Ripponlea Estate and a New Camera

Last Sunday, I went with my parents to my favourite Victoria National Trust house, Ripponlea Estate. For those who have seen some Aussie TV, including the fabulous Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries, you may recognise the house. It's right next door to the ABC studios and thus is a fabulous historic location for them to shoot!

Currently, it has an exhibition going on called Love, Desire, & Riches, which looks at wedding attire and accessories over about a 200 year period in both history and the media.  It includes dresses worn by Gwennith Paltrow (in Emma), Helena Bonham-Carter (in The Twelfth Night), and dresses from Australian designers as well as international ones such as Versace.

While the exhibition was wonderfully laid out and very interesting, I have to be honest my attention was on my brad new camera (a Canon EOS 600D with the 2 kit lenses)! I had purchased it that morning and going to Ripponlea was a bit of a treat to be able to take it for a spin. I also like going to the exhibitions at Ripponlea, regardless of what they are, because it gives you the chance to wander through the house at your own pace. Normally, you have to pay for tours to go through the house but I always find that a bit constricting; although, you do get more information that way.

It's a fabulous place to visit and though not photographed much in this post (my camera ran out of battery half way through), the grounds are beautiful and extensive as well. It's one of those beautifully preserved historic bubbles in the middle of a city.

Outfit details:

Wool Faux Fur Trimmed Dress: Op Shop 

Angora Blend Stockings: Princess Highway

Boots: Witner

Hat: Lot of Vintage Hats from Ebay

Hopsalots

Bunny slippers!!!! 

Because who doesn't need a pair of bunny slippers? The fact that these are hand knitted just makes them ten times better!

True confessions: this is my second attempt at this pattern. The first time I did it I used a mostly wool yarn... bad move. I didn't realise until it was too late that it has to be something like a 100% wool, hand wash only kinda thing, to be able to felt. Something about the fibres being able to grip to each other...? It's probably best to use a felting yarn.

Anyway, having gone back, researched the problem, and started up with a different yarn, I ended up with these!

The worst part about this pattern (to me) is the felting. They are dead easy to knit up! The instructions are well written and with a bit of help from youtube all the stitches are super easy (I've always had a bit of trouble with slip slip knit but the cardigan I'm nearly done with cleared that up). The felting however.....

I guess I'm a little biased because it stuffed me up so much last time. I was sitting there for about an hour just scrubbing and scrubbing to no avail. This time I actually used a different method than the one listed in the pattern. In the original pattern, I found the instructions for felting really vague. I had never felted before and these instructions weren't giving me much confidence.

I used a method where you leave them in hot water for 5 mins then come back with rubber gloves on and some soap (I used dish washing liquid) and rub the knitting against itself for 5 mins. You have to dunk the knitting back into the hot water every so often to ensure the knitting stays hot. Then rinse it out with cold water to help the fibres lock and take a look at how well they felted. Then you repeat! I did this 3 times but you can stop when you're satisfied.

I liked that this method had it laid out in little chunks. It made it easier to sit there and scrub wet wool back and forth. Also, the dunking the knitting made more sense since felting is caused by heat and agitation of the wool fibres.

I had a few issues with fit but since I'm not very patient with felting, I decided to give the bunnies little tails to fit them to my feet a bit better and omitted the fluffy tails in the pattern.

The nose is the 4 Seasons Pure Wool in 8ply stitched 4 time around to get a cute but sturdy nose. I ended up using embroidery floss for the eyes since I didn't have black wool. All in all I am very chuffed! My feet should stay cuddly warm all winter!

Pattern: Hopsalots by Tiny Owl Knits

Yarn: 4 Seasons Pure Wool Entwine 8ply
See this project on Ravelry!

Sew For Victory Pants

Since the deadline was extended, I managed to whip up a pair of pants for Sew for Victory as well!

I actually whipped up these pants this morning (cutting it a bit fine with the deadline...). I'm really proud of how quickly they came together and the corduroy is perfect for this chilly (wet) autumn weather we've been having. 

I managed to get both the fabric and the zip from the op shop! The one I work at is great for haberdashery (which usually means my vintage style dresses get a vintage zip)! I used the 1971 pattern, Style 3115, and made the legs a bit wider. I think with the waistband being so thick made them a little too high for my waist. So, I might go back and half the size of it. I'm also considering adding back pockets. That way, I can easily carry my phone or iPod around.

Pants: Made by Me

Top: Cotton On

Shoes and Necklace: Op Shop

(Source)

Sew for Victory: Final Dress

Sooooo..... it's not the dress I planned on making. HOWEVER, similar to Rochelle it really helped improve my sewing morale. 

I wanted to make a 40's farm girl/ land army dress since I love the soft 'farm-ish' patterns and relaxed but practical dresses. From that I figured a shirt dress was the perfect way to go! 

I ended up using a 50's shirt pattern for the bodice since it was the only one I had on hand that didn't take any altering. For the skirt I went with a 40's dirndl style but pleated it since I thought it would look a bit sleeker that way. The fabric is my favourite, a printed Japanese cotton lawn, which is currently on sale (wooo!).

I should mention, I haven't given up on my original dress. I just don't want to force myself to finish it in time for Sew for Victory.

Dress: Made by me

Gum Boots: Op Shop

Necklace: Target USA