Barbara

Finally I bring to you - The Barbara dress! 

I actually finished this last weekend, but never got to take photos! Cheeky me, but finally this lovely lady is complete and I love it! Its soft and feminine and even if it's really more 70s than 60s, I must argue - for its inspiration comes from one of the great ladies of the 60s - Barbara Hulanicki

Dress Dreams

This coming weekend is not only a long weekend, but its also the start of daylight savings which means lots more sunlight before and after work

Around this time every year, my sketch books and ideas lists quickly become full perhaps because of the extra light, warm weather and the increase of activity in the garden and in nature. The anticipation of summer and the festive season also provides lots of reasons to come up with fun new dresses to make.

Here are some of the dresses that are helping me with these ideas. They're also the kind I wish I could just pluck off the screen in the morning to wear and head off for the day feeling super

Tutorial: French seams and double stitched seams

Two of the techniques I managed to obtain while making the Barbara dress (photos yet to come!) were French seams and rolled hems. Both are good techniques for light materials such as chiffon or silk as they both hide the delicate edges within the seam and give a nice clean finish

Today I will show you French seams - which are apparently called English seams in France (couture anglaise), and also a neat little technique which is ideal for curves while using delicate fabrics

French seam

The French seam requires you to make two lines of stitches – one in the seam allowance and one on the normal seam line. It’s ideal for nice soft fabrics as it encases the raw edge within in the seam. Some fabrics do not take well to being overlocked and so the less it's fussed around with, the better. They are also good for medium weight fabrics and children’s clothes as they are hardy and tend not to unravel on often washed garments

The Beatles in Australia (and a little giveaway!)

On Sunday, my boyfriend and I took a little visit to the city to see the exhibition - The Beatles in Australia! 

The exhibition details the hype before, during and after The Beatles tour to Australia in June 1964.

It was a pretty thorough and exciting exhibition, with lots of newspaper clippings, magazines, promotional merchandise and newsreel footage for visitors to read. There were also listening booths set up to hear from people who were there recall their own experiences with the tour and a mini diner set with a jukebox and dining table so you could sit and flick through scrapbooks put together by various Beatles fans

You can view the entire photo album over here on my Flickr, but here are a few stand outs of the exhibition

Dedicated Follower of Fashion - 4 out of 5 days!

At the start of the week, the weatherman promised us a week of 29 to 30 degree temps every day, and lots of sunshine! Just the perfect weather for me to start pulling out my dresses that I haven't worn since March/April. And combined with the early sunrises (5:30am) there is plenty of daylight for me to finally start taking some outfit photos! 

So I made an effort to take a photo of my outfit for work each day (except Friday where i was running late) so here we go!

Barbara - progress update

So far I have really enjoyed making this dress. Sewing with a different fabric in a new style is rather refreshing! And as this is underlined, managing 2 pieces of fabric that move around a lot has been a learning experience

To recap, this dress as named after the BIBA genius herself Barbara Hulanicki, will be modeled on this pattern - Style 1118 (1975)

She is, Polly Maggoo!

We had planned to go to the Beatles exhibition today, but decided to wait as we thought that it might be a crowded for opening day, so instead we stayed home had pancakes and watched movies all day

One movie I like to watch largely for the visuals is Who are you, Polly Magoo?

This movie from 1966 takes a satirical look at the fashion industry and its opulence 

The main protagonist is Polly Magoo. Model and It Girl from New York who everyone is enamored with. 

A TV show interviews her and the host falls in love, while a Prince sees her photo in a magazine and falls for her also, ordering for his best secret agents to go find her.