My first me made May

Here's hoping it is still April in the Uk. (it isn't but very early in the morning) It is May here..but I am luckily wearing a home sewn skirt so here goes. 

I, Spike of (http://spikeabell.blogspot.com.au/ and @spikedeane), sign up as a participant of Me Made May '16. I will wear at least 1 item of me made clothing or altered thrifted clothing for the duration of May 2016.

Holy heck... but I do wear home made stuff a lot, usually because I can wear the same skirt consecutively over a few days or to be honest a week. I am also planning to do a fair bit of sewing this month so I have some 'nice' clothes to wear on our trip to the UK. I've just got to that point where all my old clothes are... falling apart, I have worn in the studio and got irrewashably stained or no longer fit. If I don't buy clothes I have to make them and given my fabric stash I really should. Me Made May 2016 will just add a bit of needed pressure.

Looks like my Mitsy is going to get a good work out!

Today I am wearing a bright blue A line skirt, that is the skirt part of Sewaholic's Cambie dress (view A)... see the full dress here

I will post some pics on the blog and some on Instagram... where I am @spikedeane

Autumn 'Until the last leaf falls'

AUTUMN INSPIRATIONS

I adore Autumn and the relief of the long summer heat is just a small part of my favourite season. It is the glorious fall colour and the slow reveal of interlaced branches, the scent of woodsmoke in the evening and a cool chill in the early morning.

'Until the last leaf falls' are a range of glass Autumn leaf sun catcher's that transform pencil sketches into luminous glass. See my website for more details.

There are 2 books I love to read in Autumn, both urban fantasies. One is 'The Autumn Castle' by Australian author Kim Wilkins, and that is where the title comes from. The enchantment in the story (that connects the land of faery to modern day Berlin) can only last 'Until the last leaf falls'. The other novel is 'Memory and Dream' by Canadian author Charles de Lint. One of the quotes included in this book captures my feelings perfectly about Autumn and Winter trees... that feeling of waiting and promise.

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape - the loneliness of it - the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it - the whole story doesn't show."
                                                                                                        -Attributed to Andrew Wyeth.


PROCESS: The glass process is powder printing and fusing. I turn my sketches into a screen print and push the coloured glass powder through the screen. For the leaves I cut, drill and finish glass circles  and use up to 6 different glass powders of varying Autumnal hues to create unique colour ways. After the circles are 'screen printed' I fire them to fuse the glass powder to the glass 'plate'.

Cambie dress, finally sewn

There has been a flurry of sewing going on here. A sudden need for a dress to wear for a wedding...

I finally made up Sewaholic's Cambie dress. I bought the pattern ages ago... an actual paper pattern. the actual paper pattern had an unfortunate arrival in the rain so some of the pieces were stuck together which made me be diligent and trace most of the pattern pieces off.

I made traced out the bodice, added a full bust adjustment (FBA) straight up and then tested the bodice in a plain cotton. It seems I have another standard fitting to add to the list. I think, compared to standard patterns, I am a bit short from shoulder to bust. It explains some of my fitting problems.
I took away some length in the 'sleeve/strap' area and decided to move the shoulder line seam down to the back. I made the whole thing up, with the gathered skirt option in a checked sari fabric before making up view A in the Japanese lawn.

It took me ages to place the pattern pieces on the fabric, as the print repeat was quite awkward.

Pattern: Cambie Dress view A (size 12  with FBA cup c)
Fabric: Japanese jacquard lawn, lily print. Lined with rayon.
Comments: The method of construction is great and the dress goes together very well. Love the pockets and I like the skimming not too tight fit.

The only picture I have so far