Sunday 28 February 2010

Can't rush a challenge

Oh no, I fear I'm dripping with sarcasm here already, and I haven't even started yet! I better just go straight to the photos, so I can distract my hungover and boring brain!


So here's my current pattern, from the lovely Amanda (who kindly sent me a few of her patterns to try out! The Dearheart is extremely busy planning a wedding and caring for people, so no time to indulge!) and it's Vogue 5900, and looks rather maternal to me! I've just got to do a few things on it, but thought I'd post this for a Work In Progress (WIP) for you to have a geek at. The material is from the stash, but I got it in Spotlight on spesh (can't remember the exact price) and it's a very light, almost see through cotton lawn. I have used some of it before, before I started this blog maybe (as I can't find a post about it) but it was a shirt thing that was a bit too puffy for me so it went to the Op Shop.


I've changed a couple things so far, I didn't want to do lining/facing as this cotton is so lovely and soft, I want to make it for a preggers gal, who needs her clothing nice and light. It's hot here in Syds, so if you're pregs in summertime you want light material. So instead I remembered how I'd use bias binding for the edges when I make tshirt dresses, and rather than folding it under and topstitching it, I thought I'd just leave it and iron it out. Looks nice for the edging!


I'm making the white dress, from the pattern front above, but with no sleeves. But I did decide to keep the pocket in so I hope it still looks good!


And once of the best things I've learned recently is to do the facing thing (where you put a bit of fabric right side to right side, sew a long V shape, slash down the middle, and turn) and I really like using it now instead of bias binding edges on the slash. It is less material and I've found (especially in that little girl's dress I made recently) it gets bulky when I do it.

Oh! And I just clicked over that post and remembered that Sew I Thought gave me a nice nod with a Kreativ Blogger Award, sorry darling! I did receive one of those just recently, and so won't post it again, but here are my results! Thank you kindly though, you're a total babe!

Phew! I totally got through the post without any stupid hangover talk! I tell you, I can get really boring and sarcastic whilst in this state, so am very pleased with my silly self for just writing NORMALLY. ERK!

See you soon, Veronica

Saturday 27 February 2010

Party Day Parents!

Yep, today's going to be a day where my Husbie and I pretty much pretend we are real life parents as we're throwing our DOG a First Birthday Party. ERK! I feel weird, but overly excited at the same time, to become one of 'those' Dog People, but figure we'll just do this once and not subject our friends to this kinda mania every year with Doggie Darling.

Friends and darling loyal readers, I promise my writing here won't turn into a dog blog but just for now, just for this weekend, I think I'm all loved up over my darling little baby, and cannot resist posting about her! Here is Doggie Darling with a new friend she found on the street on her birthday:


I'm beginning to feel a little bit agro over the stuff my Husbie and Doggie Darling keep bringing home after their walks together. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for hard rubbish ravaging, I've found some excellent shelves, cute medicine cases, chairs, tables, and other stuff in my time that I still have and love. BUT, you can imagine my WTF moment when I saw this blue thing.

Oh well, Doggie Darling seemed to like it. Here's her 'Best Doggie in the World' moment:

And here's what happened to her new 'friend':

 Yep, snow all over the backyard. The Blue Friend really should have come with a 'Not Safe For Children Under 3' line...

So for her First Birthday Party today, I'm googling dog cake recipes (YES, one of 'those' Dog People) and think I'm going for a peanut butter one on this Homemade Cakes Site so I'm off down the road for a play in the park with Doggie Darling and I'll pick up some more peanut butter and vegetable oil on the way home.

And as for her Birthday Party? We're going down to this darling lush green park (that's also a sporting area for some parts of the year - Go Newtown Jets!) with our friends and if I have time this morning, I'm going to make a stupidly big red tutu for Doggie Darling to wear. WTF am I doing!!!!??? I must love her so much!

Talk to you again, when I'm back to normal and when I have some news on this dress as part of Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge, as I really truly have been in the sewing room, just no pictures yet.

Thursday 25 February 2010

Buzzy after a bizzy week

So almost this time last week, I was here:


With darling fun friends. And this week gone has been full, but at least it has gone quickly. One day, when I have time, I'll explain the extent of actually what I do for a day job. As this week has been busy, surreal, but actually quite normal. Sometimes I'm just too bamboozled and really just wanna look at that photo above for a really really really long time.

Other fun things that happened over the weekend gone:

 

  

Oh hello. Is that me? With a wine glass? Talking? Never!
Oh yes, friends. And they are pin curls. How freaking dedicated to the art of Pincurl Saturday am I? That's two swims in the ocean (see far above phot) and socialising as well, and still I ditch the free roaming locks for the classic pin curl. It certainly sets my hair for the week as the curls are still in there today!

Anyways, today I finally got a minute in the sewing room and have started on something new (a nice pattern of the vintage variety!), and as Husbie has a lot of work on this weekend I think I'll try and spend some quality time with my machine. Love and miss my old buddies.

Hope your week has been nice and you're keeping well! Talk to you soon, hopefully with some new clothes to show you!

Sunday 21 February 2010

Happy Birthday Bubby Bunny Chunky Monkey

I've been down the coast for a minibreak, had a day of work on a Sunday, and generally tried to keep up appearances by gushing and hiding my tiredness, my period pain, my coldsore, and my hangover.

Thank goodness I survived!

But, I didn't want to miss telling you about my darling little bubby's birthday!

 

This is Doggie Darling when she was still with her real mummy, so not sure how old she is. BUT ISN'T SHE CUTE!?? 

Now Husbie and I have a million nicknames for her; Bubby, Bunny, Chunky Monkey, Ratbag, Naughty, Baby, and heaps more but you know her as Doggie Darling.


And now she's one year old. What a big girl! She's at her full height (for those of you who don't know, she's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier of the UK variety) but she'll chunk out a lot more in chest and perhaps the head area. Hence Chunky Monkey.

I love her, Husbie loves her and the Neighbours love her too. They looked after her over the weekend, and we missed her so much, we'd look at all the cows along the freeway and say 'Oh look at the cows, they look just like Doggie Darling!'. We went down to a place called The Buzza, or so my darling abbrev. friends called it. I LOVE ABBREVIATION! I'd shorten any word if I could. And sometimes I shorten a word and then add a cutesy bit to it. So yoga becomes Yogez. Pronounced Yoh-gz. Like Rogues. Embarrassed becomes Embarrow and then Embazza. And so on. Please don't hate me! I love the English language and adore it so much more when I can make it my own. And hey, I'm a spelling nazi (if you haven't noticed) and always practice correct grammar and spelling online AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

I digress.

So Happy Birthday my little dog, welcome to being a grown up. (And please stop chewing up the outdoor chairs. And please stop jumping so high when you meet new people.)

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Refashioning up some baby things

We all love some pillowslip refashion around here in DIY/sewing heaven/blogland and I had this spare pillowcase after using the other one in a reversible apron last year. It's from an opshop here in Sydney, I just can't remember where!


But it's cotton, vintage looking with fawn dots and peachy feathers on it, very cute!

I had seen Kristy at Lower Your Pressure Foot, make this one up before, it's a Butterick 400 vintage pattern for babies and her advice about sizing (You can see her cute baby modelling the tunic at around 6 months - I think?) really helped, because whilst the pattern is small and you think it's a baby size, it's not really a newborn size. BUT, when I opened up my pattern, the owner before (all my patterns are second hand) had marked and resized the dress front and back pieces, so I assumed this was ok for a smaller baby. Still looks kinda big:

 

  

But even the buttons are thrifted, so once again, it's entirely secondhand and totes upcycled. I like the exposed pleats/darts around the neck. 

For a while there all my friends were having boy babies, and whilst they are just darling, I've been trying not to make baby clothes for them, as shirts and shorts are harder for me to think about. Dresses and tunics are easy peasy, so finally with the girl baby news (2 in the past 6 months and another few to be born soon) I'm very happy to use the smaller scraps or fabric pieces up for frocks!

Yay!

Anyways, I'm going to see Gossip play now (we have a major music venue right near our house, so just gonna stroll over! Luxury!) and have some fun. It's been a busy week and it's only TUESDAY. I feel like complaining a LOT, but things will get better as the week rolls on. We're going down (or up - can't remember!) the coast with friends this weekend, so can't wait for that!

xoxo

Sunday 14 February 2010

Round 3: Vogue 5900

Here's the next pattern in Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge, from her stash:


I love the Vogue tagline, "Best in Fashion, Make it Yours" ... awesome 1960s advertising! The description of this one says "Slim, slightly gathered skirt in regulation or ankle length, and above knee length fuller skirt, join highwaisted bodice. Buttoned back closing below oval neckline"...

Many of my friends are pregs at the moment, so I think I'll make this one up, and then see who'll fit it. It's a size 16, with a Bust 36 and Hips 38 ... so that's actually not that big for a pregs girl. It might be for a darling Melbs friend but we'll see how it turns out. Not sure what material I'll use yet though, as I like all the styles and I like all the fabric suggestions: Seersucker, Cotton Broadcloth, Linen, Pique, Percale, Cotton Satin, Gingham, Calico and Challis... I do have a bit of gingham in the stash... hmmmm, might have to head to the sewing room (after a shower of course!) and do some planning!

Thanks for all your gush about Butterick 7181 The Candy Striped Frock, it does fit me well, but it might fit a Melbs friend better...

and... Happy Valentines Two Weeks (how my Husbie and I see the world anyways), and hope you're having a great Sunday.

Saturday 13 February 2010

Butterick 7181 - TICK!


"Dress and Stole: Day or Formal Lengths" 11 Pieces and "Cut low to show off your shoulders" is the description here, and by gosh I think it shows off my shoulders just enough for me to remember why I don't like strapless bras.


Yay, this darling dress is finished and it's totally taught me a bunch of things along the way! For those of you 'joining me today for the first time', I'm making every pattern that dear penpal Amanda of Adelaide has supplied me (which is 13 patterns from her collection) and talking about the process and giving you a little insight into the pattern. I adore a challenge in the sewing room to keep me motivated and focus, because I turn into a forgetful seamstress and busy lady otherwise. Hence, I'm revealing to you today Round 2 of Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge.

So if you recall, I had to choose this pink stripey stuff, because I thrift/op shop all my fabrics, and I'm on a bit of a stash busting rampage at the moment. Pink candy stripes it was because this skirt has over 2 metres of gathering AND darts in the waist. So that's shitloads of fabric, and by gosh it looks good because of it.


The other thing I realised as I started the bodice bits, was that the fabric was quite see-through, and if a girl had to wear a strapless bit of underwear you'd probably want to hide it as well, so I lined the whole bodice with some other creamy pinky stash fabric. AND please allow me to gush at how skilled I am at LINING A FREAKING BODICE! I even attached the sleeves and lined it that way. I can't even remember how I did it now! I think I explained the timeframe in this post, so I guess I did do it and not the Sewing Fairy or Whatever.

The other thing I found out about in this pattern, was to do a 'zipper facing'. It's where you get a bit of fabric long and rectangle like (say 3 inches across and 10 inches down), you do only 3 edges (in my case I overlocked it) and then you stick it right sides together to the skirt, and where you want the zipper to be. Stick it, of course, is the 'Veronica Darling Term' for sew it in a really skinny long v-shape vertically down the thing. (Err, this is sounding bad, hey?) Anyways, then you cut in between the v-shape and then you turn the facing inside and iron it flat and you have yourself a dandy little opening in the skirt that's all ready for the zipper. I'm sure if you google it, someone has explained it better than me!

 

There's the side zipper, with the zipper facing, that unfortunately you can't see, but I'm not fond of showing the inside of my things, because they *can* look dodgy. But in my hastiness to 'stick' aforementioned zipper facing to the skirt, I kinda stuck it in the wrong place, and now the seam (vertical again) of the skirt now sits at the front. It is hidden in the gathers, but I'm not altogether happy with it.

Oh well!! At least it looks pretty spunky!


I just realised how daggy my shoes look since I didn't do them up. My lovely friend took the phots and she did say "You don't want toe strap them up?", and now I realise how much of dork I am. It's Pincurls Saturday again at my house and I just took them out before and yep... I pretty much look like Marilyn Monroe. Whatever.

The stats, as borrowed from Mena at The Sew Weekly (best challenge EVER):
Fabric: Some sort of light cotton or linen from the Salvo's in Tempe approx $2 a metre and pinky cream shiny drill from my stash
Pattern: Butterick 7181, on loan from Amanda in Adelaide
Notions: Lightening Vintage zipper, Vintage buttons & thread handed down to my stash from my friend's granny's stash.
Time to complete: Over 2 weeks, perhaps 10 hours.
Year: 1950s
First worn: Today, just to try it on.
Wear again? Nup, not into strapless bras, will be up for sale.
Total Cost:  $8.50 AUS

Love to you on the weekend!

Good morning Virgos!

Hi darlings, the storm finally came through and knocked off the heatwave at my house (and maybe yours if you're in Sydders like me!) so Doggie Darling and I are refreshed, getting a bit of cuppa tea and computer time before starting the day. (Can you tell Husbie's away on business? I'm posting a LOT!)

I just have to draw your attention to a darling seamstress/blogger/darling who has been busy browsing etsy for some nice patterns of the vintage variety...  Enken posts at Whipstitch and is a bit of a dreamy designer gal and can totally appreciate the need for a jumpsuit, and other fabbo vintage things. But today I spotted her post on Vintage Patterns, and matching the girls up with their starsigns!

Very very cute! Especially this one, which is Virgo (like me!)


Enken's write up is: "The ultimate Joan Holloway… Virgos are witty, clever, good with words and a poison pen. That jacket is just the loveliest little item – imagine making it in a contrasting fabric such as velvet or perhaps even leather! You’re also not nearly as prim and proper as your snazzy little suit suggests – trust me, I’m a Virgo and I know!" (This pattern is also for sale on etsy!)

Yay fellow virgos! And the best thing is that I've actually made HEAPS of dresses similar to this style! Hee hee! This green one being my fave wiggle!

 

Which I've never shown you a picture of me wearing it... Terror! I wore it to a wedding last year that heaps of my friends were at, so I haven't had a chance to wear it again cause it is very nice for a wedding.

Anyways, better rush off and get some breakfast and read the paper! What a nice morning ahead just Doggie Darling and I!

Friday 12 February 2010

Sending some gush to you!

Jeepers, it's hot AGAIN today lovies, so I'm in the bedroom with all the curtains drawn, a tired out and hot Doggie Darling beside me and we're not going anywhere!

I tried to sleep before, but it's too hot and the workmen behind us are too NOISY. Gah!

So time for some peaceful blog perusing and some GUSH in this crush post to Kristina Sostarko over here (who's JUST started blogging under her own name, and putting her own name on things, so well done! I am not so brave!), but I was in a shopping mood last week (for my sister in law to be's birthday) and spotted a sale for special blog peeps on Kristina's blog. How freaking gorgeous is this print!??

 

Image by Kristina Sostarkos - Here

I just had to make it big so you can go 'OOO'. It's her first lot of prints on 100% recycled post consumer paper ... and it may have been those words and those pictures that had me hovering the mouse over her esty shop link and then I saw the 'blog special sale' and I clicked for sure! I have NO idea how Kristina works, she's a mystery to me, but she's really got great colours and lines and things going on and I LIKE IT! She sometimes laughs off her sewing skills, but my aim is to make something so inspiring to her that she dusts of her sewing machine one day and gives it a go! Sewing's easy right gals... right? Right?!!! (Not at the moment in my sewing room, hence my hanging out here)

Admittedly, I don't spend much time shopping online, and I'm really bad for remembering people's birthdays, so I have one print of Kristina's now for my SIL and one saved up for another good friend. I have to STOCK up!

Also admittedlym\, I don't spend much time shopping at all, today I was trying to describe how expensive mens' sneakers are to a work colleague, and I realised I hadn't been into said store for perhaps 2 years. We're very thrifty round these parts of my world, and especially since we're working on 'The Bigger Picture' we're saving like crazy. At the moment 'The Bigger Picture' is not a baby (I think some of you were wondering) it's something else and isn't confirmed yet either, so can't report on anything yet. EEK it's annoying!

Anyways, it's still hot! Where's the freaking cool change loves?

Thursday 11 February 2010

Wonky overlocking!

Oh gosh, I need help fast! My darling overlocker has started moving around all over the place!


I've returned to the darling pink stripey off the shoulder pattern of 'Rochelle Rochelle' AKA Butterick 7181, and found a wonky overlocker can't do the hems. I'm loving how this dress is turning out, but hate those wonky bits. Does anyone know what causes that? Tension? It's kinda wavey wonky bits, so could be. I'm not a real techy person when it comes to my machines, it's always trial and error...

It's too hot today to do anything, I'm going to take a nap now and rest up a bit. It's going to be cooler later, so hopefully will go back and finish the hem and show you something later! Exciting!

xoxo

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Ideas for the next dress already...

Hello there!

Do you get to the very very very near end of a project and pause for a bit and get excited about the next one? I'm often one to get too hyped by the next thing, and the untried pattern, or the darling stash material I pull out and fondle.


Here's what I'm fondling at the moment (materialwise of course!) when I should be finishing of that pattern! It's a vintage thick tablecloth fabric and I'm just loving those green and yellow hues that do echo of my recent adventures in the sewing room. Remember I told you how I went through my fabric stash and colour coded my 'New Hampshire/Vampire Weekend' theme for all my future creations? That's what's good about tumblr, it's all there so I can look at colour/phots inspiration any time.

My work is all consuming and tres important at the moment, so please forgive this post as a blog reminder of 'Oh, hey! Not sewing, as working the day job' kinda thing. But I've actually started realising that I was sewing at a speed (and chunks of time) that was bordering on fulltime worthy... hence working two jobs. I took on a little too much 'tailoring' as well, and that takes the fun outta sewing if you're just rehemming trousers etc. So I'm going to say 'Too busy' from now on, so I can focus on the fun dresses and fun challenges that I set myself, and take things at my own pace. I did really want to sew up a dress a week as part of Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge, but realistically I'm gonna take it easy.

'Cause of my early starts, I'm aiming to start tea by 6pm (um, it's 6.15pm now, so better go in a minnie) and last night was the straw that broke the camel/horse/doggie darling's back as I was too tired to cook and Husbie helped me with the simple tofu salad,  so that was a wifey FAIL.

But tonight I'm going to make up a mass load of vegetarian dumplings, because I've discovered you can FREEZE them! Yay, easy future dins!

See you soon, Veronicaxoxo

Monday 8 February 2010

An extra splash of yellow in the rain...

Thank you so much for your excellent feedback on the dress yesterday!

I love it, but haven't found an occasion yet to wear it... maybe my darling friend's birthday this Friday night! I wanted to share with you a photo my Husbie spent time on yesterday, as he's oft inclined to do.


Dress: Veronica Darling
Shoes: Clothing swap c/o my darling friend
Hair: Pin Curls Darling

And it made me think that I forget that I'm on facebook! I am Veronica Darling, and you're SO welcome to be friends etc etc, and I thought I'd put the photos that Husbie 'updates' into a facebook album so it's all ordered and nice etc but shows the more fashion side of the dressmaking (as Husbie is very good at the fash look!).

Hope your Monday was darling and not too much trouble. We just polished off a Asian style yum salad, and it made me think about the raw food diet and if it's any good.

xoxo

Sunday 7 February 2010

Yellow in the Rain

Here's Butterick 3526, with a bit of redesigning! I started this dress last Sunday, as a 'back up' dress to the Music Festival, because I was worried I'd be too hot in this dress, but it turned out fine. I used the bodice pieces, where you can see best in the black n white checked dress:


Those pattern pieces mean your bodice is right up under your boobs, and I wanted a gathered skirt, so I thought I'd also make a waistband to attach the gathered skirt and the bodice together (so that it didn't like a baby doll dress gone wrong) and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out:

 

It was a cotton table cloth before (at least I think it was, since all the edges were hemmed) and I folded it in half and used 20 inches of fabric for the skirt and I used the hem of the tablecloth so I didn't have to hem the skirt at the end.

I matched up the yellow stripe in the bodice and the waistband so that the brighter colours were at the front, and kinda matched the collar as best as the fabric left over allowed.

 

As the tablecloth material is kinda thick, and I didn't really have enough to do a proper collar (you know facing or lining or whatever it's called) I zig zagged the edges and then ironed them under and top stitched the edges. It doesn't have the weight now, and I'm considering ironing interfacing underneath, but we'll see if I get round to it. As I'm over facings in bodices, I used the bias binding technique again on the collar and the armholes, and with heaps of ironing they work fine.

As for the umbrella? It has rained NON STOP since Friday here at my house, and Husbie and I were laughing so much outside taking these phots! And the pin curls? Addicted! I keep forgetting to show you after shots of my hair!

So, it's another rainy day here and I think we'll get the house a little ship shaped and then I'll finish off a few other things. I guess this dress is kinda part of Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge, but I will do the full version of the dress too (maybe with sleeves?) AND I've got to show you the pink stripey dress finished too (hemming today).

Friday 5 February 2010

Skipping ahead a bit to Butterick 3526

Yep, it's really hard chronologically ordering stuff you start to make, to whence you finish such an item, and also to hither and there you wear such a garment. (OMG, can you tell I'm overtired *just* a little?)

So I thought I'd share with you what I'm currently hankering to finish off and show you (I really really really wanted to wear it today to work, but it's been a tough tiring week, goddam full time work/job that has nothing to do with sewing and ALL to do with tough work in a fun way) (OMG I'm really teddy tired, aren't I?)

 

I just zoomed in on this darling pattern from 'Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge' (ie my current project of sewing darlings - penpal Amanda has sent a few samples from her collection to me, to sew and review etc) because how cute is the collar? BUT I'd like you to note the skirt part of the dress. I grabbed this pattern quickly on Sunday (before the music festival) because I thought the weather called for something light. I used some yellow tablecloth material (as posted yesterday) but redesigned the skirt bit.

REDESIGNED? WTF?

Yep, I think I'm becoming one of 'those' seamstresses. I find a part of the pattern I like, I cut up that bit. THEN I MAKE UP THE REST. *gulp*

So *technically* this yellow tablecloth dress won't be *exactly* the same as the above pattern... but aren't you intrigued about how I have made it?

What a mystery!

Thursday 4 February 2010

So you think you can sew?

Yes, Yes I do think I can sew and I have the ongoing-Work In Progress-messy-sewing-room stuff to prove it!

 

So I had started the second pattern, Butterick 7181, on Saturday, and was getting pretty close to finishing, but I had a couple of extra things to do for my friends, and also a music festival in the middle... SO I got really distracted...

Here's one of my other 'maybe' outfits for the music festival... it is another vintage pattern from Amanda's with some great vintage tablecloth type material...

 

And here's another project I finished for my friend who is very passionate about the live music scene in Melbourne. And if you're into that kinda thing, I'm sure you know all about it. It's all a bit devastating.
So things are all in a bit of a state around here, and hopefully I'll be up for a tidy up tomorrow afternoon. I do love Fridays at home by myself (I hope to get home by about 1pm tomozza!)! It's been another great week at work, with loads happening, but I was HANKERING for pay day today. I'm sure you know what I mean, sometimes after Christmas and then this time of year with so much to do in Sydney and great daylight savings hours, you just wind up spending so much money! We're planning a trip down to Melbs next weekend, so now luckily have the money to buy our tickets down there!

I REALLY had hoped to wear that yellow dress to work tomorrow, but I got mixed up with 30 Rock and making Ratatouille tonight and now it's really late so I better go to bed. Nighty night!

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Introducing ... Joan The Gifted Dress Form

Hey again,

I'm just in the sewing room (a la trusty laptop) and have one red thing on the overlocker, one black thing cut up around me on the ironing board, one almost finished pink thing (below) and another half finished yellow thing on the bed here besides me.

But thought I'd quickly stop off at the blog here for a little post, to show you the pink thing (almost finished) and my darling new dress form!


Her name is now Joan Winters, named for various reasons but mostly because she's from the olden days and is totally a retro gal in size and shape! She even smells a little old, and will be a darling little friend to my existing dress form Diana. Now I think they've got to be sisters because Diana Winters sounds good too!

My friend Jess is moving overseas and had to drop Joan off to me for safe keeping! Yay thanks heaps darls!

Better get back to my darling machine, to finish off a bit of the red thing, so I'll see you soon with more news!

Oh! And I keep forgetting to gush over my pin curl success! As you can see they're just darling (and from my funny festival pose yesterday) and seeing as I set them on Saturday, they've lasted ages. I think they last for a week, and you may think it's grotty not to wash ones hair for about a week, my hairdresser insists on 3 times a month is most suitable. We overwash our hair in modern society thanks to clever advertising campaigns from the 1960s where things were acceptable or not. It was most acceptable to smell darling of course, but more acceptable to spend lots of moneys on different shampoos and such. I don't even use shampoo!

Talk soon!

Monday 1 February 2010

You're going to think I'm crazy...

... but I can't go anywhere without wearing something I've made or that's new-ish (ie, new to me, not brand new from the shops. I am into my third year now of the Wardrobe Refashion pledge) and of course going to a music festival is the WORST because it's also a total fash hipster nest as well!

I made something really quickly to wear to the Laneway Festival yesterday in Syds, and this was it:

 
I know I look funny. I was trying for an 'odd' pose. There's so many hip people/scene-sters in Syds, so I was going for the 'I'm odd and not as cool as you people' pose. BUT, look at the dress, it's stretch cotton, and from the stash (THRIFTED), perhaps more recently from QLD, but I can't remember!

This was the first thing I made yesterday, the second thing is still in the sewing room and was started because I thought this might be too hot (you can't see but it's totally a skinny mini tight number) so I started making a yellow drill/cotton dress too. Then the weather got cloudier and the time started to run out, then I realised we were missing the festival because I was sewing so much!

I've got a few odd things to do on the other yellow dress, so that's FOUR things I've practically finished this weekend (2 pink things, this one above and the yellow dress that you're yet to see) and I know I'm crazy, but the Amanda Challenge has got me MOTIVATED to sew. I totally totally totally suggest a challenge of some sort to help you get into gear, I tell you WHAT!

The other reason I'm going for the odd pose above.... That bag is a LONG running Office LOL for me and my couple of friends. And seriously I laughed so much and tagged myself in facebook for my Melbs friend to see it. Gosh the LOLs (or inside jokes if you will) about Be Your Own Pet. I would seriously write the entire LOL out for you here, but you'd be very sorry. It's a 'you had to be there' type moment.

Hope you guys had a darling weekend! 


Dongmen Lu Fabric Market

Happy Wednesday! Time to get some fabric inspiration from the Dongmen Lu Fabric Market here in Shanghai! Can't believe how quickly 201...