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cing what other projects have you been involved in th i work part time as a tutor at london metropolitan university which i love because i m working with next generation of designers it s very satisfying in the last year or so i ve been involved in creating costumes for both the barbie movie and napoleon starring joaquin phoenix amongst other projects in a ballroom scene in napoleon many of the gowns were made by refashioning saris there have also been stage costumes for british bands bananarama and girls aloud live shows during the summer of 2024 and the coronation concert at windsor castle in the summer of 2023 there s always plenty to keep me busy and i really love my job sy finally if you could create a dance costume for anyone at all who would you choose th without hesitating dolly parton it would be fun to fit her amazing body shape thank you t so much for sharing a small insight into your busy working life no two days are ever the same that s for sure and i ve no idea when you actually sleep until next time happy sewing sue share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest more print opens in new window print like loading a frock for london frocktails 2024 october 18 2024 october 18 2024 susan young sewing 3 comments when elke and i finally confirmed that london frocktails was going to happen on october 11 th 2024 one of the next things i started to give thought to was what i would wear i often have a tendancy to react to fabric first with style or garment coming second certainly where a special outfit is concerned the colours or textures of the cloth attract me and then the style to sew it into comes after that this is sort of what happened with my frocktails outfit but in a roundabout way i thought i might want something a bit luxe and sparkly because i enjoy the challenge of sewing those fabrics but i didn t see anything that was leaping out at me on trips to goldhawk road or liberty so i tried another approach instead i decided to look at the collections of some of my favourite designers for inspiration so i spent a happy hour or so browsing the websites for maria grazia chiuri at christian dior and alexander mcqueen now clearly there is something of a discrepancy between a number of factors here chiefly my budget and my body recreating most of the styles was out of the question because i m only 5 5 tall and not stick thin it had to be something which would suit a normal middle aged woman with middle aged spread it was whilst i was scrolling through net a porter that i alighted on an alexander mcqueen spring summer 24 ready to wear dress the fabric was fabulous huge and i mean huge red roses on a white background but a quite simple style a cap sleeved shirt dress with an calf length flared skirt this was it a dress i could replicate and would enjoy wearing with confidence and a fabric idea to track down too my original design sketch from the inspiration mcqueen dress eventually i used the vogue pattern sleeves but not the 80s claud montana skirt first i set about making the basic pattern using a mixture of patterns i had already and by drafting new elements i m not a habitual maker of toiles but i made two in calico of the bodice in the end i wanted the back yoke to be curved and cut on the bias with a seam down the centre back the first iteration wasn t an extreme enough curve to be obvious so i changed that on the second toile next i did an fba and altered the angle of the dart to be more of a french dart starting nearer the waist seam the collar points weren t long enough either so they got a bit more extreme as well more of a 70s vibe i didn t want to wear cap sleeves in october so i made them long with a horizontal seam at elbow level i liked these but i thought i would zhoosh up the sleeve head by adding some gathering bad idea it caused the sleeves to grow longer and also gave me massive looking shoulders so i took them back out and went back to plan a the front had a hidden placket so i drafted that as well and once i was happier with all the elements i sewed up a wearable toile version the wearable toile at an early stage i should mention that whilst i was working on all of this i had been trawling the internet for cabbage rose fabric with no success at all after this lack of progress i thought i might even go off in another fabric direction entirely so on a wet saturday mr y and me took a trip up to walthamstow market in east london walthamstow has lots of shops selling deadstock and also ankara and highly decorated cloth so it s always worth a look in almost the first shop we visited i spotted some ankara with huge orange and pink chrysanthymum type flowers on the light coloured ground so close not roses but large flowers and best of all it was just 5 for 6 yards of fabric unbelievable value i bought it there and then of course from then on it was a case of sewing it up when i had spare time not working on other secret sewing projects the skirt pieces were very large because of the length and the box pleats so i cut those first and everything else had to fit in around them it was incredibly tight and pattern matching largely went of the the window but by hook or by crook i got there with only scraps to spare two piece curved back yoke we had london frocktails garment labels made which attendees found in their goodie bags i popped mine in the collar i couldn t decide which others to include so i used them all i learned from various mistakes on the toile that things like the bodice buttonholes on the hidden placket needed to be sewn early when the seams get thicker it becomes much harder for the machine to sew each buttonhole neatly every time i experimented with a few machine embroidery stitches as embellishments in various places but in the end the only place i used this was on the hem the fabric had softened quite a bit after pre washing so the hem needed a bit of body to give it oomph i thought about using crin horsehair braid for this but finally i made my own very deep bias binding from plain pink cotton in my stash and stitched it using a large flower embroidery stitch and variegated gutermann thread so far so cheap the only buttons which would show were on the cuffs and at the neck i used ordinary shirt buttons behind the placket you would think that i wanted the moon on a stick the trouble i had with sourcing what i wanted eventually after ordering numerous buttons from different places adding up to at least twenty quid i found some perfectly nice pink plastic flower buttons 3 for 5 in hobbycraft i should have started there in the first place the final part of the jigsaw was a belt i had a black leather belt similar to the mcqueen original but it looked a bit severe so i pieced together all the scraps i could muster and eventually had sufficient to make a cloth belt backed with very firm interfacing i m so glad i made a dress that i felt comfortable and confident in and best of all i ll wear it again very soon for my mum s 90 th birthday lunch in november i dithered about putting a petticoat underneath and eventually i bought one off the internet yes i didn t sew it myself there was too much to do for frocktails in the last few weeks so i cut myself some slack for once i have zero regrets about not wearing sparkles because at the end of the day it would just hang in my wardrobe being sadly neglected besides elke looked stunning in her beautiful pink ensemble so we complimented each other nicely i m not going to talk about all the hard work and sleepless nights that organising frocktails caused us no one wants to hear that but if you weren t there and you want to get a sense of the evening then pop over to instagram and the londonfrocktails account or search the hashtag londonfrocktails if you were there then i sincerely hope you enjoyed yourself just don t you dare mention next year to me until next time happy sewing sue share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest more print opens in new window print like loading trying out a new higgs and higgs sewing kit september 27 2024 september 21 2024 susan young sewing 7 comments if you ve ever read any of my blog posts before you might also know it s been more than a year since i last reviewed anything there i just fell out of the habit and wordpress improvements had made the whole process a real drag so i was somewhat surprised but quite delighted when james from higgs and higgs approached me because he had seen the blog to invite me to review one of their new dressmaking kits and share my thoughts about it with you i ve been aware of higgs and higgs for several years because they always have such an eye catching stand at the shows lots of beautifully curated cloth of many types and in many many colours and competitively priced too in the last couple of years certainly at the london autumn knitting and stitching shows they have introduced a second separate stand to sell their wide range of patterns as well anyhoo james offered me the new merchant and mills pegs trousers kit to try so because i was intrigued and had never sewn a kit before i accepted the kit comes with everything you need to construct the trousers including a copy of the paper pattern more than enough fabric pocket lining interfacing a matching zip a button and well matched thread by buying the kit there is a modest saving compared to buying all the elements separately the fabric supplied is their french plain 100 cotton gabardine twill i chose the coffee colourway it is a lovely quality with a soft handle and an ideal weight for the pegs it would also be great for any garment needing a moderate amount of structure such as jackets coats or jumpsuits bags and rucksacks even the lining is plain lightweight polyester habotai possibly a bit too light so time will tell if this is durable enough for trouser pockets i ve noticed on the website they also sell a number of other lining types in a wide range of colours over the last couple of years with indie patterns specifically i ve got into the habit of tracing off the sized pattern pieces for the pegs i traced the front and back legs and the waistband the other universal sized parts such as pocket bags facings and zip fly facings i cut out directly this is because i have the age old issue of a fluctuating weight and i don t want to commit to cutting out a pattern which might not fit me in six months time i opted for a uk 18 based on my waist measurement at this time i made no modifications because the leg length was going to be fine on me i gave the fabric a quick wash and line dry on a nice sunny day and it came out beautifully cutting out was a breeze because with plain fabric there is absolutely no pattern matching to do merchant and mills have now gone over to booklet format for their patterns instructions rather than the previous folded paper sheets which could be notoriously confusing and i found these instructions and illustrations very clear overall sewing the zip fly went remarkably smoothly and though i say it myself it s one of the neatest i ve sewn they often suggest tacking basting stitching lines first for clarity and it can definitely help in getting topstitching correct first time you can of course use chalk or erasable marker but do check it comes off a scrap first i found the gabardine very nice to sew i used a size 80 universal needle it presses well and holds a nice sharp crease because gabardine is a twill weave it is prone to fraying so try not to over handle the fabric and get it neatened or overlocked as soon as possible during the construction process tacking the stitching line first the pattern came together really well and i m pleased with the finished result although the fit of the trouser is much too generous over the hip and thigh so i will go down at least one size next time i am 5 5 and the slightly cropped length with turn up is pretty much spot on for my taste i have discovered though that photographing them on a sunny day is problematic because the shadows are highlighting all my lumps and bumps they are a much nicer garment than they might appear and will be a wearable and comfortable addition to my autumn winter wardrobe the green thyme colour way is very tempting too mr y might even be in luck for a new pair of trews if we can find a pattern he likes thank you to higgs and higgs for offering me the kit to try in return for this blog post there will soon be a number of other patterns available as kits on the website so have a browse until next time happy sewing sue share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest more print opens in new window print like loading where on earth did my blog go august 23 2024 august 23 2024 susan young sewing 12 comments well it s been a hot minute hasn t it i m not sure that anyone has missed me writing a blog but i ve still been busy sewing away in threadquarters i just haven t felt motivated to write any of it up however lots of the things i ve sewn weren t for me because i was invited by several different people to make a number of samples for a number of reasons which means that in the past year or so i ve contributed quite a few garments for 4 different books including mini makes by tilly walnes the great british sewing bee back to basics and clone your clothes by claire louise hardie and there s one more book still to come out in early september 2024 which is dopamine dressing by sewing bee finalist brogan allard i haven t had reason to sew many kids clothes in recent years so tilly s book was a nice departure for me by making two mini versions of her popular indigo dress and a pair of leggings it s a great book too imo because most of the patterns are unisex and if you do have little people to sew for the pattern sizes start from 3 months right up to 12 years so you can just trace a new size off whenever they grow a bit more as you would expect from a tatb pattern the instructions are very clear and thorough and there are plenty of hints and tips to make each garment unique unfortunately the gbsb book became a bit problematic because in early november i tripped and fractured my wrist in the middle of cutting and making 3 garments i tripped on a paving slab not cutting the patterns luckily under strict supervision from me my sidekick mr y drew out and cut using my fabric scissors i might add the zero waste trousers thankfully i had already cut out the trickiest garment before my tumble but sewing the slippery fabric and piping of the pyjama style blouse with my wrist in a cast was a little challenging i managed the tablecloth blouse b...