Hannah's Dresses

Hannah is a family friend who I have known all her life.  Here are the dresses I have made for her Year 6, Year 10 and Year 12 Formals.

Year 6 - embroidered, lined organza skirt with purchased top.

Year 10 Dress - satin backed crepe.

Year 12 Formal.  Lined silk dress.

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!)

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

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!

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.

Sew.....

This week I finished the Indian dance costumes, made some linen mix pants for a friend and made these.

Retro skirt from op shop fabric.

Pieced evening skirt for summer collection.

Polycotton shirt for a client.

Pieced knit skirt for summer collection.

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Cropped jacket for summer collection.

Lovely Lace

The navy Table 8 lace on the left was 

purchased at a factory outlet in the early 1990s.  

The lace on the right was purchased from

Chic Fabrique for a dress.

I have never worn a lot of lace but I love collecting it.  Here are some of the pieces currently in the sewing room collection

This piece of vintage lace was given to me by a friend

This crocheted lace was made by my great
grandmother.  It has been stitched on and
taken off garments over a period of more than sixty years.

This spider web lace, purchased at Tessuti's in Sydney,
formed the outer layer of a wedding dress made
earlier this year.

These tatted sleeve pieces were purchased
at an op shop.

I made this crocheted lace collar in the
late 1960s.  It has been on and off several
garments.

This tatted lace collar was made by my
grandmother in the 1950s and has been
on several garments.

Lace pieces purchased from op shops.

This Week in the Sweat Shop

My husband, Bob, refers to my sewing room as the Sweat Shop, particularly when I am working over extended periods of the day.  This week has been a busy week as I have worked to complete a number of projects.  Here is what I finished this week. 

Black tailored pants
for a tall client who finds
it hard to find pants long
enough to fit.  A customised
pattern was made so now she
can have other pants made
in different fabrics.

6 gore skirt with kimono fabric
pieces for the summer collection.

Dance costume skirt from a sari.
Almost all of the sari (6 yards or 5.6 metres)
was used to make the 8 panels which
 are each one quarter of a circle.

Linen shirt for a client.

White stretch drill skirt with knit trim for the
summer collection.

Palazzo pants with godets inserted into
centre front and back and in to the lower
leg seams.