New Millinery Makes!

Hello all!

I hope you are all well and are enjoying the sun which is just starting to some out! :p

The week just gone was 'Symposium week' at my university (I posted about symposium last year, but for those who don't know it's kind of like a mini festival that happens on campus where there are workshops for you to sign up to and shows to watch!  So basically a week of fun and excitement exploring new things really :)

I actually hosted my own workshop this year teaching people the basics of knitting which was very enjoyable- everyone picked it up pretty quickly as well too which was impressive! They seemed to enjoy my class so I was happy :p I will definitely be trying to think of what workshop I can host next year now after the fun I had hosting my own!

Haha but now- among many one workshop I did was making theatrical (basically showgirl) headresss!!! The lady who taught the class was the one who teaches the week of millinery as part of my course- she is very talented and very lovely so it was nice to be taught by her again.

We learnt how to have the wire headband and base and then how to build up all the decoration on top. It was cool as everyone's came out so different.  Here is my creation....

Hehe I am quite proud of it. It is very fun to wear I must say! But I was also super happy to learn the skills of making the wire headband shape as I had caught the millinery bug again and being able to make my own wire headband base allowed me to experiment and come up with my own new fascinator design.....

I made it as a gift for the birthday of someone special to me's sister that is coming up soon :)

I quite like the design- it is kind of flower and origami like- it was fun to see what I could create by just folding and pleating and sewing the sinamay in different ways. And then I added the feathers and metal flat back charms to decorate :)

Hehe that's way out it for this fascinator and feather filled post :p

Talk to you all again soon! 

Byeee and thank you for visiting :) xxxx

Fascinator Tutorial-Part 1!

Hello everyone,

 

As promised I am back today with part one of my fascinator tutorial! :)

 

I gave you a nseak peak yesterday but here it is again, this is the fascinator shape/type Ill be working through with you:

 

 

This is a fascinator which has a buckram (a type of stiffened woven fabric) base though many fascinators are made completely from sinamay (the more traditional light more loosely woven stiffened fabric).

 

So here are a list of materials you will need:

 

- Some card or paper

- A pen/pencil

- A few pins

- Scissors

- A ruler

- Some buckram or other stiffened fabric for your hat base

- Some fabric of your choice for coating and lining your hat

- A length of millinery wire (or craft/DIY may suit the purpose- you can experiment with whatever you have :)

- Thread and a needle (some beeswax to pull your thread through is optional)

- Uhu glue , Copydex glue or Bostik multipurpose craft glue. All will do the job :P

- Some decoration of your choice e.g. feathers, brooches etc.

 

And now here is how to begin:

 

1. First it is good to draft up/drape your hat pattern in paper first. This shape of hat starts with an oval, which two darts are then taken out of, one either end, to create the final shape. You can go with any size oval you like but here is the piece I cut out with the dimensions written on it so you can follow this exactly if you wish, or draft up something similar:

 

 

2. Make sure you have cut up into the 5cm at either end as these are the places you will now be overlapping to work out the size of the darts you want to create your shape:

 

3. Try pinning and overlapping by different amounts until you are happy with the shape- but make sure the darts are both the same size (and that the overlaps run the same- towards the back) otherwise your hat could look lopsided :P There is no set measurement for the size of the darts- just whatever you think creates a nice shape! (I found 2cm worked well for me :).

 

4. But whatever works well make sure to take a pencil and mark where your overlaps run until so that when you undo your pattern, you will see the two pencil lines and can add 1.5cm seam allowance- the seam allowance tapers to nothing at the point of the dart though. If this sounds confusing hopefully the following picture of the final hat pattern will clear it up for you :):

 

5. Use your finalised pattern (above) to cut out your buckram base for your hat:

 

6. You can the take this piece and overlap the darts (by the 1.5 cm seam allowance) and the oversew them down using your needle and thread:

 

7. Next cut a length of millinery wire long enough to go around the base of your fascinator plus a few cm overlap.

 

8.  Then sew your wire just on the inside of your base using a blanket stitch. When you get back round to where the wire overlaps lay one end just under the other and work your blanket stitches closer together to hold the ends of the wire in place securely.

 

9. Your hat base should then look like this:

 

10. Next cut your outer fabric- you do this using the same pattern as you did for your hat base- but add 1.5cm all the way around it as seam allowance and don't cut out the sections for the darts!!! Just use tailors tacks or chalk etc.. to mark the ends and point of the darts so you know where to sew the darts!:

 

 

11. sew in the darts- on the wrong side of your fabric of course and then press them towards the back:

 

12. Then take your hat base and snugly fit your outer hat fabric covering over the top. It may seem a bit awkward or like it won't go at times but I assure you it will- you want a nice smooth snug fit- not bagginess! :P

 

13. Then take your Uhu (or other glue) and stick down your 1.5cm seam allowance all the way around the inside of your hat. Then leave it for a short while to dry of course :)

 

 

That is it for the first half of the tutorial but I will return shortly with the other half which covers decorating you hat and adding a lining and hair loops.... see you soon!

 

Bye xXxXx

 

P.s. if you have any questions about any of the materials, stages or things that seem unclear I will be happy to answer or try to explain as best as I can :)

 

Bye xxx

 

More hattery :)

Hello everyone,

 

I hope your first few weeks of 2015 have been as fun and amazing as you wish the year to continue :)

 

I am now back at college, so back to more a bit more (mostly enjoyable :P) hecticness. Which Is why I was glad I made some more progress on my blue Hat I started on new years- before I had to hit the books again :P

 

I managed to get the lace pieces sewn on that I chose as my decoration:

 

 

You may recognise the lace motifs... they are from one of the dresses I picked up from the costume store sale a while ago :P I really like the pattern of the lace and have found so many things so far that it compliments, including the blue velvety fabric of this hat (which is actually from a spare curtain :P).

 

I also managed to squeeze in the time to make this little fascinator of my own design:

 

 

The main fabric coating this fascinator was another of my costume store bargains- they have all come in so useful! The leopard print fabric was from a shirt I didn't really need any more and I got the little metal charms when I was in the IOW one time. It was fun designing my first fascinator- From materials and a shape which seemed quite crazy it came out with the sophisticated but quirky factor I was aiming for I think :P I am happy... now I just need an event to wear it to! Haha :-)

 

Speak to you all again soon,

 

Bye XxXxX

Dancewear!

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all well and starting to get into the Christmas spirit as that is not far around the corner!

 

Today Is just a quick post again- but I do assure you they will start getting longer no I have finished college for Christmas and I don't have the end of year hecticness. I mean I need to return to wigs to tell you all about how to work some crazy updos! :P

 

But back to the topic of today- Dancewear! Yes, this was the last week as part of my series of 4 weeks at college covering different disciplines within the area of costume.

 

We got to choose to make either a leotard or a catsuit in a design of our choice. We had to be realistic with our choices though as we only had 4 days to complete them- including pattern drafting and fittings.

 

I chose to make a leotard, and kind of wanted to go with something that looked suitable for a gymnast (We could take inspiration from dance or sports). We made them for ourselves which means I got to parade around in mine on Friday (I looked a bit silly but it was fun!)

 

Here it is, I kept it quite understated but there is a flash of sequined fabric at the collar and cuffs to give it a bit of pzazz! :0P

 

 

It was quite high cut- a little bit 80s aerobics but it fit well in the end so that made me happy. I had never worked with stretch fabrics before last week so it was good to start learn the techniques :)

 

That is about it for this post (I said it would be short and I wasn't fibbing)

 

But I will be back super soon, hopefully with some Christmassy related posting material :)

 

Bye XxXx

 

 

 

 

WIGS!

Hi,

This is a really quick post as it has been too long since I posted but I don't quite have time to go into all the detail I want to.. yet! As I mentioned last time I post this week I am working on wig dressing in college. It is such a new and exciting experience for me as seriously I have 2 styles hair down or hair up in a ponytail- I know nothing else :p

But look at the fancy styles I have been being taught how to create:

I will shortly bring you more information on how these looks well created, as well as info on the rest of the cool hair related stuff I learn the rest of this week too!

Speak to you all soon,

Bye xoxoxo

Printing, breaking down and dyeing

Hi guys,

The title of this post pretty much tells you what I have been doing all this week :p Yes, I have just finished the second week of the skills carousel I am currently completing at uni.

We started the week by learning about dying. This was pretty interesting as it is something I have never really done before properly (just with kool aid on some wool! :p). We learnt how to colour match- to dye fabrics to be the same colour as seen in a picture or painting etc. Then we practised some different dying techniques such as ombre (a gradual colour change from light to dark up/down the fabric) and patch dying (different colours of dyes applied/layered onto the fabric in a blotchy way).

Here is my ombre sample:

And here is my patch dying sample:

patch dying is a good method to use when breaking down as it can make things look old and distressed  depending on the colours you use.

Talking about breaking down, that is what we moved onto next. We all had to pick an image of a character wearing a broken down costume from a film or play. I chose my image from the original piranha movie as I love that film :D

Here was my shirt before it was met by sandpaper, fabric paint,  a Stanley knife etc.:

And here is it after:

I am really proud with how it came out as breaking down was something I found quite challenging at times. You have to try and be realistic and make things like the blood look realistic and build it up in layers- I am not great at art/painting so it was quite hard to get something that didn't just  look like a halloween costume I made in 5 mins! Even the stages you have to curve at the ends and fray slightly so they don't just look like you did then with a knife. I liked putting my shirt on once it had dried- I felt like an extra from the movie :p

And now last but not least printing. Again something I had never done properly before but and it was a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting experience.  Cutting out my stencils were a bit fiddly but in the end I was happy with the effect/pattern I achieved, and it was cool to play around with the metallic paints, foil and puff paints.

Here are my finished samples and printed tshirt:

Next week I have a reading week so I can prepare more work and research but then after that is wigs... so that should be interesting to tell you about :p

I hope you all had a lovely weekend,  talk to you again soon!

Bye xxx

Royal school of needlework class!

Hi everyone,

Today was the day of my Royal School of needlework class that I was the lucky winner of from the hobbycraft and creative stitches show a while back now. I had a lovely day- stitching away on the classroom at the amazing Hampton Court palace!

The tutor was Becky Hogg, she was really nice (and has her own etsy shop if you want to try some cool embroidery!: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeckyHoggEmbroidery

We were embroidering some 17th century inspired  button badges today. Here was the kit we got given:

 

The buttons involved using different metalwork embroidery techniques such as cutwork, couching and sewing on spangles- things I have never done before so they were good to learn! Here is my first finished brooch:

I am very proud of it, even if it is not exactly as prefect as the tutors one. The metal cutwork threads (purl threads) were so fragile which made it quite challenging at times- I will have to practice!

And here is my 2nd one so far (once I have finished it properly I will put up a picture also :):

I hope you are all having a good weekend and hello to all the new followers! Also I am do happy with all the entries for my advent giveaway- I am so glad everyone is excited about it!

See you all soon,

Bye xxxxx

Hat happiness :)

Hi,

As I mentioned from Monday till today I was on a millinery course. It was millinery for beginners and we learnt all the steps of how to make a simple straw and felt hat.

 

It was really cool because we all got to choose the shape of our hat crowns and brims from a whole range of blocks (what you shape the hat on) in a big cupboard so we could do our own design rather than just a standard hat.

 

Making the hats involved a lot of hand sewing as all of the sewing of both the hats was done by hand and the thicker materials (rather than just fabric) meant I kept prodding myself, but ahh well I'm sure my hands will toughen up If I keep making more hats :P Quite a lot of effort was also involved in stretching the fabric so making hats literally involves blood, sweat and tears! But it is still super fun though!

 

Here are some shots of my work in progress:

 

 

 

And here are my finished hats! :D:

 

 

I played around with tons of different trimmings on each but in the end I liked the more simple look for each- sometimes simple is best :) I will be wearing the orange straw sun hat on holiday and I will probably wear the felt hat when I get the right occasion- it reminds me of a bugsy Malone/old fashioned gangster style, Hehehe I think it looks quite cool on me if I may say so myself :P

 

As a thank you to the course teacher- as she was so lovely and really great at explaining everything and helping people I made this little hat brooch for her using a little straw hat and some ribbons/decorations I had:

 

She liked it so I was pleased :-)

 

This is her website where she sells her hat and she also does one on one teaching in case anyone is interested: http://chloescrivener.co.uk/

 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend :) See you soon,

 

Bye XoXo Bye XoXo