Why we dress how we dress.

I'm reading Women in Clothes. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend you do at some stage.

I saw it doing the rounds of instagram a few months ago and couldn't for the life of me understand how the topic could be interesting enough to warrant the raving reviews, and it's sheer size. On a whim I purchased it, and have been joyfully dipping in and out for two months now. It sits on our dining room table and I peruse it while having my mid-morning coffee.

The premise is that three women, Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits and Leanne Shapton, sent a questionnaire to 639 women asking them a list of more than fifty questions about their personal style.

“It is essentially a conversation among hundreds of women of all nationalities - famous, anonymous, religious, secular, married, single, young, old - on the subject of clothing, and how the garments we put on every day define and shape our lives.”

— from the cover of Women in Clothes

This book is totally inspiring. On more than one occasion it has taken my breath away with that feeling of recognition you get when something rings totally true. 

Here is just one of those quotes.  

“I hate it when people say they don’t care about clothes, because it’s a lie. It’s like when writers say they don’t care about plot. Lie. We are always asking for something when we get dressed. Asking to be loved, to be fucked, to be admired, to be left alone, to make people laugh, to scare people, to look wealthy, to say I’m poor, I love myself. It’s the quiet poem in the waiting room , on the subway, in the movie of our lives. It’s a big fucking deal. ”

— Leopoldina Core in Women in Clothes

I'd love to hear your take on this... The quote might strike you as it did me - or maybe you just think it's total rubbish. 

For me - I realised that after having my kids I've often dressed to hide. Hide the fact that I didn't quite feel like me. Hide the fact that I weighed more than I did and that my body had changed. Sometimes dressing as an unconcious way of conveying my exhaustion. Dressing to be invisible so I didn't have to chat because I didn't have the energy. The whole nursing top and baggy pant stage. It's almost like me as a person disappeared into the mothering and that was reflected in what I wore. Not everyday but often enough.

And there was another thing. It was almost like when I came out the other side of the early days I wasn't sure who I was, and that was reflected in my dress. I wasn't the same person - the pre-motherhood, working in pencil skirts and heels, jeans and tshirts on the weekend kinda girl. And yet I was. Everything I put on felt wrong. Too slobby, too dressed up, too whatever .... and that felt awkward.

That awkward stage of dressing and mothering ended a few years ago but I'm not sure it's left me completely. As my kids are getting older I can feel things changing and I've recovered my idea of "self". Dragging it out from under the all-consuming getting-through-the-days of early parenting into something where I recognise me in me. My clothes are reflecting that - reflecting the fact that most days now I remember to have a shower and look in a mirror on my way out the door. That there is the brain space to engage in the self-care and self-love involved in dressing in a way that makes me feel good. And that in itself feels pretty good.

The quote made me think that maybe it is partly a chicken and egg situation. Maybe by consciously dressing to convey my me-ness I'm encouraging my me-ness to return. And around it goes? 

Any thoughts?

Felicia x

Simple sewing 101 - Part 3 - Independent Sewing Companies.

Little bit of a diversion today tigers. I wrote the Simple Sewing 101 - Alteration posts as I promised you ages ago, but they need a good edit and I don't have the brain space at the moment. So rather than confuse you with a long scattered ramble I've put this together till I can pull it together. 

Simple Sewing 101- Tops and Simple Sewing 101 - For Beginners are the two previous posts in this series.

Below are an extended list of independent pattern companies that are worth having a look at if you are interested in sewing your own clothes. The list in the previous Simple Sewing - Part 2 post was aimed at beginners due to their excellent instructions.

I've tried many of these pattern companies. Of the ones I haven't tried, there is at least one pattern in their range I want to try. For this wider list I can't guarantee that each company writes well-written patterns (I know most of them do!) so do a google search first for bloggers reviews, and check the relevant instagram hastag for patterns you want to try. There you will get some honest feedback about issues, sizing and things to look for. 

At the bottom of the post I've included a list of patterns I have sewing crushes on just to give you a place to start if you think we have similar taste. 

Independent Pattern Companies

Tessuti

Papercut 

Megan Nielsen

Mouse House Creations

Sewaholic

Cali Faye Collections

Salme

Merchant and Mills

Collette

Victory Patterns

Marilla Walker

Christine Haynes

SewDIY

Noodlehead

A Verb For Keeping Warm

Republique Du Chiffon

Wiksten

Grainline

True Bias

Tillie and the Buttons

Papercut

Named

Oliver and S/Lisette/Liesel and Co

Made By Rae

By Hand London

Jamie Christina

Sew Liberated

Make It Perfect

Pattern Runway

April Rhodes

100 Acts of Sewing

Patterns That I'm desperate to sew! (but probably not going to get to*)

Marthe Blouse - by Republique Du Chiffon. Totally obsessed with this one - maybe using hoarded  Liberty?

Morris Blazer - Grainline. I've printed it out but run out of time....argh.

Playtime Tunic - DONE! x 3 - Oliver and S

Lou Box Top - Sew DIY

Woven Linden - Grainline

Ilsey skirt - by newcomer Marilla Walker. This one is free.

Basics Tank - by Cali Faye Collection. I am super excited about this one. I don't want to jinx it but I think the shape looks almost perfect.

Enjoy and tell me if you think I've missed something super obvious.

Felicia x

* I'm headed off camping so no sewing for a month or so - flight is on Monday.

Stash Less - Creating an Intentional wardrobe.

This blogging business has meant having to put words to the thoughts I'm having around my making. Over time that means I've got more conscious and that consciousness has brought such joy. Ideas are breeding more ideas, leading to change that's resulted in increased satisfaction with the products I'm making. I am creating the things I really want to make, rather than making things based on the whims of the day. By slowing down and getting thoughtful I'm spending the time getting it right rather than getting it done.

One area where this is most true is about my own wardrobe. A consciousness raising has occurred over the last two years when it comes to what I own and what I wear. It started with the why all crafters need a visual diary post - seeing that my clothes pinterest page (which clearly demonstrated the aesthetic I liked) looked nothing like my actual wardrobe (where I often got stuck thinking I had nothing to wear), set me on a path about changing that situation. I started consciously filling the gaps with things that fitted the aesthetic I liked. On top of that, being away for six months last year, and living out of a small bag, lead to the start of Stash Less. Stash Less has lead to me finally using the "special" fabrics I was hoarding because of their specialness - which has lead to that specialness being part of my everyday wardrobe rather than an unseen piece of fabric in my stash. Then late last year I spoke about some of these ideas on the Woolful podcast I took part in. And again the very act of putting words to my thoughts helped me to clarify what it is that is important to me. Trying to be conscious and intentional about my making but also about my handmade wardrobe.

Eighteen days in to Me Made May, and I want to say I've learnt more than I thought I would. The act of taking a photo everyday for MMM, and the fact that I've had to go through my handmade wardrobe in order to showcase it, has lead to me seeing my wardrobe differently. I've learnt that I have a lot of clothes I like, that make me feel good. Which is great. It wasn't the case a few years ago.  While I think I may only have a day or two of unseen handmade clothing left before I start to repeat pieces, but the fact that I have already had eighteen days worth of different handmade clothing leads me to believe that I have enough clothes.

Enough is a another concept I keep thinking about. Consciously consuming and consciously creating are my current focus, but what about enough? Creating for the sake of creating doesn't lead to happiness for me. It leads to excess, which in turn doesn't feel satisfying. And MMM has clearly shown me that I have enough already.

So given that I now understand my wardrobe better, and that I can clearly see I have enough, these days I'm trying not to make clothes on a whim. I try to look for gaps and consciously plan what I make; to really understand how something will fit in and make based on an a need*. Which leads me to the slight contradiction!

While MMM has shown me I have enough, it has also shown me that there are one or two gaps. I go to put together an outfit only to discover that I don't have anything to go with a top in cold weather. Or that I can see from my Pinterest page that my first love is frocks and yet I only have one or two. Or I am going out for dinner and have nothing but cardigans to wear with the going-out tops. 

One such gap is a garment that I mention in the original Visual Diary post (from nearly two years ago) that I haven't managed to fill yet.  A longish, simple, light-coloured, boyfriend style slouchy-ish cardy that means all my tops can be worn in winter. Many or most of my cardigans and jumpers are autumn/spring 3/4 sleeve numbers and while sleeves help solve it, they don't totally solve the problem when things get chilly in sunny Melbourne. Figuring this out through participating in MMM has changed the order of my knitting queue so that I've started it.  Knowing that I've wanted something like this for about two years, I have been able to hone my idea of what it should be. 

After two years I know exactly what it needs to be! - A warm plain Jane cardigan in a light neutral colour that I can wear with all the pretty tops. I'm using Uniform as a base as I love Carrie and know she won't steer me wrong, but I'm modifying it so that it is more like a this Primoeza cardy or this ace little number from my pinterest board. I didn't want white because I don't wear white. And although grey will always be my first love, enough can sometimes be enough. The endlessness that is my colour palette is doing my head in. I wanted something warmer in tone for the chilly depths of winter. I considered things like Beiroa and Bendigo Woolen Mills Linen Fleck but I wanted to truly fall in love with the yarn. Which I did, last week when I saw this Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed.

I don't actually remember the last time I purchased a Debbie Bliss yarn. It was a long long time ago. Back when I had little babies and buying three balls of yarn for a kid garment felt like a lot. It totally feels like I'm going old-school early-Ravelry when we didn't put so much thought into our buying. But Jules gave this yarn her stamp of approval when she designed her Frankie hat so I knew I would like how it wore. And I am totally in love with the colourway and the feel - 90% wool and 10% alpaca with a multicoloured tweedy effect. I know I will love this for a long time to come.

Another gap I will fill soon is the Morris Blazer - since I saw in on Jen back in 2011 via social media I have known it was the perfect gap-filling going out jacket. Not too formal, but not a cardigan.

While an intentional approach to my wardrobe hasn't happened in a day - it's actually taken a couple of years - taking the time to get intentional has been the key to me feeling satisfied with my wardrobe for the first time in my life. 

Have you hit the "enough" point or are you just beginning? Are you happy with your wardrobe? How do you get intentional?

Felicia x

PS. You can see my MMM progress on instagram.

*Used in the a very loose way obviously.

Everyone needs sleeves!

In Around the Traps the other day I talked about Me Made May. Despite the fact that it feels super weird to try to take my own photo every day (and I'm often forgetting till late in the day) I've persevered and I'm really chuffed about it. I'm learning things about my wardrobe; what I have, what I need, what I like. 

One of the things this month has made clear to me is that my most worn garment has never been mentioned before on this here blog. Nor has it been mentioned on social media. I think I may have thought they were so simple they were not worth mentioning UNTIL Me Made May showed me the way. By making me really think about what I make and what I wear regularly I saw that I wear these nearly every day all winter long. These are simply my most worn, most practical, most indispensable garment. 

Why would you want sleeves?

So let's talk "sleeves" and why one would want some? Warm wrists = warm person. Not catchy I grant you but true. And warm! And who doesn't need some more warmth in the winter. They solve the 3/4 length sleeve sweater/cardigan problem, and more than that I've realised that I wear them with everything. I wear them with sweaters with full length sleeves as well. I wear them with my coat. Well you get the picture.

And this in they normal state. 

Why not just wear arm warmers?

Why wouldn't you just knit some arm warmers?  They are bulky. And they look wooly. I have a few pairs of arm warmers, and while I love them, I don't wear them anywhere near as often. The "sleeves" have the advantage of looking like I have a thin merino underlayer on beneath my sweater. They don't give the wool on wool on wool look* - although it might be hard for some of you to believe, I sometimes think too much wool can be too much wool. Sleeves are just a bit more elegant, refined, simple than knitted woollen arm warmers. 

What are Sleeves?

They are simply a light stretchy merino fabric sewn into tubes. I think I originally purchased from The Fabric Store. You cut two long rectangles and simply zigzagged together.

Mine are incredibly poorly made. And it doesn't even matter. Noone knows (except you lot!) and you can't tell from the outside unless you really get up close and personal with them. The appalling thing about these is that I didn't even match the cotton. You could definitely do a better job.

They do fall down slowly over the course of the day, but not so much, or so quickly that they are annoying. And also they don't look bad fallen down. In the iPhone photo at the top of the post you can see them fallen down. In the photo above this section you can see how they look normally. 

This shows the dodgy way they are made. I didn't even finish the ends (you don't need to) nor snip the seam allowance near the ends. You might want to do that. 

You don't need to finish the ends. 

Mine are now a little stretched. They are about 20" long.

And finished they are about 8" around.

 

How to make them.

The photos below show the dimensions that fit me. My forearm (the key measurement) measures about 9.5" around at its widest point. By making them slightly smaller they stay up. You also want them to be fairly long because as they slowly fall down they just get more wrinkly but don't show. I've never had them show. 

ut two long rectangles 20" by 8.5" - your width measurement may need to be wider/thinner.  Fold them in half lengthwise with right sides together. Sew them together with a zig zag with a 3/8" seam allowance. For me this gives two tubes that are roughly 8" in diameter. With stretch around the forearm as you see in the photo below they stay up. 

This blurry photo shows where they sit. 

Enjoy x

Felicia

* I often wear a hand knit sweater, beanie and cowl in the winter. To add arm warmers as well can sometimes take things a little bit too far. Feel free to disagree ;)

No need to be talented.

I'm trying to make a hat. A hat to make a pattern for a secret squirrel mini project that I'll announce very soon. But I need to finish the pattern. Need to. Not want to. 

And so I'm trying. Pick it up, put it down. Pick it up again. Rip and rip and rip. And any one of the versions I'd made would probably have looked lovely I'm sure, but they weren't what I had in my mind's eye and so I'm ripping. Cause I want it to be really good. 

As I was making this hat though I realised that I had a working demonstration of how practice, and trial and error, are the things that are getting me to the destination. Not some innate crafty magic. I've written quite a few blog posts talking around this topic like "I'm not creative" and "You're so talented - and other malignant myths" that talk about the fact that in order to create something beautiful you do not need to be talented. You just need to be making. Practice is key to how you get good at anything. And at the risk of stating the obvious, this hat is a case study around these ideas. I'm practicing and trialling and practicing and trialling getting my colour choices to where I want them to be. 

The other thing this hat is proving to me is the old "Planning only takes you so far" truth. That post shows you another version of this very same hat. 

So here it is. The story of a half-finished hat.

Version #1 was too contrasty - the navy too navy.

Version #2 - thought maybe the blue was too blue for the garter round so I tried the mushroom. This was too blah.

Version #3 - tried a grey garter row which was too soft - and again the navy was too navy.

Back we go again.....

Version #4 was closer but the mushroom and pink were too soft/light so the star motif was lost.

Version #5 was again too contrasty and had nothing to tie the pink/mushroomy colours in with the lower part of the hat.

Version #6. Still not sure the bright orange should be bright orange so am going to trial another colour. The pink in the star feels a little "little girl".....but we will see. 

Where it is at right now. 

I'm sure in five years time after doing a lot more colourwork and making many more choices about colour that I will be faster at it and it won't take so many versions to get it right. I hope so anyway. 

Practicing in the gap. 

Felicia x