Valentino RTW Knock-Off: McCall’s 4922 March 17, 2007

I have to give Diva Els a giant hug because I misplaced my photo of the original RTW Valentino shirt.  She located it on her hard drive and emailed it back to me.  Els has an astounding ability to locate things on the internet and in her PC files, and I think this research skill must serve her well in her professional couture career.

The photo above is from September ‘06 Vogue, and I fell in love with this shirt right away.  The combination of the sporty style and sweet heirloom embellishment is sexy yet demure, and it just screamed “knock me off” when I first saw it.  If you can believe it, this shirt was about $400 when it was in the on-line Neiman Marcus catalog.

The pattern is McCall’s 4922, a good basic princess seamed women’s shirt with a few sleeve variations.  I made the French cuff version.

The drafting on this pattern is excellent - every piece fit together beautifully.  If you’re looking for a basic women’s shirt that will be current for several years this is a good choice.  I also recommend it if you’re ready to tackle your first stand collar because the directions are clear and accurate.  I actually had to use them for once because it has been a while since I made collar stand, and I needed to refresh my memory.

If you’d like this to really resemble the original, the separate placket would need to be incorporated into the center front as a facing, and you’d need to get a fell  seam foot.  These are fake fell seams, I sewed them on a regular machine, finished them on the serger, and then topstitched them from the front with white machine embroidery thread.  The buttons holes were also stitched with white machine embroidery thread.  The center front panels were cut out single layer so they could be mirror imaged across the front.  More pattern details are on Pattern Review.

The two fabrics are a wavy cotton eyelet and a soft cotton twill.  The twill was a gift from Diva Mary Beth and I *think* the eyelet might still be available, so if you like it just leave a comment.  I’ll find out and edit this post.

The front placket was cut back ¼ inch so that the outside edge of the entredeux would align with the  edge of the placket underneath.  I made the high-dome pearl cufflinks from the same buttons as the shirt.  The bottom two placket buttons are regular shirt buttons to keep a smooth line under pants and skirts.

Right now there’s about 8 inches of snow on the ground, but it’s melting fast and Spring is on the way so hopefully I’ll be able to wear this very soon!

Have We Got Lycra for You January 14, 2007

Both of my daughters take dance, and they had 2 shows this weekend. Usually, they get their costumes about a week before the shows, and in the past these have been your typically heinous El Cheapo quick-‘n’dirty-I-paid-$75-for-THAT-THING? And of course, because I sew, this is even more painful because I could make a dance costume with one hand tied behind my back.

However, this time I was pleasantly surprised to see two well made costumes. I discovered these had been custom made by one of the Moms.Well, when their costumes didn’t appear until the night of the dress rehearsal I figured I should introduce myself to this poor woman. A Sewing Diva to the rescue – as soon as I told her I can sew she looked as if she had seen the Holy Grail! So I might as well help out because I have some sewing resources to share with her and I’ll get paid for it too.

Here on Sewing Divas, we love fine fabrics, but sometimes Italian woolens, Swiss Nelona bastiste, or Thai silks are not what you need. Sometimes you need glitz, glitz and more glitz, and today I want to tell you about Associated Fabrics Corporation, a New York City company that specializes in theatrical fabrics. 250 colors of 4-way stretch Lycra? Got it. Bengaline in 80 colors? Got it. Hologram Foil Lycra in 14 silver and gold color combinations across 20 colors? Got it. Sparkle Crepe Organdy in 37 colors? Got it. Polyester Chiffon in 46 colors? Got it. And don’t forget the stretch velvets (with glitter or without), animal prints of all kinds, netting and stretch laces. Plus trims such as 2 inch sequined elastic waistband in 28 colors. The swatch catalog is huge, it’s a thick 3-ring binder with big 3 to 4 inch square swatches.

AFC has been around since 1928, and the gents who work there are wonderful, classic NYC garment district guys. So if you ever need fabrics for gigs, theatre, dance, gymnastics and figure skating then AFC is pretty much one-stop shopping. I highly recommend them.

 

(La) Rue the Day December 21, 2006

By Diva Phyllis
It’s a funny thing about sewing and me - when I get outside my zone, even though I have years of sewing experience, I still feel that newbie anxiety. This is the first project I’ve ever done in leather, and I can’t thank Diva Els and Diva Ann enough for their wonderful recent posts on making leather bags.

The La Rue bag is perfect as a first leather project - it’s simple (only 2 sides) and it presents a LOT of embellishment opportunities. This is made from dark bittersweet chocolate lambskin and it has a silver silk dupioni lining. Dark brown and silver is one of my favorite color combinations - think of the wrapper on a Hershey Bar. The leather came from an EBay merchant named Leatherwise and it was really easy to sew. Of course, you need a Teflon foot and a leather needle. I used Magna-Tac to glue the seams, and the hardware is all nickel plated. Truthfully, I lucked out with the hardware - I found the chain and the rings at Windsor Button in Boston, and the chain on the tassel is a tiny piece left over from my Chanel jacket. Years ago my mother gave me some vintage nickel grommets so I was all set there. I think matching the hardware on a bag is the biggest challenge, and Els’ recent post of canibalizing old handbag hardware is a brilliant idea.

The idea for the strap came from a Gucci bag owned by my friend Stina. Originally I wanted to do two pieces of chain parallel, but it was too heavy even though it looked amazing. I’ll have to size up this bag into a true tote and give that a try. The studs came from Mister Nailhead, also on Ebay, and do check them out because they have a super “Buy It Now” deal that gets you 500 pieces of really cool mixed studs. I haven’t used every style they sent me - there were 10 total in the bag, both nickel and brass.

Did do a few pattern and construction changes: replaced the binding with a simple curved facing, a horizontal center seam was added to the lining to enable me to edge stitch all the way around the top edges, and instead of the zipper pocket I just did a very simple open cell phone & pen pocket.

The armhole was widened 1/2 inch, which is enough for me. I cut an L-shaped slash into the pattern down the middle of the armhole and slide the piece to the left 1/2 inch. Then I added a gentle curve to soften the right angle, which actually made it look more like the original Patricia Field bag.

The tassel is embellished with hot fix Swarovski crystals in mixed colors of red, and a 20MM green faceted crystal bead forms a tassel head. The crystals were hot fixed onto a flat piece of leather which was wrapped around neck because it was impossble to hot fix the crystals onto the curved tassel neck. The tassel is attached to the chain with looped wire which runs through the center of the bead and tassel neck to a stop bead hidden in the skirt. I do need to get heavier beading wire and add a crimp bead to make it really secure. The tassel attaches to the bag with a big nickel plated lobster claw clasp so I can remove it.

So a big thank you to HotPatterns for such a great bag! La Rue bags are now going for the ridiculous price of $150 on the Patricia Field web site, so get sewing and make one of your own!

I really love this pattern.

Happy Holidays!
Phyllis

Reuse That Old Handbag Hardware December 13, 2006

By Diva Els

Since I made my last leather bag I felt the urge to sew another one for everyday use. I save my bags although they are be worn out or out of date but I cannot throw a bag away. One of my favourite bags ((bought 10 years ago) was worn out but I still like the design and the hardware was good enough to reuse again.
 

So I made a copy of this bag.
A piece of dark green butter soft leather was in my stash and waiting for a use.
I measured the bag width, length, height, and depth and made a paper pattern.
The original bag has a center seam at the side where the zipper pocket is placed but I had enough leather to skip that seam. I interfaced the leather parts with a fusible non-woven special leather interfacing which can be ironed with a warm iron.
The non-woven interfacing is cut with seam allowances. The bottom and side part could use a bit more strength so I added an extra layer of a sturdier interfacing between the first and second layer (this one without seam allowances).
The shoulder straps also could use a bit more strength so I did some testing and used a piece of petersham ribbon as an extra layer.
The opening of the bag where the zipper will be attached is stabilized with fusible seam tape as well as the lining opening.

I used leather glue to hold the leather seam allowances, and a hammer to flatten the seams. The bag has two pockets on both sides, one is an open pocket, 

and on the other side a zippered one.


The lining is interfaced with a fusible cotton red interfacing. The inside pocket is made of a double layer of the lining fabric.
The inside pocket

has a double function, the outside is a zippered pocket while the under layer is an open pocket,

This pocket is sewn at the lining by topstitching around the edges. I also added a key ring at the side depth of the bag.
When I was sewing the short end of the zipper at the bag with the hardware ring attached, I noticed I made a mistake. The hardware has a silver colour and I used a matching green with brass colour zipper teeth.

I removed the green brass zipper from the opening but left the pocket zipper because that side is not shown to the public while I wear that bag. I wear my shoulder bag on my left shoulder so the zipper pocket is towards my body. I bought a new green zipper with silver teeth which had a nice zipper pull,

but the colour was not spot on and the zipper was not working properly. It was stiff. I tried to smooth it by rubbing beewax on the teeth but it did not help. So I decided to use another zipper from my stash. This time a grey one that worked okay but needed to be covered to hide the grey tape.
I used 2 strips of leather to cover the tape.
I stretched the leather a bit while sewing the leather at the zipper tape so the zipper has the same shallow shape, to match the bag’s shape.

So the zipper is sewn in on a different way. The original bag zipper opening is topstitched and the zipper tape was partly visible.
It was easy to sew this bag on my Pfaff sewing machine because the leather was soft, the hardest part was sewing in the zipper. I needed to do some tests for the zipper to see which order to sew it. I found out that the short side of the zipper, where the ring is attached, needed to be sewn in first. Secondly, the zipper long ends on both sides, and lastly the other short end where the shoulder straps is attached.
The lining is sewn in by hand at the zipper tape,

because I had already glued the leather seam allowance to the inside.
The final step was to add the bag stop,

which helps to prevent the shoulder strap gliding of my shoulder.

Finished bag.

Done and ready to use.

Stalking the Ghost of Coco Chanel -Part II October 22, 2006

I finally got around to doing a tutorial for making the beaded tassels I blogged about in August. Just head over to Obsessed with Embellishment for the how-to.

Now I can finish up a reverse color version of this same cardigan, which will be in black wool crepe sweater knit with cream velvet bands and passementarie double buttons that I’ll make myself, similar to the ones Diva Ann made for her Vogue coat.

Phyllis

Double Buttons for a Whole New Look October 15, 2006

When visiting New York City last week with Barbara, Carolyn and Stacey, I set off to M&J trims on a quest for buttons for my Vogue 8307 coat. It requires three 2 inch buttons, and I made the coat from a mossy camel hair. I wanted something striking. M&J is THE place to find striking trims. You’ll pay for them, but you will find what you are looking for. I saw lots of buttons, but none struck me as just right - the ones that were striking weren’t large enough, and the large buttons weren’t quite right. Then Carolyn (or was it Barbara?) suggested doubling up on buttons. Eureka! We had lots of fun pulling out buttons and piling them on top of one another. Finally we came up with this combination:

Individually, they are both nice, but kind of ‘meh’. The bottom button is a 2″ dyed green mother of pearl, the top is a plastic iridescent green and gold shank style button. Put them together, and you get a very hot looking button closure:

If you need a creative closure choice, doubling up buttons gives you a whole new palate to work with. It’s easy, it isn’t much more expensive, and it gives you a great custom finish.

Happy sewing.

Expandable Bead Stash Storage October 14, 2006

For a while now I’ve been trying to figure out a way to deal with stash storage for my beads – how to you find a storage system that is infinitely expandable for a small but growing collection? Another dilemma for me is visibility – I like my embellishment stash, especially my beads, out in the open where I can see them and glean inspiration on a constant basis.

This year Ikea has two great products that can be used together, even though they weren’t necessarily intended to be:

The board is a white steel bulletin board, and the containers are actually spice jars with a glass top and a magnet on the back. The containers are 3 for $5.99 and the board is $12.00. For some reason that makes no sense to me, these are available only in Ikea stores. And typically for Ikea, they have the strange and non-sensical name of “Gruntal.” Look for them in kitchen cabinets and kitchen interior fittings.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking “Great idea Phyllis, but I don’t live anywhere near an Ikea.” … so I did some web research, and this system can be replicated pretty easily. Any magnetic whiteboard could be used just as easily as Ikea’s, and these boards can be found just about any office supply store.

The Container Store web site sells similar (and smaller) white plastic clear top spice jars with magnetic backs, and a company called Specialty Bottle sells, very similar to Ikea’s, clear top metal containers in smaller sizes. Best of all, Specialty Bottle has no minimum order:

The smaller sizes really appeal to me for seed beads, and all I’d need to do is glue a magnet onto the bottom. I might try these 8.5 x 11 inch adhesive-backed sheet magnets and stick a round piece over the entire bottom of the small Specialty Bottle tins.

Viola - infitnite bead & embellishment storage!

Keep on Sewin’
Diva Phyllis

Working with Matte Jersey October 1, 2006

I just finished my singing gig dress, Butterick 4849, and it presented some interesting fitting challenges. All the challenges stemmed from the choice of fabric (matte jersey). Matte jersey is one of the recommended fabrics for this pattern. I knew going into it that I would have to adjust the pattern, so I started with a size 12 and did two muslins. The first was a mock-up of the bodice, done in a wool/lycra to just approximate fit and to see what macro-adjustments the pattern top would need. The second muslin was in a matte jersey, and I discussed it at length here.

I threw some questions out to my fellow Sewing Divas, and got some great information about working with matte jersey that I wanted to share. My first question was about counterbalancing the weight of the trim. As you can see the trim is only on the neckline in the front. I tried, without success, to curve the trim around the back neck – the beading and buckram backing made that impossible. I considered a waist stay, but Els and Phyllis had better suggestions. Phyllis suggested padding the back neck facing with wool felt to add both heft and weight. Els suggested sewing lengths of lead drapery weighting cord to the facing.

I ended up following both their advice and applied wool felt to the back facing. That added a little heft to the back neckline that matches nicely to the heavy trim. But the trim still dragged down the front, so I took Els’ advice and ran the weights along the bottom of the back facing using doubled, waxed thread and a loose whipstitch:

The weight of the fabric presented a challenge as well. I asked the other Divas what they would do to prevent too much lengthwise stretching of the bodice. I wasn’t as worried about the skirt, but I didn’t want the bodice pulling down the way it does in the muslin. Georgene had a great suggestion of stabilizing the armhole seam with clear elastic, which I did. The trim itself adds some stability because it doesn’t have any give.

The dress in its un-edited form was so long that it brushed the floor. I cut 18 inches off the bottom to make it look more like the picture on the envelope. The final area of concern to me was the hem. I asked both the Divas and over on Stitchers Guild what they would recommend for hemming matte jersey. My concern was to avoid weighting the hem too much.

MaryBeth suggested either a rolled hem, like she did on the dress she made for the funeral, or “you can also just carefully cut and **run**”

Els suggested a hong-kong finish on the raw edge of the hems and then hand sew the hem allowance in place. She also made a great suggestion that I stabilize the hem along the stitching line by placing a length of Scotch tape just above it on the skirt. This would keep the hemline from stretching out as I stitched.

Georgene mentioned that her profession experience is using either a ’scarf’ pearl hem (serged, but tight and narrow) or turned and coverstitch. Anther suggestion was a hand-rolled narrow hem.

After trying a serger rolled hem, which looked pretty good on the skirt, but distorted the sleeves, I decided put a 1″ hand-stitched hem in.

It gives a more polished look, I think. Especially since this is for a pretty impressive audience, I want the dress to be “special”. And here is the finished result.

Why am I grinning like a madwoman, you may ask? Because Skippy my Eviler Twin got what she wanted, and for my singing gig for the number three guy at the Vatican, I paired this lovely dress with fishnet stockings. Just a little bit of my subversive side coming out!

Happy sewing.

Ultrasuede Reverse Applique August 14, 2006

This is a really fun - and easy! - technique for reverse applique using Ultrasuede or real leather or suede. You can even use other non-ravelling fabrics such as felt. You will need:

*Freezer paper that has one waxed side (I use Reynolds)
*Xacto knife - I like blade #11 as it is very sharp and fine
*washable glue stick (I buy them in bulk at an office supply store)
*pencil or pen for tracing
*straight stitch or open toe presser foot
*awl

Here, I am working on a pillow for my son’s bed. He requested an old English initial. The red fabric is Ultrasuede Light, the backing fabric is an upholstery-weight microsuede.

Step 1: Cut your freezer paper to fit the fabric section you are working on. Trace a reverse image of your design onto the paper side of the freezer paper. If you have a light box you can use it - I tape mine onto a glass door for tracing.

Step 2: Press the freezer paper onto the back of your fabric or leather using a dry iron.

Step 3: Using the Xacto knife and a cutting mat (or wood cutting board), carefully cut your design out. Notice here that part of my design will be lost once the main letter is cut out. I will applique that piece back on later. Once you have finished cutting out your design you can peel off the freezer paper. If you are working on a complex design you may want to remove the paper one section at a time.

Step 4: Carefully trace around the edges of your cut out design with the glue stick. Apply backing fabric and allow to dry (I’m impatient so I hurry it along with my iron).

Step 5: Straight stitch around all edges. You may need to use the awl to hold down the very small points as you sew. Pull all thread tails to the back and tie off.

Step 6: Carefully trim away excess fabric. That’s it, you’re done!

And, thank goodness, this concludes my back-to-school sewing! While most of you were making great new clothes for your kids to wear I was making a tailored bed skirt and pillows. I have to admit, I don’t love Home Dec. sewing but sometimes that’s the only way to get exactly what you want~

Ritual Cloth by Sewing Diva Els June 16, 2006

by Diva Els 

Back in the eighties there was a US cartoon about Turtles, broadcasted every wednesday afternoon on Dutch television. My oldest son, then 6 year old, was a huge fan of these so-called Ninja Teenage Mutant Hero turtles.
I made a summer jacket on which I applicated one of the Ninja teenage turtles, the one my son particularly liked (there were 4 of them but my son had one special favourite “Donatello”). The jacket had to be green and blue because that were his favorite colors and I found some Turtle cotton for the lining. The turtle I copied from a coloring book and I bought some small tubes of textile paint and went at work, precise cutting of the small parts from cotton fabric and painting them in the right colors, used doubble sided fusible tape and meticulous sewing around the edges. The look on his face when he saw the finished jacket was worth all the trouble I went trough. Now 17 years later I am still thankful for keeping his jacket which brings back nice memories.