Christmas is Here!!

Well, I finally made it.  Ham ready and a friend's pickled watermelon rind to go with it.  Three bird roast cooked.  Home made Christmas cake, fruit mince tarts and shortbread out of the freezer.  Small home grown cherry tomatoes roasted to go on top of goat cheese tarts.  Home grown Roma tomatoes ready for a salad Caprese.   And of course, lots of nice drinks in the fridge.  Here are photos of my grinch husband, Bob, wearing two of the Christmas shirts I have made for him.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Formal Dress

The school formal season has just come and gone.  Here is the dress I made for the beautiful Stephanie for her Year 10 formal.  Doesn't she look gorgeous!  (AND - don't we love those shoes!)

Christmas Sewing

 Christmas is a great time to release your inner kitsch!  I love sparkly fabrics on festive table settings.  Here are some items I have sewn over the years for the festive season.

Christmas Cushions

Decorations

Festive napkins

Tablecloths

Dress Cards

As a play activity I like to make cards with a fashion theme.  Here are some I have made this week for a charity sale.

Lace dress

Left:origami dress, right:free embroidery dress

Origami dresses

Lace mesh dress

Sari fabric dress

My Staff

The Pattern Reviewer

Sewing Assistant

The IT Expert

Overlocking Supervisor

Pattern Weight

The Foreman "Barks" orders

Bag Lady

I am often given fabrics and some of them are used to cover enviro shopping bags.  These are sold to raise funds for various not-for profit groups I am involved with.  I have just finished working on a set of bags for Miss Porter's House (a National Trust Musuem House) Bric a Brac Sale.  Here is the process.

I cut one strip of fabric to go right around the bag.
It is stitched at the top and bottom of each side.
Two strips are cut to cover the straps.
One small section is cut to cover the small tab.

The bags are purchased from supermarkets for around $1 each. 

The straps are unpicked for a short
distance and then covered.

The large piece of fabric is stitched around the body of the bag to produce the finished products.

A staff member road tests a couple of bags awaiting finishing. 

Wedding dresses

This week was our 20th wedding anniversary so I thought I would feature some wedding dresses I have made over the years.

Here we are at our wedding on October 12, 1991.  As we were living in Darwin (read HOT and HUMID) I wanted a dress that was cool.  I bought cotton curtain lace from Dimmy's in Geelong and lined the dress with cotton lawn.  The front and hem features cream satin ribbon.  The dress cost $48 to make - the shoes were $120!!!

Anne Vowles' wedding in the early 1990s.  Pearl beads were wrapped around the band that separates the body of the dress from the lower frill.  The back featured 15 small fabric covered buttons and rouleau loops.

Here I am with the bride, Trish, in the early 1990s.  The top of this dress was a beautiful Italian lace, 

This dress was made for Virginia Smith's wedding in February this year.  It featured spider web lace over Dupion silk.

More Fabrics

This week I was offered some fabrics from one of the women in my Active Over 50s exercise group.  Despite the fact that my stash is growing faster than I am using items from it I said "Yes!".  The fabrics arrived in a suitcase (pictured).

The suitcase was opened to reveal lots of goodies.

The fabrics in the suitcase include (clockwise from bottom left) a white cotton knit, blue floral stretch cotton, pink chiffon, blue Thai silk, floral linen, blue linen, black cotton, vintage print cotton (barely visible in photo), brown paisley polyester, cream linen and cotton mix.  From top right: wadding, interfacings, check raw silk, chambray, brown polyester print, denim, print cotton, green cotton, beige vintage print Chinese silk, white embroidered linen, white stretch twill.  What a haul!!  This weekend I am sewing for myself!

In action.....but not missing

Cropped jacket for the summer collection.

Cotton kaftan top.

OOOHHH - time has flown over the past two weeks and the blog has been neglected.  I have, however, been busy working on a new set of costumes for an African dance concert in early October.  Here are some of the other items made recently.

Summer skirts for a regular client.  The red is  a
Japanese fabric bought in Kyoto.

Linen tops for another regular client.

Tunic dress - coloured trim from an

Op shop in Port Macquarie.

Books and Ideas

This week I have selected some of my favourite books on fashion and sewing.

One of my ideas books - pictures, drawings,

From the 80s.

Jenny Kee page of Australian Fashion Design

Japanese book showing how to make
clothes from kimonos.  (Mostly in Japanese
but the illustrations are great)

Fabulous old drawings in this book

Sample of drawings from the Art of Fashion.

From a 90s book on wardrobe planning -
great ideas which I should follow.

My patternmaking bible.

Released in 2009 this has fabulous photos.

An entertaining look at fashion.