Girl in Da Hood

After all the fiddly sewing on my wedding dress, my next project needed to be something a little less taxing. I've been in need of some new additions to my winter wardrobe and I thought this pattern would be just the thing to ease me back into sewing.

Vogue 8423

Vogue 8423 is ridiculously simple; it has two pieces in total - front & back - and can be made using one metre of 150cm wide fabric. Happy coincidence, I'd just picked up exactly that amount of random, $3 p/m fabric at Spotlight. 

 

Long-time readers will know I don't tend to bother with a muslin, I'm more of a 'crack-on' type of gal. I'm pretty confident with my measurements and I know from experience that I always need to remove 1" from the bodice length - no need to waste precious sewing time on mock ups!

 

Thanks to my trusty overlocker, this project was done in roughly three hours. In fact, I was so pleased with the result, I wore it the very next day.

 

I did try to add extra to the sleeve length for warmth, but when you've only a metre of fabric to work with, you just have to make do.

 

 

 

 

Despite my fabric being fuzzy on the inside, I couldn't help but line the hood with jersey - much more hair-friendly if you wear the hood for any length of time.

 

 

 

 

 Although, it's not likely I'll be zipping up the hood when out & about...

 

 

 

I have wings!!

 

Perfect, should I ever plan on going into stealth-mode!

 

Sadly, my hood disaster isn't an easy fix. It's cut in one with the bodice and I'd have to pull the zipper out, among other things. The only thing I can think is that I needed to take an inch out of the length of the neck/hood.

 

 

 

 No matter, I still love it!

 

 - Tamara



Learning Curve

This year has been full of changes for me and as a result, my blog has had to take a backseat. That's not to say I haven't been sewing. I've completed quite a few little projects, but with limited time at my disposal, I've not had a chance to photograph them. Then there's at least a couple of hours Photoshop-ing and composing content... I have other, more pressing priorities to attend to.

 

 

Back in March, I started a Diploma in Fashion Business at the Melbourne Fashion Institute. The full time course is only two days a week, but the learning is pretty intensive and I'm finding myself quite exhausted at the end of each class. Not to mention my business idea is very different to that of the course content and I struggle at times to relate to my end goal. I can't divulge too much about my idea at this point in time but I promise to let you know once it comes to fruition.

 

The Melbourne Fashion Institute has many different courses available - patten making & garment construction, design & illustration, styling & couture - too many fun things to choose from. Business studies are all about Sales Plans, Organisation Structures and Unique Selling Propositions and I often find myself longing to something a bit more creative. Thankfully, there are a few artistic lights shining in the dullness of all this serious business.

 

The Visual Merchandising component of the course required us to create a mood board, a clothing range and store window to sell our fashions. Rather than just selling clothing, I was trying to sell an era - the 1930s - and my window was based on the image below.

 

 

 

 

This room was a little too busy to work as good visual merchandising, so I produced a more simplified version - it only needed to be representitive after all.

 

 

 

 

The chaise and telephone table were easy to source, but I had terrible trouble finding a scale mannequin to suit. I ended up having to make my own from air-modelling clay. Her boobs are a little high on the body but she's to perfect scale. If you're wondering about the missing legs, it's purely because they kept falling off and I ran out of patience.

 

There are some other wonderfully creative students in my class; we had spray-painted women, disco bitches fighting on the dance floor and a full scale skirt made from Hawaiian leis. I didn't get much of a chance to take pics on the day of presentations, but I did snap a couple at the end of the day, before everyone scurried off home.

 

 

A hooded cape by an active/sportswear label.

 

 

 

Hats by Sophie Allport Designs.

 

Our next creative project is to be a t-shirt design - it relates to the sourcing & production component of the course - but that's a couple of weeks off. We've yet to get through Marketing Plans & Finance but at least there's something fun to look forward to.

 

- Tamara



 

 

Everyone's a Picker

Last week I read a news story about a man who purchased a particularly ugly bowl/cup in an op shop for $4 and then sold it at auction for over $75,000. Turns out, it was a 17th Century Chinese 'libation cup' carved from rhinoceros horn. A rare find indeed, but I get the feeling this guy knew exactly what he was looking at.

 

It's been a long while since I've been op shopping for no other reason than they've all been picked over. Not to mention that they've cottoned on to how much more they can make on vintage and designer pieces. It's a fair call, the proceeds go to charity after all, but this attitude appears to be creeping into the last refuge of bargain hunters everywhere - garage sales and swap meets.

 

The last swap meet we went to was the annual Broadford Swap Meet back in April and what a change it was from last year. Practically every stall holder had what they believed to be a 'rare piece' and they were charging accordingly; it sure took the fun out of it. Personally, I blame TV shows like American Pickers, Auction Hunters and the like. Before they came along, people didn't even know they had 'rusty gold'.

 

With the swap meet prices being well out of my budget, I had to content myself with seeking out some of the more fun stuff on offer.

 

 

 

Phones, phones everywhere...

 

 

 

 

Something for the car restorer

 

 

 

 

Who knew the 'Three Men in a Boat' author wrote another book?

 

 

 

Fabulous sewing machine oil cans

 

 

 

 

Oh, what I wouldn't give to see this baby in action!

The Police Siren Door-Stop Burglar Alarm would make for the perfect prank.

 

 

 

And finally, Thrilling Ranch Stories - Romantic stories of the West (c.1940s). If the front cover is to be believed, it looks like a great read. As you can imagine, I was sorely tempted by this one.

 

 

I do hope this weekend's Vintage Clearance Centre sale lives up to it's advertised bargains, I'm in the market for a new coat.

 

- Tamara