Back at the start of Autumn I spied this image of Celia Birtwell and Cathy McGowan in simple plain coloured shifts. No bishop sleeves, dropped waists, smocking or psychedelic patterns. Just simple and casual.
So chic!
And then I noticed more....
Clock wise from top left - Jean Shrimpton, France Gall, Julie Christie, Model
Friday, June 14, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
June 13th is Sewing Machine day!
Today, June 13th is sewing machine day! (Whoooo!)
The sewing machine has existed in many forms since 1755 (258 years!) and many variations were invented and patented over time eventually leading to a "patent war" in the 1850s between Isaac Singer and Elias Howe.
Singer won but had to pay out Howe with some of his earnings as Howe owned the original patent. Even though it was 20 years old at the time.
The sewing machine has existed in many forms since 1755 (258 years!) and many variations were invented and patented over time eventually leading to a "patent war" in the 1850s between Isaac Singer and Elias Howe.
Singer won but had to pay out Howe with some of his earnings as Howe owned the original patent. Even though it was 20 years old at the time.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
The Bliss of Mrs Blossom
I picked up this fabric from Fabric-a-brac (blogged here) and I knew it had to become a dress! The fabric is good enough that I could have even made a jacket – but alas there was only 2 meters!
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Blog Society + Giveaway!
Yesterday I attended the launch of Blog Society and their
workshop ‘Learning the art of digital story telling”. It was hosted by Jaclyn Carlson
from Little Paper Trees and
also included Jen Bishop from InteriorsAddict and Vivian Mansour from Ish and Chi
We then broke off into groups to learn a few new
skills on styling and photography. I don’t often get to do nicely styled vignettes
on this blog, but it was still useful and there are ways I know I can adapt
them into sewing life. My group was hosted by Jessica Bellef – Stylist for Temple and Webster Photographers Milton Gan and Emma Scamell
We learnt about using scale, texture, colour,
harmony and shape. Here are some of my attempts…
It was a really useful day and I meant lots of
amazing people from all different genres. I was so great to meet my fellow
Sydney bloggers;
Noah and Willow (Events planning)
Mscritique (Beauty, Style, Food, Travel)
Lipstick and Cake (food, beauty, lifestyle)
Annette Wilson (Photography)
Antipodean Diaries (Beauty,
Style, Food, Home)
The Urchin Collective (Life, style & Curiosities)
The Style Project (Interior Design)
Potty Mouth Mama (life, beauty, fashion and everything else)
Eat Read Love (gorgeous styling, food and photography)
Amanda Fuller of Kaleidoscope (Interior
& Graphic design)
Amanda May (Fashion and Styling)
Dom Morris of Crafted (crafty
tutorials and more)
There was so many wonderful people there I didn’t get
to meet everyone (If you were there, let me know and ill add you to my shout
out list above!)
After such a great day of networking and learning,
I popped down to the book store and picked up some new sewing books – including
this nifty zine Fix your Clothes by
Raileigh Briggs
It’s a cute little book which has some very handy hits for repairing your clothes like sewing on buttons, mending seams, darning
holes, and caring for certain fabrics.
Pretty basic stuff – but I have met people who didn't know how to sew a button and this zine would have been great to pass on!
As a sewer (and now blogger) I can never stop
learning. There are so many techniques out there that I’d love to know and
become an expert at. Reading other blogs, going to workshops and meeting other
people all help with us learning more and more about our craft or life in general.
To win this book all you have to do is tell me
something you would really like to learn. It doesn't have to be sewing related (but
that would be good so I can set up some tutorials!)
I will pick a winner and have it sent out to you wherever
you are in the world!
If you’re a pretty good sewer and you’re not keen
for the zine (rhymes!) let me know in you comment
Cat xo
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
The Fairest Of the Seasons
Nico - The Fairest Of the Seasons
It's
getting mighty cold now that winter has arrived in Sydney. While everyone in
the North is enjoying the first days of summer, we're settling in for the long
and boring winter.
Boring
because our winter has none of the festive benefits of a northern winter;
No
Christmas
No
Snow
No
outdoor ice skating
No
public holidays unless you count the Queen’s Birthday Public holiday this
coming Monday and after that there's nothing till October!
Very
boring and cold and DRY! And the daylight hours are of course shorter making it
hard to take decent outfit photos for you all.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
The Pattie Suit - Progress report
I received my fabric in the mail last Friday for the jacket/skirt combination that I was talking about here.
Before I started, I attempted to read through the instructions, which were the biggest load of gobbledygook, so I threw them in the bin and took out my favourite sewing book - The Readers digest complete guide to sewing.
It has an entire section on tailoring a jacket and recommends techniques that make way more sense and the pictures are clearer.
I also decided to name this the Pattie Suit, because it’s shorter than "jacket skirt combination" and because I'm currently reading Pattie Boyd's biography - Wonderful life. So my sewing will be embedded with quotes and stories from Pattie's life.
So far I have finished the body of the jacket and will move on to the collar, and facings next.
This is what's happened so far
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Baby you can drive my car
I’ve been working on this early 60s coat for awhile and I finished the hand stitching this weekend.
The fit is similar to the 50s style car coats – it’s shapeless and only has 2 small darts at the back to stop it looking too sack like. The pattern I used was Butterick 2624
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Fabric-a-brac
This Saturday I woke up nice and early to catch the train
into Newtown for the Fabric-a-brac pop up shop.
Newtown is one of those special places in a big city. You can dress as you wish and no one will blink an eye. It's the alternative centre of Sydney and you'll find many shops to
support people's love for vintage clothing or mid-century home wears as well as
piercing and tattoo parlours, cyber Goth outfitters and plenty of hairdressers
who will style your hair to match your outfit. In international terms it could probably be compared to Camden Town in London or Portland, Oregon. It's become very popular
for upper middle class families and lots of high end boutiques have moved in
lately, but that's ok. Its underbelly is still owned by the weird and wonderful!
My friends and I Ioved it so much as teenagers we would
replace the words of Petula Clarks Downtown
with Newtown and sing it on the train
on the way there!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Pattern Purchases & Pop Up Shops
I had a little shopping spree this morning on eBay and bought a few cute dress patterns from the late 60s
McCalls 8917 from 1967
It's says it’s a teen pattern so I might have to make a muslin first just in case there's any trickiness across the shoulders. The long-sleeve version looks like it will be great in a soft viscose rayon or silk. Hope fully I can find one in a fun psychedelic print
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Dedicated Follower of Fashion - Green Dolly
I work in a fairly big company and although they are a pretty relaxed and flexible
place, I work in the very Business-y part of the business and so I'm expected
to look dressed and pressed each day.
Normally early 60s dressing lends itself very well
to corporate wear - wiggle dresses, twin sets and lovely dress/jacket combos,
but it's all a bit done in my opinion.
People stop referring to it as 60s and call it
"Mad Men inspired". Now don't get me wrong I love Mad Men and Pan Am
when that was on, and will put on my dress/jacket combo when the occasion calls
but there is a whole other half of the decade to wear!
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Green Shell Top Tutorial
Today I will be showing you a variation on Burda Shift Dress 09/2012 #107
This variation turns the top into a tank style top with a cross back. You can use Burda 09/2012 #107 or Collette patterns Laurel as your base as we only need the front and part of the back of the pattern.
If you have another pattern for a shift dress or plain top, you can use this too! I will instruct you to make this top to fit you so make sure you have your measuring tape and if you have one a dressmakers mannequin or packing tape shell (if you ever made one). I don't have a mannequin and I did ok so don't worry if you don't have one
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Friday eye candy
Seeing as it’s that most special of days (Friday!) I thought I’d treat you all to some 60s eye candy.
So many lovely sewing and styling ideas
Happy Weekend!
Catherine Deneuve and David Bailey
White Summer (The Yardbirds)
Its been getting much much colder here in Sydney lately, but I've just added this spring top to my Burdastyle studio
A lovely White cotton gaberdine shell top with cross-back straps and detachable bow
I know it might not be 60s in anyway, but I thought id share it with you because... well, I made it!
To get us back to our scheduled programming here is the first thing I ever posted on Burdastyle. A navy linen shift dress...
Check out my bob haircut! I miss it sometimes
This was back in the day where I didn't know what facings were and thought I had to do teeny tiny hems along the neck and arm holes! Even though I've been sewing since I was a child, this was my first dress, from a pattern and without my mum present to help me.
How far I've come!
Do you have a Burdastyle account? Share your name below!
A lovely White cotton gaberdine shell top with cross-back straps and detachable bow
I know it might not be 60s in anyway, but I thought id share it with you because... well, I made it!
To get us back to our scheduled programming here is the first thing I ever posted on Burdastyle. A navy linen shift dress...
Check out my bob haircut! I miss it sometimes
This was back in the day where I didn't know what facings were and thought I had to do teeny tiny hems along the neck and arm holes! Even though I've been sewing since I was a child, this was my first dress, from a pattern and without my mum present to help me.
How far I've come!
Do you have a Burdastyle account? Share your name below!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
New Penzance Island - Style 2475
Here’s a little tid bit about me. I love Wes Anderson. I
love his movies and TV commercials. I
could watch The Darjeeling Limited over and over and when I'm in a sooky mood,
Fantastic Mr Fox cheers me up. But none of his movies have inspired me fashion wise since The Royal Tenenbaums until Moonlight kingdom
Suzy Bishop – the young heroine of the movie has a pretty enviable set of outfits. The wardrobe was put together by Kasia Walicka Maimone who was interviewed in the
Lula Issue 16 (where she talked about working with Wes and making the costumes for the movie)
Also did I mention the whole movie is set in the 60s? (whoo
hoo!)
So of course I couldn't help myself but sew up my own
version of Suzy’s yellow mini dress. She wears this at the end of the movie
while Sam paints and her brothers listen their record. Suzy's appears to be made in yellow broderie anglaise
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
A sewing related music video?
Check out this video by Black Books, which utilises thread, fabric scraps, pins, buttons and the occasional water droplet to create a moody and dramatic scene
Who knew your sewing box could be so edgy?
Who knew your sewing box could be so edgy?
LinkConnector Validation
Beat it on down the line
So I thought I'd show you what I'm currently busy working on and what I've got planned for the next few months of sewing...
This is my inspiration image. I don't have this pattern and it isn't for sale anywhere I've looked, so instead I will use a combination of 2 other patterns Burdastyle Mini Skirt 08/2012 #135 (without pockets) and Burdastyle Jorinde 4112. I may change the lapel of the jacket slightly.
I've recently bought this fabric print in Cotton Sateen from Spoonflower which I intend on making into a skirt and jacket outfit.
I've never sewn a tailored jacket before and am yet to find a decent tailoring supplies store in Sydney. So it's gonna be interesting!
The skirt I have sewn many times, so that will be a cinch. The jacket - well I'll keep you included in my attempt at tailoring!
Monday, May 13, 2013
Vogue 7219
Step in
shirt dress with or without top-stitch trim has bias collar and full length
shirt sleeves; pockets in side seams
Last year I purchased this sweet shirt dress
pattern from eBay. It's a lovely dress from 1967 and has all those things you'd
expect from a late 60s dress like Bishop Sleeves and the wide tent shape
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Why hello there!
Welcome to what I hope is the first of many posts
on Sewing the 60s!
I’ve been obsessed with the 60s since I was a little kid, dressing up like a flower child and listening to The Beatles and Pink Floyd with my dad. I used to watch Peter Sellers movies and Get Smart and dream of wearing the beautiful dresses and outfits those pretty dolly birds wore. My mother once passed onto me a vinyl beach bag covered in multicoloured daisies and as much as I wanted to use it, I also decided not to because even at that young age I knew it was a treasured token of my mothers childhood and of the 60s.
I’ve been obsessed with the 60s since I was a little kid, dressing up like a flower child and listening to The Beatles and Pink Floyd with my dad. I used to watch Peter Sellers movies and Get Smart and dream of wearing the beautiful dresses and outfits those pretty dolly birds wore. My mother once passed onto me a vinyl beach bag covered in multicoloured daisies and as much as I wanted to use it, I also decided not to because even at that young age I knew it was a treasured token of my mothers childhood and of the 60s.
Fast forward 20 or so years and I finally have the
skills and historical knowledge to make those charming outfits for myself. I may only be making replicas of those delicious garments but ill try to do so with the same spirit and freedom of that wonderful decade.
So join me on this journey through sewing the 60s.
I may also slip in some Craft, Fashion and Social history (another love of
mine) as well as venture into some other decades of which 60s fashion would not
have existed without!
Thanks and Welcome to Sewing the 60s!
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