Green

Term time is quietening down and so I'm making more time for sewing! YAY!

A couple of months ago I went for a photoshoot with my dear friend Amelia (a late Christmas present) and I decided I would take along a playsuit that I made last summer from vintage material given to me by Grandma Wright...

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to make from it but because of it being vintage, I had originally thought some kind of vintage style dress but eventually I settled on adapting the pattern I'd began to cut and creating a 1950's style playsuit as my holiday to Spain was imminent (I actually finished stitching the playsuit at about 3am the night before I was due to fly at 9am - as is often the case when I plan to sew something!).

Adapting a pattern to fit yourself is tricky as I'm not exactly a standard shape and it's not stretchy so it was quite important to get it right! I also made a matching head tie for it but may still create a 1950's head scarf to go with it... or is that overkill? So, I wore this in Spain on the day that I lost a Go Kart race against the boys in Oriheuela - but they kindly let me stand at the top of the podium to make me feel better. Here is the finished product!

 

Poser.

In preparation for my Easter trip to Spain with Amelia, I made a v-neck tea dress from some vintage polka dot cotton. Since Spain is hotter than the sun it was the perfect light weight & loose holiday outfit! Again, I finished it about 5 minutes before heading out the door to get on a plane.

More recently I've been making bow ties! I had a request from a friend for a bow tie as a present for someone who liked green. Lucky that, since green is my favourite colour, I happen to have lots of it so I've been on a bit of a green mission to make as many green bow ties as I can... I've managed two so far... :S The bright green was originally the requested fabric for the bow tie in question but I'm not convinced. Love the print but the fabric was quite thick to tie so I think it would suit someone who suits/likes larger bow ties and wants to make a statement.

So, I went about making a completely different one from similar fabric to the Glenmorangie bow tie in my post This is from Matilda. Sadly, no Glenmorangie was consumed during the creation of this one. This one was created partly to the soundtrack of Milhaud's 6 Chansons de Theatre... Which I am learning. And are great.

I have decided to put this day aside to sewing more green things (and practicing and doing something active)... but mostly sewing green things.

Watch this space!

:)

I tried to make a pancake... but now I have an omelette!

Hello! Back to the land of the living (mostly) after a crazy few weeks juggling a job being costume supervisor on an opera, a part time office job, teaching and trying to find the time to practise, have singing lessons and get to a doctor to help me shake off a horrendous lingering cough (which inevitably impeded my ability to do the singing part). I know I'm still recovering from it all as my feet are killing me from all the running around town buying suits/tattoos/trimmings and I'm so tired I can't even make a pancake properly. But, I still had a great time working on Romeo & Juliet with a fabulous creative team and a super cast! I managed to get some of my own wardrobe/my Mama's wardrobe on stage and even some things I had made/adapted - 3 cravats, a Duke-ified suit jacket and some masks. 

Gertrude's mask for the party

Mama's fur stole made its operatic debut looking fabulous on one of Riverside Opera's Choral Scholars

Adding some trimming to the duke and making him a cravat

Capulet's party mask

Capulet's Cravats

I've dabbled in costume making before on a production of Mozart's Magic Flute, a roller coaster of co-producing, singing AND costume design back in 2011 with student led opera company Puzzle Piece Opera. It was brilliant fun and was with a team of people I greatly admire and enjoy working with, although as Bernstein said - 'to achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.' This was definitely true with learning a role, designing and making costumes and doing a degree at the same time! We singers do know how to push ourselves to the limit! I always loved the motto 'there's 24 usable hours in every day' - a quote from my favourite film throughout my adolescent years, Empire Records. However, what I was forgetting was that the character in question was a) on speed and b) fictitious. I am neither of those things, and also, I am human. Sitting up until 6am sewing and then going to college all day does not lead to productive and focused practise! But, if I do say so myself Pamina and her crew looked ace. Our Magic Flute was set in a medieval and fantastical world (with a hint of Robin Hood - I was in my Kevin Costner phase) with our three wenches corseted up and our armed men in tabards... chainmail is expensive and on a budget of £200 for the whole thing I think thats OK! Anyway, here is some photos of some of the costumes.

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.