Saturday 19 May 2012

Imitation is the best form of flattery


For the last 2 or 3 years, this sewing blog right here has had the header "House of Marmalade".  My regular readers will testify to this.

Mr Google also knows because if you search for "House of Marmalade",  you get me ...

Now, according to Google Alerts, someone has bought the domain "houseofmarmalade' and seems to be planning some sort of fashion blog/shop ...



Thank goodness I bought the domains for Marmaladekiss, the original name of this place.


Tuesday 15 May 2012

Fabric giveaway WINNER

We have a winner!  The Random Number Generator, generated the following:


This turns out to be Ginny who picked this lovely fabric:

Esteval
Please get in touch Ginny with your contact details.  You'll find my email address HERE.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Dragonfly Fabrics summer giveaway


When I originally wrote this post, it started "Now the sunny weather is here".  However, not all of us are experiencing sunshine are we? :/  Even the Hawthorn blossom seems to be hiding from the rain ... Nevertheless, we WILL get sunshine soon, so for the next few weeks it’s time to make some new summer clothes.  


Dragonfly Fabrics are here to help with their great range of summer dressmaking fabrics.  They are offering 2 winners their choice of fabric to get you started on your summer sewing projects:
Prize - 1.5 meters of their chosen fabric from Spring/Summer fabrics Children's or Women's collection or Anna Maria Horner Voile for each winner. 


To enter this competition please visit the Dragonfly Fabrics website and then leave a comment to say which spring/summer fabric or Anna Maria Horner voile you want to win.  Closing date for the giveaway is 15 May, 6pm.
For a second chance to win you can pop over to the The Sewing Directory and enter there too, a winner will be picked from  each site.   
If you can’t wait to get your hands on some of Dragonfly Fabric’s beautiful fabrics there is a special discount code for you – 15% off if you enter Spring at the checkout - this discount offer expires on 22 May so hurry over and start choosing!

Terms & Conditions
This competition is being run through The Sewing Directory & on The House of Marmalade (Sew Curvy) blog, a winner will be chosen at random from each site.  You can enter on both sites and have 2 entries in the draw.  All entries must be received by 6pm GMT Tuesday 15th May 2012.  Prizes can only be shipped to an address in UK or Ireland. 

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Vintage corsets

I've just done an interview with Sew Magazine about 'vintage' corset patterns.  In the interview, I explained that a good way to learn all sorts of things about corsetry techniques, and fit, is to scale up antique patterns and make them up.



Where does one find these patterns?  In books.  Namely, Corsets and Crinolines by Norah Waugh (and others), which is where this one was.



I scaled it up according to the scale given, and hey presto .. it fitted me! Which was a surprise as usually, antique patterns need much adjustment for the modern figure.


I did make a minor adjustment to the hips, in order to include 'fins' which I realise I should have padded in order to make them stand out more.  Other than that, the pattern came together very easily.



It's made from a single layer of coutil on the inside, with boning channels sewn to the inside and the outer shell is made from double sided silk stitched together with lapped seams.


It's OK but still not the standard i'm aiming for.