The Crepe!

It's been quiet on the sewing front. Too much else going on lately. However, for those who follow Gertie, I'm going to participate in her sew-along-blog of the Crepe Dress. It's a really cute, little bit 50s, sweetheart neck, wrap dress, perfect for summer, assuming I finish it in time to catch the end of Summer...

My pattern has just arrived in today's mail and I found myself in Spotlight on Friday evening buying some cute kids fabric which I know will work.

I'm only going to give you the link to the most recent of Gertie's sew-along updates which outlines the schedule we will (attempt) to follow - here: http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/12/revised-sew-along-schedule-and-link-for.html

Photos of fabric tomorrow perhaps... I did buy a lot of fabric as I had a special deal :)

Two updates in a row!

When you're hot, you're procrastinating...

I have some other stuff that I have to focus on at night, so naturally that means I finish sewing on all the pearls on my cap right?


So tomorrow night there is no sewing until I finish the other stuff which is hugely more pressing with a deadline of Wednesday.

Then I can work on the cap and aim to finish it for Saturday. That'll be a good turn around for me, starting and finishing something in under a week.

You know I've been sewing when...

I begin swearing like a trooper!

Yeah, I had to warn my housemates today that, when I sew, I swear... a lot. And often. Hey, I wouldn't be living up to the name 'Sewing Rage' if I didn't ;)
What Am I sewing? I'm making a cap to go with the Cranach from the fantabulous House of Charlet which is now mine because it fits me and Miss Charlie does in fact rock!
So May Crown is this weekend, and I figured I should make a cap to finish off the whole outfit. So last weekend Miss Charlie and I went out to find the fabric... and failed. Though I did manage to spend a lot of money on other things. But more of that another time.

So yesterday, we headed in to Tessuti in Surry Hills and snaffled some yellow silk. Oh and we walked a whole lot too. And went to the bling shop in Petersham for pearls (it's a bling shop with lots of stuff, but not quite everything for whichever option I want!).
So today I measured and cut the silk and, I think it's a cotton, possibly drill, layer and sewed it up around the edge and zig-zagged it and put it on a frame and started sewing on the bling.
And since this is my sewing blog, I thought I'd better record it all for posterity. I chose not to record the string of cusses that flowed from my mouth this afternoon. I thought about taking it on the bus to work so I can work on it all week... but remembered the sewing induced tourettes and though better of it. Will just have to work on it at home this week and hope to finish it for Saturday.

Here, have some photos:

56 Hours Left!

So, I was moving steadily along with my burlesque ball outfit, and then I had a small disaster strike. (Yes the outfit was fine, not at all affected) My top floor apartment flooded with the rain in Sydney a couple of weeks ago... I know, it takes all kinds of skill to make that happen. So I had over a week of my lounge room and bedroom looking like a disaster zone, with industrial fans, pulled up carpet and furniture haphazardly dragged away from sodden carpet. Maybe I'll show you a photo some day.

But that really meant that work on my outfit ground to a halt for well over a week. The days have all blurred together, but somewhere in there I actually added another 2 layers of tulle to the tutu skirt, attached the silk skirt while also making a channel for elastic. so the skirt is in one piece and just needing small adjustments, looking mostly like this:

Skirt attached and channel stitched at the same time saved me effort

And when you look underneath, you get this!

And when you look from the side, you get this
(and the clear fact I have to adjust some lengths of tulle)

And then of course, since the costume is coming together, I need to think about the accessories. I'm looking at making pasties, but given the disaster, that may not happen (and they were only going to be in case of wardrobe malfunction anyway - I'm not THAT extroverted). I have undergarments, and I have shoes sorted, so it's all about the fascinator...

Now, since I had Sooooo much tulle, it seems only sensible to whack some of it in my hair. I sat on my bed last night and played around with it to try and figure out how/ what to make. I went with the simple option, varigated height and colour.

I started with a big bit of white and a smaller bit of blue, both doubled over

Then I gathered the suckers (are you seeing tutu similarlities?)

Stitch it to an old somewhat broken hair comb
I'm lazy and didn't want to waste a perfectly good comb!
(Though I may live to regret the use of an old comb, ce la vie)

Whack it in your hair and you're most of the way there!

After I put the camera away, I played with it a bit and will add some more bits n pieces to it, and probably wear it differently. I looked at my hair and had some sweeping, brilliant ideas on how to wear it all together, so I imagine this fascinator will be on the side of my head and my hair will do the rest!

So the next two nights and Saturday day will be full steam ahead, finishing the details, adding the final touches and racing out the door fully dressed and made up only to then think about how I'm going to get to Luna Park for the ball...

Tutu Hot!

So with swirly painted silk ready to be sewn together in to some kind of skirt, I'd spent much time thinking about how to create a tutu to lift the hardy-there silk skirt to it's pseudo horizontal position.

Spotlight had a sale on lots of fabric including tulle netting so I bought both white and blue to turn into a tutu. I'd thought about buying a tutu from Platinum Ink in Petersham but thought I should just give making one a go. I'd originally thought of just sewing rows of tulle together with a channel and elastic, but I didn't like the idea of the bunching around my waist. Plus I didn't like to possibility of being all scratched up by bunches of tulle.

So, raiding my stash again, I found some pretty black base fabric with blue oriental flower patterns highlighted with gold. Now the basis for this plan/ pattern, was a strip of fabric with layers of different length tulle sewn on to it. That way the fabric is soft against my body, can be gathered with elastic if need be and will sit underneath the corset and hopefully be hidden. Also it means I can sew the silk skirt directly to the same fabric so the skirt and tutu are all in one piece.

Have I lost you? Here, have a picture:


So it's still in a straight length, it wraps around me well, not tight, so now I have to figure out exactly how I'm going to put it all together.

I've sewn the skirt together, but first I cut some bits off and sewed them back on to make it a more circle skirt shape, though failing at being an actual circle. I also spent the last week hand sewing a rolled hem on the skirt, which hopefully will make it wave nicely while on.

And then, if you put the two together...


It looks like it should be part of a kids climbing gym... this is going to be a crazy outfit, but I'm looking forward to it!

I've had a bit of a crazy thought about faux tattoos with henna... I might yet look in to it.

It's that time again... Stitching up a Glitz!

I haven't been over here much. Lots of plans brewing, waiting for a time for sewing frenzy.

The last thing you really saw from me here was a costume I made last year for the Burlesque Ball, which I just loved and from which a serious crush on all things Burlesque and vintage took its hold over me. Needless to say a number of my brewing plans are vintage inspired. But! the project I have been working on, is of course, my new costume for:

click for all the glamour

Last year I stuck to the dress code/theme of Red, Black or Burlesque. This year I detected a real 'Air' theme in the style and marketing. The headline act is the fantastic Julie Atlas Muz who I looking forward to seeing (and hopefully having a moment to meet!). I was supposed to meet her on my trip to New York last year, but the world intervened and it just never happened. She is the face of this year's Ball and that glorious wind-sweeping hair just captured my imagination and I knew I wanted to make my costume as 'airy' as could.

I raided my stash and found some left over banner silk from a previous project, and I'm not sure where from, but a costume concept just barged in to my head!

I'm making it all up as I go along, which is half the fun. But the concept revolved around a tutu, frilly knickers and a corset... my problem is I owned none of these things. But I started on the skirt anyway.

With a white base, I had to pick blue as the accompanying colour, plus I know blue suits me. I wanted a short circle skirt style that in my crazy vision, sits horizontally out from my hips supported by a mega tutu. I started out by cutting out the skirt pieces from the lengths of left over silk and then stretched them on my silk painting frame (which I realised afterwards while taking the photos I should have done in the reverse order, talk about rusty brain!). I'd drawn swirly designs in an effort to be airy and had gutta-d the outlines in silver then took to the patterns with a fabulous azure.



I'm not even going to pretend it's perfect, and I'm not going to care it's not. I've thought about a number of ways to construct a tutu that will sit right, be comfortable for the night and have the right shape for my crazy vision. But I might leave that for the next post...

In the meantime I asked some of my fabulous burlesque performing friends about where to find the divine frilly knickers so many of them wear - Target and Cotton on Body for those out there about to go and find the same. I'm now the proud owner of not one but three pairs of frilly knickers, between which I can't decide! But I guess a girl can never have too many pairs eh?

I also wanted to track down a corset and would you believe my luck, a friend was in fact selling a bright blue corset which turned out to fit me and be the perfect colour (it must be a sign from the burlesque goddesses). So, while I have to finish the skirt and tutu, I'm also thinking about a set of pasties and fascinator to make. This costume just keeps growing and growing, and I'm really excited to see how it turns out! Let's not think about the fact that the ball is only 3 weekends away.

So next post, I'll have to tell you about how I went about starting my tutu and sewing together my skirt. I'll try to keep up regular posts so you can see how it all comes together in time for 20th February. Look out Luna Park, you won't know what hit you!

Kisses darlings!

On my way to a burlesque show called black cherry and thought i'd better blog some glamour ;)