Instant Gratification! February 8, 2008

She arrived in less than 24 hours!  No need to run another photo - she looks exactly like the photo on Ebay.  Her name is Della.

Delayed Gratification February 7, 2008

Finally, after lusting away for years, today I ordered a professional dress form.  I found it on Ebay at Dress Form Mannequin Factory Outlet,and while it’s not a Wolf (which would cost three times as much), the company that makes them gets high ratings for their service and the quality of the form.  It has all the features I wanted: collapsible shoulders, a pinnable surface, a skirt cage and it’s height adjustable.

The company has a detailed size table posted with each form size, and I chose a RTW 10, because that size corresponds most closely with my measurements.  I’ll pad it out for my lower body dimensions, which are closer to a RTW 12. 

This company also sells the full body forms with legs that you see on Project Runway, and they have a “Make An Offer” feature in addition to “Buy It Now”.

Now I just need to think of a name for her….

A Sewing Trinket from the Divas January 18, 2008

butterfly-needle-book.pdf

Above is the pattern for the butterfly needle book.  There are no instructions, and you should be able to figure out on your own how to make one of these. It’s pretty simple.

Also, we offer no PC, Mac or computer advice as well since we’re not computer professionals.  I clicked on the file and I was able to download it with no problem.

A belated Happy New Year!

The Ghost of Christmas Past December 25, 2007

My mother sent me these vintage needle booklets for Christmas - aren’t they wonderful?  She said in her note that she found them at a “second hand sale” and as soon as I opened them I felt an immediate and powerful connection to the sewist who used them.

My favorite tools are always the ones I make myself.  I made the needle book below a few years ago when I was going through a bit of OCD while trying to embroider a proper bullion rose.  

The “cover” is filled with two pieces of plastic canvas zigzagged round the edges, then trimmed.  I added flannel pages and stitched a center “binding” between the pieces of plastic canvas.   I have a collection of vintage needles I that like to use for embroidery and hand sewing, so I store them in this booklet.

 

I have this fantasy that the woman who made the vintage needle books was just as pleased as I was when she finished hers.  The fronts and back are two colors of wool felt, and the pages are white flannel.  The butterfly is missing one antenna, but the simple silk floss embellishment is still bright.  The flower basket is embellished with posies stitched from french knots and lazy daisy stitches for leaves.  The handle of the basket folds down to show the needles.  Based on the shapes and colors I’d say both date from the late 1930’s to mid 1940’s.  I love the imagery from this era because it reminds me of my grandmother and my great aunts.

I doubt I’ll take the needles out - I’d rather leave them just as they are, as they were, the last time the unkown maker touched them.   A sewing moment frozen in time; a tangible link to the past and a respite from modern life.

Pattern draft rulers March 14, 2007

Like any patternmaker I use different rulers for drafting a pattern,  most rulers have a different shape which I can use for a specific task.

The plastic curved and straight ones,

The straight metal rulers,

The dark brown wooden ruler at the top is a ruler used for  pattern drafting men’s wear which belonged to my grandfather who was a tailor.

My most used and favourite is  a set of wooden rulers made in Turkey I am hooked on these.I bought this set from a Turkish tailor who lives in  The Netherlands.

The brand name of the wooden rulers is

 Together with the above wooden ruler set I use the other 3 from beneath very regular.

I do not own  Fairgate rulers but they seemed the best and are commonly used in the U.S.

Pressing equipment part 2 February 27, 2007

Since there were some questions asked by readers of the previous post I will try to answer those.

Pressing tools like hams,  clappers, steam rolls  can be ordered from suppliers of tailoring tools like wardrobesupplies  or greenburg-hammer in the USA.

Pressing aids from the UK

Different shaped tailor’s hams from my supplier in The Netherlands

Some of you asked for information about where to look for the press buck ( persbok)

To my knowledge this rectangle one is a Dutch design, made for a  tailoring course at a fashion school, I never saw this rectangle shape outside The Netherlands.

And I was lucky to find one at a Dutch Auction site.

If you are interested in buying one, let me know and I can look around to see if I can find another one.

Press bucks and tailoring hams are used by tailors and dressmakers and are available in different shapes and have different pressing features, like you can see from these German tailor suppliers, the press bucks  from  schlemming.de  are velvet covered . Like this one.

The bucks from  k-m-versand  are covered with linen.

ebay has an auction for a bügelblock covered with linen right now

I could not find any information about ordering from outside Germany, but it will give you an idea what kind of bucks are used in tailoring and dressmaking.

At the famous vintagesewinginfo website you can find lots of info for pressing  like pressing needs for pressing ,

scope of tailoring 

Pressing techniques can be found in a lot of vintage tailoring/ dressmaking books .

A  pattern for making different kinds of pressing hams and a ham holder can be bought from fiber-images.com

Save Those Selvages for Stabilizing February 3, 2007

Many commercial patterns instruct you to use twill tape or seam binding to stabilize edges. I never seem to have either in my stash, and even when I buy these notions, they rarely come in the right colors for my projects. But there’s an easy, inexpensive alternative:

The selvage of a silk fabric.

In the case illustrated above, I used the selvage from a burnout silk chiffon. The selvage is very tightly woven, and provides stability to the waistline seam of a bias cut top that I’m working on. It’s important that you use the selvage of a tightly woven, stable fabric, like chiffon, organza or charmeuse. Crepe or similar fabrics will have too much stretch to provide the stability you need. But it’s inexpensive, and you can frequently find it sitting right in your stash.

Happy sewing!

Patternmaking Calculator November 26, 2006

By Diva Georgene 

I ran across this handy pattern calculator at Pattern Stringcodes.com. Click on “software” at the end of the french curve banner at the top, and you will find a free software download for a calculator that works in inches and metric and can calculate in decimals as well as fractions. No more wondering how many centimeters 3/8 of a yard is!
I also love the feature that allows you to calcualte the radius of circle skirts - full and partial.
A handy item indeed, and now it sits on my desktop as a little icon.
I note also that Pattern Stringcodes sells basic and custom slopers. It seems like it could be a great service for those who are in the market for this, however based on a review of their sloper at Kathleen Fasanella’s Fashion Incubator blog, I would not be so quick to recommend it!. However, read up on their info on what slopers are good for - a great education on this basic building block for patternmaking.

Sewing Invisible Zipper November 8, 2006

By Diva Els 

I prefer to sew the zipper after the seam underneath the zipper opening is closed. I use a longer zipper for example the zipper opening is 12 inch my zipper is at least 13 inch. A too long zipper can be cut of with a pinking shear from the bottom after the zipper is sewn. If your garment will be lined a couple of stitches over the coil will do to stop the zipper from separating .For an unlined garment it is a neat way to finish the end of the tape by covering it with a piece of lining or a satin tape.
The opening is stabilized with fusible interfacing .

I find it easy to have a mark on my fabric where the zipper needs to be stitched ,that’s why I start sewing the zipper opening with a large stitch and a loose tension. sew the seam beneath the zipper opening as usual.
Press the seam open and remove the stitches of the zipper opening seam. The pressed seam for the opening has now a fold which acts as a guideline.
I sew on a Pfaff with snap on feet and do not use the plastic invisible zipper foot which has to be screw on. I use the normal zipper foot,

Press the seam open and remove the stitches of the zipper opening seam. The pressed seam for the opening has now a fold which acts as a guideline.
I sew on a Pfaff with snap on feet and do not use the plastic invisible zipper foot which has to be screw on. I use the normal Pfaff zipper foot.

I need to press the zipper coil flat so I can sew with my usual zipper foot.

Here you can see the difference of the flat pressed coil with the not yet pressed coil.

The zipper coil is placed over the pressed fold, you can pin the zipper in first to check if you are on the right spot.

If you want to be sure you can baste the zipper tape (in this example the left side because that is the one which will be sewn first) Using a non perfectly match color thread in the spool will be handy if you need to rip the stitching in case it went bad. Think black thread on a black zipper you can use dark grey or dark blue which is easier to see if you need the seam ripper.

I start sewing the zipper from the top down ( I sew the left side of the tape first) with a few backstitches and the last stitch is at the end of the opening I don’t backstitch here but I sew backwards.

The next step is sewing the zipper from the top down ( I sew the left side of the tape first) with a few backstitches and the last stitch is at the end of the opening I don’t backstitch here but I sew backwards in a diagonal line for about 1 inch towards the outer edge of the zipper tape.

Close the zipper and pin / baste stitch the other side of the zipper at the fold line sewing from the bottom towards the top. Do not backstitch at the beginning this can be done later when you have checked if the zipper is sewed perfect without bumps.

Close the zipper the full length again to check if the zipper is sewed perfect
Because the zipper is longer than sewed the pull is now at the loos end of the zipper .

The last inch gentle pulling the zipper pull from the inside.

A few backstitches by hand with the upper thread pulled down .

Zipper is done, view from inside.

And ouside.

posted by Els | 9:19 AM   

14 Comments:

Gorgeous Things said…

Els, what a great tutorial, thank you! I have always sewn my invisible zippers on before closing up the seam, and I always have a fight with my garment to avoid any bubbles at the zipper bottom. This method looks like it will eliminate that problem. Thank you!

11:50 AM  

Lorna said…

Thanks, els! I have also sewn these in before sewing the seams. I don’t use the invisible zipper foot either as it does not fit my machine. I usually just use the machine zipper foot as I cannot adjust the needle position on my machine. Do you switch the needle over when sewing in the zips?

1:37 PM  

Abi said…

Thank you very much for the visual tutorial.Almost exactly what I do except I use the Viking invisible zipper foot and leave a 5cm gap unsewn.I then try to fudge a bubble free end.All I need is to use a longer zipper.
Excellent.

2:09 PM  

Anonymous said…

Els, thank you very much. I hate fighting that little bubble at the end of the invisible zipper. I’m going to have to give this a try. It looks like a very sleek method.Jodi

2:29 PM  

hjm said…

Thanks. I use invisible zippers a lot but have never produced one that I really liked. You have several tips here that I will try!
hjm

2:52 PM  

Mary Beth said…

Great tutorial, Els. Thanks!

4:51 PM  

Gigi said…

That’s great, Els! I’ve always inserted mine into an open seam but I’m excited to try your method.

4:51 PM  

Anonymous said…

Thanks for this. I’m going to print and follow on my next invisible.
Betty Fleet

4:59 PM  

Phyllis said…

T%his is great! Very thorough and easy to understand. I’ve been wanting to improve my invisible zipper sewing for a while now.

6:30 PM  

Lisette said…

Very good timing! I have a bunch of stuff that needs Invisible zips and the ones I’ve done I haven’t liked much. Thanks so much for this!

6:21 AM  

Cindy said…

Els, Thank you! Great tutorial! I cannot wait to try this method on my next invisible zipper.

8:03 AM  

Anonymous said…

Somehow these pics remind me of another example in one of Threads Magazine’s tutorial. The colors you chose are very difficult to show details just as that of the Threads tutorial. Invisible zippers are easy and fun once you know how but can be daunting for a beginner. I personally prefer to use the special invisible zipper foot but I have also used the same foot/machine brand like you did successfully. I would finally like to add that Pfaff did make an invisible zipper foot (metal) which has the same part number as the one you used, however it cannot be used with the IDT.
Signed: Aging Eyes

9:24 AM  

Anonymous said…

Els,This is a great tutorial! I wish more people knew how to put in an invisible zipper. It looks so much more professional! In fact, I only ever use a fly front or invisible zipper application, so I can’t wait to try your method. I, like others use the open seam method.

3:44 PM  

Anonymous said…

Thanks Els for this tutorial! Always try to finesse that little bubble at the bottom with tiny handstitch. But I’ll try your method - that diagonal stitching on bottom intrigues me. I’ll be off to the machine to try this. Thanks again! UTZ

3:12 AM  

Cool Tools - Grommet Setter October 11, 2006

I’ve always wanted to buy a grommet/snap press but I really don’t do enough volume to justify the purchase. A few years ago, I discovered manual grommet setters from the C.S. Osborne Company. These are great quality tools, made to last, and are very reasonably priced (many under $20). Most of the applicator sets come with a hole punch but, for knits especially, I often prefer to use my revolving punch so that I can make smaller holes. The Osborne punch is fine on stable fabrics and leather. You’ll also want a rubber or rawhide mallet as a regular hammer can damage your tools.

The larger sizes are great for bags, shower curtains, etc. but my favorite is the size 00 (3/16″) as it is most useful for garment construction as shown here on Kwik-Sew 3120:

When using grommets (or eyelets) on knits there are a few things you’ll want to be aware of:

1. Make the smallest hole possible and stretch the fabric around the grommet. Otherwise, the grommet will come out later. This means that, if you are using the small eyelets commonly found at chain stores, you may just be snipping a thread or two to make a teeny hole. Practice on scraps to see which size works best with the fabric you’ve chosen.

This is the size hole I used for this project. My placket was interfaced and faced so I needed a slightly larger hole than I would have on one layer of plain fabric.

2. Use interfacing if at all possible (not shown in the following photos). You can also reinforce the hole with a small piece of cut-away embroidery stabilizer as shown below. If the back of the grommet will be visible you can trim away the excess so that it will be hidden once the grommet has been applied. If you’re using eyelets or the grommet back will be hidden you can just trim the excess stabilizer afterwards.

You can purchase the larger size Osborne grommet setters in the home dec. section of Jo Ann Fabrics. Other sizes can be purchased online at www.beaconfabric.com, Texas-LeatherCraft on Ebay or from Tandy Leather.