Making a skirt with Bella
I love teaching young people to sew. So when our Cotswold neighbour Bella said she wanted to learn I was thrilled. Over Christmas she came round to make a skirt. I know that she loves peachy shades so I popped … Continued
Balenciaga
Let me recommend the Balenciaga exhibition at the V&A. It continues until 18 February 2018 and costs £12 unless you are a member. Or a friend of a member. Cristóbal Balenciaga – Spain’s greatest designer and the Master of couture – … Continued
Six Napoleon dress – preparing the skirt
With a growing group of international pattern drafters and dress makers, orchestrated by Sew2Pro, I have been trying to recreate a complicated asymmetric dress. Known as Six Napoleon, it is designed by Japanese-Austrailian designer Dogstar. I made a reasonable fist of … Continued
Draping on the stand 0.17 – the Schiaparelli blouse
So I have finally got to the end of my draping classes. I have been learning to drape for a nearly a year – dresses, skirts, top, and bias draping. My final project is to drape a blouse that brings … Continued
Draping on the stand 0.11 – Folded on the cross skirt
(Sorry if you are confused by my posting this morning. I am sleep-deprived after a long night of babysitting. The children were very good and slept until 4am. The problem was my daughter’s hyperactive, nocturnal cat. It cried all night … Continued
How to make a Westwood style skirt pattern from a skirt block
When I was draping the skirt with the side pleat I thought about doing the same pattern but using the flat pattern cutting method. It was an interesting experiment. This is a draped pencil skirt, cut on the (non-true) bias, … Continued
Once again on the pegged skirt
I know I have written quite a lot about my peg skirt experiments, but there is not much information available on the internet about draping a pegged skirt. So if anyone out there wants to try a draped one (as … Continued
Draping on the stand 0.9 – a Pegged Skirt
My draping on the stand adventure continued with the requirement to create a pegged skirt. This design was very popular in the 1950s, and then in the 1980s. Here are a few pictures. It is a particular look. The straight … Continued
Draping on the Stand 0.7 – the straight skirt
I am so lucky to live in a city that has great evening classes. Last term I started to learn draping at Morley College. My teacher is New Yorker Lynda Kinne. Last term we focused on dresses, which culminated, for … Continued