Wearing: Shanghai Springtime Cycling Chic

Back, in April, I joined Jorth's #30DaysofCycleChic for the days I rode my bike through Shanghai, our new home! Initially I wanted to document a little moment of my life on the streets (as I love the streetscapes and all the places we end up) but also show that bike riding isn't just about lycra... and as I went along, I of course realised that everyone in Shanghai rides bikes and scooters and no one wears lycra! So my intentions were then to see what I was wearing through springtime in Shanghai and then my parents came and then it was MMM and taking photos all the time of your outfit can get tiring. I don't know how those Outfit Of The Day people/fashion queens do it.

However, here is my life in the Shanghai springtime, lots of photos, and lots of handmade starting to creep in... so I'm happy. 

So there were 30 days of cycle chic, but not 30 photographs... Husbie took a few of these, mostly the ones I'm cracking up because he's a tease.. And you can see the variety of the weather!!!

We don't have a car, or driver (!) or scooter here in Shanghai, so we ride most days. We can take Uber (I've just figured that one out in the last month) or taxi's if the weather is bad, and also there are a few subway stations, but they're not super close to us. They are cheap though... usually 3-4 kuai to ride, so less than 50 cents a trip. But pedal power is always free!

Now I've got these photos of myself, my next goal is to collect up the best styles to ride in... that's why I've been sewing thicker hems on some dresses and skirts to see what is nice. It's NOT nice to have a light skirt fly up in your face when you're pedalling around town!

Do you ride? What's your best normal everyday outfit for riding? 

Wearing: An Urban Turban

This was our first winter in China, so we didn't know what to expect. Shanghai can have snow, maybe just once or twice during the cold season, but looks like we had a few hail or sleet type days but nothing substantial... as it was a warm winter for Shanghai locals! I was FREEZING. It was so different to Melbourne winter, and we needed proper winter coats and thermals as well!

I needed a quick and warm headwear option for Shanghai, and especially one that I didn't need to spend money on... ever the Bargain Betty. And also a fitted one so I didn't lose it riding around town! And while I have knitting needles with me, winter came a little too quickly to knit a turban up (there are so many gorgeous knitting patterns for turbans online) ... so I tried my black headscarf (I usually use it for my pincurl sets) after following a few tutorials online. The red one was a cheapie woolly one from a market and enormous in size!

AND, for my own info, I had to research a bit about cultural appropriation of these urban turbans because I did not want to wear a tied up head wrap or head scarf with it being insensitive to any cultures, and especially to the people of China. And that link is a great piece on appropriation compared to appreciation. So far, I've been give the thumbs up by the people I meet in Shanghai, for my urban turban... lots of people telling me 'very good' and 'big!'.

When I was looking around for ways to secure the old urban turban on my head, I found some GORGEOUS women sharing their ideas, in these tutorials, with several styles and easy explanations:

Fiona at Love Your Tresses - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbGOK-0POAE

and

Nadira and her video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyXHuZPMQdU

And these blog photos above are my 'Is My Scarf Secure?' Selfies from around Shanghai.

xoxo

Voila: Pinky Space Explosion Skirt

Yay, I made a skirt! Haha, imagine if I returned to the sewing blog world and didn't make anything? Let's hope I can keep it going, right!

Last year, I took myself on a little tour of the fabric market in Dongmen Lu (Lu is 'road' in Mandarin/Chinese and was the first thing I learnt living here) because I mainly wanted to sew cotton cushion covers (I had a project in mind using some vintage tea towels I'd brought over) but didn't have any cotton. So I was having a stickybeak around and found this hefty knit that I think is called 'neoprene', but now I'm looking at that (at the Mood Fabric's link) it looks too hefty... this is lighter, and obviously with the print explosions of space. Please let me know if you know the fabric, one thing shopping in the markets here, I don't know the names of anything, plus they have Chinese names. So, tricky!

But, it was cheap, and I got a metre for maybe 60RMB, which might have been 10 dollars Australian at the time, as it was really wide. I made a pattern from newspaper, thinking it'd be a tight-isn dress with floppy arms/sleeves built in, and then ... I cut it too short:

As you see above wearing my yoga pants underneath ^^^ EEP. I thought about adding a band, but then I actually didn't like how it felt around the arms, and the neckline felt weird. The fabric sews well, but it doesn't sit well unless it's totally stretched out. So I put it away for a while to think and last week thought I'd make a pencil skirt from it, and it worked out fine.

So it's a refashion or a Handmade Save, instead of an unfinished object. Being without a stash and with no 'To Do' pile of mending or anything, I've decided to use up all the fabric and finish all the sewing projects. We'll see how long that lasts!

So this time I used an existing pencil stretchy skirt from H&M that fits really well to shape it properly, and did thick elastic in the waistband, folded, basted to the skirt then overlocked together. I tried it on and I was like, wow, fits well, took 2 podcast episodes of 'Reply All' (they're short!) and then overlocked the hem because I just don't think this fabric would hem well, it'd just be like a bubble hem or something.

And so my 'fancy' outing wearing my Pinky Space Explosion Skirt was with this guy:

Two Year Old Felix! He's not really a Baby Darling anymore!

To this 'fancy' place:

The sandpit playground in a shopping centre.

Voila: The Anna Frankensteined Romper!

YAY, we're back from holidays in Singapore and Thailand and I've just been reading through all your lovely notes from my 31/31 pieces from my personal sewing marathon in December. LOVED that you loved my little things (the exciting ones and the boring ones alike! Boring is still good, right!?) and thought you'd like to see the Romper I made for the wedding!

I outlined the sewing construction details (By Hand London's Anna top, vintage 1970s pattern for the shorts) in the blog post but here's me in it with my darling friend Jo (and cousin of the bride) who is from the amazingly gorgeous Melbourne band Big Scary! Aren't we vintage pastel fabric queens:

We loved being away and just adored Thailand, such a beautiful spot for a wedding! I'll post some scenic shots soon, there was just really gorgeous landscapes with the water, huge cliff faces and bush land, jungle spaces! Anyways, I loved wearing my romper, it was really comfy and good for crouching down with the children at the wedding or running around taking photos here and there. It was also great for dancing in later!

The fabric wasn't as see-through as I first thought when sewing it, and the only downside (not that anyone noticed) was that later on in the night after excessive dancing/jumping around (who knew I can still remember all the words to De La Soul?) the facing would flip out the front... so next time I'll stitch or glue/fuse that down... but all in all a successful Frankensteined outfit!

Here's me with my bestie Amy, and I gave her my Red Christmas Anna Dress for her birthday, and it fitted PERFECT! The FBA I did on the bodice was just right for Amy, as it was a little loose for me. Love being on holidays with my bestie! What a stunner!

And I did my hair myself (who knew I've turned into a hairstylist?) by twisting and pinning bits of hair around a topknot... but I bought a little fan from one of the local shops to use as a fascinating fascinator! It stayed in all night as well, even with the dancing!

And my friend snapped a little family photo as well:

Baby Darling wore a little vest & shorts suit I bought at the Salvos Op Shop on King Street in Newtown when I last visited Sydney. He couldn't leave his motorbike out of the wedding party! Plus it matches his sandals, accessorise people!

xoxo thank you again for all your love & gush with my sewing last month! Loved doing a little mini marathon on the machine... for this year (as always) I'm not really setting sewing or personal goals. Being away with my family has made a beautiful start to the year, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to love all the things I do personally and with my friends and family. Now that we're back in the house, we've always got little odd jobs to do, but I'm feeling very low-stress & carefree and plan to keep that vibe going in all aspects of 2014!

Wishing you a wonderful year ahead though, and hope you are loving the year as much as I am. Sew Forth and conquer queen sewing bees!

xoxo

What I Wore: First Day Back at Work

I don't really do outfit posts, but when an old handmade frock looks this good after 2 years, I'm making an exception! Maybe I'll have to make it a nostalgia or memory lane type post?! Still being swamped with blog ideas and not enough time to write the posts!

My first day back at work was a gorgeous sunny spring day, the trees were blossomy and green leaved... And I felt only a little excited so not bad butterflies! You should know I adore my work and my colleagues so I felt like a minor celebrity all day. Even my friends at the office in Sydney made me feel so special and I felt like the biggest Positina Turner smiling all day, and catching up on work stories & happenings! Such fun! 

Baby Darling, of course, crossed my mind about 50 times, but not every second like I thought he would. Our Nanny texted me a photo of the sweetie on a swing around lunchtime so that made my day. It was amazing not carrying around 11 kilos and I (just as my friend predicted) totally enjoyed going to the bathroom by myself for the first time in forever!

And so, I love wearing this Lilly Pulitzer inspired dress post pregnancy, as it was a little loose when I made it in 2011, now it fits like a dream. As I've been reading up about FBA (in prep for Anna & other dresses), I've noticed the darts around the bust are a little out now with my fuller BF cup. But the bell sleeves are just so sweet. I've been thinking how this shape (top and bottom pieces, instead of a fill dress, with darts) is also a good one for me right now... Highlighting the waist with the seam and really accentuating the hourglass a lot more than a vertical darted front. I like it! Bring on the Anna dress pattern & Belladone, I reckon!

Outfit Stats:

* dress - Self sewn "Between Two Ferns" 1960s style dress (formerly two short curtains, thrifted!), 2011 during The Sew Weekly * shoes - Melissa from 2009 * hair - big 60s style a la Brigitte Bardot, from old pin curls * (thanks Franca for showing me a lovely layout for Outfit posts & stats, you are a sweetie & one of THE best!) 

Thanks to you all for such lovely comments this week! Loved hearing about your 'To Sew' Lists as well! Happy Weekend all of you! xoxo

The Stash Scarf - No Sew!

During the Sew Weekly Reunion Prep, I pinned a lot. Don't we all pin a bit here and there for inspiration? And something I really loved through my pinning journey, is this image, from Mod Cloth Blog:

A great outfit for the gloomy days here in Melbourne, but I really loved the scarf as well as the colour pop and found a reasonable amount of pink ribbed fabric in my stash to try it out. Of course it's a NO SEW scarf, being about a metre and a half of fabric (by perhaps 50-60cm wide... so it's not as thick as my inspiration lady and her grey one) wrapped around your neck once and then tied at the front:

(Excuse the grubby mirror, proof I have a 1 year old!)

I'm not hugely into wearing it though, (DRATS, as the colour is sweet) as my loopy scarves (see here and here for just a few) & cowls are so much more practical... it's very sweet when it's bunched like this and knotted and STAYS tied... but it just doesn't stay like this all day. I'm constantly bending up and down and lifting a child, so this pink scarf comes undone and then gives me chills.

So unfortunately my NO SEW scarf might turn into a sewn up one soon... might just overlock the ends together to get a big loop going! 

And we've been reorganising our lives (I think we're doing that every weekend right now: just bought a new bed, got rid of our built in wardrobes that were too thin and yukky and changed the bedrooms around a bit) so I've got a new mirror corner for selfies, outfit posts! Of course, I'm not a big outfit post blogger (I forget!) but this is what I wore to playgroup or Mama's Group the other day... I can't really remember! But I got some new boots for my birthday (thanks Husbie)!

xoxo

The Time I WON $600 of Melissa Shoes!

A while back I entered Melissa Australia's Facebook competition and during our holiday, I got an email from the LOVELY Simone saying I'd won $600 worth of Melissa Shoes.

GET. OUT. OF. TOWN.

If you know me well, you know that these are my ALLTIME favourite brand of shoes, in fact, they're probably the only brand of shoe I buy repeatably! I wear them ALL the time, and all year round, and now, you can probably just should call me Melissa Darling! AND, can I tell you:

IT'S HARD TO CHOOSE TWO PAIRS OF MELISSA SHOES, let alone try finding SIX hundred dollars worth. Yup, I probably took 2 weeks of UMMing and AHHHing over it. (Simone was a bit worried she hadn't heard from me in a while! But it was HARD.)

Ok, so I finally found a selection that suited my colours (at the moment!) and style and also the practicality of being a new mama (ie why I chose so many flats!)

Peach III in Red - bright, comfortable and like walking on air!

Vivienne Westwood Divine in Red - light & sassy with the VW stamp on the toe

Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon Bow in Black & White - freaking amazing!

Moon Dust in Mushroom - Just what I need this winter, bring on the rain!

Julia Petit Dreaming in Red Faux Snakeskin - more flattie sassiness!

Aranha Hits in Orange & Black - Perfectly cute sandles? Why not!

SO EXCITED AND AMAZED! It feels like an instant wardrobe makeover, and I'm having fun trying out my new & old style with my new shoes! Right now (I just looked at Melissa's webpage for those links above, and now wished I'd got an Ultragirl High as well!) there's a sale on the online site! ARGH! Which shoes would you choose?

Thank you SO much Melissa Australia & M Dreams for my new shoes! STILL can't believe it!