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Old/New Favourite

At the end of last winter, my beloved handbag was looking decrepit and sad, and I forced myself to throw it away (but not before taking a memorial photo). The exterior was brown suedette, with the last remnants of James’s dogs playing poker fabric as the lining.

I used that bag to its death, but I knew that come colder weather, I’d set out again to make my 5th (I think?) Hotpatterns Nairobi bag. This pattern was given away as a free pdf when they first launched the site, but as far as I know, it’s not available anywhere any more.

Inspiration

Catwalk this way

The first ever Fehr Trade catwalk show on Sunday was a massive success! The four designs I showed went down really well with the crowd and with the backstage ladies alike (who couldn’t keep their hands off that gorgeous silk!). I’m so pleased with how everything went, from the models to the music, to the organisation (by La Geneve North and Fat Talent), and most of all, by those of you who took time out of your Sunday to come down!

Unfortunately, my photos from the catwalk itself didn’t turn out too great, owing from my camera’s autofocus delay “feature”, but luckily the backstage shots did. You’ll just have to imagine these ladies strutting to the dulcet bleeps of The Blow‘s “Pile Of Gold”…

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Dude looks like a lady

As part of my FW/07 Collection, I decided to embrace the menswear trend and create a pinstripe suit, borrowing from classic tailoring, but updating it all with feminine elements.

In Progress

Tired of Tires update

I’ve been working away on my FW/07 Collection in every spare moment, but for the last week, my spare moments have been drastically reduced by boat duties. So rather than the glamorous woman you’ve come to know from this site, for the last week I’ve been looking more like this:

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Silky Secretary Blouse

Following on from the jedi jacket, I thought I’d stick with Simplicity 3631 a little while longer and make a blouse using the bodice from the dress and the poofy, cuffed sleeves from the long jacket. On closer inspection, however, I realised that the jacket and coat both have raglan sleeves, which wouldn’t work to just attach to the bodice (which needs a cap sleeve). So rather than go through some extensive redrafting session, I just used a cap sleeve pattern piece from elsewhere, widened the hem, and created my own cuff to button closed at the wrist.

Inspiration

Copying Keira

As part of my fabric buying spree in the States, I bought some gorgeous emerald green silk charmeuse from fabric.com, with plans to make HotPatterns’ Deco Vibe So Pretty dress. As my FW/07 collection is keeping me rather busy, I hadn’t given myself a timeline to make this dress, even though I’ve got all the materials to hand.

But last night James and I finally went to see Atonement at the cinema, and I couldn’t help but notice that the beautiful 1930s evening gown worn by Keira Knightley’s character in the film is very similar to to the dress I’d already planned!

In Progress

Fehr Trade FW/07 Collection

I’ve avoided all talk of SWAP (Sewing With a Plan, roughly – sewing a bunch of garments in terms of a wardrobe instead of separate pieces here and there) even though everyone else around me was doing them. For the most part, it was because I bought fabric for specific projects and I created these as the feeling took me.

However, since I’ve lost weight, my wearable wardrobe has decreased considerably and I came to the realisation last week that I don’t own any trousers that aren’t jeans, period. I’m also doing more presentations at work that require me to dress a bit more nicely, so after 5 years of wearing teeshirts and jeans to work, I have a large hole in my wardrobe in that regard, too.

Going to America last month and the subsequent fabric and pattern buying orgy left me with the supplies for a wide variety of garments. So naturally my mind turned to the best ways I could see to use both patterns and fabrics to fill these holes in my wardrobe.

I’ve devised the following plan, though I realise it will more than likely take me the entire fall and winter to accomplish it.

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The Pirate YARRty

Wow. After nearly two years, I finally finished my boyfriend’s black velvet pirate jacket. Lined with gold satin, with functional pockets, functional buttonholes, brass buttons, tons of interior pockets for his gadgets, and hidden pocket inside the cuff for his Oyster card. There was so much handstitching on this and velvet is such an jerk of a fabric that I seriously wasn’t sure I’d ever finish it. I had problems at pretty much every step of the way, the majority of which stemmed from the fact that you can’t iron velvet. At all. Made in a different fabric, with non-functioning costume parts as indicated on the pattern, this would be a fairly straightforward project.

But since he wanted silk velvet and satin and for everything to function, plus have pockets absolutely everywhere, combined with a hem a mile long, this turned into a complete nightmare of a jacket. The handstitching alone took more manhours than I actually want to think about without bursting into tears. I did manage to make one big mistake near the end, even though I was so careful to NOT do it in my planning. It would’ve been impossible to fix without a complete deconstruction (and stitching lines remain in velvet forever), so I just left it as is. See if you can tell what it is from the photos, and I’ll reveal all below…

Inspiration

London Fashion Week report

As explained a few days ago, I was very lucky to be invited to attend a catwalk show at London Fashion Week on Saturday morning. After fretting over what to wear, I settled on this ensemble, which was entirely Fehr Trade, just in case someone asked (they didn’t. Awww.).

But, as I soon found out once the models hit the catwalk, apparently I was right to decide on a cowl top!