"Make It Easy" Pattern 4 (1984)

 Here is Pattern 4 in the Make it Easy series.  As I said in my post about the first pattern in this series, Make it Easy was designed as a course for new sewers, with each multi-size pattern getting progressively harder. 

 Pattern 4 is for a pinafore dress and a skirt—with instructions on how to alter it to make different garments.  The editors of the booklet which accompanied the pattern decided to put a couple of the variations on the cover.   The pinafore dress has been converted into a "drawstring gillet" and the skirt into culottes.  This outfit has the square "boxy" look which was so typical of the mid-eighties.

"What To Wear To Work" (Vogue Patterns, Early Spring 1985)

 There was no way I was going to get out of the 1980s without a post about a suit.  It was, after all, the era of the power suit.

This version, designed Joseph Picone, is a classic which could almost be worn today.  I could have picked a more exaggeratedly eighties example, but in the end I went with this one because... the model was wearing a Walkman.  For those not old enough to remember, Walkman was the first personal audio device, the ancestor of today's portable media players.  First released in the West earlier in the decade, the Walkman became a quintessential 1980s accessory (and had a star turn in 1985  in Back to the Future!)

"Splashy palette" (Woman's Day Family Knitting 1986)

 

 Looking back, if there was one thing all the fashions of the 1980s had in common it was bulk.

This cardigan was mostly made up in Chat Botte "Chaleureuse" a bulky (there's that word again!) 12-ply wool with a fuzzy texture.  As you can see it was perfectly suited to the 1980s look.  Different wools are used for the inserts decorating the garment.   A horrifyingly complicated chart has been supplied with this pattern in order to assist in making it up, but Woman's Day Family Knitting only thinks that "some degree of knitting expertise" is needed!
 

Two Exhibitions in Canberra

 I didn't go to any exhibitions in 2020—thank you, Covid 19 travel restrictions and lockdowns!  Happily for me a couple of little exhibitions have now landed right on my doorstep.  Firstly, in the foyer of the National Library of Australia Zimmerman + Ellis:

Zimmerman, Spring 2021

Zimmerman, Spring 2021

"8 looks from fashion label Zimmerman's Spring 21 collection, Wild Botanica... on display alongside the Ellis Rowan paintings that inspired their creation."

In the National Museum of Australia we have Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion. 

Lyn-Al Young: "Ngoorntook (winter)" 2020

Rosabella Ryder.  "Take me dancing!" Top and skirt, 2019

Originally shown at Bendigo Art Gallery, this exhibition features "the work of indigenous artists and designers from the inner city to remote desert art centres".

"Piinpi, an Indigenous word commonly used across regions of East Coast Cape York Peninsula, refers to Indigenous 'seasonal changes' and the regeneration of Country."

Bendigo Art Gallery

 

Heather Wallace (designer) 2018

Wedding dress made for the film Top End Wedding (2018).  Fabric was designed by Bede Tungatalum, dress by Heather Wallace and the costume was made by Robyn Trott.  It was worn in the film by actress Miranda Tapsell.

Grace Rosendale, "Seedpods" top and pants, 2019

Rodney Clark, "Bap Djandak", 2020

"Carter began making cloaks in the early 2000s, following his research into traditional cloak practices from Museums Victoria collections.  This work is divided into geometrical panels and depicts a topographical view of the landscape and waterways that surrounds the artist's Country."

Tegan Cowlishaw, "Deadly Kween" jumpsuit, 2019

Tegan Cowlishaw's label "AARLI" produces "ethical and sustainable" custom made streetwear from upcycled fabric remnants and recycled materials.  This jumpsuits is maid from the remains of a black and gold sequin cushion and "aqua metallic gold lustre print on PET bottles".

"Mediterranean Collection" (Justknits, Summer 1987-88)

 "Justknits" used to produce multi-sized sewing patterns suitable for knit fabrics and twice yearly "collections" with ideas on how to adapt them to produce the latest looks.

 The theme for their Spring/Summer collection of 1987-88 was "Mediterranean".  Here we have a short sleeve top and a pleated skirt.  The patterns for these garments have been altered to allow inserts in coordinating fabrics to be added.