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A while ago I posted about my favourite jacket pattern and mentioned that there would be an addition to this family very soon. Well, I'm proud to announce that, many fitting and styling dilemmas later, this purple piece is finally finished. I don't know why I had so many issues with it, I put it down to 1. attempting two new elements in the one garment and 2. sheer laziness.
Allow me to explain...The fabric for this jacket came from the Salvos - I actually bought it for the girls in my sewing class to use but they never chose it for any of their projects and as it seemed like a good wool (or wool-ish) fabric I didn't want to let it go, even though I only paid $3 or so for it. I salvaged it and spent a while ruminating on how to make it different from the other jackets I've already made in this pattern.
I was searching for scraps of leather for another project (which will be revealed at a later date) and hit the jackpot at my local market where a leather jacket stall sells quite sizeable offcuts for about $2 each. Originally I'd thought about making black leather accents for this jacket but found big scraps of eggplant-coloured leather instead (apparently black offcuts are never as generous in size as coloured offcuts as black leather is so much more in demand that even little bits get used).
Anyway after much deliberation I finally started hacking into the leather to make fringing which I ended up sewing into the shoulder seams (they are on an angle so I had to take that into account when thinking how the fringing would hang.) 
I also decided to make the neckline in a leather trim but had to think for a very long time about whether I wanted the front placket in leather or just the collar line... this explains the "attempting two new elements in the one garment" thing as I've never sewn with leather and never added anything into the shoulder seams (originally I wanted to do piping in a kimono trim but none of my stock seemed quite right). Surprisingly leather can be sewn on a normal sewing machine, although whether it's really advisable to sew it with a normal needle and thread I cannot say (I did, but I'm sure there are fancy-pants needles and threads just for leather for those of you who like to make a bit more of an effort).
So where does the "laziness" come into it, considering that this jacket took me, for lack of a quantifiable description, ABSOLUTELY YONKS? Well, I decided I wanted to whip this one up quickly and couldn't be bothered doing a lining. Now that is lazy, and it came back to bite me, as this jacket really did not sit very well across the shoulders or bust, namely because I don't exactly have an abundance of either, but also because the material probably needed some support. You know, the sort of support that comes from LINING.
Anyway, about a zillion fittings and TWO SETS OF SHOULDERPADS layered one on top of the other on each side later (I had to cut them so they would fit at the right angle and not stick out past the collar), I was finished. Sort of. But then I got distracted by how I was going to actually fasten the two front sides together. I didn't want any buttons because, firstly, there's already a fair bit going on with the fringing at the back, but also because I'm not exactly fond of using the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine. So somehow I had to make it fasten invisibly. I considered magnets and even bought the sort that are used for closing handbags, but once they are concealed under a layer of fabric (as per my plan for making the fastening invisible) the magnetism (? force?? attraction??) becomes too weak, so it was back to the drawing board and I ended up going with large press studs. Now if I had just made that decision from the start this jacket would most likely have been finished weeks ago. 
In sticking with the laziness theme, please note I was too lazy to put on makeup, think of a full outfit to go with the jacket, or pick my way through the mud in my backyard looking for somewhere to take photos where the light actually made it possible to do so when I took these shots.
I know I've been posting a lot about Melbourne stuff lately, but it's not my fault when there's so much to do thanks to the State of Design festival! This weekend I forced my friends to get up bright and early to beat the queues for Melbourne Open House which is a genius idea that lets the hoi polloi discover some of the city's buildings that are not always accessible to the public. A few years ago when I was in London my friends and I had a fabulous time at the Open London weekend* - exploring tunnels in the Underground, stumbling on a film studio and archive where we got to see costumes worn in Pride and Prejudice and visiting a morgue along the banks of the Thames where autopsies were carried out on bodies that had washed up from the river (which was dead interesting of course) - all for free and all within about a kilometre of my friends' flat. While we did not find any morgues this weekend (not that we were really looking for one), we still managed to enjoy ourselves by checking out some of the rooftop gardens in this lovely city of ours (with 60 buildings open, we needed a plan of attack, and as I'm into all things green I persuaded my friends that we should focus on this category). 
Our first stop was the rooftop garden at Origin (an energy company) which is at 271 Collins St. Disappointingly, all the green stuff you see is actually fake turf, but after more than a decade of drought and with weight of soil etc having to be taken into consideration when planning rooftop gardens, that was probably to be expected. Still not a bad place for employees to be able to hang out and eat lunch!
Next up was 131 Queen St, which is home to several offices including a language school and the tea rooms and art gallery of the Buddhist temple which, coincidentally, my dad belongs to. Interestingly, the building used to belong to the Victoria Club which had something to do with racing (hence the horse motifs decorating the inside of the building), and was the site of a massive robbery in the 70s - as far as I could gather from what we were told, some naughty people rented offices next to the Victoria Club and when there was a lot of money being stored there (after the Melbourne Cup racing carnival?) they went in and stole it, and basically hid out in their offices next door until things had quietened down before escaping. Not sure why the police did not think to check the offices, but it makes for a good story!
Anyway, the rooftop gardens on this building were only opened two weeks ago so I was curious to see them, especially as they are also growing veggies and herbs that can be used by the Buddhist tea rooms - well, that's what I'd read, but how many Chinese dishes have you eaten that have rosemary, sage or Italian parsley in them?? Not many, I'd guess (although admittedly perhaps chilli would be used?). Strangely, that was what was planted in the little veggie bed, and there were also escapeliered olive trees lining the fences (olives also not exactly forming a staple of the Buddhist diet). I'm wondering if the gardeners actually consulted the cooks at the temple on what to plant or just went on their own merry way.
Apart from the inappropriate edible plants, I found the floor made of ground glass interesting - rain can soak through it so water can be harvested, plus it looks good and is nice and shiny on a sunny day. And we like shiny things.
(speaking of which, those familiar with it may be able to pick out the Eureka Tower in the background of this pic below. And those familiar with my blog may be able to pick out the boots I scored for $16.99. Oh, also, this rooftop can be hired out for functions!).
Last stop on the roof gardens tour was the Pixel Building which is not open yet but will soon be the office and showcase for the Grocon construction group. 
It's got amazing green credentials like wind turbines and solar panels on the roof, a special cooling/heating system that uses no energy but does something magical with the air (my term, not theirs, but I'm not an engineer so I can't remember exactly how it works) and there's also plans to use methane gas captured from waste to power the hot water system. Amazing stuff... and aren't the colourful metal flags outside pretty?
We also checked out the Melbourne City Baths but no pictures were allowed (I know I wouldn't want photos taken of me when I'm swimming, as glamorous as I look in my fetching Speedos, goggles and pink bonnet de bain). I took a few at Donkey Wheel House, which is home to various not-for-profit groups including Kinfolk and is such an old building it even has a ballroom (in desperate need of repair). Aah, to have lived in an era when it was quite normal to go to a ball... although I can't dance in this life, so there's no guarantee I would have been able to even as a Victorian lady, especially if I'd had to wear a corset. But I digress. (Which is highly unusual for me, I'm sure you'd agree). 
This terrarium is from one of the gallery displays at Donkey Wheel House and I just took the photo to remind myself that one day I want to make a terrarium, because, you know, they're like a little world inside a glass container, and that means I could be in charge of a whole world. I think I'll leave you with that happy thought.*Do any other cities have this kind of thing? I'd be interested to know!
I got a beautiful blogger award! Thanks Karin at Ancien Nouveau! Yes, people, the beautiful Karin is to blame for encouraging me to crap on even more than I do normally to let you know 10 things about me. Once more, with feeling, THANKS KARIN! (For those of you who actually have a life, LOG OUT NOW).
Random stuff about me.
1. I'm rather good at catching spiders. I use the old-school method of trapping them under a glass and then sliding a coaster or piece of cardboard underneath at great speed before I release them. Rather large Huntsmen are my spider of choice, so that's why I've prepared this picture for you of a baby one that visited me the other night. For my overseas visitors, Huntsmen are not dangerous, they just look that way, and they can also sometimes give you a nasty nip if you happen to disturb them (as my dad found out when he put his foot into a shoe where one was hiding).
2. Chickens scare me. They're all beaks and beady eyes and scary clucky noises. If I had a choice of being stuck in a room full of chickens or a room full of Huntsmen, I'm 99.9% sure I would go for the Huntsmen. And don't even get me started about turkeys. They're so yuk even the thought of searching for a picture of one makes me shudder.
3. I have a grey streak but it's not from impending old age. It was blonde when I was born and now it's grey.
4. Not only do I have a grey streak but two years ago I had both my bunions operated on and now I have little pins in my big toe joints. My doctor said it was not necessarily because I'd worn inappropriate footwear, but he then proceeded to tell me that high heels were the devil's work. Now I've had the operation so I can completely ignore him.
5. To build on my grey streak and bunion operation... I also LOVE Agatha Christie films like the Poirot series with David Suchet - amazing locations, set interiors and costumes. Best enjoyed with some lovely Earl Grey tea. Aggh, there's a 70 year old in me just struggling to get out.
6. Five years ago I couldn't swim unless you count dog paddle as a stroke. I took swimming lessons with a colleague in Tokyo and now I can swim more than 30 laps of a 50 metre pool freestyle, I do 10 laps in about 12 minutes, so I'm never going to win the Olympics, but meh, it's something I'm quite proud of.
7. I am hopeless at throwing things out. Sometimes because things can still be used (like bits of ribbon, wrapping paper, jackets I made as trial patterns, etc) and sometimes just because of nostalgia (my school calendar from 1984, letters from back in the day when people actually used pen and paper to communicate, my old cat's baby tooth, a skirt I used to wear in kinder - and can still squeeze into now - etc). I'm also not opposed to picking stuff up that other people throw out. Check out this teacup I found on my neighbour's rubbish in Japan - it looks like a normal cup until you hold it up to the light, and the base reveals a woman's face. How cool is that???
8. I don't drink (except for the extremely occasional cocktail). It's not for any religious or self-righteous reason, I just don't like the taste of most grown-up beverages and alcohol doesn't make me fun, it just makes me feel like I have low blood pressure, which, last time I checked, was hardly a sought-after attribute for a party animal.
I used to love beer when I was little (I woke up in the middle of the night yelling out for beer once when I was 2, and used to demand it when my parents took me to restaurants, much to the waitresses' surprise, no doubt) but I grew out of that phase long ago!
9. I ran 12km today, although I admit that I took a catnap in the middle. For the uninitiated, a catnap during a run is not sleeping, it's when you come across one of your feline friends and stop to say hello and rub their bellies and consider kidnapping them because they're so cute. But don't let Suki know that I do this!!
10. I'm really enjoying this blogging biz, even though I've only been doing it since the start of the year and don't know how to put impressive flashy gizmos up to make Style Wilderness a bit more civilised. It's so nice to have the chance to meet all you lovely people and see what you get up to, and share (what I hope are) the more interesting aspects of my life with you!
And now comes the bit where I tag five of you and you have to tell us about yourselves (10 things) and then tag five other bloggers who you think are Beautiful Bloggers.
So I am trying to nominate people who have made comments and have their own blog, and who I don't think have done one of these tagging things before... although I may of course be mistaken. That has been known to happen VERY occasionally.
Anyway.
Kirsten at Sorting Stamps
Nina Saiful at Classique Cherie
Ollie at The Life and Times of Ollie Crafoord
Kylie at One Red Fox
.. and for something different, a boy!! Adam at All About Shoes who I think will be rather interesting as he is not only a boy but blogs in English when he is actually Polish (I think? Please correct me if I'm wrong, Adam?)
I doubt that these people obsessively check my blog so I'll go and ask them to do this tagging thingo .. but it's now nearly midnight and I should go to bed! Thanks for reading... I've probably managed to send you to sleep too!!
Aah Melbourne. It's mid-winter but feels like spring. At least it did this morning when I made the decision to wear open-toed shoes and black fake-fur legwarmers.* Had I known it was later going to pour with rain, I just may have chosen more sensible footwear. But Melbourne likes to keep its inhabitants on their toes, so to speak. In this case, on their wet toes. I ventured soggily into the city to attend the So Ethic shop launch, having been invited as part of the Moral Fairground team but also being informed about it through my connections at Peppermint. So Ethic and its neighbours on Rebecca Walk (along the Yarra, corner of Flinders and King streets) are apparently going to form part of an eco-precinct full of stores selling ethical/sustainable/recycled wares, which will be pretty exciting! I took a few snaps at the store which stocks clothing, footwear, accessories and beauty products, but my favourite label was Samant Chauhan 
whose designs were all in black and with amazing details, which unfortunately do not really show up very well in the photos, so you'll have to go and have a look for yourselves. Following from my chance meeting on Thursday with Poppy Kat, I bumped into Green Chick, another blogger with eco-interests who has visited Style Wilderness a few times and was featured in the latest issue of Peppermint. It's so nice to meet people who up until now I've only had cyber-contact with!
*Years ago I bought a large quantity (like, 9 metres) of black fake fur as I had made a black fake fur jacket as part of my collection. I only got an order for one jacket so I had to use up the rest of the material somehow... these legwarmers/fake boots were part of that attempt. Have you ever sewed with fake fur? It's like REAL cat fur... it gets into EVERYTHING. Cup of tea with fake fur, anyone?I made the dress I'm wearing out of silk that a friend gave me, and (not that you can really see them very well) my shoes and coat are from an op shop - of course! 
What did you get up to today? I had a very lovely day out and I have the pictures to prove it!
One of the somewhat questionable benefits of being underemployed is that I can gad about during the week when other people are out there actually earning money.
I fully exploited this by spending 12 hours in the big smoke and am now exhausted, and you probably will be too once you finish reading this post, but I saw some exciting stuff so I wanted to get it out there before I forgot about it. My day started at the Royal Exhibition Building* which is hosting Design Made Trade as part of the State of Design festival. The lovely Pip from Meet Me at Mikes was speaking at a blogger breakfast with Lucy from The Design Files so a bevy of bloggers got to sit around and eat muffins and drink tea and coffee out of portable (ie sustainable) coffee cups from hookTurn (that we got to keep! bonus!) while we listened to their thoughts about blogging. 
A lovely looking lady in great jewellery and an impressive shaggy vest was sitting in front of me and after the talk she said "You're Fourth Daughter, aren't you?" and it turned out to be Poppy Kat who has made the trek to Style Wilderness a few times (and I've visited her blog too!). It was great to put a face to a name and we had a lovely chat about blogging and op shopping, and, you know, other important things in life. As if that was not exciting enough, we were also allowed to explore the Design Made Trade stalls where there was so much creative stuff going on that I'm not really sure where to begin - so much great design in interior decoration, accessories, furniture, crafty stuff... I had to limit myself or my camera would have had a seizure, so I'm only showcasing three accessory brands here. 
Being crap at this technical biz, I can't label each set of photos, but the black acrylic jewellery with the orange or purple nebula print is by Drown. How cool are the earrings, as you may have guessed by now, I am quite partial to massive earrings so these ones definitely get my tick of approval.
These next ones are by a brand called Gretchen Hillhouse Design, unfortunately I did not get to speak to the actual designer but they mainly seemed to be moulded porcelain or resin. 
My favourites were these from a brand called A Farmers Daughter (and no, not just because our brand names sound so similar!). They are all made from things like old tins, napkin rings, chains, records, and the sort of thing you find in op shops, but put together very creatively and some of them also have a bit of an ethnic vibe or some fringing going on. 
And you can never have too much fringing.
After all this amazingness I went to have lunch with a friend, then saw the European Masters exhibition at the NGV (is it just me or does Goethe look like he's wearing a Snuggie??), shopped, revived myself with a hot chocolate and yo-yo biscuit, then met a friend for an exhibition opening and dinner. Then back at home I had to cut up about a billion tablets into 1/8 pieces and put thyroid cream on Suki's ear. Yes, it's a glamorous life I lead.
*I know this looks like I could be anywhere in Europe but notice the gum tree on the left of the pic .. and the Australian flag flying? Also, check out this statue that incorporates both the animals from the Australian coat of arms, the kangaroo and the emu... I'd never noticed it before! Sometimes it's fun being a tourist in your own city!
