Without These Blogs...Where Would I Be?

So I'm currently sorting out all my university stuff this week so no sewing I'm afraid! Instead I thought I would share with you some of the blogs I read most, and why. Yes, this is the classic blog roll post.

The blog I have read most of has to be MPB. 'Male Pattern Boldness' claims to be the most popular men's sewing blog, and I can see why. Peter Lappin, a New Yorker living in Manhattan has roots in the Mood Sewing Network and I know that personally I joined Pattern Review just because he recommended it in a post. 

Baggy Bottom Blues

So in celebration of The Great British Bakeoff this week I thought I'd do a simple tutorial that occurred to me whilst re watching the final of the 2014 last week  - 'now that's a soggy bottom!'

Although I have to say I am very happy with the new way to test out how candied your peel is - I guess it's now okay to start throwing your bakes around the kitchen.

Tales of WOMAD and a Walkthrough of the Wrap Skirt

There's been a lot going on recently. And I mean a lot. There's been holidays and happenings galore. From work to seeing friends it's all got a bit too much recently. I've been sorting out my stuff for university as well as what seems to be a growing fabric stash!

As if I need to tell you TSC has been a little neglected. Last week I was in the middle of a field in Wiltshire getting soaked whilst listening to some of the best music I've heard in a while. I have to say (apart from the rain) WOMAD outdid itself this year.

Some of my highlights had to be the Jenova Collective, an electric swing band from Manchester, The Correspondents, who I have seen a few times but were even better with a band behind them and Red Baraat, a sort of modern rock-Bollywood fusion from New York.

Until Next Week, Folks...

Unfortunately I haven't written a post this week due to the fact I've been super busy and now I'm feeling pretty overtired and worn out. I'll be back next time. 

Happy sewing!

Toni

Tutorial - How to Sew a TSC Draped Wrap Skirt

I have a fantastic pattern for you today!

(Note: there is a slight revision to the pattern shown in this post as well as a walkthrough, which is in this post here. However if you want information about the slash and spread technique carry on reading!)

I've put my bralette top aside for the moment as I am waiting on bra underwires in the mail.

In this post I was intending to show you how to do the 'slash and spread' technique often used when adding fullness to a garment, but I got a little carried away and I ended up drafting a pattern. The resulting skirt was pretty simple so I thought I'd share my maths with you!

Building the Bralette - Toile One

So last week I started a new bralette making project, from an old bra with a broken underwire. If you read the last post I had just got to the point of cutting my first toile. I made this one primarily to get the fitting of the cup right, but ended up making a couple of other changes too.

Bralette Ideas

This week I've been drafting myself a pattern for a bralette top, using an old bra as a starting point. It's a bit of a brief post today as I've spent so much time doing it, but I plan to have it all figured out next week, perhaps with a tutorial for you to try at home! 

Every Dog has his Day!

So if you follow me on Twitter you know that the other week I found a gorgeous doggy fabric on eBay. The link is here, if you want some! I'm a huge dog lover and I've been looking for a pretty fabric that doesn't look like a dog's photo has been printed on it, as who wants someone else's dog on their pillows? Not to mention I don't think my Labs would take to them, either!

Tape Corsets and Wooden Skirts

So finally after twelve weeks of work I have finished my Final Major Project on my Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. 

I've been left with that wierd feeling when a project finishes and you suddenly have more time on your hands and nothing to fill it. A kind of disorientation that you only get when you've walked away from a completed exhibiton or out of the stage door for the final time on the last night of the show. 

Summer is Coming!

I'm sewing myself a skirt - that must mean summer is around the corner, right?

Curtains are Cool, Right?

So today I'm back on track sewing. I've been taking apart a skirt that fits me well to get the pattern - I know this is detrimental to my current lack of clothing, but I'm going to use it, I promise!

A friend gave me this skirt when it was too big for her, and it fit me wonderfully, exept the fact that it was a little tight for me on the waist. To combat this, I decided to trace the skirt onto paper first, make my initial changes, then make a mock up or toile before making the final skirt - this seems a lot of effort for one skirt, but after all this I will have a pattern that will fit me!

A New Project and New Bobbin Vows

They're here! Thank the sewing God upstairs!

My Janome bobbins have arrived from China and work wonderfully, look at the tiny little stitches I did here on a scrap. Look how beautiful they are! It's so great to have my machine up and running again. But what to sew with it?

A Night of Designing

Yet again my bobbins haven't arrived! Really unfortunate as I'm getting that 'I need to sews something' itch that often comes after a while away from the machine. So I'm back to fashion sketching today.

If you'd like to give fashion illustration a go yourself, I've included some details in last week's post here.

I apologise for the bad photo, the light is pretty bad here and I haven't yet figured out how to change the settings on my iPad's camera. I'm just playing with ideas for my new fabrics that I bought a couple of weeks ago, I would love to make myself a dress as I've not made one in a while.

Have you bought any gorgeous fabric recently? Any photos would be greatly appreciated!

Really hoping I'll be back sewing soon, and hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Toni

The TSC Guide to Female Fashion Sketching

My machine is still a bit wobbly due to the lack of appropriate bobbins I have to my name (fortunately they're in the post somewhere!) so today I'm not sewing, I'm designing. If you have me on Facebook then you know last week I went to my favourite fabric shop in Sheffield for the first time in a year or so and got plenty of material to keep me sewing. After all the alterations I have to do, of course!

Anyway, back to the post. I'm on a costumers course next year and half of it will be designing, half of it making. Because of this I need to get back into the headspace of drawing out my designs before i make them as opposed to just making it straight off like I usually do. So for the next however long I have before I go to university, I am going to design my clothing before I start making them.

How Not to Oil A Machine

So it's that time again - time to oil my machine! If you sew yourself you know that it rolls around pretty quickly. Recently I've been having a little trouble with my machine but the cause is nothing that I can I think of whilst giving it the once over.

When this occurs I normally think 'hey, I'll oil it, see what happens' as I know I don't oil my machine often enough. Normally this sorts it out.

(The Singer website says that if you sew every day, oil once a week, if you sew once a week, oil every month. However I have a modern machine and most of them nowadays are 'self oiling' and I'm normally too busy sewing to remember I need to do it!)

I oil mine every two to three months. Quite a few of my clothing alterations I do by hand, especially if it's just a hem or a button that needs sewing on. Sometimes I think it needs oiling more often but considering how much and for how long I use my machine I think once every other month is just fine. 

Attack of the Buttons

Due to my art being more demanding (I've been making a crinoline today!) sewing wise it has become more alterations and editing existing clothing rather than making them from scratch. This has its upsides though, I'm slowly converting the amount of unworn clothing I have inherited from friends into wearable projects.

This week, it's a black Topman shirt in a medium, which fortunately fits me really well - the sleeves are long enough, and there's adequate boob room despite there being a bit too much fabric in the waist area. Fortunately for me, I normally tuck shirts in, so this isn't too much of a problem.

But what to jazz it up with? That is the question! 

It's Easter Time!

Happy Easter everybody! Hope you have all recieved tasty gifts from your friends and family - if you're not feeling sick by eight o'clock tonight you're not doing it right!

As a little treat for myself instead of chocolate I've taken Easter off from the blog and I've realised how nice it is having time off! It seems like my life is so fast at the moment I've actually had time to stop and think about what I like doing. 

And from this reason from now on I've decided to hold back on the blog due to lack of time I have at the moment.

A Trip To London

So yesterday the college had a trip to London to visit the galleries and do some research for our projects. We had the whole of the foundation group with us, from the illustration department to the fashion students.

We met at nine outside the college, and were in London for one, only giving us five hours for exploring, which was unfortunate, especially as we spent four hours traveling there and four hours back!

After having lunch we ended up in the Natural History Museum - pretty, but not really needed for my project - I wanted to have a look in the V&A at the jewellery and clothing, and to see how expensive the 'Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty' exhibiton was, what with him being one of the first reasons I wanted to learn to sew.

He committed suicide on my birthday, and since then I have been fascinated with him. The dramatic clothing, the excessive detailing, how he sometimes models his clothes on mannequins instead of live bodies, and how this adds something to them that's more associated with art than with fashion.

Alterations - The Kilt Gets A Makeover

So a week or so ago I inherited a lovely kilt from my friend Jenny (thank you!) which smells funny and really needs a wash. I think it's a man's as it comes to my knees, so as I'm pretty tall I think this would be he appropriate length for a bloke.

The pleats were sewn down about six inches from the waistband - this was unflattering on a woman's skirt and so I was going to reduce them to roughly my waist to hip measurement - but I got a bit unpicker happy whilst watching the #GBSB and accidentally undid many to the waistband...

The History of Lingerie

So at the moment I'm researching the history of fashion for my foundation diploma, I was halfway through and decided to blog about it as I found it so imformative. The links between lingerie and world history are stronger than you'd think, from metal shortages in the wars influencing underwear to fabric technology innovating the 1920s. 

So we start off with the one of the oldest pieces of women's fashion - the corset. Considered to have been invented somewhere in the 16th century to sculpt the body into the desirable shape of the period the corset was made originally with whale bone, which is why we call 'boning' boning. I could do a whole timeline on the corset and how it changed from era to era, but I've decided to leave that out as it'd be a very long list. I'd like to think this is a brief-ish timeline of women's underwear.

A Big Bag of Goodies - It's Alteration Time!

So today I inherited a bag of old clothes from my lovely friend Jenny! (Thank you!) it was a lovely afternoon and it was nice to spend it with the girls for once.

Seen as we didn't try any of the clothes on at the time - which in hindsight wasn't the best idea - I have an evening of riffling through them and ripping seams, sewing bits on here and there...

It fits in nicely with my grey skirt, which at the moment I still haven't found the right fabric for, but the idea is there of recycling and editing existing clothing to make your own, which is what Toni Sews is all about. 

Anyone else planning on upcycling clothing this week? Tweet me @tartantonaay with your ideas!

Toni

Tall Girl Problems: Midi Skirt Edit

So last week I posted about making a long skirt into a small skirt for a tall person, if you get me! This is the skirt folded to roughly the length that I want it to be, and there's a lot of extra fabric which is usable.

I'm Having Some Tall Girl Problems Here. Any Help?

Any ideas would be much appreciated...I bought a skirt and have no idea what to do with it!

So last week I managed to rip my only bodycon jersey skirt - you know the ones, they're sold by many of the high street giants, cost you under a tenner and are great to wear if you want your legs out* but still want to be comfy. Now this is where I have a little problem. Well, in the case of last week, then I had two.

DIY Strap Alteration

Ever thought about buying a top and was put off by the straps? Well this is the tutorial for you!

So I bought this one from a vintage shop in Sheffield last week - but I knew I could do something with the straps in a matter of minutes as I looked inside the top - some are easier than others. This one was pretty simple as the straps on this one were hand stitched to the inside of the lining. If you have to undo some seams to get to where the straps are attached, consider how much you dislike the original straps and how long a time you can spend on the project. 

The Beaded Top - And First Ever iPad Selfies

So here it is! Did anyone guess correctly? 

Three Guesses

I bought this recently from a vintage shop in Sheffield. Can anyone guess what it is? Big up the love to whoever can!

Tutorial - Menswear Sleeve Alteration

So I wear a lot of men's clothing as they fit me better in the arms and are normally longer in the body. I confess though, the sleeves really annoy me. They're normally annoying lengths and flap about a lot, so I'm using my Fifteen Eleven shirt to show you lot how to update your sleeves. Ready?

So first you need to unpick your sleeves. Personally I would advise not to cut them off as you lose your seam allowances, but it's your shirt, so it's your rules! (Blogger seems to be having a party at the moment, so the pictures are all over the place, sorry!)

Guess Who Got An Interview?

Yes, I got an interview for Nottingham Trent's Costume Design and Making course, and am now in a huge rush to put my portfolio together, which might be testing as I think Hobbycraft has run out of mountboard!

Why Do You Do This To Me High Street?!

Why! Why are they doing this? I'm about to have a breakdown!

Quilted Cushions

So to go with my recently painted room I bought some new bedding to match the colour scheme - but most of my old cushion covers are looking a bit tatty now or they don't match, I mean I love them and I will keep them, but as it's a new year, I'm sort of in the mood for something new, you know?

Last year I was given some gorgeous fat quarters by my friend Lily and her mum and I have some scraps to use up, so I thought I'd make myself some more covers for them. I love the quilted look but have only done a few things and I'm not too confident in getting it just right, so I wanted something a little more lopsided.

I am inspired by these two images I found on Pinterest, this first one is from Zen Cat Art.

Reflections On 2014

So it's been six months since I started the blog - now it's the new year and I thought that I'd have a look at the things I've made in 2014. In the summer I made a red floral skirt that I have never worn...