Shelf-bust 101

Talk about dreams imitating life imitating art imitating Clueless (well actually it was more of a montage of Clueless, Pretty in Pink and Slipper & the Rose)... In a dream last night, Sarah was designing me the most perfect party frock. Actually she had about three on the go because I wasn't exactly sure what style I liked the most and had to see them all constructed & photographed before I could commit (typical!). All of the dresses had '50s shelf-bust features. And '80s extravagance. The dresses were made variously from polka-dot taffetta (sky-blue with black 5c piece sized spots, pink with black, black with white). So, the purpose of this post is to express my conscious & subconscious love of the shelf-bust feature. And to explain to Sarah exactly what it is - something I didn't quite manage over muesli this morning. I may have used the term "shelf-bra" & really that conjures up images of '90s hip-house bustiers & the like.

So Sarah, this is what I was getting at:

And this:

Note the awesome airguns the brunette in lemon is packin'. Airguns! When a dress inspires airguns you know it's what I like to call a "Party in a Dress".

So, reckon we can put up a shelf-bust or two in my wardrobe? Don't panic, I don't mean for the witness-dress, just as a summer building project.

Perhaps we can combine it with the Magyar Sleeve project.

Ohhh and a quick yogel of Magyar just informed me that by definition, Magyar, being a sleeve cut from the body of a garment is technically a batwing!

"Think big and your deeds will grow...

...Think that you can and you will, it's all in your state of mind."

(Mum's marathon mantra).

Note: Sarah's homework outfittery- lilac floral-print chiffon maxi dress (thrifted from the dress-up box - Osti perhaps?), with pin-tucking and Pin-Wheel Deeley Bopper headwear. Now, why don't I study in such outrageous get-ups?!!! Time to take it to the next level as Sarah herself would say. And does.

At least 5692* times a day!

*Mum's other favourite mantra, "I've asked you 5, 692 times!"

Most days I do find myself wondering, "What would Molly do?"

Meanwhile Andy is probably pondering, "Blaine... Now, is that a name or a major appliance?"

Just studying, designing, daydreaming the day away today. Major Blaine drain.

xg

The Little Red Witch *

From across the wild seas, a spellbinding songstress commissioned a "bat-crazy" dress for conjuring her stagecraft.

After much toile and trouble, a bell-winged dress manifested itself (with a little couture alchemy courtesy of my scarily talented soeur - aka Sarah B.).

As the songstress herself declared, "It's totally Stevie Nicks meets Kate Bush in the forrest" and "the red pops like corn!"

* Dress named for a childhood favourite fairytale by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite.

House Coat - Olga Munro

Silk House Coat, Sample for Olga Munro cira early 1930's
Kimono style house coat with shirring at the shoulders, embriodery on sleeves, front and back

Sleeve detail

Back Detail

Harlequin

Garment created by Sarah B.
Dress with fitted bodice with button decoration and press stud opening, peter pan collar, pleated skirt, and long sleeves with button decorated cuffs.

Ozmopolitian

Garment designed by Lady G and Sarah B, made by Sarah B.
Dress with fitted bodice with princess seam and sweetheart neckline, straight paneled calf length skirt, bustle overskirt with press stud opening in the back, short sleeves.

The Second Beginning

Sarah B:
For too long I have indulged in gourmet butter and Belgian chocolate and I was unable to fit into my special occasion clothes. I needed to find a perfect dress to wear to my friend’s wedding in two months. Having tried on about every size 18-20 dress at a Sydney department store, I found a silk dress that I could fit into with a pattern that was flattering on my unflattering silhouette; it was a shame that the fabric print looked like a cat had thrown up on it. In spite of the vomitous print, and exorbitant personal-loan-worthy price-tag, it was the most passable garment. What was I to do?

My sister and I had bought a sewing machine a couple months earlier and we made some curtains. Great, I could sew a straight line. My sister being a crafty and creative being rang up an easy vogue shift dress. The dress was very wearable after a strategic bow was placed on the neckline as the fit was a little too low. So instead of my chucking a fitting room tantrum, I made my sister come to the fitting room with me. With the aid of her trusty notepad and we started to jot down notes about the cut of the dress. The dress pattern had an empire line style with cross over v-neckline and darts at the centre of the bust and a band under the bust which continued to waistline but had a skirt that was semi-fitted to calf length. We make a basic drawing of the front and back of the dress, noting that the band under the bust had an extra material sewn in so that it sat flat.

Later that week I went to spotlight to trawl through the pattern books to see if I could something similar. After half a hour I found a Simplicity pattern that had a similar bodice but with a shorter skirt.

The next step was to find material that would be suitable. Of course I could not use silk, being my first dress and all. Even the material at spotlight was too good (and exy) for my first sewing attempt. So off to Campsie. I regularly shopped at Campsie at the fantastic butcher and fruit and vege shops (but that is another blog - don't get me started about the dumplings or the gelato from croydon park) but had not ventured up to the fabric shops which you could see from the next block had bargain $2/m fabric. That was what I needed. I didn't want to feel as if I couldn't make a mistake.

So with super cheap material for a toile and some polyester with a silk chiffon look I was ready to start cutting out the pattern and sewing.

The first attempt at the toile did not look promising as there were major problems with the waistline and bust. The 'cat vomit' dress, as we charmingly dubbed it, was starting to look okay.

Then I found in one of my mother’s Tupperware boxes that still had dust on it from the 1980’s a sewing treasure chest - tapemeasures, press studs, buttons, old zippers and something that looked like a belt. It wasn’t a belt but a stay for a dress with a label already sewn on.

The label was for Olga Munro, 119 King St, Sydney.

This was the Sewing Gods and our Munro clan residing ''upstairs' telling me to keep going.
So 3 toiles later and 5 types of sleeves, I finally had a pattern that fitted and was ready to start sewing the dress. Then the new headache.

Advice: Novice sewers should not start sewing with chiffon...

I choose the material based on colour (dark peacock blue) and thought that it had a lovely drape. The chiffon and lining material were very slippery and had lots of shear so were very difficult materials to work with. Needless to say, I learnt about basting pretty fast as even the pinned seams moved too much. I had to baste everything with rather small running stitich that needed to be joined with permanent stitches.

So 3 days before the wedding I was basting the invisible zip. Of course I chose not to use a normal zip with had detailed instructions on the simplicity pattern. The instructions on the invisible zip were very cryptic for a first time user so thank god for youtube video instructions.

The dress was worn to the wedding. It fitted, it was in a colour that I loved and didn’t look like it was made by a novice. I had a wonderful time and the seams didn't split even after hours of dancing.