An 18th Century extravaganza, and why I have not been posting,

I have sadly neglected this, my creative blog.  Probably because my life first got errr interesting..... and then got of necessity more creative.

Suffice it to say I am now, for better or worse employed full time creatively as one half of Jolly Dicey Costumieres to the Discerning.  I'm as poor as a church mouse, but for the first time in my life, I'm doing what I love and I am utterly determined to make it work somehow.

About this time last year, my  friend Kate and I embarked on a massive opus of creativity making between us 12 outfits to wear at UK Freeforms Masquerade, a weekend long game set in Venice in the 18th Century.   These are diaried in detail over on Live Journal on dressdiaries by katexxxxxx.  We worked intensively and well together, so when I lost my job, nothing could have been more natural than to discuss setting up a partnership.

This blog will probably stay  the place where I post the things that feed my spirit the most, rather than customer work.  Though there are plans to link all of our blog entries to the website.

One of my outfits was an homage (my poor skill would not suffice for a replica) of this dress.

And for himself I aimed to make a court suit that had the feel of this one.

So here are some of the outfits we came up with.

Madame de Pompadour and her Ice Prince

OMG, what lovely lace, such tiny stitches!

I am quite pleased with my Madame de Pompadour frock. I made all the roses by hand, I pinked all the trim, and sewed it on by hand, and I handsewed the vintage Edwardian lace engageantes to the most delicious handkerchief linen with tiny stitches.   I am equally pleased with himself's Ice Prince suit, which was embellished with silver needlerun lace sewn down carefully by hand and machine to look like embroidery.

Ice Cream Prince Suit by Kate!

The Ice Prince

Pocket Detail, Ice Cream Prince Coat

Back detail, Ice Prince Suit

Caracao and hat by Kate, Black Saque and embroidered stomacher by me.

We look as hot as gossip in our flame red outfits!

There is tons more on the jolly dicey website.

Internet Resources for my Sewing Ladies - Embroidery

http://www.needlenthread.com/
This is the ultimate embroidery blog. A good proprtion of what I have learnt in the past few years is down to Mary! Her Video Library of Embroidery Stitches is particularly helpful, and she also has a library of free patterns. She posts pretty much daily, and occasionally gives stuff away (though hundred's of people comment to try and win it).

http://www.sewandso.co.uk/cat27.html
A pretty good source of lots of different embroidery threads. I don't think I've ever seen quite so many in one place.

http://www.mulberrysilks-patriciawood.com/store/
My favourite supplier of silks. Expensive, but so yummy!

http://zuill.us/andreablog/category/embroidery/free-patterns/
Cute quirky free designs

http://heritageshoppe.com/
Another very useful site, with stitch instructions, articles and good links.

http://www.x-calibredesigns.co.uk/html/online_classes.html

http://www.blackworkarchives.com/bw_stitch.html

Blackwork

http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/
Downloadable E books a great source of free patterns and instructions for all kinds of crafts. I particularly likeTherese de Dillmonts Broderie en passe and motifs de broderies.

http://www.jfingalls.com/index.html

More free patterns, these are Victorian.

http://heritageshoppe.com/

Internet Resources for my Sewing Ladies - Misc

http://www.katedicey.co.uk/
My friend and frocking buddy Kate's website, and endearingly eclectic mix of hints, tips, projects, and links to all sorts of resources. Included are guides to the care and feeding of sewing machines, and what thread to use for your projects.

Kate has been sewing for 40 years, professionally for most of them, and she's forgotton more than I ever knew. Be warned, though, she's a perfectionist!

http://www.treadleon.net/sewingmachineshop/tensionadjustment/tensionadjustment.html
Rather long, but eyewateringly funny article on the mysteries of tension in sewing machines. Enjoy

http://www.lindrix.com/fabcontent.html
How to tell the fire content of a fabric by burn testing it. Not that I'm telling you to play with matches! Really, I'm not telling you to play with matches! But if you must, please make sure you have some means of extinguishing the flame if it gets all out of control, and you are well away from flammable materials like curtains, long hair, etc etc. Hold the fabric to be tested in tongs, not your fingers! I do my burn testing by the kitchen sink, so if something goes up too enthusiastically I can just drop it in the sink and turn the tap on.

Internet Resources for my Sewing Ladies - Fabric

Disclaimer. I have not used all these sites (where I can remember using them I have said), and do not therefore endorse them. My experiences are my experiences, yours may differ. Please excercise reasonable care when shopping online, check that the site uses a secure credit card server, read their privacy policy about what they do with your details, or use paypal if it is an option. I've compiled these lists of links to get you started, but you shop on the internet at your own risk, and neither I nor my employers accept any responsibility for the consequences!

http://www.efabrics.co.uk/
Reasonable prices, seems like a good range

http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/index.php
Nice looking site, good prices.

http://www.fabricuk.com/fabrics.php?categ=1
Basic, no frills site with a decent range of fabrics, and some bargains.

http://www.hillsidetextiles.co.uk/hillsidecgi-bin/hillsideselector.pl?C=HILLSIDE&P=SELECTOR&USERNAME=trade&PSWD=hillside
Ok, this is where synthetic fibres go to die, but I don't expect everyone to share my obsession with natural fabrics. The sell by the roll at really good prices, or by the yard still quite reasonable.

http://www.croftmill.co.uk/
A quirky selection of quality fabrics at very good prices. Also do interfacing, which is handy.

http://www.thesilkroute.co.uk/index.html
OMG! Silks! Not cheap, and mail order only, but the site is pretty!

http://www.puresilks.biz/store/index.php
This site ships direct from India, but shipping charges seem surprisingly reasonable. I havn't used them yet, but I'm planning a purchase soon.

http://www.abakhan.co.uk/index.html
Failrly limited selection, but good prices, and also sell interfa cing, which can be hard to find online.

Internet Resources for my Sewing Ladies - Haberdashery and notions

Disclaimer. I have not used all these sites (where I can remember using them I have said), and do not therefore endorse them. My experiences are my experiences, yours may differ. Please excercise reasonable care when shopping online, check that the site uses a secure credit card server, read their privacy policy about what they do with your details, or use paypal if it is an option. I've compiled these lists of links to get you started, but you shop on the internet at your own risk, and neither I nor my employers accept any responsibility for the consequences!

http://www.sewessential.co.uk/

Sells pretty much everything you could want. They even do fabric, though it's quite expensive. The do free delivery on orders over £50 so perhaps if a couple of you got together, you could save on shipping.

http://www.jaycotts.co.uk/
Another like the above. Free delivery on more expensive itens, not sure about little bits of haberdashery. Do a pretty good range of thread including YLI cotton (as reccomended by Kate Dicey).

http://www.sewdirect.com/index.html
An odd selection of stuff, some quite useful. What they do do is Empress Mills Overlocker thread, as reccommended by Kate Dicey.

http://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk/default.aspx
This tends to be my go to store for haberdashery, mostly because they sell Coats Silk and cotton thread which I use a lot. They have a good selection of fabrics too. They are pretty helpful, but quality comes at a price.

http://www.kleins.co.uk/

I've bought from them before too, if I need something in a hurry this is my go to store, as you can generally get your stuff the next working day.

http://www.corsetmaking.co.uk/store/
Not just corsetmaking but lots of other stuff as well. I've bought from them, but it was a while ago.

http://gardengateknitsewcraft.co.uk/
Another site that sells interfacing and lots of other haberdashery bits.

http://www.josyrose.com/#top

Lots of cute stuff for embellishing things, and bag making stuff. Making bags is surprisingly good fun.

http://www.u-handbag.com/index.php?main_page=define_main_page&zenid=ae7cf098f44002ad7616a410a644a37d
While we're on the subject of making bags, this site has everything you need, plus helpful tutorials


http://www.ribbonmoon.co.uk/index.asp
Not the most attractive site to browse, but has a good selection of stuff, including some things that are hard to find.

http://www.bedecked.co.uk/
Expensive but lots of lovely trimmings and pretties. I'm going to use this for eye-candy when I need cheering up!

A wee tribute to the art of Andrea Zuill!

Over Xmas I did a number of quick charming embroidery projects for gifts and to make Xmas ornaments.

Many of the designs I got from Andrea Zuill's charming free embroidery designs over at badbirds. I sort of got obsessed with these for a bit, I got so much pleasure in stitching them. They're cute and quirky and sort of folksy, so I had to add a touch of me by blinging them up in silks and satins with a bit of beading and gold work. (Because if you are going to spend hours and hours of your life stitching something, you may as well use the lushest materials you possibly can).

So here is a summary of the gifts I made using Andrea's designs. Some of them came out better than others, my making skills are still not up to my embroidery skills, but I'm getting there.



This became a spectacle case for my mother in law.



This was the spectacle case for the mother out law. (Its complicated).


Another Wol, and a Reindeer made into a pouch.



Another reindeer which was made up into an Xmas ornament with a lvender bag inside, so you can use it to scent your clothes all year round.



Another Xmas ornament, and lavender bag.

Materials include silks left over from various costume projects, gold threads and spangles from Mace and Nairn and silk threads from Mulberry Silks as well as beads from down the market.

I'm really pleased with this little series.

I've got the day off work, and Im having a catching up type day today! This is a little project I recently finished as a surprise for an online friend. I am going to make it up, and another similar design (remember the Wol spectacle case) as little pouches.