Happy Hogmanay

This is my veiw from where I have been blogging for a whole year in blog land. Who would have thought it. My reason for starting this blog was to see if I could buy no unethical clothes for a year. Did I do it?

Truth be told, no. Right at the last hurdle I gave in to temptation and bought a rather lovely top on sale in a high street chain... darn those Xmas pre-sales.

It did get me thinking though... if I can go nearly a whole year without buying mass produced garments and recycle and make my own clothes maybe I can do that again and again... I do now feel no real joy in shopping as an activity. I used to almost get high from it and then crash and burn with a wardrobe full of mismatched hardly ever worn clothes.

So this year as made a vast improvement to my out look on shopping, I don't think it is cool at all to be a shopaholic.  I have made vast leaps in defining my person style too and well it is always great to know yourself a wee bit better :)

I think the focus of these pages widened also to include my passions in life as well as my quest for the local over the global shop, the handmade over the mass produced and the refashioned over the landfill. Plus my studies in costume and desires in Anthropologie, haha.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading my blog in 2009 and join me for more Bubbledust related goodness in 2010. Not the smoking kind either... I searched for my blog online and was amused to see that you can not only read Bubbledust but smoke it too... yikes!

Well I will sign off for this year and leave my seat at my computer and sewing machine empty as I get ready to go over the mountains and celebrate Hogmanay with my friends and family in the warm summer night.

Thank you for reading and have a great Hogmanay and 2010. Bring it on.

xx

Square Stitch

I just went for the longest walk to try and work off some Christmas cheer. Trifle seems to last the longest... well if you have had nearly 5 servings over 3 days it does tend to want to stick around.

I have not gone near my sewing machine and I have heaps of refashions and make news to do, but I am feeling really lazy. I thought I would show you a little item that I picked up when I was away on my little holiday after I graduated.

That is one of the best things about holidays, new op-shops!

The bambi, the bowl of flowers, the jug of flowers reflecting in the mirror, its so super cutey. It is in fact a fire guard and I use it to hide the little mess pile that seems to appear when I start to sew something in my studio.

Right now I am trying to sew a green silk dress that I cut out ages ago but the sun keeps on luring me out and about, but at least it gets to hide some where in style when in between construction stages.

Maybe I should sew it up right now...

xx

Festive hello!

I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas Day, ate well and were merry. I had a lovely day with my family and friends and ate lots of yummy food. I also got amazing gifts. I wrote about one of my favourite artists a while ago and lamented how a print of one of her works had eluded me.

Well no longer. I received an authentic, signed print of a work titled 'If only you were here' by none other than Audrey Kawaski ... and here it is.

I love it. I can sit on the sofa and stare at it with my full belly and glass of wine.

xx

Summer shorts...

In between all the studying I did manage to make some shorts for summer! Yipeeee, I got to wear them on the weekend for some very stylish gardening. I bought the material ages ago as a remnant for $15 and I got the pattern in an opshop trip.

I made a tolie out of some flannel and made them into winter PJ's, you can read about that on Wardrobe Refashion. They brighten up my white and pastey legs, he he.

I was also lucky and won a giveaway. Emily from This Is Emily Kate was giving away a spare copy of Burda World Of Fashion and I won. The sun is shining. Thanks Emily :)
Check out her blog as she is always making wonderful garments and collecting very sweet ceramics. Plus her kitty cat Edie is very cute indeed and her Procrasintation Station is amazing.

xx

Costume Creation: The final Installment

Last time the costume had changed and breakdown had begun! If you have missed out (or don't know what I am writing about) click for Part One and Part Two.

Under the lighting the costume did not look old and dirty enough. It was suppose to belong to an old judge that had been hung and then enjoyed the breeze for a couple of weeks, lovley! Plus at this point Emma really wanted to mess this costume up more at the ends. Here is the final stage of breakdown, which I did with a tints of dark grey paint.

I covered the dummy again with a black bin bag to stop the next person who used it from cursing me forever.

This seemed to do the trick, Emma was happy with the costume under lights and then I handed over the costume to Shadon Meredith. This is when you have to let go of that costume and go watch the performer use it on stage, very exciting.

Hope you enjoyed the little journey through my final student costume creation. Hopefully the 'for real' costume creation is not so far away.

xx

Back on track...

I gave my blog a festive present and birthday treat all in one... a little make over. I got some cards made up and now my blog matches my cards. Still little bits to do but they will get done without you noticing too much :)

I was going to go through all my old blog images and change the border colours but well... I have got better things to do, like day dream over presents I would buy myself.

First up would be a Retro Glider by Raleigh, ok there are more expensive versions but I had a gold Raleigh when I was a nipper and I LOVED it.

Then of course Anthropologie needs a visit, this wonderful blouse, dress and top would be my current top picks... but I would wear the dress. Then as I rode on my new bike in my new dress I would stop and snap away with my LOMO Diana... ahhhhh daydreaming.

Hope yours come true.

xx

Make over

Hiya, Bubbledust is going through a make over, so it may be a bit chaotic for 24 hours!

xx

Costume creation : Part Two

In the first post called Costume Creation: Part One, I went through the process of receiving the design from the designer, research, consulting, making samples, and starting the build. If you did not get to read part one, click here.

The next stage of the process is to keep on keeping on and make that costume! I organised fittings through the wardrobe supervisors and consulted the designer throughout this process. Below is the costume before I started breakdown.

Before I started breakdown, the performer wore the costume in a rehearsal. This is where you find out if any changes need to be made to the costume. The performer may have introduced new movements that the costume does not allow for etc. In this case the wig was to restricting and so was not used (well it was for spare parts) and more movement had to be incorporated in to the overall costume.

So the costume may of looked like the design, but in the reality of performance it just needed to be changed. So you change it. It may seem a tad heart breaking after hours of work to cast something aside or cut another thing up, but you want the costume to not only help the performer with their character but ensure that the designer gets the feel and look they want. Its your job and it is these challenges that make it enjoyable :)

So I cut into the waistcoat at centre back and made a split that gave more movement and snipped in to the rolls and messed them up a bit. Then on to my first phase of breakdown!

I covered the dummie to protect it as it was going to get dirty. From talking with the designer Emma the wigs where to look old and dusty. So I did some more samples with different products and methods and the one that seem to sink into the rolls and give depth was a mixture of talc and dye. I made up some diluted dye and then mixed it with lots of talc and dry brushed the solution on. I concentrated on the bottom more than the top of the costume as this was to look more ragged and old.

In the final installment there will be more breakdown and then da ta, the costume on stage dharling!

Until then check out the interview from costume designer, Janie Bryant who designs the wonderful costumes for Madmen, what a dream job!

xx

Vintage style

Swoon. I love the pattern above. What a lovely little number from the 1930s. I found this pattern on Vintage Fashion Library via blog A Dress A Day. It is a reproduction of an authentic pattern so there is more than one up for grabs.

One other blog that I am following is Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. Gertie found a copy of a 1952 Vogue Sewing book that made the claim if you could sew all the garments in the book, 14, then you would become an expert home seamtress. So that is exactly what she is doing!

Her blog charts her progress along with other interesting blogs posts and vlogs. Gertie also gives vintage sewing advice on BurdaStyle too in her guest column.

I really love the late 1930s style, but really it is hard to pick an era. So I ask that question, what is your favorite fashion vintage era?

Until next time.

xx

Costume creation : Part One

So what is it that I do, what are my skills? Mmmmmmm. Well I make costumes, ok... but how does that happen... why don't I give you an example. I will use the last costume that I made for a production at Toi Whakaari.

Righty, the first thing that comes my way is the drawings from the costume designer. In this production Emma Ransley was the costume designer and I was allocated the design that I was to build.

Emma's costumes were based on the premise that you are made of what you do. So for my design of the characters costume is a cape of wigs from old dead judges that have gone before.

The first thing to do is research. I went to see if I could find images of real judges wigs and saw different types and the history of them too. Then asked Emma lots of questions. What does it looks like from the back? Real wigs or materials that just reference wigs? Is one wig sitting on his hand? Is the wig on his head separate? Colour to be the same as the drawing? Level of break down?

You ask these questions until you feel that the designer is comfortable and you now what you have to get done! Then you would assess what materials you have, time for completion and of course the needs of the performer.

I went to rehearsals to see how much movement the performer was to do, did they use the costume in any other way apart from wearing it? What would help their performance or hinder and how to minimise the later.

Your costume supervisor for the production helps with questions and answers heaps too, they are so important!

The materials that were available to me was Dacron... pillow stuffing... unspun wool...spray glue calico...organdie and paint. Real wigs would have been very expensive and after talking to Emma this is not what she wanted. Big, bold shapes. The first thing I did was to make a small sample, a mini wig if you like and then I made a base waistcoat.

I decided on the base waistcoat to provide some way for the performer to easily get this costume on and off. Plus it would act as a base to layer my fake wigs. I tried the waistcoat on the performer and then set to work on my Dacron rolls.

During my samples I found the best way was to get a thick Daron sheet, split it into three layers. I would take one of the layers and run the iron over it with steam (with press cloth on top). This made it flat and provided me with a base layer to attach the rolls onto and hide the calico and organdie waistcoat.

Then I went and laid the other sheets flat, sprayed them with spray glue and then placed thin layers of wool strands over the top and pressed down! I waited for them to dry, turned them over and then spray glued in sections then rolled up to the thickness the rolls needed to be.

I made lots of these. Some I used to make the head wig and I secured the ends with stitches before I put them on to a Dacron fused base shape.

I then started to attach the Dacron rolls onto the waistcoat layer. I started slow and took Emma into view my progress regularly so I knew I was still going in the right direction.

Below is my first real stage of development that really looks like the design I was given.

That's the end of part one. I did this in parts, three altogether, so its not a scroll-a-thon for you. Plus I may get you show some of the new garments I have been making myself, at last!

xx

Lovely

I live in a wonderful spot in Wellington, Island Bay, and to get into town I have to drive along a looooong road... lucky for me then at my first set of traffic lights I get to gaze into the windows of the shop and studio of Emma.

I have gazed and I finally went in. Beautiful clothes by fashion designer and director Emma Wallace. Sumptuous materials, stylish prints and quirky detailing. Check them out for yourself at the shop or online at Emma Collections. Not only is there clothes but a very great collection of accessories. Plus Emma is lovely too. Perfect.

Up and coming is a chance for you to get some local hand made gifts for the holidays. From the 18th to the 24th of December at the Thistle Hall Gallery, Upper Cuba Street is JUST GOOD STUFF. Check out the blog for a preview of some of the good stuff on offer.

Some good stuff for me was noticing that my major work dress was project of the week on BurdaStyle, sweet as. I got lots of very kind comments too, thank you.


Today I have been listening to Kings of Convenience and then watched some of their videos and here is one of my favourites.


xx

Lazy, hazy days

My oh my I just looked at the last entry date for my blog and was a wee bit surprised how quickly time has speed past... but the sun has been around... I have no more studies... erm... I have been on holiday... I am a slacker... so sorry for the lack of posting.

This post is about my graduation dress that was inspired by vintage Lanvin and Christopher Kane.




















I used my pinking tool to create scalloped edges on black silk organza and then used this to create a modern texture, inspired by Mr Kane. I placed this on top of a black drop waisted dress with petal sleeves, lined in dusty light pink. I used pink silk organza to make a small detail on the sleeve to lift the garment.

The black material that I used for my dress was vintage inspired Japanese cotton. Now I have removed the black silk organza (ready to pop back on of course if needed) I have a wonderful LBD.

I also made a head piece to go with my outfit and a small clutch. On my wrist strap for my clutch I placed a vintage button that I picked up from Salvage in Auckland, it is so cute with two swallows and I plan to make a print for a t'shirt from it.

In our graduation ceremony instead of a black cloak and mortar we receive a cloak made by a fellow student and we get to keep it! I received a stunning cloak made by one of the now second year students in the costume course Michelle. It was perfect and has the most adorable bunnies in faux fur as decoration, with black feathers to top it all off.

That's Doug my partner too, he needs to get some posing lessons :)

See you soon-er.

xx