For the purposes of this post, I’m going to assume everyone knows about Coronavirus, including it also being known as Covid 19 ( why do people always bracket that & use the two names? Is anyone left unclear that one also means the other? Like, oh I’m in control of this shit, I even know the Science name, I have this shit tied down), so the conditions under which we all find ourselves living need no further mention.

Sydney Frocktails has been postponed till later this year, but on the original date of 4th of April, people all over the world (we started it! Now its international!) hit Instagram and we did #virtualfrocktails. All the outfit sewing had already been done so we still needed time to shine and admire each other

This is my Frocktails outfit. I’ve since worn it for a bbq out the back, for going to Woollies, for getting dressed in the morning and walking around and around the neighbourhood. This top is the best…I don’t know why I haven’t thought of sleeping in it yet, but now I have! Consider it done.

The applique. The applique that will probably be misunderstood, widely.

This image a product of the genius marketing material I cooked up for peddling my art shop merch: FLYING LOTUS FRIDGE MAGNETS.

Back then, as I was thinking of ways to photograph them and flipping through a Vogue magazine, I happened upon a luxury brand advert and suddenly, it was obvious: place a fridge magnet on me, and I’ll sell it, announced the magazine paper. I know, so I had to! Fridge magnets subsequently sold out. True.

I’ve now followed that up with a t-shirt print to immortalise this brainwave. I had it printed on a white-t-shirt shirt when I did a recent bulk order of Tiger t-shirts (available here!). This exercise brought to light that with a small, one off image like this its a quick & dirty way to make a digital fabric print so live & learn. Once done it was a matter of cutting it out then stitching it on, using some steam-a-seam to anchor it in place. The gamble was on the scale of the print & it’s placement & this could’ve been smaller, which would’ve sharpened the resolution too but, live & learn.

The other feature here is some slouchy cool side seam pockets! Way to make it street cool/copy Minju Kim, whom I LOVE. I love Minju Kim who captures volume and uses her drawings as the basis of her prints on gorgeous fabrics & seems so kind and unassuming. She is fresh air. Read more here

Back to me. Wanting to be like her. So I made a heavyweight ponte Lark-Tee with big width & low down side seam pockets & I ask you: will it do? You answer yes, its dead cool. And you’re right! You’re always right.

Please note that the diagram above is very approximate. Very approximate. I’m pretty easy going with the old slash & spread & I’m pretty happy with approximate eyeballing

Pockets in a t-shirt, definitely feels cool in a home-boy-girl-woman way. To fit them, I machine basted the side seams - having sewn the shoulder seams already - and figured out the ideal position when it was on me. To be able to fully jam my hands in said pockets I traced around my …hands for the shape of them and they are, unsurprisingly, a good fit. However I had to live & learn with these too

The gorgeous ponte from Tessuti is dense, or not dense enough or my pockets were too big & too low slung (it was that) so the bottom edges get exposed if I’m fully vibing the slouch, walking down the road swinging my volume around like a personality disorder so I bound them, with bias tape. Neat. Now when they peek out they’re respectable. Same with the sleeve seams and side seams because its nice to leave heavy, good quality ponte like this raw edged & I bought a rotary cutter specifically for this purpose. A sharp, clean clean cut leaves the edges so blunt they dont need hemming. I first saw this on Scanlon & Theodore tops so its definitely a good idea.

Now, you may look at my top & think its not that exciting & you’d be right, because you’re not me. I run with ideas largely because in my sense of humour, its a piece of fun I cant resist having. This works. This top is non-self explanatory (this is the only explanation there will be unless we’re face to face & you could sustain a long attention span in a one way conversation) because its a personal train of thought and its for me, and I get it. This is a good image, a good picture. I remind you: those fridge magnets sold out.

Nice top

Top made more perfect worn with my BELOVED camo-glam skirt. I made this in 2015 and I wear this still and I will wear it to death; I wear this skirt a lot. Its French terry camo print but on the wrong, looped side, with a clear coating so it has a plastic-y sheen to it. I love this skirt. Plasticised camo terry towelling: the Tessuti novelty fabric section gem.

Thank you and good night.

…But before we finish here, I feel it needs to be said that Frocktails, done this way and in this year with all its changes, was one of the earliest demonstrations of international emotional solidarity up against the New Cruelty of C19 and all its restrictions. It was a hoot. The world of the online sewing community is proving to be one of the strongest, adaptive, enthusiastic democratic fraternities that no-one saw coming. As many women are primary care-givers at home, we have always been a little isolated and with this rapidly expanding sewing support group, we can now rely on each other more than ever as a source of validation/celebration of what we do at home. We sew for our selves. If anyone still thinks its about nice clothes (er, it actually is about that, but clearly not only that) then reassess your assumptions: home sewing is a force for social change.

Lastly, it takes intelligence, application and an active sense of humour to make one’s own clothes to fits one’s own body (and getting truthfully acquainted with that strange body is revelatory & empowering) so who else is going to get it? We, we get it together! …Sorry, lame, had to do it.

Check that hashtag one more time #virtualfrocktails, its not (too) fancy, its friendship