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Hello, I'm new in town!

GOK

One Too Many
Messages
1,308
Location
Raxacoricofallapatorius
Greetings ladies!

I was just looking in at the hat forum (my partner is looking for his first Fedora, so being the lovely person I am, did some 'research' on his behalf!) and I discovered that men freeze frames on DVDs to look at hat labels, turn over china in restaurants to ascertain manufacturers and keep a plethora of images of apparel on their PCs for research purposes. My goodness, I thought I was the only person that did that! It's so heartening to find others do too. :D

I actually posted a couple of comments in the gentlemen's fora - was that the right thing to do? I don't want to get off to a bad start by committing a cardinal faux pas!

Anway, I should tell you all a bit about me I suppose; I'm a professional corsetiere and I also make repro vintage clothing. I've been making vintage wear for 31 years, ever since as a 12 year old, I decided I wanted to be glamorous like the movie stars. I have been fortunate enough to combine my passions in my working life, so have worked as a wardrobe mistress in theatre, plus provided historically accurate costumes to historical re-enactment societies (no, not SCA). I've also made gowns for weddings and a couple of movies. The latter have been featured in Marie Clare, Vogue and the BBC.

As a (late) teenager I was a professional photographic model and my biggest claim to fame is that Chuck Berry has a 20ft high poster of me! I have never even seen said poster! LOL!

What else? I have three grown up children who have all moved away from home now (yay for freedom!) and my partner and I live in a converted Victorian shoe factory - the oldest in our town apparently. The town we live in was once THE centre for shoemaking in the world....until cheap labour became the norm. [huh]

I've been a fan of swing, rockabilly, old movies, glamour etc. since I was a child and as I said before, by the time I was 12, I decided that 70's fashions were horrible and vintage clothing was fab!

Because I make most of my own clothing, I do wear a lot of vintage (albeit repro but from vintage patterns) clothing but I like to play around with designs and give them unexpected quirks and twists from time to time!

I think that's about it really - I lead a singularly unexciting life but it suits me/us. Both my partner and I are teetotal, non-smoking vegans who'd rather snuggle up with a good film than go out clubbing! Having said that, we're not self indulgent hermits and we do tend to have dinner parties several times a month, when I get to pretend I am a domestic goddess! Some people are even convinced too! The mad fools!

I look forward to making the acquaintance of many of you and hope that along with gaining knowledge and friendship, I may be able to offer something (no idea what!) in return!

See you all around the fora! :)
 

GOK

One Too Many
Messages
1,308
Location
Raxacoricofallapatorius
Wow, what a fantastic welcome - thank you everyone! I'd be more than happy to show you some of my wares as it were; however, please be patient as when we packed up to move, all my images on disc were put into that mythical place known as 'somewhere safe' and guess what? I haven't found it yet! Which is a bit of a pain because my web designer needs them to finish my sites! :eusa_doh:

I really didn't actually expect anyone here to be interested in corsets! Just goes to show eh?

I'm playing around with some lingerie designs at the moment but I'm not sure whether to stick with solely repro vintage or do a mixture with some modern designs thrown in for good measure! My ultimate plan is to be able to offer clients the opportunity to have everything from lingerie (including nightwear) to frocks, evening gowns, costumes (suits) and coats. This of course, is someway off in the future and I'd have to become a retailer of FFs and RHTs as there is no way I'd be able to make those....I could do a line in woolly socks though! lol

Does anyone here knit? I've just got a load of vintage patterns from the 30s and 40s, which I am dying to try out. However, although I can knit, I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a genius and am wondering if today's yarns have the equivalent of those of yesteryear. Does anyone know? I bought some 3-ply as this is what was recommended for one of the patterns but it looks so thin. And the needles (sizes 11 & 12) are really skinny. Did I get it right I wonder? It's going to take an eternity to make up by the looks of things!

Anyway, if anyone has any advice, I'd be glad of it. Oh and if anyone wants any of the patterns, I have them in PDF form and am happy to email them or upload them to a server. The only thing is, they are about 7-8meg each and I think some non-ISP accounts won't accept files over a meg. Anyway, the offer is there if anyone wishes to avail themselves of it. :D
 

Twinkle

Familiar Face
Messages
70
Location
Hertfordshire UK
Hi GOK,

I used to live in Northampton when I was a student, I studied Fashion at Nene College, under Kim Rowney.... Small world eh??

Where abouts is the factory you live in, there are so many around there and they are all lovely.

Still have loads of friends who live up there so I'm often in and out!!

Anyway Welcome!!!
 

GOK

One Too Many
Messages
1,308
Location
Raxacoricofallapatorius
Twinkle said:
Hi GOK,

I used to live in Northampton when I was a student, I studied Fashion at Nene College, under Kim Rowney.... Small world eh??

Wow, isn't it just?

Where abouts is the factory you live in, there are so many around there and they are all lovely.

Do you know Robert St at the back of the Mounts swimming baths and Police HQ? We're there - at the end that intersects Bailiff St. From the back of our bedroom, we can see the Church's factory all lit up at night and the Lightbox, which is a beautiful building. We looked at flats in both of those buildings but they weren't large enough for us, being only two bedrooms. Very, very swanky though. This is a house as opposed to a flat and had three bedrooms. I say had because one we've turned into a snug, another is my atelier and only the third (which spans the entire top floor!) we've kept as a bedroom.

We're getting the cellar converted too; in fact, I was speaking to the contractor this morning. He says work should be starting within the next couple of weeks once the plans are finalised (because we changed them slightly!). Can't wait - I have a vision of a room that is a cross between a gentleman's club, sultan's palace and burlesque club...where we can have candlelit breakfasts! lol

Still have loads of friends who live up there so I'm often in and out!!

Excellent! Do you ever go to the Black Cat jazz bar? We're thinking of checking it out but are a tad reticent after hearing some MP3s of one of the <ahem> singers they have there occasionally. Still, the house band might be good.

Anyway Welcome!!!

Thank you - and to you too, I see you are new as well! :D
 

GOK

One Too Many
Messages
1,308
Location
Raxacoricofallapatorius
RetroModelSari said:
hi Gok!

I´ve seen you posting in the whatkatiedid-Forum and now you´re here! Welcome!!!

Hugs,
Sari

And I believe I've seen you on Bernie's forum too! Pleased to finally meet you!

~landgirl~ said:
Hi GOK

Nice to see some more UK'ers here! :D

Hello! Where are you based?
 

Honey Doll

Practically Family
Messages
523
Location
Rochester, NY
Welcome GOK

Wonderful to meet you! I'd love to see some of your work. There are a number of knitters here as well. I know there was a recent thread about vintage knit patterns.

Hope to see more of you.

Honey Doll
 

GOK

One Too Many
Messages
1,308
Location
Raxacoricofallapatorius
Honey Doll said:
Wonderful to meet you! I'd love to see some of your work. There are a number of knitters here as well. I know there was a recent thread about vintage knit patterns.

Hope to see more of you.

Honey Doll

Hello HD, lovely to meet you too. I shall have to have a look for the thread about knitting. I'll post some pics of my work as soon as I am able - I did post some images of one of my gowns in the 'show us what you've made' thread.

Elaina said:
Welcome GOK.

Nope, I wear corsets because I have to, and I've got quite an interest in them (because medical ones are ughly with a capital UG).

Welcome to the lounge, soulds like you'll like it here.

Hello Elaina, I'm sorry to hear you don't have a choice about wearing corsets but hey if you have to wear them, they might as well be pretty eh?

I think you're right - this seems like a super place to be!
 

Lauren

Distinguished Service Award
Messages
5,060
Location
Sunny California
Hello GOK!

Welcome to the lounge! Glad you found us. Seems like you've had quite an interesting life so far! :D Oh, and I totally get you on the home/movie/dinner party thing... I'm much the same way, too!
 

GOK

One Too Many
Messages
1,308
Location
Raxacoricofallapatorius
Lauren said:
Hello GOK!

Welcome to the lounge! Glad you found us. Seems like you've had quite an interesting life so far! :D Oh, and I totally get you on the home/movie/dinner party thing... I'm much the same way, too!

Hi Lauren - I was drooling over your clothing in one of the other threads. Your gowns are beautiful to say the least. Something I already like about this place is that so many people make so many things. It's great!

Oh, and the manners here appear to be fab! So refreshing! :D
 

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