tiny happy

japanese dress

I made this dress slowly over the past week, working on a little bit each day until it was finished.

The fabric was painstakingly unpicked from an old kimono I bought here (yes, yet another one!) and the pattern was the same as this dress- New Look #6457. When I bought the kimono, the man in the shop said that it dated from the late 1800s, which I thought was pretty cool, but the fabric is still very sturdy and and thick so maybe it wasn't worn very much. Inside the seams I found a lot of lint and also bits of loose tobacco. I like to think of this as my new 'workdress'- it's quite plain and utilitarian and I like the dark navy and grey pattern.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, dear readers.

winter curtain

I've been sewing a winter curtain- inpired by the above page in this book by Lisa Stickley I wrote about a while back. This is quite a large curtain, to fit our front door which is made of panelled glass, and I had to piece together a few different fabrics in true d-i-y style to make it big enough. One half of the curtain was a piece of vintage barkcloth kindly given by Louana the last time I saw her. To this I sewed panels of kimono fabric (leftover from this project) and some curtain tape, and backed the entire thing with an old brown flannel sheet which I don't use but can't throw away because I remember it being on my bed when I was very small. 

It's a small achivement, but I'm happy with it and that barkcloth print makes me happy every time I walk past it.

In other news, we're quite pleased to hear that Bret McKenzie (a fellow Wellingtonian) has been nominated for an Oscar for one of the songs he wrote for the new Muppet movie (it's so enjoyable- you must take kids to it if you can). You can listen to it in all it's glory here. 

a long weekend

Here are a few snaps from our long weekend. It involved some child-free time for Tom and I (dinner + spy movie), building some raised vege beds, a few long walks, hanging out in the garden, city adventures, baking both sweet and savoury (the cookies in the above photo were made using this recipe) and recovering from tonsilitis and feeling very grateful to be alive and well. 

The children and I discovered this great documentary on youtube all about migrating birds- have you seen it? It even features a song by Nick Cave in the soudtrack. We loved watching it- you might too.

See you again tomorrow.

another beach dress

The kids and I have been making great use of our local public pool, which is in easy walking distance from here. I've found it a really good way to pass a bit of time in the summer day, and there's even a place for non-swimmers to sit and drink coffee in a most civilised manner which I've noticed is a bit of a Wellington thing (there is good coffee to be found everywhere- both at beaches and rivers, galleries and libraries.)

Earlier in the week I recieved two amazing parcels of vintage cotton from a reader, Bronwyn, who didn't include her email or return address so I can't thank her personally. (If you're reading this, thank you!) When I unwrapped them, K took this sweet little floral from the top of the pile and announced it perfect for a 'swimming pool dress' for her. And I agreed.

So Bronwyn's cotton has become the handiest of summer beach/pool dresses and was very easy to sew too- I used this tutorial I wrote last summer and sewed in about eight rows of shirring at the top to fit.

It almost feels warm enough for me to wear one of these dresses, too- so that might be my next project.

Wishing you a lovely weekend. 

a black shawl

The first mail to arrive here at our new house was a parcel containing this beautiful black shawl. It was a gift from Francesca who lives in a small Italian village, and is a master crocheter- isn't that a beautiful shell stitch? As someone who will never learn how to crochet, I am thrilled to have this shawl.

I also love the fact that it's black: all my favourite clothes seem to be, these days, and it will go so nicely with everything I already have. And it conjures up Eastern European gypsy minstrels, or Post-Impressionist Parisian artists on an evening out to the theatre. That's what I think, anyway.

Thank you, Francesca!

a silk belt

Here is another project made with a deconsructed vintage kimono, like the curtains yesterday. This is a belt I sewed from kimono silk that features a kind of hand-painted stripe in pale colours, on a beige background. I really love this fabric, but after deconstructing the old kimono, the pieces were in long, narrow strips, so a belt seemed like a good option. I used a commercial pattern, New Look 6083, which I used once before here along with accompanying dress.

This new belt was made a bit longer (my waist is surely not what it used to be- sigh...) for ease of wrapping around and tying, and I think it will be a handy garment to wear over my favourite plain black dress. And more comfortable than the usual leather belt, too.

I found a pattern for a similar belt to make here, in case you're in the mood for a quick practical project.

Wishing you a very happy Tuesday, wherever you might happen to be. I'm currently listening to this song and getting excited about the upcoming Bon Iver concert for which we have tickets. :)

vintage kimono curtains

I discovered a new shop not far from here: Asia Gallery in the Kilbirnie (Wellington) shopping district. I first heard about it a while back on Rachelle's blog and my visit there last week was pretty amazing. Picture a small back-street den crammed with racks of vintage kimono and shelves of handmade pottery dishes, dark wooden antique furniture and some eccentric retail staff. I bought some old kimono that were in pretty worn condition (there was a $5 bin of 'cutter' kimono!), and when I got home I slowly unpicked them to use the fabric.The last photo above shows the dip-dyed silky lining from one of the jackets, as well as the lines of neat handstitching.

The outer fabric is a navy/black silk with pixelated-style red roses and vines. Deconstructing the kimono was very interesting because I know nothing of kimono techique or history, but I can see now it might be something like origami in the way the fabric is peiced together, and when I undid all the neat hand-stitched seams, I was left with long strips of a similar size.

I used the dark rose fabric to make small curtains for the kids' room,to cover a leadlight window by their bunkbeds. I lined the curtains with wool fabric for extra darkness and warmth.

I really love the truly unique nature of the kimono fabric I found - and I've been dreaming of what else I could make from them.

 

some colour

I made up a batch of plain biscuits this morning and the smallest child managed to fill in about three hours painstakingly decorating each one. Why hadn't I thought of this school holiday activity before? It worked a treat and she was so happy with her apron, chair, sprinkles and moth cookie-cutter. 

The quiet morning gave me a window of time to reoganise some sewing stuff, in particular my embroidery threads which were in a tangle at the bottom of a box. So it was a happy morning for both of us. And what is more cheerful than multicoloured nasurtiums from the garden?

Thanks for your very kind and welcoming messages yesterday. I'm looking forward to this new year too. Have a great weekend- I'll see you back here again next week.

an old house

Hello and happy new year!

Here are a few bits of our new house in the capital city. We are living in one of the inner-city suburbs, but we are lucky enough to have a big old house (I think almost 100 years old) with a flat garden out the back for the kids to play in. We've been here for 5 days or so, and are nearly settled in. Mind you, there are enough empty moving boxes to build a small town and the kids' beds haven't arrived yet, (they were sent to Auckland by mistake)  but they shouldn't be too far away. I have started to set up my work stuff in one corner of our big new bedroom and I must admit that it's taking me a while to feel inspired or get started on any projects. Once upon a time, I hated to go through an evening without doing a bit of embroidery or knitting, but these days I seem to quite enjoy just 'being' and doing nothing much of anything.

I think we'll all really enjoy our new life here but it will take a while before it feels like home. We miss our family and friends very much, and hope to go on holidays back in our home town as often as we can. 

I'm really not sure what 2012 will bring for me, my creative work and this blog, but I will keep updating this space in the meantime and I want to thank you very much for reading and leaving those kind messages of support over the past month or so. I have lots to share with you- about the great old textiles I've found already, a couple of projects and some amazing mail too.

I hope this year brings much happiness for you and your family.

a new year

Happy new year! I hope you've had a great holiday time over the past couple of weeks, celebrating and relaxing. Here in the South Island of NZ we've had a bit of rain and cloud, but mostly life has been rather sweet. Berries, parties, sunshine, the beach and friends and family to visit. Just the way we like it.

Over the next few days we are moving cities, so I will have a little blog break until we're settled in and have internet at our new house. I am looking forward to a shiny new year of possibilities.

See you soon, friends!