Sew Distracted

Meet the Dress Forms

Presenting Penelope Anne (forward) and Matilda (background):

Penelope is modeling the new pants for her human, my DSD. They don’t fit her perfectly, as well as they do DSD in the photos I took, but they are pretty close. I spent several hours this morning reconfiguring Penelope's padding. In her original form her measurements were mostly right (she was a little small across the shoulders and lower hips) but she was too round and barrel shaped. She needed to be thinner in profile and wider side to side. She is still not quite right but she is the best I think I can manage without the actual person here for comparison. I did manage to square up her upper shoulders in the back and get a little bit of that back curve that is needed, but she does not come close to having the kind of sway-back her human does. 

Still, I hope this is a good place to begin.

I also padded out Matilda who had remained frozen in my shape from a couple of years ago. She is now cushier through the waist and tummy, much like her human. Now we actually wear the same size.

 

In which I dream of sewing Armani and Chanel

Yesterday was one of those days were everything went wrong and I got to be everyone’s errand girl. I had hoped for some sewing time, thought I could whip up a sweater set, which actually looks different every time I think about it, so who knows how it will turn out, but that is another story for another day, a day of actual sewing.

Yesterday was a day of virtual sewing.

The day might have gone better if I had not spent so long in the morning perusing the Paris Couture Collections at Style.com.    I really don’t regret that, the couture shows are my favorite. I could post tons of photos, but Liana  has already posted all the photos that I thought best and her comments and selections are much more astute and observant than mine. Truthfully, I love reading her take on the collections as much as I love seeing the pictures themselves. If you are interested go have a look. 

When I got home, about 7:30, after being in the gym at the height of the evening post-work rush, I was tired and crotchety from running around all day, and not in my most productive frame of mind. I collapsed in my favorite chair and allowed myself to think back over the collection pictures and start imagining what I would sew if I could sew everything I wanted from these collections. It might have been more productive to go right up to my sewing room and get to work, but in some ways the dream time was more refreshing. About the time I was winding down my mental sewing and preparing for the actual thing, DH had arrived, dinner had to be made, and my time was once again wrenched out of my control.  I increasingly admire those who work all day, come home to feed and tend their families and still manage to sew on a daily basis. 

First I was thinking about Armani. Now there were several nice things in that show, and I have several ideas, but primarily I was thinking of this suit:

Now of course Liana posted this on her blog and pointed out the directionality of the stripes.  I too had to lighten the photo considerably to get a sense of what was going on here, something I might have missed if she had not pointed it out.  Once I looked however, I was inspired.

Notice that the the stripes on the body do not go all in the same direction.  The lower portion of the jacket is cut on the cross-grain so that the stripes encirlcle the body and emphasize the waist.  This is contrasted with the fabric at the bodice or upper part of the jacket, which is cut on the bias.  Notice how the stripes seem to radiate out from the top closure at the base of the collar, and how the stripes curve around the bust, emphasizing the curve.  This contrast would provide a slimming feature even for those were no longer quite slender through the waistline. 

I don't know if these shoulder portions of the jacket extend right into the undercollar  with the bias of the fabric aiding the drape of the collar or if the collar revers is cut seperately.  Liana might have figured this out.  She is much more observant than I.

Also notice the bias sleeves, except for the cuff, where the stripes go around the wrist.

To aid my memory I sketched out my interpretation of this jacket:

 

I really like the shape of this jacket and the angles of the pinstripes. I think there is a lot to learn and be inspired by in this jacket particularly the use of grain and the bias, and the use of the directionality of the fabric to emphasize this.  Not only do you have the drape of the bias to emphasize womanly curves, an Armani strength, but you have the visual lines created by the fabric which can emphasize or de-emphasize our strengths and weakness, creating a shape where it might not be all that obvious, as well as emphasizing what is there.

After my peregrinations on Armani, I started thinking about the Chanel show. Liana showed this dress:

which I think is very nice with the shrug-like shaping and the slightly fuller skirt.

There was also this dress:

As you can see, the second dress is a variation on the first.  I like the more geometric treatment at the neckline, but both are very nice and quite adaptable. 

By manipulating the photos extensively in Photoshop I was able to make out some of the seaming, but my Photoshop skills are not so highly developed that, by the time I could see what was going, there was much of a presentable picture left to post.  Both dresses have horizontal seams just at, or just below, the bustline, and both have horizontal seams at the hip as well, much like the lighter dresses in the show.  On the second dress, the seam is definitely below the bust, but I am not convinced this is the case in the first dress. Both dresses also have princess seams which extend at least as far as the pockets below the hipline, and probably extend beyond that as well:

Here is my interpretation, kind of a melding of the two styles:

The potentials for this shape, with variations on sleeves, neckline (full or cropped shrug), and skirt width, are endless and I can envision it in various fabrics.  Even though the waist seems to be the emphasis this year, the basic design of the dress is quite classic and could flatter many.  Of course, for myself, I would leave the flaps off the pockets at that low hip level, as this would most definitely not be a flattering look for me.  But then, that is one of the joys of sewing one's own.

Even though my sewing explorations last night were virtual, I can see that the ideas generated will spill over into my actual sewing and who knows where these ideas might turn up?

 

Pants for DSD

Finally!

Here I am finishing up the hem on Miriam’s pants, closely supervised by Tabasco (those little lines do disappear with pressing).

In all truth I should have begun these before this; there was no reason for the delay other than my own mental peregrinations and over-contemplation of the task at hand. All that remained were simple repairs, putting in the waistband, and doing the hem. In fact, it probably took me longer to remove the elastic that I had “basted” at the waist than it took me to put in the  Comfy Waistband from Pamela Isaacs Erny. I should have used that technique from the beginning. I had properly marked the waist at the first fitting; fixing the completed waistband when I changed the darts would have been much simpler than ripping out the overly complicated stitching I had used to begin with. Live and learn.

The problem looked like this:

The pants came back from DSD with very few alterations. The right hip needed to be taken in where there was an extra bulge of fabric below the hip curve (she has a high hip and I misjudged the curve). The inexplicable part consisted of two blue chalk marks marking a “big fold” in the back, which I could not see for the life me, even modeled on the intended recipient. I could see the lines, I could see where they pointed (upper hip) and I could see that the pants were perhaps a little snug across the upper hip in the back, but I could not see any fold or wrinkle when she was standing in front of me. She and her DH insisted it was there, and I do believe them.

I wondered if perhaps when I took up the excess at the side seam I eliminated the problem but that seems unlikely. I then wondered if perhaps when they pinned out the excess, not being very proficient in the dressmaker’s art, they pinned a little tight and caused the wrinkle. I will never know. I didn’t see it but, just to be sure, I released a little fabric from the upper hip in the right back just to be on the safe side.

The test now will be to see if the pants fit now or have been made worse by my fiddling.

I love the comfy waistband and I am sure DSD will too. It is so simple I am amazed that I have been using more complicated and less attractive methods for years. This will also make it easy to alter if I did indeed mess up the back with my manipulations, or if alterations are needed in the future.

I did not like the look of machine hems on the texture of this cotton knits and it looked kind of fiddly on pants that were otherwise clean with on other exposed stitching so I decided to hand hem them. This has taken me two evenings and a little extra since I like to put in three rows of tiny stitches as espoused by Cynthia Guffey. I have about 4 inches to go and then I need to take the pants and mark the alterations I made to the original pattern so that I will hopefully know what I am doing to the next pair. I suppose that if I had planned on hand hemming the pants I might have taken time and changed the thread on the serger to be a darker shade of blue, although I kind of like the two rows of pale blue serging at waist and hem.

 

Out of Touch

I am still here and actually sewing, although at the moment the output has been more along the lines of muslins that are not working....I always reluctant to write about the things I am working on that never become anything (failure issues)  but then, if I don't overcome that fear then I will probably have nothing to write about.

Speaking of failure, my computer went down on the weekend during an ice/wind/thunderstorm.  The power went out but it is on a surge protector/UPS and nothing else died...who knows what happened.  At any rate I have been on the phone with Dell, the technician has been here, the problem was greater than originally suspected, and I am once again waiting for the technician to return with the new parts.

Meanwhile I have finally reorganized my sewing room so it is actually functional and I can easily work at my paying job or sew or do both in there.  I am still hoping for a more major reorganization with a cutting table in the near future, but I needed a functioning room first.  Since this is a borrowed computer, there are no photo opportunities but they will come eventually. I had better get back to sewing before the computer gets fixed and I have to catch up on all that work I am missing.  Although now that I think about it, I am a little reluctant because the wind is high today and the power is a little wonky, the lights have been fading in and out all morning.  I wonder what that will do to my computerized sewing machine?  Probably best not to push my luck.

Confessions of a sloppy seamstress

I have a confession to make: the stitches on the patch of my DH’s red check shirt are not perfect. In fact they are not even all that attractive.

Oh, the shirt is fine. The patch and the stitching is invisible from the outside, but the inside is a mess. I expect the patch to visible, but I had hoped the stitching would be lovingly perfect. Alas this is not so. Oh there are no knots or dangling thread tangles, just uneven imperfect stitches. I should redo it, but I will not. I seriously doubt that anyone will pull my DH’s shirt off him and say “oh you poor man, your wife can’t even mend your shirts nicely”. I don’t really think anyone will see the inside of DH’s shirt except himself and his laundress (me) and the sloppy work will remind me about how upset I was that night.

I was upset because it was late, after 11 and DH was not yet home from the office. In fact I had spoken to him and he said he had much work still to do. Now, I don’t mind hard work and late hours, ghee, if I did I would never have married a surgeon. When DH was in active practice, I had little patience with other doctor’s wives who complained that their husbands were gone all the time and they had to do everything themselves. I always figured I knew what I was getting into. Besides I have always been a pretty independent sort, and I know perfectly well that when I’ve worked a 14 hour or longer day, I don’t feel inspired to help out around the house either.

But now that he is “retired” and working at his retirement career, I hate for him to work that hard…it’s one thing when you are young and ambitious and driven, and another completely when you are in your 70’s no matter how fit and strong you are. I still don’t mind him working if he loves it. But so far this year he hasn’t left the office before 9 PM any night, and when he comes home he dreads having to go back. I am increasingly thinking it is time for retirement.  I want DH to enjoy his life.

I wasn’t upset at DH, I was more worried and concerned about him. I was annoyed at all the other peopled involved, the staff who book him so heavily, the clients who keep plaguing him with increasingly niggling and pedantic demands that are, for the most part, repetitive nonsense.

He finally called at 12:15 AM.   I made dinner while the poor thing drove home. He was not happy to go back to work on Friday, even thought it was only for a couple of hours.  After the late night, between work, and gym, and grocery shopping, there was no sewing yesterday. Can we make it better? Is it worth it? Only time will tell.

It’s not that there has been no sewing around here, it is just that the sewing isn’t really blog-worthy, or interesting to anyone who can sew on a button. In fact, that is precisely what I have been doing, at least in part…sewing on buttons.

Somehow we had a little button popping festival around here lately and mending was in order. Not my favorite task mind you, I would much rather be creating something new, but, well old garments are old friends as well and I can’t resign them to the trash or the consignment bin (which wouldn’t take them sans buttons anyway) without offering up a little repair and restoration.

Of course sewing on a button isn’t always a question of merely sewing on a button. For example the collar button came off of my DH’s favorite red and white checked shirt. It is not a new shirt, but then favorite shirts rarely are, by the time they are elevated to favorite status, all the previous favorites have pretty much fallen by the wayside. As a result the shirt is a little worn around the edges, like my DH, and like me in fact. I like to think we all get better with age, but truthfully, like shirts, we also get a little worn.

Back to the shirt, the button fell off not because it wasn’t sewn on beautifully. All the threads were attached. The button fell off because it has pulled through the fabric which has gotten a little worn and frayed in that area from years of pressure from buttoning those button-down collars. It would be nice if shirts came with little bits of extra fabric along with the extra buttons to facilitate an invisible patch, but I harbor no hopes that this might happen. In fact I believe it is increasingly unlikely.

And so I search high and low for a likely candidate. This shirting is very thin, everything I find is too heavy, or, if it is thin, it is too flimsy; the next button will also just pull right through, even with a layer of fusible interfacing between the shirt and the new inside patch. Finally I find it, a selvedge piece off an old white sheet that I have been using for muslins of late, light but strong.. A little interfacing is fused behind the hole in the fabric, the patch is applied on the inside of the shirt and lovingly sewn down with tiny little stitches, and, finally, the button is attached.

I don’t suppose you want to hear about hemming jeans do you?

 

Slinking down to Knoxville

When Miriam bought a pair of black slinky pants on sale at Chico’s I initially thought “no problem”.  After all, the kind of double needle hem that came on the pants is an easy thing to sew, how hard could it be to shorten the pants?  Hard no.  Time consuming yes.

Initially I thought the pants looked so good on Miriam that I would willingly run out and buy her more whenever they came on sale and shorten them for her, now that I know the inseam length.  That was before I realized that I had to take the existing hem out before shortening the pants.  Obvious I know.  But I’ve been known to walk right on past the obvious without even noticing.

The first time I tried to pick out the tiny black stitches from the ribbed black slinky fabric I thought my head was going to explode and my eyes were going to burst out of my head like cannonballs.  Of course I had a headache and sinus infection at the time.  Delay seemed the sanest option.

Even with a clear head, seeing the stitches was difficult.

They look pretty good here don’t they? By carefully positioning the brightest (and hottest) halogen lamp in the house just so, the stitches seemed quite evident. Piece of cake I thought…

until I turned that edge up and tried to actually see the individual stitches hidden in that cushy slinky fabric. Believe me, I saw no more than you do in the above photo. There is a vague shadow of a stitch across the blade.

 Talk about tedious and time consuming work…2 hours later the old hems were out.

 That accomplished, it only took about 10 minutes to sew the new hems. I shall subject you to the boring hem shot:

I realize now of course that making slinky pants would take no more time, and probably less, than ripping out that hem.  The construction of these is quite simple. I traced the pants to make a basic pattern before I shipped them down to Tennessee.

 

A Gift of the Magi

I have loved the idea of Twelfth Night since I was a small child living in Spain.  We have not always celebrated but my father did indulge me a little in this.  When I became an adult I decided to indulge myself. We have, when the calendar allows, had a party and Reyes Cake, but generally we have a quieter celebration and put out our shoes for the Wise Men along with offerings of sustenance for man and camel.  Later today the Christmas decorations will finally be taken down and the holiday will be officially over.

Of course part of the childhood thrill was the gifts that came from the wise men, but in truth I liked the idea of Christmas and gifts being slightly separated.  You would not know that now from the piles of wonderment that existed under our tree on Christmas morning.  In the days of my youth I would get big, ripe, Rio Grande Valley oranges, a real prize before fresh food was flown daily around the world and the miracle of UPS and FedEx could bring ripe citrus to any door.  Today I awoke to find that this had been left behind:

It is nice to know that my numerous hints did not go unheeded.

I have been curled up with my nose buried deep in its pages this morning.  It is bright and entertaining, a far cry from the dull gray skies that await outside.  I think that is the worst thing about winter here.  I don’t mind the snow.  I don’t mind the cold.  But I hate the dull somber grayness of it all.  Only three days of gray in a row now and I am ready to crawl back under the warm down comforter and hibernate.

Many of the photos are quite outré, but are also filled with inspiration.  This is definitely a biased sample of modern talent.  Still there are designers and ideas which I might never have encountered.  I will leave you with a brief collage:

Fabric Arrives!

Dave, the UPS guy, came today with my package from EmmaOneSock.  As usual the fabrics are as lovely as promised.  I was thrilled when Linda called me to say that only fabric was short on yardage, most of the things I chose had been there quite some time and since I ordered a fair amount of some of the fabrics, I was surprised to get everything.   

These fabrics were chosen for my DSD, I am sure inspired primarily by Penelope the dressform, whom we worked on during the Christmas break.  I am fairly sure she will love the gray salt and pepper rayon jersey.  The two teal fabrics, a linen/rayon blend woven on the bottom and a rayon jersey on top, will look beautiful on her, but I am not as confident about her taste concerning this color.  Luckily it looks good on me too (backup plan).

Of course I had to order something for myself as well and these two are mine.  The teal/purple cross dye wool/silk stretch is the limited yardage piece, but it will still make a lovely blouse or top.  The red/taupe reversible wool jersey double face is absolutely stunning.  G came by during the photo shoot and was almost drooling over this one.  He did inform that although he loves his daughter, he was happy that this one was for me.  Made me smile.

Bad habits renewed

It was a dark and stormy night....
And I went shopping at EmmaOneSock.

to be continued....