Project 3

I didn't get as much time for sewing as I'd hoped to over the weekend but I did manage to get a skirt and accessory completed as Project 3 of my $50 wardrobe challenge. The inspiration for the piece was a glorious scarf I'd found recently at my local op-shop.

I've never understood why scarves are designed in such a way that when you scrunch them around your neck you can't appreciate the beautiful design. The plan I had in mind was to somehow incorporate the scarf into a garment so that it could be viewed in all its unscrunched splendour.

First I bought some fabric in the same shade of blue from the scarf and made a very simple A-line skirt. I added a few embroidered shapes to add a bit of visual interest to the hem.

Then I came up with a kind of scarf-cummerbund-apron-obi combination to give the skirt a lift.

The proportions of my tailor's form are smaller than my own at the moment so it doesn't sit quite as well on dear headless Scarlet as it does on me.

Fabric and notions for skirt and scarf accessory: $13.10

Running total: $22.10

I'm very happy with the garment although I think I'd prefer to wear the scarf-obi over a stylish black dress - so that's going to be my next project.

My favourite, faithful (but worn-out) Cue pinafore is going to be sacrificed to supply the pattern.

Happy Birthday Tazey

My very special and only sister Therese celebrated her birthday in the weekend. She's recently returned home after a year-long writing fellowship in the States and has set up flat in Pt Chev with her lovely fella and fellow poet Lee. Their place urgently needed some furniture so Jack and I were stoked when we found two of these great chairs at a second-hand shop in Orewa.

We somehow managed to jam the pair into the back of the sedan and with no rear view and the boot hanging open we took the scenic route home. I gave the wooden arms a light polish, washed the calico covers and whipped up a couple of pretty cushions and they were good to go.

Luckily Tazey loved them so a very happy birthday it was.

The Great Wardrobe Challenge

You know that you've taken your appetite for mince pies and chelsea buns way too far when your kindly father-in-law smiles at you sweetly and asks if you're about to announce a happy event!

Sadly, when I tried on last summer's clothes my increased girth (or burger baby as my sister calls it) was confirmed when I found that only two or three things still fitted. Still, I'm not going to moan about it - diet and exercise will do the trick in the longer term but while I set about the serious business of downsizing the issue remains that I need some things to wear.

When I was looking at the fashion special in a recent edition of canvas I was struck by the fact that although there are some beautiful pieces on offer for the summer season, created by the cream of our NZ designers, they have priced the average kiwi consumer completely out of the market for their merchandise.

canvas fashion supplement 13 Sept 2008

Take for instance the Wallace Rose silk dress in the rear of the picture. Very pretty, for sure, but is it $585 worth of pretty? Even if the fabric was spun from the thread of the oldest silkworm of time I wouldn't pay that kind of money for what is essentially a very simple frock.

So I decided to combine my need for some new spring/summer threads with a personal challenge - with a budget of just $50 at my disposal I will create a multi-piece summer wardrobe. When I post each item I will include a tally of how much the garment cost to produce and provide a running total at the end of each post until I reach $50.

Goals and objectives:

To end up with a summer wardrobe that suits me and fits well along with the satisfaction of knowing that I made it all myself and that it didn't break the bank.

I made a cracking good start over the weekend so here are the first two completed garments:

Project One:

First, I looked through my wardrobe for any op-shop items that I saw weren't quite right when I bought them but knew that with a little bit of deconstruction could be turned into something wearable. I had bought this rather matronly blouse recently - I liked the beautiful colour and the quality of the crisp cotton but the style itself was way too stuffy:

The trick to successful deconstruction is to proceed slowly and with care and to try on the piece after each subtraction. I find that in most cases you don't need to make the radical adjustments that you thought you would. In this case, I removed the collar and reshaped it into a v-neck. Then I removed the cuffs, took out the gathering, and hemmed the sleeves.

I ended up with a lovely loose shirt to wear to the beach.

or to dress up with a nice collar

Cost of item: $1.50

Running total: $1.50


Project Two:

Among my op-shop items I also found a Batik sarong, never used, which I fancied turning into a summer frock.

I saw that there wasn't enough fabric to make a whole dress so I used the sarong for the bodice and the lower band and used chocolate brown calico for the skirt. I amalgamated two of my old dress patterns to make the garment - the bodice pattern from Simplicity 4630 and the skirt pattern from McCall's M5313. Here's the result:

I'm very happy with this one - it fits really well and is super-comfy with a lovely floaty full skirt - I'll probably still get the maternity comments but never mind.


Cost of item: $7.50

Running total: $9.00


Not bad - less than 1/5 of my budget spent and two nice wearable garments to show for it so far.

Next weekend I'll be making a skirt or two so I hope you'll check in again for a progress report on the great wardrobe challenge. If anyone else is planning on undertaking a similar challenge I'd love to hear about your projects.

Printing Experiments

I'm always on the lookout for new printing ideas for Pania Press so I was really excited when I read about the recently published book Printing by Hand by New York textile designer Lena Corwin. I promptly ordered a copy which arrived a couple of weeks ago.

The projects and techniques that Lena describes and demonstrates in the book are gorgeous and inspiring so I've been busily gathering materials for my first hand printing session. You can look at Lena's wonderful blog right here, which includes a very handy Q&A section related to her book.

Here are a few of the projects:

I love the simplicity and understated elegance of Lena's designs and the way that she treats print imperfections as part of the charm of hand printed items.

I thought I'd begin by tackling one of the simpler projects in the book - printed stationery using hand-carved rubber blocks and a basic ink pad.



I began very conservatively with a square cut rubber block:



Then I made some more organic carved blocks and I'm much happier with the result:

Before long I had a nice table-full of cards to go with the pile of wallpaper envelopes that I made ages ago:

What a nice way to spend the afternoon! I'm going to have a go at textile printing next so I hope to have some nice things to show you on my next post.

Outing the Inner Child

I'm just back from Wellington where I delivered a paper at the Rita Angus symposium at Te Papa on Saturday. Jack has written a report on the day's events here but I'd prefer to turn my mind to other (less cerebral) things. On Sunday we spent a blissful day wandering around inner city Wellington browsing through second-hand book shops with frequent cafe stops along the way. Jack tends to make his way directly to the Classics and Literature shelves at Pegasus Books and Quilters while I always head straight for the children's section where I pull up a comfy chair and look for interesting picture books to add to my collection.

When I first moved to Auckland in 1991 I got a job working at the Dorothy Butler Bookshop in Ponsonby (it's still there now but with a different name). When I wasn't busy dealing with the demands of nouveau riche Ponsonby parents and their spoilt kids with pretentious names like Paloma and Salvador, I began to cultivate an interest in picture books - not just any old books mind you but the growing genre of illustrated books that are described as 'sophisticated'. These are the kind of books that don't really appeal to kids at all but seem to be more about the author and illustrator unashamedly indulging their inner child.

So continuing with the 'outing' theme of my first post here's a show-and-tell of a selection of faves from my secret stash of kids books.

It was the trilogy of Max stories by New Yorker Maira Kalman that first got me hooked - brilliant and crazy tales about an amiable but eccentric poet-dog who dreams of living in Paris.

Ooh-la-la (Max in Love) Maira Kalman, 1991

I've amassed a pile of books since then, both new and second-hand, and I wanted to give you a wee peek at some of the fabulous pictures.

Petrouchka retold by Vivian Werner, Illustrated by John Collier, 1992

And here's another version of Petrouchka from 1971 with gorgeous folk-art illustrations.

Petrouchka, Dorothy Eyre, illustrations Uta Glauber

Sticking with the 70s, how about this for a psychedelic ABC book:

The Alphabet: A Day-by-Day Learning Book, Carol Barker, 1973

As for this, there are just no words to describe how odd this story and its accompanying pictures are:

The Mousechildren and the Famous Collector, Warren Fine, Illustrated by Mercer Mayer, 1970

This one is pretty strange too:

Ratsmagic, Christopher Logue, Illustrated by Wayne Anderson, 1976

And a couple more lovelies:

The Witches of Venice, Beni Montresor, 1989



The Magic Chalk, Zinken Hopp, Illstrations Gian Berto Vanni, 1960

And two more pretties that I found in Wellington in the weekend:

Favourite Fairy Tales Told in Poland, Virginia Haviland, Illustrated Felix Hoffmann, 1963
(the first image is also from this book) - wouldn't you love to be called Princess Wonderface!



The Nightingale, Hans Andersen, Illustrated Jiri Behounek, 1971

Some of the real gems from my collection are currently out on loan but when they come back I'll do another show-and-tell for you.

Out of the Closet

Until recently I probably would have described myself as a closet crafty - not because I'm ashamed of the things I make but because making things by hand came about in large part due to economic necessity. I've been a student for the best part of ten years now and the reality of living on a tight budget has taught me to become really resourceful when birthdays and Christmases roll around. I didn't want to compromise on quality when it came to presents for family and friends so I revived my ancient crafty skills, started gathering an arsenal of fabrics and notions, and I haven't stopped making since.

It never occurred to me to expand my handmade enterprise beyond my immediate circle of appreciative giftees but the combined effect of encouraging words from fellow crafties (thank you Lies from Anemone), the gift of a snazzy digital camera from my wonderful mum-in-law, and advice on setting up a blog from the lovely Jack, is that I see now that it's really not that hard to get up and running.

So here we go...

Before I give you a quick preview of prototypes from Mosehouse Studio, I should briefly explain that the name 'Mosehouse' comes from my family lexicon of made-up words. A Mosehouse is a small house constructed from any material at hand. Cardboard boxes, spaces under tables, and large woollen blankets were our top Mosehouse choices as kids and we would spend ages inside the 'mose' making up stories and warding off the rainy day boredom. Mosehouse Studio seemed like the perfect name for my creative outlet. Anyway, without further ado, here's some things from Mosehouse...

cats and elephants made from vintage fabrics


collars made from reconstituted 1970s ties

patchwork ditty bag using upholstery fabrics and plaited wool cord

three necklace prototypes - buttons and buckles; cord, looped and handstitched; a hot air balloon made from an old cloth bound book cover, varnished and hand sewn.




tablecloth wall art - clusters of images cut from from vintage tablecloths, stiffened and varnished to prevent fraying

combination cut-out and hoop tablecloth installation

So I guess you could say I'm well and truly out of the crafty closet now. I'll be going into full production mode very soon and getting my wares out there on the Auckland craft circuit so watch this space for further details. Meantime, if you'd like to get in touch I'd love to hear from you.