50's colours

I get dragged around the block on a regular basis, and now spring has sprung it's lovely to see all the beautiful colours out. I'm loving all the 50's soft greens and the cream/off white paired with a dark chocolate, with hints of burgundy and a limey yellow. Perfect for spring!









xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Swim cap delight

So we popped into the op shop today and Kingston picked out this cutey patootie swim cap. Great for the dress up box. He wanted to wear it right away of course, and then kept it on for about 3hrs. He makes me laugh!






xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

How awesome is this 70's collar?

How awesome is this 70's collar?, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Too awesome for words.

You know it's a good cut

You know it's a good cut, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

When this is the scraps pile left over from 3m of fabric.

Dolly helps

Dolly helps, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Factory girl

Factory girl, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

I feel like a one woman sweat shop!
I've definitely hit that 'must sew 24 hrs a day' manic point. And Mathilda's is still four weeks away. But if I'm going to try to shoot everything before then and get it all online by that date too, well, better get my sweatbands ready!

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Selvedge inspiration

Cut these off when I was laying out Florida shorts, and they look so sweet, almost like bunting. It's always nice to see beauty in unusual places.



xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Op shop treasure

You know how you get that sudden magnetic pull when walking past an op shop? Yes, you know the one. Well today that pull was hard. And with only $15 in my wallet my brain fought and wanted me to walk on by, but boy am I glad I went in! Four score and all for under a tenner.

A delicious red hand knitted or crochet bag with metal chain handle and pearlescent plastic clasp. Quite roomy too, so actually usable even with toddler in tow. My foot is there for size reference, not because I think anyone really needed to see it!


Next up a pair of very cute soft pea green vintage buttons.


A very cute slide viewer in what seems to be bakelite.


An the piece de resistance, auh hoh haugh, is this old first aid kit which includes 'cellulose fibre wool' aka cotton wool, and 'essence of sal volatile' used as a 'heart stimulant for weakness,nervousness and mild smelling salts. Take 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons in a wineglass of water'
Needless to say I won't be using any of it, but it's super cute!







xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Location:Malabar Rd,Blackburn,Australia

Sewing tip: turning sharp corners

Step 1:
Sew your corner nicely. For thinner fabrics a perfect corner, pivoting around the needle like the left one. Thicker fabrics need a bit more room, so pivot twice, using a stitch as the corner like the sample on the right.







Step 2:
Trim the seams down to a minimal width, and clip the corner.






Step3:
Holding the corner like this, use your fingers to fold down the seam allowance so that it folds inside out nicely, instead of crumpling up inside.























The corner should look like this after you turn it right side out.
Not very sharp, right? But a good start, since there's no excess fabric inside clogging up the corner.

Step 4:
Insert your snips (or a small pair of embroidery scissors), on the inside of the corner and push out. Not too hard, you don't want to pierce through!







Step 5:
Pinch the corner a little bit to finish off the shaping.







Done!
Beautiful corners!

As you can see below, the one on the left isn't quite shaped right, it's a bit stretched. That's because it was sewn with the corner for thin fabric, but on thick twill, which needs the thick fabric cornering. Clear as mud?






Happy sewing!

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Florida shorts in stripes for summer

On the machine at the moment, no where near finished yet, but looking sweet as so far.

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Ampersand noodle

Ampersand noodle, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Yes, you read that right. I was cleaning up the table and found this. Had to share!

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Mathildas Market-Melbourne

Come for a play, a sticky-beak or a chat. As long as you come along! As well as us, there'll be so many lovely stalls chock full of unique goodies, you really don't want to miss it in the lead up to christmas.

xxxCherry

Piping- do it yourself the easy way

If you want to make your own piping, the easiest way is to get some existing piping and cover it. Maybe a huge roll on sale(I love Jack Stock), or some funk-eugh colour from the op shop or ripped out of an old garment. Just make sure it's colourfast, though. You don't want to cover red piping with a lovely cream satin and then have it run in the wash!

Then cut your bias strips of your new fabric, fold over the piping, keeping the fabric nice and firm around the cord, and stitch down. If you use a great big stitch, it will take no time at all, and try to sew closer to the edge rather than the cord (like the gray on the far right). That way when you insert it into your garment the basting stitches will be hidden in the seam. When you do insert it, use an invisible zipper foot to get nice and close to the cord for a neat finish.
And voilà! Custom piping that is easy and quick to make.

xCherry

Phat stack of hats

Phat stack of hats, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

All 10 done! All one of a kind. Elastic in the back to fit ages 1-6. They even fit my puny toddler size head.

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Grading patterns is duuuuuulllll

Grading patterns is duuuuuulllll, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Been grading my patterns into size 1,2,3. Which is soooooo dull and time consuming but costs upwards of $40 per style per size to outsource so nowhere near an option yet.
And then begins the cutting marathon. Figure I'll make 1pc size 1, 2x2's, 2x3's of everything. Hope that's enough. I know I shot myself in the foot a bit by planning too many styles, but hey, it's what I do! Hmmm lemme think, I have 3 pants, 3 shorts, 6 short sleeve tees and prints, 2 long sleeve tees and prints, 4 shirts, a fleece hoody, a knit hoody, a vest, a waist coat, ties and bow ties, grandpa caps and pork pies and peaked caps, treasure bags and wooly dress up moustaches. Whew! Thank jeebers I canned the jacket, cardigan, school bag, stripe pants and 2 more tees!!!
Oh and I've done the maths (very badly, it's been a looong time since I did maths1 in yr 12) and it seems I need to do at least 2hrs a night in addition to my 2 full days a week in order to get all the sewing done. And yeah, that includes the weekends.
So here's hoping nothing drastic goes wrong and I come up with some spiffy short cuts to help get me through.
Know what's nice though? Jim (mr Furious) said he's going to make me lots of dinners and cakes and yummy goodies to get me through. Yay!

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Cool summer grandpa hats

Cool summer grandpa hats, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

These are all cotton, with some mock suede trim, with cotton lining to keep little heads cool and shaded in summer while looking damn fine to boot. With 10 one of a kind options to choose from. Keep your eyes peeled at Mathilda's.

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Sewing tip: zigzag trimming

Sewing tip: zigzag trimming, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Instead of clipping the seam allowance of a curve, use pinking shears to trim the seam allowance to about 3-4mm before bagging out(turning). You end up with less fabric inside and a smoother curve.

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Labels de la moustache

Labels de la moustache, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Labels full of moustache-y goodness have arrived! Now I can sew them into all the funky arse shit, like every single day.

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Hats!!!!

Hats!!!!, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Cut out 10 grandpa style caps all one of a kind to be revealed at Mathildas.
I'm not going to launch spring online yet, I'll hold off until after Mathilda's on oct 31. Too much sewing to do to take time out and photograph stock. But I'll likely do a shoot after Mathilda's in Adelaide but before the one in Melbourne. Assuming we get into the melb one that is!

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Mathildas Market-Adelaide

mathilda's market

Well, guess who's going going to RAdelaide at the end of October? Us!!!!! wooohooo!

Adelaide:

• Sunday, 31 October 2010
• * Special Christmas Market * Norwood Concert Hall, 175 The Parade, Norwood
• 9am to 1pm. 

Come visit us and see our goodies in real life, have a chat and enjoy a wonderful day out.

Now to sew like my life depends on it...

Size 2 ladies man

Size 2 ladies man, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Oh yeah. The boy is made to model. I still can't quite believe that he's fitting size 2 already at just 20mo. But his legs keep growing! Well what did I expect if his dad is 6'2"?

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Don't these colours just spell summer?

Don't these colours just spell summer?, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Loving the yellow against the red, black and blue. Might have to incorporate that somehow into the s/s range.
xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Hat block coming along

Hat block coming along, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Just a bit o reshaping and then we get to try it out!

xCherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Florida shorts

Florida shorts, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Just finished the pattern for these new shorts for summer. I'm in love! They're so old man cool they're going to look sweet with a white singlet.

xCherry

www.furiouskingston.com.au

Pro tip: keep snips handy

Pro tip: keep snips handy, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Tie your snips onto your machine with a length of elastic. That way they don't go missing, and they're always to hand when you need them.
I have several pairs, one for each machine and one on the ironing board to trim threads when pressing.
You can do the same with overlockers and their long tweezers.

xCherry

www.furiouskingston.com.au

Wicked welt

Wicked welt, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

I am vastly improved on my welt pocket making. Mad skillz my dears.
I just loathe doing 'practice' ones though, I feel like if I'm going to all the effort of sewing something, then I should get something out of it.

xCherry

www.furiouskingston.com.au

Button tip

Button tip, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Store your buttons on safety pins to keep all of one kind together. Makes it easy to handle them too.

xCherry

www.furiouskingston.com.au

Rework vest

Rework vest, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Vest reworked from a vintage jumper. The bind isn't 100% yet, I think I need to work on it a bit more, but overall I'm really happy with how it's coming along.

XCherry

Jarmies

Jarmies, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

After a few trials an errors I think I have a pretty nice pattern for some lounge pants / jarmies coming along for summer. A nice flat front with elastic at the back (no, not hanging out like that, I just didn't know how long to make it), and a straight leg that sits nicely on the hips and under the tum. I'm not into the kiddy pants that have a high rise and go up to the armpits!

And strangely my iPhone auto spell wants to change 'jarmies' to 'marmosets'. ???

Xxx Cherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Oh sweet Elna press

Oh sweet Elba press, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

How did I ever cope with block fusing before you came into my life?
At $80 from the local op shop I am very very pleased with you.

Xxx Cherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Buddy holly eat your heart out!

Buddy holly eat your heart out!, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

In an FK shirt of course!

Xxx Cherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au

Wow spring already

Wow spring already, originally uploaded by cherry_rockette.

Beautiful Sakura and magnolias out in bloom already.

Xxx Cherry

www.FuriousKingston.com.au