Knitting up the ravelled sleeve of care

Orange crush

Sadie — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:22:29 +0000

I wish I liked this jacket more than I do. It’s a gorgeous colour, and the boiled wool is a nice compromise between smart and cosy, but I think the combination of the unstructured shoulders and the boxy fit everywhere else just makes it not quite work for me. An orange cardi would probably be better…

Jacket – East
Necklace – Oxfam Trading
Brooch – handmade
Dress – M&S via eBay
Vest – M&S
Boots – Duo

Midweek

Sadie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:29:57 +0000

I haven’t worn this top for a long time, but I wanted to wear the skirt and couldn’t think what else to wear it with. I think the top will be going in the charity shop/clothes swap bag, though, as it’s one of the few acrylic jumpers I have left and really isn’t terribly nice to wear.

Necklace – made by Helen
Boots – Duo
Everything else – M&S

The colour of cheerfulness

Sadie — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:35:05 +0000

It’s not terribly obvious from the photos, but today I continued my strategy of Wearing Cheerful Clothes by opting for a camisole and tights the exact shade of purple of a Dairy Milk wrapper.

Jacket – M&S
Brooch – Susan Sharpe on etsy
Necklace – made by Helen
Dress – East
Camisole and tights – M&S
Boots – Duo

Coming up roses

Sadie — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:44:38 +0000

This dress is my other Boden sale purchase. I love the print, it makes me feel like a vintage armchair, and the fit isn’t too bad although it does illustrate why I want to learn to do pattern adjustments; the fit is pretty good through the waist and hips (and the empire waist is a good position for me), but while the bust isn’t too bad it feels a little tight at the armholes, and there’s definitely too much fabric across the bust. Still, it’s not too bad and the roses were definitely cheering on a January Monday when I’ve spent all day feeling like I’m coming down with a cold.

Cardigan – clothes swap
Dress – Boden
Tights – M&S
Shoes – Shuropody

Sunday sewing

Sadie — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:41:56 +0000

Sunday afternoons, from about the middle of the Food Programme to the end of the Classic Serial, seem to have become my sewing times; T is generally watching rugby and I retreat upstairs to my craft room.

This afternoon I made a first muslin of the bodice of the Colette Pastille dress.

I cut a size 10 at the top of the bodice, based on my 38″ high bust measurement, and a size 14 at the waist (because my waist and hip measurements mean I definitely need the size 14 skirt), and then attempted a 1″ full bust adjustment.

It’s definitely an improvement on my Sorbetto attempts; the bust darts turned out pretty well (I ignored the original placing and redrew them level with the apex of my bust, following this tutorial) but I didn’t take account of the fact that this put the bust darts more or less level with the points of the waist darts, which I should have shortened. Having tried the muslin on, I think I should probably have actually cut a size 8 with a bigger bust adjustment, as I clearly didn’t add enough length in the centre front, and I think I also need to shorten the back so the back waist seam sits above the point where my bum begins. Also, next time I’m going to sew up the back (where the zip should go) and leave one of the side seams open as that will make it much easier to pin myself into it!

It’s definitely getting there, though it’s hard work and I’ve still got a long way to go. Of course, part of the problem is that until I started thinking about how to make things fit properly and took lots of measurements I was convinced I was top-heavy with narrowish hips and not much in the way of curves apart from my chest, whereas in fact my waist and hips are a good two sizes bigger than my top half would be with the ‘standard’ B/C cup and the only reason I have to buy tops the same size as skirts (or even slightly bigger) is because I’m so very definitely not a standard B/C cup. And of course, fitting issues aren’t exactly helped by the fact that I’m a completely different shape to my mental image of myself!

Shocking pink

Sadie — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:54:06 +0000

After resisting for several weeks I finally succumbed to the Boden sale last week and ordered two dresses. This one arrived on Wednesday, and although it’s a bit shorter than I expected it to be I’m very pleased with it. And as today I had to give a ’60 second update’ on my team’s work at our monthly staff meeting, I thought that maybe a dress with a shocking pink print and shocking pink tights would serve to distract people from the possibility that I was talking complete twaddle.

Necklace – made by Helen
Cardigan – handed down by friend
Dress – Boden
Tights – M&S
Boots – Gabor

I don’t think I talked complete twaddle, but someone did say to me afterwards that she couldn’t take her eyes off my dress, so I think the distraction strategy worked!

Flapperesque

Sadie — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:18:14 +0000

We went to see The Artist last night (fantastic film, I can’t recommend it highly enough; funny, touching, beautiful and with some stunning hats and frocks, to say nothing of the adorable little dog) and I think I still had it in my mind this morning when I was getting dressed, because I was going to wear boots but then decided, on a whim, to wear my purple patent t-bar shoes because I thought their effect with the short dress was a little bit Twenties.

Necklace – made by Helen
Jacket – Jigsaw
Dress – charity shop
Vest top and tights – M&S
Shoes – Clarks

The shoes continue to be, basically, the wrong shape for my feet, but they are lovely. Someone even stopped me as I was heading out at lunchtime to ask where they were from, and was very disappointed when I said they were a couple of years old!

Take two

Sadie — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:07:10 +0000

My office tends to be coolish in the morning, but has recently been getting very warm in the afternoons. This means that while the kind of layering that was needed in my old office is never appropriate, it’s generally a good thing to be able to adjust my outfit to take temperature variations into account.

In the morning, I was wearing this.

Shawl – Citron
Cardigan – clothes swap
Dress – East
Tights – M&S
Boots – Gabor

By the time I got back from lunch it was much too warm for the shawl, so I was glad the outfit worked just as well without it:

Necklace – East
Vest (under dress) – M&S

The necklace is one of a couple I picked up in the sale in East last week because I felt in need of something to brighten my outfits up when it’s too warm for a shawl or scarf. It’s quite heavy, but I do like it.

Also, I seem to be wearing cardigans a lot and am wondering whether I need more. Although I suspect I almost certainly don’t.

Oranges and Lemons

Sadie — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:59:26 +0000

Today I chose sunshiny orange and yellow as my attempt to beat the January blues. I’m not quite sure it managed that, though I liked the outfit; maybe there was too much grey mixed in.

Shawl – Aurantium
Shawl pin – Lantern Moon
Dress – People Tree
Cardigan – clothes swap
Tights – M&S
Boots – Gabor

Still, I now have Marvin the gargoyle living on my desk and guarding my teabags when he isn’t presiding over knitting group meetings!

Round, like a circle in a spiral

Sadie — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:55:28 +0000

My first finished knit of 2012 is the socks I cast on just before Christmas for bus and other out-and-about knitting.

The yarn is The Yarn Yard‘s Stanley, 100% British Falkland merino. I was originally going to knit plain stocking stitch socks to show off the speckled colours of the yarn, but when it came to it I decided I wanted a bit more interest and opted for a spiralling rib instead; simple enough to still show off the dyeing, but not quite so dull to knit!