Rainforest Inspiration

I was looking at the new Spring collections today on M and Co and loved the Rainforest Collection it has elements which remind me of the greens from my Botanical Garden plus some Safari and Animal print items.
I have two Animal Print pieces in the Amber Glow Collection so could pull something similar together by pulling pieces out of both my my current wardrobes.
It was freezing here this morning so I don't think I am quite ready to transition to the Spring clothes just yet, but it sure is nice to look.

After my post about my good colours, I was putting clean laundry away and pulled several items from my wardrobe which just don't work for me. Mid grey pantsuit??? What was I thinking. Well I dare say I was thinking appropriate for work, but mid grey in horribly draining and wrong on me, so its gone off to a new life with someone else. I kept the dark charcoal grey pantsuit though as its almost black, and is wool and nicely cut. I paired it with a lime shirt and a funky necklace and it really came to life.

Perhaps the key with an easy to mix n match wardrobe is to be really true to your absolutely best colours and not be seduced by things which don't work. Lime was a brand new colour for me last summer and I really love how it works in with so much of what I already have. It really pops with so many of the basics adding life in particular to charcoal and navy.

Sewing Room

The sewing room is a bit of a disaster at the moment, and I am having trouble finiding things in there that I need. I have mislaid both pairs of orange handled Fiskars dressmaking shears and several patterns I wanted to sew.
I think I probably need to have a Good Tidy Up before I can work on anything else.

Machine dying

I have a pair of black RTW jeans which had been getting greyer and greyer, but the fit was still reasonable, compared to other purchased jeans so I decided to overdye them black.
I've used the Dylon all in one machine dye in black - this already has the salt mixed in, unlike the normal Dylon machine dyes where you add the salt yourself.
One pack of sye colours one pair of jeans, so they are in on their own and I will check on them shortly to see how well it has worked.
I have used the other type of Dylon machine dyes before and as long as you follow the instructions and don't try to dye too much at once it works very well on cotton fabrics. I had patchy results in the past with the hand dye, but I think that is becuase the liquid stays still.

Updated to add that I just took the jeans out and am very pleased with the finished result. The coloured top stitching is still orange, the button and rivets are shiny and the denim is a lovely deep even black.

This dye is designed to be used with a front loading washing machine (the normal sort in the UK). And how you use it as follows:-

Put the powder into the machine and make sure it falls through the holes in the drum.
Add the jeans/fabric and put the machine on to a 40 degrees Celsius cotton wash with no detergent.
This is the dye cycle and looks pretty scary as the water is black!
When this finishes, add a little washing poweder or liqd and run another 40 degree Celsius cotton cycle. This makes sure all excess dye is removed from the garment/fabric. You can then take it out and dry it. Probably best to wash with other dark things the next couple of times.
Last run the machine again on another 40 degree Celsius cotton cyyle to make sure the machine is completely clean.
After this you can use it again as normal.

My machine has a double rubber ring sealing the door and some black liquid was in this but I just wiped it up with a cloth before the final cycle.

Dylon have a guarantee on the package saying that it does not harm your washing machine.

Colours and sewing

On her blog, Myrna has been writing among other things about the colours that work best for her. I don't always agree with everything she says :-) but her comments often make me think a bit.
I don't recall the exact words, but if I think about my own personal palette I have quite a good grip on it these days.

Its basically brights and darks with a warm but clear undertone. I don't always follow that, but have to be careful how much I push it. I could wear anything I like but some things are going to look nicer than others LOL.
Brights. These colours have a LOT of pigment in them, and I do have to be careful that they don't look too cartoonish/childish, BUT they are my signature, and tbh if I don't wear an item in one of these colours I feel a bit sad and lifeless.
Brights: red, red-orange, strong warm pink, strong coral pink, turquoise, rich teal blue, rich teal green, emerald green, frog green, strong yellow green. The pinks and reds are particularly good for making me look healthy and well, the blues and greens (becuase I have green eyes with a blue learning) are particularly good at making my eyes noticeable.

I am heavier on my lower half (whatever my weight) so to contrast with my brightly coloured (and patterned tops) I wear darker plainer trousers and skirts. These are in my dark neutrals, and are colours like dark navy and bitter chocolate brown. Like everyone I also have black in my wardrobe though I don't like it as much as the navy and brown. I'm exploring olive at the moment, which seems to work even if its not quite so dark becuase of its green undertones. I did have a foray into purple, but am not convinced it works too well for me, ditto grey, even charcoal. I'm also going to try an antique gold colour but I expect its slightly too soft.

I also like to have a few ivory or cream items to add a bit of contrast. Pure white is a little cold on me, but like black easily available, so some purchased items do end up in the wardrobe :-)


I'm not an artist, but I like to make things. Amongst people who buy everything this still makes me a little odd, but its a good antidote/flip side to my day job organising the builds of large IT systems. Sometimes after a long and interesting day getting all the right technical people to do things in the right order to end up with something that works, I really NEED to do something with my hands.

I've been sewing on and off since I was a teenager, and have a basic competence in constructing simple clothes. I have a lot to learn on fit. And have learned a bit on shape/style/colour for me.
I have been a slave to the pattern, and only recently started to chop things about a bit to see what might work.
I have several large boxes of previous projects that went wrong, and I did not have the heart or knowledge to find a way to finish them off.
More recently I pull things from this box and see what I can do with them. Sometimes the results work out well other times not so much, but I am learning as I go.

Botanical Garden SWAP : Jacket Part2

The jacket now has sleeves and a front trim.
I cut a further 1.5 inches off the bottom and off the whole of the neckline, and then curved the panel round and added the trim. I also cut the shoulders in a bit, and I think its now got a more contemprary cut and I like it a bit more. Shown below with the green blouse and the stripe straight leg trousers.

Botanical Garden SWAP : Jacket started

Well I've started a jacket. Its an old Burda pattern shortened and is a princess seamed jacket with no collar, fully lined, size 16.
The fabric is a weave of warm pink, coral and  light sagey green which seems to work quite well with all the other items in the collection. Not sure if its too 'soft' a colour for me though as I am a clear and look better in bright, contrasting outfits. Full of cold so not showing me wearing it today at least :-)

Green shirt now has finished

The green shirt is now finished.
It has cuffs at the elbow which can be folded back (as shown) or worn down. Fabric ties inside on the right, and outside on the left hold it closed. I am really pleased how this has come out, and happy that I persevered to get a wearable garment, and not be put off by the problems I had to start with.

This now brings my stash sewing up to 20 metres (including the lime top) so I am well on course for my 40 metre total by the end of March.

Green shirt now has collar

The green shirt now has a collar which actually makes it look a lot more shirt like.

 

I still need to do cuffs or sleeve bands on the sleeves and some little ties.

I only have small scraps of fabric left over, so am having to be very creative.

Nail polish

I've noticed a few of the very hip sewing blogs also feature nail polish of the day. I am vaguely interested in these and feel my blog is missing something.
So, for completeness I do wear polish on my finger nails everyday, and frankly feel wierd without it. I usually remove and redo it on a Sunday evening for the week and use, wait for it.....

Rimmel French Manicure in Cafe Au Lait - that's beige by the way in case you wondered.
I have had brief forays into coloured and sparkly polish but actually they don't feel like me and they usually only last one day before I have to remove the alien-ness.
Although this is supposed to be used for French manicures, with white tips and all, I don't bother with that. I just do a single coat and let it dry. I have warm toned skin and the beige polish somehow works better than clear or pale pink which look a bit girlish on me.

I do paint my toenails with strong colours, usually red or copper, although these can only be seen for a few months in the summer I paint them for my own happiness all year round. But I really don't think photos of feet is something we want on the blog.

On this basis, this is probably going to be my only post ever on nail polishes, but if you like coloured fingernails, go for it :-)

Progress on green print blouse

Well after a few modifications, here's where I have got to with the green print blouse.
The front wrap gaped, so I cut the finish off and gathered the front up and added a narrow band. This now fits better against the chest.
I have not yet added the collar stand and collar, or decided what I am doing about cuffs. I also need to make some new narrow tie ends for the ends of the bands to get tied to - currently pinned.

I think this fabric works well for the theme of 'Botanical Garden' so I am persevering with it.
This is based on a pattern in March 2010 Burda magazine - no 122.

Botanical Garden SWAP : Summary

The Botanical Garden SWAP is nearly there, so I might just try and get that finished off and then swap back to the Amber Glow.

I still need to sew
The burda wrap blouse in a textured spring green woven fabric.
Another pair of trousers
A pair of 'dirty' denim jeans
A jacket

And then the collection would be complete.
I will see how far I can get on that plan :-)

Spring Green Cowl Neck

Spring Green Cowl Neck top as antidote to the wadderiness of the Lime top.
Very pleased with this. The pattern just sews up beautifully (with my alterations).

With this top I have now sewn up something like 16.5 metres, which has made a good dent on the 37-40 target. So only 20+ metres to sew up during March then lol.

Wadder and work

Lime top is a wadder, or at least not wearable yet and I've tried a few things.
Work is mad again with work stuff cutting into every evening this week so far. Ah well I shall avoid working at the weekend if at all possible and maybe the sewing bug will strike.

Hope everyone else is managing to sew.

Burda Mag has not come yet but I liked these wrap blouses from the website.

Lime Top

Well here's the almost done lime top and I think the neckline is too high/closed in.
I will try wearing it for a photo later on and see what I think. On the hanger it looks matronly.
I am expecting I will have to remove the neckband I've added and redo a lower/more open neckline to be more flattering and work better with the under bust seam.

Next project -Lime Simplicity 3837 Misses Knit Top

I have now moved on from pink, and since I have two projects cut out I need to sew at least one of them to avoid getting a big UFO pile. So I have rethreaded my machines in pale green (the nearest I could buy to the lime coloured fabric for some reason) to work on a knit top.

The pattern I am going to use is Simplicity 3837. I'm leaving off the bust overlay thingy and having 3/4 sleeves. I might add cuffs to them actually otherwise they ride up when you add another layer on the top. I am into cuffs on knit tops at the moment for some reason that might be to do with it snowing again.