Monday, June 8, 2009

Nothing is impossible...just difficult

In the process of making this jacket I have learned that bound buttonholes need to be completed on the front panel before completing the garment! I spent hours looking for a method to get around that fact, even listened to endless replays of the treacle sweet Candy Cane Canso on Expert Village (worth looking at for the pink sewing machine and pink fabric samples!) trying to work out a way of putting bound buttonholes on my finished jacket.

Well I ended up pulling up my lining and opening out the already topstitched front facing as far as I could and made them anyway. You have no idea how difficult it was to create straight, even sized welts this way. The result is only passable. If only I had known what to do at the outset.

Which is a good segue into my next topic. I need lessons! I have booked to take an intermediate class with Sydney dressmaker Bernadette Doherty starting 23 June at 6.30pm in Roseville. The only problem is that so far I am the only person in the class. We need two more people to join the class of three students. If you are interested please contact Bernadette directly through her website. See the link to tuition.

I was also very excited to hear that my fellow countryman Geoffrey Rush won a Tony Award for his performance in Exit the King on Broadway. I had front row seats to see this play when it played at the Belvoir Street theatre in Sydney. This is a very intimate space and I felt that I was witnessing something very special. Certainly one of my memorable theatre experiences, including the occasional spray of spittle from the great man!

The other theatrical highlight of my week has been my daughter's school performance of Anything Goes. R played Reno Sweeney - a standout performance that would give the great Patty Lupone a run for her money. She wants to study musical theatre when she leaves school this year. Unfortunately there is only one musical theatre school left in Australia that takes 30 students from 1000 hopefuls each year. I say some luck and chutzpah are needed as well as talent.



4 comments:

  1. If I were in Sydney I would be there with bells on. I really need to work on some of my techniques. I'm about to pull the lining out of a jacket I made years ago for the same reason. I learned the hard way, too! I love the way those buttons look on your jacket!

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  2. That is dedication! Fabulous job.

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  3. Congrats on your perserverence - I hope you can get the class started - good luck!

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  4. Great job on the jacket! The end result was worth all the trouble!

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