My new sewing room, let me show you it

Sigh. I've sewn 3/4 of a dress and one small curtain so far, and it is ace! Now contemplating options for storage, and amazing myself at just how much fabric I have (it's been hiding in the front room for years, naughty fabric!).

Tripfits #2

I made a start on my tripfits already, and made the maggy london twist dress out of some cotton jersey. If it washes well, it may make it to the coveted status of tripfit. It is big enough to wear layers underneath if it gets cold. Not the most flattering photo of it, it looks kinda baggy and daggy. I think (hope) it looks better in person!?

Tripfits concepts

So, Kitty and I accidently booked a trip to Tokyo (whoops! how did that happen?) so y'all going to suffer tripfit concepts, muslins, failed muslin despair, the joy of the successful concept... prepare thyself!

My current thinking is:

*foldover waistband knit pencil skirt inspired by Mela Purdie (who rudely no longer have it on their site).
* doubleknit jacket from stretch & sew blazer 1025 or 1050 set in sleeve jacket
* maggie london twist dress
*shirtdress from some kinda thick knit

...and that's all at the moment.

Market vintage

Woo hoo, I love a vintage fabric find! I bought this piece today at Surry Hills Markets. It's polished cotton, just over 5 metres of it. Like a lot of vintage dress fabrics it's only 90cm wide, so I might need most of that yardage for a frock.

It shall stew in the stash until I think of the perfect frock for it to become. Any suggestions?

Leftovers

I had enough of the stretch cotton left over from the gubbermint frock (see yesterday's post) to make a very comfy A line skirt. I wore her Christmas shopping today, she is very festive.

Gubbermint frock

My frock inspired by the new Gubbermint! (I used this pattern, view 6 and added little sleeves)

Here's the story:

1. It's mostly red, which is the colour they use on election night for Labor

2. It has a small amount of blue in it, because that's the colour they use for the Liberals on election night. The blue is very pale though, as some of the Liberals were that night.

3. Some of the blossoms are green, to acknowledge the work the Greens' preferences did in changing the gubbermint, especially in the seat of Bennelong.

4. It is an Asian inspired design, in the hope the new gubbermint will re-engage with Asia, and because Kev signed the Kyoto treaty. Also, Kev's son-in-law is from Hong Kong originally. Oh, and of course, Kev can speak Chinese!

5. Um, that's it, but I like lists of 5 better than lists of 4.

...we interrupt this gubbermint transmission...

...with an unrelated fabric update. Thanks to Kitty EE (Evil Enabler) I picked this up from the post office this morning:

It's a sort of mid-weight canvassy fabric. How fab would it look on a wing chair? However I still love the leopard fur my wingish chair is covered in, so that won't happen.

An ottoman? A jacket? Cushions? I have 5 yards... Hand included for scale.

Here's a gratuitous shot of one of my new chandeliers:

Ladies, start your engines!

The start of the Livebird Gubbermint frock challenge! Updates over the weekend!

Fat Halter

Moggy will testify that I have been planning on making a 'fat halter' for quite some time. Today I finally did it, from this pattern. I had the Anne Adams sundress out and just about ready to place on the fabric, but I felt the need for something saucier. You can't fight the sauce. Go with the sauce.

I admit I debated with myself whether to add the rick rack. Then I came to my senses. There is no frock which is not enhanced by rick rack. Even wedding dresses. Just you wait, next year rick rack will be all over the bridal magazines.

(The rick rack also goes around the outside edge of the halter, however the halter's fatness makes it bunch up so it's not visible in the photo)

Peer group pressure

OK, so I actually made this frock weeks ago (just before Pavilion) and didn't post it. Hopefully I shall now redeem myself.

It's made with some fabric from the Fifties Fair (I thought it was Rayon, but the chap who I am currently learning pattern cutting from says polyester /ramie). It has a nice swoosh anyway. I adapted good old sweetie to get a more forties look (inspired by the Ashley dress from Trashy Diva). I ended up having to put some elastic at the shoulders or else they dropped.

It's super comfy - I shall make more!

Petal

That's her name. This is another version of blue spotty, put together from two patterns. This fabric is a bit heavier than the spot though, so I knew I didn't want the skirt to be quite as full. So I folded in some width on the pattern pieces. Only thing is, I went a bit too far with my folding and managed to shear a couple of inches off the hips. Grrr. So I did teeny seam allowances, but it is still mighty tight over my hips. I guess if I get annoyed wearing her, I have enough fabric to make another skirt, so she is on probation for now. Durn beginner's luck strikes again.

She's purty though.

Tracing tip

I have picked up a lot of sewing tips from in-progress photos on other people's sewing blogs, even if they weren't intended to be educational. Just seeing how someone pins a pattern piece can be enlightening. I very rarely post 'in progress' shots myself, mainly because I am an impatient sew-er, and I don't want to stop until the frock is finished.
So tonight I have started my next frock, and while tracing the pattern I thought to myself: "I have a sewing tip people may be interested in!"
I use my extensive snow dome collection for weighting my patterns when I trace them out.
Snow domes! Is there anything they can't do?

Appy hanniversary!

...right back at you. So many frocks and frock accompaniments, with Furnishing Diversions. Here's to another year of stash-raiding, stash-building, and stuff!

Happy anniversary!

Well, Moggy, it's been one year and many frocks, even more patterns and quite a bit of fabric!
I shall celebrate with a Greek salad! Party on!

(I believe this Frida Kahlo fabric was the first fabric that to me opened up the wonders of online fabric shopping and ebay. London, 2004, remember? I still haven't bought any)

New Look? Result!

Good old New Look 6557! You are so easy to sew, such a nice shape, so very pipeable and bindable.

We salute you!

(Frock in Pavilion, piped around neckline and armholes and binding around hem)

Simplicity 2959

A new favourite frock! This is simplicity 2959, in vintage fabric from the fifties fair. It's an easy pattern, and I am very pleased with her. It took about an hour of folding, refolding and gritting of teeth to fit the pattern pieces on 2 metres of fabric, but by shortening the skirt I got there. It has a quarter inch hem as a result, with the help of some bias binding.
Moggy's suggestion of a self fabric belt was a winner, to stop the skirt pleats poufing too much. Luckily I just happened to have a green belt buckle lying about the place.

I never promised you a rose garden

Hang on, yes I did!

Roses arrived today.
Rest easy, Kitty, the roses are only about 6cm wide. Mother pronounced it suitable evocative of the era, although not quite muted enough - give it time, I say.

Now to think about what to make!

ruh roh.

I bought another pattern on ebay. Somebody stop me! From Stellablue Vintage Sewing. Mmmmm.

I bought it because I want to make the frock shown in blue, on the left there. Cut on sleeves, empire line, v neck, wacky pockets...swoon. Overnight I have developed a big crush on the frock on the right, that little strap/tab thing. Oh yes. They shall have to fight to see who gets made first.

Fabric suggestions? Anyone?

Doncha wish your loungerooms were hot like ours...?

Well, doncha?

I have decided to go with the white blind, although the curtain fabric is to die for. The view out of the window is of the neighbour's bathroom window and fence, and it's a bit grim. Whenever I opened the curtain to let the light in I would close it again right away. Sigh.

So it was either live in the dark, or have a blind. Having the fabric there also made the room feel much smaller, and the blind recedes into the window frame and makes the room feel bigger. With our little house, we need every centimetre of space, real or imagined. By the way, the curtain pic was taken during the day, the blind pic was taken at night, in case you were wondering. How good are those curtain ring clips though? Love you, curtain clips!

The fabric may be reincarnated as cushions, for when our new couch arrives. Soon!

Hmm, frock and roll appears to have become a bit of a home dec blog lately.

We will resume our normal programming shortly. Apologies for any inconvenience.

This week's fabric delivery with bonus added curtains

Pavilion and Touched By The Sun from Over The Rainbow:













And new curtains. Hoorah!


PS if you want to know, the rose fabric in the previous post (which hasn't arrived yet) is from On The QT online quilting shop.

Coming up roses.

Dear goddesses of fabric:

please don't let anything untoward happen regarding this fabric we just ordered (ie floods, pestilance, running out of yardage in the online shop, shipping that turns out to be twice the cost of the fabric).

Because we love it. Yes we do. I think Miss Kitty and I will both be dreaming of what frocks we can make from this tonight.

This year's picnic theme just keeps manifesting itself...

Rosebud

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of this pattern, which I won on ebay, and which I am hoping I can make with the 2 metres of rosebud fabric from the fifties fair. Looks do-able (I'm talking the slim skirt version), or am I being optimistic? Will I run short of fabric or will it be the usual story of the frock being about 25cm too long, so I will not need the 2 5/8 yards the pattern will probably say I should have? Oh the suspense!

(Blogged while waiting for the first coat of paint on my lounge room walls to dry. You're such a trendsetter Mogster)

Off topic, but I have been sewing near here...

I'm all exciting about the first actual bit of the renovations being finished (the sewing studio is a ways off still...) and particularly excited about having a fridge again after months without one. Hurrah!
Blue is before, white is after, which I hope is obvious, but maybe not!

I still have to get the shelvedge in - nowhere to put food IN the kitchen at the mo, so it is all on the loungeroom shelves.

When all the canisters and mixmasters and stuff gets in it will look less stark too.

Spottie Hot Bodice

This pattern arrived in the mail yesterday (oh ebay, how I love ye) and I made her up in red/white spot as a muslin today. The intention was to make the 'real' version in the rosebud fabric we bought at the fifties fair, but I don't know if I will now. The dress feels a bit 'fiddly' to wear, it has a strange strapless sort of arrangement under those straps which feels a bit insecure. Also, four billion darts and I'm not exaggerating!

Don't worry, ebay has come up with another pattern which will be perfect for rosebud! (details if and when I win the auction).

(Edited the next day to add a photo of the back straps, and to say: I was a bit grumpy after my darting marathon yesterday, and I can see today how this frock looks almost exactly as it does on the pattern envelope. That's pretty rare, so I am happy)

Green(cut-on)sleeves

So, see, I was at the vietnamese lady's shop looking for lace for my silk satin, see, and, well, I saw this green suedey-twill stuff with satin backing on the other side, and it was like 4 bucks a metre, and it had stretch, man, even though it was woven, y'know? Anyway I accidently bought 4 metres of it (I was doing my washing at the laundromat over the road, I had to fill in the time, so sue me!).

Anyway, I brought it home and didn't know what to do with it. Then I went looking in my pattern drawer and found this, dig? Well, OK, so it is a size too small, but I thought, man, ain't that what stretch wovens are like MADE for? So I did it. And I'm not sorry I did, in fact I am PROUD. So there. I wore it to the art gallery and out to dinner and everything and I DON'T CARE WHO SAW ME.

Yeeeha! It's western day! (now with full length jacket pic)

I should really have pressed this first, but when Mr M has time available to model, well, you have to take it.

Another brown western shirt, from a 70s pattern this time, and a dark chocolate colour. I like the slim fit, and Mr M says he likes it. Brown is apparently the hardest colour to find in a plain western style shirt, so Mr M says. He would know.

Frocks are so much more fun to make! Did I really promise him a corduroy one of these? I think I shall have to beg off, due to warm weather, and urgent frock making requirements. He won't be wearing corduroy shirts again for at least 8 months anyway.

I bought a leather jacket at St Vinnie's today, blazer length, with patch pockets. It's western style too. I have yokes on the brain.

(Edited to add, by popular demand, full pic of jacket and pocket detail, and to beg appreciation for modelling it on a 31 degree day. You're welcome, Moggy)

Help meeeeeeee

Now, these haven't arrived yet, and who knows when I'll get around to making them, weighed down with the never ending 'to sew' list as I am, but indulge me.
I'm thinking pink tattoo for the halter.
Any fabric suggestions for the puff sleeved cutie?

Trashy me

More silk. Here are my purchases from Trashy Diva. Two Betty blouses, one bustle skirt. I am very pleased, they fit perfectly.
Long weekend this week! What to sew? Pink gingham Laverne blouse? Or seventies western shirt for Mr M? It might be time for another snaps order, hey Mogg?

Slippin' an-a slidin'

I love slips. Nothing nicer than a petticoat under a frock I think. And it seems to be one of those things that no matter how many I make, I never have enough.


Rathdowne Remnants is having a 30% off sale, so I went to look (thanks to Livebird for the giant rick rack alert, although I seem to have escaped without any now I think about it...). I rifled through the remants and found this lovely silk satin - which, of course, makes the most delicious slips, nighties, half slips, camisoles, etc etc.



The dark red stuff is 3m long so I was contemplating outer wear for it, but I'd get much more wear from the underwear. The eau de nil and grey-blue should look nicely vintage when paired with some lace (cue another visit to the lovely vietnamese lady in Smith St) and should also be good to wear under lighter coloured things. I'd usually go for black lace, but I will see what else there is for something a bit different. I might use the dark red for the slip pattern that Kitty obtained for me earlier.


Oh, and I accidently bought this pattern on eBay last night as well, when Kitty and I were doing some VSAM (Virtual Shopping After Midnight) and looking at sewing machine feet that make attaching bias binding easier (and what person in their right mind wouldn't want that?). Oh, and there was that piping foot too...


I'm thinking she's a good prospect for the building blocks tape measure fabric I bought a while ago. I'm still about the chevrons.

Sunfrock season

I may join you, Moggy, in the perpetual picnic theme for summer. I won the pattern I was after for cherries and rick rack, and here she is.

Baby blanket update

The baby shower is this weekend, and the theme is 'dress like a lady'...how apt. I can do that.

I think I may have even inspired the theme, and as you well know Moggy, I AM an inspiration.

So, here is the blanket, finished and blocking (two weeks to spare. Excuse me for not blogging earlier, but it is a frock blog after all). Blankie's now in a box ready to go, with a lemon tart, to the shower. I think the floral necky, pale blue ribbon belt, pale blue shoes and bag. Lady-like enough for you?

Happiness is a parcel (or three) in the mail

From the top, 2 rago waist cinchers, in black, one for me, one for a friend. Great to waspify the waist for the vintage fashion good times.

Then, another 10 balls of the yummy yarn treehouse green wool, of baby blanket fame, bought on ebay. I'm still deciding what it will be, but I'm all about the short sleeved knitted tops lately.

Then, Trashy Diva silky goodness! An eeeeevil enabler who shall remain nameless (*coughmoggycough*) alerted me to the final sale of some of the items I have been eyeing on the site. Forced me to buy a skirt and two blouses she did. AND order a blouse and skirt for her too, to be picked up on her next Sydney sojourn. Pics later if I can calm down from the excitement of three simultaneous deliveries. It's all a bit much and I think I need a lie down.