Pirouette, Cacahuète!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by tassadit

I finished this skirt two weeks ago and I’ve already been wearing it quite a lot since then. It’s the Hollyburn Skirt by Sewaholic, in a beige and brown tweed that has a golden thread woven in, though you can’t really see that on the pictures. I lined it with beige Venezia, following those instructions, and the buttons I chose are wood.

The fabric is quite thick, which was kind of a pain to work with when the time came to sew the button tabs, but all in all everything went smoothly, even tough because of the thickness you can sometimes see the bulk of the pockets through the skirt.

The pattern was very straightforward, so I really took my time and focussed on achieving a very clean finish: French seams (my first ones!) on the lining, handsewn hem, hand-picked zipper…

I wanted a classical skirt that wouldn’t be boring either (hence the golden speckles!), and I’m really happy with the result.

Also, a thing that is always very important to me in a garment is to be able to ride my bike comfortably when wearing it (I bike to work, and everywhere as a matter of fact!), and this skirt passes the test, yay!

PS Pirouette, Cacahuète is the title and chorus of a well-known French nursery rhyme with an allusion to golden thread. Plus “cacahuète” means “peanut” in French and my skirt is kind of the color of peanuts (well, the background is, I assure you!).

Me-Made-May ’13!

Posted on April 27, 2013 by tassadit

I’ve been following the last Me-Made challenges from afar and always dreaming of taking part but never quite feeling up to the task. This year I feel like I have a sufficient number of me-made items to at least try and take up the challenge, so here I am, even setting up a blog for the occasion!

I already wear at least one self-made item of clothing every day, but this is kind of easy when the items in questions are always the same ones, always worn in the same way. The first part of my challenge will therefore be to wear one me-made (or refashioned) garment every day, but to avoid any outfit repeat: I can wear the same garment several times, but I have to style it differently every time.

The second part of my challenge concerns my new found passion for millinery: I’ve been following classes since September and I now have about a small dozen hats I made looking pretty gathering dust on a shelf. I want to wear those hats, but rarely think of putting one on before leaving the house. This is why I added a second stipulation to my pledge: I shall wear at least one different self-made hat each week (i.e. once a week: I don’t have to wear the hat in question every day of the week!).

So, I think this is it. Here is my official pledge then:

‘I, Tassadit of the brand-new blog Rue des Renards, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavour to wear one me-made or refashioned garment each day for the duration of May 2013, with no outfit repeat. I also pledge to wear at least one different me-made hat each week.’