Malphi: Frills, Frocks & Fancies!

Sisters..!

I go through phases when I just can't stop at making ONE...I get into a production style mode and have to make duplicates.  I suppose on this occasion I was using the rest of the table cloth from before and it seemed a waste not to use up every last piece.  Nice to share wearing them.

Using a high waistband again, I then attached the lacy frill on the front, which was also once a table cloth.

Really pleased with the result, these are amongst my favourite aprons.

"Our roots say we're sisters, our hearts say we're friends"~Author Unknown

A summer's day...

This is the Verity Hope Dress in brown, worn with a petticoat underneath...

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time"~John Lubbock

Singer treadle machine...

I'm more of a hand-crank sort of girl...but even so, to have an old treadle machine in one's possession is a very pleasing situation to be in.  They just look so beautiful.

My mother surprised me with this one.  I really wanted a treadle machine, but for reasons I can't remember, I wasn't able to go to the charity sale that was coming up which at the time, was the best bet of finding one.  My mother went along by herself.  I couldn't believe it when I got back home!

Apple Pickin'...

I started making this apron a while back and then got side tracked onto something else so put it away in a cupboard and forgot about it.

I love it when a half completed project is rediscovered!

I was in the mood for curling up in a chair and doing a bit of hand sewing so I finished off the pockets by hand and spent a cosy evening sewing all the flowers on. 

Glad now, that I left the apron for a while in the cupboard.  I often find my best inspirations come when I've gone back to finishing something.

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see"~John Burroughs

Zither days...

I made this apron from a old linen table cloth and place mat.  I didn't have a plan in my head as to how I wanted it to turn out, it just sort of evolved in the making like most of my projects.! 

First I folded the cloth into four to make a triangle and cut the pointed end off.  This gave me a nice curved edge to fit neatly around the waist, as well as providing a large piece to make the waistbands with.  I then cut along the sides of the triangle to end up with four pieces. The pocket was made from the place mat which I cut in half and embellished with small red floral appliques.

Finally I finished the hem off with some broderie anglaise frill trimming I had lying around in my scraps basket. 

The second apron is very similar to this one except for the finishing touches.  It's waiting patiently in my cupboard for inspiration to strike!

Frister and Rossmann...

This is a super machine!  An early vibrating shuttle I bought on Ebay for an amazing price.

It's so smooth in motion and came with spare bobbins, attachments and instruction books.  All I had to do was fiddle around a bit to get the tension just right again.  I love it I could eat it!

Frister and Rossmann are a German manufacturer and Vickers sewing machines were based on them.

I'm still so at one using my beloved Vickers machine but I'm sure it will understand if I stray a little!

Flower Pickin' Pinny

This Pinny is now available to buy as a kit from Malphi's Etsy shop.

My Flower Pickin' Pinny is inspired by the long sleek aprons of the 1940's.  I love the way It can be thrown over whatever one is wearing. 

This is the first one for the "Ready to Sew" kits.  It's made from embroidered linen in a cream colour.

I love the texture of the embroidery...

Makes me feel I'm in another world..!

I made a few experimental ones to try out the sizes and general look and feel.  The middle Pinny is the one I decided on for the kits and is worn in the photo above.

It's a very easy pinafore to make and is finished off with satin bias-binding around the edges and embellished with little flowers.  Here's the back...

Like with all the dressmaking kits, all trimmings and fabric pieces are pre-cut and ready to sew with easy to follow instructions.  This one is ideal for beginners and comes in small, medium and large.

Pantaloons..!

These Pantaloons are now available to buy as a kit from Malphi's Etsy shop.

Adding pantaloons to my dress gave my wardrobe a whole new dimension.  They're not an obvious garment to wear, but now I've made some, I don't know how I ever did without them!  I created a slimmer modern cut, worn low on the waist and added some lace and ribbon at the bottom.

Again, everything is supplied ready prepared in the dressmaking kit.

Verity Hope Dress...

This dress is now available to buy as a kit from Malphi's Etsy shop.

For the kits, I've tracked down exactly what I was looking for!  High quality linen fabric, soft to touch and a good weight that doesn't crease.  Linen is such a lovely classic material and I'm so pleased to have found a blend that's easy to handle.  I'm starting my range of Verity Hope Dress Kits using linen, first in a teal blue colour called Atlantic.  I'll be introducing more colours in time.

The kits contain pre-cut fabric with all the trimmings necessary to sew the garment straight away.  All darts etc are marked out and there are easy to follow instructions.  No need to struggle with a pattern and do all the preparation, it's all ready prepared in the kit!

I've purposely chosen sewing techniques that will require the least amount of expense for everyone, in other words, if you don't already have a sophisticated sewing machine with lots of different stitch options, why not try an inexpensive second hand one.  I use vintage hand-operated machines for all my work, nothing against electric! it's simply just what I prefer to use and straight stitch is all that's needed for the kits.  Easy as pie!

"In some mysterious way woods have never seemed to me to be static things. In physical terms, I move through them; yet in metaphysical ones, they seem to move through me"
John Fowles

Here it is in Ruby...

And from the back...

My very favourite machine..!

The first machines that came out were transverse shuttles, they had long bobbins and bobbin cases that looked rather like bullets. The bobbin moved back and forth in a straight line, unlike the round oscillating shuttles we get today. Next came the vibrating shuttles, these looked very similar but moved on a curved axes and were produced up to about the 1930's (in the UK anyway).

I absolutely adore my beloved old Vickers vibrating shuttle sewing machine.  It's British made, dates back to the 1930's and is still going strong today. I picked it up at a charity sale a few years ago...the best £5.00 I've ever spent! I don't mind that a screw is missing from part of the handle, a safety pin holds it together. It only does straight stitch but that's good enough and I make all my wrap dresses and aprons on it.  No matter what fabric I put through, it never lets me down, a proper solid machine!

Bricks to all greenhouses!

I had a remnant of white linen I bought for a bargain price at a local market.  It had the right kind of floppiness and weight and was perfect for my wrap dress.

Here it is from the back...

Like the white against the cream pantaloons.

"For every person who has ever lived there has come, at last, a spring he will never see. Glory then in the springs that are yours"
Pam Brown

Table cloth magic...

A wonderful charity sale takes place close to where I live every three weeks.  It's in the grounds of a large stately home which now operates as a hospice and the sale is used to raise money for the residents who live there.  I pick up odd bits of haberdashery and mountains of embroidered linen not to mention the array of vintage sewing machines all for fantastic bargain prices.    Truly an Aladdin's cave.  Here are some aprons I made from an old table cloth I bought there.

It was an oval shape so I cut it into quarters then added some red linen that I had to make the waistband, ties and pockets.

Cath Kidston inspired...

I found a lovely wodge of material whilst walking through Mapusa market in Goa.  It was kind of Cath Kidston...ish so I bought the whole lot from the stall holder!  I was also wanting to experiment using cap sleeves.  As time was short, I used local tailors to make the dress up for me in different sizes.  Here's the result...

Think I prefer the cap sleeves...

A very versatile style...

This is one of my favourite dresses of all time!  It kind of has a French feel to it.

I'm always on the look out for polka dot fabric, especially with the tiny micro dots like this one.

I bought the fabric in red too...

Wrap Top

Here's the dress pattern cut down and made into a top!

Wrap Dress Crazy!!

I've gone wrap dress crazy!

Some I've made myself and others I've had made out in India. 

This brown one is my favourite.  It's made from a jute cotton mix.

This is how it looks on...

Next favourite is the green.  The tailor didn't like making this one as the fabric is a flimsy, silky type.  I know how he must have felt as it's awfully slippery and must have been a complete nightmare, but I was really pleased with the end result...it glams up really well.

This next one is a very similar fabric...poor tailor.  I ended up selling this one.

I've worn and worn this pink and white gingham one.  Kind of feel like a farm girl in it!

So I made another! 

This next one didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped.  I love the print of the fabric as the colours remind me of The Willow Pattern but it's just too light weight and I keep thinking it's going to blow up in the wind!

It's a bit difficult to see this one properly because of exposure.  It looks better in real life...honest.

I sold this white one too and kind of regret it.  The fabric was so pretty.

This is a gingham one I made and sold. 

I was looking for black/white but though the navy was unusual. 

I had some fabric left over so made a skirt!

And another...! Fabric look familiar?

And one more!!

Okay I'm stopping now!!!

I love the woods...

"A single rose can be my garden... a single friend my world"

Leo Buscaglia.   http://www.buscaglia.com

My first dress...

This was the first wrap dress I made.

It has little white and yellow daisies sprinkled against the red and is made from a fairly heavy weight cotton fabric.  I prefer heavier weight fabrics as they hang well and feel nicer to wear.

And from the back...