Short Courses at Newcastle TAFE

The Faculty of Creative Industries at Newcastle TAFE are offering a range of great short courses. Here are some in the area of Fashion - there will be more over the year as well.


FASHION ILLUSTRATION WORKSHOP FOR
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS – 28759
Newcastle Campus (Tighes Hill) Block DD2.9
Date: Tuesday 1 May 4pm – 7.30pm
A hands on workshop for High School Students where you will learn how to draw a fashion figure, sketch a variety of garment designs, use colour and texture techniques to bring your illustrations to life and professionally present your fashion drawings.
Fee: $50 GST inclusive

GARMENT REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS - 28809
Newcastle Campus (Tighes Hill) Block DD2.9
Date: Wednesday 16 & 23 May 5.30-8.30pm
Save money, help the environment and rejuvenate your wardrobe! Learn how to alter and repair garments using a variety of sewing techniques and tips from professionals. Bring in your own garments to work on.
Fee: $160 GST inclusive

PATTERN MAKING LEVEL 1 (BEGINNER) - 28807 Newcastle Campus (Tighes Hill) Block DD2.9
Date: Tuesdays 29 May – 16 June 5.30-8.30pm Pattern making is the key to fit and style. Learn basic pattern making techniques: how to modify simple garment blocks and produce simple pattern pieces.
Fee: $260 GST inclusive

Enrol online: www.hunter.tafensw.edu.au or Phone (02) 4929 0351 Faculty of Creative Industries Office: 582-608 Hunter Street, Newcastle West NSW 2302 F A C U L T Y O F C R E A T I V E I N D U S T R I E S

Baby Shower

A baby shower .... it's a funny term isn't it .... anyway, there's a new McDonell baby imminent (and it's NOT mine) .... and every new Mum and Dad need a big bag for all that stuff ....

Here is the Beach Bag made into a Nappy Bag ..... featuring Saffron Craig's Parrot Fabric - a gorgeously detailed and pretty print ..... Three big compartment pockets - two on the outside and one in the lining, a zippered gusset closure ..... this is a fabulous bag pattern. Also has 6 cute purse feet on the bottom.

And .... another Dick and Jane Folding Travel Change Mat, pattern from the Clever Miss Nicole Mallalieu.

And the gifts were gratefully received ...... now to just wait and wait and ...........
And I have 4 Beach Bag Patterns left in stock - contact me if you'd like one for the SPECIAL price of $15 AUD and free postage in Australia.

Galaxy Dress @ Rockabilly Riot

Do you remember the Stray Cats? Well, when I was young I actually won their album (vinyl) in a Sunday newspaper contest ..... very exciting .... anyway, fabulous rockin music ...... when I heard that Brian Setzer was bringing his Rockabilly Riot to Newcastle I hot footed to get my tickets.  But ... this is a sewing blog so I'd better talk about the dress first.   Vogue 8280 - the ever famous Roland Mouret"s Galaxy Dress copy  made up in a cotton sateen from Queenstown, NZ.

I cut a 12 in the bodice and tapered to a 14 for the skirt, but I ended up taking the hip excess in - so I could have kept it as a 12. I shortened the bodice darts by 1.5cm, and other than that - it was all systems go. Very straightforward, the bodice is lined which s really nice - and it wouldn't be hard to line the skirt as well, if your fabric required it. So all in all, very happy with the fit - great dress for a great night out.

Here is the legendary Brian Setzer - an awesome talent ...

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE double basses - so to have THREE playing at once was simply AMAZING! The show really was a riot in the end - they were jumping and balancing all over the equipment and they played and played and played - those of you at Byron Bay's Bluesfest should also catch up with this great band.

And with that ..... a Happy Easter to you all!

ASG Industry Day and other ramblings

Creating stand alone flowers.

Lots to catch up on ... firstly the Industry Day yesterday at Niagara Park ... First speaker was Sally Sommer from ZIG ZAG sewing. She spoke about stabilisers for Machine Embroidery. WOW - what a minefield of possibilities!! Sort of glad I'm not into that,  though the work is quite amazing and there are lots of creative possibilities.

Embroidery on jeans.

AMAZING - embroidery on a plastic umbrella.

More stand alone work - started on water soluble stabiliser.

Making little boxes from machine embroidery.

Then a little fabric shopping - Rosemary from Chic Fabrique was there with a lovely selection of fabrics - I went all lacey with blacks and creams ... she really does have the most fabulous fabrics at fantastic prices - if you haven't been there yet ...... what are you waiting for????

Inspired by some lacey pics from our recent Sunday papers .....

Then we heard from Christine who makes bags and purses in an upcycling method - she uses old zips and old everything to create some really sweet looking bags - she sells at markets and on Facebook.

Our last speaker was Nola Sterling from Victoria - this lady was amazing, she must eat, sleep and drink at the sewing machine - she's into machine embroidery, machine felting, making fabric, and a million other things.

Machine Felted but constructed by HAND!

Now, back to some of my sewing. At TAFE we constructed a Magyar knit block pattern from our direct measurements, they gave us the fabric to sew it up.

We also made up this Size 10 Sleeveless Top - fabric from TAFE - or quite possibly from Corporate wear donations ....

Anyway, I thought I'd make it up at home also. I chose this brown cheesecloth with pink embroidered flowers - from The Fabric Store - and if my memory is correct it's a Lisa Ho fabric .... we did a neat way of finishing the armhole edges with bias binding. So, the darts have been sewn, the neck facing has been attached, and before you sew the side seams ...

Take a pice of bias binding and PRESS one folded edge open to form or mould the shape of the armhole edge.

Stitch on to the RS of the fabric - 6mm seam allowance.

Then sew and overlock the side seams together (or apart if you want).

Trim the bulky corner.

Turn the binding to the wrong side and stitch down - I think I should have understitched before this step - we basically understitch everything!!! Anyway, it's a neat an easy way to get those raw edges tucked in!

I also like the way they drafted the back facing to be quite deep at the CB - this allows for the label to be prominently positioned and it looks really neat on the coat hanger - I guess from a retail point of view that's a good consideration - but also good to wear a facing a little deeper. That's the white interfacing you can see.

Anyway, after all that - it didn't fit!!! That fabric stretched and stretched - hmmm.......

So I made another one in a much better fabric - and this behaved beautifully, although it was a leftover from another project, so I couldn't make it any longer - but that's OK. It's a stretch cotton sateen. Worn here with my Clovers from Colette Patterns - yet to blog about them - this was my 2nd attempt - and these are Size 8. Hope to make up another longer pair and yes, hope to blog about them.

Lastly, this little pink number is a toile for a Pattern Modification - adding a yoke and a front inverted pleat, moving and eliminating some darts, drafting the waistband ...... phew ..... learning is exhausting!

Another Burda 104 5/08 and Heidi's Giveaway ....

This time ...... no facing, no lining, added a red stretch binding to the V Neck, added sleeves from my Style Arc Laura Dress Pattern.  Too easy!

Looks kinda frumpy in the photos, but it didn't feel frumpy .... or maybe I'm just kidding myself ...... this blogging stuff really makes you paranoid!!! ..... have a great week!

ETA...... well, I just found that the lovely Heidi is giving away a copy of her new book ...... head on over to enter ....... I hope she has a section on reducing "frumpiness"!!

15 Candles

My Sweet Pea turned 15 this week.

She quite liked the Tote Bag that I made at TAFE a couple of weeks ago (it was our introductory machining lesson) and she asked for the bleached denim fabric .... so voila!

A simple design, and no interfacing, makes this a lightweight and easy going bag that holds heaps. So that's the last of my bleached denim for the time being.

Another project at TAFE this week involved adapting an easy fit pant pattern - that we drafted from direct measurements .... into some cute boxer shorts  - perfect timing for my little miss ....so I added some ruffles, trimmed a trouser pocket and added a back patch pocket.

So, apart from all that ..... in our pattern modification class we did some sleeve variations ... puffed sleeves, gathered sleeve head and flared sleeve. Fun, fun, fun!