Kittys Drawings

Hi Everyone!

My readers who sew have probably seen a lot of Sewaholic Cambie dresses about on the internetz lately. I too, was one of the fortunate ones to be picked by Tasia to test her latest pattern.
And I’m so glad I got the opportunity because I’m now a complete convert and want to buy some of her other patterns too!

I chose the A-Line version of the skirt to make up since we’re heading into winter here and I wanted something I could wear to work that was warm and also office appropriate. I had the perfect fabric in my stash too – Pretty sure this is a wool blend of some sort – with not too much wool – just enough to make pressing easy. It’s got a very fine houndstooth pattern which is a b**** to photograph, and I used a black satin (probably poly) for the straps. The lining is that grey cotton voile stuff I’ve had forever which is perfect for linings but is now sadly all gone.

There are so many awesome things about this pattern! It’s a super flattering style which really is very versatile as Tasia mentions. I will definitely be making the full skirt version after seeing so many pretty floral ones made up by others (links below).

It has POCKETS. I cut mine on the opposite angle compared to the rest of the dress and while the effect is very subtle, I think it’s pretty neat.

It was SO easy to make – seriously. It took me a single day to knock this out – including the lining and finishing. The zipper is half done by hand half not….I sewed it in according to Tasia’s instructions at first, but because I didn’t use an invisible zip, it still needed a fold to cover the teeth. So I did the rest like a hand picked zipper. The instructions are really clever too and I learnt quite a few tips and tricks while making it.

The sizing is perfect for me. I made a size 2 which didn’t need a single alteration – not even in the length. Awesome huh!

I wear this to work a lot now – It’s so comfortable and fits really well.

Now I’m going to see if I can round up some links of the other Cambie dresses – they’re also on Tasia’s site but I’ll put them here too.

Tasia’s bright floral linen
Scruffy Badger Time made 2!!
Knitter’s Delight used a retro looking print
Molly made a beautiful full skirted floral one
Doortje’s stunning eyelet cotton  (wow – new blog to read too!)
Amy in a delicate floral voile (thank you Google for another blog)

Okay – that’s as many as I could find on Google – If there are any others out there, let me know – I love seeing how each person has made theirs.

Other news: Right now I’m finishing of a dress – still petrified of my coat….and….Going to do lots of fabric cutting soon. This weekend we’ve been rearranging the house in prep for our dining table, so my desk has shifted a bit. Also, I tidied my sewing area a little and my patterns are more easily accessible.

Til soon!

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 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

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!