Listening to the fabric - Felted Wool Jacket

I love this jacket.
A couple of years ago, Helen mentioned that a small local fabric store was closing down. I managed to go in during its final days and after chatting to the lovely proprietress, I left with some very lovely pieces of fabric.
And every few months I pulled the fabric from my special stash, patted it, dreamt of what it would like to be, and tucked it away again in its tissue paper.

This amazing felted wool is part of that small collection.
I finally settled on a cape last winter, and amped up my collection of all the cape patterns, vintage and contemporary, Japanese, French and English, jacket-cape styles, raglan or circle, arm slits or arms underneath, I have them all.
None of them were 'just right' for this wool though.

So I made my own.
I love that I have raw edges wherever I could. I especially love that the entire jacket is cut from one piece, with zero waste and no interruption to the border print.
Want to know what I did?

It's simply a rectangle of fabric, with 2 slits vertically at my shoulders. I then inserted 4 triangles, cut from a rectangle along the non-border print edge, as raglan sleeves along this slit. I have considered inserting godets in the diamond shaped underarms, however the open diamonds are working very well.

Ok, so I do have 2 spare triangles, but they aren't waste ;)

The felted wool isn't perfect - although it's perfectly striking. I had to reinforce each seamline as it's not particularly strong. I started using rayon seam tape, then changed to strips of charcoal silk. The back neckline is faced with silk as well. Each seam is top stitched on each side for added stability.

Apart from a rather high level of satisfaction that my concept worked (YAY!), what I adore and makes this a 'throw on every day' jacket is that it's perfectly versatile. It is delightfully snuggly when pinned closed high on my neck, perfectly warm when worn with a V-neck - with either a casual exposed facing collar, or with them tucked in for a neat version - or open and breezy when I only need my back and shoulders covered. I've not put any permanent closures on, my everyday bag style is a messenger bag/cross body satchel and it holds it in place perfectly when I'm not using a shawl pin.

And the fabric, I am SO glad I took that deep breath and nabbed my 1.5m of felted grey wool with felted black foliage.

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Dairing at the Dressmakers Do

2016 Dressmakers Do : Party time in Melbourne town

Lace LBD

Machine knit Dairing 2/3/Four

Listening to the fabric : felted grey wool jacket

Another occasion to frock up and celebrate all things made by hand with some very talented sewists, this time at the #DressmakersDo organised by the lovely Nichola of the Handmaker's Factory and Leisl of Jorth.
I went for a textural, black and grey outfit; three separates that I know will get plenty of wear in my Melbourne wardrobe.

First up is my classic black lace sheath dress - some may recall that I made and wore this to the very first Frocktails in 2013. Yes, it's the same lace dress, and I still adore it. It has it's very own blog post here: Everyone needs an LBD 09/2013

still haunted by that flash, but what a delightful introduction it was to some lovely and talented sewing friends!

To add some warmth for my travels, I made a grey coat with the most fabulous felted wool - it will have it's own post soon.
For some interest, I thought an avant-garde top knitted in stainless steel, silk and cotton might be just the thing.
Meet Theresa Dair's Dairing top 2/3/Four.

As an overlay (also great with a black tank)

I really like Teresa Dair's design aesthetic. Textural pieces, often knitted with non-traditional threads, in non-traditional gauges, which can be worn in a multitude of ways. It's very similar to my favourite Japanese pattern designers and when made in shades of black, perfectly me ;)
And from the back in its shawl cardigan view:

Crafting friends really are the best.

I found the Dairing 2/3/Four kit in a Raveller's destash, mentioned on Instagram that I was contemplating dabbling in machine knitting to make it and received the most generous offer of a loan of a knitting machine. (thank you again x)

gratuitous dachshund shot. Yes, he 'helped'...

The hand knitters guild market gave me an opportunity to observe and meet some machine knitters, as well as to meet the talented Teresa Dair herself and get some hints on converting the pattern to being machine knit.
The machine knitters guild (MKAV) in the form of the lovely Christine encouraged and guided me through the skills required and I set to work.

For anyone who, like me, has never dabbled before, it's both as easy, and much more time consuming than I had imagined. The actual processing of each row is very quick. The set up, double e-wrap cast on, troubleshooting and eventual cast off was a steep learning curve.

My swatch - used to determine the amount of stitches to cast on, and how many rows to knit.
I underestimated my sleeve length.

The machine is not unlike my overlocker - adorable when behaving but a bugger to rethread and troubleshoot - I don't 'know' it intimately enough yet, so troubleshooting has been a lot of retracing of my steps and cursing.

After 187 rows, the 2nd sleeve was done! So was the cone of thread....

I then used my sewing machine to attach the 4 pieces (Four pieces is a direct reflection of it's name 2/3/Four. I also have Two/3/4 in the same yarn/threads).
I finished it and wasn't sure if I liked it.

I then had to unpick the left sleeve, you may see it's tight in the photo. This was painful.  It was necessary as my 'loose' cast off was still far too tight, exacerbated by the fact that I'd inserted it upside down. I couldn't move my left arm. The cuff on the left now stretches out horribly after 10min of wear, despite blocking ;( I might add a flared cuff extension to both arms, maybe...

new friends and old ;)

Updated newsflash: I do like it ;) It's missing in most of my DressmakersDo photographs as the venue was warm, and as lightweight as it is, the silk & stainless steel is warm as well. What struck me by surprise is how very soft the fabric is! I really was anticipating it being more sculptural, however it's a delightful soft top.

Project page on Ravelry is here

Photowall props for the Win!

70's Splendour at Frocktails Melbourne

Yes, I do spend my life swanning about at all the most fashionable functions ;)
No?
Well, in my dreams I do...

Photo Credit Poppykettle

After a wonderful weekend in our nations capital for #cbrfrocktails, I set about planning for '#Frocktails', here in my home city of Melbourne.
Now, I knew Canberra would be frosty cold, but somehow the Antarctic winter that Melbourne was experiencing was more 'real' and caused more angst about 'what to wear to be warm'. Well, that and the reality that I was staying next to the venue in Canberra, but would be waiting on open platforms and catching trains in Melbourne.
Jenny Rennous-Oh-Glennus had the most brilliant of solutions - pop over to her post to see not just the best full skirt ever made, but also, her hidden source of toasty warmth.

 I accompanied her on the train to Frocktails in a full length wool coat, appropriated from my mum's "AFL games at the MCG" attending wardrobe - I felt very Sherlock Holmes. I will be making one for next winter. My headdress was the source of much fascination for a young girl also on the train, clearly we were going to a ball.
And what a ball it was! 51 gorgeous ladies from as far afield as NZ & Brisbane, all in handcrafted magnificence. My photos of the evening aren't mine and all credit goes to Mel Poppykettle, Helen Funkbunny and Gabrielle UpSewLate, they have many more in their posts.

Photo Credit Poppykettle

Keeping up my tradition of sewing my way through my silk stash, I paired this very tactile, almost peach skin silk with a classic 1970's pattern. The Tuesday before Frocktails I was full of 'the flu' & my wonderful mum drove me around some opp shops, as we like to do. There were 5 perfectly 70's patterns in a little shop that simply said 'take me home' and this one then said 'make me, in silk, tonight'. I did mention my raging fever? Anyhow, I was sensible enough (for a change) to soak the silk in a gelatine mix before laying it out and cutting the dress as long as the crosswise width of my fabric allowed.

I've reinforced the channels at the top and along the CB zip with silk organza. SewSquirrel is my online & local supplier. This silk is divine, but really doesn't like being unpicked and even with a new microtec needle, threatens to run on the stitch lines. That invisible zip, it's white, shhh, don't tell anyone ... A perfect excuse to buy a new summer shade of nail polish really ;)

DH had understandable reservations when he saw it in it's full 70's glory, it was quite Aline and made a strong 70's silhouette statement. My concerns were more along the undergarments line, its not an opaque fabric, and in it's original styling, bras were rather optional.
Mel reassured me early on in the night that the paparazzi flash wasn't showing my undergarments, phew! (I'm still wary after my first Frocktails experience where my understated burgundy slip became the main event, rather than my black lace dress). For those curious, this has a black halter neck slip ;)

Photo Credit Funkbunny

It was a truly magnificent night and I managed to escort the last ladies standing down Collins St to hot chips after 2am, so that's a definite achievement!

A Canberra Capsule Wardrobe #CBRFrocktails

I recently flew up to Canberra for the inaugural #CBRFrocktails and after a few false starts landing through the fog, was warmly greeted by the local sewing spoolettes, coffee and a sunny sky. 

Seven items proudly made by me ;)

Most importantly, what did I wear! Well, I took great delight in packing a small case with a co-ordinated selection of favourite RTW and new and favourite me-made items. Basing my daytime outfit around a pair of dark denim mid-waisted boot cuts (I found my 'perfect' RTW jean at the 11th hour before sewing a pair), I simply required a top each day to go under my Named Patterns' Saunio +/- layered with my teal Swoon cardigan. Two perfect workhorses that, conveniently layer beautifully together.

A silk sarong for Sydney: V1310

May I present .... a sarong...
(post edited to add some daylight photos of the V1310 skirt & Pattern Review post)

worn backwards in this shot, as worn to a wedding

Everyone needs an LBD!

Meet my LBD - my Little Black Dress that is also my Lace Block Dream ;)

I was delighted to be invited along to a Melbourne Sewists' function of fabulousness on Saturday night - Frocktails was a gathering of several dozen incredibly talented women who all wore an amazing dress of their own making - everyone was wonderfully warm and welcoming and I admit there may have been some squealing as I met bloggers who inspire me with their makes, for the first time ;)

Thank you SO much Kat for organising the night - amazing food as well as the fabulous company.
There will be photos from the night appearing on some of the other girls blogs - The fabulous Mel Poppykettle has added us to her flickr steam, so you can find us all here.

So, what to make for an evening with such talented women.... Kat gave us plenty of notice, I RSVP'ed at the start of May!
I was very tempted by a piece of awesome emerald digitally printed chiffon silk in my stash, but couldn't bring myself to cut it - does that happen with anyone else?

The essentials for a fabulous frock IMHO involve fabulous fabric, design & fit. I decided to start with the fabulous fit and booked a session with Tessuti's SewInn.

In preparation for my class, I reread "Successful Dressmaking" from my stash of sewing texts and with new measurements, drafted a bodice block and made a muslin in some duckcloth cotton.

The lovely Vanessa was my class facilitator and she fitted my block with pins & texta markings, then supervised my transferring of these changes to my paper pattern.



I must say, I do like drawing patterns and manipulating darts is such fun - yes, I'm kind of weird like that ;)

Vanessa also walked me through how I planned to construct the dress, from placing the pattern pieces on the lace, through the order of sewing, choosing a zipper and finishing the seams.


Did I mention that the class was a mere week before Frocktails?


I'd fallen for my black lace at the Alannah Hill Clearance outlet earlier this year and wanted to make a sheath dress that I could subtly adapt with different slips underneath.

My inspiration dresses are from Dolce & Gabbana's spring 2012 collection - they have some amazing jewelled tones - and being 'old collections' can be picked up for a song - $839 rather than $2095 at Barneys New York if you're interested ;)

This is my best Scarlett pose - Peneloping and Erin of IHeartFabric are hosting a CopyCat Challenge2 until 30th Sept and this is my entry ;)

Armed with my freshly drafted block pattern, I laid out my pieces and cut my lace - with newly sharpened scissors for a change - Winter has seen me almost exclusively using rotary cutters for knits and silks.
I had forgotten how lovely sharp scissors and woven fabrics were ;)

The dachshund did his usual pattern weight impersonation and escaped unscathed.

I loaned mum's more modern machine to insert my invisible zip, with a foot that fitted! Yay! Unfortunately, in my excitement of having such modern niceties, I forgot to stabilise the seam... My impersonation of a ridgebacked lizard was salvaged with some unpicking, much steaming and stabilising the seam - lesson learnt.

The next lesson learnt was that black polyester thread on black lace is next to impossible to unpick, even with head lamps and sunlight... Ask me how I know... Go on... ;) - two front skirt darts, somehow they didn't line up with my bodice darts, sigh.. After unpicking both of them and part of the zip, I changed to a very dark green thread in my bobbin - almost undetectable, but enough to spot in the lace, which I do admit, was quite forgiving of being unpicked; if I hadn't cut any actual fabric threads.

I faced the neckline, hem and armholes with bias binding using Grainline studio's pictorial here. I like the design feature of the black banded edges with the lace and dress shape.

The inside seams aren't french, rather they're narrowly overlocked. I did have lovely inch wide seams, but I'm not going to need to adjust them again... right?

I love this dress, it's turned out as I imagined and is versatile enough to get a lot of wear. Best of all, I now have a block pattern that works for me - so bring on some spring sewing!