Silk in the Sun

Before Christmas, I had two lovely special projects focused on elegant and simple designs using beautiful fabrics.

The first was a rush job - "Hello, do you make clothes? I need a dress for a wedding next Tuesday..."

My Client had found a Roland Mouret gown she wanted to draw her inspiration from; simple silhouette, with a very classic long skirt and a focus on drape as the design feature.

Roland Mouret - Spring RTW 2011.

She also loved the black binding on the sleeves and soft neckline.

We chose, after much deliberation regarding texture (yes? no?), drape (how much is too much? do we want a bias drape??), colour (what exactly is mushroom anyway?) and fibre content (silk? rayon? wool?)

a most beautiful French Silk Faille, from Rathdown Remnants, the price of which I will not divulge. 

Needless to say, cutting was a tremulous process.

But I got it done in three days and it turned out to be quite engaging; at least my Client thought so. (hoorah!)

The next project was a chocolate silk all-in-one pantsuit, for a Client's 50th Birthday Party; pretty daring, but thats what makes this job great. 

My Client had hoarded the fabric for years in anticipation of this day finally arriving, so again, there was some trepidation when cutting. It is a designer silk satin from the 1980's. There is no more of this fabric to be had if I was a bit shy of anything.

The brief was for a wide-legged all-in-one pantsuit, with perhaps a halterneck and some kind of transformable or interchangeable scarf that could act as an inventive accessory; a wrap or a sash, or "sleeves", to glam it up. My client is a self-confessed "70's tragic", but in the best possible way. 

I (delightedly) searched for "jungle" themed silk prints and found a couple of beauties from the Fabric Store, and Tessuti.

Dusky pink and yellow animal print silk satin, 

from the Fabric Store.

I made two toiles because, well, I've never patterned a pantsuit before, and it was defiantely necessary!

I lined the bodice with silk satin, and made the two chosen silks into long silk scarves that can be threaded into the back loops and draped as desired, around the shoulders or waist.

I hope both these garments bought joy to these Clients, who were both very open and enjoyable to sew for. Thank you!

Africana

To continue on with my jungle-pattern obsession, last weekend we went for a holiday to Daylesford in the countryside, and I managed to book "the Zebra Room" at the Manse. It was pretty awesome and had an array of verging-on-hilarious-but-kind-of-cool african-based prints and decor.

Zebra bath!

Mantlepiece Hippo....

The bed head was an amazing print of a Victorian-era botanical drawing, for which I also have a fetish at the moment.

I just bought a beautiful book called "Botanical Riches; stories of botanical exploration" by Richard Aitken. It charts the exploration and documentation of the world's flora by all the major colonial powers from Egypt and Islam, though to Asia and Great Britain.

Left: Franz Antoine, Die Coniferen nach Lambert, Loudon und Anderen. Nut from the Australian Bunya Pine.

Right: Henry Andrews, The Botanist's Repository, 1806. North American Aloe Agave americana and vanilla, below.

British manuscript album "Shrubs and Trees"1802-4. Rhododendron arboreum, the national flower of Nepal, bought to England by Thomas Hardwicke.

I find the precision and delicacy of these beautiful works both calming and enlightening; I love that people were drawing like this, sketch book on their knees, out in the wilds, wherever crown and country let them sail.

Colour and movement

This week... latest projects:

On the left is a pure Modal (cellulose fibre) jersey tricot dress, double layered, with a double bias-bound hem. I added the neckline ties as a detail to break up the blocky texture of the jersey, as the client is new to "dress-wearing", and needed some distraction from the overall orange. My brief for it was "a European-summer-holiday-dress" , so it had to be travel-safe and very very comfortable... read "cool".

On the right is a copy of a skirt for the same client, a simple darted a-line skirt, made in this version from pure silk animal print (a-la-jungle fever, see last week's entry), lined as well, for comfort.

We also added a pair of comfy brown linen drawstring trousers to her travel wardrobe, with a special passport pocket hidden inside!

This last week has seen an influx of spring orders, for weddings, races, parties, amid a general call for "something flattering please!"

This last dress was one such job, needed for the 8th September, and its turned out pretty well I think..

The brief for this dress was "an elegant all-round dress, with a funky/modern edge". The Client loves Japanese fabric and styles, so I incorporated a piece she sourced from a furnishing textile wearhouse into the centre front and back panels of the princess line dress.

The main fabric is a cotton/elastane blend, from Tessuti. Its a wonderful fabric, but I bought the last 2.5m! I made the self belt with a recycled vintage buckle, and keeper, as well as the double straps. I have just discovered self-covered buttons, so I used them as details on the back straps as well.

Its not lined, but the Japanese panels are sewn into the panel lines, over a panel of the black cotton, as backing and strength. We wanted a bit of gathering/blousing in the silk panel, for contrast. Overlocking was quite sufficient as the cotton fabric is firm and forgiving.

Thats all for now, hope you like them!