Spring classes at ARTBOX in Blinco street, Fremantle

Cheak out the updated post ( First posted in April.. and now updated for the coming spring sewing season...)
Have a spring clean, clear out the wardrobe, and bring along some of those outdated clothes for an update at the refashioning workshop. I will show you how to reconstruct your old clothes into something completly new and awsome :)

back again, and time for an update..

Well, things are rocking along in little old Fremantle.

I am gearing up to take part in a few great events around town.

"Feast your eyes" is happening again ( I am one of the featured artists :) ).. this time at the supurb Fremantle Art Centre on the 4th September from 6pm - 10 pm. Get your tickets early from http://www.heatseeker.com.au/content.aspx?id=Home%20Page&tid=3&iid=7

Cheak out the website http://sarahblangiardo.blogspot.com/ for more info on the event and whos who..



Also, The Hulbert Street Feista is on again in South fremantle on the 18th and 19th of September. I will be there on the remake balcony, helping those in need of some practical sewing guidence to realise there creative vision...

http://thepaintedfish.com.au/growing-community-hulbert-street-gets-ready-for-the-fiesta-september-19-and-20th/



In the spirit of reusing and recycling, I ran a few workshops in the school holidays that used small offcuts of fabric and Cassette tape covers sourced from the wonderful recycling and education centre " REmida".

A good number of giggling girls turned up to make floral headbands at "ARTBOX" On Blinco Street, and " Cassette tape " books ( Little books that fitted into Cassette tape covers) were made by the kids in the the bookbinding workshop at "Red Feathers and a Hula skirt" in Marmion Street.

babies pixie hat tutorial

This morning I whipped up a hat. It is a babies size, and remings me of a pixie, hence I have called it the pixie hat for a bub (unimaginative I know..)

So, Heres the step by step in photos for you to follow and make one of your own.. well, one for a baby that is!

SO... heres what you will need:

Your babies head size, measured just above the ears

30 cm length of fabric
25 cm length of lining fabric
10 cm length of interfacing
20 cm length of 1cm wide elastic

AND

A piece of paper to draw the pattern on to
A pen
A calculator if your maths is as bad as mine..
A set square

1. Draw a horizontal line across the bottom of the page and mark 1/6th the measurement of your babies head circumference + 1 cm extra for ease

• find the centre point on this line, and draw a vertical line coming up from the centre, as high as you want the hat. I did mine 8 "
• draw 1 cm seam allowances on the side edges, and 1.5 on the bottom edge, curving the bottom edge below the straight line.
• Draw a front and back brim, according to the size and shape you find pleasing, with seam allowances added ( 1 cm ). My measurements can be seen on the photo below, and I have drawn half patterns to sit on the fold of the fabric to keep the shape identical on either side.
• You will then have 3 pattern pieces.
• You will now cut the main triangle piece 6 x lining, 6 times fabric, and the 2 brims in fabric only ( not lining) 2 times each on the fold.
• Cut 1 piece of interfacing for each brim, and make 1 cm smaller on the outer edges, so you dont have bulky seams, and iron on to one side of the brim.
• Sew brims together on outer edge with a 1 cm seam allowance, and notch curves
• Trim one edge of the brim back to 5mm
• Turn through so the right side of fabric shows. Top stich if you desire.
• Sew 6 x fabric triangles together, and six x lining ( leaving a gap in the lining to pull hat through later.)
• sew across the top of hat at the peak, and trim back
• Iron all seams flat, and attach brims to the fabric side of hat, with the centre front and centre back point of brim matching the centre front and centre back of hat.
• Sew all the way around with 5 mm seam. Sew with the seams facing you ( brim on the machine bed), so you can lay the seams flat as you go.
• Sew lining to hat with a 1.5 cm seam allowance, again keeping the seams of lining facing you, so you can keep the seams flat.
• turn hat through the hole in lining.
• sew a channal big enough to thread elastic through on one brim edge, and then thread the elastic through, using a safty pin.
• try the hat on baby, and if the elastic is firm, but not tight, sew up in the seam to secure the elastic
• Sew up the inside gap with an invisible stitch
• now you are done, Pat yourself on the back and have a nice cup of tea! :)

This is the finished hat. You can also turn the top down, and stich, or decotate with a big button , bell, or some ribbons. Have fun with it..

Classes for 2010

Summer sewing classes 2010 , Dates to be confirmed

Sew simple series


This series of lectures are for the home sewer who wants to improve their technique and will concentrate on showing you how to make a specific thing each time. Each class will go for 2.5 hours, and you can pick and choose which ones you want to attend, depending on your interests. Pay $20 per class, and bring a note pad and pen.

• demystifying and adapting commercial patterns to fit.


• custom made skirts
  
• custom made pants
  
• Sewing techniques ( Pockets, buttonholes, zips, seams etc )


• french draping

Please note that this is a lecture and demonstration, rather than a workshop where you will be sewing.



Wardrobe Revamp


Using your existing wardrobe as a base, you will learn how to customise pre-existing garments through altering, refashioning and resewing.

For more information on dates and prices , please email me at gilamae2001@yahoo.com.au

Who am I?

Alan Alda said a great thing.
He said "The creative is the place where no one else has ever been.You need to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.".


When I was a child, despite the fact that I broke needle after needle, my mother would encourage me to sew. It was always a way of entering into a wonderful imaginary world. A world where I had friends who I could dress up with clothes I made them and castles created from cardboard boxes.
I also grew up in a small city in New Zealand in the 1970's with a black and white TV, no DVDs, video games or the such, and my sister and I had to make our own fun.

I was fortunate to be bought up in a way where my creativity flourished, and was encouraged. But, as it is said, it is never too late to have a happy childhood, and I truly believe that everyone has a creative side to them just waiting to come out. A unique expression of them that will be both wonderful and mysterious.

I went on to study both theatre costume and clothing manufacturing, as well as attaining a degree in Fine art ( majoring in painting).

these days I fill most of my time with either teaching or making, and find the more I make, the more my creativity is fed and the more ideas I have.

I think there is a place for art, craft and general making in today's environment for a number of reasons:

- Reusing things that are discarded and remaking them into something useful and perhaps even beautiful is fantastically resourceful, and a move away from being part of the huge consumerist grid.
-Making is time consuming, requires you to slow down and is a nice quiet kind of meditation
- The handmade is loved by the maker (usually.. sometimes I find my creations just down right weird, then they are thrown into the "craft fail" pile to be dealt with at a later date), and usually appreciated by others too.
-they are unique in a way that mass produced objects can never be.

So...
Take the handmade pledge http://www.buyhandmade.org/and get crafting!

I will post dates of workshops on this blog for those living in Perth or Fremantle, and try to keep the rest of you up to date with virtual tutorials and lots of Pics from the workshops.

If you are interested in what I make for sale, please have a look at my Etsy shop on http://chaostheorycreations.etsy.com/