Happy Saturday all! I
thought I'd drop by to let you know what I'm up to. I don't like to
leave the blog gathering dust for too long between finished projects.
I'm still working on my
second Minoru jacket. Here's a sneaky peek of one of the finished pockets. My unfamiliarity with a pressing cloth is slightly noticeable here!
In addition to the changes I mentioned in my first update post I've made three others.
Firstly I'm lengthening the
coat slightly. This one was forced on me. I'll explain more when I
eventually post. It's quite hilarious really.
Secondly, wearing my mad
professor hat again, I devised an inside pocket to hold a phone that
you can pull out with a little tab. It's finished but very much a “mark one”.
If there's ever a third Minoru it can be improved.
Thirdly, I'm making a front
flap to cover the zip. This is mainly because I couldn't find a zip
to match my fabric. One thing I like about my first Minoru is the
black zip to match the black fabric. I tried to find a matching
zipper. My on-line research indicated that royal blue separating
zippers exist but only if you order 50,000. I made that figure up but you get my drift. Not entirely seriously, I emailed YKK at some
global head office somewhere to ask where I could source one royal
blue zip in my required length. I was amazed to get a reply a few
hours later. My chap couldn't believe they answered. “YKK are
huge!” Anyway they just referred me to two on-line retailers I was
already aware of. They did no more than search on Google like I had
done but at least they answered.
My two Rub Off dresses
continue to get worn. I'm sure photos will happen eventually. It
doesn't help that my camera bought at great expense a couple of years
ago has died.
I've subscribed to Angela
Kane's site for a year. I had a free membership a couple of years
back when I made up the pinafore pattern. She recently sent an email
offering £5 membership to all lapsed members which I took advantage
of. I had most of her patterns but I downloaded them all anyway
(just in case any had changed). I have downloaded a lot of her videos, including a series on making jeans.
I also bought some Victory
patterns in their recent sale. I have long admired their patterns and thought it was silly to let another sale offer pass by. I bought
the Hazel, Lola and Anouk.
Now onto what I was going to
post about! Since I started sewing again, like a lot of you, I'm
very familiar with a lot of indie pattern designs. The Sureau,
Darling Ranges, Banksia, Cambie, Datura, all need no introduction.
I'm less familiar with the big 4 than some of you.
Other than this I don't
follow fashion at all. It's fashion and ready to wear on one side, indie
sewing pattern designs on the other and never the twain shall meet.
Sometimes though I'll stumble on an article about a celebrity, or the latest High Street fashion, and
be struck at how similar something is to an indie
pattern design.
For example, it may just be me but it seemed like the sewing
blogosphere were doing peter pan collars and peplums way before the
High Street caught on. What about this example of
Georgia Jagger from last November? Angela Kane did a chiffon animal
print shirt at least two years earlier.
The next one took the biscuit. As soon as I saw the picture I thought “Sureau”. Is it me? They haven't even tried to change the fabric choice that much!
I'm certainly not criticising the designers of these celebrity clothes. The word “copycat” in the heading was in the interests of a punchy title only. I love taking inspiration from clothing I see on-line and on celebrities. I have a bookmarks folder overflowing with ideas as much as the next person. It's rather nice to think that even big shot designers, who may have celebrities wearing their clothes, can take inspiration from furtive scouring of indie sewing pattern websites.
Happy
sewing.
