How Much Nautical is Too Much?

I'm probably a bit late to the nautical party, but my love of the nautical flavoured fashion snuck up on me.  A horizontal navy stripe here...

An anchor print there...

And there...

And suddenly I'm stashing boat prints, and anchor buttons, and perhaps Joss needs a sailor dress, perhaps I need a sailor dress!  

So the pile of patterns has been growing, and the knits!  Oh there is a very special place in my heart for nautical knitwear.  Like this and this from Drops, and this from a 1990 Verena, and little gem below that I've had for a few years now.  

I promise I won't go overboard (ha), just a Bonny top, maybe a sailboat shirt and just one knit. It doesn't count if you make a sailor dress in a floral print does it? I don't think it does. 

12 More Outfits - Menswear!

The vast majority of the garments I make are for myself.  My kids occasionally nab a handmade, but really I'm a fairly selfish seamstress.  One of the main reasons is it is easy.  I'm always available for fittings, I've got a fair idea of what works for me, i know what i like and I can live with the inconsistencies and design features that sometimes make their way into my work.  Given that I'm working as much as I can to minimise the mistakes and rushed inconsistencies, it's time to branch out.

Darron is my biggest supporter, cheerleader and promoter.  He has always encouraged and complimented my work, he is proud of the things I make.  We had been planning for me to make him a blazer for a while now and we were discussing that when the idea rolled around to do another, overlapping 12 outfits in 12 months to overhaul his wardrobe.  My 12 outfits have been completely stress free, life has been extremely challenging, but my outfits have been pure enjoyment.  So the idea of 12 months of making stuff for the love of my life greatly appealed to me.

Here's what I'm working with: Darron is tall, nearly 6'2", athletic build, with long arms and legs.  He struggles to find jackets and blazers with sleeves long enough.  He loves colour and unique, interesting one of a kind type garments.  He is actually the perfect candidate for a custom made wardrobe.

We've planned a little, shopped a little, pinned a little.  There are plans for at least on blazer, a three piece suit, casual trousers and shorts, shirts and tees, long and short sleeved, a couple of cardigans and some pyjamas.  I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this.  I've bought the Thread Theory Parklands collection of patterns because its like they were designed just for Darron, and will cover a lot of bases for us, so I'm ready to go!  I'll update soon with the more detailed plan for the whole 12 months!

In Which I Show The Internet My Undies

First let me answer the question, will there be modelled shots?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Hahahahaha, oh hell no!

Last week, while I had planned to work on my September outfit I was distracted by uncomfortable undies.  What does any self respecting procrastinator do under these circumstances?  Drop everything and make new undies!  

I have a couple of super classy, multi size undies patterns from the 1970s.  Between them they cover every rise from indecently low rise to the highest of high nanna pants rise.

 This time I went with a couple of the highest of the high pants and one pair of regular hip high bikinis. All using leftover jersey fabric from tops I've made this year.

The main reason I went with ultra high rise is for under skirts.  Lately all the skirts I've made sit on my natural waist, so it makes sense to have any undergarments sit at the same spot to avoid a lumpy silhouette, also it's nice to know that should the wind invert your skirt, you've got full coverage.

I have a rather large collection of underwear elastic, in loads of colours and widths, so I think I might make some more undies.  Perhaps not the utilitarian variety, but something a bit more special, maybe from an Oooh Lulu pattern.

So thats an adventure in underwear as procrastination.  Also, please note that if you call these undergarments "panties" in my presence, I may cause you bodily harm.

Making Progress and Getting Distracted

This last week has been hard work.  Darron was just recovering from pericarditis when he was struck down with a demon flu.  The poor guy was bed ridden and quarantined for most of the week.  So I've been solo parenting, which of course means both kids got injured!  Joss got her leg stuck in the ladder at the swimming pool, then Coen jarred his knee pretty badly at school, requiring the dreaded call from the school office to come deal with my injured hysterical drama llama.  So I've been nursing the sick and tending to the injured all week.  But that hasn't stopped me from getting some of my stuff done.  Actually, if anything, getting stuck into making stuff has kept me on an even keel.

Last weekend I went fabric shopping in my mum's amazing stash and came home with a boot load of beautiful fabric.  Then on Monday, before Darron suddenly went downhill, he and I went shopping for some more masculine fabric to make some menswear.  We're working on something that I'm really excited about, and will share the details soon!

My Dahlia is coming along much faster than I was expecting, lots of evening knitting time at the moment.  The back panel and one side are done, and the other side is rowing out pretty quickly too.  How nice is this lace panel?  I can't wait to get it finished and blocked.

I have cut out my shirt for September, but haven't decided whether or not I want a contrasting collar and cuffs so I haven't started sewing yet.  Then I was preparing to cut my September skirt and my undies were riding up so I set it aside and started making new undies instead!  So now I have three new pairs of undies of varying waist heights and I did eventually get around to cutting my skirt from this amazing print.

Now that things have calmed down a bit, I'm going to rearrange my studio to fit in all this fabric and get stuck into some sewing!

Outfit Seven: August

I've finally caught up!  Here is August's outfit... in August!  I have a confession, it has been ready for nearly a week and I've had plenty of opportunities to photograph it but I waited 'til I got my new hair.  It had been over a year and a half since my hairdresser laid hands on my hair, and it was incredible to get a proper style cut and colour instead of the shaggy growing out 'do I've been sporting lately.

I am very pleased with this outfit.  This was a big departure from the outfit I had originally planned, but given that elements of it have already been getting near constant wear I'd say it's one of the biggest successes of my 12 outfits so far.

Starting from the outside, this oversized cardigan is a simple big boxy shape with pockets, but in warm black drapey knit fabric it goes with just about everything in my wardrobe.  It's casual and comfy without being sloppy.  The pattern is from Burda Style 7/2013, 109A.  I have bought a fuzzy, lacy knit to make another for spring.

 I bought the fabric for my shirt at the same time as the fabric from March's skirt.  They are the same print on different backgrounds.  I love the bright red and bold graphic floral print.  It works perfectly with the pattern, you guessed it, another Burda mag 2/2009, 120.

Because the fabric is an almost sheer cotton voile, I used french seams throughout.  It was well worth the little extra effort to enclose all the edges, the finish is really clean and the seams are nice and secure.

I put a bit more thought than I usually would into the pattern placement.  I didn't want sheer background patches at the bust, or a great big flower arrangement bursting out of my guts.  I'm pretty smug about the way it turned out.  Perfect for the transition into spring that the weather has been hinting at this week.

When the pattern for the Maroo Mitts was released I fell in love with them.  I love the scalloped colour work, and the colours used in the samples were right up my alley too.  I've been hoping to get more confident with knitting colour work, but just hoping wasn't doing much so I've started practicing.  These are a fantastic introduction.  I had decided to knit them without being part of any outfit but noticed that the greys and yellow fit in so nicely with the colours in this outfit, and I just happened to have greys sitting in stash and yellow left over from my cowl, so here they are!

I bought this super smooshy grey 4ply yarn from Wendy Dennis a couple of years ago at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show.  200 grams was perfect for the Mara shawl that has been in my Ravelry queue for a couple of years too.  On 4mm needles I used about 90 grams got the garter body of the shawl and then 95 grams for the the ribbed ruffle.  Blocked out it became a great big squishy hug.

Finally pants.  For the record, I don't do leggings.  I wear running tights when I run, I wear tights under dresses, skirts, even under shorts.  I do not wear leggings.  These pants were borderline.  The ponte knit is dense enough to avoid unsightly sheer stretching over my widest parts.  The pattern had enough structural detail to take them far enough out of leggings territory and into pants land.

These were my first garment from a Style Arc pattern.  They are the April Pants.  I must say I was very happy with the pattern.  Again I put more effort than I have in the past into these pants.  All the seams are overlocked and topstitched, the result is a very smooth neat finish.  The fit is perfect, the pattern is great, I'm looking forward to making the Sandra  Jeans I bought at the same time.

You can see my assistant in some of the above photos.  When she wasn't wandering through my photos she was doing this:

Muddy puddles!

Costumes and Props - Book Week

You know that kid whose parents always go totally overboard with his book week costume?  His name is Coen, and it's not his fault we take Star Wars very seriously in this house.

When we asked him what book character he wanted to go as for the book week parade, his answer was very specific.  Obi Wan Kenobi, in Attack of the Clones.  He is adamant that this counts as a book character because he has so many Star Wars books featuring Obi Wan and really, who are we to argue?   So this week I took a break from working on my August shirt to make my boy some Jedi robes.

His brown robe is from the same pattern as his everyday blue hooded dressing gown, just with less finishing and no pockets, it's made from the leftover brown polar fleece I had after last year's Gruffalo costume.  The cream trousers and shirt are from my basic kids pyjama pattern and used up the last of the huge amount of cream ribbed knit I scored.  His vest is made it of a couple of pieces of upholstery fabric, that has a foam backing, which gives him those great padded shoulders, and I dismantled and shortened one of my old belts for him.  To top it all off, this morning he let me blow wave his hair into Obi Wan's meticulously styled 'do and colour in his beard using eyebrow pencils and stage make up.

I can't take credit for the lightsaber though.  That is the work of my lovely husband, who took some poly pipe and attachments, spray painted them and used his Jedi skills to make an amazing lightsaber!

Now he needs to make one for everyone else in the family!  Starting with mine!

The boy was very proud of his costume today in the parade and that's the best reward we could ask for.  

The Next Six Outfits

While I've been working on my first six outfits I have also been planning the next six.  For a while those next six were fairly vague ideas with a couple of key pieces.  Now they have been fleshed out, reassessed and rearranged, ready go with August.  Of course they are all still subject to change as the mood takes me.

So here are the upcoming outfit plans:

August:
Originally I had a navy and teal knit that I planned to make into a hoodie dress.  I decided to make a wearable muslin from the same black fleece knit as my June trackies to see how it looked.  Turns out I really loved it in the black and don't really need another, oops!  So the new plan is dark grey ponte knit pants from the Style Arc April Pant pattern.  The top will be a red voile tunic/shirt with big floral print, similar to the black floral I made my March skirt from. This one is a Burda Style pattern from 2009. And I've already made my cardigan!  It's this one, again from Burda Style.  The fabric came from a local boutique that has shut down production of its own clothing line and has a basement full of fabric that is all for sale for five dollars a metre.  It is a beautiful drapey soft black knit.  I'm wearing it right now and I'm really happy with it!  I knitted a pair of Maroo Mitts and have just finished a big Mara shawl.

September:
The key piece for September was always going to be a Dahlia cardigan in Colinette Jitterbug in Ginger Cinnabar.  It still is, only now it has a slightly dressier pencil skirt in another floral print.  This fabric is a medium to heavy weight cotton that I picked up for a dollar, there's just over a metre, perfect for yet another Burda Style pattern.  I have a reasonable stash of Burda Style magazines from a couple of years subscription.  I keep finding patterns i them that I didn't notice before and that are basic enough to be current with adjustments to fabric choices and styling. The top is a basic button down chambray shirt.

October:
This is another outfit that was based on a knit.  This one the Myrtle cardigan in bright red Wollemeise.  I am sticking with the fabric I chose for a dress to go with it, but have now picked a pattern for it as well.  It will be this one.

November:
November has has stayed the same as well at this stage.  It is still a seersucker skirt with sailor style buttons on the front and a plain white tee with a nice neckline.  I'm still trying to decide if I want to knit a short sleeved cardigan to go with it.  Maybe Soay, or Abbi Light, or Vodka Lemonade, or a short sleeved Brynna, you get the idea.

December:
I had planned to make a Christmas dress for December.  But decided that a Christmas dress is not really an outfit to help build a wardrobe so much as a special occasion garment.  So now December is getting shorts and an obnoxious bright floral Wiksten tank.

January:

Finally There is January's swim suit!  I'm looking at a Bombshell bikini bottom with a top from a mixed bikini pattern I already have.  But then I also found a really lovely simple 1970s one piece pattern that I like too.  I guess I could make two?  I want to try making a huge wide brimmed hat too, I'm searching for the right pattern, and then I thought that I might add a Clair de Lune, because I'm totally glamourous enough to get about in a retro swim suit, giant hat and oversized lacy cardigan.  I am.

My Style Arc patterns arrived today so I'm going to get stuck into my August pants!