Another post where I attempt to recap the best part of a multi-faceted week (and update the workshop schedule) with a few words and pictures.

I believe I mentioned something about posting photos from the Trapese Line Top class at Kimono House.

It appears that nearly a week has passed since then and I'm still hearing the giggles and the ah-ha's and remembering the fun that it was.  I just didn't get around to posting the pictures here (sorry).

It's a very hands-on workshop, with lots of dressing up like monks for the first bit (until the garments start to take shape).

  

I brought in lots of cheap fabric to kill the fear of just jumping in to have a go.  Hack, slash, cut off the bits that don't look like a glamorous new top... that sort of thing.   Great fun....

 ...and then we moved on to the posh Japanese fabric (which I forgot to photograph).   Lovely day.  Thanks girls!

I'll be at Bargain Box Fabrics in Mornington next Thursday (26th July) with another pattern-free top class.  We won't have the posh Japanese fabric, but we'll have lots of fun.  I believe there is one spot vacant, and we may be able to stretch to three more.

Yesterday was my workshop with the International Federation for Home Economics Congress ... and loads of Saffron Craig  fabric.

We worked on the zipper pouch project from my book, and then made Pyramid Purses and box-style toiletry bags.

The class was held upstairs at GJ's in Brunswick, because there was no way we'd have all squeezed in to my little studio.  It was fantastc to have so much space and light and so many switched-on sewing gals from around the world.

Did you know that Saffron Craig is moving in a whole new direction now?  She has just done a range of organic cotton fabrics, and has illustrated an e-book for children.  Go Saffron! 

(And did you know that Saffron Craig was the year behind me in RMIT Fashion, many years ago?  We used to walk past each other in the halls and not know we'd cross paths again.  Funny ol' fella, life...).

If you like any of Saffron's previous ranges, you'd best get in quick while they last, wherever you see them.  They're a finite resource now.

Tomorrow, I have a Zippers For Bags workshop.  The waiting list for this one was just getting a bit silly, so we've swapped a Beginners Bag in a Day workshop date (Saturday 6th October) and are now calling it a Zippers For Bags day.  If you'd like to do this one on 6th October, then I'd suggest you hop in NOW and make your booking.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: There has been a swapping of attendance from the 25th August to the October date for the zipper class.  If you'd like to take up this place on the 25thAugust, you'll have to email or phone us to book (the PayPal button on the website is for the newest date only).

We've also had to make a date-change for the Choosing and Using Interfacings class in November, and there are still a couple of places left on that one.  It will now be Saturday 3rd November.   (Yes, I know, Melbourne Cup weekend and you might be going away... but better that than a weekend when I'll be the one who will be going away!)  You can book here.

The only other workshop places I have are three spots on the Customised Bag in a Day class on Saturday 20th October.  You can book here if you'd like to do that one (in time to make a bag for Spring Carnival?).

I can't possibly squeeze in another date before the end of the year.... and I think I'll need a good sit down by the time December comes around!  I'm a bit exhausted, just thinking about it.



Next year, I'm thinking of travelling a bit further afield, so I'm just putting the word out....
If anyone in the USA want me as a guest sewing teacher, let me know!  I'm hoping to be in the North West (although nothing is confirmed) around then, but depending on the gig, may be able to travel beyond or at another time of year.

Oh... and yes.... the multi-faceted week.  It was.  But the recap will have to wait for another day.  I think the workshop info is enough for now.  Clearly, economy of words and pictures is just not my thing.... (no wonder I #twitterfail).

Friday night pattern-free sewing (and lots of poncing about like a super-model on a Sunday)

Ok..I should have said, "..like a slightly older, wrinklier, greyer, shorter super-model than you're used to seeing..."

On Saturday,at Kimono House, I taught a class in the pattern-free 'trapese line top' from my book. 

On Friday evening, shortly after I realised that I'd turned most of my trapese-line top samples (that had been worn and had faded slightly) into my crocheted rag rug a few months ago, I pulled out a pile of knit fabrics and began sewing up a somewhat-frenzied pattern-free storm....

Having bought this purple fabric only because it was cheap enough to use for toiles (muslins), I didn't expect to put on this little dress summer dress and NOT WANT TO TAKE IT OFF.  It's a gorgeous viscose-lycra blend and is super-fluid and comfy.  It would be beautiful to wear on one of those 40-degree days we have here in Summer.  Unfortunately, with top temperatures averaging around the 15 degree mark lately, I can't see it getting much wear for a wee while yet.

I'm suspecting modal or tencel is the other fibre in this black lycra-blend jersey.  The fabric is fine but has a gorgeously heavy drape, like a wood-based fibre does. 

I can't normally do long black and voluminous dresses without looking like a little pile of black fabric. (When you're 5'1"-and-a-bit, you need a bit of body reference). I like the way this one skims but still hints at a person inside the volume of fabric.

And I can do the ties up at the front and pretend to be some sort of  Raphael cherub (completely ignoring the glaringly obvious grey hair and wrinkles.. and the dress, come to think of it...).

Then I whipped up a few quick little summer tops.  This marl grey cotton-lycra number is slimmed right down to hug the hips and emphasise the drape across the front.

...and it's suddenly occurred to me that with my hair all not-so-super-model grey, I can actually wear marl grey now.  I never used to feel good in it.

 

This black top (below) is a pure cotton jersey, so not as drapey as its lycra-blend cousins.  I turned a wide hem and made a fake binding (instructions in my book or in my Draped T-Dress pattern) that sits on the hip.  It emphasises the boxy shape that the fabric wants to create.

 This one below is a toile (muslin), in a drapey knit remnant that was wider than it was long.  I played about with a different fold and came up with a drape detail that I think needs further experimentation.... I'm going to come back to this one.

 

..and here's one I prepared earlier... 



I made this red cotton-jersey number during the summer, and have worn it a lot since.  It somehow escaped the rag rug.

The class at Kimono House on Saturday was loads of fun - but I think there are enough images here for one post, so I'll come back to that one. 

In the meantime, if you're inspired to try pattern-free but want a bit more help than my instructions in my book, you might like to book into the class at Bargain Box Fabrics in Mornington on the 26th July.  (I actually have no idea if there are any places left in the class, but you could always ask!).

Footloose and pattern-free (and camera-free) in the city.

Today, as I drove in to the city to teach my Trapese Line Top at Kimono House, I realised I didn't have my camera.... and then remembered that my newfangled gizmo (iPod) has a camera on it.

Unlike all those Instagram whizzes who can take artfully-composed and moodily-lit photos on their electronic gadgets, I'm a complete dunce with the whole shaky little screen thing.... (perhaps I have shaky little hands...?).  I can make a glorious glass ceilinged historic arcade look like a foggy cave.

We had a lovely time in the class, but the photos somehow just don't seem to capture it....

 

..although they do hint at the camaraderie and cooperation as we threw fabric about, draped it around ourselves and cut away the bits that didn't look like glamorously draped tops, tunics and dresses.

 Before we started hacking into the lovely Japanese jerseys, we had a rehearsal with cheap-as-chips black cotton jersey.  It was great to see that by the time we got to the precious stuff, the girls had the confidence to dive in with adventurous spirits and rotary cutters blazing.

At the end of the class, we had a fantastic variety of very different designs.  We had drapes, pleats, darts, shirring, ties,  short tops, long tops, dresses, straight hems and assymmetrical hems....

...but by then, the iPod was battery-free (so no more photos, not even dodgey ones).

Thanks girls, for a very fun, inspiring day!!

(I'll be teaching this class again at Kimono House on 14th July and in Sydney at Free Range Living on June 6th - contact them if you're interested in coming along.  And next time, I'll try to remember my camera.)

Incoherent

Another week has passed and I have a selection of photos with absolutley no thematic link to tie them all together. 

I've been itching to cut into my new Saffron Craig fabrics but haven't managed to squeeze it in.

It's been a week of multi-tasking between interruptions, more heartbreaking news (on two separate fronts), upheaval, misunderstandings and frought emotions. The planetary alignment appears to be embracing the wonk.

My fancy-schmantzy sewing machine, in for what looked like a minor repair, appears to be having an extended break while a part is sent from Sydney and installed.  Reverting to working between an industrial straight-stitcher and a simple domestic machine has been frustrating and unrewarding. There has been more cutting done than sewing.

 There have been productive meetings, a return to the trapese-line top project from my book, a rekindling of a fond alliance and much fondling of lovely Japanese printed jerseys.

And a new appreciation of the humble safety pin...

There was no cleaning of mirrors.

Other things happened.  There was kindness, good friends, funny stories, and a major haul of knit fabric. There was also mundane school-lunch making and nit-patrol.  There was theraputic knitting and a much-needed haircut. There were classes.

While I've been holding out for some super-duper heart-singingly good news, there have been little glimmers of hope and opportunity to soothe the pain. Amid the turmoil and angst, there has been an appreciation of the rugs that will always remain firmly underfoot.  In between, I've been cutting and sewing.

Good news for those of you who live outside Australia - Pattern Review has listed the full range of my patterns, including the Purse Frame projects - in their shop.

More....

More bustles and more shirring elastic.... More trapese-line top (from my book) variations. This time, a 2-metre piece of voile from Clear It ($5 per metre) was folded top and bottom to make a dress length diamond shape...and then the shirring elastic was put into action! So yes... more poncing about and more swishing of bustly bits. (Anyone would think that bustles didn't go out of fashion over 100 years ago).
Oh, and here's a large zipper rose (instructions are also in Le Book).
EDITED TO ADD: I just found a weekend where I can schedule a Pattern-Free Top Workshop - if you need a bit of help to get started with this method... or just want a fun sewing day. Details here.

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.....