Archive for March 2012
March 25, 2012 | 
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MadMen Season 5 is making it’s return to TV .YES!!! we’re all waiting in anticipation to see what happens and more importantly what will Joan, Betty and Peggy be wearing? So for the season return this week we’re sewing MadMen style. Sew Weekly have also made a season return to all things glamorous and photo shoot fresh with the pioneers of sewing awesomeness from 2011 Debi, Adey, Sarah and Veronica Darling.
For this challenge I decided on Joans Op-Art, Yves Saint Laurent Mondrian inspired dress from Season 1, episode ‘Long Weekend’ all because it would suit my hair and that it possess that Mary Quant mod feel about it, something I ‘d wear again as opposed to a fifties frou frou dress. Fun Fact: did you know that I ate close to a loaf of spelt bread this week to try and get the shape of Joans booty? Instead it sat on my stomach, where all the bad food sits which in a way is good because it’s visible to me and I can work on, well, not eating bread. Back to the dress…
This dress I made from broadcloth it was a total pain in the arse, I spent way too much time on it; I like to divide my time, this dress took over my precious reading time, I was not happy so finding a place to photograph this outfit was out of the question too. It was the shapes on the sides of this dress that got me shouting dirty swear words; I tackled the dress differently to the one Joans wearing. I cut out large white squares for the blue and red squares to sit on sewing these into place, then I positioned the squares on the not-yet-joined side pieces cutting away the excess at the waist line. The excess pieces were flipped then sewn to the back side pieces. It wasn’t until I had sewn up the sides that I realised that the lines were out so I spent the majority of my night fiddle arseing about unpicking and resewing so the colours would line up. I knew if I’d left it, I would never wear it. So with all the effing and jeffin going on the below pic is the best I could muster.
I am only a little bit pleased with the end result now that I’ve had time to sit and reflect on the squares!! admittedly the stitching could be better but considering my time constraints this will have to do….
Look at Joans! it looks like they had trouble lining the squares up too. I’m glad I made mine with the layering of the squares. Joans looks like it would of been a nightmare of a job to master.
I decided to place a zip in the back because I knew the front would gape along the placket, so yes the front is fake fake fake and no no no I didn’t sew fake button holes that would be crazy crazy crazy. Joans buttons stop half way down, I thought it was easier to go all the way. Since viewing these photos I have released the tension around that top button and tacked down the top of the placket that you see sitting up, it looked somewhat unprofessional in my eyes. She looks wearable now.
These shoes I call ‘photo only shoes’ they’re impossible to walk in. Terribly D A N G E R O U S and will probably remain in its crooked little box till MadMen Season 6. I wonder if the show will venture into the 80′s. Ha! Don Draper as a New Romantic dandy can you imagine? Betty looking Like A Virgin? It’s always interesting to see how these things pan out, a bit like this dress.
This dress I’ve name after Lenny Kravitz’s song Always on the Run from his delightfully tasty album Mama Said, he was mesmerising to say the least in concert last Saturday. What a show! I was blown away, didn’t expect anything less to be honest…So yes! The Always on the Run Dress, that’s what I’ll name her, that was exactly how I felt last week rushing about like a Mad Women.
Yes it’s St Patrick’s Day hence the overload of green in todays post. This ones named after my favourite beer drinking anthem the Dropkick Murphy’s-Good Rats. This top I made from the Japanese Pattern Magic 3 Stretch book, the only one I have that isn’t in English arrr. I’ve wanted to tackle something from any of these books for ages but till now could never find the time. So I put on my serious face which required a sneak peak of the tip of my tongue, you know the look. Just looking at the diagram in the book forced me to sigh a swear word. So, I first made a mini version of the pattern from paper, labelling the AB& C’s (thank god they were in English) fiddling around with the pieces to try and get my head around what goes where. The top didn’t photograph to well, if only you could handle it and see how it’s constructed then you could appreciate the complexity of it. You’ll just have to trust me.
…and so to make things even more difficult for myself—a challenge to say the least, I chose to work with this two way mesh stretch fabric; I don’t often sew with stretch fabrics, like jersey etc I don’t like how they cling but do like how they drape. After working out the mini paper pattern pieces I cut out the pattern to my size, changed my needle to stretch and started sewing. I wondered what the random channels were on the pattern but then it dawned on me, they were my entry into this top, I sewed this closed first go, then I had that light bulb moment, OHHHH! gotcha! it really was a puzzle but looking at it now! easy peasy. If you have the book page 93. In the end I was glad I used this light weight stretch fabric anything else may of proven to be too bulky. I like that this turned out, that I actually challenged myself, it may not look all that crash hot in the photos, I’m just happy it turned out… BTW do you like this catwalk I found in the bush?
Before I made this top I made these pants, this is why I made the top because I wasn’t happy with the pants and the top was my back-up plan. What I was after was a man style pant, you know? the ones that sit on the hip, have a low sitting crotch, c a s u a l chic if I may!! Me: They’re okay! I stuffed up the waist band where the button closure is, I had to join a piece for the buttons to sit, talk about dodgy, with a belt?? who can tell. Anyway they’re cut to what I envisioned, a little big perhaps but sadly I had come to the conclusion that what I thought I may be able to pull off have been handed over to my hubby, his butt looks way hotter in them than mine, he wears wacky golf attire every Saturday for his golf comps, he loves the pants! my time was not wasted. So this Saturday he’ll be in green on the green aiming for a birdie, lets hope it’s not the one flying over head.
Meh!
it’s time to grab a drink and sing…..One, two, one-two-three-four!
Come on all you good rats
we’ll send you all to heaven you’ll find the pearly gates in the froth and the foam
’cause in these vats you’ve made quite a creation
a potion that turned the Guinness to gold!
This week it was the art challenge over at Sew Weekly (a little spotlight feature) Last year I made a Jackson Pollock Playsuit this year as a total cop-out, admittedly not choosing an artist but cunningly choosing a ‘method’ as an excuse to make this head to toe printed suit, you see I really wanted one after seeing this whole printspiration thing going on over the internets and in fashion magazines that I download a hell of a lot cheaper via Zinio to read on the ipad. That Lisa Ho printed piece of awesomeness just below this text I spied on a mannequin in a store window whilst shopping for, what else but fabric! I ran awkwardly toward the window and pressed my left cheek on the glass talking in tongues, I ran my fingers all over the glass annoying the fancy lady behind the counter, hubby pulled me away and settled me down splashing my face with water which is a big no no when you wear foundation, he has since been educated.
Spotlight loves me, I fund someones wage especially this week at $14 a metre. This fabric was perfect for my Lisa Ho rip off, it was a case of I M U S T H A V E T H A T F A B R I C . I couldn’t pass on it, and everything else paled in comparison, I had a vision…Please enter your pin then press okay.
After inserting the apple green lining and doing a little hand sewing it was time to take this baby on the road, a test run, so we headed into town to take my little Obi-Wan Kenobi to the art gallery to see the Star Wars exhibition then we stopped off to take some pictures just behind the Melbourne Art Museum. By the time we got here my pants had stretched a little from sitting down in the car so I’ll be taking them in a little more for a better fit to the booty. The jacket fits just like The Otherside of the Game Jacket because it’s the same pattern, my favourite go-to for jackets but I’ll name this one after a Bad Seeds song. Cause he is…GOD!
I was telling the bestest sewing community in the land of sewing communities about the lining in this jacket —not offering a photo because of my paranoia of image overload, my best lining in a jacket I’ve accomplished thus far (cropped photo two scrolls down). The whole thing about sewing the same pattern over and over is a good thing, I’m currently teaching my daughter how to sew and so far she has made the same dress three times, I think it’s important for her to understand the pattern pieces and what goes where, her third attempt was perfect, (very proud mum…) so the more I make this jacket the better they’re getting, lining included.
I’m just going to take a quick sharp left turn here…Did I tell you I went to see Erykah Badu play? I teared up, I couldn’t help it, an emotional performance, I’ve waited far too long to see her play. Have I teared up before at a show? Yes! I get all overwhelmed, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Sydney’s Luna Park and Bjork at the Sydney Opera House. Anyway, after each Badu song she finished with this stance, I’ve been entering and exiting rooms in the same manner ever since. LOL.
Just holding up the wall.
Fabulous print don’t you think? Cross stitch prinspiration indeedy.
I just want to do a little shout-out to these amazingly supportive ladies of the sewing blog-es-sphere, Oona for the mention on her epic fabricporn post, MegtheGrand for just being Grand, Catherine Daze for the blog award, Janene for the blog award and Kat for the amazing (silk she sent me this week, thank you, thank you, thank you). thanks ladies, you are all kinds of wonderful.
