This is from Matilda...

Last night between sourcing some costumes for Riverside Opera's upcoming production of Romeo and Juliet and a wee dram of Glenmorangie I decided to adapt my bow tie pattern a teensy bit and play with some fabric I bought in Spain a couple of weeks ago. This isn't vintage fabric but it does have a vintage print which jumped off the shelf and right into my basket before you could say "Gracias". The fabric itself was actually pretty awkward to work with because it's rather delicate... perhaps would make a better (skinny?) tie... Market research to ensue on this matter! Awkward fabric aside, I'm still pretty pleased with the outcome. I also couldn't find my interfacing anywhere so I have used non fusible interfacing which actually worked really well to soften it up a bit and give it more body.

Working to a soundtrack of Alt-J, John Smith and The Staves which is also quite fitting I think for the look of the bow tie I started cutting and pinning. I had a mild heart attack when I realised for some reason my sewing machine was jammed but apparently nothing a good whack wouldn't sort after I took it half to pieces. Phew! I probably have enough of this colour to make more bow ties/ties and also I have the same pattern in dark green, red and purple. Orders welcome!

Et Voila!

Going back in time a few weeks... When I was ill earlier this year I received a gift from my aunt and uncle, since I don't have a TV this was the closest I'd come to The Great British Sewing Bee. It's probably closer actually as it has all the patterns and ideas right there in one book. Some styles I've made before and some I haven't. I'd been meaning to get cracking with bow ties for a while and on opening this fabulous gift I no longer had an excuse to procrastinate. I offered my friend a lucky dip of fabric and he dived straight in for the gorgeous floral cotton from my previous post 'The Shirt'. What a stylish man. 

The Shirt

I suppose I should post some of my creations! Here's a start. I thought about going chronologically when I had this blog in mind but this was one of the challenging projects that sprung to mind first. About 7 years ago I scoured eBay for some fabric to make a shirt for my then beau's birthday present. I found enough material to upholster the Queen's living room and made the shirt, then a dress - in my tiny bedroom in halls of residence which was premiered at my first year vocal recital - and more recently of course a BOW TIE. There might even be enough left for ONE more bow tie you lucky people. 

Luke has gone on to have a very varied and exciting career encompassing modelling, acting, music and also working for the Nottingham designer Paul Smith in his flagship store. I'm pretty stoked that my shirt features on his website so do check it out: http://www.lukewilliamhicks.com/ 

With no further ado *drumroll please* here is said shirt with said beau inside it.

Inspiration - 'I'm Possible'

To keep the momentum going I'm going to bring you up to speed! Here are some of my inspirations which I'm told helped a friend 'get' me. Which is a good thing, I think. Perhaps that also says that I don't make sense to my friends though...

Nonetheless, each of these people/characters/illustrations inspire me creatively, some of them musically as well as in relation to what I choose to sew and what colours/patterns/fabrics I choose to work with.

This fabulous collage was put together by the wizardry of Master Eatock who not only is going to teach me how to use Photoshop so I can stop bombarding him with pictures but now totally 'gets' me :)

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'" - Audrey Hepburn

So, I sew!

Hi! Welcome to my blog... This is something I've been meaning to do for a while now but have FINALLY got around to doing for reasons I'll explain later.

So, I sew! And here is where I'm going to document my creations, inspirations, add some links and maybe go off on a tangent or two about life and singing along the way.

I've always been crafty since my grandmother bought me my first wind up sewing machine as a young child and showed me how to knit. None of this playing on your computer and watching TV of an evening malarkey. After all, her generation didn't have such luxuries! It was all read a book, learn piano, sew some stuff, bake some stuff kind of fun. Having been a bit of a nerdy black sheep through the school years, having no idea what happened in Eastenders or Home and Away, I am very grateful for learning how to sew and knit from such a young age and am pretty sure I had the best dressed dolls in town.

I am also a singer. A self-employed, classically trained soprano living a London lifestyle subsidized in part by teaching tiny humans (and ones bigger than me) about the joys of making music. I love my job but in recent months have been forced to stop because of a rather unexpected battle with cancer. January brought about major surgery to remove the pesky tumor but along with it came a lot of time to think (uh-oh!) and then when I felt a little bit better but not well enough or motivated enough to leave the house still A LOT OF TIME TO GET BORED. My mother always told me that I could handle anything that life threw at me and I always took this on board to help me in times of need (usually break ups) but I never thought for a second I'd need it as much as I have done recently. This advice helped me to turn my rumination and boredom into a creative outlet and since not singing was driving me batshit crazy, I decided to sew.

Over the years - and I have many flatmates along the way that will testify to this - I have collected (hoarded) a hell of a lot of material and created a hell of a lot of messes. A great deal of it courtesy of Grandma Wright. As a result I have reams of vintage fabric that I have made vintage style clothing from. But then comes the annoying time when you have not enough material left to make anything substantial from but too much to throw away and after all it is vintage! So my project for a wee while is going to be creating items such as bow ties, ties and head ties from these beautiful specimens of history and selling them online.

So, DO have a gander about my blog and leave comments if you wish :)

Watch this space!