fascinator and hooded cape

Here is how I went about making Adelins fascinator.

First I took photos of me holding the feathers against her chosen side of where she would be wearing it(quite difficult to hold them all when it came to it) and took some shots for her to see. I adjusted the longer feathers up and down at different angles

 as well as placing the green in front of the black and so on until she was happy.

Above is the shot she liked the most. Then I hand-stitched into the felt backing until my fingers bled. Not kidding, I pricked myself so many times. I dont like using glue because I just feel as if it wouldnt be quite so vintage or 'hand done'. But thats just me being a little too purist in my approach. Of course you can use glue. It wouldnt hurt as much for starters. Unless its superglue, but lets stop there.

                                             warning:  bad fluoro lighting

Then came the cape. I cut a rough hood shape aiming at little red riding hood's. I nearly messed this up badly when it came to making one side the same as the other, as the front surrounding the face is cut curved. I didnt want too much stitching showing, I wanted a more stylised, fluid look. Anyway, so I pinned it on her and took more pictures trying not to cut too much off while adjusting it in between.

The main part of the cape began by draping it around her shoulders and getting the length sorted out roughly. I cut diamond shapes out of both shoulders for the shoulder seams and zig-zag stitched these together. The diamond shape came about from the excess fabric when pinned. We both loved the high neck peak at the back so decided to keep it and sew the hood around it, keeping the olde-world look of the collar. I simply zig-zag stitched the collar on raw and trimmed any seams afterwards to neaten the edges.

 I added some ostrich feathers, there were only eight left in the store so we bought them all. An odd number would have been better. I would have liked around 15 or 17. I hand-stitched the stems on and left them raw and untrimmed.

Ive probably already posted this shot but it is one of my favourites! Plus its my blog and I can do what I want.

p.s. The superglue incident was when I was getting ready for my daughters wedding and someone was doing my nails and I decided to 'help' by holding the nail tip down so she could move on to the next one. We were in a hurry. Both my hands were stuck together for about half an hour. So to me glue is painful.

Lets rewind a few weeks. To before I had computer problems. I found suddenly I couldnt load photos and then we got a really bad virus and there was nothing I could do but put everything on hold and take it to be fixed. I didnt realise that if you have more than one antivirus spy-ware they fight one another over time, did you?

Lets get to the craft bit.

This is how I made the dress for my sons wedding.

I took a favourite dress of mine to cut around and made myself a fresh cup of tea.

 

I know I said something about a red dress but when I spotted this fabric at Spotlight I just had to get it.

I already had been having thoughts of peacock feathers for my hair so it was meant to be.

In its early stages before I put darts in and the sleeve cuffs and the hem.

The sleeves have a seam down the centre and a cuff like a kimono-esque style.

I decided to look at my stash and found this leafy wide lace to weight down the bottom of the dress so it would slink.

I tried to machine stitch it on as I was in a hurry

but it warped and buckled and didnt sit well at all.

 I had to hand-stitch it in the end.

 I know I have a jacket on, I was cold, but heres a decent shot of my feather headpiece and you can see the red ribbon trim I used around the dress. Ill need to take a proper shot of me in the dress (ill post it in here) as I dont seem to have one now that ive searched, how odd.

More to come on how I made Adelins fascinator and cape in following posts.

the wedding singer

our first hug after the ceremony

Theres no substitute for a Singer sewing machine when you need to make things for an event as important as a family wedding. I have my dearest nanna's archaic but trusty, vintage Singer as my constant companion and was happily sewing away making the dress for my son's wedding when I broke a needle.
This sort of thing wouldnt normally have deterred me from finishing what im working on. I keep a constant stash of back-up items for when things like this happen. I have an extensive range of needles for overlocking and twin stitching, ball points and denim. What I hadnt banked on was the fact that my kids have been sewing gloves and mitts and fingerless armwarmers.
Its been a busy couple of weeks at Textured Leaf Central.
No-one has told me theyve been breaking needles. I had none left but the thick denim variety. The dress I was making was silk. Denim needles dont sew through silk. They shred it and pucker it. I had one seam to go and I dont even know how, when I broke my last decent fine needle.
I had 40 minutes to go before we left for the airport and I still had to dye my hair, shower, dress, check the boys had everything, do a last minute run around check of the house, you know the drill.
So I gave up. The dress making I mean.
It shouldnt have been that bad. I had promise of a machine when we reached Perth at Nanna Muriel's who is a quilt-maker. I was told she had a studio with everything at my disposal. It should have been an easy decision to quit sewing and jump in the shower in the nick of time, but it wasnt. I had a funny nagging feeling that things could not be that easy. I love the way my nanna's Singer can sew through fine silk to thick quilts without even changing the settings. It seems ive been spoilt all this time. And my fears were well founded.
After a few days of meeting the new in-laws and socialising I finally found myself at in-law Nan's. She made me feel right at home and showed me the gorgeous quilts she was working on. Shes an accomplished patchworker and it was very inspirational. But her machine sucked. Like, it literally sucked my silk into it.
I was considering wearing another dress, (yes. I took a back-up) but I persevered and got there in the end (after sneakily adjusting her machine tension while she was making cups of tea) and a teeny bit of hand sewing.
It took me around an hour to sew a single line of stitching down the front of a dress.
Theres nothing like a Singer at a wedding.

Other wedding disasters included:

Locking the house keys inside before we'd even left for the airport and climbing back in through a window that shouldnt have been left open, (lucky)

Adelin (the bride-to-be) having to work up until the wedding when I was supposed to be designing and fitting her wedding cape and fascinator (feathers were flying right up until the final hour as the cape had large ostrich feathers falling from it too)

Navarh's buttons falling off his jacket 30 minutes before the ceremony and having to quickly sew them on

Navarh having an unknown bug from his overseas trip to Thailand and Cambodia (as a last minute bucks present with my husband) and not being able to eat at his own wedding. He's a budding chef and had chosen a menu with Wagu beef and Salmon, poor thing

Other happenings where youll have to just, simply, trust me