tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133200481465147532012-02-11T08:47:16.232+11:00Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.comBlogger851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-23490426504111865802012-01-03T15:40:00.000+11:002012-01-03T15:40:26.369+11:00

I've been known to declaim loudly that quilting was Not My Thing: I don't have the patience nor the accuracy needed for cutting all that fabric and sewing all those seams. But quilting fabric is so lovely. And then I came across this, via a person I follow on Twitter: Doesn't that look like fun? And it is fun! I bought a couple of jelly rolls and got to work with the first roll. Hmmm, my quilt

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-89582809512676995332012-01-03T13:10:00.000+11:002012-01-03T13:10:52.908+11:00

My brother is what you might call a bit of an Elvis fan. And not ironically so. He sent me a link to an eBay item that he wanted for Christmas: an adult-sized, all-in-one sleepsuit, in the fashion of Elvis Presley's famous white jumpsuit. Naturally, I thought I could go one better. Behold: It's crushed velvet, with red inserts and red-lined cape. The cape is removable and held in place with

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-9124605298615560682011-12-03T13:58:00.000+11:002011-12-03T13:58:03.693+11:00

You'll have noticed posting is a bit light on these days. Fret not, I am still crafting, but since I am working towards my handmade Christmas project, I can't post anything here. Yet. Well, perhaps a sneak peek... A corner from one project. To post anything more would be to give too much of the game away, but let me tell you, there's much more going on behind the scenes than some crocheted

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-15765333251903779452011-11-11T08:35:00.000+11:002011-11-11T08:35:24.181+11:00

I think I've mentioned - once or twice - the great UK road trip holiday I took my mum on last year. We ate a lot of terrible food while on the trip but one meal we really enjoyed was at The Luxe in London, which we stumbled upon while hunting for treasure at Spitalfields Markets. Since I can be relied on to always order a burger if it's on the menu, that's what I had - one of the best burgers

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-64370776916867326852011-11-01T08:09:00.000+11:002011-11-01T08:09:41.899+11:00

I made it! Thirty-two different dresses in thirty-one days. Thank you, everyone who supported my Frocktober effort by donating in support of ovarian cancer research. If you were here now, I'd give each of you a very big kiss. As it is, I'll just say, 'MWAH!' Tyler Durden Pam Sarah Jim & Janet Nicola Anna Liz Charlotte Anonymous A Stephanie Melanie Anonymous B Nansi Emma Anonymous C Sophie Alyssa

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-6010134137408858332011-10-31T19:32:00.000+11:002011-10-31T19:32:07.014+11:00

Make your own animation Here we are, the final round up of dresses worn for Frocktober. Six handmade dresses this week - six! *pats self on back* It's back to pants wearing tomorrow. For the first time in my life, I'm excited about wearing pants. Check back here tomorrow for the final amount I've raised for ovarian cancer research, if you like. I raised more than I ever thought I could, and

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-62143934763946851872011-10-31T08:13:00.000+11:002011-10-31T08:13:31.851+11:00

So here we are! Final day of Frocktober! *does the Dance of Completion* I bought this cocktail dress a few years ago from City Chic, during one of their summer sales. It was a couple of sizes too big, but it was very cheap. I knew I could alter it to fit me, and I loved the colours, so it became mine. (Ugh. I can hear my noisy neighbours fighting. Dudes, it's 7am, can you turn it down a bit?)

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-50204305612629130862011-10-30T09:23:00.000+11:002011-10-30T09:23:19.118+11:00

Second-last dress for Frocktober, and it's one I finished sewing in the nick of time! It's Simplicity 2247, view C, made in a very light cotton from - you guessed it - Spotlight. I swear, I should have shares in that place. This is the first time I've made this pattern and I didn't mind sacrificing the fabric for a wearable toile (test run, or what our USian sewing friends call a 'muslin'). I

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-33902178718452400062011-10-29T09:36:00.001+11:002011-10-29T15:26:13.894+11:00

This dress is Butterick 5181, a version I made back in...April, I think, using some pretty cotton from Spotlight. This is the same pattern that spawned The Enfrumpinator in August and looking at this photo, I realise my suspicion that it was the fussy cherry print that caused the enfrumpening was spot on. Big, blowsy roses are far better suited to the froufrou aspects of this dress. And yes,

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-42822402801732909842011-10-28T08:27:00.000+11:002011-10-28T08:27:08.544+11:00

I know I said the dress in Day Twenty-Six's post was the last version of Simplicity 2404 you'd see but I'd forgotten about this dress! It's the sleeveless, slashed neckline version I made in June and documented in the four-part In Bloom posts. I did make one huge mistake with this dress, which I didn't discover until I'd worn and washed the dress for the first time: I neglected to pre-wash the

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-71253099056560148282011-10-27T08:41:00.000+11:002011-10-27T08:41:21.445+11:00

Rowr Another dress made for the great UK road trip last year. It's the versatile McCall's 6032 (previously seen in Day Seven's post and Day Eight's post) made up in a slinky leopard print fabric from Pitt Trading. Only four days to go! Please donate to support ovarian cancer research by clicking on the button on the right.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-15358787204279285922011-10-26T08:20:00.000+11:002011-10-26T08:20:06.851+11:00

I am SO OVER posing for photos. Every shot is awkward and just slightly wrong. This dress is the latest (and probably last for a while) version of Simplicity 2404, as seen in Day Thirteen's Bonus Dress post, Day Fifteen's post and the Birthday Cocktail dress and In Bloom dress posts. And I made it for Frocktober! The fabric is Aqua Drops from Tessuti Fabrics and continues my mini trend of

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-64081619525297640292011-10-25T08:10:00.000+11:002011-10-25T08:10:47.814+11:00

A certain fashion journalist's tweet about Frocktober was retweeted into my timeline this morning.* I used to follow the journo myself, but found her so patronising and condescending that I had to unfollow. Anyway, I clicked through to the journo's blog and read her post about Frocktober.** Like me, she works from home and like me, she has slowly found herself becoming more and more relaxed

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-24725587669578635152011-10-24T08:15:00.000+11:002011-10-24T08:15:31.756+11:00

Here we go, folks: the beginning of the end; the last week of Frocktober. Last night I lay awake planning outfits for the next eight days, double- and triple-checking that I have enough dresses to not have to repeat an outfit and panicking when I could only come up with seven. Over and over I counted on my fingers and still came up one short - I just couldn't remember if I had an eighth dress

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-84278730070154285512011-10-23T09:50:00.000+11:002011-10-23T09:50:13.702+11:00

Here's another Kwik Sew 3415, just like in Day Ten's post, and I made this version at the end of 2008. The fabric's from The Remnant Warehouse and is a great crisp cotton.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-46837737207116315192011-10-22T19:32:00.000+11:002011-10-22T19:32:54.358+11:00

Make your own animationI don't think I will ever get tired of these silly GIFs. Second last week of Frocktober, and I'm starting to struggle with deciding which dress to wear each day. I'm also starting to think about which dress to wear on Frocktober 31st - I feel like it should be something a bit special.* This week I smashed my revised target of $750, so thanks for your donations: Sophie

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-13960915108404226902011-10-22T10:01:00.001+11:002011-10-22T16:37:36.905+11:00

This is a lovely silk dress I bought a couple of summers ago. I don't wear it often because it's hand wash only and I'm lazy. And though it looks absolutely fine in this photo, I feel like a sack of potatoes in it. Ah well.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-51368734773777360672011-10-21T08:35:00.002+11:002011-10-21T18:42:38.130+11:00

I loved this dress when I bought it. Loved it. And then it sat in my wardrobe all winter and I when put it on again this morning, I thought, 'Meh'. But still, I pulled on a pair of fishnets, fixed my hair, slicked on the lippy then stepped into my favourite heels for the photo session. And the photos are OK, so maybe the dress deserves another chance.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-14672216146772769572011-10-20T16:44:00.000+11:002011-10-20T16:44:39.738+11:00

This is what I discovered upon standing up from my desk after a day's work - the pattern from today's flamingo dress had embossed itself onto my seat!

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-46429097831475455322011-10-20T08:31:00.000+11:002011-10-20T08:31:19.090+11:00

FLAMINGOS. And palm trees. This dress is a nightmare. I bought it online from Evans and the fit is dire. The bustline and shoulders are only staying put in the photo above thanks to the power of pins. The fabric is a soft, flowing polyester something, that creases and crushes like the dickens and is horrible to iron. The dress is unlined and it doesn't even have a proper hem - the bottom edge

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-86190218158828374772011-10-19T08:26:00.000+11:002011-10-19T08:26:01.243+11:00

The last maxidress of Frocktober. It's a simple, cotton, Empire line that I bought from Best & Less - can you believe it? Maybe you can. Anyway, it was extremely affordable, so affordable I couldn't have made it myself for less. The only drawback is I can't take my usual long strides in this dress - I keep tripping myself up.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-67550929198915349052011-10-18T08:37:00.000+11:002011-10-18T08:37:35.046+11:00

This is another dress from the great UK Road Trip, bought from M&Co during the freakish heatwave. This is also my wardrobe malfunction dress - it has one strap that just won't stay sewn to the dress. I have to reattach the strap every time I wear the dress, and carry a safety pin just in case. You can't see them very well in this photo, but the badges keeping my shrug in place are editorially

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-16543075741733085682011-10-17T08:13:00.000+11:002011-10-17T08:13:30.367+11:00

Over the weekend I began a rewatch of The X-Files from the very first season. Being reacquainted with the fashions of the early 90s has made me very happy to be attempting 31 dresses in 31 days in 2011. For those of you who don't remember, dresses in the 90s were either long, shapeless floral numbers or flimsy little slips - underwear as outerwear, if you will. Unsurprisingly, I spent most of

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-82541504070318446692011-10-16T09:42:00.000+11:002011-10-16T09:42:39.747+11:00

This photo makes me look so tall, which I am not. Another maxidress. This is a halterneck dress I bought from JeansWest (I know) in a moment of madness many, many years ago. I'm wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath for a bit more coverage as I have no desire to wear a strapless bra and spend all day hitching the whole thing up after gravity takes its inevitable toll.* The skirt is actually

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-1054670969066212042011-10-15T09:50:00.000+11:002011-10-15T09:50:01.214+11:00

You might remember I posted a couple of photos of the dresses I own in preparation for Frocktober. I've been keeping track of the dresses I've worn in a very high-tech way - scribbling over the worn dresses in those photos in yellow. Better than a spreadsheet! These photos tell me I've used up all my winter dresses, so either Sydney better start to warm up, or I better get very good at

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-73608687490999756592011-10-15T09:40:00.000+11:002011-10-15T09:40:51.229+11:00

Make your own animation Another week, another range of dresses, another funny gif.* And another group of wonderful people who have donated to support ovarian cancer research: Stephanie Melanie Anonymous Nansi Emma Anonymous Thanks to your donations I reached my initial target of $500 and so I've raised my target to $750. Won't you help me reach it? Image from cheezburger.com *Well, it makes

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-86740672097937466392011-10-15T09:24:00.000+11:002011-10-15T09:24:34.988+11:00

So even with my eyes closed, this was still the best of today's photos by far. Meet Daisy, who is having her daily bout of craziness.* This dress is the first version I made of Simpilicity 2404, the same pattern I used for the Blue Roses dress that featured as Day Thirteen's Bonus Dress. It's an aggressively red dress, and when I wear it I feel like I'm supposed to be working for a certain

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-43438654908032810352011-10-14T09:01:00.001+11:002011-10-14T19:25:09.188+11:00

Yep, it's another dress made for the great UK road trip. This dress is McCall's 5974, same as the Bubbles dress of Day Two made in fabric from Pitt Trading.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-58798120300124524232011-10-13T21:09:00.000+11:002011-10-13T21:09:44.731+11:00

I headed out to a meet the author event with Charlotte Wood at the Allen and Unwin offices this evening, and thought it a good opportunity to wear a lovely frock. So here's my bonus frock for Day Thirteen - the Blue Roses dress. I love this dress. I made it in April or May this year, view A of Simplicity 2404, the same pattern I used for the In Bloom dress, and my birthday cocktail dress. So

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-68962027805974962042011-10-13T08:24:00.000+11:002011-10-13T08:24:35.594+11:00

A simple black and grey babydoll dress today, with shirring across the bust. Bought on sale from Autograph and a touch too short for comfort, especially since the lining is five centimetres shorter than the fashion fabric. And today, like most days, I take a bazillion photos, yet the first photo is the only one suitable to publish. In more exciting news, I am only $54 from my fundraising goal

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-51654450945658910662011-10-12T08:20:00.000+11:002011-10-12T08:20:55.103+11:00

I realised this morning that without last year's great UK road trip, I might not have been able to take part in Frocktober this year. A lot of the dresses I've worn so far were made for the trip and the dress above was bought on the trip, when the weather turned unseasonably warm - temperatures above thirty degrees celsius! The second day of the road trip saw us in Maldon - the town of salt

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-66565186158842217442011-10-11T08:52:00.000+11:002011-10-11T08:52:43.334+11:00

This cute frock is one of the first I made (that was wearable) when I got back into sewing way back in 2008. It's view A of Simplicity 5074, which is out of print now. The floral cotton is from The Remnant Warehouse, where I also bought some black eyelet cotton for another version of this dress. I only made the two versions and now I have this dress on again I'm wondering why. I suspect I was

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-59051529352665756352011-10-10T07:31:00.001+11:002011-10-11T07:04:00.461+11:00

I call this the Pina Colada dress even though there aren't any pineapples on it. I made it three years ago from Kwik Sew 3415 in a seersucker I bought from Spotlight. The fabric was a surprise purchase, quite unlike the fabrics I usually buy, and I still have trouble believing how much I wear this dress in summer. Since it's still coldish in Sydney, this fetching black cardie is essential.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-38819818741436809532011-10-09T09:42:00.001+11:002011-10-11T07:02:18.669+11:00

Oops! That post below, that's Frocktober Day Eight, a frock made for my UK road trip last year. The above dress is another very comfortable georgette maxidress.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-75687495037102097232011-10-09T09:36:00.002+11:002011-10-11T07:00:59.431+11:00

This is one of my favourite dresses, going by how often I wear it. I made it for the great UK road trip I took last year - it's McCall's 6032, made up in a knit fabric from Spotlight. The main thing I love about this dress is the colour - every one of my favourite colours is here and I never get tired of looking at the pattern.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-4196462723866704532011-10-07T16:55:00.000+11:002011-10-07T16:55:48.410+11:00

Well, here we are on Friday, 7th Frocktober, at the end of the first week of dresses. There have been highs and there have been lows, as you can see:* Make your own animation Thank you to everyone who has already donated: Tyler Durden Pam Sarah Jim & Janet Nicola Anna Liz Charlotte and Anonymous Please donate, if you're of a mind to, by clicking the button on the right-hand side of my blog.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-90860573884388527672011-10-07T09:37:00.000+11:002011-10-07T09:37:15.519+11:00

If you've been reading my blog since before my Frocktober odyssey you might remember this dress from my blogathon back in June: it's the Winter's Delight dress. Sydney's weather is still decidedly wintery, and I hope it warms up soon, otherwise you are going to see some very odd outfits indeed, as I try to adapt summer cotton dresses to cold, wet condition. Such fun!

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-24955817030942905512011-10-06T09:55:00.000+11:002011-10-06T09:55:38.193+11:00

Ugh. Only day six and already I'm tired of posing and posing and posing and trying to get decent photos of myself. Not tired of the dresses yet, luckily. Not much to say about this outfit - pinafore bought a couple of years ago from Myer, long-sleeved T-shirt and look! A brooch! This photo is also a good example of why I should always wear a petticoat when I wear tights.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-28277653761045755312011-10-05T08:55:00.000+11:002011-10-05T08:55:56.340+11:00

Oh. Only now do I see that the neckline is sitting badly. Bit of a plain dress today. Black, grey and white floral fabric bought from Pitt Trading at the start of 2010 and made up in McCall's 5974, so it's a sister to Day Two's Bubbles Dress. And this was one of the dresses made for last year's UK road trip. Knit fabric: a godsend to travel wear. Doesn't wrinkle, washes like a dream and

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-34550276776024285442011-10-04T19:47:00.000+11:002011-10-04T19:47:36.732+11:00

About a month ago I bought three metres of pink-spotted chiffon and I have to admit, I bought it without quite knowing what to do with it. My first thought was a full-skirted dress, but I doubted I was brave enough to wear such an aggressively girly dress. I thought maybe a skirt - Butterick 4859 looked good: Image from butterick.mccall.comand I thought I'd probably get some wear out of a

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-264438824893877682011-10-04T09:22:00.000+11:002011-10-04T09:22:12.911+11:00

Ah. I fiddled with the settings on my camera today. Better fiddle them back to what they were. This dress is Simplicity 2947 and I made it, oooh, in December 2009, I think. I know I was wearing it in January 2010 at a Sydney Festival event when a bloke tried to chat me up by showing me his iPhone.* Needless to say, I wasn't that impressed. Anyway, this dress was a trial run of the pattern,

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-37497738316852949332011-10-03T10:12:00.001+11:002011-10-03T10:12:00.368+11:00

Here is the shortest dress I own. Thankfully, it's still quite chilly in Old Sydney Town so black opaque tights to the rescue. This dress is so far out of my style comfort zone I'm not sure why I bought it. That it was purchased online from Evans goes a little way towards explaining how I ended up with something I'm unlikely to wear, and I think I was seduced by the crushed velvet fabric. In

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-49396825271141679612011-10-02T12:12:00.000+11:002011-10-02T12:12:00.093+11:00

So here's dress two, what I like to call the bubbles dress. The pattern is thousands of tiny dots in cream, grey, purple and teal, which you can't see very well in the above photo. I made this dress - along with six others, most of which will appear in Frocktober posts in coming weeks - for last year's big UK holiday. It's McCall's 5974, without the great big sash, made up in a knit fabric from

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-59522273662552446752011-10-01T11:29:00.001+10:002011-10-01T11:29:00.730+10:00

Here we are, my friends, the first dress of many for Frocktober: georgette maxidress with a ruffled neckline. And, by necessity, this is the first awkward self-portrait, of many to come. How much fun is posing? Not much, to be honest. You should see some of the outtakes. Ghastly. Anyway, I'm challenging myself to wear a different dress every day in October in the name of ovarian cancer

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-61773609565463670982011-09-23T09:15:00.001+10:002011-09-23T09:28:47.948+10:00

A few years ago I bought a small, cheap, bright pink bookshelf. It's been a kitchen shelf, a bathroom shelf and now, finally, a bookshelf again. I lugged it around each time I moved and it acquired some stains and scuffs and was looking a little tired and shabby, so I decided to cheer it (and me) up with a makeover. Cue trip to Bunnings - wheeeee! I perused the cage of spray paints. What

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-84361166572066670932011-09-18T09:22:00.001+10:002011-09-18T09:23:24.204+10:00

I knew I had a lot of dresses -that's part of the reason why wearing a dress every day in October seemed such a good idea - but, gosh, I didn't realise I had so many dresses. There are 29 dresses in the photos above - I've just realised the red roses dress is missing since it's in the ironing pile, so the total is 30 - and I've made half of them. Go me! I'm planning to sew two more dresses,

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-56812030609962800962011-09-13T10:20:00.000+10:002011-09-13T10:20:46.033+10:00

Do you like Danish pastries? I like Danish pastries: fluffy, crisp pastry; velvety creme patissiere; tangy fruit. I've long wanted to try making my own but was put off by the pastry. Even though I'd read Nigella's recipe for processor Danish pastry a few times and taken note of her assurance that it was easy, I still wasn't convinced. Then last weekend I woke up knowing I had to spend the

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-47805797454254486602011-09-11T11:44:00.001+10:002011-09-11T11:55:43.874+10:00

This week I attended the National Editors' Conference, held at the Cockle Bay Conference Centre and hosted by the NSW Society of Editors. For such an exciting occasion I thought a special something  was needed. Enter my screenprinting kit and a lovely plain black satchel. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed the hashtag #rockstarfreelancelifestyle. It's become a bit of an injoke

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-16969467762621798182011-08-28T20:27:00.000+10:002011-08-28T20:27:18.834+10:00

My friends, I do not know what went wrong. The cherry fabric and Butterick 5181 seemed an ideal match. I followed the pattern instructions to the letter. I've even made this pattern before, successfully. But this dress, she is a failure. She is not nice to wear. She is The Enfrumpinator. It all began so well. I marked all the circles, dots and darts. I pinned carefully. I tried the garment on as

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-19853413195103559232011-08-28T09:45:00.001+10:002011-08-28T09:45:00.456+10:00

This, my friends, is 250g of formerly white 4ply wool cooling in the dye pot. It started out like this: But add a big pot of water, a good glug of white vinegar and a 50ml bottle of blue food colouring and cook the whole shebang up on the stove, et voila! Bright. Blue. Wool. When it's dry I'll wind it into a big ball and use it to knit these TARDISocks.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-50783255613774642062011-08-01T18:07:00.000+10:002011-08-01T18:07:17.530+10:00

I bought a couple of tamarillos on a whim this week. I usually eat them sliced up and served with vanilla ice cream but then I wondered what would happen if I tried baking with them. Stuck for how to bake with tamarillos, I turned to Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery. Fulton gives a recipe for a tamarillo sauce which inspired me to try for a tamarillo jam. Not that I've ever

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-26479689073293087832011-07-31T14:23:00.001+10:002011-07-31T14:24:01.042+10:00

I have a wardrobe full of fantastic skirts going unworn for want of suitable tops to wear with them so I'm taking a break from sewing dresses to make some tops for the approaching warmer months. Since I only have one blouse pattern, which I have sewn to death and isn't quite the look I'm going for this summer, the first task was to search for a pattern that would be versatile and (hopefully) easy

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-33168652959163977902011-07-24T09:55:00.000+10:002011-07-24T09:55:54.612+10:00

This week I achieved something of a feat - I finished TWO WHOLE BOOKS. (I know, I know; there are those among you who regularly read two or more books a week. Let's move on from why this might be a feat for me and to the books themselves, shall we?) I was very lucky indeed to be given an advance reading copy of The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides, to be published in October by Fourth

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-87350488582613656692011-07-15T11:21:00.000+10:002011-07-15T11:21:57.475+10:00

I was recently commissioned by a friend to knit a pair of socks as a birthday present for her partner (Hi Kate! *waves*). They were such a hit I've now been asked to knit another pair for her mother-in-law, in purple and green. Of course, I had no purple and green 4-ply wool in my stash so off to Spotlight I popped. (As if I needed an excuse to go to Spotlight. I'd live there if they'd let me.)

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-56463312793324845392011-07-08T19:23:00.001+10:002011-07-08T19:24:12.233+10:00

Well, take away the pressure of posting something every day and I sure become slack, don't I? In lieu of actual content, I'm just going to let you all in on what I've been doing with my week. (Other than working. There has been work done.) READING: (Image links to the Guardian review) How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. I might be roughly the same age as Caitlin Moran, but I still want to be

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-79546943311701491492011-07-01T10:21:00.000+10:002011-07-01T10:21:21.846+10:00

...oh, wait, that would never happen - editors can't afford those exorbitant bar prices! My mistake. I hadn't intended to write an actual content-filled post to draw my thirty day blogathon to a close, but since I had something to get off my chest, here we are. There's lots of talk floating about these days regarding the prices of books and ebooks and the responsibilities of publishers to set

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-27837476398804814302011-06-29T15:06:00.001+10:002011-06-29T15:07:53.616+10:00

I'm a bit sewed out at the moment, but that isn't stopping me from planning future projects. I took some time to reorganise my fabric stash yesterday, and pulled out the fabrics I want to sew with next. I do not care that they are summer weight fabrics - I bought them last summer, and didn't get time to sew them up - if I sew them now(ish) they'll be ready for when the heat returns. This black

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-88324115759091050642011-06-28T16:46:00.000+10:002011-06-28T16:46:23.794+10:00

...is generally my first thought upon spotting a brooch I want to add to my collection. Then I wonder whether I can afford it, decide I can't, and buy it anyway. Brooches (and necklaces) are my accessories of choice. I don't wear earrings because my ears aren't pierced, and too often clip earrings pinch, and rings and bracelets get in the way when I'm working. Besides, as noted on Twitter

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-4664185658243751742011-06-27T17:40:00.000+10:002011-06-27T17:40:26.889+10:00

If you follow me on Twitter (and why not - I mean, look at the quality of the feed over there -->) you might know that I'm a bit of a baker. I bake all sorts of delicious items, but cupcakes are my thing - and never from a cake mix. However, knowing I bake, a former colleague gave me a box of vanilla cupcake mix from Donna Hay's new range to try out and yesterday I got around to giving them a

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-86043575113666559992011-06-26T11:30:00.001+10:002011-06-26T11:30:51.437+10:00

All that remains is to print my little robot on to the singlets! Screen printing is a messy business - particularly when you're using black ink - so cover your work surface in newspaper. Lots of it. Right. Grab some scrap paper and do a few test prints of your image. Then get your garment and put a piece of cardboard inside it so the ink won't seep through to the back fabric if you're too

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-74184877893242941252011-06-25T17:52:00.001+10:002011-06-25T17:53:42.666+10:00

You know when I start a post with a YouTube clip, I'm struggling for content! This wasn't meant to be a two parter, but circumstances conspired against me. I gave my nephew - and various other kids of my acquaintance - T-shirts printed with robots for Christmas. My sister-in-law took a fancy to them and apparently wouldn't mind one for herself. Since I find myself between sewing projects (

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-26851236108864123872011-06-24T18:08:00.000+10:002011-06-24T18:08:36.183+10:00

Well, here we are. The In Bloom dress is finished. I had thought of hand-finishing the armholes, but realised I couldn't be bothered faffing around pressing under seam allowances then hand stitching them together, so I cut out the pattern's armhole facings. Now, I usually hate facings with a fiery passion (and I may yet live to regret not hand-finishing the armholes), but I decided to compromise

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-82812856265294930972011-06-23T20:47:00.000+10:002011-06-23T20:47:35.174+10:00

I only had time to insert the zip today, so this post is a short one. Here's the zipper pinned in place. It's a bit hard to explain how to insert a zipper, but basically, you open the zipper and pin it, right sides together, to the fabric. This arrangement actually looks quite wrong - the zipper's teeth face away from each other at this stage - but when you close the zip, it turns the raw edges

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-21508643501636583372011-06-22T17:34:00.000+10:002011-06-22T17:34:40.445+10:00

I'm having trouble with words today, so this post will be filled with photos instead. It's time to work on the skirt. First, stitching the darts in the pattern fabric, front: and back: I did the same for the lining fabric, then stitched the centre back seam in both fabrics: Next was attaching front and back bodices to their respective skirts. Here's the lining pinned and ready to be

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-84842004351514310442011-06-21T18:59:00.000+10:002011-06-21T18:59:19.991+10:00

I have cut into the gorgeous rose-printed fabric from this post to make View B of Simplicity 2404 - the slashed neckline, sleeveless variation. I had wanted to call the dress 'Where the Wild Roses Grow', but then thought it'd be a shame to name a dress after that abomination of a song, so it's called 'In Bloom' instead. As always, the first thing to do is make up the bodice. This version has a

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-36858332884743353462011-06-20T08:49:00.020+10:002011-06-20T09:01:43.480+10:00

Growing up, I was lucky to have a mum who could sew. I have wonderful memories of the fancy dress costumes she made me as Christmas presents or for Book Week. She made me Easter bonnets (I won a basket of eggs in my first Easter parade thanks to her skills with crepe paper!) and outfits for special occasions. I don't remember the theme of my first Book Week, in kindergarten - the photos I have

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-57160583325122506002011-06-19T09:33:00.000+10:002011-06-19T09:33:11.212+10:00

Today is my thirty-fifth birthday. I'm off gallivanting somewhere, and hopefully, hopefully this post will appear when I've scheduled it to. While I was going through a family photo album a few days ago, I came across some photos of birthday celebrations past and thought it'd be a hoot to share some of them with you. This is my sixth birthday. Check out my cheesy grin and that fantastic gap

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-48802366803509979042011-06-18T07:32:00.001+10:002011-06-18T07:34:30.742+10:00

I took an hour yesterday afternoon to finish off the Winter's Delight dress, inserting the sleeves and hemming the skirt. I ran a line of gathering stitches along the top of the sleeve so I can ease it into the armscye, then sewed the seam. This is the sleeve, seam and hem sewn, ready to be attached to the dress. Then it was a matter of putting the sleeve inside the body of the dress, right

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-31528319599756063472011-06-17T17:46:00.001+10:002011-06-17T17:46:00.582+10:00

A slight interruption in the Winter's Delight blogging, but the final instalment will appear tomorrow. In the meantime, meet my new love: What, did you think it was going to be a person? Silly! I saw this beauty in Spotlight. Eyes accross a fabric-crowded room. Music played in my head. (This.) I had to have it. And so it came to pass that I purchased three metres and began to plan what to do

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-11486660981799419662011-06-16T18:46:00.000+10:002011-06-16T18:46:19.630+10:00

Onwards with this project, my friends! Today: assembling and attaching the bodice lining. Both the front and back bodice linings have darts for shaping, so those were the first things to sew. It occurred to me while sewing that if I make this pattern again, I could fold out the darts from the paper pattern and save myself even more sewing. Something to think about. Here are the front lining

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-80874735656791434022011-06-15T15:59:00.000+10:002011-06-15T15:59:35.560+10:00

I dunno - should 'Winter's Delight' be the name of this dress? Its colours are more autumnal than anything, but the fabric is a delightful winter weight, and I am making it in winter... Anyway, on to more interesting things - the construction. And I remembered to take photos this time - prepare to be bored! (Apologies in advance for the poor quality, overexposed photos. No natural light and dark

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-32673684373924418942011-06-14T18:21:00.001+10:002011-06-14T21:26:26.832+10:00

I come from a long line of crafters. Well, I say 'long line' - I mean my mum sews, knits and crochets, her mother sewed, knitted and crocheted, and I'm fairly sure her mother sewed, knitted and crocheted, at the very least. And that's just the maternal line. My father's mother and aunts were all accomplished at various arts, though I really only remember them crocheting. One of my

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-66324283187547561322011-06-13T16:50:00.000+10:002011-06-13T16:50:04.003+10:00

I was going to write a post about feminism and craft today, but I kept getting caught in all sorts of tangents and intersections, and gettting really angry, so I'm going to leave that for another day's post. Instead, behold - part two of making my birthday cocktail dress! It turns out I'm not great at remembering to take photos as I work - my mind kinda goes 'Work! Work hard! Finish! Finish!

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-20138708893994072882011-06-12T12:37:00.000+10:002011-06-12T12:37:31.650+10:00

Well, my birthday cocktail dress is all done, bar some hemming and handsewing bits and pieces. Since it's raining here in Sydney and the light is terrible, I've no photos yet, but promise to post some when I can. In the meantime, enjoy this, another of my fave That Mitchell and Webb Look clips: 'The swaaaaan'.

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-71588596260762719622011-06-11T13:11:00.000+10:002011-06-11T13:11:55.445+10:00

A friend once called my taste in music 'catholic'. I took it as a compliment - it was certainly meant as one. And 'catholic' is a better word than 'eclectic', which is a word that musicians should be banned from using in interviews: 'Yah, our influences are so, like, eclectic, ya know?' Anyway, the music in my collection is diverse and, like anyone else's, it's a catalogue of my life. There are

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-79632456751103867412011-06-10T18:11:00.000+10:002011-06-10T18:11:38.846+10:00

Enough of sewing for the moment, I think. Would you like to hear about another thing I do? If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably already know I bake. A lot. I've baked for a very long time, but it wasn't until I got my hand on Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess back in 2001 that I kicked my baking up a notch. Now it's my preferred method of winning friends and influencing

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-85441673773649752392011-06-09T19:31:00.000+10:002011-06-09T19:31:16.394+10:00

Today I cut out the pieces for my cocktail dress. I used the lace's embroidered edge as the hem of the skirt and sleeves. The two previous versions I've made of this dress have slightly A-line skirts, so I tapered the pattern from the hip to the hem, kind of in a tulip shape, in the hope of getting a straighter skirt for this dress. Please forgive the blurry phone photo. Oh, and check out my

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-32656865340402410872011-06-08T18:24:00.000+10:002011-06-08T18:24:00.329+10:00

I’m not much of a one for wearing trousers. In fact, the only pants-type clothing I own are two pairs of jeans. I’m a skirts-and-dresses woman. In winter, being a skirts-and-dresses woman means also being a knee-high-boots-and-opaque-tights woman. And jersey dresses and opaque tights? That combination leads to unsightly bunching when I walk more than five steps as the fabric of the dress clings

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-1885072546437615222011-06-07T17:59:00.000+10:002011-06-07T17:59:04.069+10:00

I was going to post about the petticoats I sewed over the weekend, but I'm not quite ready to talk about that experience. Instead, I went shopping today with my mum for some fabric for a birthday dress. It's a bit of a recent tradition, this sewing something for myself as a birthday present. I started big two years ago, when I made myself a warm winter coat out of silk tweed and lined it with

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-58021596073548609612011-06-06T18:24:00.000+10:002011-06-06T18:24:17.614+10:00

I learnt how to knit socks in 2008. They very quickly became an obsession. I knitted baby socks, lacy socks, and striped socks. That Christmas everyone, but everyone had a pair of socks waiting for them under the tree. Then I taught myself to cable and knitted a pair of cabled, lacy knee socks from purple cotton yarn and then a pair in red wool - which I sadly only ever wear at home, as

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-45808610203005627592011-06-05T09:31:00.000+10:002011-06-05T09:31:26.669+10:00

Gosh, only five posts in and I've run out of ideas. Lucky it's a Sunday and no one will notice. I'm going to share with you my favourite That Mitchell and Webb Look sketch. It features Queen Victoria and it is NSFW. But it makes me laugh like a loon. "...the sky falling in on our heads!"

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-71483460759089289752011-06-04T07:06:00.000+10:002011-06-04T07:06:23.482+10:00

I knit small things: socks, hats, scarves. I don't knit jumpers or cardigans because I just don't have the attention span to remain interested in such long-term craft projects. If it isn't fast it isn't fun - nor is it satisfying for me. I like quick and dirty projects. I also like challenging projects. Small, fast, but challenging. Lace knitting, cabling: anything a little more exciting than

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-79890753664851116292011-06-03T08:26:00.000+10:002011-06-03T08:26:13.790+10:00

One of the things I enjoyed about being inhouse and around other people again was the opportunity to bake for people who really enjoyed my cooking. It also let me try new recipes because my colleagues didn't mind being guinea pigs. Of course, anything with chocolate was popular, but these sticky date cupcakes were a hit too. I used my old faithful sticky date pudding recipe - the one that's

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-4856857990561726972011-06-02T07:35:00.000+10:002011-06-02T07:35:14.281+10:00

I might have been back in my flat for about nine months now, but I still have very bare walls. I want beautiful art by talented artists but can't afford it. I could put up some of the art prints that have travelled halfway around the world with me but I want something new, something that speaks to the person I am now, not the person I was ten years ago. When I came across these Scrabble tile

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-913320048146514753.post-48494836052824923952011-06-01T19:34:00.000+10:002011-06-01T19:34:49.591+10:00

So yes, I'm setting myself a thirty day blog challenge to see if I can get into the habit of posting, finally. I plan to post every day in June, and see if I can't decide what I'm most excited to post about (I suspect it'll be baking and/or my various crafts). I've chosen June as I'm about to begin freelancing full time again, having left the couple of days of a week I was doing inhouse, and

Kyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16674439890344495652noreply@blogger.com0