28. Rainy Day Blues

In excellent mood this morning. There is nothing like a refreshing rain after days of sultry heat. See how the rain glistens on the roof.

Finally, finally felt like wearing a skirt (pant?) that I made in spring.

Essentially this is a wide skirt with small leg parts attached.

I paired it with a Mid Mod jewelry piece (reissued Sarpaneva if I remember correctly) and a crinkly tee (which shows badly in today's light).

How the skirt happened:
I love the clothing made by the very talented folks at Variete van Kroen, who come to Vienna at least once a year. However, buying one was not an option last year. Instead, I decided to make my own.

I searched high and low for a rayon denim which would give me the drape, but when this textured dark indigo woven cotton came my way I knew the pairing was perfect.

I had to make the pattern. Here is me trying to imagine the finished effect.

I made real pockets, and lined them with a fabric at hand - purple.

It is very very comfortable, and looks hot with a biker type jacket which I wore later when the rain really picked up. Sorry, no pictures!

linking with:
The Pleated Poppy
Coffeebeans and Bobbypins

22. A Denim Make-Over

You'll notice I have moved, and my mirror image no longer has a clean background. I will have to work on that... In the meantime, I thought I'd show a nice summery outfit. It has been pretty warm here lately, and this outfit is both easy and good enough for "town".
Skirt is a recent make,  and if you are visiting for the how-to, please scroll down.

skirt: me-made 2013
top: Liz Claiborne 2006
belt: H&M 2002
shoes: Vagabond 2009

Some close-ups of my favorite parts as the main photo is so grainy:

 I love the cross-hatch pattern and inky blue of the top, and the unabashed hippie vibe of the belt.

These babouche flats are a dream. They are comfy and pretty - I especially like the reverse applique.




Now for the Refashion Part:

Stonewashed denim may be in again...

... but this 90's full skirt certainly isn't!
It was good lightweight chambray, so I grabbed it. It was a full circle with some hideous netting flounce underneath.

 

I removed the lining and the flounce, opened up the seams and spread it out. It was huge. Large enough to be making something substantial with it.

I took the Marcy Tilton V  pattern. As it is a tunic, I folded away the tops and used just the bottom parts to create a skirt. I love Marcy Tilton for her shapes, her patterns always have a twist.

I am not fond of pale denim. When the skirt was finished, I threw it into a dye bath. I wanted a dark indigo but ended up with a medium blue. Well, sometimes you can't have it all...
The skirt has been previously shown with different tops and accessories in posts #15 and 16.

I am very happy with the skirt, it cost me all of 1€  in material plus the dye (and several hours worth of work).

linking with:
Refashion First Friday
Recycled Fashion
Visible Monday
Mix-It
Me-Made-Mittwoch

14. mayday, mayday

On May 1st Europe shuts down. It's our Labor Day, day for marching along for better work conditions (if so inclined) or for having a picnic, barbeque or a long walk in the woods (if so inclined).

I am invited to a barbeque, which is not going to be in a park nor in a garden, instead in the stony court yard of a city apartment. Weather is coolish, so I may wear this outfit.  There is a draped jersey tank  under the leather jacket and a jersey skirt (patterned as not to show spills...).
If you are looking for Recycled Fashion, please scroll down.

jacket: me-made (2013)
skirt: me-made (2013)
top: H&M (2006)
shoes: Gabor (2009)
necklace and pin (2013)

I played around with jewelry and hung a yellow flower bouquet brooch pin onto the necklace that is fashioned from two bracelets a while ago (see post#7). I thought the pin adds the outfit a nice spring flair.  Though maybe a tad much for a barbeque?

jersey fabric with a houndstooth netting for lining

Skirt is a recent make. I showed one last week that I had made out of one yard of jersey - this is the very same cut. Another impulse buy fabric which I spontaneously liked but originally thought hard to combine. But it turns out I have things to combine. I like summer darks like aubergine and bittersweet,  both go well with this.

Now for the Refashion part:
I have been coveting a draped suede cardigan jacket. This Draped Paper Weight Suede Jacket made my heart go pitty-pat - it would have been a dream. But as always, dreams come with a hefty price tag...
When life threw a vintage 1980's suede costume my direction I grabbed it with both hands. 2€ for the set, I could not believe my ears.

 

It was of course very dated plus several sizes too small.

For my draped jacket, I took a Burda pattern (from magazine 11/2012 #132). I modified the fronts to be more square and extended them a good 8"/ 20cm to give them enough drape.
I cut the back from the existing back, sleeves from sleeves and the fronts from the skirt.
I used the old lining, too. I took no photos of the process, so I leave you with the finished photo for comparison of before - after.

Now I am left with a heap of odd leather bits which I am going to use to make something for my Medieval wardrobe. By the by,  I have added a link to my Medieval blog for those who might be interested. Be warned, there is no juicy clothing to be seen just yet (as I lost all the photos from last year), just a few random thoughts on research.

Had there been enough leftover scraps, this is what I would have loved to make! Leather ...um... stockings? What do you think?

linking with:
me-made-Mittwoch
Mix-it
Recycled Fashion Finds
we are beautiful
Refashion Co-op First Friday

9. Stella skirt

I like to go my individual path when it comes to clothing. A label gives me no satisfaction, I wear clothing that suits me and my life style. But every once in a while a fashion photo catches my eye and I start dreaming. These days the dreamy piece will more often than not be by Stella McCartney (or Anne Klein, or DKNY. Anne Klein tends to be conservative, but they have some very cool printed skirts this season.)

Rather than buy, I use those photos for inspiration, making my own versions.
This Stella McCartney skirt that has haunted me for a year. I like the sedate patchwork effect using same fabric in different colors, and the rounded side panels. But I can't wear mini (chubby knees!), and anything quite so flouncy so close to my be-hind.

Several things had to fall in place to make this skirt possible:
- a thrifted skirt in olive fishbone tweed last fall
- two scraps of fishbone tweed found in the pound section of a fabric store last month
- the Spring break (time to sew!)

The fabrics are lovely, but they were just scraps. Not enough for a skirt, not on their own, they begged to be combined.

I drafted a pattern that would use my fabrics to the full advantage.

I took the new fabrics for the body, then cut the hem from the thrifted skirt. That was much wider than my skirt, so I was able to pleat it in the back.
I also used the lining and the zipper of the thrifted skirt.

Total cost: 1€ skirt, 2€ fabrics, 2.50€ thread, 2 hrs drafting&cutting, 3 hrs sewing.

It's slowly getting warmer and the snow has been melting away, but winter clothing is still necessary. I am wearing this skirt now, it's just right for our "spring" weather.

 

skirt: self-made 2013
shirt: GAP, New York 2009
scarf: thrifted, Wien 2013
earrings: gift 2013
leather ring: Wien 2013
shoes: Deichmann, Wien 2013

linking: me-made-Mittwoch
we-did-it-Wednesday

7. Friday colors

I have been called the Queen of Grey. I really truly love grey, almost any shade of it. It's so versatile, it's so elegant, it's so, uh,  - mousy?  It didn't go well with my grey hair which is why I resorted to coloring back to my own brown shade rather than re-thinking my wardrobe choices.
(If you are looking for Refashion how-to, scroll further down.)

The blue of this shirt was my color addiction from my teens to mid-thirties. My grandma was a painter and this was one of the shades she used frequently. Hence I coined the name Grandma Blue, and it stuck in our family. I'm so glad the color is available again. I think I'm ready for another round.

I have been quoted to say I could eat that color with a spoon, I loved it so. It's also a perfect color for an introvert. As I grew out of being painfully shy I started adding other colors, like reds and purples. I don't like to wear black but I see the usefulness of it, like for shoes, tights, pants and skirts.

So in a way today's wardrobe choices are a walk through my personal color history. What about you? Do you have a color history?

The snow has started melting, but this new cord skirt (newly re-fashioned that is) is going to be very useful for the week(s) ahead.

skirt: me-made 2013
shirt: C&A Wien 2013
cardigan: Vienna International Christmas Bazaar, Mongolian Stand, 2012
shoes: Deichmann Wien 2013
red leather necklace: Blickfang Designer Show, Wien 2012
leather "necklace": NDH. It's two such bracelets hung together:

(click to enlarge)





Here comes the refashion part:

My heart skipped a beat when I found these vaguely 70's style cord pants, in grey and black stripe. (The shirt I didn't need as it turned out)
I cut the length using my skirt sloper.

Front and back seams were cut straight and sewed together.

I am far bigger than the pants (see my regular skirt waist above), which means new side panels hat to be cut.

I cut them from the left-over pant legs.

Here is a detail of the inserted panel.

Lining came from another skirt on the to-be-refashioned pile. It was shortened, hemmed and attached.
The bottom was hemmed with a black bias tape.




I sewed a piece of elastic on both sides towards the bottom to make this more of a balloon shape. It didn't work the way I envisioned, I got those funny dutch cap points instead (see first photo). Never mind, it's quirky and I like quirky.

Pants 1€, sewing thread 2.5€, lining for free. Time: a day, on and off.


linking up with: Refashion Co-op's First Friday

4. Is it Spring yet? No? Then let's do some reverse applique...

Mad snowfalls, freezing nights and grey dismal days - no, this is not my idea of spring. Three weeks ago it was warm enough to go in a spring coat, now I have had to resort to winter woolies. Not that I hate woolies, but a change would be nice.

In anticipations of days to come I did a "small" refashion.
I had to use the quotation marks. Because isn't this what all the refashion tutorials tell you, "it only took half an hour", "it was nothing", and the like?

Well, I won't lie. This took me two days, and only because I have spring break and can sew for hours on end.







A friend of mine cleaned up her closet and I was fortunate to get some nice t-shirts. One of them had holes and it was also too short, the second was way too big.

To make a shirt that would fit just right I overlapped the two and sewed the layers together. I used machine for this step, as the purely hand stitched layers I had done in the past disintegrated too fast.

Here you see my sketchy marking lines.

I am preparing here for the reverse applique, a process where part of the top layer is cut off to reveal the color underneath.

After stitching I cut holes (as per design). At this point I was getting lazy and contemplated leaving the  design as is.


Machine sewing had taken several hours, cutting likewise, and I wasn't looking forward to hand stitching.

I am glad I did, though. It looks so much more finished now. The stitching "only" took like four re-runs of Project Runway.
 
I first did my layered embroidery tee-shirts in 2001/2002 when we were living in Brooklyn. It must have been in the water, because Project Alabama was starting their similarly reversed embroidery clothing around that time. Then the founder eventually sold off, went another route and became this lovely supplier of make-it-yourself layered embroidery items.

I don't have all the fancy utensils that are required by Alabama Chanin way of design.
There are lovely projects out there, I found this blogger's work very refreshing. She also works with refashioned t-shirts.
And here is a great entry by another blogger.

Doing a happy dance here which made the photo slightly out of focus. Note how the design curves towards the center, I like that very much.













Back is just plain.

and here is the inside view (when everything was finished)

 Would I do this again? Two free t-shirts into a fabulous conversation piece?? Heck yes! It was not a quickie, but the result is so worth it.