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I got Sarah Lund's jumper for christmas but not quite her attitude down yet...

Christmas Felties

As promised here are my christmas felties...

Felties

Little Felt Creatures

Here is a zombie and a ninja, I made another Ninja but can't find the atm.  I'm also planning to make some into christmas decs.

Halloween

Well I'm currently half way through my 4th choice of Halloween outfit- my first choice was Florence from The Magic Roundabout but it would have cost me about £50 to buy the dress, cardigan, tights, shoes, and bow necessary.  Then I floundering and grasped at a pumpkin but when shopping for orange fabric I found some yellow and black striped fabric and hit upon a bumble bee costume.  But then I went to work where my manager was putting together cardboard boxes to make beer gift pack and was left with small pieces of card that were shaped like gravestones.  She suggested I go as  graveyard!!!

So I have painted the card grey to make gravestones, that I now have to attach to my black outfit.  As you can see I still don't have a table in my room so my bed is my new work space and that's where I set up my painting, although I apparently don't have any white paint so I coloured over the black paint with white oil pastel which looks a bit funny but whatevs...

Last night I went out to Buns and Roses which is a younger and craftier branch of the Women's Institute and I needed a craft project to take along.  I also needed a bag to add to my Halloween outfit as I decided a cow print bag wouldn't go brilliantly with my graveyard image.  Initially I was going to make a ghost bag (because they hang out in graveyards) or a square bag with a ghost stuck to the front but once again I was lead astray by fancy fabric. 

I saw some lacey black with gold spider's webs on it (they also had it in all black, red, white, and silver) and I decided that would probably by an easier and more attractive option.  So I used that as the outer fabric and some plain black as the lining for the bag, also picked up some black velvety ribbon for the strap.  I took all this along and hand-sewed a little bag reasonably successfully.  But hand-sewing totally confused me and I constructed the bag differently form how I should have done leaving a messy interior to the bag (normally all the seams are hidden in between the lining and the outer fabric rather than in side the bag.  But on reflection it would have taken me much longer to do it correctly *and* the seams and mess would have been visible through the outer fabric which is lace.  So I inadvertently did it the best way. :)

Hound Skirt

I bought some cheap hounds tooth fabric from the market (hence the blog post name if you were wondering) and decided a winter skirt could be made from it to look rather snazzy/snuggly.  By the time I'd moved house, got my internet sorted (who can sew without episodes of The Big Bang Theory playing in the bkgd?), and actually made the skirt we had moved into some unprecedented hot spell (precedented I suppose in the sense that the weather and climate has been loopy for the past few years owing to climate change, but I find out-of-season weather to be most disconcerting), and my skirt is slightly unwearable.  As are most of my clothes actually because I took pains to bring my winter warmers when I moved, sigh...

Anyway, I used a home-made pattern, the only one I've been able to make myself, for a pencil skirt (high waisted).  The finished product is probably slightly too small as I've put on weight since making the patter, but I've starting taking bums, legs, and tums classes at my local gym (sooo painful) so this will soon be rectified.  Also I made find the fabric a little prickly without a lining (didn't think to put one in, as I've moved I have less space to sew and no table in my room so I sewed the skirt first on my bedroom floor, then on my bed so I think I did fairly well), but when the weather gets colder I can wear tights.  :)

Halter Dress

Halter neck dress made with sweet blue flowery 100% cotton bought for £4 a metre from the market. 
Worked rather well imo, although it's a little loose at the neck and tight in the bodice (I may have podged out a bit recently but it's not my fault- somebody stole all my fresh fruit and veg and forced me to turn to junk food...).

Green Square Shirt

I bought some cool green fabric from a vintage fair for £5, and used my work shirt as the template to make a light summer shirt/jacket.  I used French seams for the first time which makes them look nice and tidy on the inside, but didn't have the energy to attempt buttons and the accompanying holes so it is unfasten-upable. But I like it like that for summer. 

Issey Miyake

Japanese Designer Issey Miyake is another name to lean, and not just because it's fun to say.

Miyake grew up in Hiroshima and when he was 7 he witness the A-bomb dropped on the city in 1945.  He graduated in graphic design from Tama Art University, Tokyo, then worked in Paris and New York.  He enrolled at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (renowned tailoring and dressmaking school in Paris), he worked behind the scenes for four years for Laroche, Givenchy, and Beene. In 1970, he set up the Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo, and displayed his first independent collection in 1973.  He won the Japan Fashion Editor's Club Award in 1974, and the Pratt Institute, New York Award for Creative Design in 1980.

Miyake merged Japanaese and Western styles, and Bloomingdales devoted a section to selling Miyake's 'East meets West', and became an internationally recognised name in the 1980's.  The 'East Meets West'  collection was mostly T-shirts with Japanese tattoo designs and coats featuring the 'sashiko' Japanese embroidery technique.  

In the 1980's he began experimenting with pleats (well who wouldn't?) to allow greated flexibility for movement of the wearer and ease of care.  He won the International Award of the Council of America Fashion Designers in 1984 (which sounds a lot like a very well dressed crime fighting team imo), the Neiman Marcus Award in the same year (before he was an expensive American store, Neiman Marcus was an influential fashion designer).

In 1993 he produced Pleats Please, in which the clothes were cut and sewn then sandwiched and heat pressed to pleat the fabric. The collection combines technology, functionality, and beauty, and was on display at the Pompidou Centre.

In the late 1990's Miyake began working with Dai Fujiwara on A POC (A Piece Of Cloth), using new processes that harness computer technology, industrial knitting or weaving machines to create clothing beginning with a single piece of thread.  A POC was launched commercially in 1999, but Miyake refused to put his name on the collection, insisting it was an ensemble piece, he sold it as a long tube of jersey and let the customer cut and shape it.

In 2006, he became the first fashion designer to receive the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for lifetime achievement, from the Inamori Foundation in Japan- he got a diploma, 20-karat-gold prize medal, and 50 million yen ($446,000).  Which ain't bad.  The Pleats Please collection was singled out as allowing 'unrestricted body movement while enabling the fabric to maintain its form', and the aforementioned A POC.

In 2007, Dai Fujiwara became the new Creative Director of the House of Issey Miyake.  In 2010 Fujiwara worked with mathematician William Thurston to create 'beautiful geometry', with the mathematic thought providing structure and elegance to the crazy rainbow styling. 

 And that's Miyake!

Hot Pink Dress

I made a new dress this week, after I went shopping with my dad and his cash! for a father's day get together. I got 5 pieces of remnant fabric and a cool bundle of vintage green velvet trim for £3 (I estimated it had about 9 metres on to start with), and each piece of fabric was £1.  The pink piece I used for this week's dress had a label on which said £15 a metre and I got two metres for £1- score!

It's a hot pink colour, I think synthetic, shiny, upholstery best describes it, but makes it sound hideous.  I turned it over and used the matt side as the right side for my dress.  I then used the green trim around the waist and top of the dress to break up all the pink.  I still think there's too much pink in the dress, it's quite a strong over powering shade but I like it.  I used McCalls pattern M6331 variation B which I used before to make a dress from a second hand duvet cover.  It worked really well last time (surprisingly well) and was so complimented I was compelled to make it again.  I don't think this turned out as well as the first attempt- I think the colour is too strong and the pattern on the fabric I used last time worked really well with the design. 

Well what d'ya think?

Shoes

I was never a shoe girl but slowly I have amassed a few pairs, none particularly fancy and most uncomfortable because I opt for cheapo ones which fall to pieces rather quickly, and I have delicate little feet :)  I have found some cute and fun shoes online I thought I'd share.
Starting with lace ups of course...

Heeled brogues style shoes...

And some a little crazier...