Viva La Liberty was entered into the 2016 Oversew Fashion Awards. Following and amazing night at the awards show for this extravaganza of remade, re-imagined and upcycled fashion, I can share the details of this outfit born out of years of collecting fabrics and hours of sewing.   The finished work  features a white linen camisole and a fully reversible circle skirt.


I’ve included the following excerpt from my accompanying entry, to tell the some of the story.

The Outfit

The camisole is based on a vintage 1950’s lingerie pattern, with darted shaping and bias cut body. I’ve updated the style has been updated to incorporate recycled details from a Liberty shirt.

The first side of the skirt features Liberty floral shirts pieced in a radiating spiral, starting with lightest at the top and gradually darkening towards the hem. The use of ombre in placement of fabrics, gives a contemporary edge to the more traditional Liberty prints.

The second side, again celebrates the wonder of Liberty prints with an allover pattern and white linen accent to the hem. This linen strip being the only new fabric visible in the garment.

Viva La Liberty was made possible by a  family tradition of saving, storing and exchanging garments.  The original garment include pieces found, donated and handsewn.  Pieces were gradually added for their texture, pattern and potential.

The finished pieces tell pay homage to Liberty patterns. The Liberty pattern has continued through times where pattern and decoration were dismissed by modernism as irrelevant. The fabrics are made from natural materials including natural linen, cotton and cotton lawn. This outfit tells a story of women choosing quality materials and detailed patterns to express their creativity.



And ….This outfit was judged Runner-Up in the Fire Worx section of the 2016 Oversew Fashion Awards. 

Details of the many, many garments that went into making Viva La Liberty to follow.

There is a growing collection of mismatched cups on my windowsill.  I love the colours, just a little murky and so cheerful.  They are waiting for me to get started on giving them new life. 

You see, each one is a little broken.  Some chips are obvious, some cracks only show up when the cup is full of hot water.  I could call it perfectionism, but really it's a matter of safety.  Once when catching my mother throwing out a china cup, she explained that chipped wine glasses are fine, decadent even, but anything broken, holding a hot drink, is just dangerous.

Rather than waiting to fill these teacups with wine, ever the engineer, I'm on the look out for a ceramic drill bit.  I believe these will make a great collection of bulb planters.  I can gaze again at the cheerful colours while sitting around a pot of tea with good company.

My apologies for the lack of recent posts.  My work hours have unexpectedly increased and as a family we are still finding our feet in the shifting sands of new routines.  The crafting adventures continue.  They are as essential as breathing, yet the writing is taking a back seat.

This painting just had to come home with me.  The muted colors have me wanting to paint the walls to match.  I love the distant peaks and water front houses.  It feels so very sound of music.  I almost want to rip down the curtains and make playsuits for the children - so much easier when you have 2 rather than a Von Trapp-ish 7.  I am a sucker for musicals and dance movies.  I would love to believe in a world where every low point, challenge and high moment is met with a song.  Kind of like this:


The painting is from my first foray into live auctions.  This painting came with another of an english village and a "back to the op shop" framed cat poster.  Oh, and there was just a little fabric. Enough to clothe a whole Von Trapp family escaping through the mountains.

Sometimes projects are just an angels breath from completion.  These little pegs had been sitting painted for a while, waiting for wings, skirts and faces.  I imagined skirts made from slices of lightly coloured vintage embroidery and paper doily wings.  Consulting my drawers of damaged, vintage embroidery, I found other ideas. 

A hand embroidered table cloth, too long in the napisan was waiting for me.  It had been so long bleached that the thread work and hems were dissolving, but still not long enough to remove whatever the tenacious stain had been.  The white on white details remind me of feathers and so wings they were.  The tattered edges became an underskirt for each modest angel, with just the smallest whisper of cotton lace over the top.  My very own mini host of mini angels.

The strangest things rise to the surface when parents start clearing out spaces.  I spied a pair of these glass domes on a shelf in Dad's garage.  At first he though they might be old valve domes, but closer inspection and splashes of white paint suggest they were outdoor light bulb covers.  With $2 of thrifted decorations,  they look grand. 

The kids are latching on to the idea of treasures under domes.  I found a little match box house hiding under a crystal glass (you can see it if you squint).  I just couldn't resist playing with lego trees and a sugar bowl.

I may be many things, but a bird fancier I am not.  Instead I am content to admire these sweet and proper budgies.  I picked up the books from the local church fair for their illustrations.  

There's a certain poetry to the collective nouns of birds.  A chatter of budgies or even a chattering.  The canaries, I have been told, like to hang out in an aria or even an opera.  It has me wondering what names I would choose if given a chance to name, say, a group of collectors, sewers or thrifters? Given a weakness for simple alliteration I'm thinking perhaps a clutter of collectors, skein of sewers, and throng of thrifters.

One day I will concoct a dish that uses as many vintage utensils as I can find.  These two followed me home from the church fair.  This little grater was fantastic for grating hard cheddar for over our spaghetti*.  As for the baking molds, I have no idea.  They are not the little shells for madeleines or log like ginger gems.  It appears there are still novelty pastries out there for me to discover.

*The kids were stoked to use the grater, but rather disgusted when they tasted the strong cheese - I wish I had taken a photo to record the foul look I got.

Linking in with Opp Shop Show Off

There's always so much going on during Labour Weekend.  Tomatoes to plant, visitors to entertain, church fair and activities day at Cobblestones, our local museum. 


 

Once upon a time souvenir spoons were proof that you had been there, done that.

I'm not so sure about now.  I haven't a wall or rack filled with glued on mementos.  I'm always on the look out for the ones with vintage enameled insigna.  Especially, it is from one any of the places we visited on our honeymoon. The rest, I keep and give to people when they return from theirs.


Linking in with Op Shop Show Off

Collections often start with regrets and missed opportunities.  This collection began with one simple little jug.  It matched some cups I already had.  My godmother lovingly packed it and sent it from Scotland for me.  It was beautiful.  It still is beautiful, but in transit a small shard broke from the rim.  And so the collection began.
I started to look through trade-me to find another one, with it's pale blue interior and curved belly.  Feeling a little like goldilocks the collection grew in no particular order,

Together they look beautiful.  I feel temptation should be spelt P-O-O-L-E to match the china I keep gravitating towards.  Sometimes they hold milk and little teaparties.   But best of all, they hold flowers, spilling over the top, hiding the little shard that started the whole process.

I think I might be the sort of person who would buy a Ferrari, just because it matched a spare tyre I was given.  In this case,  I picked up an oven to go with my speckly enamel ware.

This little beauty is a NZ made gem - a bench top oven by National Electric and Engineering Company (NEECO).  While I can't determine where in New Zealand this was made, one of the manufacturing branches of NEECO was in Temuka.  Their insulator kilns had a handy sideline in ashtrays that grem into Temuka Pottery*.

While the oven is decidedly stylish it screams fire trap.  The top plate is used to heat the oven as well.  There isn't a skerrick  of insulation to the door or sides.  I could imagine it in a workshop, being used to keep the kettle and pies warm, though a jug and a trip to the pie shop might be a little safer.

*A very brief history.  you can read more here.

My favourite part of a blanket would have to be the satin along the edges. These cushions celebrate blanket ribbon in all it's hues and leave the satin edge free for little hands to explore.

Growing up, we only slept with blankets when were at my grandparents. There is a certain security in going to sleep with the satin edges clutched between fingers.  For me, it means that, even though I'm away from home, I've been tucked in by someone who cares.

These cushions are made out of a collection of blanket samples for Onehunga Woollen Mills.  Each came with its name written on a small adhesive label.  In stops and starts I have been sewing the name of each colour onto it's respective sample since 2010.  We have everything from the blues of  seascape and navy, to the very pale whites of natural and eggshell.

And as an added bonus, they are nice to snuggle up with too.

This weeks thrifty find isn't mine.  It's my daughter's.  She spotted the little pirate toby mug and exclaimed "just like Mum's!".

The shopkeeper carefully wrapped it for her and added "It's always good to have collections," before handing it to my beaming 6 year old.

Their providence is nothing exceptional.  A simple "Japan" back stamp. They both have little chips.  However, they make me smile and they make my daughter beam.

*Linking in with Op Shop Show Off

"Amy, crazy ladies have been leaving stuff on our door step again*.  I found this casserole dish.." 



It turns out that crazy lady is me.  Mum had passed this dish onto me, finding it had become too heavy for her wrists.  It was on the front seat of the car and I hastily put it on the step rather than drive it around for the school drop off trip.

In all their speckled glory these are sweet examples of New Zealand made durability.  Every home and bach had one when I was a child.  The brand is boldly imprinted on the base  - "Radiation". 
I am gradually accumulating my mother's enameled cast iron.  This blue dish, joins the elegant oval one that is just right for coq au vin or venison casserole.  The lid sits a little loose so care loving care, or copious wine, is often needed if the casserole is to work out..



*We still cling to the memory of a random bag of china left on our doorstep.  Enough people know I cherish old things that they sometimes just turn up.  The random bag was pure confusion.  I had offered to price items for the church fair and when a bag of beautiful crown lynn turned up on my doorstep I thought that was what it was for.  I admired the pieces, adored the jumbo colour glaze cups, admitted I had no space for any more and then I priced it and took it to the church fair. Of the ladies I asked, no-one could remember dropping a bag of, but remembered that one had been set aside for me.  I remained a little puzzled as to where it had come from.  A year later a friend asked if I ever found the bag of china she left me.  She picked up all the NZ made items at left over from the plunket sale and thought I might like them.  I almost wept.

I adore vintage educational aides.  There is even a word for it.

Realia - Tools used to connect learners with the focal point of a lesson.

Sometimes the very patina and tone teaches just as much about a time as it's subject.   I would guess that the europe at a glance is sometime before WW2 as many of the former eastern communist block countries are still listed as kingdoms and because I googled the population of Sweden.  I like the very tactile way you can spin between countries.

Then there are the sights and sound cards below.  These cards are box 1 & 2, made by Phillip and Tacey.  The look like just the sort of thing I would have learnt to read with.  I'm wondering if the men are supposed to be rakishly good looking or perhaps some feminist is playing a joke by putting then in the same pack with that fine example of a pig.