Sunday's Efforts and How To Use Old Drainiage Pipes Most Effectively

Planting our first apple tree. One of 8 to go along the arbour. This one is Cox's Orange Pippin.

This came to him as an obvious solution. Ag pipe, cut into lengths and picked up free via Gumtree, concreted in place and then filled with concrete and water pipe shoved down the middle. It's to hold the wood off the ground to avoid rotting. We're using the Chinese Sapphire (Polonia) wood from Dad's tree, which we  have been coppicing. The wood is quite dark. After we stripped the bark off our hands were stained purplish for a week, and the wood white... but when we went to check the wood under Dad's house, it had gone dark.

August Garden Update and How Clever The One True Is.

Today we are putting in the rest of the bits for the arbour posts. I'll show you later, better go now.
Oh, and can you see where I've stuffed moss into the crevices of the waslls (a few weeks back) and it's all taken and grown. Looks instantly old. Some of the fruit trees are visible here. Bye x

Yesterday I went to Berwick market (in Victoria, Australia) and discovered the most gorgeous jewellery stall there! It's all made using vintage hewellery and bits and bobs, by a lovely lady who's name I did not get. Sorry! But I did go back and get her card. You can find her here at madeit. The pictures don't do justice to the reality.
It's really just the mood I want at the moment. Old fashioned, Daggy in a funky kind of a way... Colourful without being bright... and looks lovely with my lovely new jacket, which, by the way, is so comfortable and sturdy and solid. I love wearing it, even if when I get a geek at myself in a shop window (something I try to avoid) my bum is so huge as to be demoralising. Not the jackets fault and hopefully I'll be starting gym soon. But, I will henceforth always reinforce the panels of a jacket with interfacing and I will employ pad-stitching.
I read yesterday that the style has been referred to as Librarian Chic.

My New Jacket That Wasn't Meant To Be At All Like The Old Jacket, But Is.

Not quite finished. I've had to change the back pleat because it sat badly over my lusciously ample bottom. I'll show you the back when it's done. Every panel is interfaced. The front and collar pieces are with horse-hair for solidity.
It's a proper, solid, warm jacket. Way more curvy on than on the hanger. The pattern is a mixture with a bit of fudging as well. I'm over raglan jackets for now though. Two is enough.



Breast pocket




Pad stitching on under collar.




This lining could not be more perfect. It's silk and all. From Vic Market in Melbourne.




I quilted the sleeve lining, using an iron-on vellum. The reason being that I decided to interface all of the pieces, but had already made up the sleeve pockets. So this seemed a good solution. I had an amazing German, leather coat which had quilted lining in the sleeves so...




The cuffs are quite long. Don't tell me you're not impressed with the bound buttonholes! And self-covered buttons to boot! It was going to be very busy if I wasn't careful. Loads of pockets and buttons. It had to be and I admit to Nerd-dom when it comes to fussing with detail. I used Buttonmania to do the buttons, in the darling favourite Nicholas Building in Swanson Street Melbourne.



Look at that shot lining! It's Gorgeous!

There's more to show. An inside ticket-slash-secret pocket... also secret sleeve pockets with LUVVERLY linings... and the back almost resplendant with band and pleat. Gotta figure out how to sew the lining down to the pleat area, but I'm hoping it will reveal itself when I get there (and posting this is stopping me).
The fabric was a steal from the now defunct Job Warehouse in Bourke Street. R.I.P. you old buggers! Thanks for the memories!

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More of the One True's amazing rock work.

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Hubby's painting and my lace. Peek of a gorgeous green vase my Grandma lay-byed in the 50's.

 A few of my favourite things: Damian Meehan Little Man in a Box, Mum's Weight Lifter doll, Boxes by Katherine Hepburn lookalike (sorry, I've forgotten your name), vintage millinary flowers from the family inheritance (i.e. from Mum via Grandma via her Mum Nanna), Op-Shop grave ornament ceramic flower, embossing stamps from Paris and old old doiley's from goodness knows where.

Deborah Klein Linocut Print. Bought with a gift from Jean Goldberg, given for that purpose.

Sneak Peek

I've been working on a few new designs. I do spend a lot of time with tracing paper these days, trying it this way... trying it that way... Something I never used to do and how silly was that? This is a new Japanese silk available at l'uccello. I dampen it as I go along with a moist cloth rather than running it past my dampened lips after imagining the amount of accumulated spit. Eew!).It's very fine and, as with rayons, wetting it a bit makes it 100% more managable. 200%.

Oh, and go check out the new class dates!

I Just Never Get To The Camera

 But I keep busy... Claire's Birthday Pants Man. Finished at last! I was pretty happy with it and so was she! xoxoxox My little girl all grown up...

Trousers in Ceylon stitch.