08 Dec Vivienne Drape Dress
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.
Well Suited
01 Dec Green Velvet Drape
Posted at 09:48h
in Fitted Dress Block, Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Vintage Patterns
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Green Velvet Drape - A homage to Ceil Chapman 1950
Over a year ago I found the image of this amazing vintage dress on Pinterest, compliments of Mill Street Vintage. Unfortunately (for us) it has been sold and is no longer in their shop. So I made up the back view to hopefully balance with the wonderful design detail on the front.
24 Nov The Drape Shift Woven
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.
17 Nov Curved Seam Dress
Once again our weekly #PatternPuzzle is focused on doing wicked things with darts! The design is a classic in many ways and uses a very flattering diagonal seam. The drape is sent in opposite directions to encourage the eye to take in the whole garment.
10 Nov The Cowl Tube Top
Posted at 10:17h
in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft, Vintage Patterns
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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.
27 Oct Balenciaga Blouse
Posted at 11:31h
in Fitted Dress Block, Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Vintage Patterns
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The inspiration behind this weeks #PatternPuzzle post is this divinely simple vintage blouse by Balenciaga (circa. 1958-60) found in the MetMuseum online collections. It has been sitting in my stash of great ideas for #PatternPuzzles for over a year.
20 Oct Classic Drape Dress
The idea behind this weeks #PatternPuzzle is to use a classic drape style to show how the fitting darts in my dress block turn into drape according to design. And to also have a go at making my pattern making technique as clear as I can.
13 Oct The Kimono Wrap Dress
Posted at 11:53h
in Pattern Making Instructions, Pattern Puzzles, Vintage Patterns, Womens Knit Block
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This kimono styled dress was quite a challenge in the pattern making department. Firstly you have to decide if the wrap over is an authentic two-layer wrap or if you are going to seam the pieces together. I've gone for the two layer option and included a zip in the CB seam as the only place where the two bodice layers join.
09 Oct THE PATENT BLOUSE – First Sample!
Posted at 14:53h
in Pattern Puzzles, Self-draft, Sewing Pattern Alterations, Vintage Patterns
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The Patent Blouse has become a favourite top for me after the first set of samples were very wearable. It has become such a favourite that I managed to wear out my first red sample very quickly. Unfortunately rayon is not made to last and very soon the surface of the knit was a little shabby with pilling. I have promised myself that the next red patent blouse will be made in merino. July 2019: This pattern has now been added to the website as a PDF download - The Patent Blouse Sizes XS-XXL
06 Oct The Erté Jacket
My first introduction to Erté was the year after leaving fashion college when my Dad gave me a copy of this book for Christmas. Such a pattern making novice at the time, I had no idea how I would ever achieve such challenging designs.
