My name is Ivlia Vespasia and I paint using acrylics and oils, weave wall hangings, bed and floor coverings, sew clothing and do sundry other crafts, example illumination for my daughters calligraphy, painting Christmas and birthday cards for my daughter to finish off, and am always willing to try a craft even if I don't turn out to be any good at it.
I am 55, and currently living in Ireland (Dublin) with husband and daughter and 2 rabbits plus cat (and the neighbour's dog). I learned to sew from my mother aided by needlework classes in school when I was 11 and again at 14. I grew up in New Zealand (based in Auckland but also lived in Paihia, - the Bay of Islands - and Turangi at the base of Lake Taupo) where I attended school and I later attended a secretarial college and later worked in banking and insurance. I moved to England with my husband and returned to working in insurance before leaving when my daughter was born. I then ran a small smallholding while making curtains and clothes for others as extra money. We moved to Ireland when my daughter was old enough for school and have lived here ever since, some 24 years now. I have always sewed for my daughter and myself, and occasionally for friends, but was encouraged more recently to show my items to others and maybe show how I designed and made some of them.
I have recently been asked to make clothing for friends, and I have always given away some of my successful experiments in weaving, so I am currently designing an outfit for someone to wear at Christmas. I also recently returned to painting - I started about 8 years old when oil painting by numbers was all that was around and spent my teenage years painting copies from Egyptian tomb walls - and have found that there is a demand for my artwork among friends. In fact, they give me lists of suitable themes (sometimes even photos) for birthday and Christmas presents and a number of people have suggested I sell my work. I prefer landscapes and have a waiting list of canvases to finish but finding time to both sew and paint can lead to creative time keeping, but luckily oil painting means that I can leave a painting and come back to it again without problems. In fact, some of my best dress designs come to me when I am painting, it must be the artistic pursuit.
This blog will showcase some of my art and also my clothing and weaving designs. I will show how I make clothing, from basic (and simple) underwear and trousers through to skirts, tops and dresses - both comfortable house dresses and dressy dresses.
There will also be a couple of other occasional contributors, my daughter who does calligraphy, embroidery and cross stitch, and the cat who will model some of the pet wear I have sewn/will be sewing for cat and neighbour's dog. This blog will hopefully be written up at the weekends when I try to take a break from painting and sewing while spending time with family and friends, a time to go over what I have achieved in the previous week and what I hope to achieve in the coming week.
Equally I hope that it will at least by read by a couple of people and that it will be both enjoyable, and helpful. If you have a problem that you would like assistance with - sewing - leave a comment or email me and I will try to help. If there is something you would like to see being made - and I will try to post photographs of my work as I go along although coming into winter means constant rain outside is causing problems with light and photography at the moment, but we will overcome somehow - I will also try to help. I use a mix of ready made patterns, home made patterns and designs and ideas from a number of YouTube channels that I subscribe to. I will list these in my next post, hopefully on Saturday 22 October, when with luck I shall also have pictures showing a halloween outfit and a 'review' from the recipient.
If you read this, please enjoy and read next weeks as well, if only to see how it develops.
Good luck to all, and in the words of a famous Irishman ''may your God go with you''.
A last note, the pictures below show some of the things I've made/painted/crocheted/sewn/designed over the years, mainly for friends. A number of them are now on permanent display to those of the public who are interested. The crocheted dress was quickly made for a cold snap, I have designed several more, some finshed some still to be finished. The Roman clothing was made quickly for a photo shoot, and the jewellery is something I do mainly as a hobby for myself or anyone wanting something I am able to create. Hope you like them, I enjoyed making them and will showcase a few more pictures next week.
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