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.

Variety is the Spice of Life!!

So far this year I have managed to do quite a bit of sewing on a few quite different projects.

First hand piecing....

Seven more little houses to add to my collection. I have decided to not stress about trying to keep up with making one a day. I will make as many as I can and keep enjoying the process.

Some machine piecing....

Four more blocks for my Civil War quilt. Only 3 more to finish now!!!

I have decided I will put a log cabin border around each block to get them all an even size. (Some of mine didn't quite make it to 8 1/2 " !) I am still deciding how I will join all the blocks, but I am thinking about making 2 or 3 smaller quilts instead of one huge quilt.


Hand applique....

Here is the start of my next Roseville Album block. Still lots of stitching to do on this one. Looking forward to doing some reverse applique with the vase and the large flowers.

I haven't forgotten about Friends of Baltimore!! More on it in my next post.  (click on the link and scroll down to a photo of Sue Garman's completed  quilt in her November 6th post)

Some preparation for a new quilt...

Yesterday I cut out the background and sashing and prepared some stems for Trailing Vines. Can't wait to start stitching on this one!!
When I went searching for the fabric for this quilt I fell in love with a couple of the fabrics and bought "the rest" in the shop. Consequently, I don't have quite the amount specified in the instructions, so my quilt will end up being slightly smaller. 

A little dress making...

I had a wedding to go to last Saturday and nothing fitted in my wardrobe. I went shopping but couldn't find anything suitable, so (on Thursday) my DD suggested....why don't you make something!!!! There was a race around fabric shops on Thursday afternoon with the rest of the day (and half the night!!) taken up making a toile. I spent all day Friday (and half the night again!!) sewing the dress. Saturday morning found me stitching the hem and sewing a few beads on the lace.

 

 

Next time I won't leave it so late to make something! Lol

Even more hand applique.....

...this time on a wedding dress. My DD made the wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses for a very good friend of hers. I helped by hand appliqueing the lace around the hem of the wedding dress. The lace motifs were cut from the original fabric and rearranged on the organza of the skirt. A band of satin was sewn to the hem.

There were 24 motifs around the hem and each one took about an hour to stitch (I am slow!!!). I looooove hand sewing, so I stitched on the wedding dress while my DD made the bridesmaid dresses on her machine. Plus, I got to spend time with my DD! :)

The bride looked stunning on her wedding day!

The Australian Open is on here in Melbourne at the moment. I am looking forward to a few hours in front of the TV with plenty of stitching to keep me occupied.

Non quilting sewing

Over the years I have made lots of different things. Since I haven't got anything quilty to show for the moment I thought I would post photos of thing I have made in the past.

About 5 years ago I did some millinery classes. The lady who ran the classes was very talented and had been making hats for many years. The hat above was the first one I made. The flower I made from silk ribbon.
My daughter has worn this fascinator several times.



This pillow was made during another class on ribbon embriodery.


A close up of some of the embroidery.



I didn't learn smocking when I was as school and it was something I always wanted to learn. My first 2 children were sons, so it was a wasn't till after I had my daughter I had someone to make smocked dresses for. I kind of got addicted to smocking. lol My daughter had smocked dresses for every occasion! I only stopped making them when she declared she was getting too old for smocking!!

Here are a few of my daughter's dresses from when she was young.


This photo shows the back of a dress with pearl buttons and loops for a closure. The collar is from wide broderie anglais.

This is one of my favourite dresses. It is from Liberty fabric. I just love sewing on liberty!

This dress is from pique with trim from the Liberty fabric left from the previous dress.


A drop waist dress from blue batiste with insertion lace, ribbon beading and embroidery.


This dress is from a wool fabric.


This dress was one of my daughter's favourites. White batiste with silk thread smocking and embroidery. The sleeves have pintucks and a lace trim. The square collar has insertion lace.

The only smocking I do now is the occasional night gown for a new born baby. I hope, one day, I have a grand daughter to make smocked dresses for!



By far the most difficult thing I have every tried to make is a tutu! My daughter took dancing classes for many years and I made many costumes for her. Leotards were pretty simple to make. After years of gymnastics classes for all my children I could almost make a leotard with my eyes closed! lol I tried to make tutus several times. It was like wrestling a rhinoceros!!!!! I did manage a half tutu, with not many layers of netting, once. We ended up buying her tutus and I decorated them. I love sewing on lace, sequins and beads.



A park near were we live, yesterday afternoon.