I'm a fan of silent films (yes, even before The Artist became the year's big hit) and I'm also lucky enough to live in London where you can see these films as they are supposed to be shown - at a cinema with a live piano accompaniment.

The Prince Charles cinema, just around the corner from Leicester Square, is currently showing a silent film once a month and so on Thursday I went along with Andrew and our friends Rob and Jake to see The Cameraman - a Buster Keaton film from 1928.

Personally I don't think its one of his masterpieces but its interesting as it must be one of the first films to turn the camera on film itself as Keaton plays a street photographer trying to become a movie news cameraman. On the way he falls over quite a lot and gets the girl (and the cutest monkey in a sailor suit ever exploited for our entertainment).

It was also the first outing of a new blouse made from one of my Japanese Pattern books. The only translation I've been able to find for the book is the catchy "Lets begin to sewing the clothes, when we made decision of pattern".

I'm afraid the photos don't really show the blouse to its full advantage - but I think it shows our night to it's full extent!

It has a really cute sailor top effect - and next time I make it I will bring out that element a bit more.

And here I am eyeing up my next film - Nosferatu. The only problem is Andrew says he doesn't want to go and I think I'll be too scared to come home alone!

And finally, here I am channeling Jerry lee Lewis after the pianist had left.  If any of the Prince Charles ushers are out there - I did not really touch the piano!

One of my sewing New Years resolutions was to make an item out of every Japanese sewing book that I own. How hard can that be? Well, I hadn't realised I owned 12 of them - and that's not counting drafting magazines such as Cotton Time. The speed I make things there is now way I can make 12 things and still fit everything else in.

Well, out of those 12 book I have already made things from three of them

- the reversible top from Unique clothes anyway you wish

 - the heartbreak blouse from Simple Chic

 -the frankendress from Feminine Wardrobe an Simple Chic

So in my books I'm counting it that I have 9 left to make.

Here's the first - a draped front top from the book Kimono Remake.

Unfortunately its not my most successful project. This book is one of those where you draft the pattern yourself - and they only give instructions for one size.  It's also unusual in that it contains  patterns for recycling kimonos - so all the pattern pieces are below a certain width to take advantage of the strips of fabric from a kimono.

I did make a toile and when I couldn't get that over my head I remade it adding an extra centimetre to each of the body panel seams. This has still given a fit that is quite snug in the body but at the same time ill-fitting! Plus I think the fabric was a mistake - again it was just a cheapy from East Street market - and boy does it look cheap! 

I'm afraid its just iphone photos - therefore rubbish. Plus I can't smile and work a camera at the same time. On this front view you can see how badly it sits along the sides - various lumps and bumps become apparent.

The arms are a bit of a disaster too

I couldn't get the rolled hem on the fabric to sit flat  - the fabric is too thick.

All in all, not a great start.  Perhaps it would work in a thinner, drapier fabric - but I don't think it is for me.

Last year I was very disappointed to miss out on a place on a short course on Couture clothing at the Fashion and Textile Museum on Bermondsey Street (SE1, London). But they are running it again - and I booked my place today - hooray!

It's just a 1.5 hour session and billed as "A rare opportunity to view the ins and outs of couture construction. Participants will have the opportunity to examine the internal structure and sewing techniques of couture garments from Dior, Chanel and Balenciaga."
How amazing does that sound?!

If you are interested booking is here - http://www.ftmlondon.org/events/future_events/detail/?ID=243

I was very quiet just before Christmas even though I was sewing flat out.  I was making Christmas presents for my niece and nephew but didn't want to put anything on the site to spoil the surprise - not that my pre-school relatives are avid blog readers, but their mum (my lovely sister) would have seen.

Stupidly I then forgot to take some pictures of the finished items and even forgot to take some when they opened their presents. To be fair though, I think the remote control car and the talking horse were probably a little more (rightly) popular!

Well, today my sister sent me a lovely photo of my niece Evie wearing hers.

It's made from a design from "Patterns by Figgy's" called Franco and Fiona - here's their website 

www.figgyspatterns.com.  The dress is an asymmetric pinafore with contrasting fabric inserts which match the lining.  The flowery fabric is covered in butterflies and the buttons are in the shape of little cats. Evie does love her animals!

They have a whole new range since I bought this one - for slightly older girls - so Evie is going to be getting a few more of these over the years!

Doesn't she look cute though - you wouldn't believe she is keeping her poor mum and dad up all hours with behaviour that would make a sailor blush!

There was a brief couple of hours between finishing work for Christmas and going back again when I wasn't ill with a cough and cold. In that time I managed to make the Colette Ginger skirt. I know everyone has raved about this skirt but I wasn't prepared for quite how perfect it is.

Made from just over a metre of corduroy from East Street Market (£2 a metre) and created in next to no time - this is what we sew for.

It's perfect - the ideal shape for me. I've pretty much worn it non-stop since I made it - it's gone to work, it's gone shopping down Oxford Street, it's gone to the pub (The Roebuck on Great Dover Stret, SE1 if you must know) and it has been perfect for all purposes.

Action shots...

To paraphrase my favourite band, The Wedding Present - That was my favourite skirt you know. If you have no idea what I am talking about look them up now!

Day 2 (the final day) of the Creative Pattern course saw even more creativity from the Pattern Magic books.

The course was very much based on creating your own patterns from the drafting instructions given in the book. Most of the time it was like a technical drawing class rather than a sewing class – but these outfits are what the fashion editors would call “architectural” so you have to concentrate on the patterns – the sewing is then the easy bit.

Working on from last week’s class I drafted the sleeve pattern – nothing weird and wacky on this but good basic pattern drafting practice.

This was followed by an attempt at the crossover front top – I’ve always liked this pattern in the book.

Here’s how it looks on paper halfway through the process – it’s a real leap of faith that it is going to turn into anything resembling clothes!

And here is it made up in muslin. I only did the front so it’s just pinned to my top – but I think you can definitely make out the beginnings of a wearable item.

I can really recommend this class - it has really transformed the books for me. Previously, even though I had read through them several times, I just didn’t “get” it. Now I feel I have the confidence to attempt any of designs – no matter how complicated.

The instructor – Mons (Monisola Omotoso) was great. A wonderfully experienced designer and pattern cutter who has had her own lines selling to the likes of Paul Smith. She really got me to see the “science” of the drafting. She is running another weekend class in February 2012 at Morley College. If you live in London and have always wanted to attempt these books, I would say BOOK NOW!

What a fab weekend! Saturday saw the first day (of two) of a course I am doing at Morley College, near Waterloo in South London. The course is Creative Pattern Cutting and is based on the Pattern Magic book - the first one.

I love this book - and have it in both Japanese and English (not for completest reasons - I just bought the Japanese one before the English was available). That said, I have not made anything out of the books as they just seemed a bit too complicated - yes, even in English. They are not like the other Japanese pattern books I use - there is not Burda-style pattern pull-out. You are meant to draft your own patterns.

The course so far is great - I have drafted out two of the patterns from the book - but more importantly, I have started to understand the terms needed within the book and so I should be able to cope a little better at home with them.

My only small criticism would be the class size (12) and the class ability range. We started the lesson going around the table and talking about our experience and I got nervous when a number of the people there were semi-professional. However, the reality was very different and I found some of the people on the course unbelievably slow - a pain when everyone needs to move ahead together. That said, the course is an amazing £48 for the two days including all our materials (although not the book of course!).

These are the two projects I've gone through the process for - 

Bamboo shoot front top

Stage 1 - the unaltered front bodice

Stage 2 - Adding the new cutting lines

I've managed to miss a photo of the pattern cut out and spread to recreate the new pattern.

My finished pattern

The Deppari Shirt

I'm afraid I was getting into this so much I forgot to take any photos as I was going along!

My next step is to make these up in muslin - so I will post more photos then. I have another day on the course on Saturday coming - but I will try to use that to draft out more of the patterns to get more practice on that rather than sewing up the designs in fabrci - I can do that at home.

They are running a follow-up to the course in February - I'm already signed up!

Just a short post - but something I'm ridiculously pleased with - especially as it involved so little work as to not even count as a sewing project.

I didn't make the shirt or embroider the swallows. I bought the former from a second-hand shop (I think its a school uniform shirt for a teenager) and the birds are pre-made and bought as a set. They are called Clothes Plasters and I bought these from Liberty - but they are available in various places online.  They are supposed to be iron-on but mine fell off in their first wash so I've stitched them on.

Don't they give a little tattoo-style edge to a plain shirt?! I'm certainly not brave enough for a real tattoo so these are as close as I will ever get.

I have been on the receiving end of some very good luck recently when it comes to patterns.  I have won two competitions run by bloggers and took part in the Pattern Swap on Sew Weekly (www.sewweekly.com).

Here’s the stash:

This lovely vintage dress (Simplicity 4920) was from www.whatsupcupcakeblog.com

This great dress and apron (Simplicity 2535) is from http://curvespatternsandpins.blogspot.com.  Reana Louise who runs the blog made a great version of this which can be seen at http://curvespatternsandpins.blogspot.com/search/label/Simplicity%202535. I only hope my version of it will be half as good as hers.

The pattern swap was great – although swap is probably the wrong word as you sent a pattern to a different person that you received one from.  My parcel from Cassandra in Texas was fabulous – Vogue 8630, 2 packs of piping and a pack of buttons.  I’ve been looking out for some nice piping for ages as I’ve never used it but I’ve never seen packs like this at any of the shops I regularly go to.

So, that’s a whole lot of sewing to get through – as usual. I’m trying to do some clothes for my nieces and nephew for Xmas too. There just aren’t enough weekends left before the big day so I am starting to slightly panic!