What's Up Cupcake?: Featured Friend! Dressing Mrs. Exeter

As a new blogger, it's so great to have support from the many other sewing/crafting bloggers in the huge blogosphere. One of my first followers was Dressing Mrs. Exeter. She has an amazing sense of style and lives in one of my favorite places, jolly ol' England. Like me, she is new to the world of garment sewing and constantly has wonderful posts about her gorgeous creations. Read more about Mrs. Exeter below and make sure you swing by her blog!

What inspires you?

Inspiration is everywhere, and the problem is all the ideas chasing each other around in my mind.

A little bedside reading...

I'm inspired by magazines, blogs, books, TV shows, Japanese craft books, films, exhibitions, vintage dress patterns and of course, people I see on the street. London in particular is crazy - virtually every woman you see is put together in a unique way and I find myself just STARING at people! I like classic English style, too, country clothes as spun by such style icons as the (current) Duchess of Devonshire.

Duchess of Devonshire

I also love the vintage movement - it combines so many things I care about - fashion, glamour, making an effort, dressing as expression, re-using and recycling. I'd love to join in, but I can't pick a decade - from 20s to 70s - I love it all!

What is your craft space like?

Oh dear, I don't have one. Our house in the UK is very small and there isn't space to have a dedicated sewing room. I cut out and sew at the kitchen table with the ironing board up and steamer switched on. Actually it's quite a nice room as there are windows on two sides, so it gets lots of light. I have to clear everything away each evening, though, which can be a bit of a bore.

Let us in on your stash... what’s coming, what’s in progress, what are you stumped with?

I don't keep TOO much of a stash (honestly!) - I usually buy something with a project in mind, and although it has to wait sometimes, it usually gets used up. I'm accumulating too many scraps, though. Pieces useful for a hat or bag or something .... seems wrong to throw them away, but it's getting a bit out of hand.

Simplicity 6685

At the moment I'm making a black suit from a fun 1966 pattern, but before Christmas I'm keen to buy some faux fur (I read somewhere that Karl Lagerfeld calls it 'fantasy fur' - isn't that great?).

Fur inspiration from Burdastyle

I like the jacket on the front of this month's Burdastyle, and if there's any left I think I'll try to make a fur collar as Casey, of Casey's Elegant Musings demonstrated recently.

What's your favourite craft to work with?

I'm a newcomer to garment sewing (although I have been making curtains and cushions for years), and have a convert's zeal! At the moment I'm zipping from project to project without much of a breath in between, so I've not much time for anything else. I do knit, but I am incredibly slow, and only do a bit when I'm watching TV in the evenings (just try to imagine my rock-n-roll lifestyle!). I bought the fantastic vintage knitting book A Stitch In Time by Jane Waller and Susan Crawford, and I'm dying to make something from it when I finish the sweater I'm making now. I've never learned to crochet, and there are so many gorgeous patterns that I am going to make learning a New Year's Resolution. I love the cute Amigurumi animals you can crochet, too.

What is your favourite thing you've created so far?

It would have to be the jacket I completed recently. I was inspired by Gertie's Lady Grey sew-along and her tutorials and one-step-at-a-time approach were really helpful. It was by far the most ambitious project I've embarked on, and I wouldn't have had the confidence even to attempt it without Gertie and all the other people who posted about their own coatmaking (including you, Christine!).