Hello! I've been thinking a lot about fabric block printing and painting lately. I'm very inspired by pretty much everything that Marilla Walker makes and sews - wonderful fabric combined with a super and original style aesthetic. I'm always excited when she's done a new blogpost - what did I do before sewing blogs??
So I'm looking online for old sheets and cheap pale fabric to get started with. And in the meantime, I wanted to have a go at making a skater type dress, copying one I saw on Etsy.
I was imagining a nice drapey white with a shorter skirt, but when I found this weird waffley long-johns fabric at (my now firmly established favourite) Fabric House Ltd on Goldhawk Road, I knew this was the one. The really nice owner there pointed out some weird quirks of the fabric (the makers appear to have abandoned the flower pattern in the centre few inches for some reason. Kind of reminds me of the time I was shaving my legs and got bored after the first one and just left the other). But as he said, at £2 a metre you really can't complain!
Still needs (a)hemming
I thought the bodice of the By Hand London Anna dress could work, and I did mostly work from that. I brought the slash neck in a bit, and lowered the neckline. Then I dropped the waist a little (which I think was an error actually) and sort of bodged the gathers. I used the skirt I'd already hacked from my last go at the Simplicity 1880. The idea for this dress pretty much hinged on the red/cream combo, and I definitely had a keenness to get my piping on. I bought some cord and used some cotton to get nice thick piping, which went on easily with my zipper foot. Then some stash buttons completed the look. The belt is from a Portobello Road find in a totally copied colourway, another inspiration for this dress.
I see this guy as a very wearable toile, and would like to have another go soon. I rushed it in my eagerness to see if I had enough skills acquired to realise the idea I'd had in my head. I'm hoping that as I go on, I will rush less if I come to trust that I can more or less make the things I'm starting to imagine. With setbacks, no doubt! I'm dreaming lots about a black and white sailor style dress next...
Ahoy! Soon...
I also have a blazer I made a few weeks ago to show. This is a different chap altogether. After making a couple of Morris blazers, I thought the pattern would work really well to copy a truly excellent look I saw photos of Kristen Stewart wearing a good while back which really stuck in my mind for general ace insouciance (though she always appears good at that, jacket or not).
How brilliant is this look! I see now it's a Roberto Cavalli jacket - I also see, looking at it for the first time since making mine, where mine doesn't quite have the same effect!! Hers is more smoking jacket style, satin patterned radness whereas mine is more... bad prom tux.
Looking hard like Kristen. I'm going to be in Twilight now, probably.
Actually, I just found this pic too - obviously Ryan Gosling couldn't look crummy, but still it's not the look that I was going for! I haven't really found much use for this jacket. But if/when I get invited to prom, no doubt it'll come into its own!
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