Back!!

Yay! I finished something postbaby!

Well, I actually almost had this skirt done before Xi arrived, just had the hem and buttons to do, and then.......time twisted and flew. Luckily it is now finished and fitted and delivered to a fabulous artist who'll frock up for her exhibition opening soon.

Remember this fabric on the line way back when? Well, it became this:

It's a very bold skirt and I love it - I can't believe it's the first time I've done a scalloped hem - I've always loved them, but have just been too slack to do it for myself, but having now made one for someone else...I want to definitely have my own hem!

This skirt is a first for a number of things - it was requested that it was a multi size skirt, and I'd never made that kind of thing before either, so I developed this unit within the yoke section. I'm really happy with the result, because I've turned something that is usually hidden against the body (and is hard to get to and often awkward to use (I've had some 'travel' pants like that)) into a design feature on the band.

And it's also got a zippered pocket that follows the print. Again, pretty happy with that, especially since I can't see the pocket on the full photo of the skirt.

Darkcloud came around the other night and helped put my studio to rights after it'd been used (and abused) as a dumping room for crap while parents were visiting type of room. Which I'm extremely greatful for, since I had been trying for a fortnight to sneak in and tidy it up so I could have a few moments breathing in lovely (if neglected) studio air and looking at my stuff.

Xi's going to be in our room for the foreseeable future, so I'm going to use his room to go through my remaining boxes. And I will go through them!

I'm also looking forward to making something new to wear since most of my clothing now doesn't not fit due to a certain method of feeding babies..... I'm really sick of the four things that I've been rotating.....

These became.....these!

So....here's some fabric. We've got plain black drill, ikea drill prints, and a crazy old curtain.

They became.....

these!

This is a favourite dress/tunic of mine that I've made a couple of times from one of my patterns in my collection. It's a Simplicity from 1976, and is such a handy dress - the pockets fit HEAPS of things and don't bulge out (I wear my tunic for installing shows, it fits a hammer, tape, nails etc and doesn't complain!)
I've never made it without the shoulder frills before, but I think the neckline is a winner here coupled with the slightly extended shoulder line. We decided to go contrast loco with this one.
These garments were both swaps with jewellers. I'm very happy with my swaps and will have to put up pictures of them. Swapping is great!! We're planning some earring trades soon :)

The other graphic fabric is........on it's way to getting made. Had to have a bit of a think about how to go about the construction of it. Hopefully will get it started this week.

the workwear project

For a while I was making my husband's work shorts. I made them very slowly (not being as exciting as a frock), and he ripped and burnt holes in them before I made the next pair. I got obsessed with how to make a pair of shorts glassblower proof, or at least Tom proof.

This is the last pair I made, they've got a double reinforced back which I've quilted for extra strength (bike rider bum) and the pockets even have the contrast navy stitching that lines up with the back. The sides have reinforced strips covering the seams and pockets (where they always used to catch and rip) and then the ric rac detail over the top of it.

And then? Well, we came to a compromise (though I think he just gave up on me ever making him anything) and he started buying workwear and I didn't have to fight with heavy drill and break all my 100 size needles! It did need to be fancied up a bit, so here's some of the results.

Ric Rac and ribbons! That's what all the ribbons hanging down on my work board are for.. I just have to figure out a way to decorate the shorts without busting more needles.

The dress in it's environment

This week for me has been a frustrating blur of nothing much being done except waiting around and getting annoyed it seems.. I've done quite a bit, just not enough of what I wanted to do, but I think I need to take some time for myself and slow down a bit.  Hopefully projects will start coming together within the next fortnight.. too many ideas and too many obstacles in the way!

But here's something nice that happened - lovely photos from a lovely client.

Here's the full view of the dress that I showed a peek of earlier.

I thought it worked quite well, and everyone had a lovely wedding and party. 

Shirt!

I've been quite bad at getting photos lately, so I'm determined to take them when the garments get picked up from now on....

This is the third shirt from the same pattern for a client.  Each one has been totally different due to fabric choices, buttons and detailing.  This shirt is a cotton crepe (I'd never even seen that before, and it's lovely) with an asiatic feel, maroon piped collar, thicker maroon piped cuffs (with contrast lining) and fabric closures that I managed to find to bring out the red of the fabric and they're flowers to boot!

It's always nice when someone leaves the studio wearing their new garment, it gives me great job satisfaction, that I'm doing something worthwhile (albeit in a small way) and balances out the dramas that crop up!

My day/main job

These are glimpses of a frock that got picked up this morning.  I'd put the entire picture up, but shall wait until after the event.  It's a 50's style dress with a full circle skirt (4m+ circumference with 6m+ of ruffle at the bottom (that's a lot of pinning!)  It's made from a sari and incorporates all the different elements of the fabric, heavily woven red top section, heavily embroidered orange silk, the plain silk and the border band.

Basically the types of clothing I make can be sorted into two categories, with a bit of overlap from each other.  I make garments for hard to fit bodies, and garments for people who aren't pleased with what's in fashion.  I don't really make things that can blend in with current trends, rather I hope, garments that stand the test of time because they're made for my client's tastes, so they'll want to keep wearing them forever!

I generally make simple clothing with detailing and contrast.  I hope to be able to make some things for myself that have a lot of embellishment on them.  I just need to fit it in the schedule!