Making Life more Beautiful
On a whim I drifted out one lunchtime to the weird charity shop near work. Occasionally I find nice things in there. This week I struck really lucky. This 1965 pattern by Simonetta of Italy is a one-Piece Sleeveless dress … Continued
Right at the beginning of our course we were asked to draft an easy fitting dress block. If you have already drafted a dress block, making it looser and easier to wear is very easy. You basically reduce the bust … Continued
Joyce asked for news from the Lake front. Work is progressing well. The cedar cladding is being created and attached to the walls of the second floor “sky deck” – flat roof garden. The cedar is cut by the carpenter … Continued
I am a day late with my posting, but we just got back from Italy. We needed a break and had a wonderful time, walking along the Amalfi coast, in the south west of Italy. Based in a small, family … Continued
My daughter had been looking for a sober, navy, knee length, short-sleeved formal dress. In a slim size 6. She had ordered a dress or two online and sent them back. I offered to make her one, knowing that the … Continued
Our project this week was to make a pattern for a tent dress. Although our teacher showed us some fairly nice pictures of tent dresses I wasn’t keen. She picked out this Victoria Beckham number which was controversial. In the class … Continued
I usually love going to the V&A – it is one of my favourite places in London. So an exhibition of underwear had lots of appeal. It is impossible to study the history of fashion without also studying the history … Continued
I am not a huge fan of The Great British Sewing Bee, mainly because it seems to revolve around speed sewing and making things from other things – ad nauseum. The characters – May Martin, the woman with the bangs … Continued
I have already done two terms of draping – firstly dresses and secondly skirts. In the first term I only made the one item – the marvellous circle dress. But skirts were a bit easier, and I already knew the basics … Continued
Finally (and it has been a long time coming) I have my plan. Eventually I got out all my fabrics, measured them up (I usually buy remnants or no more than 2m if it is cut from the bolt. I … Continued