My future wardrobe

Do you ever have lots of good intentions, fuelled by certain inspirations and fantasies, and then find a year or so down the line that not only did you never get round to all the things you meant to, but your inspiration or intention has changed and with it your focus?

And so "My future wardrobe" on the left is soon to be erased, to be replaced by "My wardrobe in progress".. It's different.  More practical. Quick.  Modern.  As much as I love to cut my own patterns, i've been spending all my energy on corsetry. There's no more left for clothes design and frankly, sewing from patterns is relaxing for me, so i've stocked up via Vogue and Colette, and made a 'capsule' board to focus on basics which will go with the existing bits in my ready made wardrobe, which still fit me.

I have all the fabric already, now i'm going to use it - it's been hanging around for at least a couple of years!  I really don't want to go out and buy more bits - so this entire project will be made from my current stash of everything.

I made a chart:

And I've already started! 

You see, I really really need some clothes -  in the last year i've gone from a size 8 to a size 14 and back down to a 10 again ... I feel like Oprah Winfrey!!  So i've started with a jacket.  The Vogue 8701 with light tailoring, in preparation for Vogue 8333 which is a Claire Schaeffer couture number.  I'll be blogging my progress in the next few posts, so stay tuned!

Sew Resolved ..

One of the things I have failed to do for the last two years, is to make myself a decent wardrobe of clothes and so this year, I have resolved to be organised.

My problem is focus... I am so easily distracted and I have so much 'going on' most of the time, that I need to forumlate a plan which includes a much more focussed approach to the things I love to do. 

I have therefore cancelled commitments that I do not feel I have time for anymore, and made my own creativity a priority.  Call me selfish, but it's what I have been lacking (and what this blog has been lacking too!).

I am making lists.  Lots of lists, I have books, and journals, and computer files to help me .. and piles .. lots of piles of stuff to sort.

The first list/pile to organise is:

• a list of clothes I need
• a list of clothes I want to try to make
• a pile of fabric I already have
• patterns I have or have bought ..

Clothes I need (and that have been on my 'to do list' for two years now):

A summer dress or two (or three) for wearing out and about - smart/casual

A few light tops for every day / work,  and which 'go' with skirts and trousers I already have

A light jacket or two for when the weather is chilly but not cold

A couple of dresses for 'work' which are compatible with boot wearing for winter/spring use

Some long loose tops suitable for wearing with leggins, for house/gardening wear

An outfit for an event in May - this will have a fetish theme

A party dress for next Christmas

An every day corset

A bra

Knickers

All the above must be "layerable" - the climate here in the UK is so unpredictable, I find that it is easiest to have clothes which go "trans-season" - they can be worn with other garments under or over, with or without tights, and are both boot and shoe compatible.  It's a bit of a tall order but I am not a fussy dresser, I like things to be plain, smart, attractive, flattering, functional, and comfortable.

List of clothes I want to try to make:

Tailored jacket

Coat

More shirts for Mr Marmalade

List of clothes I want to make for 'creative' purposes

Corsets - too many to list, but some of them at least with rhinestones!

Corset for Mr M.

In my fabric stash I have wools, suitings, knits, silks, cottons, linens, blends, saris, nettings and plenty of trimmings and other interesting bits and bobs to use.  I'm going to be busy this year aren't I??

I also have all the patterns I need, and most of the fabric.  Many of the patterns are vintage.  I will show them to you when I've organised them!!

I have no excuse to procrastinate!

2 Skirts in 2 Metres

More of my seasonal sewing exploits ... here are 2 skirts I drafted and made from 2 metres of lovely 100% wool suiting fabric.  It was an absolute dream to work with,  but very difficult to photograph when one is on one's own!  Because it's wool, the fabric can be pre-shrunk by steaming it with the steam iron.  Steaming after completion can also help with making the darts nice and smooth so that they are barely visible on the finished garment.  

The first is just a regular pencil skirt, on the knee so that it's compatible with my boots, and with a split on each side.  This skirt is an exceptionally easy adaptation of the basic skirt block and as you can see, gives a lovely 'tailored' look.  I love it, and it took only a few hours to run up.  It isn't lined which is a mistake as with certain tights (and not others, curiously), it does ride embarrassingly up the legs while walking so i am going to have to make a slip to go underneath it.

The second skirt isn't very clear from this picture .. it's a semi fitted/semi flared 2 part skirt which joins together with an inverted 'V' at the front and back.  This was actually a mistake! I meant to put the "V" on the side, but completely forgot about the rules of symmetry when drafting the pattern, and by the time I'd realised the error of my ways, I'd cut the fabric out!  I know! .. Well in my defense, it was near Christmas, I had probably had one sherry too many or something ...

Now bear with me while I try to figure out how to draw a clear and concise diagram on Illustrator, so that I can show you the skirt block and how to make it ... or maybe the best thing is just do draw it and photograph the drawing!!  I will be working on that over the next few days.

Something Different ..

Here are some things I was very lucky to 'acquire' during my recent shift at Antiques on High - They are vintage, from the 1970's, collars and cuffs which have been hand embroidered with proper mirrors by craft workers in India (or thereabouts).

The collars and cuffs are embrodered onto thin cotton, within printed pattern lines as you can see on the detail picture above. I am supposing that you cut them out with a seam allowance all the way around, and then sew them on, with seam allowance tucked under, to your chosen garment, which I think should also be white as with the best will in the world, it would be hard to entirely hide the white fabric which holds them.

Aren't they exquisite? This green one is my favourite. Here is a detail of the back. The thread used is a thick woolen type of thread - or should I say thin woolen thread?. What I mean is that it is thicker than the usual embroidery floss, but thin like darning wool. All of them have a yellow and black chevron design incorporated, I wonder if this has a special meaning?

I guess those who like to embroider, could make these quite easily to their own design, to sell, or perhaps even for gifting to crafty friends or family members.

These lovely panels need to be cleaned. Very very carefully, by hand, in cold water and on a sunny day!

On the Shelf

I have been busy busy busy! Sewing stuff for my 'shelf', and also stuff for myself!

A selection of red things ...

A selection of brown and gold things!

Dress one - nearly finished, here's a sneaky preview - Dress 2 is currently on the slab, oh ... and then there's Dress 3 - a remake! And I haven't even started on the winter wardrobe yet!

Spoils of London

I've long heard tales of the mythical Goldhawk Road in London... a mecca for allsorts of sewing types, including most of the costume makers of the West End, so when Mr Marmalade and I spent the weekend in London a couple of weeks ago (already!!), we navigated our way through the mostly closed underground system to Hammersmith, and walked the rest of the way through Shepherds Bush then up to Goldhawk Road, and OH MY!!! Such a fabric paradise I had never dreamed possible! I had only intended to spend a couple of hours there at most, but by the time we arrived back at our hotel in London Bridge, it was gone 6 - we arrived at midday!!

Fabric shop, upon fabric shop, roll upon roll of beautiful silks, and linens, row upon row of suiting, pile upon pile of other unusual types of fabric - neoprene, pvc, leather, shiny stuff, furry stuff, stretchy stuff, textured stuff... amazing! I wanted a piece of EVERYTHING, but with a restricted budget, here's what I settled upon - needless to say, none of it is what I set out to get - silk...

I fell in love immediately with this Italian design, British made, wool/cashmere suiting. I wanted 1 metre tops, but the shopkeeper persuaded me to buy the rest of the roll! At just under £8./metre, I wasn't complaining and ended up with 3.5m! I will use it to make male corsets - my very next project!

This is powernet - used to make bra's and foundation corsolette's for dresses. It is expensive most everywhere I have looked - the most I have seen this on sale for is £40/m !! I bought this metre for £6.50 but it is a medium weight which may explain the cheaper price tag.

This is suiting lining - polyester. Lovely pattern which doesn't photograph well. In one shop it was £4.50/m, across the road it was £16./m! Bizarre. This will be used to line the aforementioned male corsets.

I couldn't resist this stretch polyester leopard print with green spots which I will use for lining purposes. I'm old enough to remember the Bet Lynch Glory Days, so will opt out of the evening dress option for this though I do think it would be nice!

The same fabric again, in 'traditional' colour. Again for lining. this was £2.50/m

The best - or possibly the worst - thing about Goldhawk Road is that it is very very easy to reach from my house ... A bus, train, tube, is all I need, as easy as a hop, skip and a jump. Oh dear .. oh very dear...

Lillipution Marmalade

Now that I have finished Mrs P's dress, it's time to turn my attention towards a birthday present promised to my sister-in-law back in July! To open on her birthday I slipped inside her card, a tape measure and measuring sheet with diagram and strict instructions on how to measure. She sent the measurements back to me a couple of weeks later, but I could see in an instant that they were wrong. Upon her next visit, I found out why. She is very tall - 6ft I think - and because of that, has a longer body than the average "standard" measurement. I measured her properly, and we picked out some fabrics which I knew she would like, and discussed the design which was to be 'A-line' - she trusted the further details to me..

So today out came the two fabrics we had picked together - a creme linen/cotton blend, and green Kaffe Fasset. Then, as a pile of other fabrics fell out of the cupboard, I thought "oh what about the green linen"? ... And then I was in a quandry as to which fabrics to combine - use them all, or just two, and then which trims, and how to combine them all (or not) etc., etc., you know how it goes.

After consternating for a while by draping every co-ordinating fabric and trim I could find over Madge the material girl, I still couldn't decide upon which fabric to use but it did help with the design. I decided that a wrap-around skirt with covered buttons to fasten might be nice...

I remembered that I have some 1/4 scale blocks - I could make a mini version of the skirt and decide what looked best! Then I remembered that I have a little artists model which would be perfect for 'modelling' the design. Here she is - Mini Madge!

I drew a tiny pattern, cut out the fabric pieces and stitched them all together by hand - can you believe that this 1/4 block is actually 1/4 of a full size 12?! Hard to believe, I am only 4 times bigger than this!!

This mini experiment was a very very useful exercise because not only did I find out exactly which pattern pieces I would need to cut for a wrap around, but I could play around quite nicely with the design components to find out what would work ...

And what wouldn't work..

I think 'no' to the green linen .. don't you? Here is the cream ensemble ..

I wondered if it would work if I cut a diagonal front, in order to show off the lower fabric better ..

Hmm.... still not sure about this one .. what do you think? For now, I stuck with the more simple design, and pinned it to Mini Madge..

And then I discovered, that if you look at her side on, it is apparent that when she walks, the green Kaffe Fasset Fabric shows up a treat!

So I think I will leave Mini Madge posing on the desk for a while before I make my final decision.

Something Old, Something New..

September is a very busy month in The House of Marmalade. We have more birthdays and anniversaries than you can shake a needle at, and that's not including the back to school frenzy.

What to do with this pile of old jeans??

Make a new pencil case for Jimmy...


Some bunting for a little boy...


And as a result of Miss L's dress appearing on various Facebook albums, I have another dress commission!

It's for my friend, Mrs P, and hopefully, when it's finished, it will look a little like this ...

But as it's an outfit for a wedding (again!), it won't be made from old jeans!

Another Day, Another Style...

So here is my latest love. Not my usual style and not a particularly original design, it's not haute couture, and dear old Vivienne Westwood, needn't get twitchy, but I love it mostly because I made this skirt from scratch, from the blank peice of paper, to the outfit I wore to work today. Did i say that I love it! It's comfortable, it's pretty, it's summery, it was cheap to make, and it's just what I wanted. But best of all ..

The lining! I was going to sew a boring old black lining as being broderanglaise it's a bit transparent! But then I found some black netting, and some red organza which has been in my stash for ages .. oh such delight!

Just Right

There's something so satisfying about a perfect line of topstitch. The sort of 'satisfied' that puts a gleeful grin on one's face and prompts perhaps a few too many moments of loving stare for any sane (non sewing) person to be comfortable with.  For me, each line represents an acomplishment over the many years I couldn't sew a neat line, nevermind a straight one, but always dreamed of doing so!  

This is my latest project from The House of Marmalade which is giving me much joy and causing me to hop about excitedly in my sewing room chattering to myself in a most congratulatory way.  More details when it's finished - which should hopefully be tomorrow!

Come Back Bolly!

When I was ill a few weeks ago, I was very very bored. Being ill is such a waste of time, having no energy but to flop about in bed. I made the best possible use of my time however, and watched the entire series of Ashes to Ashes in one day on iPlayer, even though i'd watched all but the last episode already.


Ahhhhhh, such nostalgia! Such a good soundtrack, and I know i'm not the only one who feels strangely wrong about finding DCI Gene Hunt rather irrisistibly attractive. I can't wait till the next series. Monday nights seem quite empty now.

This sunglasses case is what I made as soon as I felt well enough to be incharge of a sewing machine again .... very 80's don't you think? It came entirely from my subconcious as I didn't intend for it to be retro at all!

WIPCrackaway!

I have so many things to sew!  I'm really going to have to crack on with all of them.  I still haven't started my 'costume' blogged last month, I've got to make a start on the V&A stays, have another pencil skirt or three in my head,  and I've a dress to make for a friend in time for a July wedding.  I have at least made a start on that as it's been worrying me a little, not least because I wanted to make the pattern myself.

This is what I've got to 'copy' 

- really it's the fabric and style which Miss L (as we shall call her) likes.  After a long search I have finally found the fabric.  It's 100% silk with a lovely drape, and at £13.99/metre, not too expensive either.  Miss L, because she is wearing it to a wedding, doesn't want it quite as flared as the picture.  So, after a hefty dot & cross session, I came up with a pattern, and have completed the toile which is now being modelled by Madge who isn't quite the right proportions and has big feet which are distorting the flow.

Even though it is a very simple strapless style made up of 4 panels, I am VERY pleased with it, and myself for that matter!  Who'd have thought it!

Patchwork Purses

It's been a busy bank holiday weekend in The House of Marmalade. We've been on the allotment, walking in the countryside, eating chocolate, and i've been in the sewing room.

Do you ever get those moods where you want to sew something, but you don't quite know what?

I have found that this type of mood is perfect for playing around and experimenting, when it doesn't matter if things go wrong - infact mistakes can turn into a series of happy accidents, ideas happen that you may not have had otherwise, and creativity flows from the challenge to make something beautiful from little bits and bobs which otherwise may not be used.

So I raided my scraps box, and came up with these little pouches and purses.

I found an old bangle and thought it might make a good 'handle' for this little purse which is big enough for a night's essentials. Phone, lipstick, money. Guaranteed to make you look good on the dancefloor - if you are so inclined!

This is my favourite. Call me stupid, but I didn't realise that it wouldn't be possible to get hold of metres of the Moda Urban Chicks Swell fabric range when I wanted. It seems, much to my dismay, these are annual ranges, so all I have left of the Swell fabrics i bought last year, are a few bits of jelly roll and a couple of scraps. Humph.

Stitch some together with coordinating bits though, and hey presto. Small things come in beautiful packages.

My friend BillyJane is doing a stall at the Village Carnival in aid of Help for Heroes which is a charity set up to help wounded soldiers - of which there are many including her son BillyJon. So these little pouches, plus other things I will make before July, are going to her stall for this very worthy cause.

Sew Retro

This is the skirt I have 'designed' in Pattern Cutting class. I want to make it from Khaki coloured stretch drill. I've changed it a bit as I'm going to put two splits in the back instead of a little fish tail. And I might add some straps and buttons on the waist area. I also have plans to make one in black shiny satin with an artificial 'belt' at the front which will be fastened by one of my vintage diamante belt buckles.

I found some Khaki coloured stretch drill online at MacCulloch and Wallace, but they want £7.50+VAT for postage! That's more than it costs per metre, and more than it would cost to import it from America (and I did tell them so by email)! Failing a trip to London to collect some in person, I might have to stick to a stretch denim instead. Unless anybody out there knows where I can get some Khaki coloured stretch drill without the ridiculous postage price? Because ofcourse, now that it seems to be so difficult to get hold of, I want it all the more!

I Heart Gingham

Having forgotton nearly ALL of the things I needed for Pattern class on Friday, I decided to use the scraps from my Cuba Dress MkII to make myself a pencil case.

I am in love with this heavy-weight red gingham and retro ribbon which I bought from The Cloth House last summer.