What IS the Collective Noun for a Group of Sewists?

... a spool? A bobbin? A bolt? A stitch? Who knows? These were the questions that were pondered on Saturday when a group of us sewing enthusiasts legged it over to Greenwich for sewing and cocktails at Clare Sew Dixie Lou's house. 

Well, it was really all cocktails, and no actual sewing . It started in a civilised manner, like this:

Clare and Emmie in the kitchen

 But soon it turned into this:

Clare, you rock SO HARD!

Yup, it deteriorated into a bunch of terribly well-dressed women (and a couple of guys!) jumping around to Stevie Nicks and R Kelly, while drinking margarita's and eating cheese and pineapple. I was too busy laughing and dancing to take many photos, but suffice to say everyone was dressed impeccably in their own creations. We had cowgirls from Roisin, fab flowers from Rehanon, nautical and denim from Jo, tie dye from Fiona, polka dots from Ali, houndstooth from Emmie, and a slinky cut away shoulder affair from Sally. There was even a visitor all the way from Oz, in the shape of Amy from Sewamysew, in her vintage polka dots. And Clare herself was modelling a creation made from vintage curtain fabric!

I decided to debut my Franken-patterened Gypsy dress made from a 90's(?) gypsy top:

 ...stuck on to the skirt of this 1950's Butterick shirt dress:

A few tweaks here and there - I left off the front button placket, pleated the top to match the skirt darts at the waistband, added a zip at the side - and TA-DAA - you have the Hot Tamale Dress! (Mr Needles named it...):

The striped fabric was something I acquired during the swap at the Spring London blogger meet up. And to reinforce the sewing sisterhood link, I found out the donor of the striped fabric was the lovely Fiona from Diary of a Chain Stitcher, who recognised it at the cocktail soiree. I was so happy to be able to thank her, because I love this dress!

A few details:

A close up of the ruffle around the neck/shoulders:

The skirt has a lapped split at the back, finished with a little arrowhead at the top:

 And I lined it all with a lightweight polyester, which I also used to bind the hem:
 

Anyway, back to the question posed at the beginning of the blog - it was decided that a collection of sewists is a 'spool'! And I couldn't be happier to be a spool-ette - I was laughing and smiling so hard that my face hurt! I can't really remember why I started blogging about sewing - as a diary of my projects? - but I never thought I would get so much back, in the form of knowledge and new friends. 




So here's to all the Spoolette's out there, and I'll see you soon!

Butterick 2907 meets Sid Vicious

How do you get from this nice, mid 60's raglan sleeve dress:

'Can I help you?'

To this punk inspired party number:

'Are you wasting my time'

This view looks like a superhero outfit

Close up of the zip sleeve detail

Words failed me when I tried to explain my inspiration, so see if you can figure it out from these photos -

Sid Vicious. I've been waiting for an opportunity to wear one of these belts since I was 13 years old.

Zandra Rhodes punk inspired collection from the 1970's.

Catherine Deneuve in 'The Hunger' - I've always loved the 40's as filtered through the 70's.

Jean Brooks in 'The 7th Victim' (1943) - creepy horror about Satanists in New York. They use a beauty parlour as a front for their evil activities!

Anya Phillips - manager of the Mudd Club. Classic sexy punk.

Debbie Harry in Stephen Sprouse

John Willie's 'Bizarre' Magazine - kinky stuff, but some brilliantly sexy images.

I made this dress specifically for the annual explosion of alcohol fuelled frustration known as my work Christmas Party. It started off civilised enough, but after a few hours of free prosecco, soaked up with a couple of canapes, scenes like this were commonplace:

Trying to pretend I'm a model in 'Bizarre' Magazine

'Not more dancing on tables, I already had my turn! Oh, alright - since you insist'

And yes, those are latex stockings in the 2 photos above - well, you only live once, and hey, it was Christmas! And now I'm probably going to end up with all sorts of weird search words on my blog stats ......