10 Thursday Apr 2014
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Idly browsing through Google images, and came upon the blog of a fellow Antipodean, Mrs C, called Sent from my iRon, which is a lovely play on words. The particular post I found was a gift from her mother, but she has a very eclectic site, worth checking out.
09 Wednesday Apr 2014
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Here again after a long (too long) break. My Inspiration in every Issue didn’t last very long! To be fair, I did do a few more projects, just never got around to posting them. I’ve also spent most of the summer working on another major project, which is almost finished, but I can’t write about it just yet.
One thing I’ve been doing is a short course at Central TAFE in Perth called Fashion Design for Beginners. It covered things like trend forecasting, branding, illustration, designing a logo etc. I had been going to do a course just on Fasion Illustration, since that was what I really wanted to learn, but there were not enough enrolments for that one. The course was still very interesting and stimulating, and I did get to do quite a bit of drawing. I think mainly I should just try and practice. Styles of drawing are so varied, and don’t necessarily involve accuracy or realism, which is what I usually find hard about drawing. There doesn’t seem to be a right way to do it, as long as you convey an impression of the garments. There are in any case two lots of drawings, the illustrations on a model which give an impression of the garment or outfit, and technical drawings, flats or lays, which show how a garment is constructed. The latter I found quite easy, probably because I know how a garment goes together, but the more artistic side of it was difficult. And I gave up trying to draw realistic people, realistic clothes was hard enough!
All together a worthwhile exercise, particularly if I can keep up some practice. I really wanted to learn the drawing part so that I can illustrate the ideas I have when I want to make clothes. The lecturer was a very talented artist called Seonaidh Murphy, who also has a website called Soft Constructions.
I was going to post some of my drawings here, but now I realise I haven’t scanned them yet, so they will have to wait. In the meantime if you are interested in fashion illustration there is a useful tool you might like to try at Fashionary.
12 Tuesday Nov 2013
I originally intended to go through my back issues of Threads magazine in chronological order, and choose a project fromm each. I’ve already skipped one though, and now I’ve given up on that idea and am going through them reasonably randomly. The main reason is that the next project I found would have been perfect for something I’ve already started. When I went to find said half-finished project though, I could only find some of it, and not the rest. So, no finishing that, not now anyway. I wasn’t going to start another project to use the same technique, so I moved on to a different issue.
This is from the very first issue of the magazine I ever bought, number 65 from July 1996. Really, this is cheating, since I started to make this project over a year ago, and had just never finished it. All I had to do was get it out of the cupboard, sew on some ribbon ties, and a fastening, and it was done! Still, extra kudos for having ticked a UFO off the list I reckon.
Portfolio front
I was having a rather Art Deco phase when I did this, but I quite like it. This is the back.
Portfolio back
I’d really like to think that one day I will have written a book, and will be going to meet a publisher with the first draft safely tucked away in this portfolio. Realistically though, even if I do ever write a book, I’m far more likely these days to submit it online than in a portfolio, however arty and creative one might be!
Also, one of these days I might figure out how WordPress decides where to put photos. Try as I might it’s still hit and miss as to whether the photos end up where I want them on the page, and in relation to the right bit of the text. Seems to have a mind of its own somehow.
Now to find the next issue of Threads, and the next project!
Detail
Inside
and the inspiring issue of Threads
05 Tuesday Nov 2013
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I’m continuing my self-set challenge to make something inspired by every issue of Threads magazine I own. I originally intended to take them in chronological order, but I must admit here to skipping a couple of issues already. There were (are) projects I could do in them, but they were more time-consuming than I’m looking for right now. Quick and dirty is the answer at the moment.
So I’ve moved on to Issue number 62, from January 1996. Here I found a design for an apron, and since I don’t possess an apron that seemed like a reasonable project. Also, I’m going to a fabric painting/printing workshop next weekend, and an apron is on the list of supplies to take. Normally I just tend to wear old clothes and accept that they get dirty or painted or whatever, but an apron is probably a good idea.
I also intended to use as much as possible out of my stash for these projects, but in the interest of speed I did buy supplies for this project. A stripey blue and yellow heavy cotton, and some yellow twill tape. I thought of using some print scraps for the pockets, but decided to stick to the one fabric. Here is the result.
Apron
I broke one of my cardinal rules with this, in that I didn’t preshrink the fabric. I thought, it’s an apron, it doesn’t have to fit, won’t matter if it shrinks a little. And it wouldn’t have mattered, except that I decided to use the fabric sideways on the pockets, to get a bit of interest. The fabric obviously shrank more on the lengthwise grain than the cross grain (which is expected I think), and the pockets now have little puckers at the edge, because the pocket is shorter than the underlying fabric. You can see in this photo:
There is a slanted pocket near the
top for glasses, and a small pocket on the side for a pencil, along with three other pockets. There is also something which I couldn’t at first understand. The article suggests a piece of twill tape along the inner hem of the apron, to make what it calls another large pocket. This puzzled me, how can this be a pocket, but then I figured out that you can take hold of the piece of tape and lift the hem of the apron so that you can carry things in it. Like the archetypal farmer’s wife collecting eggs from the hens, or apples from the orchard. Not sure how often I’ll use that feature, but I’ve included it anyway. Just forgot to take a picture, so you might have to imagine it for now.
I’m also unsure about the fact that the apron is made from a double layer of fabric, as suggested in the article. It saves some hemming etc, but I’m worried it might be too hot now that summer is coming here in Australia. Perhaps another apron needs to be on the to-do list.
I’ve decided to give my challenge a title, in common with all the best blog challenges, Me Made March, Self Sewn September etc. Mine is ‘Threads magazine – Inspiration in every Issue. I’m already looking into the next issue to decide on a project. I think I might be able to get extra kudos, since I can possibly use this to finish an existing UFO – double whammy!
28 Monday Oct 2013
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After some interruptions, daughter’s wedding, extra work etc., I am making a commitment, or renewing one, to blogging. And, in common with many other bloggers, I have decided to set myself a challenge, and record my progress.
I have been a subscriber to Threads magazine for many years, over 15 in fact, and have frequently been inspired by articles and features. Often, I have had every intention of using the technique or idea, but almost never actually got around to doing it. So, my challenge is to go back through my collection of magazines, and use an idea, a technique or a design from each one. I will document this on my blog.
I can remember buying my first issue of Threads, I had never seen the magazine before, or anything like it, and I was completely blown away. I bought a few issues from the newsagent, but soon decided to subscribe. This was in about 1997 or 1998, there was no internet, and even subscribing to an overseas magazine was a big issue. You had to go to the Post Office, buy an international money order, and send it off via snailmail. Later it became possible to enter credit card details on a form, but still send the form in the post. Then, of course, the internet arrived, and now renewing my subscription is as simple as entering details on a website.
The first magazine I bought was number 63, but since then I have bought a few back issues from before that. Actually, I have all the older issues on DVD, but for the purpose of this challenge I am restricting myself to only issues I have in hard copy. Even this leaves me with well over 100 copies.
Kwik Sew pattern for seam roll and tailor’s ham
The first issue I have is number 34, from April/May 1991. Looking through it, I noticed an article on basic pressing equipment, and remembered that I long ago bought a pattern for making a tailor’s ham and a sleeve roll. That decided my project for this issue. I dug out some fabric, leftovers from my stash, and the pattern and set to work. I looked for sawdust, but the local pet shop only had shavings, which I settled for. They are not perfect, but since they were quite small and soft shavings they are not too bad. I also made quite a mess with them, but the vacuum cleaner fixed that. I’m not all that happy with the shape of the sleeve roll in particular, it’s not as smooth as I’d like, but I think it will still do the job. I already had a sleeve board, which is many years old and still was in its original cover, so I gave it a new cover to match. Last part of the project will be to get a box to keep these in, along with my pressing cloths, and other yet to be acquired pressing tools.
Finished articles, seam roll, tailor’s ham and sleeve board
All I need now is a title for my challenge, something cool and catchy like other bloggers have! Then on to dig out the next magazine and find myself another project.
18 Thursday Jul 2013
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I had an interesting but brief discussion with a woman I met yesterday. Asked about her occupation, she replied ‘I make coffins and caskets.’ I evinced what I think is genuine interest, and it was obvious that she enjoys her job. There is a difference between the two, caskets are a simple rectangular shape, and also tend to have hinged lids, sometimes in two halves, so that the upper or lower half of the body can be open to view separately. I imagine that it is mostly only the upper half which is open on its own, I can’t think many viewers at a wake or funeral would want to see only the deceased’s legs.
Coffins are the traditional coffin shape, surprise, surprise, being widest about the shoulders and narrower at the feet. This makes sense, uses less timber, but I wonder if there is another reason perhaps to do with the metaphysical. Coffins also have lids which are generally screwed down, maybe they are used more in societies where ‘viewings’ are not routine.
I asked about environmentally friendly coffins, and she took out her phone to show me photos of their latest range of cardboard caskets. These were decorated with tasteful designs, printed onto the cardboard and laminated over. Pink with roses, blue with swans or doves, or a design featuring frangipani blossoms and bamboo. You can even customise your own, or I guess more likely your relatives might do so after the event. The ultimate pre-planning would be to decorate your own coffin though. They can be drawn or painted on, or you could stick on photos and other memorabilia, and then they are laminated over the top. Surprisingly, the cardboard coffins are more expensive than their wooden counterparts, which doesn’t somehow seem right. Ultimately of course they are all either buried or burned, which has always seemed to me to be a waste of both money and resources. I know there is a trend towards ‘woodland’ burials, where the body is wrapped simply in a shroud, where local laws and regulations permit, and I can see no problem with this.
We also talked about the fact that coffins and caskets are now having to be made bigger, to accommodate the fact that people are bigger, and more likely to be obese. This, sadly, is not something which is going to change quickly.
As we parted I commented that she was obviously enthusiastic about her work, and she tossed back a reply which I suspect she had used before – ‘people are dying to see my work!’
20 Thursday Jun 2013
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Two projects currently on the go. Actually there are more, but these two are centre front!
First, the automatic gate opener. I bought this some time ago, and started installing it, and it’s still not finished. The first part of the job was to re-hang the gate so that it would open and close smoothly, or, as the instruction manual had it, ‘oscillate fluently’. Having done that, best part of a day’s work, we then had to wire up and instal the solar panel, battery and motor. The instruction manual, which was so eloquent when it came to describing the movement of the gate, was sadly slightly obtruse over the details of the wiring. Like many things, I’m sure it would have been OK if I knew what I was doing, but since I didn’t ….
However, I have since been emailing the technical support guys, and I think I know what I have to do. Just have to find time to do it, in daylight. At least we got the battery connected to the solar panel, so it should have been charging over the last few days, although it doesn’t seem as if the battery is fully charged yet.
The second project I am on firmer ground with. A friend of my daughter’s just had a (very premature) baby, and I wanted to make a small gift. I found a cute fish here and downloaded the pattern. It’s pretty simple, and I probably could have drawn it myself, but I needed something straightforward. I dug around in the stash to find some suitable scraps of colourful fabric, and I’m halfway there. Will post photos when it’s finished. It might be something that I can get into and get finished within a couple of days, unlike most of the other things I take on.
i got a reply from an online journal that I had submitted an article to this morning, and got excited when I saw the subject and sender in my email inbox. Short lived excitement though, ‘thank you for the opportunity to read the piece, it is not for us’, or words to that effect. I can’t remember now how many submissions I have out there, but I’m sure I should be doing more, there can’t be many left that I haven’t heard about. How many at one time is a good number, I wonder?
06 Thursday Jun 2013
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After the debacle with my entry for the Sydney Royal show, I made sure and sent off my entry for the Australian Cotton Fibre Expo in plenty of time. Sadly I still didn’t have any success, but at least I got it back OK, and can post photos of it now. Previously when I sent away a different denim vest for somebody to see it got lost in the mail, and I never did get it back. I’ve often wondered what happened to it.
Here is the jacket I made, titled ‘Denim: resurrected”
It’s made by unpicking the waistbands, hems etc of a number of denim garments (mostly children’s sourced from the op shop), and piecing them together to make the most of the patterns that are created when the denim fades. I’ve always loved denim as a fabric, and the way it takes on the character of the garment. These are shots of some of the bits of fabric after unpicking. I even made the lining out of men’s business shirts cut up and pieced together. 
It was disapppointing not to be successful, but never mind. At least I have the jacket to wear.
I don’t know what won, since the show was so far away there was no way of going to look at the other entries, and so far there is nothing on the website, in fact it looks as if the winners from last year haven’t been updated yet.
All in all I’m feeling a bit ‘meh!’ at the moment. I just love that word, if word it is, for the way it so perfectly expresses the feeling. I am very tempted to start a new project, but I have to remind myself that I currently have too many projects I have started and am yet to finish. The kitchen, floor and other finishing touches, wardrobe in the spare room, at least 3 or 4 other sewing projects, and that’s just the ones that I can see without looking into the deep dark recesses of cupboards etc. I shall hope to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction and virtuousness (?) I get when I finally finish a few of them.
20 Wednesday Mar 2013
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That’s what I got this week. And as I was thinking that to myself, I wondered what a salutary lesson is, and is there another kind? I consulted the net to find the definition and origin of salutary, and apparently it means beneficial, coming from the Latin ‘salutaris’. Before anybody takes me up on that, I did only a quick search, and that’s close enough for this purpose. So a salutary lesson is a beneficial one, and I think there isn’t any other kind, surely all lessons are beneficial to some degree? However, I think there is a general feeling that a salutary lesson is one which is beneficial, but not particularly pleasant, a little like medicine, which has to taste awful to have any effect.
My lesson, which really I ought to have learned by now, was not to leave things until the last minute. I had entered my Fremantle limestone embroidery in the Sydney Easter show, having been successful with it in Perth, and having seen an ad for the Sydney show in a magazine. The embroidery was made, obviously, since I had entered it in Perth in October last year, all I had to do was pack it up and send it off. In my defence, not quite so easy, since I had to find a box just the right size, and in the end I couldn’t and had to construct one out of two other boxes. However, I did that, and took it off to the Post Office with what I thought was just enough time. Fifty dollars for return postage, and that was that, or so I thought.
Then on the weekend a phone message from the Show organisers. Please ring back. I did so, but the person I needed to speak to wasn’t there on the first attempt, or even on the second, so it was several days before I got to find out what the message was about. My entry hadn’t arrived until after the judging closed! Sorry, but there you are.
So, a salutary lesson indeed, including in the sense of not being very pleasant. I’m now a bit worried whether my entry for the Cotton Expo arrived in time, since I also posted that, albeit Express Post. Fingers crossed. And in future, I will make sure to send any similar things off in good time, to allow for the abysmal performance of Australia Post. Don’t get me started!
21 Thursday Feb 2013
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OK, so I sent my entry in for the Australian Cotton Fibre Expo. Actually, I sent in photos and paperwork, which is all that’s required at this stage, and I have to admit that the piece isn’t actually finished. It’s finished enough that I was able to take photos of it though, and it doesn’t have to be sent in until April, so I have a little time yet. I’m pleased with the way it’s gone so far, and pretty confident that it will turn out looking the way I want it to, so fingers crossed!
I need to be strict with myself and finish it before I go on with anything else, or at least start anything else. I’ve already got one project on the go, but that’s a long term thing. It’s a quilt, done in the English method using papers, of hexagons which I think are about 2 inches across, or about 5 cms. I haven’t yet stopped to calculate how many I will need to make for a double bed sized quilt, but I think it will be well over a thousand. I’ll be stitching this all by hand, so you can understand why it’s a long term project! It will be all made from either old clothes, or left over bits from making clothes or other things, so I’m digging through my stash. I’ve been sewing for over 40 years, and mostly when I’ve made something I don’t throw away the scraps, so I think I will have plenty of fabric. I want to go back to the origins of patchwork, when it was a way of using up scraps of old fabric and the good bits of old clothes. Whilst I also love lots of the quilt fabrics which are available today, and have succumbed to some of them for other projects, I have a slight problem with going out to buy yards of new fabric, bringing it home to cut up and stitch back together again. It doesn’t sit too well with the whole ‘use less’ philosophy which I try to live by.
Another inspiration for the quilt is that my Mum made one back in the 1970s. Hers is the same, made of bits of my old dresses, and hers, and she and my Dad still have it on their bed. Her hexagons are smaller though, which makes it even more laudable. I talked to her about it recently, and she told me that one of the patches was from my Dad’s ‘demob’ shirt, in other words the shirt from the suit of clothes he was given when he was demobilised from his National Service in the UK, about 1948 I should think. That patch is wearing thin now, but after about 65 years that’s not surprising! Now I come to think of it, some of the fabric I am going to use will be about 30 years old already, so it only has 35 years to go.
My next short term project might be a quilt for my daughter’s engagement, and for that I shall succumb to browsing the internet for fabric. I want some with themes to cover their interests, so that means hours spent on the net looking for just the right thing. I can’t wait!
julielivingstone 