Your Wardrobe Unlock'd

In our reader survey last August, a very harried mother of a toddler asked "Help! How do I sew with a toddler trying to re-thread my machine, rummage through my sewing box and take all the books off the bookshelf?!?" 

If you've never tried to sew while having a child around, you can have no idea how frustrating/challenging it can be for the adult and very dangerous for the child. Many new parents feel like they will never be able to sew again once they have children because of the hot iron and powered sewing machine that are like magnets to children.  Many members wrote in to share what has worked for them, and I'll share some tips of my own.

This month we have two questions: One on ruffles and the effect of grain and the other on working with large, light colored projects.

We also ask for your feedback about our newly re-organised site - are you finding YWU easier to use now?

 

Right back at the genesis of YWU I wrote an article about what I called "Holy Grails".

I'm willing to bet that most of us reading this have such projects in mind. There's a book on your shelf that naturally falls open at a certain photograph; there's a bookmark in your web browser. But we never get around to trying - it's too impractical, too expensive, too difficult, just too much all around.

This year I've actually done one of these huge projects, when I recreated a vastly decorated Edwardian Worth gown (follow this link for a FREE slideshow of museum images), and I've got so much out of it that I'm going to use this article to pull you a little bit closer to tackling your own Grail. I'm going to tell you why it's worth trying such intimidating projects, and then show you how.

This month we continue our  two part series of advice from our pool of experts on Health and Safety in the Sewing Room. Gina Barrett, Alexis Black and Marion McNealy share what has helped them to avoid and manage any potential ill effects.

This might be the most important series of articles you ever read in YWU. Any hobby or occupation that you indulge in regularly for a large proportion of your lifetime can have implications for your health, so it's important to consider how you work. Let us point out some pitfalls and preventative tips to help you sew for longer!

This might be the most important article you ever read in YWU.

Any hobby or occupation that you indulge in regularly for a large proportion of your lifetime can have implications for your health.

Forewarned is forearmed, however, so this month we start a  series of advice from our pool of experts on Health and Safety in the Sewing Room.

Suzi Clarke, Cathy Hay and Laurie Tavan dish out some great pointers to help you avoid and manage any potential ill effects.

So you've finally completed your new gown – and you want to show it to the world.

But somehow, every time you try to take a picture, it just doesn't quite seem to capture the full glory of the thing itself.

Photography is an art, and teaching you to be a master is far beyond the scope of this article (not to mention my talent), but I hope to give you some tips and advice that will help make your costume photos as good as they can be.

We had numerous entries to our writing competition this last month and we judges had a hard time choosing the top two, let alone the winner!

First place goes to Lindsey Eastman for her great essay "Death of a Costume Snark".

We'll publish the second place entry next month. 

 

Suzi Clarke reminisces about her years at the RSC and dressing actors, and then shares some helpful tips on fitting.

"The most important thing I learned is that the well being of the actor/actress is of prime importance. You may think they look like a dog's dinner, but heaven forbid you say so..."

When all our experts were asked the questions that led to the first Masterclass, Sarah Lorraine didn't respond immediately.

She gave a lot of thought to what led to her unseen graduation from home-made to professional quality work, and this article is the in-depth result of her musings.

 

 

 

I know you have one; we all do. And if we don't, we should: an idea for a costume, or one we'd like to recreate, that is way beyond our ability (or at least fiendishly fiddly), utterly impractical in timescale and budget (like reprising the work of six thousand Indian craftsmen individually sewing beetle wings onto silk for a year) and completely impractical (you have nowhere to wear it; you'd simply hang it up and gaze at it with a happy sigh).  

When you’re learning to sew, it’s awfully easy to get discouraged. You have wonderful ideas, but in the execution something is lost and the result is shoved in the back of a cupboard.

It doesn't have to be that way, though. Here I'm going to give you three of the best and quickest techniques I know, three big head starts that’ll attract the maximum number of compliments with the minimum of blood, sweat and tears.

This, in short, is the best and simplest of what I’ve learnt in my fifteen years of sewing historical costumes and wedding gowns. Click the photo to see what's possible!

We try very hard to cater for a range of ability levels at YWU. Here is an introductory Masterclass for the seamstress who wants to make the leap from that "home-made" beginner look to couture-quality greatness. Within these pages you will find the best top sewing tips from a cross-section of today’s top costuming experts.

For the first time you’ll get to pick all of our brains as we get down to the core of the issue, the brass tacks: in a few pages, you will know all the most important things that a budding costume designer or seamstress must know in order to make the leap from amateur-quality, home made results to stunning, couture-quality work.