Designing & Patternmaking for Stretch Fabrics March 26, 2008

I jumped for joy when I read Kathleen’s post about a new knitwear drafting book a couple of weeks ago and went right over to Amazon.com to order a copy for myself. I tend to collect pattern drafting books but had not seen one specifically geared towards knits - my favorite fabrics!

It just arrived last Friday so I’ve only skimmed through it but I can already tell you it was worth every penny! Next on my book wish list (and also mentioned on FI):

Classic Calvin March 21, 2008

My daughter Emma has a weekly percussion lesson so I hang out at the library to catch up on fashion mags.  This month’s Vanity Fair has a wonderful in-depth article on Calvin Klein. In addition to the story, the VF website has a great video of Calvin showcasing his best designs from the past 40 years while he candidly discusses his design philosophy, color, sewing, design school and a whole lot more.

He’s charming, modest, handsome as ever and of course his clothes are exquisite!

Hot Patterns Geisha Girl Jacket March 18, 2008

Here she is - there is not too much to say in addition to the review on PR, except that I added thin shoulder pads because I’m mouse shouldered. 

One thing I’m still debating is whether or not to add some hand top-stitching on the red side.  I have some soft gray silk buttonhole twist that might be nice.  Will need to ponder that a bit more.

The shoulder pads are stitched to the seam allowance at the shoulder, and tacked to a small pieces of black fusible woven interfacing at the points.  These are ready made, and composed of batting instead of foam. I wanted a pad that would drape softly and identically regardless of what side of the jacket I’m wearing.

I’m very happy with it - it weighs nothing, and it looks as good loose as it does belted because the silk organza interfacing stiffens the edges just enough to flare the jacket away from my body.

Vintage Trenchcoat March 16, 2008

My dear daughter’s high school is holding another fashion show this year. The kids are big fans of Project Runway. This is the 3rd year they are putting it on, and fundraising with the proceeds. Since DD was away at Oxbow in the Fall, she didn’t get started until January. She was told that there had to be minimum 8 outfits to participate, not 3 like she did last year. Panicked, we decided that the only way to get thru the project was to use commercial patterns, as last year all of her patterns were created for each of her 3 garments. Since her sewing skills are limited I promised to be her samplemaker when I could. I promised myself not to influence. It’s her designs and fabric choices, I have just been expediting. It’s been crazy since January as we try to move forward on her 8 ensembles.
We combed the pattern boxes to try to match her sketches to existing patterns, and shopped the stash for 97% of the fabrics she picked. Other than buying a few buttons and trims, she managed to find everything in the studio here. That’s the advantage of having a stash the size of Rhode Island. As she told her designing friends at school “My mom collects fabric like other people collect action figures”.
The show is next week, but I thought you might like a preview of one of the styles. It’s based on this pattern from 1935.

Check out the back We didnt use the exact pattern, as the center of the back pattern had been cut away. The fabric is older than DD, an ignoble poly taffeta that loves to pucker. I have to say that I have never attempted to make anything like it. A high peaked double breasted lapel? Never! But it did come out OK, and I credit the excellent though sparse instruction included in the pattern.
I will post pics from the show after next week. We are all excited to see how it all comes together, with elbow gloves and a big hat off of eBay and belts and jewelry from local thrift shops. Here’s the envelope back for your delectation.

Hot Patterns Geisha Girl Jacket March 11, 2008

Believe it or not - I made a muslin.  Not so much for fit, but more for proportion.  Loose styles can be overwhelming so I had be sure this jacket didn’t hang like a sack.  This simple style has come nice dtails.  I like the way the collar stands away from the body and frames the neck, and the length is high hip.

The dropped shoulder was taken up 1/2 inch, and I raised the armhole a bit as well because the muslin was binding across my back.

One thing I have to modify is the construction to make the jacket reversible.  In the original instructions, the facings are on the inside, and the edges are folded under, pressed, and then stitched down.  I’ve moved the facings to the right side, and I really didn’t want to manually fold down the edges all the way around the jacket.  Another thing to factor in was interfacing; a fusible was just tad too stiff, so I used silk organza and the Balloon Applique technique from my holiday dress.  The black silk organza also acts as a soft interfacing, and I will hand fell stitch the facings to the fashion fabric.  This fabric requires a lot of basting; it ravels, snags and pulls easily,and after reading Marji’s blog I think it might even be necktie silk - she’s using a similiar fabric for her latest jacket..

In the full length view above the outer edge of the facing is machine basted, and the inner edge will be hand fell stitched to the fashion fabric.  There’s no lining yet. I need to attach the facing and then I can line it.  The sewing is going fast; the hand finishing will take more time. 

Moving On - A Summer Wardrobe Revamp March 9, 2008

The Girl Scout Leader  wadder dress is in the trash and will be out for pick up in the morning!  I really enjoyed all of the comments and suggestions, but in the end it had to go because I just couldn’t see  myself wearing it under any circumstances.

So - next up -  a revamp of my summer work wardrobe.  Most of the time I go for a three-season work look; Boston can be cool well into April, and my favorite season is Fall anyway.  I love boots, skirts, and light jackets and would dress that way all year if I could.

Summer is problematic; I don’t like hot humid weather, have sun sensitive skin and I loath pantyhose.  Summer is also a short season in Boston, and most people tend to go uber-casual for work because no one wants to bother spending money and energy on clothes that work for just a 12 week period.  I fell into that mindset too, not that I’ll wear Crocs (ack!) but there were days when I  wore way too much Old Navy on a regular basis.

 This has to change!

After giving it some thought, here is my summer work wardrobe criteria:

• No pantyhose; so this means pants, capri’s or longer skirts
• Nothing drapey; I’m SO SICK of the gathered, empire waist, baby doll, Duro looks of the past three years!
• Structured but not tailored because tailored is my regular three season look

 After some stash shopping, I decided to go with the Hot Patterns No Sweat Easy Sew Geisha Girl Jacket and Pants.   The jacket will be a reembroidered Japanese floral cotton with a red silk twill for the facings and belt.  I like the facings on this pattern because I can make the jacket reversible, and the red silk tones down the floral.  The lining will be the same red silk twill, and for the topstitching I may pickstitch the facings with red Delica beads on the red silk side.  I have to thank Gigi for educating me as to the right way to approach florals;  she has often noted they tend to look better on younger women and I totally agree with her.  Fortunately, this floral fabric is more subtle than most, and the red, white and black cross-stitch embroidery adds an interesting surface embellishment.    The pants will just be a nice black polyester for easy care in hot weather. 

Time to trace off the pattern!

Abject Failure March 2, 2008

It’s been  while since I’ve made a wadder, and maybe my sewing room needs one of those signs you see on construction sites: “This Job Site Has Gone _____ Days Without An Accident”. 

 So when I have one, as you can see below, it’s a doozy.  This thing looks like:

• A Girl Scout leader uniform
• I’m seriously channeling the 70’s, but not in a good way
• I’m on St. Patrick’s Day overload

Even with some styling, things don’t improve much:

This is the HotPatterns Plain and Simple Shirtdress, and my orginal version is one of my all time favorite garments.  The great thing about a great dress is that all you need to do put it on; you don’t need to think about coordinating other pieces  as with seaprates and there are no worries about having to constantly tuck in a top.  A dress just is.

Live and learn.  Wadders are part of sewing, and I just need to let go and toss this in the trash.

Elasticated blindstitched neckline finish February 26, 2008

I really love making and wearing surplice neckline tops and dresses. To prevent the neckline from gaping I usually serge a plain lingerie elastic to the wrong side. Once turned in the neckline can then be topstitched or, as I often prefer for a dressier finish, blindstitched by machine. This is by no means a couture - or even fine - finish but it is very nice on sportswear.

First, the machine. This is a true blindstitch machine with a curved needle. Mine is a portable TacSew T-500 that is not as expensive as you might think. I use mine quite a lot. It’s great even if all you do is hem with it!

Here’s a link to the T-500 on All Brands. $399 is a great price for this machine! I see it locally for $600-800.

STEP 1: Put the lingerie elastic through the serger for a couple of stitches to secure it.

STEP 2: Insert your neckline edge and serge the elastic on.

STEP 3: Turn the elastic in and machine baste into position on your conventional machine. This may seem like an unnecessary step but it takes so little time and ensures that the elastic doesn’t twist or slide around during blindstitching.

STEP 4: Blindstitch just catching the edge of the elastic with your needle.

Now you can remove the basting stitches. I use a really loose top tension to make it very easy to take out.

After blindstitching:

The finished product! I used contrasting thread here but had I used matching thread and a white elastic the finish would be virtually invisible. The busier the print, the less noticeable the tiny stitches will be. Also, a blindstitch has plenty of stretch to it making it perfect for hemming knits as well as wovens. It’s great if you are making a top or dress out of a fine knit such as wool jersey or cashmere where you don’t want to use a coverstitch or twin needle.

Here’s how it looks on a real garment:

You can read more about the dress HERE on my personal blog.

Now, I have not tried this technique using the stretch blindhem stitch on my conventional sewing machine. I imagine it would work okay as long as you get the settings just right. I would experiment on scraps first. Better yet, treat yourself to a true blindstitch machine!

Faking It February 23, 2008

 

For the past new years I’ve been building a collection of  costume jewelry and I want to spread the news that (1) costume doesn’t mean ugly, and (2) costume doesn’t need to mean cheaply made.

I’m not a huge fan of fine jewelry; mostly because the pieces I do like are way out of my price range, and the pieces that are in my price range are kind of twee and bland for my taste.  Give me costume any day!

The necklace above is a foray into faux tortoise; it’s a Liz Claiborne piece from Macy’s.  I do wish it were a bit longer,  but that’s easy to change because I can go to A.C. Moore and just buy chain to make an extender.  The resin and Swarovski crystal bangles are Kenneth Jay Lane and are brand new on QVC.com  - aren’t they fabulous?  I really want them and they also come in clear and black in addition to faux tortoise and black.  I may also look for a nice silver chain necklace with big links to wear with this; I like to double up necklaces.

 I wear my faux Chanel jacket all the time with these pieces; the pearls came from the Store Who Shall Not Be Named, the Voldemort of Retail.  This strand is 48 inches long, perfect for doubling up.  The glass pearls are nice and heavy, and each is individually knotted.  The black & silver necklace was made by RivkasMom on Etsy, and it’s made from a gunmetal chain,  lava rock beads, and the beads are embellished with Swarovski crystals.

Somestimes I wear just the pearls along with this brooch; it’s Monet from about 2-3 years ago.

The necklace on the jacket below I found about 2 years ago in Filene’s Basement; I love the bold colors,  and the way it nicely fills in a neckline.  The brooch is 20 years old at least, I think it’s Catherine Stein but it’s unmarked and I forgot who made it long ago.

I’m always on the look out for cool costume pieces, and good sources include Etsy.com, QVC.com, as well as discounters like TJ Maxx and Marshall’s.  Costume jewelry gets marked down pretty fast, and you can get some great deals.  The most expensive piece here was $60.

Leather shoulder bag. February 21, 2008

For this shoulder bag I used 2  brick-red leather hides, both were about 7 ½ foot large. This bag is a rectangle shape, zippered pocket on the front partly hidden under the flap and one zippered pocket at the backside for easy access.

Plus an inside pocket at the backside of the lining bag and a key lash stitched at the side seam of the lining bag.
I drafted a rectangle shape on paper with a fold over flap and measured my leather to see if I had enough leather, copied the rectangle paper pattern and add the several pieces for the pockets front and back and added a small piece to attach the shoulder straps, added seam allowances (3/8 inch (1 cm)  for the side seams and 5/8 inch (1,5 cm)  for all the other seams).
After  cutting out the pattern parts from the interfacing I taped the paper pattern still with the interfacing pinned ontoo the leather with some medical paper tape.

 The small pictures are all ThumbNail , just click and you see a larger image.

I made a long shoulder strap so I could wear this bag also crossed over. The strap is sewn with 3 pieces to get that extra long length.

The size of this bag is 17 inch (43 cm) wide, 12 inch (30 cm) high.
The total height is 17.7 inch (45 cm). Bottom depth is 2.4 inch (6 cm).
Shoulder strap is 59 inch (150 cm) long and 1 ¼ inch (3 cm) wide, so I also can choose to wear it crossed over. Outside pockets are 13 inch (33 cm) long and 6 1/8 inch (16 cm) deep.

I started with fusing leather interfacing to all the parts except the shoulder straps.

This non-woven interfacing is special made for leather because it can be fused with a low heat iron.
The bottom part and the part where the shoulder straps are sewn between are fused with a heavy hair canvas interfacing for some added strength.

All the seams are stitched and glued and flattened down before any stitching from the right side.

The zippers are sewn at the pocket openings, between the already closed seams.

    

I marked the seam allowance wide with a pencil (by folding the allowance back to the inside with the zipper teeth just inside the fold line) and glued the fold line of the zipper/pocket opening. The marked pencil is a guidance line only.
 
Then I used craft double-sided adhesive tape cut in half (because I only needed a narrow piece) to attach the pocket lining over the zipper-tape. Raw sides of the pocket lining and seam allowance match.

From the right side I sewed the zipper and the lining pocket (sandwiched stitched)

 

 

Now the other side of the pocket lining and zipper are stitched. The next step is sewing the pocket lining pieces together to form a pocket.

The lining for the bag is interfaced with a woven interfacing for adding some strength.

The leather is sewn with my new purchased “used” Singer 20U machine, Güterman strong polyester thread size 100 and sewing machine needle size 14/90.

 

I used several sewing machine feet for sewing this bag.

The Teflon and roller feet are great for sewing leather. I also used the Right Hinged Narrow Cording foot and glued some Teflon tape under the foot for top-stitching the shoulder strap at the center.
The Right Compensating Top-stitch Foot was great to edge stitch the shoulder strap.
Lining leather for reinforcing the magnetic snaps and to cover them so the metal parts will not weaken the lining.

  

The inside lining pocket 7 x 7 inch (18 x 18 cm)  is from a double layer of lining with the opening at the fold line which I glued down with a strip of double side fusible hem tape. The pocket is stitched around right sides together but I left a small part open at the bottom to turn the pocket inside out. Pressed and edge stitched at the lining bag.

There was some leather left but it was damaged, but I could use this part and cut around the damaged spot and add some color to the inside pocket. I made a template 3/8 inch (1 cm) wide and 3/8 inch ( 1 cm) wider than the length and wide of the pocket so the edges of the pocket is covered by nearly 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) and stitched the leather around the pocket edges.
I used a Pritt glue stick for temporarily securing the leather around the pocket edges and used the zipper foot to stitch it close to the edges.

For the bag opening I used a different zipper a non-separate one which can be used for garment sewing like in a a dress. This zipper has a smaller and narrower zipper coil, which does not add weight and is more flexible for the purpose of this bag.

The zippers I used for the pockets are separate ones which are sturdier.

     

The only hand sewing I did was finishing the last inch ( 2,5 cm) from the pocket lining seams towards the top side,

 prick stitched the lining bag at the zipper tape at the bag opening so it will stay put,

secured the lining side seams about halfway down with a couple of stitches towards the leather side seams and sewed a few stitches at the bottom of the bag to attach the leather and lining bottom together.

I closed the opening in the lining bag side seam, (which was needed to turn the bag inside out) with a ladder stitch.

Since the inside of the shoulder strap was not as nice butted together as it should be, although I tried to do it right by marking a line at the center where the edges would meet eachother.

I noticed that after stitching  a hairline away from the center edges with the zipper foot and topstitch from the right side along the outer edges there was a small gap which showed the natural leather color.

 I bought some leather colored polish to fill in the gap. I was lucky that the color brick red is the same as the bag. Used a narrow tiny brush to “paint” the gap between the folded and stitched edges to cover the natural brown suede leather which on some spots was visible.

Also a bag stop was glued at the center of the inside shoulder strap. This bag stop prevents the strap from gliding of my shoulder.

            

 This last thumbnail picture reflects the true color of my new bag the best.