I want to make one of those...

Last year we went to Twinwood Festival in Bedfordshire. It is a few days of pure nostelga. Twinwood is the airfield Glen Miller took off from on his last fight.

Anyway we could only go for one day however we had a most fantasic time. They have a great website www.twinwoodevents.com/  and are on facebook, if you wish to take a look.

While there we window shopped though the most fabulous vinatage stalls, for us seamstresses a lot of the stalls had boxes and boxes of vintage patterns however I can not say how complete the patterns were. I had to stay away unless I came away with a box load myself. And then it called to me a most beautiful and fantasic piece of work. In the most wonderful condiction was a black wool coat very similar to the Dior New Look style.

(source) 
 I tried it on and it fit purfectly, even on my tiny, short body. I enquired about the coats price and prompty wandered off saying "I will think about", which we all know is a polite way of saying "HOW MUCH?"  The above picture is the closest image I can find to show how beatuiful this coat was. So we wandered and I kept dreaming, S.H. and the girls all bought coats and in the end I decided this is why we have the invention of the credit card and it truely would be a shame not to put this great piece of plastic to work. Headed back to the stall wishing the coat would still be there and it was. I was about to purchase the coat when, oh no, they did not accept credit cards.

Still fate was to show me how good this was, as I am now still short but not as tiny. So all in all I am really glad I missed out on such an expensive item. For the past few weeks I have been thinking about that coat and could I find a pattern to make one. After all I did well on S.H. victorian/steampunk coat, which was made from a lovely soft wool fabric.

S.H. acting up for the camera.

And then I find it. I have found the pattern I have been looking for. Strangely enough my daugther had showed me these coats a few weeks ago, saying they made her think of me and I think that is what reminded of the large wrap around Dior style coat in the first place.

A few days ago In my emails I opened The Sew Weekly and saw this

And In reading the artical I saw Katwise had made a tutorial on how to make your own verson which can be found in her Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/katwise 

I have purchased the tutorial and search though a fantasic amount of colour and these are my two favourites

(both images curisty of Katwise )



How does this conect to the classic coat, I am not sure. But I love the swirl they both have, I for me I think this is the over all winner, fun, fun, fun. Do you adore the extra long hood as much as I do?

Love to all Vala x


Since writing this post I have finally seen a pattern for the coat I was orignally after designed by Gertie for Butterick, I am sure lots of you have as well. So now I want both coats.

Expo May 2012 part two

Hello friends,

I hope you like yesterdays pictures from our day at Expo, today I will share some more.

Firstly here is what my daughter wore

She is a character from an internet comic 'HomeStuck' , I must apologize she did inform me of the name but it escapes me.

 She let me take a few pictures when we got there, then off she went to the HomeStuck meet-up. Apart from coming across them during one of their photo-shoots (she is far right) we didn't see her all day.
Wow was she hot when we met up at the end of the day. A hot day and a black morph suit makes for one very tired and black dye stained very very happy teenager.

As for me

 Any guesses, nope thought not. No-body seemed to know who I was. It seems you cross two genres and people get confused. Here was my inspirational picture

Can you see it yet,

How about this

Still no. Steampunk Princess Leia.

I am sorry to say only two pieces of this outfit we made the rest was bought.

Using this pattern I made the chemise Simpicity 2163

I decided not to add the sleeves, I satin bound the edge instead. And I also did not do the large colar and used lace and beading to add extra detail.

The other make, was the Leia buns, using a hair do-nut sponge and false hair headbands,

 Even S.H. had a go at sewing the plaits onto the sponge.

 And with plenty of bobby pins they actually stayed in place all day, they were not heavy in fact I forgot I was wearing them.

We were expecting a cold may so the coat only got worn for this shot, such a shame it is lovely. But I am sure I will get lots of use of of it. As for the corset that is definitely going to be worn alot. How gorgeous is this,

As promised tomorrow I will let you about our day.
Now there are at least five more conventions we would love to go to this year if the buget allows, so best get started on thinking up new costumes for everyone.

Have a good weekend. Sew Vala x

Hello I'm back and down to earth after Expo/comi-con london oct 2011.

After a very very busy few weeks I am finally back. Firstly I would like to welcome all my new followers. Thanks for joining my little blog and I hope you enjoy your time here.

So what have I been up to. Well in my last 2 posts I was shouting out for help on my Steampunk outfit.

I managed to finish the skirt but I knew I would not have enough time to make the jacket as so many modifications would be required and I also had the finishing touches to the Nepeta oufit and make the Coat for Mr S.

I wore my skirt with a black embroiered corset and a vintage red velvet cloak/coat I already owned.

No expo/comi-con would be complete without Stormtroopers.

My daughter was happy with her Nepeta oufit.

She got a lot of compliments and asked for photos.

Mr S also wanted to join the Steampunk vibe so for him I made a victorian coat.

Again I didn't have time to complete it but he still wore it (just needs buttonholes and buttons.) He was also complimented on his attire with much gentleman handshaking.

And of course a loud physadelic lining is also required for any punk, steam or otherwise.

We had a fanstic time and already chosing our outfits for the next event in May 2012. This should give me plenty of time to make finished outfits, I hope.
Love Sew Vala. x

Shorten by HOW MUCH (or more help please on s2172)

I knew when I made up the skirt that I alterations would also be needed on the coat.
On the skirt I had to shorten it by 10inches, to keep the proportions correct I did 1inch off the yoke, 4inches off the main skirt body and 4inches off the pleated hem.

Now then the coat is so long 54 inches and I am so damn short that I have to shorten it to 41, even then this will be as long on me as it is in the pattern picture.

So my question is how do I shorten this by such a huge amount.
Do I,

• alter the paper pattern first and run the risk of the curved edges not matching up.
• make up one back half and front section in calico, then shorten it, take it apart and use that as my pattern.
• I can't think of any other methods.

I also think I may need to forgo the pocket as that may be too low down. I don't mind this.

As on my last post about this outfit, again I greatly appreceate all answers from you lovely sewing bloggers out there,
Many thanks in advance from a very mystifed Sew Vala. xx

Good morning, Taffeta Help please,

Morning everyone, How's your projects going this week?

For me exciting and unsure, Is there anyone out there who could help I am taking a bit of a leap in my abilities I know. But I figure if I dont stretch myself I am not going to learn new techniques. So this is where I am stuck.

I am making Simplicity 2172 just the skirt and coat. I have not made a skirt before so all is new and never worked with taffeta ether. I didn't realise when I bought the fabric it is exactly like the picture on the front.

So to my problem the pleated bottom section, they reaaly stand out and will not hang flat.

I basted and basted.
will they hang flat if the skirt is left to 'hang'?
Should I keep ironing them? Will heat from the iron spoil the fabric?
Should I sew small tucks to keep them in place? or will that just make them billow out in the middle?

I also could not iron the creases out of the fabric. I can iron them in when I first did the pleated section they were fine.

But after much handling around the sewing table they seem to gone gone wild.

Any and all help will be much appreachated , I now have 7 days left to make the coat and also a steam punk cape caot for Mr S as well as the final touched to the Nepeta outfit. So that we can attend expo in style, on Sat 29 Oct. Ok off to the cutting table am I.

How Much....

Just in case you ever wondered this is what 8 1/2 metres of pleated taffeta look like. This is one hell of a hem.