Tuesday, August 21, 2012

twisted top

Hello, dear!

Let's start with the picture below today. This is one of the pictures which I asked my husband to take for the purpose of recording my outfit, outdoor, in a beautiful garden, some days ago. You know what. I think I am so tiny in the picture...
(The reason why the picture itself is tiny here is my intention, not my husband's, by the way.)
I'm guessing almost none of us can see my smile in it.

Yes, he loves scenery and plant pictures but is not keen on portraits, as you probably suspect. sigh.



Okay.

I shall stop grieving at my tininess in the pictures now. Instead, I tell you that I sewed this strange top in an autumnal color, to celebrate my survival from the summer.
This is basically same as the one I made a year ago (its blog post is here), and this also is a copy of my Yoji Yamamoto's twisted woolen pullover. I used a linen lace knit fabric this time. I'm very happy with my new top.

I had to trim away the vast area of the picture to get it, of course.
At workplace, I got a few compliments on it from my colleagues. I think it was probably because the top was too twisted for them to keep silent about the swirl. They couldn't miss its weirdness. Because this Yoji's design is truly and positively urban style, I think that people felt some stylishness even in my copy version, too.

It's fun to wear very noticeable garments, now and then, isn't it.


Happy sewing to you all!!
 
Much love,
yoshimi

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

faking, refashioning, summer break costume, and blah blah blah.

Hello!
I have probably mentioned here that I rarely buy retailed clothes for me. I only supply socks, tights, and some kinds of underwear from the stores but that is all. If I feel like new clothes, I plan to make them. If I don't long for anything new for my closet, I'd stay sitting like the humongous rock of a deserted mountain. My sewing is based on my real life. But at the same time, expectedly, when I seek something for fun, I play using my skill(=sewing) too!

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top:
 refashioned, pattern from pumila paper patterns, "lady's basic T-shirt"
pants:
 cotton stretch twill, pattern from Tamanegi-kobo, "Evan"
 heavily modified, shortened much.
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 I like Jodhpur-style pants very much and I sewed a new pair recently. In case you wonder, I tell you that I don't do horse riding, nor any healthy sporty kind of activities on the earth at all, because I'm an indoor nerd. But I love Jodhpurs and think they're really cool, fashionwise. I remember that Balenciaga's coolest Jodhpurs in fall 2007 stole my heart and ever since I couldn't stop wanting my own wearable pairs of that kind. Since then, I periodically sew another new pair. You can see two of them here(this pair is almost identical to the new one to your eyes, I know!) and here too. All my versions are genuine fake and somehow look funny because they're plain 3-tuck pants with narrowed lower half without clever calculation, though, I love them so much. I guess I'm rather enjoying them including their imperfections. I mean, those imperfect pairs suit me in a good way. I like to be influenced by the trend in fashion, but I also like to pretend that I'm not a typical fashion victim (which is a lie) too. I think that sewing helps me to introduce fashionable elements into my outfit in a good and subtle way, a lot, because my technical issues naturally lead to the point of happy medium. I really hope you know what I mean!

By the way, in the picture above, I'm wearing a T-shirt that I refashioned using my DD's old Zara top. She wore it often in the last autumn, but she said it was no longer loved at all at the end of the season. Although the top looked pretty tired, I refashioned it into T-shirt in my size, as the sequin decorated gigantic butterfly seemed intact and pretty. I ripped all seams except the neckline carefully and assembled it to a basic cute T-shirt. I prefer the result very much! yeah... home sewing is powerful, isn't it.
before refashioning
Now let's return to the main subject(if there is any), my husband and I had a short summer break and visited Karuizawa which is one of the most famous posh resorts in Japan while our DD was away for attending a summer school in Boston. We visited there to see a good friend of mine and her husband. We stayed with them and had a happy time! Of course, before going there, I wanted to prepare some new outfit for making the trip even more exciting. I dyed a white linen gauze in very pale blue and sewed it to make a peplum blouse for the special occasion. I paired the blouse with my thai style white pants, and tried to dress like a tourist-ish tourist as much as possible with all my might to entertain my companions. My husband was amused pretty much by my outfit and made fun of me saying that I looked like a Jedi knight, and it was more than OK by me. Who can be safer than being accompanied with a Jedi knight? He needed me to travel with! I know he likes me in that way too.

Sewing is a wonderful ingredient of my life!

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top:
 line gauze, pattern from Tamanegi-kobo, "Zirconia"
 omitted front opening, applied side fastener, etc.
pants:
 polyester/cotton stretch, pattern from Tamanegi-kobo, "Emerald"
 shortened much.
=====


I hope you're having fun too!

May the force be with you,
yohimi