Kittys Drawings

Hiya!!

So today I have for you a whole bunch of separates I’ve made since I had my little (big) blog break.

The skirts are both from the same 40′s Hollywood pattern (red is further down!) – it’s a ten gore and very flattering, though time consuming to make with all those seams. It’s easy to fit though! The seafoam green one is a linen blend or something – it’s got a nice drape to it. The red is a fairly coarse linen that will take some time to soften up. It goes super soft when it’s wet! I wish it would stay that way dry too I’ve added a lapped side zipper and zig-zagged the seams.

Next is a chou neck blouse – a 40′s Vogue pattern most kindly traced for me by the ever so lovely Tamara of A New Ball of String. Made from some leftover poly stuff I originally bought for backing a photobooth for my friends wedding (hehee!)…the fabric is pretty blah to sew and to wear but this was really a wearable muslin. I botched the sleeves but you can’t really tell. Yay for prints! The buttons on the back are my winnings here from Vintage Neccessities on Etsy.

Then comes this little polkadot number that Tamara also traced for me. It also has a button back (this time it’s tiny shell buttons from the same winnings) and a purple polkadot cotton. There are pleats on the front under the collar if you can’t tell

And finally, my favourite top and my favourite outfit right now….This AMAZING Vogue blouse pattern I recently bought off eBay. Has all those exceptional 40′s details like gathering and 5 tiny darts to give each sleeve shape. There back is yoked and the shoulder seam is slightly offset so it sits about an inch forward of the very top of my shoulders. The collar is cut in one and folds down into a very deep V neck fastened with one feature button and a smaller one below that hides under the skirt. Pretty risque actually!

This is the first time I’ve done a sleeve set into a band for the cuff so it’s pretty dodgy! I found the smaller red buttons at an op-shop in Huonville, Tasmania. I suspect they might be quite old and possibly made of celluloid or even bakelite? They are plastic but make a clinky sound when knocked together, unlike other plastic buttons which I have. Hmmm….
Very keen to make some more of this pattern, even though this is quite time consuming too with all the attaching collars, top-stitching and a million darts.

Lots more to catch up on still! I’ve finished a stunning 40′s dress out of navy rayon. A total PITA to work with but it’s turned out good. And today I went fabric hunting and found quite a few goodies – have a look on my Facebook or Instagram for some sneak peeks!

Next – a 40′s wrap dress made of amazing parrot printed rayon – purchased from one of my favourite Melbourne sewists, Sew Retro Rose – seriously she is amazing! The gorgeous stuff she makes is out of this world! She is making a 50′s wrap dress out of the same fabric so I thought it would be great to do a compare and contrast of the decades! Stay tuned peeps!!

I’m still here – but have been hiding for a long time. Apologies for the unexplained absence!

I’d been struggling with the time it was taking to blog for a while, and decided to focus just on sewing. Does anyone else struggle with how long it takes to get good photos?

The best way to keep track of all the things I have made is via Instagram

I’ve made quite a lot of garments since my last post. Not all I have pics of…

There was even a new sewing machine purchase amongst it all – My old Singer died quite catastrophically – the man I took it to to get fixed said he hadn’t seen a machine so out of whack and it wasn’t worth fixing. Tells you a lot about how well I use my machines I did look after it as best I could but I guess it never really liked me much. The new Janome Sewist 509 is a dream to work with. It’s nothing flash but does everything I want it to.

I’ve been really busy! To make room for all these new things, I sold quite a lot at a vintage market too.

I’ve also got plans to make a small collection of 40′s styles for others to buy.

How does that sound?

Also – does anyone have tips on how to make the blogging thing fit into their lives better? How long do you spend editing and taking pics each week?  Would love to know.

And thank you for sticking around if you are reading this

Ciao!

Hullo Everyone!
Why look, I have a sewing post – at last! It’s not the one I intended to write about today…that didn’t happen because yesterday the batteries for the camera went flat as I was about to take pics. And then I found a lipstick stain on my dress. Bummer! So now it’s in the wash and I’m showing you Butterick 6740 (view A) instead.

This pattern isn’t mine – I borrowed it off my epically stylish best friend > Brand New Armour so I could make it for her. And then I made myself one. And then I will make her another – cos it’s such a neat pattern.

It’s SO easy to make – even though it came with no instructions, you don’t really need them. The envelope tells you enough – the neckline gathers into a band which ties to make a bow. The sleeves I faced with bias tape (blue satin in this instance) and they are all cut in one with the bodice.

My fabric is a poly cotton blend found at Savers. It’s nice and lightweight and has just the right amount of body. That said, you could make this shirt in a lot of different weights. The one I made for my friend is much lighter and slightly sheer.

I made a few teeny changes….brought the bust in a bit because this one is big for me and even then it has TONS of ease. The neck band needs to be twice as long!! YES. I don’t know what kind of skinny necks chicks in the 5o’s had but if you followed the pattern, you’d be strangling yourself and not even have enough to make a nice looking bow.

The buttons are amazing blue cut glass – possibly from the 30′s. These came from Etsy and I just love them. The colour is such a vivid and deep blue.

Comes together in a couple of hours…And so flattering. I do need to make more for others – share the love….The variations are endless for this. You could even do a contrast neck band. Or make it out of something quite slinky.

Yays!

Check out my shoes too. I am so in love with these. They are Miss L Fire (of course), with little raffia flowers on them and a carved wooden heel. I also tried to do something with my hair – only just passed as a moderate success….maybe. I suck at hair! Must keep practising. I saw a girl at a cafe yesterday with an amazing green coat and a fluffy grey fox around her neck – she had long black hair and bangs….I think I want a fringe…Maybe. But it’s one of those things that if it doesn’t work out, you have to live with the blah for months til it grows out. Anyways – the length is getting better….It needs a trim but I will wait a bit longer.

Other news: I have a drawing to post but I’m a bit blah about that too. Might put it up during the week with the final Drawing Salon class results.
The green coat is coming along nicely (check Facebook for a preview). I’m at a standstill now…next week is payday so I will buy some more green wool for the facings and sleeve (I am thinking of re-cutting so they aren’t tapered like in the pattern)…shame about all the wastage of the amazing fabric *sad face*. I’ve put all the seams together apart from the side ones. Which is a good thing because I’ve decided it definitely needs pockets – what kind of coat doesn’t have pockets? – so I will use Tasia’s Cambie Dress pockets and insert them in my side seams. This should be pretty easy. Except I need to make them out of the lining fabric. Which I don’t have yet. I’ve been looking for an interesting rayon stripe but not had much luck. I might just go with a solid colour.
Do you think a rayon lining is a good idea or should I go with silk?
I don’t want anything too thin – my current winter jacket (RTW) has got the crappiest lining that is literally falling apart and it’s only in it’s second season. I know a lot of clothes are ‘throw-away’ these days but is it too much to expect all the components of one garment to at least have the same life span? The outside is fine and holding up beautifully, but each mend I make on the lining, the next day there is another tear. GRR!
So yeh, I want something that’s going to last as long as my coat will. Ideas?

Erm – I probably have more to ramble about but it’s time to hit the sewing machine…

Ciao!

Hiii!

LOTS of pics today!!

This dress, made from Mccall’s 6006 (1945) has to be my favourite make so far! I am so so in love with 1940′s Mccall’s patterns – they’re just the best. What I love about this one is – the cool cap sleeves…If you could call them that. Maybe flutter sleeves? The tucks at the shoulder and back waist. The gathering on the front waist….The awesome gored skirt.

I didn’t change much on this pattern at all. The waist came in about 1.5 inches.

The fabric is more from my stash. I’ve been waiting to use this one on the perfect pattern and I’m glad it became this. It’s a cotton of some sort with the nice soft drape perfect for this era.

I did quite a bit of hand finishing – The way the sleeve attaches to the bodice requires a lot of turning over and sewing down since there’s quite a few raw edges under there. Very strange construction because the sleeve is attached around the outside of the bodice and is then bound. I wish I could show you the construction pics on my dress form but once it was put together it no longer fits on her.

The side closure is my preferred snaps on a placket
And the seams are finished with rayon bias tape on the bodice, and French seams on the skirt.

I made a self fabric belt to go with. Made the way the pattern instructs – which requires no tedious turning of the fabric!! I took some pics while I was sewing it so I can make a tutorial. Would anyone be interested in that? It’s quite simple but a great way to use up any strips of fabric you may have left over from making a garment.
Actually, it’s so easy, I whipped up an orange belt in less than an hour just the other day.

Also – there are shoulder pads!! Yes. Shoulder pads. I decided, after trying on the bodice, that the sleeves did need just a little structure. I bought some cotton batting and made some small triangular pads which aren’t the big fugly 80′s ones that usually come to mind when someone says ‘shoulder pads’. Hehe.

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with this dress. I want to make another – very soon! But I’ve got so many other projects on the go it might have to hold on for a bit. Don’t you think the long sleeve one in a fine wool crepe would be amazing – maybe a deep purple colour?

Well, I’ve got some more updates etc but I will save that for my next post. I’ve got my Fashion Illustration class tomorrow so expect some more drawings soon.

Ciao!

Hi Everyone!
On Easter weekend, as some of you may know, I attended a corset making class with The Dreamstress. Now I’ve been reading Leimomi’s blog for a couple of years now but it wasn’t through that that I found out about this course. Surprisingly, my boyfriend sent me the link via Thread Den’s website and suggested I go. I moaned about not having enough money, since getting paid monthly means you need to plan such purchases in advance…But he insisted -  “Just do it”, he said. Not being the type to need much encouragement, I signed up.

And so on Good Friday I was stitching away with other eager seamstresses! Leimomi is a great teacher and we powered through making our corsets. There was one small holdup when we were all having difficulty attaching our eyelets. Pushing a tiny awl through 4 layers of fabric just wasn’t working out. Thankfully, one of our classmates piped up, saying she had a contraption that could stamp through the fabric. I have no idea what it was called – just a small metal tool that you bash with a hammer (I could Google this) and it punches out a small round of fabric to fit your eyelet through. It saved so much time! We were sewing away to the sound of multiple hammers bashing on timber as we all punched 24 holes in our corsets.

We ran a little overtime but by the end of the day we were all up to the final steps. I’d finished everything but the binding, which I spent my Saturday finalising. It was awesome to learn that corsets aren’t as difficult to make as they seem. The pattern pieces are small and the fitting is simple and can be done with just a few pins here and there. I learnt some great techniques like ‘sandwich’ seams, which I couldn’t even begin to explain but I could show you – and they are ingenious indeed. The trickiest part was figuring out which way the busk needs to go I also found out that the simple cable tie (found at Bunnings!) is the best alternative to whalebone, used in corsets from the 1600′s onwards!

My fabric choice was inspired by an Electra Designs colour scheme of cream and navy. I struggled with finding the exact fabrics I had in mind, and actually bought some things I didn’t end up using in the end. My stash proved helpful and I found my lining fabric there. My idea was a simple cream outer with navy binding, and a finely detailed navy & cream floral lining. Success! The binding was a last minute purchase of amazing silk satin from Clegs. The colour can’t be accurately reproduced here as it’s so dark.

All in all, the corset doesn’t look like much from the outside, but I love the lining. It fits excellently too It doesn’t reduce my waist dramatically, more so it reshapes it. As Leimomi explained, corsets don’t always reduce the actual circumference of your waist, but instead reshape it so that it becomes more cylindrical (as opposed to the flat oval it is naturally). This gives the visual effect of narrowing when looked at from front on. I like the shape it gives, and is more comfortable to wear than my cincher. That said, my cincher reduces a lot using only heavy elastic, so it’s doing heaps of work.

So Friday was a really fun day – I met some cool people who share the same passion, and we all made cool corsets. I loved seeing everyone’s fabric choices! There were some amazing ones like bright red brocade with golden embroidered birds, lustrous purple satin, black with white pinstripes (so steampunk!), subtle white patterned cream cotton, crazy geometric prints, and polka dots & florals.

My photos are a bit different than normal. I didn’t know how to capture this without looking too….boudoir… I don’t own any simple dresses to wear it over like Leimomi did with her demonstration corset…so a slip it is, and heavily cropped

My current projects and things coming up: I finished my amazing green dress with cream polka dots. Its my favourite so far and I just love it. Everything about this dress is perfect and I want to make it again and again and again. It’s a 40′s pattern and naturally requires a fabric with a lot of drape, as most patterns from that era do. I’m thinking a long sleeve version in wool crepe for next time. But pictures of that soon!
I’ve also ordered some insane moss green cashmere coating for my ambitious coat project. It will be underlined with bottle green silk organza….I don’t know about the lining yet. Ideas?
Also bought some muslin for that since it will need to fitted and tailored properly.

Yesterday (Sunday) I made my first project for someone else. My best friend needed some mending work done and I went to help her out. In the process I scored some of her clothes! Win!! In return, I offered to make her some clothes First up was a little 50′s shirt in a cool geometric stripe/plaid/whatevs cotton. It only took 3 hours and was so simple to put together. It looks super cute on my dress form so here’s hoping it fits her! Pic is on my Facebook if you want to take a look!

Other items – I have a princess cut Burda pencil skirt planned, and a bias cut slip.

AND – guess what!??? I’ll be drawing again very soon!! Next week! I’ve signed up to do an 8 week course at the Drawing Salon with the sensational Patsy Fox – I’m so looking forward to combining my love of fashion and art. I’ve long admired her illustrations – the expressiveness of her line-work and stunning use of colour is really inspiring. Watch this space, because Kitty’s Drawings will actually have some drawings!!

On that note, it’s time to hit the hay!

Til the weekend, when I will have polka dots and 40′s for you!
Ciao!

Hi All!
Despite having finished things to show you, I can’t actually post anything proper today. Boo. The white dress I finished seems to REALLY want to get stained. Even the buttons I put on there aren’t keeping their colour. That’s the trouble with vintage sometimes huh?

So I’m just gonna show you a small preview of the awesome 40′s dress I’m working on now. It’s completely wearable but I’m adding some extra touches to make it’s great features really stand out amongst all the black polka dot This is taking a bit of time but it’s giving me the chance to watch all those old movies that The Mr doesn’t have much interest in.

This is the neckline…which will also be trimmed with some red fabric (which I haven’t bought yet). I’m thinking a light and gauzy cotton voile or something – if I can find it. Do you think I should add two rows of hand-stitching along here?

Anyways, back to watching Rear Window….Hope you’ve all had a great weekend!

Hello everyone!

Apologies for the lack of posting last weekend. We didn’t get back from Blaigowrie til quite late. The big ride on the scooter was quite a success…I won’t tell you how I managed to get more scratches in it (eep) but I will tell you that I got down there and back without anything seriously bad happening. For those folks not from Australia, Blairgowrie is about 100kms south of where I live in the inner suburbs of Melbourne (depending on which route you take)…It’s right at the bottom of Port Phillip Bay and is a popular spot for city people wanting to get away for the weekend. Mind you, it’s hardly ‘country’ or even remotely isolated…Melbourne is such a spread out city that the entire trip down the bay is built up with plush beach houses of varying scale and style.
Anyways, we had a good time – playing board games, drinking and just blobbing about. Yay

So on to this week’s sewing project…

This has been the first project for the year following my new resolution of taking my time and finishing things properly. I’m so happy with this top that I can even show you the insides The pattern is Mccall 6475 from 1946 and I used a cotton blend of some description in a nice orange floral. I don’t usually go for orange but I loved this print as soon as I laid eyes on it. It’s another one from Savers from way back. The fabric has a really great drape to it and is soft and airy. It may be a rayon/cotton blend…Not sure. It washes ok from the little swatch I tested….so who knows what’s in it.

A few notes about the pattern and finishing:

• I made view C which you can’t see on the cover but the only difference from view B is the peplum at the bottom isn’t gathered as it’s designed to fit under a skirt.
• I don’t think this would work with anything but a super drapey fabric. There’s a lot of gathering that needs to fall nicely. I’m happy with my fabric choice!
• It’s VERY blousey – considering how small the size is, and it IS meant to be roomy, but there’s a LOT of room. Tight, structured waist definition is absolutely essential for styling this!
• The cute details are a bit lost in this print but I would love to make this out of a plain, maybe even sheer fabric

• I finished as many seams as I could with rayon seam binding.
• The side seams are zig-zag stitched because I ran out of that colour seam binding!
• I made a narrow hem finished by hand.
• The side closure consists of three snaps and a hook & eye on a placket. This is SO much better than a zip – And yes I will keep going on about that forever.
• I omitted the shoulder pads….for obvious reasons. I guess some light ones wouldn’t look too bad and they are very much essential for the era…One day I will make some and see how they look.

Yay! I’m really pleased with this top and I definitely want to make more versions of it. It took about a weekend to do – The bound seams were fairly time consuming but if you omitted those this would take no time at all to make. Once again, this is another one of those 40′s patterns with neat little details. I love how the sleeves attach to the neckline. Mccall’s patterns from the 40′s are especially excellent. Side note: I’m actually waiting on a heap of patterns to arrive from Etsy, eBay and a super special Mccall’s from Patterns From the Past.

Notice I also got my replacement grey shoes from Asos? The 38 fits much better.

Well that’s all for now. I have to start on a new project…I don’t even know if I’ll have anything new to show for next week! I think I’ll have to actually do some drawing! How bout that!

Heh…

Ciao then!