Nearly there..... again?!?!

So its nearly the end of December and I have finished work (day job) for the year but there is still stuff to make.

I have my garment Tubeless, that I have a photo shoot with in early January.

There is my corsets that need completing, and of course the large amount of unfinished stuff in my sewing room.

I will make this my mission to one day have most of the stuff done.

I know it will be a huge year next year, I already have two dresses I know I will be making one is a wedding dress. (yes I don't quite believe I said yes to making another one of them, but I am thinking positive that this one will be the one that makes it worth it.)

And I know there will be more coming, I have already had inquiries for some other work.

But this years recap? well I pretty much didn't know what was going to happen in 2012.
I knew I had to stick around where I am until my partner was ready to move.
So I started the year off with landing a pretty wicked job in my field, with some interesting people and as I learned very funny people too. :)

I must say I learned this year from work.

There was Tutu's for men and women,

Super hero Porn stars ( I will never forget these costumes and the many versions we made )

And naturally the feathery goodness that was the dying swan, that I got to take a lot of it home with me in the evening.

There are many more, and many I can't show.

The great thing was that I got to go on a holiday to show my partner where I grew up.

I always go and remember all the fun things we used to do, and although most of the people I knew I am no longer in contact with it is great to be able to stand at altitude again and breath that mountain air.

its always heartbreaking to leave.

With any luck I will be able to find work and return.

I have been pretty slack with posting and finishing projects outside of work, and I hope to remedy this for next year. I hope I can persist and be consistent.

Only time will tell.

Have a great Christmas and enjoy your new year

Lady A

Surprise wedding dress designing

So my Boyfriend decided to propose last week and I said yes,

so he now is my Fiance ( still getting used to this).

But with this comes a wedding, and there fore a wedding dress.....

I have to be honest I have never thought about wearing a wedding dress or even designing one for myself.

So I did a bit of a search on pinterest and etsy, many interesting things came up all of them cream white or silver. All colours I am not keen on wearing.

This then was my first decision I am not wearing white.

Then I decided since we wont be having a big wedding I shouldn't have a puffy, gypsy style wedding dress.

And then I realized I love a nice bias cut dress, and so we have now a shape style and some resemblance of what colour I do not want.

So it really isn't has hard as I thought it would be.

Well at least up until now ;)

 here is what I have found I like, possibly in emerald green or red.

 This red one is just beautiful and I would be able to wear it again some other time

 I like the lace of this one

 I think this one its more the curves of the model that I enjoy

 So far I love this, I would like to change the razor back on the mesh but otherwise I enjoy it very much

And this is the front and it could look great in emerald green.

so I will have to let all this settle and make someone else's wedding dress for their wedding next year before I can find someone close to me to make mine.

But I shall keep you updated with my shenanigans 

Lady A 

:D

Another great starter

There is a young lady that has started blogging and she is also a Costume lady in Australia.

She is still unsure and hasn't quite figured all the things out yet but you can see by her photos she makes some amazing stuff.

Check her out and leave a encouraging comment or hint.

http://april-richards.blogspot.com.au/

and hopefully she will find her little niche and flourish 

:)

Lady A

More Recycled fashion

The tubes I got given have been cut up and are being worked into the corset and the head piece.

I have a feeling to be able to make the jacket I will have to find more.

The costruction of the corset had to be done in a specific way, so that it can still be laced without it spliting or tearing.

So the tubes were sewn onto a fabric that just floats over the corset, sort of like a floating lining. Meaning the top layer is a few millimeters larger than the actual corset.

They are bound together top and bottom and the extra is eased in. (easier said than done with rubber)

the front piece was a bit more tricky to line up but it works okay.

 This is the top layer nearly there

As sewing the tubes has gone reasonably easy I am finding the head piece a little more challenging, mainly because the hand sewing of the tubes isn't that easy.
But I will get there in the end.  

just the front in the image I am yet to finish the base which will be holding it to the head.

The jacket is still in the drafting stage, but the unitard is going to be re modelled. I have found large amount of scraps in our scrap bin at work. So since I have decided to try and make this with the least amount of purchased materials as possible it was only fitting to make the flesh part of the unitrad a patch work bit. 
I am hoping it wont destract from the tube corset and coat, making the whole outfit too much patch and mix.

I need to have a bit of a fitting with a model before I can finish that but it seems to all be coming along smoothly.

I hope I didn't jinx myself there, but I would like to finish this by the end of November.

we will see how I go.

Lady A 

:D

A recycling style

As I said I was working on a exhibition, I decided to start with the bicycle tubes

I was very lucky to get a whole lot from a friend who cycles a lot.

Sewing the material seems reasonably simple, I did some samples and now I know what it will look like.

I started finding the right type of patterns and I have received the Coutil to start the bases with.

This is one of the first patterns, its a bit more modern.

The dummy needs some wadding to look more shapely.

the second one is a 50's pattern, I like it I am even thinking of making the bust more pointy to try and give a bustier look.

either way I can't wait to start with the tubes, its a bit exciting.

:D

Lady A

Working on my exhibition

I have been wanting to have a exhibition of odd things for years,

I have never really pinned down what this exhibition could be about or what I would be showing.

I enjoy making garments that are not the usual kind of dress, and I also enjoy making things out of different materials.

I have entered in wearable art awards many times, and enjoyed making things for those sort of competitions.

But I didn't want to make whole garments, and thought about making smaller items.

I enjoy making undergarments such as corsets and bras and therefore thought this could be the perfect base to start with.

I have made a few corsets in my time, some basic and some a little more involved.

but this time I wanted to play with recycling materials such as bicycle tubes, bottle tops and maybe plastic bags. And make really over the top out there corsets that would be quite at home in a art gallery. Possibly being looked at as some form of sculpture.

I have sketched a few things, but they are still very tame, so I will do more sketching I will need to do some sampling with these and other materials to see how I can give them enough stability to be laced in the end.

If you would like to see the images of the samples, the sketches and the process check out my pinterest board here

more soon 

Lady A 

:D

After Holiday spending spree...

Yes it sounds silly but I had money left over and decided to go and purchase some things I have always wanted to.

A new sewing machine, Brand new.

And some lovely patterns from Folkwear patterns.

Now I am usually one to draft my own, but this time I thought why not support a pattern company and try their style of pattern.

I got some dresses that I would possibly wear myself, and use fabric that has been waiting to be something for years.

here is the teasers

And if you would like to check out the patterns they do here is their website

http://www.folkwear.com

I will show my versions once I have completed them.

until then

Lady A 

;)

Basel a city to Fall in Love with

I have to say I had no clue what Basel was going to be like,

but I loved it. It is very pretty and there is enough creative people there too.

we took the train from Lugano, lots of tunnels so a bit of reading was needed

 

But we went to the restaurant after Arth-Goldau and had a bit of a snack

 

This was the range of cheese we had

 

when we got there we had a bit of a walk to our Hotel but we got to see some nice scenery on the way

 

We then got there and the view was lovely

 

the 6 floor always lovely

 

nuff said ;)

 

A spot of light dinner

 

Then some more walking and sight seeing

 

We spotted a bit of a party on the side of the river

 

Was cool to see that people were floating down the river here too, 

past the stage and beyond.

 

a bit of a crowd

 

interesting lighting

 

And luckily the weather was in our favour

I think I would like to see what its like in winter here.

Lady A

Bicycles in Zurich

We spent two half days in Zurich and enjoyed being tourists,

the trams and trains are great and together with walking will take you almost anywhere.

But for those that enjoy what most "Zuerchers" enjoy you can hire a bicycle for the day.

Well its more like borrow, you need a 20CHFr deposit a Id and off you go.

 

this is what we got easy to ride, and a basket for all your shopping.

So we took our bicycles and went to look at bicycle shops and other interesting things.

But this is about the bicycle shops, two in particular.

The first one StihlRad and yes there is photos of a runway show on the website ;)

As you can see its a bit more clean and modern, with clothing that looks like street wear for sale. 

Although it is aimed at the stylish man, the only cool thing for ladies are the helmets and nice bicycles.

 

I could have taken a few things home from here

 

This is one of them, I would have this one if I lived here. (a few more years and it might be so)

Then we went to the Larger Velo Zuri, where you can get new bicycles but also secondhand ones.

They seem to fix them and have lots of different ones for all sorts of tastes.

 

As you can see the secondhand show room is large

 

They have cute old city bicycles, like this Bianci

 

A large amount of Tandems

racing ones, cruisy ones and flatbars

 

this is the wall of tandems

 

A half recumbent and half upright one

A hard plastic bicycle

 Many different folder bicycles, this is the wall of Bromptons

One Titanium flat bar :D

 

This one that I would be too scared to ride :S

 

Some very hip ones

 

 

A wall of old steel racers

 

And the best one out of them all

Its so small I could have taken it into my luggage

 

This is their front door and if you can go past and have a look its worth looking around.

I know I need to get more bicycles because one is not enough if you don't own a car.

So hopefully I can find some nice ones back in Oz otherwise I will have move here sooner than expected.

Lady A

;)