The denim brumby

Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou FrouCardigan: Princess Highway

Blouse: Love to Love You

Skirt: DIY Brumby skirt

Shoes: Naturaliser

While I was at the A+ Markets I was lucky enough to meet Laura, a reader and fellow sewist who I know peripherally through a mutual friend, Hellen. Laura was wearing this magnificent skirt, with big, deep, wonderful pockets. She told me that she’d made it herself (damn) from a pattern that I knew from experience didn’t go up to my size (double damn) but that if I wanted she could send me a copy, graded-up to fit a wider waist (hurrah! and double hurrah!)

Grading patterns is still well beyond my skill-set, so I can’t properly express how thankful (and impressed!) I was when an impeccably marked-up set of paper pattern pieces for Megan Nielsen’s Brumby skirt arrived in my letterbox.

I got myself to a fabric shop quick smart, and picked up some lightweight denim so I could give the pattern a whirl. It’s a lovely and fairly simple skirt with deep scooped pockets, a wide curved waistband, and soft gathers that fall in fullness from the hips.

Frocks and Frou FrouThe pattern is fairly straightforward, though I managed to attach the waistband upside down the first time (apparently nearly everyone does). The curved waistband is divine, and I don’t know if it was Laura’s mad sewing skillz, or the weight of the denim fabric, but I wore the skirt all day today, and didn’t have to wriggle it down from under my boobs once. Good stuff.

I’m already keen to make it again – I think in a softer fabric – and I thought I’d experiment with the gathering and maybe try piping for the first time to really make those pockets sing. Today I teamed it with my old confetti blouse and a short sleeved mustard cardigan

To keep the cardigan in place I employed a set of daisy sweater clips that I bought a few years ago from Etsy.

Frocks and Frou FrouMy thanks again to Laura for providing me with this pattern – I’m in your debt!

Take Me to Your Reader

Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou FrouDress: DIY Colette Patterns Myrtle

Cardigan: Princess Highway

Shoes: Naturaliser

 A huge week followed by a busy weekend, and I’m already hanging out for the upcoming long weekend!

Earlier last week the bookshop that I work for won a really big and exciting award. I feel enormously privileged to work with such an amazing team (and it doesn’t hurt that I am totally loving my job). The response from the local community has been just wonderfully heartwarming, and it just is making me feel all warm and fuzzy about books, bookstores, and the general future of the book industry.

Books are pretty nice though. I mean, I’ve spent twenty years in the industry and I still make grabby hands whenever I see anything book-or-reading related. Hence the dress!

A couple of months ago Spoonflower was having a sale on their modern jersey and I bought a few yards of cat fabric, which I used for my black cat dress, and also a few yards of this book fabric. Because BOOKS.

Frocks and Frou FrouI used the fabric to make (yet another) Myrtle dress, as the soft jersey fabric works really well with the draped cowl neckline.

It was unseasonably warm in Melbourne today, but it’s still autumn so I added a little cropped cardigan from Princess Highway. I was a bit concerned that the combination of boobs + draped neckline + cardigan would just = too much going on on top, but I think it works OK.