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Red velveteen skirt; 6 different ways

November 28, 2012, 12:20 am
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A bigfashion trend around about these parts currently is the red jeans trend.  It is HUGE-o-rama!  I do like it too..  however since my husband bought a pair of bright red jeans for himself while in Milan and my daughter has since bought a pair for herself too; so now I cannot possibly follow along literally myself without us running the risk of bobbing about the house looking like a little flock of Santa's helpers... but luckily I already have my ombre-dyed red velveteen skirt in the wardrobe; mwahaha.   Trend box ticked!  Well sorta.  It is to my satisfaction, anyway.
In Milan I noticed the most successful red jeans combos were with a very neutral, or at least a very conservative top; the better to tone down the woa!-ness of those eye-catching legs and avoid clown territory, and I think mixing and matching an in-your-face colour or print skirt follows the same principles.  I tend to pair the red skirt with very bland or classic garments, or just very occasionally with a colourful top if I'm in that sort of mood.

Below: at left; a classic boat-neck navy and white striped Tshirt is without a doubt the most popular pairing with red jeans I have seen here in Perth.  That combo is sooooo hot right now.  Rather French I think with little white sand shoes, and fortunately I happen to have red leggings too… At right; a men’s styled denim shirt is another perennial classic, which works well with the red skirt peeping out under, and smartened up with chunky high-heeled caramel wedges.
Below: at left; a flash of crimson from under a long-line cardigan adds a spot of cheer to an all-charcoal winter-y outfit, and at right; on a day when one is feeling particularly bubbly, a bright tunic top and ballet flats matches the strength of primary colour in the skirt
Below: at left; the freshness of white, the rumpled crispness of linen and unusual styling of this shirt is a total counterpoint to the rich colour, plush velveteen texture and very simple silhouette of the skirt.  I really love all the contrasts in this outfit here… and at right; I hope you're not bored with this orange top, since I do tend to wear it a lot!!  I guess maybe it deserves its own 6-way post one of these days... except it's been seen a tonne of times already, maybe I've run out of fresh combos!  Obviously it is another very versatile player in my wardrobe!


Traditionally I've considered red to be a primadonna colour that is quite difficult to mix and match, but I have enjoyed playing with this little red skirt.  Which way would you be wearing it?
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here's a thought...

November 30, 2012, 12:00 am
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Details:
Top; from Pattern Magic 3, of grey marle jersey knit, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723 modified, of grey/beige corduroy, details here
Thongs; Havaiiana

The last day of the month, the time of reckoning is at hand; and verily, an unexpected snag has raised its ugly head...  
You see, while I, of free will and sound mind (ha!), elected for this year to account for how much I spend on sewing my wardrobe and on everything sewing-related really, including all the random bits and bobs for Craig and my children; I'm shy when it comes to personal gifts.  Like, the birthday pressies I made for Mum and Dad this month, and Christmas is coming up, and since my family do read my blog...  and yeah, seeing a price tag on a pressie is so so tacky, don't you think? and all the love and the care and the thought, and the hours of sewing, ahem that go into a handmade gift are not accounted for, but become somehow negated when a number is placed upon it.
I didn't think of this in the beginning, since everyone's birthdays and Christmas are at the end of the year it has taken me this long to twig that this might happen...
SO I have decided on a plan.  I am still going to tally and publish the costs of my sewing habit but there is going to be an addendum for this and next month.. a Secret Tally.  I've already made things for my children and for Craig that I have tallied separately throughout the year, and I will add the costs of everyone's birthday and Christmas pressies into that at the final tally next month.  So, those costs will still be accounted for and published, but as part of a separate, whole and unitemised sum.  
My own personal clothing expenditure will continue to be itemised... does that sound fair and open and honest?
I hope so, because whatever; that is how it is going to be!

So behold, the noble n' neat, nitty-gritty for November...


Blood Orange top
Fabric; previously accounted for
Patterns; Vogue 1247, used previously
Lingerie holders; gift
Total cost: free
Seafoam and sand set
Fabric, hook and eye closure, bra cups; all leftovers and recycled from previous set
Blue chiffon and white lace for the new crotch; $10.87
Patterns; used previously
Elastic; $3.49
Underwires; $2.49
Total cost: $16.85
All laced up skirt
Fabric; after using a birthday gift voucher from friends, $4.98
Zip; $2.30
Total cost: $7.28
Miscellaneous purchases
no miscellaneous purchases this month

Total costs for November:  $24.13

the Secret Tally, to be accounted for next month:
Dad's "cement" birthday shirt and Mum's "pomegranate" birthday shirt

A random thought for the day...
from Truth Theory
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Spammy spam spam spam

November 30, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Rachel of My Messings recently awarded to me the One Lovely Blog award, thank you so much Rachel!
Now I know we are supposed to write seven things about ourselves, but honestly.  Aren't people's entire blogs pretty much stuff about themselves anyway?   So I thought it would be more fun to let some of my favourite spam comments have a moment in the sun.   

Spam.  Sometimes I feel sorry for spammers.  They have a tough life, daily facing an uphill battle.  Their hard work is often unappreciated.  Hours: tapping away on keyboards, hacking their little hearts out, frequently in a language that, let's face it, it's pretty obvious doesn't come easily to them... all that effort, for what? 
*delete*
How often do we take a moment to really consider the Soul of Spam?  
Some are pure gems of angst-ridden, strangled prose; others are little bon mots, distilled works of word art... like reading an ee cummings poem.
Some could even be thought of as an e-haiku; a small thought to ponder and reflect in a quiet moment.   
Consider this; could these be the cutting-edge, the new face of modern literature?

(oh, and btw, please do not think I'm poking fun at genuine commenters whose first language is not English, I have absolutely the highest respect for bloggers and commenters who communicate in a second language.  These following comments are not from genuine commenters.  I have removed the website names, but they all without exception came from sales websites just trying to score a return hit...)


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And, in closing...
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A travel wardrobe

December 2, 2012, 3:00 pm
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I'm a bit late with this post, but a week ago my mother, Cassie and I returned from a uber-fun and girly, long weekend away  :D
Time away: 
5 days
Where to:
Melbourne
Season:
the last days of spring.  Cool nights, daytime highs from 19C right up to 29C
Expected activities: walking n' talking, tonnes of window shopping and a smattering of real shopping, tea-ing, consuming pre-dinner sparkling, and tapas-ing.  One visit to the theatre; A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
Colour scheme: calm and peaceful coffee and cream, with rich 'n spicy sunset hues.   Accents of black, and just one cool splash of the palest blue
What I packed: (click on each garment name to link to its original construction post)
(left to right; top to bottom)
pale gold handbag
black thongs/sandals, Misano
black flats, Enrico Antinori
high-heeled, black suede wedges, Misano
Not pictured, but I also took assorted underwear, pyjamas and my red Havaianas to wear when going to the sauna and spa.
Verdict:
Well I packed in a hurry and forgot my wide black emu-leather belt (pictured belting the pale blue tunic top here), which was to be an essential visual component of the two outfits with the black shirt and the pale blue top, doh!!...  That was pretty darn annoying... so I felt I looked less pulled together on each of those days than I wanted.  Mum and Cassie assured me the outfits looked OK sans belt, but y'know when you have this image in your mind of exactly how you want to look and then it it is not to be, because of the absence of one flipping thing??  Apart from that...!  Overall I was pretty pleased with the selection, it was both comfortable and workable; and I loved loved loved my colour scheme.  It's very pleasing when your makes mix and match and turn out to complement each other in just the way you hoped.
I was particularly thrilled to be recognised by another lady while shopping in Tessuti's; thank you Yvonne for those lovely compliments about my "precision" in sewing; your kind words totally made my day  :)
The outfits I chose for each of the five days are pictured below, and my pale gold bag co-ordinated with all my outfits for both the daytime and the evening.


Below at left, I wore my Guy Laroche dress every evening out to dinner; and at right, every night we baked in the sauna and tumbled into the pool... bliss!
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A fluttery cloudy thing

December 4, 2012, 3:00 pm
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This wasn’t actually supposed to be a real dress.  I was playing about.  I have to confess to a few struggles with my fabric… that had a mind of its own and a recalcitrant disposition.  If fabrics can be anthropomorphised; this fabric would be a will o’ the wisp, absent-minded girl with a head full of poems and fairy tales and dreams, given to wandering barefoot on sunkissed white beaches and forgetting that her library books were due back.
But it has been coaxed into a coolly flitter-y flutter-y dress, which I think it wanted to be all along in its heart of hearts.
This is the Loose Flare Drape Dress; pattern no.11 from the Japanese pattern book Drape Drape by Hisako Sato.
The fabric is a very lightweight, very soft, pale grey marle jersey knit, part of a massive quantity I bought from the Morrison remnants sale.  A fabric I picked up because I liked the soft cloudy-grey colour and the slightly fuzzy texture, but was actually extraordinarily flimsy and difficult to work with.  It clings and flutters and slips all at the same time, it is very drape-y and almost sheer.  It likes to curl up tightly on itself, and the sketchy “stripe” in the fabric is whimsically slanted at a slight diagonal.
But happily ever after et cetera; the thin floatiness of the fabric is a near perfect match for this pattern… I’m thinking of rustling up a halter-neck bra to wear with it, but in the meantime it’s being stoushed in the beach-bag to do duty as a cover up.  
It may even stay there if I don’t get around to the halter bra, since it is just the right shape and style to go over my bathers.   And it is so ethereally summery; a flattering and exceptionally easy-to-wear dress, edgily short and cute-ly flippy.
The dress is an A-line halter neck dress with a wide and swing-y skirt; and a full length, full skirted lining for which I used the same fabric.  The loose flare piece referred to in its title is a separate piece attached in with the halter neck at the left side and sewn into the armhole, to flow free and loose across the front of the dress.
This piece is what makes the whole dress, of course.  The extra piece is a very simple idea, and it swishes and flutters so prettily against the dress.
The only adjustment I made to the pattern was to leave off the zip and just to sew up the side seam.  Well, it’s stretch fabric.  I’m currently of the opinion that zips in a stretch garment are a complete waste of money, time and effort. 
Naturally I reserve the right to change that opinion any time it suits me. 
The fabric isn’t the only one here subject to whimsy.


Details:
Dress; the loose flare drape dress, pattern no.11 from Drape Drape by Hisako Sato, made of lightweight grey marle jersey knit
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Check-mate

December 9, 2012, 3:00 pm
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... because I've made something in a check, and I'm accompanied by my best-est mate  :)  The former, a rarity; the latter, far less so!
So, the searing-est of searing hot scorchers are but just around the corner, and like a war-wife stocking her air-raid shelter before the blitz, I am laying in supplies... I have made a new pair of shorts using Burda 7723, altered by lengthening and flaring the legs slightly, and adding a zip placket.
This is the eighth thing I've made using this pattern... yeah, so I've come to the conclusion that this pattern is one totally cruddy pattern which does not work for me at all... hehe, joking! Just seeing if you were paying attention.  Obviously, this has been one of my favourite and most used patterns.
The green gingham was given to me by my friend C from her late mother's stash.  I can tell it is a really old old fabric, a cotton gingham of a solidly satisfying quality you just don't see very often anymore.  Seriously, I don't want to come across all "oh-all-modern-stuff-is-crap-compared-to-the-good-old-days" since I think that is not true at all: but; a Case in Isolation...  like the proverbial man; good gingham is hard to find now.  This is a very good gingham; crisp, strong, thick and tightly woven.  The white has slightly yellowed to a pale-ly creamy ivory through age, but as this suits my colouring I consider it a plus.
Now.
There is actually something  rather special about my new shorts....  :)
this is the very first garment fully made on my baby sewing machine; my tiny elna Opal, that lives in our beach house!  YES!  
I have used it for hemming curtains, but I really wanted to make a proper and complete "something" entirely using this weeny little machine while we were at the beach house, so took down everything I thought I might need.  Of course, I get started and quickly realise I did NOT have everything that I needed!  I remembered after the fact that I usually finish off a few internal raw edges in this pattern on my overlocker, which of course I did not have with me.  However, I did have a piece of white voile with me, which I had taken down just in case, like for pocket lining or something.  I did not use it for pocket lining, but it was sliced into bias strips and I finished off all the raw edges inside my new shorts with HongKong seaming.  This is a kinda high-end finish I would not normally bother with in a casual pair of shorts, so my overlocker's absence really forced me to lift my game here!
Also, I also belatedly realised that my baby machine does not have a zip foot, meaning I had to insert the zip using its one and only foot, a regular wide one.  So the front fly top-stitching around the zip turned out a wee bit wonky... but that's OK.  Seeing those sweetly crooked stitches on my machine's very first garment is like looking at my child's very first piece of kindergarten art.  
Likewise, the baby machine does not do buttonholes, that I can work out anyway: so instead I handstitched a keyhole buttonhole using embroidery thread in a tight blanket stitch.  Another example of a maybe higher quality finish than I would otherwise have employed!  Maybe I should make more things while I am away from my "real" sewing machines :D
Just for fun, and "why not?" I added strips of bias-cut gingham in the pocket opening edges.  I was planning to put some welt pockets in the back with bias-cut welts too; but the unheard of happened, and disaster struck... I ran out of thread!  
(heard in Perth, all the way from Dunsborough)  "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Oh well.  It's not like one ever uses rear pockets... they're just for show and I guess there's already plenty of visual interest happening with the check and all.  But once something is in my head and I haven't been able to see it through; it's Unfinished Business and niggles at me.  Hate that.  Maybe I'll bring these shorts down again the next time and put those welt pockets in... maybe.  We'll see.  :)

Details:
Shorts; Burda 7723, green cotton gingham; my review of this pattern here
Top; the ponytail top from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, green jersey, details here
Shoes; bensimon, from seed
Hat; Country Road
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Not-naked toes

December 11, 2012, 3:00 pm
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"There's only one thing worse than chipped toenail polish, and that is NO toenail polish!!"

These words of wisdom are oft repeated by a very good friend at this time of year... striking fear into the hearts of those of us who, at their peril, do not heed her advice and may well be called upon to account for the offending nakedness of their toenails in a social setting... !

We all have our own preferences.  Some ladies are faithful to one colour all summer long, something classic like coral pink, or a sparkly Christmassy crimson.  Some rotate between a select few "fashionable" colours, chosen to co-ordinate with their summer wardrobes.  One of us is very very fickle and changes colours once a week.  All summer long her toenails will stand testament to many and varied fleeting love affairs with a whole rainbow of crazy colours.
Ahem, that last one would be me.  I'm such a nail polish tart  ;)
I absolutely adore this new colour!  My Mum bought this one in Melbourne during our recent trip away.  Gorgeous, no?  It is not white, or pink, not even pale pink, not grey or even beige, but a sort of combination of all of the above.  A non-colour really.  Like the colour of nothing.  
Quiet.  Peaceful.
And so perfect for my mood at the mo'.  The pre-Christmas period is the craziest, most hectic time of the year, and painting ten little spots of a peaceful and quiet non-colour on the toenails is like ten tiny pearly pools of zen calm in my life right now.
Cassie and I bought different colours, and now I am kicking myself I did not get this one too at the same time, since I have fallen in love with it.  Drats.  It was much admired by my friends this morning too.
Double drats.
If I cannot find this polish locally I will have to invite Mum up, avec nail polish, for another stay!
So, let's talk colour... what is your hue of choice for the summer tootsies...? and do you play favourites; or like me, are you a woman of whimsy?

Nail varnish: Buttercream, by Kester Black
Sandals; Misano, from Marie-Claire
Disclosure, in case you are wondering: this is not an endorsement, and this was not a freebie; we saw and purchased our nail polishes at a craft fair, of all places! and paid full price.
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twelve recurring

December 11, 2012, 8:12 pm
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... posted at twelve minutes past twelve o'clock, on the twelfth of December, 2012
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Vegetable placemats

December 13, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Occasionally I still come across old things, handmade by me, but still not shown yet on this blog (blush)
I found this set of eight linen placemats tucked into the back of my linen cupboard.  These were entirely hand constructed and embroidered by me...  I hadn't forgotten them precisely, but they were one of those things that I kept thinking; I must dig those out and take photographs of those things one of these days...  which has now finally been done!
I made these yonks ago; not even sure exactly when now.  But it was when we had all three kids, and they were very little.  I was heavily into cross-stitch for a coupla years.  Note: was.  It's a good thing I have these, yes? even just to show that I once did have the patience, if nothing else  ;)
I bought natural linen, and measured off the placemats and finished the pulled thread-work and hand-hemming on all eight mats before I allowed myself to do any of the fun stuff; the actual embroidery.  
For the pulled thread-work: I pulled two threads from along just inside each edge, which were then each woven invisibly into the border.  I then hand-stitched along each edge, pulling the loose threads into pairs to form a long skinny "ladder" inside each border.  I'm calling it pulled thread-work, but I'm not absolutely certain that this proper name for this kind of embroidery?
The hems were then folded under twice and hand-stitched, and each of the four corners on each placemat is mitred at the back.
Then I did the cross-stitch embroidery.  The designs are from a Prairie Schooler pamphlet that I bought from Aherns.
I've always been taught that the back of the embroidery MUST always look at least as neat as the front...

They all got used, but there were favourites; so there was often swapping and switching before the dinner came out so that a particular veggie was set in front of the appropriate person!  
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Bread

December 15, 2012, 10:00 pm
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Have I ever mentioned before that I married a very clever man?  Maybe, but if not then.. I have.  A very clever man indeed.
Well, he married me, didn't he?
Haha! kidding!
He has done some other clever things too  ;)

Including making bread.
Now let me explain... we are not foodies, oh nooo!.. although in fact I have been "making bread" for the family for about fifteen years; only I use a bread-maker which is kinda cheating, and not really like making your own bread at all.  So, while I do "make my own bread", please note the use of self-mocking inverted commas.  Well, you see; Miss Frugality, in her zeal for DIY, went and bought a breadmaker, even though it was expensive and she is allergic to kitchens.  Fortunately it turned out to be so easy even the worst cook in the world could cope, and the cost per use is probably down into the micro-cents by now.  So, the kiddies grew up on that deliciously chewy, crusty, chocka-with-seeds stuff it produced and we quickly discovered we just could never go back to that crap masquerading laughably as "bread" sold in the supermarket, ever again... so the homemade bread habit has continued to this day.  Chuck in the breadmix, water, yeast, press a few buttons, a few hours later, hey presto, a yummy loaf awaits.   Simple as that.  Easy peasy.  And domestic contentment ensues.
But recently my husband read a book "52 Loaves" by William Alexander; which outlined the author's grail-like quest to make bread the traditional way, truly from scratch.  Very entertaining read, by the way.
My husband, not a man easily impressed, was impressed.  He was like, "Challenge Accepted!!"
Yes, in case you're wondering, my husband is an inquisitive as well as a competitive man.  On those personality thingie tests, he always comes out as a lion; an A-type; a born-leader; a go-getting, never-admit-defeat, super-intelligent dynamo of doing-ness; or whatever.
Anyhow, he found himself compelled to make bread, too.  The hard way.  And like just about anything my husband attempts, he succeeded.
So.
He started out by developing his own starter.
You begin with blueberries... yes, really.  Why? Well, blueberries are one of the few substances which are still sold today with their protective layer of wild yeast intact.  That white, slightly powdery substance coating the surface of blueberries?? well, that is an atmospheric fungus, a naturally occurring thing, that has been used for centuries by our ancestors to grow the leavening agent for bread.  Nowadays, most of us are lazy and use either dried yeast or a pre-made starter developed by somebody else, but fortunately for the apocalypse-minded amongst us: the materials are still at hand for those who wish to make use of ancient techniques and go the pure unassisted route towards making their own bread.  Can you make your own yeast? why yes you can!
It also occurs on other fruits and veggies, you sometimes see it on grapes and apples here but most of the time it gets polished off before they reach the grocer.
Craig soaked a punnet of blueberries in pure (chloride and fluoride free) water to harvest, or in old terms; "catch" the yeast.  Then he combined this "live" water with an equal quantity of flour, and left it to develop.  After a few days he had a thick bubbly paste with a pleasantly fertile, brewery-like aroma.
This is the levain, and it lives in our fridge.  In colder climates people keep it in a warm spot on the window sill, but we are in a very very hot climate so it would get bloated and whiffy in no time at all on our windowsill!  You need to feed and tend to it every few days to keep it in good shape.  
As you can imagine, in ancient times the levain was like gold in a family; it was their ticket to the staff of life and it was essential for it to be kept well maintained.  The health of a family's levain was literally the key to the health of the family!
Obviously we are a very fortunate first world family whose survival is not dependent on the survival of our levain; but after all the effort that went into producing this stuff you can be sure Craig is taking blinkin' good care of it!
He baked the bread on pizza stones.  Fortunately we've had these already a Christmas gift one year I think.  
Incidentally I was allotted about one nanosecond in which to take this photograph... something to do with "YOU'RE LETTING ALL THE HOT AIR OUT!"... or something or other...  
and then ... bread.
As they say in the ad biz;  Un Serving Suggestion...   
And was it tres delish?  
Oh, oui.  
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LBS

December 17, 2012, 3:00 pm
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The amount of Christmas "creating" going on around here has been insane lately!  I have been sewing like an absolute madwoman... ! 
but this Little Black Skirt is not a part of that.  This is a sorta urgent extra!       aiyiyi...
My daughter has completed her undergraduate degree and successfully secured her first "real" job. She will be returning to uni next year to do her Masters, but will probably continue to work concurrently in the firm she has just joined... 
So, just prior to her interview we attended to a detail of paramount importance: her wardrobe.
For the past few years she's been a university student, with an appropriately fun and funky colourful casual wardrobe and lots of crazy shoes... hmmm.    We assessed everything and came up with one or two smart and stylish little separates that she can wear in the office, but identified a few holes that I will have the pleasure of addressing over the next few weeks... the biggest of which is the ubiquitous LBS.
So I made one for her.  It may not look very earth shattering, but I wanted this skirt to be a long-term goodie, a wardrobe builder; a simple, streamlined and smart basic, high quality enough to last for years and years; and also sturdy and practical enough to cope with being tossed in the washing machine.
I used Vogue 8363, and a very nice quality washable wool-mix suiting fabric from Fabulous Fabrics.  The skirt is fully lined with black polyacetate lining fabric, also from Fabulous Fabrics, and I juggled the various views of the pattern to give the skirt a one piece darted front, to have those satisfyingly deep, slanted hip pockets, and to have a central back invisible zip opening.  I shortened the skirt to hit at a very workable just-above-knee-length.  This is both mine and Cassie's favourite skirt length; suitable for both summer and winter wear.
An easier-to-see view of the pockets can be seen on another version of this pattern I made previously; here.
The hem is finished with a black bias-cut cotton strip.
I adjusted the lining pieces to incorporate an extra few inches of width at the widest part of the hips: since in my experience this is the first part of a pencil skirt to show strain, particularly in a skirt that one is seated in for long periods of time.  The darts in the lining are not stitched, but simply folded in position and stitched along the top, for that little bit of extra wearing ease.
Below; the inside view of the lining, skirt back.
The skirt has one shaping dart at the front, two at the back; all the better for that slight sway back adjustment
I worked a bound buttonhole (seen above) for the single waist button.
She owned literally one pair of suitable shoes for the office, so we also bought a new pair of Misano ballet flats in beige and caramel, with black feature strips.  These are exactly the same as my own ballet flats, just in a different colourway.  These neutral shades are going to be the backbone of her new working wardrobe.  
Cassie made her charcoal jersey jacket herself, and blogged about it on her own blog here.
I'm actually rather excited about helping to add to Cassie's working girl apparel!  what to make next, what to make next?  but any new pieces may have to wait until the seasonal mayhem has subsided.....  ;)

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 8363 modified, black wool-mix suiting; my review of this pattern here
Camisole; supre
Jacket; made by Cassie, and blogged here
Shoes; Misano, from Hobbs
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Blood Orange top; 6 different ways

December 19, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Hey y'all peeps.  
I've been having a play around with my blood orange Vogue 1247 top... trying out different ways to wear it.
So... I might have said this before, once, or twice, or twenty times  ;)  but I absolutely love brainstorming in my wardrobe trying out different outfits like this.  It never fails to inspire me with new and different ways to wear my clothes.  I frequently get tired with everything in my wardrobe and crave to break free of the little "outfit ruts" I get into; and experimenting with unusual and different combinations really keeps my pieces interesting to me and helps my wardrobe to achieve the fullest variety of which it is capable.
Having said that; I have to admit that the first two looks are the two ways I wear this top and its older twin the clementine top, just about all the time.  But, I'm setting my sights on breaking free from that  :D

Below left; unadorned and no frills, it is the perfect thing to wear with shorts on a really hot hot summer's day at the beach or around the house.  Cool and airy enough for the hottest of hot days.  Colourwise, I also adore the unexpectedness of this sombre claret against the shocking pink too.  Below right; pop on a sludgy little skirt, cute ballet flats and throw on a couple of entwined skinny scarves, and the top looks quite smart enough to sally forth on some errand requiring a bit more style.
Below left; on very hot summer days you might want to wear a dress with spaghetti straps, but need to protect your shoulders from the sun.  Cardigans are too hot and cloying to even contemplate, but a light boxy top like this is comfortable and cool and fits the bill quite well.  And looks sort of boho-chic too...  Below right; I know we all in the sewing blogging world have been conditioned into thinking that this top must be worn hanging out! and I have sure been guilty of this too... well not necessarily!  I actually love how it looks when tucked into a high waisted skirt as well.  Looks pretty cute like this, yes?  I was also serendipitously thrilled to discover that the top is just about a perfect colour match for my high heeled caramel wedges too  :)
This top is just made of cotton, and therefore it's not really suitable for really cold or winter-y days.. but it can still be worn as part of a cooler weather ensemble and not look silly imo...
Below left; sometimes, y'know you just want a bit of that colour, added into your outfit??  worn like this, I like how it looks peeping out as just a layer of colour layered over a long skirt and under a shorter jacket, and co-ordinating with a matching scarf and boots.  Below right; being quite loose, it can also be comfortably worn over an insulative Tshirt, with jeans and a skinny scarf.  I've always liked this slightly grunge-y double-top look, with shorter sleeves worn over longer. 
Actually I really love both these last two looks.   I just wish I'd thought of them during our winter just gone!  Aah, well, there's always next year  :)
Which look am I wearing today?  well being quite a fairly hot day and having errands I am sporting the green ballet flats, the sludgy little skirt and twisted blue and black scarves.  I love dark sludgy colours made just slightly edgy with just an unexpected splash of bright colour.  Kinda reminds me of Tron.

(And incidentally I've done something new with this 6-way post... I've linked to the construction posts of all the other garments appearing in the outfits here.  Please let me know if this is helpful or interesting, and whether you think it is worth my continuing with this... thanks  :)  )
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Looking sharp! Craig's birthday shirt

December 21, 2012, 6:37 pm
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It is my husband's birthday, and I have made a shirt for him!

I used my favourite my only! men's shirt pattern Burda 7767, adjusted for a perfect custom fit; and a gorgeously high quality, striped shirting cotton from Tessuti's in Melbourne, bought in high cloak-and-dagger secrecy in a moment while Craig's back was turned during our trip there in September; mwahahaha!!!!  Cannot believe I managed to pull it off actually, a hidden-but-in-full-view purchase; my gosh, but I'm one devious little wife-y.  
Cool as a cucumber, my friends...  Coooool.  As.  A.  Cucumber.  ;)
For the white collar, collar stand, button bands, cuffs and plackets and the arrow-shaped cap on the single pocket; I used a very nice white cotton that I bought for my own use from Fabulous Fabrics.  It hurt like mad to have to cut into "my" cotton.  It really did.  Honestly, I searched and searched for white fabric that was a reasonable textural match for the striped fabric but couldn't find anything by the time I wanted to start on Craig's shirt.  Can you believe white shirting cotton would be such a rare beast??? well, it is.  Trust me.  I've scoured high and low, and it is currently non-existent...
Thus explaining and self-justifying why I pounce upon, buy up big, and hoard high quality white cotton whenever and wherever I see it.... and this is one of my treasures  (hoarsely croaking) " .... My precious...."
I think the shirt really needed the white contrast bits; in fact I think they make it.  I really wanted this shirt to be a super high quality business shirt, like the sort he could wear in important professional situations, and look mighty spiffy at the same time.  NOT one that would provoke any "oh, and did your wife make your shirt for you then, hmmm?" comments...  :)  
And I have to admit I am pretty chuffed with it.  Actually I am quite thrilled with how this looks; the fabric, the quality and the finish.  I think this is the best quality shirt I have made so far.
The armscye seams are flat felled inside, and I used my own tutorial for flat felling a curved seam to achieve this neatly.  The side and sleeve seams are French seams.  I bought the little black matte buttons from Fabulous Fabrics also.

for those like me who like checking out the insides...

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767, striped shirting cotton, with white cotton detailing
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the Wolery

December 24, 2012, 4:00 am
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After my brothers and I had all moved out of home and started our own families; I started a rather non-rigid, and not annual, tradition of making a Christmas ornament for each of us... just something silly and small, not anything of great worth or anything but something that could be a commonality to us in our separate homes.  This year I was happy to find the time for it again  :)
so please say tu-whit, tu-whoo!  (trans.  Hello) to...
the Black parliament above
the Green parliament 
the White parliament
and the Brown parliament.

I used this pattern developed by Moonstitches, and I used old corduroy jeans, some scraps of cotton and embroidery thread; and the little buttons I had to buy new, from Spotlight.  Each owl has a circular cardboard base, covered with cotton and stitched in place.  I slipped a glass bead inside just before stitching the base on, to make the owls bottom-heavy and to help them stay upright and not blow over.
I just love how the tiniest variations in height and width, and the placement of the beak and the eyes, results in very distinct and individual personalities in each owl!

Merry Christmas all!
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Chocolate with a little zing; Tim's Christmas shirt

December 25, 2012, 3:00 pm
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I made a shirt for our eldest son for a Christmas pressie...
using Burda 7767 (surprise!!) and some lovely deeply sludgy, purply-chocolate linen bought from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during our September visit there, and I found the perfect turquoise buttons and matching thread in KnitWit.
Tim is quite a snappy dresser and cares about his wardrobe, he likes clothes that have that distinctive modern-hipster look; classic lines but with odd details and a slightly grungy edge.  This pattern does have very classic lines, and I thought the unexpected neon jolt of the turquoise buttons and matching thread I used for topstitching throughout adds the edge that the shirt needs to steer it firmly away from boring (from a young man's point of view) "classic" territory and shimmy it into the "hipster" sphere.
To really bring the vivid turquoise visually into the spotlight; I added buttons galore and OD'd on the topstitching, going for double top-stitching throughout, wherever a button or topstitching could be put, there it went!
I added two bellows breast pockets.  The pockets have angled lower corners and the pocket flaps have contrasting curved lower edges, for a bit of visual non-matchingness... something quirky, therefore hipster.  
The sleeves have a separate folded-up cuff with double buttonholes and buttons for decoration.
The armscye seams are flat felled on the inside using my tutorial for flat-felling a curved seam here to achieve this neatly, and the side seams are French seams.  The lower edge is curved and finished with a narrow hem.

By the way; this shirt is a true button-down shirt.  
This other shirt that I made for Dad is NOT an button-down shirt... see the difference?  
A button-down shirt is of course one in which the collar buttons down onto the body of the shirt....  NOT a shirt which simply buttons to put on and take off the shirt, for heaven's sake.  A coupla months ago Club BMV sent around an email advertising a course for sewing a tailored shirt, which is all well and good and probably an excellent course... however the blurb waxing lyrical about the "classic button-down shirt" was accompanied by a photo of a shirt that was clearly not a button-down shirt.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who was pained to the core at the sight of it.  I'm very glad to see they've rectified their error now though.

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767 modified, my review of this pattern here, made of purply-chocolate linen
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Stripey Sam; Sam's Christmas shirt

December 26, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Next up; Sam! and I made a shirt for his Christmas pressie too.  Ohhhh yes, I have been a very very busy bee lately!
I used Burda 7767, and blue and white striped fabric from the Fabric Store, Melbourne...  bought during our trip there in September.  I think it is a cotton rayon mix, very crisp, crackly and crinkly, and it has silver lurex threads running randomly through as well.  I bought the white and silver buttons from Fabulous Fabrics.  This version has long sleeves, which can be rolled up and held in place by an arrowhead tab that buttons onto the sleeve, and a single pocket.
I received some complimentary comments about the stripe matching of the pocket on Craig's birthday shirt, and thank you  :) but the truth is that stripe matching a patch pocket is NOTHING compared to the stripe matching in this shirt. 
Particularly in the case of the two sleeve cuff plackets.   I performed multiple repeats of teeny tiny precision measurements...  checking and re-checking where the stripes were going to fall on the plackets in relation to the sleeve.  Anyone who has ever sewn a tailored detail like a sleeve cuff placket will know the precision required to get these looking nice and even and perfect ... and to get the stripes matching exactly like this as well?    (self high-five)  Truly I consider this one of the highest sewing achievements of my year!

Sleeve tabs... 
Of course the stripes on the pocket match up to those on the shirt too....
The armscye seams allowances are flat-felled on the inside using a gathering stitch on the sleeve cap to achieve this neatly on a curved seam; and the sleeve and side seams are French seams.

Shirt; Burda 7767 modified, my review of this pattern here; blue and white striped cotton mix with a silver lurex stripe
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White Christmas; Craig's Christmas shirt

December 27, 2012, 3:00 pm
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I made a shirt for Craig for Christmas too; and used er, hehehe; Burda 7767 again! I bought some very nice white cotton broadcloth from Spotlight; and the buttons are also from Spotlight.
Actually, this shirt is a response to a rarity; a request.   Rumblings and murmurings about a nice, smart-casual, short-sleeved white shirt have been increasing in frequency and volume for a few weeks, at least.
I tuned in.  I took action.
Most satisfyingly, he was very very pleased when he opened up his pressie on Christmas morning! and he put it on straight away.  Actually, all my boys put their new shirts on straight away.  Cassie put on her new outfit too (hers to appear here tomorrow!!  :)  )  Most gratifying.  I have to confess; Christmas lunch I looked around, and Dad was wearing this shirt, my two boys and my husband wearing their shirts, and my daughter, as well as (duh) myself; was wearing an outfit made by me. .  My heart just ... well, swelled.  Real warm fuzzy moment   (sigh) 
This is a fairly simple version of the pattern.  Simple was just about all I could cope with by this time, since as you can imagine I was fast approaching men's-shirt saturation point .... And after the hard and heavy duty this pattern has endured over the past few months I think it deserves a nice little rest now  :)  Time to go bye-byes, good and faithful well-thumbed pattern, wishing you sweet pattern-y dreams and I'll see you in... oh, sometime in the future, I'm sure ....  ifwhen I can muster a skerrick of enthusiasm.
and (whispers) you can be sure I will be leaping with joy upon some new patterns in the New Year.  Yup.  NEW.  Patterns!  Whoo hooooo!!!
This latest version of Burda 7767 has short sleeves, and two very simple squared patch breast pockets, the left one has been partitioned to have a pen compartment.
For the first time I gave the shirt a club collar by curving the collar points off.
The armscye seam allowances are flat felled; utilising a gathering stitch along the curved sleeve cap to achieve this neatly.  The side and sleeve seams are flat-felled also.
I usually like to add a traditionally curved lower hem to my mens' shirts; but this time I went with a split side seam.  It is hard to see with the white-on-white stitching; but I stitched horizontally along the top of the split with a tight, closely spaced bar of zip-zag stitching.
Going by the worn worn state of Craig's current white short-sleeved shirt collection; I am completely confident this one will be getting tonnnnnes of wear!

Details:
Burda 7767 modified, white cotton, my review of this pattern here
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As blue as; Cassie's Christmas dress

December 28, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Last up: Cassie! and I made a dress for Cassie for Christmas this year; this is the loose drape tank-top from drape drape by Hisako Sato.  I used a thin cotton jersey, printed in an interesting fractured pixels design of ocean blue upon powder blue.  I bought the fabric from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during our trip there in September.
I think the tank-top is designed to just be a summer cover-up, the only explanation for its skimpiness and bra-revealing nature; so I also made a matching little tank top; that is, the regular kind of tank top! to go under it, just in case Cassie decided she wanted to wear it anywhere other than the beach.  I based the shape of the tank top on a well-fitting Tshirt that she owns already.
For the drape drape tank-top; I edged the neckline and both of those big big armholes with a cross-cut strip of the jersey, attached right-side to wrong side on the inside, and then flipped out to the right side of the dress and stitched down on the outside; so the raw edge rolls up on itself and over the stitching.  I can go into more details of this finish with a pictorial tute, if anyone is interested... ?  Looks quite nice and kinda cute, and is appropriate for a casual little summery thing, I think.
The regular tank-top neckline and armhole edges are just finished by turning under a narrow hem twice and top-stitching on the inside face.
The lower edge of both pieces are finished with a hem, turned under twice and top-stitched.

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Extras...

December 29, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Hmmm, I'm going to have to squeeze a few lobbed-in-together Christmas-make posts, or I am not going to finish this biz before the end of the year!
Firstly; as I am sure everyone is aware ;) Christmases here are HOT!  Here in Perth; we delighted in temperatures of 40C on the day, and joy of joys; the entire following week has, and will be, also over 40C.  Monday promises a cool change of 38C, lol.
Literally, I've been in my bathers almost all day  :S
Anyhoo, Christmas Day is generally synonymous with cold seafood, chilled bubbly, cold ham, and refrigerated fruit platters, since the very thought of firing up the oven to cook a traditional hot roast anything, that is going to heat up the kitchen and the house even more than it is already, is just too awful for words....  however, some traditional European dishes have snuck their way into our hearts and been adopted, and one of my favourites is Siena cake.
It is a deliciously rich, flavoursome and chewy concoction and makes a terrific gift; it lasts happily in the fridge for weeks, that's if it remains uneaten for that long.  This year I multiplied the recipe by 4 to make a ginormous batch, enough for a cake for everyone else in the family, so everyone got a Siena cake as well as the owls.  
I use a simplified version of the recipe from the Italian cookbook published in the 90's by the Australian Women's Weekly, the original is reproduced here


Siena cake

125g (4oz) slivered almonds
125g (4oz) hazelnuts
60g (2oz) glace apricots
60g (2oz) glace pineapple
60g (2oz) mixed peel
2/3 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
60g (2oz) dark chocolate
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
icing sugar


Spread almonds and hazelnuts on oven tray, put into moderate oven 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly golden. Chop hazelnuts roughly, combine in bowl with almonds, chopped apricots, chopped pineapple, chopped mixed peel, sifted flour, sifted cocoa and cinnamon, mix well.

Put sugar and honey in separate saucepan, stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved, brushing down sides of saucepan with brush dipped in hot water to dissolve any sugar crystals. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered approximately 5 minutes or until syrup forms a soft ball when a few drops are dropped into a glass of cold water. Drop chocolate in and stir well to melt then add to fruit and nut mixture, mix them well.

Spread mixture quickly and evenly into 20cm round cake tin lined with baking paper. Bake in moderately slow oven 35 minutes, remove from oven, cool in tin. Turn out, remove paper. Wrap in aluminium foil. 
Leave at least one day before cutting. Before serving, sift icing sugar thickly over top.
Nice to have on hand for if friends spontaneously pop over for celebratory drinkies during the Christmas-New Year's break unexpectedly....  I cut mine into very slender 1cm slices and serve them as pictured at the top, for a decadent morning tea or an after dinner treat. 

Random trivia: actually our dog was supposed to be named Siena too; but an extra "n" snuck in there somehow when all her papers were filled out and registered.  I blame Sienna Miller entirely.
Another coupla makes; inspired by Novita, I made some cute little novelty coin purses for my littlest nieces and nephew.  These are the Feed the Animals coin purses, from the Straight Stitch Society.
They are fully lined with the same cotton used for the "food" zip pull, and were made all from scraps and small odds and bobs in my fabric and button stash, and I bought one short zip, from Spotlight.
Following tradition, I slipped a coin into each purse before wrapping them  :)
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2012; a retrospective

December 30, 2012, 10:30 pm
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Here we are, the very last day of the year! and a good time to reflect... was the year fabulous? was it awful? was it so humdrum we now cannot remember a single thing? 
Of course, the beauty of having the blog is that a whole bunch of stuff is documented in black and white buff yellow and there is just no escaping the truths within; good or bad, wrought by my own fair hand.
A favourite picture from each month of the year... June has two because I just had to have one each from Italy and Paris!
January
February

March
April
May
June
Italy!
Paris!
July 
August
September
November
December

Thoughts on the year?  
I am quite comfortable now in making my own entire wardrobe.  It's been years (3? 4?) since I bought any RTW clothes.  I'm kinda happy with just about everything that I've made, only a handful of things per year get chopped up or passed on to others who liked them more than I did.  I'm getting better at letting go of things that are tatty or past their best, and allowing myself to wear the newer and exciting things I've made, with less fear of "mucking them up".
The big big big thing of the year for me....?
 I'm sewing my own lingerie now!!  This is something I always thought would be beyond me, so I am so glad I got brave and gave it a whirl.  My own self-made bras are so soft and comfy and well-fitting compared to any RTW thing I have worn in the past.  
Another personal best for the year was sewing my own raincoat...  I did it!  I cannot tell you how proud I am of that thing (smug self-pat on the back)


You can skip this next bit if you found it dull...  the finances.  So this year I set out to account for my sewing habit.  Like Ebenezer Scrooge I obsessively totted up every last cent, for every single thing sewing related that I used this year.  And I know I said I would disclose all the sewing I did for my family, including gifts, but I have decided not to.  I'm OK with that.  I mean, I know what I spent, but the secret will die with me.  The following is only just the sewing for ME!

Total expenditure: $1330.73.  
Number of garments made, counting each set of 1 bra+ 2 undies as one garment: 65
Average cost per garment: $20.47
Favourite garment: Ivory trench coat
Any fails?: my double sleeved shirt got worn only a few times before I decided that bright-ish shade of sky-blue was awfully unflattering on me... fortunately Cassie likes it and took it.  It is a dress on her, and she looks adorable in it!
Garments made from old fabric: 29
Garments made from new fabric: 38 (yes, these numbers add up to more than 65, but two garments were made from both old and new fabric, and I counted these in both categories)
Refashioned garments: 12
Most expensive garment made: Peppercorn cardigan$108.70
Number of times worn:  ohmigosh, countless.  Probs at least 40 times during the winter and early spring.
Least expensive garment made: 18! garments were free!


So.  This is more than I thought I would spend, I had actually estimated about $1200 for me-sewing, but overall I don't think this is too bad.  Of course, I am very fortunate that a lot of my fabric is given to me; however that is actually a normal state of affairs.  Since everyone in my life knows how much I love to sew, I do receive a lot of fabric; both cast offs from other people's stashes, as well as in the form of gifts for my birthday and for Christmas.
There were some items that bumped up the total more than I expected, particularly lingerie.  Just the findings, elastic and the moulded bra cups that I like cost $25 per set of bra plus 2 undies, and that is before buying any fabric or lace...  and considering I made five sets this year... well lingerie turned out to be a more costly habit than I anticipated!
But so what; I'm making my own lingerie!!!  Wooo hooo!  Plus, each set is still far less expensive than anything I would buy, so I'm satisfied.  There will be more.

I also discovered that knitting is kinda an expensive hobby relative to sewing.  Yarns are quite dear compared to fabric.  But am I going to give up knitting? heck no.  I will take better care of my knitted items from now on though!

So, I am looking forward to the New Year already!
Please let me say, Thank You to all those who read my blog, and who take the time to comment; your presence and your support is very much appreciated.  Big hugs to all of you!
Also my very best wishes to all for a wonderful 2013, and I hope it brings to you all that you've been hoping for!
See you next year!
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