Fashion Design - my 'hanky hem' skirt

Good Evening Bloggers,

I thought it was about time I updated my blog to show you my latest fashion statement!! I started this skirt a good 2 months ago now but it has been 'resting' on my mannequin half finished for the last month or so. I was very excited initially when I started it but then a couple of comments made on Facebook whilst it was in progress put me off continuing with it. When I posted this image, a friend of mine commented that it 'looked like something found in an operating theatre'!!

The thing is, I could see what she was saying
and I wasn't sure what I could do to dull        
the colours down a little. I left it for a while and looked at it sitting loking forlorn on my mannequin every now and then. Eventually the plan came together in my head.

For a moment though, let me go back to the very beginning........
I started at the waistband and worked with fabric scraps. I stitched lots of box pleats into the fabrics pinned around the waist and hips.



      So after a long break and much thought, I decided to add many more fabric scraps onto the 'hanky hem'. As the first layer was quite 'colourful' and a little OTT, I decided to limit the colours on the next layer to darker shades, mainly black. This is the front and rear view of the work in progress. Once I have finished stitching the hanky hem, I am planning to add some further detail on the waist and hips. Watch this space to see how I develop this. In the meantime ask yourself 'Does she even know what she plans to do, or is she bluffing'!!!!!!! Hee hee

                            

Art Exhibitions - My Entries

Good Evening Bloggers,

Just a quick update to tell you about 3 pieces of work I will be exhibiting in 2 weeks time at 'The Grand Hotel' in Folkestone, Kent. It is the Folkestone Art Society's annual Spring exhibition. I have only recently re-joined the society after a break of around 8 years!!! I used to exhibit oil paintings back then but found it very difficult to produce my own work along with my day job as a busy Secondary school Art and Design teacher. Following the birth of my little boy (who is now 3), I work 3 days now and have 2 days with him at home. I have recently begun to find some time to produce my own work again and found a new passion in Textiles.

Well here are my 3 entries:



This piece is entitled 'Abstract no 1'. It measures 46 x 56cm framed. It is a silk painting on silk fabric (with cotton backing). It is layered with hand and machine embroidery, couched silk and woollen threads. It will be on sale for £120.



This piece is entitled 'Abstract no 4'. It measures 46 x 56cm framed. It is a silk painting on silk fabric (with cotton backing). It is layered with hand and machine embroidery, couched silk and woollen threads. It will be on sale for £150.



This piece is entitled 'Just Around The Corner'. It measures 48 x 58cm framed. It consists of hand dyed and printed fabrics and papers on yellow silk with lutradur and lace. It is finished with oodles of machine embroidery. It will be on sale for £120.

I hope you like them. Please feel free to leave a comment to let me know what you think of them. I am also interested to hear any suggestions you have for more interesting titles for Abstract no 1 and 4.

Thanks as always for reading,
Claire

Fashion Design - simplifying things

Good Evening Bloggers,
A short post, just to update on my latest 'Fashion Statement'.

Following the disaster that was a failed patchwork dress, I decided to simplify things a little and start with a skirt. Having secured the use of a borrowed mannequin with bum and bust, I felt much more positive that I could make a skirt that was indeed the correct size and shape to fit me (if I should decide to ever wear it). I prepared all my scraps of fabric and recyclable garments and got to work!! I pinned fabric pieces onto the mannequin as I went.

 I used pieces of cut off courdroy trouser hems in the waistband as they are strong. The main front panel is part of an old top. The burgundy piece is a piece of tablecloth. On close inspection you can see a tassle from the corner of the tablecloth!!

 I used some of the fabric from a silky top to make a gathered piece around the hem and some tartan ribbon I was given added some smaller frills. I think the colours all tie in pretty well together. The skirt was still a little short so I wanted to add more frills and length. I wanted to make the hem asymmetric as this followed the shape of the emerging design.

 





I am pretty pleased with the final result and may consider wearing it someday. I can still see lots of aspects I can improve. My main aim now, is to incorporate smaller fabric scraps with further pleated and gathered details.

 

It just goes to show what one can make with a little practise, patience and a few scrap materials!! Oh, and a mannequin with bum and bust!!

Fashion Design - making a dress is far too hard!!!!

Good Evening,
A week or two ago, I was feeling confident about making garments without patterns. I managed to retrieve my dressmakers dummy from a friend which was purchased for me around 27 years ago by my parents when I first got into sewing (at the young age of 13 ish). However, this project made me realise that the dressmakers dummy I used 27 years ago was either relevent to my actual size 27 years ago but not now OR that body shape has changed a lot in the 27 years since it was first made!!!!! This spindly mannequin with very little in the way of bust or bum was never going to 'fill out' the dress I wanted to make in my size. I had failed before I started really, however, desperate to have a go, I persevered (for a while!!)

 I started by draping and pinning lots of fabric pieces over the mannequin.

I started stitching the bodice together when I felt happy it was working. I then worked on draping fabrics for the skirt.

I started pleating the skirt fabrics and sewing them on to the bodice. At this point, I tried the dress on. What a major disappointment!! Although I had extended the mannequin to it's full size, the dress still 'hung' from her. However on me, the dress was tight and bumpy in places. Whereas the pleats and gathers hung nicely on the mannequin, on me they stuck out in all the most unflattering places!! I realised at this point that I needed a 2013 style body double with a proper bust and a proper bum if I was to continue making any kind of patternless clothing!!!!

This is how I left the dress - looking much like me - disgruntled, ruffled and lacking confidence!!!!!

It took me a week to cheer up. Being able to borrow a brand new mannequin just my size was one of the major factors that has since brightened my horizons and my next project is looking interesting so far I am pleased to say. Update coming soon................

Fashion Design - making very small steps, some backwards!!

Good evening,
Time to write an update on my attempts at garment making. I have been avoiding this moment for a couple of weeks due to a variety of failed attempts and feelings of embarrassment at just how 'strange' some of my garments have ended up looking!!!!

This was my first attempt at working from a 'muddled together pattern'. I made the pattern from an existing tunic top.

For the bodice, I hand dyed some pieces of lace I purchased for 10p each at a local shop. For the detail, I free machine embroidered flowers using fused angelina fibres for the flower petals. I am pleased with the bodice.

The skirt is made from an old elasticated top!! I have added some frills and lace details here and there.

 

Overall, the pattern has fitted together well and I like the embroidery. I am not happy with the skirt shape or the bottom half in general and although I have made it my size, I will NEVER wear it!!!!

A positive experience though as I learned so much from making this tunic top.

It is amazing what can be made from recycled and reclaimed garments and fabrics. I have a hundred and one ideas at the moment and I know I can do better!!!!

Watch this space for P9cbs next Fashion Statement!!!!!

Fashion Design - a scary prospect for me!!

Evening Bloggers,
I started a GCSE Textiles course at my school in September 2012. In the build up to this, while students were taking their options, there were various open evenings. Many of the students asked me 'Miss, if I take Textiles,will you teach me how to make clothes'. My response was 'I cannot promise you that I can teach you to make clothes. My training is in soft furnishings and children's play rooms, not fashion and dressmaking. I probably will not be able to teach you to make a garment from scratch but I can show you how to customise a garment'. I thought it was best to be honest.

Having said this, it has always been my plan to learn more about fashion design and making clothes, for my own interests but mainly to enrich the students experience of their Textiles course. I did quite a lot of 'customising garments' during my teenage years but was never really happy with the results. I guess my confidence was and still is lacking in this area. As you know, I have been making lots of different types of textile panels using lots of different materials but these are mainly decorative pieces to hang on the wall. Following a 'pep talk' from my friend and talented SEO Carolyn Clayton www.seofreelanceuk.co.uk last weekend where she reminded me just how much I used to work with clothing, I thought it was time to sort out my dressmakers dummy and get over my 'issues' with fashion design!! Also, I found this amazing lady on Facebook. Her advice to me was 'go for it! sewing is really fun off the beaten path.you just have to keep stitching and it will turn into something interesting, I promise! ♡  In time, I aspire to create something similar to her most amazingly funky garments but it could take a while!!!!!http://www.gibbousfashions.com

Here are the results of my customised vest top with hand and machine embroidered panel with angelina fibres, ribbons and lace

This turquoise crushed velvet top is a garment I have owned for approximately 10 years!!! I have loved it in the past but have not worn it for at least 2 years. Partly because It is/was a size 18 and having lost 4 stone over the last year and a half, I am now a size 14. It was in my bag for the boot fair!! If I had planned to 'take it in' now is the time to do it I figured!!! The main feature is the patterned textile panel which was my first attempt at using water soluble fabric. This panel has been sat in my sewing room since last September. I finally found a use for it!! I also added some organza ribbons and colourful lace (purchased in Turkey last year). I am pretty pleased with my customised top, I know for sure noone will have one the same anyway!!! It is now a snug size 14 and I hope to be brave enough to wear it!!

I have also started making a garment from scratch today. Watch this space................

Taj Mahal Textiles

Good evening readers,
It has taken me a while to get around to creating this next post. I feel like there has been a bit of a 'creative lull' recently. Having said that, I have created a few new textile piecec over the last few weeks. I think that I have not written about them because I have felt they were not quite finished and ready to publicise. Having said this, I am going to upload some images tonight but I still plan to work on these pieces a little more so they are effectively works in progress.

This one 'Sacred Spirits of the Taj Mahal' is a combination of ideas. I love India, I love the people and their attitude to life and in some cases, poverty. In my experience, the poorest Indian people still have a smile on their face, have little and would happily give whatever they have. Their faith, family and motivation to survive inspire them to get on with life and make the best of what they have. The Taj Mahal is one of those inspiring places where one may 'feel' superior forces are at work. I have included a small fabric 'Sacred Spirit' label from one of my latest 'Joe Browns' garments. Many of these garments are made in India and I suppose the price we pay in England for something made so cheaply in India is a direct reflection of the economic differences we may or may not be aware of. We all have our 'Sacred Spirits' though which may be places, people, memories and we tap into these when we need them.

 

I created this piece using transfer dyes on silk/polyester fabric. The drawing is waterproof pen and I have machine embroidered in the details (I still plan to add more). Please let me know what you think. I will post another image when it is finally finished!!!