Variation(s) on a theme (or two)

It's winter... not really beach-going weather (not that I saw anything vaguely beach-like during the Summer...). However, I made a Beach Bag last week....
In mock-croc pvc from Rathdowne Remnants with antique brass o-rings in the straps. Perfect for winter. My last-minute decision to add a twist-lock was a small stroke of bag-making genius. It MAKES the bag!

Large antique brass purse feet protect the bottom....

And world map (I believe from a Wizard of Oz range of fabrics) lining gives the bag that go-anywhere-seasoned-world-traveller kind of feel.... The Tulip Dress pattern got a wintery makeover, as well. I used a kind of stretch terry-towelling/fleece hybrid (?!) fabric (a remnant from Rathdowne Remnants), and cut the bodice with both centre-front and centre-back on the fold.

I extended the sleeve length and topstitched the neck facing down. I overlocked the top edge of the skirt, pleated it and topstitched it to the outside of the bodice.... sort of deconstructionist style... The wee girl loves that it's comfy-wumfy and withstands all manner of hopping and jumping and general 5-year-old backyard activity.

And it was made in the obligitory 2-sizes-too-big... just the way she likes it!

*****
EDITED TO ADD: I used my industrial machine for the bag and then decided to try the Bernina 440 with a walking foot for the straps. It sewed through those layers of PVC as if they were butter. I could have sewn the whole bag with the Bernina.

The lining fabric was bought from the Theme From Jak garage sale.
***

Stay tuned, folks! There are more variations on other themes in the works as we speak.

A Rather Large Weekend

These days, my large weekends are filled with less darkened rooms and loud music and more with beautiful tiny cupcakes....The non-stop crafty action began on Thurday night, with a Bags for Beginners Class, followed by a bit of Slinky Malinky tail-and-ear-making for Book Week dress-up day on Friday.And yes... running short of time, photos were taken while teeth were cleaned on the way to the car.Friday was spent clearing the tables upstairs and downstairs (no mean feat...all the gear from the AQC was still dumped on the downstairs cutting tables) to create cutting space for a Pattern-Free Wrap Skirt class. Then it was off to dinner with a fab bunch of bloggy, crafty chicks (cue Cathie's cupcakes - Appearance #1).

Saturday was the skirt class.

We saw some great results, front and...

...back.

Embracing the theory of "There is no such thing as a fault in the fabric - only another opportunity for a design feature", Sheree made a fabulous Kaffe Fassett racing stripe on the back of her skirt.

Sunday morning saw me flapping about like a flock of headless poultry... and ummmm....running out of petrol in an unkown suburban street, without my phone...(ahem.... move on...), buying WAY TOO MUCH beer and wine and finally making it to a little gathering of nearests and dearests and fabulous bloggy friends, to break a metaphorical bottle of champagne over my book.

Cue cupcakes - Appearance #2.

Phew! I made it out the other side.

It kind-of makes me feel like putting my feet up to relax with a good book. And possibly another cupcake.
***

BTW- New Wrap Skirt Class is scheduled for 10th September.

Another BTW - Wee girl models a Twirly Skirt from my book (in a somewhat unladylike pose), made at Sewjourn last weekend.

Ain't no oil painting

It's been a while since I could turn heads.... but now, thanks to Photoshop, I can cut off the grey and wrinkly bits, smooth over the general turkey-neck area and turn myself into a watercolour fashion illustration.
Who'd a thunk I could be anything more than a beret model..? With my height (or lack thereof), nobody would have picked me as a fashion illustration... but here I am....

...poncing about on the cover of my new Draped Dress pattern. I've lined up some pattern testers (thanks to Facebook and Twitter and no thanks whatsoever to Blogger, which wouldn't let me log in for over 24 hours) and I should have a finished pattern by the end of next week. (All going well).

Throw your name into the pot here (that'd be the comment box) if you want a chance to win one. (Perhaps as a consolation prize if you missed out on winning a copy of my book in Jodie's or Cath's giveaways...?).

Sewjourn weekend

'Twas grand..... A weekend of sewing, laughing, eating WA-HAY too much chocolate and enjoying the company of a bunch of fabulous, generous, talented women (including two blogless gals).

BTW - I've decided that when I grow up, I want to be able to make quilts like Annie.
Although there was much laughter and conversation (and the odd glass of wine), the emphasis was definitely on sewing. The dining room table was mostly re-purposed as a cutting room with my sewing buddy's and my new super-sized cutting mats. There were late nights and finished garments.
I began another textiles-magical-mystery-tour - this time with knitted bits of wool and linen gauze. So far, the road has taken an unexpected turn.... (and I'll return to this story when there is some sort of ending in sight).

Many thanks to my fellow Sewjourners. It was an absolutely soul-reviving pleasure to spend time with you and I'm counting the days until we return.

NEWSFLASH! Did you know that Cath still has THREE of my books to give away??? Sorry if you missed out on Jodie's giveaway (she just drew some lucky winners!).

Exactly as planned....

If you've been watching this space, you'd know that I've been experimenting with the knitting machine, knitting needles, yarn and dye. Seeing what happens....
I machine-knitted some cream coloured wool, dyed it BRIGHT green (yikes!).. then dulled it down with red to make a lovely lichen-mossy-tweedy colour.... then hand-knitted (and frogged and re-knitted) a cap sleeve top and a little gumnut-baby hat.
A handwash and blocking produced a lovely tweedy set for a 1-year-old gumnut kid. But I thought how little time a busy mother has to handwash knits, so I did a test-run through a wool cycle in the washing machine. Baby Alive modelled the hat (because there were no balloons in the house) as it dried. Hmmmmm..... a soft minty green...

....which, when it dried, had a layer of rusty-red on the surface. Eeeuw! (I was so horrified, I didn't take photos of this stage of development).

With nothing to lose, I tried it through a normal wash in the machine, thinking it might felt a bit.So Baby Alive has a nice new ice-mint coloured, felted tunic and gumnut-hat.... and I have a better idea of a few yarny processes (which was the plan!). And that one-year-old will have to wait a bit longer for a new outfit!

Limited Edition...

Moleskin pressing cloths - right here! I found a few metres and have cut and overlocked it all into 50cm and 60cm squares. If you don't have my book, you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about this cloth. If that's the case, you can read a bit more about WHY moleskin makes the best pressing-hams ever HERE, and even see a photo of the stuff in action!

Pure cotton moleskin is a rare fabric-store find. I'm always on the lookout for it. If I find any more, I'll make more cloths, but until then, there are only a few here....

EDITED TO ADD: Despite my original listing in mm's instead of cm's, the cloths were SNAPPED UP IN NO TIME. All gone! Sorry if you missed out.

Design Challenge #8793

The wee girl had a little friend over to play on the weekend, so we decided to make a cake.

"I know!" she beamed (and I started preparing for a curve-ball..), "We could make a Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang cake!"..... Ummm...... flying completely by the seat of my pants, with the dvd cover picture as a vague reference, I shaped a loaf-shaped cake and iced it in blue and red.

We melted easter eggs (and we STILL have more of them!) and set the chocolate in a silicone mini-cupcake tray to make the wheels. We even made the spare wheel.

I strongly suggested which sweets should go where to make the cake look suitably vintage-car-like and the girls took turns in sticking them on.

They loved making the sparkly silver sheen with the little silver balls (in case you're wondering what they're about).

I loved watching the girls working on this together. Taking turns and taking care. Thinking it through. Co-operating. Each wanting to do the right thing by the other....

All those things that I love about the way that communities of women work together were right there, in the embryonic stages of social skills.... and it seemed so natural. Beautiful!

Back to the beginning....and then an epilogue. (You already know the middle bit)

Long before the shirred top and long before the trapese line top in my book, I made the bustle skirt, based on a square of fabric. I then started thinking about a way to make one based on a quarter-circle skirt.
Somewhere during the process of playing with calico, I thought, "....Ooh, I could make top this way...". So was the beginning of the trapese line top... and a hiatus in the development of the bustle-skirt idea. It was also the start of the patternfree skirt section in the book.

I only got back to the original idea this week.... and it seems to work!

It's a variation on the panel skirt in my book (only I thought of it before I thought of the panel skirts...). The hemline of this skirt finishes in a point - basically, it hasn't been cut in a curve at the hemline (except a bit of last minute trimming before hemming, just so I don't trip and break my neck on the stairs). It has been shirred randomly across the back - with the shirring in a kind of wildly random cross-hatch on the bottom half. There was a bit of slam-pressing, too. The fabric was a printed linen remnant that I bought for $10 at the Shirt & Skirt Market a few years ago. It was a light "faded denim" colour with red and navy flowers. I dyed it indigo.

And I've been swanning about in it like bustle skirts are the height of fashion. (Yes, I watch too many costume dramas).

My Local....

Fabric store, of course (...I can't remember the last time I was in a pub). I love GJ's Discount Fabrics in East Brunswick. And I think it's even better, now that all the patchwork fabrics are downstairs. The room is huge and light and full of colour. Gosh, there are even a few nice hat and bag samples.

GJ's were among the first stores to take on my patterns, way back in 2004, and have always supported me with lots of display space for samples.

They've always been good at keeping things fresh.... trying new things, turning over huge volumes of fabrics and always bringing in new ranges. (I love this Sherbet Pips range....it makes me want to make a quilt!!). They have great sales and bargain baskets (today I saw some Kaffe Fasset short ends for $8 per metre). Get on their mailing list!

And now they're the first to take on my first range of 'in store' bag hardware, to accompany the pattern range. So you can get all the bits to make the bag from the one place. No need to pay postage. We often talk about the great online craft community, but I love my local-real-life craft community, too. GJ's is a bit like the bar where everyone knows your name. A hub. I always bump into people I know, and the staff seem to know everyone. They focus on the real-life store and their customer service, and are constantly striving to improve both.

Even if this sounds like an infomercial/advertorial, it isn't. I just really love what they do and I appreciate their support.

Do you have a 'local'...? (And ...ummm...do you think they might like to try a bit of bag hardware..?).

PS. We've also begun wholesaling bulk quantities of hardware to makers of handcrafted bags and purses. If you'd like to order rings, frames etc in quantites of 50's and/or 100's, drop us a line and we can send you the relevant info. (Note: There are minimum order quantities).

A little idea I've been toying with....

...Oooh, since before I made the Bustle Skirt.... I've carried it around in my head, imagining the effects and the possibilities, but until yesterday, I didn't get around to actually TRYING it....I made a cotton lawn/voile variation-weave version of my pattern-free trapese-line top (instructions in my book). Using myself as a tailor's dummy, I played around with where to decrease volume and increase texture. I then drew in a few lines between the widest points of the "decrease volume" area with a white marker pen. (You could use chalk if you wanted to wash the garment before wearing it - I wanted to be able to wear it straight away so opted for a disappearing marker pen).
Then I took the top off and neatened up the lines (and drew a few more) using the pen and a ruler.
I hand-wound a bobbin with black shirring elastic, putting a bit of tension on it (stretching it slightly) as I wound. Using a large straight stitch, I followed the white lines with the sewing machine... ...and marvelled at it's lovely bouncy scrunchiness.

And then I slam-pressed the bejeezus out of it. (Hot steamy iron, flat down onto it). I love the crunchy texture of slam-pressing (and the steam "disappears" the white marker pen).

When I put it on again, I thought, "Hmmmmm...." (as I'm apt to do). So I shirred it over the bust as well. More slam pressing. (And, if I'm honest, I must say there was a spot of unpicking and shirring again until it looked right). More slam-pressing.
And then I did that neck twist thing that I love (also in the book).....
I like. Very much. (Although I'll probably unpick that little bit of shirring poking up from the fold).
I'll be doing bit more of this... I'm thinking Sewjourn (in less that 2 weeks.... squeeeeeeee!) might be shirring-city for me!! I'm stocking up on georgette, linen gauze, voiles and jerseys. I reckon it'll work well in any of these.

I'm also looking at my practise-machine-knitting-lengths (read: the bits that self-cast-off) with fresh eyes.... Hmmmmmmmm.....