A Few Ways to Wear III

My posts are bit scattered, but I've been meaning to do this one for awhile. The Fabric Back Wraps worn as a skirt:

And they are fully reversible

Shop Update

I have added the Fabric Back Wraps and some Square Snap Scarves into the shop.

Fabric Back Wraps

Kate modelling the fabric back wraps for me:






And the Square Snap Scarf - we couldn't resist getting a couple of girl on a car pics in!



I have also added a Craft Victoria link on the side - I will be dropping some pieces in there later this week.

New Wraps and Summer Scarves

I've made four new wraps with wool panels. The fabrics are a mix of french fabric (traditionally used for upholstery, but I love the heavy texture and weight of them), japanese cotton and also silk. They have hand stitch detail and definitely all one offs! Here are a few quick pics, but I'll post more later.

And some summer weight scarves coming too. I've been wearing this around and am really happy with the style.

Random Daily Stuff

Drove out to the country on the weekend to pick up another mannequin I found on ebay. Had fun dressing it up - it's so tiny, like a size 6 on the smallest settings.

Trying to decide what fabrics to use on the new wraps. I had some beautiful pieces in mind, but after I washed them the shrinkage made them slightly too small for the pattern piece. Back to the drawing board.

Half of one made up.


And splashed out on some grosgrain with poppers stitched on.

It's A Wrap

So corny, I know, but my brain may be freezing up and shutting down any moment now. I finally finished my first sample for a 'simple wrap'. I didn't take many process photos along the way, but at the end of it, I was kinda like, phew, that seemed like a lot of work. Maybe I took the scenic route to simplicity.

The knit part was actually pretty straight forward; by now I know what type of knit will sit without curling, what weight and density will hang well without being too heavy, what texture I like etc. But coming from a textile design background, as opposed to one in fashion, I have to work really hard at pattern making and sewing. Plus, I have a (perhaps stupidly) bad attitude to ready made, commercial patterns so I rarely use them. But I love knits and wovens together, so I'm determined to have a go at it.

So, way back when...an idea...

Round 1 toiles - pleats all wrong

Round 2 toiles - ditched the pleats

Round 3 toiles - with knitted panels, trying to get the shoulders to sit properly

Tension swatches, pattern pieces

Contact with the human world - a real life model- hand stitch detail instead of pleats

Determined to get the pleats in - more pattern pieces and sampling finishing techniques. At this stage I also took the knit panels off the sample, undid them and reknitted them to get the shoulders right.

The final product, and some fresh air. I fulfilled my intention of having the knit panels drape over the shoulders and hang straight down. My pet hate with normal wraps is because they are rectangles, they create gaping around the neck

The back, with the pleats AND hand stitch detail

The knit fabric

And the lining, I was pretty happy with this