Kittys Drawings

Hi All!
Gosh, it sure has been quiet around here! So sorry about that. To prevent THAT from happening again, I’ve done a whole bunch of photos this weekend for ‘backup’ material should I ever not have time on weekends.

Last weeks (or the week before! Sheesh) preview won’t be what you’re looking at today. Nope. That’s almost done. Just about.

Nope, today you will see the dress I made before that. The reason it took so long to post about? All the mucking around I had to do just to get it wearable! Because it’s WHITE…and I’m silly for making a dress in white – but it’s so great. If you follow my Facebook you’d know some of the drama that went into making this. It deserves being called The Debacle Dress or something similar. First let me tell you a bit about construction etc:

• I altered the bust to make it a bit smaller by taking a V out vertically from the centre (which I’m doing for a lot of patterns now).
• I did the same for the skirt to make the shape more ‘wiggle’ instead of straight.
• The zipper is lapped – using Gertie’s tutorial on Craftsy (from the Bombshell Dress course). I botched it though – not enough seam allowance. Don’t look too closely!

• Shortened the skirt of course.
• Used vintage buttons, the same as from my Dorothy outfit (more on these later!)
• Added rayon seam binding to stabilise the waist and also for the hems.
• The seams are zig-zagged to prevent fraying. I like this method as it’s relatively quick and effective for bulkier fabrics.
• There are three bound buttonholes which I did quite neatly so I’m proud of them. I made them the same as instructed in the pattern.
• The fabric is a white cotton drill picked up from Savers a long time ago.

Now why is it called The Debacle Dress? Okay here goes…..First, the texta (designed for fabric) I used to trace my pattern markings STAINED!! Really quite stubbornly too! I’ve never struggled with such stains either….They took numerous soaks and washes and finally (mostly) came out using a product I found at Coles. I think I did accidentally set the marks by ironing over them BUT, consider this…The pen is designed for marking on fabric….it should be washable and come out easily, and should you make a mistake like ironing your fabric, which happens quite a lot when you are sewing, it shouldn’t be so hard to remove. It’s easier to remove oil and other nasty things that can get in fabric. Seriously.
Lesson 1: Don’t use so called “washable fabric marking pens” to make a white dress.
After all this I finally got the dress wearable and showed it off one Friday at work. Workmates all loved it (yay!) and was feeling quite pleased with myself. That night we went out to St Kilda for dinner and drinks because a colleague was leaving. I told the boyfriend I’d be home by midnight – since it was fairly late notice for me and I didn’t have much cash. But of course, this is my workmates we are talking about – known to party hard at the drop of a hat. I didn’t get home til 3:30am!! It wasn’t until the last hour or so that through a series of clumsy flailings (not my flailings for once!), I ended up with my friend’s red wine ALL OVER MY DRESS. Ha! I wasn’t even phased (having recently becoming quite accustomed to being covered in alcohol – don’t ask!)….I trekked it home in the cab looking quite the idiot I’m sure.

Lesson 2: Don’t go out consuming large volumes of alcohol while wearing a white dress.
Next morning – Not to worry I thought, I’d just nuke the dress in Napisan spray and wash it. The wine will come out no problem!
Ha!!
The wine came out alright. Quite nicely actually. But those lovely red vintage buttons??? Not exactly washable are they. Left lovely pink stains in all sorts of places wherever the fabric was folded over them in the washing machine. *sigh* This time I soaked them in the laundry sink, making sure to carefully keep the buttons OUT of the water. I didn’t want to take them off and put them back on again (lazy)….At least the pink came out really easily.

Lesson 3: Don’t assume vintage buttons are colourfast. Check before attaching them to a white dress.

Do you think maybe I should dye this???
ANYWAY – In summary, I really love this pattern – it fits SO well, especially considering I only made adjustments on the tissue-paper. The variations on it are mega cute and I want to use the transfer for the next one and omit the buttons at the shoulders.

Also – do you like my shoes? Scored these and another pair the same but in bright orange for a measly $28 – thanks to a Myer gift voucher I had. Real suede again too. Yay!

Other news: Nothing particularly exciting…Just the usual. I’m using my scooter to get to work most days now! I like riding, even though it means I’ve had to rearrange some wardrobe matters. It’s good in that I take a change of clothes to work so I can wear shoes I never used to wear as much, because they weren’t comfortable enough for long stretches of walking. Also, Melbourne’s streets aren’t really good on heels and they wear down so quickly. I like the freedom of the scooter – I don’t have to wait for trains anymore.  I do really want to get rid of the big, shiny L plate on the back of my Vespa ASAP though – It really doesn’t aid my credibility on the road. P’s wont be much better I guess but it should be a slight improvement. I can take my P’s test at the end of March and I plan to do it very soon after that.

That’s about all for now. Next week I can show you the polka-dot dress. Another thing I’m super pleased with!

Til then….

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!

Hi Everyone!
No sewing or drawing today. Not that I haven’t been doing any. Actually I’ve even done some design work in the last week! Holy crap! Hahaa. And I’ve finished one dress, bar the buttons, and completed the bodice of another. So I’ve been a busy bee.

The only reason I can’t show you the almost completed dress is because I’m currently trying to get the STAINS out made by the “washable” fabric marking texta I used to draw my sewing marks on. So incredibly peeved. There’s pics and irritated posts over on my Facebook page where I post things you won’t see on my blog or on my personal Facebook page…

So instead, today I’m showing you another dress from my vintage collection. I’m wearing it out to High Tea today so I need to impress This is one of the first “investment” vintage pieces I bought. It was purchased on a whim off Etsy via PlanetClaire Vintage – possibly with a little red wine in my system affecting my decision making abilities, since it was certainly more expensive than anything I’d purchased to date. I have this habit of once in a while blowing a huge wad of cash on a dress/outfit I NEED to have with the excuse that it’s an “investment” and I’m preserving a slice of fashion history. Which in some sense is true…and the bills all get paid AND I donate to charity monthly so yes I’m justifying my purchases

It’s one of my favourite dresses still even though it doesn’t get worn that often – mostly because it’s quite memorable I love the embroidery on it and the little mother-of-pearl accents on the collar. It’s made of a nice heavy linen and is really comfortable and fits so nice.

It came with it’s own belt too but I’ve swapped it out with this pink one I made last week, to go with my shoes Since the shoes were such a score, I thought a belt would go well with them and what better than to make one. I just bought a piece of cotton chino fabric from Lincraft and used a vintage navy buckle from my stash (bought at L’uccello). New accessory in less than one hour! And I realise now that pink goes with a LOT of my clothes. Yay!

Oh and the kitties were hanging around today while I took pics…pics taken on the other side of the room from the usual since my dress is too much the same colour as our couch hehe

Well that’s about it for today. Next week you just might get a new creation. Or even some of the design work I’ve done.

Till soon…

Hiiii!

As long ago promised, here is the dress I made for my friend’s Margaret River wedding. Excuse how crumpled it looks now – I took the pics in a hurry this morning before heading out.

I used Vogue 4977 which is from the 60′s by the looks of it. Well – I only used some of it. The pattern was missing all the skirt pieces. A bit annoying but I just subbed in the bottom of another dress pattern. Easy

This is also the very first time I’ve made a muslin of sorts. I first cut it out on a ‘test’ fabric at the original size and basted it all together to try it on. Unfortunately I didn’t really have time to continue along that path because my decision to make a dress for the wedding came a little too late! Being a vintage size 14 it was quite a bit too big (I’m usually a 10 or 12 in vintage sizes) so I chose to re-draw the pattern making some alterations.

What I did:

• Took a horizontal V out of the back, with the point of that V at the side seam. This eliminated quite a bit of the gaping that was happening.
• Also took a vertical V radiating from the waist upwards to account for narrower shoulders and smaller bust.
• Took a little out of the side seams.
• Enlarged the armholes since taking in the side seam makes them smaller.

As you can see – I could have fitted it a lot better. What I did helped, but not enough. And I didn’t really have a lot of time! This was also my first time working with “expensive” fabric. I couldn’t get my hands on real silk taffeta so poly had to do I lined the skirt with silk though, and the bodice is lined with very thin cotton cos I didn’t buy enough silk. Derp. It was all a bit finicky cos the silk was very slippy…the taffeta not so much but it shows up every little nick and crease – especially in photos! Plus it’s a bitch to iron.

At least the sash was easy to make! Hehe. That was fun. I love polka dots! I could have reinforced it or added snaps to the dress to place it better – but – NO TIME. Waaa. Oh well. It was still great for the wedding even though I don’t really plan on wearing it again – or making the pattern again.

That said – These last few projects have given me an idea for a ‘new years resolution’….I’m not usually into resolutions and stuff but I’ve been thinking about this one a bit. It’s been a year since I started sewing now, and I’ve made quite a few things I really like and wear a lot, but also quite a few things that are so meh they’re definitely not going to appear on this blog. A lot of the meh projects have been a result of not putting enough thought into them. Usually it is to do with fitting or finishing. So this year I plan to be more careful with things, and take my time. I’ve already almost completed something with these thoughts in mind and I’m quite pleased with it so far. All that needs doing is a tiny bit of hand-sewing and it will be ready for the blog next week.

On other things….
Thanks to all my new followers – I have definitely reached my 100 mark where I should be hosting a giveaway. I’m still very much undecided about what to actually give away. Buuuut – I should get my butt into gear and sort it out. Stay tuned for the giveaway either next week or the week after.

Also – hello to everyone from We Sew Retro! I got quite a big response (comparatively!) to my last post that went up there and it’s really cool to get so many people over here reading my little blog. I’ve found lots of awesome blogs through the site and it’s great to be a part of that community.

Well I best be off now….finish that hand-sewing. Seeyas all later!

Hi Everyone!!
You know how I was going on about that photo-shoot I did with my friend Sally the other week? Well I have some pics for you! This is not all of them – There are more coming soon but I wanted to show you anyway.
The picture formatting is a bit different from my usual so I’m sorry if it looks untidy. It doesn’t do Sal’s pics justice as much as looking at them on her SITE or her Facebook page.

As you can see, she’s quite a talent! The pics are fantastic and it was such a fun day. Her vision was clear from the get-go and she organised the whole thing fantastically. Having participated in quite a few photo-shoots I know how important it is to have an excellent relationship with your photographer. This is especially important for weddings!

My dress is also borrowed from Circa – How awesome is it! Totally a cupcake dress. I loved traipsing around in it all day The location was amazing too – We went out to a 150 year old homestead in Inverleigh, the property of one of Sal’s friends’ parents. It was SO stunning – with views out towards Geelong and the coolest old brick barn. Not to mention our hosts were so lovely to let us use their property to take photos on!

Soooooo – that’s about all I’ve got to say…check out the piccies and follow the links to see more

One last thing…If I could kindly ask no one to download these pics or use them without Sally’s express permission. It’s really important to respect the work that artists put into their projects and distributing without consent is very poor form.
I know my regular readers wouldn’t do such a thing So my note goes out to those that stumble here via Google or wherever and might not have considered the implications of stealing someone’s intellectual property.

And so I don’t leave on a down-note….I’ll mention that I’ve been super lucky with winning stuff off blogs lately! I won a $50 voucher from The Paraders Vintage via My Happy Sewing Place (Fashions from the Past). I’ll have some photos of what I chose with my voucher soon.
Another winning was from Mel:Hot or Not – a La Madre Bakery sample pack with heaps of yummy shortbreads and things. I haven’t received that one yet but I’ll probably take photos before we nom the lot.

Well then – til soon….

Hi Guys!

We’re back from WA! What a whirlwind trip that was. Totally forgot how FAR everything is from everything else there. It’s a good 3.5 hour drive to Margaret River from Perth and we did the trip 4 times in as many days. Crazy! We didn’t actually spend that much time in Perth – mostly hanging around Freemantle and then off down to Marg River to sleep. The weather was beautiful and HOT the whole time we were there – so hot that it was perfectly reasonable to go swimming at the lovely and secluded Redgate beach at 8am.

The wedding of course was awesome. The bride wore the most amazing lace dress with little attached bolero thingamabob and elegant fishtail skirt. Dinner consisted of scallops for entree, steak for main and some sort of parfait thing for dessert. All was delicious as to be expected from the winery it was held at. And the wine was great – goes without saying really (even though I just said it) .

As for what I wore…You’ll see that soon enough….

Anyways – Onto what this post is supposed to be about….My “Summer Collection” (haha that’s intentionally wanky sounding)….Of which there is only a couple of pieces so far….Isn’t “piece” a wanky word too? Heh. Oh dear. Carry on. Um. So yeh – I whipped this up using my Butterick 2633 pattern and made view B this time round. I used a purple floral cotton I bought off Etsy (from the same seller as I got the pattern off). It’s “vintage” I suppose – I’ve no idea what era its actually from – it’s fairly thin and I’m vaguely guessing 70′s but I could be totally wrong.

These are the things I changed/added:

• Lined it with a white cotton sheet. It’s super soft and great to wear when it’s hot
• The side zipper I carried all the way up to the armpit cos I hate struggling into dresses and smooshing my shoulders through a narrow gap.
• Took a V shaped wedge vertically, out of the middle of the bodice since the last dress I made gaped a bit at the bust.
• Also narrowed it on the side seams.
• Somehow had to fit the extra skirt into the smaller bodice so added another ‘tuck’ or pleat or whatever.
• Drafted my own kick-pleat for the back as the original pattern has NO vent in the wiggle skirt. I don’t want to wiggle that much – just not practical for a day dress
• Brought the side seams of the skirt in quite a bit to account for smaller hips than the pattern.
• And shortened the skirt of course….

I’ve decided I don’t really like pleats and/or tucks instead of darts in a skirt. Why would I want to make my hips look bigger? They bunch up when you sit down too. I know they offer more freedom of movement but I like to keep things slimmer around that area to try and balance out my relatively narrow shoulders. Despite that little design flaw I’m rather happy with this dress. It’s proved excellent for the hot weather. AND it matches my peppermint lolly Miss L Fire wedges perfectly. I didn’t plan this but realised they would go well together about halfway through making the dress. Add the little white belt I made and my new green bag and YAY, new outfit!

The green bag by the way, is the same brand as the yellow hexagonal one – how’s that for vintage karma?? After my years of trawling the internet, it’s not often you find such things…For clothes yes, but accessories like this are harder to come by.

Other news: I should be able to get back on this blogging bandwagon a bit more regularly now. There’s quite a few things I’ve got in mind for the next few weeks. Including a giveaway – IF I reach 100 followers So when that happens I’ll host something. Not sure what yet. I don’t have the resources to get my art printed at the moment though I could supply something digitally. Even though that’s kind of lame. Is it? Or some sewing bits and bobs – or something else? Clearly I have to think about this a little more….

Also – I’ve decided to become mobile, and get my scooter license. Yup that’s right – I don’t have a license. Any license. At almost 28 years old I think it’s about time I got myself some wheels. The BF has had his bike for a few months now and has been encouraging me to get a scooter. What finally pushed me over the edge from procrastination into action was the news that our People’s Chariot (Trains, trams and buses) are increasing their fares by an average of 8.6% on New Years Day! The scoundrels! That’s more than double the current rate of inflation. In the 8 years I’ve lived in Melbourne, there has been no significant improvement in public transport services, certainly not enough to warrant the guaranteed price hikes every year. It has now become more economical for me to purchase a scooter and drive to work. So I’m off to do my license test at the very end of this year and by 2012 I’ll be joining the ranks of petrol guzzlers (albeit daintily sipping not guzzling – heh) on the roads every day.

Pictures of my new ride when it arrives from Adelaide…For those that aren’t Facebook friends, you can take a potshot at exactly the kind of scooter I will be getting and I’ll bet you’ll be right

(aaand – look it’s Puss)

Till soon!

Hi All,

Short and sweet post today. I’m still struggling with the blog thing…and I promised photos of some of my other clothing that I haven’t made myself. This dress I bought at the Williamstown Vintage Fair a couple of years ago. It’s made of linen which I love, and it’s the nicest shade of green.

Shoes are my new Miss L Fire wedges. Major love for these, they are SO comfortable.

Photos are back downstairs again, since the house rearrange..I like it better here

That’s about it. Drawing is progressing very slowly. Still have no idea about how I want my portfolio website to look. Need to make a new blog header too….I really need to clear a weekend for this stuff.

Ciao!