{just in case}

Mum always had a blanket in the car, just in case she wanted to lie in the sun while we kids played at the playground, just in case my brother or I fell asleep while we were out at night, just in case there was a car accident, just in case.

It is a habit that I too developed as the owner of a car, just in case.

On 22 February 2011 I did not have a blanket in the car. I had taken it out to wash because Cohen had claimed it as his own a few days earlier, coating it in his white bib hair, as he has a habit of doing to anything that lays in the path of his chosen curl-up-in-a-ball spot.

As we tried to make our way home following the tragic events of this day, we saw a father and child. The father had swooped up his toddler from the child care centre located nearby and just ran with her. She was in nappies, and nothing else; it was starting to rain, autumn had arrived early - it was cold out. I stopped the car to get the blanket out, the blanket that should have been there, just in case, yet it wasn't.

Instead I offered the Dad all I had to keep his baby girl warm on their hour long walk home, the black wool feather and fan scarf I had knitted back in March 2010. The scarf that I originally thought bordered on being ridiculously long and ridiculously wide. That was until it was about to become a makeshift blanket to keep a cold frightened wee girl warm during a national emergency - then, it did not seem ridiculous at all.

The man promised as he headed off again that he would return the scarf to me, asked my name and where I worked, but I had no expectation of getting it back when I gave it to him. Even if he has tried in the last 12 months to return it, his efforts would be in vein, the building I used to work in, the building I was in at 12.51pm on 22 February 2011, has been red stickered. I often wonder what happened to that man and his family, if their house was okay, if his wife was uninjured, what they did with that scarf...

Tonight as I watch the memorial day telecasts I will once again pick up my needles to cast on a replica of my ridiculously long and ridiculously wide scarf , I 'll continue to ponder these thoughts.

I will also mourn for the loss we have gone through because of the terrible event that occurred in Christchurch 12 months ago today, smile for the kindness and compassion I have both witnessed and experienced because of that event, and feverishly plan for the future that I am blessed enough to be here to live.

Blessed.

May you never have to experience what we have, but always have a blanket, just in case...

{inspiration}

I first started swooning over floral print pants when I saw Krystal's ensemble a month or so back.

 

As you can see Krystal is very petite, when you are proportioned as she is most things are going to look okay on you. However she is also very good at knowing her own style, what suits her and what doesn't, as Tim would say, how to 'make it work'.

After spending a large chunk of Monday morning in bed perusing Pinterest (it was a public holiday, I wasn't skiving off work), and seeing this look in various aesthetics, (1, 2, 3) I became somewhat determined to address my concerns, and make it work.

Firstly, I am more generously proportioned than any of the people I have seen wearing this look; as such am not sure how these would look on someone with curves, will they make my butt and hip area scream 'look at me!'

Second concern, fabric. Fabric choice is going to be crucial, not only because it will be one of the few fabrics I am allowing myself to buy this year, but also because 'I  just chopped up grannies sofa from the 1990's' is not the look I'm aiming for!

Third concern, wearability. How many times will these puppies really be dragged out if I spend hours sewing them? Can I justify the cost, and time per wear, or am I better investing the time in something else?

What to do when in doubt? Play make believe on Polyvore, peruse Etsy for fabric and assess my current wardrobe!

I find a little paper doll time on Polyvore really handy. I can piece together outfits based on what I have in my wardrobe already, and what I know I plan on making. It is not always 100% accurate, for example the red wedges I own are peep toe, and the blue cardigan I have is plain not chunky knit. However it is still a good gauge of what I do have already, that will work in creating a look.

The other thing I find quite handy is having a variety of floral pants to choose from, I find my eye is naturally drawn to my true aesthetic. As you can see from the two patterns above, neither are really a classic floral, they are both abstract florals. This sits more comfortably with me, and my aesthetic, I am not a roses kind of a gal. Stupidly, me forgetting that simple fact about myself was what was causing such a huge chunk of doubt about these pants. Duh!

So, I think that if I can draft up a pattern which is flattering to my shape, less tapered than the Erdem pants in the first collage, and a closer fitting hip pocket than in the second collage, I might just be able to make this look work.

Now, back to my hunt for fabric, that Erdem print is near perfection... any online suggestions?

{restyle}

Over summer I decided to try my hand at restyling an old watch I had, into one of the bracelet strappy wrappy watches which are 'all the rage' as my Nan would say.

I am a little dull when it comes to watches, I have never really looked at them as an accessory before, but more as a functional item. I kind of find this odd myself given that I don't ever think of anything else in my wardrobe as functional, not even underwear.

So it was for this reason I decided to go for a classic cognac colour, to accessorize when I am wearing navy/blues etc.

So this is the before:

and the after:

The complete project took me about 30 minutes to complete, including stopping to take photos for a tutorial post I put together for restylistas.

It was a quick win in regards to sewing time, and a frugal project in regards to budget as it cost me absolutely nothing! If you are keen to try it yourself, head on over to restylistas for a full run down.

I am so pleased with the results I am  stalking Trade Me in hope for bargain watch faces so that I can whip up a few more, and I may just be a bit more adventurous in my colour choices too....

{inspiration}

Geometric colour combinations....

{Stitchery: Simplicity 2683}

Just three weeks* into the new year and already contradicting my goal of posting a new garment once a fortnight. Oops. Well, I am pleased to finally announce the arrival of Simplicity 2683 (well the skirt of it anyway...) which I mentioned Wednesday before last.

As anyone who follows me on pinterest will know I have being swooning over blue and white striped skirts and dresses for months. Despite many an hour spent perusing online fabric stores I had no luck in finding the perfect fabric anywhere. I wanted a woven stripe (i.e not printed), approx 5cm wide stripes, in navy blue and white, 100% cotton, medium leaning towards firm hand; alas, it was just not meant.

I ended up in Spotlight one day (the store I love to loath!) and came across this cotton/spandex (5%) sateen printed stripe, feeling defeated with my online search I settled with it, despite it not ticking many of my boxes. As is a typical with most things from Spotlight, the fabric was slightly off grain, and the stripes did not run parallel to the selvedge, so it took a bit of fiddling with the pattern layout, nothing too major, but nonetheless annoying.

I had to make some adjustments to the pattern, a combination of not buying enough fabric (this is the first pleated skirt I have made in eons, I forgotten just how much fabric they use!) and personal taste.

• I shortened the length by a whooping 26cm, however I kept the original hem width by grading out the new shortened hemline by 2.5cm at the centre front, centre back and and side seams
• I did not have enough fabric to make the pleats as full as the pattern, so each pleat was reduced in size by by 4cm
• I had planned on omitting the centre front seam, but as it is shaped I could not simply place it on the fold

Also, just as an FYI if you ever happen across this pattern, it has a minor fault in that both the skirt front and skirt back pieces are marked as 'E' when one should be 'E' and the other 'F'. It is easy enough to figure out which is which though as the front has the placket opening to ease it over your hips if you were making the dress pattern.

Because I have a policy that no skirt,dress or pant should be constructed without pockets , I added inseam pockets in as well, I like to be able to go out without a handbag, carrying just the essentials whenever I can. I did not have enough fabric to make the entire pocket from dress fabric so just used calico for the pocket, and put in a narrow 5cm facing so as to create the illusion.

After basting all the seams to ensure the stripes matched up perfectly, and unpicking on the couple of occasions the basting stitches moved slightly during machine sewing, I decided the more time I spent on this skirt the more time I wanted to invest in it, to make it a garment I would love more and more each time I wore it.

So, I opted to hand pick in the zipper, a cream metal tooth vintage zip from my stash, in keeping with my shop the stash goal (more on this in an upcoming post). It is sitting a little more exposed in the above photo than it does on, not sure whats going on there, but rest assured, whilst not perfect, it is less 'toothy' than what you see. The hem is also hand sewn, all 5+ metres of it!

The glass button above is also from my stash, I have no recollection of buying it so suspect is it part of a deceased estate I was recently gifted by my Mums partner. Either way I desperately love it, and think it finishes off the skirt perfectly. I used Nancy Zeiman's tutorial (posted by Sarai) to make belt loops, (genius I tell you, genius!) which I put at each side seam, as well as the center back, you can just see it peaking through the button hole above.

Because I did not have enough fabric to do a self fabric waistband in a way that I found aesthetically pleasing I used petersham instead and ironed it into a curve to match the curve of the skirt.** I could have used self fabric, but because it is a curved waistband it would have meant that part of the waistband would have been ivory, and part of it navy due to the width of the stripe. Having put so much into the skirt I was not prepared to make this compromise, so allowed myself a get out of 'shop my stash' jail free card  and bought petersham instead. The skirt fabric cost me $15.00, and the petersham cost me $8.00, is it just me, or is that crazy?

The lining fabric is a cream polyester from my stash which I had originally planned on making into a 3/4 sleeve top when I bought it over 12 months ago. It is heavy and does not have the soft hand of lining, but I quite like that as it helps give the skirt a bit more fullness.

The lace at the hem of the lining is also from my stash, I was saving it for a 'special project', but did not have a particular purpose in mind for it. This skirt seems a special enough project to me non?

Overall I am pretty happy with the skirt, I have reservations about how well the fabric will wear, it is a printed stripe not woven, and depending on the quality of the spandex it may relax sooner rather than later causing the fabric to wave. But one cannot spend ones life wondering about the what if's can one...

Total spend: $23.00
Total time: 12 hours

I definitely plan on making the skirt pattern again in a black and cream cross stitch fabric I bought from Designer Textiles when I was in Auckland in September 2011, but perhaps not for a few weeks yet, I need a couple more instant gratification projects first. As for making up the complete dress, I am still not sure, the top is not fitted, and the collar quite large, perhaps a decision best reserved for a later date when I have had a little distance from this project.

*Yes, I am a little behind in my projects posts for the year already. My camera lens packed a sad after my camera took a tumble in the most recent series of aftershocks, it is being very disagreeable to anything except the most perfect lighting conditions and then still has a fit when asked to focus.
Hopefully I can find the funds to replace it in the not too distant future, but in the mean time you're going to have to bear with me with less than stellar images I am sorry! I am sure that by the time Me Made May comes around it will be replaced though, and you can see all of my creations in their rightful glory...

**What I did not do, which I will bravely admit to, is pre-wash the petersham. Kids, learn from me, always pre-wash, everything! I had naturally pre-washed the fabric, but not the petersham, big mistake. We had more earthquakes in the midst of me finishing this skirt, which caused more liquefaction. During one of the aftershocks the mannequin where I had the skirt fell over. Cohen, in his panic over the aftershocks went running from outside, to inside, dragging in on his little furry feet liquefaction - as a result the skirt got a dousing too. When I washed the skirt to remove the mud/silt, the dye in the the petersham ran, and has marked not only the cream stripes on the fabric, but the lining as well. Had I have washed the petersham first I would have been aware of this, and could have set the dye with salt, or similar, to prevent this occurring .Stupidly, it just never occurred to me, I have never pre-washed trims before. It was a knife in my heart when I was so close to being finished, but a valuable lesson too.