Remix: Heart of Gold

DSCF0829_2 DSCF0826

 

Cardigan: Eugenie Cashmere – Remixed

Dress: Crossroads

Shoes: Yeswalker

It’s hot in Australia at the moment. WAY too hot for a wooly cardigan, but I did the trek out to my favourite cashmere shop Eugenie anyway, knowing that this is when they have ridiculously good savings on their beautiful cashmere basics.

I had my eye on the cropped crew-neck cardigan, which I’d seen on sale for $99 down from $199, because I had a special remix in mind.

Elbow patches.

I’d needle felted a set of heart appliques onto the elbows of cardigan previously, but I had in mind something a little more glamorous for the cashmere cardigan.

SEQUIN elbow patches.

I bought the cardigan in the cream, thinking it would be versatile, and would be perfect over florally frocks as the weather turned colder (it’s officially autumn…. it’ll happen eventually). DSCF0806

Pretty boring, huh? I didn’t love the grey buttons, so they were the first things to go. I dropped into Clegs and bought sparkly diamante buttons with which to replace them:

DSCF0809

Next up to choose my preferred appliqué fabric. I was tossing up between matte gold sequins and plain red fabric, so I put the choice out to Twitter. You guys came back with gold sequins, but when I went into the Clegs they had RED SEQUINS. Just like Dorothy’s ruby slippers. So I bought 20 cms of both. (Just covering my bases)

DSCF0836

Making the hearts is easy.

Fold a piece of paper in half, then cut half a heart shape on the fold:

DSCF0834

Voila! Heart template

DSCF0835

Lay your template down on the non-sequinned side of your fabric and pin it in place. Using sharp scissors (though probably not your best fabric scissors, the sequins will destroy the blades) cut around the heart, then repeat for the second heart.

DSCF0837

The sequinned fabric won’t fray, so you don’t need to finish the edges, but if you’re persnickety like me you can remove any half-sequins that you may have cut through by easing them out with tweezers, just so you don’t have any sharp edges.

At this point I put down both gold and red hearts to help me reach a decision. I thought the red looked AMAZING, but the gold was more understated and would be more versatile. So I played it safe and went the gold. It’s a cashmere cardigan…. I want to be able to wear it ALL the time!

DSCF0807

Put the cardigan on, then pin the hearts into place on the elbows.

DSCF0820_2

Take the cardigan off and compare the two sleeves to make sure the hearts are properly lined up, and straight against the seamsDSCF0810

OK! Now you’re ready to sew!

I did mine by hand, partly because I wasn’t quite sure how machine sewing sequinned fabric would work, partly because machine sewing long sleeves is annoying and fraught with danger, and partly because I thought hand-stitching would be easier to unpick should I decide again sequinned elbow patches some time in the future (as if!).

DSCF0824

I used a basic fell stitch to attach the heart, and always fed my needle through the centre of a sequin, so it’s pretty sturdily attached.

The finished product is a bit gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

DSCF0830_2

….. and I didn’t let those red hearts go to waste, either

DSCF0833_2

Green Machine


Dress: Crossroads

Shoes: Chie Mihara

This dress has weathered the storm of So. Many. Wardrobe. Culls.

No, seriously, look; Here it is waaaaay back in 2008 meagre months after I started Frocks and Frou Frou.

And here it is on Christmas Day 2006 (!) when the blog was but a twinkle in my eye.

My sister Mae is also wearing a dress made by Crossroads that season – They had a freak rush of really excellent summer dresses that year, and I think both Mae and I binge shopped there in the lead-up to Christmas. I don’t think they’ve had such a good range since then (guys, whoever your designer was in 2006…. you should have held on to them!)

I don’t have much in my wardrobe that dates back that far – I know it’s wasteful (though I do try to recycle my clothes where possible with remixes, or passing them on to other people through donations or selling them for future “neutral shopping”)

I’ve nearly retired this dress so many times, but it always makes its way back into my wardrobe. And every time we have a real scorcher of a day, I’m happy it has.

Thank Goodness for my two-part culling process.

I’m mindful of the statistic (real or not) that women wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time, and I have a lot of clothes not being worn, so I periodically pack away a chunk of my lesser-worn items, and if I don’t go fishing around in the box for them before the next Big Cull… out they go!

 I’ve fished for this so many times I think I need to start giving it a free pass.

How do you deal with an over-full wardrobe? Do you have any well-loved old pieces in your wardrobe that you rarely wear but can’t bear to get rid of?

navabi Curvy Blog Award 2012