FESTIVAL CHALLENGE: Getting started!

 Polly Pattern on my desk / Cotton Voile / Michael Miller Ikat

Well hello there! 

As I have worked till midnight most nights this week (ah the joys of working in theatre...) I have only made small steps towards my festival challenge goal (to catch you up to speed - my aim is to make all of my outfits for this year's Wilderness festival). 

FESTIVAL CHALLENGE: Fabric Inspiration

Aaaaaand we're off! 

The first stage in my Festival Challenge - trawling the web for the best festival themed fabrics. I've been searching for bright summer colours, morrocan / bohemian prints and designs which will work with the Anna Dress pattern. 

Clockwise from left: 1. eo petals - folk modern - pink and green on blue - ellen luckett baker - linen blend fabric from kokka  2. True Colors - Medallion in Aquamarine 3. washi triangles - charcoal - rashida coleman hale - timeless treasures 4. Cotton Lawn - India

FESTIVAL CHALLENGE!

With festival season on the horizon I am setting myself a blog-tastic sewing challenge! I am going to create an entirely handmade festival wardrobe in time for the spectacular Wilderness Festival which starts on the 7th August. 

If you have never been to Wilderness (produced by the same team as The Secret Garden Party) then why not?? JUST GO! It's the most chilled out, beautiful, theatrical festival I have been to. You can go wild swimming in the lake, dress to the nines for secret late night parties in the woods, try your hand at archery or horse ridding, eat sumptuous eastern delights in the Moro food tent, relax in a wood fired hot tub, watch immersive theatre and of course catch some incredible bands at the main stage! I'm pretty excited - can you tell?? 

So back to the challenge...

I need to make outfits for four days of festival revelry - including an outfit for the Astronomers Ball late night party. I am going to sew as much as possible from scratch but may also customise some garments to transform them from thrifty charity shop finds into festival worthy glad rags. 

Watch this space for fabric ideas, pattern choices and daring Astronomical designs!!  

My Back Catalogue

Looking at that pile of uncut patterns and ironed fabrics waiting for your time and dedication to transform them? 

Sometimes it helps to look back at past triumphs for motivation and inspiration. That little, 'yeah I can do this! Remember when I made THAT and THAT was waaaaay tougher' feeling. 

As I gear up for an exciting summer sewing challenge, let's take a look back at my most complicated project to date. It was a dress made for a friend's production of the play 'Our Country's Good'... 

There was boning in the bodice,

I dyed the fabric myself,

I painstakingly printed a historically appropriate pattern (from research at the V&A Museum) onto the fabric,

It had to be as historically accurate as possible,

The sleeves were crazy! It took a week and a few tears but I was pretty chuffed with it. It was adapted from this simplicity pattern. 

*drum roll* Here she is, modeled by the lovely Pru who played Duckling in the show: 

Mathilde finale

My mathilde blouse is finally finished and it's pretty good! Thanks to the robust nature of print at home patterns I can easily make it again and next time round I really need to get the cuff gathers right - they're a tad over gathered and massive but hey, I'll just channel a New Romantic vibe...

Procrastination and Progress

Apart from working like a crazy lady and planning a theatre production I have find a tiny amount of time to procrastinate (watching 'Call the Midwife' for the amazing vintage frocks, drinking endless cups of tea and cackling with my housemates and preparing a 1930s outfit for The Grand Budapest Hotel Secret Cinema event in London) and an even tiny-er amount of time to sew. 

So far I have conquered the Mathilde bodice, sewn a rather dashing neckline and am now almost ready to add the sleeves and finish off - oh my friggin goodness how exciting!

If only I could stop procrastinating and finish it! What's that? I have a week off next week?? Hold onto your hats this will be finished post-haste! 

Weekday Pattern Lust

 1. Lakeside Pajamas from Grainline Studio 2. Simone by Victory Patterns 3. Georgia Dress by Hand London

Dreaming of summer this week while I wrap myself in a huge Aztec print jumper and hug my hot chocolate mug for warmth!

My favourite in the line up this week is the Simone top from Victory Patterns. Infinitely customisable with a racer back. Let's just get the sun shining and crack out the Prosecco now please!

On my sewing table

 

If my life was a movie then the title song would be 'The Great Procrastinator' by Stornoway. My god I am good at avoiding work, even fun work.

I will; look at the state of my current sewing project, read the instructions for the um-tenth-time and then (in no particular order!): drink some tea, eat a sandwich, watch some dreadful daytime telly, peruse a magazine, clean the kitchen, drink more tea, put a wash on, call a friend, drink more tea, take the wash out... you get the idea.

Currently on my sewing table is the gorgeous (at least I hope it will be once I actually finish it) Mathilde Blouse from Tilly and the Buttons.

So far the process has been relatively painless - the PDF pattern was very easy to print out correctly (just get rid of those pesky scaling settings before you print so it comes out full size), it was a little time consuming taping all the pages together but totally worth it when you end up with a robust printer paper pattern which can be reused instead of a flimsy tissue paper rip-able nightmare.

I also used Tilly's advice and used a tracing wheel for the first time. I am a total convert - no longer the fear of carefully cutting around a slippery, delicate tissue pattern which is liable to move about a bit as you lift the fabric to cut it. With crisp marks on the fabric itself the cutting process was a DREAM. Although I may have irreparably damaged by boyfriend's antique table.. my tracing wheel was pretty sharp. A word to the wise - get a ruddy big cutting mat or risk ruining surfaces and relationships! 

I am now ready to sew it all together - just after I have one more cuppa, oh and eat a biscuit, um and I really should call my friend Lizzie.... etc.

Weekday Pattern Lust

By Hand London Anna Dress / By Hand London Polly Tank / Grainline Studios Tiny Pocket Tank

So much pattern lust this week!

I have just ordered the beautiful Anna Dress from By Hand London, one simple search of Pinterest or the sewing bloggersphere reveals the stunning simplicity and beauty of this pattern. So many have made it and all seem to have created a dress with perfect fit and flattering lines.

I can't quite believe it but the incredible, versatile Polly Tank from By Hand London is absolutely free to download from their website.

And despite being from the U, S of A Grainline Studio's Tiny Pocket Tank is also a PDF downloadable pattern (not free this time but a definite wardrobe staple) so no faff with postage and import tax - wayhey!

For advice about using PDF patterns, Tilly over at Tilly and the Buttons has some easy to follow advice that even I can understand!

 
 
 
HELLO PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET!
 
My name is Lotty. It's lovely to meet you.
 
Inspired by the many fashion forward and wonderful sewing and making blogs out there ( A Beautiful Mess , Tilly and the Buttons , Oonaballoona to name a mere handful! ) I am setting out to document my forays into sewing from the point of view of a HORRENDOUS procrastinator and rooky sewist.
 
So I've made a few bits and bobs as part of my Theatre Studies degree and am lucky enough to own an awesome Janome sewing machine (THIS one, it is fab) but patterns still give me a headache and I more often than not end up avoiding them until years later I come across some half cut out scraps in a drawer, OR phoning my mum at midnight to weep over the befuddling instructions, shouting nonsensically down the phone about selvedge's and basting (surely that is something you do to a TURKEY?!). More often than not I give up. Sigh at the oh-so-on-trend silk shirt that could have been, now in a pin strewn bundle on the floor, and reach for the wine.
 
BUT NO MORE! I think I have cracked it. That elusive problem all young sewists face ( at least those who do not want to look like an 1980s Granny OR like Cath Kidston threw up on them). And that is we want to make the kinds of clothes we ACTUALLY WEAR, the kinds of styles we can find on the high-street but minus the crappy sweaty-polyester fabrics and sweatshop labour.
 

 

Let's have less of this (1980s simplicity)...

 

And more of this! (By Hand London Anna Dress)

 
So that is my mission. To create a wearable handmade wardrobe with little to no skill, absolutely no patience, a tendency to procrastinate and the ever present temptation of cracking open the wine with my housemates... wish me luck!