Making cufflinks from buttons

I picked up a clever little piece of hardware at M and J Trimming on 6th Ave in Manhattan recently. Just a small connector for shank buttons, it makes it possible to convert your buttons into cufflinks without tears.
I used covered buttons for mine, big as dinner plates (45 Ligne!), for a retro 40’s feel on a 3/4 sleeve with a turn back cuff.
I tried to find a link to the item at M and J, but its not listed on their website. It is available in the store – see the ‘button department’ on the wall by the buckles.

Fabric Shopping on Vacation

I just spent a week on the island of Saint Croix in the US Virgin Islands with my family and my best friend and her family. It was a wonderful vacation, and much needed after a month of incredible stress, thanks to serious illness in my extended family. Saint Croix is a one of my favorite places in the world. I love the people, I love the weather, I love the topography and music – it’s just wonderful. If you have the opportunity, do visit there.

While we were there, we did the usual things, including:
Admiring the sunsets in Christiansted harbor

SCUBA diving with the kids

Celebrating the proud, piratical heritage of the island with soused 20-somethings

And of course,
Feeding beer to swine.

But this would not be a Sewing Diva vacation if I didn’t manage to squeeze in a visit to a local fabric emporium. I was pleased to find that there are at least two on the island. Forgive me if there are more, but these were the only ones I found on my travels. One, heading toward Fredricksted on the west side of the island, is called Fabric Town. I saw it on the way back home from a diving trip. Everyone was tired and salt-encrusted, so I didn’t have a chance to stop there, alas. Hopefully next time.

The second was a larger store in Christiansted, called Divi Divi Fabrics:

What a fun discovery that was! The store is located on Company Street, and it has a well thought and chosen selection of fabrics. It is also a Bernina dealer, and services all makes of machines. There were a lot of people, okay, women, going in and out, and the store was steadily busy on a Friday. It made me want to move to St. Croix even more than I usually do. The staff was friendly but somewhat reserved. But when I said that I am an author for Threads Magazine, and would they mind if I looked around and took some pictures they enthusiastically said, “Go ahead!”

The Back of the store:
houses the notions and a lot of craft-oriented items, along with some pretty rayon batiks. There was a large selection of ribbons up on the left balcony in the back room. There were also many beads and trims, along with a standard selection of notions:

Up front, they had a lovely selection of batiks, both rayon and cotton. In the cabinet by the register they also had some beautiful silks and laces, along with a stunning ecru quilted, beaded satin that I could see as a fabulous jacket.

I ended up buying a bunch of African cottons. My husband and sons love Aloha shirts (or Gig shirts, as my husband the saxophone player calls them). I’m not sure exactly what I will make for myself, but you’ll hear about it when I decide. There was one more fabulous thing in the store, and I regret that I didn’t take a picture of it. They had the most amazing selection of tiaras that I have seen. They were in the display case right when you walk in the store, and they were magnificent.

I didn’t have nearly as much time to spend in Divi Divi as I would have liked, but the next time I get down there, I will definitely ditch the family at the pool and spend a long time talking with the owners and delving deeper into the stock. It was a lovely sewing diversion on a lovely island.

Happy sewing

Knock off dress

The moment I saw this photo

in the book “Modern Fashion in Detail” which I ordered from the Victoria and Albert museum shop in London.

I knew I wanted to try to make such a fabulous dress.
And so I tried, back in the summer of 2002 I made my version inspired by The Bird’s Wing dress by Anthony Price.
The tiny technical drawing in the book showed the full dress
I drafted the pattern from scratch using the measurements from Irene a friend who was the model for this evening gown.

This picture

shows the pleats folded down after the pattern is spread and slashed.
The brown paper shows the drafted design of the pleated part , the white paper is glued between the brown paper to form the pleats for the upper layer front dress.

This

shows the pleated pattern how it is cut from fabric (white paper insets for te pleats)

Front
Evening gown in two tone red doupion silk, lined with bemberg.
The gown pattern exists of 5 pattern parts. gown back part is sewed without a waist seam but the front gown part exists on 2 parts , the bodice and skirt part , the upper pleating part has also a waist seam and is sewed ( sandwiched ) at the right side seam of the dress
The pleats are not sewn but pressed and fabric covered buttons are sewed thru the under layer dress. The bodice part front and back of the gown is underlined with silk organza, and one piece of rigilene boning is attached at the left side seam allowance of the inner dress .

The pleating part is made of a double layer ( stitch, clip and turn) the facing layer is interfaced with a knit fusible interfacing to add some “body” to the pleats.
The gown has a long 22 inch invisible zipper at center back and a long 26 inch slit to give the necessary walking ease.

Side view

Detail view

Pressing Matters

Diva Ann, who is on a scuba vacation with her family this week, has an excellent article in the latest issue of Threads that every sewer needs to read. It’s about proper pressing during construction, which is a subject completely different from ironing. For truly professional results, you must really spend as much time at with your iron as you do with your sewing machine. Trust me, seeing a well-made but unpressed garment just drives the Divas crazy – all six of us agree that pressing is an essential sewing skill.

In addition to the article, you can watch watch and download a video podcast of Ann demonstrating the techniques she writes about in her article.

Press On!

Divinely Elegant

I cleaned out the sewing shelf at King’s Books in Tacoma on my recent trip there. Among the many treasures I found of used and rare books was “Divinely Elegant – The World of Ernst Dryden” by Anthony Lipmann.

Lipmann rescued a trove of Dryden’s design archives in 2 trunks that were being thrown out in 1976 after the death of his great-aunt Helene Wolff Budischowsky. Years later he was able to piece together the story of Dryden’s journey from famous German poster artist to Hollywood costume designer and publish this exquisite book. His incisive analysis of European art and modes of the early part of the 20th century is far beyond the usual scope of a fashion book.

Here is a window on the lost world of the Austrian graphic artist and designer Ernst Deutch (1887- 1938). Originally a student of Gustav Klimt, Dryden (pronounced ‘Dreeden’) came to prominence in pre-World War 1 Berlin. He was one of the first commercial artists to become involved in advertising and poster art. A scandal forced him back to Vienna and to change his name after the war. He opened his own studio in Vienna, and kept a staff of young students busy there, including the young Fritz Lang. (Lang later became a legendary film director, but at this time he was more interested in fashion)

Dryden worked as a designer for the Viennese menswear company Knize, and was reponsible for the total redesign and branding of the label. He created the logo, designed the shop front and displays, a line of toiletries, as well as the ineffably elegant clothing for the venerable house. He was one of the originators of the concept of ‘branding’. Ralph Lauren acknowledges his debt to Dryden openly, as well he might – Dryden used the image of a polo player as a symbol of the company long before Lauren even created his company.

Eventually Dryden left Europe for the USA, fleeing impending doom before the Nazi takeover, along with many others who ended up as Hollywood exiles. He was part of a German – Austrian expatriate community that included Billy Wilder and Marlena Dietrich. Already succesful as a designer, he made the leap to costume design. The most famous of the films he worked on are The Garden of Allah (a largely forgettable movie that remains famous for being one of the very first Technicolor films and its luminous costumes for Dietrich) and Lost Horizon.