So not a planner, but.............

 

I am not one of those sewists who does modules or plans out their wardrobes. I am one of those crazy babes who is always looking for the next shiny object. Really, isn't that just as OK? It works for me. I see a great bottomweight, I buy it and then maybe find a top fabric and pattern that will be perfect.  Or I will get seduced by a print, and will move all of creation to fit it into my wardrobe.  Bottom line, I love textiles of all sorts and I fall in love with them and fit them into my wardrobe. When I was a teen I had a neighbor who designed textiles for a manufacturer in neighboring New Bedford. I forget how this arrangement happened but my mom became very good friends with her.  Next thing I knew I was cleaning her apartment, at the age of 14, for  TONS of fabric samples, hot off the looms. She designed them and had to run samples before the company would commit to manufacture. Some made the cut, some failed. Either way, she discovered  I was an easy touch and thrilled to receive yards and yards of fabric every week, straight from the mill, her original designs. all for the price of dusting and vacuuming her home.  A little swish and and swipe in an already clean bathroom and I was had. 

I never knew what Marsha would bring me. I don't think she even knew. But it all made me happy. I would have fabulous conversations with this 50 year old about fabrics and dyes and the process and I was only 14. We would talk about her working as a very young woman in the garment district in NY city and working her way up the ladder. I remember, that as a single woman doing business in a tough industry my parents often accompanied her on dinner meetings with international contacts. She said she felt "safer".  Bottom line, I will blame the incredible Marsha Shear and her amazing design talents as well as her mentoring of a young girl who loved fabrics for the fact that I just don't do "plans".  I am ready for whatever comes in my door to be sewn and I will love it, enjoy sewing it and will make it work in my wardrobe. That gives me joy. Thank you so much, dear Marsha, for inspiring me with those amazing bags of your original designs. You so loved color.

Fabrics paired of with patterns:

I am currently working on this Kathryn Brenne pattern that I have been drooling over forever. Once again I am using the Sevenberry fabric found at my LQS and sold by Kauffman.  This version, however, is an oatmeal and navy colorway despite it looking different in the pic. It is a Japanese fabric and 100% cotton. All seams are being Hong Kong'ed with the print fabric you can see peeking out, a Nicolle Miller design. I am near done and can't wait to share with you the completed project. This is a great pattern.  I am really pleased with the fit. 

My sister came up recently for a visit and we are now both retired and both crazy garment sewists. I took her to my Local Quilt Shop, which is amazing, and has some quality fabrics for garments as well. They get more all the time and are often of high end Japanese origin. We had a blast shopping and compare notes each week since. She is up in Maine. What you see above is a cotton knit with a tiny bit of spandex that I will make into Mimi G turtleneck. I think I will need to tighten up the collar and may ditch the corner detail for the first effort. I love her details but am on the search for a basic Turtleneck. 

I fell in love with this flannel the minute I saw the deep, intense  red. I recently had seen this blouse made up so that the upper right corner of the bodice had narrow ties to the shoulder seam and there were also ties holding up fold up sleeves. I loved the casual look and look forward to making this. I know I will get a lot of wear out of this pairing. I have so many bottoms that will work along side this top. 

Another paired fabric is this Telio rather Picasso-esque rayon challis that I will turn into this floaty top below. 

This one will  happen soon as I love this print and you can see there is not much going on in that department right now. This is a really interesting pattern. 

Unpaired fabrics:

I have been holding on to this fabric for a couple years now. I think it came from Apple Annie's and I am determined to sew it up for this winter. I am considering the Kathryn Brenne top in the second photo. It is an exquisite cotton velveteen. Sigh,,,,,,,,The fit on the Brenne pattern is wonderful so I am ready to go on this one. Next.....

 This is a very fine wale, I'm guessing 21 wale, picked up at my LQS, again. It is superb quality and of course I am thinking slacks, some pleated trousers. I have already made a slouch hat out of a small amount but there is plenty left to play with. I will probably just use my Sure Fit sloper. It really is lovely. 

Another piece of corduroy, this time no wale and in a tiny blue and black houndstooth check. It will be great for slacks or a barn jacket, aka, "Shacket". This is not high on the list but it will get used soon enough. 

The SCORE of all SCORES:

In accumulating fabrics for winter sewing I am not above considering all sorts of opportunities. The blue cord above was gleaned from a local church affiliated thrift shop. I haven't gone to GoodWill in sometime as I am finding their clothing simply donated fast fashion and other than household needs, their merch just doesn't interest me. Yesterday I needed a basket. I am doing a donation for a group I belong to and wanted a big nice basket for bargain prices. I went into Goodwill, straight to where the baskets usually are and there was ONE, just one basket! Luckily it was exactly what I needed and three dollars. So what they hay, I decided to pour thru the racks. I was on my last rack and something caught my eye. 

 This garment had Asian tags on it, even a price, all of which meant nothing to me

What took my breath away, however, was the fabric. I could be wrong and the label may say otherwise but it looked like silk chiffon to me. It just did not have that poly feel at all and was light as air . It was nicely made, fully self lined and held lots of yardage in an amazing border print. 

The fabric was gorgeous, the colors saturated and if ever there was a digital print this was it so the age of this garment had to be recent. This skirt would be close to my ankles. I have been mooning over similar digital prints from Lady McElroy lately and then this jumps into my line of sight!  It was meant to be. 

It is very floaty and would make a lovely top. At the least it could be an amazing scarf or two for gifts. It won't get forgotten. 

I have much to keep me busy all winter. Did you notice how nothing is part of anything else, no plans, no modules? Did you also notice how happy it all makes me feel? Life is too short for me to structure my sewing . I could care less if I have six pieces that make 36 outfits. I want amazing. .............Bunny

D&G continues...

I am trying to squeeze in one more post before I hit the road. Above is 8 yards of bias. It should be enough but I am crossing my fingers here. The only thing nastier than cutting silk charmeuse is cutting bias strips of silk charmeuse. I got it done but it was a tad fiddly. I used the  technique found in the tutorial "Bias, bagged". I literally have nothing left of the lining fabric. I am going to deal with my sleeves last just in case I am short on bias. I can cut them for stripping and use another lining in the sleeves. Who will know but us?

At this point all of the pieces, except the sleeves are quilted. I am going to bring them with me on my ride to tie off the threads, so many threads! " Idol hands are the devil's workshop" even in a car. At least my grandmother would have said so.

Often a princess seamed jacket has those seams front and back. There is usually a side panel  under the arm, connecting the fronts and back. But this jacket, Simp 2284, has some interesting details here. The back is a center seam back, no princess seams. But do you see how the side front extends into the back, past the center of the bottom of the armscye?The top arrow is the shoulder seam which sits right where it should. Its the side seam that is pushed to the back. Interesting detail but I like it and the way it affects the shape. I am liking this pattern more every day. It will definitely be committed to TNT oaktag status. ...Bunny

Butterick 4409 Completed!

The Retro bag is complete and really was quite simple to pull off. I like that it puts me in a more summer type of mood. I say that as I look out the window at all the snow and ice we still have up here. As far as the pattern, Butterick 4409, a little "beware" is in order. I did View F, the one with the fabric straps and outside pockets. At first site it looks just like View E, which has a different handle and contrast gusset. As I raced thru the tissue pieces I mixed my Es and Fs. Its easy to do as they look exactly alike. I know, you are saying I should have read the tissue more closely but I did (yeah, right). So then there was more gusset to fit into the sides than would fit. I had extra, about a half inch extra. I immediately blamed it on poor Big Four drafting and proceeded. When my lining, which had separate pieces, went together perfectly, I took a closer look at all the tissues. The E is not the same size as the F and it was all my own rushing around fault. Will I ever learn? It was an easy fix and you can't even tell now that the bag is completed. For the interfacing I used Decor Bond. It worked out OK, but just OK. Next bag from 4409 I will use a fusible fleece. I think this small bag really needs the heft that the fleece will give it.

I will say I don't like the way the outer pockets are drafted and that is not my fault. There is barely room to cover the outer pocket with the flaps and get them to lay nicely so I added a flange to the flaps and this worked much better. I sewed the flange on so that all the edges were enclosed and thought it came out nicely.

The lining is a tomato red washed silk and I love it. It did have a mind of its own and at times I thought I would go crazy but it ended up fine. It is totally fused to Armo Weft, something I do to all my bag linings. I just like a heftier lining. I did not do the inner pocket as per the pattern, choosing instead to use the technique of cutting the pocket on the fold and then sewing RS together and turning. I think this gives a much neater and prettier finish than clean finishing the edges. This is often seen in Vogue bag patterns.

For the straps I zigzagged the ends and then wrapped them around the rings. I sewed over the zigzag with a 1.0 stitch back and forth. Then I changed to a zigzag again and did that back and forth to cover any exposed edges. I thought it was a neat clean finish.

I did my feet first poking thru the holes with a dental pik-er that DDDentist gave me. Those make the greatest sewing tools, by the way! After the hole was poked I pushed thru a large brad, opened it inside and covered the legs with a blop of glue gun glue. I didn't want those legs wearing a hole thru the cloth.

Next came the rigidity! Bag patterns seem to all specify plastic canvas for the bottoms. I find this is still too flexible, even when doubled. I like to use foam core board. It's waterproof and more rigid. I use blue painter tape in the area where I will be cutting. This gives me a really clean cut. I hate those little foamy things muking up my cutting! The piece of foam core goes in and is also glued down with the glue gun.

This is a great little bag and I am already lined up to do my next one in a large oriental print. I may start that one tonite. I am thinking bags for Mother's Day gifts for DDs.

Paula asks if I find the fusible fleece slouchy. It definitely can be, particularly in wool bags. In those I found it necessary to then fuse a layer of Decor Bond on top of the FF. Let me tell ya', it can be awkward getting it thru the machine but its doable. I cut away all seam allowances from the fusibles before fusing. That eliminates a lot of the bulk when sewing.

Update on the silk smocked blouse: I am almost completed smocking. I need to put some sort of trim where the smocking meets the bodice. My intent was to insert piping there all along but somehow, in my haste, I totally just forgot to do it. So I am having fun playing with some different trims to put in that area and probably elsewhere. I'm thinking raw edge..... Tata', Bunny

I love linings!

I have a strong belief that a lining should be an integral design element to your garment. There is something really special about walking around in a navy blue suit and secretly knowing there is a wild retro silk print lining inside. Besides, it is just plain fun to have a pretty lining. And what is more bland than lining fabric?
For me, picking out a lining is stash diving at its best. I have a fair amount of lovely silk prints that never seem to be right for a garment, but oh, they make beautiful linings. So indulge me a few pics of linings. The printed one on top is silk and lines a black tapestry/patent leather bag I recently made. I just love opening up that bag. And here's a secret: a pretty lining in a bag makes you keep it neater, really! The brown lining is an upholstery damask of scotchguarded acetate. It lines a bag of embroidered silk suiting and faux leather. I wish all linings were scotchguarded! And the gold bag lining is the WRONG side of one of those cheapo poly brocades from Joanns. It ravelled like the dickens, but I was able to tame that by interfacing the entire lining with Fusiknit. So on this dreary winter day, thank you for letting me bring just a peak of my bag linings into your world.

By the way, you can click on any of these to enlarge.

Bunny