Hi Everyone!
No sewing or drawing today. Not that I haven’t been doing any. Actually I’ve even done some design work in the last week! Holy crap! Hahaa. And I’ve finished one dress, bar the buttons, and completed the bodice of another. So I’ve been a busy bee.

The only reason I can’t show you the almost completed dress is because I’m currently trying to get the STAINS out made by the “washable” fabric marking texta I used to draw my sewing marks on. So incredibly peeved. There’s pics and irritated posts over on my Facebook page where I post things you won’t see on my blog or on my personal Facebook page…

So instead, today I’m showing you another dress from my vintage collection. I’m wearing it out to High Tea today so I need to impress This is one of the first “investment” vintage pieces I bought. It was purchased on a whim off Etsy via PlanetClaire Vintage – possibly with a little red wine in my system affecting my decision making abilities, since it was certainly more expensive than anything I’d purchased to date. I have this habit of once in a while blowing a huge wad of cash on a dress/outfit I NEED to have with the excuse that it’s an “investment” and I’m preserving a slice of fashion history. Which in some sense is true…and the bills all get paid AND I donate to charity monthly so yes I’m justifying my purchases

It’s one of my favourite dresses still even though it doesn’t get worn that often – mostly because it’s quite memorable I love the embroidery on it and the little mother-of-pearl accents on the collar. It’s made of a nice heavy linen and is really comfortable and fits so nice.

It came with it’s own belt too but I’ve swapped it out with this pink one I made last week, to go with my shoes Since the shoes were such a score, I thought a belt would go well with them and what better than to make one. I just bought a piece of cotton chino fabric from Lincraft and used a vintage navy buckle from my stash (bought at L’uccello). New accessory in less than one hour! And I realise now that pink goes with a LOT of my clothes. Yay!

Oh and the kitties were hanging around today while I took pics…pics taken on the other side of the room from the usual since my dress is too much the same colour as our couch hehe

Well that’s about it for today. Next week you just might get a new creation. Or even some of the design work I’ve done.

Till soon…

A Natlynn Original is a post from: kittysdrawings.com Copyright 2011. If this isn't in your Reader, it's been pinched! Don't support feed thieves! Please contact me if you see my feed being stolen. Thank you

Hi All!
Quickie post today!

I’m all sorts of busy making a dress right about now which is very close to done. You might see it next week. Super happy with the fit of it so far and I’m mega keen to make more versions of it. I’ve got so much planned for the next couple of weeks!

Anyways….what I’m showing you today is something I won a little while back. Debi from My Happy Sewing Place had a comp on her blog where you could win a $50 voucher at The Paraders Vintage. Which I won. Heh. This is what I chose out of the many wonderful things to pick from.

I’m thinking it’s from the 50′s or 60′s – I can’t remember what it was on the listing…and it’s a very fine example of a tapestry bag…..something I’ve been wanting for a while. They can range from the exquisite to the hideous depending on your personal taste. Some people’s personal taste being that they are ALL hideous no doubt
I particularly like this one because the colours are lovely and muted and the lucite bar and metal trim at the top is really neat. It’s in very good condition and quite roomy for a vintage bag so I’m super happy it’s mine!

Well that’s all for today. More next week

I won this… is a post from: kittysdrawings.com Copyright 2011. If this isn't in your Reader, it's been pinched! Don't support feed thieves! Please contact me if you see my feed being stolen. Thank you

Hello everyone!

Apologies for the lack of posting last weekend. We didn’t get back from Blaigowrie til quite late. The big ride on the scooter was quite a success…I won’t tell you how I managed to get more scratches in it (eep) but I will tell you that I got down there and back without anything seriously bad happening. For those folks not from Australia, Blairgowrie is about 100kms south of where I live in the inner suburbs of Melbourne (depending on which route you take)…It’s right at the bottom of Port Phillip Bay and is a popular spot for city people wanting to get away for the weekend. Mind you, it’s hardly ‘country’ or even remotely isolated…Melbourne is such a spread out city that the entire trip down the bay is built up with plush beach houses of varying scale and style.
Anyways, we had a good time – playing board games, drinking and just blobbing about. Yay

So on to this week’s sewing project…

This has been the first project for the year following my new resolution of taking my time and finishing things properly. I’m so happy with this top that I can even show you the insides The pattern is Mccall 6475 from 1946 and I used a cotton blend of some description in a nice orange floral. I don’t usually go for orange but I loved this print as soon as I laid eyes on it. It’s another one from Savers from way back. The fabric has a really great drape to it and is soft and airy. It may be a rayon/cotton blend…Not sure. It washes ok from the little swatch I tested….so who knows what’s in it.

A few notes about the pattern and finishing:

• I made view C which you can’t see on the cover but the only difference from view B is the peplum at the bottom isn’t gathered as it’s designed to fit under a skirt.
• I don’t think this would work with anything but a super drapey fabric. There’s a lot of gathering that needs to fall nicely. I’m happy with my fabric choice!
• It’s VERY blousey – considering how small the size is, and it IS meant to be roomy, but there’s a LOT of room. Tight, structured waist definition is absolutely essential for styling this!
• The cute details are a bit lost in this print but I would love to make this out of a plain, maybe even sheer fabric

• I finished as many seams as I could with rayon seam binding.
• The side seams are zig-zag stitched because I ran out of that colour seam binding!
• I made a narrow hem finished by hand.
• The side closure consists of three snaps and a hook & eye on a placket. This is SO much better than a zip – And yes I will keep going on about that forever.
• I omitted the shoulder pads….for obvious reasons. I guess some light ones wouldn’t look too bad and they are very much essential for the era…One day I will make some and see how they look.

Yay! I’m really pleased with this top and I definitely want to make more versions of it. It took about a weekend to do – The bound seams were fairly time consuming but if you omitted those this would take no time at all to make. Once again, this is another one of those 40′s patterns with neat little details. I love how the sleeves attach to the neckline. Mccall’s patterns from the 40′s are especially excellent. Side note: I’m actually waiting on a heap of patterns to arrive from Etsy, eBay and a super special Mccall’s from Patterns From the Past.

Notice I also got my replacement grey shoes from Asos? The 38 fits much better.

Well that’s all for now. I have to start on a new project…I don’t even know if I’ll have anything new to show for next week! I think I’ll have to actually do some drawing! How bout that!

Heh…

Ciao then!

Sewing – Mccall 6475 – A very blousey blouse is a post from: kittysdrawings.com Copyright 2011. If this isn't in your Reader, it's been pinched! Don't support feed thieves! Please contact me if you see my feed being stolen. Thank you

Hiiii!

As long ago promised, here is the dress I made for my friend’s Margaret River wedding. Excuse how crumpled it looks now – I took the pics in a hurry this morning before heading out.

I used Vogue 4977 which is from the 60′s by the looks of it. Well – I only used some of it. The pattern was missing all the skirt pieces. A bit annoying but I just subbed in the bottom of another dress pattern. Easy

This is also the very first time I’ve made a muslin of sorts. I first cut it out on a ‘test’ fabric at the original size and basted it all together to try it on. Unfortunately I didn’t really have time to continue along that path because my decision to make a dress for the wedding came a little too late! Being a vintage size 14 it was quite a bit too big (I’m usually a 10 or 12 in vintage sizes) so I chose to re-draw the pattern making some alterations.

What I did:

• Took a horizontal V out of the back, with the point of that V at the side seam. This eliminated quite a bit of the gaping that was happening.
• Also took a vertical V radiating from the waist upwards to account for narrower shoulders and smaller bust.
• Took a little out of the side seams.
• Enlarged the armholes since taking in the side seam makes them smaller.

As you can see – I could have fitted it a lot better. What I did helped, but not enough. And I didn’t really have a lot of time! This was also my first time working with “expensive” fabric. I couldn’t get my hands on real silk taffeta so poly had to do I lined the skirt with silk though, and the bodice is lined with very thin cotton cos I didn’t buy enough silk. Derp. It was all a bit finicky cos the silk was very slippy…the taffeta not so much but it shows up every little nick and crease – especially in photos! Plus it’s a bitch to iron.

At least the sash was easy to make! Hehe. That was fun. I love polka dots! I could have reinforced it or added snaps to the dress to place it better – but – NO TIME. Waaa. Oh well. It was still great for the wedding even though I don’t really plan on wearing it again – or making the pattern again.

That said – These last few projects have given me an idea for a ‘new years resolution’….I’m not usually into resolutions and stuff but I’ve been thinking about this one a bit. It’s been a year since I started sewing now, and I’ve made quite a few things I really like and wear a lot, but also quite a few things that are so meh they’re definitely not going to appear on this blog. A lot of the meh projects have been a result of not putting enough thought into them. Usually it is to do with fitting or finishing. So this year I plan to be more careful with things, and take my time. I’ve already almost completed something with these thoughts in mind and I’m quite pleased with it so far. All that needs doing is a tiny bit of hand-sewing and it will be ready for the blog next week.

On other things….
Thanks to all my new followers – I have definitely reached my 100 mark where I should be hosting a giveaway. I’m still very much undecided about what to actually give away. Buuuut – I should get my butt into gear and sort it out. Stay tuned for the giveaway either next week or the week after.

Also – hello to everyone from We Sew Retro! I got quite a big response (comparatively!) to my last post that went up there and it’s really cool to get so many people over here reading my little blog. I’ve found lots of awesome blogs through the site and it’s great to be a part of that community.

Well I best be off now….finish that hand-sewing. Seeyas all later!

Sewing – Vogue 4977 is a post from: kittysdrawings.com Copyright 2011. If this isn't in your Reader, it's been pinched! Don't support feed thieves! Please contact me if you see my feed being stolen. Thank you

Hi Everyone!
A bit of an all over the place post today. First up, I’ve currently got an auction up on eBay for some gorgeous shoes I bought off ASOS. They are so pretty but unfortunately way too small for my feets! I bought a UK4 which usually means a Euro 37 but these are a full size too small. So I would say if you’ve got a 36 foot, AU6 or UK3, these should fit. They’re brand new, never worn and still in their box. Happy to ship international, just ask me and I’ll get a proper quote for your location. They’re currently sold out in this size on ASOS and you will be getting them cheaper even with the Buy It Now option

CLICK HERE for the auction

Also – I now have a Facebook page! It took me quite a while to jump on that bandwagon because I usually keep Facebook for private stuff. But click on over and press LIKE for me There’s a bunch of buttons to get you there in my sidebar or just click HERE

You may have noticed I’ve tidied up my blog a bit. I also figured out how to add custom fonts so I’ve changed my post titles. And remember how a while ago I told you I’d won a years subscription with the BaseKit website builder? Well I’ve set up the very  beginnings of my site (finally). It’s still not finished but I’ll show you when it’s done. It took me a little while to figure it all out but I’ve got the hang of it now. My only problem with using Basekit is that I am limited to standard fonts and I can only use Google Analytics for my tracking which I don’t like very much, preferring Woopra. I know the idea is to get away from any kind of code but IMHO you do need to access a little of it, as annoying as it may be. Maybe one day I will learn how to make a proper website. Hmm.

Other news – I got my scooter license!! YAY! The two day course was quite intense. Going from Zero driving knowledge to being allowed out on the roads in two days is pretty full on. The instructors at HART were really excellent and taught us really well. I’m kinda proud of myself for passing because only 8 out of 12 made it, and I was the only one who didn’t already have a car license.  I brought my scooter home on Friday – it was nerve-wracking driving home from the city let me tell you! Not to mention my 200cc Vespa is a LOT bigger and heavier than the itty bitty 50cc scoot I did the course on. The advantages are that it’s not as battered and the weight of it means it handles better through corners and driving slowly. After scaring the people working at a prestige car dealership in the back streets of North Melbourne (I was hooning around the car-park getting used to my new ride), we went out on a longer ride on Saturday. All the way down to St Kilda via Williamstown, then South Yarra (Chapel St!), Richmond, the city then home. Now I love it and I’m not scared as much anymore hehe. It will no doubt take a while not to be a danger on the roads (oh dear) but it sure is a lot of fun having a scooter!
However, today we ran into a dilemma. I was all set to head down the beach and go for a nice long ride….buuuuttttt……when I started her up – she started leaking LOTS of fuel!!! Omg! Not really prepared for all this mechanical bizzo. Dammit! So now she has to go back to the dealer and hopefully they can fix it. I mean….that kinda really sucks. I hope I haven’t bought a dud. Eep. I think something must be loose along the fuel line somewhere. It was only in for service last week.

Ummm that’s about all for now. I’ll be posting some sewing stuff soon and hopefully do some drawing too. It’s really hard to get motivated this time of year. Not sure what it is. Does anyone else fall into a bit of a creative slump around the end of year holidays???

Ciao!!

Shoes for Sale and some other things is a post from: kittysdrawings.com Copyright 2011. If this isn't in your Reader, it's been pinched! Don't support feed thieves! Please contact me if you see my feed being stolen. Thank you