Warehouse chic - For So Zo! :)

The most fabulous Zoe of So Zo, what do you know? once posted about how much she would love to live and work in a warehouse. As I kind of do, I promised to post some pics that actually SHOW this about my living space. The ones I've posted before say more about my OTT tastes and penchant for red and gold furnishings (I think I missed an illustrious career doing interiors for Chinese restaurants and bordellos!) than the provenance of this wonderful space.
It was originally the Empire Spice Factory, and after a short and famous career as student living, was converted in around 1997 to eight flats, and we have the one in the front top.

This is an old photo as the decor visible through the windows isn't ours, nor is it that of the previous owner! I nicked it off a real estate website.
I am told by a friend who quite coincidentally flatted there "23 years ago when it was a studenty dump" (his words) that in certain weather you could smell the spices in the floor. I was so hoping this would happen still but alas no!
Anyway, I think our place falls well short of Zoe's fabulously evocative description:  "a sanitised, pre-converted trendy warehouse pad with its token ‘original’ exposed brick work wall and fancy lampshades installations" but it's not her ideal either: "a big industrial or ex-industrial space, all brick and concrete, with lots of light and air in which to spread out to live and create. Big areas [...] in which we would work and generate ideas and hang out and relax."
Zoe I love how you put words together! :)
In spite of not being an enormous industrial feeling space (requiring a LOT of heating, she thought practically) it does however achieve being a place in which I and other creative types hang out and create :) Several such sessions are in previous posts, but there are heaps more.

 But first some crazy ceiling shots to show how interesting this space is still. This one shows the skylight over the stairs and a glimpse of my costumes rack (shrouded in a white sheet to protect it from fading)

 Same view, different angle. I think our ceiling at its highest would be 6m.

 This is where the ceiling drops to accommodate the upstairs space.

 The stairway to (sewists') heaven!

BAAAD photo! This space is 6m by 4m at least, but with the DH lurking around on the computer in his dressing gown, and the place being a tip right now, I can't get a good all encompassing shot. But I have 4 tall cupboards for stash, lots of shelves for, umm, more stash, lots of bookshelves, and two big sewing tables so at least three of us can set up machines. A quilter's envy; design wall big enough to take a queen size quilt, the "big computer" and its desk (where I am now) and windows on three sides with views over the rooftops of one of the funkiest parts of town!
So, it is pretty darn fabulous. And I fought for it! :)
Like Zoe, a part of me yearns for the big industrial space to live, work and create in. But for now, I am chuffed as ever to finally have a home that works for us on almost every level, at a price we could afford. And I wish the same for you, Zoe, and every other creative soul working away on the dining table or in a dark nook somewhere :)

Taking the plunge, at last...

I know I am meant to be getting on with my velvet frock coat, but I tried last night and even with company, I just couldn't summon my muse. So, instead I made something we have needed for ages. Cold second cups of coffee, no more! I have at last made a coffee plunger cosy for us!

 Isn't she magnifique! I've never made a crazy patch one before. It took AGES. Bits of trim, buttons and several gold and beige fabrics later, here it is. Umm, except I haven't sewn any velcro onto it yet. hence the blue pins.

 

From the other angle. I LOVE the pewter frogging trim on this side. I have acres of it - it was pretty expensive for a stash rehash, but the quality is amazing and it just keeps on giving. Here it is making excellent Regency hairstyling. And here is the black velvet trim with the diamond criss crosses gracing the edges of the famous Laurel gown.

And here she is with her bestie, the tea cosy. I made the teacosy for last year's Christmas fair, and it didn't sell so I commandeered it, as it was just so much nicer than the one fabric one I originally made for us.
The thing is, I don't often make something for my home - I take the things that don't sell, the leftovers. Now as I rarely make something I don't LOVE, this is not a big deal, but it was nice to start a project like this knowing it was going to be for us from the beginning. Especially one with so many nice memories of projects shared with friends :)

Sleep, perchance to dream...

It's about 5am and I am blogging. I've already read everyone's new posts on my reading list, my head is swimming, but I know I won't sleep yet. Insomnia is a terrible and wonderful thing. I have a big project to work on today and I don't fancy trying to tackle it with a headache. However, there is something creative and full of possibility about this time of the night. I've done some of my best costuming work at 4am, for example.
The trouble with apartment living and having a mezzanine sewing studio is that early morning creating is anti-social. So, reading about creativity will have to do instead!
Do you go through insomniac phases, and if so, how do you pass the time? Do you surrender to it and use it wisely, or persist in trying to go back to sleep? Any tips on how to go back to sleep, on those days when a big day of work beckons more compellingly than a new garment or 57 blogposts?
Please advise! :)

In the arms of Morpheus. At last...

Running away for the weekend...

...it was fab! MrC and I shot off after work on Friday night to the little town of Martinborough, which is about an hour out of Wellington in 'wine country.' Laid out like a Union Jack with a square in the middle, Martinborough is charming, full of gorgeous weekend houses for rent, cosy restaurants, and there are easily 40 wineries within a 10km radius making some of the finest wines in the world.

Aethena House, which is only 50m from the square, utterly gorgeous inside and out (thanks to my clever cousin Lynley's efforts about 10 years ago before she sold it on) and the perfect retreat for two townies needing a rest cure. :) It has four bedrooms and we think it may be a nice place to take a group of friends next time!
ANYWAY, on Saturday after a leisurely brunch on the back lawn, we hit the wine trail. Each time we go, we look for small wineries where we can talk to the winemakers. I love their passion for their product, all the words that dance around with them.
First stop, Coney Wines on Dry River Road. Forgot to take photos. Duh. We bought a Que Sera Syrah and a Ritz Reisling or two. Coney wines all come with tongue in cheek musical names and silly lymerics. The wine in the bottles however is pretty darn fabulous. The syrah is a 
peppery, berry flavoured riot with vetiver overtones that really did inspire lyrical outpourings! The Ritz Riesling spritzes on the tongue and has a light fruity palate that I love. Reminds me of the zibibbo we had for our wedding toasts. Incidentally they gave us a mini bottle of a rose called "Pink Floyd's wet dream"!
Next was Schuberts, much closer to town and run with German passion and hand crafted care. Nice wines, very expensive ($65 a bottle for the one I liked best!) we surprised ourselves by coming away with a cab/merlot blend and a sticky called Dolce made from Muller Thurgau. It was like apricot and honey heaven on the tongue and I HAD to have it. The cab/merlot just kept on giving and conjuring up music in my head so we got it too.
Last was Croft Winery, a "must stop at, every time" winery on the main road into town. I love the place - May Croft is the warm hearted Anglican Archdeacon for South Wairarapa and her husband Peter is a wonderful winemaker with an artist's passion and a scientist's precision. He does this thing where as you take a mouthful of his wine he tells you what he wanted it to do to your palate, and by jingo, it happens. Such precision, such artistry. And May makes amazing pastes from the grapes, most recently a sauvignon blanc paste that we enjoyed immensely on crackers with cheese for afternoon tea. Lovely people whose love of life comes through in their products.
All that wine talk must be boring some of you, sorry! On Sunday we went craft shopping. There are several shops selling all sorts in Martinborough, and I bought a 1972 Golden Hands album full of delightful ideas and projects that took me back to my childhood. In the window she had a selection of those necklaces made from fabric, but with beads in between:

A nice combination of textures and patterns in these necklaces...

And then home. Via Sawmillers Quiltery where I picked up cupcake buttons and a couple of fat quarter packs.

Well, how could I resist!

Making a full petticoat the EASY way - tutorial

Darling bloggettes, I just farewelled my lovely friends Joy and Madame O who have been at mine this afternoon. Joy and I making her a rockabilly petticoat, while Madame O did embroidery, and tried things on. (I have a dress up rack, it is quite fun!)
Anyway, I've been trying to get Joy to make a petticoat for ages but it was daunting her something chronic; she had visions of being buried under metres of tulle frills. So, I thought, we need to find a way to do this that doesn't require pulling up gathers, quarter marking or generally, well, being buried under metres of tulle frills!
So, this is what we did. You could make it a lot fuller by repeating the whole thing and having twice as many layers. We may yet to it. We only used 3m of a kind of netting that is not tulle and not stretch net, but something fab in between. Tricot would be a good substitute,or bridal tulle.
I cut a half circle of the net, 15 inches long, with the top being 14 inches in radius. That is a circle with a total 29 inch radius. Sorry no photo but it is easy to see further on. This gives about 40 inches of waist, heaps to gather onto a foundation skirt.

Cutting 2 x 16 inch wide strips along the length of the fabric. It is not quite 3m long as the half circle skirt bit took up the end. Cut one off each side so you have a selvage on each.

 Joy cutting 8 x 2 inch strips from the length.

 Joy is ruching the 2 inch strips freehand. This is so easy, much easier than gathering stitches, and amazingly even. Just get started, sew an inch or so into the middle of the strip with a longish stitch. Then bunch the fabric up towards the presser foot and let it sew through. Repeat over and again until it's all done...

 You get a wonderful double frill. We did this with all 8 strips, four each, just feeding the next one under the foot as the last one ran out.

 Now I am sewing the ruched 2 inch strip to the edge of my 16 inch strip. No finishing of edges required, this stuff doesn't fray. When you get to the end, just cut your 2 inch frill flush with the end of the big frill. Done!
Now the observant among those present will realise that you have to do all of this twice. That is, there were two 16 inch frills. Now as we were both working on it, we did one each, but the wise woman would join her 16 inch frills together BEFORE adding the 2 inch frill to the edge etc. Just sew them together with a 1/4 or 1/2 inch seam.

 Now sewing the 2 inch frill to the OTHER side of the 16 inch piece, only on the other side. This means that the other 2 inch frill is facing DOWN as I am sewing this one facing up. Capiche? It all makes sense soon. Again, trim when you get to the end. We ended up with about 6 inches left over. If you run out, just make a bit more 2 inch frill and add it. This is not an exact science! These 2 inch frills serve to really hold the bottom out.

 Now, Joy is doing the same thing to this big 16 inch frill as we did to the 2 inch ones - freehand gathering it down the centre. It turned out that the edge of the machine's tray was about 8 inches from the needle so she used it as a guide. There is still no measuring going on. Woot!

 The finished frill. Cute eh!

 

This may not be obvious from the photo but this is me sewing the big 16 inch frill down onto the bottom edge of the half circle, along the central gathering line. Do this so that the 2 inch frills both end up facing outward not inward.
I'm allowing about 1/2 inch of the half circle to overlap. No pinning, quarter marking etc. Trust the force, Luke!

 And tada!! Here we have stage one complete. I hope this photo makes our 29 inch half circle with 14 inches cut out of the top of it make mroe sense...Yes, we didn't have quite enough frill to go the distance but it's no big deal. Again, the easiness of this is to not measure and pin, but to just gather the heck out of everything and treat it like a trim!

We just cut the bit off at the end. Made it a bit shorter but still big enough.

Joy is marking the half circle at the 4 inch mark to add another frill. This second frill has only come about because I wanted to use up the leftover strip of fabric. I actually think that making this half circle twice and sewing them together at the top would be a near perfect petticoat. And so far, it's only taken us about 3 hours (that is, 1.5 hours with us both working on it)

This is me adding ribbon and lace to the bottom of the leftover fabric strip. I turned it up once, about a 1/4 inch, towards the front, and then I am sewing the lace and the ribbon over that turnup, together. You could sew the lace on and then the ribbon if the idea of doing both at once is a bit much. One last row of stitching along the top edge of the ribbon. It's an easy way to give something a nice, pretty and tidy edge. 

We gathered up this extra frill and sewed it to the line Joy had chalked. We left the first and last couple of inches of the frill free.
To finish it, sew the half circle skirt 'back seam' right sides together, about a half inch. Make sure you don't catch the frills into it. Then on the outside, overlap the frills and topstitch them down. You could sew them together but it's not necessary. Sorry, we tried to photograph this but with all that black, it looked like nothing. Definitely vlog potential this one.

The whole netty extravaganza was sewn onto an underslip with an elastic waist. Afterwards, Joy thought it would be good to make it separate so she could wear the underslip by itself with straight skirts. I think this is a great idea. In that case, you could just turn the top over to make an elastic case. Our finished length was 23 inches. That is 15 inches of half circle skirt, an 8 inch frill, minus seam allowances, plus the extra bit of 2 inch frill to compensate for it.

Showoff!

Petticoat under a full circle skirt. she won't wear this black petticoat with the white skirt as it makes it look grey, but it gives the general idea.

Great twirling potential!

A couple of pink roses for fun

And of course, our entertaining companion for the day, Madame Ornata, demonstrating why her name suits her so well!

OK, so this is what I learnt, and what we will do next time (making a white one).

1. Make half circles out of cotton. Why not? :) In that case I would serge the seams and edges, or use french seams and a narrow hem, since it would fray where the net one didn't. I'd also make two of them.

2. 3m of tulle or tricot 60 inches wide, would be even better - without cutting the half circle off the end, that extra bit would mean our frill was long enough. Without the second, bonus frill I added, 48 inches was enough width so a 96 inch wide tulle would be enough for two. Or just get 6 metres. These are not expensive fabrics :)

3. For a soft tulle or tricot, I might even make two rows of 2 inch frills, lay them one on the other and gather together, for extra body. It's this body that gives the fullness at the hemline.

4. If I did it this way, I would make a waistband on the straight grain out of the cotton and attach it to the two half circles.

5. Last alternative option -Make one of the cotton half circles longer - 23 inches instead f 15, finish the bottom edge with lace and ribbon like I described above, and sew the first 16 inch frill to it 8 inches in from the bottom edge. Then make the second one like described above. Why? Because really with these petticoats you want something nice between you and the tulle. Tulle is itchy, and can rip your tights. This does mean using 54 inch wide cotton unless you have a teency waist.

This all may sound complicated, but I promise that once you actually do it, you will find out how simple it is. If you understand pi geometry and how to size a half circle, it's easy to adapt to the right size and length for you :)

Winter has arrived...

...it is freezing, and raining. Luckily it is raining vertically - the wind here in Wellington often means that the rain is at a 45 degree angle if not actually horizontal. The great thing about the horizontal rain is that the wind generally wrecks umbrellas, but as an umbrella can't save you from it,  it's no great loss. :)

Brown Frock Coat 2 - Setting a pattern piece to the grain

I managed to be short of fabric for my coat by a sleeve back, about 0.7m, so off I went today to get more, and I'm taking the opportunity to do a quick tute on the thing I mentioned in the last Brown Frock Coat tute about setting the pattern pieces straight on the grain.

 Here's my pattern piece with grainline marked. This appears on all commercial patterns too. I made it nice and black so it would show up in my abysmal photos...

 This is me putting a pin into one end while taking a photo with the other hand. MrC was too busy to help! I pin it, catching just a 1/4 inch of fabric and pattern so it can swivel fairly easily.

 Measure the distance from the pinned end of the grainline to the selvage. I'm using a quilter's ruler, but a tape measure would do just as well.

 Now go to the other end of the grainline and slide the pattern piece around until it is the same distance from the selvage as the first one was.

 Pin that end too. Now the whole piece is lined up perfectly withe the fabric grain. Getting this wrong can result in garments that twist and shout in ways you don't want them to!

 Now, smooth the pattern piece outward from the pins and pin it around the outside. This pattern is newsprint and not very big so this isn't very impressive, but if you've got a whole dress centre front in commercial pattern tissue, it really makes a difference!

All pinned around then grainline pins removed. No sense wasting pins :)
I hope that makes sense!
By the way, when I opened out my lovely stripe fabric remnant I found that a big chunk was cut off the side of it. How this happened in the shop, who knows. They were very helpful when I took it back and bought more velvet though - gave me a discount on the velvet to compensate. Luckily I have enough stripy left to do what I wanted to. It was strange though...