Red Ballgown

Here is another piece that I'm working on as part of the sustainable material exhibition. I've only got the skirt part of the design started, but I'm happy with how the different fabrics sit together. It doesn't look like I've gotten that far, but patchwork takes quite a while between all the cutting and sewing all the pieces together. I've never done this style of skirt before, but I think it look really pretty. As you can see from the design I have a LOT of work left to do. I still have to A) finish the shirt, with another few tiers of material B) make a black bodice C) make a cage type structure for the inside. For this last part I was thinking of a making it out of rolled newspaper, kind of a papier mache with an extra few layers of varnish to make it sturdier. It's gonna probably cause me lots of heartache trying to make it but I think it will add that extra pizzaz needed for a show piece. In some ways it reminds me of something Bjork wore to an Mtv awards ceremony about 10 years ago.

Work in Progress

This is what I got up to today. This is the beginings of one of the main show pieces for the exhibition. So far I've used about 5 pairs of jeans and a jacket, I'll need at least six more pairs to get the lenght and train that I plan for it. I'll also need lots of material for the Queen Elizabeth ruffles I plan for the neckline. I'm happy with where it's going, hopefully tomorrow is another good day.

Christmas Ball Rolling

Ok it's official I've been really crap at blogging lately, but life seems to be running at high speed at the moment, with one week rolling into the next. How is Christmas upon us yet, I think a part of me is still waiting for that non existant Irish Summer to happen. I think I caught a tiny bit of sunshine in Doolin one weekend and that's it it's time to whip up the Christmas tree again. I went into work yesterday( I do 2 days a week in a local restaurant-Luigi Malones if you are wondering) and they have all the Christmas decorations up. I know it's just me in a panic wondering how I'm gonna get all my stock sorted by Christmas, and also where the miracle will appear from to have money for presents. Whatever happened to the days that you would wake up with a bag of toys at the end of your bed and all you had to worry about was if you got everything on the list....ah well.

So far I've got a good bit done:

-About 15-20 mini hampers of handmade Christmas decorations. In them there is 3 felt baubles with lots of cute ribbon and buttons, in a pot wrapped in plastic, a premade gift. I figure they would be handy gifts for those people who have everything or when you get a co-worker as a kris-kindle and you have no idea what to get them. 15 euro

-25 sets of 10 hand printed lino cut Christmas cards. Yes you did the maths right thats 250 prints, and yes that did hurt my little arms. 12 euro

-500 new mirrors. Yey I'm so chuffed these arrived, I love the new designs with the 1950s pinups. I also got large buttons with the same designs. Mirrors 5 euro or buy 2 get one free

Very sadly I still have no camera (damned burglers!!), so I can't take any pictures to show all you nice folk. You are just going to have to take my word for it that they are lovely.HA!

Getting the Ball Rolling

I've been posting lots lately about all the other things that I do apart from sewing, but on Saturday I got back into making some new clothes. Since then I have made 2 dresses, 2 skirts, and 3 tops. But sadly I can't take any pictures of them because I am still sans camera. It's good to get back into work again(it's not like I really stopped working, just stopped sewing) it was starting to feel like the big elephant in the room that I was avoiding. I had foolishly convinced myself that I had burnt out and run out of ideas. The easiest way to break this was to jump in with both feet. I always find it inspiring walking around my studio, looking at different garments until an idea springs to mind. Thankfully I got a lot of donations of clothes recently so all the pieces were fresh to my eyes ,and it was easy to see what I could do with them. Hopefully this creative ball keeps gathering momentum!

More New Work

More new things that I've been working on.

The black jacket was made by machine applique-ing geometric shapes, I also added pockets, and a flared cuff with some chequered wool material.

The ruffle from the grey jacket from made from an old pair of jeans. There was a good bit of hand sewing in this one and is nearly broke my fingers with all that heavey denim.

On the grey dress I made rosettes out of scraps of fabric, all hand sewn but I think the end result is pretty smashing if I must say so myself!

New Pieces

Just a brief little update with some pictures of what I've been up to.

Super Helper Elf

I'm back and I have recovered from my holidays, magically we got the most beautiful weather that Ireland has seen in years. Unfortunately I got horribly burnt on my hands so I was unable to do anything for a few days when I got back, but all is back to near normal now, just a few stubbourn blisters left.

I just finished my first day with my new apprentice/helper Una, she is great, we got loads done. I decided it was high time I updated my Etsy shop, so we spent the day taking photos, measuring garments, and writing out descriptions. Unfortunately my internet connection decided to have a hormonal fit and it's only working in fits and spurts. So here are some photos of the things I'll be listing in the shop over the next few days. It is such a relief that we got my whole collection ocumented, I never would have been able to get it done by myself.

Dresses Galore

Yey I have pictures at last, not of the best quality in the world but at least you can see what I'm up to. I'm delighted that the fashion world is obsessed with dresses at the moment, so that's what I've decided to focus on. I made 5 in the past day and a half(well 6 but one was a disaster that I had to abandon). Hopefully I 'll get a couple more done today in preparation for D-day tomorrow. The sun is shining beautifully today so fingers crossed for the rest of the weekend.