A country affair

Julia and I spent a lovely Sunday morning out at Neudorf Vineyards at "A Country Affair" - an annual country fair. It was a very hot day out in the gorgeous countryside, complete with live jazz, craft and food stalls (I got local olive oil and tea), and of course then we had to sit under a tree and drink Pimms... Plus you can see us feeling very cool in our maxi dresses we made. I designed the pattern and made mine to try it out, then gave Julia some sewing lessons (a birthday present from Amanda) in which she made this dress all herself. Very impressive!

I am inspired by...

Cutouts & textures.


Crazy colours & fabric painting & puffy skirts.

Tim Walker & beautiful couture made from household objects. How awesome is this?

Psychedelic

So I made this pattern up so I could give Julia sewing lessons and she could have a personalised maxi dress.. of course I had to make one up to try out the pattern first!! I hate all the baggy/maternity ones in shops, yuck. It's all about the cut - nicely shaped and fitted but still maxi. Seriously love this fabric (the yellow/grey/white).. the grey contrast knit was a bit thick, but that's ok.




As always, click on photo for larger, better quality image.

Yase!

A dress I made for Yasemin - ruffled chiffon top (see pic on right for ruffle detail) plus slightly gathered linen skirt.
Click on image for larger and better quality image.

"Little house on the prairie"

Click on images for bigger and much better quality view!
Is what my new dress looks like, according to Emma! Awesome orange and turquoise check from Global Fabrics in Wellington (again...) Gathered waist, bias waistband and gathered neck (vaguely based off a Vogue Paris vintage pattern), with a shoelace tie at the moment but will probably go for a turquoise ribbon or fabric tie... new favourite dress, and I even get to keep it!

Melbourne Cup dress

Satin and sequin custom-made dress for Anna. Here's a shot of it in action at the Melbourne Cup.

How could I not?

I mean, obviously... cutest thing ever!
And the perfect opportunity to show off Amanda and Julia's stripey sleeveless summer hoodie dresses. Both fabrics from Global Fabrics in Wellington, based loosely on a Burda World of Fashion magazine pattern, just for the gathers, then the rest is all freestyle! As I tend to do...

1969

Straight out of Margie's pattern collection, from 1969... slightly adjusted with a waist band and no zip etc because it's stretch, but generally on the same wavelength. Global Fabrics stretch knit again. Click on image for bigger view.

Drapy cardy v2.0

Shinyish drapyish knit cardy for mum...

Men & Rocks

I had the honour of designing Lindsay's limited edition poetry collection cover. He bought a painting by Patrick Hartigan called Smoke and Rocks and we used that as the basis. Nice to do something less commercial than usual.

Keeping warm in spring

Simple merino-mix from Global Fabrics (what a surprise) with a massive cowl neck that can also be a hoodie... getting ready for a Canadian winter with Amanda!

A starfish tee in the mail

Amanda got an amazingly cool tee in the mail from Dan. How rad is that!
On another note, here's a simple gathered neck dress I made (basic raglan sleeve, blah) and really nice drapey cardi, basic pattern from BurdaStyle. Both are knits from Global Fabrics in Wellington, and are so nice to wear.

Cutest dress ever!

Newest addition to my shop! Adorable reworked vintage dress with belt... love it!

In real life

Amanda modelling the gorgeous dress from below!

Dresses!

Finally got myself sorted and finished stuff off!
Here are a few dresses that'll be for sale very soon in my Felt shop. Either made from vintage dresses and reworked, or using vintage patterns...
SOLD!!!


* Last dress reserved for Amanda*

Update: These will be available for purchase on Monday 31 August.

Pintuck pleat jumpsuit

Corporate-style jumpsuit - looks like a skirt but is actually pants! Tailored, pleated front, pleated cap-sleeves & zip back.

Ashleigh's formal dress

Ahh, remember the days of school formals...

Pretty dress

Gold and white dress I designed for Jess's hair comp... shot by Daniel Allen.

Birthday dress for Alex

Merino and brushed cotton dress I made for my SB Alex who's living in Edinburgh. First two are me so you can see the details, then there's her wearing it :)

Vintage Goodness

It's been a very fruitful week for getting sweet sweet stuff.
First me and mum stumbled upon a lady selling 50 years worth of her wardrobe, and I picked up these Spanish lace-up boots...

Then Adrian's mum gifted me a massive box of his grandmother's sewing patterns back to the 50s, including some amazing coats...

I went to the book fair at Founder's Park where I picked up vegetarian and baking recipe books, sewing books, magazines and patterns for $6!

I'd been looking for a cool retro cruiser bike for a couple of years so when I found this in Richmond out the back of an op shop for $15 I had to have it... keen to get it painted but it can wait.

And Andrew's mum gave me a hand-painted silk scarf his grandmother owned... I love it... Awww...

Pretty Little Boutique

Jen's Etsy shop The Pretty Little Boutique is opening on June 30th... I designed her shop banner, blog header and still to come, business cards and swing tags. Cute huh?

Mr Golding's Winter 09 edition Miss Jackson hoodie

Grey corduroy, fully lined with checked brushed cotton, neck & pocket zips.
Completely made from vintage fabric and notions :)

Dress for 'Ema

Cute little jersey-knit dress for my cousin's birthday - fingers crossed she likes it! So glad I have extra fabric because I really want one!

Fabric from Global Fabrics in Wellington.

A dress for me!!!

A nice little merino and stretch cotton dress - a Burda WOF magazine pattern. Nice architectural styling with pleats around the neck, although black is ridiculously hard to see in photos.

Travel Smart dresses

Not the best photo (sorry Julia!) but you get the idea - corporate uniforms for Travel Smart Nelson + Hamilton, they needed to be professional but still cute and easy to wear... I love them! More photos to come hopefully.

Latest dress!

Modified from a vintage dress, cut off sleeves, length, neck-tie...

Frame makeover

I can never find frames I like, so I decided to do a little vintage makeover... I find it very soothing! Found this old frame (with glass) at Richmond Antiques and Curios (favourite antique shop).



It's pleasantly surprising what a bit of paint can do! I primed the frame, spraypainted it with a standard black paint, then got a piece of white mounting card for $4 at the local art suppliers and used a [very sharp] builder's craft knife to make nice little square windows in it. Then put my beautiful medium format graduation photos in (courtesy of Adrian) and there you have it! Nice little Saturday crafty job.

Weekend away

Wet and wild Golden Bay - staying in a bach on the beach in Pakawau.

Langford's Store in Bainham (middle of nowhere), it's like a hundred years old.
Everything from food to stockings, and lots of awesome stuff back to the 50s... I was in heaven - belt makers, buttons, scissors, ribbons...
After a morning's hard work, we went to the Naked Possum cafe at the start of the Heaphy Track for coffee and rather large muffins. A very nice weekend indeed.

Just something I had to do for work

Vintage Vogue

Fashion Drawing in Vogue by William Packer is an inspiring book if you're into fashion, illustration, sewing, art history etc. I loved all the gorgeous illustrations. You just can't beat a beautiful fashion drawing I say. PLUS there's a foreword by David Hockney... nice.

Dress for Miss Holly

Custom dress for Holly, made from purple "dance lycra" (hehe). It's wrap-around, with black trim and tie, plus ruffles, obviously.

I'm for sale!

Woop woop! Finally, got my act together and selling stuff online, after a year of messing around. I'm selling through Felt, an NZ online website for all things handmade. Click here to check it out. Here are some pictures from the photoshoot for the clothes. Briony King took the photos... I'm stoked with them. Thanks Briony!

Shorties

Checked shorts from a cheap standard Spotlight pants pattern, with back welt pockets and fold up legs with side button tabs. I really really like them.

Shoot sneak preview

I'm really excited. We did a photoshoot yesterday involving four girls, a mini-roadtrip up the back of nowhere, a field with waist-high grass, a little old church, abandoned car (with guard dogs) and several wrong turns. Such an awesome day :) Photos to come.

Skirt for Jess

Another piece for Jess's wardrobe, a high-waisted skirt in a kind of soft denimy drill fabric, with contrast belt loops, pockets and tie belt.