Happy stitching

Stitch shawl pin for a friend.

Catriona's Dress

Last summer I had the opportunity to make Catriona's beautiful dress and also design the lace bolero that was to be created from the vintage lace of her Grandmother Wedding dress, below is the result.

1950's Style Dress

100% Silk Taffeta for the dress main fabric
100% Silk Habotai for the dress lining fabric
100% Silk Habotai for the underskirt upper fabric
100% Silk Organza for the underskirt lower fabric
 Vintage Ivory Lace for the Bolero
Handmade Freshwater Pearl & Sterling Silver Buttons

All the above materials challenging yet blissful to work with :-) 

1950's Style Wedding Dress

Handmade Buttons

Vintage Lace Balero

Button Detail

1950's Style Under Slip

Catriona looking lovely :-)

 Thank you Catriona for the opportunity to create something beautiful for your very special day you were an Angel to work for :-)

Going back to college :-)

Well I took the plunge back in November and finally decided to go back to college, :-), I have decided to re-train as a Plumber :-)

It may not make sense to some people but for me it was an obvious choice.



I love sewing and jewellery making and I aim to continue indulging my creative self, but without the pressure of having to earn a living from it. I thought that doing something I loved and making money at the same time would be bliss but sadly it turned out to be the opposite. But I have learnt a lot about myself, both good and bad, which is always a good thing :-),and I can now build on that.

The next question is why plumbing ? 

Well to be honest it started a few years back, I was always on to my husband to train as a plumber, he is already a fully trained carpenter sub-contractor, I thought adding plumbing to his repertoire would be very useful, but due to work commitments he was never able to attend college during the day and there are no evening courses available for pluming around here.

He then turned the tables round on me, "Why don't you go and train as a Plumber" he said, "You'll love it", well it got me thinking, and for a couple of years now the thought has been floating round my mind.

I had been finding it difficult to make an income from my creativity, hindered by overly committing and under valuing myself, Yep as in the words of Alice in Wonderland, "I give myself very good advice but I very seldom take it". I became disillusioned at work for lots of reasons which prompted me to re-assess my life and direction.

That was it !!!!!, I rang the college got myself an interview and was offered a place and started the course on 4th November 2013, and I glad I did :-)

For me my work persona and my creative persona need to be separate parts of my whole so to speak, very philosophical I know :-) I need a job I love and allows me to use my brain but I also need my creative space to be my expressive escape.

So time will tell but I will keep you updated on my progress.

As for the classes, I will be unable to run the sewing groups at Superior Sewing Centre and Greystone Community Centre, but I will still offer one to one tuition at my home, details of which I will upload soon.

I will still continue to Sew & make Jewellery and sell my creations on my Etsy shop and I will also share tips and creations on my blog, which has been sadly lacking this year :-( but 2014 is a New Year for a New Start Yeah :-)

Sewing Class Up-Date

I am looking to start classes at;

 

Greystone Community Centre, 

 

 

Close Street, 

Carlisle, 

CA1 2HA

The classes will be held on Tuesday evenings from 6pm till 8pm starting September 2013

Please contact me for details

Winter Wedding Coat

As promised the Wedding Coat I designed for Tracey who got married 28th December 2011

Idea for Design Brief

The brief was a Victorian Riding Jacket with a hood and that would also keep her warm. We were not sure what the weather would be like on the day, December isn't known for it's scorching sunshine up north in the UK :-), after 3 design developments here is my creation,

Photography by Picture U, Carlisle

Back Pleat

Back

Side with Hood Up

Side View

I used diamonte shell clasps on the rear pleat detail and for the side closure which were purchased from Josy Rose Haberdashery, they are beautiful and really work with the deep Bordeuax Red Velvet,

The fur trim used were purchased scarf's and though not ideal I had great difficulty sourcing the right colour fur trim and these worked really well for colour match.

I am so happy how the overall design worked and very proud of the finished garment.

Creations like this are what makes all the hard work worth while :-

Harley Quinn Costume

Last summer a lady enquired if I knew someone who made costumes, being an adventurous sort I put my name forward ;-),

As it turned out she was going to be involved in a Flash Mob Dance in the centre of Carlisle and required a Harley Quinn Costume for the event.



Never one to shy away from a challenge, I accepted the mission to complete the said costume from a roughly dissected then hand stitched pair of lycra onesies, 1 black 1 red and 1 metre of white lycra.





I did my research, good old Google images, and set to work.

All in all when I completed the outfit I was fairly chuffed with my creation :-), picture below is the finished garment

Thank You Natasha for giving me the opportunity to create the costume for you.

Happy 2013

2012 has been quite a busy year all round.

 
I've spent more time on my blog,
I hope to publish more of my achievements during 2013

I've been a very busy grandma, spending time with my very cute grand-daughter Ella, she's now 15 months old and coming along in leaps & bounds,
 and spent time with my wonderful family, Danielle my beautiful daughter & Scott my wonderful hubby, pictured below at Ella's 1st Birthday

Ella , Danielle & Scott, on Ella's 1st Birthday

I've began to put more thought into my creative idea's & skills,
I'm learning new skills constantly
while simultaneously nurturing and perfecting the skills I already possess,

Yes 2012 has been a wonderful year filled with achievements, happiness and Bliss
I hope to continue my Bliss in 2013

I would like to wish everyone a Blissfully Happy 2013 

filled with Happiness and Success 

Atonement Green Silk Dress Inspired Pattern

Original Green Silk Dress

Jacqueline Durran Sketch

Here are my dress creations (pictured below) that were inspired by Keira Knightley's Green Silk Skirt & Top (pictured above) that she wore for the film Atonement. 

Suzannah's Dress

Lyndsey's Dress

I intend to take the pattern pieces for both versions of the dress that I have created inspired by the Green Silk Skirt & Top from the film Atonement and draft up different size pattern pieces for both creations so I can then re-create these dresses in a selection of sizes & styles. 

As I have further developed the dress I feel the pattern pieces and construction methods are now unique to each dress.

So even though, and this is the confusing bit :-), the 1st toile which I created on my original teal version of the dress, I used some of the pattern pieces from Vogue pattern 7365 to create the gore panel on the back and the bust/neckline. Once the 1st toile had been created it was then dissected to create the 2nd Toile, which in turn was altered and finally adjusted to construct the 3rd toile. 

It was from the 3rd toile I made actual pattern pieces to cut and construct the finished version of the silk dress in teal.

For the 2nd corset top version of the dress I used my own pattern pieces that I had created from the 1st dress and a basic corset top and re-sized them to developed this version of the dress, I created 2 toiles for this version before finally cutting the dress from the silk.

Atonement Inspired Dress with Corset Top

My next creation for the Atonement inspired dress was the garment I designed for bridesmaid Lyndsey for her Sister's wedding last Christmas.

Front & Back

Back Detail

I designed the corset top, that was laced at the back with satin ribbon, to be attached to the adapted the lower dress, a side slit was added to the front on the left with the hip wrap knotted on the left above the slit, again the dress is made using 100% silk, Habotai Silk for the lining and 16 mommy Crepe De Chine for the main fabric.

The silk was purchased from Beckford Silk as always, who are absolutely wonderful. On this occasion the fabric I ordered had to be specially dyed to match a velvet fabric I was using for the Jacket I was designing for the Bride. The match was wonderful.

I would now say this garment and the Brides Velvet Jacket are currently my signature pieces,I am very proud of them.

Ella's Peep Peep Sleep Suit

I have made my Grand-daughter Ella a new sleep suit.

I adapted the pattern from Small Dream Factory. This is a really good pattern in itself but I made some minor alterations to the length and also the position of the zip which I decide to put centre front.

If I were to make the pattern again I would keep the zip to the side as suggested in the original pattern as it would probably work better.

I used FreeSpirit’s “Baby Talk” fabric in cream for the outer fabric, a Lemon Polycotton for the lining and “Warm & Natural for the insulation.

For the shoulder closures I used large press studs with large pink buttons for decoratio.

The outer fabric is lovely and I must admit I was quite chuffed when I had finished :-), Thank You Small Dream Factory