A Sewing Space of My Own Again

We spent the first few weeks of this year sorting, de-stashing, rearranging and I once again have a sewing / creating space ...

It is cozy rather than spacious but I've natural light and access to all my machines and a little ironing space / cutting table ...  Also ... I can now find things again.

So far I've made 6yr old grand-daughter a Sun-dress

Had fun with the 2 sizes of this print and the pale green really suits my GD.  

However, I was really glad I checked the bodice before I sewed it up - it would've nearly fitted me!  Added some tucks (had to remove 7cm - 2.8" in width)  then we went to All Buttons Great & Small (love that shop!) and got buttons to match the fabric.
The pattern looks recent though I found it 2nd hand - Simplicity 2994.

Grandson loves buttons too ... he really liked the bow-tie buttons and we decided one would look OK on the hat I made him last year (a fabric 'spy' hat or Humphrey Bogart hat) - especially if we also put some feathers there ...








 Back home we got out the box of feathers and he chose this collection ... a partial red-dyed chicken feather, a tuft of white ostrich, a tan brown chicken feather that curves the wrong way and a spotty guinea fowl feather ....  I must say that all together they look really cool.

I'm also making daughter a race-day hat -

 

 Well it isn't going to look like that - though I really like that wind-swept look.  I blocked that very old felt (a failed hat) it'll be the base / the foundation ... covered with fabric and lots of frou-frou.

 And here is the collection of fabric & flowers & frou-frou sitting on the dress

Now, this might be one of the cheapest hats ever - the felt & wire were an old millinery failure, the fabrics & veiling were 'gleaned' from the rubbish bins at Tafe, some of the flowers were gifted, some bought about 30yrs ago.  The only 'new-buy' for this hat was the blue bell shaped flowers ($2.50 for the bunch). 

So happy to be able to make something from all the stash that I can now find with ease following the great big tidy-up.  And perhaps an advert for never throwing stuff out ???   though 30yrs maturation in stash could be seen as a little excessive.
Of course, when 'gleaning' from bins you find that trash sometimes needs a little TLC to restore to 'Treasure'. 
 

A bit of steam will restore a battered silk rose -




Careful ironing can restore old veiling -



The finished hat (shown on an old 'head' shape that has no hair!)

Hats & Tats

Some photos from the Autumn Hat Exhibition last Sunday at Yuga Cafe - was lots of fun & there were lots and lots of Hats!

And that's the piano I played:  do hope everyone heard all the good notes and that no-one heard the mistakes!

And Now to the Tat tat tatty tat - Tatting

I'm going to be teaching how to tat this week so a good time to get out the threads and dust off those shuttles ...




They say that tatting developed from net-making - fishing nets that is and I guess that does make sense. 






It is an easy form of lace-making that was very popular in the 1930s & 40s ... I really can't understand why it is not more popular now.

I like to make lace edgings ... not sure what I'll put these on though the pink would look nice on a pretty frock for my granddaughter.
In 2008 I tatted about 5m of mauve lace for this 'Munchkin' costume ... can you see it on the Jabot and at the cuff?

My Munchkin was Quite a Dandy

I don't usually use tatting to make motifs and this butterfly was the first time I'd used beads on the thread.  The beads weren't difficult though I had problems with the slippery metallic thread and my picots are quite un-even! 

Tut tut Tat tat








As I'm going to be teaching How to Tat I was looking at the diagrams in all my books - they seem to leave out half the 'moves' - so I looked at some YouTube clips but there the hands move so fast ... I'm not sure I could learn from them. 

So, being an inveterate DIY person I've decided to Do It Myself and make a set of How to Tat notes with LOTS of photos to show every step.  Last night we set the camera on a tri-pod and my hubby darling took oodles of photos ...  now to put them together with some words...

Oh but my poor old hands look so wrinkly and old.  Sigh! I used to be proud of having pretty hands!  Guess they've done a lot of work though.   I'll just have to be proud of having hands that can Do & Make things ... and have the wrinkles and age-spots to prove it!

Hats hats hats

Hats hats hats - these are hats I've made - they'll be for sale at the exhibition on Sunday 18th at Yuga Cafe - 172 St Johns Rd, Glebe.







Big Red ??   it's looking rather cherry colour there but is in fact a rich burgundy red - the felt has a lovely velvety finish. 


Style & trimming inspired by 1940s Hollywood Glamour  - Rita Hayworth, Heda Lamarr, Ava Gardner.

A fabric hat in Gray with black pleated insert. 

Inspired by 1930s Hollywood Glamour - Marlene Dietrich wore pancake hats like this.  The rakish angle is de rigueur  and I've shaped the crown so it fits snuggly when worn at an extreme angle.





And - as we've been going backwards through the decades - my Cream & Cafe Latte cloche - very 1920s Flapper Girl, very Miss Fisher, Great Gatsby, The Artist ...









It was inspired by the hat in the bottom row - 2nd from the left.
From a 1928 Sears, Roebuck & Company catalogue, reproduced by Dover Books. 

Hat Exhibition - Sun 18th March - a Sneak Preview

Yea!!   I'm part of an Exhibition (& sale) of Autumn Hats at Yuga Cafe - 172 St Johns Rd, Glebe - on Sunday 18th March.

Bold Red Hat by Carole Maher

There will be over 40 Couture Hats - all lovingly hand-crafted by a dozen Sydney Milliners who are members of the Australian Milliners' Guild.  The range will be diverse - as each milliner has a distinctive style of their own.

For example, Carole's style is bold and current, whereas my style is very vintage inspired.   There seems to be such a 1920s buzz at the moment with The Artist  winning so many Oscars & Miss Phryne Fisher solving crime on the TV ...

Flapper Girl Hats by Lyndell

The French call the 20s - les années folles.

Interestingly, from the hats I've seen so far - several of us are going for 

strong - swirling - contrasting lines 

Black & White Swirl by Carole Maher

Orange & Black Swirl by Lyndell

Swirling Beret by Jene Walker

The venue - Yuga café - combines great food, with a relaxed exhibition space and beautiful floristry.  On the 18th you can enjoy a delightful long Sunday brunch while contemplating magnificent millinery - and (if my nerves don't get the better of me) there will be live piano music a-tinkling in the back-ground ... 

The Milliners will be there to help you select a fashionable hat that flatters you.  Something perfect for the Autumn Races or to complete an ensemble or – just because hats are irresistible!

Well getting everything prepared for the exhibition it quite tiring - I think it is time for a nice cuppa' tea ...

Sweet Tea Cup Hat by Amalia Pearl