Playing dress ups and sewing dolls

I have always been fascinated by fabric patterns and textures.  Memories of being a  7-10 year old and playing dress ups with all my dolls using tissue paper, pipe cleaners, wool, aluminum foil - anything that looked fun and useable - to create their outfits. They were always out there creations. Big ballgown type dresses, sequins glued on, bits of feathers. This always excited me. The colours especially. My dolls were my models and designing looks for the various games my sister and I would play was fun to me. Happy memories.  :)

Today I continue indulging in my fabric fascination as I sew my little creations. However I also get to experiment with various prints and colours for my own personal style.

For a long time I wore what I would call my, blend into the background type colours.  You know -  black, beige, navy blue, and browns.  All nice. All safe. All guaranteed I would not be noticed.  However,  lately there has been a complete shift in my personal style. I am making bolder choices,  wearing colours and patterns that I have longed to wear, yet I was too scared to.  Its sort of scary but also exciting as I get to mix and match and create fun looks for myself. I am my own big doll.  Finally  :)

Fashions of 1981 and all that make up......

Recently Martino came home with a bag filled with sewing patterns. A conversation with a cafe customer (who happens to be a professional dressmaker) resulted in the kind lady gifting me all sorts of patterns and instruction books.  Fashions from 1981, which although are a little questionable, would help me learn the basics of sewing clothing for myself.  So the deal is for some time, I have been watching hours of online tutorials and experimenting with mini versions of dresses and tops (using fabric from thrift store finds) all in the quest to sew pieces for myself.  At the same time I am getting used to the all the stitches and different sewing feet of my new machine.  So these patterns have come at the perfect time as now I have even more information and tips that are simple in their construction allowing me to move towards to finally cutting into real fabric pieces.   Its a little scary - but very exciting!!

Before I do tho, I wanted to share with you the fashions - clothing, hair and make up of 1981/1982.....

shoulder pads - check / big hair - check / over sized dresses and awkward stares....and check!

Culottes - remember them?

A party in your pants!! hahaha

Bed jacket?  really.....and all I can manage is a tshirt. I would be wayyy under dressed for bed in the 80's!

the front view was not included in this pattern.  very odd.....but allows for much self expression..

Ok the pictures might not be very fashion forward, but the wealth of information contained in these patterns is very useful to me. So let the fashion creations begin........

Craft and Quilt Fair - June, 2012 :: Darling Harbour, Sydney

Mum and I visited the recent Craft and Quilt fair held at Darling Harbour.  A day filled with so much colour, creativity and love for all things hand stitched.   Hundreds of thousands of stitches created work that made me feel very excited about this age old craft of sewing.   I promised a blog post to a few friends who were unable to attend.  Unfortunately the day was cut short due to a cold I was fighting off.  The virus won out in the end and I had to come home and straight to bed.  However, we still got to see some wonderful creations which inspired us to continue creating beautiful work.

Here is what we saw:

Intricate hangups from all over the world.  This beautiful piece entitled "Poppies of Love" by Geraldine Alix was my favourite:

Another detailed hangup by Californian fiber artist - Myra Wood

The fair also included this wonderful Travelling Friendship Quilt.  The story of a quilt that came together after 8 suitcases (one per state) traveled within each respective state, passed from friend to friend, group to group, each creating a square depicting their town.  At the end of the year all 8 suitcases return and are incorporated to create a 4 metre square quilt.  Read more about the project here:

A map showing all the places that participated

The fair also included an exhibition of Loani Prior's  latest book    - How Tea Cosies Changed the World.   These tea cosies show how a humble teapot can be transformed into an wacky and very creative piece of art.  Sure to start many conversations....and isn't that what sharing tea is all about?

Even in my feverish state, I managed to capture this beautiful work just as we were leaving the show.  From a distance this looked like pencil drawings, upon closer inspection I realized it was free form machine embroidery. Gorgeous work by Cheryl Bridgart - more of which can be seen here......simply stunning.

Frida Kahlo Softie by craftyclaudes

For the last few weeks I have been working on this little Frida Kahlo softie/cushion as a Birthday gift for my sister.   The idea came to me watching a short film on Frida recently.  I loved her unique style, passion for her Mexican heritage and her colourful self portraits.   So after spying this gorgeous fabric on one of my recent shops

I got to sketching and practicing my pattern making skills.  Using a template of a babushka doll that I had made recently, 

Raiding my fabric stash I found these cotton napkins that I got to use for Frida's face.

 More cutting and many hours of sewing by both machine and hand.....I finally completed her in time to give to my sis.

A little poncho with pom poms made me smile.......arribaaaaa!!

 Hand stitching felt flowers for her hair piece....

 Martino let Frida enjoy a little bit of chill out time in his fave chair. She enjoyed it for a little while.  We got used to seeing her around the apartment in all stages of creation......

but now she goes home with my sis to hang out in the Queensland Sunshine.  I think Frida was a hit!  

Lead up to Birthday week.....

Its been a big, busy, crazy emotional week.   Not only because that is how I usually get around birthday time (another year , more grey hair, what have I achieved?  where am I going? - you know how it goes)  but because I am also working on many projects all at the same time.  Its like my cook/gardener/DIY/crafty inner self is on autopilot (and on a time clock apparently) and wants to start and/or complete all projects I have going.   Crazy - I know.

No matter what I am creating, experimenting or doing, I always have my trusty pocket camera with me. A photographic diary of sorts.   I know one day I will look back and realize these days (the crazy busy ones) are my happiest.   So here is a photo diary of what is keeping me interested of late:

In the garden:: A tiny Echeveria plant grows out of what I thought was a dried up root.

From a friends well established edible garden - beautiful, nourishing beans.

Fabric ::  Watching mum create something gorgeous with this fabric (More to follow soon)

From El Mercado::  (Top) Organic Food Market free range VS  (Bottom) Supermarket free range.  The proof is in the taste.

From my Father::  Admiring his latest original, upcycled work of art.

From my Mother::  a beautiful crochet creation

Cafe::  Martino honing his skills.....

while I admire the cafe's refurb including these gorgeous mango wood stools.

From the sewing machine :: new fabric place mats, that are teaching me much patience along the way....

thats all for now.  Thanks for reading.

xox
a (nearly) older and (hopefully) wiser craftyclaudes.......