… Anyhow, I set out to plan a capsule wardrobe for hot weather. Given that I am not really a pro dressmaker and everything is done with lowish expectations, I am so absolutely thrilled with my makes. Here’s how it went.
Read MoreWith the BBC’s ‘Sewing Bee’ in full flight at the moment, I find myself with twitchy fingers to try a little dressmaking and I had long harboured a dream of making a long floral duster coat. Jubilee Weekend seems like the sort of time you would wear something like this and as much as it is a wistful backwards glance at those Laura Ashley days, it is also quintessentially English in it’s style and as comfortable over jeans today as it has would’ve been a couple of decades ago.
Read MoreOf course it is not everybody’s style but the thing to take away from this posting is that you can make what you want, taking ideas from fashion magazines, movies or historical costume and just have a go. Think about the key points you want in a garment and look to mix and match elements and find the style that really reflects your personality. In the end, getting older is all about being yourself - not a mum, a wife, a job - just yourself.
Read MoreA little bit of 18th century Provence
A spinkle of Alabama Chanin style
An echo of Sashiko
A twist of Danish flare……..
That sounds a bit of a concoction doesn’t it?! Hi there, glad you’ve landed here today as I have an interesting dressmaking project to tell you about, which was in short, an experimental idea using a trusted pattern. The inspiration, as you can see, came from all sorts of different sources and spun around in my mind over a few months until it fused together to become this idea. I had no idea if it would work and maybe the jury is still out on that one, but it is so fun to experiment with stitch and texture and well, anyhow, I will let you be the judge of it.
Read MoreHello and welcome to a New Year on the blog. I hope you will join me in my sewing adventures this year and to start things up, I am putting another item into Ruby’s wardrobe of extraordinarily pretty things. As a novice dressmaker, I am slow and a bit sceptical about making my own clothes, but you don’t know until you try and my quest to find clothes that I like (as a 57 year old) and that fit me (as a 57 year old) is never going to be easy. The Hinterland Dress by Sew Liberated often pops up on my instagram feed and it looked like the kind of easy wear dress that would be good in winter or summer weight fabric.
Read MoreOver the past few months, I have collected a few japanese dressmaking books and am constantly inspired by images on instagram. Following on from my love of japanese embroidery, these books are extremely enticing. I love the japanese aesthetic - simple, clean lines, a little bit vintage, a little modern, practical and pretty at the same time. They use gorgeous fabrics too - fresh cottons, wool and silk and the look is a careful one. No sloppy stretched t-shirts, but with comfort in mind and just tiny details which make a difference. I wasn’t feeling brave enough to attempt one of the patterns - they are all in japanese script and so it would be a diagram only effort… but I did want to make something with the feel of these lovely garments. The Merchant and Mills Top 64 pattern has been sitting on my cutting table for a while…. it was time.
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