why did you start sewing?

October 31, 2010.Reading time 2 minutes.

I first began sewing at home when I was a kid, where I had access to Mum’s sewing machine and her stash of patterns and fabrics – there is nothing like the raw materials to get inspired! Like a lot of us I started with fabric scraps and a Barbie doll, and soon progressed to decent yardages […]

~a gown for christine~

August 29, 2010.Reading time 1 minute.

Here is another favourite wedding gown from the archives: This gown evolved from another design with similar asymmetric lines, but the bride suggested draping the bodice area instead. We certainly had a lot of fun figuring out the positioning of the draping on her toile – but it really was worth it, as it showed her model figure off […]

~if you faint easily, don’t read this!~

August 17, 2010.Reading time 5 minutes.

With all that hand-stitching on my Chanel-style jacket, I guess this was going to be inevitable: Now I don’t usually like to share images of blood with my readers, but there is a related story and handy-dandy hint that I would like to share! Once upon a time there was a young girl straight out of […]

~chanel jacket slow progress~

August 16, 2010.Reading time 3 minutes.

All those rows of quilting has caused progress to be quite slow on my Chanel-style jacket – the thread ends need to be unpicked and restitched back into place after the shell seam has been sewn – and there is a lot of thread ends! Next time I will definitely take a more minimal approach […]

~tangerine nightmare skirt~

August 6, 2010.Reading time 1 minute.

I finished the refashioning (can your refashion something when it is only 2 days old?) of my tangerine dream skirt last weekend, but it has been raining all week so haven’t had the chance to photograph it. Today however it was fine enough to venture outdoors: Now that I’ve let it out at the waist […]