Kittys Drawings

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…

Hi All

Oh dear christ it’s FINISHED!!!
(yes I blaspheme far too much for an atheist )

*phew*

So this drawing took me around 2 whole months to finish. I started mid-June and now it’s August and I’m finally done. That’s why I’ve been holding out on you guys for so long. I don’t think I have the capacity to work on more than one drawing at once otherwise one or more will get neglected. It’s quite possible I am the most inefficient ‘artist’ out there.

The ref was a fashion editorial I found via a blog…..NEXT TIME….I think I might try something original for a change….I have an idea, just need to execute it somehow. Yes – I am already thinking of the next thing.

Sooo….This took at least 20 hours. I lost count though. It’s been stared at for so long that I can’t tell if you can tell how long I spent on this.

Anyways…piccies….

Detail:

WIPs

What do you think? Should I put this on Etsy?

Other news: Lots of sewing is complete that I need to show you as per usual…..ummmm……that’s all for now really…ha exciting! Oh! It’s been quiet around here cos I was feeling pretty sick this week. Stupid colds. I’m meant to be bulletproof!! Hah! (I don’t get sick very often)…Thankfully I was over it in 2 days but still…it knocks you for six.
The boyfriend also bought himself a motorbike. Cool huh! It arrives this week. But he can’t take me for a ride yet cos he’s still on his Learners. I’ve been convinced that I need to get my scooter license…So I guess that will happen soon.

That’s all I guess!
Better run!

EDIT: Oh my GOD you won’t believe how relieved I am this is done. Geeez!

Mine Mine Mine MINE

Now I’m off to go try it on – hope it fits! And pics on the weekend

Hi All!

A bit of a jumbled post today to tell you about a few things I’ve bought and quite a few questions to ask!

Yesterday I popped in to Savers for the first time in a long time (at least two months!) and was overjoyed to find a piece of seersucker (on the far right in the pic) waiting with my name on it Yay! I love seersucker and I’m pretty sure others do too – I don’t know what’s so awesome about it, but I’m sure my eyes bulged out of my head on spying it on the rack. For only $4 too! There’s not a whole lot of it – just 2m and it’s 36″ wide. That’s 91cm by the way – Just so I can confuse you a bit more with my mixing of imperial and metric.

If I’m really clever, I may be able to squeeze out this dress from the amount I have. Absolutely perfect don’t you think? I may need to use a couple of contrast pieces for the waistband and pockets though.

Also – does anyone have any tips on helping me reduce the size of this pattern?

It’s a vintage 15 so I need to shave about 2 inches off the bust and waist. If I take a piece out of the back do you think that will work? I don’t know how the bust is shaped as yet (Still have to wait for pattern to arrive).

Do I dare make the variation with the open midriff?

And one last question – Can I iron seersucker or not??

The other two pieces seem to be almost from the same donation – very similar in style! They’re lightweight cottons in the cutest prints. There’s a bit more length in these but the width is narrower. Not sure what I’ll make of these as yet – they’re quite sheer. Ideas?

And finally – Check out my new sweater guard/clip/whatever you call it. So sparkly and red. If you’ve ever watched Glee you’ll know what these are – they hold together your cardigan so you can have it open without it flapping about. This purchase was required after I got myself a little faux fur shrug that didn’t have any clips to hold it together. And I have been wanting one for a while for my regular cardigans. So you may see this in future sewing posts!
Doesn’t the aqua linen contrast well with sparkly red of the clips? I’m so in love with the colour – it’s not even aqua – maybe azure.

Anyway that was quite the ramble. If any sewists can help with my silly questions it would be much appreciated! Next post will possibly be another sewing one. I doubt I will get my drawing done too soon – It still has a long way to go.

Till soon!

Lightning fast posting today….

Look what I scored today – from the Salvos and Savers.

Okay so I buy something new almost every week. My stash is getting immense! I’m using it though! I just need storage. Shelves. Not the giant pile spilling out of shopping bags on the floor of my ‘sewing room’ :shifty:
But these were super pretty so I had to show you. I have PLANS for them. Mostly for my ‘resort wear’ collection mwahahahaa – ie. What I Will Wear on My Island Holiday. I have a pattern in mind already for the two on the right. Would you believe they are BED SHEETS? Yes. Yes they are. There’s so much crazy-awesome stuff at Savers and its mostly in the bedding section. I had to restrain myself!

The other two will be tops. I need more top patterns. I only have a simple round neck vintage one (which I am about to start tracing today). I’ve not been that enthused by any modern patterns. I think I need to look at some different eras – maybe the 70′s for the floaty blouses I tend to favour. Like the one in my last sewing post. Anyone that can point me towards something along those lines? The polka dot sheer fabric would be perfect for one of those.

Anyways I promised this would be quick. I’ve been very busy this week….not only is work completely and utterly MAD at the moment, I’ve been doing both drawing and sewing most afternoons. I have a drawing that is about 80% done right now which I am really very pleased with at the moment. The majority of the hard stuff I usually hate doing is complete and now I’m just tidying up details and doing the hair (yay!). Hopefully that should be ready by the weekend.
I also have two dresses that are finished and ready to show you. Wow!

Sooo – all that’s left for YOU to do today is enter my competition - Get a wriggle on peeps! Two more days to enter.

Scratcha later!

Hi!

Today I decided I wanted some fabric. I thought I would head out to Brunswick and hit up those fantastic little shops that sell great fabric for $3 a metre. I had plans to buy a couple of different sorts for some upcoming projects. Since Savers is on the way there it crossed my mind to pop in and check what they have first before I go elsewhere.

Well.
Let me tell you, it was a good think I went there first.

Look at ALL THIS! I scored at least 20m of fabric for the measly sum of $63.84!!! I bought 16 different kinds all ranging from $2 – $5. The only thing missing is some GREEN but that doesn’t matter – I’ve got plenty to keep me going for a while.

The light grey one is really nice and drapey and would make a fabulous dress or skirt. It’s a bit stretchy though so I might save it for when I have more experience.

I’m loving the white linen (furthest on the left)..it’s really heavy and very bright white. Could either dye it or leave as is. The other two light ones would make fantastic blouses. I have some itty bitty olive green glass buttons that would make great accents on a cream 40′s blouse.

That navy polka dot is mega cute. Would have to become a full skirt 50′s dress with a big petticoat underneath. Also that pink and blue stripe will get the same treatment.

Check out that printed cotton on the bottom of this pile! It’s rather stiff and there’s a lot of it. Would make a great Alfred Shaheen style halter wrap dress.

*squee*!!
Yes I’ve been posting heaps lately. I don’t know if this frequency will continue. I considered scheduling my posts to spread them out a bit but meh, I’ve got that much on the go at the mo, you can all just get it at is arrives

I started a new drawing last night too. Planning it to be slightly more detailed than my last few but we’ll see how that goes huh – Inevitably I will get sick of it and do a rush job at the end. Maybe….just maybe…I could try starting something new when I get sick of one. And then see if I feel like going back to the other one later. Here’s hoping that doesn’t leave me with two unfinished projects instead of one rushed, finished one. Which is worse??

Anywaysss…..

Seeyas!

Sup!

I finally have a drawing for you. Which could be more polished but once again I left it too long and by the time I got round to working more on it, I was thoroughly over it. So patchy finish up in the end. It’s not too bad though. I used a photo reference for this instead of a painting reference like the last couple, making all the exaggerations on the figure mine

The purpose of doing all these pinups was to establish a solid working process and build up my confidence with Painter. Which means I need to do them quickly! I want to be able to do something like this in a few hours and be pleased with the result. Then work up to more complex pieces. I’m not sure if my methods will work. I fear having more than one drawing project on the go because I know one, if not more, will be abandoned and then I will never finish anything.
Any artists reading my blog – what do you do? Are you able to work on more than one thing at once and eventually finish everything?
It’s so hard to get over the “I hate it” stage for me. I always make roadblocks for myself – things to stop me from creating something “better”. I wonder if I’ll ever stop feeling like a fraud when it comes to my art. Hmm…It’s like I’m constantly waging war with myself and playing tricks on my own brain via a complicated system of activities which are deemed ‘worthy’ of spending time on and those that are not. And whether I should have any leisure time at all when instead of reading blogs I could(should) be drawing – and then, if what I am drawing is moving along satisfactorily or should I be putting more effort in. Waaa! Can get tiring sometimes – and then what happens, I bludge to put off the inevitable decision ….vicious cycle I tell you.
And that probably made little sense.

Anyways…On to the drawings.

(click to make larger)

WIPS and details:

Next time…I’ll be working on faces. I realise that I’m just not that great at them yet. My refs have been too low-res to really zoom in on the features and make out the specific tones needed. I mean, look at noses – there’s not much to them ‘cept a couple of well placed highlights and shadows. Get them wrong and it’s all off. Plus these eyes are lackluster – and the eyes will make a painting. Eerrrrm so much to learn!
SO – I’ve got tons of portrait refs to choose from in my LittleSnapper. I’ll use one of those.

AND….I’ve finished my first sewing project. If I can con the bf into taking some nice photos, then I’ll do a post. It’s a mint green cotton wrap skirt with big, dark green buttons. I finished it in a weekend – maybe 6 hours total. Even managed to make some nice bound buttonholes – I tell you what they are easier to do than regular buttonholes (using a zigzag stitch). They look really nice too. Yay!
I’ve got some fantastic fabric, buttons and a wonderful pattern all coming in the mail soon – That will be my next project.

Til soon!