tomorrow i quit!

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Last weekend was my birthday and as I get ridiculously excited about all such celebrations, my plans for that weekend started a couple of months in advance! For birthdays I plan to extend them out as long as I possibly can - hey why only celebrate for a day when you can spread it out for a week? With my birthday on the Saturday, I decided to start celebrations on the Friday with a big meal with friends. 18 of us took over a local restaurant to drink numerous summery cocktails (despite the hail! - how weird is April weather) and then proceeded to consume vast amounts of yummy tapas - probably my most favourite way of eating! This was followed by a plate of fish and chips for which I was presented with the biggest fish I have ever seen - it did not fit on my plate and as hard as I tried, this fish defeated me! I would have been happy with just the tapas, but we were forced to order a set menu so needs must! Much fun and laughs were had and it turned out to be the start of an amazing 4 days.

My actual birthday was spent chilling out with my boyfriend, opening lovely presents and cards and yes, eating more yummy food. Sunday was spent indulging in my online Craftsy course, ‘The Couture Dress’ with Susan Khalje, (more on this to follow) before heading to London on Monday.

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After a short 1.5 hrs on the train, we spent the day walking through Hyde Park, through the Science and Natural History Museums and the V&A before heading to Soho to find Berwick Street, home to some amazing fabric shops. As my boyfreind patiently followed me from shop to shop, I immersed myself in shops stacked high of beautiful fabrics, but it wasn’t until I entered Misan Textiles that the fun really started! This is a truly beautiful shop. Clean, contemporary and light, the fabrics are presented neatly with plenty of space to browse, but the main highlight was their clearence basement stacked full of end of roll cut lengths at discount prices. Still presented beautifully and arranged by colour, I was spoilt for choice moving from shelf to shelf, running my hand across them, pulling them out and comparing quality and colour before choosing 3 lengths of fabric and leaving the shop extremley satisfied that I had just bagged myself a bargain.

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So Monday was turning out to be a very good day indeed, and was about to get better as we made our way to the hotel we had booked asa treat in Marylebone. La Suite Hotel is a designer boutique just off the lovely Marylebone High street. Our room deisgned by Anouska Hempel was beautifully and cleverly designed and very comfortable allowing us to feel like we were having an indulgent stay in London without breaking the bank and was toppped off in the morning with breakfast brought to our room in a basket, although with the vast quantities of yummy food we ate the night before at an amazing organic deli on the High Street and after at Giraffe (tapas again!), I don’t think I was quite ready to eat a big breakfast in the morning!

The highlight of my trip and the reason for going to London came on Tuesday when I attended a Tambour Beading workshop at the Hand and Lock School of Embroidery. As described on the Hand and Lock website: “This technique, developed in France, uses a hook to apply beads and sequins to fabric. Widely used in couture and bridal wear, tambour can be used to add shine and sparkle to anything from the soft furnishing in to your home to the clothes in your closet!”

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As well as being able to look around the working studios: drooling at the rooms stacked high with boxes of beads and sequins, picking the brains of our tutor and being inspired by the truly amazing and beautiful samples of beading and embroidery I have ever seen; I spent the day learning the technique of tambour beading. It takes a while to get used to as you are working from the wrong side of the fabric and have to make sure that the hook doesn’t snag on the fabric as you pull it back through, as well as ensuring you have picked up sequin of bead and produced a stitch of the right length and tension. By working on organza, you are able to see through the fabric, which is essential when learning so you can see both the bead and thread, but in time, I am hoping that I will also be able to apply this technique to other fabrics. For my first attempt, I think I have done a pretty good job, and I am already getting the hang of it - getting quicker and more precise as I go. So from now on, my designs are going to be beads and sequins galore! I am a bit of a magpie for sparkly things so this suits me! Nothing like a bit of sparkle to brighten up your day and as a bonus for my boyfriend, it turns out beading is much tidier than sewing!

So that was my birthday, and to top it off I got to meet my sister for dinner before heading back to Bath. All in all, a birthday to remember and another skill to add to my list. Now to look for my next course – I think it’s an addiction, but there are worse one’s to have so I’m going to feed it!

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This weekend, as part of ‘Bath in Fashion’ I attended a fantastic talk, live demonstration and workshop with Julian Roberts on his ‘Subtraction Cutting’ technique. As I can’t seem to find the words to describe it myself, (much easier through demonstration) the Centre for Pattern Design describes his work with the following:

‘The basic premise of Subtraction Cutting is that the patterns cut do not represent the garments outward shape, but rather the negative spaces within the garment that make them hollow. Simply put, shaped holes cut from sheets of cloth through which the body moves; therefore the patterns represent the ‘negative’, not the ‘positive’.

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As a group we each made a garment to create a 30 piece collection in 2 1/2 hours, which was then displayed the next day as part of his second talk of the weekend. As a collection the creations really did look impressive with beautiful and diverse fabric choices and unique abstract forms, sculpturally displayed on dress forms and rotated to display the most interesting aspect of the dress to avoid only focussing on the front view for which the fashion industry seems to have an obsession with and which as Julian described is so often regarded as the photographic ‘money shot’! It was moments like this throughout the day, in which Julian asked us to question elements of the fashion industry and teaching that was so inspiring.

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Now I’m pretty sure that my creation will not be making an appearance in public any time soon, (I’m a much more simple girl at heart and I think this holds a little too much resemblance to a duvet cover than I would like) but it was an interesting study in 3D form and fabric manipulation nonetheless. There are definitely elements that I really like and that I’m sure will inspire me in future designs and projects, although the 6m of randomly draped fabric with unexpected and unpredictable results to create garments may not be for me. I am however, inspired by the drape of the front of the dress from the waistline and the use of contrasting fabrics falling to the hem and around the sides.

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So inspired was I by the day, and in particular the morning talk, that I spent the next day sat on a bench in the sun beneath the most beautiful blossom tree re-living and reciting as many stories as I could remember to my boyfriend, who like me, takes joy in absorbing information and inspiration from all sorts of different sources and people.

As a designer and maker who studied Architecture before turning my attentions to fashion, I have a firm belief that design should span many disciplines and that the most talented and inspiring designers and creators are those that recognise, study and appreciate other disciplines and draw inspiration from all around them which is why it was great to hear from Julian at the weekend. As a creative person who is so generous with his ideas and work he is constantly moving forwards and forming collaborations with other creative and inspiring groups and individuals. So here is to blurring the boundaries of design and creativity and eliminating labels and titles. I completely agree with his aspirations – there is no reason why a fashion designer can’t also be a product designer, and why can’t an architect draw inspiration from photography and textile design?

As I write this, it reminds me of how difficult I find it when people ask me what I “do”. I find myself explaining how my current title is an ‘Assistant Architect’, but then discontent with people thinking that is what “I am”, I then find myself expanding on telling how that is actually only 4 days a week and not what I want to continue doing forever, so I am actually currently trying to set up my own business making and designing couture bridal and evening wear and as yet, I don’t have any clients, but hopefully one day soon it will all happen. How easy it would be to just say ‘I’m a lawyer/doctor/receptionist’, but it seems I find it difficult being defined by a title, so I am a designer, a creative, an artist and a maker and I strive to span many disciplines, and I’m ok with that!

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Since my last post I have both completely failed and succeeded in my sewing efforts. Firstly, I have still not finished the dress that I was meant to finish last week. In fact I changed my design again, which meant finding a new fabric (now onto number 3), creating a new pattern and toile and cutting it all out again. I have sewn more than half, but at this point I feel like this project may never be complete and if I do finish, it may just be too hot to wear it. Nightmare!!! As mentioned though, I have actually had sewing success this weekend too. In fact it is shocking and shameful to admit that this is actually my first FINISHED project of 2012! But It is finished and I am going to wear it on Friday so all in all I am very pleased with myself and it only took me two days from pattern cutting to completed garment. I was beginning to wonder whether I was actually getting worse at sewing and was slowly losing my skills, but maybe there is hope for me yet.

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The dress is made using a really beautiful pink silk with a cream lace overlay. I have bound all of my seams with hand-made bias binding and hand applied a zipper in the side seam. The armholes have been cut to a low ‘v’ so I have created modesty panels in the pink silk to conceal any underwear, a design detail I saw in ‘Couture Sewing Techniques’ by Claire Shaeffer. So here’s to my first finished dress of 2012. Let’s hope it’s not going to take another 2 months for the next.

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So the day has come to an end and still not quite finished, but very nearly there. This dress is really testing my patience! After finally drafting a well fitting bodice and sleeve that I was happy with, I spent a good hour trying to figure out the pattern placement of my fabric, only to discover that no matter how I placed it I didn’t have enough fabric left to cut all the pieces! Agghh! Time for a re-think and rummage through my fabric stack to find something I could use. So I am now using a green organic cotton which is all cut, marked and half sewn. Brain ache has won over though and I have had to stop sewing, so no finished dress pic tonight, but soon, very soon……..

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Since my last post I’m not sure my powers have been quite as powerful as they should be! In the process of trying to complete my dress, I have been slightly distracted by other sewing projects, none of which I have actually finished, so today is the day that I am determined to get at least one done. I must finish my pink dress so I can wear it to work this week. It’s actually nearly complete - hem (tick), zip (tick), looks and fits like a dress (tick). The only problem is the top of the bodice which is kind of important as the dress won’t stay up without it! With the nature of my experimental design and my own indecision, nothing so far has really worked. But I feel like I might nearly be there with a design. I have drafted a toile of a sleeve, (the lastest of about 4) which I am almost happy with and am in the process of refining the top of the bodice, which will eventually be attached to the rest of the dress. So watch this space. Hopefully tonight there will be a picture of a finished garment!

Once done, I’ll let you know more about my other projects, but for now here is a reminder of what could be a finished dress if I get my arse into gear and a sneaky peak of my experiment with a cowl back top using a really beautiful dusky purple silk chiffon applied over a gold silk lining. It’s early stages still, but I think it could look good. I’m just hoping the cowl will fall properly once finished. Only time will tell, but either way it’s good to keep learning new skills.

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Woohoo! New haircut today at the lovely Melanie Giles Salon in Bath. Being 9 months since I had it cut last, my amazing recession busting cut finally gave up and I realised it was time to treat myself and book in. After 45 minutes of pure indulgence; a head massage, yummy latte and a much lighter and shorter head of hair, I walked out with a spring in my step and in the words of my boyfriend; “I have my powers back!”. Yep turns out a hair cut contains great power! Now is the time to start making things happen!

So my head is buzzing with ideas and inspiration at the moment and I just need to get my body into action to make some of them happen…… it seems words may be easier than actions! I am hoping that from now on I may be able to speed myself up and start being more productive. For some reason, my sewing recently seems to be getting slower and slower - I just cannot seem to finish the dress I am working on and I just need to finish it so I can move on. AGGGHHH! How frustrating sewing can be sometimes. I must add however, that I am actually very pleased with how the dress is turning out and the reason it is taking so long is because I am so determined that all of the sewing has to be hand sewn beautifully, that I spent half the weekend unpicking and re-sewing parts of it which I felt were a bit too bulky. So lesson to myself - couture techniques take longer and at the moment quality may mean sacrificing time! Surely the more I do, the faster I’ll get! Let’s hope so anyway.

So ‘Hair’ - do me proud! When I finish the dress, I can wear the dress and that’s the best bit!

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Another post about my talented sister! She has just put her first e-book, ‘Punishment’ for sale on amazon. This short story is only 77p to download and it’s brilliant, so BARGAIN! Also check out her blog here.

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‘Punishment’ is a slightly dark and unexpected tale of magic which is set in a small Pembrokeshire village called Porthgain and tells the story of Jack who, on a dark stormy night in October, writes a farewell note to his daughter and leaves his cottage for the very last time.

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The artwork for the cover is by my mum. Check out her gorgeous artwork here.

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….. and as I’m on a roll with some shameless family publicity why not check out my dad’s blog and website too! Happy clicking!

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I’ve been a bit quiet the last week, so a quick update on my pink tartan dress. It’s not quite finished, but it’s getting there and I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out. Oh how I wish I had a bit more time for my sewing and that when I do have time, I wasn’t so tired and useless! But hey, it’s exciting to think I can nearly wear this. I have been lovingly basting and hand sewing a lot of this dress, so I am pleased to say that my couture techniques are being well practiced and I feel the design is developing nicely. I’m loving the open pleats at the bottom of the skirt and I’m in the process of playing with the neckline. I think I’m also going to add some cute tulip cap sleeves so will need to have a bit of an experiment to get those right. It’s the start of my working week tomorrow so may get a bit done in the evenings, but will probably get it finished at the weekend. Until then, enjoy a few pictures below! The list of sewing projects in my head just keeps getting longer and longer. Agggghhhhh!

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Not a lot of sewing happening this weekend as I am away enjoying a visit to my parents, which means being spoiled and cooked for (belly now satisfactorily full of roast potatoes and bread and butter pudding - yum!), slobbing out on the sofa with my laptop and walks on the beach. Being here always inspires me though so I’m hoping to go home with lots of new ideas and energy to finish many of my half finished projects. I’ve also had lots of time this weekend to have a good search around etsy - it’s great (and a teensy bit annoying) to see so many talented people on there creating gorgeous products and presenting them with some really beautiful photography. So here is a treasury inspired by a lovely winter walk on the beach today! Enjoy!

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