Although i've always had a sewing machine, and been fascinated by dressmaking, my passion for sewing clothes, as opposed to soft furnishings, was ignited when I started sewing Victorian steel boned corsets a few years ago ... I love them! I started sewing them because an event I wanted to go to - a Valentine Ball - required me to wear one ... and I couldn't afford to pay the £200-£300 price tag that usually goes with the type of corset I liked ... so I found the most wonderful webite, Vena Cava Design, who sell corset kits .... and I made my first one. From then my passion grew and grew, and so did my fabric habit ... I bought lots and lots of sumptuous fabric wherever and whenever I saw it on sale, and lots of books ... I started making bits to go with the corsets - to cover up my nether regions!! and this led to my fascination with burlesque and my obsession with deliciously decadent platform shoes (I am like Gollum with my shoes).
But what to do with the leftover material? Make bags of course ... but still there was more left over ... just enough for little purses ... and still more - little tiny stuffed things - like hearts and pin cushions ... and when the bits get really too small I used to give them to my son's pet fancy rats, Bolly and Piper (well they were "champagne" colour apparently). Those rats lived in style, with satin bedding in their boudoirs, they would poo poo if I gave them anything less. "Straw???!!" they would exclaim in horror and consternation when their beds needed changing and I didn't have any silk for them. They were the Marie Antoinette's of the rat world with names to match. Sadly though, after living their short little lives as luxuriously and privileged as any rat's could be, and probably with more cake than they could eat, they have shuffled off to the great rat palace in the sky and so now I use my tiny tiny scraps for stuffing pin cushions.
But what to do with the leftover material? Make bags of course ... but still there was more left over ... just enough for little purses ... and still more - little tiny stuffed things - like hearts and pin cushions ... and when the bits get really too small I used to give them to my son's pet fancy rats, Bolly and Piper (well they were "champagne" colour apparently). Those rats lived in style, with satin bedding in their boudoirs, they would poo poo if I gave them anything less. "Straw???!!" they would exclaim in horror and consternation when their beds needed changing and I didn't have any silk for them. They were the Marie Antoinette's of the rat world with names to match. Sadly though, after living their short little lives as luxuriously and privileged as any rat's could be, and probably with more cake than they could eat, they have shuffled off to the great rat palace in the sky and so now I use my tiny tiny scraps for stuffing pin cushions.
1 comment:
Hey, you look fabulous on that picture. Just wanted you to know I love your site, I m just getting started with your blog though. Thanks Cynthia
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