İstanbul (not Constantinople)

Yeah, there's been a bit of radio silence around here lately, sorry about that. The nice reasons for that have been a holiday to İstanbul and a weekend in London, the nasty reasons have been a dose of the sultan's revenge and two weeks of painful sinusitis... So here's a little round up of the nice things, starting with İstanbul.

We made a last minute decision to go here for our third wedding anniversary (aww), and I'm extremely glad we did. I absolutely loved the place, and the four days we spent there was nowhere near enough time. We mainly did the tourist "must-sees" this time (Topkapı Palace, Aya Sofya, Blue Mosque etc), but did squeeze in a bit of time for some fabric shopping. Next time we go though (and there will be a next time) I think we need to devote at least two full days for shopping! Next time I would like to bring back some ceramics, and also a tea set. Plus of course more fabric.

I was a little worried before I left, having heard horror stories about conmen, women being hassled and terrible toilets, but the place was wonderful - I found people very friendly, shopkeepers were definitely pushy but easily politely turned down or ignored (although tricky for a Brit!), and everywhere we visited had such a bustling but somehow laid back vibe. Oh, and the food! Delicious, even for a vegetarian.

I also learnt a lot, and was very inspired to learn more - I basically knew absolutely nothing about the Byzantine Empire, and I'm now reading a book about it and have found that it was huge and hugely influential. I also knew very little about the Ottoman Empire, and plan on researching that more shortly too. The Islamic art and decoration in the palaces and mosques is just beautiful, for example the beautiful İzmit ceramic tiles. (Click on the pictures below for larger views).

I also adore the beauty found in arabic calligraphy. Obviously the Turkish language now uses a latin alphabet, but all of the Ottoman decoration is in the arabic script, and there was an exhibition of religious calligraphy in Aya Sofya when we went. I have a beautiful book called Arabesque which gives many examples of modern and secular arabic graphic design. (Again, click on the pictures below for larger views).

Anyway enough of that, what about the fabric shopping?! I'd heard mixed reports about buying fabric and haberdashery in İstanbul. I had it in my mind that it was some kind of paradise with shops specialising in anything you want, but I couldn't remember where I'd heard that, and when I searched, I found less glowing reports. So I did what any respectable fabric tourist does - have a random wander and see what you come across.

And it worked! I totally wish I'd taken more photos (this is always my refrain after holidays), not least so I could actually find these places next time I go. Maps of the Grand Bazaar mark the main fabric area. There is a lot of crud, but rummage and search a bit and there seemed to be many gems - I actually ended up buying the meagre amount of fabric I brought back with me from Gülipek Tekstil in the Grand Bazaar. They have three shops, although I only visited two of them (one sold ikat and scarfs, the other sold mainly silks plus embroidered house linens), and the service was brilliant.

However, have a wander around the streets to the north and just northeast of the Grand Bazaar, and there are many many many fabric and notions shops. Something I loved about İstanbul was that all the small shops around the bazaar district specialised in pretty much one thing, so along with the shops selling just weighing scales or saws, there were also shops selling just buttons, elastic, cording or lace. I also found an entire street of shops selling suiting and wools, I think it was Nuruosmaniye Caddesi, but don't quote me on that. Next time I'm back I am taking a list of things I need and setting aside a day or two to browse...

So what did I buy in the end? Well, just two silks:

The first is a piece of handwoven silk ikat. Is this not just beautiful?! Ikat fabric is super super narrow, so it's a slight splurge, despite only being 25TL per metre (about 13CHF or £9). I want to make this the centre front panel of a dress, with darker side panels and short sleeves. However this will require some careful planning as I have a sort of fairly unfitted 60s style shift in my mind's eye, although I know this style doesn't suit me. I need to work out how to make something that is a bit more fitted, but still doesn't disrupt the pattern too much.

The second is some gorgeous silk fine twill, in a fairly hard to find 140cm width. I've realised that this is the same print (in a different colourway) to one of the fabrics the Selfish Seamstress bought! The price was excellent too, I think it was 35TL per metre (about 19CHF or £12). I didn't haggle, I'm too British, and the price was too fair! This is destined to be a fairly relaxed shirt-dress, although the details are a bit vague in my head currently.

I did actually make a few things to wear there, as I wanted some summery appropriate clothes that were a bit more covered up, so I could go in mosques (and look a little less touristy). I made a jersey maxi-skirt (which didn't turn out quite as I intended), plus two elbow length t-shirts with slight batwing sleeves (which were very successful!). All three pieces were self drafted, and I'll show them in detail shortly once I've taken some photos. In the meantime, here's a rather unflattering photo of two of the pieces in front of the Blue Mosque.

Well, this has got a bit long, so I'll save the things about London for another post. I'll leave you with a photo of one of the many well-loved cats in İstanbul...

Self-Stitched-September '11 = epic fail

Well, maybe epic fail is overstating it a bit, but my self-stitched month rather deflated about two thirds of the way through, rather like a badly baked soufflé (sorry, I've just been watching the Great British Bake-Off).

So excuses: not enough "transition" items, super busy month with lots of travelling and lots of contrasts (smart wedding followed by hiking in drizzle anyone?), and having time-management issues (hmm, I think I'll adapt a pattern and make a dress to wear to a wedding in three days. Yeah). Oh well, many lessons have been learned, not least that I need to remember I don't do "fast" sewing - if I want to make more stuff, I need to plan more - and knuckle down and do more too!

Having said that I do have a few new things to show you, and a couple of things in progress too - however, these will have to wait, and this post will be sadly photo-free, as I'm busy busy busy getting ready to go to New York for a week! Woo! I really can't wait... (And of course I've printed off my guides to the Garment District :)

Another fashion week!

So, I'm on the bus from Heathrow airport again... Off to see my nephew for a couple of days (no I still haven't finished the quilt), and then into London for another short course at the London College of Fashion! Woo!

This one is called "evening and party wear", and is mainly teaching about boned bodices, with some more exciting drafts/drapes thrown in too, so it's looking pretty fun. It's also at the same campus as last time, so one street away from the brilliant fabric shops of Goldhawk Road... Because it's a construction course though, I will probably need to do some sewing outside of the class. Not normally a problem, but of course my sewing machines are in a different country - so of course the solution is to buy another one! I did contemplate getting a "travel" sewing machine, but I'm not convinced they're sturdy enough to do any proper sewing on, so I plan to buy another basic but decent one similar to my current Brother machine, but keep that in London. We have a storage unit where it can live between visits (until we get our own place here).

It's also going to be a pretty fun week outside the course - I'm going to have a whole week in London, I'm meetin a friend to discuss doing some dressmaking for her, and I'm going to a wedding on Saturday and then a Brian Setzer/Jim Jones Review gig on Sunday. I should have internet, so I'll try and post some pics for you from the course.

Barcelona!

I'll catch up with my me-made outfits towards the end of next week - I'm off to Barcelona in an hour and a half, to celebrate our second wedding anniversary :)

Draping galore

As expected, the draping course was AMAZING. We covered the basics of draping, starting with preparing the stand and fabric. We draped a basic skirt and bodice, an A-line skirt, a circular skirt, a ruched front bodice, a sleeve and two collars. Doesn't sound very exciting, but it's provided the basics to understand how to manipulate the fabric into whatever I want! Well, maybe not quite anything just yet, but soon...

The teacher was excellent, and the other students were a very lovely bunch of ladies. (The weird thing is that one of the other students is moving to Switzerland too at the end of April! Unfortunately to Zürich, but hey, Switzerland's a small place...). Studying at the LCF is also very inspiring, surrounded by all the industrial machines, cool looking fashion students, and amazing fashion photography, and it's great having a proper workspace. Speaking of which...

Here's my workspace! I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I forgot to take many pictures, in fact only three in total - here are the other two:

I'm now desperately looking for a reasonably priced dress form as I can't drape on Wilma - as she's adjustable, there's big gaps right where I need to mark and pin along the centre front and back and sides. I wonder if I can make a cover for her as an interim measure...?

After the course had finished, I had a morning in London to spare, so went to the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the V&A with my mum. I didn't really know what to expect, or much about his clothes, but oh my, it was definitely the right thing to see after a course on draping on the stand! The clothes were beautiful and intriguing, and the best thing was that we could closely inspect them as they were laid out without any barriers or cases! Unfortunately photos weren't allowed (and I couldn't sneak any due to the burly Japanese security guards), so here's a few from the V&A website:

ETA - There's a very interesting "behind the scenes" blog on the V&A Yohji Yamamoto website, written by the exhibition curator, Ligaya Salazar.

A new start

There's been a few major changes in my life in the last year and a bit since I last posted - I got married, I left my job, and I moved from the UK to Switzerland! As you might imagine, this has meant I've been rather busy, so sadly haven't done much sewing. However... this will hopefully change shortly!

I'm currently not working in Geneva (it was my husband's job that moved) and so I'm planning to make the most of the spare time I now have by doing plenty of sewing. Our flat here has two bedrooms (rather than the one we had in London), so the second one is in the process of being transformed into my sewing room...



Erm, yeah, so it needs a little work. Unfortunately I can't put all the fabric away straight away, as my basement flat in London was damp, so it all smells a bit musty and needs washing. Yuk. This is what I've washed so far:



Hooray! Clean fabric!

It's been quite fun unpacking and sorting it all - I've discovered some ace fabrics I'd completely forgotten I had. I've also discovered at some point I decided I should buy vast quantities of pale blue lining fabric. Seriously, I have about 6 metres. Why?! I also have huge quantities of leopard-print fabric left over from the decorations at my wedding, so I may be channelling Bet Lynch for a while...

Whilst I'm sorting this all out, I'll post a few things I've sewn since I last posted, and share with you my plans for what I'll be doing once I can actually get to my sewing machine.

Bad blogger

There was an article in the staff magazine where I work (a university) about the various staff and student blogs. It featured one of the professors in my group so I took the time to read it, and it reminded me that I haven't blogged for an awfully long time... Six months to be precise!

I've actually done (a little) more sewing since the last post, so will make some time to at least do some brief posts to show what I've made - especially as they've been pretty successful and frequently worn items! A few long-term projects too.

I'm also resolved to post some pattern reviews on, well, PatternReview.com, and have been mulling over signing up to Sew Retro and Wardrobe Refashion.

The other major thing I've done has been to take a course in customised pattern cutting and fitting at the London College of Fashion - taking personal measurements, making a block and pattern, sewing and fitting a toile, and customising the block.

See you soon - honest!