4 Ways to Wear a Petrea Blouse or Dress

Last week I introduced a new pattern, the Petrea blouse and dress. It comes in twenty sizes, to fit an 81cm/32″ bust to a 178cm/70″. The dress is zero waste and the blouse is low waste. The pattern is in my Etsy shop now – please enjoy 25% off. Some of the Petrea samples are…

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6 Ways to Wear a Tartan Skirt

Hi Everyone, I’m back on this blog after 4+ weeks of “sick leave” with covid. Feeling tired but a lot brighter now. Sue Stoney’s blog post on her tartan skirt has given me the nudge I needed to think about tops for my own tartan skirt. The zero waste Clair skirt is my favourite-ever zero…

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Fashion in a dystopian world

As my children grow older, their tastes in reading have naturally changed, from picture books to Pony Pals to girl detective novels. Suddenly, almost overnight, the jump has been made to post-apocalyptic teen fiction, for example Mortal Engines, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner…and movies The Matrix, Oblivion, After Earth, to name a few. Which…

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Destination: Quant

Mary Quant exhibition

Mum and I got back from a road trip last week to see the V&A’s Mary Quant exhibition in Bendigo, Victoria. We drove from Adelaide, 8 hours away. Mum did the driving and I navigated with an old-school paper map on my lap. When we got really lost we used the car’s sat nav! We…

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Blast from the past: 1991 grad collection

1991 grad parade collection sketches

While digging around in the shed in last month’s cleanup, I found a box containing some of the pieces from my graduation collection from fashion college. I was 18-nearly-19 when I graduated with an “Advanced Certificate in Pattern Technology” and my three-piece collection was called Cycle into Streetwear. The header picture in this blog post…

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4 pieces of advice for fashion students

Advice for fashion students

This week’s short post is inspired by a conversation I had with a high school student. What would I say to someone planning to study fashion? What would I have said to my 17 year old self? Learn how to sew. If you understand how clothes are constructed before commencing your fashion studies, you’ll be…

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Re-creating Thayaht’s Tuta: mission complete

Thayahts tuta finished

Folks, I’m happy to report that I’ve finished the Tuta and it’s an outstanding success. Read the previous posts here: Part 1 introduction, Part 2 the toile and Part 3 work in progress. I love the utility feel of it…..the pockets, the way the top blouses, the leg cut, all those opportunities for topstitching… The…

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Re-creating Thayaht’s Tuta Part 3: work in progress

Re creating Thayahts Tuta finished pajamas

Hello! Read the previous posts on this project: Part 1 Introduction and Part 2 where I got started on it. I’ve never worn a jumpsuit in my life and I think I’m a convert. This week I fitted and finalized the pattern, cut out a navy blue Wear-out-of-the-house Tuta….and haven’t finished it. (It’s school holidays…

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Re-creating Thayaht’s Tuta: Part 2

Thayahts tuta pattern

Hello, welcome to my second post following my quest to re-create Thayaht’s Tuta. Read last week’s introduction here. This week I made a pattern, cut out a toile and ran it up to check the fit. I kept thinking how glad I was not to be living in post WW1 Italy. Much as I venerate…

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99 years of the jumpsuit: re-creating the Tuta

Photo source: Wiki commons Do you own a jumpsuit? Maybe you have many. Have you ever sewn a jumpsuit? It’s been 99 years since the launch of what we now call the jumpsuit. Its inventor was Italian futurist artist Ernesto Michahelles (who adopted the palindrome pseudonym Thayaht) in collaboration with his younger brother Ruggero Alfredo…

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