Good News Day

Take your pick Urszula O..... you won the April "Spend over $50" giveaway prize! We'll send you the bag or hat pattern of your choice.

In May if you spend over $50 you could win a make-up purse (made by me, especially for you).

Ok, so the picture above is actually a bowl full of coin purses, but I found it before the Make-Up purse pics and this is a bit of a rushed post. I have a date with Photoshop and an Excel spreadsheet..... Stocking up on midnight oil....

Oh - just a small note on the draw prize. I put the invoice numbers for April into Mr Random number generator and chose the first over-$50 sale. The first two "winners" were just under the $50 threshold, so missed out - sorry kids. I think there's a moral in that tale somewhere.

Construction site

Firstly - I'm a bit excited - a wonderful person reviewed my website on Pattern Review, and gave it a big thumbs-up! Thank you, whoever you are!

I'm sorry there hasn't been much sewing going on lately - so no fabric eye-candy creations to show. The studio looks like this right now. (Well... this is the tidy bit).
I may have mentioned that we're doing a major overhaul of the supplies pages on the website - adding a shopping cart to streamline the ordering process. We get a lot of great feedback about the website as it is, but hopefully the new version will make it even better and easier to use.

The bones of the new-look shop are there but we have a lot of work to do to pretty it up with the new images, text and links. We have over 300 products, and most of them need to be photographed again, cropped, resized and uploaded. All this is cutting into sewing time.... and all on very grey (low daylight) days, so there have been lots of issues with lighting and reflections on shiny silver things.

Our new 50mm antique brass tri-glides have arrived in time to have their portraits done - super-gorgeous. They match the Oblong Rings to make adjustable straps.

...

Stay tuned for more news about the website and new products. And as always we really value your feedback (...and I LOVE getting good reviews on Pattern Review!!!). You've no idea how much it means to me.

Gone to print

Yay! We're DAYS away from having this baby on the road! If you'd like to pre-order a Fedora pattern we'll give you free shipping if you're in Australia (or knock $2 off the cost of international shipping). This offer is only for the next few days - until we get the patterns back from the printer and packaged. I hope to have them in the post by Friday. Get in early!

Edited to add - If you'd like to order, just email Leah at sales@nicolemdesign.com.au .

The pattern is for advanced sewists - people who really know their way around a sewing machine and have a bit of dressmaking, hat-making or bag-making experience. It's a step up from your average hat pattern because it combines a few millinery techniques (steaming and shaping). Make this hat a few times and you'll find your hat-making (and sewing) skills will have jumped up a notch or two! As always, my instructions don't just tell you what to do, they tell you HOW to do it!

I didn't have any new images of the Fedora - so instead of repeating the same-old, I decided to photograph the hat I wore today. Problem was, daylight had faded by the time I had a chance to get the camera out and.... well.. have you ever tried to photograph yourself wearing a hat..?
Hmmm.... now you know what my world looks like when I'm not wearing glasses or contacts!

The old "lift the camera over your head and hope for the best" trick.... resulted in a lot of wasted shots. The ones that worked were dark and in need of Photoshopping. I quite liked the way that upping the levels in Photoshop turned my skin yellow (!?) ...and I hated the way it didn't disguise toddler mess in the mirror reflection!

But I really liked the way this grainy spiral rose came out... kind of like the stone-carved celtic spirals that inspired it.

I made this hat in 2003 - my first Winter after returning from living in Ireland. I think I was still heavily influenced by my time there. Since then, this hat has seen a bit of rough treatment (squashed into bags etc) and bears a few scars. I'm glad I finally recorded its existence before it's completely wrecked.

For some reason in the coldest weather we've had for a long time, I cut my hair super-short on the weekend. I think I'll be wearing my hat a lot over the next few months!

Frocking up... on paper, at least.

I don't watch much TV... but as the man of the house will tell you (as he rolls his eyes and heads out to his shed), I'll watch anything remotely resembling a costume drama. (Preferably BBC versions of classic literature, but that classification also includes Poirot). I love a good frock.... particularly a good historical one.

I've noticed that ALL the books I've bought recently (in the hope that I'll find time to read them) are about women in previous times. Seems I even like to READ about a good frock!

At the moment I'm particularly loving this book.

It's a biography of an 18th century girl who rose from utter poverty and obscurity to the height of fame and fortune - in a time when that sort of thing just didn't happen. She married into the aristocracy and eventually became Lord Nelson's mistress. A cracking read!

I'm also loving these books, which were left in my studio by my fashion-industry-sewing-buddy friend.
Ooh-ahhhh.... just LOOK at the detailing on the front of that jacket!

In the Vionnet book there are even details on the pattern construction and (quite possibly drool all over the..) photos of fabulous drapey gowns from the early 20th century.

I can feel my patternmaker's fingers beginning to itch....

Bag, hat and clothing patterns, anyone...?

Drumroll, please.....

Inspired by the lovely Pepperberry's method of drawing a random number (mostly because she drew MY name out for my VERY FIRST giveaway win!!!), the wee girl and I dressed in our best pj's and organised the You SEW Girl button draw. The wee girl was left in charge of picking a name out. She chose this one...

Congratulations, Serena - and thanks for linking to my blog. Email your postal address and this little Puff Purse will be on it's way to you.

By the way - the lovely Pepperberry will be joining Curlypops, Troischats and loads of other bloggy lovelies at the Made 'n Thornbury market next week. I'll definitely be popping in to see them! Will you?

Last call for giveaway....

Just a quicky (while I still don't have a proper computer or access to my image files) to let you know that it's now a month since I announced the "You Sew, girl!" giveaway. I promised that in a month I'd draw for the prize of a gorgeous little puff purse made by yours truly...

There's just a small catch with this giveaway... see that cute little button over there..?

I'll announce the winner as the fist blog post I do from my main computer when I finally get it set up and connected to the internet. All going well that will be tonight or tomorrow. So if you're not in the draw you have a bit more time to do so.

And don't forget our draw prize for anyone who spends over $50 on a purchase durng the month. You could win the pattern of your choice.

We'll be back to normal programming soon... I hope.

Peltex Ponderings

Because of the number of American patterns that recommend Peltex interfacing (and therefore the number of customers asking us for it) we've been keen to get our hands on some for a while. After much nagging of a sales rep I've managed to convince our supplier to bring it in to the country. Now I have to play with it and find out what it's all about.
My initial observations were that it's a bit like a looser, coarser version of Fast2Fuse - more pliable and slightly thicker. The glue is in globules rather than spread over the surface. It fused on nicely to my test piece of homespun cotton.

And then I rolled it and got a bit of a shock...

I'm used to Fast2Fuse doing this...

Ah... but then I realised I was rolling against the grain!! When it's rolled in the OTHER direction it does this......which is what Fast2Fuse does when you roll it against the grain. (In fact, I'm not sure which product this photo is actually of - Fast2Fuse on the wrong grain or Peltex on the right one - they really are VERY similar). This was a revelation to me - I hadn't realised that there actually WAS a grain in Fast2Fuse!!

A layer of medium-heavy interfacing between the fabric and the Peltex/Fast2Fuse softened the ripples on the surface, but didn't completley erase them on the Peltex.

(...oops! I can't spell PELTEX...)And THEN..... I tried a layer of light fusible wadding between the fabric and the stiff stuff.... and fell in love with Peltex.The surface of the fabric was softened by the wadding and the Peltex gave it stand-up support -without being as cardboard-box-like as Fast2Fuse can be (when you're sewing a bag that is completely interfaced with it).

I think the two products each have their pros and cons. (The most obvious balance is that Fast2Fuse is finer, smoother and more rigid than Peltex - and Peltex is half the price of Fast2Fuse).

I have to decide whether to stock it or not. I feel obliged to at least give it a go - having hassled that poor interfacing rep for the last four years...! I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts and experiences with Peltex - if you have any. Would you buy it, have you bought it, any hot tips for using it, does the price difference affect your purchase decision....? I'd love to know more about it from a user's point-of-view and any help is greatly appreciated!

Meet the Fedoras

Ah - an evening at the studio BY MYSELF! A great chance to do a long-overdue blog post and introduce you to the family...

You've met this stylish fella a few times now.

You've even met a few of his relatives ...albeit in a blog-finished state (I can tell you that now that linings and hat-bands are slip-stitched into place!).

There's colourful cousin Charlotte with her mother-of-pearl buckle.

Flamboyant world-traveler, great-aunt Matilda...

Difficult cousin George (with his non-stick interfacing and recently reformed brim).

And then there's lairy aunt Mary...

She makes an embarrasing appearance at every formal gathering of the clan - drinks too much, laughs too loudly and spills the family secrets any time there's a lull in the conversation. Gotta love her.

This flower was my sanity-sewing on Friday. I needed a focus amid the chaos and wasn't capable of concentrating on anything word-based while I was at work. I lost myself in machine embroidery, wiring and shaping petals.... at least for a few minutes at a time. I had my smallest assistant with me......

You can see the lovely cousin Dora the Fedora over at Gay's blog, and you'll be able to make your own (if you're a fairly experienced dressmaker, hat-maker or bag-maker) pretty soon, because we're on the home strait with this one!

Behind the scenes...

... is chaos. Utter chaos. Moving house is NEVER fun, and that's what we're doing here.

My computer is not set up yet (my desk has been recommissioned as a kitchen bench until we sort out something else) and the internet won't be connected until "some time between 9am and 1pm on Friday... and it could take up to four hours to install because we're laying new cable. Will you be able to be home for that time?" (Yeah, like I don't have business to run or anything else that I might like to be doing).

My super-slow laptop is on a super-slow mobile modem and I can't seem to load any images (not even to Flickr). Leaving a blog comment takes a good ten minutes. I haven't been able to stay after work to use the computers at the studio for blogging because I've been too busy chasing utility companies, cleaning ovens and bathrooms, and trying to stop a three-year-old from unpacking the boxes I've just packed (or re-packing the boxes I've just unpacked...depending on the house we're in). Things are not running smoothly.

Bear with me. Normality will return... I hope. Sorry for this little interruption in my blogging schedule.

I you're wondering what we're up to at work, we're testing the new Fedora hat pattern and reworking the instructions and pattern accordingly. Check out what super-tester Sooz has done here and here.

And watch this space...

Evening Bags

So you've seen the potato chip poppies... now you can see the bag.

It's the Evening Bag... dressed up in gold satin with an overlay of cream coloured (embroidered, "potato-chipped" and beaded) organza.

You can also see the handles - which I think turned out remarkably well for cheap polyester satin (in a basic 4-fold strap contruction). I fused light interfacing to the fabric before I cut the strap. The folds were pressed into the fabric (like this) using a bias tape maker and a rajah cloth and then I slid in a strip of poly boning before topstitching each strap. They came out SUPER SMOOTH and shiny!

I also finished this today - it's in fabric by Amy Butler. It was cut out ages ago and has been one of those dribs-and-drabs construction projects. A seam here, a seam there.... months pass... eventually a bag emerges.

I added a structured base to this one - and purse feet. I also did a bit of scorching and shrinking of satin ribbon on the final press... but I'm going to keep that a secret.

Rescue effort

I made an Evening Bag today. I decided to make it in evening (wedding?) fabrics for a change. When I turned the bag through, I thought that those interesting textural bits on the fabric rather resembled crinkle-cut potato chips.

Luckily, I'm a terrible hoarder of anything that looks like it might EVER be useful....

These broken (fake) pearl strings have been in my possesion for over 20 years - surviving multiple shifts between houses, countries and hemispheres....

..and the potato chips are now poppies... sort of.

Because I finished it long after the day's light was gone, I couldn't get a decent photo of the whole bag. Can you put the picture together in your mind...?

Don't worry - I'll follow up with a proper photo another day.

How to REALLY QUICK unpick...

I've taught sewing to a lot of people - beginners through to advanced level. One thing I've noticed is that the same amount of unpicking is done at any level... but only beginners feel bad about having to do it.

The more experienced one is with a sewing machine, the more accepting one is of the need to sometimes unpick and re-do. Practise making perfect (and it's not because we practise for the fun of it!)... experienced sewers are FASTER at unpicking.

Here is one trick I've discovered that a lot of people DON'T know....

1. Get a good seam ripper - fine-point and super-sharp. I think I may have mentioned that I'm in love with my Clover Seam Rippers...

2. Unpick any backtacking/backstitching or multiple rows of stitching with care - don't rip through them as shown below. Cut through a few of the individual stitches and pull the threads out.

3. On a straight seam - ONLY IF YOU HAVE A GOOD SEAM RIPPER - you can gently slice through the stitches as shown below. The longer spike on the seam ripper goes to the top and the little ball on the underside. You shouldn't need to use any force to cut the stitches.

BEWARE cheap or blunt seam rippers! If you don't immediately slice through the stitches then DON'T FORCE IT!!! You can slip and slice through your fabric!

So.... what do you do with all the little bits of thread left in the fabric? Pick them out with your fingers...?

4. No... get a lint roller to do the work for you! (Sticky tape will also work, but is slower). I'm a big fan of the $1.95 lint roller from Ikea, or you can buy similar things in most sewing shops and even supermarkets.

Roll it on the right side of fabric...

5. ...and on the wrong side of fabric.

6. Then pull out any stray bits of thread left behind. There won't be many.

Super-duper quick, and relatively painless ...but don't use any old unpicker or there'll be tears!

Convertible strap tutorial

Did someone mention convertible straps? Detachable straps? Here's a little how-to...

1. It doesn't really matter what form it takes, but first you need to attach a loop or ring to the inside of the bag. You can use a small four-fold strap (follow the directions for the strap below or see this button loop tutorial).

The loop can go between the lining and the facing...

or on the lining itself...

2. It's important to make sure (before you attach the lining or facing to the bag) that the loop or ring can be hidden away inside the bag when it's not wanted. When the bag is finished you must also remember to anchor the seam allowances of the lining to the seam allowances of the bag. This will stop the strap from pulling the the lining out.

3. FOR THE WRIST STRAP - Measure and cut a straight grain strap that is four times the width of the strap that you need. Make it long enough to double over your wrist and the swivel hook - with a little room for movement.

4. Fold the two outside edges in to the centre of the strap

TIP: I use a 25mm bias tape maker.

5. Fold the strap in half again - sandwiching the outer edges inside.

6. Topstitch several lines through all layers to flatten the strap.

7. Loop one end through a swivel hook.

8. Stitch the folded end back to the main strap.

HOT TIP : Use a tailors awl to hold in the raw ends of the strap as you sew. If you don't have a tailors awl... well, you'd better go and get one! They're like the small pointy finger you need when you can't get your normal finger under the presser foot to hold things in place. If you're really stuck for one you can use an unpicker or a darning needle.... but really - if you intend to make a lot of straps, the few dollars an awl will cost you is a worthwhile investment.

9. Fold under the other end of the strap and press it.

TIP: Pressing will help it to stay put (one less thing to try to control) while you sew.

10. Stitch the folded end of the strap over the top of the raw end, encasing all of the raw ends (USE THAT AWL!!!).

11. You can either stitch very neatly or use the subtle art of disguise on the join of your strap. A vintage button..

or a yo-yo works a treat.....

And don't forget you can also add a purse chain as an optional extra. Use pliers to prise apart the last links in the chain and close them around a swivel hook at each end.

Enjoy the versatility of your new purse!