Today’s Boston Globe has a very amusing story about the Birkin, a handbag whose legendary exclusiveness is firmly quashed in the story.
And if you like Posh’s Roland Mouret dress Burda WOF did a pretty good knock-off.
Erica’s version is really hot!
I was on a sewing forum this week and read a post from a woman very frustrated because she needed to buy clothes for a job interview, and couldn’t find anything appropriate for her age and in her size.
Why do we have so much choice yet it is so hard to find flattering clothes?
Shopping used to be a pastime for me, but as I’ve gotten older, had kids and became jaded and cynical, I’ve had to develop a system for shopping, and it’s this:
Right now I’m looking for dark wash trouser jeans – stay tuned; the hunt is on!
Today I was meeeting a friend for lunch and wore my Hot Patterns Geisha Girl Jacket.
Man, sewing blogs and forums are on fire over the two Chado Ralph Rucci patterns added by Vogue last week!
I got mine yesterday, and the instruction sheet reveals this pattern to be even more interesting than I imagined. The embellishment is beautiful, and it’s typical Rucci; he has often used self-fabric braid and bullion stitches in his couture collections.
In the example above bullions are used to connect the irregular pattern pieces.
On Vogue 1048 bullion stitches attach the braid to the hem of the dress; and I can say from experience that this is a stitch you should definitely practice in a hoop before you try it free hand. It’s considered an advanced hand embroidery stitch, and like all hand embroidery sucess relies on thread tension and consistency. Also, on a technical note, a bullion stitch is impossible to do neatly with anything other than a milliner needle.
Milliner needles have very small eyes and are the same diameter all along the length; they don’t taper much at the point. They are hard to thread, so I always use a threader. Milliners come in different sizes, a thicker one will make a fatter bullion.
The small eye makes it much easier to pull the wrapped threads off of the needle and onto the inner supporting thread when forming the bullion, and you should make the exact same number of wraps for each bullion. Here’s a link to a bullion stitch tutorial that is much more thorough than the one in the pattern instructions. You’ll see how to form the stitch correctly, and there are examples of bullion stitches done incorrectly. However there is one glaring mistake to note: the wrong type of needle is shown in the tutorial! They show a tapestry needle (note the long and wide eye) - trust me, if you try to use a tapestry needle, or any needle other than a milliner for a bullion you won’t be able to pull the thread wraps off the needle.
I have one other major disagreement with the instruction sheet, which implies that buttonhole twist is a good thread for bullions. It’s fine to use that for the topstiching, but the best looking bullions are made from a single strand, non-divisible thread such as floche. Regular six strand floss can be substituted, but use three strands instead of six. Nordic Needle is a good source for floche and milliner needles.
On the braid, 2mm cord or rattail might be a substitute for the fashion fabric bias tubes if the thought of cranking out yards and yards of hand made bias tubing is a little daunting to you (it is to me!)
I’m still thinking about how my version will look; I think this dress in a dark wash denim with jute topstitching, ball buttons and braid would be great. Rucci rarely uses prints, but I can see this in seersucker with white topstitching, ball buttons and braid (Ann has a great green and white seersucker on Gorgeous Fabrics). Rattail cord has a shiney surface so there I’d stick with a polished cotton or a linen for contrast and tone-on-tone color between the embellishment and the fashion fabric.
This design is really beautiful and I hope it’s a sign that Vogue has finally got their mojo back for the designer pattern collection.
Hats.
Georgene’s post made me think of them, because I adore that cute little trilby on the right. When I was younger, I loved nothing more than playing with my grandmother’s collection of hats on a rainy afternoon, and every time I see a vintage pattern I long for the chance to wear one.
What happened to our relationship with hats?
My theory as to why woman no longer wear them boils down to this: we no longer wear hairstyles that accommodate a hat, that is, a style smooth at the back of the head with curls around the face. Bangs do not work with hats (ask me how I know this.) These days our hairstyle is our “head ornament” and I think our increasingly casual lives jsut don’t give us that many opportunities to wear them, and so we don’t know how to wear them anymore. These days when I see a woman in a hat she is just SO selfconscious and aware of what’s on her head. It reminds of me seeing my Episcopal dad in a Yarmulke at my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah.
So where can we wear hats these days? Well…
Church. Our African-American sisters in particular really know how to rock this and I salute them for keeping the flame burning, but for the most part hats at church are a thing of the past where I live.
The Kentucky Derby. Not an event I’m likely to attend in the near future.
Weddings. Well, many of them are evening events now, and hats are kind of a daytime thing if you ask me.
Meeting Queen Elizabeth or the Pope. Same as the Kentucky Derby.
Not a long list. Plus, a hat is meant to seen, and since most of us drive everywhere, where would we wear hats on a daily basis? The mall? Costco? I can’t envision it.
BUT
Great hats do exist….. like here….and here…and here. First Lady of France Carla Bruni needs to work on her hat wardrobe a bit; it’s hard to believe she looks more matronly than the Queen, who is twice her age and still wore a better hat. Carla should be channeling Jackie Kennedy.
Maybe when my daughters get married I’ll have a chance to wear one. Hopefully they will have day weddings.
Sigh
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):
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!
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.
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.
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