No business like Show Business

It's been a big week of creativity & culling.
I spent a lot of last week rearranging my workroom.

In my line of work it's impossible to throw anything out. 
You never know when you will need that piece of fabric, trim, cardigan, button, tool. So you have a ridiculously large stash of everything.

But with the new focus on millinery & accessories I decided a large amount of fabric could move to the garage, freeing up space for millinery supplies to be a hand.

Being a professional hoarder often means your work space can get out of hand, but my semi New Years resolution, to clean up after every project has stuck. I'm finding it liberating to pack everything away & have my work table & sewing space clear every few days or weeks. 

In my creativity this week I designed lots of costumes for the Wizard of Oz, 

made a year 12 formal dress 

& designed a new bridal comb to add to the collection.

The lovely Miz Mimi also joined our little team at Empireroom. You'll see her sporting our upcoming designs.

Don't forget to join our list at Empireroom.

Vintage Bikini mark II

1950's beach babes

I've been researching Vintage swimwear a bit more & trying to find some examples of what I could try in cotton fabric. It seems like the high waist is still going to be popular in the coming year & I really like the idea of  recreating those no stretch styles of the 1950's & 60's. After all there are so many girls who go to the beach or pool to be seen in something fashionable & not swim. I guess I also want them to be functional.

My search came up with some fab screen sirens in publicity shoots, as well as great bathing beauties of the time

Betty Grable

Carol Landis: So in love with this set. I think I'll try it next.

Janet Leigh

Grace Kelly

Ava Gardner

Ruching & skirts are super cute & perfect for someone who might want to distract from a touch of cellulite.

The gorgeous Norma Jean aka Marilyn Monroe

I love the frilled trim & skirt on this early Marilyn Two Piece below

The redrafted top didn't quite work as planned with the straps, so back to the drawing board I went. I tried a couple of different styles and finally came up with one I was happy with. It has great shape & sufficient support for a 10D. 

Now I just have to work out how to grade the sizing for different cup sizes.

However I have discovered this amazing website called Pattern School, a fabulous resource for drafting & making all manner of leotards, swimwear & lingerie. I just have to sit down & wade through the formulas & diagrams.

The pants were less problematic with the insertion of three lycra panels, but I'm not sure about the V in the back. I'm still having my usual issues with getting my elastic inserted just right, but these don't look too bad & they are super comfy. I guess I should do a water test to see how they react when wet.

Excuse my lily white skin.

So the learning curve continues. 

The treasure trove

A couple of weeks ago I won this lovely antique tallboy chest of drawers on eBay. I'd been search for months for the right look, size & price, but everything kept going beyond my budget. Finally I won this one & my bloke & I travelled down to Mount Eliza to pick it up.
The couple were clearing out their mother/in law's unit who had moved into assisted living & while the men did the hard work, Jill & I had a friendly chat as she showed me around the near empty unit. My work came up & she told me her mother in law had been a dressmaker.
They'd already sent her clothing & accessories to the Op Shop (gasp, sigh), but her sewing supplies were in their garage.
I said I'd be most interested in purchasing some of it & she said she would go through it & send me some photos before she listed it all on eBay.
The email came last week with picture of fabric, buttons, haby & 160 patterns. I could have the lot for a very reasonable amount, if I would take it all. Too right I'd take it all.
Sunday we made the trip back down the Pennisula & picked up the booty. And I spent Sunday night & Monday morning sorting through it all. Lining, interfacing, wool, silk, satin, sateen, prints, plains, stripes, checks, cottons, tartan, furnishing, curtains.
 Of the 6 Singapore bags of fabric I have sorted it into one for myself, one to resell, two for Carey & one will go to charity. Only a supermarket bag full of scraps went to the bin.

Then there was the 60 button jars sorted into types or colours plus more on cards, more than 300 reels of thread, some millinery supplies, fastenings, bias binding, zips & a small amount of eqiptment - needles, measures etc.

Finally 3 boxes of patterns dating back to the 1950's. What a collection. And they are in sizes that fit me. Of course I wanted to keep masses for myself, but as if I'm going to make all those 60's dresses when my favorite eras are 10's, 20's, 30's & 50's. 

 There is a 1950's Norman Hartnell that could fetch a small fortune as it's so rare, but I can't bare to part with it just yet. So I have a 'keep for now' pile, a keep for school pile& 3 boxes: sell individually, sell in lots & send to the charity shop. 

It meant that I was throughly distracted from wedding stuff for almost a whole day, but eventually yesterday afternoon I sat down & got Emily's dress finished, to the hand stitching stage. It's so pretty. I must get on to finishing my own dress today.....

Less than a month

So Servant of Two Masters finished on Monday night. By all accounts it was a resounding success, which I didn't actually get to see because Emily's dance concert was on too.
With that out of the way all there is to focus on now is Christmas & the Big Day.

I am starting to stress a bit with the wedding being so close. The days get less & there is still so much to achieve.
Shirts are done, boys pants are done except for fastenings.
Ties are cut, vests are cut.
Emily's dress is started.
After a mild nervous breakdown when I tried on my own dress last week & discovered I no longer have the boobs to fill it. (No idea where they went as I haven't lost weight, just toned up)
I couldn't face it until yesterday, so armed with the tv series Kingdom Hospital I sat myself down to rectify the problem.
I unpicked the lace overlay from bodice, unpicked the top seam & removed a couple of centimetres from the bust, but then the sweetheart shape wasn't siting right so I cut that down, but it still wasn't right, so I trimmed some more, added bust cups, eliminating the bra issues & stitched it back up. After some tears, tantrums & almost dislocating a shoulder trying to hook the back up it finally fits again & sits, almost, perfectly. Now I just have to reattach the lace overlay, finish the beading, attach the skirt, sew on the vintage glass buttons & voila!
I cannot change shape again in the next 23 days or I'm likely to throw the dress out the window & wear a sack.

I am actually enjoying the amount of exercise I'm getting & it's helped so much with my back pain. Given the amount of sewing I'm doing, I'm fairing pretty well.
I think with the discipline of working each day on sewing tasks I can see myself being able to stick to the program next year & really get my Etsy store happening.
Each week I've been getting a sale for my vintage lace or patterns & as I'm picking up a huge stash from a retired dressmaker this Sunday I should have lots more to list.
But it's really getting on to making things & having the confidence to list them in the new year that I'm struggling with. It's ridiculous when I can get a call to dash into Crown Towers to alter a designer beaded dress for an evening event & get the job done in 3 hours. I know I can do it, I just need to find the confidence to put myself out there. New Years resolution? Maybe.


So I'd better stop procrastinating & get back to it, I hear Kingdom Hospital calling.

Anything but…..

I'm finding it really hard to focus today.
Invoices, packages, Facebook, youtube, emails, Houzz, eBay, anything but what I'm supposed to be doing.
Which is making Nigel's shirt & cutting out vests.
Unfortunately while I was at school on Saturday Willow our fluffy grey kitty decided to have a little shred of the vest pattern. She just loves shredding tissue paper & is not discerning when it come to what is patterns & what is discarded.
So I have to find a new pattern.
I have made some matching lace cuffs for Beatrice's jacket  with the lace from the jabot. The sleeves were just a touch short & the black & white broderie anglaise cuffs will just finish it superbly. I still have some for sale in my store if you are interested.
She looked amazing on Saturday. I trimmed a tall velvet hat with ostrich feather, buttons & ribbon that really bought the whole look together.
I was really pleased with the overall look of the show, I think the costumes & set really complement each other.
I think Servant of Two Masters will be a really fun night.
Ok really must go & sew…...

Almost on stage.

S2M is almost done.
 First Dress rehearsal is tomorrow & I'm pretty sure everyone has a costume. I was in a bit of a panic at the beginning of the week when I discovered the majority of the boys costume were still untouched. Hems were pinned, pictures attached with fabric scraps & trims chosen, but nothing was finished.
With only a few hours of my contract left, I cleaned up the work space & got to decorating the boys outfits. And here I thought I was just the designer.....

Today I'm finishing a really cute jabot for Beatrice who spends most of the play masquerading as her brother. We've gone with a traditional 16th century costume with a modern day Gothic twist to fit with the overall costume concept. It's made up of 3 length of vintage lace with a heart motif to represent the love she has lost. It's so sweet.
Other things on the horizon are

• working up a design concept for the first production for 2012, 42nd Street 
• making an Alice costume for a friends 30th. 

On the other front I have a massive to do list all set out for every day til the wedding.
How did I get myself into such a big DIY wedding?
This is when you need adult attendants & a family who can actually assist you with all this, but it's just little ole' me. It will look fab though.
After much searching & several stalled attempts, I finally found some local drink dispensers for the lemonade from eBay.
It's really encouraging to be getting all the RSVP's, some are coming from interstate & the UK.
Well better to get back to it.

Clean up Day

After yesterday's effort of trying to stiffen all the silk petals for my wedding fascinator on my work room floor & being left with a stiffened back, I am resolved to completely clear my storage, um I mean work table, so I can actually work on it. I'm sure I'll find lots of goodies I have forgotten I have. So that's the plan for today. Also got a call from a friend at church to help alter her daughters costumes for their upcoming production of Oliver. That should be easy, their school borrowed them from my 2010 production.