Sewn Things

Some things I was busy with during April. 

This top is a tube of black ribbed jersey fabric which I cut two holes into each side. It drapes nicely when worn. Pictured with it is a fabric necklace I made some time ago.

Circle scarf or Infinity scarf made from a blue and white chambray fabric. I practiced my hemming skills to good effect here.

Finally I made a white dress I love to wear! This one is cut based on a dress I brought from Country Road. The original is silk which means I have to hand-wash it and be very careful with it! I wanted a more 'everyday' version so I made my own. My version is made from off-cuts of curtains from Ikea. I brought a bias-tape maker to make the trims for the neckline and armholes. It made everything look so much more neat and professional. Its my new favourite thing to play with.

This skirt is based on a pattern from a Japanese sewing magazine called 'Female'. The magazine is from a few years ago. I added pockets and made the waist wide elastic. However, as you can see, my sewing skills for elastic still need some work! 

The skirt is some sort of pixellated pattern and is actually quite bright. Its good for cheering up mid-week.

A Winter Scarf for my Mama

I wanted to make my mother something special for Mother's Day. So I decided to weave her a scarf as amazing as she is.

The red (warp) is fingering weight merino while the colourful weft is chunky weight hand painted wool which I brought in Canada (though the yarn is from Germany!).

This is the third thing I've woven after my sample piece and I'm happy with how it turned out. As I was doing the calculations by myself for the first time, I wasn't quite sure that it would turn out nice. I was worried the fabric would be too stiff, but it is just nice.

The colours are really lovely too. I enjoyed weaving with the colourful weft yarn because I enjoyed seeing the colours emerge so much!

Dreaming of a holiday to Iceland

http://vimeo.com/40558553

This amazing film makes me want to go to Iceland immediately.

A Kingfisher came to say Hi.

A strange song was heard the other morning. It was a kingfisher! He was sitting on the roof of the next block singing loudly for quite a long time. I could hear another kingfisher a bit further away replying to him.

The high-pitched 'tri-li-li-li-li' or trilling sound you hear is the Kingfisher. The other 'screp screp' noises are made by Common Mynahs (I think!).

La nuheure ao

La nuheure ao by marielabarelle

Marie Labarelle

I went to hear a talk by Marie Labarelle this week. She is a fashion designer who trained as an architect. I was very inspired by the way she talked about fabric, pattern-making, dressing the body and structure. She looks at the space between the body and the clothes and how that space changes fluidly. She also looks at the structure of clothes, aiming at eliminating waste offcutting. She mostly uses squares and rectangles. She works with a lot of interesting fabrics like japanese handpainted silk, indonesian batik, handwoven fabrics and engineered fabrics with metal or felted fabrics which hold a form. 


She often works with dancers and her models are often dancers. I like that she considers the body as a moving work rather than a static one like many designers seem to do. As someone who danced for almost 20 years, I appreciate being able to move in my clothes.

She has an English website: http://www.marielabarelle.net/ as well as a French one: http://www.marielabarelle.com/ Both have images of her designs and some short explanations. My favourite is the Meharee Dress which is made of wool and tencel and made from 2 rectangles and a square. I also love the Butterfly Coat which is made from linen and the Chimera Skirt which is cotton and metal thread. The Litham Dress is made from embossed fabric and the Nimbus Dress is made from cotton and metal thread. All images are from the websites above.

Nimbus Dress

Nimbus Dress

Litham Dress

Litham Dress

Butterfly Coat

 

Chimera Skirt

 

Meharee Dress

Meharee Dress

Ordinary Everyday Beauty

I try to not get too caught up in the busyness of life to not notice the moments of extra-ordinary beauty around me. Here are some from my past week.

 I managed to cut this Avocado perfectly and it was perfect inside. Positive and negative space!

 Light coming through the shower curtain. Pure and even bright light.

 Lights on the ceiling of a Restaurant. Each light had little glass prisms or beads of amber and blue and clear. They refracted the light into beautiful colours and shapes.

 Sunset last night over Singapore. 

Light coming through the bathroom window. The light is rippled and refracted by the glass and wire.

You may have guessed from this post that I'm rather obsessed with light. I think its an architect thing. Though it is a beautiful thing. Light is life.