Friday 19 December 2014

Mosey knit pants and what is average height for women?

One of my favourite new designs - the knit Mosey pant - is now available for sale.  I live in these pants!  They are incredibly comfortable and feel like leggings or trackpants when you are wearing them but they still look cool and you can dress them up when you go out.  

And as in most Minnie + Ree designs they come in two sizes which fit most women: Small is Aus/NZ 8-10-12 and Average is Aus/NZ 14-16-18.  Here are some pics:




Natural & Gold Foil Triangle PendantLike her necklace?  She's the designer and you can find her jewellery here.





Now the reason why this post is also about average height is because our gorgeous model above is wearing size Small and she is 5 foot 10 inches (177 cm).

The average height for women in Australia and New Zealand is now about 5 foot 5 inches which is 165 cm.  For women over 45 years the average height is 5 foot 4 inches so we have got taller over the years. The average size is now about a 14-16.  So I've sacrificed myself and here are pics of the size Average pants on an average height woman!



Want some of your own?  We have three colours in our online store at the moment - black, grey with a purple undertone, and a camel colour. They are in a medium weight knit fabric which is a cotton and polyester blend. Check them out here


Mosey knit pants

Why Mosey??? 

Search Results

  1. mosey
    ˈməʊzi/
    informal
    verb
    1. 1.
      walk or move in a leisurely manner.
      "we decided to mosey on up to Montgomery"
    noun
    BRITISH
    1. 1.
      a leisurely walk or drive.
      "I'll just have a mosey round"


Monday 15 December 2014

Christmas in Summer

I'm sending out this Christmas greeting before we know what the weather will be on 25 December. This looks like the perfect way to spend the day ...


Happy Holidays everyone!

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Shall we catch up at the next "Summer" events?

If you are in New Zealand at the moment you will know that we are officially in summer but the wind and rain haven't got with the plan yet!!  60mm of rain on the sunny Kapiti Coast today ... ew!

Keeping positive here is the list of summer markets that Minnie + Ree will be at over the next couple of months.


Of course there is our home market:

  • Minnie + Ree will be at Underground Market on the waterfront in Wellington for the Christmas markets - Saturday and Sunday 6-7 November, 13-14 November and 20-21 November 2014.
  • Underground Market then closes for a few weeks and is back again on 24 January 2015.


Travelling around ...


Coromandel:
  • Pauanui market day, Saturday 3 January 2015
  • Cooks Beach Summer Gala, Sunday 4 January 2015
  • Hahei market day, Monday 5 January 2015.


Marton:
  • Nga Tawa Fete, Calico Line, Marton Sunday 22 February 2015.


Thursday 27 November 2014

Don't you wish you were in Fiji?

This is going to be the last Fiji trip for a while.  I am part of a team of voluntary business mentors who travel up to Fiji to help small and medium sized businesses.  This work is government funded because growing sustainable businesses is great for the local communities - it provides jobs and incomes. Our funding is up for now so it may be a while before I get back here.  I really love the place and the people!

But here are some photos for those of you in Northern hemisphere who are facing a cold winter, and for those back at home in NZ who are being driven mad by crazy, windy, changeable spring weather! Beautiful sunny days with gentle breezes and 32 degrees C.

We do get out in the countryside a bit and it is very rural.  I drove my colleague mad one day by obsessively photographing cows ...here's my two favourites.  The first was cool because she had such a stroppy stance and real attitude.  The second ones are pretty full on as well. You don't get many bulls working like this in NZ!








Fiji is of course very tourist oriented so we made a stop at one of the big new hotels - the Intercontinental.  It is the cleanest, shiniest hotel I've ever seen. 

There are obviously no cows but what else is missing??


 

Where are the people??

So since no one was around I got to play famous fashion model...

 



Then we checked out the beach ...

 And the flowers are all out too - beautiful!!

 




Thursday 20 November 2014

What do you think of shipping costs?

We have been puzzling over shipping costs for some time now. A quick look around our favourite online shops gave every option from free to over $100 to get a jacket here to New Zealand from Canada! Hmmmm, that doesn't sound quite right.

Anyways, we have bitten the bullet and made it all super easy. Spend more than NZ$100 and the shipping is free. 

Less than $100 still attracts shipping costs and they are:
  • New Zealand - $3.00 one-off cost and $2.00 per item (= $5.00 for first item) 
  • Australia - $6.00 one-off cost and $3.00 per item (= $9.00 for first item)
  • Everywhere else - $8.00 one-off cost and $5.00 per item (= $13.00 for first item)
  • Shipping is added to your order automatically when you reach the final stages of checkout.
The shipping journey of your package starts in the mighty Cube (or on sunny days in the basket of the mint green bicycle) and then we use NZ Post.  They say it takes this long for your parcel to arrive:
  • New Zealand: 1-3 working days
  • Australia: 4 - 10 working days
  • Most other places: 6 - 10 working days

If you wish you can use the international courier service which will halve the delivery times and provide tracking and signature required on delivery. If you want to use this option let us know when you check out (in the instructions section) and we will email you about the cost. As a general indication it is about NZ$27 for Australia and NZ$48 for USA, UK and Europe.

And of course, all the packaging of your purchases is strictly supervised by the cat. 

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Working from home - PJs all day or are you a bit glam?

Everyone who works from home has those occasional days when you just don't care how you look and you get dressed in whatever you can find that's quick and clean(ish). Well hopefully everyone does and it's not just me!  And then you have to go out for something and you really hope you won't bump into anyone you know.  Especially someone who usually sees you on your more stylish days. 


My answer for the instant glam up when I go out is my favourite big scarf.  

I love this scarf so much - it is bright and colourful, it goes with nearly everything in my wardrobe and it is in the Spring colours that really suit me. And it's warm but not too heavy so can be worn all year round. 




I've been reading a few blogs lately that talk about how to amp up your Work at Home style.

This one from YOU LOOK FAB was a real favourite.  She suggests that you go for:
  1. Dramatic Hair
  2. Dramatic Eyewear: Be bold with your specs
  3. Lighten Up your colours
  4. Statement Knitwear & Tops - with colour, pattern and shine.
  5. Dramatic Pants - again, think colour, pattern and shine
  6. Lippie & Finger Nail Polish
Other than the nail polish which I don't seem to have time for at the moment I am 100% with her on this list.



As I mainly work from home I have developed some clothes that I wear all the time at home and I am now starting to make for others.  

Each article of clothing has to be comfortable, flattering and in our usual flexi-sizes since I can't stand all that rubbish around having "fat clothes" and "skinny clothes".  And I do not look good in yoga pants!!!


So here are my No. 5 Dramatic Pants. 

I've worn these so much and I love them. They should be up on the Minnie + Ree website soon...








And here's another pic of the Perfect Scarf.  I hunted this down after having my colours done for me by Sherna from Your Style Journey. I had done the colour thing years ago but I think I was mis-typed as I never really felt good about being a summer - too many pinks for me!  Sherna's advice was the best info I've had about what to wear - it makes a huge difference in how I look and feel. 


Do you know what colours make you feel great??



Friday 31 October 2014

Are you more of a Halloween or Day of the Dead kind of woman?

It's the 31st October and although it's not traditional in New Zealand both Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations are becoming part of our culture.  I guess you'd prefer one or the other - here's my take on it all...

Day of the Dead - Dia de Muertos


I made a new dress:






It is wide and boxy in the Japanese style - soooo comfy to wear, great flattering colours and as the close ups show - a few edgy parts to the print.

Halloween

I posted this cartoon on Minnie + Ree's Facebook page


Sizing

And then I did some work and updated the Size Guide on our website.  Even did this handy little How-to-measure-yourself pic:



Adios
Ree

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Things I am grateful for today ...

I'm spending this week recovering from three very intense weekends at the WOW markets, the biggest markets of the year - they are Saturdays and Sundays over the World of Wearable Art shows when thousands of fans come to Wellington.  It was huge again this year: www.facebook.com/WorldofWearableArt

I am also thinking about fabrics and what else I need to order and make now that we are having some proper weather, and I've sold out of so many things!  Let me know in the comments if there's anything you'd like me to repeat or new colours to try.  Yes I have ordered some fabric for the women who want blue Belle Frocks!

But first let's take a breather and be grateful for the wonderful markets we've just had and a few other things ...

1. I've just finished sewing the last seam (on a sample for a new top) and I had this much thread left.  YAY!!



2. I may be very busy but I don't live in the Rammin' world anymore - an amazing kid's poem from Sarah Wilson's blog (the I Quit Sugar woman) - here's the link http://www.sarahwilson.com/2012/12/do-what-youre-not-doing/


3.  And after all that work there's always this ...




Have a great week!!

Tuesday 7 October 2014

Frocktober on Felt and we are there!

It is Frocktober and Felt.co.nz are featuring frocks all month.  

We are proud to be on their blog.  Here's the link: 
http://felt.co.nz/blog/2014/10/06/frocktober-day-6-minnie-and-ree/

And here are the original Belle Frock pictures - in Sydney last summer:











Wednesday 24 September 2014

WOW! World of Wearable Arts is on again ...

WOW is back.  It is that amazing time of the year in Wellington when thousands of women descend on the city to see the show, party and shop.  We will be at Underground Market Saturday AND Sunday 10am-4pm over the next three weeks.  See you there!



Wearable Arts

AND we will have the last stocks of Stephanie Cahorel's ceramics available ... stock up for Christmas, you know they make great gifts!



Friday 19 September 2014

Belle Frocks - new colours

We've been slaving over a hot sewing machine - here are all the new colours.  


Belle frock in charcoal with blue koru heart

Belle frock in gold leaves organic cotton

Belle frock in dusky pink

Belle frock in red and cream

Like all Minnie + Ree clothing there are two sizes for the frock. 

Either SIZE Average - fits Aus/NZ 14-16-18. This is approx US 10-14.
Or SIZE small is Aus/NZ 8-10-12 which is approx US 4-6-8.

The most important thing for the fit of this dress is that it fits across the bust. There is a drawstring inside the back of the dress so you can put the dress on inside out and get a friend to tighten it so it fits perfectly. Bust measurements are approx 33 - 37" (83-93cm) for a Small and 38 - 45" (96-115cm) for the Average.

Here are a couple of live models:



















Bring on summer!!!