Sewing with a Plan for Houston Quilt Festival 2018

With the 2018 travel wardrobe the idea was to use it to go to both the UK in the Spring and Houston in early November for the International Quilt Festival. So I should be continuing to sew the garments I had planned at the beginning of the year that haven't quite come to fruition.  Instead influenced by my Liberty of London purchases especially the Sungleam Sequins fabric I now have a whole different wardrobe floating around in my head.

The trip is only for 11 days plus three days at work when I get back, so I would like to achieve The Vivienne Files 4x4 wardrobe.

I have to cater for three days in San Francisco, eight days in Houston and three days in Wellington.

The ideas

I pulled out some tops, and a few potential fabrics, that would work with both the sequin bomber jacket and a new pair of Silhouette Patterns Lana's jeans.

There are a few other ideas floating around in my head.  Possibly replacing the True Love trousers with a pair of navy leggings that I could wear under the dresses if it is cold. I also have the idea of using the Liberty Ophelia scarf in a dress as it is a bit small for how I wear my scarves.

Liberty Ophelia 90 x 90 cm Silk Twill Foulard Scarf 

The sequin bomber jacket

I had the idea of using my scrumptious sequin fabric to make a raglan sleeve bomber jacket with contrast sleeves.  The idea of a luxury fabric and utility garment appealed plus if Alice+Olivia could do it so could I. Mine would be a bit more practical with the raglan sleeves in a contrast fabric I wouldn't be rubbing the sequins when wearing a shoulder bag.

Clockwise from top right: Alice+Olivia Lonnie Sequin Bomber Jacket;
Valentino Longline Embellished Bomber Jacket
Rachel Roy Floral Print Duster Bomber

Papercut Patterns Rigel bomber jacket fit the bill and I bought it on-line whilst still on holiday. My first week back in NZ I bought the December/January issue of Vogue Patterns and it practically fell open at the article on the long line bomber jacket. So combined with my inspiration pictures and the magazine article making a long line bomber jacket is in my not too distant future.

Papercut Patterns Rigel Bomber Jacket

I now have the sequin fabric, a wool cashmere for the sleeves, a silk satin for the lining and some wool batting to quilt to my lining. No zips until I have altered the pattern to the length I want and I am still working on the ribbing.

Liberty Artists Bloom Sungleam Sequins and wool cashmere fabrics

Silhouette Patterns 3300 Lana's Jeans

The version made for the UK trip (Lana's Caesar jeans - to be blogged about soon) are absolutely wonderful, very comfortable despite being non-stretch.  There are a few tweaks that I will make to the pattern before the next version but overall I am extremely happy with them. The pattern is designed for non-stretch fabrics and is another winner from Peggy Sagers.

The Liberty cotton canvas was originally produced to make shoes in collaboration with Clarks.  Liberty called this print Small Meandering Chrysanthemums. This is one of my favourite prints so I couldn't miss an opportunity to buy the fabric even though at the time I was sceptical about using it for trousers.

And I just happen to have a pair of the Clarks shoes that used this print (Clarks called the shoes Caviar Gold). They were purchased quite a few years ago from the now departed Wellington department store Kirkcaldie and Stains (affectionately known as Kirks - a Wellington icon 1863 - 2016). Would it be too matchy matchy to wear these shoes with my Lana's jeans?

Simplicity 1284 linen dress

When I went to The Fabric Store to find a contrast fabric for the sleeves of my bomber jacket I also found a linen print and an aqua linen to go with it to make Simplicity 1284. I wanted the aqua linen to be the panel at the top of the dress and sleeves with the blue border of the print at the hem. Orientating the print this way around puts the diamonds on their sides which could have a widening effect. Although I often wear stripes around the body rather than up and down and I really like them that way so this maybe another instance of flouting the rules.

Style Arc Besharl knit tee

The Besharl tee is another garment I made for the holiday wardrobe using two woven fabrics.  It is meant to be for knit fabrics so I thought I would try it again with two red knit fabrics. The front and the stripe down the back would use the red dot fabric, with the plain red for the two back pieces.

The patchwork dress

Reading blogs can be dangerous for the "I wants". Reading Heidi Emmett's blog I came across her "Rectangle Pieced Dress". I want to take one to Houston - after all it is the International Quilt Festival. The style immediately made me think of V9112 which Marcy calls the Cirque dress. I would modify V9112 slightly to a scoop neck with short sleeves plus add to the overall length.

This is Heidi's inspiration dress Folk Print Short Sleeve Shift Dress

V9112 Marcy Tilton Asymmetrical Seam Detail Dress

The top half could be either a navy or black knit.  For the patchwork part I have furtled through my Kaffe Fassett red fabric scraps. Hopefully there are enough scraps for the bottom of the dress but if not there is plenty more Kaffe Fassett fabric in my collection waiting to be chopped up.

Should I take a jumper as well as my cardigan?

Heavily influenced by Kate over at the blog Fabrickated and her EZ Raglan knit-a-long I have started knitting a striped jumper using the Elizabeth Zimmerman technique on circular needles. This is the first knitting I have done in 22 years - memorable because it was our first winter in New Zealand. The garment started 22 years ago for my beloved is still in progress - I hate the wool it is far too scratchy so it is probably more abandoned than in progress.

I have high hopes for this jumper which uses colours specially chosen to work in with my Houston SWAP.

The inspirational book; my colour choices; stripe inspiration - Milly Rainbow Stripe Jumper; the jumper body in progress

It was hard to find soft double knitting wool in five colours to work with my SWAP at the brick and mortar wool shops in Christchurch so I have ended up using three different brands. Just hope they play nicely together.  You would think with the number of merino sheep we produce finding soft NZ wool would be easy. Maybe like everything else these days it has to be bought on-line.

As an aside I did venture into the Midwinter WoolFeast held here in Christchurch a couple of weeks ago but was overwhelmed by the options.  It was also hugely busy, so I left discouraged and empty handed.

Whilst searching for inspiration I found the picture below. When I grow up I would like to knit a jumper or cardigan like this. Maybe after I have knitted my beloved his promised jumper.

Neiman Marcus Cashmere Contrast Stripe Cardigan

Liberty of London and holiday ephemera

As you may have gathered from the number of garments I have made from Liberty fabric I am quite a fan. This fandom extends to their store in London which I have loved since my first visit back in the 1980's.  I don't know what it is about the mock tudor building but I could wander around for hours window shopping. It is a wonderful slightly quirky building with well curated stock that is just a visual feast.

The history of the store is fascinating and it is hard to believe that it was built in the early 1920s. A brief history of the store's heritage can be found on the Liberty website here.

A fabric mecca - Liberty third Floor

Amazing women's fashions on the first floor & Arthur's Restaurant on the second floor

Liberty exterior - lovely entrance through Wild at Heart florist

A bit of Liberty fabric

On this trip I was particularly interested in looking at the Liberty Sungleam Sequins fabric.  I had drooled over it on-line but was reluctant to purchase any without seeing it first. OMG it is an absolutely sumptuous amazingly glorious fabric (did I use enough superlatives to convey how special it is?).  Unfortunately Liberty have started their summer sale and this fabric is all gone.

The sequins are tiny and individually secured on to the silk backing. We had trouble identifying how it had been made as the silk is still white on the back and the colour seems to go all the way through the sequins. But after seeing the print on one edge where there are no sequins it was decided that the fabric was printed after the sequins had been added.

The other fabrics are lovely as you would expect from Liberty, but the sequin one is special.

Clockwise from upper left: Small Artists Bloom B Sungleam Sequins; better picture of the sequins; Winter Floral tana lawn; a linen from the Italian mill Ratti; and Tresco C conway linen

Clockwise from left; Mitsi A;  Mitsi E and Carline C (all tana lawn)

A small foray in the haberdashery department resulted in these three patterns coming home with me.  The purchase of the Merchant and Mills Camber set was heavily influenced by a sample in the fabric department using a Liberty linen (of course not the one I ended up buying).

Possible button options for my Vogue 8430 Green/Pink Kantha jacket

There was a Liberty tote bag which I coveted but decided was a bit too extravagant, so reluctantly left behind. However immediately the Liberty sale started I snaffled it at half price, with a silk scarf and a bit more fabric.  It would be rude not to when Liberty only charge £10 to ship to NZ, although you do pay VAT. In my defence I used the birthday money from my Aunt to purchase the tote bag and silk scarf.

Liberty Orion Print Merion Tote Bag

Liberty Ophelia Foulard Scarf - had to show the unboxing as it was just so pretty

Clockwise from top left: Mabelle Hoxton velvet; Adelajda Sycamore linen;
Garden Gingham tana lawn; Poppy's Patchwork tana lawn

MacCulloch & Wallis

Located to the east of Liberty is MacCulloch and Wallis, a wonderful shop which sells fabric but I am more interested in their haberdashery.

MacCulloch and Wallis, 25 Poland Street, Soho

I spent over an hour on their lower floor scouring through all of the haberdashery offerings. Coming home with a small yet satisfying parcel of goodies in a reusable cotton bag.  Reuse of your cotton bag will save you £1 off your purchase, instead I have it to keep as a souvenir.

A small haul of toggles and cord ends plus a 70cm double ended zip

Berwick Street, Soho

A bit further east from MacCulloch and Wallis is Berwick Street which has a number of fabric shops and whilst I walked along and went into most of them I bought nothing this time.  I have in the past got some wonderful fabrics from here but it is definitely not a cheap place to fabric shop.

Clockwise from top: Misan Textiles, The Silk Society; The Cloth House; Berwick Street Market; and Borovick

My favourite shop is probably Misan Textiles (the one in the photo, not the one closer to the Oxford Street end of the street).  This is definitely not a cheap shop but I love the way the fabrics are displayed.  I have a wonderful Sewing Workshop Opal jacket made from a cashmere knit purchased here.

The Silk Society is an interesting experience.  At first glance it appears as though the stock is limited, although they do have remnants on display.  In actual fact they have folders of the different fabrics available. When you select a fabric a phone call is made to the warehouse and the fabric magically appears a bit later.

Borovick is probably my least favourite, the fabric can be a bit higgledy piggledy and for some reason I find it intimidating. No idea why when you consider all of my early fabric purchases were from the Sheaf market in Sheffield.

The Cloth House has a good selection of ethnic textiles - mainly Japanese and a good selection of denim.  I didn't investigate the denim this time but in the past it has mainly been non-stretch.

Berwick Street Cloth Shop (not pictured) is also a treasure trove and I nearly succumbed to a fabulous wool tartan fabric but amazingly I resisted. On a previous visit it yielded a hard to find piece of silk to be included in a Diane Ericson Fault Lines vest made from hand dyed (by me) indigo fabric from a class at the Houston Quilt Festival in 2014.  And one day I will actually use the piece of silk to finish my vest.

Berwick Street also has a market down the middle of the street which is interesting to see if you are not used to the English open air markets.

Heirs and Graces, Darley Dale

Cath recommended White Peak Embroidery after a conversation with a fellow Japanese embroiderer, so of course I had to go, especially when it is only about an hours drive from my Aunt's. White Peak is the partner shop to Heirs and Graces. White Peak originally hosted the embroidery and Heirs and Graces the quilting supplies.  These days the stock is not that neatly split, as there was a mix of patchwork fabrics in both shops and the embroidery was in the Old Chapel (the Heirs and Graces building). The Old Chapel has a classroom which was hosting a private wool spinning class when I was there.  Unusually my purchases were modest.

Clockwise from top left: White Peak Embroidery; Old Chapel classroom; Heirs and Graces in the Old Chapel

Two cross stitch patterns for needlework accessories and a teal/grey Japanese cotton

Velvet ribbon and Tana lawn bias binding

The magazines

Of course I had to have a look for sewing magazines whilst I was in England and despite only going into W H Smiths in Newbury I managed to acquire five magazines.  I was really lucky to get two copes of La Maison Victor one at the start of the holiday and the other at the end.

The three Simplicity sewing patterns came from John Lewis in Sheffield.  I wanted S8593 having seen it in the Sew Style Vintage magazine but as they were half price I succumbed to three. Whilst in John Lewis I also bought the peacock feather cotton fabric. The fabric is cut and you are given a little bar code card with the quantity cut written on to take to the cashier.  On the card is says dry clean only - for 100% cotton fabric - what is this obsession with dry cleaning?

Sew Today (UK version of Vogue Patterns) and La Maison Victor issues 2 and 3

Simply Sewing magazine including the Silk Cami by Sew Over It, the Eden Set and the City Backpack
Sew Style Vintage magazine including Simplicity Patterns K8049, K8460 and K1284
Simplicity Patterns 8593, 8506 and 8452

John Lewis Peacock Feathers

Old London town

The first trip into London at the beginning of the holiday was on a dreary wet grey day not really conducive to taking pictures, but I did take two. On the other hand my second trip at the end of the holiday was a lovely sunny day (with rain showers that luckily happened when I was busily occupied in shops) and I took absolutely no views of London.


Regent Street with the iconic Red bus and London taxi plus a few Union Jacks for good measure

Walking down Regents Street

The train journey home with the tell tale Liberty bag in the bottom left hand corner

Whilst taking pictures out of the train window on the way home I managed an outtake of my outfit. Of course there is no staged outfit of the day picture - far too busy for that (or forgetful).

A trip to England with the 2018 Travel Wardrobe

My idea was to post this blog article before we went away (not three weeks after our return) and then do a bit of a travelogue during the holiday featuring my outfits. A flawed idea in so many ways.  Not least of which was my forgetfulness about taking photos. We were away for 31 days (35 including travel) and I managed to take outfit photos on 17 of those and three of them were on the journey home! Plus after travelling many miles to be with family and friends blogging is not very high on my priority list. This is despite loving the posts from other sewing bloggers on their travels.

The other flaw was that instead of having the Sunday of departure to laze around writing this post we had to start our journey mid morning. Air New Zealand had to make some big schedule changes because of its Dreamliners being out of service with faulty Rolls Royce engines.  This had a much bigger impact on our journey home which took us three days with unintended stop overs in Los Angeles and Auckland.

The travel wardrobe version 1

I posted about my travel wardrobe aspirations back in February and was quite excited by the possibilities it provided. However due to time constraints (aren't there always) and the holiday happening a bit earlier than planned a few things fell by the wayside and some new ideas emerged.

So what made the cut?

• In number terms I took 24 items including a coat. The February plan had 24 items excluding a coat.
• The original idea had four dresses but in the end I replaced two of the dresses with a jacket and the coat.
• So I took 14 tops, two dresses, four pairs of trousers, one cardigan, two jackets and a coat.
• I took more RTW tops than I had originally planned (eight versus four).
• Strangely most of the garments sewn came from the fabric in the extra eight pulled from the stash, rather than the main wardrobe plan.
• The coat weighed heavily on my mind.  I got as far as deciding on the Waffle Patterns Pepernoot hooded coat and buying some waterproof fabric.  Maybe this will happen soon as I did buy a zip the right length from MacCulloch and Wallis whilst in London. After much internal debate I took a purchased coat with me.

Are the changes reflective of how my travel wardrobe fits into my existing wardrobe, or just that whilst we make a plan sticking to it is pretty hard?

The travel wardrobe version 2

The run up to the holiday was a bit hectic (lots of frantic sewing) so the blog posts for the new garments in my travel wardrobe will follow later.  I will update this post with links when I have them.

The starting 4x4 wardrobe

The extra eight

The 4x6 wardrobe template

United Nude Issey Miyake Step in black; UN X-sandal in silver and mint; Ivy Lee May in faux python

Clockwise from top left: Jade stone pendant; Beaded Kumihimo necklace (present from Cath);
Pandora/Evolve charm bracelet; Jacket closure safety pin; the earring collection;
leather bracelet; Sue Alexander Owl and the Pussycat pendant;
Singer Featherweight pendant; Sue Alexander dragonfly pendant; 

And just in case - Untouched World reversible merino silk scarf
Fantastic for the flight

The 4x4 wardrobe concept

This travel wardrobe is based on the 4x4 wardrobe concept developed by the Vivienne Files. Here is the original 4x4 template by Janice.

The wardrobe in action

Here are the real life shots of the wardrobe...

Gorgeous Butterflies top and True Love trousers
Sweet Line knit singlet, Flint trousers and Lofty merino cardigan
at the Five Bells, Wickham

Clockwise from left:
Green/pink Kantha jacket with Gorgeous Butterflies top and True Love trousers at the Manifold Inn, Buxton;
Cut Make Trim Seafoam tee and Flint trousers at St Boniface's Church, Bunbury;
Green/pink Kantha and Roam jackets with ? top and True Love trousers at Lakeside railway station, Newby Bridge

Green/pink Kantha jacket with Cut Make Trim Mayrose tee and Flint trousers at The Angel Inn, Hetton

Clockwise from top left:
World T dress at the Anderton Boatlift, Northwich;
Tact Summer knit tee and Lana's Caesar jeans in Sheffield;
Besharl IoW Pocho tee and True Love trousers at Beeston Castle

Clockwise from top:
Roam jacket, Tact Summer knit tee and Lana's Caesar jeans at the Wensleydale Creamery with Wallace & Gromit;
Green/pink Kantha jacket with World tee and True Love trousers at the Himalayan Gardens, Ripon;
Merino knit singlet and Flint trousers at Monsal Head in the Peak District

Bloom Swing dress at The Queens Head, Finghall
World T dress in the Yorkshire Dales

Clockwise from top left:
Green/pink Kantha jacket, World tee and True Love trousers at the Himalayan Gardens, Ripon;
Green/pink Kantha jacket, Lofty merino cardigan and ? top with Flint trousers at Fortunes Kippers, Whitby;
Roam jacket, Cut Make Trim Mayrose tee and Lana's Caesar jeans at The Queens Head, Finghall

Family moments

I just noticed a common thread with my photos - I only bothered to have one taken where I was wearing a me made item. Rest assured the RTW tops in my suitcase were worn and not just ballast.

The journey home

As we spent many hours hanging about on the journey home I did remember to take photos.

In the SilverKris Lounge at Heathrow in my Cut Make Trim Seafoam tee and Flint trousers

Yet more construction at Heathrow Airport

At the Crowne Plaza LAX waiting for our ride to the airport in Besharl IoW Pocho tee and Lana's Caesar jeans

In the Koru Lounge at Auckland Domestic Airport in Roam jacket, Everyday merino top and Lana's Caesar jeans

Yay nearly home - coming in to land at Christchurch airport

Unpacking

I didn't take a photo of the suitcase and its contents on the way to England but here it is ready to unpack after a wonderful few weeks away. My clothing fits into the Eagle Creek packing cubes apart from my coat and jacket which are in the top zipped section along with all of the holiday spoils (including a Melin Tregwynt cushion - a present from Cath).

The dirty washing is not quite in focus but you get the idea!

The post holiday washing pile

Post travel thoughts

The wardrobe was fantastic I enjoyed wearing it for the whole holiday. It mixed and matched really well and I never felt I was wearing the same items over and over again or got bored with what was available.

The two jackets and cardigan were true workhorse parts of the wardrobe worn every day.  They also layered well with the green/pink Kantha jacket as the top layer and a warm wool layer (either the Roam jacket or Lofty cardigan) underneath.  This was particularly useful on the days we were in the Lake District (especially by Lake Windemere) and Whitby. Amazing how much the temperature drops when there is a body of water nearby.

So what didn't work? Nothing was an absolute disaster.  But there were some lessons.

• The coat was largely unworn and in hindsight I think my Issey Miyake Gorgeous raincoat would have been a better choice. The Whoops a Daisy coat was long and great for wandering around city streets (I have worn it in Wellington on two of the three weeks I have been back).  Not so suitable for tramping through a field or heavy rain. As luck would have it the coat wasn't needed for either of these events. I should have thought about the context of the holiday more when it came to the coat like I did with the rest of my packing. I did have an umbrella but once again probably not context appropriate.
• Not an earth shattering observation but the weather makes a huge difference to what is needed.  The first week was cold so the long sleeve tops were essential for layering and the High Rider jeans were useful.  Once the weather warmed up they were redundant.  Although I wouldn't risk a trip to England in May without the insurance of long sleeved wool tops.  The long sleeve Everyday merino top was also comfortingly warm when we reached New Zealand's wintery shores at the end of our homeward journey.
• If packing space had been an issue the items that I could have left behind are: High Rider jeans; Desigual stripe top; World Cut Make Trim black merino tee; Desigual flower stripe top; Meredith flower top and Untouched World merino singlet. Not sure I could ever get down to sixteen garments but it is an aspirational goal!

How did it compare to the 2016 travel wardrobe?

I was aiming for the same number of garments in my 2018 travel wardrobe as I had in 2016 but I ended up with four more at the last minute. You can however see that 2018 was very much influenced by the contents of the 2016 wardrobe which was very successful apart from one thing.  The trip to the UK in 2016 was also in May but there were more cooler weather days and I would have benefited from a few more warm tops - hence the extras I threw into the suitcase in 2018 at the last minute. Not the thing to do if you want to pack minimally.