Kittys Drawings

Hullo Everyone!
Why look, I have a sewing post – at last! It’s not the one I intended to write about today…that didn’t happen because yesterday the batteries for the camera went flat as I was about to take pics. And then I found a lipstick stain on my dress. Bummer! So now it’s in the wash and I’m showing you Butterick 6740 (view A) instead.

This pattern isn’t mine – I borrowed it off my epically stylish best friend > Brand New Armour so I could make it for her. And then I made myself one. And then I will make her another – cos it’s such a neat pattern.

It’s SO easy to make – even though it came with no instructions, you don’t really need them. The envelope tells you enough – the neckline gathers into a band which ties to make a bow. The sleeves I faced with bias tape (blue satin in this instance) and they are all cut in one with the bodice.

My fabric is a poly cotton blend found at Savers. It’s nice and lightweight and has just the right amount of body. That said, you could make this shirt in a lot of different weights. The one I made for my friend is much lighter and slightly sheer.

I made a few teeny changes….brought the bust in a bit because this one is big for me and even then it has TONS of ease. The neck band needs to be twice as long!! YES. I don’t know what kind of skinny necks chicks in the 5o’s had but if you followed the pattern, you’d be strangling yourself and not even have enough to make a nice looking bow.

The buttons are amazing blue cut glass – possibly from the 30′s. These came from Etsy and I just love them. The colour is such a vivid and deep blue.

Comes together in a couple of hours…And so flattering. I do need to make more for others – share the love….The variations are endless for this. You could even do a contrast neck band. Or make it out of something quite slinky.

Yays!

Check out my shoes too. I am so in love with these. They are Miss L Fire (of course), with little raffia flowers on them and a carved wooden heel. I also tried to do something with my hair – only just passed as a moderate success….maybe. I suck at hair! Must keep practising. I saw a girl at a cafe yesterday with an amazing green coat and a fluffy grey fox around her neck – she had long black hair and bangs….I think I want a fringe…Maybe. But it’s one of those things that if it doesn’t work out, you have to live with the blah for months til it grows out. Anyways – the length is getting better….It needs a trim but I will wait a bit longer.

Other news: I have a drawing to post but I’m a bit blah about that too. Might put it up during the week with the final Drawing Salon class results.
The green coat is coming along nicely (check Facebook for a preview). I’m at a standstill now…next week is payday so I will buy some more green wool for the facings and sleeve (I am thinking of re-cutting so they aren’t tapered like in the pattern)…shame about all the wastage of the amazing fabric *sad face*. I’ve put all the seams together apart from the side ones. Which is a good thing because I’ve decided it definitely needs pockets – what kind of coat doesn’t have pockets? – so I will use Tasia’s Cambie Dress pockets and insert them in my side seams. This should be pretty easy. Except I need to make them out of the lining fabric. Which I don’t have yet. I’ve been looking for an interesting rayon stripe but not had much luck. I might just go with a solid colour.
Do you think a rayon lining is a good idea or should I go with silk?
I don’t want anything too thin – my current winter jacket (RTW) has got the crappiest lining that is literally falling apart and it’s only in it’s second season. I know a lot of clothes are ‘throw-away’ these days but is it too much to expect all the components of one garment to at least have the same life span? The outside is fine and holding up beautifully, but each mend I make on the lining, the next day there is another tear. GRR!
So yeh, I want something that’s going to last as long as my coat will. Ideas?

Erm – I probably have more to ramble about but it’s time to hit the sewing machine…

Ciao!

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 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 Everyone!
Another dress is complete – another one I am super happy about. LOVE this dress!

It’s Mccall’s 4864 from 1942 I think. I bought it from Patterns From The Past. How quirky is it!? I just love Mccall’s patterns from this era – they have heaps of nifty little details and this dress in particular has more than most. Here are some of those features:

• 4 darts on the sleeves to give them a square shape. This would be more highlighted if I’d put in shoulder pads.
• Low V-neck with contrast bands (also at sleeves)
• BUTTONS on the neckline! I omitted this because it would just be a bit too much with this print
• External darts!
• Top-stitched pleats at the skirt
• Tucks on the back to give a blouse effect.
• Shoulder/neck darts for subtle shaping
• Gored skirt – totally swing style!

Ha! And I chose to make this in busy polka-dot. Typical ;-P I think it’s some kind of rayon-y thing again. That said, I seriously doubt my fabric identifying skills. It drapes nice and was an appropriate choice for this style. Its really really comfortable and will be good for winter and summer.

I hemmed it with some red stretch lace hem tape which I had in my stash.

The edges are trimmed in red cotton voile I bought from Lincraft. I wasn’t going to add it originally but it really makes the dress a bit more special having it there. The red stitched trim is from some rayon thread I found at half price at Clegs. It took me ages to do and it’s a *little* wonky – don’t look too closely (haha!) Yes, I did that by hand.

I made no serious alterations to the pattern at all – Just took about 2 inches out of the length of the skirt.
The side opening closes with a hook & eye and some snaps. Still my favourite method for dresses you can only get into this way
The inside is just as neat as the outside and I’m glad I took my time with this one. My new year’s resolution is kicking along nicely. I’ve been proud of everything I’ve made this year so far.

A couple of silly photos in this shoot ;-P The kitties were hanging around and being adorable.

(In the photo of me below I was squee-ing over how Boofy was so intent on turning himself inside out with sheer adoration, that he nearly fell off the couch!)

Other news – It’s raining outside! Autumn is finally on it’s way. Yay! I much prefer the cooler weather. I’ve already started making plans for winter. Bought a small new supply of vintage seamed stockings. Have grand plans for a fit’n'flare princess coat. It’s going to be a huge project and I should really start it very soon. Ideally I want it made of hunter green silk faille but I’d need over 5 yards, at $65USD a yard, that’s a serious investment – so it will stay in pipe-dream territory for a while yet. Definitely have to think of something more accessible and easier to sew. See if I can find some nice wool without breaking the bank.

I’m also waiting on payday so I can finally pick up the Lady Valet dress-form I put on layby. It’s crazy that I’ve gone so long without one. And I could have gone for a cheaper option but I wanted something that would last the distance. Besides, its RED. And comes with a hem marker…..Handy.

My current project is testing out Suzy’s new pattern. I bought some brilliantly coloured chartreuse linen for the main parts of the dress – and the sleeves and neckline will be out of black lace.

If you’re wondering what’s happened to all the drawing…I’ve had some serious urges to get into it lately. All the best intentions huh! But when it comes down to it, I’m really pressed for time these days and sewing wins out. I’ve got my sketch pad beside my desk which is frequently getting scribbled in – and a couple of projects on the go…but I’d need a ‘holiday’ at home to get into it all. And maybe turn off the internet while I’m at it. Kinda hard to avoid the temptation when I’m on the computer already!  Sometimes I wish I could just shut myself off from EVERYTHING to allow all the ideas I know are lurking in my subconscious to float to the surface…somewhere that’s not in the city! So many temptations here and distractions. We can all dream can’t we. *le sigh*!
And yet on the other hand, I love the city – THIS city. Especially with winter coming up. Melbourne is so much nicer when it’s cold and wet outside. I’m sure a lot of people disagree with me there!

Hmm
Dilemmas!

Anyways!
Better stop dilly-dallying and get to my work ‘Til next time peeps!!

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 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!