Weavers of the Clouds at the Fashion and Textiles Museum

I recently visited the Fashion and Textiles museum for their Weavers in the Clouds: Textile Arts of Peru exhibition. In the 1990's I created a man's waistcoat for one of my art college projects based upon the absolutely gorgeous hand-embroidered and woven Peruvian textiles. In those days the only examples I could find of these delicious designs were found in books from the library and maybe the odd example in the V&A museum. This exhibition is a feast for the eyes if you love colour, pattern, design, texture, embellishment, embroidery and weaving!

I would highly recommend a visit if you get a chance. The exhibition runs until the 8th of September at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey, London.

Have you been to see an inspirational exhibition recently?

Dolores Pocket Skirt Summer Stash Bust & Tate Modern exhibition

Wow! What a crazy two weeks. First let me introduce you to a new skirt pattern that will be available for PDF pattern in the not-too-distant future called the Dolores Pocket Skirt. It's from the lovely Beth at Ready Ruthie who asked for pattern testers for the Dolores. I was excited at the prospect of being a pattern tester and the basic requirements of having sewn PDF patterns before and being close to the skirt sizes and to be able to feedback your experiences in the space of a month were the only requirements. I happily received an e-mail with links to the PDF soon after I e-mailed Beth.

At the same time as agreeing to pattern test Beth's skirt I decided that the final art-piece for my 'Cutting into Colour' Matisse collage course at the Tate Modern would come in the form of an appliquéd garment - killing two birds with one pair of scissors! Oh, and I also used ALL stash fabrics, so I have stuck to my self-imposed fabric buying ban for the Summer Stash Bust 2014!

Onto the skirt.... You have seen little peeks of the decoration in my previous post, so here is the full skirt.

The skirt was quite intuitive to sew together and I think when it is publicly available as a PDF pattern it would be a great basic wardrobe staple to add to anybody's pattern stash.

The only thing I need to practise for my next version is the slight angles on the waistband which I haven't really managed to achieve very crisply.

Overall I am pretty happy with the applique and hand embroidery on my abstract decoration inspired by my work based on Matisse's cut-outs. I used bonda-web to adhere the fabric shapes then sewed a machine zig-zag and also some simple hand-stitching around the blue shapes.

Machine and hand-embroidered applique decoration

I also hand-stitched the pockets for decoration and to ensure the lining doesn't peak out either.

hand-stitched pocket detailing

I finished the Dolores Pocket Skirt in time to wear to the Private View of the collage course 'Cutting into Colour' at the Tate Modern inspired by Matisse's Cut-Outs. I can now say I have exhibited my work at the Tate!...OK, it was 'only' in the Cloires Gallery in the basement of Tate Modern. But still... it's the TATE!

The final evening of the course entailed us creating an exhibition space to showcase our work. We all brought nibbles and refreshments and were allowed to invite friends and family (unfortunately my f&f were otherwise engaged so could not make it). It was a fun evening and I enjoyed wearing my Dolores / Matisse skirt as part of my exhibition. Below are photographs of my exhibition space and a picture of me in front of the group inspired lire-size collage.

My Matisse inspired Dolores Pocket Skirt in front of the group Matisse inspired collage.

The Private View exhibition for the Cutting into Colour art course at the Tate Modern 13th July 2014

My art exhibition at the Private View. I created a free-standing mount to display my 3D paper sculptures.

I was pretty happy with the fact that I 'almost' finished a whole sketchbook of Matisse inspired collages in 5 weeks!

Liebster Award

Emma Jayne from Clipped Curves kindly nominated me for the Liebster Award which is for bloggers with less than 100 followers.

Thank you Emma Jayne! In the expected format I will answers the following questions:

1. If you had to describe your style by comparing it to a fictional character, who would that be and why?
In my head I think I am channelling a bit of Carrie from Sex and the City meets Dana Scully from the X-Files. Carrie for the fun, exuberant aspects of my wardrobe against the no-nonsense work ethic and practicalities of Scully's shirts and trouser approach to the 'office'.

2. Do you have any other hobbies / obsessions as well as those you blog about?
I am interested in keeping fit and I captain a team of 60+ indoor rowers on my other blog: Caroline's Rowing Blog. The team is called Empty the Tanks and I set up the team in 2009 to guide and encourage people keeping fit and participating in Indoor Rowing events around the world.  I have entered a number of competitions over the years and I have achieved the following results:

• 6th place at the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston, USA in Feb 2011
• Silver at the English Indoor Rowing Championships, Jan 2013
• Bronze at the English Indoor Rowing Championships, Jan 2012
• Gold at the English Indoor Rowing Championships, Jan 2011
• Silver at the British Indoor Rowing Championships, Nov 2009

As well as keeping fit by indoor rowing I enjoy cycling, drawing, painting, etching, printing, DIY and cooking.

3. What is your favourite thing you’ve made / posted about and why? Remember to show us!

I love my Clothkits Trellick Tower skirt because I love the print so much although it has been the least challenging garment to make from my blogged clothes so far!

 4. And the least favourite?

It has to be my crazy Top-Shop re-make dress that is out of this world orange and psychedelic!

5. If you could only make 3 more things and then you had to quit sewing forever, what would you make and why?

1) I would make the Grainline Archer shirt - because I haven't managed to successfully sew a collar or shirt placket yet. It looks like an uber-cool pattern.

2) The next thing I would sew would be the Laurel by Colette Patterns. It has so many variations though and I haven't yet decided which one to go for!

3) The last thing would be a sewing challenge of a fully lined jacket. I haven't yet found a pattern that I would like to try yet - any suggestions?

6. Where do you find inspiration?

I do love a good fashion magazine and will treat myself to at least one a month to get inspired, drool over lovely colours, finishes and ideas. I also check out other sewing blogs, fabric shops, vintage and charity shops. I also get inspired by the general public; there are loads of cool and stylish people pottering around London to 'borrow' ideas from!

7. How do you feel about the whole lining vs facing vs binding debate (I may be imagining that it’s a debate)?

So far in my limited clothes-making repertoire I have sewn things that are relatively straight forward but I do love a French Seam and bias-binding to finish a seam.

8. What is your least favourite part of sewing (and do you do it anyway or cut corners)?

I am not keen on cutting out the paper pattern or assembling the printed out PDF patterns so I like to do this all in one go. I purchased the Colette Laurel last week and have cut out all pattern pieces whilst chatting to my friend : )

9. How do you like your surroundings when you sew? i.e. Do you clean up as you go, listen to music, face the window, watch telly? Basically describe your sewing situation.

I haven't got a designated sewing area at home so I have to drag out my very heavy Bernina downstairs to the dining table. This slight inconvenience  means I am always determined to get all the sewing machine aspects of a project done at one time. I think this is why so many of my UFO's are all incomplete at the hand-sewing stage. 

I like to listen to the radio or some of my Spotify compilations;  I am totally feeling the Yeah, Yeah Yeahs right now and have major style-lust for Karen O!

Karen O, lead singer of Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs

10. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I would love to meet Andy Warhol, hang out at the Pop Factory in New York and have a chat about his eccentric style and approach to art. Following that I would also be intrigued to meet husband and wife design team Robin and Lucienne Day - I so love their work!

Lucienne Day textile design circa 1950's

11. Do you prefer to make things for yourself or others

Around Christmas time I make quite a few little stockings, decorations, corsages and bags for gifts for family and friends. I only make clothes for myself but enjoy sewing whatever / whoever it is for!

Christmas Stocking decorations made from felt, hand embroidered with beads and blanket stitch