Restyle Day 18

On the eighteenth day of the Restyle Challenge, we are having glorious, warm, 23C weather. We popped down to the river so Truffle could have a swim.

Outfit details:

• Jalie jacket, pattern 2795 - made by me using op-shopped fabric, $9.
• Trenery cropped pants - op-shopped a couple of weeks ago, $5.
• Camilla and Marc t-shirt - Dunsborough op shop, $4.
• Ipanema sandals, my own.

Watch out ducks! 

Restyle Day 17

Details of my outfit for Day 17 of the Restyle Challenge:

• Spicysugar black and grey cardi - op shopped a couple of years ago, approx $4.
• Black Bellabwear top - my own.
• Grey jeans - Jalie jeans made in a skinny, cargo style by me. More info here.
• Crocs shoes - my own.

Today when I snapped this photo, a man came running over to me. He was concerned that he had been included in my picture! I showed him this photo, in which you could see him as a speck in the distance (I've cropped him out now but you can see him below). He said that he was embarrassed about having his picture taken and would prefer not to be in the photo. I said I'd cut him out of it and he agreed to let me keep it, before hurrying off again. I wondered afterwards if perhaps he was wanted by the police or something. Have you seen this man stalking (and accidentally photobombing) fashion bloggers???

Restyle Day 16 - a top refashion

Here is a sneak peek of my latest refashion project - deliberately shadowy in this picture to pique your interest! I am quite excited about this. It is a designer knock-off made from two t-shirts.

I have just included this in my Restyle for today as my other items of clothing are not op-shopped, self-made or refashioned today. But this top makes up for it as you will see when I post the tutorial soon :)

Restyle Day 15

This is a very blurry photo today taken by my 9 year-old. Unfortunately, by the time I saw how blurry it was, it was too late to take another! Please excuse it and we'll pretend it's a special effect.

Details of Day 15 of the Restyle challenge:

• Jacket - made by me using Jalie pattern 2679, completely from op shop fabrics, $5.
• White t-shirt - op shop, $4.
• Jeans - bought from Tre Bliss warehouse, Perth, $10.
• Shoes - bought from Ozsale, $5.

Restyle Day 14

Day 14 of the Restyle challenge (nearly halfway - hooray!) and I'm wearing:

• Wayne Cooper trench coat - bought from ebay and worn many, many times ♥.
• Striped tunic top - op shop, $4.
• Ruched leggings - op shop, $4.
• Boots - bought from Airflex.

Restyle Day 13

The Day 13 Restyle challenge outfit consists of:

• Black Stylecorp zip-up cardi - op shop, $5.
• Black Bellabwear top - purchased from Ozsale.
• Red Trent Resort skirt - op shop, $4 then refashioned by me to reduce size.
• Leggings - Bought from Witchery
• Boots - bought from Airflex.

The designer label, red skirt is made from a lovely stretch cotton fabric. I couldn't resist buying it even though it was two sizes too big for me. I unpicked the hem at the sides, took in each side seam to fit me, then restitched the hem over the new side seams. Now it fits perfectly!

Restyle Day 12

It's a wet old Sunday, but I still managed to find a few op-shopped items to wear for Day 12 of the Restyle challenge.

• Kathmandhu goretex rain jacket - op shop last winter, $10.
• Grey Urbane t-shirt - op-shopped recently, $4.
• Black pants - made by me from a self-drafted pattern from fabric purchased in Bali.
• Boots - bought at the Hampton Court Flower Show when we lived near there in England.
• Umbrella - bought from Ikea.

Roll on warm weather so I can get out some of my spring and summer op shop treasures!

 

Restyle Day 11

Details for Day 11 of the Restyle challenge:

• Printed t-shirt - op-shopped a couple of weeks ago, $4.
• White Laura Ashley cardi - op-shopped a few months ago, $4.
• Esprit grey cargos - bought from Esprit factory outlet.
• Josef Seibel shoes - bought on ebay.

And, in other news, the major leak in the house is now fixed - huge destruction of the sewing room and $1000 later. I spent the morning cleaning up and the afternoon sewing something I'm a bit excited about. More on that later :)

Restyle Day 10 - a new/old top

I'm showing off my new/old top today - new because I've only just made it and old because it's made from op shop fabric, which cost all of $2! I will post a proper review of the top when I have time, but today we are in chaos after a day's worth of exploratory drilling by three plumbers to find a leak inside our wall. As I feared, it's in my sewing room :(

The good news is that, in the end, they didn't have to rip up the upstairs bathroom floor to find it, just the sewing room walls and ceiling. The bad news is that the walls of the sewing room are completely soaked inside with peeling paint and large holes everywhere. It will probably have to be completely stripped and replastered :(  :(  Still, at least they have found it, after saying it was the worst they'd seen for a long time, and it is now being repaired. The proof will come when we turn the water back on.

So, here I am sneaking outside for a quick couple of photos (and some lemons) while the plumbers left to get some parts! For Day 10 of the Restyle challenge, I'm in:

• Green asymmetrical camisole top - self-made from Op-shopped fabric, $2.
• White cami underneath - bought from Ozsale.
• Pastel jeans - bought from Temt factory outlet.
• Josef Seibel shoes - bought from ebay
• White Urbane jacket - bought from Myer.

Not much from the op-shop today, but I was a bit rushed this morning and had to throw on something quickly. At least the top was op-shopped and self-made! Stay tuned for more info on how I made it.

The big house clean-up now begins...

Restyle Day 9

Boo! Today for the Restyle challenge I am wearing:

• Rivers knit dress - op shop, $6.
• Sportsgirl ruched leggings - op shop, $3.
• Bellabwear long sleeved t-shirt - bought from Ozsale.
• Boots, bought from Airflex.
• Watch - op shop, $20.

It was a glorious winter day in Perth today and the trees were making beautiful shadow patterns on the grass. 

In other news, the DIY plumbing I was attempting yesterday turned out to be a much bigger problem that even I could not fix!! The plumber has been with the depressing news that we have a leak inside our wall and they are coming back in the morning to drill dirty great holes in our brickwork, possibly in the sewing room (shock, horror!), family room and bathroom wall tiles to try to find it. OMG, I can hardly bear to think about the chaos and destruction. Wish me luck.

'til tomorrow,

Restyle Day 8

A few more op-shopped and self-made items thrown together for Day 8 of the Restyle challenge:

Sass and Bide black skinny jeans - op shop, $6.
Beige pleated top - made by me using the StyleArc 'Milly' pattern, see more here.
Stylecorp black merino cardi - op shop, $5.
Deep aubergine scarf - op shop, $3.
Black boots, purchased from Airflex.

I took these pictures outside the hardware store before I nipped in to buy some plumbing supplies. I am now sitting damply, in the above outfit, at the computer having failed to completely stop the leak in the cistern tap. I began the DIY, wrench in hand, feeling so mighty. After the fourth attempt and being soaked by several furious, horizontal water jets, I'm saying 'bollocks' to DIY plumbing. I will conquer it though, I WILL!!

Restyle Day 7 and week 1 roundup

 Well, I'm one week into the Restyle challenge. Today I'm wearing my new jacket, made completely from op shop fabrics! The cost of the jacket was less than $5 for the fabric and $4 for the zip. Not bad for $9. It was made using Jalie pattern 2795 and you can read more about how I made it here.

Day 7 of the Restyle sees me wearing:

• Jalie jacket made by me out of fabrics from the op shop, $9.
• Laura Ashley pants - op shop purchase refashioned into slim-leg style by me, $5.
• Long sleeved t-shirt, Bellabwear - purchased from Ozsale.
• Canvas boots - purchased from Big W.

So here's my Week 1 roundup. Lots of DIY and refashions and plenty of op shop goodies...

Teal we meet again: Jalie jacket pattern 2795

I've bee sewing again. This time it's another Jalie jacket, pattern 2795. I have previously made a similar Jalie jacket using pattern 2679, but it was time to try this one as I've had the pattern for a while now and winter is early over.

The pattern has a hooded ad on-hooded version. I decided at the last minute to leave off the hood, even though I had it cut out and sewn together. I think I'd have put it on if my hair was shorter, but my hair just ends up covering the hood, which then creates a strange hunchback-like bump. Well, that's what it looked like to me as I peered round in the mirror at my pinned-on hood. So I left it off.

I was very happy with this pattern. I chose a size U, which was 3cm less than my measurement at the bust. The fit is just right.

As part of my Restyle challenge, where I try to wear op-shopped items every day in August, I chose fabric that had been purchased from the op shop. I've had both these fabrics for quite some time and I can't remember what they cost me, probably around $3 for a huge piece of the patterned fabric and $2 for the teal. Both are two-way stretch, t-shirt weight fabrics and, although the Jalie pattern is meant for thicker fabric, such as fleece, I like the practicality of a lighter jacket as we move towards spring. The pattern worked well in this fabric, although the collar is a bit floppy.

Although I had plenty of the patterned fabric to make this jacket, I thought this might be a bit much, so I broke the pattern up with the teal fabric. I was very pleased when I went through my stash and found how well these two went together. The main body of the jacket is patterned and the sides, undersides of the sleeves, collar, cuffs, waistband and pockets are plain. I'm really pleased how this turned out.

I've made several Jalie patterns now and, like the others, this one was clear and straightforward to make. There are a LOT of pattern pieces though and I found I'd forgotten to cut out a couple as they were labelled 'cut 2 on fold' and I'd only cut one set the first time around. Luckily I had enough leftover fabric. Using the patterned fabric was also a bit challenging, especially as it was quite stretchy. I was careful to cut the pieces out so the pattern matched, but I ended up inserting the zip three times before I was satisfied that the pattern lined up.

Overall I'm really pleased with this jacket. It is just warm enough to wear today (windy, 17C) with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath. The stretchy jersey fabric also means it's super comfortable. The pattern combination worked out well and I'm pleased that it's very one-of-a-kind.

This last picture shows some of the jacket detailing in the sleeves and pockets. I also added a scrap of teal fabric on to a small plumber's washer and attached it to the zip pull for a extra bit of detail.

A very enjoyable and successful project. Thanks for reading :)