Fickle Sense is coming to Hamburg!

I have been exceptionally busy over the past couple of months (hence the lack of activity on the blog), drawing, printing and sewing day and night preparing the Fickle Sense store for the Hello Handmade Market which will be held on the 8th of November in Hamburg.

Come and visit me over at Fickle Sense Etsy.... and if you are in Hamburg on the 8th, come and say hello :)

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty + my McQueen Jacket

A few weekends back my husband and I traveled to London as our Photography gallery (Galerie Pavlova) was taking part in Photo London. Even though we were working most of the time, I was dead keen on sneaking out to visit the Alexander McQueen exhibition Savage Beauty at the V&A. I had heard that tickets had sold out, but found some articles on the net stating that if you went early enough, there were 200 tickets available each morning. So off I went on a McQueen mission, hoping that I would be lucky enough to score a ticket. After about 45 minutes standing in line, I ended up getting through! Woo hoo!

Image from idolmag

Image from idolmag

This exhibition was the best exhibition that I have seen. Yes, quite a grandiose statement, but really I just loved every moment. It was an emotionally charged experience and engaged every sense. Each room presented different collections with one massive room in the middle. Everyone stood in awe in the room, looking at each piece of creativity. It was also interesting to read about the inspiration behind some of the pieces. He was just such a creative person who could explore various ideas and concepts. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it:) If you are in London, make sure you visit this exhibition. It is a MUST!

Below is a short video which gives a taster of what to expect.

Video from Adorngirl

My McQueen jacket
Speaking of Alexander McQueen, in 2009 I made this McQueen pattern for my sisters 21st birthday. We blogged about it on Fickle Sense a few years back. It was a challenge to sew this complicated design, but I think it worked out pretty well. You can find the pattern on the website Showstudio. It is downloadable here.

Has anyone else given this pattern a go?

If you are interested in learning more about McQueen, I would recommend the documentary "McQueen and I".

Wedding Dresses to Inspire

About a month ago I spent some time scouring the internet in search of "self (or family/friend) made" wedding dresses in hopes of inspiring others  to take on the challenge too. Here is a sneak preview of the found garments. You can find the whole article on the sustainable fashion blog "i give 2 hoots". Please also let me know if I need to add someone to this list. 

Images from 1. A beautiful Mess  2. Blog Chick a Blog Blog 3. Queen of Darts  4.  Sew Dixie Lou  5.  Corrina Corrina 6. Dress Makers Curve 7. Misha and Mia 8. Molly Sews  9. The Curious Kiwi 10. Wall Street by Day: Hardcore Crafter by night 11. Create / Enjoy 12.Restless Grace 13. Cotton Creek Sewing 14.Fickle Sense 15. ‘So, zo what do you know‘  16. Needle and Cloth 17. The Dreamstress 18. Penny Rose  19. Sewing your own wedding dress 20. Poppy Kettle 21. The Selfish Seamstress 22. Rake and Make 23. 24. Scared Stitchless 25. Dixie DIY

Speaking of love, I will now announce the winner of last months Fickle Sense Valentine's giveaway. The winner is Adriana Fuentevilla @laadrituitea. Thanks to everyone for their entries! Now Adriana just needs to choose which coloured heart bag she wants and the winged backpack will follow:) 

Thanks again everyone! 

FS Screen Printing Heart Tote Bag - Peach

FS Screen Printing Winged Back Pack 

CUT Magazine & Colour Inspiration

This is my new knitting bag! It took me a while to piece it all together.... it was initially intended to be an 'every day bag', but ended  up being too toiletry like (the sewing pattern is actually for a toiletry bag, but thought I could somehow hide that fact.... obviously I was unsuccessful in this venture). As always, creating the hand stenciled textile was fun! Below I have detailed my process. 

It all began with an image on Pinterest....
A while back I found this image on pinterest and was really inspired by the shapes and colour story on the skirt. So I created this colour scheme (light pink, mustard yellow, black, burgundy red, grey and creams)to select the appropriate colours for my print.

 Here is where you can find this pattern. CUT mag is my favourite sewing mag. It always has 3 trendy sewing patterns and some creative inspiration. The mag is in German, but if you don't speak German and you understand pattern construction, then the pictures are easy enough to follow. I chose the 'Toiletry' pattern for this textile print.

To create this textile you need:

      1. Scalpel
      2. Cutting mat or thick cardboard
      3. Metal ruler 
      4. Textile paint (I use eco permaset paints)
      5. Sponges (I cut up a sponge for each colour)
      6. Woven textile

Cutting out shapes for the textile print
I chose different shapes (rectangles, squares, triangles, circles) and different sizes for certain colours. 

Dollop your paint ready for sponging.  Grab your sponge and apply some paint to the sponge (not too much). Whilst holding the stencil down, dollop the paint onto the fabric.

 

Now it is time to piece this somewhat complicated pattern together.

I cut the lining and added a quality zipper. And there you have it, a toiletry / knitting bag:)

The bag is large enough to hold all of my knitting needles and crochet hooks, as well as my most recent project. I have just finished a beanie made from baby alpaca yarn, which I will have to post about soon!

All together I actually think this bag is rather ugly... but I kind of like the ugly factor. It reminds me of a 'ninties' like print. I used to have a beach bag which was just as ugly....in the ninties. I like that I experimented with these colours and shapes, and will perhaps use these colours in another way again. As always, I loved the unique CUT sewing pattern and will have to make something from the newest edition. 

GIVEAWAY: Spread the Love! with some Compassion

There are many interpretations and traditions involved with Valentine's Day. At the core of the legend it seems that Saint Valentine's performed acts of compassion to those who were forbidden to marry by marrying them. 

COMPASSION and EMPATHY
In this fast paced world, with the many expectations that we have on ourselves and others,  compassion can take the back seat. I see Valentine's as a reminder to show compassion. I am not saying that we all need to be the Dalai Lama, but there are things that we can do everyday to brighten up our lives as well as others. Being compassionate for example may involve: 
A kind act : the other day whilst at the shops (this store is notoriously filled with many grumpy people) a man found my gloves that I had briefly lost and was asking everyone who had lost their gloves. He made my day!
Give yourself a break and think positively : I gave a presentation at work the other day. I generally ruminate over what I think I should have said... this time I reminded myself to focus on everything that I did right. 


THE GIVEAWAY and PRODUCTS
I am sharing the love by giving away 2 of my FS Screen Printing products which really encompass the concept of compassion. Both products are certified Fair Trade and Organic. Which means that the workers and environment are treated with more respect and care. The giveaway includes:  

• An Eco Heart Tote bag - designed and screen printed by me (your colour choice, see other colours here)
• An Eco Wings Backpack - illustrated and screen printed by me

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY
What do you need to do to enter this compassion filled Giveaway? Share the love!

1. Follow @ficklesense and share this post via 

• Twitter  
• Facebook 

If you do not have these, Follow and comment on instagram or/ follow and favourite on Bloglovin


The giveaway ends on Friday the 27th of February at 18:00 GMT+1 (Berlin time)
Anyone can enter. The winner will be drawn randomly and notified after this date via their chosen social media.

You can see more Organic and Fair trade bags at FS Screen Printing and Handmade Pajamas at Fickle Sense. 

Get inspired! with Historical European Fashion

MUSEUM HOPPING #3
For Museum Hopping location #3 we ventured to the Kunstgerwebe Museum, Berlin to see the European fashion exhibition. On display were fashions from over 150 years, with approximately 130 different costumes and accessories to gwark over. Yes I was salivating the entire time, much like when I go fabric shopping... but with history lessons included.  

Schiaparelli & the Scarf Dress

Schiaparelli is my all time favourite designer, so I was obviously  extremely excited to see her pieces up close. This black blouse and skirt on the left (above) had some Schiaparelli charm to it with its combination of print and brooches. What an original concept... not until getting up close do you realise that some of these flowers are actually brooches. Love it!

The dress on the right (above) is made from scarves. I have always wanted to make a garment out of scarves, so this was a nice reminder. Unfortunately I forgot to note down the designer who created this particular dress, but I can still appreciate it.

INSPIRATION FOR THE KUNSTGEWERBE MUSEUM
The biggest inspirational dress was.......The Champagne Coloured Evening Gown, Jaques Heim, from Paris 1935



"Jaques Heim (1899-1967) use the possibilities of bias cut to create here a sophisticated play with the blunt bodice and matte reverse of the crepe marocain."

This beautiful bias cut gown was my favourite. The sleeve is so interestingly designed and it hangs beautifully. The sophisticated use of the textile was just AMAZING! I am going to use this inspiration to experiment and practice with bias cut garments. LOVE IT!

Next stop: Museum #4 The Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.

Get inspired! Explore! in FEBRUARY

After living in Berlin for a few years, my husband and I embarrassingly realised that we had visited very few of the museums in Berlin. So a year ago we bought a museum pass, enabling us to freely visit each museum. Now a year on,  regrettably we rarely utilised it. So with a month left I am choosing to make up for lost time by visiting every Staatliche (state) museum within the month of Febraury.  Consequently, February is now my month for the collection of inspiration.

Throughout February I will be sharing my museum inspirations and my subsequent fashion related creative output. 

I will be:

• Visiting each museum
• Taking photos of items which inspire me
• Posting a selection of them on this blog
• Selecting one particular item which could inspire a garment or outfit
• Creating some of these outfits based on specific inspiration

Here we go!..............


Sunday 1st February Pergamon Museum & Bode Museum

1. Inspiration from the Pergamon Museum

I chose this textured stone wall as my Pergamon inspiration. Perhaps I will use the technique of quilting to achieve similar shapes in a skirt. 

Quilting does seem to be one of the "in things" at the moment. Here are some examples of quilted garments. 

Images from Sonia Rykie, 1800s Long  quilted skirt (MET), Just a Pretty Style

2. Inspiration from the Bode Museum 
Sculpture is not exactly my favourite type of art, especially if it is teamed with religious art. For this reason the Bode museum was not exuding with inspiration for me. But of course there were some nice pieces throughout the collection.  

For the Bode Museum I chose this painting by Giovanni Domenico Ticpolo (1754) with it's pinks, yellows, whites and greys.

Below are some possible fashion ideas

Images from cool chic style fashion, dailylook, Stylebop

I suppose that I will need to go fabric shopping to find the perfect shades of yellow, pink and grey

Next museum stop is the Kunstgewerbe Museum (Museum of Decorative Arts) which currently exhibits a history of fashion. 

*****

GET INSPIRED! and explore your neighbourhood.

Also to come this month, giveaways, information on mindfulness and more museums exploits!

Full Circle Skirt: Basic Black

Photos: Michael Dooney

A while back I made this simple circle skirt using my circle skirt calculations. This was the full circle version. I actually made it a while ago, but made a mistake with the waist.... so it sat in  my 'to-do-list' for a while. You can see that I wore it back in 2011 here down South in Western Australia. 

Once having fixed the waist I started wearing the skirt with jumpers that I had bought from the online secondhand clothing community Kleider Kreisel, which in English translates to Clothing Circle. I am obsessed with finding interesting jumpers on their site. This navy blue jumper was my first purchase. Since then I have found interesting jumpers with crazy patterns and colours. I will have to give you updates with regards to my secondhand jumper collection!

And I will be starting 'i give 2 hoots' up again this year, so I will be discussing the concept of 'online secondhand shopping' on my sustainable fashion blog throughout the year. Contact me if you want to be apart of the community!

I know that circle skirts are not so much in vogue anymore, but am going to start experimenting with the concept and come up with alternative circle skirt styles.  Keep posted and come and visit me at 'I give 2 hoots'.