Out of the Dark

I've just stumbled over Out of the Dark's website. An inspirational company set up to salvage and restore vintage furniture whilst educating and training young people. I know I would have jumped at a chance to learn such skills. 

I particularly like them because they worked on the interior of Fabrications, an independent gallery, shop and studio dedicated to contemporary textile practise and design, with a particular interest in upcycling and eco design run by Barley Massey, who I have had the pleasure of interviewing for Cloth magazine as well as participating in an awesome fascinator making Hen Party this time last year. 

I love it when you see great people with good ideas get along in life.

Fashion Fix: How to embellish tights

I wrote this post on the sofa next to my boyfriend whose jaw has had to be picked up off the floor at the sight of this image (he's now watching the Victoria's Secret Live Feed fashion show - for research).

ANYWAY…check out her tights. I loved these a few years ago when this image first came out, and I came up with a Paisley pattern embellished tights project for an alternative bridal outfit. I had a rethink this year and ended up creating an embellished pair of tights using a William Morris pattern.

Adding gems turns a rather quirky project into a seriously good alternative to sparkly party frocks!

Photo Carly Wong

Photo Amanda Thomas

This photo was taken for an alternative Bridal Shoot. I liked the idea of adding the 'something blue' element to this Bride's tights.

Any ornate repetitive pattern will work. I have included some of my designs for you to print out and use.

And here's how to do it!

You will need:

• A pair of 80 denier white (or pale coloured) tights
• Long cardboard tube (i.e. poster tube)
• Fabric marker pen
• Fabric paints
• Brushes
• Turpentine
• White spirit
• Assorted gems
• All purpose glue
• Tweezers

How to:

1. pull one leg of the tights onto the cardboard tube.
2. draw your design with the fabric marker pen
3. repeat steps 1 & 2 for the other leg.
4. Fabric paints are solvent based so use turpentine to thin the fabric paint into a more wash-like consistency and white spirit to clean your brushes. Paint straight onto the tights stretched on the tube
5. squirt some glue onto a palette.
6. take a gem in the tweezers and dip its backside into the glue
7. place upon the tights in your desired pattern
8. Allow each leg to dry fully before you remove the cardboard tube. 

painting the tights in the studio

Time and Tide Photoshoot, Institute Magazine

Featuring in Institute Magazine, the self titled World's Most Exclusive Online Fashion Destination.

Working with a great team, Carly Wong Photographer, Sophia Cox Hair and Makeup and the gorgeous Sarune modelling, we created a range of looks based around a shipwreck aesthetic, have a look below

 The first look was styled up simply with a swathe of fabric, a bit of rope and lots and lots of jewellery!

A really lovely androgynous sailor look…a follow on from my rant about sexy sailors 6 months ago!

A Sea Nymph, inspired by Amber Hards' unconventional knitwear collection. I paired it with my barnacle shoes and embellished tights…find out how to make these yourself this week in the Fashion Fixes

And of course, my barnacle shoes!!

Fashion Fix: Pimp your Pumps, Parisian Style

Photo Amanda Thomas

Photo Amanda Thomas

I think there is at least a week or two left for ankles to be on display…? Here's a Fashion Fix for the brave: Silk scarf pumps.

Photo Amanda Thomas. Parisian silk scarf pumps!

You will need:

• silk scarf
• fabric scissors
• sewing machine
• hand leather needle and matching thread

How to do it:

1. cut the silk scarf into four rectangles 25 x 12 cm
2. fold right sides togther and pin along the long edge
3. machine a running stitch along the long edge, turn inside out and press
4. press and fold in one end of each rectangle on a diagonal, machine a running stitch along the edge
5. place the raw end of one rectangle along the outside of the pump by the sole, hand sew in place with a leather needle.

Ultimate Fashion Fix: Designing and creating the Fairy Queen

Designing for the….

Sprite Symphony.

 By Davy and Kristin McGuire 

PACCAR Room, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon 

16 November 2013 – 2 March 2014

Sprite Symphony takes you on a journey around the theatre into a world of magical fairies and sprites. Follow the trail to find enchanting fairies trapped in jam jars and the Queen of the Fairies' haunted dress. Discover a cabinet of curious sprites in the foyer and listen to their enchanting music. 

Created by award winning artists Davy and Kristin McGuire, Sprite Symphony combines animation and projections with costumes and props made by the Royal Shakespeare Company, recomposed to invent a brand new contemporary fairy tale.

The Fairy Queen is inspired by NcQueen Savage beauty. This isn't a friendly nymph with tutu and wings. Tatjana is a badass fairy who can't be caught by any huntsman. Check out the photos below for the progress of the creation of the dress.

Alice bands created a protruding rib cage, to which I hen added a snarly sternum made from assorted gems and stones and sprayed white.

Everything on the dress needed to be white for the projections to be effective. Tatjana would come to life through animation and projection covering here entire being.

Next came making a skirt of flowers, sewn individually by hand, Ros, Cori and I worked long into the night until Tatjana got impatient…

The final job was the knock back the colour and create a ghostly weathered figure. Here she is scaring people in the carpark (also looking a bit drunk)

The flowers refused to go completely white. But we rather preferred the effect like this.

They looked almost porcelain.

Tatjana takes position on her plinth and the projections start to take shape.

Visit her if you dare at the Paccar Room at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for the next 4 months.

New look for the autumn term Fashion Fixes

Photo Amanda Thomas

I hope you liked the shot of my new dress in the Museum amongst the glassware. I got some funny looks that day, especially on the near misses of being caught changing costume in a public stairwell.

Amanda Thomas took these shots. Amanda is a fashion and lifestyle photographer I have worked with on numerous shoots over the past 4 years and I'm thrilled she's on board.

I wanted to share this extra shot of the aztec collar I featured a while back. Although it seems like an outlandish piece, it is surprisingly wearable. So I thought I'd get it out once again and give you a styling idea.

Photo Amanda Thomas

Fashion Fix: Making a new garment using your existing clothes as a pattern

THIS IS MY FAVOURITE DRESS

In every girl’s wardrobe there is that one faithful dress that fits every occasion, attracts compliments and envious glances. Mine was a French Connection navy blue silk shirt dress. After 5 years of faithful service, it was undeniably on its last legs, and would have been in the bin years ago had my mother had her way.  The idea arose to reincarnate the cut and style of the dress in a new fabric by dismantling and turning it into a pattern for countless replicas.

Day 1:‘Oh no NOT that dress!’ were the horrified words from friend and fellow seamstress, Bianca. She had been called up to the studio to administer the dress’s ‘final photoshoot’ and had managed to convince me in a matter of minutes that this was a bad idea. I sent her on her way, unpicked the seams and looked to the future. It is only when you deconstruct a garment that you see the true cost of years of wear - the fabric was so threadbare in places it was almost indecent. 

As painful as it was to say goodbye to such a beautiful garment I couldn’t wait for the project to be realised: I had picked out 2.5 m of an Erdem-inspired floral print from Biddle Sawyers Silks on Berwick Street, Soho.  It is advisable to take along your garment when picking out fabric as you will often be surprised at how much you need. Erdem has pioneered the importance of prints, his acid bright colours have supercharged the generic floral print and his careful placing of pattern on the body has introduced a new way of sculpting fabric into a garment.

Day 2: I was left with a raggedy set of jigsaw pieces, which quickly needed to be labelled before I forgot which bit went where. The best way to create a pattern from a previous garment is to cut the original pieces out along the seams. Once pinned to calico and cut out you can then place that upon new fabric and create your own seam allowance. Make sure to mark out all darts and other details on to the calico piece. Using a chalk wheel I marked out the seam allowances on my new fabric.

Day 3: there is a lot to be said for doing this project over a short amount of time. I had only a fading recollection of how the original dress was put together and felt rather overwhelmed at where to begin…I couldn’t shake off the impending sense of doom that I had just cut up my favourite dress and was arrogantly assuming that I could recreate the masterpiece. 

By that evening I had managed to create the basic dress structure at an alarming pace. Once you get into a rhythm of piecing the puzzle back together, your own instincts and memory of the original garment take over and it is really quite straightforward. That is the advantage of working towards a finished product you know so well as opposed to starting cold with a new pattern.

Day 4: in dissecting pieces like the collar and cuffs, I was met with the challenge of inserting ‘facings’ to stiffen the pieces. Again, this was pretty straightforward and it wasn’t until inserting the button placquet down the front that I really faced some resistance. Too much close work was turning me blind so I sent for reinforcements: I cruelly roped in my friend Polly to cover some buttons and shout encouragement from the sidelines.  



After some tussling with the sewing machine and a quick flick through the manual we achieved button-holes. The covered buttons were sewn on, and there was my favourite dress staring back, reincarnated in the fabulous Biddle Sawyer print.  

We all know the power of a print: horizontal stripes can broaden the figure, whilst vertical lines can lengthen. Erdem’s sections of block colour and patterned prints give add shape and texture beyond the seam structure of his dresses.  I specifically chose to create ‘rings’ around my sleeves and skirt, with the stripe in the Biddle Sawyer fabric, adding elegance and breaking up a dense print.

Erdem

 Next time when looking for fabrics, take special notice of the print and see how you can make it work for you.

Here is the first of my new style of finished shot. 

Amanda Thomas and I spent the day hopping about the exhibits of Bristol City Musuem to create some interesting backdrops for my Autumn Collection

photo Amanda Thomas

photo Amanda Thomas

Remember me...

I have been kept away from my blog for a good few weeks now, but not for no good reason! I have been working with Davy and Kristin Mcguire on a really exciting new work

Sprite Symphony.

 By Davy and Kristin McGuire 

PACCAR Room, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon 

16 November 2013 – 2 March 2014

Sprite Symphony takes you on a journey around the theatre into a world of magical fairies and sprites. Follow the trail to find enchanting fairies trapped in jam jars and the Queen of the Fairies' haunted dress. Discover a cabinet of curious sprites in the foyer and listen to their enchanting music. 

Created by award winning artists Davy and Kristin McGuire, Sprite Symphony combines animation and projections with costumes and props made by the Royal Shakespeare Company, recomposed to invent a brand new contemporary fairy tale.

I have designed and created a piece that is central to the installation…It opens on Saturday and I can't wait to spill the beans on it all next week!