Kittys Drawings

Hi All!

The Drawing Salon this week was all about legs and learning how to use paint markers – or whatever they’re called – those Copic pens.  I bought 5 off eBay which arrived just in time. A grey, a skin tone, a colourless blender and two more contrasting shades, a pink and a green.

Legs are really fun to draw because you can make them so shapely. We practiced first on some bleed-proof paper.

Then onto the main drawing – A fairly tricky pose, especially with the sneaky addition of those hands. And the way the leg twists is an awkward one to capture.

I really got into it though, and I’m loving using natural media again. The pens are interesting – they behaved very differently on the two papers. The blender will take a bit of learning too. I also used Derwent watercolour pencils, which when mixed with the pens can give a lot of flexibility with colour mixing and textures. Lots to explore there!
Some detail…

Annnnd thats all for now. On the weekend I will be heading to the Love Vintage fair – most likely on Sunday so if you see me – say Hi! Other plans are a secret for now but I may have some cool pics for you next week. And if I get a chance, I will photograph the latest dress I finished. The coat is being worked on – I’ve underlined it now with my silk organza. When I start putting some seams together, I might even be able to show you.

Anyways, time to go!
Ciao!

Hi All!!
Like promised, it’s tutorial time! I won’t say too much and let the pics do the talking. If you have any questions or need clarification, ask me in the comments
This is the easiest way to make a belt to go with your dresses and you only need a narrow, long strip of your fabric, some interfacing, a belt buckle and a snap. Oh – and your sewing machine and thread!
That said, if you had the patience and no sewing machine, you could do it by hand too.
I can knock one of these up in half an hour or so…well – I haven’t timed myself… Hehe.

What I haven’t got is more pics of my dress with the sleeve detail. I’ve been busy this weekend – making up a new dress, to a pattern I’ve used before…and working on my coat. Which is going slowly but that’s ok.

Soon I shall have more drawings for you, that promised sleeve detail and my Cambie Dress (I was another lucky tester!).

Till soon!

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 All

So finally I have a creation for you. This is Suzy Pattern’s Antoinette Dress I tested a few weeks back. Took some proper photos today at last.

I probably shouldn’t have left it so long to post about this..cos I’ve forgotten some things about making it!

I did make a muslin of the bodice for this and it was good that I did because I needed to add room in the waist. And looking back on it now, there’s still quite a few tweaks I could make to the fitting. The shoulders could widen a skosh even though I didn’t think they need to at the time. And the skirt could be longer because I like a bit more length there. Plus the ‘backside’ area isn’t perfect.

Yet despite these small things, I do like the dress. It all somehow works and I like the lace pieces. And the vintage 30′s glass buttons at the neck.

Sooooo I don’t really have much else to say. It’s Easter and time for lazy-supreme. I spent Friday making a corset (will show you that soon!) and yesterday finishing it…and faffing. Now I’m gonna faff some more. Cos it’s holidays. And tomorrow I might start sewing the dress I cut out the other day.

Oh hey, I also bought some coloured mechanical pencils….I might even do some sketching soon. I’m super rusty though so nothing I’ve been doing lately is worth showing.

More comprehensive posts when my brain is working properly!

Anyways!

Ciao!

Hi Guys!
EEP – I am really behind on blog stuff! Lots of things I can’t even show you. And little time to take pics of what I can show.

Here’s another item from my wardrobe for the meantime….

I bought this dress from Small Earth Vintage quite a while ago now. It came from the estate of a lady who was a bit of a fashion fiend and she just so happened to be right about my size…at least, the same height and waist measurement. Her bust was bigger, so I’ve taken this in a bit to fit better there. I also have another dress from her collection as well as a shirt or two (I think). It’s from the 50′s by the way…..as if you can’t tell

(look at Boofy strut)

I’m almost certain this is hand made as there is no label and a lot of the stitching gives it away. It’s been well loved and I’ve had to mend it a couple of times but it’s just such a great dress. It’s 100% cotton so it’s light and airy for summer. Perfect for picnics!

In other news….Well there’s a lot of it right now:

I did some more testing for another blogger who has her own pattern line. I shan’t reveal what it was until testing is completed and the pattern is released. All I can say is the pattern is AMAZING….and I finished it in one single day. Wow.

Also, I’m signed up for The Dreamstress’ corset making class at Thread Den which happens next week. Super excited about that! I really can’t wait to learn how to make corsets – I’ve been obsessing over them so much lately.

And, this weekend I’m off to see the Grace Kelly exhibition in Bendigo.  Wow! I love country Victoria too. It’s going to be great fossicking around in little antique shops and checking out amazing dresses. Will be frocking up for that one and I’m hoping it will be cold enough to wear my Lilli Ann swing coat (even with the cat-clawed collar).

Hmm

There’s other news I think but I forget it all now. More later!

Ciao!

Hi Everyone

Short posting today! Today Suzy revealed her first pattern – one which I was testing…Click HERE to see the real deal…and meanwhile, here is my little preview. I’m not wearing it yet as I don’t have the good camera back to take pics…and let me tell you, a happy-snapper doesn’t compare to the Canon 1Ds Mark II in the slightest….It’s so hard to get a non-blurry photo on the Panasonic. Anyways….a pic:

I’ll post more notes on the construction when I have more photos. The buttons are vintage glass from Etsy. I think they’re from the 30′s.

And look – it’s a dress-form! A RED one – Lady Valet too. Yay! I brought her home on Friday. It definitely makes it easier to display dresses. I haven’t sewn anything yet that needs her but I will very very soon. I can list a whole bunch of stuff on eBay now too. That ought to get me a bit of much needed dosh. I’ll have to find where I put it all first. I think a wardrobe cull is in order.

My new project is the Ooh-La-La Pinup Sew-Along, Corset Garter. I made the muslin last night and it will fit without any alterations…apart from grading it down, which was super easy thanks to THIS post. I’m making it with hook & eyes at the back as that will sit flatter than an eyelet fastening. The fabrics I’m using will be some white and purple irregular polka-dot (yep, more dots!) and pistachio green satin for the trims. I’ll be attaching 6 garter clips instead of 4, when they arrive – and I bought some pre-cut spiral steel boning to make it nice and sturdy. That said, I’m still not sure if I should try and track down some featherbone as I’d be able to wash that at least. The Rigiline plastic boning I bought from Spotlight looks flimsy and crap and I don’t think I want to use that at all.

Welllll, till next time folks!

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!