Kittys Drawings

Hi All!

As you can probably tell by the title of this post, it’s likely going to be about Halloween or dressing up Last week I was at a party, to celebrate Halloween – or more just to dress up, since the holiday isn’t a big deal in Australia really. I’ve only been to a couple of dress up parties and this one I think I put the most effort into, since I made my dress and bought special shoes for the occasion.

So let me tell you about the most awesome skirt in the world.

This is Advance 8064 from a few posts back. I thought it would be perfect for the party and all I had to do was track down some blue gingham. I got lucky at Spotlight in Brunswick and bought the last 2.8m of this. It’s seersucker too! It was only $13 or so. The buttons were $6 for about 8 from the antiques shop up the road.

On making this I realised my pattern was missing the piece for the back facing, and I had to draft it. It wasn’t too tricky to do – I used the back pieces as a guide.

Aren’t princess cuts so awesome? I just love how the way it’s cut gives control to the fall of the skirt. Super flattering.

There’s pockets too!

I didn’t wear this shirt to the party – I had a white vintage one on instead. This one however, is one I made myself. Two sewing projects shown in one hit!! Its Hollywood 1164. It came together quite easily. The hardest thing maybe setting the sleeves. I used a trick from one of my sewing books on how to reduce the ease in the sleeve, as patterns often come with too much and then you’ve got to stuff all this fabric into a small space.
The super easy trick is just this – fold the end of the sleeve cap down as if you were shortening any other part of the sleeve…but only take a little out. Mine was about 1cm total. Then smooth the edges when you’re cutting so you skip the jagged edge thats created from the folding. Hard to explain sorry! If anyone wants to SEE it, I can do a diagram. Just let me know!

Since I have no Toto, I decided to con Puss into being Toto. Here is me stuffing her in my bag
At first she didn’t like it, but then she was okay with it. Then she had enough. Teehee.

My only problem now with this skirt is that it’s SO Dorothy. Does anyone have any ideas on how I could wear this or alter it so I don’t look like Dorothy all the time? I was thinking of swapping out the buttons for some white ones. And not wearing the glitter shoes of course hehe. And maybe even dyeing it – either red to make purple….or maybe even yellow to make green. Ideas???

Now my next post will be ART related. Howzat!? I’m working on a freelance job for someone which has to be finished tonight so I better get back to it!

Ciao!

Hi Everyone

I’m catching up on a bit of sewing posts. It’s been TWO WEEKS since I last wrote. Gosh the time is flying. I really do have less time to blog these days. And draw. Still not getting anywhere with the drawing. I actually have some paid work to do this weekend so right after this is written I’m gonna go and earn some money.

So here is a dress I made a looong time ago now. The one I polled everyone about whether I should go the bare midriff option. And so I did. I loved the dress when I made it but I kind of hate it now. It’s all my own fault though really – I made it with like, zero ease…so while it fits around the waist, the nature of the pattern and these damn side closures means it’s a struggle to get it over my shoulders without seriously stressing the seams. If I made it looser, I don’t think it would look so good since any gaping would be very noticeable.

It’s such a cute dress though and the fabric is so awesome (another Savers find, remember?).

Some notes that usually go with my sewing posts:

• Totally love the contrasting fabrics!
• I made my own bias tape for this. I botched it a bit – just don’t look too closely okay.
• The skirt is from another pattern because I wanted fullness and did not have a wide enough fabric for the semi-circle this pattern calls for.
• It’s 10 gores! Woah. I love them though. And they’re all French seamed. That’s a lot of thread!
• I used snaps again for the side closure. Still much neater than a zip.
• This dress is really falling apart
• Not many bras are suitable! Eep
• The fabric marker I was using stained it. Grrr – those are supposed to wash out.

*sigh* I have such mixed feelings about this. It gets a fair few looks when I wear it out…mostly cos  of the ‘hole’ in it. The Mr doesn’t like it because of this hole. Haha. I dont know if these pale pastels suit me? It’s a bit meh.

Anyways – it’s done now.

Things I’m working on at the mo…. A skirt and a dress. One is green – that really cool Advance pattern with the bustle and the buttons. The other is a purple floral wiggle dress made of cotton. Desperate need of a summer work wardrobe. It’s gonna be a scorcher this year I think.

WELL.

I better go and not faff around so much.

Seeyas!

Hi everyone

Quickie post today to show you two patterns that arrived in the mail today.

The first – Advance 8064 from the 50′s. I was browsing Ebay a little while ago (as you do) and noticed a really cute skirt for sale by popular seller Violetville Vintage . She has an awesome range of really cute vintage clothes but I’d seen this one somewhere before…It was then I remembered a pattern I had put in my Etsy favourites only the week before. I quickly searched and there it was – the identical pattern. No doubt, the skirt was made from the very same pieces. It was exciting to see it made up and how awesome it looked so it didn’t take me long to put it in my shopping cart Just my size too!

And since I have a bad habit of trying to “save on shipping” by buying more than one thing from a seller, I had a look at what else SelvedgeShop had for sale This next skirt was a no-brainer….check out the quirky details: petal shaped waistline curving down to asymmetrical button closure…and a neatly pleated bustle type gathering on the back. How elegant! The blouse pattern comes with it too (like the one above too). I think this one must be from the very late 40′s or early 50′s. Totally amazing – one of the most unique skirts I’ve ever seen.

Now which one do I make first??

My sewing and drawing time has been cut down significantly with the new job. I’m getting home quite late in the evening and rather exhausted. I hope the tiredness is only a settling in phase and it will pass soon. With summer coming, I’m looking forward to more daylight hours too.

Is everyone else looking forward to the change of season?
Melbourne keeps playing games with us all – beautiful and sunny one week and the next its all horrible and cold again. Though I shouldn’t say horrible – because I truly love the cold better….but I’m in that in-between phase where I want warm days. It won’t last though – come mid December I’ll be moaning about the heat already. I predict a particularly long and hot summer too this year. Maybe not as crazy as the year we had the big fires but still hot.

Anyways, it’s late. I better get to bed.

Will post on the weekend if I get the time ))

Hi All!!

Here’s the latest sewing project all finished. I’ve jumped ahead a couple cos this wasn’t the one I was intending to show you, but I was wearing this Saturday (and Friday haha) so I took pics of this instead. This is possibly the quickest dress I’ve ever made, and I even lined the bodice – so if you skipped that, it’s SUPER easy….That said, I think lining is quicker than facings.

Some Notes:

• It’s made from a sheet – Possibly! Nicole from Circa thinks it might not be as the cotton is fairly thick.
• I shortened it a bit
• I didn’t add the scallops on the bottom because I can’t figure out how to shorten the circle skirt without changing the circumference of the hem, thus needing to change the pattern piece for the scallops (hard to explain!)
• Only the bodice is lined
• This has a side zipper but it isn’t closed at the top so it’s really easy to get into.
• It’s the perfect, comfy summer dress!
• I didn’t need to change the pattern at all except the length

(look at the surge of kitties hehehee)

After reading Elyse’s post on her first Spring sewing project, I notice that I have wrinkles on the bodice of my dress too. I answered her question by saying it could be the lining competing for space…Which could also be the case for my dress as I used the same size lining as the outer pieces. I’m not sure? It doesn’t bother me too much though.

Guess what? I made the green belt I’m wearing too Using a kit from A Fashionable Stitch, I covered the belt backing in some green fabric and hand-sewed it all together. Covering the buckle was a bit fiddly though. It comes with a sticky piece of card that you attach your fabric to and then the other side sticks to the metal front of the buckle. Then you jam in the bottom of the buckle with some pliers. I botched it a little bit but you can’t really tell when I’m wearing it. Then I had to rush out and buy an awl and the Mr helped me bash in the eyelets.
I think I’ll be making simpler slide belts next – eyelets are a PITA.
I’m majorly in love with that green fabric I used. It’s such a perfect shade – and matches my dress so well. I have enough left to make a skirt…And the pattern is coming in the mail so it should hopefully arrive shortly.

After making this dress I think I’m going to hold off on all the DRESSES for a while. Need to make lots more separates – so skirts and tops for my new job (staring tomorrow!!! Eeeep)…but first the ROBE in pink seersucker – or plissé – I’m not sure which it is actually. Yes, there is a difference. More on that later ;-P

Okay so I better run!!

Omg – posting on Christmas Day. Who’d've thought! Welll……I am waiting on the darling boyfriend to return from work. My lamb roast is in the oven (shit, that reminds me, I have to put the potatoes on!) and the dessert is setting in the fridge – Vanilla panna cotta with raspberry coulis. Mmmm.

So in the meantime I got to browsing Etsy…which lead me via some tangents to other vintage sites…..and spying a pretty pretty dress which was alas, sold. Damn! So I drew it instead. There I was thinking I’d be too lazy to draw over the Xmas break – but sometimes the urge to pick up a pencil is too strong and a drawing just happens.

Now, it’s hardly polished or anything fancy – but colour sketches always turn out nice enough to put on the blog. So here you go – something to look at while you’re trying to digest all that Christmas food and trying not to fall asleep. Heh

Hope you’re all having a good holiday! I am