packing for japan

Obviously I love packing for overseas trips because it involves planning outfits and any activity that involves having outfits (which is everything, basically) gets an A+ from me. Since we'll be staying right by Yoyogi park on the second leg of our trip, in my brothers words "where all the freaks hang out", in other words the place to be if you wanna be featured in FRUiTS, I figured I might as well take advantage of the fact I will be the least outrageously dressed person there anyway and bring all my wild prints and pastels. Might even throw in a couple of my bright lippys just for the hell of it hahaha

royal nails

I'm not much of a make up person but I love doing my nails. It's the one time I can drop everything and stop what I'm doing (or avoid doing things! if you look at it another way haha) because once that polish is on you gotta give it time to dry. For me that length of time is a Mad Men episode, or two! I recently got these got these colours as a gift pack from the lovely ladies at Kuwaii. To add a little special something to the Autumn/Winter 2013 collection, Kuwaii collaborated with Kester Black to create a set of limited edition colours inspired by the Regalia colour palette. There's a happy daffodil yellow, a sweet carnation pink and a glorious deep teal for $12 each and they are also sold in a set for $30! All good things come in threes :) 

x

revival

unif.m sydney silk baseball shirt, a.p.c biker jeans, filson x levi’s denim tote and rockport loafers. 

in the spirit of buy nothing new 2013 i'm reviving a bunch of pieces from my wardrobe that have rarely seen the light of day since i bought them. this unif.m shirt is pretty much perfection and i have resisted wearing it since purchasing it (pretty much when the label launched) because it felt so delicate and i was so fearful of catching it on something and tearing it or like stretching too widely and tearing it :( today i wore it over a lacey cami and it added a little touch of luxury to my outing. its 100% silk and the inners are all french seamed which is just a little bit special! i also got this filson x levi’s tote sometime last year, it was during my "rugged outdoor menswear/ivy style" phase, the period when i checked street etiquette religiously and bought tons of coffee table books on american collegiate fashion i was so obsessed. i got my brother to buy it for me specifically when he went to america and it has maybe been out with me once. which is like an insult to its name, because filson make incredibly hardwearing and quality goods that demand almost fiendish and aggressive use!





xo

amie

that olson girl

Peggy is killing it in the wardrobe department. I love how subtle changes in costuming can help bring out more aspects in character development. In the first few seasons Peggy was shown to be a little uptight and maybe a nervous type, with high necklines and shirts that she wore tightly buttoned up. Her silhouettes were quite exaggerated and her hemlines never reached higher than her shin. But this season now that she's gotten more traction within the company, her confidence has grown and with that she's become more relaxed. Her clothes still make her stand out within the world of Mad Men, she will always be a bit of a school girl I think. With those cute crisp blouses and straight fit skirts you'd think she bought the entire A.P.C catalogue!

Cute Critters

KW Critter Zip case from Violent Green, $60.

Caved. Again! I’ve been a huge fangirl for Karen Walker ever since ‘Queenie was a Dog’ in 2004. Since I was only like 14 and obviously couldn’t afford designer goods I emailed the head office and asked them if I could buy any fabric remnants from the collection, particularly the carousel print. They were so nice in their reply and promptly sent me a leftover two metres of the print in a jersey, which I made into a cute skirt (and have now lost :((((). Since then I guess I have had an even greater fondness for Karen. I really admire how she’s grown her business, it’s basically an empire now (dem bloggers love those KW shades), but there’s such a huge range of price points that it’s affordable. And though the shapes and silhouettes have matured the playfulness and childlike charm is still there.

Anyway, I predict I will be getting heaps of use out of this clutch as a cute travel wallet/make up pouch/toiletries case/everyday thing holder.

 I ♥ KW. The end.

japan tour

Hey guys!

Hello again. I feel like an apology for being absent would be an insult to anyone who is still reading this god awful blog but I am ashamed of how bad I am at this.

Some updates on my life: I recently started an internship with KUWAII which I'm still so jazzed about. I've learned a lot and have been so inspired just by being in the studio with Kristy and Laura, it's prompted me to start looking at Tafe options to study fashion or textiles!

And even more exciting news......DRUMROLL.... I'm going to Japan! For two weeks! In June! Nothing like a healthy dose of spontaneity to pull you out of a slump. I'm going with Daniel and we'll be in Osaka and Tokyo for a week each. I'm so so so excited.

For inspiration I've been reading Style Deficit Disorder which is like a cultural encyclopedia for Japanese street fashion - it dissects the subcultures around each style by tracing the tastemakers/movers/shakers and different institutions - bands/stores/publications - that helped build the legendary status of Harajuku as a style valhalla. It's such a fascinating read, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Japan/pop culture.

I suppose lately I've been in a bit of a Japan craze with my upcoming trip I've just been gravitating towards things related to it. Along my eBay trawls I stumbled across this ridiculous incredible Isabel Marant bomber (top picture). It's EMBROIDERED, made from SILK and FRIGGIN REVERSIBLE. Of course it went for $$$$ as its an out of season piece but OMG how beautiful. I'm not 100% sure of the origin of the design but apparently in Japan in the late '40s and '50s a lot of jackets were made embroidered with the map (and dragons/tigers/eagles) during the war? I'd love to do a little more research into this. Though I wonder if Miss Marant was in part also inspired by Ryan Gosling's infamous scorpion jacket in Drive?



x Amie

DIY: Liberty London floral cotton boxers

Liberty 'Lytton' Teal

DIY Boxers

Liberty 'Lytton' Pastel

Sometimes when I'm feeling a bit restless I like going through my fabric trunk and touching all the materials. Sound creepy yet??? I think I just have a thing for the tactile - I mean who hasn't run up to a friend wearing something velvety and just HAD to feel it EVEN though you already know what velvet feels like! There's just something about running my fingers through a silk or a linen that makes me feel calm and fills my head with possibilities. I could fill ledgers upon ledgers upon nuclear stockpiles of ledgers with the never-ending list of projects I come up with just sitting with my trunk.

Cotton is one of those fabrics I love to work with, because it's so easy, its not precious and it doesn't slip. This project in particular had to be completed by a very special date, since I couldn't think of anything to buy my boyfriend for our six month anniversary I figured I'd make him a pair of PJ shorts. The pattern was pretty easy, I lifted it simply from a pair of my own shorts and added extra lengths here and there accordingly for size. If you're after a quick pictorial tutorial (ha), I had a peruse at the one over on Dana Made It and it's super informative. And of course I made a matching pair for myself!

The trickiest part about this for me was aligning the buttonholes, most likely just a result of me not knowing my machine very well. I have an Elna Elina 40 by the way, recently purchased. Being too excited to use it I decided to bypass my manual and launch straight into using the buttonhole stitch. Eep. A good 10 minutes was spent unpicking some bad decisions haha. Learn from my mistakes, read the instructions.



x Amie

Beginnings

Hello there internet creatures, I'm Amie. This is my blog. I'm 22 and from Melbourne, a graduate of Media & Communications and a keen seamstress. I like dresses from the 1970s, photographs of outer space, changing my hair a lot and, of course, sewing. I've been sewing since I was 11 or 12, making dresses for my Barbies and soft toy bears from scraps of my own clothes. More than anything I love to make things. In the construction and deconstruction of things I find out more about how things work and how they come together and each time I make a little more sense of the world.

I used to make dresses with heart cut outs at the back under Amourette by Amie Mai and previously blog at Heartbeats, Intimidation (which was quickly taken over by health bloggers/bots! hahaha) but I thought I'd start something new to show my passion for needle and thread. 

For my New Year's Resolution I decided to set myself a challenge to buy nothing new in 2013 (with exceptions to fabric and essentials like underwear). I wanted to encourage myself to THINK, SPEND and SAVE smart and to encourage myself to CREATE more. With an overflowing wardrobe and fabric trunk bursting at the seams, I want to teach myself to waste not and want not. 

Have you ever looked into your wardrobe and thought you had 'nothing to wear' only to dig deep and find something you forgot you had? It's quite a privileged scenario and I'm ashamed to say that this has been me many times.  

Hopefully with my new mindset I will keep extending the life out of the generous wardrobe I already have and inspire others to save their pockets and their eco-impact!

x Amie