Woooh!! I've been sucha mad but very happy sociable-whirly butterfly lately... firstly I had the very great pleasure of spending a few days with the lovely Yoshimi during her visit to Australia; we had a terrific time generally popping about; shoe-shopping, beach-going, eating- and tea-drinking, canoeing, koala-cuddling, and of course tonnes and tonnes of chatting! Thank you so much for coming to visit me Yoshimi, I throughly enjoyed spending time with you and am honoured to count you as a dear friend :)
And then! last weekend I went on a fabulous long weekend jaunt over in Melbourne with Mum and Cassie, and was thrilled to spend one delightful morning with Julia Bobbin and Jorth! two totally gorgeous girls who are both just as lovely and as funny and as delightful company in real life as you can imagine they are from their blogs. Thank you so much for meeting with me, girls; I had such a nice morning tea with you and it was great fun sitting and chatting, of course we had tonnes to talk about, sewing bloggers always do!
So, a trip to Melbourne, the fashion capital of Australia, but also the capital of roller-coaster-like weather, requires some careful wardrobe consideration. I needed my clothes to cope with the weather plus leave plenty of room in the suitcase for fabric shopping... ahem (blush) well, Christmas is coming up soon!! that's my excuse :D
Time away:
5 days
Where to:
Melbourne
Season:
the last days of spring/first days of summer. The forecast was kinda crazy, ranging from almost winter-y all the way through to height of summer-y. We had one rather fresh morning of 9C with a brisk, almost arctic wind, and also one day with a sweltering maximum of 38C. Amazing!
5 days
Where to:
Melbourne
Season:
the last days of spring/first days of summer. The forecast was kinda crazy, ranging from almost winter-y all the way through to height of summer-y. We had one rather fresh morning of 9C with a brisk, almost arctic wind, and also one day with a sweltering maximum of 38C. Amazing!
Expected activities:
lots of city walking and morning tea-ing, shopping and a couple of exhibitions. Wining and dining each night
lots of city walking and morning tea-ing, shopping and a couple of exhibitions. Wining and dining each night
Colour scheme: mostly soft spring-y shades of ivory, cream and blue, with a floral dress and apricot and orange playing a supporting role. Silver!
What I packed: (each garment is linked to its original construction post)
(left to right; top to bottom)
watercolour floral dresspowder blue silk tunic and petticoat
apricot Alexander McQueen kimono coat/top
clementine cotton blouse
ivory silk blouse
ivory rope and caramel leather belt
little blue denim skirt
ivory skirt
white Tshirt, for underneath the kimono top
silver sequinned skirt
grey/beige linen blouse with tie waist
calico cotton knitted cardigan
caramel leather wedges, red thongs, white bathers, ivory evening shoes, pale yellow bag
Thoughts: so the half-empty suitcase plan worked; I came home with a suitcase bulging with masses of gorgeous fabric to make Christmas presents for my family, and a little bit for me plus two new pairs of shoes... um, also for me (blush). And I managed to neither freeze to death nor to pass out from heat exhaustion but still look reasonably and appropriately attired, thank goodness. Woot! Actually I had thought that I over-packed; but it's always good to have some leeway, just in case. To prove that point, the hem of my floral dress snagged and partly fell down on the first day. Yes, I totally could and should have bought some thread and fixed it but I just lazily shoved it aside for when I got home. Bad me.
I wore my sequinned silver skirt ensemble each evening, boy I love wearing that skirt! Feels so crazily over-the-top and indulgent and very not-me. Love that.
My caramel leather wedges are so comfy and go with everything, and it's important to have a bag that can works for both day and evening, I think.
It's really hard to estimate just what Melbourne is going to feel like weather-wise, sometimes the numbers just don't convey it. The first day was 25C but it felt freezing thanks to that morning low of 9C. A pair of jeans would have been great right about then, as well as to wear on the plane... but everything I took went well together and got worn.
And a blast was definitely had!
Now I have to get cracking on that pile of fabric.... :)