Musing about the act of sketching and more work

I pat myself on the back whenever I find that I've been good enough to save a copy of a sketch for a dress. With big projects like this flamenco dress I usually sketch in detail and if I'm in a patient enough mood/have the colours within arm's length/have enough time, I also sketch in colour. I can safely say that I enjoy it but circumstance often dictates that I go directly to the rice paper to draught a pattern and simply get going. Also, once a sketch is finished (and to such a degree) I kind of feel cheated; a drawing becomes a mockery of the time-consuming process that looms on the horizon for a seamstress! 

With this flamenco dress we kept to a traditional palette and patterns, but one walk down the textile shop got me thinking about several other possibilities in orange and turquoise and yellow and lace. A flamenco dress must complement the dancer's personality and her personal stance towards the dance, every little detail has to come together to make up one rational whole. With so much going on it's easy to lose your plot, so it's a fine line that we thread between visual coherence and a bag of crazy haberdashery trimmings. Ruffles, like the hills, come alive to the sound of music so I can't wait to see this graceful dancer, in her dress, in action next December!

And now on to summer-friendly items of clothing, lined in practical airy cotton and in colours that help keep up the spirits when the heat just gets too much. A lover of the 60s asks me to re-interpret some classic shapes for day-to-day staples that are toddler friendly and breeeeeeezy!

And a young fashion lover opts for a purple strapless dress with open pleats instead of closed up darts which can be accessorized over and over. We kept it simple, waistband-less to allow unrestricted belt size options and with a discreet slit at the back.

Also, how cute did this bustier turn out?! I had found the material at a charity shop in Valletta back in the day when there were still a couple open (how sad is it to not have a decent charity shop/bazaar Valletta that does not open for just two hours in the early morning on one very particular day unless it happens to be a feast/birth/too hot day). So yes, I has bought this piece with the intention of doing something for myself with it, but as it usually happens, I placed it on the neatly folded pile of 'future projects' and forgot all about it until the right person came along, a fellow cat lover and pancake maker extraordinaire! It would have been a real waste to make nothing of it. The buttons turned out pretty sweet after an acrylic and clear nail polish makeover, sweet enough to steer the bustier clear of any lingerie connotations and make it all the more wearable. Miaou!

And after all that I thought, feckit!, time to make something for myself. So I made a skirt that is scant consolation for my holiday in Santorini which never happened but at least long enough to hide a tan-in-progess whilst keeping the mosquitoes out!