52 Week Sewing Challenge - Week Six - Sew Something Red or Pink

I have been doing pretty well at keeping up with my 52 week sewing challenge in terms of making - but I've been doing not so well at posting pictures of what I've made! I guess the making is the most important part and the photos/blogging will come in due course!

For week six the theme was "Sew something red or pink" and for some reason I don't have a tonne of either in my stash! I ended up choosing this mostly pink fabric I bought some time ago from Made Marion Craft in Wellington, it caught my eye because it looks like a bunch of fun lollies.

I chose to make the dress from one of my favourite tried and true patterns, the Sigma Dress by Papercut Patterns - this dress fits me so well, I really should sew up a few more of their patterns (currently I have two more Papercut Patterns in my sewing pattern stash!).

I trimmed the dress around the neckline and sleeves with some cute lace I bought from Fabric-a-Brac (it was in some random bag of trims, I can never resist a cheap bag of trims) and I wore my cute little bunny brooch from Dear Arrow.

Also this seemed like the perfect outfit to wear with my "Lucy in the Sky" Hot Chocolate Shoes - Hot Chocolate Shoes are pretty much the only shoes I wear now, they are comfy and actually super fun! I feel like it's taken forever to find comfortable shoes that don't look "sensible".

I wore my new dress out in the big wide world for the first time to go to "Out in the Park" which is part of the Wellington Pride Festival.

I had my photo taken with the New Zealand Police Pride Police car, like the super dork that I am.

There were a lot of fun stalls from food, craftspeople and local community groups (including Cats Protection League, the shelter we adopted Mia from) and there were also a lot of amazing performances - honestly, the performances were SO GOOD! I would have happily paid to see them.

We finished up having a selfie at "Out in the Park" before we left - because that's who we are as people!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, I'm off to finish up this weeks sewing challenge - the theme is "Sew Something Upcycled".

Fundraiser Tea Ceremony

A few weeks ago I read about a fundraiser at the innermost gardens, the fundraiser was to repair a castle damaged by earthquakes in Japan. 

The fundraiser included a traditional tea ceremony and lots of Japanese goodies so I had to come along and Ria was happy to come along with me!

When we first arrived a tea ceremony was already underway, so decided to check out the stalls which we selling a lot of cute treats.

Sorry the picture is slightly blurry! I thought these rice balls were so cute, once you bought one you could draw a face on the glad wrap that they were wrapped in with a felt tip pen.

Ria bought one of these bears and drew a face on him, I looked up this character and he's call "Kumamon" and is "Japan's most popular bear".

There was a bit of a wait before we could join the next tea ceremony, but it was ok to wait as there was cute stuff to look at including these cute cranes.

As part of the ceremony we got to have the most delicious matcha ever and these crunchy sweet biscuit things (no idea what they really are!).

The team ceremony itself was pretty amazing to watch, there was so much ritual involved. I just wish I knew more about what each movement and action actually meant.

Before leaving we decided to explore the innermost gardens where the event was held which is a community garden, it's a little over grown, but that's part of it's charm.

Before we left we asked a couple of the ladies if they would mind having a photo with us in their beautiful kimono.

It turned out all the people in traditional Japanese clothing were just as excited as we were about photos, so for the second photo a bunch more people joined in!

I just thought I'd finish up this post with a Selfie, because that's who I am! Ria made her adorable dress and mine is from Lindy Bop. I'm also wearing a bunny because this was the weekend before Easter!

I hope you have a lovely weekend, I think its going to be a chilly one here in Wellington x

Strawberry picking day trip!

In my most recent post I mentioned that I have been doing a few day trips, in my part of the world its currently summer (although you would be excused for thinking other wise, Wellington weather has been pretty average) and it had been a while since I'd caught up with a group of ladies who were really my first Wellington friends - so we decided to head over to Masterton to visit Jess, go strawberry picking and catch up.

First up was the strawberry picking at a very cute place called the "Wee red barn" - I usually end up doing a lavender picking day trip in the summer, but that didn't happen this year, it was strawberries instead and it was pretty great.

The Wee Red Barn was pretty great, they grew a bunch of different berries at the farm, not just strawberries - but of course we were there to pick the strawberries!

The strawberries were growing under shelters and were growing off the ground, so we didn't have to bend over too much before we picked them - which was a bonus!

I was also really amazed how huge these strawberries were, we were also allowed to eat strawberries as we picked them which was a bonus!

Once we had eaten all the strawberries we could and filled up our cartons of strawberries it was time to leave.

The cartons seriously held A LOT of strawberries, look at this container, I can't imagine even being able to buy strawberries like this back in Wellington (and if you could buy them it would cost about a million dollars).

 We stopped at the store on the way out, there was fresh fruit, jams and a lot of other delicious things for sale. I bought a BIG container of blueberries - we couldn't eat them all so I ended up freezing them - perhaps I can make blueberry muffins?

Also I couldn't resist saying goodbye to these guys on the way out - even if they didn't really their photo taken!

We stopped for lunch at Paper Road Winery, even as a non-drinker I can't resist a lunch at a winery. There's always lovely, relaxing views of the vines!

We finished up our day at the park in Masterton, I had no idea the park in Masterton - there were deer in the park (I did actually know that) and they made the strangest noise (I had no idea deer sounded so weird!). Also much like goats, deer really don't like posing for photos!

I had such a fun time out with these girls - hopefully we are more organised and don't wait so long before catching up again x

At the Beach - Exhibition

Every so often, the New Zealand Fashion Museum will have an exhibition pop up at the Dowse Museum. I've been to a couple of these exhibitions in the past, the latest exhibition is "At The Beach" and last Saturday my friend Jo and went to check it out.

On display in the exhibition was 100 years of New Zealand beachwear, mainly togs (that's what we call swimsuits in my part of the world).

The togs from 1890 that were both woolen, Jo and I were both pretty into the togs on the left - as in we could both see ourselves in a cute sailor dress (we do not want to wear woolen togs). While most people know that in this time people were much more modest and covered themselves up when swimming, its something else to actually see the types of things women wore swimming and think about how impractical it would be by modern standards.

I guess the thing that got to me most about this swimsuit is the woolen tights, I last wore woolen tights in high school as they were part of our school uniform and I remember them being so uncomfortable (and I wear tights most of the year!). The thought of wearing woolen tights to swim makes me want to cringe.

The togs on the left were from the early 1900, again much more of a dress than togs but at least there are no woolen tights involved! 

I also took a photo of what men wore around this time, while still make of wool they aren't too far from what men wear currently to swim (at least here in New Zealand where men generally wear board shorts).

 I have to admit that I don't remember the date on the next pair of togs in the exhibition, but they were still woolen so it must have still been pretty early on.

Can we all take a moment to admire the towel cape - why isn't this still a thing? Why did I not know about towel capes? I feel like this is a thing that needs to make a come back.

I took a close up of the label on this pair of togs as I thought it was rad. A lot of these earlier togs had really cute labels.

 The next piece that caught my eye was this 1940s play suit, its so cute with the contrasting cuffs and trim.

The hat on this mannequin was something pretty special too, why don't they make hats like this anymore? Can you think of a better hat for a day on the beach?

 My favourite part of this play suit was the fact the print was upside down and it was handmade! This fills me with all kinds of joy as its a mistake I've made myself and its a mistake someone made a long time ago but their garment is still beautiful and worthy of being in a museum. Who knows? Perhaps at some point in the distant future some of my less than perfect garments will end up on display somewhere.

Another rather lovely pair of togs, again woolen, but I was rather taken with these the straps were a little tired on this pair - not sure I'd trust them to hold up very well in the ocean anymore. I also have to say I love this swimming cap! I remember seeing people wear these types of swimming caps in old movies when I was young and often wish that's what I could wear to the pool instead of the boring modern swimming cap I had.

If I remember rightly, these togs were all from the 1950s/1960s and I thought that the women's togs in this part of the display were all amazing (not so much the men's togs, they don't change much really do they?).

Jo and I were both pretty smitten with this pair of pinstripe togs, I love the piping detail so much! I never find togs I actually like and this pair makes me feel ALMOST brave enough to try sewing my own togs, just so I can try and create something fabulous.

This was the first bikini and its pretty incredible and yes it is faux fur. The mannequin didn't really do it justice, but it looks amazing in the photo below where it was worn by its original owner. 

I can't help but this this was a bikini for lounging rather than swimming - that top could have resulted in some major wardrobe malfunctions in the waves.

These cotton togs and play suit were all from the 1950's and they were all beautiful, I could totally see myself wearing togs like these (although I'd prefer they were made from stretch fabric, not cotton).

These togs both had shirring around the back to help with fit (I assume) and all kinds of beautiful details like top stitching and piping (to name a few).

This little play suit was just beautiful, I love the fabric and the pattern placement - especially the flowers along the top.

The next group of togs were from the 1960s and were made of Bri-Nylon and I pretty much loved them all.

However, I have to say the blue floral version with the detachable skirt was my favourite.

There were also a couple of "summer scenes" in the exhibition - that featured more than just swimsuits and summer dresses.

I would totally wear both these dresses now and I especially like the one on the right - I love the little matching bolero and the crazy print of the fabric.

There were more 1960s/1970s togs, I really like the ones in the bottom photo too - very cute, also not only do we not have towel capes, we don't have towel bags either! I love the towel bag (I suppose I could easily make both a towel cape and bag if I REALLY wanted too).

This bikini was also on display from the 1970s, if I remember rightly, it was bought from a market so I'm assuming it was handmade. I guess its just for lounging like the fluffy 1950s bikini because swimming in suede just seems like it would end badly.

The next group of togs from the 80s until now were less exciting - although those sparkly speedos were pretty exceptional!

 There was also some information about various New Zealand swimwear companies, some that no longer exist and some that still make swimwear today.

The exhibition finished up with a display of a "traditional" Kiwi summer holiday, complete with caravan.

Just to finish up, here's so selfies Jo and I took, because we always have to take a selfie or two!