Urban Trendsetting…

– style.com
– zone7style
– Hype beast
– Slamxhype
– Selectism
– Freshness
– D’marge

Trend forecasting for smaller brands can be tricky as you often have to pay for vital ‘fashion of the future’ type information. For example, you can buy membership with well known trend analysis website WGSN (many high street brands use this when building their ranges for the next season). Thought it would be nice of me to share a few places to look for some fabulous freebie urban inspiration. The above websites share info about trends in Fashion, Art and Design. Zone7style even has a Vintage archive of designer items from the past (pics below). The websites include men’s and women’s fashions from America, Australia and the UK. Enjoy browsing! If anyone knows of other sites worth checking out, please add to comments below…..

Printed Trousers

Loving my new printed trousers from next. I have been looking for the right pair for at least a month and these fit well, compliment my (often monochrome) wardrobe and best of all: (and unlike the many, many other printed pairs I tried on) they are flattering! Hoorah! Lovely nail polish colour is courtesy of my sister who I have been visiting this week. Whilst I like the simplicity and classic feel of a black and white wardrobe, punctuation with a flash of colour and unusual jewellery keeps things fresh. My favourite kind of outfit.

Reiss Summer Style Challenge

Last week Ship Shape and I attended the Reiss ‘Spirit of Summer and Instagram event’ in Cabot Circus to check out their new S/S13 range. Here are the results of my style challenge: one item styled 3 ways. I chose this beautiful snake print dress as the piece and teamed it with…

Look 1: High heeled black leather boots, chunky chain necklace and a loose navy tee

Look 2: Navy batwing cardie and ultra modern high heels

Look 3: A black leather biker jacket and ankle boots – I love the contrast of tough biker jacket with the feminine dress shape and soft cotton.  This is also a good transitional outfit.  Winter to Spring sorted!

 It’s amazing how many different looks you can achieve when you play around with just a few accessories/design details.  Big Thanks also goes to my fantastic model/Fashion graduate for showcasing the pieces!

Manchester Vintage Fair

This weekend I visited a vintage fair ‘up north’ with my sisters.  We braved the cold weather and were happy to find a few trinkets to buy!  Some of the clothes seemed a little pricey for what they were e.g. a once loved but now severely outdated bridesmaid dress for £68 seemed a little steep.  However, it was really nice to chat to some talented new designers/makers about how they were customising/creating.  Here is a documentation of my time there in photos (including the labels which most impressed me!):

 

 

Really wanting a studded jumper right now…lucky I’ve ordered some antique brass studs to jazz up my wardrobe!

Upcycled Parka

This week my shabby old coat has been rejuvenated!  The A/W 2009 Primark number was ripped at the arm, the fur trim was falling off and the colour had faded to an unsightly grey.

Restorative Process:

• Colour refreshed with a Dylon ‘Machine Wash’ dye (this only works for certain fabrics e.g. natural fabrics like cotton dye very well)
• Hood lining replaced with leopard print cotton fabric
• Fur trim hand sewn on to edge of hood
• Tear at sleeve seam repaired using slip stitch

A new coat for under a fiver.  Super Chuffed!  Has anyone else got an upcycled/recycled garment they are really pleased with?  I’d love to hear about them.

What’s on My Mannequin?

One of my favourite other sewing blogs to read is Tilly and the Buttons.  This blogger is unique as she is open, honest and includes the good, the bad and the ugly elements of sewing/dressmaking!  One of my fave features of hers is ‘What’s on my sewing table?’.  I have adapted this feature slightly to the above title as my half finished pieces live on the mannequin where I can ponder their success and see where changes to the pattern need to be made.  Above is my current ‘work in progress’ of which I am very pleased with thus far.  A viscose blend jumper, patterned in grey and black with wine coloured ribbing (berry is very in for A/W 2012 don’t you know?!).  Watch this blog space for news on how my first ever jumper creation develops!

When this pattern is finalised I will be using it to create a range of jumpers to sell (perfect to keep you snug in the upcoming winter months!), mainly from vintage and reclaimed fabrics.  Details to follow soon.

Website Wonder: Polyvore

Just a quick note to say: if you haven’t had a play on www.polyvore.com yet, don’t wait any longer…  This site is an online image database of fashion products including some of the latest designer pieces.  As you can see, you can then gather and edit these images to create your own inspiration moodboard.  Product info (e.g. price, designer etc) appears when you hover over the items, so if you see something you like, you can easily track it down.  Aces.

Vintage & Beyond

Here is my entry for the 2012 Sew Direct competition ‘Vintage & Beyond’.  The challenge is to create a modern garment from a vintage pattern and to explain your inspiration.  The pattern I adapted is shown below.  Fingers crossed!

 

My Inspiration Explained….

A great deal of inspiration for this dress came from the City of Bristol where I live.  Bristol Harbour festival 2012 took place a couple of weeks ago.  The striped jersey fabric hints at this theme – a celebration of all things nautical!  Stripes still continue to have a strong fashion presence as they can be fun yet sophisticated at the same time.  The stripe colours also reminded me of the pastel coloured houses which Bristol is often remembered for.  Lastly, I wanted to make sure the dress is quite classic and chic, in the name of sustainable fashion.  I am happy that I have sewed a dress that can be worn again and again, without worrying that it is only a fashion fad!  To modernise the design further, I used a lightweight stretch knit for the main part of the dress which is great in terms of fit and comfort.

 

Photography by Shipshape&BristolFashion.

Quick and easy skirt shortening method

Over 900000 tons of shoes and clothes are thrown away in the UK each year.  I like to minimise my ‘landfill footprint’ as much as is fashionably possible by wearing vintage, taking old clothes and accessories to charity shops, attending/organising clothes swap parties and customising/refashioning items.  Transforming a garment which is considered un-wearabe or outdated into something fresh and fashionable is a great feeling.  Over time I will be sharing ways of upcycling various vintage items.  Tutorials will also be added to show how you can modernise old pieces from your wardrobe.  Here is a quick and easy way to shorten a cotton (or similar fabric) skirt or dress.  If there are any other fashion/textile processes that you would like to know more about, please comment below and I’ll create a How To just for you lucky reader!  Happy Sewing!

Here is the calf length skirt ready for shortening.

Try the item on and mark out the new desired length. You can use tailors chalk or my new favourite masking tape (it’s really easy to remove).

Happy with the new length? Go to next step…

Fold the skirt lengthways once, then twice (alter this depending on the skirt width).

Make sure that all the layers of the hem match up. Also, smooth out any creases in the layers.

Fold the hem up to about 3cm below the length mark (this 3cm for the new hem).

Cut the skirt next to the old hemline. This trim should be parallel as shown.

New skirt length (+3cm hem allowance).

Dampen the cotton fabric at them hem – it will stay in place better when ironed.

Iron and pin your hem. Fold the fabric over twice 1.5cm x 1.5cm. This needs to be really accurate so check it by measuring with a tape measure.

Set you machine to straight stitch.

Line up the hem fold with the inside corner of the foot as shown. Adjust your needle location (where possible) to the closest side. This will stitch just before the fold – concentrate on this as it’s tricky!

Press the hem.

Voila!

Fashion Forecasting Fall 2012.

www.style.com is a go-to guide for the direction of upcoming trends.  Colours, cuts, styles, and contextual references are all discussed and critiqued in a sophisticated and informative way.  There are also user friendly slideshows of the latest catwalk shows, with excellent coverage of any new Fashion events.  So very useful if you can’t make it to the shows.

The Fall collection by Moschino Cheap and Chic immediately caught my eye.  The prints of bright make-up pots against a grey background are so fun.  Where designers go, the high street tends to follow so it was pleasing to see themes developing that some of my new prints exemplify.  Am looking forward to this “kooky-cute”, slightly eccentric ‘Make up your life’ trend!

Fashion ‘heads-up’ – prints from Moschino Cheap and Chic.

Patchwork pastel pink lace dresses, part of the ‘Make up your life’ Moschino Cheap and Chic show.  As reported by the online home of Fashion: style.com.