After a very long blogging break........

........here is a little update on what's been happening in the studio. Classes started back last week and the Wednesday evening girls got back into the swing of things with a Mojito - just to keep things nice and relaxed while easing into the busy year ahead.

 

 

This is the dress under the machine and here is Rhiannon wearing it, a great summer dress in a stretch woven, cotton from Spotlight. It's all finished except for the hem, which needs turning up and stitching, a little project carried over from the last few weeks of 2012 classes. This is a simple little New Look pattern but Rhiannon does have a passion for creating lovely dresses.

 

 

 

 

This fuchsia pink, silk dress is one of my favourites, it is Simplicity 2497 by Cynthia Rowley which is now out of of print. The thai silk was picked up in Cabramatta and the dress has been fully lined, which works best for this fabric, helping to eliminate the stress on seams and some of the crushing that can occur when wearing a thai silk in a straight skirt.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there is this gorgeous nude silk chiffon and lurex number. Fabric from The Fabric Store, Surrey Hills. Pattern is Butterick 5211 and a seperate slip was made to accomodate the sheer fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is a designer Vogue pattern - 1190,  lots of work in the shoulder detail. Fabric from Cabramatta. The bodice pattern needed a few adjustments as the shoulder to waist length needed to be shortened and the angle of the back straps,wasn't right for Rhiannon so that also needed to be changed.

 

 

 

 

 

Rhiannon who had never sewn until she started classes with me three years ago has come a long way and I'm looking forward to another year of interesting projects with her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Katie Perry, a Dress, and Caitie's Major Work

I would have to say that I am always amazed, at the talent and dedication of the high school girls that sew with me at the studio. This is Caitie, who has been sewing with the studio for a few years and last year she was busy working on her Textiles and Design Major Work for the 2011 HSC.
Catie's major work was in the category of 'Costume' and was a very colourful gown with applique and beading. The inspiration for the gown coming from the Katie Perry video clip 'Californian Gurls'.

Confectionery inspired applique.

Pale pink sequins covered the gown and were stitched on, one by one.

Layers and layers of colourful organza.

Cupcakes with fabric scrunching and hand pleating.

Chocolate 'Freckles' created from hundreds of tiny beads stitched on one at a time.

 Satin stitched stars and sequins.

 Icecream cones.

Lollipops.

A lovely vibrant creation.The hard work and many late nights were worth it.

Well done Caitie! You really are very clever.

Simply Divine

..... is a good description for this beautiful beaded corset, made by Jess for her HSC, Textile and Design Major Work this year. Jess, during her final year of school has spent many, many hours working to create this lovely bodice and skirt, not an easy task in such a demanding year.

Thousands of hand sewn beads, amount to thousands and thousands of tiny hand stitches.

The bra cups are covered in sequins and at the centre of each sequin, a seed bead has been stitched.

Jess has embellished the bodice with sequins, bugle, seed and pearl beads, stitching them into a beautiful design. The bodice has been softened by the application of folded circles of fabric, and softly rouched bias strips of silk.

The skirt is made from half circle layers of silk chiffon and georgette, which were dyed by Jess in colours to compliment the bodice.

The hem edges are fluted and finished with a rolled hem.

The bottom layer of the skirt is trimmed with scattered fabric flowers and folded circles of fabric.

A beautiful piece of work, Jess! .

Simplicity 2638

Take a pattern with a silhouette that works for you, make it up in a divine fabric, tweak the pattern to make the most of that fabric, and you have a gorgeous dress for the festive season.

This is exactly what Sue did for her lovely dress which was ready for Christmas. Luck had a bit to do with the fabric, but Sue's sewing skill had a lot to do with the great end result. The skirt pattern was redrafted to suit the fabric, it needed to be slimmer and shorter and is also now lined. Sue then learnt how to cut and spread a pattern to create the gathered drape for the midriff yoke.



The bodice fabric was found at 'The Fabric Store' in Surry Hills and is a Lisa Ho silk chiffon. Sue snapped up the end of the roll as soon as she saw it. Lovely fabrics like this never last long there and sell out almost as soon as they arrive.





As luck would have it, whilst shopping for fabric in Melbourne at 'Rathdowne Fabrics', she then came across a piece of aubergine, pleated, polyester chiffon that matches perfectly with the aubergine in the printed Lisa Ho silk. That truly is good luck!

Matching the print at the centre back, which has an invisible zipper opening, adds a nice touch. Invisible zippers not only look better but are actually a lot easier to insert than a traditional zip.

A lovely fit was achieved by making a calico toile first, then adjusting the pattern before cutting the fabric. Fit alterations are best done at the pattern stage, as there is a lot you can do to correct the fit of a pattern, that simply can't be done to a garment once it is cut in fabric.

Miss Em

The high school sewing class finished the year with a final get together and sewing day on Friday. It was a nice day with time spent finishing off projects, but it was also great to have a last catch up, before the class breaks for the school holidays.
Miss Em, did however manage to make a pattern for a hooded cape, cut it out of polyester fleece and stitch it together before she left for the day. You could say she had a very productive few hours.

The hood on the cape extends into a long scarf and was finished with a toggle closure at the neckline and trimmed with zig zag stitching, which is also on the pockets.

The pattern was in an issue of 'Mollie Makes' and originally was to be made using a blanket, but Emily adapted the pattern instructions to suit a length of polyester fleece. Well done Em! You really did work hard to whip that cape up in a few hours.

A few weeks ago, Emily also completed a boned bodice made out of a cotton/spandex stretch woven fabric, from Pitt Trading at Ramsgate. This is a lovely, summery top which is more appropriate for our normal December weather, but unfortunately with temperatures at the moment, not even reaching 20 degrees on some days, Emily may have more use of a cape than this cute little top.

The bra cups were trimmed with a lovely cotton lace and on the back closure she has used a hook and eye tape. The pattern is one of mine and available to use in class.

Have a nice break girls and see you in February!

Young Talent

One of the best things about teaching people to sew is that I get the opportunity to meet some wonderful and very talented people. Tess, who came to the studio a few months ago for tuition, is one of these special people and she is as hard working, as she is talented.
Tess contacted me as she wanted a few private lessons to assist her with the pattern drafting and construction of a garment to enter in the 'Casual Wear' catergory of the 'Apex Australian Teenage Fashion Awards' - also known as AATFA. Anyway, after meeting Tess and having a little chat, I remembered seeing her last year in Newcastle at the 2010 NSW State Finals of the AATFA, where she had won the 'Wearable Art' catergory and I had been very impressed with her winning design. She then went on to take out the national award in the same catergory.
This year for the 2011 Awards Tess was entering garments in two catergories 'Casual Wear' and 'Wearable Art'. Unlike the Wearable Art catergory, the Casual Wear section is also marked on sewing technique, therefore the sewing and construction of the garment need to be well executed. Tess tells me there is a lot of hot glue gunning done in wearable art, as the sewing and construction is not marked, only the design.

Here is the photo of Tess's design for the 2011 AATFA Casual Wear catergory.

Tess has very kindly written this dscription of her garment and the design and construction process.

Earlier this year, I approached Kerrie to assist me with my entry in the Apex Teenage Fashion Awards Casual Wear category. My aim was to create a complex velvet dress designed by the Japanese designer, Tomoko Nakamichi.

Kerrie helped me night after night for a week or so struggling to complete the complex japanese pattern.

This Kakurenbo design translated as 'hide and seek' was used as a starting point in creating this casual wear garment. The complex curves of the flare design lines are incorporated into the waistline of this baby-doll style dress. The luscious velvet neatly expresses the concealed flare, which has a circumference of over 3m. The garment has been enhanced by a crafted embossed pattern design which was carved into lino, a mould was made from heat sensitive silicone which was pressed into the velvet to form the licorice allsorts pattern.

Although this gave a nice end result it produced a number of issues, such as sewing the tight curves and the finishing technique of ironing (as it couldn't be ironed).

But in the end Kerrie helped me produce a wonderful garment which I went on to win the state  finals.

Tess then went on to become the AATFA National Young Designer of the Year with her winning combination of her amazing 'Art to Wear' garment and her 'Casual Wear'.
This is a wonderful  achievement, especially as Tess is only in Year 10 at high school.

The inspiration and pattern drafting instructions can be found in Tomoko Nakamichi's book 'Pattern Magic' Volume 1 and below are a few photos of the process.

Front Skirt Pattern Draft Instructions

Pattern drafting directions were given for one size only so if you are not that size you need to be able to grade the pattern to fit.There were a few little fit issues, which make me wonder if the pattern had only been tested on a half scale dummy. The bust dart positions had to be altered as they were too high and the neckline needed to be reshaped. The hemline also needed to be levelled as the CF skirt was dipping.

Front Skirt Pattern

Front Bodice Pattern

The toile.

The book didn't include any construction informaton so it is really left to you to interpret how the garment is to go together. We decided to construct the bodice with an overlay that was then finished with a satin bias binding trim. The skirt needed to be interlined with a stiff shapewell to give it the body to stand out, as per the photo in the book, it then needed to be fully lined. The interlining was necessary as the velvet used was heavy but I do think that most fabrics would need to be interlined to achieve the desired trapeze silhouette.
However, I really like the Pattern Magic books as they are full of creative designs that do challenge you and make for an interesting project. Locally the books can be found at Tessuti Fabrics.

Japanese Pattern Books

Jane, who comes along to one of my morning classes has been making garments from a few of the Japanese pattern books that are available online at Tessuti Fabrics. For the price of a book you get loads of patterns in a lovely book which is filled with nicely styled photos of the garments, written instructions and good diagrams of the construction steps.

You also need to make sure that the book you buy is in English and not Japanese, unless you are able to just follow the illustrations and don't need written instructions to complete your garments.

Jane, recently made this cute little pinnafore for her daughter using a pattern from the 'Girly Style Wardrobe Book' in a Red Riding Hood print fabric from Calico and Ivy at Balmain.

A nice detail is the contrasting fabric which was used on the shoulder tie facing and the pockets which are also trimmed with red ric rac braid.

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