Since I was three, I wanted to be a fashion designer. I filled sketchbooks with drawings and ideas and picked all my school subjects based on what I needed to get into fashion college. After three years of college, I got my start in the industry and have been working ever since. Full time, freelance, part time or a combination of them all. I have had dream jobs, terrible jobs and jobs you do to pay the bills.
Through it all I have continued to sew. I make most of my own clothes, am partial to a bit of hand stitching in the form of embroidery.
Here I share my tales of my sewing.
Hi Everyone, I’ve had some upgrades to the site in the last few days. Unfortunately it’s caused a problem with online orders. The post plugin isn’t working well with the new upgrades and so new orders for physical products like the bra kits and reflective trims aren’t going through.
We are working on it and trying to get it resolved as quickly as possible. Once it’s back up and running correctly I’ll let you know. In the meantime all digital orders for PDF patterns are fine it’s just the physical products (as far as I can tell).
If you are in a great hurry you can email your order through and I can process it by sending out a PayPal invoice.
Thanks for understanding and thank you to those customers who alerted me to the issues it was a great help!
Thank you all so much to everyone who entered the giveaways for “She Wears the Pants” I got lots of great suggestions of books and places to go take a look at in Japan.
Huge Thank You goes out to Tuttle Publishing for providing the books for the giveaway and for publishing the books in English too.
I’ve put all the names from the blog and instagram into the kitty cups, then chose the winner at random…..and the winners are
From the blog
This was a topic of discussion the other night. We were watching the new Daredevil TV show and I was complaining about the fact that regular clothes with a bit of fabric tied over his face does not a super hero costume make.
In the Spiderman movies not only does Peter Parker find time to teach himself how to sling around buildings he somehow also manages to figure out how to mold and make an entire latex/spandex suit…overnight.
At least in Superman (Dean Cain version) we knew that his S was on his baby blanket and that his mum helped sew him an outfit. So from a sewing knowledge/skills point of view that all works. Plus they made this natty montage too.
https://youtu.be/wehGfglnzyA
Thor comes from a planet where he is a ruler so I’m sure he has an entire armory contingent to make his leather and metal armour so he doesn’t need to make his own.
Bruce Banner/The Hulk seems to just wear his regular clothes but why do his pants increase when he changes but don’t shrink back down when he returns to being Bruce Banner?
Is Alfred the Butler really an amazing latex tailor in his spare time to create and maintain Batman’s outfits?
But all these others how do they do it? and if learning amazing technical sewing virtually overnight comes with being a superhero then is there a secret stash of fabric in the batcave?
This week I’d planned to take some photos of my recent (and not so recent) makes that haven’t made the blog yet. I figured out my outfits, ironed everything and then this weather happened….for 3 days. I decided the wild, wet and windswept look was not for me, ditched the idea of photos and decided to have a giveaway instead.
My love for Japanese pattern books is well known and I’m a happy enabler anytime a sewer is in the city to take them to Kinokuniya‘s and while away some time looking at the gorgeous books. So I was pretty excited when Tuttle publishing got in contact and offered me a free English Language version of “She Wear the Pants“. My dilemma was, I already own the book in the original Japanese, so would they mind terribly if I gave the book away? They liked the idea so much they’ve sent me more than one copy to give away! yay! and thank you!
So if you’d like your very own English Language version of “She Wear the Pants” please leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite Japanese pattern book, favourite place in Japan or dream destination in Japan. Mostly because I’m planning another trip to Japan and am looking for inspiration on where to go. I will post to anywhere in the world and will pull names out of a hat at random on Sunday the 26th of April 2015.
I’m also going to give a copy away on instagram, so to double your chances of being selected why not head over there and add your name again?
Disclosure: These books were sent to me for free, I am giving them away and paying for the worldwide postage myself. The BookDepository links are affiliate links, if you choose to you them I may be compensated.
After yesterday’s amzing sell out of grey kits, I’ve got a combination kit today that is grey and lilac lace with black powermesh and straps. It’s going to be so sophisticated and the colours complement each other so well.
The powermesh used in this kit is super strong, I’ve cut the panels across the length of the fabric so you can get more use out of the stretch as it ran up and down not across the fabric. Be sure to check your stretch percentages against your regular pattern before cutting as it may affect how “strong” your bra feels. It’s fantastic quality, I feel like it holds you in all over!
Now for anyone in the Sydney region (or willing to travel to Sydney), exciting news as I’ll soon be running classes and workshops! Come listen to me talk all day and show you how to DIY your own bra pattern from an existing bra. Or take a class on making knickers or a soft cup bra from a pattern I’ve developed.
Classes and Workshops include
DIY your own bra pattern – In this class you will learn how to pull apart your own RTW (ready to wear) bra and construct a pattern to be able to sew your own version
DATE: Sunday 3rd of May, 2015
TIME: 10am to 4pm with breaks for lunch and afternoon tea
Knicker Sewing Class – In this class you will learn how to cut and construct a pair of our Georgiana Knickers. These bias cut woven knickers are a bikini cut and a wonderful way to learn about finishing techniques for lingerie
DATE: Sunday 17th May
TIME: 9.30am till Midday
Bralet Sewing Class – In this class you will learn how to cut and construct a soft cup bra (no underwires). Typically known as a bralet or lounging bra these are good for light support and a fabulous way to learn the techniques needed for bra making.
DATE: Sunday May 17th 2015
TIME: 12.30 to 4pm
All the details, prices and ways to book yourself into a class can be found in the webstore. They are going to be really fun and are held in the beautiful workrooms of Home Industry in Balmain. Check them out if you want to learn anything at all about upholstery and restoration, not only are they incredibly skilled they are also super lovely!
Can’t wait to see you in the classes and workshops!
I’ve just added the most beautiful grey coloured kits to the store. It’s a really pretty grey with the slightest hint of blue tones to it and is going to be so flattering to so many skin tones.
So grab yourself a kit and your favourite bra pattern and get sewing!
There are also 2 purple kits left and I found enough to make 1 last Fuchsia kit. Once these ones sell out then those colours will be awhile before they are back in the line up.
Today marks 1 year of Measure Twice Cut Once having digital patterns for sale. Now I had wanted to celebrate by releasing a new range but it’s not ready yet. So I’ve decided to celebrate by giving you 15% off all digital patterns for the next week.
Use the code go15off at the shopping cart to take 15% off all digital patterns. Does not apply to workshops or kits and supplies.
I had a post written on this dress and all that was waiting was some nice photos to go with it. My first attempt at getting The Englishman to take photos on our walk to the train station led to some very derp faced awkward arm style posing. So I thought, no worries will try again another time.
Then disaster struck. The dress got accidentally put into the washing machine the right way out not in a wash bag. It got mangled against the agitator of the machine and the entire wash ended up with super fine velvet particles all over it and my dress lost quite a lot of spots and was quite ruined … Sad. So now in addition to a ruined dress I get to delight you all with with some wonderfully derpy photos of me from the original attempt at photos! So onto the story of the dress.
Sometimes a fabric inspires the dress. That was certainly the case with this dress. I saw the fabric and just had to have it.
A knit featuring multisized velvet spots that have an ombre effect. Really that’s pretty much a perfect fabric in my books. It reminded me of the phases of the moon or planets with the way the colour shimmered across the velvet.
Thing is, I didn’t have a pattern that would do this justice. So I dove into the stash and come up with some lackluster options. I wanted it to fold and move and ripple to show the amazing fabric off. So I started scouring my Japanese Pattern books and settled on the front cover from Drape Drape (book 1). **
It however requires over 3 metres of fabric. I had just 2 metres. I started searching blogs looking for reviews of the Drape Drape series. I’d always admired the simplicity of the drape tank which I knew Lizzy was a big fan of. She even had a photo of what the pattern piece looked like on her blog.
To start I cut a piece of interfacing to match the folded width of my fabric, I didn’t have any pattern card wide enough to use so that’s why I used the interfacing. I used the fold line as the grainline and with some measuring worked out that the centre front needed to be at a 40 degree angle. Using a protractor app on my iPhone I managed to get it all lined up. I traced the top half of the Baseball Singlet, angled out one side to become an aline skirt as I just extended it to the length I need. The other side I drew the shape to mimic the drape drape pattern. I then cut the interfacing along what would be the fold line to slash and spread the pattern to add even more volume into the drape area. The front and back of the pattern are identical.
I quickly ran up a toile using some slightly heavier knit fabric and realised I need to alter the draped side armhole to avoid flashing quite alot of side boob. I reshaped the armhole and went straight into cutting out the real fabric. I made it up using the overlocker and as it has 2 shoulder seams, one side seam and one straight line it went together in moments. I pulled it on relishing the lovely slinky feel of the knit. Then I looked in the mirror and I’d made a lovely velvet sack. Pretty, but oh so sacky and not at all flattering.
The next day I spent the commute to and from work sorting out a solution. If I cut an aline singlet dress out of swim mesh I could use it to bag out* the neckline and attach it at the hem to create a bubble hem. It wouldn’t totally do away with the sack look but it would at least make it look deliberate.
Apart from forgetting you can’t bag the neck and armholes of a dress that only have one side seam (you just end up with an endless donut of fabric that you can’t wear as a dress but makes a fetching infinity scarf). It went together well. The only other alteration was to slightly pleat the draped armhole which still had slightly too much drop under the armhole.
Totally derp photo, complete with tape stuck to my shoe, sometimes I just fail at life.
In this photo it looks like the armhole cuts in at the back but it didn’t? can only assume it had dropped a bit and I hadn’t straightened it out before I took the photo?
The beautiful drape.
I wore it to our Sydney Spoolettes Christmas get together and have worn it to work many times since and it’s so comfortable. As it basically doesn’t touch the body it’s good for big meal days or just when you need to be cool and comfortable. The fabric helps make it look dressy and I fear if I remade it in less spectacular fabric it might be more garbage bag than dress?
Fabric: Knit velvet spot purchased from Pitt Trading. As some of you may know, I spend a few days a week working retail at Pitt Trading. It’s so fun being surrounded by such beautiful fabric. I’m not asked to write about my fabric purchases in any way but as the selection there is quite fabulous you will see pieces from there pop up in my weekly makes more often. If you ever happen to be instore please don’t be shy and say hello!
*bag out means to fully enclose the neck and armholes with lining. Often referred to as the Burrito method. I can’t bring myself to say the Burrito method as the correct sewing way is to turn it inside out and twist and honestly if you did that with a burrito you’d end up with beans in your lap. For me it’s technically incorrect on both a sewing and food level and just can’t bring myself to use incorrect terminology. Sorry!
** This is an affiliate link, if you happen to buy from Book Depository then I get a small amount in return for suggesting the book to you. These links will appear every so often but only for pieces I truly do recommend.
I’ve been receiving so many emails asking about where to find good hardware, people trying to find suppliers of plush back elastic and the general struggle to find anything suitable. So I thought I’d make it easy for everyone and make them available on the website.
I’m offering both kits and accessories as I know you might just need to source one or 2 pieces and already have the rest in the stash? This way is much more flexible and you can tailor it to your needs.
The sliders and O rings are metal with a beautiful finish and available in either gold or nickel (silver).
Bra strapping are available in different widths and colours. Great for bra straps, headbands, cami top straps and anywhere you need a firm elastic with a controlled amount of stretch.
Picot or plush back elastic is available in 3m lengths perfect for knickers, boxer shorts, bras and even waistbands of skirts and slips.
I hope this makes your bra and knicker making a whole lot easier and don’t be afraid to ask if there is something you need and can’t find. It’s a pretty good chance I can source it for you.
Kits and accessories can be posted worldwide and are sent out using Australia Post.
