Corsetry for Prom & other Special Occasion Dresses ....

I get many enquiries from potential customers regarding alterations to "Special Occasion" such as bridal & prom dresses & they usually have one thing in common ... fit!! In many instances, at the initial phone enquiry (& a few questions later), I first suggest sourcing good underwear before visiting me to look at the potential alteration. It is surprising how many "badly fitting" dresses can easily be cured by wearing GOOD FITTING underwear.

It is equally surprising that many bridal outfits are chosen for purchase without the correct underwear being worn at the first "trying on session" ... so many bodice problems can be corrected with a well-made boned corset. AND when worn correctly, the dress will fit over it & will then be easily fastened.

An extensive range of underwear is available from " What Katy Did ", a London company who specialise in an extensive range of underwear - their under garments being inspired by 1940s & 50s Hollywood glamour. Below are 2 brilliant "What Katy Did" videos (from YouTube) showing how to lace up & take off a boned corset - I've come across so many customers who don't know how to put on or fit this type of garment.

The first (from 2015) shows simply: "Taking a Corset On & Off" & the other (from 2010) shows both a below & over bust corset: 2 corset styles.

Getting around to it! ...

I've just had a tidy-out (many months overdue!) of some of my mail-order suppliers list & come across some VERY USEFUL companies I'd like to recommend for specific jobs as I've found them to be very reliable - here they are:

for covering buttons, belts & other trims:

Harlequin in Essex

for pleating of fabric:

Ciment Pleating - Potters Bar (Herts)

for dyeing individual items of clothing or furnishings:

Harry Berger - Cheshire

Pinterested ? ...

I'm now on Pinterest (click to view)

Cleaning vintage cotton & lace ...

Once again, I'm using my faithful 'old recipe' for washing some vintage white cotton fabric pieces which I've also used in the past to successfully remove curry stains from a man's cotton dinner shirt!

It's only suitable for 100% cotton so if you'd like to see the step-by-step instructions of how to do it, click this link:

OLD-FASHIONED WASHING RECIPE

- it's also good for stubborn stains on 100% cotton fabrics BUT PLEASE NOTE:

As with all washing, test a sample first!

Moses Basket update ...

Do you remember the Moses Basket (September 2009 CLICK HERE to remind you ) ? well I've got it again .. not to make covers but just for temporary storage! Whilst it's here, I'll also be using it as a 'teaching aid' - but this time to show in greater detail some of the techniques I used previously. I'll be starting with making a pattern & show how simple it can be ... watch this space over the next few weeks.

Pandora's Pillowcases ...

The self-inflicted exercise below has made me once again ponder the thought:

" How many fabrics made today will still be around in over 75 years

... especially if first boiled up in a saucepan & then thrown around in a washing machine !! "

Back in February I mentioned my 'lace cleaning' project ... so to refresh your memory:

Lace in February

Anyway since then (& with the trigger thumb problem), I'd not been able to finish & at the weekend, decided to have another go with the large box of scrap laces etc. I 'boiled' up a solution of the 'magic liquid' & cleaned 2 saucepan loads of scraps. I then proceeded to stage 2 ... a boil wash in the machine.

I gathered together all the pieces (above) including those done previously (but that hadn't had a final wash), put them all into several pillowcases & into a 90 degree boil wash they went. None of the bits were 100% white (more off-white) - several were very greyed - many were yellowed & all looked 'sad & tired'. As most pieces were only smallish lengths, I didn't bother to check any for wear or tear ... putting them in pillowcases would stop any machine blockages of looses bits! & in any event, they were, after all, only scraps.

The machine completed its wash cycle & I decided to leave everything to dry intact within the pillowcase (mainly because its quite difficult to prise apart any laces twisted together whilst washing). I hung them all in an airing cupboard for appx 24 hours & on Monday, although each parcel was still damp (but not wet), I filled my steam iron filled & then came the best bit ... OPENING EACH PANDORA'S PILLOWCASE!

And guess what ... every piece of lace or fabric (except 1 which had partially disintegrated & lost its stitches) had washed up like new. Opening each bundle 'parcel' was a surprise & delight. Each scrap piece that was pulled out & went under the iron was a pleasure to watch & witness its transformation ... from a crumpled mess into a piece of history brought to life. Every sample bit was brilliant white & one in particular that I'd almost thrown away, as I pressed it the term 'flowerings' sprung to mind.

After drying then pressing, they were sorted into their relevant types - here they are now:

Sweet Wrappers Lady ...

Whilst finding out more about my tray, I came across this site for more info: BUTTERFLY WINGS

Reading this and looking at the tray, I was reminded of the early 20c. sweet wrapper pictures I have. Possibly, they were imitations of these 'butterfly arts' memorabilia as they could easily be copied using metallic sweet wrappers together with the same 'painting on glass' technique.

This one (left) is a favourite of mine from appx. 1930 & typical of the period. I'm hoping to get some more images later as my camera almost had a flat battery!

Butterfly Tray !

I've finally taken a photo of something that's always remained special to me & has been in my head for many years - since I was very young in fact. I remember initially seeing it in a relatives' house a long time ago and on occasional child visits, always found it fascinating. Growing up, I never saw it again and forgot about it. Until recently ... when after a relative died, it was given to me and it was just as I remembered!!

Now, looking retrospectively over my work, I've suddenly realised that it actually had an enormous impact on how I design ... my use of colour ... the imagery I like ... my interests. I believe the item to be a holiday memento from Brazil that shows Rio de Janeiro's Sugar Loaf Mountain and is a tray (at least 60 years old) - a label on the reverse states that it is an original hand painting and uses authentic butterfly wings from the area.

The tray (above) is solid mahogany with two handles and an inlaid wood marquetry border surrounding an inner recessed glass section. It measures appx. 52cm x 33cm / 20.5” x 13" with the main ‘picture’ section (38cm x 28.5cm / 15” x 11.25”) under glass. It depicts an evening scene in Rio de Janeiro at Sugarloaf Mountain - skillfully captured using reverse painting predominantly in black and gold with sea and sky (blue, green and white) irridescence from the butterfly wing background. The tray’s reverse is also of solid wood and is screwed onto the main body underneath. A small label states: “We guarantee that this article is handpainted and that the wings used are from genuine South American butterflies.”

I've now found out more about it:

It's an early/mid-20th Century hardwood wood tea tray with central landscape scene of (mainly) water and palm trees and titled 'Brasil'. Originally (& possibly purchased as a holiday memento from South America), these trays (plus other items) were often made specially for the tourist market using Morpho butterflies (left). Found in the South American rain forests, the butterflies are captured by natives & the iridescent wings then displayed under glass. Using a technique called reverse painting, a tint is painted directly onto the back of a piece of glass that is then placed over a butterfly wing background.

The notable mountain shown is a granite peak at the mouth of Guanabara Bay – it is said to resemble the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar! On a peninsula sticking out into the Atlantic Ocean, Sugarloaf Mountain rises 396 metres (1,299 ft) above the harbour and 2 cable car lines (the earliest built in 1912) take passengers to the mountain peaks. These 2 lines together with a cable car are clearly visible in the landscape scene on this tray.

A New Year Begins ...

and Happy 2010 to everyone who reads this !

Somehow or another time is always just racing along - it would be such a good idea to box it up it so when you need more, you could just get some! This year I shall really be trying to get on top of all those outstanding sewing jobs - many which, I'm sure, will have me wondering just why I'd left them in the first place!

First on the agenda is to complete making a leather apron .... cut out but, as yet, unstitched. Then will be ............ no, first the apron ........

EQUIPMENT: Cutting Board ...

I expect you noticed that the background for some of the crib liner photos (see September - October headed as PINS .... Crib Liner) was a gridded cutting board. It's one of my many pieces of equipment bought over 20 years ago and is still always very useful.

THOROUGHLY RECOMMENDED and a DEFINITE MUST-HAVE!

It’s basically a large piece of (folded) cardboard that opens out to a full size cutting table. Photo at right shows it folded (size appx. 25cm wide x 1.25m depth) - but it can be opened out 6 times more giving you a max. total size of appx. 1.50m x 1.25m (see centre photo below).

It can be placed on the floor, on top of a bed, over a small table as well as on many other pieces of furniture that initially you are unable to use as a cutting table. It has series of pre-marked notations on it (eg. straight lines, curves, scallops, right-angles, measurements) so can be used for a wide variety of uses - including photography !! It's easily folded up so can be stored away simply plus you don’t have to open it out to full size to use it. I often use it over/across) the ironing board if/when I run out of space (fairly often!). Being cardboard, it's really light to carry and move around AND you can trace through any or all of the notations on to pattern paper.

Opened out full-size, it looks like this:

Inspiration: Necessity is the mother of invention ...

Sometimes reading a book can provide inspiration. When very young, I remember seeing this pink booklet – it was only many years later (for a final assessment in a textile course) did it get remembered and provide an initial inspiration for a stitched ‘Make-Do-and-Mend’ project - World War II based.Whether it was the phrase ‘Make-Do-and-Mend’, the iconic doll and logo of ‘Mrs. Sew-and-Sew’ or just something within the contents of the booklet but something inspired research of the topic … and specifically the subject of textiles and fashion during World War II. Maybe because personal memories of ‘MAKING DO’ had always made me question ‘HOW, WHY or WHAT’ but I found the subject fascinating. And initial research soon highlighted something else of particular interest! So to discover more, a greater in-depth investigation and research was needed.

Conducting personal and group interviews (both historians and local residents who could remember what was done during the war ‘to make do’), I also read a variety of narrative and factual books and made samples. This continued with further research of documents and other actual samples in museums and it wasn’t long before a reasonable amount of useful facts, recollections and copies of samples had been collated. (Today I continue to collect snippets of additional information and add to that already recorded.) It also became gradually apparent that one main reason for the lack of previously detailed/recorded information (and samples) was that it had just been lost … burnt during wartime damage - given away (during and after the war) for re-cycling and/or charity events - or just disappeared through wear and tear ! Plus, during the war years 1939-45 or soon after in the 1950-60s rebuilding of the country/countries, it appears to have ‘just vanished’. Many records being swallowed into a variety of ‘lost and forgotten’ company archives – no doubt because it’s content appeared to be of little use in a post-war world.

From information I’ve seen, read and been told … from personal recollections to museum exhibits … from wartime archives to narrative books …I discovered that this particular period of 1939-45 was one of immense imagination and inventiveness. Indeed, “Necessity was the mother of invention” - many people's aims were to brighten up a drab and indefinite wartime existence as well as ensuring all rations lasted for far longer than required. I also discovered that many ideas issued for this war’s use were not new but had also existed during 1914-18 in World War I … they had just been reissued or redesigned!