Favourite Fabrics

In the early 1980s I discovered John Kaldor fabrics.  They are fabulous designs, beautiful quality fabrics and unfortunately, no longer available.  The picture on the left shows an early purchase which was a beautiful purple and pink combination pattern made into a drop waisted dress.   The picture on the right shows a top of a polyester print.  Both are from the mid 1980s.  Below are a jacket and skirt from my current wardrobe (both fabrics purchased from fabric stores) and some fabrics purchased in the past twelve months from Op Shops.

Favourite Patterns

When I find a style or pattern that I like I tend to replicate it in a range of fabrics.  Here is one of my current favourites - a Butterick jacket pattern.  In the photo on the left are some of the versions in my wardrobe.  From left to right - polished cotton John Kaldor Hawaiian print, red polyester twill, black wool, op shop black and pink check poly cotton (cost $4), pink Tissus Michel wool crepe lined with printed satin.

Knitted Clothes

This is my niece in 1973 wearing a dress I knitted for her.  Many crocheted and knitted clothes were made for my niece, nephew, the children of friends and myself.  While at Teachers College I made a bit of extra money knitting and crocheting clothes for fellow students.  So what happened to  knitting?  Once I got a designated sewing space and had my machine and overlocker set up all the time those small gaps between activities that used to be filled with crocheting or knitting became filled with sewing!    Mmmmm - there is that basket with an almost finished jumper that was started in 1994 when we moved to Newcastle!  Perhaps it might see the light of day some time in the future!!

The Applique Phase

AT various stages of my dressmaking journey I have experimented with different forms of embellishment.  In the early 1980s I had a bit of a fascination with applique.  The techniques and materials used at the time were fairly primitive but it was fun.  Better interfacings and better machines have contributed to a more sophisticated use of applique.  The black skirt, bought and worn by my neighbour Sally, is a 2011 effort.

Overseas Fabrics

In 1971 I went to work in Papua New Guinea.  At the end of the year I took my first overseas trip and visited the Phillipines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.  This was the start of the overseas pursuit of fabrics.  Since then every trip overseas includes fabric shopping.  With the help of the internet it is now possible to get maps with street locations of fabric shops.  Last year I found the fabric districts of Montreal and Athens and also bought fabrics in Italy.  This dress, made in January 1972, was made from a cotton batik purchased in Kuala Lumpur.

                                  Batik dress made from fabric purchased in Bali in 1985.

Red shirt/jacket made from screen
printedcotton bought in Samoa in
2001.  I spent one semester teaching
at the University of Samoa and bought
many beautiful printed cottons while

living in Apia.

                                        

                                     Shirt/jacket of Italian linen purchased in Bangkok in 2002.

Left: Skirt of Swiss cotton purchased
in Abu Dhabi in 2008.  Below:  Italian silks
purchased on the same trip.  These include fabrics by Prada and Roberto Cavalli.

These two skirts are made from fabrics
purchased in Japan in 2009.  The skirt on the left is a cotton yukata fabric from Kyoto and the skirt on the right is made from a vintage kimono purchased at a market in Tokyo.  The kimono was unpicked (easy because it was all handsewn) and resewn with black piping down the skirt panels.  The original kimono lining was used as a lining for the skirt.
The toggles on the belt also came from the kimono.

These Joseph Ribkoff fabrics were purchased in Montreal in 2010.
The fabric at the top of the picture is a knit overprinted with text and a pattern.   The fabric at the bottom of the picture is a mesh with a Jackson Pollock type design!!!

This dress, bought and modelled by my 

friend Jenny Archer, is made from 

a stretch cotton sateen, purchased 

in Bologna in 2010.

Race Dress

While at secondary school I started my fabric collection.  I would go to the department store sales for bargains.  Family members would give me fabrics for Christmas and birthday presents.  So when a dress was needed for a special occasion there was always a suitable fabric.  This Swiss cotton dress was made for the Marble Bar Races in 1968.  Such good quality fabrics were available at reasonable prices but are now becoming harder to find and are more expensive.

Hawaiian Dress

This dress was made in 1967 for a special Hawaiian night which my hockey club in Kalgoorlie organised.  It was made on my landlady's treadle sewing machine.

Functional Dressmaking

Not all dressmaking is associated with fashion.  In this picture, taken in July 1968, we see students from Marble Bar School (where I was teaching) at a sports carnival.  I sewed ten of these girls' sports tunics on my treadle sewing machine.  No wonder I had trim calves in those days!!!

Learning, learning, learning

This outfit was made in 1964 and presented a couple of new challenges.  Firstly, the fabric was a very early synthetic and so I learnt to take special care with pressing!  The jacket was fully reversible and so problem solving skills came to the fore.  The main fabric was a grey and white stripe and the jacket lining was red.  The outfit was teamed with red accessories (the red gloves are seen here) or white accessories.  The bag was borrowed from my mother.

Early Recycling

This is an early recycling effort (1963).  The dress was made from one of my mother's skirts.  The square yoked dress pattern was by Enid Gilchrist who published scale patterns and instructions in the Australian women's magazine "New Idea".  My mother, sister and I cut out the pattern pages and pasted them in an old school exercise book.  Then when we needed a pattern we would make it up in full scale.

The Dressmaking Journey

Thank you for sharing my dressmaking journey.  It started when, as a teenager, I wished to create my own clothes.  Luckily my mother and maternal grandmother were able to pass on valuable skills and guide my journey,  This picture, taken early in 1963 when I was aged 15, shows an early effort - tailored shorts and a shirt in polished cotton.