deondergangvanmijnouders

*Stare Out The Window* *Stare Out the Window Some More and Put Your Hand Just So* *Hands On Hip and Look Down at Dress* *Turn and Put Hands On Shoulders While Staring Down At Dress You Made With Your Own Hands* Hey guys, guess what? I don't think I've used captions on photos in my blog before... have you read that Twitterer (have no idea which one, and no time to find it) that started copying the Daily Mail or some UK paper's photo captions...? It's quite funny from memory, as copywriters obviously get very drained writing captions for the newspaper and they were just SO literal... just writing what was happening in the photo. Anyways! I've got some 'free' news... and I like 'free stuff' and I'm sure you do if you're thrifty like myself! My Sewing School is called Couture Nomad ... and it's a very small wonderful & welcoming sewing group here in Shanghai AND Teacher Catherine has been working on some new patterns! To celebrate, Coutur...

My first Sewaholic sewing pattern! I've read the Sewaholic patterns are very suitable for the pear-shaped figure, and they flatter all the right bits... so I have never bought one before now (I feel very hourglass, however I have no clue how one decides this) but, the princess seams in this Davie Dress (released earlier this year by Tasia Sewaholic) caught my eye as I was browsing the internet one night looking for some spring/summer easy knit dresses! And after reading Tasia's blog for so long, it's about time I try one of her patterns! This version is the shorter one, with the cap sleeves... and I followed a size 8 because my measurements are in-between sizes, and thought the knit fabric wouldn't mind a bit of a stretch over the bust. Size 10 would be way too big on the sleeves/shoulders anyways, and having worn it now, next time I'll keep the size 8 but adjust the shoulders somehow as the underarms are even a bit low on me. But that might have been my laz...

Well, I’ve been going to sewing school weekly now since March, and of course REALLY enjoying it. There are so many gaps in my sewing knowledge and this week I worked out I've been sewing my own clothes for FOURTEEN YEARS. Blogging about my sewing for 8 years (could it really be?) as well. But the gaps in my technique have become bigger and bigger and it's weird now because I have a high expectation on myself and what I can produce, but realistically I do need to spend time and learn and relearn some things. Plus, I think a lot of techniques, when we don't do them frequently or know a nifty way to do them, we just put to one side ... like my button holes for example. I haven't done them for AGES and now I'm like, I don't need them! In these Sewing School Scoop blogposts, I hope to do a round up of what I've been learning ... for myself mostly, but they seem to be really of interest to you too, and I love hearing some of your suggestions! Keep them coming... S...

  Yay, I have a little Va Va Voom again to show you... this time it's a wiggle skirt refashioned from an amazingly 80s style golden glitter top: These kind of refashions are my favourite because I feel like such a freaking legend planning it out and then getting a right fit and then thinking I have 'the vision' for *anything*, and what an amazing designer I am. And then, really... ...it's just a freaking skirt made from two rectangle pattern pieces. But still, it's a finished & wearable project, right?! A win nonetheless! But no fashion designer here! The top comes from a Gippsland op shop... we went back to Australia for a visit in January and of course I had to do a rummage through a few stores, but it's just not the same as ten year ago... no vintage patterns, no fabric, not even good bedsheets for the 80s let alone 1960s! So when I op shop these days (not so much going on here in Shanghai, and that really is another story) I end up in the clothes racks l...

This will be my first MMM AKA Me Made May . WHAT! I've been reading Zo's blog So Zo, What Do You Know? since blogs first began (almost) and have done Self Stitched September before and up until Baby Darling was born probably wore more handmade, vintage, op shopped gear than you can poke a dusty thrifty finger at. If you're in the sewing & diy fashion world, you'd probbo heard of the month of May being a 'Wear What You Make' kinda month. And I do like the 'show us ya stuff' kinda blogging/social media element to it, so will join in this year. (My 'Joining In' Vibe in full swing) But yes, I ran out of steam while pregnant back in 2012, and while I made a few things... I just felt super focused on growing a human child, as you do. And then after our boy arrived, well... that was another thing, my mind was on everything but wearing and making my own clothes. For me, I definitely changed my way of dressing during this time... what was practical a...

My last Scenes from Shanghai post was about the red colours , and it seems apt to keep my People's Colours going, and showcase yellow (as the nation's flag is red and yellow!) because there are great yellows around town and even more if you're a two year old who can spot the bright colours! You can probably gather by now that I'm taking a LOT of photographs of our time here, and talking to a few people recently about our time here, I have started to really think that what I create here (through the blog and sewing) will be just such a brilliant archive and a storybook of our lives. I forget that I've done this here, and I forget that I've blogged for so long without really see that in 20 years I can (hopefully) look back on all this ... I forget that this is a web-log. This whole internet thing just comes so naturally to everyone these days, it's such an extension of our lives. Anyways, hope you enjoy a brightness from this collection of photies this week......

Yippee, I've sprung into action and joined in with the Spring for Cotton Group Sewing Challenge this month. It's my first time in the same climate, northern hemisphere for one of Rochelle at Lucky Lucille's sewalong. When I lived in Australia, I felt at odds sewing for the opposite seasons, I was all spring for the Sew Weekly , while everyone up north did the fall colour palates! NOW I'm in Shanghai, I'm all for it! I'm enjoying the blossoms and the newness and really can see it's a beautiful season and there's such an awakening that's so different from Melbourne's spring. Just everything is really coming alive. So the Spring for Cotton group challenge is about sewing a vintage pattern paired with cotton fabric, and I'd stumbled upon a huge collection of cotton at the Fabric Market so chose this wallpaper-like print because it looked a little art deco to me AND Shanghai has lots of art deco or 1930s influences around town. For a second, I ...