Bullet points take less frou frou out of a girl

- I'm still stupidly tired.
- Remy can't be or surely he'd sleep.
- Went to my favourite material shop today and only had the energy to spend $37 in their sale. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? But I did get this Zambesi fabric:

- I've just lost an hour of my life here.
- My favourite so far:

New Zealand model Nicky Watson, croakily: I've been looking for my lost dog for days. I've been all over the area day and night, calling, 'Cricket, Cricket,' trying to find my poor Cricket.
Interviewer: You're hoarse.
Nicky Watson: No, my chihuahua.

- The spelling involved in this makes me proud of anarchists everywhere:

Running low on frou frou

So. Tired.

Want. To. Collapse.

But. Still. Want. To. Post.

Can't.

Will. Try. Again. Tomorrow.

Because froufrouness should be shared.

This one is for Ann:



Enjoy!

Another one bites the frou frou

Yay! Another one finished.

This is definitely an example of more is more - mmmm, yum!

I'm working on the two vintage jackets now. I've got some plans for those that are a bit different from what I've done so far, so I'm still figuring out how to make them. Last time I went out on a limb, there were disastrous results... yeah, sorry about that Nigel... but it all worked out in the end. So I'm going to do it again!

TV detox: it's not going to be much froufrouing fun

Oh dear god, I've just realised that I have spent five hours watching telly tonight. FIVE HOURS. If I do this everyday, it works out to 35 hours a week. That's the equivalent of a full-time job. In France. But I want to live in France so let's just call 35 hours a full-time job.

Now I'm thinking of putting myself through a TV detox. Hrm. Sounds painful. Is it a good idea?

PS Where are you Teeny? Big Love isn't the same without you. You and Margie were my favourite characters and, sorry, but Margie alone just can't carry the show. Come back. Please.

Meeting deadlines is definately a frou frou act

Oooo, two more jackets finished!

I finally figured out how to deal with the armyces of the heart jacket, thank goodness:



And this one hasn't come up well in the photos, so please imagine a very bright, Kermit the Frog green on the inside:


All of my jackets are one-offs - I never use the same combination of fabrics twice, and I always use different buttons, some of the shapes are the same but I try and change them to suit the material - so it's not often I use the same fabric twice. I fell absolutely in love with this black and white material so I just had to make two jackets.

I'm on track with my aim to get the jackets into shops before mid-March. Wohoo!

The next two jackets are both made of vintage fabric - one with fabric from the 50s and the other with fabric from the 80s. Might even get them cut out tonight, all going well... It's just that the syrah is calling me and we all know better than to drink and sew.

It's just all so frou frou sometimes

I know I burble on about how fabulous Jules is, but, gosh, he really is wonderful. Today he took Remy for an early morning walk to give me a sleep in and to do the vege shopping, plus he came home with a present for me - another Nouvelle Vague CD.

Because they're totally frou frou, and this is your lucky day, here they are with 'Dance with me':

Doesn't time fly when you're frou frou?

Remy is six months old today! Crikey, where did the time go?

I recorded the achievement with a family photo and a photo of the two of us together. I'm not quite up to Project 365 yet, but I'm thinking about starting it on my 30th birthday. We'll see...

DeFrouFrouLicious dinner

My life with Jules has been a lot about food and wine but mostly A LOT about food.

We have it quite neatly separated - Jules generally does the cooking, while I take care of the baking.

I'm used to Jules's cooking - always great (and often mind-bogglingly fantastic), and always well presented, but sometimes I'm overcome with how lucky I am. For example, this was dinner tonight.

In case you couldn't guess, it's a hamburger and chips. I know. And it tasted as good as it looks in this photo.

More finished frou frou for babies

I've finished another jacket! Here it is as a shell:

Here is the applicque I added to the front left (see what I did there? Tricky girl! It's all subtle and stuff):

And here's the button shot:

I played around with some different ideas for the applique but this was a little too Huffer to go on with:

So, that's two down. Only...well, I haven't decided how many I need so I don't know how many there are to go. Oops. Should really have considered that. How about 8 in total? Yeah, let's go with that.

Couture! Oh frou frou, it's couture!

My darling little Remy is suffering from a horrid virus. The wee guy has even gone off his food, which, in this family, is most alarming.

I'm taking a break from mummydom for a few minutes to check out the Spring/Summer Haute Couture collections. Oh. My. God. What I wouldn't do right now for a kerjillion dollars to spend on fancy clothes.

That's all I wanted to say. Oh, except, if you have a spare kerjillion dollars just rattling around in your pocket, and you'd really like to get rid of it because it's ruining the silhouette of your outfit, I'm your girl.

Blue frou frou

Oh, how blue I feel today.

Remy has a virus and is all out of sorts.

I watched Prozac Nation. It was good but grim.

I made an appointment with the vet to talk about getting our cat put down.

I still haven't finished my sample jackets.

The house is an utter tip.

But, the day is getting better because my darling Jules, after a 12 hour working day, has nipped out to the shops to buy me chocolate biscuits.

Sir Ed; a frou frou tribute

A day in the sun in FrouFrouTon

What a stunning day Wellington turned on! Actually, it was a bit too hot, but after 11 years of truly shite summers, I'm not going to complain.

We went on a family outing to City Gallery to see the Bill Hammond and Tracey Moffatt exhibitions. On the way there we picked up delicious thickshakes from Offbeat Originals in Left Bank, Cuba Mall. Mmmmmmmm. Such thickshakey goodness.

Remy was looking particularly cute in his new sunhat made by Lies at Anemone and a t-shirt we bought from Babylicious before he was born (gosh, such a long time ago now). Thanks you crafty guys!

Further in my 8 week push to get my jackets out in shops, I've popped a little person on the inside of this jacket to give it a little je ne sais quoi.



It's one of my first attempts at proper applique, so I had a wee practice first.

I'm feeling more confident. Who knows what dizzy applique-related heights I can achieve now??

Ooo, and not to forget the photo of the biscuit of the day, melting moments (or, as they were called in my house growing up, YoYos):

Housework will never, ever be frou frou

I've joined a new club, got the card and everything.

Procrastination: not exactly frou frou but it's a great way to spend time

I really am determined to get my clothes into shop in the next 8 weeks buuuuuuuuuut it's surprising the number of things that suddenly have to get done first. Like a skirt that I've been working on for a while now. Oh yes, it urgently needs to be finished because...um...well...

So, anyway, I'm putting together the lining for this skirt and I decide that, instead of boring old flat, zigzagged seams (no overlocker/serger yet, gosh darn it!), I want to try zigzagging and then flat felling (a type of handstitching) the seam. Then my machine goes and does this:

Anyone able to translate?

The book that comes with my machine has illustrations about the tension (the most logical explanation for the mess above) but they look like this:


Hrrrmm. Nothing like what my machine has done...

I gone caught me another one Frou Frou!

Shells of frou frou

Finances in our house have been quite strained with Jules having been out of work for three weeks, and it's got me thinking about how I can best contribute (you know, besides that little job I have of looking after our darling boy all day and all night).

I've given myself 2 months to get van Rose (my kids' clothes business) properly off the ground. In these 8 weeks, I want to get the jackets in shops and get another big commission.

If I can't make it happen, then it's back to the office I go... but the clothes are what I really, really want to do. It's great motivation!

I need samples to take into the shops. I've whipped up a few shells - my lovely mum has done a few for me too, thanks mum! - and now I'm onto the finishing details.

On these two I'm going to add (more) interest with a few bits of handsewing in some of the spots on the, um, spotty one, and some applique on the lining of the 'people' one:

 

 

This just needs some topstitching and buttons:

 

This one is the bane of my life! I've been working on it forever. The armsyces have been a total and utter nightmare because the black and white fabric frays easily. I'll keep persevering though - I'm very happy with how the felt hearts look and, anyway, I've put in so much time now, what's a bit more?

 

Dog poo, no frou frou

This is hilarious. I hope Remy grows up to be this ingenious. I also hope he grows up knowing to wash his hands regularly...

Couture is delightfully frou frou

One thing I plan to do this year is to learn and incorporate into my work more couture sewing techniques.

I've picked up a few books from the library to start off. I'm really enjoying Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire Shaeffer, but I'm glad I didn't judge it by its cover - that jacket is just too, too much for a girl like me. Yes, even for a girl like me. The sequins! The locasts! The odd-shaped pocket! Too Much. But a good book. I'm going to keep an eye out for a secondhand copy.

I'm also going to learn how to applique this year. I'm starting tonight actually! I have some funny fish material and a onesie of Remy's so the two will be combined. Should it turn out ok, I might even be brave enough to post the photos here.

One of the other books I borrowed from the library is on Marimeeko . I'm so in love with this designer that when I win the lottery, 90% is going their way.

In exciting family news, Jules has posted the article from Cuisine on his blog. You can read all about him (and me! I get a tiny mention at the very, very end) here.

Aro Street is a sometimes frou frou street

Brilliant.

Fabric frou frouliciousness

The fabric Gods are smiling on me this week*. I'm the luckiest crafter alive.

The wonderful Karen** and her very funny husband Dave came to visit us today. It's always great when they pop by but today was even more so because Karen brought me a bag full of treasures of the fabric kind.


Look at the stripes! The spots! The number of blues! In these photos it kind of looks like they're all fat quarters but they're not - there are some pieces that are a few metres long.

This I love because it's red and spotty and fresh:

This is divinely Japanese-ish:

I'm thinking of little girls' dresses with a yukata feel about them.

I love this! It reminds me of the material used in BAPE clothes.


Oh what a day.

I also made my lovely guests afternoon tea; banana cake with cream cheese icing and madeleines. Yum!





*If the Fabric Gods are listening, no more knits please. I've got plenty now and in a wide range of colours. But keep the rest coming. Thanks.
**Karen is actually my aunty but I'm not allowed to call her Aunty Karen anymore. She says that a (practically) 30 year old calling her aunty makes her feel ancient.

And frou frou is back in the building

Sometimes I can be fickle. You know how I said I was going to make this to break the curse of the Sack dress:

 

I made this instead:

 

Well, I kinda made that - I made a few changes to the pattern so let's just say, that was the inspiration for this:


I also whipped up a little cotton petticoat because the apple material is a little thin in some lights:

Consider the curse broken! I'm on fire!