Handmade by Carolyn

Thursday: I think I'm super strict with my colour palette. Bright colours scare me a bit and while I like them in theory, in practise they freak me out and I just have to isolate them, visually; counteract a garish colour by drowning it in neutrals with the rest of my outfit. Or, should that be, showcase? a garish colour by pairing it with "invisible" neutrals? Hmmm, is either, or both more accurate? I don't know!
So, pink jeans. I love them, and have worn them a lot since I made them last year, but I've noticed I will only wear them with neutral tops, most usually white or ivory. Fortunately I have plenty of these ;)
I've just looked at these jeans when they were new, and boy have they faded! They used to be soooo bright!

min 9C, max 22C, fine and sunny

Details:
Jeans; au bonheur des petite mains, strawberry pink cotton denim, details and my review of this pattern here. And many thanks to shams for the pattern :)
Top; my own design, made from an old pair of cotton pants, details here
Tshirt (under); self-drafted, white cotton, details here
Thongs; Havaianas

today Craig is wearing this shirt, Tim is wearing this hoodie and Sam is wearing this shirt...

Craig's shirt, Burda 7767 modified, blue linen, details here and my review of this pattern here
Tim's hoodie; self-drafted, details here
Sam's shirt; Burda 7767 modified, crinkly gingham, details here

The theme for the today's mini photo challenge in me-made May is your home town, so ta da!!!! I walk past this view nearly every day, but my photos will attest to the fact that I usually position my camera to not include the city, if I can. I dunno, a city skyline rarely looks very attractive to my eye. I prefer nature. See, I still got a bit of tree to frame my picture!
See that medium height, square white building to the far right, with sorta "castellations" at the top corners? I can vividly recall that being the tallest building in the city. It has a revolving restaurant, then called Highlite 33, at the very top ... can you guess which floor that was? haha! When I was a mid-teen, my parents took us to dinner there once, for some special occasion. It was pretty swanky back then. My brothers and I were utterly enthralled at the revolving floor and observed tables inching past windows, goggle-eyed. I remember a toothpick being placed surreptitiously by a window, and cries of glee when we caught up to it again. That toothpick was greeted like a minor celebrity at our table.
It's now inexplicably called the C restaurant. The food critic for our local paper completely ripped it to shreds in a review a few years back, which was a minor scandal and hugely entertaining for everyone. Except the owners, probably!
My outfit: I like the look of blue denim and chocolate brown together. I put the tights on first, and they are so cosy and warm I didn't want to take them off! so just picked things to complement them. The heels are wearing pretty thin now, so after winter I'm going to transform them into footless leggings. That's the beauty of sewing stuff yourself... you can improvise and keep a thing kicking on like this!

min 8C, max 23C, fine and sunny

Details:
Dress; Burda style magazine 06/2011, pattern 102, purple/brown rayon, details and my review of this pattern here, and see this dress styled in 6 different ways here
Cardigan; the fitted cardigan, knitted in Jo Sharp soho cotton, colour Sapote, details here
Tights; self-drafted, jersey printed to look like distressed denim, details and my tutorial for drafting your own custom fit tights here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

the family's MMM; Craig is again wearing this shirt, and Tim is wearing this jacket...

Craig's shirt; Burda 7767, blue linen, details here, and my review of this pattern here
Tim's jacket; Burda 7767 modified, beige corduroy, details here and my tutorial for making that welt/patch double pocket here

Saturday: meet my evil twin... can you guess which is me and which is she?? No, I didn't think so ;) I got a question in the Flickr group, do I have a body double... um, no?! and I only have one of this dress too...!
I admit my photoshopping skills are pretty horrific, a strip in the middle of the photo appears twice but hey, it's my first composite! and anyway, it should be all about the handmade clothes, right? I thought this the best way to show both of the items that I wore today.
Today I wore my mustard bandage dress, and looked like the lefthand version of me all day. I took that photo at around noon. Then in the evening we were going out so I added my ivory trench coat and took that photo at about 5pm. I am "glowing" a bit more in the left one, but that is hardly surprising given the difference in the light at those two times!
So, I looked like the right hand version from 5pm until midnight.At that time I turned into a pumpkin.

min 8C, max 23C, fine and sunny

Details:
Dress; Burdastyle magazine 09/2010, pattern 122, mustard coloured ponte, details and my review of this pattern here
Coat; McCalls 5525, ivory drill with satin lining, details here and my review of this pattern here
Socks (not seen), handknit by me to a 60's pattern, details here
Thongs; Havaianas
Boots; Sempre di, from Zomp shoes

Today in my family's MMM13, Cassie wore this shirt, and Sam wore this jacket...

Cassie's shirt (I originally made this for me, but it looks a lot better on her, so it has migrated to her wardrobe ;); Burda 7767 modified, details here, and my review of this pattern here
Sam's jacket; Burda 7767 modified, details here and my tutorial for making the welt/patch pocket here

Sunday: sartorially, I have another bout of couldn't-give-a-toss-itis. Meh.
The good news is that yesterday I learnt how to write a link in flickr descriptions, so now my descriptions look much more neat and tidy, with the links directly back to the original garment post, which is a much better arrangement. So, now I have a word document saved with the code written on it:

whereby ADDRESS is the web address of your post that you are linking to, and TITLE is what you want the link to say.

min 12C, max 24C, fine and sunny

Details:
Tshirt; self-drafted, refashioned from two old childrens' Tshirts, details here
Skirt; my own design, refashioned from a pair of old Burda 7863 corduroy jeans, details here
Shoes: Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

I am the only member of my family wearing me-made clothes today...

Monday, Monday... Busy busy busy but not too busy, which is a very good kind of busy to be!

min 13C, max 22C, fine and sunny. And windy!

Details:
Skirt; lace with coffee silk lining, details here
Tshirt; self-drafted, white jersey, details here
Cardigan; self-drafted, black snakeskin-look stuff, details here
Sandals; Misano

and Craig is wearing this shirt and Sam is wearing this hoodie...

Craig's shirt, Burda 7767 stripe cotton with contrasting yellow facings, details here
Sam's hoodie; self-drafted, details and my tutorial for making the hood here

I have made some new tights! and now I have paprika legs. You know, paprika, the hot n' spicy stuff.
I like the idea of hot spicy legs ;) you see, my initial impulse was to go with "oompa loompa" legs, but it seemed a little... er, silly? Ridiculous? Too close to the bone?! I prefer the poetry of paprika!
Taking part in me-made May has once again taught me that I have plenty of me-made clothes. So much that I really don't need to be sewing fripperies for myself. I am going to devote myself from now on to sewing two types of things: challenging sewing, for fun and self-fulfillment; and replacement or maintenance sewing, making essential things that I actually really need.
This is part of the latter.
The colourful RTW tights and leggings I was wearing last year and the year before have finally gotten hole-y enough to be embarrassing and are now retired to become pool-socks. You know, when stockings get old you use them to put powdered pool chemicals in, tie off and then sit them in the swimming pool. So the chemicals can dissolve slowly without getting hoovered up by the creepy crawly.
I bought this rich burnt orange polyester knit last year, specifically for tights when the time came.
I used my own self-drafted pattern, and the piece was big enough to squeak out two pairs. So I made one pair from each of the "sides" so one pair is marginally darker and redder, and the other pair is lighter, a bit more "pumpkin" than red. The differences are very slight. The pair I am wearing here is the left-hand "redder" pair. I figure I will wear these exclusively until they get a hole, and then I can start on the reserve pair.

Verdict: well, the colour is bright but I LOVE it, and think it will fit in beautifully with my autumnal colour scheme. I think cheerful tights will always have a place pepping up the sombre drab neutrals, the blacks, charcoal and browns that are the backbone of my winter wardrobe. So these will be useful.
Now, I just need a black pair, and I think I will be all set for a me-made, warm legged winter.... :)

Details:
Tights; self-drafted using my own tutorial for making custom fit tights, rusty orange polyester knit
Top; half of a self-drafted twinset, leopard print knit, details here, and see this twinset styled in 6 different ways here
Dress; the gathered hole from Pattern Magic, charcoal fabric, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

in my family's me-made efforts today; Craig is wearing this shirt again, Cassie is wearing these hand-knit socks, and Sam is wearing this shirt...

Craig's shirt; Burda 7767, striped cotton with yellow facings, details here
Cassie's socks; knitted by me to a 60's pattern, 2ply wool, details here
Sam's shirt; Burda 7767 modified, navy and white check fabric, details here

So yesterday I mentioned I would need some black tights to see me through winter... well I made some, tout de suite. Nothing like striking while the iron is hot!
I used some lovely fine-knit black merino wool fabric, bought from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during our last visit, and my own self-drafted pattern. Yah, nothing else to say about these really. There's no doubt I will wear them tonnes and tonnes. I'm making a promise to myself that I will still wear my more colourful and interesting tights at least as frequently.

I also made a new striped Tshirt too; since my old navy and white striped Tshirt has been worn so much it's had it and is now my PJ top. I decided that a striped Tshirt, like the black tights, is another "need" for my wardrobe. A must-have. I know I know *cringe* must-have lists are a dime a dozen and sometimes appear to encompass everything under the sun: but I believe it takes time and trial and error to work out what really constitutes a must-have for an individual. I think that these two pieces are both must-haves in the wardrobe, for me :)
I used my custom fit Tshirt pattern, (the pattern that used to be Burdastyle magazine 06/2011, 120, altered completely beyond recognition), and a white and grey striped cotton jersey from Fabulous Fabrics. I stabilised the shoulder seams with Seams Great, many thanks to velosewer for this :). The raw edges of the sleeve and lower are overlocked, then folded under once and stitched with a twin needle, taking care to have the stitching inside and out appearing within the white stripe.

For the neckband; instead of a vertical or bias striped band, this time I decided I wanted the clean look of a plain white band. So carefully cut the strip and folded and basted it so the band is the exact width of the white stripe. The thinner grey stripe appears just inside the fold.
I attached the neckband using this method, and topstitched the seam allowance down to the body of the garment afterwards.

min 9C, max 20C, sun, cloud and a smidge of rain today!

Details:

Tshirt; self-drafted, khaki and white striped cotton jersey

Skirt; Burda style magazine 10/2010, 136 modified, (the Karl Lagerfeld skirt) black suiting mix, details and my review of this pattern here

Tights; self-drafted, black merino wool knit: my tutorial for drafting your own custom fit tights pattern is here

Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

in my family's mmm13 today; Sam is wearing this hoodie, and Cassie is wearing these handknit socks.

Sam's hoodie; self-drafted, blue/grey cotton jersey, details here
Cassie's socks; handknit by me to a 60's pattern, 2ply wool, details here

The penultimate day of me-made May, and I have a post planned to ~~spew out some vitriol~~ reflect on my experiences. Only kidding there. I have no vitriol, of course. Well, very very little ;) hehe, but seriously, I am going to be throwing a party that it's finished!!
But ahem, my outfit. I am wearing another sorta new, but not actually new thing, today. I sorted through my Tshirt drawer. And found this batty Pattern Magic top sitting there, sad and unloved and in need of a makeover. I made it a year ago, using bright blue cotton jersey, dyed brown. The resulting colour is a great colour for me, a very dark and quite rich chocolate brown that is almost purple in a certain light.

before

Great colour.
Not such a great top, though.
I wore it a couple of times and each time felt just a bit too... weird in it. The pokey-out bits required pulling into place and arranging just so in order for them to not look Very Weird. Mind you, I've nothing against "weird", but there's weird and there's weird, if you know what I mean. There's interesting, avant-garde, attractive weird, and then there is just plain weird. Don't worry if you don't see the difference there, I know what I mean.
But hmm, still a great colour. And there was a fair bit of fabric in it...

after

I half winged it, using my custom-fit Tshirt pattern. I had to piece a new bit in the lower edge of one side, and angled the hem a bit to encompass this, a smaller, pieced-in bit would have looked too bitsy. It's still a bit bitsy probably, but this was the best I could do! And I do really like that slightly angled hemline. I hemmed the lower edge using the blind hem stitch, only on the outside; so it's decorative close-up.

The sleeves also had to be pieced to get any length to them, and were stitched inside and underneath the existing narrow hem of the top's armscye. It has the effect almost of a tank with a little cap sleeve underneath, and then with a longer sleeve underneath that. The sleeve hems are angled too; shorter at the underarm seam than on the outer arm.

Sorry if it's boring now, compared to the before. The good news is that I will actually wear it now, being no longer, you know, weird.

min 6C, max 17C do not let that sunny blue sky deceive you, it is blinkin' freezing! and we had heaps of rain this morning!

Details:
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified, ivory stretch denim, details here
Top; my own design, blue cotton jersey dyed brown
Jacket; Vogue 7975, thick woven wool, with silk lining and black braid edging, details here
Socks; handknit by me to a 60's pattern, details here
Boots; nylon, from Zomp shoes

my family mmm13, Craig is wearing this shirt, Cassie is wearing these handknit socks, and Sam is wearing this hoodie

Craig's shirt; Burda 7767 modified, green cotton, details here
Cassie's socks; handknit by me to a 60's pattern, 2ply yarn, details here
Sam's hoodie; self-drafted, blue/grey jersey, details here

The photo mini challenge for today, the last day of me-made May is "red".

min 6C, max 19C, fine and sunny

Details:
Jacket; Burdastyle magazine 08/2010, 113, chocolate brown faux leather, details and my review of this pattern here
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified, purple stretch denim, details here and my review of this pattern here
Top; the loose drape top from drape drape by Hisako Sato, white cotton jersey, details here
Socks, seen below, and also red!; hand knit by me to a 60's pattern, details here
Boots; Andrea and Joen

In my family's last day of MMM13, Craig is wearing this shirt, Tim is wearing this hoodie, Cassie is wearing this Tshirt, and Sam is wearing this jacket.

Craig's shirt; Burda 7767 modified, white linen, details here
Tims hoodie; self-drafted, grey and khaki cotton jersey, details here
Cassie's Tshirt; self-drafted grey and black striped cotton jersey, details here
Sam's jacket; Burda7767 modified, navy blue corduroy, details here, and my tutorial for making that welt/patch double pocket is here

So, Me-made May...
Yay! I did it, and it is finished! I apologise for the boringness of my daily outfit posts, I know that a lot of my regular visitors switch off my blog completely during the me-made months; so obviously a lot of people do not like that what-I'm-wearing-today aspect. That's ok :)
I do try to mix my wardrobe up creatively, and and to keep it interesting and keep it real.
I learnt nothing new, but this was my sixth time. Oh I lie, I did learn one thing; that I have more than enough handmade clothes... I repeated only three items this month; namely my ivory curtaining skirt, my calico knitted cardigan, and a plain white Tshirt; of which I have three, so maybe not repeating the exact same one, but still. Hmmm, these are all white-ish items. I cannot escape my love for pale colourless clothing!
I upped the ante by electing to wear exclusively handmade clothing, everything; including lingerie, hosiery and socks, but bearing in mind I have already pledged to do this for the entire of this year anyway, and actually I've always pushed myself to the limit in the me-made months. This year I've pushed myself way past those limits. I do wonder if it is time for me to let MMM go now.
I've always really liked the community of me-made May, and thought it was a brilliant idea of Zoe's for getting us all together, wearing our handmade stuff and supporting each other.. Which is why I kept coming back, like a moth to the flame :) This year I felt the "community" feel had diminished a bit; probably because the group was just so BIG this year, over 400 participants! While this is absolutely terrific, that so many people are sewing for themselves and proudly wearing their own creations and I absolutely love that and believe that side of it is just fantastic! however... the (tiny and selfish) downside for me is that the we-all-know-each-other aspect was lost just a little bit. I noticed that the group broke up into cliques. I did not get to know a lot of the new participants this year; I admired and commented on a lot of creations, and received far less comments back. I found it impossible to look at every picture, every day, so ended up just sticking to the small group of lovely ladies who were replying to my comments. And look, that is fine. Everyone does what they can, as much or as little as they want to, and that has always been the way the group rolls. But I did feel a little sad that it was a lot less personal that it has been in the past. A side effect of the group getting so big? I don't know.
Taking the photos is always by far the most challenging part for me, and that didn't change. I made a personal rule to limit my photo sessions to about one, or up to two minutes tops. Some days I had trouble getting the settings on my camera right for certain lighting conditions, and had to go over time; but having that rule took some pressure off.
I also documented here on my blog what in the me-made category my family was wearing, and on most days someone other than me was wearing something I had made. This made me very happy, and was my favourite part really :)
So that is it!
All my daily outfits for this month are in my MMM13 Flickr set here

I'm still doodling about with my paper doll project! I didn't put any pages in my blog during me-made May because it seemed kinda overkill, but I think for the sake of having it all here...

If you love looking at fashion-y sketches ala Fashionary, check out Sarah of Rhinestones and Telephones. She drew beautiful sketches of her delightfully pretty and feminine wardrobe everyday for me-made May.

7th-12th May
(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)
from left:
faux leather skirt, triple collar coffee shirt, coffee net cardigan
charcoal twist top, little charcoal skirt, red leggings
ivory twist top, ivory curtaining skirt, swirly print leggings
purple Tshirt, blood orange top, red velveteen skirt
beige raw silk dress, charcoal wool coat (pm)
black corduroy jeans, white Tshirt, iceberg garter stitch knitted jacket

13th-18th May
from left:
teal silk dress, handknit socks
blue chambray dress, "wearing a square" jacket
knots dress, leopard print cardigan
charcoal top (from pants), white wool mix skirt
powder blue silk tunic top + dress
navy corduroy skirt, blue PM hoodie, moss green felt cardigan

18th (pm) - 23rd May
from left:
red dress + ivory trench coat
blue chambray shirt, blue denim skirt
grey striped dress, Tshirt, ecru scarf
ivory shirt, dusky pink "bustle" skirt, calico cardigan
PM "wings" grey top, little grey skirt, charcoal spiral leggings
strawberry jeans, ivory top (from pants), white Tshirt

24th - 29th May
from left:
eggplant dress, denim-look tights, chocolate cardigan
mustard dress, hank-knit socks
"sleeve" Tshirt, corduroy skirt (from jeans)
lace skirt, snakeskin cardigan, white Tshirt
leopard print Tshirt, PM gathered hole dress, paprika tights
striped Tshirt, Lagerfeld skirt, black tights

Stashbusting..
During the month of May, I used two plus two half lengths from the stash; my teal silk dress, and my paprika tights used a whole length each, and my striped Tshirt and black tights each used a portion of those fabric lengths... plus I refashioned one garment, and knitted a pair of winter gloves. I'm back on track!

Hello!

My friend Yoshimi and I have a new venture; photo maisonette, a daily visual diary of our two different lives in our two different worlds in Japan and Australia. The new blog is inspired by the wonderful site 3191 Miles Apart, a site which has changed a lot since it started, but initially was a wordless site where two friends regularly posted side by side pictures from their two different lives. I loved the idea! and our blog will be along those same lines... a photo a day, from our two individual perspectives. We are not collaborating on the ideas for our photos beforehand, nor will we be writing any explanation behind them; but hope that our pictures themselves tell their own complete story and illustrate what our lives are about.

Yoshimi cleverly suggested the name for the blog "photo maisonette" which I think beautifully captures the idea ... of course in English a "maisonette" is a small house with one flat on each of two floors, two individual occupants occupying each floor. So there is an upstairs person, and a downstairs person. Similarly, our "photo maisonette" will have two stories; the upper story belongs to Yoshimi, and the ground floor is mine.

We hope you enjoy visiting our new blog.

A striped Tshirt seems to be the wardrobe staple of a certain kind of girl, a very stylish and chic kind of girl, that I think is not very like me. I mean, I like to think of myself as a non-conformist, but sometimes you find yourself latching on to a current trend almost without noticing! The striped Tshirt is being touted as a "classic", but I reckon it is a more accurately described as an ultra-fashionable item, that ipso facto will probably go out of fashion in a few years, like everything else. Whichevs, for the moment it is IN. And I found myself making one. And wore it and wore it!

I looked back through my old photos to find these pictures of different outfits incorporating my navy and white striped Tshirt. It has appeared in a supporting role in plenty of other outfits too, but these ones are all "new" to a 6 different ways post. Five of these outfits are from previous me-made or self-stitched months; the first photo is a portion of one I used as my profile pic for a year!

Below: at left; the plain practical lines of the Tshirt play off well against the overblown silhouette of a pouffy white skirt, and at right; this is probably the "trendiest" out of all the outfits here.... worn with a beige trench coat, a long skinny knitted black scarf, and with khaki skinny jeans tucked into bikie boots.

Below at left; the Tshirt's first appearance here on my blog, worn with greige corduroy jeans, a jersey scarf and hand-knitted socks, and at right; worn pinafore-style underneath my favourite charcoal grey pattern magic dress, with matching navy blue tights.

Below left; grunged down for a day of sweaty cross-country hiking with charcoal grey shorts and hand-knitted socks, at right, for a rainy winter's day, the stripes stand out against the pale colours of a light grey longline skirt and a boxy little ivory jacket

It's funny really that this Tshirt turned into such a favourite, since it was initially just an afterthought, thrown together using the leftovers of some rather low quality fabric. My newer striped Tshirt is made with much nicer and meatier fabric, so I am hoping it lasts even longer, at least until the trend fades away! :)

G'day beach babes! OK so I admit it is winter here in Australia now. I can explain...

The very clever Heather of Closet Case Files has dropped a literal Bombshell on the sewing world with this, her inaugural swimsuit pattern, and I was honoured that she asked me to be a pattern tester, woot!! So thrilling! This is the first time evah I have been asked to test a pattern, so that was pretty exciting for me! Thanks Heather!

The pattern for the Bombshell swimsuit is available here. So how ultra glamorous is this style, huh? Honestly, I think that this is like the most flattering swimsuit I have ever owned... including RTW. I even bravely turned my back to the camera, to show the rear view... yikes! Normally I would be waaay too terrified to model the rear view of a swimsuit, on the internet. But you know what? the back of this swimsuit is actually very flattering to the be-hind, and even looks... dare I say it! quite lovely? Believe me, I would not be turning my back to the camera in just any old swimsuit! The sides and back come down far enough to modestly covers one's entire bottom, which is very nice.

In fact, not just the bottom but the whole style is very demure and sweetly retro. The full-body ruching and straight boy-leg cut is reminiscent of the 50's. Heather has designed three styles; style A has a gathered bust with a wide-set strap, style B is a halter neck, which can also be constructed as a pair of high-waisted bikini bottoms (style C) See Heather's gorgeous versions of styles A and B here.

This is style B, and I used a white polyester knit from Fabulous Fabrics. White swimwear can be scarily see-through when wet, but in this design both front and back has two layers of fabric, and with the outer layer heavily ruched, meaning you have pretty much two and a half layers of fabric covering your body. So I think it'll be pretty modest in the water :)

Do you like this swimsuit? if so then I have very good news!

Heather is generously giving away a copy of the pattern to one lucky reader of my blog... so for a chance to win then please leave a comment on this post before Monday 10th June. If you have never made a swimsuit before and are nervous about the techniques involved then never fear; Heather has that base covered. She will be running a Bombshell sewalong on Closet Case Files, commencing on Monday 17th June.

Later edit: Thank you all for those lovely compliments! the pattern recipient has been notified.

Details:

Bathers; Closet Case Files Bombshell, white polyester knit

Hat; Country Road

Sandals; Misano

Remember my Sew Bossy dress, below? It was very… sweet, wasn’t it? I mean, I wish I could wear really pretty things like that, but I think I cannot! But I thought it had promise, it just needed de-twee-ing.

before

I lopped off the sleeves, so now they are plain little cap sleeves; and then dyed the whole thing brown, using iDye, colour Brown. So, I didn’t do very much, but it’s definitely made a ginormous difference to my resolve to actually wear it! I kinda love its new look, still with an old-fashioned charm, but in a less cute and more prosaic way, reminiscent of peeling sepia-d wallpaper in a decaying old farmhouse, or something.

Since I had used ivory coloured polyester thread to sew the entire dress, after dyeing the hem stitching really stood out and looked awful. I unpicked all the visible ivory top-stitching and re-stitched using coffee coloured thread.

The little quirk of dyeing is that you cannot always predict exactly what your results are going to be. I found it interesting that the ivory based print has come out a slightly purple-y shade of brown, while the white cotton I used for the neckband and hemline piping has come out more of a yellow-y, coffee colour. Aaah, the lucky dip that is dyeing!

And while I had the dye pot and dye out I also re-ombred the top of my red velveteen skirt, which had lost a bit of its intensity since I first dyed it a year ago.

I’m a big believer in the transformative powers of brown dye. Such wonderful stuff.

Details:

Dress; dress “T’ from the Stylish dress book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, original post here; with short sleeves, blue sprigged cotton dyed brown. My tutorial for basic one colour dyeing is here.

Tights; self-drafted, of denim look jersey knit, details and my tutorial for making your own custom fit tights here

Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Skirt; Vogue 1247, red cotton velveteen dip-dyed with iDye in Brown, details here. My tutorial for dip-dyeing is here.

It was Sam's birthday a few days back and I made a shirt for him.

The fabric is from Spotlight, a medium-weight cotton twill in a heavy cream colour with navy blue stripes. Ahem, stripes again, I know; but hey. It's so hard to find different and nice mens' shirting fabric. Seriously hard. Fortunately, Sam loves stripes, so our quest to stockpile the world's largest, handmade, striped men's shirt collection is going great guns, thanks.

Buttons; a light bone colour, also from Spotlight. Y'know, Spotlight gets a lot of flack for the hit and miss nature of their stuff. And then every now and again, just when you're about to throw up your hands in despair, you find some gems. So I'm eating my words right now. These buttons, and this fabric? Awesome-sauce!
So, do I have any new revelations about tailoring a man's shirt? No. Am I being mind-numbingly repetitive. Um, probably! I used the same ol' pattern too. I reeeeeeally should get some new patterns, honestly. And no; it wasn't really a huge birthday surprise, since for one, he did actually request it. But I still wrapped it up so he could unwrap it on the day!
It's made to his fit preference; loose and boxy enough to wear open over Tshirts and hoodies, if he so desires, which he frequently does.
Features... Epaulettes.

There are one or two bias details, for some visual interest. Pocket on the bias, with a pen compartment. Sleeve plackets cut on the bias, and I loooove how this looks! Plus, it was heaps easier having no stripe matching to worry about here ;)

Straight hem, with split side seams.
ETA: at right, showing the inside view where the flat-felled seam allowance meets the split side seam... (I will do a small tute on how I do my take on this, if anyone is interested?)

The collar is cut with much smaller, less pointy wings than the pattern piece.

I've been accustomed lately to flat-felling the armscye seam allowances, and French-seaming the sleeve and side seams. Then I read an opinion somewhere that French seams were "feminine" and not suitable for a men's shirt at all... that flat-felled seaming throughout is the only acceptable finish to a man's shirt. O rly?? Well, that burst my bubble.
So I felt sufficiently shamed into going with flat felled seams throughout. Doing this up inside the sleeves of a shirt is not exactly easy. I got a pretty nice finish, but it was fiddly business.

The yoke.
~~Drastic fabric shortages~~ an inspired creative decision dictated that I cut it as two halves on the bias. The yoke facing is a regular, on-grain, single piece of fabric for stability, cut from plain white cotton.

Shirt; Burda 7767 modified, navy and cream striped cotton twill. My review of this pattern is here, and my previous Burda 7767 makes are here and here.

(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)

30th May-4th June
from left:
ivory jeans, black Tshirt, Chanel style jacket, handknit socks
f-leather jacket, white drape-y Tshirt, purple jeans, hand-knit socks
white Tshirt, bell-sleeved top, little grey skirt, denim-look tights
blue denim shirt, strawberry jeans, hand-knit socks, ambrosial hoodie
blue denim dress, wearing a triangle cardigan, paprika tights
oo-la-la dress, hand-knit socks

5th-10th June

from left:

white Tshirt, purple jeans, chocolate cardigan, hand-knit socks

ivory twist top, ivory skirt, swirly leggings

white drape-y top, little grey skirt + clipped wings top, paprika tights

white Tshirt, strawberry jeans, peppercorn cardigan, hand-knit socks

sew bossy dress, denim-look tights, chocolate cardigan

charcoal/black striped Tshirt, ivory skirt-from-jeans, peppercorn cardigan

11th-16th June

from left:

white Tshirt, strawberry jeans, hand-knit socks, peppercorn cardigan, hand-knit socks

ivory skirt, striped Tshirt, grey hoodie, scrumply leggings

black Tshirt, sludge-y little skirt, chocolate cardigan, swirly leggings, hand-knit socks

white blouse, calico cardigan, burnt orange skirt, paprika tights

drape-y white top, petrol corduroy skirt, new-old hoodie, red leggings, hand-knit socks

purple Tshirt, purple jeans, olive felt jacket/cardigan

... literally. I'm dyeing heaps of stuff lately.
My ultramarine corduroy skirt. I was bored with it, and didn't wear it at all during me-made May even though it was season appropriate. That is A Sign. I dunno, I'd gone off the colour; the brightness of it felt a bit passe, a bit garish, not serious enough for winter.
So.... to the dye pot! Plunging your clothes into a pot of dye feels so adventurous, and a little bit dangerous. Like a thrilling, reckless and risky thing to do. Yeah? Man, I need to get out more.
This was dyed with iDye in Chestnut.
It did come out a lot less brown than I thought it would. I thought, bright blue mixed with orange-y brown would maybe beget a chocolate-y offspring, or a deeper version of the corduroy in my hoodie jacket I am wearing above. The new colour reads like deep dark petrol, a dirty midnight blue and I like it all over again now. I'm super happy with the nuovo neutral-ness of it. Feels like an actual new skirt, yay.

Then I turned to my ombre-d red velveteen skirt. I did this only last week, but when I compared it to my original version, I realised that my re-ombre-ing efforts had been pretty darn pathetic. So I re-ombred the re-ombred skirt in iDye in Brown. So now it has been re-re-ombred. Ha!
And my sludgy little skirt had lost some of its sludge, so it got a fresh dunking and a soaking in the leftovers.
Re-sludge-ing, accomplished.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1170, blue corduroy dyed chestnut, original details here and my review of this pattern here
Top (under); the loose drape top from drape drape, white cotton, details here
Hoodie; self-drafted, made from a pair of old corduroy jeans and long sleeved Tshirt, details here
Tights; self-drafted, black merino wool fabric, details here
Boots; nylon, from Zomp shoes

Red skirt; Vogue 1247, red cotton velveteen ombre dyed brown at the top, details here

Brown skirt; Vogue 1247, purple denim dyed brown, details and my review of this pattern here.

A split side seam is a nice feature that adds a bit of visual interest as well as some wearing ease to a straight-hemmed garment, and flat-felling is a smooth and clean finishing technique for seams; but how to manage the awkward joining point between the two?
Marie Coffin and knj09705 both asked about the transition between the flat-felled seam and the split side seam on Sam's shirt... thanks for showing an interest! and since I happened to making another shirt hot on the heels of the previous one I snapped a few pictures to demonstrate how I did it...
btw: I've checked out some of the better rtw menswear shirts and there's a choice of finishing methods. So the following is not the only way to construct this feature, but this is the way I chose this time. I wonder... is there even a "right" way?
Stitch the seam down to the point at which the slit is to start. I left an unfinished length of 10cm for the side seam splits on both of these shirts...

Press the seam open, and and the seam allowances of the split.

So in this case, the flat felled seam of this shirt is continuing from the split, right up the side seam and continuing right down the length of the sleeve to the wrist opening. The rather weird picture below is attempting to show the side seam and sleeve seam allowances pressed open all in one continuous length; correspondingly, the seam allowance will be flat-felled all the way along this seam as one continuous length.

Decide which side of the seam allowance the seam will be flat-felled onto; again, after checking out rtw menswear shirts I've noticed there doesn't seem to be an accepted convention here. I've randomly decided for the seam allowances to lie against the shirt back.
Trim this seam allowance to half its current width, with the trimming tapering off for the last couple of centimetres to the level of the slit. Also, snip into the seam allowance of the other side to the endpoint of the side seam (pictured below). Leave both slit seam allowances untrimmed.

Now press the untrimmed seam allowance back over the trimmed seam allowance.

Turn the top allowance under, tucking it below the trimmed seam allowance underneath to encase it, and press. Also, turn under the seam allowances of the split seam on both sides, and press. Pin.

Stitch the seam allowances down, close to the pressed edge. Stitch the short split seam allowance down separately.

For flat-felling the sleeve seam allowance: while stitching longitudinally along a tube-like structure such as a sleeve; ALWAYS stitch from INSIDE the tube. This eliminates the possibility of inadvertently catching down the other side of the tube by mistake. And yes, with my machine I always have to stitch a tube seam in two stages, from the middle, out to each end!

Lastly, stitch across the top of the split seam to stabilise and strengthen the top of the split. You could stitch a bar tack by narrow zig-zagging, or alternatively run a few forward-and-reverse passes of stitching.

Attempting to show the finished flat-felled sleeve and side seam in entirety. Not much to see at all, really ... but that's the whole idea! Nice and neat and tidy :)

Gemini, the twins.
Of course my boys are not twins obviously, they are separated by several years and have one sister in between them too. But they are both Geminis! That picture cracks me up btw... so brotherly... :D

So, of course the other shirt was for Tim, our eldest son! He had a birthday recently too :)
The fabric for his shirt is the same that I used for Sam's but in a different colourway; a medium weight striped cotton drill in black and cream stripes from Spotlight. The cream background is a touch deeper in colour than the slightly lighter ivory colour that is on Sam's navy blue and ivory shirt.
I went with an on-grain pocket this time, just for one different visual detail between the two shirts.
The other details are all almost identical: epaulettes, a smaller, slightly rounded collar,

sleeve plackets cut on the bias. The same buttons.

The yoke cut in two halves on the bias, with the yoke facing cut as one piece for stability reasons. Close up, you might notice that on Tim's shirt the black "arrow" is centred on a black stripe, whereas with Sam's the negative space white arrow was centred on the negative space white stripe. Little details like that tickle my fancy :)

Sam's

Flat-felled armscye seam allowanc e as described here; flat-felled sleeve and side seams with a split hem, as detailed in the previous post.

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767 modified, black and white striped cotton, my review of this pattern here

So, two more shirts. Phew. I feel like I could just about make these in my sleep now! but two in a row is just about my limit; toward the end of the second one I am getting a little shirted out and need to cleanse my palate by making something completely different before thinking about any more shirts. Variety (in projects) is the spice of life, non?
Fortunately, my next, er make that, current project is super frivolous and super fun and I am having a ball with it. Very very very silly and self-indulgent. I'm having so much fun with it, that I have already roared roughly halfway through and I only bought the fabric on Saturday! And I don't even need it for several more weeks!! I absolutely must slow down. But eeeee! It's such a crazy and ridiculous thing, and I cannot wait to wear it and show it!

And I'm totally embarrassed that I mixed up Gemini and Cancer... when I did Cancer last month, honestly I didn't even realise I had got it wrong until yesterday when I was browsing through birthday cards in the newsagent. I think I got confused because my boys both have birthdays in June and are Gemini, and I just thought to myself, well that is going to work out nicely and then made a mental leap that ok then May must be Cancer and didn't twig that Cancer came after. You can tell I'm not too crash hot on horoscopes.

Whoa! who is that babe?
It's FUTURE GRRL!
So; Cassie was going to a Futuristic party... and had a firm idea of how she wanted to look. To make this sartorial vision a reality she wanted a flamboyant and luxuriously textured coat.
Mission accomplished!
She took her inspiration from an Alexander McQueen outfit, and looks kinda Blade Runner I reckon. We bought the fabric and pattern together. Wait, wait what am I saying? I bought the fabric and pattern. She buys her own clothes now, but I do pay for her fabric when we're out together... I'm hoping to encourage that creativity and DIY spirit. Well, that's the theory, anyway!

below: Alexander McQueen Fall 2010 RTW

source

Fast forward a coupla weeks and Cassie having spent hours and hours and hours of her free time on meticulously hand-sewing another friend's costume for him to wear to the same party (he looked very cool too, btw) suddenly realises the night before the party that she has to work the next day, and so there is absolutely NO WAY she can get her own costume finished on time. Daughterly pleading with promises of chocolate followed. *sigh* Mum to the rescue. I did not want that fabric and pattern to just sit there and not even get to the party!

Hehe, I'm joking of course, I was very happy to step in and take over the making of this ultra glamorous jacket. Isn't it rather gorgeous?? And, she did construct most of the shell herself. Probably we each did about half the work involved.
btw, this is NOT the fab, self-indulgent, frivolous thing for myself I mentioned in my previous post... I had to abandon that for a while to make this! That is yet to come!
The pattern is Butterick 5144, a reproduction 1948 pattern. My, but this is a wonderful silhouette, isn't it? Fortunately I'm allowed to wear it too if I want ;)
The fabric is a heavy Chinese brocade from Spotlight; emerald green and gold and black, with dragons writhing all over, and lined with black polyacetate lining fabric.

Cassie made her own "sunnies" too. Aren't they amazing? She tells me there was another girl at the party with homemade mesh sunnies on. They met up and were like:
Hey cool sunnies!
Hey, yours too!
Can you see anything?
Nup! Can you?
No!
cue massive rofl.... in that way that girls at a party have...

Details:
Jacket; Butterick 5144, Chinese ... silk? (can't remember for sure) brocade
Sunnies; made by Cassie
Cami; Country Road
Skirt; Manning Cartell
Stompin' boots; bought in Japan

Pattern Description:

Very loose-fitting lined jacket has shaped front and flared back, shawl collar, side seam pockets, two piece sleeves with turn-back cuffs and shoulder pads

Pattern Sizing:

16-24, unfortunately the only size the shop had. I graded it down to a 10.

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

Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Very! This is rated easy, and it is!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Oh My Gosh, you guys. I was doubtful at first when my daughter chose it, but now I could not possibly love it more. It could be the most glamorous thing in the house! The shaped hemline is chic and looks quite high-end, the draped back is elegant, the long and very wide sleeves look lovely. It has pockets! and is overall a surprisingly simple make.
I have no dislikes.
Fabric Used:
Chinese brocade (I think silk? but am not 100% sure of that)
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
Unfortunately the only size in the store was a 16-24, and my daughter had her heart set on it. However I did not find it difficult to grade it down to a 10; there are 11 pattern pieces which are quite basic and the instructions are simplistic and straightforward. No fiddly or difficult bits at all.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
My daughter and I made this one together for her, and I think I would like to make one for me now! And, yes!
Conclusion:
Very very cool. This is a 1948 reproduction pattern, so at first glance it might appear a bit costume-y but in this unexpected fabric it manages to fit beautifully into a funky modern wardrobe. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. This one is for my daughter, and me? I'm dreaming of one in lightweight camel wool... or maybe in black or chocolate coloured velvet... (sigh)

Put him on the fastest scout ship available and send him here. No flight plan is to be filed.

That's against Bureau standing orders, Commissioner.

Who do you think wrote those orders, Borr? I did. So do as I say, and do it now.
(source)

So, what on earth, or should I say ... off earth, is going on here?
Well, we are going to a Sci-fi party, and it's been a while since I made something ridiculously glamorous so I decided to embrace my inner superbitch, and go as Supreme Commander Servalan. This requires some mega-fabulous frocking up and I get to behave like an obnoxious vamp all evening.
DOUBLE WIN! I can hardly wait! :D

source

"I find unsophisticated clothes quite amusing. Like unsophisticated people. Obvious, but amusing." (Servalan)

It's been a while since I clapped eyes on Servalan doing her evil thang on the small screen... I checked out this video and also this one for a trip down memory lane, and to re-acquaint myself with her style. She has the most amazing and dramatic wardrobe. I chose this dress above from out of the plentiful fabulosity. It's winter here. It's cold. I want to be covered up!
I bought some cheap and rather temperamental silver-foiled, slightly stretchy stuff from Spotlight and two packets of crystal beads in different sizes and got drafting. I drafted the pattern myself and have provided more extensive details below, if anyone is interested in all that technical mumbo jumbo :) but basically I used the idea behind the gathered hole design from Pattern Magic.

Speaking of Pattern Magic, I received an email from Anna-Brit, who is curating The Pattern Magic Index. This site is aiming to bring together makers and enthusiasts of the series with images of people's creations and link-backs. If you have used any of the books in the Pattern Magic series to make things and would like to be included on the site, then send her an email at thepatternmagicindex(at)gmail(dot)com.

Details:

Silver sandals from Zu, from donkey's years ago

Drafting and construction details:
I started out with my custom fit Tshirt pattern and spliced it with my plain little skirt pattern, and lengthened; to get a front and back. Then cut out a portion from the side front to be the flat beaded section at the waist. The remaining portion is cut and splayed out as per the gathered hole instructions in Pattern Magic 1.

The back is quite plain and featureless, basically a fitted Tshirt dress. Like Servalan's dress, the skirt has a long slit in one side, for walking ease. Unlike Servalan's, which has a centre back zip, mine has enough stretch for it to be a pull-over the head affair.
The sleeves are based on my plain Tshirt sleeve, with the side seams tapered out in a gentle arc to a wide wrist, in a bell shape.
The neckband is a plain rectangle, cut to fit the neckline measurement, and sewn on using this method. It is interlined with a piece of old cotton towelling, cut from a (clean) old towel. Sounds deeply unglamorous, right?! but I didn't have any batting on hand which, yes, would have been ideal, and didn't want to spend money on invisible things like that in a costume and the towelling was the perfect thickness and stiffness for the job. It is securely stitched to the neckband facing around all its edges on the inside.
The beaded section is done on two layers of the fabric for stability, and then with a layer of plain woven white cotton sewn underneath, to contain all the threads and for extra strength.
Being so shiny it's hard to tell, but the fabric is actually almost sheer! so I made a little attached slip/liner dress as well, using the same pattern pieces, shortened and the front without the gathered feature, obviously. This is attached to the shell of the dress at the armscyes and the neckline, and conceals those gathering edges and that white bead-backing fabric inside.

I didn't hem the sleeves or the hemline. The fabric is blessedly not frayable, and anyway, it's a costume!! I will be lucky if I get to wear it more than a handful of times, really.

I have a little anecdote about this fabric too... we have a History. About twelve years ago I put up my hand to make half of about fifty costumes for little girls, including Cassie, performing an Abba number in a dance recital, and this was the exact same fabric I was given to work with along with the breezy advice to "just run them up on the overlocker". I didn't have an overlocker back then, so borrowed my sister-in-law's brand new overlocker.
Man!
That experience nearly put me off overlockers for life! There is just something about this fabric ... I destroyed almost one whole costume's worth of fabric, just trying to get the settings for this fabric right on the overlocker. Nothing seemed to work. Either the seam was too loose and looked wobbly, bobbly and like a messy nest of loose and tangled threads; or too tight and threads were snapping left, right and centre. I re-threaded that machine countless times. Luckily it was not my own machine, if it had been mine I might even have heaved it into the bin in a rage.... When I finally hit on a setting that gave me a nice neat looking seam with no bobbly bits anywhere; the seam would just pull quite wide apart when any pressure was put on it. I was tearing my hair out. Finally, I hit upon a plan of attack; I overlocked using the setting that "looked" real nice but pulled apart under pressure, which was for "looks" only, then went back over every seam with my regular sewing machine using a straight stitch, which was actually holding the seam together.
Finally, success!
Just before the dance recital, I surreptitiously checked out the costumes made by the other lady ... and they all had the pulling-wide-apart seams! I was new and didn't want to rock any boats so just kept quiet and hoped for the best. Luckily no little girls' costumes fell apart on stage!
Obviously, I sewed this dress using the described double-sewing method ;)

(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)

17th-22nd June
from left:
dyed corduroy skirt, white drape-y top, new-old hoodie, black tights
dyed sludge-y little skirt, chocolate cardigan, raspberry Tshirt, raspberry jersey scarf,paprika tights
denim dress, denim shirt, swirly tights
purple jeans, olive wool jacket/cardigan, white Tshirt, green knitted scarf, hand-knit socks
bell-sleeved denim top, purple Tshirt, ombred red skirt, red tights, hand-knit scarlet socks
oo-la-la dress, hand-knit socks

23rd-28th June
from left:
white Tshirt, strawberry jeans, chocolate knitted cardigan, hand-knitted socks, raincoat
teal dress, calico knitted cardigan, black woollen tights
drape-y little top, PM clipped wings top, little grey skirt, charcoal spiral leggings
grey top, little charcoal skirt, old brown knitted cardigan, brown/charcoal cable scarf, paprika tights
grey LS Tshirt, white Tshirt, PM gathered hole dress, beige scrumpled leggings, hand-knit socks
white Tshirt, ivory jeans, chocolate knitted cardigan, hand-knit socks

29th June - 3rd July
from left:
raspberry Tshirt, ivory jeans, chocolate cardigan, hand-knitted socks
white Tshirt, strawberry jeans, olive felt cardigan/jacket, hand-knitted socks
(to Supernova) Servalan dress
white Tshirt, emerald skirt, calico cardigan, hand-knitted socks
ivory Pattern Magic twist top, ivory curtaining skirt, swirly leggings
black Tshirt, chocolate cardigan, raspberry scarf, red ombre skirt, red leggings, hand-knitted socks, raincoat

It's roughly half-way through the year of wearing exclusively my own handmade clothing! - barring shoes! so this is a good time for a progress report, yes?
Well, it hasn't been difficult since I've been at it for years and as a result have plenty of handmade clothes! It's been really really cold lately, so I am super glad for my healthy collection of cosy tights and toasty warm hand-knit woolly socks. I haven't felt like there is anything missing from my winter wardrobe at all! Oh OK then, not my summer wardrobe either (sigh)
I've been taking photos of my daily outfits a coupla times a week, not to publish here, but for me to assess whether my clothes are still looking reasonably fresh and presentable. It can be a drag setting up the tripod and everything, but I still think that taking your own photo regularly is the best way. Because, you know what? I think the mirror does lie, but the camera does not! Last week I did a bit of a cull and got rid of some really worn and daggy things. This felt like a huge load off my mind. NO, I am not going to show those awful photos here! and while I can't say the cull has led to any actual holes that desperately need filling (dammit!) at least I have a few weaker areas that I am looking forward to addressing, tout suite. From stash, I promise! ;D
A few commenters have asked whether I will ever wear clothes NOT made by me, ever again... well, I have kept a few treasured RTW items, some things of sentimental value like souvenirs from trips overseas, some gifts from family and friends, and some things that I bought years ago just because I really liked them! All of which I have tucked away out of temptation's way for this year. Some of these have been commandeered by Cassie for her own use and I haven't decided yet whether I will reclaim those at the end of the year. I'm thinking probably not!
I am really enjoying wearing only my own clothes, it's been as rewarding and as satisfying as you can imagine. And drawing my outfits is great fun and hasn't gotten old yet, for me at least!

pink jeans

my home town

Sat, Sun, Mon

Paprika legs

Black tights and striped Tshirt

Boring black Tshirt

red

paper doll project

photo maisonette

Navy and white striped Tshirt; 6 different ways

White Bombshell

Browning a couple of things

Navy stripes

the paper doll project

I dye...

One way to sew a flat-felled and split seam

Gemini

Future Grrrrl!

Supreme Commander Servalan

the paper doll project