Quick Q&A: Laurel dress

Question: are the Laurel dress and blouse pattern the same?

Answer: the two are identical in the top, but the dress gets wider starting with the waist.

I tried to look up this information online but could not find it. I ended up printing all of the back section to verify and the bottom three rows of the front section.

I then made the dress and promptly proceeded to removing the extra ease. I took it in 1cm on each side, starting at the waist.

Anniversary Giveaway

I was going to do a giveaway last May to mark my sew-niversary but they I forgot. But no such forgetfulness this year!

I have been wearing the cape in these past weeks and I decided I like the single leafy "Legolas" clasps. Since I have 3 clasps left, I'm giving them away.

This is how they look on my Legolas cape:

And here's a better picture courtesy of  MacCulloch & Wallis. I have the silver ones.

I'm also throwing in some shirt buttons, with polkadots. These are the same as the ones I used on my yellow shirt which I never ended up blogging about:

I have them in yellow, red and blue (with white polkadots!), and the winner will get to choose which color to receive. I also have some more black ones but not as many (since I used them on the shirt!)

This will run until next Wednesday, May 22nd at 12:00 London time, which coincidentally is the same day I started sewing two years ago. I know - I have the Sainsbury's delivery note in my email still!

To enter, leave a comment telling me how you started sewing or if, if you don't sew, what would you use the clasps for! Winners will be drawn at random, will ship anywhere in the world.

New Vogues - and other things

I usually browse through new vogues and nothing really catches my fancy, but this time I like two things!

Vogue 1349 - sewdirect.com

Vogue 1357 - sewdirect.com

They're quite lovely and I'm in half a mind to order them. But perhaps when I come back from holiday!

Me Made May

I haven't bothered taking pictures or sharing with anyone, but I have been keeping up with this - on average. First week, I wore me-mades 6 out of 7 days. Second week, 1 out of 7. This week has started well with me wearing both the cape and a new top!

New Makes

I now have 3 new makes that I haven't blogged about. Booh. Need to get into gear and get pictures taken!

The Legolas Cape

It's finally done.

I pretty much balked out of the second row of closures. I still have 3 clasps I can add on but the one I did put on was so frustrating I decided to cool off first. The cape is closed with snaps on the inside. I need to redo one of them I think, the second set pulls a bit:

The top clasp - which gives this cape it's name of The Legolas Cape - I got from MacCulloch and Wallis.

All in all, I really like it. It took forever to finish, but it's remarkably easy to wear. It also has a "novelty" feel to it.

I think this will get a lot of wear, especially if the weather in London remains the way it was this weekend.

The amount of time and effort I put into it has certainly paid off!

Sneak peak

It occurs to me I have made a Legolas cape. Full blog post to follow tonight

This cape is going to be finished... soon

I got about 20 minutes of sewing done yesterday while Mr T was preparing dinner. These are phone photos, but I just wanted to show them before I forget.

The new lining is in, and there are no weird drag lines in the back (it does need some pressing though):

All I need to do now is to hand sew the collar facing back on, and to hem. I decided to add what I'm calling a "collar facing" to enforce the collar part:

I still need to hand stitch the center back on, and to add a hanger hook.

This is what the front looks like. I'm really quite excited about finishing this. It only took 3 months (it's also too warm for a cape now, sigh)!

Next time I'll do a post on closures. I chose an interesting method for them.

How to correctly baste fashion fabric to underlining

So I've been at this cape since February. Last week I managed to sew the lining in wrong and I had to unpick everything (luckily I had hand stitched the lining so it was easy to unpick).

I'm hoping to get back to it today and finish it, but in the meantime here's a video I made when I was basting the fashion-fabric and the silk organza layers together.

The correct way to (hand) baste is as follows:

1. silk organza is traced & cut first, from pattern pieces
2. silk organza is placed on the fashion fabric and pinned in the seam allowances
3. cut the fashion fabric
4. baste the two layers together on the straight: this means the two layers have to sit on a table/ironing board etc and you sew without distorting the fabric more than shown in the video:

Made 2013: plain gray skirt

I made this in January (pictures taken at the Mountain View Google campus in late Jan), but never got around to posting because my card reader stopped working.

This is my TnT skirt pattern, in an Italian wool with a sort-of-a-herringbone through it.

It's lined in some navy lining picked up at John Lewis. Some form of polyester no doubt. I like the gray + purple option, but maybe this outfit is too matchy-matchy.

I have worn this quite a lot lately, but it is a bit wider than the previous version. I guess that's because I did modify the pattern before I cut it (see what I did here).

Here's a final picture of me next to a cute Android statue:

Tutorial: how to mark stitching lines on patterns

This is an easy one, and it is the first thing to do before fitting a pattern. I use this method for all patterns (see my previous mini-rant on stitching lines not existing in any modern patterns)

Tools needed:

• pattern
• ruler
• french curve (optional)
• pen of a easily-identifiable color

Seam allowances:

Most modern patterns have a 5/8" (1.5cm) seam allowance. However, make sure you check the correct seam allowance every time. 

Steps: The idea is very simple: mark the seam allowance length from the cutting line. The marked line will give you the stitching line.

Step 1: Find the 1.5cm (5/8"in) measurement on your ruler. Mine is shown on this picture:

    Short tip: the width of a tape measure is usually 5/8". Now, I own two tape measures: a plain one and a fancy one. The fancy one is slightly bigger than it should be, but the plain one is the expected 5/8".

Step 2: Identify the cutting line for your size. I'm cutting a size 2, so I have the dotted line in the picture above.

Step 3: Start marking the stitching line with short lines. If you can do dots, that's even better, especially for curves. 

Make sure that each mark you draw is parallel to the original cutting line.

For straight pattern lines, you can just draw the line directly:

Once you're done, the pattern will look something similar to this:

Step 4: Take your french curve and find a curve on it that matches the dotted lines. 

Alternatively, you can just freehand the line. Or skip this step altogether.

You're done!

Extra: you can also mark the notches. I mark the relevant notch, then draw a line perpendicular to the cutting line, from the cutting line, through the vertex of the notch through to the stitching line.

Stunning!

Non-sewing related, but I found this on the internet today. It's stunning!

Me made May

Most simply:

 I, Laura of auxetically, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear a self-made garment at least  3 times a week for the duration of May 2013.

What's on my sewing table

I am attaching the lining for my cape - lots and lots of fell-stitching! I have gotten quite good at making the stitches even!

I was almost going to finish today but bailed out at the last line of stitching. I did fell stitches for 4 hours straight - it was time to stop. I think I'll only be able to pick this up on Wednesday though. Tomorrow is DnD day.

I also have my next two projects decided already:
   * Laurel blouse (initial pattern modifications done)
   * burgundy skirt made from my TNT pattern (already cut, but thinking of adding welt pockets so I need to figure out how that's done)

What's on your sewing table?

P.S. The Blogger Android App is so frustrating sometimes. I wrote this 6 hours ago and it failed to publish! Syncing draft posts is also a bit of a mystery to me.

Seam treatment musings

One couture finish (especially for garments which are lined) is to catch stitch the seam allowances to the underlining.  If the garment is unlined, I would use a slip stitch. I am not sure how couture this is - I just wouldn't want the considerable amount of thread used in catch stitching on display (even if on the inside!), so I think a slip stitch would be a good alternative.

But - what happens when the garment is not underlined? Catch stitching to the fashion fabric would work depending on the fabric - for example some fabrics would be too soft for that sort of treatment. For unlined garments, catch stitching is not an option at all, and slip stitching would not yield the desired result.

I have been thinking about this in the past few days for my Laurel blouse. I have a very soft fabric that I'm not sure I want to underline. I think I can solve this problem by using strips of woven interfacing, attached to the seam allowances. I guess both sew-in and fusible would work, but I would try the sew in sort because that could be attached when the seam is sewn in (and would otherwise flow free, which would reduce bulk).

My plan is to go to MacCulloch & Wallis and see if I can buy anything of the sort. Any thoughts on whether this would work?

Colette Laurel Pattern: first impressions

I got the Laurel almost as soon as it appeared. Not necessarily for the dress part, but for the blouse.

colettepatterns.com

Some more blouses are useful and I figured this would be a good pattern for most days.

With my "couture" dress almost done, I printed the pattern this Monday and am planning to do a full series on what works for me and what doesn't. It probably will take a while, but after all this is the whole point of a series. I'm going to be making version 4, the blouse.

First impressions

As with most modern patterns, this pattern does not mark stitching lines. I do wish pattern companies  added these lines on the pattern as well! It's one of the things I loved about couture sewing and I think I will incorporate in all my future project (the jury is still out on underlining), because I like to be flexible with how big the seam allowance is.

The second thing I noticed as I was taping the pattern together was that there are no waist markers. I found this a bit disappointing, although having some experience with patterns I know how to determine the waist line.

Interestingly, the blouse version does not require a zipper. Given the dress versions have (at least on paper) the same measurements, I do wonder if the dresses require a zipper either. If the blouse will look good enough on me I might consider doing the sleeveless version of the dress for summer.

Fitting the muslin


The reason I wanted to have the waistline marked is because I have taken Karen's challenge seriously and I have fitted a pattern for myself. But with such a high neckline on the Laurel and with my very changed shoulder line, I was going to start aligning the pattern from the waistline up. However, I decided to just try to fit the muslin from zero.

When I went to SewOverIt for my two (yes, 2!) fittings, we ended up changing quite a bit in the front, and not a lot in the back, so with a shift blouse I'm fairly confident I can get a good front fit on my own.

I expect the following changes on the back:

• let out the back darts
• adjust for a sway back
• move the shoulder seams towards the back 

I don't really know what to expect for the front, I'm hoping that the C-cup design that Colette does will help with some of it. I'll probably need to put some more fabric above the bust though.

Still. First thing first: determining the STITCHING LINES. That will be a fun hour.

Google Reader... gaaah

We're all unhappy about Google Reader's demise.

In the meanwhile, I'm giving bloglovin a try. Find me here:

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The couture cape: muslin adjustments

While I'm getting on terms with fitted dresses, I have made a decision regarding my first couture garment: it is going to be a cape!

More precisely, this cape:

Image from burdastyle.com

I have already made a muslin, which I have fitted (on my own, with the camera!). Let me tell you how much longer this pattern is than that image - maybe 30cms or so? I cut the front pieces at pattern length, which was below my knees! I then cut along a "second" cutting line on the pattern (or at least that's what I think it was) - it's still too long, but I will shorten it further when hemming the finished product.

This is a picture of the wool I'm using - taken by phone, so not great. The fabric is lovely Italian wool I picked up in Romania over the Christmas break. I can't decide if it's green or brown. What do you think?

Regarding other materials, I'm using silk organza for underlining. Currently the plan is to line with Habotai silk, although I might change my mind. It might be that I decide to use something funkier.

I only fitted half of the pattern, and I expect I might need to take the side in a bit more - I'm going to hand baste the pieces and check.

Here are some phone pictures of the muslin. You will notice the first non-couture step I took, in that I did not use calico for the muslin. Alas, I had run out and this is actually a bit better as it is similar to my final fabric in terms of drape.

I took in quite a lot of most sections. The back section, which was cut on fold for the muslin, got the center back pinched out - about 2 cm at the bottom, tapering to nothing at the top. I managed to forget that the muslin was cut on fold (since I didn't mark it) and the final garment will have a center-back seam. It's not a bad thing I guess. I kept the grain straight when I cut my organza pieces.

The front actually looks decent enough, although a tailor's dummy is not the best place to showcase this, as the cape has room for arms and that makes it look weird on the dummy.

The sides had the most taken in. I took in both sides of the side back piece. I also took in the side front piece on the seam that it shares with the side back. I also moved the shoulder seam forward - I used quilting tape to mark where the new shoulder seam should be - that's what you can see in the picture below. I did use a French curve to transfer this, so it doesn't look quite as patchy!

The second non-couture thing I did was to transfer the marks back to the pattern. In "The Couture Dress" on Craftsy, Susan Khalje uses the muslin as a pattern piece, but obviously this wouldn't work here. Baby couture steps... I fully intend to keep a calico muslin for my dress, as that will be reused. Still, for the cape (which I will only make once), I didn't think that was necessary.

To cut the muslin pieces, I traced with a tracing wheel on the stitching line. I then cut generous seam allowances. I am doing the same with the underlining. Seam allowances are at least 1 inch wide, and more in places. They will be trimmed down once everything is stitched together

Next step: cutting the underlining and the fashion fabric.

A foray into fitting: part 1

I have taken the plunge and got myself 2 hours of 1-2-1 tutoring at sewoverit for my birthday. Given I want to make something other than skirts, and I have no sewing buddy, I felt it was time to set a pattern into professional hands and fit it for me.

I took the pattern in Lynda Maynard's Craftsy course as a model because the bodice resembles a normal fitting block quite well. I'll try to get a normal fitting block done as well, but measuring one's back is hard :|

Today I spent one and a half of my two hours in the shop. We had to do so many alterations, we didn't even finish fitting the bodice!

I came in with a muslin cut using pattern size 12, based on my bust measurement (34"), as per the recommendation in the Craftsy course. Lynda Maynard recommends to always cut the size based on your bust and adjust the rest.

Here's what we did.

Adjustments we went through, in rough order:
Front Darts:
    Waist darts:
        * added 1.1cm to center front (throughout) to move darts further apart and get the positioned correctly
        * lowered darts by 2.5cm (1")
        * removed 1.2cm from each dart width
    Side darts:
         * lowered by about 1cm to point towards apex
Front waist:
         * dropped front bodice by 2.5 cm (1"), above the side dart, tapering at seams; this is the exact adjustment Lynda makes on both Betsy and Dolly in the "Upper body" lesson; the extra 2.5cm went into the side dart - I still need to move the point on that dart
Shoulder seams:
          * moved forward 2.5cm.
Back darts:
           * unpicked, removed 1cm width (so center back remains on grain); the teacher said she would have just taken the darts out and taken the seam in at the center back, but I preferred to keep the CB on grain since this will give me the option of moving the zipper to the side later.
           * moved 1cm towards CB
Swayback:
            * removed 2.5cm from center back, tapering to nothing at side seams

These feel like many alterations. I photocopied my pattern before I started transferring, and I will make a new muslin soon. Hopefully the only thing not fitting in that muslin will be the upper back. I'm going back for my final 30 minutes and a new fitting next week.

The only difference to Craftsy that I could see was that the shoulder seams were the last thing to be moved (they were the first thing moved in the Craftsy class). I'm not sure what to think about that, and the alteration was performed differently: we moved the whole seam (front and back), whereas on Craftsy the front staid the same and the back was the only one to move forward. I'm curious to see what the new muslin will look like!

I'll try to get some pictures up as well soon!

Giveaway winners!

I can't believe it's already Saturday. Tuesday evening. Next Tuesday evening. Work has been pretty consuming over the past 10 days.

The winners are:

... drumroll....

Turkish cotton, Ginny.

The cool colours will be going to Emily C.

Now, ladies, I will do my best to contact you this week. Congratulations!

How to easily keep patterns uncut

I recently started watching Lynda Maynard's Craftsy Fitting class. It's a good class, and I will post a review when I get through my bodice adjustments. There was one very intriguing thing about this class: the pattern base she was using for alterations.

After thinking about it for a while, I realized that pattern pieces can simply be photocopied together, which will save you the trouble of tracing eveeerything.

I initially thought that an A3 size paper would be enough (at least for me), but this isn't the case. For my bodice needs, I think I could get by with an A2 photocopy - this is why this idea stood on the shelf for about a month. There are no A2 or larger photocopying facilities near Victoria.

Then this weekend I started adjusting this bodice and because it is incorrectly cut there were too many alterations to use the tissue paper. So I brought the photocopying idea back to life and realized that even if a pattern piece won't fit very well on one A3 page, it will probably fit on two.

I did this tutorial using an already cut pattern, but it works well enough that I will never have to trace a pattern again, or to cut a size on tissue paper.

Tools:

• A3 (or larger) photocopier; photocopying shops are usually fairly common so I think this will be fine
• scissors
• tape

Method

Step 1: cut your pattern pieces without cutting into any of the multiple sizes. Just cut roughly around the pattern (1-2 inches around all lines will be fine)

The example pattern in the next pictures was already cut on size, but imagine you are cutting couture sewing seam allowances.

Step 2: Take a piece of A3 paper and set the top of the pattern, right side up on it  (you will want to be able to read the writing). Try to use as much paper real-estate as possible.

Photocopy it, then move the pattern piece up so the rest is covered too.:

Note: if you're using a paper size larger than A3 (that would be A2 through A0), you're probably done!

Step 3: Now you need to piece together the copies. Luckily I only had 2 sides on each pattern piece.

The way I did it was to cut one of the copies along the lengthen or shorten line:

Then align the cut part over the uncut copy:

And tape together:

You are done! These are my two pieces:

Some advice: be careful when aligning the pattern piece in Step 1, otherwise things like these can happen:

Pattern was wrong side up (right side facing the white paper)

I didn't align the bottom bart of the pattern carefully and part of it was lost

The couture something. Plus fit

I never made a couture garment but I plan to start now :-)

The problem is deciding what to make.  I made several successful skirts, and a have a well fitted TnT pattern for them. If the target is couture this seems to me the best option, as at least this is a road I have walked successfully before.

However, my very great desire is to make a well fitting dress. This is difficult because I have a problem with fitting tops.

Getting to terms with upper body fit is my only sewing resolution for this year. The problem is the back and that I don't have eyes behind it. Or a spare set of hands.

My SO has been helping somewhat but he won't go as far as hands on help. I have to thank Lynda Maynard's Craftsy class for getting his help at all: the "lines must be parallel or perpendicular to the floor" mantra was simple to explain and pretty simple to get right. Perhaps an in person sewing/fitting class would work ?

To get back to the problem at hand, dear readers, I would like to have your vote. Shall my first couture garment be:

1: a skirt, which I know I've mostly got the fit right for and where I can concentrate exclusively on couture techniques

or

2: a dress, which will involve a lengthy process of fitting before starting to concentrate on said couture techniques.

I'll make a decision on Monday, let me know what your thoughts are.