Malphi: Frills, Frocks & Fancies!

Reversible Apron...

This is a new apron I've recently finished.  It's reversible...

And the other side...

And I have some new models...this is Erin.  Beautifully photogenic and wears everything so well...what more could I ask!

This is how her apron started off...

I bought the old table cloth from a charity sale at a hospice.  It's wonderfully inspirational and provides endless possibilities with all the little pieces.  The first cut is always the hardest but since it was already torn in places it was asking for it!  I finished the first side of the apron with a gathered strip of black fabric.

And then just cut out a similar shape from some silk dupion and hand stitched that to the back along with the ties. 

I finished the seam off with lace threaded with some embroidery thread.  Here's Koko posing in the dupion side...

She asked to model the other side too....oh my girls are good workers!

New Malphi Flickr Photo Group!

I've loved seeing photos of fellow Verity Hope Dress gals pictured in their new dresses and aprons swirling around a meadow or doing a spot of pruning in the garden!  So thought it was high time I set up a Flickr photo  share group to give anyone who wishes, the chance to show off their swirling power in their own Verity Hope dress or apron.  It can be one you've made from the sewing kits (which by the way are still winning in the poll!) or one you've bought ready made, either way, we'd LOVE to see a photo!  Swirl around and have fun!  

There are two Flickr badges. Click the one that says Malphi's Dresses and Aprons flickr badge in the side bar to join the group!

Here's someone I know rather well doing a jolly good swirl!  Visit her blog here: PEACHYHOLLOW

Thank you for your vote!!!

A big THANK YOU!! to everyone casting a vote in the poll about whether I should do the Verity Hope Dress and Bloomers as Sewing Kits or Ready to Wear.  So far the Sewing Kits route is winning. The kits have been ever so popular but I just kept thinking I was excluding the gals who didn't sew.  I love the dress/bloomers so much and just want to share it in the most useful way.  Your opinions are really helping so I'll keep the poll going for a while longer so anyone else can have a chance to vote...THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!....and Pollydixie says thank you too!!

Bessie...Bride to Be Apron

I haven't done an apron in ages!  I've been so busy making dresses and who knows what else I'd forgotten how much I'd enjoyed making aprons!  Just fiddling around with no set plan or idea of how something is going to turn out.  That was the beauty of it...the unknown and just letting it develop by itself and seeing what I end up with at the end.  I've been behind my machine so much lately but sewing like a production line and as a result have lost the original inspiration and spark that drove me at the beginning.  So now I'm going to concentrate on aprons again!!  I love aprons!!! there's something so homely and classic and nostalgic about them...I do absolutely love the Verity Hope Dress and have enough for the time being, but they're almost at the end of their colour runs and think for the next few months will cut down on production and after that just keep them to a very limited quantity (either as kits or ready to wear??) and just in one colour at a time.  That will free me up to be creative again...Aaah...I feel much better already!

I call this apron Bessie...Bride to Be Apron because I think if an apron were a wedding dress (or the other way round?) then it would look something like this...

Well maybe that's stretching the imagination a bit but that was kind of the thinking behind it.  Anyway, It's very frilly and full of ruffles which is always pleasing.  I put a pin behind the corsage so it can be taken off before washing...has to be a little bit practical at least!

Oh and here's the back...

So it's aprons ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!!!

Miss No Name...

I still haven't quite finished her yet but she's very smiley all the same...

I rushed her outfit a bit and want to give it more detail...and of course give her a name?  The basis is there and I'm pleased with her little apron but there's just something missing....all in good time.

The Sandy Ones...

The next dolls had the same pattern as before but I wanted to add some weight to them.  I was living out in India at the time and right by a beach so experimented by using sand (steralized first of course!) and filled their bodies using a funnel.  It helped Malphi and Athalie to sit nicely...

Although not so well on the floor...

I had to use simple bead jointing with them because of the sand filling.

I didn't use a pattern this time for the clothing.  I just made some simple Pants for Malphi and a funny sort of apron thing over the top.  Not sure gender he/she wishes to be?

What do you think? Probably a she...

Athalie is definitely a girl. For her clothing I cut up a piece of patchwork I'd made by hand from scraps years ago and then re-stitched them so the patches would be more in scale.

I think she's pleased with her outfit...

World Wide Web Search Party...

This is the next trio of dolls I made...Winifred, Milicent and Eliza

I am more than a little sad when I write this because a few years back I sold Winifred and Milicent and have regretted it ever since!  Winifred was so sweet and she was my favourite...

And little Milicent is sitting so beautifully for the picture...

Anyway, I'm not gong to dwell on it because it's done and in the past...BUT I'M SENDING OUT A WORLD WIDE WEB SEARCH PARTY in case anyone knows of their whereabouts!!  Who knows maybe one day we'll be reunited again.  They both went to same person so at least they're together and I'm sure they're enjoying their happy new home.  What made me do it!!!

Fortunately I still have Eliza...

As you can see I'm now using sheepskin pieces for the hair.  I like it much better, it gives them much more character.  I also took the bodies on one step further and used bead jointing.  Winifred's knees and elbows have simple bead joints.  The beads are placed over the limbs which has been stitched around and around underneath to create the bend...

And Eliza and Milicent's are more sophisticated.  The legs are made in two pieces and then joined to the bead seperatly at top and bottom.  It creates a much cleaner motion.  Their elbows also have the same joint structure...

I make all the shoes by drawing the pattern shape on to sticky back foam sheeting.  Then place the fabric onto the sticky side to hold it in place and finish the edges off by tucking them inside and stitching around by hand.  It's a great way to make a solid shoe that can be taken on and off easily and maintains it's shape well.

Some of my first cloth doll creations...

These doll have all been inspired by a wonderful cloth doll maker called Barbara Willis.  She does the most amazing designs.  I used her pattern for the doll bodies and some of the clothing.

I was experimenting with casting and made a silicone mold from a vintage doll.  Had to take the hair out of the poor doll head, kind of regretting that now as I write so maybe I might just have to re-root her.  Anyway, I then cast some heads from the mold using polyurethane foam.  It's lighter than resin but still goes in to all the nooks and crannies to bring out the features.  Very messy to work with but very rewarding.  I then covered the cast with cotton fabric.  This was my first doll I completed, she's called Elspeth...

As I'm not a natural artist at all, I used some cut out eyes from a magazine and covered them with a silicone glue coating to bring out a glaze on them.  It's not actually a terribly pretty result as she looks a little cross but not bad for first effort.

These were my next three dolls...Meredith, Martha and Eloise.

This time I had a go at painting on the eyes.  I'm not a natural artist at all so kept it simple as you can see on Martha.

I also used felt to cover the face instead of cotton fabric.  It brought out the features a lot more.  I used a Barbara Willis pattern for the clothing.

Barbara generally uses mohair for her doll hair but I experimented with acrylic as shown off here by Meredith.

This outfit on Eloise is one of my favourites...

Website Launched !!!

Malphi:Rustic Chic

At long last and after many many months I'm pleased to announce that the Malphi website is now up and running!! Please come and visit:

www.malphistyle.com

Introducing Dana Ashley Dress!

Here's my new dress...Dana Ashley Dress!  I'm concentrating on ready to wear at the moment but haven't ruled out continuing with the kits completely yet.  I just wanted to try both and see how they go.  The sewing kits have been so overwhelmingly popular but as it's still early stages I haven't made the decision yet as to which route to go down....Mmm difficult to decide....any preferences?

It's based on the Verity Hope Dress and will soon be available in the seven sizes.

It has a glamorous feel and is great with Jeans.

And for strolling through Poppy fields!

'That we find a crystal or a poppy beautiful means that we are less alone, that we are more deeply inserted into existence than the course of a single life would leave us to believe.'
John Berger

I also put on the brown Verity Hope Dress. 

Can't resist those poppies!

Positively Impractical Feather Duster!

Who needs practical things just to be practical...when they can be totally impractical!

I think this is perfect for swishing through all the fairy dust in the air...and it will still keep pretty!

It's found in Serendity.  

I love half dolls, they come in so many varieties and I would like to use them more often. 

www.malphistyle.com

New Wrap Top

I have great plans in store for future projects.  One of them is to make the Verity Hope Dress with cap sleeves, but that probably won't be until next spring.  To sooth some of my impulse I killed two birds with one stone and made a linen wrap top with the cap sleeves.  The gingham wrap tops have been so successful and I couldn't wait to add tops to the range. 

I'm on the look out for some really special gingham...have great plans for next spring when I find what I'm after!

And I'll be adding all seven sizes eventually.  www.malphistyle.com

Frilly Cream Parasol

I have a fairly large collection of fabric flowers at home and am always dying to use them, so when my eye cast over this vintage Frilly Cream Parasol I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! 

I spent a happy (but very wet!) Sunday afternoon embellishing the parasol with the flowers and ribbon and lace.  To top it off 'The Sound of Music' was on so what more could I ask!  I must know almost every line of that film and it always gets me in a creative mood.

I added little glass beads and sequins to the centres of the flowers and threaded some dusky pink ribbon through the lace. 

To finish the centre off, I sewed beads on to part of a vintage piece of linen and then tea stained it. 

Makes me want to take off to the sky!!

It's available from the SERENDIPITY section.

www.malphistyle.com

Meggie Ellen Apron and Sewing Kit.

Here's my newest apron...Meggie Ellen Apron.  It's a very similar shape to this one that I made from shapes naturally formed from an old remnant I had.  It turned out better than I'd anticipated so I cut myself a proper pattern and added it to the Malphi: Rustic Chic range.  

This apron is also available as a Sewing Kit. It's ideal for beginners because all the pieces are pre-cut and ready to sew by machine or hand.

Again, they're made from a soft blend of 55% linen and 45% cotton. 
Underneath, I'm wearing my white Verity Hope Dress.  If I can obtain the fabric in a big enough quantity, I'll make it available since I've had lots of requests for it.

Darcey Mae Apron

I think this is one of my favourite aprons.  It's the same as the Truly Scrumptious I made a few months ago.

Available from www.malphistyle.com.  I decided to keep it all one colour because I think the many different sections already provide enough 'fancies' and I didn't want it to look too broken up.  It's inspired by the traditional 1940s homemaker/hostess aprons.  I've added six darts in the top and bottom to give it a nice shapely look and it ties up around both neck and waist for easy size adjustment.  Here's some detail:

I'm planning to add more colours sometime in the future.
www.malphistyle.com

New Dresses Out Now!

I couldn't wait any longer!  So I've made some of the new Verity Hope Dresses with satin trim available from the Etsy Shop.

Here's a peak...

Bloomers of fun !!

"You can call her an outdoor girl if she has the bloom of youth on her cheeks and the cheeks of youth in her bloomers!!"

Red Silk Dupion Dress

This is the second of the raw silk dresses I had made in India.



I definitely plan to do some more dresses in silk.

Navy Gingham Wrap Top

This top is slightly too big for me but I like the colour.  It's navy.

Pink Gingham Wrap Top

Here's another top...

This wrap top is powdery pink gingham.  I had it stitched in India along with some dresses. 

Time For a Top!

This is a wrap top made from the same pattern as the Verity Hope Dress. 



I love checked prints and this is my version of a traditional shirt.  It's never in the way and goes well with jeans.



This top is identical to the one I made in 2006 when I was starting to experiment with ideas.  Small difference is that this latest version has been finished off with navy satin bias-binding.



And here it is on a fuller figure finished off with red edging.

Red Gingham Top

I'm planning more tops in the future as the gingham ones have been such a success.  This red gingham one is a favorite of mine...



Think BJ is getting rather excited by the piece of string dangling down.  A tickle on the scruff does the trick...



Barnaby Jonathan has just turned 18 this month.  He's now old enough to vote!!

Preview...

Here's a preview of www.malphistyle.com...

Bluebells...

It's bluebell time in the woods so what better apron to wear than a Flower Pickin' Pinny!

The bluebell season is so short I missed it last year. 

This is one of my favourite aprons.  It's made from a linen/viscose mix fabric which has a nice swingy weight to it and texture.

I tea-stained the lace at the bottom as it was a bit bright in order to make it blend better with the coffee ribbon which I threaded through the lace.

And of course we didn't pick any of the bluebells!

Going green...

My next wrap dress is made from corduroy.  I bought a couple of metres of it from a craft exhibition in London about six months ago and fell in love with it instantly.

Here's a close up...

Like my other recent wrap dresses, I also had this one made up in India. 

Underneath I'm wearing a net petticoat.  I bought some vintage lace from a small shop near to where I live and already had some matching cream netting so the two went together perfectly.  I didn't have a pattern so simply cut around a strappy sun top for the shape and size and then extended the skirt out in an A-line.  The frill is doubled to add extra fullness.

Perfect dress for a walk through the woods....

"The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration."
Claude Monet

Mother and daughter...

This wrap dress that I had made up in India fits my Mother so beautifully I asked her to model it.

The placement of the darts (as in all the Verity Hope wrap dresses) produces a truly flattering shape.

The fabric is cotton but also has a very small amount of lycra in it.  I love the tiny red flowers against the custard yellow.

I tried the dress on, but as you can see it definitely looks better on a fuller figure!

Here it is on me from the back...

Pink gingham

I'd had these dress pieces lying around for absolutely ages.  I'd cut them out about eighteen months ago to sell as kits but had become side tracked with other projects.  I've been sewing so much myself lately (on my new industrial Bernina 950!) so a trip to beloved India provided the perfect opportunity to have them made up by the marvelous local tailors I know.

I had four dresses made up in two different sizes.  The fabric is a pink cotton/poly gingham and has a nice weighty swing to it.

There's something about gingham, especially pink gingham...one is never too old to play!!

The kingfisher silk route...

I've recently come back from India and couldn't resist getting some of my wrap dresses made up while I was out there.  The local Indian Tailors I know are amazing.  They don't use patterns, instead they chalk the design straight onto the fabric. 

This is a wrap dress I had made out of silk dupion.  They have so many stunning colours to choose from and this shimmering kingfisher blue caught my eye...

I absolutely adore the colours raw silk comes in and if it were machine washable I'd use it all the time...but hey,what's a bit of dry cleaning once in a while!

I also have this dress made up in a deep red dupion which I'll show off at a later date.

"Oh! roses and lilies are fair to see, but the wild bluebell is the flower for me."
Louisa A. Meredith.

Ready to Wear...Coming soon!

Coming Soon! 

Ready to wear Verity Hope dresses, Pantaloons and Aprons!! 

Watch this space!

Oh, and these little friends below just wanted to say hi!

A day out for Raggedy Ann

This apron is made from one of the Linens I bought on my shopping spree.  I had had my eye on it for ages and also have it in blue.  I liked the textured stitching.  The apron is a straight forward rectangle, gathered onto a waistband.  Sometimes I just like making a really simple quick apron body so I can put the time into the embellishment.  (Made Raggedy Ann over Christmas from an old McCall's Pattern and she wanted to come).

For the pocket I used an already embroidered old napkin from the Charity sale I go to at the Hospice.  I liked the design but the colours were a little pale so I enhanced it with my own simply embriodery in much brighter colours.  Finally I added some simple stitches to the top and bottom of the apron to bring it all together...

Here's Raggedy Ann...

Angelica Trudy Apron

New styles for a new season!  These are my newest aprons on Etsy.  The Angelica Trudy Apron.

Chocolate with sky blue satin bias-binding

Rose with olive satin bias-binding...

And Atlantic with dark wine bias-binding...

Check them out at: www.malphistyle.com

Utility Apron

I love rustic looking fabrics, that have weight and look durable so had a bit of a shopping spree a couple of weeks ago.  I bought some heavy woven cotton scrim in a natural neutral colour, some hessian (something I've wanted to work with for ages!),  a few more linens and some embroidered cottons.  All for various projects looming in my head.  This is the apron I made from the scrim, I was inspired by an article from the Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences published in 1923. 

It's simply a long rectangle with the bottom folded up to make the pouch.  I secured it with a button I bought in India made from coconut. 

I made two long drawstrings and threaded them through and around the button hole.   The apron stuffs inside itself...voila!

So looking forward to the Spring now!

Molly Amelia Pinny

This Pinny is available as a sewing kit on Etsy.  It's an ideal starter kit for beginners and a great way to learn and get into dressmaking.

It's based on my Flower Pickin' Pinny except that it's cut on the bias to give it a nice swingy feel and of course has huge floppy pockets!   It's available in three sizes: XS-S, M-L and L-XL and being loose fitting, should accommodate most body shapes and sizes.

More colours will be added over the spring.