Tag Archives: clothes

Two More Tops

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A few days ago we went to Castlemaine to meet some friends for lunch. We had a couple of other things to do and still had a bit of time to kill so I popped into one of my favourite op shops.

I came away with 2 tops. The first one is a favourite shade of green so was difficult to resist. I have no idea of any details about it as there are no labels. No brand, size, composition or washing instructions but it fitted beautifully and I love it.

The second is a simple fitted grey tshirt from Country Road. I like the idea of a plain top as it will go with some of the patterned bottoms that I have. It will also be useful as an extra layer in cooler weather. Something that does double-duty is a perfect addition to the wardrobe.

Change It Up

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I had been contemplating the destiny of this shirt for a while. It is a black linen one that I made and has cute ladybird buttons. I really only wore it with my ‘ladybird’ pants – a pair of red cotton drill trousers with large black spots. They were good while they lasted but have since been moved on from my wardrobe.

I had decided to change the buttons to black ones to make the shirt more wearable with other outfits. However, yesterday I picked up a pair of lovely black and white patterned trousers at the op shop which solidified my plans for the shirt.

After a quick search of my buttons collection I found some that I knew would work perfectly.

Here is the complete outfit which I am really pleased with.

Blue is Best

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I generally stick to a relatively small palette of colours when choosing my clothes. Black, white, navy and grey are the neutrals I wear. I like strong colours with a blue undertone and my favourites are cobalt blue and cherry red along with almost any other shade of blue as well as emerald green.

It is clear that I am not alone in sticking to a narrow range of colours.

This is my elder granddaughter yesterday on her 17th birthday. She was excited to be wearing her new blue dress out to dinner.

Coincidentally, a photo popped up in my Facebook memories a couple of days ago. It was a blue dress I had made for her 8th birthday gift in 2015.

This photo of her wearing it was taken about 15 months later.

Her high school formal is early next year and the dress she has chosen is blue, of course. In fact, her motto could almost be, “Any colour, as long as it is blue”.

A Rainbow of Scarves

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I like to wear a scarf and find that it often adds the final element which completes an outfit. However, in a cooler climate they have become a necessity rather than purely for their value as an accessory. That is not to say that looking good is not important.

My scarf collection is mostly a mix of finely woven scarves in plains and prints. In the past week I have picked up two more plain ones in my op shop adventures. A beautiful blue scarf as well as another red one. My original red scarf is very lightweight and starting to show signs of wear.

I love the colours and brightness that they add to my mostly black, grey and navy winter wardrobe.

A Mixed Bag

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The weather has been quite ghastly for the past couple of days so any kind of outdoor tasks were out of the question.

So, I settled myself into my workroom and decided to sew.

I made a top for myself from a remnant of fabric that had been given to me. The very simple pattern was taken from a top I had bought at an op shop a couple of years ago.

This was not the first time I had used the pattern. I made a blouse from a salvaged tablecloth a few weeks ago. It had some stains and was destined for landfill from our local charity shop. A quick soak solved most of the stain problem. I combined the pattern with a sleeve from a commercial pattern.

Back to today. I took the first tentative steps in making another quilt. This one is mostly muted green tonings. Four blocks done – about 45 to go. I will need a lot more fabric before that happens.

Finally, I made another Boomerang bag. As is often the case, I was feeling a bit ho-hum about the fabric colour combination but it turned out really well.

I have numerous other sewing projects underway but it is nice to be able to finish some and share them with you.

I am hopeful that the weather will improve in the next day or so and I will be able to spend some time outdoors.

Secondhand Rose

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Yesterday I popped into our local Salvos op shop (thrift shop) as I needed a long sleeve shirt. We were going on a walk in a rainforest area as part of a local Landcare group today. The dress code was long pants and long sleeve top plus closed shoes. The weather forecast was for a maximum temperature of 31C so none of my long sleeve tops were really suitable. I went to see if I could get a men’s business shirt that would do the trick but I was surprised to find this collared top with pretty pintucked detailing. The sleeves are actually 3/4 but almost wrist-length on me. My size and $5.

As an added bonus I found a scarf for $3 which goes perfectly with this jumper. I am sure I will find an opportunity to wear it before too long.

I have had several good op shop finds in the last few months including barely worn cotton shorts , canvas denim sneakers as well as a couple of tops.

Buying secondhand makes good ethical sense in my opinion but I am mindful of only buying what I need, regardless of whether it is new or secondhand.

Do you source clothes or other goods secondhand? Do you have a favourite store?

Ladybird Ensemble

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Yesterday I did some sewing that was not Boomerang Bags. I had made a start on a black linen shirt a few weeks ago and finally found some time to get back to it.

This is not just any black shirt as I specifically wanted it to wear with these trousers that I had made almost exactly a year ago. You can read all about them in this post.

I half-jokingly refer to them as my ladybird pants.

Back to the shirt. When I started making it I was on a mission to find some suitable black buttons, however, my mother sourced these ladybird ones from a large stash of pre-loved, but possibly unused buttons. I could not help but use them.

The finished shirt with ladybird buttons.

Today I wore the outfit which was cool, comfortable and above all, unique.

Not Busy

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As I mentioned in a post last year, I have tried to remove ‘busy’ from both my vocabulary and mindset as much as possible.

I have spent the last 3 days occupied in one of my favourite activities – sewing. It has not been just any sewing but specifically dressmaking clothes for myself.

The first project was a dress which was modelled on an oft-used shirt pattern.

I bought the fabric which is a cotton drill from a local thrift shop for $5. I have yet to source suitable buttons and finish the hem.

Another dress. A simple, lightweight shift which will be perfect for hot summer days at home or the beach. The fabric for this one was leftover from a previous project. Of course, both of the dresses have pockets.

A navy linen shirt made using the same pattern as the first dress. This is an extremely versatile pattern which I have used numerous times. The contrasting binding on the neckline and armholes is not visible when the garment is being worn but I think it adds a somewhat whimsical touch. Making my own bias binding allows me to indulge ideas like this. Once again, buttons and hemming are required to complete the shirt.

I have another linen shirt cut out which is black.

This has barely put a dent in my stash of fabric and I am looking forward to making more items to add to my wardrobe.

It is almost 2 years since I last bought any brand-new clothes apart from underwear. In that time I have bought less than 10 pieces from thrift shops and recycle boutiques and made a few items. Some of the clothes that I wore to work are still suitable for some occasions, however, I find that I am gradually changing the mix of clothes in my wardrobe to reflect my retirement lifestyle.

Chairs, Clothes and Other Bits

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We have recently replaced the protective felt feet on the legs of our kitchen chairs.  There are four high chairs which fit around our large return bench/meals area.

This project was undertaken two chairs at a time so for several weeks there have only been two chairs in the kitchen at any given time.  I realised how much less cluttered the area felt with only two chairs.  Since there is only GMan and I here most of the time, there is really no necessity to have four chairs.

The next question was, where could we store the other two chairs so that they would stay clean and be easily accessible when we had additional guests?  We found that the wardrobe in the guest room would be perfect but the space was currently occupied.  My off-season (summer) clothes were hanging on the rail and the floor was filled with about 100 magazines which are some of my retirement reading material as well as 5 large photo albums.

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I set about working out how I could re-arrange things.

The clothes were moved to the empty hanging space in the third bedroom which is used primarily as my sewing room.

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The photo albums provided the impetus to continue working on sorting and culling my photos – both digital and hard copy.  You can read more about that in my post from yesterday.  They will live in the library/study until they are no longer required.

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The magazines have been relocated to the drawers of the dressing table in the guest room.  I intend to make a start on reading them and expect that once I have finished reading them I will pass them on to someone else who may be interested in them.

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The chairs are now in the wardrobe but easy to retrieve when we need them.

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I am pleased with the final result and as an added bonus I have been spurred into doing some more work on the photos as well as making a start on reading my large collection of Australian Geographic magazines.

Patterns and Pants

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Dressmaking can be a challenge when trying to get a perfect fit.  One of the best methods I know is to disassemble a garment which you love and fits well and then use the pieces to make a customised pattern.  I did this several years ago with a sleeveless, collared shirt and have made numerous shirts from the pattern.  Here are a couple of examples.

This time it was the turn of my white cropped pants which I have had for about 9 years.  They are starting to get a bit thin in places.

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I generally use non iron-on interfacing for tracing the pattern. It is reasonably sturdy and stands up to repeated uses. However, on Sunday I discovered that I did not have any left so I had to think laterally.  I had a scramble through my stash and found several large pieces which had been part of a donation to Boomerang Bags but were not suitable.  The fabric is medium-weight, cream synthetic with no stretch so I decided to use it for the pattern pieces which worked perfectly.  It was easy to add markings and instructions, too.

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This is the fabric that I had earmarked for my first attempt with the pattern.  About 3 metres of a medium-weight cotton drill that I had bought last year for $4 at the local Salvos thrift shop.

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I am very pleased with the result.

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The only variation I made from the original was not to add belt loops.  I never wear a belt with these pants and the absence of the loops makes for a smoother silhouette.

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I call them my ladybird pants and you certainly won’t lose me in a crowd when wearing these.

I have a black, fitted t-shirt which I will be able to wear with them and I plan to make a black linen shirt using the pattern I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Now that I am happy with the construction and fit of these pants, I am working on a pair of lightweight dark navy linen ones.  They will be full-length rather than cropped.

I have several sewing projects underway or planned and I will show you more in future blog posts.