Fashion Archives - The Craft of Clothes

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Last week I got a call from a man offering me his late wife’s sewing patterns. Her name was Carol. I took the patterns to my sewing class, but before the class I looked through them all. Carol’s pattern collection reflected a lifetime of sewing, beginning in the late 1960’s with some cute maternity patterns…

The 1960’s dress I wore to my Year 12 Formal/Prom night is on display in a clothes exhibition for History Month. We went to the opening on the weekend. The blurb reads: “Sewing book author Liz Haywood wore this 1960’s dress to her year 12 formal in 1989, amist a sea of 80’s hair…

The Mayor with Flair An interview with Allan Aughey OAM

Mayor Allan Aughey is known for his colourful and interesting clothes as much as his passion for regional development. He has been mayor of Clare and Gilbert Valley since 2006 and previously was deputy mayor of the Pt Pirie Regional Council. In 2015 he was awarded an Order of Australia for services to local government…

There’s always a time when you need to make a quick sketch of a garment for some reason. To draw it for a friend, record the style or plan a pattern. If you don’t draw often, it’s a hard thing to do. A traceable croqui is the answer. A croqui (pronounced crow-key) is a figure…

Part of every woman’s journey in life is finding her own style of dress, and accepting and becoming comfortable in the body God gave her. Have you taken notice of people who are always considered well dressed? They’ve found their own style and stuck to it, even though their field of good “looks” might actually…