To feather or not feather

I’ve been trying to come up with some new designs for our t-shirt recently and the idea of feathers on a singlet top has been popping into my mind quite a bit…   ok maybe it has something to do with my little creative zone ( see the mirror feathers ) :

Lately these feathers have been falling off :(  So after picking up the the 20th feather that has fallen off the walls, it had me thinking about using feather on tops.

While I love the idea of the softness of the feather against a solid colour top, I’m just not sure about the washability of this top.  Not sure about everyone out there, but I’m the type that would put a top down if it had – ‘dry clean only’ on the label.

Maybe I will try to create the effect on a piece of felt to give it structure or with lace to preserve the softness of the feather.  stay tune...

How to make a fabric leaf

After putting through a zigzag stitch on each of the leaves it really started to emphasized the contrast.  Also changing the flower attachment helped to brighten up the over all look of this design. 

To make the leaf here's what i've done :

1. draw the shape of the leaf on some interface paper.  A rough drawing is fine as we want to create a rough look
2. Pin the pattern onto some satin fabric
3. Cut out the fabric.  You don't have to be too delicate with the edges
4. Do a gather stitch on your leaf and then gather it slightly to give it a bit of body
5. Once you are happy with the leaf, do a zigzag stitch in the middle of the leave 
6. Over a small candle, slightly seal the edges

Now your leaf is ready for you to use !!!

Fabric Leaves ( cont )

I finally came up my first version of how the leaves would look like in real life :

I'm not quite happy with how the red thread isn't giving the contrast.  I do like how the leave is coming into shape though I think I need to rough up the edges a bit more to give it more depth.

Here's what i'm thinking i'll try tomorrow, add in additional red threads once i'm happy with the gather.  Burn the edges a bit more to give it the uneven look and also maybe find something red to go at the top in place of the rose.  I might add white netting fabric between the leave to give it more body.  Stay tune...

Baby tops

I caught up with my partner in crime on yesterday to come up with a few designs for our latest baby range for our markets in Sept. :)  It was an fun afternoon of playing with lace, lace and more lace !!!

Here’s some of them : 

now back to cutting out my leaves... hopefully it will look ok.  stay tune...  

Fabric Leaves

Here’s a sketch of what I have in mind with the fabric leaves.  

Not sure whether it’s going to work but I’ll give it a go tomorrow and put it into a top and see.  Can't hurt trying

Fabric Flower

I’ve always been very fascinated by fabric flowers.  When I’m alone in my little zone I try to turn any scraps of fabric into a flower.  This morning just before I had to get ready for work, I found myself staring into a piece of left over chiffon.  Here’s what I made before work with little pinning and lots of curling:

Not quite sure what I’m going to use it for yet but hopefully it will come to me or if you have any suggestions let me know :)  

Anyway this had me thinking – I’ve never really seen a fabric leaf being used on an embellished top before.   I might draw something tonight… stay tune...

The start of my very special journey

Here I go… 

Like many of you out there, I spent much of my twenties trying to find myself.  I’ve been lucky as my work has allowed me to travel to and work in many different places.  Through constantly living out of my suitcase and endless dinners on my own in remote / exotic locations, I decided I needed to grow up and stop finding excuses to run away from life.  So in my thirties-  I decided to try something new : starting with staying in one place long enough for my friends to remember me J. 

Staying in the one place has also allowed me to re-discover the art of sewing.  About 18mths ago I decided I really wanted to learn how to make lingerie…  (to this day I still have no idea why that thought just popped into my head !! )  So with that thought in mind I signed up for some sewing classes.  After various attempts and lots of unpicking here was my very first piece of lingerie J

I can’t tell you how delighted I was to be holding something which I've made…    Not bad for someone who hasn't touch a sewing machine since yrs 7 in highschool !!!   It just shows its never to old to learn something new...  my journey in the art of sewing only just started...  

Elsie...