Jemima and Geraldine wanted to know...

It's a rainy weekend here in Melbourne but I'm on a scavenger hunt as Miss Claire tagged me. Fortunately it's a virtual scavenger hunt or I would be soaked by now! Join me if you like!

Favourite YouTube vid: I can only very rarely watch YouTube as my internet speed is so slow (yes, am trying to change providers... aggh) but at a Fair Trade event the other night they screened this video so I thought I would put it up as a blatant attempt to promote Fair Trade products, seeing as I'm running the fashion show at Fair@Square! Don't worry, the video's not preachy, and there are lots of semi-naked uni students running around in it. What's not to like!?

Post a picture of something geeky: how about something Gleeky? I haven't even seen the first series of Glee, let alone the second, but what I have seen, I've loved!
(I'm talking about the musical arrangements and choreography, of course!)

Find a picture of something that makes you go awwwwwwwwwwww: well, regular readers would guess what's coming... a cat picture. But instead of Suki, here's a picture of a cat I don't know from a source I don't remember.

I've been thinking of doing Feline Fine Friday where I put up a different cat pic every Friday, do you like that idea?

Find a funny T-shirt: I was actually trawling this site as it never fails to amuse me and there are often T-shirts with totally inappropriate quotes on them, when I found an ad for funny T-shirts, and as this song from Flight of the Conchords is hilarious, I'm putting up the pic of this shirt...

Doesn't mean I would wear it, as I'm not really a T-shirt kind of girl. But I'd know what any guy wearing it had in mind!!! (That's why they're called business socks!!!)

Post a still from my favourite film:

My generally sarcastic and pessimistic nature is merely a foil. I am actually a hopeless romantic so this is a shot from A Room With a View, the 1986 version (of course! That more recent one was a SACRILEGE!) with Helena Bonham Carter before she became kooky, and Julian Sands. Definitely one of my favourite films of all time, in fact it was the reason I went to visit Florence. I wanted to do a Room With a View tour to Fiesole, where it was filmed, while I was there but the tour guide had broken his arm or something so I had to go by myself, which was quite an adventure! (Unfortunately did not encounter anyone even remotely resembling Julian Sands, but the landscape was gorgeous, at least...)

A blog I have recently discovered: http://jessidebergerac.wordpress.com/
I won't babble on about this blog except to say the writer looks like a supermodel and posts about all sorts of things and she seems to like cats as she commented on this post of mine and that's how I found her. Aww.

Something from my wish list:

Yes, world peace and all that would be good. But I couldn't find a picture of that, so had to settle for something else that is on my wish list. Eyelashes. I do have them but mine seem to be getting thinner and thinner, not that they were ever lush like these. My schoolfriend had such thick, curly lashes she could balance a pen on them! I was not jealous, not at all.

And now to tag three more bloggers who might like to do this...
Jessi
Clare
and
Nessa

Caught up in the web of memory lane

It's a gorgeous spring day but instead of cavorting around in it, I've been trying to get my head around how to upload stuff onto my website.

I had the website made last December and have been paying a monthly fee for it since then, but have not actually made it go live or whatever that expression is, because it is up to me to upload the content. BAD business decision!

Being crap when it comes to technology, I have allowed just about everything else in life to distract me from this important task... blogging, trying to find a job, sewing, op shopping, playing with the cat, cleaning under my bed, extracting navel fluff (not from under the bed!) ... you know how it is, basically employing all methods of procrastination possible to avoid the task at hand.

However, I decided it was a waste of money to be paying $54/month and not getting anything out of it due to my own laziness. So today has been spent trying to find photos of my dresses that are still available, resize them, upload them onto just ONE page of the site.. all that exciting stuff.

These are a few of the pics I found in the process, all of them from at least two years ago (aggh!!!)... (and yes, that is Mischa Barton wearing my dress...)

Do you think it's fair to blame my friends who keep having babies for my not getting work done? I do! Evil friends! I have to keep making baby presents, which in the past few weeks has kept me away from my website and doing important but boring stuff. My most recent effort has been these rompers which are made from the same material as the skirt I'm wearing above, but for a baby boy in Japan. They're from this pattern which I showed you earlier. Sweet, hey?

The making of the cheapest racewear outfit ever

Following Monday's post on what I wore to the Cox Plate, I've decided to do the trendy craft blogger semi-tutorial thing and show you what went on and how much things cost in the creation of my outfit (tune out now if this sort of thing bores you senseless).
Originally, I had wanted to make a Miu Miu-like dress like this, but in red and without the decorations. (pic from style.com)

Simple but stunning, yes? And I would wear it ALL THE TIME, with a jumper underneath in winter, by itself with lots of accessories in autumn, etc... However, I could not find any suitable red material at op shops despite visiting something like 20 over the past few weeks (not exactly a hardship, I admit). Yes, I COULD have bought new material from a real shop, but I like to be obstinate and challenge myself by only using second hand stuff (plus, more to the point, I am a total tightarse).

Anyway, this is a roundabout way of explaining why I did not actually start on the outfit until a week before the event - I stubbornly clung to the belief that the op shop gods would send me something. As it was not to be, I ended up having to use what I had at home.

Fortunately several months ago I bought a package of several kinds of black material at an op shop for $5, included in which was this black chiffon-y sort of stuff. I'm not a chiffon-y sort of girl but I had to use what was at hand, so dreamed up a 50s style wiggle dress. Not that I have anything to wiggle (more on that later). (cost = about $1 as I did not use all the material)

As the chiffon-y stuff (nylon??) was very sheer, I needed to put something underneath, but not having any basic black to use as lining, I had to beg an old white inner sheet from my mum... (cost = nothing) ... and yes, I realise it's quite see-through! Thank goodness for skin-coloured undies!

It would have looked very simple with no decoration, and I had to do something to give me the appearance of having feminine attributes, so at strategic points I added yo-yos made of kimono material as well as daisies and flat pom-pom-like things made out of nylon ribbon that was $1 from an op shop. (cost = about $2 .. probably not even that much as the kimono material was scrap and I did not even use a quarter of the ribbon).
I also used the flat pom-pom things to decorate this Asian rice farmer's hat which my sister gave me. I cut about 6cm of the brim off, sewed the pom-pom things on, and made a hair tie and a hatband out of dark pink kimono fabric and elastic which was fairly ineffectual in the wind (refer to previous post to witness my embarrassment). (cost = maybe 50c all together).
Of course I also wore shoes, earrings and gloves and carried a clutch bag, but these were items I already had and I don't remember how much they were... although in the interests of this post, the shoes were about $35, the earrings were a present, the gloves were from an op shop last year and were maybe $5, and the clutch bag was about $10 from a second hand kimono shop in Japan. But if I only count the things I made NEW for the races, the total cost was about $3.50!!

I have a lot of the nylon ribbon left over so will most likely be using it in future projects. I have a feeling it is rather old... its selling point is that you can make "warm tea cosies, fashionable handbags, natty coat hangers, soft luxurious bathmats... and ... lampshade coverings". NATTY coat hangers??! Tea cosies? I'm reckoning that it might be from about the 70s at the very latest, unless it is made by a craft company whose marketing department carries on in blissful ignorance of current trends!

Cheapest racewear outfit EVER?

... So as I mentioned a few posts ago, I decided to make an outfit to enter Fashions on the Field at the Cox Plate on Saturday. I'll go into a few more details about the actual making of the outfit and how much it cost in a later post because I just wanted to put up photos in this one.

For those of you overseas or interstate, the Spring Racing Carnival is a big deal in Melbourne and an excellent excuse to show off fancy frocks and hats ... oh and there are a few horse races in there somewhere too. My reason for attending the Cox Plate was to ogle all the outfits for inspiration and hopefully boost my motivation to make more dresses as it has been sadly lacking lately. My friends and I headed straight for the Fashions on the Field area at Moonee Valley so I could register ....

Of course I also wanted to check out the competition! Here are a few snaps including some of the Young Contemporary Racewear catwalk (the gorgeous girl holding the number 3 was the winner)...




My friend probably got some shots of me on the catwalk but I haven't got them from her yet and let's just say they possibly won't be that flattering. This shot was taken after the competition (which of course I did not win!) .. I didn't realise there was a photographer in the background until my friends stopped taking shots and he called out for me to turn around so he could snap me.

Stupidly I did not ask where he was from and couldn't chase him to find out due to the hedge in between us! Damn paparazzi, they always do this to me... haha!! As soon as he was finished, another photographer called me over to ask my name as he had taken some shots when I was on the catwalk. I've just found this one ... not exactly my finest moment!! It was FREEZING and really windy and just at the moment when I had to do my individual walk in front of the judges, the wind blew my hat off.
Suffice to say, I did not get many good shots at the actual event, which is why I went psycho with the camera yesterday at home.

After spending nearly a week making this @#$%$ outfit, I think it deserves some showing off!!

Glamorous race wear? No, gratuitous cat photo.

I was hoping I would, by this late date, be able to share some pics of my Cox Plate outfit that I am entering in Fashions on the Field this Saturday. (yes. THIS SATURDAY. As in, not tomorrow, but the next day. AGGH!) As I'm still sewing it, that won't be happening, so here's a photo of a cat instead.

Possibly the cutest ad for pet accessories EVER.

Crochet your own coral reef

Well, I promised you a post about an amazing project, and here it is. I stumbled on this fabulous display of creativity at the Stringybark festival on the weekend. It's called The Melbourne Reef and is a coral reef made entirely from crochet in a labour of love by crafty contributors such as these ladies who you can see here making bits of reef out of recycled plastic bags and wool.

There were two main bits of reef on display... this large one with a clown fish swimming around in it ...

...and this other colourful creation.

There is of course a lot more to see at the main exhibition, which is at the Burrinja gallery at Upwey at the moment and is apparently all dark to resemble an underwater world (more info here although once the exhibition finishes on January 9, 2011, this link will probably be irrelevant)... I can't wait to get to the gallery to check it out!

The project is actually a worldwide one but it's the first time it's been shown in Melbourne. It blends mathematics and craft because the patterns used to create the frilly-looking coral are based on hyperbolics... which basically means some formula that makes things 3D instead of 2D, like more recent animations (think Shrek as opposed to The Simpsons). The formula also maximises surface area in minimal space, if I understood the explanation by Melbourne coordinator Tracy Hayllar correctly (despite getting As for maths and science through most of high school, my grip on that sort of intelligent stuff is shaky at best).
I asked Tracy whether this project contributes proceeds to marine conservation but there are no proceeds unfortunately!! However, it does raise awareness of how special and beautiful our marine creatures are.
Here you can see a close up of the frilly coral - the ladies are crocheting it out of recycled cassette and video tapes!

If you want to know more about the project, you can read the Melbourne group's blog, or for more information on hyperbolics and even links to the crochet patterns so you can make your own bit of marine magic (and contribute it to upcoming exhibitions), check out the site from The Institute for Figuring - it's a fascinating site but there's a lot to take in, so jump on when you are feeling a bit brainy. Tracy pointed out that you could also use the hyperbolic crochet patterns to make things like scarves, Elizabethan-era neck ruffs, etc, if coral reefs are not your thing. But I really wish I had a few spare weeks now so I could create my own underwater kingdom... I hope you're as amazed and inspired as I am!

Sewing the seeds to grow future fashionistas

This is turning into a regular Monday event, isn't it... my "what I did on my weekend" ramblings, I mean. The only reason I've been doing these sort of posts is because I have actually been doing stuff on the weekend, I mean otherwise you'd have to look at posts of me sitting around in my trackies, bothering my cat. And do you want to do that? My guess would be no. So to get back to what I was going on about...

I did mention that I would be working at the Remake Remodel tent at the Stringybark festival a few posts ago, so this post is all about that.
Remake Remodel is a little bit of heaven for budding young fashionistas that started at last year's festival. We have great big blue crates full of clothes, material, ribbons, buttons, beads, thread - the works - and sewing machines set up on benches. Kids can come in and choose whatever they like from the boxes FOR FREE and then we help them remake and remodel it, also FOR FREE. Who wouldn't be happy about that?

As you've probably realised by now, I LOVE making stuff out of crap so I am in my element when I get to show other people how to do it, despite 1) not normally going out of my way to hang out with kids and 2) being the world's worst public speaker. Hand me some crap, ask me to make stuff out of it, and all that just doesn't matter any more.

Myself and the talented Teresa were the two teachers for the activity but it's a council tent so we had a lovely team of ladies from youth services there too, to natter away and gossip with us as much as help keep the kids occupied!

Here's Teresa taking a little break in a rare lull - despite the shocking weather (ie torrential rain... and one of the volunteers had to scrape SNOW off her car when she left her house!) we were inundated with girls - and boys - wanting to make stuff, several of whom came last year too! Yes, that makes us feel popular!

I was in the tent for most of the time but here are a few festival pics...
What would a festival be without crazy people on stilts?

As the festival focus is on sustainability there were lots of native animals on show including this beautiful owl (not sure what sort it is).

There was also a huge wedgetail eagle on show, along with native rats, emu chicks (so cute but impossible to photograph as they were running around the whole time), lizards, goannas and snakes. I love the inappropriately placed sign here.

There was also a craft project on display which was so amazing it is getting its own post... stay tuned!