An outfit fit for Autumn

 

mahaila made skirt and top           Photos: Michael Dooney

In an effort to improve my German language abilities I have recently spent some time trying to decifer the patterns in the Burdastyle sewing magazines. I have great difficulty with these patterns as the sizing is often off, so I am constantly making significant alterations. I thought that it was a result of my poor German comprehension, however after chatting with some native German speaking sewing mates, they informed me that they also have problems with Burda. Perhaps thats what you get when you pay 5 euros for a heap of patterns. Does anyone else have problems with the sizing??? On the plus side I am improving my alteration skills.  

The skirt. 
This is one of my easy 'built around the waist' skirts. And I know that I have been promising it for a while, BUT hopefully the tutorial for these types of skirts will be up soon. I am sooooo busy at the moment WAY too many projects and soooo little time. 


The top 
I am trying to make one pattern out of every Burdastyle magazine, so this was my September 2011 issue effort. Perhaps not the best fit, but I do love my vintage red buttons:) 

We took these photos when it was still warm enough to take them. I love Berlin Autumns. The colours are so very inspiring!

Reminder: 

The new CUT magazine is out! so check it out. 

outback jack

(Top: Sportsgirl. Skirt: Second hand (found in mum's wardrobe). Shoes and bag: Asos)

If you follow us on twitter (actually scrap that - I am the only one who attempts to tweet daily ramblings. A recent skype conversation between mahaila and I revealed that she's not that into it - sorry guys, its just me!)  you may have seen this print combo before.

Thanks to mum who took these shots for me. My mum's love of  nature always leads us to these kinds of locations (remember this post???) Mum was determined to shoot with the Kangaroo Paw in the second picture (for our non-Aussie readers, that's a plant - not to be confused with an actual kangaroo). Instead of posing awkwardly next to the plant as per my mother's instruction, I just took a photo of it for you ;)

new clothes resolution: question 1

The new clothes resolution continues. When I find something that I like while doing my usual perusing on the internet, before I click it home, I ask myself two questions:

1. Can I substitute it with something I already have in my closet?

2. Is it possible to DIY? If so, would I be just as happy with my own creation? 

To prove that I can overcome my wardrobe dilemmas by asking myself these two questions, I thought I might do an experiment. When cleaning my room, I found a box that I had labelled "For eBay". Of course I had not got round to not actually bothered to sell the clothes in said box, and so was able to recover this old Supre grey pencil skirt from about 7 years ago. Complete with wrinkles and the tag sticking out....

1. Can I wear something I already have in my closet?

Answer: YES!

(Pencil skirt: Supre (old). Top: Random. Bag: Gift from mum (old). Necklace: Lovisa. Shoes: 3.1 Phillip Lim)

So using all old clothes, an old bag, a trend-based necklace from a chain store and (my only) investment accessory, I was able to create something I'm happy with. I've actually always loved all-grey outfits and I had one right under my nose the whole time... so what do you think? Do you think I'm on to something?

Watch this space... I'm going to attempt question 2 soon. 

Kaye xx

out in the corn field

mahaila made skirt and top, Burdastyle patterns.

Photos:Michael Dooney

On a whirl wind 4 day trip from Berlin to Dresden to Prague to Munich to Leipzig to Lutherstadt Wittenburg.... we stopped off in a corn field to take some photos....yes we got lost and decided that it was a nice place for some photots. After taking these photos I realised that we don't seem to take many photos in the cities that we visit. We are certainly drawn to nature (even if it's man made nature). Perhaps we feel more comfortable or more at home.

As previously posted here and here, both of these garments are varitations of Burdastyle patterns. I like the skirt in the second photo as you can see the brocade pattern.

getting back into it

mahaila made skirt and top. Both based on Burdastyle patterns.

We took these photos when Berlin had continual sunny days and I still had a broken hand. I am surprised that after a few months my hand is still a little bunged up...but having use of both hands again has allowed me to start sewing, knitting, crocheting and screen printing. YAY!I have also been experiencing a few weeks of creative flow. I just can't stop making things. Do you experience waves of creative productivity?

This top is my second version of the Burdastyle Herbst mag 2011 top. This one is made out of cotton and I just added a little floral pocket. The skirt is the Burdastyle bubble skirt, but I omitted the bubble as it looked incredibly strange. I think that I will be making another black skirt soon as I love to wear my different coloured stockings with them. I do have some sad news about my floral doc's.The sole has partially fallen away from the boot. I tried glueing them, but the glue was not strong enough. So I will be off to the shoe repairer. Fingers crossed I can get them fixed. 

this blogger has something to say.....

(Top: Agent 99. Denim vest and midi skirt: Vintage - from my mum's closet. Necklaces: Etsy. Shoes: K-Mart. Bag and sunglasses: Asos)

I think all bloggers find that inspiration ebbs and flows, and being the expressive people that we are, we feel the need to tell you all about it. So here we go....

I have to apologise for my recent absence on the blog.... it has been for a reason. Something happened to me last week.... my wardrobe BROKE under the WEIGHT of my clothes. It wasn't made of wood.... or plastic.... it was made of metal and it snapped like a twig. So this is where I start re-thinking about the way I buy/wear clothes.

Thanks to numerous cheap and impulsive purchases (and when I say cheap, its not really that cheap in the end), my wardrobe is not as wearable as it could be. Instead of buying 5 pairs of shoes that cost around $100 each, I would prefer to buy one pair of shoes with that money and wear them to death. So thanks to a recent rummage through my mum's old clothes and the collapse of my sturdy METAL wardrobe, I feel inspired to recycle clothing and purchase only investment pieces. I think that the end result will be more reflective of my personal style. Now, I am by no means saying that you won't see the odd inexpensive trend-based piece on this blog because you WILL (I love playing silly buggers with useless trendy sh*t just as much as the next person)... but having a sister that spends TIME exercising her CREATIVITY and PATIENCE in producing beautiful clothing makes me think... maybe I don't need fast fashion in my life as much as I thought I did.

Kaye xx

kaye + mahaila in Berlin

mahaila made items: 

Kaye's 1/2 circle skirt and mahaila's pencil skirt

mahaila

This was our second shoot together! The first being in Australia (here) and the second being in Berlin. Kaye visited us for a whirl wind 2 weeks... where unfortunately the weather was not all that fantastic, so we were fairly unmotivated to take photos whilst exploring the city.On one of the last days we made our way to one of the many green spaces here in Berlin for the shoot.

I teamed my chequered pencil skirt (previously blogged here) with a secondhand Humana blouse, which has actually been home sewn. I love finding these handmade treasures:)

Kaye's 1/2 full length circle skirt (you can also make this with this tutorial) is made of silk chiffon. Silk chiffon can be difficult to work with and you will need to hang the skirt before hemming to check the fall. For this particular skirt you need at least 2.5 metres of fabric with 150m bolt length.

Kaye

I had been dying to have a shoot with mahaila while I was in Berlin. We hadn’t done one together in so long!

Mahaila had made this circle skirt for me after I sent her a pic of a maxi skirt earlier this year. She fitted the skirt while I was in Berlin and I had a wonderful present to take back home. The flowy chiffon and pretty floral print is really something special.

I didn’t have much in my suitcase so I couldn’t style it quite the way I wanted to. When the weather gets a little warmer in Perth, I’ll be able to wear it exactly how I want, sky scraping heels and all!

Photography Michael Dooney 

How to make a circle skirt: full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4

I am excited to have finally finished my 'how to make a circle skirt' tutorial! YAY! Follow the link below to a downloadable PDF, otherwise just follow the instructions in the images below. Feedback or comments are always welcome, let us know if you try it out!

Full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 Circle Skirt Tutorial PDF

Full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 Circle Skirt Tutorial PDF

Fickle Sense Circle Skirts by Mahaila, Fickle Sense is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

On this weekend we travelled out to Potsdam to the Schloss Glienicke. It is certainly a sweet, modest little palace. This ultimately sets it apart from many of the other palaces in the Berlin-Brandenburg area. We found plenty of locations for photos and spent a pleasant morning wandering through the gardens.

The pattern for the top was created by the Burdastyle member Seagle. She named the pattern Port Elisabeth and I just love the shape of it. I shortened the hem of the top and added this detail at the front. The pink/gold fabric was purchased at the markets with the vision of utilising it for the Port Elisabeth pattern. 

Have you ever had a problem with finding the perfect fabric for the outfit that you have in mind? Well this is a constant problem for me. Finding fabric in Germany is quite difficult....and yes, I am aware that in Aus we have a good selection, so my high expectations have hindered my ability to select material. For this outfit I couldn't shake the thought of baby blue. So after visiting numerous markets I was told by a friend to visit Berger Stoffe. This was a great recommendation. I found the right fabric...plus a little more:) So I drafted this high waisted skirt pattern and made this baby blue skirt with a striped detail at the hem. I think that it turned out quite well

Photography: Michael Dooney

 

Berlin - mahaila, kaye and michael have a picnic in the park!

OUTFITS

Kaye: Skirt: made by mahaila (previously worn by mahaila here). Top: Agent 99. Necklaces: Etsy. Shoes: K Mart. Bag: Gift from mum. 

Mahaila: Playsuit: Made by mahaila (previously worn here)

Wow, its been a while since I've posted.... 6 weeks actually. Its good to be back :)

Some of you may know that my absence has been due to travel. I've been on a whirlwind trip through Europe and it was amazing. Of course my first stop was Berlin to see my big sister and fellow blogger, mahaila.  Berlin is truly an amazing city - so full of life. Mahaila and Michael had a lot to show me and I loved learning about the city that my sister had been living in for the past year or so. We didn't have much time to take photos for the blog, but we have a few posts in store for you guys..... :)

One of my favourite Berlin experiences was finally going to the markets that mahaila had been telling me about (and  you, our readers!) These photos were taken at the Turkish markets where we bought fresh produce for our picnic we had planned for the afternoon. I swapped my traditional Aussie barbecue at the beach for a disposable grill at the local park.... weird. But apparently that's how the Berliners roll, so it was good to experience such a contrast. 

Another thing I loved about my Berlin experience?? Raiding mahaila's wardrobe!! After admiring her creations from across the globe, I was finally free to mix and match her hand made goodies with the very limited number of pieces from my suitcase. This skirt was one of the first items I got my hands on..... arrrgh, how I wished I had my shoe collection to play with!!

Kaye xx