Michelles costumes

These last 3 weeks I have been very busy making costumes for Michelle. She needed 3 costumes for school. Rocky Horror, Austin Powers and Priscilla Queen of the desert. I have drafted all the patterns and made up the Priscilla costume. The Austin Powers costume has been fitted and is half sewn, and tomorrow I will cut out the Rocky Horror costume. Will post photos as soon as I can.

I am pleased with my shawl collar blouse though it could do with being a little tighter in the waist and hip. Also the fabric I used is cotton/linen and its a little stiff.

I haven't worked on my swap because of the costumes and I should have the costumes finished by this weekend.

The 1st photo is when I was cutting out the blouse and it shows that I dont add seam allowances untill I cut my garments.

The 2nd photo shows the undercollar piece and the top collar combined facing over the top of the front and back blouse sections.

The 3rd photo shows during construction applying the finished top collar facing to the shirt with the undercollar showing at the top left of the photo.

Swap

Today I hope to interface the facing on my 6 gored skirt. Then if I get time tonight I would like to sew in the facing and hem the skirt. Here is a sketch of my skirt.

My sketching is getting better and I hope with a lot more practice it will continue to improve. At the moment I am working on drawing hands, feet, head and accessories. The sketching has been quite a challenge for me as I couldn't draw at all when I started. I feel it shows how good the course is when now I can draw like this. I am glad that the patternmaking part of the course isnt so hard for me.

After looking at skirts at the shops and in the pattern catalogues I have decided on a few designs and this skirt is the first that I am making for myself.

Here is a plan of the pattern. I drafted a straight skirt block and took 12mm of the waist at the back to accomodate my figure. Flared the pattern out about 33cm down from the waist, which is my mid thigh, then traced of the pattern peices ready for cutting. I made a facing pattern for the waist which is 5cm wide. When making the facing I placed the centre front or back next to the side front or back and traced of the half pattern.

When piecing the skirt together I sewed all the front and back pieces together and then pinned the side seams ready for fitting. As my fat sacks are on my backside and my thighs I had to let the skirt out a little at the thigh area and I had already altered the pattern for my swayback. Then I sewed the side seams and applied the invisible zipper.

This is the finished skirt worn with the shawl collar blouse. I like the fall of this skirt and I will definately be making it again.

SWAP Plan

Well I have finished my swap plan. I found all the fabrics I needed in my stash which is great for the budget and I have started to draft all the patterns. The cream linen shawl collar blouse is finished and I have cut and started to sew up the dark green gabardine skirt. I pieced the skirt together yesterday and applied the invisible zipper. The skirt looks great when I tried it on. I really like the way the skirt falls. I drafted my block for my stretch tops and I made the pattern for the low round neck top.
When I made the pattern for the cream linen blouse I got rid of the shoulder dart by transfering some of it into the shoulder seam and the rest into the the sleeve seam. I dont know if this is correct but it turned out ok. I also drafted the collar so as to not be high on the back of my neck. I added 6cm ease to my waist measurement but I feel this could probably have been less.

Madeleines pirate costume

Maddie had an invitation to go to a birthday party where she needed a pirate costume. This is the design we came up with. She wanted pants and I wanted her to wear a skirt, she got the pants. I drafted the patterns and the fit was perfect. I didnt have time to make a toile to check the design but it all turned out ok. The pants are made of a suede like fabric and the bodice is made from cotton velveteen left over from a dressing gown that I made for Constanze when she was little.

Constanze's formal dress

This is Constanze's formal dress. I used silk dupion, silk chiffon and black silk organza. I freemotioned embroidered and beaded the bodice and I made the pattern using the sitam method of pattern drafting which I learnt from The College of fashion design. Here is a closeup of the embroidery.

Constanze looked great in her formal dress and I am pleased with my effort in making her this dress. It felt good making her happy.

SWAP and sewing jobs

After reading Australian Stitches Vol 14 No 7 I have decided to try swap. It will be fun and I might actually get a wardrobe a wearable clothes out of it. I have only 3 sewing jobs to finish off and I have not taken on any more work so I wont be so short of time and I know my family dosn't like me taking in work. Children 1,6,7 and 8 have asked me to make some things for them, so I know I will have plenty to do. Much more fun than doing housework.

I have started looking at designs and colours of fabrics. As yet I havn't decided what I will make or what colours. I will go through the fabric stash first and see what I can use. I thought it would be easier to choose designs and fabrics and harder to find the time to sew but its not easy to decide on what to make. Hopefully I can work on swap after I cut out the formal gown today.

Had a fitting yesterday with the lady I'm making the pants for. The fitting went well. I need to lower the back crotch a little and taper the legs, other than that the draft turned out really well.

I am pleased with the formal gown as well. The fit is great. This is the first pattern I have had to make and grade up to get a good fit. Will post photos soon.

This is the young lady wearing her formal gown during a fitting.

The lining and the tulle underskirts had not been attatched at this stage. I also put stiffened tape into the hem. The sleeves are tulip sleeves and I stitched lace edging around the lower edge of the sleeves as well as on the front neckline.

This photo shows the lace on the front neckline of the gown. I cut the edging off the lace and sewed it by hand to the neckline of the gown. I did the same thing to the tulip sleeves.