Ballgowns

Hmm, I haven't posted for a while now, time just got away from me, and I never really regained my sewing mojo after the bout of sinusitis in the summer. However, it's slowly returning (helped by sorting out and tidying my sewing room), so I'm catching up on posts from over the summer that have been sitting in my drafts folder. By the time I've done that, there will hopefully be a few new things to show you too!

I went to London for a long weekend in June. I'd planned to do some fabric and notions shopping, but I caught a cold and didn't feel in the mood (this was what turned into the sinusitis after my flight back). I'd also planned to do some shoe shopping, but everywhere had sales and pretty much no summer stock left. Seriously, why put all your winter stock out when it's only halfway through June?! (I'd hoped to buy some Chie Mihara shoes at Selfridge's, but have since discovered I can buy them online - hooray! But dangerous for my bank balance...)

Anyway, enough whinging, whilst I was there, I did go and see the ballgown exhibition at the V&A. Have any of you guys been to see this? What did you think?

I have to say, I was a little confused by the exhibition. Whilst it was lovely seeing so many beautiful dresses (and a couple not so beautiful) all in one place, that seemed like all it really was. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, but for the amount of money for a ticket, I would expect a bit more than that (although, having said that, I'm a V&A member so I got in with a guest for "free").

The dresses were divided between two floors, with modern dresses upstairs (post late-1990s), and earlier ones downstairs behind glass (early-1950s to mid-1990s). Apart from that, there was not really any theme in how they were arranged. I loved being able to see the dresses upstairs so close up, but it also surprised me how "unprofessional" some of them looked close up. Hems were just cut, feathers looked shabbily applied etc. I found this rather interesting, and wondered if these were the actual runway pieces, which I guess would need to look good from a distance but the details weren't so important (and may have had to be quickly adjusted or mended backstage). It was a shame the older dresses were behind glass as it would have been fascinating to be able to inspect these some more.

The most striking contrast between the newer and older dresses was the structure apparent in the older dresses, which seemed to have disappeared in most of the newer dresses. Some of the newer dresses just simply wouldn't be able to be worn by anyone without a model perfect body.

There aren't many pictures on the website for the exhibition (and you aren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibition), but fortunately they include two of my favourites from the newer section: the gorgeous yellow and purple Erdem Rumina gown, and the amazing Atsuko Kudo latex gown with trompe l'oeil lace print (both pictured above).

The exhibition is on until 6 January 2013, and despite my quibbles, I would still recommend it to anyone who likes looking at beautiful dresses.

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...

Fabric goodies from London

I actually bought these at the beginning of November but hadn't got round to showing them here, so I thought I would put up a quick post for your enjoyment! These were all purchased from Classic Textiles on Goldhawk Road - and surprisingly it was the first time I'd actually been upstairs to the wools floor.

Actually, thinking about Classic Textiles, the last I heard I think there was a going to be a judicial review of the redevelopment of Shepherd's Bush Market. Does anyone have any updates on what's happening?

L-R: Missoni(-style?) sweater knit, very lightweight wool jersey, wool/cashmere/mink blend coating, lightweight wool woven (I don't know what this type of fabric is called!)

These were all purchased with projects in mind (apart from the Missoni sweater knit, which I just couldn't pass up). The lightweight wool jersey is for a sweater dress, or possibly this top from BWOF:

The coating is for, surprisingly, a coat - although I think this will wait for later on this year for next winter, as I don't think I'll be able to get it done for this year. I also want to mull on what style of coat I want.

The plaid woven is to make a dress inspired by this dress from Monsoon:

I loved the use of the plaid on the bias, and the interesting seaming and volume added by the godet. Unfortunately when I tried it on, the cut was just bizarre and unflattering (on me at least). Then I saw this fabric, and realised it was meant to be!

Stay tuned to see if and when I get round to making all these...

NYC and fabric goodies

So, here are a few (rather belated) details from my NYC trip, plus the more important info on what fabric I brought back with me!

I have been longing to go to NYC for so long, I was a bit concerned it might not actually live up to my expectations, but it definitely did! Everything was just how I was hoping it would be, and it also made me laugh how all the clichés about the place are actually reality. I kept a little list of some of the cool little things, these are some of my favourites:

• Welcomed into the country by a immigration officer who looked like a younger Leslie Nielsen (think Forbidden Planet) who asked us "do you like Italian food?" and gave us a recommendation for a restaurant near our hotel that did "amazing meatballs"
• Sat at the counter in a diner to eat brunch and heard someone order "eggs over easy, on rye"
• Gawped at Kathy Lee Gifford outside the NBC studios in the Rockefeller Center
• Rode in a classic NYC taxi, with a taxi driver who had a proper "Noo Yoik" accent, and country blues rock on the radio
• Spotted Gwyneth Paltrow filming for a feature film in Central Park

We stayed on W44th and 5th, which was super great for a first visit when you want to be right in the centre. The first couple of days we spend ticking off the "must-do" sights, and also went to see Follies on Broadway. I'm not really into musicals, but I adore this one - I know it virtually word-for-word from working front of house at the RFH a few years back where it was on all summer. It's a very sad story though, and this production was amazing, and especially tragic it seemed to me.

After booking the holiday, we discovered that we would be there over Columbus Day - and then whilst there we also discovered there was Hispanic Day the day before! My husband had a bout of "manflu" so I watched the Hispanic Day parade mainly by myself, and was befriended by a lovely Colombian lady who'd been in the US for the last 30 years, and was telling me how "Colombians are the happiest people of all!" We were fascinated by the marching bands in the Columbus Day parade, that is something that really doesn't exist in most of the UK. Both of these were also pretty fun as the street where we were staying was one of those where the floats assembled before setting off on parade.

The next couple of evenings we'd booked some cool concerts/gigs to go to: the Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergeiv at the Carnegie Hall, then Winton Marsalis's 50th birthday celebration gig at the Lincoln Center (introduced by Bill Cosby!).

During the days, we went to MoMA, the High Line, and of course the Garment District. Oh yeah. Unfortunately I didn't make enough time to do some other shopping - I had wanted to get some shoes - but next time eh... Plus there was plenty of eating and drinking too!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, enough of that, on to the pretties! I used Lindsey T's wonderful Shop The Garment District site to draw up a plan of attack, and settled on Mood (of course - I'm obsessed with Project Runway, although maybe a bit less given the last couple of series...), Global Leathers, Elliott Berman, and Pacific Trimmings, plus lunch in Stitch.

Mood: L-R Shot gold/black silk twill (fairly beefy but super drapey, going to be a party dress), greenish black chambray (going to be a shirtdress), herringbone wool/fleece mix lightweight coating (marked as Ralph Lauren, going to be a boxy jacket), cotton shirting (going to be a shirt for my husband!)

Elliott Berman: L-R Silk twill (fairly beefy, going to be another party dress), silk sort of heavy matte charmeuse (don't know quite what this type of fabric is called, but it's going to be a blouse)

Global Leathers: L-R Super soft grey nappa (in order to shamelessly rip off be inspired by Fehr Trade's leather skirt), Brown Wyoming cattle hide (this is to make a bag, or rather probably several as the minimum I could buy was half a skin - but I did get a discount as the guy liked my English accent!)

I ended up not actually getting anything from Pacific Trimmings, just wandered round gawping at the huge variety - I was flaking a bit by then, and as I wasn't entirely sure what I needed so didn't want to just buy stuff for the hell of it (unlike, say, fabric...).

One thing I totally loved about fabric shopping in NYC was that many (most?) of the shops are not at street level - there was something very cool taking the lifts in what looked like an office building and emerging on the seventh floor, ringing on a bell and stepping into an enormous space filled floor to ceiling with bolts of delicious fabric. I especially loved the totally old-school lifts to get up to Mood, complete with guys to operate them.

Unfortunately there wasn't a huge amount of me-made action going on, I'd lost confidence in the stuff I'd made a bit, I don't know why. I did wear a couple of things though - my cotton wrap dress (on Hispanic Day when it was about 28˚C!) and my jeans skirt a couple of times (with the Sorbetto top when I went to the Garment District). I did actually take another skirt I'd made with me, but I didn't wear it - it's a new one, so I will show it to you soon.

Heads up: Alexander McQueen

A heads up to anyone in London - Harvey Nichols currently has a selection of McQueen couture dresses in the windows of the Knightsbridge flagship store, promoting the New York Met Museum retrospective.

You can't get up terribly close to the dresses, and the window reflections play havoc with taking photos (as you'll see the evidence of below), but it's still super interesting to be able to see such a selection of (a) proper couture catwalk dresses and (b) McQueen dresses from as far back as 1999. It always surprises me how "handmade" many catwalk dresses look (haha from my vast experiences of about 4 V&A exhibitions!!!). I guess they are one-offs and not really meant to be seen super close up. It would be amazing to actually be able to have a proper nose around them to have a look at all the internal construction...

The display is only up until the end of May, so get there quickly! Here's a few photos to give you an idea of what's there:

I did some shopping whilst I was in London (of course) and now seems like an appropriate time to show you some of the jewellery I bought - yep, an Alexander McQueen pendant! I'm sure it's not to everyone's taste, but I adore it...

London Fashion Week

So, a couple of weeks ago I went to London Fashion Week with my sister. Unfortunately it was the plebs' week rather than the proper shows - paid for tickets instead of invites for us! It was still pretty cool to go along though.