european masters

(Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Fernande Olivier, 1909)

European Masters, is coming to New Zealand. It's a rare chance for us downunder to see 98 stunning works by 70 artists including Matisse, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Monet and Manetare. The collection comes from the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany and focuses on the 19th century and early 20th century period of European art. I'm particularly interested in viewing Picasso's "very significant" Portrait of Fernande Olivier, which signalled the start of Cubism.

The paintings will only be exhibited at Te Papa, Wellington from 6 November 2010 to 27 February 2011.  So I have to go! Now, it's working out when. I'm so excited!

kiwi christmas swap

Yes it's that time of the year again to start thinking about christmas and the annual kiwi christmas ornament swap. There's still time to take part, just check out sew funky's blog for details. Here's the list of kiwi bloggers taking part. Now I just have to decide on what to make.

caftan

Canvas Weekend Herald 23 October 2010

                                Burda 07/2010                                          Burda 06/2010

McCalls 6037

the first item in my 'me, me, ME!' sewing plan is a caftan. I was inspired by the fashion page in the weekend newspaper liftout and the June & July 2010 Burda magazines. My caftan must-haves are a deep v neckline (not plunging), airy sleeves and a flamboyant chiffon print.

McCalls 6037 will be a good basic pattern to go with. It has the desired neckline and would look great in a bold print. I'm undecided about the sleeves. I'd love to have full fluttery sleeves and I'm not convinced that the pattern sleeves will meet that ideal. I've decided to stick with this pattern for now.

In case you're wondering where such a garment could be worn? at the beach and around the pool (over a swimsuit) of course!

christmas shoe boxes

this is our 3rd year of putting together christmas shoe boxes for  Operation Christmas Child. This year, I wasn't nearly as organised as usual, so there was a lot of last minute shopping for bits and pieces to fill the boxes.

Each shoe box is filled with: something to love, something for school, something to wear, something for play, something for personal hygiene, something special. 

building

(1 acre building site is beyond the mango tree on the right of the photo)

  

(another view of the section beyond the mango tree sloping down to the ocean)

(the section slopes down with easy access to the ocean)

we're undertaking a building project in Samoa of a holiday home by the sea. Work had commenced before we left with the site being cleared and made ready for building. We're building an open plan house, with a small Samoan fale and subsidiary buildings nearby. A new build is always going to be a big challenge and our project will be made even more so as all our materials etc are being sourced from New Zealand and then being sent on to Samoa. Exciting times ahead!

designer fabrics

a designer fabrics shop has just opened up nearby and this morning I popped in for the first time to have a look around. With bolts of fabric all over the place, it was like going on a treasure hunt to find these retro inspired prints plus the large floral chiffon print. All these fabrics are destined to be sewn up for me, me, ME!

what's next hands?

busy, busy hands...

I'm always asking myself this question and then making a list of things I want to achieve. Sometimes I'll even have several lists on the go. Anyway, here's whats next on my sewing & crafting list:

1) a gift for a new baby

2) at least 2 more sundresses for Miss 3

3) sarouel pants for Miss 14

4) lots of sewing for me, me, ME.

netball tournament

the netball players representing Samoa at the tournament had to wear a puletasi for the opening ceremony. 

I made my daughter's puletasi top using New Look 6808 and a white & black stencil ink print cotton from Samoa. This was a very quick pattern to make up and resulted in a nicely fitted top which was then teamed up with a plain black lavalava. What a great sight to see all the Samoa players dressed in their puletasi. When moving as a group they looked both elegantly colourful.

A day of spectacular netball, with the mens games being a crowd favourite. My daughters team did really well, taking out their division winning all their games. Now that the tournament is over, it's time to get a break from netball until next season.

john poynton

one of the highlights of my Samoa trip was meeting John Poynton, well known artist in Samoa. I met him completely by chance at a local cafe and I got the opportunity to view his portfolio of current work. I bought 3 works: 2 watercolours and a pen drawing and got them framed as soon as I got back home. Here they are on display.

nothing new

( a great place to swim on our family land in Samoa )

no completed projects to talk about. The school holidays are ending and there's been mending, laundering and ironing of uniforms. The summer uniforms come out and the winter ones get put away. Then there's the mammoth task of sorting out all the photos that I took in Samoa. Thought I'd share a photo of a great swimming spot on our family land in Samoa.

My daughter has been selected to play netball for Samoa in her age group team for the Pacifc Challenge Tournament. That means that I'll have to make her a puletasi. I'll post a photo of her outfit when I'm done.

wearable art

without giving away too much, here's a peek at what my daughter is working on for her wearable art entry in the College competitions. My job has been to cut out a gazillion pieces of fabric and other things for her to work with. It's got to be finished by the weekend, so I'd better get back to work.

more from Samoa

dogs and pigs snooze in the quiet shade on a very hot day.

each village has at least one tremedous church structure - strong and proud

palms, breadfruit, papaya trees grow everywhere

an average Samoan village house

a view of the sea from our family land

tatau and the turtle

at the Faleolo Airport is this sculpture of Samoan warriors wrestling a large sea turtle. The warriors bodies are tattooed with Samoan cultural patterns and designs known as 'Tatau'. Legend has it that the tatau came to be in Samoa when  Taema and Tilafaiga, female siamese twins who were joined at the spine. When the twins were grown, they decided to travel away from Ta'u, the island of their birth. As they were swimming, the spar of a canoe struck them and severed the join between them.

After several adventures on other islands, the twins reached Fiji where they meet two tatau (tattoo) artists, Tufou and Filelei, who taught them the art of tattooing. They also taught them a song to recite when they were tattooing someone. When the twins returned to Samoa, Tilafaiga became a war goddess, while Taema became a tattooist and teacher of the art that she had learned in Fiji.

Have a look at the Samoan turtles pond in the grounds of the Malua Theological College. 

first sights of Samoa

the warm, enveloping heat is a very fine welcome to Samoa. The sky is clear and sunny. The palms nod in the afternoon breeze. Picture perfect!



trapeze dress done twice

with warm weather in mind, I made these 2 trapeze dresses today using New Look 6700 and two very bright, colourful poly cotton prints from my fabric pile. These dresses were completed in just one afternoon of sewing (from start to finish). Luckily I read the reviews of this pattern first before sewing, as there's a ridiculous amount of ease allowance with this pattern. I cut two dress sizes down without compromising the dress style. I'm still undecided about the drawstring ribbon and bow - reminds me a little bit of vintage nighties. Still it was an uncomplicated, fun sew! 

the puletasi

The puletasi or pea is a traditional outfit worn by women/girls in Samoa. It's basically a top (can be varying styles and lengths) with a full length lava lava skirt. This outfit is worn on formal or special occassions, ie. church, weddings, funerals, parties etc.

For my puletasi, I used this fabric and a vintage Knitwit pattern to make up my top. The top is a very simple, pull over the head A-line style with bust and body darts to give it shape plus a matching long belt to tie at the waist. The lava lava is made up in a plain black poly cotton with waist darts and ties to ensure that it stays put.

ashanti

In the spirit of change, I decided it was time to reduce the number of bjd models that I had to sew for. So I ruthlessly sold off around 75% of my models. I was down to 4 models when Iplehouse advertised their custom doll system, where you can order a bjd in the sculpt, resin skin tone, body type that you liked within a 1 week period and paying the total cost up front. I'd missed out on Ashanti (pictured above) when she was released earlier this year, so this time round I didn't hesitate to order my own version of Ashanti. I like the idea of a darker resin bjd model and hope to find a male bjd in a similar skin tone sometime. 

on the walls

vintage ducks in flight on the lounge wall - the last duck always looks like it's off course. These were inherited from my in-laws and started off their flight in the kitchen but are now permanently in the lounge.

a vintage print of Sir Gerald Kelly's "Saw Ohn Nyun" from the local Sallies store resides in the hallway. I love the delicate beauty of this image - regal yet poignant.

an antique sea turtle shell that was a gift from my parents, hangs on the wall in the alcove by the entrance door. I grew up playing with this shell - I imagined it to be so many things. Now it's a way to remember my beloved Grandpa who passed away in 1984. He was many things including an artisan who handcrafted jewelry from tortoise shell, abalone shell, coconut and other materials. 

border print dress

it took just over 2 hours to make this dress yesterday and I'm really pleased that it's finished. I realised as soon as I had it laid out to cut, that this fabric was going to give me problems. The design was printed uneven and wobbley (I hadn't noticed this when I bought it) so it was a challenge to even line up the border print at the bottom. You can see that I sacrificed the design symmetry at the neckline to keep the lower part of the dress looking somewhat even.  Got there in the end and I'm very happy with the result. It's my version of the muu muu dress although it's 3/4s in length and not very full. Just perfect for tropical weather!

lava lava

I have a great selection of lava lava ( also known as the pareo, sarong, sulu etc ) that I've collected over the years. They're bright, bold and very colourful. At Spotlight today, I bought some cotton voile in 2 distinctive prints, each measuring 1.9 metres of 115cm wide fabric and then quickly hemmed the edges at each end to make up 2 lava lava. These are destined to be worn around the pool and beach in Samoa.

In the South Pacific, the lava lava is more than just an accessory for the beach or pool. It's an article of clothing that's worn by both men and women in everyday life. Although a lava lava is simple to make, it's being able to tie it (so it looks stylish) that's the real challenge. For the uninitiated, it can seem pretty daunting to find a flattering way to make a simple rectangle of fabric work. To get you started, there's 24 ways to tie a lavalava. My favourite lava lava styles are in the photos above. Let me know if you have a favourite way to tie a sarong.