Month: January 2011

Butterfly Brocade Knickers

Butterfly brocade knickers

Knickers: Pair Three.
Once again from the pattern in Cloth Magazine.

This pair turned out not to be such a success. The fabric’s a polyester brocade, which doesn’t drape as well as other fabrics. I also used a different type of elastic, thinking that the ruffles would look pretty with the golden butterflies. Unfortunately the elastic isn’t very strong, so it doesn’t pull the fabric in as much as it needs to.

Basically this means that unless I change the elastic, these knickers are just going to fall down! So they’re now on a pile waiting to be unpicked, which is a bit of a shame. Still, this is the point of a learning curve, so I can’t mind too much.

On Short Hair

Written c. 1998 by Joan Juliet Buck, the editor-in-chief of French Vogue from 1994-2001:

Hair is time.

Women with short hair always look as if they have somewhere else to go. Women with long hair tend to look as if they belong where they are, especially in California. Short hair takes a short time. Long hair takes a long time. Long hair moves faster than short hair. Long hair tells men that you are all woman, or a real woman, or at the very least a girl. Short hair always makes them wonder. Short hair makes children ask each other –usually at the school-yard gate, when parents are late– “Are you a boy or girl?” Men married to women with short hair should not have affairs with women who have long hair kept up with many little pins and combs. Once you have cut your hair you have to remember to wear lipstick, but you can put away the brush, elastics, and the black barrettes in the form of shiny leaves with rhinestone hearts. When you cut your hair you lose a nose and gain a neck. A neck is generally better than a nose. It does not need to be powdered, except on extreme occasions. It does, however, need to be washed more often.

With short hair you suddenly dislike the month of March, when the wind blows down the back of your neck. With short hair you begin to crave pearl necklaces, long earrings, and a variety of sunglasses. And you brush your teeth more often. Short hair removes obvious femininity and replaces it with style. When it starts growing out a little and losing its style, you have to wear sunglasses until you can get it to the hairdresser. That’s why you need a variety. Short hair makes you aware of subtraction as style. You can no longer wear puffed sleeves or ruffles; the neat is suddenly preferable to the fussy. You eye the tweezers instead of the blusher. What else can you take away? You can’t hide behind short hair. Your nape is exposed. Men put their hands around your neck instead of stroking your long locks. You can only pray they have friendly intentions. The backs of your ears show, your jaw line is clear to anyone watching, and you realize –perhaps for the first time– how wide the expanse of skin is between cheekbone and ear.

You may look a little androgynous, a little unfinished, a little bare. You will look elegant, as short hair requires you to keep your weight slightly below acceptable levels. However, the first time you wear a bathing suit with short hair, you will feel exceptionally naked. People who used to look straight at you will love you in profile. Short hair makes others think you have good bones, determination, and an agenda. The shape of your skull is commented on, so are its contents. They can pick you out in a crowd, and you can be recognized from behind, which can be good or bad. But your face is no longer a flat screen surrounded by a curtain: the world sees you in three dimensions.

Chase to the cut.

I’m slightly concerned about the references to washing your neck and brushing your teeth – I hope I do those things often enough already! I also have absolutely no intention of keeping my weight “slightly below acceptable levels”, whatever that means. But I am absolutely loving having very short hair.

I’ve had short-ish hair for quite a while now. Like many women I grew it a little longer for my wedding in 2009, but almost exactly a year later I bought myself a set of clippers and simply shaved it all off. Not as short as Agyness Deyn’s hair in the photo above – I cropped it down to a grade 8, which is about an inch long. Now I’m in the process of growing myself a sort of a mohawk – keeping the sides at about a grade 3, and leaving the crown to grow until I find myself bored of it.

The most frequent comments from other people have been “you’re so brave” and “you have a lovely-shaped head”, which is a bit of a weird one – I mean it’s not as though I had anything to do with the shape of my own skull! I have been surprised by the level of maintenance that’s required by having hair so short. It really needs to be washed every single day, whereas slightly longer hair often looks better on a day when it hasn’t been. I also find myself shaving the sides every couple of weeks, simply to keep it from looking as though I couldn’t be bothered. I don’t wear earrings or make-up any more often than I would have done before I shaved my head, and I’m not really fussed if passers-by can’t tell whether I’m male or female. Why do they need to know?

Also, Joan? I’ll damn well wear ruffles if I want to, short hair or not.

Women’s Land Army boot

Women's Land Army boots, at MERL

The Museum of English Rural Life have an exhibition on at the moment called Land Ladies: women and farming in England, 1900-1954. It’s on until April 19th.

The boots above were issued by the Women’s Land Army, and they belonged to Doreen Thorpe who served in Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Derbyshire and Yorkshire.

I’m impressed that they’ve survived completely unworn, not least because it means that we can see all the details on the stitched and hobnailed soles. I particularly like the horseshoe heels which I hadn’t seen before.

Black silk knickers

Black silk knickers

This is pair of knickers number two – in plain black silk.

The silk satin’s very fine, and I’d been worried that the fabric might slip or fray. As it turned out, they were much easier to sew than I’d expected. I really like the lettuce edges, done on the overlocker, and the three-step zig-zag stitch looks nicely professional.

I still need to make some modifications for the pattern. It needs re-working slightly to work with a directional print, although that’s obviously not an issue with this pair! Starting to stitch down the ends of the elastic is a bit fiddly – the machine has a tendency to suck the fabric down into the feed dogs.

Once I’ve got these little bits and pieces sorted out, you can look forward to seeing a lot more of these!

Heart Button Cufflinks

The trouble with buying men’s shirts is that the sleeves are always too long. I buy them because it’s quite difficult to find women’s shirts that fasten with cufflinks, unless you can afford to shop at somewhere like Thomas Pink.

Then it can be difficult to find pretty or interesting cufflinks, but fortunately it’s extremely easy to make your own!

This tutorial from Martha Stewart shows you how to make the cufflinks pictured above, from four mother-of-pearl heart shaped buttons.

All you need is four buttons, a needle, and some nice strong thread.

Easy peasy!

Skirt and petticoat.

Purple & Black

Today I have been mostly sewing an outfit that I planned almost a year ago, when I was offered my current job. I bought three men’s shirts from Marks and Spencer (lilac, pink and lemon), and bought some poly-cotton and broderie anglais trim from Fabric Land to make three matching petticoats.

Purple petticoat

Here’s the first petticoat – a variation on my usual elasticated skirt. I lengthened the pattern to just below the knee, and then added a 10″ ruffle with a matching broderie anglais trim.

Black skirt

The skirt is made in four panels, and had pockets in the side seams. The waistband is attached in exactly the same way as the petticoat, and the hem is trimmed with gathered broderie anglais. I’m not sure what the fabric is, except that it’s a nice heavy suiting weight. It’s most likely polyester, although the weave looks a little bit like dense linen. (This is what happens when you have a fabric stash that goes back more than a decade – sometimes you can’t remember what you’ve bought!)

I have a pretty lilac sash belt that I can wear if I decide I don’t want the elastic to show, but I actually like the fancy elastic so I don’t mind if it’s visible.

Now I want to knit myself a black v-neck tank top, although that might be pushing the slightly schoolmistressy look a bit too far. We’ll see.

Sewing Lessons

Drafting a pair of leggings

Given that my current job contract runs out at very soon, I’ve decided to offer sewing lessons.

They’re held in your own home, so that you can learn on your own equipment.
Unless you’re booking a hand-sewing session, you’ll need to have your own sewing machine.

I’m based in Reading, Berkshire, and prefer to teach anywhere that’s easily reachable by public transport. (I don’t drive.)

One-to-one sewing lessons

These sessions can be tailored (pardon the pun!) to your own requirements. You might want a hand with one of my tutorials, or some help with deciphering a commercial sewing pattern. Perhaps you need to make some repairs or alterations, or want to learn a specific technique such as inserting a zipper.

Simply let me know what you want to learn, and we can go from there!

Make Do and Mend

Don’t have a sewing machine? Not a problem! I can teach you some basic hand sewing techniques which will allow you to mend, alter and re-vamp your old clothes. From turning up a pair of trousers to restyling an old blouse or t-shirt, you don’t need to be an expert seamstress to give yourself a whole new wardrobe!

Corset drafting lessons

Make your own simple underbust corset, drafted to fit exactly to your own measurements. Each session requires a full day. Please note that we will be drafting a very simple corset which is tailored to the modern figure, and is not period-specific.

If you’re interested, there are more details over here.

Bee Brocade Waistcoat

Finished waistcoat

I made this waistcoat so long ago that I’d almost forgotten about it! The pattern, as for the shirt underneath it, is Simplicity 4923.

Although this was already the shorter view, most women’s patterns are too long in the body for me, so I decided to shorten it even further. Men’s patterns are even longer, so I folded out about four inches from the front and back. I didn’t interface the brocade because it was already fairly stiff, and I wanted the waistcoat to be nice and light. It fastens with poppers, with decorative buttons sewn over the top. There are twice as many buttons as poppers!

The cravat is simply a piece of silver habutae, which I ran through the overlocker to finish the edges.

I wore this to a goth night, with leather trousers and silver Doc Marten boots. I had to go a choir rehearsal first, and as I walked in one of the Tenors exclaimed, “Bloody hell!”

I hope he meant it in a good way, because I absolutely love this outfit.

Sparkly Velvet Tunic

Butterick 5260

This is Butterick 5260, a variant on View A. I only had a very small piece of fabric, so I ended up shortening both the top and the sleeves. It was supposed to be a short dress, but it’s a long top now! I also did away with the little piece of elastic gathering at the front, because I just couldn’t get it to sit right.

I made this in one afternoon, before going out for cocktails and dinner with friends that same evening. It went together really quickly, and I’m very pleased with it. The only down side is that the glitter has a tendency to spread itself everywhere!

Clown Trousers

Clown trousers

A friend of mine collects clowns. He found this one in a charity shop, sadly trouserless. A fat quarter of sparkly gold jersey later, and the clown is much better dressed!