Dressmaking

I have been dressmaking mostly rather than making quilts during the last couple of weeks.
I have made myself a traditional outfit (like the one I  made for my daughter's wedding here ..... scroll down to the last photos)  to wear to a wedding in a couple of weeks.

The skirt fabric and scarf come from Laos and were given to me by my sisters in law. The band at the bottom of the skirt comes separately from the skirt fabric. It is woven with metallic threads with the silk.

The scarf has a similar pattern to the band on the skirt.


The top is made from silk dupion I bought here in Melbourne. It is embellished with guipure lace and has covered buttons using fabric from the skirt. My daughter helped me get the pattern for the top right.

 (the colours don't show true, my photography isn't the best)

Now a bit of showing off about my daughter.  (I'm a proud Mum!!! :) )
My daughter has also been sewing for herself. Below is a dress she made to wear to a wedding. It is black lace over a pale pink satin.

Covered buttons finish the back.

She also has shoes to match! :)



Last week we went to a runway show that included 3 wedding gowns from the shop where my daughter works.

My daughter's job is sewing these gowns.


Photos below.
All 3 gowns are made from silk. All the draping is hand stitched and most are hand beaded. Every gown is made for each bride individually and there are several layers of construction in each gown.
My daughter worked on the 1st and 3rd gowns.

The first gown is finished with hand stitched prebeaded lace that has extra beads hand stitched on. It took a week to make this gown.

The draping on the 2nd gown is tulle. Three ladies worked on this gown.

The 3rd gown has over 150 meters of silk organza in the skirt. All those frills have  folded edges (no raw edges here!) and are stitched individually to the skirt. It took 3 ladies 2 months to make this gown.

These creations are a lot more than mere dressmaking! The amount of work that goes into creating gowns like these is amazing. I love the attention to detail and the finishing touches in each of these creations. The way the fabrics are draped and the lace placement complement the female form.


All photos below from Stonnington Fashion blog here. You can see many of the other clothes in the parade by scrolling through posts for August 24 2012.
My daughter works here.

New Block of the Month.

For quite some time I have been admiring lots of red and green quilts I have seen on blogs and the Internet in general.

Recently I have been drawn to one in particular. Partly because the patterns are coming out as a block of the month, partly because it is an appliqued quilt, but mostly because of the story behind the original quilt.  The Chester County Criswell Quilt was made in the 1850s in Pennsylvania as a wedding quilt. The blocks on this friendship quilt were all made by different people and all are appliqued signature blocks. The quilt now is in Australia and lives with the Great Great Grand daughter of the bride who the quilt was made for. (click on the link above and scroll down to read more about the quilt's history) Sharon is going to share photos of completed blocks on her blog.

I completed the first block last night.

The fabric in this block is from the Friendship collection. I used needleturn applique to stitch the block.

I plan to use different backgrounds for each block.



For the sake of completeness ( and my perfectionist tendencies!!), I remade one of my Blogger's BOM blocks. Thank you to Debbie for pointing out my "blooper"!!! I didn't notice until you pointed it out.
Here is the block with everything the right way around!

The sun is shining here. Spring is on its way!

Have a great day everyone!

Lots of sewing!

The last week or 2 has been very productive, sewing wise. Plenty of progress on current projects, some new things, an old project being brought back to life and even a little finish!

Firstly, I completed my 2 Blogger's BOM blocks for July. The Split Ohio Star block comes from Victoria of Bumble Beans.

Bright block...

Repro block...

Only one more block to come now and we have all 12!

I have prepared some leaves ready to applique on my Liberty and linen quilt.

The current Roseville Album block is coming along well.

Last night I finished appliqueing the flower in the top left corner, so the next set of pieces have to be attached before I can progress on this block.

Last week I went to the Melbourne Quilt and Craft Show where I took 2 classes. I had never made socks before or made a clasp purse. Yesterday I put my new skills into practice and made this little purse.

The inside is lined with shot cotton.

You may recall the 2 fabrics from this post when I went to Amitie a few weeks ago.
 

The socks are still a work in progress. They are being made on circular needles, another first for me. :)

There was a wonderful show of quilts to see, including a special exhibition of 16 quilts, several of which were made by ladies who attend the same Friday sewing group as I do. You can see the Mrs Billings Coverlets and read more about them here, here and photos of them all here.




I have started another purse. This one will be made from lots of hexagons. I have about half of the 200 I need to prepare done. Here are a few.

Yes, more hexagons!! This time they are 1/2 inch.

The fabric I am using is the small pieces I had left over from the Morrell Quilt BOM.

The Morrell Quilt will be making more appearances on my blog because I have started to hand quilt it!

 

Hand quilting the Morrell quilt is going to be a marathon effort! It is my project for watching Games. (A huge thank you to Karen for squeezing in basting my quilt so quickly!)  Do you have a special project to work on while watching the Olympic Games on TV?
I have made a start on the centre and I can't wait to get out to some of the more interesting blocks.  The quilting thread I am using is Aurifil 28 and the batting is a wool blend. I have mostly used YLI quilting thread before and so far I am happy with the Aurifil. The hoop has a lap stand so I can quilt while comfortably seated on the couch!

Have a great week!