss that shop, waah! Pink is a colour I'm not supposed to wear, but I do think I might be able to get away with this warm deep shade. I LOVE pink... LOVE IT I TELL YOU! and one of the saddest things about getting my colours done was being told that pinks were Not For Me. But hopefully this almost orange-y pink will be alright :)

The design is a really fantastic basic, the sort that seems boring at first but you could easily have one in every colour. It's beautifully shaped so it curves nicely into the waist. Ribbing at the neckline, but not the sleeves nor lower edge so they curl up attractively. One I will use again; a nice and easy project. Except... well, for the mohair. I find mohair a very temperamental beast. The reason why it has taken me yonks to finish this simple little thing... it's hard to see the stitches for fluff, and it sticks to itself, so if you make a booboo then unravelling is pretty much impossible. Please remind me to never ever buy mohair yarn, ever again? Next time I'm going to seek out some alternative.

To be honest, it is way too hot to wear things like this right now. It's sheer madness that I'm even wearing it here. But I had to show it, yes?... and at least I know now how very very cosy and warm it will be for next winter :)

Details:

Top; knitted by me, Jo Sharp's mohair sweater in mohair, col 617 (rosehip)

Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, my review of this pattern here

Socks; knitted by me to a 60's pattern, Morris and Sons 4ply wool, details here

Boots; hiking boots, hand-me-downs from Mum

I have made a shirt for Craig's birthday :)
Burda 7767, again.
Looks kinda plain from a distance? well, up close it can be seen the shirt has a secret floral surprise!

I've seen a few shirts in up-to-the-minute menswear boutiques with some panels and parts cut from contrasting prints like paisleys and florals, and wanted to make something like this for Craig. Thing is though, he's a fairly conservative dresser who would give major side-eye to anything full-on floral.... too scary! so to ease him into the trend gently and painlessly I just sneaked it in, in innocuous spots, for facings and mostly inside parts. Meaning at a casual glance you only get tantalising glimpses that it is not just a ~~boring old~~ plain grey shirt. Fortunately this was acceptable. Phew!
I'm really pleased with how it looks! It's always a bit nerve-wracking choosing fabrics for the menfolk, they can be so easily spooked. The floral is a little hipster, it's true; but I think the soothing presence of all that grey cotton broadcloth makes it ok for a man like my husband.

Both fabrics are from Spotlight, and I used the soft floral Japanese cotton wrong side out to get a softer, pleasantly faded and muted effect. This is used for all facings: the collar, collar stand, pockets, button and buttonhole bands, sleeve hems and yoke. The variegated pale/dark grey buttons are from Fabulous Fabrics.
I gave the left breast pocket a pen division, because apparently he actually uses it.

All the seams are flat-felled, and I used my own tutorial to get that sleeve cap curve sitting down nice and flat around the shoulder.

At the lower edge of the side seams I tried something new, and finished them with a lapped flat-felled split. I really like how this turned out; it's strong and looks both neat and smart and I will use this technique for a lot more shirts in future :)

Details:
Craig's shirt; Burda 7767 with minor modifications, my review of this pattern here

In-seam pockets

Scorpio

A pale set

the paper doll project

A horse, and other news

Purple jeans; 6 different ways

yesterday...

Wardrobe planning...

Sagittarius

the paper doll project

on the Map

Red

Experiments in Alabama Chanin

a travel wardrobe...

sewing on planes; a tip

Modern Love exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery

the paper doll project

Aurelio Costarella retrospective and FrockStars at the WA Museum

Capricorn

Grey shirt, with some floral