Dress down Friday?
I wasn’t sure about including a pair of fairly casual trousers in my SWAP. I made the trews, to use a 60s word, as I started my quest for a pair of well fitting strides. This shape – fairly fitted, … Continued
Reflections on SWAP 2014
Between Christmas and the end of April at least 30 women from all over the world worked on the same sewing project. Their mission? To create between nine and 11 garments which to some extent “worked together”. If we were famous designers … Continued
DVF classic wrap dress
Diane Von Furstenberg is one of my favourite designers. I just love her jersey wrap dress from 1974 – the original Vogue 1679 American Designer Original is usually available on eBay for up to about £30. However there is a very … Continued
Pink Laird-Knox suit McCall’s 7981
Laird-Knox American Designers I was inspired to make this suit after reading the Pattern-Vault blog. In response to the period clothes featured in the popular TV series Mad Men, Sarah has been doing some fascinating research on the garments … Continued
Making a bias top
My daughter had been asking me if I could make her some silky tops to wear to work. Feeling t shirts were a bit too informal for going to court etc she wanted a cool, easy to put on, … Continued
A 1950s swing coat
I love to wear a fitted coat. The problem is that if it is too fitted you can only wear it over a lightweight dress. I needed a coat I could wear in winter – over a blouse, cardigan … Continued
Making tops
I have had a bad experience with tops. I remember making a shirt for my City and Guilds exam. It had to be drafted and made up. Drafting the collar was really hard work and I didn’t understand what I … Continued
White Linen 1950s blouse
I buy quite a lot of white fabric, mainly because I enjoy printing and painting on fabric to create unique textiles. The fabric I used to make my white blouse for the SWAP was in fact what I had left … Continued
Blue Suit Vogue 7379
My SWAP suit This suit started with one metre of tweedy fabric I got from my favourite fabric shop Simplyfabrics of Brixton. I bought 1m for a generic skirt when I had only made one skirt in 25 years. I … Continued
