Sew Distracted

No rest for the weary

There is nothing quite like emptying everything out of the sewing/fiber room/office to remind a person of all her weaknesses, excesses, sins and foibles.

Akris Spring 2006, part 1

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to examine a few Akris jackets in detail and take photos as well.

First is a really lovely jacket from the Akris Premiere collection at Bergdorf Goodman. This jacket retails for $2990.00. The fabric is an interesting brown and taupe, two-tone woven fabric of linen, viscose, and polyurethane. The fabric is pretty firm and stable with a heavy drape, not stiff, but substantial-feeling. The front of the jacket and the sleeves are lined with bemberg rayon, and there is a half-lining in the back. I am not sure what kind of interfacing is used in the front of the jacket, there is none in back. The collars are probably fused. The fabric has little holes that allow light through where the gray/taupe thread is woven through the fabric and I see the lining clearly through the fabric and nothing else. I am confident that the fronts are not fused. There may be a small piece of hair canvas between the jacket and the shoulder pads.

 

The jacket is basically a princess cut. The front princess seam extends down from the armscye and has a dart at the bust. I have not actually found a lot of patterns for this style, Simplicity, Marfy, and Butterick each have one pattern in this style, but the darts are angled up from below the bustline.

 

This Burda pattern, 8279, seems to be the closest I have found in the current catalogs.. The basic shape is similar. The dart looks pretty similar in the sketch (see jacket details below). One would have to modify the jacket to close at the center front line as there is no overlap and that might solve the problem of the collar opening being a little too low on this jacket. 

Notice the edges on the front, collar, and pockets. This is the same fabric, cut in bias strips, and wrapped over the edges. The bias strips are attached to the jacket fabric with a kind of flat-lock or cover stitch, I’m not really sure which because it is the same on both sides; possibly it was sewn twice, once from each side, although there may well be some stitch out there that gives this effect. I do not think it was serged separately and then sewn down, it looks like one stitch, finishing the edges of the binding and attaching it to the fabric at once.

Notice the finish on the in-seam pocket as well:

The jacket is closed with two large hooks and eyes, sewn on the inside of the jacket. They are not inserted in a seam as there is no seam here. Both hooks are just below the bust dart, about 2 inches apart

Notice that the dart is horizontal, not angled up, and how carefully it is placed along the horizontal line of the fabric and how well the fabric is matched at the seams below the bust dart. It is these little details that make the jacket special.

The edges are all finished with a simple Hong Kong Finish where the jacket is not lined.

The hem is interfaced.  My only problem with this jacket is the way it is hemmed.  See how big the stitches are?  I have an uncanny ability to rip hems out of garments while I am wearing them and this hem would not survive. 

Button, Button, who has the button?

Mardel has the buttons, waay to many buttons.

Part of preparing to reorganize the sewing room involved moving the button collection from their old home, long since outgrown:

(all gone)

Moving them to their new home and reuniting them with their long lost friends, who had been hiding out in shoe boxes and bags, was a long and tedious process. 

I am very happy with the new space however, and I have rediscovered buttons I had completely forgotten.

Counting the Cost

Carolyn, of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic, and from whom I blatently stole the idea for this post and it's title,  posted a question concerning whether we count the cost of our garments or not. I was about to comment when I noticed that I was beginning to ramble and rant, just a little, going off on my own tangents, and thought it best to consider the matter further and post here, in my own space, without cluttering up hers.

At times during my sewing career I have kept meticulous track of the cost of individual projects and my sewing expenses, but this has settled into kind of a loose awareness now. I keep track of what I am spending on a garment compared to what it would cost me to buy it; most of the time that is, because there is always the occasional case where I just get an idea in my head and run with it, willy-nilly without regard to any practicalities. 

I certainly maintain that you can certainly get nicer clothes for less money if you sew, and can have more clothes as well, despite occasional arguments from others that one spends a fortune on something that could be bought at Wal-Mart. I think these comments are more obviously a comment by someone who is not discerning of the differences in the quality of fabrics or construction and probably does not care. In that sense, the fact that I love to sew and make clothes makes me something of an anachronism in an age when, for many, clothing is just something one buys and discards at the end of a season or when it wears out, often not much more than a season.

Certainly I think we need to consider all the bits and pieces that go into garment construction, including thread, buttons, interfacing, etc., as a part of the garment. Still, to use Carolyn’s example, if you are lucky enough to find fabric and a pattern for $15.95 to knock off a $155.95 jacket, you are ahead. Even adding the cost of all the other things needed, you are not going to spend the remaining $140 on that jacket. I of course don’t count time here, and I am not convinced that most modern sewists should, because most of us sew for the pure love of it, not to earn a living or as the only way we can clothe our families.

Still, the comment about comparing apples to oranges holds. Even though it is not difficult to make a similar appearing garment to the $155.95 jacket, or the $400.00 jacket, or even probably the $2795.00 jacket I was looking at by the Swiss company Akris the other day; it is more than likely that our garments bear little true comparison to the ones we are copying.

In the case of the $155.95 jacket, it is likely that the materials used by the company that manufactured that jacket cost about the same as what Carolyn spent on her fabric and pattern, and that included a pattern, amortized over hundreds or thousands of garments, and all the other sewing notions and necessities Carolyn will need. If you use the rule I learned growing up, that the wholesale cost of the garment was half the retail, and the manufacturer’s cost was half that, you end up with a manufacturing cost of roughly $38.99. A good portion of that has to be construction cost. I think modern companies, certainly upscale clothiers, and even a broader spectrum of stores use a different formula with higher markups, partly because the market will bear it and partly because as a greater percentage of clothing sells at mark-down, the clothing must be originally marked up enough that even the sale price yields a profit.

When you think about it, even with the price break the company might gain by ordering thousands of yards of a fabric, the quality of materials in that $155.95 jacket are probably not all that fine in terms of quality. I’ve read enough of Carolyn’s posts to know how savvy a shopper she is, and to believe that she has a very good eye for quality and price. I also think I know enough to know that she is much more interested in sewing a quality garment and would lay odds that her jacket will be far better made than the original she is “copying”. So there we get it again: comparing apples to oranges. Are we saving money by knocking off RTW? Yes, whether we keep track of costs or not. Unless you are spending $30.00 knocking off a $45.00 top you are ahead, and even then you may be if the color suits you better, the style fits you better, and even more importantly the fabric is of a better quality and the top is better made.

I think sewists often underestimate the value of their skills in a market that understands quality construction and discriminates. Granted that is a small market, but a lot of people appreciate the difference quality brings when they see it, even if they don’t understand it and would not pay the price to purchase it. Those oohs and ahhs give us tremendous thrills.

And what about that Akris jacket? I will tell you more another day but I can tell you this. It was silk something like a very high quality Matka or raw silk, unlined except in front, with serged edges, very little interfacing (1/4 yard), with poorly executed machine hems (I could stick my thumbs between the stitches. I will make a much better jacket, to my mind at least, which I will enjoy much more. When I wear it I will certainly feel smug knowing that I made a superior garment for far less money. But I won’t worry about the details of what I spend because for me it is the wearing that is a joy and the making, well that is a little bit of heaven that I get to touch every day.

I stopped worrying too much about price when I finally figured out that I love my fabrics, and my yarns and my buttons in their own right. I would love the fabric if I just looked at it and wrapped myself up in occasionally without sewing another stitch. Yes, I love clothes. Yes I love to copy actual looks. But most of my sewing is fabric driven. I save pictures, but it is the fabric that drives me to make something. A piece jumps out at me and tells me it must become something. I comply. I love antique and unusual buttons and although I have a large collection of them I still often end up searching for quieter buttons for actual garments. Buttons that make too much of a statement are not always what I want on a garment. Sometimes I get the perfect match, sometimes the button and the fabric look perfect but they argue too much. Still I love my buttons passionately. Each one is like a treasured piece of jewelry, each with its own history.

Do I spend more because I sew than I would on clothes if I didn’t sew? I honestly can’t say because I love clothes and can be pretty picky about quality. I don’t spend more than I can afford. If I didn’t sew or knit I can’t promise that any other hobby I took up would be that much cheaper. I could spend a fortune on tennis club memberships and court-time and private lessons, attending clinics and going to lessons. There are many other things I could do, probably not much cheaper. Perhaps we shouldn’t worry too much about whether the product produced is worth what we spend but rather, whether the enjoyment we get from creation and the joy of wearing our own handiwork is justified by the time, effort, and money we put in to it.

I'm not sewing

I have returned from vacation but have been too busy and frazzled to even think about sewing. I am not, however, too distracted to dream about sewing but more about that later.

Meanwhile these yellow roses bring a smile to my face and a little breath of peace to my soul every time I pass by.

I am very thrilled that my sweetie thinks far enough in advance to procure my favorite roses for valentine's day, the day when red roses are queen.

Vacation

We are off to Tucson tomorrow and will be back early next week.

There will be no posts, as I am undergoing a forced exile from electronic equipment for the duration.

I will be checking out Buttons and Bolts, as I haven't yet been there.  I am always being told it is too far away; it is on the opposite side of town from step-son Adam and his wife Lisa.  We drove by it once, I almost had my head out the window, tongue dragging, like a dog, smelling the fabric on the breeze.  This time I will be staying right near by and as my days will be my own, there is nothing to stop me.

That won't stop me from driving across town to Leandro, one of the great temples of fabric temptation.  I would be lying if I said I won't buy anything, but I will think very carefully and limit my choices. 

What is this pile of paper? oooh, patterns!

I finally found the pattern for Miriam’s pants, after some searching because I had not put it in the pattern folder for the pattern I had used. It was in a reasonable place but I did not label it so there was still a bit of shuffling and comparing to other patterns before I was certain I had the right thing. Once I marked the darts I labeled the pattern and marked it clearly so I can use it in the future. 

 

Having found that pattern in a box filled with odd tracings of various garments that I hope to recreate someday, and other similar half-drawings of patterns I gathered them all up today, spread out each tracing or pattern, and clearly marked the alterations or traced them squarely and neatly so that they can be used as future patterns and templates.

There was a favorite top of Miriam’s I had traced off years ago, but never really neatened up the lines or labeled the pieces. It took a little effort to figure out what was what. Now I have neat lines, clear marks, and pieces that are labeled and go together. I am still undecided as to whether I like the thin fiberglass material “soil separator paper” better than paper. It doesn’t tear or wrinkle; it sticks to fabric better, but it is harder to see the writing and notes on it. I suppose if I buy a different kind of marking pen that might work better. If anyone reading this has an opinion or preference on this let me know.

 

There were also a couple of patterns I had traced and/or altered and I had made rough notes as to the corrections, cryptic things like “move dart 1” left”, and “raise shoulder ½” on right, 1” on left”, but had never gotten around to actually fixing the pattern and re-tracing it with the corrections. I am sure I just got busy, or I had to move my stuff off the kitchen island to make dinner and I didn’t get back to it. 

 

The kitchen island is the most heavily used piece of furniture in our house. I cook a lot. It is right at the top of the stairs from the garage so everything coming into the house gets deposited there before it is transferred elsewhere. G likes to stand in the kitchen and read the papers on the island. The cardboard is tied up for recycling there, as it is a big surface. G also likes to bring the press down from my sewing room and iron his shirts on the island, hopefully while I am puttering about making dinner. 

 

One of the reason’s I want a cutting table in my sewing room is that I don’t have to schedule “island time” for myself. Whether or not this will actually make me more efficient and encourage me to finish the projects I have started, whether or not I will actually label things and put them away, or if instead I will continue to pile things up and move on to new projects before I have finished the old all has yet to be seen. I do know I will continue to sew either way. I cut on the floor and sewed on the card table or the coffee table or the dining table, wherever I could find, for years. I use the island. I use my sewing room. I am very fortunate to have a room to sew. I don’t feel guilty, even when I am not using it. We have the house, the kids are grown. The rooms don’t just disappear when the children move out; the parents just kind of expand their activities to fill all the available nooks and crannies.

Plans

I finished the floor plan for the soon-to-be-transformed sewing room. The room is small, 10 1/2 by 13 1/2 feet.

There will be no sketches of the views of shelves and walls from different angles.  That would take much to much time, other views will live in my mind until they materialize, in whatever permutation they finally take.

I also looking at new colors.  The old sewing room is white, with one deep blueberry wall.  I am tired of that.  The blue wall will become white, with a white modular cubby unit.  White to better show off the contents of the cubbies.  Everything else is subject to change..at the moment I am thinking green...

maybe verging into blue.

I like color.  I don't want the room to be overwhelming but I want it to make me smile whenever I walk in, as well as after I have been there for hours.