deondergangvanmijnouders

Happy Friday (evening for me) guys! Hope you've had a great week! Did you know that Palazzo Pants are described (on Wikipedia!) as "extremely wide leg that flares out from the waist”, and with a Shanghai summer creeping on the horizon, I decided to give a pair a go … but I think these really are mini palazzo as they’re not ‘extremely wide’ of the leg and are all kinds of petite… and even a bit too petite for this petite babe/dickhead who writes you this blog right now! They may not be now, but they were striving to be Palazzos! As 150cm/4 foot 11 tall, I’m firmly not on Team Culottes… I made a pair once in my early sewing days (before blogging!) and I suddenly became 2 foot tall and could never be taken seriously ever again. So I think I’m a Palazzo fan because I remember fondly the two crazy pairs I had as a teenager in the 90s, they were floaty loveliness with my heeled boat shoes and my Reality Bites Winona Haircut. Anyways, the fabric first came to be at my local fabric s...

No matter how hard I try to take care sewing my clothes, for now, I’m just sewing like the blazers when it comes to children’s clothing… well for my two year old at least. So today, for you who look for shortcuts, have a squizz at my lazy way to make children’s clothes! I don’t usually do tutorials, or plan on doing them, but it’s nice sometimes to share how easy things are as well. There are usually so many resources online, and rather than compile my own how to do shit here, I usually pin my favourites, on the pinterest… so follow there if you are keen for sewing techniques that are a little more refined than this blog post! These toddler trousers are upcycled from my Husband’s uniqlo t-shirt that was a lovely thick stretch knit that fitted snug and then after a few wears was too snug for him to be comfortable. For the pattern, I used Felix’s old trousers, a pair of stretch knit floppy harem or low crotch style toddler pants… call them whatever… they are just great little trousers ...

Happy Friday! Hooray! I was due to publish this yesterday, but the internet in China is unpredictable so SOMETIMES you have to throw your computer out the window and talk to your family! I KNOW. I'm also testing out flickr photo embed-ing so let me know if anything is off with the photos on your browser... I'm doing half blogger upload and half flickr today. OK, tech talk over and now it's my Neon Fern dress (I was close to calling this post 'Between Two Neon Ferns' because that show doesn't get old. Or does it? I actually haven't watched for a while!). Last month I told you about the sewing school I go to, Couture Nomad, sharing their Manado Dress pattern for free for a little competition... and here's my take on the Urban Jungle (Catherine's newest pattern collection) theme. This pattern was part of my first atelier/workshop program with the school, so I paid for it, and I made it for sewing school , with reasonable success. But I am working here...

In the sewing blogging community, Me-Made-May is a thing and came about in 2010 (really? Where does the time go) via the refashioning fairy godmother Zoe at her blog So Zo, What Do You Know ? This was my first year documenting what I wore for this particular month, because really it's a great way to wear what you make, instead of just make and sew and create and not have the day to day wear out of the clothing. The last time I followed the 'Photo Everyday, Handmade Everyday' like this was for Self Stitched September in 2011 (and also in 2010) because I am fickle and don't really like the 'me-made' grammar as I like writing how I talk, and I never say 'Me-Made' (it's also spring in September and a better month for documenting clothing/taking photos in my opinion)... but this year, I decided to get over myself and get my selfie stick (NOT) out for a bit of handmade celebration! To prepare I made a couple of tshirts, one a refashion, but that's abo...

Hi there and happy weekend! It's our last few days with my folks visiting from Australia, so we'll be out and about in Shanghai seeing a few more sights! Today for you in my collection of Scenes from Shanghai blog posts, I've found all the green colours this year (Chinese New Year fireworks right by our 18th floor apartment!) for you! I've really loved collecting the colours of Shanghai together for you, it helps me get a sense of order in a choatic city... but also pleased my virgo-esque neatness... you can see my other colour collections here: Red Blue Pinks & Purples Yellow Hope you have something lovely planned for your weekend, talk soon. xoxo

Hi again! I've got a few more Sewing School Scoops for you before school HOLIDAYS (a lot of the Sewing Teachers will be in France and out of Shanghai for the summer, so we'll take a break! SAD)! If you're new to my blog (thanks for reading), I've been sewing for a while, blogging for a while but have only *just* started learning about sewing & the techniques at a wonderful sewing school here in Shanghai. My teachers are French expat women, and run through Couture Nomad , where Teacher Catherine has created her own patterns for us to sew through the ateliers/workshops. In my class there are two Spanish speaking women, and the rest French... and myself - little old Australian/English speaking me - so you can imagine the chitter chatter going! MOSTLY in French, but I get lots of translated jokes handed down so it's just the best learning to sew... in Shanghai... and trying to understand French & Spanish at the same time! For my scoop this week, here are a bunch...

Hello from Fuxing Xi Lu! It's springtime in Shanghai! And today here's a 'no pattern' outfit... a gathered gingham skirt with a linen hem... with a floppy blousie thing. A knit tshirt tucked in... sounds more posh as a blouse. I'm in the Former French Concession in these photographs, so it's totally a blouse. A few weeks ago, I made some gingham trousers for my little boy, as part of my Sewing School... and since I'm buying 2 metres (liang mi in Chinese) of fabric these days (is that how much you buy? A bit different from op shopping - I would usually just buy everything at the op shop/thrift store)... I had some left over. Childrenswear doesn't take up much fabric, of course, so there was enough for a gathered skirt of some kind, so I fiddled around for a while finding the right kind of shaped rectangle (the skirt) and making sure I had a waistband as well... and then during all my fiddling and folding and checking I found the green linen remna...