Princess Polly and Motel Rocks rock my inspiration...

Hey guys, just checking in to show you my favourite new arrivals at Princess Polly and Motel Rocks...

Even though I don't like high necklines myself, because I think they can give an unflattering silhouette of women's breasts, I can see how this would work on a lot of girls. I wouldn't suggest wearing something like this if you had big breasts however, as the detail in the neckline would focus attention on this area. To me, this would be better as detail on the back of a neckline.

Loose shorts are in vogue at the moment, aren't they? Here is another pair I saw a while ago on Burdastyle. I think these look really cute from the front, but I can't say that I understand the attraction of this type of short from the back. If the ones I have seen around shopping centers are anything to go by, they tend to bunch up in little v's around your bum, making you look like you have a size XXXXXXXS bathing suit on underneath. I would love to be disproved though, as they do look very cute from the front, so if you can find any pictures which look flattering from all sides, (and not just on a wafer thin model), comment me!

Chiffon is another 'in' thing. I think this is chiffon... Well, anyway, I have a pattern that I think would work great as a maxi skirt in a sheer fabric like chiffon, so hopefully I'll get a chance to try that soon. I also love this ocean blue, it is so deep and romantic and whimsical. Like the dark older sister of Alice in Wonderland.

Does anyone else find capes incredibly hard to wear? They look so good on the skinny models plastered all over magazines, but on everybody else, it involves a whole lot of research. For example, will cropped capes make you look pregnant? Will longer ones make you look 4" tall? And what can you actually wear underneath them- because a cape does tend to steal the show.

I would love to be able to say that I had made this dress! However, I am planning to be inspired by the Lattice Dress I blogged about recently, and attempt something interesting and hard. I figure that this would be made of three separate pieces, the skirt, the twisted bra-ish top, and the neckline. Surely that wouldn't be too hard....

This on the other hand wouldn't be that hard, and could easily be made by opp shop finds. All you would need would be a T-shirt to turn into the stretch skirt, and an old tank top or a sheer skirt you could turn into the top. Some of the other Motel designs also feature lattice or crisscross backs, made by cutting strips of the fabric, finishing them, and then sewing them back onto the back in the desired crisscrossing pattern. Definitely worth trying, comment me if you already have.

This is another gorgeous feature neckline. I have no idea how you would make this one though! Another dress that wouldn't suit women with bigger breasts however, unless you wanted your cleavage to bulge through the sheer fabric. Which I have seen. It really isn't worth trying. Also, try to remember that anything with lines like this will probably create dents through any fat or tissue that presses against it. So if you do have big breasts, it will create something akin to a Visible Panty Line, through the vertical middle of your breast. Not very desirable.

I actually have a vintage dress similar in shape to this, except with a collar and buttons, that is waiting to be hemmed shorter. Dresses like this are great for women with small waists, especially with a belt to cinch you in even more. And that is, I am told the hourglass silhouette which men like best. On a side note, my dad has always maintained women dress better for other women, rather than to attract men. What do you think?

Princess Polly and Motel Rocks are great shopping websites which show a lot of unique and beautiful designs. ModCloth is also one to look at if you want something a little different, for inspiration, or if you have a lot of money to spend. However, I do find that ModCloth's lack of styling can make their clothing look a bit nanna-ish. I'm sure it would all look a whole lot better on. Personally, my favourite part of ModCloth is their shoe collection, they also have a good plus size range however. While you're there, check out the un-clothing parts of their site, like this book that is right on the top of my wishlist.

Well that is it for me tonight guys, I have to go and hem a skirt for my little sister. Hopefully I'll get back to posting actual projects soon!
helen xx

Knit Knit Knit...

So I promised last week that I would put up a blog soon about knitting. Well, here it is! Firstly, I am hoping all of you guys have joined Ravelry, as it is an invaluable resource for knitters and crocheters, and I hope you have also visited IroIro, which I blogged about last week, to check out what she is up to. I think a lot of people pass knittingand crocheting off as something for old people, which it really doesn't have to be. The last blog entry on IroIro showed a knitted leotard, and there are many entries on Rav like this simple dress and this fantastic Fantastic Mr Fox jumper which show how much you can do with yarn. There are even patterns to make the characters from the iphone app "Angry Birds". So much can be added to sewing and to your home through knitting and crochet. Which brings me to the next part of this blog, my own hand-knitted stash of clothing;

This is me crocheting the beginnings of a granny square skirt...

I've chosen to make each square individually...

And then join them together by sewing with the black wool. There were a lot of simple techniques I used in this project, and stay tuned because as soon as I have photos of it, I'll blog a tutorial on how to make one and on my journey to crocheting...

These fingerless mitts were actually made for me by my mother, who taught me to knit. The yarn used here has silk in it, and it feels as soft and slippery- as metallic- as it looks in this picture. Although she sewed on a flower motif, to me these mitts are more reminisce of the ocean. The cool colour of the yarn, the turbulent, milky silver and blue in the center of the buttons, and the icy blue thread in the embroidery seem to me to be symbolic of a cruel but stunning winter ocean. I just love them.

These mitts were also knitted by my mother, and aren't as special as the ones above. But they are WARM and THICK! They are a little too big for my hands, but this actually allows me to wear tops or jumpers with longer sleeves, and to tuck the ends in under the mitts. They are comforting mitts.

Another mother-made piece of knitwear! These are my first pair of hand-knitted socks. I never used to let my mother knit me socks, because I have always been determined that you cannot wear socks that are in between ankle length and thigh length. I don't know why I was so against that middle ground, but I have been for years, until I found ankle boots. Now, I have four pairs of ankle boots, and these socks are a warm blessing underneath them. Hand-knitted socks are fantastic at night- I have bad circulation in my feet because of the tablets I have to take, so my feet were always freezing until my mum made me these socks.

Fingerless mitts are very easy to make! But I get bored- as I have with the project above and the project below. Both are pairs of fingerless mitts I have been making for months now. The ones above were meant to be a Christmas present.

I included this close-up shot to show anyone who doesn't know what ribbing looks like. These mitts are very simple to make- knit two, purl two for the rib, until you get the desired length you want from your wrist down your arm, then knit only until they measure to about your first row of knuckles on your fingers, and then either cast off or knit two purl two to create a small rib to tighten them around your fingers. You can also reduce the stitches before the rib if you want them to fit snugly around your fingers. So what you should have now is a rectangle big enough to wrap around your hand snugly, with a wider rib at the bottom and a thinner rib at the top. You need to measure where your thumb is, and sew the sides of the rectangle together up to that point, then start sewing again from the top of your thumb up to the top of the rectangle, and there you have it! Please tell me if this isn't enough information, I would be happy to put up a more in-depth tutorial.

I love the colours of this yarn. I am very much a colour girl over anything else.

Again, this is not something I have knitted. This is a scarf my best friend Janelle made me in my second last year of high school. She used a whole lot of yarns, bought from op-shops and left over from other projects to create the most random stripes. It is the brightest, happiest piece of clothing I own- and it always brings a smile to peoples faces which makes it one of the most treasured as well.

And it is long! I asked her to knit me a long one, but I really didn't expect it to be this big. I am about 5'9", and this is at least 125% of my height. I can wrap my torso and neck in it!

I have knitted two scarves from this wool, the other was for a friend's birthday. It is hard to tell in this photograph, but the black wool also has metallic bits woven into it in a rainbow of colours. It is a subtle effect, but it works really well because the scarf still goes with everything while being a little bit interesting.

This is my pom pom scarf! The yarn was actually bought for my Year 12 Vis Com folio, but my experimentation with it didn't work, (I didn't really expect it to but it filled out about three pages which was realllllllllllly helpful!) so I turned it into this enthusiastic scarf instead. A lot of people seem to shy away with knitting with this kind of bobbly wool, but there is really no need to. If you use a thick needle, and knit a loose gauge, you shouldn't have any trouble because the wool is quite strong and the pom poms will just pull through the stitches. You would need a tighter gauge for something like a kid's jumper, to make it warmer and to hide the stitches underneath the pom poms, but I really don't think it would be that hard with some previous knitting experience. I will try and get some more of this yarn and experiment with it for you in the future.

My first beanie! I actually knitted two of these because the first was too small for my head- even this one doesn't really fit properly, but with bobby pins I can kind of perch it on my head. I loved the colour of this yarn, it reminds me of watermelons because of that vivacious, summery pink. I went through a long stage of not liking pink, but now it makes me happy to look at. Again, I think knitters who are just beginning can be a bit scared to knit things like beanies, it is a bit daunting to start something shaped. But if you think about it, how many times have you dropped stitches without realising it? Or added them? My first scarf was definitely not rectangular- it was a ripple, from all the times my mum fixed it, only to have me drop five more stitches the next round. Basically all shaping is is making deliberate mistakes in the amount of stitches you need, and you already know how to do that so why not try it?

And lastly, I am planning to use this Cleckheaton Country Wide wool to make the skirt picctured on the front of this pattern book. I have wanted a knitted skirt for so long, and I think this one with the recurring diamond pattern is stunning. The red wool I chose off Ravelry for this project is a rich maroon kind of red, perfect to add a splash of colour to the traditional Melbourne winter style, (black on black on black on black). I'm really excited about this skirt!

 I am hoping to make Tuesday my knitting blog day, so if that pans out mt kneedles will see you next week for a Two Tutorial Tuesday!
helen xx

Pinch Punch First of the Month!

Before I start on my projects, I'd like to give a preview of a fantastic Burdastyle member. For those of you who don't know, Burdastyle is, as well as being the Burda website, an online community for people who sew. You can sign up for free, with your own user, wall for people to post on, and a list of the projects you create. When you create a project, you can upload pictures, information about fabric and notions, descriptions, and even instructions or PDF patterns so that other people can make the clothing too. There are search options to find patterns, (many for free), that you can download and print at home or in some cases that you can buy and have sent to you. All of the Burda patterns are also available from the site. It is an amazing resource, with a wide variety of people and sewing styles using the site, and I would highly recommend joining even if you spend 6 months (like me) just looking and not adding anything up of your own.
But on to the member I'd like to show you...atommique has posted 32 projects on Burdastyle to date, and the latest ones especially have caught my eye. I would love (and am going to try) to create her twist front maxi and lattice work dress as soon as I have finished sewing up the fabric I have at the moment. I love these dresses because they are both simplistic when it comes down to it- the silhouettes are well-known and have been used countless times before, they are both just one colour and have no patterns. This simplicity allows the details in them - the beautiful twist and structured lattice work - to really stand out and be accentuated. All together, it makes for two very wearable pieces of clothing. I also loved atommique's black high-waisted shorts and her faux leather zipper corset. I'll leave it to you to do some exploring on her profile though.
As for the rest of Burdastyle, get on there! Check out the blogs, search for techniques, trawl through other user's profiles. You are absolutely BOUND to find something handy or interesting, no matter what your level of sewing expertise is. Go for it!

Now, onto my day. Today, I decided I would share some cooking with you. I love to cook, but usually only cupcakes or cheesecakes, because I find them easy, people enjoy them, and there are a lot of things you can do with them. So today me and my boy decided to cook Cafe Calypso Cupcakes. We used a recipe from the book "Cupcakes and Muffins", which was the collectors edition by R&R publishing house, (here is an image of the cover). My mother actually got this book as a present from a lovely woman we know, and I think that it is just awesome. Not that awesome is a particularly eloquent word, but the cupcakes are just that. Among the cakes in the book there are Coffee Muds, Double Lemon Cupcakes (which look like they've had an egg dropped on them), Peach Melba Muffins, and Lemon Sour Cream Butter Cupcakes. They all sound and look delicious, as ours were when they came out.
Here are some pictures;

 The cupcakes were basically coffee and rum flavour, with a coffee icing simply made from butter and icing sugar. They were delish though! I would post more on the recipe, but unfortunately it is under copyright. So buy the book for yourself! :p

Last post I also said I would talk about the Alannah Hill Factory Outlet store in Fitzroy. On the ground level, this store simply looks like any normal factory outlet- with piles and piles of clothing, messy and covering every available surface, and all ridiculously cheap. However, go up the towering stairs to your right, and then head to the far right corner of that level, and you will find shelves of Alannah Hill fabric at also ridiculously cheap prices. When I was there last week, there was even a waft of fabric that had thousands and thousands of feathers hand sewn onto it, in every shade of the rainbow. It was beautiful, but not yet priced and probably a bit over the top for anything I would be creating. I wish I had bought it though, it was stunning. There was also plenty of wool knits, in a range of colours, cotton prints, stripey stretch knits, patterned chiffon and silk, and any manner of other beautiful fabric. These pictures of what I bought do not begin to express the variety of beauty you can pay for at the Alannah Hill Outlet;

But please go and check the store out, because I only bought boring things! Both of these, if I remember correctly, were priced at $5 a meter, and they are pretty good quality fabric, (as far as I can tell anyway).

Just before I go, here is one last link. IroIroCrafts, which I just discovered, is a very cool blog with some interesting design journeys on it. Have a little look around, as I plan to write about knitting next!

helenxx

Fabric Shopping cont.

So, these are the fabrics that I bought yesterday;

I actually bought this fabric on my first visit to The Fabric Store, which was last year. I got a bit scared of sewing so I haven't used any of the fabrics I bought on that trip yet. It is a rich colour, and it feels rich as well, a beautiful soft velvet. I am planning to make a skirt out of it, but I'm not sure what the skirt will look like yet.

This is another piece of fabric I bought on the first trip. It is a luscious blue cord fabric. I am planning on using it for a pair of shorts.

Again, an earlier purchase. This fabric is for another skirt. It is a simple cotton, but I love the striking design. The only skirt pattern I am familiar with at the moment wont be able to take advantage of this design, so I am waiting to work out a way that I can before I use it, possibly in an asymmetric skirt design to accentuate the diagonal lines.

This silk is my favourite! I am going to make a high waisted maxi skirt from it. Hopefully I will start sewing it up tomorrow, when I have the proper needle size, so I will post soon on this one!

This is a medium weight woolen fabric that I was immediately drawn to because of the bright blue colour in the pattern. I love blue, it has almost always been my favourite colour, and I find rich, bright blues like this one draw me the most. I think it is because they remind me of the deep of the ocean, of magic and mystery. From this fabric I am planning to make a Cynthia Rowley skirt, high waisted with a tailored look.

This is a Marc Jacobs knit. It has sparkley threads woven through it, although that is hard to tell from this fabric. The threads make it shimmer rainbows of colours, while the black backdrop for this show grounds the fabric. I bought this on my latest trip to The Fabric Store, when the sale was on, however this wasn't on sale. From memory it was a bout AU$40 a meter. I think it is definitely worth it- the knit is fragile but stunning, and perfect to make a simple loose dress to wear over leggings and a top in winter, to the movies, etc. My mum also bought some; it seemed to be a popular fabric.

I bought this fabric with leggings in mind, hopefully I can cut the pattern so that the stripes are vertical, but it wont really bother me either way. I like the idea of having semi-transparent leggings, subtly sexy. But, of course, I would have to wear something over the top of them, unless I decide to do leggings with two layers, which is a possibility.

The final fabric I bought at The Fabric Store was this blue merino knit. Merino wool is very warm- I already own two store-bought tops made out of it- so I am definitely excited about making a long sleeved top out of this for winter. I am constantly cold, and always wearing dark colours, so this should be a good change.

Today I have planned to start two projects; a skirt for my younger sister's birthday, and a maxi-skirt for myself from the purple silk pictured above. While I was trying to work out how to finish the silk skirt, I realised I might need a different needle, and my research led me to two websites, the Singer brand website, and this from the 'threads' magazine website. Be sure to check out The Fabric Store website as well, the one day sale may be over but there is plenty more to see! Also check out the warehouse next door, upstairs they have some fantastic and cheap fabrics, from the likes of Alannah Hill, which I will bog about soon!
helenxx

Fabric Shopping in Fitzroy...

On Thursday I went on a little adventure to The Fabric Store, in Fitzroy, Melbourne. It is a HUGE shop which is full of fabric, and slightly overwhelming. This is no amature-hour Spotlight, (where I normally shop), the people who shop at The Fabric Store are full on Sewers- with the capital 'S'. On Thursday they had an almost store wide 30% off sale, so my mother and I made the Journey to Fitzroy and annihilated our bank accounts. It was wonderful.
The fabric at The Fabric Store is high quality- Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood, Tigerlily, etc. Needless to say, it is also expensive, so I would recommend getting on their mailing list to take advantage of the sales like we did on Thursday. The inside looks a bit like a small warehouse, with probably 4 big wooden tables covered in fabric. There are also shelves on 2 1/2 of the sides, which house even more fabric, and there is a long cutting table on the remaining 1/2 side with a few very helpful saleswomen. The fabric itself is in a myriad of colours, textures, and types. I was literally dumbstruck when I walked in, I had no idea where to go or what to look at first. This was combined with my extremely limited knowledge of fabric types and names, and it left a mildly depressed Helen waiting at the doors.
So, in order to help you guys, I have found two links which have descriptions of many types of fabric. The first is more detailed, containing the characteristics and uses of each fabric as well, and the second is simply a wordlist, but it could help with fabric types that aren't listed on the first page, if you find them mentioned in a pattern.
For now I have to go get ready to go the movies, but tomorrow I will post some photos of the fabric I bought on Thursday and what I intend to do with it! Thanks for reading!
helenxx

sewing sewing sewing

At christmas last year my nanna got me a sewing machine, my first ever. It's a very simple 'brother' one. I've used my mum's rather-more-complicated machine before, but only for very small projects, (despite longing to make all the patterns I've scrolled through on BurdaStyle). So this year, while I am taking a break from study, I have given myself the challenge of not buying any clothes for the year...
EXCEPTIONS:
*Jeans- my mum claims they are far too hard for her to make, and as I am nowhere near talented/knowledgeable to make half of the things that she makes, I am not trying. Yet. Also, I am far to fussy about the way my jeans fit.
*Bras and Underwear- I refuse to buy them from an opp-shop, too icky, and I loooooooove new ones. However, I am also going to make my own. I've seen a few blogs that show them made out of old t-shirts and stuff, and they look fun :)
*Anything from an opp shop IF, and only if, I plan to adjust/remake it.
So, this is what I have made so far-

Scarf Hoodie- I don't really like the green but it was a first draft and the first pattern I'd made myself. And then I promptly drew the pattern with the hood facing the wrong way- hence the flaps hanging down in front.

I do love the little elf hood though...

This is actually the first of the ventures with the new sewing machine. I wanted to make a 'sexy-hippie' top, hence the bra-exposing crochet (a doiley). But it came out uneven, and I can't work out how to hem the arm holes. I'm still not sure this one is a success, and until I work off my muffin top I'm not sure what i can actually wear with it. I'll keep you updated...

Because I liked the first hood so much, with it's pixie tail, I decided to make another one for my boy. Instead of attatching it to a scarf I tied it round the back, bandana style.

He wasn't so impressed with it....thought he looked like a cleaning lady :(

Well, that's all for now. Wish me luck with the next tank top I'm making.
xx