Book Review: Draping: The Complete Course

Hello Lovelies! I was packing up some stuff to bring from home when I came across this book. I thought that I had reviewed it but can't find the post anywhere. I must have been having a senior moment. Doh!

The book in question is "Draping: The Complete Course" by Karolyn Kiisel, published by Laurence King Publishing. The book itself is  a pretty weighty tome, standing in at a very informative 320 pages plus a DVD with 32 video tutorials.  

I don't know how many of you have tried your hand at draping or even want to give it a go but are a bit clueless where to start. If so then this might just be the book for you. The main body of the text is preceded by an introduction outlining all the tools that you need, followed by three sections covering Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Draping. 

Each of the main sections is broken down into several subsections all covering draping theory along with some projects as examples for each technique. Each section is illustrated with a mixture of full-colour photographs and diagrams.

The Beginning Draping Section covers:

• Draping the Woven Panel

• Dresses (Like this copy of Audrey Hepburn's iconic Givenchy dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's)

• Corsets (my favourite section and a garment that I have draped many times. This one is Lacroix, Darlings).

Intermediate Draping covers:

• Skirts
• Blouses 
• Trousers
• Knits

All of the above in every variant you can think of including bodice variations, seaming, darts and dart positioning and sleeves all all kinds. It is really, really comprehensive. I love the two blouses below, especially the Gibson Girl style.

Look at these bonkers Harem Pants as worn by the glorious Nijinsky in the Ballet Russes. 

Advanced Draping Covers:

• Coats and Jackets
• The Grand Gown
• Draping on the Bias
• Improvisational Draping

My favourite are the grand gowns and there are some great ones as inspiration, everything from Lady Gaga, Glinda from the Wizard of Oz to Vivienne Westwood frocks.

I am going to caveat this review by stating that I have't had a chance to do many of the exercises in the book (except the corset ones) but am hoping to give at least a couple of the others a go this year. 

So to round up, this book has pretty much everything. Even if you will never give draping a go then the information on darts, grain lines, seaming and a wealth of other topics contained within would provide you with a better understanding of how garments are constructed and how patterns are made. There is also good information on fashion history. This along with the colour illustrations makes for a lovely book and a really interesting read. I think that this book would be invaluable if you want to design and make garments to your own designs or where no commercial patterns exist, like historical costuming or cosplay, and would allow you to create or copy just about anything. If draping is something that you fancy giving a bash then I can't recommend this book enough.

Have you ever tried draping or designing your own garments? Do you make your own patterns or think that it is all too much of a faff when they are so readily (and cheaply) available?

Hope that you are having a great week!

K xx

Disclaimer: I bought this book with my own money. All opinions are most definitely mine.

(New) Look of Love - K6471. A TNT in the Making.

Hello lovelies, The last few weeks have seen a bit of a transformation in the way in which I am feeling. Gone is the bad case of the blue meanies that has been hanging round for months only to be replaced with a reawakening urge to create. The fact that Sprogzilla has moved in with me for Sixth Form college is no coincidence, methinks (although you would think that since she is doing photography she would have jumped at the chance of taking some photos for the blog, but no. There was grumbling and a big huff. She did it though). 

The only downside recently has been that my back has been playing up again and I am really struggling with sitting or walking, making sewing very difficult. This top has been cut out and partly sewn for an age but it took me a few attempts to get the hem finally stitched (and even longer to get photos).

One of the things that I have realised is that I desperately need some new clothes that could work in my day job. Normally I would gravitate to the sort of sad 80's goth rock chick/boho-vibe garments that I love but needs must and a posh new(ish) job means that I have to up my office game. 

Whilst browsing in WHSmith to see if I could find a copy of Burda Style (not locally - boo) I chanced upon Sew magazine with New Look K6471 stuck to the front in a US 10-22. Normally I avoid these kind of magazines like the plague - the attached patterns are always in the smaller size ranges and they are just chock full of adverts and very little content that appeals to me. I don't think that this one is any better than the others but I did want the pattern as all four views fitted in with my work wear plans.

I did the usual pattern adjustments, adding 4" to the bodice length and a monster FBA. This top was originally dartless but I added in a bust dart. It had quite a lot of ease so I didn't add in as much of a FBA as normal, meaning that I didn't have to split the dart (I just altered another top pattern and rotated the darts into three as one was just way too big).

I picked up this fabric years ago when I moved back to Newcastle for work. It was on a roll outside one of the Asian fabric shops close to where I was living and was about £4 a metre. No idea of the fabric content maybe a viscose mix, but it has a lovely drape and doesn't crush. Absolutely no thought of pattern matching by me, plus I only had about 2m, but it has worked out really well and it is hard to see the join over the sleeves or at the back seam. I used the long hem from View D for the back and just pinned it up in the mirror to the most flattering length at the front. I used my french curves (another eBay purchase as I couldn't find my old ones) to draw a nice curve from front to back. The pic above has made me think that I might want to try a peplum.

Anyway I do love this top. I love the skimming fit and it feels very comfortable although looking at these photos I can see that it would probably look a bit better with a belt, that there is far too much fabric above my cartoon boobs and that the excess below gives me that "is she or isn't she?" maternity top vibe. The joy of having ridiculous fitting challenges. The length is great though and it hides my bingo-wings. Win-win.

If you follow the Sewcialists' blog then you will know that November is tried "n" true (TNT) sewing month. I didn't have a TNT pattern but think that this top fits the bill. I will definitely make this again, addressing the fitting challenges as I go. In fact I have another one cut out to make View A with the tie neckline but in the spirit of TNT's I have changed this to be a longer pussy-bow style because I like them. I have fabric for number 3 looked out and washed too.

So do you have a favourite sewing or knitting pattern that you keep going back to? Or a favourite style of garment? Are you taking part in the Sewcialists' TNT month? 

Have a lovely week. 

K xx

Gay Cats Rock!

Hello, Lovelies! I  can't believe it has been a whole month since I last posted. Lots has been happening though. I have been out and about with some friends from work. We went down to London to see the last day of the the Grayson Perry Exhibition, "The  Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!" at the Serpentine Gallery.

Sketch from one of Grayson Perry's Notebooks

More about that later. Most excitingly I met  the gorgeous Vix and Jon who were trading at the Classic Car Boot Sale in King's Cross. Such style! I was gutted that it was only a flying visit on my part but I had split off from the rest. I still made it to the gallery before they did though.

Before we all met up, the advance guard were persuaded to go for quick detour to Walthamstow Market. Stupidly, I didn't take any photos while I was there but I did make a pilgrimage to the legendary "Man Outside Sainsbury's" (#TMOS). He had some great fabrics but I went for a wander and ended up not going back to the Tube the same way so never bought anything from his stall. I did buy 3 fabrics though. One from one of the shops on the left (didn't catch the name) and two from The Textile Centre.

The leopard chiffon and the camera fabric are from The Textile Centre. I bought 4 m of each. It wasn't even a tenner. Walthamstow may be my new happy place.

This gorgeous African wax fabric was £6 for 6 yards. There were so many there but funnily enough not too many designs that I liked. I was looking for yellow colours to go with some that my friend brought me back from Senegal but didn't find anything suitable..... this time. :)

I did take a few photos at the Serpentine. Speaking to the people at wok, Grayson Perry is a bit of a "Marmite" artist but I really like him and his work.

Detail from "Animal Spirit". I loved the crows.

He has a very perceptive view of life and a great sense of wry humour. as well as such technical skill in a wide range of media. Look at this ace quilted wall hanging.

I really enjoyed the Exhibition and was taken with the abundant cheeky squirrel population in Hyde Park and the flocks of parakeets. Quite surreal. It was a beautiful day.

Marriage Shrine - A beautiful homage to the Grayson' Perry's wife. I thought that this was so touching.

I have been sewing, ACTUAL sewing and have been spending any free time (haha!) between juggling work with trying to catch up with some creative things. I have bought my own body weight in vintage buttons and crafty stuff. Going to post more on that soon as I have BIG plans to update my work wardrobe with new me-made things. I have a pile cut out and ready to go so watch this space.

So have you got any sewing plans? Been out to any good exhibitions?Or have a favourite artist you would like to share? 

Later,  Lovelies. I am getting back to my sewing while I am on a roll!

Kxx

Vintage Lingerie: My Sewcialists' Tribute in a Book Review plus How to Scale Up the Patterns and a Me-Made 1930's Girdle

Are you a Sewcialist? No matter what your answer is to that question it's been a whole lot of fun looking at the wonderful garments made by everyone taking part in August's Tribute Month. I really enjoyed the "Inspiration Post" series that ran in July and how those have panned out into some great garments. Lots of new-to-me sewing bloggers with such a wealth of talent.  

I am absolutely snowed under with work, even on this Bank Holiday weekend (which is why I am procrastinating writing a blog post) and just don't know just how much sewing I will be getting done any time soon so I am going to dedicate this book review as my Sewcialists'' Tribute to Elaine over at The Demented Fairy who makes the most bonkers, wonderful Steampunk-inspired costumes and "muggle" clothes. Honestly, I would kill for half this woman's wardrobe. 

It was her recent post on lingerie that got me thinking, so with my best multi-tasking hat on I will be reviewing Jill Salen's wonderful book, "Vintage Lingerie", sharing the resource that enabled me to scale-up the patterns to a wearable size and showing a couple of me-made girdles drafted from the pattern for a 1932 girdle in this book in a tribute to her "smalls"-making skills. 

This book, Jill Salen's "Vintage Lingerie: Historical Patterns and Techniques", and her corset one, are my go-to books if I want to sew some lingerie. 

The contents are in the format of an introduction followed by projects laid out as gorgeous colour photos of the garments which are culled from her own collection or from museums. The book ends with some very useful techniques.

There are 27 different projects in the book which makes this a very good buy even if you only make 2-3 of them as it is a wonderful resource.

Along with the photos are descriptions and a little history of the garments written in an informal, entertaining style. 

Each garment comes with  a double-page layout of the pattern drawn to a scale at either 1 square: 1 inch or 2:1 and require scaling up to the required size before use. 

This is the tricky part and will take a bit of patience, a decent ruler, french curves and a lot of swearing pattern paper. I drafted up the 1932 girdle pattern above to a modern size 8 using the measurements outlined in "Metric Pattern Cutting" by Winifred Aldrich as I was fitting models but you can use your own stats just as easily. 

I used the method of enlarging based on percentages that is found over at the Foundation Revealed website. The link can be found here. Seriously, this is probably the most useful thing that you will ever learn if you need to scale up these kind of patterns. This technique could probably be used to size-up just about anything. I really must have a go with a "proper" sewing pattern.

 Definitely, owe the author, Cathy Hay an eternal debt of gratitude for writing this guide.

The two things that are massively important: grain lines and balance points. Very handily marked on the patterns so remember to transfer them over. It will make a massive difference to the success of your garments. 

Also, boring I know but you will need to make a toile, unless you are very brave and trust your drafting (or very lucky and fit into the original garment measurements).

So how did my attempts turn out? I think pretty well. I loved sewing these girdles. They are made of an outer fabric of silk duping flatlined to corset coutil and lined in my trademark quilting cotton colourful linings.

I still haven't finished these girdles as they need their suspenders on the bottom so could be considered UFO's.  I also have no idea where to buy the little hooks and eyes that are stamped through the front of the girdles so the bottoms still need some sort of closure above where the suspenders are. I could have used eyelets but they might be a bit of a faff to get on and off then.  A longer busk would have been very unfortunate when you sat down.... ooft!

I do love the lines. They look much better on. If they look a bit collapsed in the rear on my dress form this is because they need a rounded bum to fill them out. These girdles would give you an fantastic shape and would look ace lengthened into a corset dress. No idea how comfy they would be wearing them all day but shaped like that who would care?

So have you taken part in Tribute Month? Do you admire someone's sewing skills or (bonkers) pattern choices? Do you like historical sewing?

Hope that life isn't totally pants, lovelies! (groan)

Kxx

N.B. Just for the sake of clarity I don't own the pics from the book. I bought it with my own money and would gladly recommend anyone with a passion for vintage lingerie to do the same. I also made my girdles a couple of years ago...... but hey who is counting?

Book Review: "The Great British Sewing Bee: From Stitch to Style".

You would have to be living underneath a rock to not know that the new series of TGBSB is back on the telly (or BBC iPlayer if you are like me). And as with every popular BBC series there is also an accompanying book - "From Stitch to Style".

This book follows the same format as the last, a hardback book supplemented with a separate cardboard pack containing all the pattern sheets.
After comparing the contents there is a little repetition - basic sewing kit, how to use the patterns and some fitting advice. Considering that this book would probably be used as a stand-alone then this is not really an issue.

Apart from the intro, the book is divided up into three chapters:

Chapter One: Foundation - which covers some core sewing skills (simple seams and seam finishes, interfacings, elastic casings, exposed and surface mounted zips, appliqué, sewing with sticky/slippery fabrics and fabric ties and Rouleau loops)  and includes patterns for the "Bias Cut Top" featured on Episode One of the new series, and A-line child's skirt, a pretty natty jumpsuit (as modelled by a very lovely older model), the babygrow featured on the show, a child's cape and a unisex kimono.

Chapter Two: Inspiration - Which has a load of patterns and their corresponding hacks and some additional core skills (invisible zips, blind hemming, pleats, lapped zips, bias binding, lining and darts)

Chapter Three: Exploration - Which has even more patterns, including the soft-cup bra pattern and a very nice "Drape, Drape" -style asymmetric jersey top, related hacks and more core skills (snap fasteners, sewing with stretch fabrics, sewing with lace, pin tucking and buttonholes).

The sizing is quite inclusive and goes from a size 8 to a size 20, which is about a 45 1/2-inch bust so lots of FBA-action for me! It's even got a page of style advice broken down into rectangles, pears, inverted triangles, apples and hourglasses.  Don't know if I agree with all that nonsense as I think you should be able to wear what the hell you want but it is there if you fancy a look-see.

There are a few children's patterns, a couple for men (shirt, cycle top), with the majority for women including some lingerie.

To round up, this book is really well worth the purchase price. I paid a tenner for it in our local big supermarket chain but it is available on Amazon for the cost of a Big 4 sewing pattern (unless you are in the US of course. Damn those 99 cent sales!).  You get a whole wheen of patterns, some good ideas to hack them and some simple and well-illustrated sewing techniques and advice. I was so underwhelmed by the first two books in this series but am so happy to have bought this and the last book,  "Fashion with Fabric". Between the two of them you have some great patterns and enough info to hold your hand.

In other news, Sprogzilla and I have been out and about taking advantage of the lovely weather and the festival that is on in the West End of Glasgow at the moment. I love this pic of my wee chicken, she is rocking her mermaid hair.
Hope that you are all having lovely weeks and enjoying life wherever you are!
Kxx

DISCLAIMER: Just for the sake of transparency I bought this book using my own hard-earned. All comments are most definitely personal ramblings of my stitch-crazed mind.