The Sewing Room

Inspired by Japanese Origami this little woollen jacket and knitted panelled dress is so nice to wear.

Ori meaning “folding”, and kami meaning “paper” is the traditional Japanese folk art of paper folding, which started in the mid-1900s and has evolved into a modern art form. The goal of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. I substituted paper for fabric; this jacket is more folding and pinning, with minimal sewing and is lined by doing the same thing with a Japanese cotton fabric and bagging the two out.

Origami cranes and flowers have been traditional gifts of friendship and love for thousands of years. Over those years, certain colours have come to carry certain meanings. I have used Orange and Green in Japanese origami orange symbolise enthusiasm and energy and green is the traditional colour of healing – it represents living things growing healthily and with strength. It’s the colour of harmony and finding balance.

The fabric used is knitted boiled wool from Tessuti in Victoria Road Chatswood and the jacket is lined with a gorgeous sage green Japanese cotton print. I can’t remember were I bought the buttons but their beautiful and made from coconut shell.

This dress is another vintage pattern that I have modified. You could make the dress or just the jacket at the Sewing Room. Come along to a sewing class call me on 9360 0585 or send me an email penelopeleonard@thesewingroom.com.au.

Isn’t Jamilah just gorgeous in this little wool appliquéd dress? I dragged her out side in the drizzling rain to take this photo and true to her gorgeous nature she simply smiled.

 This simple dress is made from a piece of woollen fabric I picked up in St Vincent de Paul shop at Northbridge; it was quit old as the measurements on the remnant tag were in inches and there were a few moths holes I had to cut around.

I am ‘The Green Queen’. I love to recycle and reuse where ever I can. I find St Vincent de Paul a great place to pick up embroidery threads, knitting needle, beads, old dollies, woollen blankets (remind me to tell you about these later) and preloved clothes ready to transform into something wonderful and new in my wardrobe.

The appliqué is all 100% wool woven or felted fabric and was attached to the dress with double sided fussing before I embroidered around the leaves and  flowers with a little help from my Mum, the Embroidery Queen.

Well this transformation will be added to Jamilah’s wardrobe shortly. Sew join us at the Sewing Room to make your previous wee borns (translation: little children, my sister in law from Scotland has been stay with us for a few weeks and I had to throw in one of her expressions) a new outfit they will love because you have toiled over it especially for them. They will wear it with pride and tell everyone, “My Mum made this for me”. As I type this I can hear myself as a child saying the same thing when I wore one of the amazing creations my Mum made me.

You have probably noticed by now that I have a passion for ethnic embroidered clothing. If you see me swanning around Surry Hills you will often see me wearing a highly colourful Mexican dress covered in embroidery. I have been collecting pieces from all around the world for many years. Some can be worn and others don the walls of my home. Recently I was given an amazing Indian rug by a gorgeous friend and very clever lady I have worked with for many years in education.

This dress is inspired by that Bollywood style packed with patchwork prints, ethnic embroideries, applied sequins, mosaics, jewels and Indian pearls. This  folk couture with sari-inspired gold and silver decorations, pompoms and braiding in loud colours, tie-dye muslin and kitsch charm is a source of so much inspiration that my wonderful Mum and I collaborated on this beautiful project of appliqué, embroidery and beading.

The fabric used is a black 100% wool woven fabric from Tessuti in Commonwealth Street Surry Hills. This dress is cut from a vintage pattern, my Mother made when she was bridesmaid for her best friend Jane Pound in 1965 before I was born. I love the pattern and have worn the actual dress to a friend’s wedding myself. I have modified it slightly for my figure type as Mum is a little more petite than I am.

It took me a while to work out the design with drawings and watercolour impressions of the motifs I wanted to use. The fun part is selecting the embroidery thread and beads and evens some crystals and diamantes for a touch of sparkle at night.

The appliqué is all 100% wool woven or felted fabric and was attached to the dress with double sided fussing before the Embroidery Queen transformed this simple dress into a divine master piece.

My Mum is the Embroidery Queen as a school girl her embroidery travelled around the state on exhibition and today she still transforms cloths into works of art.

Come along to ‘Introduction to Embroidery and Beading Class’ or a sewing class to make this Vintage dress. Contact me on 9360 0585 or send an email to penelopeleonard@thesewingroom.com.au for when the next class will be scheduled.

Lana sewed this gorgeous new creation on Saturday at The Sewing Room and she did such a great job.

We had a great time appliqueing a wise old owl on a cool T-shirt. Using simple techniques for a fantastic effect. We cut, sewed and appliqued our way to a fabulously cute new t-shirt.  And it was loads of fun.

Ali can’t wait to wear her t-shirt out to a party on Saturday evening and she looked a pretty as a picture. Well done Ali.

I love the sixties. This dress is inspired by the dresses worn around 1968. The style is pure Jackie Kennedy. I found this divine fabric on one of my many fabric shops adventurous from Tessuti in Commonwealth Street Surry Hills. It is called Blumarine Check and is a 100% wool woven fabric construction. The bead trim around the neckline and hemline is from my stash of remnants.

The beads are all stitched to cotton tape and you attach them the same way you would insert a piping. This dress is cut from a vintage pattern that I have modified slightly.

Jackie Kennedy set the Fashion trend for sleeveless dresses when they were unheard of. The 1960s opened up a world of opportunity, women were bold enough to wear shifts out in public. With matching bright stockings, no less! I think I will need to find some bright pink or orange stockings for this one. The look was bold, daring and adventurous – how 60’s I love it.

So you too can get lost in the 60’s and make your own Jackie Kennedy sleeveless A-lined at the Sewing Room. Come along to ‘Sew a Simple Shift Dress’ sewing class call me on 9360 0585 or send me an email penelopeleonard@thesewingroom.com.au for when the next class will be scheduled.

It was a fun and relaxed environment at The Sewing Room @ The Fashion & Textile Gallery on Saturday, we embroidered the day away at this weekend workshop teaching a lovely group of ladies some introductory embroidery stitches and beading techniques.

Surrounded by The Darnell Collection’s Wool Exhibition we were inspired to create a beautiful samplers using running stitch, whipped running stitch, back stitch, stem stitch, couching stitch, chain stitch, satin stitch and fish bone stitch. This was just a taster to the potential of these techniques as we looked at their use in contemporary fashion. We embellished our work with single and chain beads

Sue working on embellishing a piece of French toile that could be used in an exciting creative project at a later date, for example as a insert into a shirt or into a gorgeous bag. She did such a beautiful piece focusing on a little man in the pattern.

Lia  proved that being left handed is no barrier to being able to embroider, her work so delicate with tiny stitches all perfect in size, shape and form.

It was a day filled with stitching and chatting, thank you ladies for a lovely day.

It has been a very exciting week at the Fashion and Textile Gallery with the opening on Tuesday 9^th March of our History of Wool Exhibition.

The exhibition explores the progression of wool from a functional fibre in the 19th century to its emergence on the fashion stage as a luxury commodity utilized by some of the world’s most prominent designers, Christian Dior, Michelle Jank, Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson, Thierry Mugler and Vivien Chan Shaw

From a Victorian bathing costume to a 1960s Dior suit to the 2009 Supreme Wool Award winning evening gown from the Australian Wool Fashion Awards (TAWFdA).

The Faashion and Textile Gallery is an educational facility for emerging designers, dressmaking enthusiasts and an inspiring venue for anyone interested in fashion and fashion history.

Exhibition venue: Fashion and Textile Gallery
8 Hill Street, Level 7, Surry Hills
Dates: 9th March – 8th May
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 11am – 3pm
CLOSED THURSDAY (or by appointment)
Admission: $5 adults, $3 concession

The Dreaming of Dior exhibition draws to a close as did the Grant Cowan Fashion Illustration workshop on the weekend. Grant Cowan is the illustrator of HarperCollins Book ‘Dreaming of Dior’ by Charlotte Smith. His class was an intense one day drawing workshop using the garments from the exhibition as inspiration.

Grant’s one day workshop looks at the basic skill of producing fashion illustrations.Grant teaches his students to visually communicate the fashion figure in a simple pose and silhouettes in basic artistic media.

The day was divided into three parts, firstly an introduction into fashion drawing as a form of communication and brief introduction from Grant Cowan and his experience as a Fashion Illustrator. How fashion drawing is used to communicate within the fashion industry

Then students are instructed on how to develop their own female fashion figure. Grant will discuss the difference between the human body vs. fashion figure through the anatomy of the human body and its relation to a fashion illustration, anatomical study and observational sketching.

 With the final part of the day focusing on experimentation with a range of basic artistic media techniques to represent silhouette and texture with the use of tone, variation of line and shape to create a image that looks 3-D. Also simple techniques to create design details such as the texture of lace, feathers and embellishment was touched upon.

It was sad to see our first exhibition come down. But very exciting to know that there is another on it’s way with the ‘Wool in Fashion’ opening on the 9^th March 2010.

You will be pleased to know Grant will be given more Illustration Classes in the future at the Sewing Room. Contact me on 9360 0585 or via email on penelopeleonard@thesewingroom.com.au if you would like to enrol in one of his future workshops or short course.