Kittys Drawings

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 Everyone

I’m catching up on a bit of sewing posts. It’s been TWO WEEKS since I last wrote. Gosh the time is flying. I really do have less time to blog these days. And draw. Still not getting anywhere with the drawing. I actually have some paid work to do this weekend so right after this is written I’m gonna go and earn some money.

So here is a dress I made a looong time ago now. The one I polled everyone about whether I should go the bare midriff option. And so I did. I loved the dress when I made it but I kind of hate it now. It’s all my own fault though really – I made it with like, zero ease…so while it fits around the waist, the nature of the pattern and these damn side closures means it’s a struggle to get it over my shoulders without seriously stressing the seams. If I made it looser, I don’t think it would look so good since any gaping would be very noticeable.

It’s such a cute dress though and the fabric is so awesome (another Savers find, remember?).

Some notes that usually go with my sewing posts:

• Totally love the contrasting fabrics!
• I made my own bias tape for this. I botched it a bit – just don’t look too closely okay.
• The skirt is from another pattern because I wanted fullness and did not have a wide enough fabric for the semi-circle this pattern calls for.
• It’s 10 gores! Woah. I love them though. And they’re all French seamed. That’s a lot of thread!
• I used snaps again for the side closure. Still much neater than a zip.
• This dress is really falling apart
• Not many bras are suitable! Eep
• The fabric marker I was using stained it. Grrr – those are supposed to wash out.

*sigh* I have such mixed feelings about this. It gets a fair few looks when I wear it out…mostly cos  of the ‘hole’ in it. The Mr doesn’t like it because of this hole. Haha. I dont know if these pale pastels suit me? It’s a bit meh.

Anyways – it’s done now.

Things I’m working on at the mo…. A skirt and a dress. One is green – that really cool Advance pattern with the bustle and the buttons. The other is a purple floral wiggle dress made of cotton. Desperate need of a summer work wardrobe. It’s gonna be a scorcher this year I think.

WELL.

I better go and not faff around so much.

Seeyas!

Hi Everyone

I’ve been a bit of a bad blogger lately – not having a lot of time to post. Or do anything in fact.

Though I did finish a skirt.
And make this belt. Just last night actually. It was really quick to make – the hardest part being turning the thin strip of fabric right side out using only my fingers and random jabbing with a bamboo skewer. I know there’s an easier way (and the appropriate tool) but I didn’t really have the means at the time. Not that it mattered – I didn’t get frustrated or anything

It’s made of white cotton and I stiffened it with two layers of Vilene sew-in interfacing. The buckle is a vintage glass one I picked up off Etsy. So pretty! I needed a proper white belt too, as the only one I have is off a vintage dress and it’s a bit out of shape. Being white, it’s a bit grubby too – and the one I’ve made, I can at least (gently) wash by hand to get any dirt off.

Isn’t my boyfriend’s camera awesome for taking up close pics with? I don’t even have to do anything and the pics come out so nice. It’s much harder to get a full-body shot with the right light and everything…but simple stuff like this is fun. Look at that lovely depth of field! Heh – nothing to do with MY photography skillz either.

Other news: the new job is still very full on – getting the hang of it slowly. It’s REALLY hard not to eat tons of crap while I’m there – since it’s food packaging, we’re constantly getting dumped stuff on our desk. And it’s a MASSIVE building where there’s cakes and stuff everywhere and general free things. Today I brought home a variety of organic products like buckwheat flour, LSA mix and quinoa flakes. It’s a far cry from my old place where we so rarely had such “perks” as morning teas and going out for drinks with my workmates.

The rare bits of sewing I’ve been doing is finishing off the skirt I’ve been yabbering on about in the last I-dont-know-how-many posts. I’m really behind on taking pics for you all but thankfully the days are getting longer. I have many projects on the horizon – the skirts from my last post….a button up 40′s shirt which is all cut and ready to start….and then I need to get cracking on the dress to wear to my friends wedding in December. I’ve also been charged with making the backdrop for her photobooth which I’ll get to soon Lainey   – unfortch I’m not in the way of Savers anymore but I’ll see if I can track down some suitable fabrics very soon.

On the drawing front – I really ought to get back to it tonight. No time to dilly dally! So I better go now!! See you all!

AND I’m back online!!! YAY!!

Sorry to all those who came to visit over the weekend to find that lovely “BANDWIDTH EXCEEDED” page. Oo-er!! I have it all sorted now and upgraded my plan so more people can visit my blog. I don’t know how I clocked so much over the past month, it hasn’t been a record month or anything and all my pics are hosted on Flickr so I don’t know what’s going on there. Nothing seems particularly fishy either. Kitty is rather hesitant to believe she is getting popular ;-P

Though I am thinking of changing my header so it includes all the sewing I’ve been doing lately! Ha!

Anyways, I came to talk about something else on Friday before I discovered I had no blog to talk on

On Friday I received this in the mail:

Does that look much like SOAP to you?? Well it is! So cute! My friend Kesenya has just started  Alice Jean’s Soda Pop Shop – where you can get your hands on these cupcake soaps as well as other tasty treat themed body products. She also has cute baby gear AND you can hire her seriously awesome Pontiac 1951 Convertible. That car is CRAZY – such curves!

Now you know I’m not a spruiker, so it’s rare you see these features on my blog. But it’s different when it’s friends…and I’m all for supporting friends trying to make a living from their passion. It’s not too many people that get to do that, and it’s not an easy game to get into. Heck, it’s the story of my life – My parents have always been self employed. Yes I grew up with my mum and dad right there all the time – no babysitters or daycare for me – BUT, they worked their asses off for a pay-packet that was never regular. Some months we’d be rolling in it (figuratively!!) cos dad had just landed a big commission, but we never knew how long that cash was supposed to last. Banks want their mortgage payments on particular days – they don’t really care if you can’t make it one month. So yeh – tough game!

Ah I can ramble can’t I. What my point is – I want Alice Jean’s to thrive…and if I can help by posting on my blog about it, and buying soaps and all the other nice things, then I’m gonna do it ;-P

Cos buying soaps is such a chore

Teehee!

Of course I wanted to test out what I bought and I can confirm that these are great! My one smells like lavender and it has a great lather. It’s made from all natural products AND it’s local! Awesome. It’s almost good enough to eat. Seriously! I want to try every ‘flavour’ – and there’s plenty to choose from. Lucky there’s no kiddies in my house as I’m sure they’d want to nom them haha

Well I better stop rambling. I wish I was better at writing stuff I feel good about!

Other news: Since the blog was down I didn’t take any photos on the weekend. I’ve got SO much to show you! I finished the second pattern in THIS post. It was really easy and super quick to make. I’ve also got a skirt on the go – which used to be a dress but I kind of hate the bodice so I ditched that bit.
I haven’t started my drawing project yet – it’s been a bit of a weird week for motivation. AND it’s my last week at my current workplace. Minor panic setting in. Check back this time next week

On that note – seeyas!

Hi Everyone!
A new drawing post so soon after the other one. Wow!! Haha.

I wanted this one to be really quick and easy. Took me maybe 6-8 hours all up.

The ref is Solange by Daniel Gurton for Vs. Magazine July 2011 < – I didn’t read the mag but the pics are kicking round the interwebz….Can’t resist cool hair and flowers. Of course it looks nothing like her as usual but that’s never really my aim

(WIPs)

Now I’ve set myself a new project which is a biggie. Starting it tomorrow I hope.

I got an email from my webhost the other day that I’ve used 80% of my bandwidth – this is the first time I’ve got that notice so I guess it means my blog is growing! I don’t get tons of hits – a bit over 100 page views a day sometimes spiking higher and most of the time it’s lower than that. But there are much more frequent spikes than there used to be a year ago so averaged out over the last year, there’s definitely been an increase. SO – if you’ve had trouble viewing my blog it might mean I’ve killed my bandwidth. I’ll be buying more shortly but that’s going to increase the cost of the site quite a bit. Not that I’ll be taking it out on YOU guys hahaha! Ad free blog allll the way

That’s all for now!!

Hi Everyone!

It’s sewing post time

I’m a bit behind as usual!

A few weeks ago I finished Mccall 7221 which is a square necked dress pattern from the 40′s. I won this through a sewing blog I read but for the life of me I can’t remember which one! If it was you, let me know and I’ll link you in this post The competition was months ago and I didn’t have plans on making this pattern straight away – but then I found this fabric at Savers not long after and deemed it perfect for the pattern. Not sure what the content is exactly, it feels like a cotton mix. It’s really opaque but also super light-weight which will make it good for summer.

I love how it’s casual and it came together really easily.

Some notes:

• I made a proper placket closure. Instead of inserting a side-zip (which I hate as they never sit nice and are a pain to put in), I used snaps and hook & eye. This takes a little more time than a zipper but it’s SO much neater and more comfortable!
• I didn’t need to change the size of the pattern much at all. It gapes a little in the bust still….I’ll have to learn how to fix that properly soon but it still looks okay
• The sleeve/yoke/whatever-you-call-it was a bit of a pain but I got there in the end.
• I pieced the front section because I didn’t have heaps of fabric.
• Shortened it by a LOT as usual

Overall, I’m really pleased with this dress. The fabric hides any boo-boos but I didn’t actually make any so yay! However, the pattern is pretty full on and the scale of it might swamp me a bit don’t you think?

It’s my petticoat hem that’s wonky not my dress

I still hate taking photos as well. I get really bored of posing but I’m still stuffing around with getting the light right so its like – pose pose pose pose – take memory card out of camera – put card into computer – download files onto Adobe Bridge – check, crop and edit some photos – delete stupid poses/expressions – take card out of computer – put card back in camera – set timer……pose….repeat until satisfied…Then edit properly. *groan*

Oh and do you like my bag?? I got it off Etsy a little while ago – Deadstock 60′s! Still had the tag attached. It’s so BRIGHT. I had to buy a belt to match….haha. The colour is right but it’s more of a hip belt not one for your waist so it’s kinda big and chunky. Does anyone know where I can get a good, thin, patent yellow waist belt? Without too much cost expenditure?

Also – These are some recent fabric purchases. All of them are from Savers except for the green flocked one. Isn’t it awesome! I got it from Unique Fabrics on Sydney Rd for $5 a metre (I bought 3m)….I have plans to make another full skirted 50′s dress with it – maybe a circle skirt this time…and underline it with bright yellow cotton lawn. Do you think yellow would work? Or some other colour? I dismissed white as an option because I want the flocking to stand out.
And how do you clean flocked fabrics? Gentle hand wash?

There’s another floral sheet in there – Spring wardrobe planning haha (more circle skirts)….and a huge pile of pink seersucker which I think I will make a ROBE out of. Once I find some really soft flannel/sheeting to line it with. The other patterned stuff feels like cotton – good for a little blouse I think. I don’t have enough blouse patterns….It’s something I always hesitate to buy. Silly huh.

Oh and and!! I want to make a petticoat for myself….a fluffy one…but I hate those tiered ones. I was thinking I would get some soft cotton and a heap of the softest tulle I can find and construct it like I was making 3 circle skirts on top of each other. Then make a tube of fabric for the waistband and fasten it with a ribbon because I also hate elastic as it always stretches. Do you think this would work??

Anyways I better go. I’ve got some drawing planned – One started and another planned. And some dresses to show still. Till soon!!

Hi Everyone

Another day, another sewing post. And more crappy lighting for photos. What’s with all these CLOUDS – anyone would think it was winter or summin’

The story behind this dress goes like this….You all remember when I got my Miss L Fire shoes and I was all in a scramble to find something that matched? One day I decided to just have a peek in the local Salvation Army. They usually don’t have a lot of fabric but I’ve been lucky on occasion finding that nice charcoal wool etc. Well, my luck was really working for me that day because not only did I find a piece of fabric that matched the green of my shoes exactly, it also happened to be wool crepe!! This one wasn’t hard to identify – you can’t mistake the smell when you steam it.
And steam it I did! Fortunately, I had the sense of mind to look it up on the web and one of the first hits on Google was about pre-treating your fabric (HERE is the handy link if you’re interested). So I pressed away and I think I did an okay job of pre-shrinking the wool.

There wasn’t all that much of it, but with a bit of juggling I managed to cut out Mccall 6573, one of the patterns I bought in a lot off eBay some months back.

As with many 40′s patterns, this one was deceptively complicated….for a beginner like me anyway! It took a little while to get my head around the treatment of the neckline. After that I just took my time and made sure I basted everything first and tried it on before doing any machine sewing.

Some notes:

• It has bound buttonholes. Which aren’t the tidiest but one of my better efforts.
• Wool crepe is awesome to sew – but it gets a bit bulky.
• I thought I did an okay job of setting the sleeves but since then I’ve washed it and I think the wool shrunk a bit more so they don’t look so tidy anymore.
• You’ll notice a reappearance of the glass buttons
• I used a piece of georgette for the tie which I bought from a little fabric shop on Sydney Rd, for $2 a metre!
• Despite all my best efforts, I tried to do a machine lapped side zipper and I botched it. It’s not too bad, maybe if I have the patience I’ll fix it one day.
• After all that basting, when I got to the waistline I forgot to check THAT for fit – so it’s about an inch too big.
• The blouse type back is kinda cool.
• The skirt is a very “interesting” shape. I’m not 100% convinced about it yet.

Overall, I’m kind of in love with 40′s patterns. They’re strangely flattering despite the features I’d usually avoid, like the pleats around my hips. This style would work with an even slinkier fabric in a solid colour. I had plans on making the belt to go with out of the georgette but I need the white belt to match the shoes.

Next up I have a top to show you and the 70′s halter dress I made for Fiji. I really hope I find a sunny day for that and more light!

I’ve also picked up the black denim(y) sheath dress again. It was threatening to become a UFO (Un-Finished Object) but I’m happy with it again. I’ve fixed the fit and it looks pretty awesome so far .

And guess what! I’ve signed up to this Craftsy lesson: The Perfect Fit Bombshell Dress brought to you by the wonderful Gertie. She actually listened to her readers and created a tutorial and pattern on how to make one of those amazing Alfred Shaheen style sarong dresses! The sarong dress has been an obsession of mine from before I started sewing. Getting your hands on one of those beauties can set you back well over $200. Patterns are also few and far between and they are incredibly expensive. Until now that is! Thanks to Gertie, I now have a pattern AND instructions on how to make myself one that fits perfectly. I’m so excited!! I’m not sure I’ll start this one straight away but now that I’ve bought the lessons, they are there forever and I can watch them whenever I want.
I haven’t been propositioned by anyone to mention this either – Its not advertising! Haha! I am just super stoked and had to share the news. If you’re any way interested in sewing at all, I highly suggest buying these lessons!

Anyways better go – seeyas then!