Tuesday, May 12, 2015
The post is a little late this week as I am totally distracted by work that is going on in the backend of the website, setting up a members area. We have been working out the best content to make it both attractive and useful to fans and hope to open that members area very soon. Now back to the #PatternPuzzle that was such fun on Saturday with fans working getting to the answers super-fast. Then overnight, while I was asleep so many added sketches and photos and in one case an amazing mini-toile.
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Monday, April 06, 2015
It never ceases to amaze me how often I am drawn to this particular style of cowl drape. You will find many examples in the #PatternPuzzles that have been presented here over the past few years. This puzzle starts with the simplest of shapes and becomes an elegant tunic top.
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Monday, March 09, 2015
You may be forgiven for thinking that we often torture the stuffing out of our fabulous #PatternPuzzle fans. Well, last Saturday was no exception. I did a slightly tricky thing with a 'grown-on hood' and it was enough to make the pattern shapes very hard to read. I have seen similar styles in both historic and current fashion and have waited some time to try this out on the blog. The idea I have is to cut this dress from my knit block using a merino jersey. That could be either a one-way or two-way stretch knit. The Double Drape in this Maxi refers to the #CowlDrape on the back of this dress and the #GatheredDrape on the centre front (CF) seam. The hood styling may also be considered a #CowlDrape with the large tuck and the centre back(CB) line on the fold.
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Monday, February 09, 2015
The simplest of shapes have a tendency to be the most difficult to solve in the pattern puzzle. When there are no recognisable pattern parts (armholes, necklines, etc.), a huge amount of creativity is needed to make sense of the pattern shape. Each week our fans excel in their ability to work their way through the information, ask the best questions and eventually win the day. :) They are the best! If you don't fancy making your own pattern this design
is
now available as a PDF sewing pattern to download and sew for your self at home. Click through to see my very first PDF patterns online!
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Monday, February 02, 2015
At last the detail for the Saturday #PatternPuzzle is here! My apologies for the delay to our usual posting but I had a little trouble with my graphics. It was a wonderful round of creative answers and clever solutions that finally solved this puzzle. Our Handkerchief Fold Dress is so named because it struck me that the construction of this dress is much like a handkerchief with the corners folded into the centre.
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Monday, December 22, 2014
This weeks #PatternPuzzle was about targeting another of my favourite Erte designs and bringing this inspiration up-to-date. As it turns out this is a truly challenging style. I know I made at least two mistakes in putting these pattern making instructions together. So please forgive any other errors you may find. And because of it's complexity, I imagine I would have to produce at least 2-3 toiles/muslins to really get the design and fit to work well before attempting in final cloth.
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Monday, December 15, 2014
We have had a good run lately with Cowl Drape styles and this week is no exception with the Cowl Back Tee. Last week was the Vivienne Drape Dress featuring a Cowl Drape on the neckline and in the skirt. And Two weeks ago a reworking of The Drape Shift in a woven fabric for The Drape Shift - Woven. You might say we are coming at the #CowlDrape thing from all directions.
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Monday, December 08, 2014
This weeks design is a homage to one of my favourite designers, Vivienne Westwood. The understated neckline drape and off centre skirt drape are characteristic of her wonderful draped dresses. Addendum March 2016 - I've just turned this #PatternPuzzle favourite into a pattern making workshop -
#InAnAvo The Vivienne Drape Dress. Checkout other #InAnAvo workshops on offer.
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Monday, November 24, 2014
The original
Drape Shift #PatternPuzzle post has turned out to be the best performing of all our blog posts over the past two years. It has pattern making instructions for the knit version of this design which is admittedly far more straight forward than the woven fabric version featured in this post. So in response to many requests I have detailed here the pattern making instructions to make this design for woven fabrics.
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Monday, November 10, 2014
It's a mean thing to present the fans with a
rectangle as a #PatternPuzzle
and expect them to describe the garment. In my defence I did include a
couple of very small notches as a clue. In the end Mioara was able to
produce an almost exact image of the idea in knit fabric. I think we may
have been reading the same pattern making books. :) I found this image on pinterest but have had no luck finding the
original source material. If anyone knows the origin of this piece I
would love to be able to include the correct information here.
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