Show Pony

Quilted Jacket: 1997

I wanted to update my wardrobe with a little bit of patchwork fashion and had fallen for Mary Mashuta’s book, "Wearable Art for Real People", 1989.  I chose my favourite design, found a pattern and selected fabrics with pink & black roses as a starting point. Later I added a batik, a nice soft, fine cotton, for lining and sandwiched pellon inbetween.  The main fabric was hand dyed (discharged dyed) after folding it shibori style.  (This actually jogs my memory about a class I did with Deborah Brearley and the Geelong Quilters Guild- 4 Jun 1988- some years before.)  I've been dabbling with dyeing (procion dyes & bleaches) every now and then ever since.  

I loved this jacket, even though I hardly wore it.  I had made the sleeves ¾ length and I found that a bit annoying in the end.  Somehow solutions to fix it only seemed to make it worse.  And by then of course, such dramatic pieces were no longer fashionable...

The jacket would look better if it was on a model but
one can't take photos & model at the same time!!!

Fashionista

Given my interest in sewing and experience in sewing my own clothes, I used some of my time and class samples to run some up.  I wanted something different but not too exotic.  Tamworth was not the place to be running around in Yvonne Porcella’s outrageously colourful designs.  This was an RM Williams boots, moleskin jeans and tweed jacket kinda town.  

Well, here you have a sample of what I did get up to.  I’m not sure I wore all these things but it was fun making them and experimenting with different techniques.  Some of these items even made it into the Armidale Symposium Fashion Parade but sadly my photos from that evening are so bad that they can’t even be digitalised.

Black Seminole dress: 1989

Back view; rame linen with cotton insert border
Sadly, I don't think I'm going to be snapped up
by the High Fashion Set any day soon....

This dress made it into the local newspaper – albeit an ad for TAFE. 

Purple Leaf Printed Vest: 1990

It was fun to print the fabric and I think this must be my first foray into free-form machine quilting. And a nice sparkly little thread it was too, causing me much grief.... 

Black Block Printed Skirt

Hardly worn.  I discovered I wasn’t good a picking patterns suited to my figure type.  It was fun to make though!

Blue Skirt & Top

Worn to death.  I loved this outfit.  It was subtle and didn’t scream “home-made”.  It has long since been consigned to the recycling bin.  I will have to dive into the photo albums from that time to see if a photo exists of this outfit. (So I'm leaving a space here... & hoping!)

White Linen Shirt:  1989

Hard to see but the yoke (both front and back) was hand worked in drawn thread and took hours and hours and hours.

Stretching Limits

Machine Applique: 1988

We recently had a council "cleanup" day coming up so I used the opportunity to have a bit of an "autumn clean" and found a few extra pieces for my photo gallery.  I had quite forgotten how much I enjoyed machine applique, and used it mostly over a period of 3 to 4 years to decorate our family jumpers or t-shirts.  My poor old Elna got quite a workout and I soon realised how much more I could get done (and sooo much faster too) with a machine. I can't quite remember where or when (late 1980's?) I learned this technique. Lots of fun!



Library Bag (all cottons)

Gum Leaf Top (machine embroidery over cotton, silk & leather)

Cloaked in Patchwork

Patchwork Jacket: 1987

Like everyone else at the time I became obsessed with having a distinctive patchwork item of clothing.  I had seen Yvonne Porcella’s colourful designs and began collecting a few books on how to make patchwork clothing.  At the time I was still making my own clothes, especially knits.  An Australian company, Knitwit had just taken off and the fabric and patterns were all top quality, not to mention easy to make.

A scanned photo not showing true colour

I was certainly pleased with the outcome and this jacket that took me to many a formal function in the late 80’s.  Today, we sadly seem to have reverted to “patchwork means a bit hippy”.  Too bad, it really did look nice…back then.  Class run at QNH by Sue Longmore on strip patchwork.

Who could forget this great book & inspiring clothing?

Each pattern piece was strip pieced over backing and ultra-thin wadding.  I chose to use dusky pinks, blues and maroon.  For a bit of glam, I finished the jacket off with closures using bias button loops and cow horn buttons.  I did a little hand quilting to add to softness to the vertical strips and enhance that handcrafted feel.  In all it took about 15 hours to finish.

Exhibited at the Geelong Quilters Guild Exhibition in Jan 1988

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 78 x 79cm
Block Size: Strip
Cut in: 1987
Pieced & Basted: Machine 1987
Quilted: Hand 1987
Quilt Type: Sue Longmore Workshop
Quilt Finished: 1987
Exhibited:  Geelong Quilters Guild 1988
Collection: Garment 1
Pattern Name: Not specific
Pattern Source: Knitwit #
Fabrics Purchased: 1986/87
Fabric Design: Plains & soft prints
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Pellon
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
Technically it was a challenge to move from quilts to clothing. I stripped the pieces, sewing backing, batting and strips all together then cut out the jacket shapes. Hiding raw edges, making pockets and collar details were all “little problems” needing attention along the way.