easily distracted by shiny things…
Posted in inspiration, shopping on Jul 19th, 2009
Over the years I’ve collected and been given quite a few vintage clothing patterns - most of them from the 1950s. Unfortunately most of them were too small for me to actually sew and wear, and although I have an abiding love of 1950s clothing, I’m really not a 1950s shape.
It’s taken me a long [...]
This is the second dress I’ve made for Diane, using recycled 1970s print bedding. (The first one is here.) This one’s a very pretty, girly design with plenty of hearts and flowers. It’s made from half of a duvet cover, and Diane’s kept the other half to turn into a quilt.
If you’d like to order [...]
This is Folkwear 117, the Croatian Shirt.
I bought the pattern intending to make it in the dress length, but I didn’t have anything like enough of this cotton lawn, so I made a rather short shirt instead. I started this project about eight months ago, and then it was put to one side while I [...]
I made this for Dott, the proud owner of a matching corset!
It’s made from a vintage duvet cover, except for the stripy bits which are new.
I have a moderately-sized stash of vintage children’s duvet covers and curtains, so I’ll be making a few more of these.
Posted in sewing on Mar 24th, 2009
This is the second incarnation of my new dress pattern - this time in a black and white polycotton gingham. This one’s a bit longer than the first one, and trimmed with black broderie anglais/eyelet.
I’ve now worked out my pricing structure, and it looks like this:
Reclaimed/recycled fabric: £90
Hand dyed organic cotton: £120
Novelty print quilting cottons: [...]
Posted in sewing on Mar 13th, 2009
This is what’s been keeping me busy this week - designing, drafting and making a new dress.
Once I’ve sorted out a pricing structure and a size chart and some other information, I’ll be putting this up for sale, and taking orders.
(Assuming that anybody else thinks it’s a nice dress, and that the credit crunch hasn’t [...]
Yesterday I finished off a dress that’s been almost done for far too long.
It was mostly already finished. I just had to add the waistband, sew the top and bottom halves together, and add elastic and binding. Ta daa.
I have a sneaky suspicion it’s going to be too long in the bodice for me, and [...]
Posted in fabric, inspiration on Jan 27th, 2009
A giant parcel arrived for me yesterday - look what was inside!
This fabric is a bit of a mystery… it was sent to me by a friend, but I have no idea how old it is, what it’s made from, or what it was originally designed to be used for.
It’s a heavy twill, and it [...]
Inspired by Ruth Singer, I’ve spent this afternoon making a wall hanging organiser for all my reels of thread.
(Possibly not the cleverest thing to do when suffering with a bad wrist and a splitting headache, but hey.)
Take one enormous cork board, a hundred and eighteen panel pins, and a big hammer…
I particularly like “Turkey Red [...]