Nancy K Sews

Sewing for Alex

2012-01-30T09:09:00.000-05:00

When my daughter was young I rarely made clothing for her. She couldn't stand still and if I should poke here with a pin? Forget it. She was pretty awful. Now, she considers clothing made by me worth standing still. Of course she's older now and she buys her own clothing and while she is a small size and can readily find clothing in rtw, she hates cheap clothing. She understands the difference between cheap and well made. Because she's a size 2 or 4 there are lots of great offerings at places like Nordstrom Rack and Neiman's outlet store both available to her in Texas. She has an easy time finding dresses, but skirts, because she has a waist that is almost 2 sizes smaller than her hips are a harder find. She told me that she wanted me to make her a skirt for her Chanukah present and since she was coming in to visit in November I had a muslin waiting for her. Originally she chose a Burda Style with a hem ruffle and cb pleats in it, but the fabric she chose from my stash wasn't compatible. I had a piece of black and gray coated cotton animal print that she fell in love with so we went with a simple pencil skirt. I had a 7" gray Riri zipper in my zipper drawer and made an exposed cb zipper to jazz up the skirt a bit.

Instead of just taking in the waist at the side seams, I added darts front and back for a more graceful transition from hip to waist. Her fullness at the hip falls at her upper thigh, so her hip curve didn't match the pattern's. I took in the upper hip and added a bit to her thigh area.

It's pretty easy to place the whole zipper on the surface of the garment in a seam, but I didn't want the zipper tape exposed. I looked everywhere for a good method and if I wanted to just put it in anywhere on the skirt that was pretty easy, but how to do it in a seam, that I had a hard time finding. I made samples and I faced the seam so that I had finished edges around the zipper teeth and a clean transition to the remainder of the seam.

Here's a closeup of the zipper.

She is very happy with the results and she proudly tells all her friends that her Mom made it.

What's with Burda Style These Days?

2012-01-27T10:34:00.001-05:00

I procrastinated on renewing my Burda subscription because there were just too many issues in 2011 that I hadn't made or even wanted to make, one thing from. I finally gave in and renewed in time to get the January issue. Is there even one thing in that issue that I want to make? No, not happening. February arrived and it's just as bad. The smaller sizes are either tight and very young or they are shapeless and unflattering to anyone more than a size 36 without curves. The plus sizes are even worse. They are oversized and shapeless and have weird design lines like this one:

What were they thinking with this one? It's hard to see on the not very plus size model, but it isn't very flattering, maybe that's why they photographed from far away. I certainly can't imagine it on my curvy, narrow shouldered, DD cup body. Unless I want to add 20lbs visually.

How about this ~~lovely top?~~ Again, it's shapeless and just not flattering to most of us.

This plus sized cliche? It's just too voluminous to be flattering and there are versions everywhere.

This isn't plus sized, but it's just as voluminous and unflattering, even on this skinny model.

That was a sampling of January. February arrived last week and honestly, there is very little in this one to love either. The styling is better than the designs. When I really look at them there is little there for me. I always ask myself if a design will not only work for my body but for my life style. You of course may think other wise. I can't wear pleated, narrow hemmed pants. Talk about unflattering. The tops are mostly oversized again and that just doesn't work for my body.

Love the styling here, but the jacket just won't work on me.

A basic jacket that is interesting with the front extensions, but again, not really for my body. But, it's really not all that interesting or different. They seem to be recycling a lot of basics and not changing them very much.

I love this look, but again it just isn't suited for my body. Depending on your body type you may well find plenty to like in this issue. It's just not for me.

I found the maternity section to actually be the most wearable of anything in the magazine. So if you are pregnant, this is a good issue for you.

The plus section is wedding this month. I am a little old for this, but I can't see many women in their 20's and 30's wanting to look like this at their wedding.

Nightgown anyone? I do believe it's supposed to be a wedding dress.

If you have girls making communion or being flower girls or junior bridesmaids, this issue is for you. There are some of the nicest children's dresses I've seen in a while.

As I get older I am finding it harder and harder to find patterns that will work for me and my lifestyle. I'm glad I didn't take a whole year. I'll miss Burda, or rather the old Burda, but it's an expensive purchase if I don't end up using any of the patterns.

Fitting With Kenneth King

2012-01-23T08:33:00.000-05:00

Why do I never remember to take photos at workshops? I don't know, so there are no photos of my wonderful day of fitting with Kenneth King yesterday. Sew Right in Bayside, Queens has regularly scheduled classes with Kenneth. I took the moulage class with him last year, which helped me with fitting, but I still have issues so I signed up for his fit clinic. There were seven of us and we had to bring a muslin of our garment and a clean copy of the pattern on white paper. I brought my second muslin of my planned leather Moto jacket from Hot Patterns.

The moulage class didn't draft a sleeve and that's where my issues continue to be. There were some other minor issues so I am improving. There is a side panel to this jacket and Kenneth added a side seam, one, because it is a large piece and I am using leather, and two, he was able to shape the side seam for a more flattering look. He also raised the back neck since this is an outer jacket and this will keep the wind out. He added a little at the bust, but he just added it to cf. Something I've never done before. He adjusted the collar to fit. He undid the armhole and sleeve changes I had made which were incorrect. I always find the muslin fine until I put the sleeve in and then it binds. Lowering the armhole was not the solution because the whole jacket rises when you raise your arm.
I needed a little more width to the biceps. His formula is that the amount of ease you add to your arm at the shoulder, measuring that amount snugly is the same amount of ease that needs to be added to the biceps measurement. If I've got this right, measure your armhole in the pattern and subtract your arm/shoulder measurement and that is the amount of ease that you need to add to your biceps measurement on the pattern. I will make one more muslin and then onto the jacket.

There will be another fit clinic in April, probably on the 15th if you want to take it. He's a great teacher and he is happy to answer any fitting question, not just about your muslin. After marking our muslins he transferred the changes to our patterns. Sometimes, as with my added bust room,in surprising ways. I learned a lot from watching him fit the other women and asking questions.

Sew Right is also offering another moulage class in February. It's on 3 Sundays and worth every penny. Laurie, who handles all the classes is having a hard time filling this one, so if you live in the metro area I really hope you'll give it a try. What's better than a group of women obsessed with sewing and a great teacher?

My sweater set is finished, but I will write another post on that one. I've made 4 muslins on my jeans, well actually about 7 considering my first attempt using a copied and enlarged pair of rtw didn't work and I cut my losses. I am using Hot Patterns Dressy Jeans because the crotch shape works for me. Currently they are about half way done, but in a corduroy for my first finished pair. I probably should have made another muslin but I ran out of cheap denim. I ended up making a full pattern because of my high right hip. Without pockets I don't bother, but this makes it easier to get the pockets to match.

Basically my sewing time has been consumed with fitting muslins. It looks like I will get a great fitting pair of jeans out it as well as a leather jacket that fits.

Sewing Knits

2012-01-08T11:15:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone. We had a quiet end of year with friends not far from home. Great company and good food.

For years I had a love hate relationship sewing knits. I rarely wear blouses, mostly sweaters and knit tops. I was tired of making bottoms and jackets but buying knit tops. Part of the problem was finding good knits to sew. The other was learning how to sew them. Ease in knits is kind of tricky because knits come in lots of degrees of stretch. One pattern designer has a chart on how to figure wearing ease by the amount of stretch. This only works if you like the fit she thinks is right. I also found her chart incomprehensible and my top even after making a muslin was a wadder. I am not fond of wearing a sausage casing.

Lately I've been watching the webcasts that Peggy Sagers has been posting on her Silhouette Pattern site. I used her method of wrapping the knit around your body to find the right ease for the knit being used. Disaster. I ruined a lovely sweater knit doing this. (This is not to say that it doesn't work, just that it didn't work for me. Her videos offer a wealth of information well worth your time to watch.) The best fitting method I've found for me is from Marcy Tilton's website. I fit the paper pattern and I've taken to cutting knits with 'in case' seam allowances in the fitting seams. This seems to work the best for me. That and basting my garment together before I sew it permanently with either my sewing machine or serger or a combination of both. The other thing that improved my knit sewing was buying a coverstitch machine. I have a Janome 1000cs and I love it. Of course the best help in sewing knits is to just sew a lot of them. Like anything else, the more you sew the better you get.
I used to obsess about grain, and lets face it there isn't real grain on a knit. Knits are made in the round and cut apart after they come off the loom. That glue edge on some knits is to keep them flat, but that is not like a selvedge on a woven. You shouldn't use it to line up your grainline. I used to take a magnifying glass and lay painters masking tape along one side of a knit line, which meant cutting with the right side up even when folded. No more. I fold plain knits in half and smooth until the fold line has no wrinkles or pulls in it and use the fold line to line up my grain. It works and the hems are smooth and hang properly.

Finding Good Knits
The days of the independent fabric store are gone for most of us. Unless you want to buy quilting fabric most of us have only JoAnn's or Hancocks. We have JoAnn's here on Long Island and I avoid that place like the plague. The only thing I buy there is a bolt of muslin with a coupon or thread if I am desperate. Door to door it takes me about two hours to get into NYC and walk into a fabric store. Not an everyday occurance. When I do go in I find knits at Mood or Elliot Berman for the most part. I don't wear polyester knits, not straight anyway, because they make me clammy in the winter and hot in the summer. My favorites for warm months are rayon and rayon lycra knits or a good cotton knit. I love wool blend jerseys for warmth and softness. All wool can be a bit scratchy. Hands down Mood has the best selection of knits I've seen in the city. But I buy a lot of knits online for the convenience and if I add in tax and a train ticket, it often works out cheaper for me and of course there is the time factor. My favorites in order of how much I buy from them are Emmaonesock. not just the quality here, but I find that her taste is compatible with mine. I also buy knits from Marcy Tilton. She is pricier than EOS, but her quality is good. She also has great descriptions, as does EOS which is a big help when buying online. I feel the most comfortable with EOS because she also has the best photography of her fabrics. Nothing beats handling a fabric, but a good photo helps a lot.

The last post I wrote was on fitting a Hot Patterns knit top. I did finish it and wear it, but it still has problems. I love that swoopy front but it is still longer than the back and I made the front hem deeper. I don't think I'll make it again.

My current project is a sweater set using Pamela's patterns draped front cardigan. I managed to not only cut the cardigan, but a short sleeve t shirt from a little over 2 yards. I had to shorten the top a bit, but it was too long anyway. I am making it from a gorgeous wool rayon jersey from Elliot Berman Fabrics that I bought from their store in NYC. I changed the t shirt pattern by rotating the side the dart into a French dart from the waist. It really makes a fitting difference. The cardigan is really an easy sew and fit. It comes with two fronts, one for a fuller bust and one for a B cup. What a treat. The only adjustments I made to this pattern was to shorten the sleeves, I have narrow shoulders and I didn't shorten them at all, so someone with wider shoulders should be aware of this. I did make one other adjustment which was to take up the shoulder seam to reflect my sloping shoulder and my low right shoulder. I didn't sew the underarm lower because I found it fairly low already. I made this as a wearable muslin for some cashmere knit that I've been reluctant to cut into, but it's eminently wearable. I should have it finished today and will post pictures soon.

Grrrr!

2011-10-11T09:47:00.001-04:00

While I've sewn a lot in the past couple of weeks I have nothing to show for it or rather nothing to wear for it. Not fun. I put aside my jeans until more ~~cheap~~ inexpensive denim arrives from Fabric.com. (and I needed a break) and cut out the draped hem top from the new Hot Patterns pattern 1130. I knew that the armhole was way too low and I raised it. Just not enough. The pattern envelope shows the sleeves as nice and narrow and the underarm cut high. Not the case. The pattern has other issues. For one it's way too big, for another the center front hem is much longer than the back. Not at all what it looks like on the envelope where it falls at mid hip, which it does in the back but not in the front. The neckline is also much lower than the illustration, which is the least of it's problems. I took up the shoulders about an inch which partially solved the armscye issue and raised the neckline. (the underarm is at least 2" too low) Now of course I have to change the sleeve. It's still too long in the front but I was unsure how to change it.

The pattern hem is actually straight across the bottom but it comes out a good 6 inches longer at center front in a long curve. That giant dart seems to be the problem. I am playing around with the top on my dressform. The back on which I made a narrow back adjustment, fits perfectly.
This is what I came up with. I took out a 3" dart on either side of the dart, the one on the right is perpendicular to the center front and the one on the seft is perpendicular to the waist, stretch line. This still isn't enough but if I take it up any more there I'll no longer have the drape at the hem.
I figure that I will hem the center deeper. Only because I love this style am I willing to put so much effort into a simple knit top!

The cowl bottom top? Not willing to go the extra mile for it. It's way too long, the underarm is too low as well (they all use the same back) and as you can see, the neckline is also lower than the illustration. I added a dart to this top but it's too low and if I was going to make this I'd raise it up. But I'm not. It's just not right for me.

One thing I learned from this experience is that making a muslin for a knit is quick and easy. It took longer to trace the pattern than to sew it up. I always avoid muslins for knits because knits are so much more expensive than a bolt of muslin and they are all so different in stretch and recovery. However, I have a lot of knits in my stash that I am never going to use (this one was very thin and it wasn't expensive) that I can use them up making muslins and reduce my stash at the same time.

Not Yet

2011-10-04T09:10:00.002-04:00

When one is over confident it usually ends in a fall. At least with me and pants! I finally have a tnt pattern for trousers, but jeans have eluded me. I am on my 4th pair, the first one became a muslin for the second pair, also not a great fit. So I decided to make a real muslin, not one intended for wear. I did more fitting and cut out the 4th pair yesterday, and ended up with the same cutting mistake I thought I had fixed in the muslin. I walked the pattern and I still have the back higher than the front side seam. I can only think that I forgot to add the back yoke when I measured. They may be a pair that is a bit lower than I want them to be, but I am going to baste them and see if I they can be saved. I know, as Kay mentioned that they won't be totally wrinkle free, but they will have the fewest wrinkles I can manage and still be able to sit down. Fitting ended up being a combinations of Peggy Sagers fitting techniques and Joyce Murphy's body space to alter the pattern. I'll fit them today and hopefully they will still be wearable. At least I am using inexpensive denim I bought on sale at Fabric.com. The sale is still going on I think. When they came one was as stiff as a board but they both washed up nicely.

I've also spent time tracing out two of the new Hot Patterns knit tops; the cowl bottom and the twisted bottom. I will reserve judgement until after I've sewn them up, but the armhole was really low when I compared it to my tnt knit t. The sleeve cap also had a huge amount of ease that I removed. Knit tops really don't need any ease in the sleeve cap. The tops are really current in styling and since I wear a lot of knits I am always looking for something unique. For once I decided to actually make knit muslins. There are a number of knits languishing in my stash that one, must have been bought in a moment of madness, or two they were not anything like the color I thought I'd be getting. Good use for them and good riddance

Come Visit Me!

2011-09-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

The Brentwood campus of Suffolk Community College on Wicks Road is hosting a Home Show this weekend. I'll be hosting in the booth I designed for John Sparrow Landscapes. It's free and if you want to escape the rain, I'll be there this afternoon and tomorrow. Come say hello!

Can I Do Better Than These?

2011-09-12T10:49:00.001-04:00

These jeans sell for $560 on Net a Porter. Yes, they are by Chloe, but they don't fit her very well. See those wrinkles in the crotch? Ouch! I think I can do better than this and I am not a size 2.
To facilitate fitting the perfect pair of jeans I bought Palmer Pletsch's new 2 disc dvd on fitting and sewing jeans. It really covers everything you need to know about making jeans, or so I thought.

The DVD fits Marta first as well as 2 other women of different ages and shapes. It's definitely better done than some of their other dvd's and covers a lot of territory without spending 5 minutes taping the tissue. They show the usual tissue fitting and then, instead of sewing up the pants with the zipper and details like pockets first and then pin fit, they have you pin fit before you sew anything except for the front and back crotch.
Even though I carefully clipped the crotch for the tissue fitting so that it could be pulled up to touch my crotch the crotch depth was a good 1" too deep in the denim. I had to really drop the back crotch and sew a deeper center back seam to straighten it out even though I already had lowered it during the tissue fitting. I had to pull up the center back to get rid of wrinkles below the rear end, a lot. It looked pretty good so I started sewing, putting in a zipper and doing the pockets. I basted all the seams together and put them back on. Hmm. Not bad, but not really good enough. I still had some wrinkles below the rear end and too much fabric at the lower crotch that I didn't catch in the pin fitting. This really can't be fixed once you've cut out the pants. The front pockets weren't wide enough either. Remember I copied these from a rtw pair that used to fit? I graded them up but I didn't make the front pockets wider. Unfortunate that, but since I had other issues I decided that these were a muslin. Nice denim but if they weren't a great fit I wasn't going to wear them anyway. I added a cb seam for the waistband, but it was also too big in the waist so I took it in a good inch or more using small darts in several places around waist in the tissue to take care of this. I have a pretty curvy high hip to waist and this makes it work for me.

After cutting and fitting these jeans I saw Peggy Sagers fitting videos on her website and gee she had one for fitting jeans that comes at it from a totally different perspective than Palmer Pletsch does. She recommends using denim for your jeans muslin, which I ended up doing if inadvertently. I pinned a dart out below the zipper and another one below my rear end that took excess fabric out. Also something she shows on the video.I also added back some fabric at the upper cb where the pants were pulling down (below the yoke as you don't want to change that size of that). Remember, I pulled it up here to get rid of wrinkles. She does not advocate scooping out which is a big aspect of fitting rear ends for PP. That's actually putting it mildly. She's very opinionated about it, but she does get results. Sagers recommends just using your muslin to cut your pants, but I find that awkward, so I transferred my changes to the pattern. She also suggests that instead of lining up your back pockets with the yoke seam that you line up the side of the pocket with the cb seam. I went to Net a Porter and looked at how pockets were sewn on high end jeans and sure enough the most becoming had the pockets sewn almost parallel to the cb. I was also looking for a treatment for those pockets and the high end jeans had very simple understated topstitching which is perfect for me. In fact, I think I'll use black topstitching to be even more understated. The back pocket needed to be a bit larger as well. Large rear, bigger pocket looks more proportional. I think that I am pretty close to a good fit now, certainly better than I can get in rtw.
One other issue I encountered is using a contour band makes it very stretchy as the whole thing can't be cut on the straight grain, or the non stretch direction while PP only has you interface the buttonhole area on both ends, I doubt that's going to work for me. If I don't interface I'm going to be wearing these around my ankles. I think that I'll cut the interfacing along a different grainline so that I end up stabilizing the waistband. Did I see this on your blog Sirgrid? It's a great idea.
On to cutting out my next pair, hopefully this time a totally wearable pair.

I have one question for you readers, if I am not going to tuck my shirt in or wear a belt with them, do I need to use the belt loops?

And The Winner Is!

2011-09-09T09:39:00.002-04:00

The last time I won something? Well I can't remember, that is until today when I opened my Hot Patterns e mail. It is their 6th anniversary and if you buy a pattern during the month of September you will be entered in the weekly drawing running during the month of September to get that pattern free. Unless there's another Nancy K from New York, I won the first drawing! I bought the motorcycle jacket pattern to use with my leather from Fabric Marts half price sale.

I was going to use a Burda pattern with an off set zipper and collar, but I think that this will be an easier wear and easier to sew. There is also a Mannequim jacket that looks like a Rick Owens knockoff but talk about difficult, just finding it on the pattern map was a challenge. There are a lot of pattern pieces and I don't have that much experience sewing leather. I want to get this done to wear this fall, not next spring! This has good lines for me, semi fitted, but not too tight and the length is good for wearing over other pieces.
Thank you Hot Patterns, it was a nice start to my day.

It's Been Awhile

2011-09-06T10:06:00.000-04:00

We've had a busy summer: a wedding in California, visiting family, meaning Jakob of course, and having computer issues, all of which pushed blogging to the bottom of the list. I did do a little sewing after the wedding outfit and spent a lot of time cleaning up the sewing room, moving summer fabrics into the closet, moving fall fabrics out and planning my fall sewing.
I made the ubiquitous Vogue 1250 like so many others. The biggest issue I encountered with this was getting it enlarged to fit my hips and then getting it to fit on the fabric. I ended up cutting it on the cross grain. If I make this again I think I'll resort to creating a side seam.
To refresh your memory, this is what it looks like on the tall, skinny model,

This is what it looks like on me. That's Lily by the way wanting in on the picture taking. We adopted her in June from Arf or the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a dog on Long Island.

Anyway, back to sewing. I won't do a review of this; there are lots of reviews out there already, but I will show you what I did to make it fit my hips. Even thinner people complained that it ran snug in the hips so I was cautious. First I made an fba adding a dart, which I think that you can just make out. Then I copied the side hip dart and put it aside. After slitting the side seam and adding the room I needed I taped it in place positioning the point of the dart with the center of my addition. It worked and I have enough room for it to fit nicely. It did however no longer fit the width of my fabric, so I cut it on the cross grain. The fabric is a rayon knit from Emmaonesock that while thin was very easy to work with. It didn't roll at all. Nice quality as always from EOS.

The second piece I worked on was this top from Hot Patterns Riviera Cote D'Azur knit dress, tunic and top. I made the top. I love it. I wish I'd made it earlier in the season because the dress would have been the perfect summer piece.

Description: V neck knit top with center front and back seams. The cf is gathered to a facing piece at the bust and then sewn together. I didn't make an fba on this.

Fabric: A rayon knit from Mood that was printed and then overprinted(the black) to make a border print along one edge. I again resorted to cutting it on the crossgrain. I did not buy enough to put the print at the top as I originally planned, but this worked out well.

Instructions: Minimal, but this is so easy they are fine.
Pattern alterations: all I did was to shorten this a bit.

This is an easy top and comfortable to wear. The neckline is a bit low, but my bust is low so there's not a lot of cleavage showing. I am comfortable with this, but if your bust is higher or you don't like low necklines, I'd consider raising it a bit.
If you live in the southern hemisphere, I'd really think about making not only the top but the dress. Perfect pattern for hot summers.

What am I working on now? Jeans, finally. I have a pair of rtw jeans that are too tight but when they fit, they fit well. When I took KK's moulage class he suggested that I copy and grade them up. I've done that and I am fitting them now, but I'll leave that for my next post. I will however leave you with a picture of Jakob.

Do You Sew for a Man, Yourself or a Significant Other?

2011-08-01T15:07:00.003-04:00

The chicken or the egg, do men not sew because they aren't interested or because there are so few patterns available to them? That's been a discussion on sewing boards and several blogs over the last few years. The big 4 have a scant few patterns available, and most of them aren't very appealing to anyone who wants to dress fashionably or dress at all for that matter. That may change if Hot Patterns starts designing for men. If you are on the Hot Patterns email list you may have already seen this news, but for those of you who aren't, Trudy and Jeremy are interested in producing a jeans pattern for men. Trudy made a successful pair for Jeremy recently but they can't afford to spend the production time on it if there isn't enough interest. So they propose that you pre order the pattern and if there is enough interest they will have the patterns ready for a September 1st delivery. Here it is and if you are interested, head over to Hot Patterns and order yourself a copy.

Maybe it's Just Me

2011-07-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

August's Burda Style Magazine arrived yesterday. My husband gets the mail at our PO box before he goes to work. If my new Burda is there he leaves it and calls to tell me it's in the box so I don't have to wait till he gets home that night. He knows how I look forward to it's arrival. Meh. Not this month, or last for that matter. I've got Burda going back to 1999, when I started buying it at Borders. I don't have all the issues that far back, but about 2 years later I started subscribing, so I have a lot of back issues. I went to the Post Office around lunch time and ripped open the plastic bag to get my first peak right there in the parking lot. Not impressed.

There is absolutely nothing I want to sew in this issue. The plus sizes would make me look about twice as big as I am. When did overloads of fabric become flattering? Would you wear this?

How about this outfit?
This is everything that Stacy and Clinton tell you not to wear. Look at all that fabric around the hips and narrowing down to that oh so flattering carrot shape.

I take it back, I would sew this skirt:

The jackets are not only boring, but none of them would do well for a large busted woman.

I don't get the collar on this one. It's so bulky I am choking just looking at it.
Here are the ruffles I really hate.

or this 'lovely blouse' They bill this section as military or feminine. Do feminine clothes have to be covered in ruffles?
The rest is just boring.

Next month is Folkloric month or 'Boho Chic' as they are billing it this year and I quote: Alpine traditions meets Hungarian Rhapsody- resulting in the loveliest European folk-style fashion clothes! Colorful skirts charming aprons, flattering bodices, darling blouses, casual trousers, rustic knits, and more!' Doesn't that sound like just what you want to sew? Or maybe you do, but lately this section has come across as a mish mash kind of a collection and that's what this sounds like. A mess.

One section is inspired by Mark Rothko using bright color combos. It remains to be seen what the patterns will look like. the plus sizes look slightly more promising in September. The rest? There's another overly full dress and more pleated, tapered pants.

I haven't started planning my fall wardrobe, but needless to say I'll be looking elsewhere for inspiration. Oh and my subscription is up for renewal. It's up to $90 this year and this is the first time I am really thinking about it.
Maybe it's just me, or are you just as disappointed by Burda Style lately?

I'm Back!

2011-07-22T11:09:00.001-04:00

It's been over a month since I last posted. Between work and getting my outfit finished, something had to give and blogging was it. I finished my outfit for my nieces wedding, flew out to California went to the wedding and we are back. It was a lovely wedding and the bride was gorgeous.

When I decided to make a 3 piece outfit I figured I'd get more wear out of it than I would a cocktail dress, and I can see breaking it up to wear the pants with a cashmere sweater, the jacket over more casual pieces. The tank under a sweater. You get the picture.

This jacket was a pita to make. I don't know why. I made a muslin for it and carefully hand basted the silk organza underlining on the seam lines. The problems started with setting in the sleeves. They are a 3 piece raglan. If you think it's hard to set in a set in sleeve they are a cinch compared to these. The neckline is supposed to be in line with the lapel edge. I had a lot of trouble doing that and if you look at the pattern pieces and how they go together, it doesn't line up that way. Of course in the muslin I didn't add the facings. Big mistake here. In the end the object was just to get it done, and I did. I like it, but the low neckline, even though I took out a lot in the lapel really wants to open up over my bust. Open, you don't notice it.

I do love the pants. They are a 4 ply silk crepe lined with silk twill. They fit beautifully and are comfortable to wear. The jacket is a washed lame in some blend from Emmaonesock. The silk jersey for the tank also came from EOS. The trim was a serendipitous purchase at Mood when Claire Kennedy and I were doing our whirlwind shopping tour of the garment district. We were in the trim section at Mood and I mentioned to Claire that I'd really like to trim the tank and looking down there was the perfect trim.

I'd never used a trim like this before but it wasn't hard to do. I did need a wider binding than this method calls for; 2" instead of 1 3/8". It's easiest to hand baste the trim first and I used a zipper foot to attach the binding. I used my tnt t shirt pattern to make this tank top. I lowered the neckline, and added to the front armhole so as not to be too exposed. If I remember correctly, I also added a bit to the outer shoulder. I bound both the neckline and the armholes using Lynn Maynard's method. It really makes a flat, neat finish and the interfacing helped support the weight of the trim.

Here's a picture of my gorgeous niece.

Next up is finishing a top I didn't finish before we left and a summer dress. Maybe a couple more t shirts to finish out the summer as well.
Stay cool.

CD Books. Not a Bargain

2011-06-13T11:41:00.002-04:00

A few months ago, after I took KK's moulage class I needed to learn how to use the resulting slopers. I wanted to use them to adjust commercial patterns so I bought Lynda Maynards cd book De-Mystifying Fit for $27.95. Not too expensive right? At first I used it on my computer monitor, but this is just not convenient. When I am fitting a pattern with a new method I want it right next to me on my table. I don't have a laptop just a netbook and a desktop across the room. As I said not convenient. So I bit the bullet and had it printed at Staples. It cost me $47 to get it printed and spiral bound. There are places that print on demand or do small runs. It's got to be less than this! That's $74.95 by the way. Kenneth King has a lot of cd books, several of which I have. They are about the same price and again, you really need it printed out if you want to use them. If you have a laptop at least you can use it on your cutting table or sit with it and read it. On top of that, it's not all that inclusive. In 195 pages she doesn't go past a set in sleeve. Only after sitting with it in my lap was I really able to read it through. It was not all that helpful with the jacket I'm making now, which has raglan sleeves, and I made an fba based on my sloper that was bigger than my usual method. Of course, now that I've read the book I learned that I should make a muslin for each of my slopers, the blouse dress and the jacket. Woops. Maybe that's why the front of my jacket was too big and the back high hip not big enough. The bottom line is that you still need another fitting book to cover what this book doesn't.

Sewing update. Saturday was a disaster as far as sewing is concerned. All I did was errands and try to get my phone fixed. Bottom line is that I am getting a new one sometime this week. Fun.
Sunday we cleaned in the morning and then I got in a couple of hours of sewing and realized that the cuff was just not working. It was just too bulky. So, I cut it off, making the sleeve a bit shorter and after cutting down the facing, sewed it back on as a hem facing. Not really a lot of sewing accomplished. Sleeves are finished and the next thing is to baste them into my jacket. By hand and to check the fit of my shoulder pads, which I made this weekend, raglan shoulder pads which took some time too. I have an old McCalls pattern dating from 1987 and boy can you tell. Those are some big shoulder pads! I cut them down a bit and thinned them out. I really don't need or want 1" shoulder pads in this jacket. I molded them to my shoulder by pinning them to my ham and steaming and starching them into shape. I really find it impossible to get good raglan shoulder pads. The petal pads that I have from the Sewing Workshop were just too small for this jacket. I like them but they are also expensive at $7.50 a pair. A lot for shoulder pads. If I want set in pads I make them to size from my pattern and then they actually fit my narrow shoulders. The instructions are in an old Threads btw. Since I have to add depth to the right pad anyway I might as well make my own to begin with.

edited to add that yes, this is the book that Kenneth King offers on his website. I bought it from Pattern Review and got 10% off for being a member. The book is 295 pages long. The thing about having a book as I think Gwen mentioned, is the ability to make notes and to highlight which is just not possible with a cd book. I have 3 of Kenneth Kings cd books, including the moulage book and they are much shorter so they didn't cost so much to print. But, honestly they are just not usable if you don't print them. There is a big difference between cd books and DVD's. The best is to have a book like David Page Coffin's trouser book that has a printable cd in it.

Where are You On the Scale of Sewing?

2011-06-09T08:56:00.000-04:00

This morning over coffee I was reading Carolyn's blog Diary of a Sewing Fanatic and she was talking about how you become an advanced stitcher, a term I found on a blog new to me, Tilly and the Buttons who's been sewing for a year and a half. Carolyn wanted to add experience, the muscle memory of doing a task repetitively to Tilly's list of sewing objectives. At the time I was thinking about doing a post on the joys of slow sewing. We are often in such a hurry that we don't sew the things that make us a better stitcher(I love this term) I have not been happy with my sewing lately, and I realized that I was picking easy, quick things to sew and forgetting the joys a beautifully made jacket. I have learned how to make well finished pants; it's a lot easier to do them well when you aren't struggling with fit. But, I avoid other things like making a blouse, or a dress that isn't a knit (this is partly not finding any I think would look good on me. Doesn't help when you've had a weight gain). Or doing the advanced techniques that I used to love doing. I have a list like Tilly's, not the same of course, but I haven't pursued sewing anything from that list. I have called myself an advanced stitcher, but lately I've thought about demoting myself to intermediate!

My jacket is slow sewing and it has been a joy to work on. I made a muslin, not something I do that often usually preferring to tissue fit, but I didn't want to have fit problems once I started sewing. This is a teaching moment! If you don't having fitting issues during your sewing, well it's a whole lot more fun. I even liked all the hand stitching and basting needed for this jacket. Basting doesn't show so it doesn't need to be perfect. I would love to learn how to make a hand sewn buttonhole, something I've never done. There are other things on my list that people who have much less experience do beautifully, like Peter, who's only been sewing a year and he can make a gorgeous tailored shirt. I need to start pushing myself again if I want to become a better stitcher. Carolyn is right that experience counts, but so does pushing the boundaries and not being afraid to try a new technique.

Where are you on the sewing scale? What do you need to make yourself a better stitcher, or are you happy where you are?

Sewing a Princess Seam

2011-06-08T08:38:00.001-04:00

My weekend was spent sewing, taking advantage of the cool weather that is not lasting much longer. I basted my silk organza underlining to my fabric. I've done this for silk pants and skirts, but never on a jacket before. Lots of time, but it really gives structure to a fairly limp fabric and it doesn't flatten a textured fabric . The next step was to sew the cb seam and the princess seams. With my DD cup I've had issues getting a smooth bust area on princess seams. Now, I have a fairly large sewing library and for once I looked for techniques before I ran into trouble! For the princess seams I used a method I found in Roberta Carr's Couture The Art of Fine Sewing.

All of the seam lines are basted so that I was able to easily see the seam line on the right side and could fold the side panel on the seamline and place it at on the center front seamline. The side panel seam line is pinned in place over a ham and the bust point has more closely placed pins. Then it was slip basted to hold the seams together exactly on the seam. When sewing the seam, the side panel, the weaker seam, is placed on top so that one side is sewn from the shoulder down and the other side from the hem up. While the whole process is more time consuming the results are worth it.

Above is the finished seam. Smooth and easy to sew.

Next up is sewing the side seams and then the sleeves. Normally I think that Burda's instructions for sewing a raglan sleeve are bad. They have you sew up the whole sleeve and set it in as if it were a set in sleeve, when really the better way to do it is to attach the front and back sleeve to the garment body, sew up the top seam and then sew the under arm to the hem in one pass. This jacket however has and under sleeve and a facing/cuff so that I can't sew it up as a typical raglans sleeve. Burda has you sew the top shoulder, sleeve seam and one of the undersleeve sides to it and then sew the facing on while the sleeve is open. This actually makes sense. Then you sew up the remaining seam and set it in the round. Harder, but the fit is better.

The alterations I made to the muslin worked perfectly. I don't have that drag line pointing to my full high hip in back and that 1890's look has been replaced by a nicely fitted front and the lapel roll line does not gape. I ended up removing about an inch from the front, actually all the way down to the hem at the princess line and moved the princess seam just to the outside of the bust point. When we were drafting our slopers with Kenneth King tossed out a nice tip, a garment is more flattering if the princess line falls slightly to the side of the bust point.
I know that I have left the pants unfinished, but the jacket is fun, interesting sewing and the pants? Utilitarian that I've done a million times. That will sew up quickly and easily. So back to my jacket.

Do You Get Excited About New Sewing Notions?

2011-06-03T10:54:00.001-04:00

Atlanta Thread had a sale last month and I took advantage. I bought the prosaic, some thread and shoulder pads. Kenneth King likes their needle punch pads. Then came the biggie, well moderately big, I bought a new cutting mat. A very large cutting mat, 4'x8', that then needed a new table top to support it. I had a 2'x 8' hollow core door from my previous sewing room. Fortunately we hadn't thrown it out. My dh bought me another door, 3x 8' so that I now have a 5' wide table. Of course the doors are a nominal 8' so he's going to add a piece of wood at one end so that my lovely new mat won't hang over the edge. This means I can cut out a 60" wide piece of fabric in a single lay without it falling off the side of my table. Of course I had to rearrange the room, get rid of my lounge chair, which was only a repository for fabric anyway, and I turned the table 90 degrees. We set the top with an overhang on one side deep enough to comfortably in a chair. I can easily work on either side of the table, which is particularly useful for tracing patterns. I love it!

My new jacket fabric from Emmaonesock came yesterday and it's laid out, ready for graining up my silk organza jacket underlining. I can even use the counter behind me for rulers and notions I am using.

The pants part of this outfit are coming along nicely with the pants shell finished and the lining is cut out ready to sew. I was hoping to get it done by yesterday, but work intervened.

Disasters, Large and Small

2011-05-30T19:25:00.000-04:00

It's been nothing but disasters in the sewing room lately. Not all of them my fault. Got all my silk organza jacket underlining cut out and marked and went to lay it out on my fabric. I started out with 1/2 yard extra and ended up with not enough fabric. How you ask? Fabric irregularities. I had never opened up the whole piece as I was planning on dry cleaning it. When I pressed it I noticed that parts of it looked somewhat irregular. There were 2 bands of wider, rippled fabric and a 2" band of darker fabric, not in the aforementioned rippled areas. When I laid all the pattern pieces out to avoid the defects there just wasn't enough fabric. Now I had to find another piece of fabric that matched the other two fabrics, so basically I had to find another piece in the silver family. I went to my trusty computer and Emmaonesock to the rescue. I bought this washed silver lame, which by a stroke of luck I even had a sample in the house. Good thing I'm such a lousy housekeeper that I hadn't thrown it out yet.

The second disaster was the pattern for my top. Did not work for me. Fortunately I wasn't sure about it so I cut a muslin in a knit that had about the same stretch as my silk jersey. This is a plus size pattern that Burda showed skin tight on their so called plus size model. I am not happy with tops being tight in the middle showing off my flabby middle. If I wanted to wear spanx in the summer sure I could wear it but I'm not that crazy, or maybe I don't like feeling like a sausage. I had added to the middle before I cut it and I cut wide sas. While that fixed the sausage aspect the ruching droops if it's not tight. So no good. It was this Burda top, 139 6/10.

It obviously needs to be tight to keep the gathering from drooping. Ah well. At this late date I needed something that I knew would fit. I took my newest knit top and made it into a tank top. I lowered the neckline a bit and made some other adjustments. Now to cut it out.
I did make progress on the pants, thank goodness. But, before I cut them out I wanted to check out the alteration I made to fix the diagonal drag line. I pinned out a dart in the inseam of my gray pants until they hung properly, transferred it to my pattern, and guess what? It worked! I cut out a pair of drapey rayon pants in the wide width I'd chosen for the pants and sewed up just enough to see if it worked. They hang perfectly. I will finish them after I finish my wedding finery. I cut and marked my pants this afternoon. Since the silver lame won't get here until Thursday, I should be able to finish at least the pants by then. I feel a lot better. Wish me luck on the jacket.

New Dress? Not Happening

2011-05-25T12:02:00.000-04:00

My drafting skills are just not that good and while, not a wadder, it's taking up entirely too much of my limited time considering the amount of time I have left to make the main event, the three pieces for the wedding itself. I have other things I can wear after all. I'll play with it when we come back. In the meantime, in case I didn't mention it, the Vogue jacket is out and this Burda jacket 113 from 6/10 is in. I am making the length of 114 and collarless. I also either will make the cuffs a little deeper. I did have a picture the short sleeve photo and a technical drawing.But Blogger. kept removing what I added or move it around beyond my control. I added it removed. I gave up. You'll notice I can't get this to print all the way across either. I just gave up.

You can see from the muslin that the front is drooping. I managed to fix this by taking in the front princess seam and by pulling the lapel up, it is sewn into the shoulder seam. I also realized that the right shoulder pad was too deep. I always add to the right shoulder but this was a bit too much. The back needs to have a sloping shoulder adjustment. In a raglan sleeve you take out from the back and front piece where at the shoulder line. I took out some inches from the front and added some to the back princess seam to go over my full high hip. It doesn't show so much in this picture, but Seth took a cellphone pic that really shows it. I added some extra and I can always take it in if I don't need it. I am going to use covered buttons, probably the reverse side of my fabric. It's been very hard to make up my mind which side I'll be using but the more metallic side is actually more subtle. (That's the one on the left) The side with the metallic ovals is really more obvious.

New Dress

2011-05-14T12:33:00.001-04:00

Waiting to be sewn are a muslin of the jacket for my niece's wedding(haven't even cut this out), a wearable muslin to test the alteration I made to the pants and a hopefully wearable muslin of the top. Am I sewing any of that? No. I am making a knockoff of this Giambattista Valli dress. I cut the picture out of the NY Times last fall when they were covering the spring 2011 shows. Not only has the clipping been residing on my idea board, I bought the fabrics for it as well. In the newspaper clipping the top of the dress looks red. I bought red, which is fine, but in looking for a picture to post here of the dress I went to Style.com and it is really a bright orange. Well it's my interpretation anyway. I am well past the age where I would wear a skirt that short, so right there it's different. I lengthened the center section which you may well recognize because it's the same cotton knit animal print I used last summer to make that Tom and Linda Platt dress which you can see over on the left. The pattern is Marcy Tiltons V8497 which I used to make a black and white color blocked t when I was knocking off a Celine top. I've never actually made the top the way she designed it but I bought it for the neckline in C which I used for a t shirt and for the kimono sleeve.

Except for the bottom band, it's all cut out and ready to sew. I doubt that this is in a knit which is what I am using, but I could be wrong. I've deepened the neckline because I feel like I'm choking just looking at her. I don't think that I'll cut a facing for the neckline, even though it would look more like this. I think that I'll just use my new favorite technique and bind the neckline. The top and bottom sections are in a ponte knit and all of the fabrics are from Mood. I even ordered this on line. I figure I owe them a bone after I trashed their website.

Another New Top

2011-05-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

Burda 115 8/10 may very well be my new tnt knit top. This is the same pattern as the white top, but a single layer with the lower of the two necklines. Even though summer is approaching, I made another long sleeved top. It's still chilly here, especially at night and I don't have many long sleeve tops in my wardrobe. This was a roll end rayon knit from Emmaonesock. ( It pays to watch her roll end section as I've found some great bargains there). It doesn't have a lot of stretch so it probably doesn't have much, if any lycra in it, I didn't have enough fabric for the neckband and this ivory rayon lycra leftover is perfect for a neckband. It's also from EOS, one of her stock 11 oz knits and it doesn't roll at the edges the way a lot of single knits do,making it easier to work with.

I used the same neckband technique from Lynda Maynard that I used in the white top. You can see how nice and flat it is and interfacing the neckline really stabilizes it and makes it easy to stay stitch and to stitch in the ditch when you are applying the band. It's a 3/8" finished width and while she suggests cutting 1 3/8" strips, I added an 1/8" to give me something to cut off when I serged it. You don't really need to serge the knit edge of course, but it looks more professional if you do. If you are having issues sewing nice neckbands on knit tops, this is the method to use.
The interfacing I used for the neckline is tricot from Fashion Sewing Supply. It's by far the best fusible tricot I've used.

Rookie Mistakes

2011-05-10T10:40:00.000-04:00

Nothing but sewing disasters here. I can't believe what rookie mistakes I've made. I am sewing a sweater knit top with little stretch and I made it too tight. So , I figured I'll add black rayon knit bands down the sides. Perfect. I went to pick up the sleeves to sew and I had actually cut a piece out of one of them. I wanted a sample for my board. There are plenty of scraps, and I cut it out of the sleeve. Can you believe it? What a disaster. Of course I don't have enough extra to cut another sleeve. Marcy Tilton still had the fabric the last time I looked but I am not sure I even want to order another yard to fix this. My ufo double top was great, shown above Burda 112 8/10 until I went to hem it. The outer fabric is hard to sew and hem so I figured I'd just leave it unfinished. It's semi sheer. I cut too much off and it's ok, but the bottom rolls up unevenly and looking in the photos it looks like it is uneven. I swear it isn't. My tnt pants developed a drape at the bottom of the leg after I split it down the middle to make it larger. You can see it in the picture as well. I re balanced the leg after I did this but why it is in the later pair of pants and not the earlier before I made them bigger I can't figure out. I did play around with how they hang on my body and they the inseam appears to be too long. When I pinned it in horizontal dart that drag line disappeared. Grr. I need to get my sewing back to even good here before I tackle my wedding finery. I think that II am just going to let the knit top go. I don't love it enough to buy another yard of fabric to fix it.

I do like the fit on the Burda double top so I am going to make another top, but a single layer. Simple two sleeves and a nice neckline using the new technique I learned in
Lynda Maynard's The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques I found a copy in the new book section at the library. I used her single fold binding on knit fabrics for the tops. It's a really great technique. Easy to do and it looks very professional. It's far easier than the methods where you quarter a circle and apply the binding as a circle. and it lays flat and close to the body and even on hard to sew fabric like the textured layer on my double top. I was not stupid enough to try and use it with a strip of self fabric, but delved into the scrap bin and used a nice white rayon and lycra knit instead. A note on fit here. There are no darts on this top, but my DD cup bust needs darts no matter what I am making. I added short darts in the front armholes to take up the folds there when I was tissue fitting the top. Somewhere on the internet, I think it's under David Paige Coffins You Tube videos, there is a video of Marcy Tilton fitting a knit top. She tissue fits them and she shows how to add these darts. They have to be small and short and they work. The only thing I am going to change on this top is to widen the shoulders a little. I have very narrow shoulders and the seams are just past my shoulder bones. I think that a little more width might be flattering. I can always cut it off if I don't like it.

The book itself is a strange amalgam of techniques and imop poorly organized. Sigrid used the pocket staying technique which worked beautifully as well. Kenneth King has a similar technique on the Threads website. Is it worth buying the book? I don't know but Amazon has it for a good price, well below list.

Finding Fabrics

2011-04-15T09:02:00.000-04:00

It's a busy time of year for me so I have been trying to avoid a trip into NYC to look for fabrics to go with my jacket fabric. I had a very annoying time getting samples out of Mood. Forget what I said about Mood having fixed their website. It must have been an out of body experience because it's just the same as ever, just a little faster, which isn't saying much. I regularly window shop on Net a Porter for ideas and boy do they have a great website. Wonderful pictures, fast response time and when you use the back button you land where you left off, not at the beginning of 7 or 11 or whatever the number of pages which is what happens on Mood's site. I don't know about customer service because I can't afford to buy anything on Net a Porter. Mood's customer service? Nasty and obnoxious. I have a PO box for mail and Mood says it doesn't ship to PO boxes. However, it lists usps in their shipping list and they send out samples by mail. One woman insisted that the site allows you to send to a PO box. Not without a phone call or in my second try an email. The first woman I spoke to said I should have known to call them after all I should know that free samples go by mail. I replied why can't they just fix the website? I don't know about you, but I shop online after 5pm or on the weekend when they don't have hours. What, I'm supposed to wait and call them when they are open? Isn't that why we shop online, so that we can shop at our convenience?

Enough. I love Mood in person. If I wanted to bore you I'd go on with a long list of what's wrong with their site. But I won't as you can find out for yourself. I buy a lot of fabric online, but not from Mood. Oh, their samples, which finally came were only 'all right' and they didn't have the color I wanted in the fabric I wanted.

Next place I sent for samples is Banksville Designer Fabrics. They sent gorgeous samples in the colors I wanted. The fabric that I would use for the pants and tank top is a double sided charmeuse, but it's not shiny, more like a really gorgeous 4 ply silk crepe. Only problem is that it's only 36" wide and I'd really have to figure the yardage carefully and cut it in a single lay, which is actually a good way to cut slippery fabrics. They had a gorgeous gray silk organza for underlining my jacket and two luscious stretch silk charmeuse choices for lining the jacket. I've decided that I want a hidden splash of color and I have a choice of hot pink or a light lemon yellow. I am leaning towards the hot pink. I love a charmeuse lining in a jacket, especially if I am wearing a sleeveless top underneath.

I am still awaiting samples from B & J. BTW, they have a website with gorgeous fabrics on it now. They have chosen to go with unique fabrics and not basics, though they certainly have lots of plainer things in the store. I called and ordered samples. One thing they do have is the largest selection of Liberty of London fabrics that I've seen anywhere. The Tana lawn prices are at the lower end of what I've seen. If you are into these fabrics, do check them out. They also have a large selection of guipure lace. Gorgeous.

Didn't get to finish my silk blouse yet but it's coming along. We are leaving tomorrow to spend Passover with Josh and Sarah and Jakob. Sunday Sarah and I are going to the park with Jake while the Josh and Seth do the food shopping for Seder. Can't wait.

Have a great weekend, and if you celebrate Passover, have a good holiday.

Sewing For Fun

2011-04-12T08:07:00.000-04:00

That's right, sewing is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. My escapades with the coat, which I still don't love, had knocked out my sewing mojo. Then came the issues with my jacket pattern. All not fun.

Sigrid suggested I sew something easy to get back into sewing and I did; I made a pair of pants. Yes, pants. Without fitting issues pants are easy, especially when I sew them without waist and hip details, which I did. Having that tnt pattern is really the ticket to making pants fun and easy if your body doesn't conform to the ideal body shape that the sewing companies use. The other key to a flattering pair of pants is fabric that drapes well. It just flows over all those lumps and bumps. A certain weight is needed here as well. One thing I did was add another inch to the length so that one, they are longer than I've been making them, and two that I could have a deeper hem which also adds weight and hangs well.

Now I am sewing up two ufo tops. One is a silk blouse and the other is double layer knit top that I started in the fall and it got too cold for it.

I'll show them when I get a new top done so that I have an 'outfit'. Like Elaray, I really don't like sewing Swap's, especially those with lots of garments. I do however like to sew pieces that go together. Of course, with my limited color repertoire almost everything goes to together in my wardrobe.

Jacket Update

2011-03-31T12:18:00.002-04:00

First muslin of my jacket and I was ready to trash it and look for something else. Claire Kennedy to the rescue. She made some suggestions and I altered the pattern to eliminate both the welt pocket and the fact that the lower side is not attached and stands away from the body and is just not flattering or practical. I altered the jacket to one, enable me to attach the curves to the jacket side and only leave an opening for a small pocket in the front curved seam. Good for a lipstick or tissue or just interest. I have actually never made a pocket like this in a seam so I have to look for some instructions, though I think I know what to do. I loved how the front fit, so it made it worth doing more alterations to the jacket and I am ready to make another muslin.

I love the fabric I bought and I am waiting for some 4 ply silk crepe samples for the pants. Not making the pattern pants, but I am going to take my tnt pattern and widen the legs a lot to give a full pant. For those of you who have forgotten what I am sewing, after all it's been awhile, here it is again. I like the width of these pants, but not the pleated front. Maybe I'll make them a little narrower because I cannot wear much of a heel.

I found this really nice silk and metallic fabric from Marcy Tilton for the jacket. I like the face of the fabric on the left, though either is probably ok. The picture on the right has some silk charmeuse of the color I am looking for in 4 ply silk crepe. In real life both fabrics are cooler.

By the way, I ordered my samples from Mood's online site and guess what? They have finally fixed it and it no longer acts like you are using dial up instead of the very nice fast dsl line that I use. I can now recommend their site; especially for dyed to match silks in all types and lots of
colors. They should be here today. or tomorrow.

Living With Pain

2011-03-14T09:51:00.001-04:00

Lots of people live with pain for a variety of reasons. When your doctors can't figure out why you are in pain it's even worse. Right before my plantar fasciatis got bad I went to my doctor complaining about lower abdominal pain severe enough to finally come in. This was last June. She sent me to a gastroenterologist who proceeded to perform numerous tests and found nothing. He sent me to my gynecologist who looked at all my tests and she said, you're post menopausal so it's not gynecological. Lose weight. Well, yeah I want to lose weight but I was more interested finding out why I was in pain, by then it had been months. Good news, you don't have cancer, but we don't know what's wrong with you. I left depressed and angry with her attitude. At this point I decided to go back to my primary care physician and asked her to look globally at my pain and lack of other symptoms and see if she could look beyond what the specialists had looked at. My pain is very close to the surface when palpated. She thought about it and decided to send me to a woman who specializes in woman's urology at Stony Brook Hospital. It took several months to get an appointment with her but it turned out that she actually had a diagnosis and a treatment. She sees lots of women with this problem. That was in December. She was wonderful, one of those doctors who actually listen and pay attention to what you are saying. I don't know that there is a medical name but she said that I have what's known as pelvic pain and mine is muscular. There are several other causes.

But, getting treatment turned out not to be so easy. The two very specialized physical therapists she refers did not take my insurance. I could only find someone who could do external pt and the low dose valium I was taking which was working turned out to turn me into a zombie. I couldn't focus and couldn't stay awake in the evening and had trouble waking up. I didn't feel safe driving so I stopped taking it and called the office. She prescribed a larger dose to be taken internally once a day. I won't go into details, but the generic form wouldn't dissolve. The insurance company wouldn't pay for the brand name which does dissolve. $100 for a drug that's been around for how long? I am still waiting for their decision on whether they will cover it. Oh, and by the way during this we changed insurance companies and the recommended therapist takes the new insurance. So for the last 2 weeks I've been finally doing the therapy my doctor recommended. It's painful and exhausting and time consuming especially since the office is 30 minutes away. Hopefully it will also work.

I decided to write about this because there must be other women who have the same problem and haven't found a diagnosis either. My physical therapist said that her boss is working with a doctor doing research on this. It's not rare, but the doctors I went to weren't aware of it. There are medical centers where all your doctors are in one place and actually talk to each other. If that had been my experience I doubt it would have taken 6 months to get a diagnosis.

The Moulage a la Kenneth King

2011-03-07T15:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the third and last session of my moulage class with Kenneth King. It was a success; I now have a moulage and a set of slopers to work with to fit garments for myself. Beyond that it was a pleasure to take a class with him. He is a wonderful teacher and generous with his knowledge and a great raconteur. Those extra little details on sewing and fit that I got from him were invaluable to my future sewing. I wish that Alex was around so that I could make a moulage for her.

We were 10 women and we paired up for taking measurements. Both my partner and I must have done a good job measuring because her muslin needed no adjustments and mine needed adjustment for my low shoulder, we had measured my high side, and a little taking in at my high hip which has been a challenge to fit over the years. He was very hands on in this class, going around to each of us with infinite patience so that we got it right and answering any questions we had. He took our muslins and marked the changes and transferred them to our moulage patterns. Some women needed their side seams straightened out as they were pulling to the back or front Very much like Claire Kennedy did for me when I was fitting my pants. That side seam needs to be straight and perpendicular to the floor, not just for fit, but for a flattering fit. I was thrilled and sort of amazed at how close the fit really was for me; my body is certainly no where near that perfect fitting model size. It was also interesting to see all the variations in our patterns. No wonder it's so hard to get rtw to fit!

Today I sewed the right shoulder lower, and adjusted the high hip on my muslin so that I could put it on my dress form and adjust it to the moulage. I have one of those duct tape dress forms. I needed to pad out the shoulders a bit and I have to do some surgery on the arms. They are causing some wrinkling on the back, but other wise it fits pretty well. My next project is to draft sleeves for my moulage from KK's basic sleeve book. We took the necessary measurements to draft sleeves to fit our moulage's in class. Pattern review has all his cd's and if you are a member you get a 10% discount. They also have Linda Maynard's Demystifying Fit cd that he recommends for using with your slopers to fit commercial patterns. I ordered it this morning.

You can see the wrinkles on the back right shoulder where I need to do some surgery on my form. Other than that I might actually be able to drape garments and pin fit to my shape with less time and trouble. You can also see that my dress form narrows at the bottom. My moulage also looked like that , but Kenneth suggested I straighten it out for a more flattering fit, which is why the muslin looks big at the bottom. Trust your common sense and your instincts when it comes to fitting.
KK says that he can measure and draft a moulage and set of slopers in about an hour!

If you have the opportunity to take a class with Kenneth, by all means do so. It was worth every penny and while it was hard work, it was also fun and rewarding.

I haven't been doing any sewing since I finished my coat. Lots of things going on. But taking Kenneth's class has certainly inspired me to get back to the sewing room so I look forward to some good clothing coming out of that room! Now that I've taken the class I will be making a muslin of the Miyake jacket and then, if I like it I'll be taking a trip into the city to look for fabric.
Happy sewing.

My Image Magazine

2011-02-18T10:28:00.003-05:00

Update: I got an email this morning from Sew Baby that they finally received their shipment of My Image. If you are interested in buying a copy click on the link above.

I have been hearing about this magazine since it first came out. I wasn't impressed enough with the first issue to buy it, but Melissa at Fehrtrade reviewed the spring summer issues and put up links to their website and where to buy it, and I was hooked. You can even buy it in the US for a reasonable amount of money. She also has links to buying it in Australia and from the magazine site.
There are at least 4 things I want to make in this issue, so again at $8,95 plus reasonable shipping it was worth the price. A lot of prints but the styles themselves look very wearable. I like the fact that most of them have good design lines for fitting that make them very appropriate for curvy women, aka moi. I have too many knits in my stash but there's a great dress that I could make and live in this summer. More than once.
I cannot figure out how to get images of the pages I like show up here, but here's a link to the My Image website which is better than any of the other pattern magazines out there. Go take a look.

I Am a Food Snob

2011-02-13T20:12:00.000-05:00

I have pretty high standards for the food I am willing to eat. I am not picky per se as I like almost all food, though it has to be lactose free these days. But it has to be worth eating. Before we had dietary issues we always ate a wide variety of foods and fast food was not on the menu except for the occasional pizza and some take out Chinese. The only time either child ate fast food like Mc Donald's it had to do with some team sports activity. Certainly it didn't come into our home. I cook from scratch and was a really good baker in the pre gluten free days. Like many families, birthday meals were chosen by the one whose birthday it was. That included desert of course made by me. Josh and Seth generally chose chocolate pecan pie and Alex's favorite was cheese cake. Before lactose intolerance of course. Josh, my older child is an excellent cook.

It amuses me no end, that Alex who while she knew how to cook was not willing to cook for herself. She'd occasionally have friends to dinner her senior year and she'd cook, but knowing that she wouldn't feed herself we insisted she take the meal plan at least during the week even though she had a kitchen. In Korea she ate out or had take out most nights. Food was cheap so why cook? Now that she's engaged and living in Austin where eating out costs much more than it did in Korea she is cooking. Her cousin Simon sent her two cookbooks and after consulting her older brother she asked for The Joy of Cooking which we sent her. She also calls her food consultant, namely her mother. Having grown up with food being cooked from scratch and of a pretty high order, she finds that she has much higher standards for food than her fiance. It was his birthday this week and what did he want for desert? Cherry pie. So Alex made him a cherry pie. He said oh just buy ready made crust. Alex said, of course not I'll make it. Of course the ready made stuff is probably not lactose free. She used canned cherries in juice, fine it's not cherry season after all. He said you mean you didn't just buy canned filling? Incredulous, she said of course not! That's the easy part of a pie after all. He was impressed. She only made a few phone calls to her food consultant. She sent me a picture of the finished pie and it looked lovely. Hopefully it tasted just as good. For a child who liked to eat but never wanted to cook she has embraced cooking good food as worth the effort. Eating well is healthy and affordable and even fun.

Sewing By the Book

2011-02-12T10:29:00.001-05:00

I wrote this post awhile ago, but never got around to posting it. I combined it with the post on my finished coat.

Sometimes you can break the rules and other times, not such a good idea. Necklines need staying, A garment is taken on and off a lot during fitting and has lots of opportunity to stretch and stretching creates problems. I did not stay the neckline right away. I don't usually think that stay stitching works all that well, but stay tape does and it should be done before you take it off the cutting table so that it has no chance to stretch. The collar on this coat has a right angle that's sewn into an inside corner. If the neckline is too long a bubble will form when you try and pivot around the base of the collar which is what happened on my coat. On the top side of course, because that's the one that's shows. I ripped the collar off and took off the tape, that I applied after I'd already tried it on a few times. Way too late by that time. I had to ease the collar back to the correct length so that I didn't get the bubble in the corner. If I'd followed the rules I would have saved myself a lot of work and aggravation.

What else did I do wrong on this coat? Too many things. I always, always have to narrow my shoulder seams by 3/4" on Burda. Why did I think that this one didn't need to be shorter? Fortunately it worked removing it after the fact, when I like to do it in the pattern of course. Fortunately I won't have short sleeves because I made them longish on purpose because I always seem to have coat sleeves that are too short when I drive. I guess I need longer gloves. My lack of organization on this coat has made it take twice as long as it necessary. Note to self. Make a damn list of construction order! (Or, sew with a good book next to you.) This is really the best way to sew well and efficiently without instructions. And readers? These are are some of the most obtuse Burda instructions I've seen and I've seen plenty. They rival the instruction booklet for our new Blu ray player for obtuseness. No, you are not stupid. The instructions are truly bad.

Now for the coat itself, which is finally finished.

The coat is finished finally. I like it, I don't love it, though it grows on me as time goes on. If you'll recall I used Claire Kennedy's re design of this Burda coat to eliminate the hip band. I left in side seams, she didn't .
Coat Burda 120 9/10

The original coat is made of boiled wool or the equivalent and the construction is lapped. I used conventional sewing techniques with a wool coating that was in my stash and bought at one of Micheal's Fabrics half price sale. The lining is silk charmeuse from one of Fabric Marts big sales. I think it was Anna Sui and probably no more than $5 a yard. It really loses something from the tall, broad shouldered model to my narrow shouldered body.

Other changes I made:
I eliminated the hip band, the hidden front zipper and I eliminated the back darts which wouldn't have worked for me.
The collar is annoying, but easy to leave open when I am driving. It was also much too high in the back for my short neck, so I took it off and made it narrower by about a 1/2". Actually, I cut another one. I had interfaced both sides and it was too stiff and annoying. The issue of the shoulders are problematic. While they are the proper width for me, they totally change the triangle shape of this coat as seen on the model. Because I narrowed the shoulders after the fact, I would have loved the sleeves to be a bit longer, which wasn't possible because the hems are all curved and faced so I couldn't just turn up less.

I left in the zippers on the sleeves because I liked them and I had a pair in the house. Always good to use anything from stash! I didn't put in the hidden zipper for the closing because it would have made this difficult to sit and drive in and after all, I live in the suburbs. I put in 3 large snaps below the top button which work well. It was also easier to install and it's easy to undo.
The pattern called for a decorative snap at the top. I put in a leather bound button hole which I like. It's a rather plain coat, with the seams that attracted me to the coat not all that evident in the finished coat. Adding a nice scarf to the neck hides the nicest part of the coat, the button and buttonhole a the top.
The only other detail I'm going to mention about the construction of this coat is that I used lambswool interlining to interline the lining. Never again. It stretches. I hand basted it onto the lining and trimmed it out of all the sas after the seams were finished. but it is really pita. If I want a warm coat in future I'll use a warmer outer layer and interline with cotton flannel. I cut the fabric on the cross grain so that the border ran along the bottom.

I honestly don't want to go into a real review of this coat. This was so not a labor of love and I just want to move on.

What's up next? Cleaning my sewing room, which is bad. That and putting away the mountain of fabrics that seem to have accumulated on my bookshelf. How the hell did that happen? I have a very nicely organized fabric closet. It's just that most of the contents seems to be on this shelf!
I will say that I am done with winter sewing. For once I want to be ahead of the calender. Spring is my busiest season and I really need some spring pants and things, so that's what I'll sew. Specifically? Not so sure yet.
Have a great weekend.

Bad Blogger

2011-02-04T11:49:00.000-05:00

Mea culpa. I have been a negligent blogger. My coat has been a trial, and while it is almost finished I have not felt like blogging about it or much of anything else. I will post it as soon as it's finished.

I got invited to a wedding with only 4 weeks to the date and I was in a panic over what to wear. Weight gain has made my lovely brocade suit a bit on the snug side so that's out. It's an afternoon wedding, and after consultation with my cousin who is also invited, it's not a particularly dressy affair and with 380 people invited it will run the gamut I am sure. It's also an Orthodox Jewish wedding and calls for something conservative. I made a list of possible patterns that I could make with fabric I had in my stash. I wrote all this to Sigrid and sent her the list. She wrote back with what about that black jersey Knipmode dress you made last year? Duh. I ran to try it on with my Spanx and I still love it. It fits and it's perfect. I have shoes and purse so all I need is an extra pair of Spanx (its one of those with the tights attached) in case of disaster and I am all set except for the gift. To refresh your memory and to have a picture to add, here it is.

It looks good with my current hair as well.

There Are New Men's Patterns At Vogue!

2011-01-14T12:32:00.001-05:00

Maybe someone can refresh my memory, but I cannot remember the last time Vogue added new patterns to the menswear tab. Really good looking, well cut menswear. Men who sew and women who so for them, patterns for you! Not many, but hey it's a start. I like the jacket and pants, but where's the pattern for that very nice shirt?

Or this nice trench coat, though the sunglasses make him look a bit shady, pun intended.

On to the meat of the new patterns, the women' s of course. These first are patterns that I might wear, or that would be flattering on me of course.

I do like this, but you know, it's not exactly a match for my lifestyle. But if it did it would work for me.

I have a piece of printed silk for which this would be a perfect pattern. You'll notice that this is from a young and hip new or fairly new designer? Vena Cava. Even in silk I'd wear this in the summer as an easy dress to throw on and that doesn't cling. That and it would reduce my stash by a very nice piece of silk. It doesn't call for lining but I'd underline this with some nice cotton batiste also in the stash, for coolness and opaqueness.

These two from Donna Karan are interesting. According to the figure key, the red one is suited for me, but the back is long waisted and would hit my hips at their fullest. So, not so good. But pretty if your full hip falls lower than mine. The second one does not have my figure triangle, but I think that it would work for me. I like it but I probably won't make it. I wear dresses mostly in the summer when they are cool and comfortable in our non air conditioned home. Anything that fits closely isn't going to work for me.

Now this one is young but a little longer and it would work for me. It's Rebecca Taylor and it's a knit. No clinging here and it's yellow, which I like. Obviously you can make it in any color your heart desires, but I like yellow and I have some really nice yellow silk jersey. It strikes me as a good dress for a hot summer.

Now for the designs that are clearly for the young and lithe. Well, one hopes that's who'll wear this and it's ilk. It's adorable but that's not why I posted it. See that lovely fitted bust? Unless you are a B cup, it needs to be altered and it's not a simple alteration. Now, Vogue has taken to adding garments that have alternative cup sizes. But the are one, usually loose fitting so fitting properly isn't very critical, and two such easy designs that even rank beginners could do a full bust adjustment to them, or fba for the uninitiated. Here's a sample

They are also boring beyond belief. I want them to give alternate fronts for stuff that's hard to alter! For stuff that's got some edge to it. Hey Vogue, I may be 60 but I don't want to look dowdy. The kind of thing that women post on PR and ask how do I do this? That's for what you need design alternate fronts
There weren't any separates that I found different or interesting and certainly not stylish in the least. Ah, well that's why I have Burda, years of Burda to choose from.

Sometimes It Pays to Get Picked On

2011-01-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

Certainly if the person picking on you is Claire Kennedy. After reading my blog on what does a middle aged woman who doesn't want to look dowdy wear to a wedding that calls for 'cocktail' attire she wrote a post on my dilemma. Certainly a problem that so many women my age have. By the time I'd finished writing the post I had pretty much come to the conclusion that I really wanted to wear separates that would actually get worn again by pairing them with other pieces. I have a few dresses, but mostly they don't get out of my closet all that much. Claire picked out three possibilities and I loved the first one, this Issey Miyake jacket and pants. Claire isn't too thrilled with the pants and neither was I at first. I am only 5'6" after all but after drawing this on my croquis, I liked it.

My croquis with the pattern drawn on it. I shortened the sleeves a bit. The other option for the bottom would be a pencil skirt or narrower pants, but surprisingly I really like how this looks.
Here's a link to the blog post Claire Kennedy wrote. She has been such a generous wonderful internet friend I would love to actually meet her in real life. Most serious or professional sewers can't resist the lure of NYC fabric shopping so there's hope she'll turn up before too long.

Can't Believe I Haven't Mentioned This

2011-01-08T09:50:00.000-05:00

Kenneth King is teaching his moulage class in Queens, at Sew Right Sewing Machines and I am signed up to take it! I muddle along altering patterns to fit and I am hoping that a moulage and subsequent sloper will help me not only alter commercial patterns but be the start of drafting my own patterns. He says that he really doesn't have much advice on altering patterns from a sloper because he drafts all his own patterns but he recommends Lynn Maynard's DVD on fitting for this. Pattern Review has it available I believe and if you are a PR member you get a discount on purchases from the site. The class is on 3 consecutive Sundays in February and March . It's a bit shorter commute than NYC for me where he has offered other classes. I'm excited to not only take the class from KK, but I always relish the opportunity to meet other garment sewers in person.

He is also teaching a skirt drafting class this month, but one class at a time and honestly, I can draft a skirt by myself with a set of instructions. The moulage is more complicated and we will work in teams of two for measuring each other. I have his moulage book but I've never gotten further than printing it out. My dh is notoriously bad at taking accurate measurements. I am also hoping that I can use the skintight moulage we sew up to refit my duct tape dress form that has never been perfect and time and gravity have lowered the bust to make it really unusable.

The class comes with great reviews and to meet KK? I can't wait.

Weddings, No Not Alex's

2011-01-06T16:32:00.000-05:00

My niece is getting married this summer in Santa Monica and I need a dress or the equivalent that meets the dress code of 'cocktail attire'. The last wedding I went to I wore a great wool blend brocade suit. Felt fabulous in it. But that was in February. What is it about going to a wedding that puts a woman who is comfortable with herself and her style and knows what looks good on her, to be full of indecision when it comes to dressy clothing?

We see gorgeous women with fabulous figures on the red carpet in dresses that are meant for the red carpet, not your nieces, daughters, sons, best friend's kids wedding. The fashion magazines certainly don't have anything that is perfect for a 60 year old woman who does not possess the body of a 20 year old that doesn't look dowdy to wear to an evening wedding. The other issue is spending money and in my case, time, sewing up said dress that chances are I'll never wear again. I wouldn't wear it to Alex's wedding because, after all my side will have seen said creation. I have gone to weddings over the years, afternoon weddings mind you, in a dressy suit and everyone is dressed in glitzy embellishment. I have never been comfortable in this sort of clothing. Well, I did wear an embellished blouse and full skirt to a wedding we went to in India which I bought at a very cool shop that sold Indoeuro kinds of things. For an Indian wedding it was very understated! It doesn't fit anymore, so that's out regardless.
What the hell is cocktail attire these days anyway? I was looking at an email of Michael Kors spring collection and either the dressy clothing is too exposed for me or it's perfect for entertaining 'at home' if your home is in East Hampton. Sigh. I went through the same nonsense when Josh got married and while I finally decided on something it was the height of boredom. A real snooze. I've been looking at collections on Style.com. I've looked through my collections of Burda a million times. I even bought 2 Vogue's that might work. There is a very nice Donna Karan in the new Vogue's that someone posted a glimpse of on PR from the back of the pattern magazine. But, its a mid length shirt dress with drapes across the front. How dressy can that be, really? Even in silk isn't it still a shirt dress?

This is one choice. I'd have to raise the back a bit. The sleeves would balance my hips. Not bad, but fab? I'm not excited by it by any means.
Here's choice 2

This one would need a bit of alteration to work. First it would need to be longer, not hard. The waist panel would have to be lower and or narrowed to actually fit under my bust(gravity does have it's issues) It at least has the kind of tailored look I like and feel comfortable in. I don't know when they will be posting the new Vogues, but as I said a couple did look promising.
Sigrid made a very pretty dress from Knipmode last year that would be perfect, but the thought of altering the pieced bodice for my DD cup bust hurts my brain. I also haven't a clue how to do it!

I need some inspiration and suggestions readers! I have some gorgeous silk brocade from our last trip to India and I was actually thinking of a this pencil skirt and top from the latest Burda.

What do you think? It somehow just doesn't seem 'enough'.

Tutorials and Why I'm Not Writing One

2011-01-03T09:52:00.000-05:00

As you know, I am sewing a coat and I am replacing the original visible snap with a bound buttonhole. I've made lots of bound buttonholes over the years but it's been a few years since I made any so I made samples. A bound buttonhole is not hard, but it does take precision marking and sewing to get perfection. I always make more even after I get the 'good' one because as we all know the minute you do it on the real thing, it's no longer perfect.

There are a number of methods for making them, but my favorite is the strip method. I saw this done on Sandra Betzina's old tv show years ago. Margaret Islander was her guest for this and she made it look easy. It is if you've done a lot of them! It's the same method that Claire Shaeffer likes and she has very nice instructions in her book HIgh Fashion Sewing Secrets. But it always puzzled me as to how to measure a 'scant' 1/8" and be able to accurately reproduce it every time.   I solved that by using my edge foot, you know the one with the flange in the middle and moving my needle over as far as it will go. Works like a charm. One of the things I like about this method is that you can make sure that your stitching is perfectly even at the ends, ie they need to be exactly the same length.   I thought that I'd photograph a nice tutorial to put in here, but you know what? Why reinvent the wheel when Sigrid has put together in one place a huge number of great tutorials on how to do just about anything. You know that I love my books but sometimes you need a little more to help you get the idea. (Besides my coat is black and photographing the details in black is hard) Shannon of the Hungry Zombie has done a very nice tutorial on the strip method. I'll show off mine when my coat is done, or at least further along. I am still basting interlining to the lining. I've got to say cotton flannel is a whole lot easier to attach since it doesn't stretch!
Btw, someone asked for a source for the lambswool interlining I'm using. Steinloff and Stoller has it and I bought it when I was last in NYC. They are not exactly into 21st century merchandising in there, so you have to know what you want and ask for it because even if it is out on display chances are you won't be able to find it. It's not listed on their rather limited website, so either email them or give them a call.

I like that this method makes narrow lips, which is a hallmark of a well made buttonhole according to Claire.   This is also the method that is used on very expensive rtw or at least it was when her book was published. Use the method that is easiest for you.   I'd suggest that you make samples of the different methods and then choose what works for you.
Now for the link. I am making it for the site itself. I think that you'll be able to find buttonholes without a problem.
Enjoy! Sigrid's Tutorials Actually it's entitled Sewing Tutorials but Sigrid deserves some credit for putting this together. It was a time consuming venture and it's really well done. Thank you Sigrid.

Wow, Have You Seen This?

2011-01-01T08:15:00.000-05:00

German management at Burda may be out of touch with their customer, but not so the Russian office. Look what someone on PR , sorry I don't know who it was, found over on Russian Burda. After spending hours looking for the technical drawings for my planing storyboards I found this fabulous site that would have cut my time in half. Burda Index

They also seem to have indexed the Burda knitting magazine for those of you who knit.
Look what you get! If you click on an issue you get a picture of the issue, all the pages linked and if you look under the photo, you get links to all the photos in that issue that you can click on the one you like and get to the photo plus the technical drawing, plus the page it's on. How cool is that? If you click on the second link below the photo you will find all of the technical drawings for the issue all of them linked to it's proper page showing photo, technical drawing and issue page where you can find it. Pretty much what we Burda readers have been looking for. The only thing that I can't figure out so far is how to actually get one of these pages to show up here. But the links should work. Someone already translated the pages, which is what I've linked to. Sigrid said that she tried the Dutch translation but that the English is better.

They also seem to have free download patterns. There's lots to explore on the site besides the indexes. Have Fun!

I promise to have sewing progress on my coat for you shortly. It's coming along slowly, but well and I am enjoying sewing a coat again. This isn't a very complicated coat but I enjoyed working out the pattern changes.

My Love Hate Relationship With Burda

2010-12-28T08:45:00.000-05:00

A lot of people are giving up their Burda subscriptions annoyed with the designs and the condensed pattern sheets. I am willing to put up with bad months. In the 10 years I've had a subscription there have always been months where there is nothing I want to make. Summer issues are usually my least used. I will admit that the new sheets are more time consuming, but it's not all that bad if you have good lighting. I have great lighting. I make more Burda than any other company because when they hit it the styles are new and often edgy and while the photography is more fashion mag than pattern, the styles are sewn up so well and fit so well that they say, just like a good fashion magazine, I want that. The fit is so good that I know that the drafting is going to be excellent I know exactly what I have to do to make them work for me. I make a lot of fitting alterations and I can just go down the list on Burda because the drafting is that consistent. I have other pattern magazines and the pictures show sewing and fit that just don't measure up so that you wonder if those fitting wrinkles are because the drafting is poor or if they didn't take the time to do a good job.

Now we come to the instructions. A while back there was a thread on Pattern Review complaining that the technical writers couldn't possibly be native speakers. There was a livid response that they were most definitely native English speakers.. Most of us just didn't believe it; their response was so awkwardly worded.

My favorite lately is when they can't get the sentence structure in the correct order, which is, unfortunately pretty frequent. The instructions are usually poor, but they degenerate into the truly awful the more complicated the pattern. I honestly don't recall them being this bad in past years. Case in point I was looking at a dress with a pattern for a leather belt. The leather belt is simple. You'd think that it would be fairly straight forward to write instructions for something so simple. Not so. There is a central piece and two narrower end pieces. The belt fastens in the back. You are instructed to sew the end pieces to the center and open the seam gluing them in place. Oh, but then they say but first interface the center piece. Duh.

I am planning to sew a leather jacket for spring. it's not a simple jacket and there are a lot of instructions. Oy, what a mess Aside from the usual lets sew it up before we do all those details that are so much easier to do in the flat, they just don't make a whole lot of sense. I read them at least 3 times. If I make this jacket I will be writing my own construction order and for the harder parts, working out the construction ahead of time. I have a large sewing library to call on for technique and lots of experts willing to help if I come up against a wall.

You can look at Burda in two ways; they have awful instructions so you can't make them, or you can use their great drafting and style and figure out how to do it on your own and in the process become a better sewer.

Bits and Pieces and the January Burda

2010-12-22T10:48:00.002-05:00

The January Burda arrived in my mailbox yesterday and wow, this is the best issue in years! Even with the Carnival section taking up space I marked 11, count them 11, patterns to sew! It must be a record. I, who never gravitate to vintage, love the retro section. The plus size section is also fabulous without any of the shapeless crap they've been showing lately. Really elegant with good fitting lines, which are so important to those of us with larger busts and bodies. I fall between regular sizing and plus so if the plus tops start at a 44 it's not too hard for me to cut down the upper body and on the bottom I am between a 46 and 48, so that's pretty good. I am so excited. Burda gives me few surprises in fitting, so I prefer sewing them to the big 4.

I have been busy making plans for 6 piece capsules wardrobes and these fit right in.
Here are my choices.

I have a black and white wool houndstooth for this. Can't you just see it with those shaped shoulder yokes on the bias?

Not sure of fabric for this one. But i love the lines of this. I can't say that I love Burda's fabric choices though.

I like this blouse, but the little print is certainly not me!

I have some gorgeous coating in my stash that would work for this one, but I doubt I'll get to it this year. It's so hard to find coats that are a little different and this one fits the bill.

Here's the technical drawing for it.

Love the lines of this pencil skirt with the small godet at the hem. Very nice.

Shorter this is perfect for some light weight sweater knits I have. I know that there are a lot of these patterns out there and I own several of them, but I like this one the best.

I love the lines on this. Unlike other similar patterns, it doesn't have bulk under the arm. The neckline is good on me. Just not in pink.

Now for the plus sizes. I know, this is a spanx kind of dress, but I love the lines of it and again, really good neckline for me. Here it is in a sleeveless top version of it. If you make this one, make sure you raise the underarm which should be higher without sleeves and I doubt that Burda made that change.

Great pants. I'll use my tnt pattern to make these work for me.

I like this jacket too. I need some jackets that aren't 'suit' jackets and this would make a good spring jacket to throw over pants or a skirt.

That's it. A lot to sew, but I am excited by all of these. They really fit my lifestyle and that's what I sew.

I finished Alex's pants but never had time to get pictures. When they get to Austin E. will take some pictures for me to post.

I do have a long term project for Alex. A wedding dress! They are not 'officially' engaged yet and there is no date so I have plenty of time to get it done. We did pick a dress already though, a Vogue pattern and she likes it as is, so no design changes. I will make a muslin and fly her in for a fitting. She says that she always pictured me making her wedding dress, which is really sweet. Meanwhile she is meeting the in-laws. Her future mil took her shopping yesterday at Disney, so not Alex. Anyway, she (mil) picked up a tiara in a shop and said won't this look wonderful with a veil? Alex's comment was a succinct no. Three times. There will be no veil, and Alex in a tiara? Not happening. Ah well she will have to work it out.

Back to sewing for me, my favorite person to sew for of course. I worked out the changes to that Burda coat pattern with help from Claire Kennedy's tutorial. I left in the side seam and the front point, but her instructions were invaluable. I'll need to sew it with my own instructions because the coat is made of loden, which doesn't ravel so they've lapped seams and it's only lined to the band. I plan on using a button for mine with a bound buttonhole and putting in the front zipper as well as the sleeve zips, which Claire left out. I am currently debating whether to make the sleeves out of that leather that Seth so nicely unpicked for me.

Who's for leather sleeves?

Wool? I will be interlining the whole thing in lambswool interlining for warmth.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Fitting Alex

2010-12-06T17:08:00.003-05:00

Alex and I had our first fitting session yesterday and it went rather well. She is 24 years old and 5'3" tall and quite thin though curvy. Not an once of fat on the girl! When she was still in Korea I sent her links to several Burda pants patterns and this is the one she picked.

At 5'3" we won't make the cuffs and she has decided that she doesn't want the waist to be so high. It's 1 1/2" above the waist so I'll remove that much. I cut a 36 at her waist and a 38 at her full hip. I needed to take out the hip and take in the waist, though I have to be careful not to over fit the pants. She figures now that she can eat bread again she'll gain back the 9 lbs she lost in Korea. She thinks she's too thin and she really is. I took out the seams which are there to facilitate shaping it above the waist. Fabric is the last of the 130's wool and cashmere I had bought at Mood for her for a 3 piece suit. It's silky and gorgeous. Neither my dd or my dh, who read this, understood what 130's meant. It's thread count and fine woolens start at about 100 and goes to 200 which is way more than I can afford! Mood carries fines suitings, which this certainly is. I'm lining in stretch Bemberg rayon. I noticed on Net a Porter that a pair of wool pants by Marc Jacobs without stretch had a stretch silk lining. Pants linings often tear; they don't give and the usual advice to cut them a bit smaller than the outer pant is one of the reasons for this. I sew the sas at 1/2" instead of 5/8" and just take a tuck at the darts and that helps them to stay in one piece. Stretch should keep the lining from tearing without sewing it larger.

Fitting issues in the pants: Not a whole lot. Far cry from fitting pants for myself!

They are too long, but that's to be expected.

The tightness in the full hip that I mentioned

The back below the rear end has some wrinkles pointing to the back crotch, so I pinned out about 1/4" here and then took out a little more, you can see it in the right hand picture, and gave her a little more room. I repinned the side seams at the hip to give her back the room I took out at the center back. I know that this sounds counter intuitive, but if you think about it, it's like making making the back crotch hook longer but it doesn't change the angle of the inseam which is a good thing. It works. I got this from a series of fitting articles that Joyce Murphy wrote for Threads several years ago. If you've got old issues or the DVD they are worth looking at.

The pockets are gaping, but I think that this is more to do with the fact that I didn't tape the diagonal than any real issue with the fit.

You can see from the photos that I marked the grainline on the outside and this makes it easy to tell how the pants are falling and points to possible issues. This is why I don't do wearable muslins! An oxymoron if ever there was one.

The grainline needs to be perpendicular to the floor, as does the side seam. It's a little off here I think, but it's also a little loose as the waist.

clicking on the photo should enlarge them

If you change the side seam make sure that both the back and front outside seam are the same shape because if it isn't it will cause pulling. It looks good when she is standing, but I don't like the excess fabric at the base of the zipper when she sits. Alex says it's fine, but I'll bribe her with another quad shot vanilla latte and have her try them on again. I pinned out the crotch below the zipper to straighten out the front seam and this should reduce the excess fabric there. Otherwise, they look pretty good and any other fine tuning I can do in the good stuff.

As well as making her pants I am going to alter the matching jacket I had sent her in Korea. It's too boxy(she insisted on fitting this over layers and she would have put on more but I put my foot down)and I didn't like how the sleeves were hanging. Seth to the rescue. He's the expert seam ripper in the family and he undid the lining at the hems and took off the sleeves. I pinned them back on and rotated until the wrinkles disappeared. The skirt also needed some alteration. It's high waisted and I put in a too short zipper. I wanted to alter it when I made it for her, but she kept saying it's fine. Well it is when she's this thin, but it's hard to get on when she isn't. I forgot that you need to add the height above the waist to the normal 7" long zipper opening. Seth took it out and I'll redo this as well. Now that she's back in the States she'll need the interview suit that we had planned. We are also going to make her a funky leopard pencil skirt with fabric from my stash.

That should keep me busy for awhile.

To SWAP or NOT. NOT HAPPENING

2010-12-04T13:56:00.004-05:00

When I sat and actually fit the skills that I want to learn to garment, well I didn't really want to make most of the garments; at least not right now. I will keep the list at hand though, and work my way through the techniques if and when I feel like it.

Right now I am making a pants muslin for Alex. I have never actually sewn pants for someone other than myself and hopefully her young, slim well proportioned body will make it an easier project than fitting pants for myself has been. Unfortunately she's still too jet lagged to actually have the patience to stand still during a fitting. Under the best of circumstances she's not good at this, so I'll sew up the muslin and go on to something else in the mean time.

The muslin, two of them in fact, for my jacket are wadders. I figured out the fitting issue I was having but I decided that the jacket was just not going to be flattering on me. I have two possibilities at the moment but I am not sure I have enough fabric for the first one. I love this Burda coat, 120 9/10 but couldn't figure out how to make it work for me. The hip band isn't really suitable for my figure. Then I saw Claire Kennedy's post on how she remade this pattern, eliminating the hip band. I love it. But the way she eliminated the side seam may make it take more fabric than I have.

That's the first possibility and this is the second. This is the short version, but there's a version that's actually a wrap with a lapel and v neck opening which I prefer. Finding said coat on the French Burda website is not so easy and I was a tad lazy, so this is the one I've posted.

I've got some medium weight wool coating in black to make it in. What do you think readers?

To SWAP or NOT

2010-11-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

I have done one SWAP and one wardrobe and not finished several others. I also swore off entering any more contests, but this one on Stitcher's Guild is interesting. There are the usual 11 pieces but every top doesn't have to go with every bottom which can be very artificial at times. Instead they have to constitute a collection, which is how I sew anyway. The twist is that each piece that I sew has to have a technique that is either new to me or that I have not yet mastered. Because that could be fairly time consuming 3 pieces can be purchased or sewn previously. So, I only have to sew 8 pieces. Here are the wardrobe options:

Option #1:
6 tops - t-shirts, shirts, blouses, or camisoles
4 bottoms - jeans, pants, shorts, skirts or kilts.
1 your choice (not an accessory)

Option #2:
2 dresses -single pieces consisting of top and bottom that can be worn alone.
6 tops - t-shirts, shirts, blouses, or camisoles
2 bottoms - jeans, pants, shorts, skirts or kilts.
1 your choice (not an accessory)

Option #3:
5 dresses -single pieces consisting of top and bottom that can be worn alone.
4 tops - t-shirts, shirts, blouses, or camisoles
1 bottom - jeans, pants, shorts, skirt or kilt.
1 your choice (not an accessory)

3 garments may be purchased or previously sewn.
1 may be knitted or crocheted.

Now here's your twist:

Every garment should be made with a technique or feature that you haven't tried, or haven't mastered. My personal Waterloo is zippers -hate 'em, because I have to take them out and redo them at least once, every time. And there are several things I've sampled, but have never used on a garment -slotted seams, for one.

That doesn't mean every garment should have a zipper, if that's what you have trouble with. But at least one should. And if you never mastered buttonholes, at least one garment should have one. If you've never made a flat-felled seam, now's the time.

Because this will be more challenging, I'm allowing one more garment to be purchased so that everyone can be pretty sure to finish in time. I know last year was more fussy, but this year will be more apt to have pieces that need to be redone, or may even cause a wadder or two. So to offset that, the total number of garments to be made is one less.

Ordinarily I would be drawn to the first option. I usually sew tops and bottoms, but I have been wanting to sew some more dresses lately. My summer dresses were fun to wear and comfortable. So option two sounds like a possibility. I'd make a jacket or cardigan that can go over most of it, though in this contest it wouldn't have to match everything.

Now for the new or not mastered techniques. this is the list I've come up with so far.
Blouse with collar and stand
piping
jeans with a flat felled seam
learning how to finally bind a neckline with my coverstitch binders.
pintucks
channel quilting
slotted seams
leather binding on a sweater
couture pants ala Claire Schaeffer
Facing to the outside
Neckline placket for a blouse
Spanish snap buttonholes
Combining leather and fabric, though I don't know if this one would count

What techniques do you want to master? I feel like I've gotten lazy lately with my sewing; only doing fairly easy things and not pushing myself. The question is, do I want to learn several different techniques, or work on some of the larger projects I've had planned, like my trenchcoat. I really keep putting off doing this. I haven't even traced the pattern out yet. Do I need 11 new garments in my wardrobe, or do I need a trenchcoat, because lets face it the trench is a big project.

Latest Pants Finished

2010-11-23T10:12:00.001-05:00

Now that I have a good tnt pants pattern to work from sewing a pair of pants is a pretty simple thing. I don't have to play with fit so I've been concentrating on finish. I sew a simple pair of pants without details at the hip or waist. With my full high hip and pear shaped figure I don't want to add any bulk to that area, hence simple pants. What I have been working on is getting the inside to look nicer. I don't sew a zipper facing. I don't like the bulk. I do like using petersham to face my waistbands. Especially in wool it's is very comfortable. I interface the outer band with fusible weft leaving it out of the seam allowances which gives a firm straight edge to press the top seam allowance down. when I press under the outer edge and it helps line up the petersham as well. The fabric is a wool and lycra houndstooth from Mood.

You'll notice that the waistband is extended with the end turned back so that that edge will be finished. I've lined up the petersham, which is 2" wide, just below the pressed fold. Both ends of the waistband are extended so that the seam is not at the end of the band. This gives a flatter, crisper finish. It's best to make sure that the underlap side is a bit shallower than the overlap so that it is covered when you fasten the pants. There are several different construction orders for sewing pants, but my order is as follows:
Sew darts and fly front. Then I sew the inseam and baste the rest of the center back. I pin the outseams and try it on with some 1" elastic. I'd be better off having a muslin waistband to baste on, which I plan on making up to have in the studio. After adjusting the fit (every fabric seems to fit a bit differently) I undo the back basting and sew up the side seams. I apply the waistband in two pieces sewing the outer band to my pants. Then I apply the petersham. I sew the centerback next from the previous sttiching to the top of the unfolded petersham. I fold it down and stitch in the ditch.. Sew on hooks and hem. Done.
I actually finished these a couple of weeks ago and have been wearing them quite a bit. They are comfortable as well as a being a good fit. Of course, isn't that part of fitting well?

I have to give credit to Lindsay for her instructions on how to photograph your clothing on the flat. I didn't drop out the outside though. To lazy to spend the time in Photoshop. I used a roll of white paper and laid it out under the skylight in my sewing room, a footstool placed me high enough above the pants.

Learning to Sew

2010-11-22T13:40:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time since I first started sewing. I relied on patterns for teaching me to sew at first. I had some advice from my grandmother, but she had stopped sewing long ago and she didn't really teach me to sew. I do remember her showing me how to lay out a pattern and she gave me her Singer to use, but other than that? I pretty much learned how to sew on my own. My mother didn't sew and no one I knew sewed. I don't remember why I wanted to learn to sew but I did while neither of my sisters sew.

My first and only sewing mentor was my neighbor at the first house we owned after I got married. She sewed everything including suits for her 3 sons. She showed me how to do a lot and gave me a copy of the Vogue Sewing book, my first sewing book which is not only still on my shelf but I still use it occasionally. I taught myself how to hand tailor a jacket with that book. Nothing was too difficult; I'd try anything, especially if it was a Vogue designer pattern. When my son was about 3 I heard about a store up in St James that not only carried fabulous fabrics, but the owner gave French Couture sewing lessons. Maybe not so couture, but it was the first time I had real instruction from a really accomplished seamstress. I learned a lot. Over the years I've built a library of sewing books that I can look to to figure out how to do almost anything. I love books and long before the internet I learned how to find out how to sew just about anything I wanted, Which brings me to the point of this post. I willingly give a lot of my time and knowledge to people on PR, whether it is my fitting opinions or how to sew something. Lately I've gotten a bit less willing to share. No I will not come and do an fba for you in your home. I don't have anyone to help me pin either, though I will confess that my dh will mark a hem for me. I am willing to give of my time, stop being so negative! It's not magic, just work and perseverance. You have to put the time in to get the benefits just like any other skill. A lot of hours and repetition go into learning how to sew. There is no easy way.

Ok, end of rant.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving everyone. We will be blessed to share Jakob's first Thanksgiving. I am counting the hours.

New Outfit

2010-11-08T18:30:00.002-05:00

Finally, my latest outfit is done. I've been working on planning and sewing groups of garments instead of just pieces. Here I've sewn a long sleeved simple t , pants and a cardigan to pull it together. The pants are a tweed of an unknown blend from Marcy Tilton. I think it has at least a bit of wool after getting a whiff of burnt hair during my burn test. They are my tnt pattern using a straight waistband that I shaped to ease it over my full high hip. I also split it at the back and faced it with 2" wide Petersham ribbon as per David Coffin's pants book. The Petersham is shaped as well, as I am doing below in the pants I am working on now.

In Lynn MacIntyre's book Easy Guide to Sewing Pants, one of Taunton Press's Easy Guide series, she says to place your waist seam half the width of your waistband below the waist. In figure like mine with a full high hip this steaming and shaping really helps it fit over my hip smoothly. I wish that she had had this fabric in other colors because I've been living in them ever since I finished them. They don't wrinkle much and they are so soft, warm and comfortable.
Both the t and the cardigan are drafted from my Vogue 8151 tnt t shirt. The long sleeved t is in a luscious wool and rayon knit that I picked up at one of my recent visits to Elliot Berman. The cardigan is a cotton sweater knit from Emmaonesock and it's trimmed in some leftover wool jersey. I don't love this fabric. It's a bit flimsy but I do like how it looks with the top and tweedy black pant.
I used to sew my 'good' clothing and then I'd never have anything to wear for everyday. Now I plan and sew my everyday clothing as mini wardrobes and I have lots to wear for my real life.

Right now I am making another pair of wool pants as it's turned rather cool and damp and I like being warm! They are wool in a mini houndstooth bought when Sigrid was here, in fact we both bought the same fabric at Mood. I had seen a Ralph Lauren ad with a mini houndstooth pair of pants and a larger houndstooth sweater, rather like the sweater above so I'll wear the cardigan with these pants too.

Storing that fabulous and wide interfacing from Sew Exciting.

I've been buying interfacing from Pam Enry in 3 or 5 yd pieces and at 60" wide, a challenge to keep unwrinkled as I unfold , cut a piece and refold it . Seth, that champion scrounger, came to my rescue. He had lengths of plastic pipe about 1 1/2" in diameter and he cut them to fit my interfacing. I can unwind what I need and neatly re roll it after wards. I also taped Pam's labels to the end of each roll. Now I actually know what interfacing I am using. How cool is that?

DO YOU NOTICE WHAT THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU ARE WEARING?

2010-10-27T10:09:00.000-04:00

If the people around me could hear my thoughts 'what a bitch' would sound out loud and clear.

I go to Starbucks, the grocery store wherever, I look at what women and men are wearing and how they are wearing it. Maybe it's leftover from my pants fitting journey, but I look at what people are wearing and I make judgments. Silently of course unless I am with someone and then I'll comment out loud. Guys, you look really tacky in muscle shirts. Both women and men, dirty flip flops are not attractive at all. I don't like flip flops really at all but dirty, falling apart? Get a pair of shoes! Ill fitting clothing abounds and mom jeans, well there are a lot of those out there. Women, these are not flattering! Too short, too tapered and wear them with sneakers? Bad. Ill fitting t shirts are another biggy that I see. Especially on older women and they often have awful designs printed on the front. Men seem to like the advertisement t shirt. It doesn't fit them well either. It's also ugly. When I see a well dressed man or woman, well what a treat. At Starbucks on Saturday I saw a man wearing a nice long sleeved knit shirt and great fitting pants. Nice shoes too. One in a sea of badly dressed men. I did see a couple of women who looked good. Clothing fit, shoes or boots were clean and polished and not worn down at the heel. Nice haircut and light makeup. They looked good without a lot of effort. It doesn't really take all that much time to look good. You don't have to spend a lot of money either.

It used to be that if you were a feminist you weren't supposed to care about clothing or how you looked, but to me it says that you lack self esteem. It is particularly prevalent in older women. Hey, just because we are past menopause doesn't mean we can't look good and feel good about ourselves. I really think that these things go hand in hand. You have gained some weight? Baggy clothing doesn't hide it. You are still worth it. You can still look and feel good about yourself. I turned 60 this year and you know what? I like myself a lot better than I did at 20. I enjoy dressing well, putting on makeup and having a great haircut. It's not what I wore at 20, thank goodness, but I look good for the woman I am now.

NOW THAT I HAVE THE PERFECT SEWING SPACE, AM I SEWING?

2010-10-26T14:19:00.004-04:00

I am and what a pleasure it is. I am even keeping it cleaner, though how long that will last is debatable. I finished a pair of trousers, in fact I am wearing them as I speak. No pictures yet, because lets face it, they are the same as the last 3 pairs I made. When I finish the rest of the outfit I'll post a picture. Actually, they are a little different in that I used David Page Coffin's book, Making Trousers for the waist treatment. I've just been sewing straight waistbands and using the usual hand sewn hook and bar. They actually look very nice having learned to use a buttonhole stitch for sewing them on and a waste knot so that they are very neat, but Coffin recommends the non sewing type and I bought some. I am not in love with them. I think that they make the overlap thicker than when I use the sewn on type. I used his method of facing the band with petersham ribbon and pressing open the waist seam so everything is thinner and flatter. It also has a split back band which is best if you ever need to adjust it. You need to use 2" wide petersham which is not widely available. I found mine at Pacific Trimmings in NYC, but it's not on their website and they don't do well with phone orders. The other place to find it is Judith M a milliner's site. Theirs is a cotton and rayon mix which shrinks up as you watch when you put some steam to it, so buy extra. This is the one Coffin recommends and its stiffer than the all rayon ribbon from Pacific Trimmings. If you are a woman and using this technique, especially if like me, your hips curve out right below the waist, you have to steam and stretch the outer edge so that you have the extra room for your hips. There are other waist band treatments in his book that call for lining instead and I may try that on the bias next pair.

I don't usually make a fly shield when I sew pants, but I made one for this pair and then ripped it out. It's just too thick for my taste, even made with one fabric piece and one lining. The fabric I used, a wool blend tweed is maybe a little thick for this. I think I'll stick to leaving them out unless I am making jeans, if I ever get to them!
Next up the knit top to go with these and then the cardigan.

Alex is coming home from Korea December 2 and I am counting the days. We both really miss her but she won't be living here again. She'll be with us for about 2 weeks and then we will drive down to Roanoke so that she can finally meet her nephew and meet up with her boyfriend. Then it's off to Austin for them where she will be living. She is dreaming(literally) of the brick oven Italian bread from the local Italian food store because it doesn't have milk in it(it's also fabulous bread that gets trucked out from Brooklyn 7 days a week) Bagels are on her list too and she wants a bagel and lox waiting for her at the airport. I'm sure that her father will be happy to oblige her.

I haven't posted a picture of Jakob in a while and he's 9 months old already, can you believe it? I am counting the days until we see him again too. He and his parents are coming for Thanksgiving. Seth even found a high chair at a garage sale for Jake.

He's got 4 teeth now and loves feeding himself, especially if it's from Mommy's plate. Of course I think that he's the most gorgeous baby. Edited: Apparently I've lost count as he is now 10 months old. He'll be walking before we know it. He lets go when standing, so far he still lands on his bottom.

How I Spent My Weekend

2010-10-18T15:27:00.005-04:00

Sewing room before move

Edited 10/19. I removed the captions so that the photos would enlarge and lost some of the text in the process. I added some photos and rewrote the text. But, why blogger if you use the caption function do the photos no longer enlarge!? PITA!! Well this was only partly successful and I give up. I will never use the caption feature again.

Not sewing that's for sure. Last week I moved everything in my studio and sewing room around on paper and this weekend we did it for real. I switched places, sewing space/room now all in the studio and studio all in the sewing space. I say space and not room because it's all connected in a loft that surrounds and overlooks my dining and living room. This is what my spaces looked like before, also before I acquired two vintage machines to add to the crowded feeling. I moved the computer to the sewing room even though I use it for work but I was able to fit the printers on a bookcase at the back and free up space on my desk. The eaves really restricted the height of anything that I put on the end of my desk before.

This was how the studio looked before. I rarely used the second drafting table, it just became a dumping ground for pattern pieces and my main work space, Now it's the base for my ironing station. The drafting table on the left and my reference books behind made me feel like I was crowded into a tight space and the sewing room felt the same way. Considering how much room I actually have it was in serious need of rearranging.

Studio after move

My sewing counter and ironing station to the right.

Looking from my sewing side towards the cutting table. The ironing station and my gravity feed iron are in the foreground. All of my pressing tools are now easily seen and right at hand. I have had my pressing ham and seam roll for 30 years at least.

Looking into the sewing room from my studio

You can see the flat files that I use for my work drawings and for storing paper on the far side. Just visible to the right of them are the bank of file cabinets that I use to store my patterns and Burda magazine patterns sheets. They are stored by year in folders and the magazines are on top in holders by year. You can see it below. Alex, see how organized I am.

I display fabric I want to use in the current season on top of the bookcases next to my cutting table. Yeah, like I am really going to sew everything here this fall. I can always dream. But, seriously it's good to have it displayed so that I remember what I have that I'd like to use. I am cutting out a black tweed cotton blend for pants and a cardigan and top next. Easy sewing where I don't have to stand too long. My foot is still bothering me unfortunately, but it is getting better.

There are still bits and pieces to put away but it's usable. The sewing counter, ironing table and my cutting table all have clear surfaces. I worked in my studio today and it's really a pleasure not to feel cramped. I have lots of clear surfaces to lay out photographs and catalogs. Heavenly to have so much space.

The Strange Midi Revival

2010-10-12T08:28:00.003-04:00

Some years ago and I don't remember exactly when but it was probably at least 20 years or more ago, designers decided that the maxi skirt/dress was the thing that women should be wearing. It was a retail disaster. Women were not interested. Apparently this is the year that women are going to love it and make it a retail success. I regularly troll the retail sites for rtw inspiration and I am on Shop Bop's website mailing list. Yesterday I got an email featuring this maxi look. Anywhere I go needs a car and I can't imagine getting in and out of the car in this look.
Admittedly I am not the target customer for Shop Bop and street pictures have shown hip young things in this look for summer, but even the Sartorialist didn't photograph very many of them in this look. It's cute for a long summer dress but are you wearing this for work? Going up and down subway stairs in this look, with packages? Some of these are so long that they drag on city streets. Of course that may be because the HYT can't hem a skirt. Some of the looks offered look more like evening to me which is a major change from the the short, tight exposed look that's been the norm of late.

Judge for yourself Shop Bop
Would you wear this look in any of it's incarnations? The one pictured is not necessarily a 'young' look. There is no exposed skin but is this flattering on anyone larger than a size 2 and shorter than 5'10"? Or older than 25? I might wear the longer skirt for going out to dinner or at home entertaining, but every day? Not happening.

Do You Know Any Sewers in Person?

2010-10-10T13:33:00.000-04:00

Melissa of Cheap and Picky commented on my Meeting Melissa post that she doesn't know anyone in person who sews, but like me she has made lots of friends on the internet who sew. I know exactly one person here on the island who sews garments, but she isn't exactly next door and we've actually only met in NYC and not out here. But, how did I meet her? Through her blog. I am lucky in the sense that I live near enough to a fabric mecca that lots of people pass through and because I work for myself I can usually schedule a visit to the city. It's so much fun to be able to talk sewing and fabric without anyone's eyes glazing over. Lindsay T wrote that she is mentoring a new sewer. I'd love to do that. It would be wonderful to pass on my love of sewing to a new sewer. Of course I am talking garment sewing. No quilting or home dec sewing is going on here!

On the sewing front can you believe I'm still cleaning up and putting away patterns? In my defense I have had a busy work week and I can only stand for limited amounts of time because of my foot. I really let the patterns get out of hand. I had hung a lot of them up and since they are mostly Burda I have to make up envelopes with sketches of what they are before I can put them away. Then I got the bright idea that I should switch my sewing area with my work studio. It's much larger and I am taking up half of it already with my cutting table and filing cabinets and the top of my second drafting table. My new vintage sewing machines are making the sewing room/space really cramped. This entails not only cleaning up all surfaces but making a scale drawing. Seth will not move any furniture ever without a detailed drawing. Seems a small price to pay for free help. But I am itching to sew and I keep telling myself that I can't until it's all cleaned up. So, off to finish cleaning. I probably won't exchange spaces until the fall season is over and I have more time though, so I'll get some sewing in before that.
Have a great week.

Burda Style

2010-10-06T09:04:00.001-04:00

Over on Burda Style they are featuring 4 Burda magazine patterns for those who want an edgy piece to add to their wardrobe. However click on the patterns and the website is temporarily out of order and under construction. Dare we hope that we might find both the patterns that they've chosen to offer as down loads, and an index or preview of Burda Style magazine or even the envelope patterns. They've got a picture of a summer issue with a blurb about the magazine.. They don't even call it Burda World of Fashion, but go back to the name of years ago, Burda Mode. Or is this the name of the German edition? They do say that it is published in 99 countries in 16 languages which is pretty impressive. But considering that English has become the global language according to an article in the Times a couple of months back, we are certainly not being given our due. I know, chauvinism here, but it really has screwed up all the Burda reviews on PR. Lately the French site's link gets you an error message. They are trying to make it very difficult to remain a loyal subscriber.

With all the encouragement I've been getting, I need to get working on my trench coat. I really have to talk myself into starting this as there are umpteen pieces. I haven't counted as that would be somewhat discouraging. It's not that I can't do it, it's just such a big undertaking and I need to psyche myself up for it.

MEETING MELISSA

2010-10-05T09:08:00.003-04:00

On Friday I took the train into NYC to meet Melissa Fehr of Fehrtrade a great sewing blog. She and her husband James were spending the last part of their honeymoon in NYC and she scheduled a day for fabric shopping. We met at Global Leather and that is definitely a place worth visiting, but like many shops in the garment district it is only open Monday -Friday. I wish I'd thought to take my camera out because they have a huge selection. She bought enough for 4 projects and knowing Melissa they'll be done sooner than later and you'll get to see them on her blog.
This is the only picture I took. We were rather wet and bedraggled as it poured off and on for most of the day.

Lindsay T joined us for lunch and then a trip up the street to Botani Buttons. They've expanded lately, in fact they are still a work in progress. They've added an Italian line of zippers and their trim section is going to be huge when they finish. They also have the largest and maybe the best handbag findings I've seen. Want to make a frame bag? I've never seen a larger selection. Quite amazing. Melissa bought some findings for the leather bags she has planned. She also bought all the details she needed for her trench coat. I finally have everything I need for my trench coat so no more excuses! I bought buttons with a gunmetal edge and a matching buckle and eyelets. By the time we got to Mood she had pretty much spent her budget but she did find a wonderful trench gabardine. On our way to the train we returned to Bottani to buy her findings and buttons for her trenchcoat.

I am still cleaning up my studio and putting away patterns. What a mess I let it get to be! I am not a naturally neat person, but I can't stand working in chaos so I really have to work at putting things away. I do have places for everything so I don't have to work on that as well.
But, next up is tracing my trench coat and wool jacket and making muslins for both.
My foot is still bothering me and so I am taking frequent stretching and icing breaks.
Sewing will not be going on until I get everything cleaned up. I have enough work that I really need to get my second drafting table cleaned of patterns so I can put some work on it!

Edited: A comment asked what I am using for my trench. A few years ago, and it's going on 3 years I think, Michael's Fabrics in Baltimore had real Burberry laminated raincoat fabric. There's a waterproof layer between the outside cotton twill, black btw, and the striped wrong side, also cotton. I have a rayon lining also bought from Michael's that's from Burberry, not their plaid, but a stripe in their colors. I also bought red wool and cashmere for the button out lining, from Banksville Designer Fabrics, which I am binding in ready made cotton binding. Ann Rowley who has a Burberry raincoat was kind enough to photograph the details a few years ago. I am, as you know making a single breasted coat because it's more flattering for me as is the lapel neckline. I was getting ready to combine patterns when I found the LMB trench pattern. Melissa bought some water resistant twill for her trench when we were at Mood and they poured some water on it to make sure that it was water resistant, which is not a bad idea when you buy your fabric.

FABRIC ENABLER

2010-10-04T18:01:00.000-04:00

Burda Style has teamed up with Mood Fabric to offer a 30% discount for fashion fabrics ordered online from Mood's updated website. I got an e mail from Burda Style this morning addressed to members, but it did say to pass it on to your friends, so I'm passing it on to my readers. Just enter the code burdastyle30 at the appropriate place at checkout. Burda Style says that Moods online site encompasses their stores inventory. No, not even close! But, something I saw in the store on Friday but didn't want to pay full price for made it's way into my virtual shopping cart, and no I'm not telling what I bought.. No scolding Alex! Not all the fashion fabrics are covered as I discovered when I added some stretch silk charmeuse to the cart and it didn't deduct the discount. Fabrics starting with the code PV aren't covered by the discount. Ah well, I can always get it anytime.
Have fun! It's a good deal. Oh, it's good til October 6th.

HOW MUCH OF YOUR WARDROBE DO YOU SEW ?

2010-09-23T16:58:00.001-04:00

Recently I came across A Sewn Wardrobe, the blog of a beginning sewer. She had set a goal for herself almost a year ago to sew everything she wears. It's an admirable goal and as she found out, not that easy to accomplish because it takes time to make clothing. A lot of time. She did end up buying some sweaters and a coat during the year but otherwise, she wore what she sewed. ( I assume she wore things that she already owned that were rtw, but I haven't been following her blog long enough to know for sure). For a beginner coats are probably fairly daunting and definitely time consuming. I haven't done it as a formal goal per se, but recently I realized that I do actually sew all my clothing now. If you want to only wear what you make yourself, the one thing that has to change is the size of your wardrobe. You just can't make as many things as you can buy. For me that isn't a problem. I am not interested in having a huge wardrobe. The only things I buy are underwear and sweaters, and I sew some of those too with sweater knits or wool knits. As A Sewn Wardrobe found out it doesn't save you money to sew everything you wear, especially not if you are buying your clothing at places like H & M or other stores of that ilk. I don't sew to save money, I sew because I love to sew and because I am picky about fit and off the rack clothing just doesn't fit me all that well. The clothing I love and use as inspiration are high end rtw that I could never afford to buy anyway. So do I save money? Not on t shirts for sure, but there are some things that do save you money if you sew it yourself. Even if I were to add in the cost of my time. Coats are expensive to buy and using high quality fabrics and silk for linings I do spend less than something made with equivalent materials would cost. But, lets face it, saving money means putting it in the bank and I certainly can't say that sewing has made my bank account grow! There is a current thread on Pattern Review on whether sewing saves you money and honestly, I never ask this question because it isn't the reason I sew and it never has been.

A question, or several for you. How much of your wardrobe do you sew? Would you like to sew everything you wear or is it even within the realm of possibility for you?

October Burda

2010-09-21T08:43:00.002-04:00

It must be a record; the October Burda Style was waiting in my post office box yesterday. So far the only site where you can see the full issue is the Russian site. The German has limited previews and the French site doesn't even have the cover up. No matter, at least I can link to the patterns there.
I know, this sounds like a bitchy rant against Burda yet again, but no, I love this issue. In fact the last couple have been great. There are fewer weird crafts and the home dec is even interesting and if you are into home dec, which you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to sew, you might even like and want to make some of this. Of course the hiking badge thing is bizarre. Any German readers, do people really wear things like this when they go hiking? My dd hikes and I can't imagine her wearing something like this. It also seems that it would get caught in the straps of her back pack.
I liked the lace overlay piece but the necklaces were kind of lame and amateurish . Has anyone made any of the necklaces they've featured in the last year?
This is minor, the reason I buy Burda and keep renewing my subscription is of course for the patterns and there are lots here that I like and several that would fit both my lifestyle and my body.
I found the trenchcoat I was looking for in La Mia Boutique, but I've been looking for a transitional jacket for fall. Last month's jacket that I liked wasn't flattering, so that's out. But this one looks like it might be a winner. It has shoulder princess seams, good for my DD cup bust. It has a wide shawl collar, but not too wide so that I can actually carry a shoulder bag without it falling off my narrow shoulders, and shoulder pads, both good to widen my narrow shoulders and best, I like it.

This leather jacket is in the plus sizes, #138. I love it.

I love this dress too, though whether I'd make and wear it is questionable. It's not a sit at my drafting table kind of dress and sadly we don't go out much these days. I love the leather inserts. It's in the tall section, and that raised neckline isn't for my short neck, but that can be changed. I love the leather inserts and the exposed zippers. Re exposed zippers, you know I love Riri zippers, and I think I mentioned that Pacific Trimmings had expanded their display and their inventory. They took up a whole wall and more with them. Instead of being stuck in bins in basically a dark cave like area in the back they are now front and center. They are not the only ones who've expanded their luxury zipper stock. Lindsay T emailed me with the information that Bottani Buttons has added an Italian brand of fancy zippers, Lampo zippers, When I googled them it turns out that Balenciaga uses these in their handbags. Cool. I need buttons for my trench coat and since I'll be in the city next week on a weekday when all of the notions stores are open, I'll pay them a visit.

On the bizarre front are these pants. They are stretch pants with leather or faux leather legs.

They do show the top of them hidden, so I suppose it's to make these comfortable? The top is a pattern too, but I don't love this one or even like it. It's basically a rectangle with holes for neck and arms.

They've brought back designer patterns with a big name, Karl Lagerfeld. They are too young for me, but I can see the skirt on my dd only longer. Like old times they've got an interview with him. Not a particularly good one but still, it's a start.

There is also the Sewing Academy, with a well illustrated lesson on sewing a tailored collar and lapels.

The other thing they've started, they did it in September too, but I didn't notice it until now, is that instead of that one pattern 4 looks they've started showing current patterns combined with older patterns, all of which are available for download on the German site. I don't know if these are also going to be available on the English, Burdastyle.com.

Do you think that all our complaints have actually been heard? Now if only they'd bring back a real English website.

Pants, Hopefully the Last Installment

2010-09-20T09:22:00.003-04:00

This is a pile of my fitting books, including the binder on top of old Threads articles. Not even all of them because I stopped clipping them years ago when I realized I often wanted the article on the other side.

It seems that pants fitting has consumed my life for years. Of course I made other garments, but what I thought about most was fitting pants, looking at pants, obsessing about pants. Now, hopefully I can move on to other, more interesting projects. Not that I won't make pants, but I won't be blogging about them. Unless I make some other pattern, but this one has had it's day. I can endlessly tweak it, but that isn't interesting enough to talk about. Jeans are actually in my future, but that's for another day.

Readers thought that the gray pants were my altered pair. They are not. They aren't bad, but they had annoying issues. Because they are from a drapey fabric it just isn't as obvious. Soft fabric softens all the wrinkles while a stiffer fabric is much more unforgiving and shows everything
With Claire's help I dealt with the last of the annoying little issues and they really weren't all that big, but I got really obsessive here!

The first pair is a brown tweed with no stretch and the second pair is black twill, also no stretch, both from sales at Michael's. These are much less forgiving fabrics than my light gray linen and lycra. The first pair is pretty perfect. In the second I decided to narrow the knee another 1/2", which is a total of 2". Too much for my tilted pelvis. I could remove more room above back crotch, but I'd also like to sit down. So, while I like how these look in front, if I want to make narrower knees I either need to accept the wrinkles in back or make them wider. It's a trade off. I finished a pair of gray cotton with lycra pants yesterday. I have to say that I am beginning to prefer pants without lycra. They don't stretch out and bag in the rear end. They don't have to be sewn so tight that they show lumps and bumps before they stretch out. I wore the pants. I let out the side seams to get rid of the bumps. They were perfect. I wore them and by the time I went to bed they were too big. We're not talking a whole day here. I finished them at 5 pm and put them on. Again, if they were a soft, drapey pair of pants they would still look good, but not in their stiffer, cottony drape. Sure I could only make pants out of drapey material, but I need sturdy pants for work. I guess I'll take them in and just let them be tight until they stretch out. See what I mean about being obsessed?

Moving on:

I'll be sewing at least 4 tops to go with my new pants. That will be my transitional wardrobe. The new Aphrodite top from Hot Patterns and Burda's double top are in the mix. As well as a cardigan and tank top from my tnt t shirt. Another top, yet to be determined will also be in there.
Here are the fabrics that are up for consideration.

This is an open novelty knit, from Emmaonessock, for the outer layer of the Burda top and the plain white cotton knit is for the inner. I am going to reverse the necklines so that the openwork shows at the neck, and like several people I am not going to sew them together at the bottom. Not a good look for wide hips.

This combination if for the tank and cardigan. The right piece is a cotton sweater knit from Emmaonesock for the cardigan and the gray is a piece of double knit also from EOS which was in a double knit bundle.

The right hand piece is a light weight rayon knit from Metro bought on PR day, and it will be for a maybe wearable muslin for the Aphrodite top. The left rayon knit is from Emmaonesock and is up for contention for the fourth top.
The bottom two are also from Emmaonesock and they are in contention for tops too. Both are in my favorite print, animal.

Bad Bloggger

2010-09-16T09:39:00.001-04:00

Why haven't I been blogging you ask? When I got home from the PR day I couldn't put any weight on my foot. I'd been having some issues but after a day of walking and then sitting on the train for over an hour I was pretty much incapacitated from a raging case of plantar faciitis I have been to the podiatrist, gotten two cortisone injections so far, done the exercises and rested. I am still unable to walk around Costco without coming home to ice. It is getting better. I am not limping today.

I have been sewing. What you ask? Pants. I am on my third pair and they fit! If you'll remember I have written a lot about my frustration with pants fitting. I can tinker endlessly fine tuning the fit, but basically I really, finally have a tnt pattern that I can lay down, cut out and sew up. How did I get here? Not on my own. After seeing a comment that Claire Kennedy had left on PR on yet another query of why don't these pants fit, I contacted her and asked her to look at the pants I had recently posted here. What I got in return from her was a long wonderful e mail with lots of information on what to do. She teaches pants fitting classes and she has a wonderful eye and knows how to fix what she sees. I sent her photos of these pants and she sent me more information, including a video on how to figure out how your pants are hanging on your body. This was very informative because I realized that somehow my side seam was no longer hanging plumb. When I fixed it, that nagging weird pleat at my center front disappeared.

My side seam was hanging to the back by about 1 1/2" at the hem. I used a plumb line held at the side seam at the waist (after choosing to move the seam to the front by about 3/8" and letting it hang to the hem. My dh marked where it hit the hem. (these are pinned up so that they didn't hit the floor.) I transferred this to my pattern and adjusted it.

The black lines are how I moved the seams. I folded the leg in half lining up the inseam and out and marked the new grainline. You'll notice the change. This balancing the leg is very important to getting your pants to hang correctly as well. Thank you Claire!
I'll post some photos of my new pants next time.

Enough on pants! It must be two years ago now that I bought some real Burberry raincoat fabric and the lining from Michael's Fabric. I even bought some gorgeous red cashmere blend for a button out lining. But I couldn't find a pattern that I wanted to make. There are plenty of double breasted trenchcoat patterns out there but I couldn't find a single breasted one with a lapel. Until this morning! The September issue of La Mia Boutique had exactly what I was looking for so you can bet I ordered it from Around the World pdq before they sold out. They've even have a special on shipping for $3, so a bargain. Hepi Press has a preview of the issue. Couldn't get a direct photo link, but it's #5 if you click through page by page. Actually a cool preview with a good zoom feature.

I also traced out the new Hot Patterns Aphrodite draped t and couldn't figure out how the draping lines up. I emailed Trudy and got a phone cal from Jeremy and a diagram of how to do it. The first, single notch is match to the first of the next double notch and so on. Not hard, but I couldn't figure it out.

PR Shopping Day

2010-08-30T08:46:00.002-04:00

It's official; I hate Karen of Sewing By the Seat of My Pants. She was wearing her Jalie jeans and boy are they fabulous. Right out of the envelope. Rub it in a little why don't you? You all know how much trouble I've had getting pants to fit well and there she is with her amazing jeans. They fit her like the really expensive jeans I hemmed for my sister last year. I had an amazing time on Saturday. Where else can you talk about your passion for sewing without eyes glazing over as you talk. For me it's 90 minutes from doorstep to the city so not that big a deal to get in, but there were women from as far away as Chicago and Atlanta. I bought more fabric than I planned but it was all in the colors, or I should say color that I wanted. I bought shades of gray in knits and exactly what I was looking for in a wool crossweave that looked exactly like the Marc Jacobs $900 and something pair of pants over on Net a Porter. He lined them in stretch silk charmeuse, which I forgot to pick up, but I can order that on line from Mood when I am ready to make the pants. His fabric was non stretch and he used stretch for lining which makes perfect sense since lining often tears because it doesn't stretch and the outer fabric will. Of course if your fabric is stretch it's really necessary to have a stretch lining and not too many of those are available except in polyester. I do not wear polyester. Not because I am a natural fiber snob, but because my post menopausal body rebels against anything that isn't breathable. I have seen Bemberg rayon in stretch but not recently. However, Mood has a lot of colors in stretch charmeuse and I'll spring for that. I don't even have to line them all the way down, but only to the knee if I want to save on fabric. I have an old Threads article on a pair of Armani pants that are only lined in front to the knee. There is also a Claire Schaeffer couture pants pattern where she only lines to the knee, so it is not absolutely necessary to line all the way to the bottom. The other issue with lining to the hem, even just covering the pants hem, is that when you sit it often shows.
What else have I been up to? Other than fooling around with my new Viking, I've been working on my pants pattern. Next post I'll talk about fitting pants and the amazing Claire Kennedy.

On Death

2010-08-18T23:37:00.000-04:00

On Monday morning I had to call my daughter in Korea and inform her that her beloved Grandfather, my Dad, had died in his sleep at the age of 88. His funeral was this afternoon and a friend of my niece set up her new I Phone to skype my daughter so that she could hear the service. Alex called tonight to see how I was doing. She had thought she'd find the funeral depressing, but it was exactly the opposite, It gave us a wonderful sense of my Dad's life and who he was to his family. She got to hear her brother and cousin talking about their grandfather and her own words that she had published on her blog this morning read by the rabbi. A good funeral can actually make you feel better. We got to remember all the corny jokes my Dad was known for (well not all of them, because there were so many) and to remember the wonderful, loving man he was. It's good to remember all the good things and with my Dad, there were a lot of good things. My sisters and our husbands are traveling down to Florida tomorrow to bury my Dad next to my Mom to whom he had been married for almost 50 years.

Finally, August Burda Has Arrived!

2010-08-13T18:01:00.001-04:00

It arrived today, just as the full preview of the September issue became available on the German site. Thank you Selfish Seamstress for posting the link. . Everyone was very dismissive of the Folkloric section which looked like they turned the designers loose in the storeroom and said use up everything you can. But, individually, some of these have a great deal of potential. Artistic license is fine, but this is a pattern magazine where it would be nice to actually be able to see the garments. I know, same old same old, so without further ranting I'll show you what I like the best, and what I think will look good on me, of course, after all it is my blog.

This one has nice lines and I like the ruched sleeves. I do not love the fabric, but I do like how they've used the large scale print.

I like this jacket too and I love the self belt. Perfect if your waist isn't perfect.


This is a great, classic trench with great details. But I want it single breasted with lapels! I saw the perfect Tod's single breasted trench in an ad and I want to make it. I am just too broad for this double breasted look. Both this and the jacket are in the plus sized section.

I love this coat, but I don't think I'd look all that good in it. It's doesn't appear to have any fitting seams and the band across the hip is a not a good look for me. It even looks like it has zippers on the sleeves. I love zippers there, re, but I don't know if I see them going with this coat. Here it is in a jacket version which would work better, minus the band. I wonder if I can remove the band in the longer version and make it work for me? There are darts. Hmm.

Besides the arrival of Burda, I got an email notice of two new Hot Patterns. I bought them both. They are both very current and fit into my lifestyle perfectly and both would work with all the lovely knits in my stash. Especially the two new pieces I bought in NYC.

Pants Are My Nemesis, or How I Waste Time

2010-08-12T18:18:00.001-04:00

Either I've gotten really picky about fit, or my aging body has gotten that much harder to fit. Maybe both. See the pants on the floor? Those were the black pants I made to try out David Page Coffin's techniques. I will say that the issues I always have in sewing a contour waistband were solved by using a 1/4" sas at the top and bottom of the waistband. He suggests, and he calls them, outlets, I call it in case sas, that you only cut a wider sas on seams that you will be fine tuning the fit. I threw these in the trash and concluded that my drafting skills were just not up to the task of making the fairly wide legged Razer pant into a narrow legged pant. I can make a pant from it at 22 or 24" wide hem that fits very nicely in the rear. But the front still eludes me.
A pair of pants in a drapey fabric works better with some of the problems kind of softened out and not as noticeable. I get a pleat that forms from the cf crotch that isn't as obvious in softer fabrics. Obviously pants should not have pleats at the crotch! I have adjusted for full inner thighs. I've adjusted the cf to be parallel to the grain line to accommodate my full stomach. I've deepened the crotch and made it shallower. I reduced the inseam, I've added to it. The fit is better with a deeper crotch and shorter crotch point. I have found that there is a fine line on the crotch depth. If it is too long I get more of a pleat, if it is too short I also get the pleat. But, regardless of what I do I get the pleat. In a less drapey fabric it's really a crisp pleat that seems to point to my crotch.

I'm not sure if you can see the pleat in these pants. As I said, in a softer fabric with good drape, it's not as obvious but it's still there. If anyone has any suggestions for this issue I'd love to hear it.

Meeting Sigrid!

2010-08-11T12:21:00.003-04:00

When Sigrid contacted me a while back that she'd be in NYC with her family and could we arrange to meet up for fabric shopping I was so excited. We've been e mailing for several years as well as reading each others blogs and she felt like an old friend even though we'd never met. It was exactly like seeing an old friend! We had the best time. Robin from A Little Sewing On the Side came up from Baltimore and Lindsay T met us for lunch. I had met both of them last fall and it was nice to see them again. Here's Lindsay with Eugenia at Eliot Berman.

Lindsay took us to Eliot Berman before she went back to work. I was the only one who bought fabric there, two gorgeous pieces of wool blend knits at good prices; the kind of thing that is very hard to find. They also had this season Calvin Klein gorgeous, but not exactly what I was looking for. It is definitely worth a visit.

Here we are, obviously at Mood where Sigrid and I both bought fabric, in fact we each bought a piece of the same mini houndstooth for pants. She also bought some lovely black wool for a jacket. We went on to buy notions and zippers. If you remember she bought a 22" invisible zipper at home for 6 euros! That's crazy. I bought a YKK invisible zipper, 22" long for about 80cents. We each bought black pants zippers for a pittance.
That was our last stop, we were both exhausted! (Robin had left about an hour earlier to catch the train.) Before that I took Sigrid into Paron and she finished up her fabric shopping in the half price annex. She's talking about looking for a cheap ticket just to come over for fabric shopping. Even though the garment district isn't what it used to be it still has more fabric choices than most people can get at home and the prices can be very good for very high quality.

Seth fixed my Viking! The part came yesterday and not only did he install it, but when he was running it the low gear sounded funny, so he took that apart and greased it with modern lithium grease and made sure everything was thoroughly oiled. The machine had not only not been used much but it hadn't been used in years so it was totally dry when he first opened it up. Now it purrs. It's so pretty.

Finding Sewing Machine Parts

2010-08-08T09:37:00.000-04:00

It looks like my Viking 6010 will be able to do more than straight stitch! I searched for vintage parts on the internet and found the part I needed on 3 different sites for 3 widely different prices from $34.55 plus $3 shipping to almost $100. Obviously I bought the first one. I found a picture of the part though and realized that what we thought was 1 piece was actually two. Seth enjoyed puzzling how to get the two apart without breaking the unbroken part. He jury rigged something that worked and I only had to buy the cam stack. I have become spoiled over the years and when Seth can't fix something I have trouble believing it. Like, what do you mean you can't fix it? It's on it's way to me and Seth will be installing it of course. I want it to zig zag so that I can use my two buttonholers meant for zig zag machines. I may actually sew blouses that require buttonholes.

Not much sewing going on here as I have been busy with work. I have been making plans for fall sewing though. It would be lovely to actually sew fall stuff before I need it. I always have great intentions of sewing before the season, but it doesn't usually happen. How about you? Are you sewing for now or for the fall?

Ah Well It Does Great Straight Stitching

2010-08-03T15:08:00.003-04:00

Edited to add that I am hemming Seth's jeans with the 6010 and can't believe how nice the stitch quality is. I have jeans thread from Atlanta Thread and it is not only exactly the same as what his Lucky jeans are topsitched with, but side by side the stitches look identical. Kind of cool.. It sews across the hump of the seam without a hitch and without sewing smaller stitches.

My new old machine, the Viking 6010 arrived last week. I didn't get a chance to do more than unpack it until Saturday. I was excited that the exterior was pristine, and it was clean inside too. Just dry. So I oiled it and then tried to get the cam out. Seth to the rescue. He has been fixing things since he could hold a screwdriver. He took off the top of the free arm and oiled. But he couldn't get out the cam either. I emailed Debbie Cook who gave me instructions on how to take it out. No luck. Seth managed to get the cover of the cam off so that he could grasp it to take it out and then he could get the back off. It too needed lots of oil and then he noticed that the part that moved the cam wasn't moving. He took that out and the problem was obvious. The black plastic gear that goes on the stack and is how the machine makes zig zag stitches and buttonholes was cracked. So while it makes wonderful straight stitches it does nothing else. Since I wanted it for topstitching that's ok, but it's so beautiful I'd like it to work perfectly. I applied to join the Viking group on Yahoo because, Debbie to the rescue again, said that they have a listing of people who have parts for these older Vikings.
After all the oiling it runs beautifully and it is beautiful so hopefully I'll find the part I need and all of it will work well. That was on Sunday and I still haven't heard from the Vintage Viking group, so if anyone out there knows of a source for vintage Viking parts I, being impatient, would love to hear from you. But, the moral of this story is, ask if the cam can be removed! Well, probably it's also you take your chances and get what you get.

Vintage Machine Enabled

2010-07-26T08:08:00.000-04:00

After reading about all the vintage machines that people love I took the plunge. Good things have been said about the old buttonholers making great buttonholes. My first thought was that I wanted a machine that could use the vintage Singer buttonholer. My Viking 750 makes very nice buttonholes, when it's in the mood. It doesn't like to repeat them reliably though which leads to a great deal of aggravation. I wanted to start making blouses that required lots of buttonholes that are actually the same size so I bought a Singer Touch and Sew 648 for $15 in a cabinet. It required picking up in New Jersey which became a day out with my dh and a great Korean lunch. Have I used it for buttonholes yet? No. It does handle topstitching thread a whole lot better than my Viking though and when I saw Debbie Cook's post about buying a 6010 Viking that would take my myriad of snap on feet and that it too handles topstitching thread like a champ, I thought one of those would be a good addition to my collection of machines. I could set it up as a topstitching station,especially for the jeans I intend to make.(when I get a pattern that fits of course) I vacillated back and forth, should I or shouldn't I. With some good advice from Debbie I bought one on Ebay yesterday. It should be here in a few days. That's it. No more vintage machines. Fortunately my sewing counter is deep so I can store it behind my coverstitch machine and pull it forward when I need it. Debbie is willing to guide me through cleaning it too. if I need help.

With all the heat we've been having and no central ac, little sewing. actually none at all, has been going on here. I have a great sewing room, but it's in the loft that surrounds my living/dining room. Heat rises and it is hotter upstairs than down and it has been pretty hot down. Not terribly conducive to sewing. Today is a whole lot cooler, but I have paying work to do, so not much sewing will be going on.

Burda Style, or Why Do We Have to See the Previews on the Russian Site?

2010-07-23T17:05:00.001-04:00

August Burda Style Magazine formerly known as Burda World of Fashion, affectionately referred to by the initials, BWOF should be arriving in our mailboxes before too long. But long before it arrives we look to the internet for previews. We used to be able to go to the English site for our previews in English. As most of you know that's no longer possible. Instead, the first to post is usually the Russian site. With the other language sites you can at least read the words even if you don't understand them. Not so with the Cyrillic alphabet. They have it up even before the German site has it up. Finally the French site has their previews up. With my high school French I can at least understand some of what's written. I finally read the note that the English editor wrote and posted on the old English site. She seemed rather stunned not to be doing it anymore. I'm still puzzled by all that's happened. How many English readers do you think are out there? Certainly more than German I'd think. Anyway, enough of that and on to patterns. Lots of people loved the July issue with it's girly, drapey clothing Meh. I am looking for fresh takes on sportswear. That's what I sew and wear. What's in the August issue that I like?

I love this leather skirt. Maybe not the best length for me, but that's easy to fix. I love the details including the exposed zipper. This vest is a definite favorite of mine. I've been looking for a vest with lapels and this fits the bill. It's not too fitted which makes it work over a sweater in the fall.

It's easier to see it in the technical drawing. I love most of the Plus Collection.

Very elegant and mostly flattering like this lovely camisole.

This dress looks like it would be flattering too.

I've been looking for a good trench pattern with a single breasted lapel. I can easily add the details I want to this basic coat.

But now we get to the iffy garments. These pants are certainly trendy and on Burda's version of a plus sized model, even look good. But on any of us with a stomach? I don't think so.

This skirt is not much better. In fact the whole looks is kind of sloppy. Not a good look if you have extra pounds.

It doesn't hurt that the whole plus group is in my currently favorite gray palette. With my white hair I find that grays are really flattering. I also like the shoulders of this collection. They work for my narrow shoulders and full bust much better than most other styles.

What do you think? Is there anything you just have to make in this issue?

We Are Back

2010-07-15T11:55:00.000-04:00

It was definitely too short a vacation. We are back from our long weekend in Asheville, NC. for my MIL's 90th birthday. She threw herself a very nice party at a new gluten free restaurant in Pack Square. We got to see all the relatives we like and avoided the ones we don't. I had forgotten how fabulous Asheville is in the summer, or maybe it's actually better. There are a lot of people downtown on a Saturday night; it's a big street party including street musicians and performers. During the summer they have music, Shindig on the Square, that always had a makeshift stage, now there is a gorgeous park that is terraced down the center of town from Pack Square ending at the new, permanent stage. There are fountains and lush plantings and grass. It's beautiful, but seems like they had more than one designer as it misses a feeling of cohesion, but it is still a lovely place and great addition to a tourist town. They did however, as my mil pointed out, run out of money and neglected to add any public bathrooms.

This is a picture of me in my Saturday night finery in the redone Pack Square. It's Burda 143 6/10. Yes, I actually made something from June's Burda during June. Must be a record. I did finish it in July, but still I started it in June. The pants are Vogue 2948 from Sandra Betzina in a cotton lycra from Gorgeous Fabrics that was in my stash from last summers good intentions. The top is a silk jersey from Emmaonsock from Cynthia Steffe I think, and was a nice buy as a roll end. I cut this as a single lay, as I prefer doing with a big print like this. It also lets you use a lot less fabric than called for. It's a plus size that I redrafted from a 44 in the shoulders to a 40. I blended it out to a 46 plus in the hips and used up some of my incase sas, so the hips are bigger than a 46. I also did a sloping shoulder adjustment and took it up a bit more just at my shoulder point. The left shoulder is the draped piece and hey, Burda actually tells you how to sew it and adjust the length. I shortened it about a 3/4". This is the pattern I asked about using facings. It was fine and you really need them to hide the end of the gathered piece, but while they stay put when worn, you have to adjust them to get them inside after putting it on. The specified zipper was not needed, even on this not very stretchy knit, it goes over the head easily. I did have to take it in at the underarm a bit even though I did not make an fba on this, but fudged by making the underarm wider. There was plenty of room.
I recommend silk jersey to anyone new to knits. This had no lycra, didn't roll and was stable in the length. Easy to sew and luxurious to wear.

A few pictures of downtown Asheville.

This is another version of the Tom and Linda Platt dress from Vogue.1091http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/filebin/images/product_images/Full/V1091.jpg
I've already made this twice before, so not much to say. The fabric is a lovely cotton lycra knit from Just Cavalli that I bought at Mood this spring. I wore it on Friday night.

Oh and you'll notice the white hair? Got lots of compliments and one of my favorite cousins looked right past me when I walked into synagogue with Seth. She saw my dh and said where's Nancy? She is not alone. I was meeting my best friend for lunch and she looked right past me when she walked in. I'll still need about 3 haircuts before all the color is gone, but it's a great transition.

I have a pants post waiting to be posted, but I still don't have photos. Next time.

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T17:13:00.000-04:00

So, it's Sunday; it's the Fourth and what did we do? Ran errands and I sewed. Yep, there is real sewing going on here even in the heat! We are going away for a few days on Thursday; it's my mil's 90th birthday and we are traveling down to Asheville by way of Roanoke, where our gorgeous grandson lives. His parents are there too of course, so we'll spend the night and all leave the following morning. From there Asheville is only 4 hours. Why am I mentioning this? New wardrobe of course. How can I go away without new clothes? I have two pairs of pants, a dress and a tunic to show you all. But, not today they need to be photographed. In the meantime you can look at Jakob the wonder boy as his Dad refers to him. He got the tiger suit at the Detroit Zoo during his trip to meet his great grandfather, my Dad. It even has a tail.

Do You Know What's In Your Stash?

2010-07-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

A pretty piece of animal print knit appeared in my hands today. Well it didn't magically appear, but I'd forgotten I had it. I hadn't even bought it that long ago! I think that I am so organized with my fabric on a spreadsheet, everything in labeled bins stacked neatly on shelves in my fabric closet. But, honestly I have a lot of fabric so it' easy to forget what's in there. At last count I had about 365 yards of fabric not including interfacing or lining. I have been much more selective about my fabric buying lately, but sometimes that fabric just calls out to me. Or I get an idea for a new outfit and I don't have anything in my fabric store with which to make it. Some of the fabric I have just doesn't work with my lifestyle, so it stays on the shelf. Where, after all am I going to wear 2 yards of crystal pleated burgundy polyester from the workroom of Mary McFaddon? I bought it on a whim from Mood. Try as I might I can't figure out how it won't add 10 lbs to my hips or bust. This one is hard to forget I have because it's on a roll that stares me in the face every time I open the closet. Or how about the 3 meters of lavender and tan silk brocade I bought in India? Can't you just see me in that out measuring a property? I made a pair of silk and wool trousers awhile back. They fit well, the fabric is gorgeous, but really the sheen makes them a tad dressy for every day wear. That and they have to be dry cleaned. Periodically I open all the bins for the season I want to sew for and play with them to see what I want to make and invariably, like today I find something that I forgot I have. If I am lucky I might even still like it.

A Sad Week

2010-06-28T19:04:00.000-04:00

Mr Nicky, our 18 year old dog died last week. He was really fading that last week or so but he was a great dog to the end. We got him when he was 6 months old right after our son's bar mitzvah. Our daughter Alex was 6 years old; they grew up together. He was very popular with the girls in her dorm when we brought him with us to visit Alex both at boarding school and college and she was of course thrilled. She lavished attention on him when she was home last fall between contracts. He'd gotten crotchety in his old age, but he let Alex pet him and hold him while he was intolerant of our attentions. She kept hoping that he'd last till she came home from Korea this December, but that was asking too much of him. I keep looking for him when I walk through rooms.
On top of that, I put my back out yesterday. Not the worst I've had, but not great. I am doing my back exercises and taking it easy.

I have gotten some sewing done and I'll get to that in my next post. Pants that fit. Finally.

I Scored La Mia Boutique

2010-06-15T09:29:00.005-04:00

My moratorium on buying foreign pattern magazines is over with my scoring the June issue of La Mia Boutique. I didn't know what was in it, but I decided to take a chance because the price wasn't bad and because it was coming from Around the World, Inc. the international magazine store at 28 W 40th Street in NYC. I wouldn't be waiting 3 months for delivery, or paying more than I paid for the magazine and shipping for shipping alone. Apparently they now have a website, but they haven't listed all the pattern magazines that they carry on it. I found out about all this on a thread over on Pattern Review. They did respond to a query by adding it to the site. Wonder what other pattern magazines they have and haven't listed.
I knew from the cover that there would probably not be much I'd want to sew in it, but there are several, including some plus sizes that will work for me. Some of it was just too frilly and exposed for me, but if you are young and fit, you may like a lot of this. What I don't get, is why they all seem to love the American west as a design influence. You've seen it in Burda and Patrones too.
Anyway, here's what interests me. Obviously not this cover, but this is how the text got lined up.

You'll notice the obvious cowboy reference?

I like this dress. It's in a very Missoni like knit that would be great to find but of course that's not happening.

Love this top. Think of all those scraps I can use up! I'll leave off the scribbly stuff. Too crafty by far.

This is perfect for some open work knits that I bought on a whim. There's a tank under with back shaping. Kind of interesting. This is plus sized btw.

she looks larger than the regular sized models, but take a look at this one. Does she even look close to plus size?

On the whole there are several things I will add to my sewing queue so the purchase was not a total loss. I am having trouble with blogger and can't figure out how to get the type and pictures to look good together. I haven't figured out how to make columns with pictures inset next to type. It's frustrating especially when you just want to write a quick post.

This issue had the white, girly, ruffly first half and to me, the more wearable things in the second half. All of the plus sizes were quite nice. The only objection I have is that there is nary a dart in sight even in the plus sizes, that and the waist size is absurdly smaller than the bust and hips. Way smaller than even Patrones which is smaller than Burda. One other thing I really like is that the fabric choices are clearly given below the text for each garment. I don't know Italian fabric vocabulary, but a lot was either added it in English or it is the same in Italian so easy to understand. They also gave more than one fabric suggestion for each, not just what the garment is made up in which is a definite plus.

Burda Style July Preview

2010-06-13T09:36:00.001-04:00

Why does the Russian site always have the Burda Style previews first? Why not the German site? Well, anyway I finally figured out how to access it and while a lot of women will love it, the regular sizes are a bit girly for me. I didn't do girly when I was young and now it's certainly not the time! I do like the leather jacket, but it's really not for someone with a DD cup bust. I can just see that collar jutting out over my bust. Not a pretty sight.

This top on the right is lovely. Just not for me. It is certainly more interesting and trendy than a lot of what Burda has been showing lately.

When we get to the plus sizes, I thought that this top was interesting. Definite possibilities, especially the ability to use up all those too big to throw away scraps.

The above dress however, enlarged from a regular sized dress from a while back, would make me look like a whale. You'd have to be the sort of minimally plus size of the model, and that tall to look good in this. Also, no bust for it to hang off. So basically I found one top I'd make so far. I certainly hope that there are more suitable clothes in this issue.

FACINGS, DO YOU USE THEM IN KNITS?

2010-06-10T11:49:00.001-04:00

This seems kind of redundant after yesterday's post, but here's a similar dilemma where I'd welcome your opinions.

As I wrote yesterday, I have been tracing patterns and this one is actually in my sewing queue.(unlike the Vogue).

It's 143 from Burda 6/10. It's a knit, but it calls for a neck facing front and back, and then I guess without much stretch would need the invisible zipper called for in the side. I don't really like using clear elastic, but I do have some knit stay tape that might work. I would rather not use a facing and then have to put in a zipper. I am planning on using some silk jersey that I have in my stash. The jersey doesn't have any lycra in it, so it doesn't have as much stretch. I'm not inclined to do a french binding; I think that it will be too thick. Would it work using my knit stay tape and just turning and topstitching do you think? Is there some reason they've used a facing and I'm just not seeing it? If I don't use the facing I'd leave out the zipper.

By the way, I went to the English archives, which is still there, and from there I actually found the old style Burda English site for the current issue. Kind of bizarre. Burda Archives and since they don't have the current issue up, on the left is a link to Burda Style Magazine. What is going on here? They announce that we are being redirected to Burda Style but now we can find the old site? Regardless of why or how I am happy to have access to them.

Vogue 8649

2010-06-09T09:17:00.000-04:00

I got this pattern at the last Joann's sale. I walked in for a zipper and walked out with this because it is one of the Custom Fit patterns with multiple cup size fronts. So far so good. I got it home and I read the directions. Chances are I wouldn't make it the way the tell you to, but I always read them. This is a knits only pattern, but they one, tell you to stay stitch the neckline and two, instead of using a knit binding they tell you to use ready made bias tape to finish the neckline. Not knit but woven bias tape. Head scratching here. Why would you do this on a knit? The instructions are to open one edge of the bias strip sew it down, understitch it , press, turn baste and topstitch close to basting. I understand that it will stabilize the neckline but do I really want to do this on a knit top? How would you handle this edge dear reader?

On to other sewing. I figured out why the Threads directions for narrowing pants legs doesn't work for me. It's ok in the back, but in the front it flattens out crotch curve and this does not work on my body. I need a deeper front curve or I get ugly vertical wrinkles pointing to the front crotch. So I've been struggling to get my black pants sewn up to where I'll be happy to wear them and decided a break was in order. Instead I've been taking a page from Karen and tracing off patterns and getting them altered to fit my body; always a lengthy task. I wanted a vest and I found one in an old Knipmode, yeh I am actually going to make something from my collection of Knips. I traced a couple of tops from the latest Burda and I transferred the changes I made to my pants to my pattern. I need to trace a pencil skirt and then I'll go back to my pants, and sew up the blouse I cut out too.

On the experimenting front the narrow sas on the waist band works really well. It is much easier to sew opposite curves when the sas is narrow, in this case 1/4". On the other hand, the fabric is another one with too much lycra. I like a small amount, like 1% which is very hard to find, but when you get up to 3% it is yard to get pants to stay without sewing them a lot tighter than I like them to be. Of course after an hour they'll be a lot looser!

Experimenting

2010-05-26T10:06:00.000-04:00

After reading several reviews of David Paige Coffin's latest multi media book on Making Pants for Men and Women I decided it was worth adding to my library. I hated his cd book on pants; I like to have a book to hold and read in bed if I want to. The first book just didn't have enough information either. This one is well done with lots of information with both a book and a dvd. There are lots of photos of rtw and custom made pants as well as plenty of technical and construction details and some nice video clips to illuminate the technique. It's a great use of multi media capabilities. My hesitation on buying this book wasn't it's lack of information on linings,as Sigrid mentioned, but his bias for menswear and I only sew pants for women, namely myself. He does cover faced, raised waists, which I will try out.

What I like the best about this book though is his point of view and his attitude towards sewing. He is unabashedly an amateur, as are most of us, and his willingness to experiment is contagious. One of his pants making goals is to make flat, thin edges as is mine. I've had issues with getting the contour waistbands I prefer to lay smoothly and flat. I have curvy upper hips with my weight right below the waist. I'd have an easier time of it if I just used a straight waistband at my waist, but I don't love them. I cut these pants out using several of his ideas. One, I used 1/4" sas at the waist and at the bottom of the band. This is often where I run into problems just sewing the very curvy seam. Using narrow sas make sewing a curve easier and I don't need extra in case sas there. Secondly I made a separate pattern for the interfacing without sas. The third thing I did was to make the facing in a bias shirting (the red facings in the picture) in a wider width to cover the pressed open waistband seam. I'm not sure exactly how I'll construct these yet; Coffin's sample has an extended tab band that I don't want. This is where the experimenting comes into play. We'll see where it leads me.

If I were sewing professionally I'd make a dozen of these, but I don't really have the time, and it's kind of boring, so I'll make mistakes, But, I have my trusty seam ripper and I don't mind hand basting. He sews his pants in the ditch by hand to hold the facing in place. I may do it this way too because with my very curvy hip it may very well be easier to sew it flat.

Busy Weekend

2010-05-24T10:18:00.001-04:00

Saturday was good for my bank account, but not for sewing. It was a gorgeous day to install a landscape, especially the location. The property overlooks the Sound and I made it even more beautiful. adding lots of color that was missing in her existing landscaping.
Alex rewrote my website first page so I worked on getting that up and while the site needs more work, it is up.

Sunday I did manage to get my white blouse, Hot Patterns Princess Shirt, cut out. However, I realized after I cut it out, and fortunately I have some extra fabric, that Debbie Cook had said that there was too much ease in the sleeve cap. I always measure the the armscye and the sleeve cap. So why not here? Who knows. I'll measure it and decide if I want to remove some ease and if so I'll recut the sleeve. I lowered the neckline by an inch and reshaped the lapel area. I am cutting a pair of pants to go with it. Black and lycra sateen to start. So exciting, but I need some basics. Then I'll sew.

Exercising in Style

2010-05-17T20:28:00.001-04:00

My usual outfit for yoga is an old t shirt and my one and only pair of yoga pants. When I commented to my dd that I needed to buy some new yoga clothes she scolded, Mom you must have some fabric in your large stash that would work. She was right. I used a 14oz rayon lycra jersey from Emmaonesock in charcoal for the pants. They are a simple version of my tnt Hot Patterns Razer eliminating the darts and zipper. Instead of using a fold over top I used a separate band, which I prefer for pull on pants, and that's it. Oh, I had to shorten the crotch depth because of the stretch. For the top I used the hot pink 11oz rayon lycra that I mentioned. It looks nice with the gray but I can't for the life of me remember why I bought something so pink. I used Simplicity 4076, a very popular pattern. Mhh. I made the gathered front version when I bought it and also, not my favorite. This is the mock wrap, side gathered top. Also just ok. I don't like where the wrap goes across my bust. The gather is droopy and it hugs my bulges a bit too much in back. I made it longer than usual because I wanted it to keep me covered, so it does that and isn't the most flattering length on me. Ah well, it's only going to yoga class.

Next up is the Hot Patterns plain and simple Princess Shirt. I need a woven! I am tired of sewing knits. I'll probably make it in a white cotton stretch from Paron and to go with it a pair of gray linen and lycra from Emmaonesock for another pair of the Razer pant. I want to copy some details from a pair of pants in February Knipmode to make them more interesting.

You'll notice the hair; it's six weeks and counting since I colored my hair. I'm okay with it but it does look a bit strange right now.

SOME SEWING, SOME GARDENING AND WORK

2010-05-12T08:51:00.000-04:00

Alex is not happy with my reduced posting of late, but it's spring.and there are lots of things to do.
There is more work for one, which is of course a good thing. I have also been working at growing my business. With the help of my wonderful son I've been building a website for my business, Nancy Karpen Landscape Design. The website is actually finished, but we're having trouble getting it up. Gardening has actually been going on here too, and last, I've been sewing.
The yoga pants are finished and I am cutting out the very hot pink top. Pants are charcoal gray by the way. Me, hot pink? No. But it's the gorgeous rayon jersey that Emmaonesock sells, so languishing in my stash forever is not an option. It will match my face after exertion, but it's only yoga class.
Photos when the outfit is finished.

Pattern Review is running another wardrobe contest. Nancy you are not even going to think about planning one! This one is 10 pieces in 3 months. Not happening.

THE WONDERS OF TECHNOLOGY

2010-05-02T10:01:00.000-04:00

Ah, the wonders of technology and the internet. This morning our dd was participating on an internet talk show on Women in Korea (she lives in Korea) on Koreabridge.net. When we video Skype her she usually has her hair pulled back, no makeup and her glasses on it is after all usually 9 or 10 at night when we talk.. But, this morning we had the opportunity to see her all made up and her hair done and contacts in and she looked fabulous, even though she is suffering from a bad cold. It was fun to see her interact with 3 other women teaching in Korea. Apparently this will be a weekly feature on Koreabridge on Sunday nights her time. Something to look forward to, but since this is when we usually talk to her it will cut into our conversation time. Ah well. Afterward we had a Skype chat with our son and grandson Jake. As I said, the wonders of technology !

MY FAVORITE GREEN

2010-05-01T09:11:00.000-04:00

My wardrobe has a very limited color palette and periodically I attempt to alter this, which is why I had this acid green rayon lycra jersey in my stash. It's from Emmaonesock as usual. Her knits are the best quality and this 11oz jersey is no exception. I really prefer rayon knits to the cottons available because those just don't feel as good. It's wonderful against the skin; like wearing cashmere but far cheaper! This is Burda 124 7/07 which I've made it before; it's the only twist top I've made that isn't too low and exposed. The review is here. It's a plus sized pattern that is cut rather small. If I remember correctly, I didn't actually have to narrow the shoulders! It's also very curvy and snug fitting in the middle, a part I don't like to showcase. I had to make a small fba for this and I uncurved the middle a bit and then curved it back again in a different spot. In other words, I needed to play around with the side seams to get a fit I like.

You of course cannot see how fabulous this green looks on me. I never used to like wearing green, but this is the perfect complement to the pink in my skin. If you'll remember your color wheel green and red are complimentary colors and do good things for each other. These are my spring sandal purchase. Semi dressy and apparently green by Naya, which I think is made by Naturalizer because they are available as well as on other shoe sites, on their website. They are made from naturally tanned leather and the trim is bamboo. I wore them yesterday for the first time and they were comfortable. Hard to find stylish when you have a wide foot. Also wore them with my new black pants which are ok and even though out of a tight cotton gabardine, stretched out enough to be comfortable in the back leg.

I have not been happy with either the quality of either my buttonholes or the top-stitching on my Viking 750 so I bought this vintage/used Singer on ebay for a big $20 in a cabinet and a trip to Jersey. Got a great Korean lunch with my dh too. I wanted to use one of the vintage buttonholers with it, but yesterday it occurred to me to try top stitiching thread, the heavy Gutterman, with it. Well hallelujah! It's a trooper. Worked like a charm. I still haven't tried out the buttonholer on it though.

Next up is cleaning my sewing room and studio. Cannot work in this mess! I have pattern pieces and rolls of drawings that need to be filed. The floor isn't too bad because I do sweep it, but it needs a good dusting and vacuuming too. Sigh. I hate to clean.

What am I going to sew next? Yoga clothes. I have 14oz rayon jersey for the pants and some hot pink rayon jersey, I do not remember what possessed me to buy it, because pink is so not my color, for a top. I'm going to adapt my razer pant for the bottoms and Simplicity 4076 for the top, which was altered several years ago and I never made the mock wrap with gathers which should work well with short sleeves. I looked through 5 years of BWOF for yoga patterns, and there are several, but in the end I really didn't want to trace and alter another top when this one would work fine.
Have a great weekend

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

2010-04-26T14:53:00.000-04:00

Never again. No contests or wardrobe plans for me. It seems that I get less sewing done when I do one of these big plans, or even the mini wardrobe contest, or the latest lined jacket contest for that matter. Sometimes I just don't want to sew what I've planned so I procrastinate. So, no more. That doesn't mean I won't make plans, because I like to do that, but sewing is supposed to be a hobby and fun and having to complete it by a certain date or a precise list to sew is just not fun.

This pair of pants and top were part of my original wardrobe plan. They have been done for awhile except for the hems. They sat here for at least 2 weeks waiting. Why? I just lost interest? Who knows, but here they are. If you remember I was inspired by Celine's minimalist silk top, but I made it in rayon lycra jersey that I had on hand, and is much more practical for my life. The pants are a narrowed version of my tnt pants. These are not a tnt version let me tell you! If I narrow the hems this much I get wrinkles in the back leg because of my pancake ass. I thought that I could fix it without a muslin. Big mistake. They are over fitted and do not feel good in back. You know that phrase wearable muslin? No such animal. If I had made a muslin of these I would have fixed the problems ahead of time. I really should know better. The top is a version of Vogue 8497 that I cut apart to get the color blocks. This is the pattern I used for my zebra print top. I hadn't used it with the zig zag pieces, but rather, had put it together to get a one piece front and back. Easy top, but maybe not my most flattering look.

As I am sure you've all noticed, I cut my hair. It's the beginning of growing out my color. I have been going gray since I was 18 and coloring it since I was 26. A long time and I have had enough. I really like the short hair, and boy is it easy!

In other sewing, I've been making welt pocket samples for my jacket. (also sewing the green knit top from that wardrobe plan) The pockets are made over the butted together opening at the base of the dart. I made 4 double welt samples before I realized that they wouldn't work for this jacket, or at least the way I was making them. I needed to copy the dart and pocket opening onto muslin so that I had a facsimile of the jacket front. Then I made 4 samples of single welt pockets (this is what the jacket actually calls for ) in a version from Claire Schaeffer's book Sew Any Set-In Pocket. Burda's instructions are not useless, but too bulky with separate welts and pocket bags. In the method I'm using the upper pocket bag forms the welt. It works, but I prefer marking the back side and sewing from there. One, I don't have to remove the marks on the front and two, I can mark it more accurately with a sharp pencil. In the black jacket I'll use a white interfacing for the pocket stay so that I can see the marks.

Here's the last sample I made. You'll notice that the side of the pocket is sewn into the side seam. I'll make one or two more samples before I make the jacket. Kathleen Fasanella says that 10 samples are the minimum for beginning to get muscle memory for a task. I'd say that that's about right. It seems like a lot, but I haven't made them all at once and it is actually kind of fun to realize that each one is not only better, but starting to feel good when I sew it, if that makes any sense.

SIMPLE MEALS: THE LAST OF THE SUMMER TOMATO SAUCE

2010-04-08T15:30:00.001-04:00

Cooking every day is cheaper and healthier especially if, like us, you have dietary issues. A repertoire of fast, easy recipes is helpful, but so is my freezer. Certainly I don't always feel like cooking, so I try to make larger amounts of easy to freeze main dishes. Then, all I have to do is add a starch and some green vegetables, sometimes separately or like last night, all in one dish.

Good tomatoes fresh off the vine, fresh basil, garlic and onion make some of the best tasting tomato sauce ever. It also freezes well and last night I pulled out the last of it.

Also found in the bottom drawer of my freezer was one piece of tuna, small, and one piece of mahi mahi also small. I defrosted both, cut them into small chunks and marinated them in fresh lemon juice and kosher salt for an hour or so. Then I sauted an onion, added red peppers, garlic and zuchini. Add tomato sauce and cook until the vegetables are tender. Because the sauce was already redolent with basil, I didn't add any spices, though if I'd had some fresh basil on hand I'd have added some at the end.
In another pan in a small amount of olive oil I tossed the cubed fish until almost done then added it to the sauce for a minute or two and served it over brown rice pasta from Tinkyada. This is the best substitute for 'real' pasta that I've had. It keeps it's 'tooth' and it's place as the support for a sauce, not being too assertive in taste as are some of the other gluten free pastas.

Now for a touch of spring. My hamamelis is finished blooming, but the bulbs and my Helleborus orientalis, or lenten roses, are having their time. I love Helleborus, but I only grow the easy orientalis that is extremely reliable.

SIMPLE FOOD

2010-04-06T08:42:00.000-04:00

When we were first married I would never have considered serving a vegetarian meal. Times have changed and we lose the animal protein several times a week at dinner and my lunch is often meatless. Last night I made a simple meal of lentils and rice. This is a pretty common middle eastern dish that my late friend Sona, a family dish in her Armenian family, introduced me to many years ago. She made it with regular lentils, but I love little French lentils, or these recently discovered Black Beluga Lentils, from Shiloh Farms. One of the really nice things about lentils is that it is one of those fast cooking legumes. No lengthy soaking and cooking for these little gems. Slice and saute an onion, mine was a large one, in a little olive oil, Add cooked rice, I had some leftover Basmati rice, add lentils, salt and pepper, mix and serve with a green vegetable and a nice non fat Greek yogurt and you've got a simple, tasty meal.

JAKOB AND SEWING

2010-04-04T11:01:00.000-04:00

Finally, 251 pictures of Jakob and family are on my computer. My dd will stop whining and sending threatening, cajoling emails demanding new photos of her nephew and she will only harass Josh for new photos. Here are just a few of my favorites. Obviously, I will not be posting 251 photos anywhere, except maybe to our digital picture frame. It's better than tv these days.

Josh, Sarah and Jakob.

Sewing update

The Celine knockoff knit top only needs to be hemmed but I wasn't in the mood to change the thread in my coverstitch machine, and I am sewing the black pants. No lycra in this fabric and I narrowed the legs considerably. I added more to the in case sas, and I know that they will stretch out a bit as I wear them, but hopefully they will not be too tight to be comfortable. Looking good, does not always mean comfortable in pants. I tucked a lot out of the back to get the legs to hang off the pancake ass and not get caught up on my calves, so I am feeling the legs in the back. I added about a half an inch more to the back leg from just above the knee down to help. I may need to scoop out the tusch a bit more if they pull down in the cb too much. . These pants are 18 1/2" wide at the hem, and my tnt pants are 22" wide. That's a big difference, especially since I narrowed the leg under the crotch per a Threads article. Ahh, the never ending quest for great fit.

NO SEWING THIS MONTH

2010-04-01T08:58:00.001-04:00

I just read Carolyn's post about no sewing in the month of March and I realized, I haven't sewn anything this month either. I have altered patterns and I have 2 pieces cut out for the Mini Swap. I'd like to finish it but who knows at this rate? I came back from Roanoke with the worst cold, as did Seth. Apparently the baby had a slight cold and gave it to all of us. By, the way, cutest baby ever, to quote my son. He is just so delicious!
Sometimes I feel pressured to sew so that I can have something to post. Or I feel pressured to come up with some interesting topic that is sewing related, but then I find at least 3 other people have written posts about it already. I see people posting their monthly totals, or their yearly tallies and I don't sew anywhere near that much. It is spring, which means more work and lots of gardening so there goes sewing time. I am also trying to exercise which also cuts into sewing time.
Part of my lack of sewing is how much time I put in on altering patterns. I make a lot of changes to a pattern to make it fit well. I need to take a page from Carolyn's book and make more tnt patterns or simple pieces that I can use as slopers.
So, how much sewing do you do? How many garments do you make a month? In a year? Do you make so many alterations to a pattern that you feel like all you do is alter patterns instead of sewing? Sometimes I certainly feel that way. I also think that altering a pattern is safe. There is no disappointment in altering a pattern. When I get to the end if I don't love it, I can throw it in the trash without any real investment. But when I get to the end of a garment and I don't love it, then there is a big letdown.

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED

2010-03-23T20:26:00.001-04:00

The subject of Bob Herbert's column in the NY Times today dealt with the appalling behavior that the vote on health care precipitated. That in 2010 we should stand up and speak out against the bigotry that is being spouted in the name of free speech. This has never been a political blog, but I was incredibly upset this weekend when I saw John Lewis, a man who was a driving force during the fight for civil rights, a man who was beaten by the police, subjected to racial epithets screamed at him when he entered the capitol , that another black congressman was actually spit on and that Barney Frank, an openly gay congressman had anti gay epithets hurled at him. If we stay silent we condone this kind of behavior. It is not acceptable. I do not care what your opinion about health care is, but we cannot condone the hate and fear mongering that have been perpetrated in the name of democracy. I hope that you will speak out with me and let your voice be heard.

WHY SEW A MUSLIN, OR EVEN 3?

2010-03-22T10:11:00.002-04:00

Sewing this past weekend consisted of sewing 2 muslins and then cutting a second one for my dress and sewing it. This from a woman who usually tissue fits. I always think that it will take so much time, but honestly, I have perfected the art of quick and dirty muslin sewing. No hems, so facings and I try and keep a bolt of muslin, one of the only things I buy at Joann's with a coupon of course. I know that lots of people make 'wearable' muslins, but that has always been an oxymoron to me or an expensive muslin if it doesn't work out. The other thing is that I would never spend that much time on cheap fabric. I like to be able to draw on my muslin with a sharpie. I like to mark the center front, the cross grain and the waist so that I can see it in the mirror when I fit. The plain light color of the muslin is helpful in seeing the wrinkles that point to fitting problems.
So why did I choose to sew a muslin for my jacket, which I had already tissue fit, and my dress, which I also had tissue fit? I wasn't sure about either of the styles and I wanted to have the least amount of ripping and adjusting when I sewed the good stuff. I usually sew jackets with princess seams, but they tend to be more fitted than I wanted for this jacket and I've never sewn a jacket like this before.

I was pleasantly surprised with the jacket's fit. As you know I am a curvy woman, with a 36 DD bust. One dart is not usually the best or easiest fitting solution for me but this worked amazingly well. Why you ask? See that dart that meets the pocket opening and how the upper pocket mouth is actually on or close to the bias? Sewing that dart makes the section of the jacket to the left of the dart fall on the bias. Bias molds very nicely without this being in anyway a fitted jacket. The fit is very good. I made all my usual alterations on the pattern, except that I started with a size 40 in the upper body, instead of the 42 that I've been using and the fit is much better.
My upper bust measurement is just a bit more than the full bust of the size 40. I blended it out to a 42 by the bust line. It's easier to get a nice line when I blend it out for the hip, where I need a 46 or a bit more depending the ease.
The dress, now that needed two muslins to get a good fit. I'll get to that in my next post. I want to take some photos first.

I also did some thinking and research over the weekend on Passover menus and recipes. How about gluten free, vegetarian. Lactose free would be helpful too. I have a number of Passover cookbooks, but I found a mother lode of information on line. Google Gluten free, vegetarian Passover main dishes and there are a ton of recipes available. Very cool, but I still love to read my cookbooks, or novels as my dh calls them.
Edited to add that only two of the guests are vegetarian. Two are gluten free and one, myself, is lactose intolerant. We are having a meat main dish, but I wanted to have good food for the vegetarians too. It is certainly doable. I am leaning towards a vegetable curry and a quinoa pilaf. But there will be no gluten free matzoh. It's disgusting, and at $28, at least the year my dh was diagnosed, not worth it since he had one piece and we threw out the rest.

A LITTLE BRAGGING

2010-03-17T09:24:00.001-04:00

I just could not resist posting this latest video of Jakob, or as Josh labeled it in his email, 'Ultra Baby's First Giggle' My son called last night to tell us he'd sent a new video of Jake and of course we logged on and watched it at least 3 times. I watched it another 3 time this morning. At least. I am so glad that we are going to down to spend Passover with them. I certainly envy grandparents who live closer to their grandchildren than we do!

Just a Quick Note

2010-03-15T14:27:00.000-04:00

The phone rang today at lunch. Not generally something to be excited about, but we lost our phone and internet service sometime Saturday in the 'storm'. Living in the woods as we do, high wind storms can be pretty scary. I kept expecting a tree to hit the house (it has happened) but we got lucky, the trees that did come down were not close to the house.
I've been busy altering patterns for the mini wardrobe contest, so I have no sewing to actually show you. I need to cut a muslin for my jacket. I was supposed to do that before the contest started, but it just didn't happen.

WE HAVE WINNERS!

2010-03-09T10:04:00.004-05:00

Thank you readers for the lovely comments and good wishes. I love hearing from you all and look forward to an even better second year.
Now to the winners of my Hot Patterns drawing. Yes, I did find a random number generator and it has chosen:
The tuxedo blouse to Stash
The jacket goes to Lady Jenn
The Riviera top to Ruthie
Please e mail me with your mailing address and I'll get these out asap.

SEWING NEWS
I have been toying with entering the mini wardrobe contest on Pattern Review that starts on
March 16 I believe. The requirements are 4 pieces that together make 4 different looks.
Here's what I've come up with.
Black cotton jacket.
Black and white knit t shirt. This is a copy of a Celine top done in silk, but hey, I don't need a silk t shirt
Either black pants or tan linen pants. I don't know if I want to have a matching suit though.
Black linen and silk dress that will have Burda 127 2/110 as the base and will have a blue silk charmeuse yoke. It will be a copy of this Celine dress. Which actually looks like its blue with a shiny blue yoke not the black I thought it was. Maybe I'll just make it black with a shiny black yoke. Or would this be called a placket? What do you think? Black with blue, or black on black? This is where having a blog is so great. Oh, and Alex, an opinion please? I'm planning to wear this to your grandmother's 90th birthday party. Longer on me though.

This is the top I am copying.
My 4 looks:
Dress
pants and top
pants, top and jacket
dress and jacket
Here's my sketch of the wardrobe worked over a copy of my croquis. With notes, of course.

Even if I don't manage to make this in a month, it's a good start for my spring sewing that I can build on. The only fabrics I need are the blue silk and some black silk organza to underline the dress with. I could of course use the white I have in my stash, and I may well do that. I also need buttons for the jacket. I am using the same silk that I lined Alex's jacket to line mine. I think that I have enough left over.

JACKET

Originally I thought I'd make a facsimile of the Cavalli jacket I showed a few posts ago, but the Patrones pattern I found had some drafting issues, so I went with a slightly different look. I have altered Burda 102 4/05 where I feel more comfortable anyway. Minus the belt.
The front has a dart that ends in the welt pocket. I've never made a peaked lapel and I've avoided this type of dart and welt before, not having seen good instructions. But there are at least minimal instructions with the Burda and I'm going to make a sample in the muslin. Samples are good. I've shortened the jacket and lowered the whole pocket dart ensemble to fit my gravity lowered bust and my low front waist. The back is an armhole princess. It's not fitted, but it's is shaped and at least the tissue fitting looks good. I also decided that since I am a 1/4" larger in the upper bust than the size 40 bust measurement that the size 42 I've been making is too big. what I did do is cut a 40 in the neck and shoulders (very narrow here!) and then I blended out to a 42 at the underarm and added to the size 44 hips to about a 46. I didn't want to add a side dart or to increase the front dart as it doesn't fit the pocket opening if I do that. ( I tried this before on something I didn't end up making) so I used Sandra Betzina's method for adding an fba when there is a dart and you don't want to increase it.

You can just about see it in the pattern, try clicking and enlarging the picture.
I still had to narrow the front shoulder, but it seems to line up much better with my cross front measurement. The back shoulder I left alone and added a dart to take care of my slightly rounded shoulders. This really seems to have worked. There is no bulge at the back armscye, which is indicative of a rounded shoulder. Gee, you can have a flat back and rounded shoulders! I also took my usual tuck at the upper center back for said flat back.
The sleeve needs some biceps room in this size, so I did that adjustment. I like the slash and spread the interior method since I never want to add to the sleeve cap ease. In fact I removed some of the ease because cotton won't ease as well as wool. I want a strong shoulder, so even though this calls for a shoulder pad, and Burda never tells you how big, I added a bit to the outside shoulder curving up to it in an attempt to get that interesting shoulder I've seen. I added back the sleeve height that got lowered in the alteration process.
The other thing I did was to increase the center front to the front edge of the jacket to accommodate a larger button. Burda never gives you a button size either and generally tends to draft for a 5/8" button. You can figure this out by measuring from the cf to the edge of the jacket. Ideally this distance should equal the diameter of the button you'll be using. I don't know what buttons I will be using, but I do know that I'll want a button larger than 5/8", so I increased it a bit.
Next step is to make a muslin.

ITS MY BLOGAVERSARY!

2010-03-06T08:38:00.000-05:00

The Hammamelis tree is blooming again and it figured in one of my earliest posts, which made me realize it has been a year since I started this blog. I've enjoyed blogging and hearing from people around the world. There are a lot of garment sewers out there! Why can't I find anyone locally is what I want to know! I originally thought that I'd do more posts on cooking and gardening, but that hasn't been the case.. Maybe this year. I know my son would appreciate it as he isn't all that interested in sewing, but he does read my blog as does my daughter, who comments regularly which is nice since she lives on the other side of the world.
To celebrate my year of blogging, I am having a give away. Three unused, one even unopened, Hot Patterns will be auctioned off. If I can figure out how to use a random number generator, well even find one, though I must say my internet skills have improved enormously in the last year, so I suspect I can, will be used. To be eligible you have to be a follower of my blog, and leave me a comment by the time I have the drawing on Tuesday morning, March 9 Eastern Standard time.

These two ar in the old, Glamour Girl sizing of 12-20 or bust 38 to 46 that were drafted to fit B/C/D bra cup.

This one is in the current sizing and has illustrated instructions. It is unused, but I have some instructions on how to make this a boat neckline from one of Trudy's videos on the back of the pattern sheet.
Tell me which pattern or patterns you want and I'll put your name in the hat, so to speak.

Sewing update.
Burda jeans need hemming and more rivets as 5 fell off and I used up my extras, so there are only 3 left on. I bought them in the city from Bottani, and stupidly didn't buy enough extras. I didn't even use really heavy weight denim either! The jeans look great from the front, but even after making a muslin, I have some issues with the back. I'll try one more pair from this pattern and if I can't fix the issues, I'll look for another pattern. They are comfortable, so they'll be great for work.
I am also working on altering a jacket pattern and I'll post more about that next time.
Have a good weekend.

DO YOU HAVE A STYLE?

2010-03-03T11:01:00.001-05:00

I've been looking at a lot of the spring 2010 collections over on Style.com the past few days and my favorite collection by far is Phoebe Philo's collection for Celine. She's also featured in Vogue this month, along with other designers they consider minimalist,. with the quote "Urban minimalism today is a simple composition of sharp angels and flat planes--with a few interesting new wrinkles (even ruffles) worked in." Intellectually I love minimalism, in architecture, home design and clothing. I look at design magazines and I always gravitate to the minimalist looks and my home is full of modern furniture, just not all of it. You have to be very disciplined and rigorous to live in an architectural gem (which I don't) and your 'things', you know the stuff of everyday living, have to be tightly edited or hidden away. I don't like clutter and my things are always carefully arranged and they are edited, but there is more 'stuff' than you'd see in a modern house. Now to the clothing part. I do not have a body that sharp angles and flat planes look good on. I am an overweight, curvy middle aged woman. Most definitely not the body that these are designed for. I love modernism and these say modern to me. No prints in sight either. As with living in a modern home, having a style, or even being stylish takes a lot of work. Careful editing of my fabric and pattern choices are necessary. But, while I am a modernist, I am also kind of eclectic and I like a little more variety in my wardrobe, though I am pretty limited in my color choices. I like a few prints to break up the expanse of a larger body. Those size 0 models don't obviously have this issue. I do love the fabric choices and these are accessible to me. The other issue is finding patterns that fit this aesthetic. Vogue's latest offerings are girly in the extreme and I most definitely don't do girly. The others of the big 4 lack lack a sleekness and the detail that I am looking for. They don't look modern to my eye at all. Burda mag has been lacking too in the last few months.
What do I like about the Celine collection that I can emulate? The wonderful wide legged pants in camel linen with black pocket welts and details. The black stripe down the side seam. Simple white blouses and interesting construction. What I really like about this collection is the timelessness of it all. Obviously I won't be buying it, but I like to take my time with my sewing and love good finishing, so timeless design that won't go out of style quickly is a very good thing.

I love the black leather lacing of the above dress. She used it on some tops too. I still like the inspirations I posted from Net a Porter, but see what I mean about my style being a bit eclectic? I am not anal enough, nor disciplined enough to stick to one really defined style. It takes a lot of work too.
Shopbob sent me an email with a shop the styles message. They were showing Bohemian, girly, casual chic, downtown and classic. No minimalism here. Do you fit into any of these or are you even interested in being 'stylish' in a certain narrow category?