MMM13 Update, or: A Damning Indictment of a Certain Cardigan

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Wool skirt made by me, T-shirt a present from Issy, skanky cardie from a 2nd hand shop in Santiago

Well, well, well. I have learnt quite a lot from my first couple of weeks of MMM. The main thing being that I really ought to chuck out this shapeless grey cardigan.

I feel like it’s my (horribly unglamorous) version of a housecoat. Maybe I should make a housecoat. A nice one. I even have some jersey hanging around that could be made into a perfectly nice cardigan, maybe like this one made by Tant-Isis. I don’t know why I continuously wear something that I think is horrible. Looking at these photos has definitely given me an incentive to start making a bit more effort.

T-shirt and pencil skirt, both made by me

T-shirt and pencil skirt, both made by me

It’s not been difficult for me to wear an item made by me every day, but it has been difficult to wear outfits that I’m happy about posting photos of on the internet. I definitely need to spend more time sewing for myself. However, the shirt battle continues, so for the time being I will continue to wear outfits like this…

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Leggings made by me, shirt from H&M years ago, that bloody cardigan.

I have, so far, managed to not buy any new fabric this month. So, Zo… wrote a perfectly-timed post on why compulsive fabric-buying can be just as bad for the world as buying cheapo clothes made in sweatshops, because – guess what! – fabric is often made in sweatshops too, and fabric manufacture frequently uses very environmentally damaging processes. I’ve not bought any new clothing for a while now, initially because of financial reasons and more recently through choice. The next logical step in that process is to start thinking about where fabric comes from and how it is made – but perhaps that is a subject for a different post.

Blouse and skirt made by me.

Blouse and skirt made by me.

On a more cheery note, I have been getting a lot of wear out of this black corduroy pencil skirt. Also the mirror in the foyer of our building needs a good clean. Gross.

supermarket

Supermarket sweep

It was warm enough to go without a cardie today, so we went to the corner shop and had some fun in the dairy aisle (I’m wearing this dress). I have shoved the grey cardigan to the back of the wardrobe, pending possible donation to a recycling bin. For the next MMM update hopefully there will be zero (0) photos of it.

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by abinadressmaker on May 12, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in MMM13

Posted by abinadressmaker on May 12, 2013

http://dressmakerscurve.com/2013/05/12/mmm13-update-or-a-damning-indictment-of-a-certain-cardigan/

Me-Made-May 2013

mmay13

Yes, I am jumping on the bandwagon! So, Zo is hosting the sewing blogger monthly challenge again this year and this time I am (almost) in time to join up and (almost) have enough me-made clothes to make it possible.

I, Abi Dressmaker, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavour to wear at least one item made by me each day for the duration of May 2013.

As an additional challenge, and because things are getting a bit out of hand fabric-wise, I have decided to pledge to not buy any more fabric during May (unless absolutely neccessary for my course). I keep having to pop down to Once to get haberdashery for the Shirt Project and accidentally buying fabric. This morning I went to pick up some size labels and came home with some crazy printed cotton, which I can’t photograph because it’s for a surprise present for one of my readers (yooohoooo!)

I’m hoping that taking part in MMM13 will encourage me to think more about my day-to-day wardrobe, wear some of my handmade clothes that I don’t wear often enough, and help me feel motivated to make myself some new stuff… after the shirts, of course.

Now that I’m no longer working in an office the temptation is to wear this every day:

lounging

T-shirt and offensive trousers made by me

Although I’m not going to be posting daily outfit photos here, I will post a few and couldn’t possibly embarrass myself by wearing this for the entire month – could I?

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by abinadressmaker on May 2, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in MMM13

Posted by abinadressmaker on May 2, 2013

http://dressmakerscurve.com/2013/05/02/me-made-may-2013/

150 Buttons

Buttons

Everyone has their least favourite part of sewing, and for me it has to be sewing buttonholes and buttons. I don’t know whether it’s because they always come last, so I’m getting sewing fatigue and wanting to finish, or because they are just so damn boring and repetitive.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think about that before I agreed to make the new uniform for a friend’s cafe – 15 shirts. The closer I get to making the buttonholes, the more I want to run away, screaming. My sewing machine doesn’t have anything as exciting as a buttonhole setting, which doesn’t help. I was going to get my dear brother to buy me one of these buttonhole thingies, but I have no idea whether it would fit my machine and it would mean a lot of time, money and effort for him to get me a thingy that might not even work.

shears

I did get to buy some other exciting new sewing toys though – these are my beautiful new 10″ shears. I love them, and keep stroking them, which is quite dangerous considering how sharp they are. I have never owned real tailor’s shears before, isn’t that shocking? Before I had the Mundial 8.5″ serrated blade scissors, which were fine, until someone in my class tried to sharpen them with another pair of scissors (!!!). Don’t touch my scissors, man. You’d think fashion students would know better – serrated blades can’t be sharpened. My new shears are really, really heavy and I have a dent in my finger from cutting out the first 5 shirts. I hope I never drop them on my foot!

Interfacing tape

By chance I discovered this amazing bit of haberdashery, which I can’t find anywhere on the internet. It’s a 3cm-wide roll of sew-in interfacing, specifically for interfacing button stands! Amazing. Another thing I hate about making shirts is cutting those long strips of interfacing… and yes, there are things that I like, too!

I’ve found some great resources for shirt making and fitting on that internet – Peter at Male Pattern Boldness has some great information on fitting shirts from a men’s shirt sew-along that he ran, Jen from Grainline has just finished a sew-along for her Archer shirt pattern, and of course the queen of shirts, Pam at Off the Cuff, has loads of musings on shirts. The Fashion Incubator archives is another great place to look (though the technical language can be a little alarming), and I also appreciated this post from Madalynne about neck width, after my first sample turned out to have some nesty drag lines.

Apron

Here’s Simon modeling an apron I made myself before the shirtathon, just because. Right – back to the bloody shirts!

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by abinadressmaker on April 25, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Shirts
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by abinadressmaker on April 25, 2013

http://dressmakerscurve.com/2013/04/25/150-buttons/

Machine Dreams

Necchi]Lycia (1024x768)

My Necchi Lycia II, back from the brink

… or perhaps I should say Machine Nightmares. I was the victim of a terrible attack of stupidity a couple of weeks ago and severely endangered the life of my beautiful Necchi Lycia II.

I was minding my own business, sewing a pair of trousers (that turned out to be too big! What have I done to anger the sewing gods?) when the needle arm came down on a spool of thread that was randomly rolling around on the sewing table. No idea how that got there! Surely it wasn’t all my fault… well yes, it was – and, according to my repair man, I gave myself a bent needle bar and confused innards. The timing went out of whack and the bobbin housing came loose. Oh gaaaaard. He also gave me a telling off for sewing leather on it, which is a shame… because I don’t really intend to stop doing that.

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Quilting scraps

So now, several weeks later, a chastened dressmaker, mentally and financially impoverished, has sworn to sew in chaos no longer. I even tidied my fabric collection and chose a few scraps that will hopefully be the start of my first patchwork quilt.

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Neat, but not gaudy

It’s not all been bad – while my sewing machine has been under the knife, I managed to do some touristy things that I would usually shun in favour of sewing. I finally went on a tour of the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires’ gorgeous opera house. The place is just dripping with gold and marble and they even have some costumes on display, so I did get a dressmaking fix.

stgo2

Santiago’s Parque Araucano

And I went to Santiago and saw some dear old friends, one of whom gave me even more fabric! Looks like my sewing luck is turning at last.

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by abinadressmaker on March 26, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Sewing Machine
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by abinadressmaker on March 26, 2013

http://dressmakerscurve.com/2013/03/26/machine-dreams/

Fashion Barometer Friday: Trenderiser A/W13

 *Dressmaker’s Curve chews up and spits out the best of the seasonal trends for your degustation*

BJ12

The Beetlejuice Effect has made black and white leggings as much of a plague on the high street as sandworms are on Saturn, but Beetlejuice is not just about a monochrome stripe. The clear trend message as Fashion Month draws to a close is that while monochrome still rules, Tim Burton’s classic has more to give than just Michael Keaton’s googly arms. Let’s turn on the juice and see what shakes loose!

BJ4

Clashing checks were as ubiquitous on Mulberry models as they are in the hallways of the Netherworld. Adam Maitland wears a flannel shirt, creating a kaleidoscope effect as he traverses the undulating checked corridor. From playful floral plaid at Preen to subverted city checks from McQueen, tartan wove its way through the A/W collections.

BJ9

The Maitlands’ death caseworker Juno wears a high-necked shirt, framing her discreet throat wound, the focus of the understated ensemble. High necks made a less frilly appearance on London’s catwalks, J.W. Anderson showing a similar palette on this turtleneck.

BJ6

Velvet, especially red velvet, is still alive and kicking – see Julien David and Stella McCartney (another huge follower of the huge stripe trend). This stylish waiting room magician’s assistant also taps into the up and up of matchy matchy.

BJ1

Lace, too, is hanging on for dear life. If your whole life is a dark room, or perhaps if you are strange and unusual, why not check out Yohji Yamamoto’s latest collection, Sonia Rykiel, or the gorgeously gothy Erdem show. You are really not *utterly* alone. And if lace isn’t your scene, there was plenty of dark magic in the leather love from design houses including 3.1 Phillip Lim.

BJ15

Delicate pink was another standout A/W colour, appearing at Mulberry, Jonathan Saunders and on Beetlejuice character Sarah Dean, above, who wore it in a daring embossed satin with statement sleeves.

BJ16

Animal prints at Jason Wu, Lanvin, and of course Versace see a cheeky echo in the zebra-striped napkins on the Deetz dinner table, where Beryl, the guest on the left, wears a woollen suit in an olive shade of one of the coming season’s top colours, green (Alberta Ferretti, Prada, de la Renta).

BJ5

A staple for the cold weather collections, glam gold accents were spotted at Tory Burch, Jil Sander, and L’Wren Scott, while Marc Jacobs and Giles Deacon went for all-out heavy metal, emulating Grace’s extravagant cocktail dress in the Day-O dinner scene.

Six foot, seven foot, eight foot BUNCH!

BJ18

Green makes another appearance on the set of the denouement, where Lydia’s scarlet frou frou wedding gown (similar looks shown at Monique Lhuillier, Dolce & Gabanna, Marchesa) really pops against the verdigris fireplace.

dog gif

Statement fake fur made a big – really big – appearance on the seasonal catwalks. Designers including Fendi, Roberto Cavalli, and Jason Wu paid homage to the real star of Beetlejuice, the dog that begins the whole story. Wet-look hair also showed up on Prada and Gucci models – the ultimate compliment to poor, drowned Barbara and Adam Maitland.

BJ17

Moschino came up trumps for the Beetlejuice key piece, a striped chiffon asymmetric minidress. Vivienne Westwood Red Label played with fairground stripes and deconstructed clown makeup, MaxMara also went for the wide stripe, while Proenza Schouler seemed to pull inspiration for their whole collection from the film.

beet1

While these trends are safe for occasional consumption, be cautious when invoking that Beetle guy unless you really want a the ghost with the most hanging around your house, getting all snaky on you,  and constantly slobbering all over you with his rotten mouth.

Go ahead – make his millennium.

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by abinadressmaker on March 2, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Fashion Barometer Friday
Tagged , , , , , , ,

Posted by abinadressmaker on March 2, 2013

http://dressmakerscurve.com/2013/03/02/fashion-barometer-friday-trenderiser-aw13/

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