CHALLENGE NUMBER ONE

(Top: CUT - Shirt Matilda design, made by mahaila. Skirt: Temt. Shoes: Topshop. Turban: Sportsgirl)

 

(Top: CUT - Shirt Matilda design, made by mahaila. Shorts: designed and made by mahaila)

Ready or not., here they come..... CHALLENGES from a distance

Our first challenge involves my favourite sewing mag, both Deutsche Post & Australia Post and of course both of our creative juices.
 

 CUT magazine is an awesome mag which focuses on sewing and designers. Encompassed within it's pages are a number of patterns. One of these patterns was constructed by mahaila x 2. One remained in Berlin the other ended up in Perth. Both were to construct outfits around the one garment.

Our images will be posted very soon!

Short Sleeve Kimono for the Beer fest

Yummy BEER! The other weekend we went to the Berlin Beer festival. 2 km of beer stalls. We tried MANY beers, but still my favourite is the beer hailing from Munich, Paulaner Hefe Weisse. I do love Hefe Weisse!

I was rushing to finish the shorts in time for the festival... but made it just in time. The shorts are just basic high waisted shorts. This is my second try at making these type of shorts. I think they turned out OK. 

The top is a basic short sleeved kimono. Whilst making it I decided to have the opening at the back. I like garments with interesting backs so I played around with it a little and decided to go with a lowered back. The Brooch. I found a little stall in the town Wismar, Germany at their Christmas markets. They sell little wooden ornaments. So I bought a few of them and made brooches out of them. 

FABRIC: both from the Turkish markets. Buttons: I have had these blue buttons for AGES ... if you can remember when Lincraft was still alive and pumping. I used to go into Perth city and just pop in for a 'look' at the fabric and such, of course I would come out with something.

Sunday inspiration

Source: Sandra Backlund, tumblr

Since mahaila emailed me about the Sandra Backlund lookbooks saying "currently obsessed with this designer. I love her!" I have found myself revisiting her site for a little inspiration now and then. It reminds me that its OK to step out of the box. When you do, the end result is usually something pretty beautiful. 

On the Bright Side

(Top: Topshop. Jeans: Supre DIY bleached and ripped. Feather earings: Sportsgirl. Boots: ShoeBox. Bag: random one of mahaila's, DIY studded)

I went to On the Bright Side with Shawn and a few mates some weeks ago. I'm not used to this kind of music but I really enjoyed the day. Angus and Julia Stone were my favourite act. Listen to the song I've attached and you will see why. I love Julia's long red skirt and she had a cute little plait in her hair. 

The photos of me were taken in Robert's backyard. The couches outside remind me of this post from The Sartorialist. I could try and give a practical reason for why Australians use couches for outside decor: 1) Our heat is very dry which means the couches don't go mouldy?? 2) Students can't afford outdoor furniture so we just do what we can by taking from verge-side pick-ups?? All I know is that when we got back from On the Bright Side, there was a party going on with amazing tunes, a few too many drinks, people sprawled out on comfortable couches and a mean bonfire fueled with the wood of broken furniture. 

pre-order Shakuhachi

And then the shoes..............

Pre-order Shakuhachi here

I dare you to try and choose just one thing from the SS10/11 collection "Love etc".

Trust our gorgeous Bambi to rock the socks off the whole collection.

Another simple draped dress

This is another very simple dress, made it by draping it on my new dressmaking doll. I bought the fabric at the Turkish markets (which is where most of my fabric is from as I can't afford to buy it from most fabric stores in Berlin....sewing is expensive here compared to Aus, can't wait to sew with second hand fabrics back home). It is a knit jersey fabric. The earrings are my mum's, guessing they are from the 80's. The sunnies are supposedly vintage (well that is what the guy said) and were purchased at Boxhagener markets for a bargain price. The key is to look really interested, then start walking.... 

We often ride our bikes through the centre of town and on this day we walked along the Spree near to one of our favourite spaces the direktorhaus.  Michael has attended drawing classes there and we also heard Iain McGilchrist talk about his book The Master and His Emissary. Interesting stuff, if only I had the time to read it. That's the sewing addiction for you!