sewing liberation

Today I want to share 2 things with you all rolled into 1!

In July I promised that as part of my "getting personal" series I would post a pic of myself once a month, to try and get over my feelings about seeing myself captured by the camera.

Secondly I want to show you what I was working on a couple of weeks ago, and now have fallen in love!

So here goes.......

When I was working on the drawstring bags for my aunt's school, it got me thinking about how easy making a skirt could be. I just had to push myself over the fear barrier if truth be told. What if it was too small, short or I just looked plain silly in my sewn creations? These used to run through my mind all the time. At the same time I would look at beautiful garments and something inside me would say that I could make clothes if I just knew where to start.

For me it started with "sew what! skirts" a fantastic book for all novice sewers. This gave me so many ideas and how to make the simplest of skirts! The main thing for me is my body shape. I am an apple, yes, it has been confirmed by Gok and his "How to look good naked - and his style consultation".

 (You should give this a go, lots of great advice on what clothes suit what shapes.)

Anyway, because I have small shoulders, big boobs, a tummy and no hips, I am an apple. And apple shapes suit A-line skirts. I have always know this and when I looked through my wardrobe for a skirt to use as a template I realised that the skirts I didn't like/ wear were not a-lines. (I love a revelation!)

Then on to the fun bit.

I searched online for "retro fabrics" and found this amazing fabric shop Seamstar. It was love at first sight.

It didn't take long at all once the fabric arrived. Maybe 2 hours? I used one of my own skirts as a temple and drew round it twice, adding on an extra 2 inches all round for seams, hems and a bit of give.

I then cut out strips of the contrasting green cotton and attached them to the waist and the bottom.

(I made the waist band into an elastic casing so I had a comfy fit skirt.)

And here we have it, my first proper skirt. I spent yesterday going through my Boden catalogue singing, "well, I could make that, and that, and that..." then I had an idea.....

In Gok's consultation he reccommends styles for dresses for my shape and being an admirer of Kirsty Allsop and her beautiful frocks, I decided, "I can do that....." Buying dresses that fit me in all the right places has become a nightmare. Well, no longer..... I bought myself this!

My first ever dress pattern by Butterick (B5030)

Now I have slowed things down a bit so that I can buy some muslin to practice on and I'm saving my beans for fabric, (I have 3 that I have my eye on.)

In the mean time I am going to make another skirt, this one maybe 3" longer so that I can wear it with tights and boots. This time I think a heavier weight cotton would be best with maybe a autum/ winter colour pallet?

Listen to me!!!!!

  

  

Inspiration - Sew Lovely

This is my latest collection of necklaces, "Sew Lovely". They were inspired by these little "Singer" sewing machine like charms that I saw a couple of months ago. As soon as I saw them my emotions strated running high and I just knew I had to make things with them.

Like most of our Granny's, Nan's and Grandmother's, mine has been sewing for years. My Mum and aunties all remember her sitting running the machine into the wee small hours. She would make them all sorts of outfits, dresses, coats and trousers. I can just imagine the flares and snocks in funky 60's cloth! There were seven of them so Granny was kept busy! But right at the last minute she would find time to rustle herself up a glamourous outfit. There are so many photos of her looking elegant and stylish and then she'll tell you how the waist band wasn't finished in time so she made up a belt with a diamonte button to cover it up.

The best part of all is that she still has an old original Singer machine on a wooden topped iron table with a peddle. It sits by the window in one of the back rooms and at some point during a visit to her house I always pay it a visit. I used to spend hours sitting at that table pretending I was a seamstress from "House of Eliott", making designer fashion in the 1920's. My Mum talks about the almost soothing sound the peddle and wheel made, they could hear it running through the night.

Isn't it strange that I would love one, not to sew with though, just to look at, like a sculpture.

Recently when I bought myself "Sew What Skirts" I spoke to Granny about my venture into machine sewing. I listened for hours as she told me how her friend took her to buy her first pattern and the dress she made. How Margaret  told here that this was a 'Vogue' patter not a Carey one. (She was apt to make things up as she went along, which as far as I'm aware is dangerous stuff when it comes to following a pattern!) She told me about the time she 'aquired' mens suit fabric and making it into 3 winter coats with added velevet trim. My Grandpa was a little upset that he didn't get a new suit, but the coats lasted well. 

I also remember playing in my Mum's sewing box when I was young, I would lay out the patterns and pretend I was running my own Remnant Kings fabric shop. I can see this was a running theme, me setting up various shops in my bedroom. Maybe all that 'let's pretend' play has stuck with me. It is amazing how many memories that this little charm has brought to life for me, and how much I have learned about Granny and her sewing antics. I can see so much of myself in her from these stories. Her leaving things to the last minute, adapting things, working into the night and her love of fabric.

Silver Sew Lovely Charm Necklace

For this necklace I have combined the silver charm with a piece of cotton with a hand stitched line of electric pink thread. This necklace shows the length of my novice sewing skills.

Gold Sew Lovely Necklace

This gold necklace has a small Jade heart hanging with it. This signifies the love that so many people have for their sewing machines, and the love my Granny speaks of that she put into each garment she made.

Sewing Kit Charm Necklace

This last necklace has a silver sewing machine and cloth scissor charms, with a small purple ribbon on the side. The ribbon represents the sweetness of the outfits Granny made and the scissors make me smile because of my inherited obsession for different scissors for different tasks. (You can hear me holler from the other end of the house if I spy MrLB lifting my cloth scissors to cut paper!)

What are your memories of sewing machines? Did your Mum or Granny sew?

Shared Hearts - Number 1

"Liquid Heart" by Sophie

This is the first reader heart to be sent to me, isn't it beautiful. Sophie said her other half noticed it while they out enjoying a cuppa one afternoon! Sophie has a great blog over here. She takes amazing photographs and has a great eye for stunning interior design ideas. Thanks for sharing Sophie!

Here is a fabric heart I made yesterday and I couldn't resist adding a few little sparkles, you know how it is. Keep them coming please and lets Spread Global Love or Hearts!

Chillin'

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. I have done a whole lot of lovely things;

1.brunch at Mums with Mum and L, Granny, Aunty, Uncle and Little cuz no 14

2.sat in my herb garden and read my book

3.caught up with some neighbours in their garden and ate bean salad

4.went on lovely trip to the park and Pablo made some new friends and I found the beautiful piece of bark pictured above.

5.was featured on FDL blog

6.sat some more in the sunshine reading

7.made tastey carrot onion and celery soup mmmmmm

8. tried to work out how del.icio.us works kind of!

So it's back to work tomorrow for me and I have some ideas I have been mulling over in my journal and I'm quite excited to make a start on.

10 things to do today - Day 2

"Someday" by yellena


It seems I am not alone in my list mania, it is such a comfort to know there are others out there who get a buzz from scoring things off! Thanks to the focus I found by writing my list here too, I had a very productive evening, very tired but things got done. So now I can share with you the fruits of my labour and much needed kick up the ...

The new blog of interest I found is in honour of my listy love. todolist is collection of hand written lists by various people and the stories behind them. The blog is by writer and editor Sasha Cagen.

"Candy" by Yellena

The new artist of ineterest I found is Yellena, an artist and graphic designer from Central Oregon. "Obsessed with markers, pens, inks, paper, patterns, good design, wallpaper, cacti, vintage fabric, empty journals and anything little." She uses pens, inks and markers to creat these stunning prints. She also has a blog which is well worth a visit.

The new card I made last night which I was meant to list on etsy is made, and quite cute, but I am still in two minds about adding it to my main etsy shop which has all my jewellery on it. I opened another shop a few months ago which was meant to be for cards and prints ect, but it was getting pretty hectic and costly listing in both. What do you think, should I add them to my main shop?

The journaling/ inspirational word for this week is:

glamour (US also glamor), n. an attractive and exciting quality. ORIGIN first meaning 'magic': from GRAMMER, with reference to the magical practices associated with learning in medevil times.

Hmmm, a lot to think about here, as usual my choosing technique is a favorite of mine, flick book open at random page, shut eyes and drop finger! It works for me :)

I found a new tutorial to share with you this week, so I'll work on making it up and letting you know how I got on. This will also tie in with my up and comming competition so that covers a few bases.

I did my etsy and flickr stuff too, and will try and list some new goodies today as well. Head over and check out my sale and let me know what you think, it would be much appreciated feedback.

And now for the sad tale of the Yibbles from last night. I drew, scanned and played, but half way through and at 12.27am my laptop went fizz and shut down :( It seems to struggle when I have lots of layers open in Photoshop, which makes me so sad, it is only 6 months old and I told the guy that I needed it to be able to process at high speed to allow me to work between packages. But alas things don't alays turn out as you would like. Anyway I'll carry on with them today and will hopefully have something finished very soon.

Well I'm off now to walk my daft pup and start on my list for today and I'll pop back later with a list for the rest of the week. Happy Tuesday :)