Just a small note

Just to let anyone know who maybe curious about my absence, I have been quite ill for the last month. My thyroid tanked in a spectacular fashion leaving me utterly debilitated. It is unusual for someone of my age to have thyroid problems and so there have been some wrong decisions made in treatment, but finally i got to see a endocrinologist, and i seem to be on the mend. Hopefully i will be back to sewing in a week or two, the winter white jacket is haunting me.

Wardrobe Progress - Part ten

I feel like I haven't done one of these in ages, and I haven't. Hopefully I am now on a roll again and I will soon have eleven and twelve joining their mate. That is a very wintry wardrobe though I am going to have to do something about that soon

Outfit Four - Winter White Wool Gabardine Skirt

I have finished the final tweaks and now declare the skirt done! I am happy with it, I kind of think I am going to have to do something about the back vents, but more on that later. It is your classic pencil skirt; It has a waistband, it is slightly pegged, which on the mannequin makes it look like it has massive saddle bags, as lamented before this baby does not have back, and it hits at the knee. Really there isn't a lot to say, there are no amazing design features of fabulous embellishments to talk about but it is still, in my opinion a blimin' nice skirt which is going to fill it's mandate of being chic & comfortable and a perfect accompaniment to the jacket which is still on it's way.

After a good steam pressing and a couple of days hanging the darts fell into shape wonderfully. The gabardine is an odd fabric being both soft and stiff, resistant and mailable. I am also intrigued by the colour of the skirt in these photographs. The skirt is almost exactly the same colour as my door and so I hung a length of brown micro-suede that I had handy to act as contrast, and it has, oddly enough, drained the colour out of the skirt so the photographs show it as the colour I want it to be! So at least I will be able to pretend, whilst reviewing this post, that I do indeed have a winter white suit. Score!

My "perfect" zipper. I nearly had a heart attack after steaming the skirt, the zip had developed a bulge! Much frantic pressing and tugging and hanging later and it went back to its former smooth state. I assume that there was still a bit of 'shrink' left in the fabric ... grrr.

This is what I came up with at the top of the zipper. I know I had a perfectly fine loop but after seeing the diva's post I could not settle and had to go back and fix things. I did not do it exactly as the diva's proscribed as inserting the tab into the facing was just too heavy and I could not pull the zip completely too the top. Instead I made a buttonhole in the waistband, slipped the tab into the hole and hand stitched it securely on the inside. It's working great, nice and secure and firm so I dispensed with the hook and eye at the top of the zip. But that said I am not that happy with the way that the buttonhole looks (it has that dreaded home sewn fix-em-up look), so on the next skirt I will work on a better finish. Maybe I will cut the waistband with a facing and cut the facing to insert the tab. I will think about it. To be honest I am not thrilled with the waistband as a whole, as it did turn out too heavy. Next time I will use the underlining and the tailors canvas but leave out the knit interfacing, and, as noted, I will try the waistband with a facing instead of a turn-over. I prefer waistbands to facings but I am still working on getting things just right ...

I am really chuffed with the lining, it was a lot of work but for the finish it gives, and the visual satisfaction I get each time I pull the skirt out, it was totally worth it.

I used a quilting stitch on the seams and while it was a pain to do with the tissue paper and whatnot I do think it gave the seams and the lining as a whole a special look. I like it.

And now to the vents. They are not going to work how they are. I took out the pleat as they were not going to work that way either, but now we have this flappy flap thing and boy it likes to flap. It reminds me of the one and only time I made a wrap skirt where the opening was at the back. Every time I walked down the street I was in a constant state of anxiety that I was giving the locals a free show, there was a draft!. And that is how this skirt is. The vent is just too high, and too big and too ... flappy. But having completed the darn things twice already I am going to leave it for a bit, I don't need it until October, and if I do it now it will be a hurried fix (I know myself) which I will just have to pull apart at a later date anyway. Time to let the fevers cool before I attack it again.

It looks good and sits flat though not so much on the dummy as she has no bum, but it is just too high especially as there are two slits for the price of one.

And this is why I am hesitating; the smooth gleaming work of perfection that is the hem. I just cannot bring myself to pull that apart AGAIN! It is a beautiful hem, heavy and thick but smooth and sharp at the same time, if that makes any sense at all.

The binding on the lining hem is awesome. I guess it seems silly to spend so much time on something that few people but myself will ever see, but I am a person that likes secrets I guess. Those things that I know about and others don't ... yes I get the irony as I type this here ... I even get the same small thrill from the Hong Kong finish on the hem itself, lovely little details just for me.

The bound finish on the waistband looks clunky and is another thing I will refine on the next waistband I do. I do like the idea and it does remove one layer of fabric from the waistband edge which is quite noticeable. I just need to trim the size a bit I think, this time I simply covered the seam allowance without removing any of the width. Not a good idea.

And here are the hangers and their loops. The loops serve to hold the hanger down whilst I am wearing the skirt so I do not have them poking up out of the waistband annoyingly. It works, mostly.

And this is the jumper that I purchased from Wool Lovers. It is a beautiful fine lambswool and entirely the wrong colour. It's hard to tell with these washed out photographs but the suit is a brownish shade and the jumper is a true cream. Not a good fit. But not too worry the jumper will still get maximum wear as it is a handy style in a nice neutral and I have a silk skivvy and pot of dye on their way so hopefully I will get what I want for this suit after all.

And this is what I got when I put 'wool gabardine pencil skirt' into the interwebs. It is from J. Crew and cost $110.00 US, approximately $200.00 NZ. I paid the equivalent of $21.00 NZ per metre for the gabardine and used 1.2 metres in the skirt. Thus my sums lead me to a total $47.80 for the skirt. I did not include the cost of the lining as that has been sitting there for at least 5 years waiting to be used and the cream lining was an off cut from another project ... I believe that makes it free. I also did not include the cost of the pattern as that was a cast off from someone else that I snagged a few years ago. So the cost is the fabric, the underlining, the interfacing, the thread, including a spool of embroidery thread and the zip. Oh and mustn't forget the 60 cents for the button. A true bargain I say!

Even though I have finished the skirt it doesn't feel finished as I do not see it as an item on it's own, it belongs with the jacket. I have a couple more days left on the jacket. Hopefully the skivvy will turn up tomorrow so that I can get it finished and by the weekend Outfit Four will be truly done.

Section One - Special Item Two - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Jacket - Stage Four

Taken off the ironing board and this is what we have! It looks a bit odd with the one white and one black lapel but I ran out of tape; that will prove to be a bit of a theme on this jacket.

A day's sewing later and we have this. Looks pretty much the same as it did this morning doesn't it ...

... except it now has one of these! (A back)

... and also one of these! (A buttonhole - My Pfaff's keyhole buttonhole is a bit wonky but I find a bit of work with the shank of a button and it looks fine)

... and there is one of these percolating in the back room! (Under Collar)

... and one of these waiting in the wings to be called into service! (Facing and upper collar)

... as well as a pair of these lying in wait (Sleeves!)

... and that's not to mention this! (Back belt)

... last but not least we can't forget this. (the lining!)

Put together (even if it's just with a few pins) and we have this! There are a lot of exclamation points in this post for a reason!!!

And the back looks good too. The extra fabric at the shoulders is due to the shaped princess seams, and is not a problem on an actual human body and with shoulder pads. I am debating the shoulder pads to be honest as they do give a more boxy appearance to the jacket, which is ok but I am really liking the softer appearance. It has an almost Edwardian/first world war look to it. It would be easy enough to remove the extra space from the jacket body, what with all those seams and all, and from my pinning experiments the sleeves do not seem to have that much ease so I don't see that as a problem. So what do you think: shoulder pads or not?

Ok some details: I constructed the seams and darts in the same way that I have constructed them everywhere else, so not much to see here ....

Once all the construction was complete I cross stitched everything flat or to prevent it from flipping or rolling up. I even tacked down some of the seams just to hold them open. I do not think I have ever sewn a jacket that has no flat panels at all, everything is curved and shaped so that when things are joined all the pieces are pulled into a 3 dimensional shape. It is impossible to flatten this jacket ... weird, and it is going to be a dog to press ... yeah I know, I am really straining to find something to complain about on this one!

Well that is if I don't think about the buttonhole. I was going to do bound buttonholes on this jacket as it seems the ubiquitous couture feature but as I constructed things it became obvious to me that as a more masculine style of jacket it needed thread buttonholes, either machine or hand. When have you last seen a man's suit with bound buttonholes. But that has caused a a couple of problems; I have always disliked machine buttonholes on thicker fabrics, and I have never done a hand worked buttonhole and do not trust my skills in that area (turns out with good reason) with this jacket. Then I read a blog somewhere (I need to start recording these useful posts, I am still looking for the one on London shrinking) which made the obvious but oh so important observation that machine buttonholes do not work in these situations because of the seam pushing the balance out in a computerised machines calibration ... it sounded good so I applied the suggestion and stitched the buttonhole before stitching the seam. Of course this means I only get a buttonhole in one layer of fabric so what about the facing? Well I read in the Roberta Carr book that Chanel used to do hand worked buttonholes on the outside and then bind the inside as the back of the hand buttonholes don't look that flash ... well in my case the front side of the buttonhole doesn't look that flash (I used it to bind the buttonhole opening in the facing), but it is on the inside so I can stand it. I have quite a bit more practice before one of these adorns the outside of anything.

And it was at this point that I ran out of thread ... on good friday ... on Easter weekend ... where the haberdashery shop will not be open until tuesday ... sighs! To compensate for that disappointment I was a bit naughty and broke my own rules (finish each outfit before starting on the next) and cracked open Special Outfit # 2 ... but isn't this the most gorgeous fabric ever. It's a pre-prepared silk (I brought it like this) in the most glorious and unexpected colour scheme of maroon and copper ... in fact the picture below is almost exact. It has little circles of dark burgundy velvet and long bias strips of a copper coloured tartan stitched over the surface of the fabric. It is from David Mills fabrics in Pukekohe, and if it is not already clear I LOVE IT

This is what I plan to wear to the actual WOW (World of Wearable Art) show. Everyone that sees it says "I can see that in an awesome skirt", but I am planning a jacket with a dress in black silk crepe de chine from www.gorgeousfabrics.com. Did you know that crepe de chine means crepe from China in French? No, me either.

The question is what dress should I make the crepe de chine in. To the left is the jacket I plan, next is my initial idea the red slip dress, last is the vintage vogue dress pattern that I got last week and it suddenly struck me that if I make this out of the crepe the dress might get more use. What do you think? Any thoughts?

Anyway I know I am going to spend tomorrow controlling my urge to start on this one and trying to make myself do what I should be doing to fix the suit skirt.

Section One - Special Item Two - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Jacket - Stage Three

So we had a little misfortune and all the painstakingly precise photographs that I took of my method for sewing the pockets were "accidentally" erased off the computer, so we have these amateur blurry pictures to describe the process instead ... So what did I do? Oh yes I ended up removing the underlining from the fabric pieces as I decided it would ruin the pockets to have all that bulk around them, and I thought the easiest way to deal with that was remove everything (this unfortunately was a learning the hard way type situation ... but that's only two days of my time wasted, so oh well). Anyway, I cut a interfacing patch, pinking the edges and fused it to the wrong side of each pocket area, the usual thing. Then I marked the stitching line on the interfacing ... don't look too closely at that picture because I know one of those lines is the proper stitching line, which one might be up for debate though ... hehe. On one of the earlier pockets I forgot to sew the reinforcing line around the pocket before slashing it. It made a difference.

After slashing along one of the drawn lines (the right one I hope) I pressed the pocket open firmly. One thing of note is to make sure that the little V at the end is large enough I usually make it a little bigger then what is marked on the pattern as this can dictate how well your corners form up.

After pressing and machine stitching the pocket pieces I hand sew them together. To ensure that the pocket edges meet squarely I do this while the pieces are lying on a flat surface, it takes a little more fiddly effort but it also ensures that the pockets are as even as possible. I then do my over-kill thing and stitch back along the other side. I'm not sure that it is strictly necessary but I like a guarantee.

Roughly positioning the pocket pieces under the pocket opening and securing it with pins that are placed as far from the opening edge as possible is the next step. I position the pins this way so that I have room to fit a ruler under the edge of the opening ah-la the next picture ...

I hand stitch the pocket lips into the opening and yes I measure every stitch. On this pocket each lip is supposed to be 1/8th of an inch and when I push the needle up through the fabric it is as close as possible to that measurement. I then push the needle back through all thicknesses including the jacket, so I am basically using a modified pick stitch.

So here we have the pocket all pick stitched but not pressed.

That, however, is not the final step as I now machine sew the pocket into place. I know in couture clothing that hand-stitching is king because it is flexible and soft and makes everything easier to manipulate. I agree completely with all of those points, but in my opinion machine stitching has positive attributes also, namely a better straight edge and stronger finish.

So I combined what I believe is the best of both words and got what I think is a pretty awesome finish, even if I do say so myself. This method is particularly relevant with a difficult fabric like gabardine, especially one with a soft hand like this one. In a more obliging fabric I most probably would dispense with the hand picking step, simply tacking things together lightly, but I know that I would have been unhappy with the result this time if I had not bothered. When in doubt tack, or in this case, hand sew!

After removing the extra tacking thread and reinforced stitching we have this. Because this fabric is soft but also rather willful I also ran a hand stitch into each corner to hold them in place. It seems like a lot of work but I am happy happy happy with the result. Obviously we are not quite finished yet but all the hard stuff is done.

I just had to add the pocket bags themselves ... (things look a little wonky there but they aren't. The gabardine must have relaxed a little while I was taking the picture and folded forward).

.... and to sew them up into an actual pocket. Done. As you can see I clipped the underlining away from the seam allowance, again probably unnecessary but I like the way it looks. And I pinked the edge; it does do a good job on this fabric of preventing fraying without major problems of show through when pressing.

The next chore was reinstating all that underlining by hand. I had a picture but it was really blurry and thus a bit pointless but it was supposed to show everything in place and pressed. The underlining does make a real difference to the lie of the fabric, it is rather fabulous. I don't think it's too dramatic to say that it feels like I am sculpting the jacket as much as sewing it.

This photo shows the machine pad stitching that I have done on the lapel portion of the underlining (there is tailors canvas under the underlining). First I did a small satin stitch down the marked roll line, on this jacket the roll line is curved not straight, then I stitched wide zigzags, somewhat wonky in some areas but no one is going to notice are they?

Next I taped the roll line and the lapel and front edges with cotton tape. The tape should be under tension as you sew it by hand as it's use is to shape the fabric and in the lapel area so that it contures in a curve around my neck and over the bust before tucking in at the waist. Also down the front it has the job of pulling the front edge straight. It's a heavy load for one little piece of tape to handle, but hopefully it can deal.

The last thing I did last night was set the jacket piece out on the ironing board to set the lapel shape. In the books it tells you to fold a damp hand-towel under the lapel and leave it over night. I have found in the past that in a shaped jacket like this one, that leads to problems with the bust line. In addition a curved roll line can be ruined if it is not set right. Sounds dramatic but the first time I used this technique I made the error of not making the effort to set the roll line where it should sit, and the lapel continually fell forward even though I tried to reshape it properly later. How the way I do it differs is that I lay a dry folded towel under the lapel and a damp one over the top after I have moulded the fabric into shape. The dry towel prevents any hard creases in the lapel and the damp one adds necessary weight to hold things in place while it shape is set.

It seems a bit wrong to leave things there so here is a sneak peak of the first front I completed on Saturday.

Section One - Special Item Two - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Jacket - Stage Two

I decided to follow through with the making the lining first initiative even though I will not be using the lining as a muslin for the jacket. That said I followed the same basic order of business as sewing the skirt while constructing the decorated seams: Picture A. Finishing the seam edge with zigzag BEFORE stitching the seam. Picture B. Applying packing tissue paper strips on the back side of the seam. Picture C. Stitching the seam with a decorative stitch whilst stretching the seam apart so that the decorative stitch puckers as little as possible. Picture D. Then picking the tissue paper out of the seam and pressing, pressing pressing.

I think the finish though not ostentatious is rather groovy. I really am going to pay more attention to the lining in future. No more will they be the outer fabrics poor relation!

I decided that as this jacket has a certain masculine edge to it that I would add an internal pocket to the lining. That makes 5, count them 5 bound pockets in the jacket, I must be a tiger for punishment or something. I will show the details of sewing a bound pocket my way on the jacket. The lining fabric was a bit of a beast so not the best vehicle to show of the pocket, though ...

... I do like the way it looks in the end. Initially I did not add the button and loop but the lips of the pocket were stiff and liked to gape a little (more than my perfectionist soul could tolerate in any case).

I also did not particularly like how the back pleat looked either. I ummed and ahhed about how I was going to sort out the decorative stitching so everything looked symmetrical. My initial thoughts were to sew down the crease of the pleat ... i.e below ...

It didn't work and looked all wrong so I removed it and despite one of these things being not like the others I think it looks much better.

I only decorated the vertical seams so the waistline and shoulders are not stitched, but I think that looks right. It's funny but the stripped effect doesn't look as good to me as it did on the skirt. I think it is because it is more chopped about and the pieces do not meet evenly across the back. That said I do like the "effect" as it adds a bit of fun to a rather structured and "muscular" jacket. This jacket expects to be taken seriously, thank you.

The next section is the sleeves. I am not as pedantic with lining sleeves as I am with the actual jacket sleeves for two reasons; lining fabric does not ease, nor does it shrink when steamed so getting a perfect sleeve insertion is more or less impossible, and the second reason I will show you later ... Still I use the same method in both cases. I sew up the sleeve seams and for this lining also stitched each seam with the decorative stitch (not as easy as it sounds). After I had sewn the first seam and before I sewed the second I ran easing or gathering stitches in three rows around the sleeve head between the marks indicated on the pattern. At the peak of the sleeve head, also marked, I reduced the stitch length from 40 to 15 (this cannot be stitched per inch as I thought as in 40 there were a lot less stitches than there is at 15) and stitched 4 stitches to act as an anchor. Make sense? Well there is a blurry picture in the middle to clarify things ... hehe. Another tip is when I am starting to pull the ease up I insert a pin at the edge of the gathering stitches, pull up the threads and wind them around the pin to anchor them. This allows me to alter and adjust for a perfect fit whereas if I tied them off I would be stuck.

After I have the easing distributed as evenly as possible I then pin the sleeve into the armhole. On the actual fabric I would remove the sleeve before this point and steam and shape it over a sleeve ham to set the shape and loft and stuff. I always check things on the outside throughout this process as that will give you more information on how things will look and sit than just what you see on the inside.

Next? Tacking! And after I have tacked I check it on the outside. You can see there area couple of puckers here and there and I went in and tried to smooth them out with my fingers. There is no point trying to press them with the iron as that will just cause permanent creases.

And here we are all sewn up. And as you can see the sleeve head is smooth, shaped well and with a little bit of loft even in lining fabric!

At last we have a cleaned up sleeve. I have removed the gathering and tacking, finished the edges and everything is tidy, inside and out. At this point I press the seam to set everything so it looks a bit flatter but that is fine in the lining.

I always check the lay of the land in the front and the back sleeve, yes even in the lining. The way a sleeve lies indicates it's fit. It's fit indicates how it will react under stress. What will happen if I lift my arm? Can I stretch forward without ripping out the back of the sleeve. Will the sleeve ride smoothly over the lining or will there be twisting and bunching. It's worth the bother.

Groovy baby, the lining is finished and is now waiting to fulfil it's role in life of hiding the seams on a much more beautiful jacket than itself. It does not resent this lowly position because it knows that I have spent as much love and attention on it as I will on the real deal. Mostly. I know that the trend now is to line in silk and I may have been doing better service to all this effort if I had used it, but I can't quite grasp the idea of spending that much on a lining. I spend enough already thank you very much.

Section One - Special Item Two - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Jacket - Stage One

I know I have been AWOL for the last few days but I was doing the tedious stuff on the next item, the jacket. I am sure you do not want repeat information so I will only mention a couple of points of interest. First is a tip from my oft quoted friend, Roberta Carr. In an earlier post I showed how I grained up fabric before cutting. A second step I do is that I roughly layout the pattern pieces in sections of approximately 1 metre give or take an oddly shaped pattern piece. After marking the limits of each section I cut the fabric into the sections and block each section once more with the thread pulling and the pinning and the pressing. This ensures as much as is amature-ly possible that the pattern pieces will be cut out on grain. Why go to all the bother? This step alone can take a garment from Glassons (trendy low cost chain store) to Smith & Caughy (up market department store) in quality.

I also always put sleeves on the bias. The sleeves fit and hang so much better with this one easy step. Part one is establishing a grain line on the pattern and this is easy when you have two right-angle lines as in the picture. The second essential is to remember to give yourself 1 - 2 inch seam allowances on all areas of the sleeve. This prevents excessive stretch at the seam line as it gives ample room for the bias to "explode" along the edges whilst maintaining some integrity that distance (1 - 2 inches) from the edge. Make sense? Roberta Carr explains it with pictures in her book ... grins.

Oh I forgot to mention the fitting; I did flat measurement checks - needed extra at the bust which is normal for any red blooded woman of average size ... and that was it. The jacket has multi-seams in the front so I graded the extra inch across them. Then I did a rough sectional muslin which I forgot to take photo's of as I wasn't feeling well and wanted to get the job over so I could get on with things the next day. I am never at my best with an eye-strain headache. The muslins told me to grade out 1/4 of an inch, I have decided to leave it and decide on the jacket what it needs over the jumper I plan to wear with the suit. The arms are quite fitted too so I added 1/4 of an inch to the sleeve and again will decide when I get that far in the jacket. Other than that everything seems hunky dory.

Next it was the underlining, lining, tailors canvas, thread tracing, pencil and thread marking marathon and that accounted for the next two days (till today). Please appreciate the self control that went into this picture. I got told that I was a legend twice as I worked late into the night (8pm)!!!

I think it looks so pretty at this point all neat and tidy and pressed. It's all downhill from here.

And here we are ready for the interesting part. Yay! And where would I be without Glad Snaplock bags? Chaos that's where.

Section One - Special Item One - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Skirt - Stage Four

Since I found the tutorial at the Sewing Diva site invisible zippers have become my new friend. I think everyone suffers the frustration of the little bumpy gap at the end of the zipper when they sew them in the traditional (official way). This way the seam is sewn shut BEFORE the zip is stitched in and while the usual degree of precision is required to match things up there is no bumpy gap and thus I am happy. Though I am getting ahead of myself, the first thing to do is reinforce the zip opening with some lightweight but firm interfacing and I used the tricot knit which is my new favourite interfacing of this type. No more bubbly nightmare woven stuff for me. I fused the interfacing to the underlining instead of the fabric and it worked out great. Then I press the invisible zipper teeth to flatten the tape. This seems usual no matter what method you use and it makes sense as the way the invisible zipper works is the coil turns back on itself to pull the fabric edges together.

I then pin each tape of the zipper onto the seam allowances to check for placement and once satisfied I tack it on tightly. The zipper tape is a firm weave and is always stiffer than any fabric you might use so it has the tendency to shift and present you with nasty surprises when you turn the fabric over. The stronger the tacking the more likely things will remain in the position you want them to be in. This is especially important when it comes to matching seam lines or pattern designs as in the lines of a waistband for instance.

I feel weird with this underlining thing with using it as the surface for the interfacing rather than the fabric, because it works so well why am I not seeing others using it? I am waiting for something terrible to happen to show me what an idiot I am for doing this, but so far it is yet to happen. It does make the garment more "spongy" so the fabric has a smooth rounded shape rather than a sharp finish, but I like that. Maybe I should relax and just enjoy the result without anticipating disaster ... maybe I should just quit breathing as well that would be just as easy!

See look! It is as close to perfect as I have ever managed. Well I did make one blunder and that was I didn't take the zip up high enough on the waistband so there will be a gap at the top which I will have to fill with some kind of closure. I was planning on doing a button and loop behind the zipper head to support it so I guess I will have to move that up and maybe put a hook and eye at the zipper top. Oh and I challenge you to pick where the end of the zip is. It is in this picture.

Ok, I have to be honest there is one bit on which my ideas turned out wrong. The waistband seam is too thick where it meets the zipper. I trimmed away the excess from the seam allowance but it was still bulky and caused a little gap right on the seam line. It is covered nicely by the zipper pull, though you can see it if you look hard enough, but it is still there and bothers me. Next time instead of pressing all of the seam allowances towards the waistband I will press them open, thus halving the bulk. Because of the way I plan to finish the waistband and lining the seam will not be visible and I think it will work. I wish I had thought of that this time!

I'm also happy that the skirt is hanging better with the waistband holding it in shape even though the hip area is still a little empty on the mannequin.

Wundabah! Though I am a little concerned about whether the vents are going to give enough room for movement. I guess I can always unpick the seam and turn them into splits but I don't fancy it. I will leave it for now and just have to practice ladylike mincing.

I always make skirt hangers but seldom use them as I get sick of picking the skirts off the floor as I have been rooting through my wardrobe and everything has fallen off the hangers. I tend to invest in proper skirt hangers but the loops just seem to give a bit of finish to the skirt. Or maybe I just like to make things as difficult for myself as possible .. who knows.

In any case I made the hanging loops for this one out of lining. I wish I knew how to make ultra fine tubing, others do not seem to have a problem but I always find myself struggling to turn things through changing from safety pin to clover turning rod things to a needle and heavy thread until I give up and go and sew a thicker tube. Is there a trick I do not know, or are others more patient and determined in this area? I really would like to know.

Guess what? Not only did I not have to sew the lining at the bum end of the project when my interest is wearing thin and I just want to finish it, but the lining is also nicely sewn and it fits well! I really really like this way of doing things and I promise to do the lining first from now on. Thanks Ann and MaryNanna for giving me the idea.

How I constructed this bit was to sew the lining to the inside edge of the waistband wrong side to wrong side. This has left a raw edge ( I will fix that in a minute )but it also means that I have full control of how everything sits and fits together, and nothing, such as hand stitching, will show even on the inside.

I am very happy with this skirt even though one of the hangers escaped to show in the picture. I will make loops to push them through to hold them flat whilst wearing. The waistband is only pinned down here but how good does this look? I love the pegged hem too, it is such a flattering shape I think, though, as mentioned, I am a little concerned about how much movement I am going to have ... eep.

Apart from the little hiccup with the bulky waistband seam this method is working for me. Everything is going together easily and it looks very nice both on the outside and inside. Here I have pinned the waistband edges together and everything is lying flat without excess bulk or stiffness. I think adding the tailors canvas was a success the only note I would make is to make sure that the canvas finished exactly on the fold line. I had to trim things ever so slightly as the folded canvas ruined the edge.

Ah hem. So I decided to bind the waistband edge with bias as I knew I would not be able to match the stripes like I did on the lining hem. My intentions were good and started fine with the first bit of bias all measured and on grain and stuff then things deteriorated from there as I just started to eyeball the angle. Yeah you could say it was less bias than just plain wonky by the end but I consoled myself that it didn't really need to be bias and I was just doing it that way for aesthetics ...

I used the same method as I used for the hem binding to attach the "bias". As lining is a stiff fabric that does not stretch much and as it wasn't actually on the bias I just did it as a single fold to avoid bulk as much as possible.

And I am happy with the way it looks, the angled cut means it doesn't look funny that I haven't matched things up against the straight lines of the lining. It looks like it is supposed to be like that!

Since I have done all this I noticed that the Sewing Diva's have done a post where they do almost exactly the same thing as I am trying to do with bringing the zip up into the waistband (only they succeeded) and I actually like the loop that they did better than mine. They made a tab then did a buttonhole in it rather than making the loop out of tubing. I will try that next time as I am not all that thrilled with this.

I included a shot of my damaged fingernail here to show the revenge of my stash cupboard. It seems to be complaining about how full it is by ricocheting it's door back and trapping my finger. It was much more painful than it looks ... grins.

But I am thrilled with this, I used the lining as a facing around the zip and sewed the waistband down at the same time. One thing I notice is that I did the loop on the wrong side the little asterisks indicates where I wanted the button to go ... oops.

So that is it ... almost. I only have some hand finishing to do (Hand sew down the waistband under the lining, sew the button and hook and eye on, finish the lining around the zip end, hand finish the lining to the skirt vents, thread chains for the hangers and to hold the lining to the hem) and will do that in the evening because now I am going to move on to the Jacket. Huzzah! I have not sewn a really tailored jacket for sometime and I have never used the underlining thing so I am excited though I am also feeling a little trepidation as I always do, jackets are the most challenging aspect of sewing in my opinion even moreso than coats as they require precise and delicate attention to detail. My favorite, but you can never guarantee how things will turn out. Fingers crossed for me?

Section One - Special Item One - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Skirt - Stage Three

I think I have mentioned that the skirt has darts in the front and princess seams in the back, that makes for quite easy fitting and seeing the way this skirt is turning out in fit, comfort and just plain good looks this skirt may be taking up residence as my go to straight skirt for awhile. I just used a normal straight stitch for the seams on a 25 stitches per inch setting and am happy with the way things are turning out. You can see the vent there as well as part of the seam and it is difficult (not impossible) to tell which is which in my opinion. It is early days but I have to say I am liking the underlining deal on lighter weight fabric as much as I liked it on the coats. I endorse it!

I did a simple finish on the seams by trimming the underlining away from the seam allowance, stitching a line near the edge of the seam and pinking shears to prevent extravagant fraying. So far it is working! The vent is still hand stitched down and I have yet to do the heavy duty steaming to set the pleat. Last time I did something like this I got it permanent pressed at the Dry cleaners but that was for a whole skirt of pleats, so I am undecided whether it is worth the expense for two.

So here we go; a skirt. Admittedly not a complete skirt but this is the stage I usually start having doubts about what I am sewing and a bit of a crisis ensues but I am not on this skirt. It does look a bit ill fitting on the mannequin but that is because she has a design flaw and I cannot get a proper fitting on her; either I have to make the waist too big so as to achieve a proper hip measurement, or the exact opposite and the hips have to be too small to get a fit at the waist, which is the situation we have here. Hmm maybe I am the one with the design flaw ...

I have to say the hem is lovely on the skirt, another thing I attribute largely to the underlining. I trimmed the seam closely where it would disappear into the hem and then attached binding made from one of the linings I am using. A narrow hong kong finish is the result after which I hand sewed it down to the underlining using a running or slip stitch as it is invisible behind the binding. Interestingly I was reading in a Clair Schaeffer book the hong kong finishes are much more of a home sewing finish than one that is used in the industry because of it's tendency to leave a visible lump, no matter how small....

... not this time Baby! This is truly an invisible hem and I am so happy with it. Yay!

The other thing I got done today was attaching the waistband. This took a bit of effort as I had to ease the skirt onto the band so there was some steaming and clapping (not as rude as it sounds) to get things to fit. I finished the band on the inside with my faithful pinking shears and everything looks tidy and neat.

Next on the list is the zip and the lining. I decided to try things this way as I always find the finish on the waistband a little clunky and unsatisfactory so I thought I would take the zip right up on to the waistband and finish it at the top with a loop and button on the inside. It is the first time I have done it this way so we will see what I think at the end.

Section One - Special Item One - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Skirt - Stage Two

As I am 92% sure that this skirt is going to fit as well as I can manage today it was time to bite the bullet and cut the fabric, as a good Roberta Carr disciple I grain the fabric by pulling a thread across the width of the cloth and cutting it to get a straight edge and then I pin and press the fabric into submission on the grain board. This fabric was willful as I expect gabardine to be ... it has a twill finish and the fibres are soft so it was a bit of a mish' to get things straight.

I forgot to take photo's of the actual cutting out but I imagine anyone interested in this site has seen their fair share of cutting out already ... it went without incident is all I can say about it. Then I did my usual mind gathering thing of writing an approximate sewing order. I find it helps me gather my wits, so to speak, and it also helps me to decide on changes I might want to make in sewing order or techniques. This time I am going to do the zip and waistband differently.

The waistband is going to have 4 layers of fabric. That seems ridiculous but as I want to try the underlining thing I will see it through and see what happens. There will be the fabric, the underlining and the tricot interfacing going full width and the tailors canvas going half way. I debated whether it needed the tailors canvas but I hate collapsing waistbands that crunch up and get wrinkly with wearing and the fabric/underlining/interfacing still felt quite light so I decided to go ahead. Again we are at the we will see stage.

So I tacked the tricot interfacing to the underlining then trimmed it away from the seam allowance before pressing the interfacing down. Next I repeated the steps with the tailors canvas, tacking it down, trimming the excess and pressing it down. Then I removed the tacking and recycled it for the next stage.

I used some of my Mum's ancient Sylko thread for the tacking, it is actually a really nice thread so I think I maybe wasting it but oh well. Once I had fused the interfacings and let them cool and set I tacked the underlining to the fabric at 1.3cm which is inside the seam allowance that is normally 1.5cm's. This means that when I clip back the underlining it will still be captured in the seam and also I will not have to struggle to pull the tacking out of the seam.

To mark the fabric I start by cutting all the notches and placement marks out of the pattern tissue.

Then I make the marks on the wrong side (the underlining) with a fabric pencil through the tissue, this ensures the most accurate placement of marks in my experience.

And then I trace the marks through to the right side with thread, this means I never run the risk of leaving unmovable tailors marker in visible places. It has happened ....

That all took half a day and I find this the most satisfying sight because now the horror parts of sewing are over for me; the cutting out and all that tacking.

And the first thing I do? Tacking. This time on the front darts. I am the tacking queen but only because so many times I have taken the short route and regretted it so I now have a little mantra "when in doubt, tack!" or "save yourself the stress, tack!" ... you get the point.

I use Roberta Carr's tip about dart ends. It feels like extra work but it's really not. Instead of doing all that knot tying etc. You unthread the machine and pull through thread from the bobbin which you thread up through the mechanism in reverse. One thing that probably only I would do is thinking I am smart I pulled through what I estimated was enough to do all the darts. Don't do that, after the first dart you are just back to the same situation of having to tie knots ... sighs.

And you need a guide to sew a perfectly straight dart. If it was shaped I would have gone to the bother of making a guide but for this one any old straight thing will do including a stray legend that might be laying around ... hehe

I decided that the whole deal was a bit heavy in the darts so I trimmed away the underlining. It turned out to be a bit fray-y but I have trimmed it about as close as I can now.

And of course the pressing makes it. I managed to purchase a clapper from a local seller and I use it everywhere, especially on wool. It gives a lovely sharp press without any of the problems of seam show through and shine damage. I also use my favourite pressing cloth, it is silk and so not right for the wool but I find it still seems to protect the fabric and as it is also a little transparent I can see through to press and steam exactly where I needs to.

And the finished item ... the fabric is a little soft and so the end is not as clean as I like. I am also wondering if I made a mistake trimming the underlining as one that I pressed before trimming looked cleaner and sharper, but it would have looked odd if I had left it so it got the chop like the others.

And this is how I left things ... Just kidding I am a tidy kiwi and cleaned up but it is always satisfying to create a mess during a sewing extravaganza it makes me feel like I am actually accomplishing something.

Section One - Special Item One - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Skirt - Stage One

The skirt is a simple straight skirt which is slightly pegged at the hem. The only difference from a standard style is that the front has darts and the back princess seams. Flat measurments indicated that the skirt should fit without any dramatic alterations but I still thought it wise to do a muslin or two. The easiest muslin is a paper one, though this is not ideal for fine tuning, it does give a rough idea whether things are actually within a bulls roar of fitting.

This skirt needed a little triming at the waist. Two inches worth of triming. This is equivilent to another size, and as I was already at the smallest size on the pattern, I did some tweaks in the drafting; moving the front darts closer to the centre and removing 1 cm on each side seam with a little removed out of the centre back. This all had to be tappered out by the hip without making the skirt look distorted, and me when I am wearing it ... always a danger when you a blessed with child-bearing hips ... sigh.

I read a couple ideas on other blogs that made me decide to do things a little different this time. Ann wrote a post commenting on how the lining often ends up getting the short end of the sewing stick, and it struck a cord because I often am a bit over a garment by the time it is the linings turn to be made and then feel that I rush the end. The second idea came from MaryNanna who used the lining in her pants as a muslin, and for something simple as this skirt it struck me that I could accomplish both things at once. So I cut out the lining ... and my muslin!

Over time I have used multiple methods of finishing seams. No matter what I used on lining fabric I found that it has always pulled and puckered due to the lightness of the fabric and the tightness of the weave so I now stick to the simplest finish ... zigzag. A small loose zigzag stitch does the perfect job of keeping everything smooth and flat and of keeping fraying to a minimum. See? Nice and flat and smooth.

But then I decided to go and ruin it all by highlighting the different coloured panels with a decorative quilting stitch. It's not too bad though as I used tissue paper as a stabaliser when stitching. The biggest pain was having to pick all the tissue paper bits out of the stitching, I give that a 5 out of 10 on the tediousness scale.

And I think the effort is worth it, despite the slight puckering of the seam it looks so pretty I can stand it.

Infortunately I found that I still had a bit too much room at the waist. Goodness, I hate unpicking just one point less than I hate cutting out! But I think I tappered everything ok and all the panels are still even but I guess that means that the lining as muslin works, doesnt it?

So, I finished everything up and I have a pretty groovy lining. I decided against the lace and bound the hem instead. I actually used the cut off from the hem as the binding reversing it so the colours reversed. I like how it looks.

And the lining is done ... tomorrow I will cut out the skirt using the altered patterns and hopefully the muslin proves true and I have no fit problems. If everything works out I do think I may have made another improvement to the way I do things thanks this time to the internet! Thank you!

Section One - Special Item One - Winter White/Ivory/Beige Wool Gabardine Suit (Jacket & Skirt) - Stage One

Yep I am stretching Section One out as far as it can go! Explanations coming up; Sections 11 and 12 are for specific special occasions that are coming up or anticipated, and ,as was mentioned earlier, it is going to take approximately 117 years to get that far down the sewing list. I rather expect that the events will be well and truly over by then, so I have decided to break those last two sections up and tack individual outfits onto the end of earlier sections, two outfits to each section. Make sense? Of course it does! For these "special outfits" I may also post a few progress posts as I go along, after all something has to have a reason for being called special. Right?

This outfit is for a planned weekend down to Wellington to see WOW (the Wearable Art Awards) which is in around September/October. The suit will not be what I wear to the show/performance, but it will be an auxiliary outfit and thus almost as important ... grins.

This pattern has been in my collection for at least 10 years, though I think it is from the late 1980's originally. It is a Claude Montana and as I understand it none of his designs have featured in Vogue Patterns since them. It does have the "shoulders" look of the 80's though in a slightly less exaggerated way. I loved it from the moment I saw it and I unadventurously always wanted it in the colour (or lack of it) depicted on the pattern.

It's rated as an advanced pattern and initially I imagined all sorts of inserts and fiddly bits, but it turns out what I was looking at was just top stitching; still 4 well pockets, revere collar with collar band, and set in sleeves are nothing to sneeze at. There are 33 pattern pieces which is rather awe inspiring to start with and it is supposed to be fully underlined.

The pattern only has pants and I want a skirt so I branched out into this pattern. The reason is that the hemline vents mirror the vents in the jacket. I will, however, remove the back split as it seems a bit overkill to me. I am also debating whether to convert the vents into pleats in both the skirt and the jacket. Any thoughts?

I don't really like the like the look of the top stitching on the line drawing in either the jacket or the skirt so may remove it. I will do a couple of tests and see what I think on this fabric.

The fabric is from http://www.fabric.com/ and was advertised as a wool gabardine. It is wool but it is unlike any gabardine I have ever seen. It has a very soft feel without the "firmness" that I always associate with gabardine. Hopefully that means that some of the difficulties of gabardine will be reduced (difficulty in easing and shaping) while none of the positive qualities are lost (beautiful structure and smooth finish). I sent the fabric to the dry cleaner to be steam pressed and they charged me $15.00 :- That has gone up dramatically from last time, so next time I will be trying a London Press. I recently read about a method that sounded very easy to do. I have, of course, since lost the URL. Anyone have any ideas what it might be? I know London pressing is described in Roberta Carr's book but her way sounds complicated, and labour intensive.

Anyway what colour is this? I determinedly continue to call it winter white but I kind of think it might be beige ... blurgh ... That reminds me of my Mother's cat who she vowed and declared was a male, despite being told several times BY THE VET that it was a girl. She never stopped calling it Frank and referring to it as he until the day it died. I think I will follow her lead on this one ... it's winter white.

The pattern and fabric were chosen sometime ago and I have simply been waiting for somewhere appropriate to wear it. There are still some things to decide on, the first being what foundations to use; underlining, interfacings & lining. I hot and vigorously washed all the possible fabrics that I could use for underlinings before starting the process of working out which to use. I have a very delicate Swiss batiste, another batiste that is quite a bit more robust and a 400 thread count white cotton sheet...

I folded together the fabric, the heaviest interfacing I will use (Tailors canvas), and each of the possible underlinings in turn, and draped them on the mannequin. This is always a good step to do as I really expected the the heavier batiste would be the one but the underlining I got the best result with was the much stiffer sheeting ... go figure. It did not weigh the fabric down or make it bulky. It did support the fabric shape and gave nice crisp firm folds. Best of both worlds.

So here we have all the stuff my suit will hang on; White cotton sheeting, white tricot knit fusible interfacing and light weight but stiff weave tailors canvas.

The next trip was to the lining library and these are my best options, and of course there is not enough of the one that is perfect. There is only enough for the jacket. Typical! However I did find the darker toning one which makes up the metreage. I know I could buy more lining without too much expense but I have bags of lining and I am going to be good and try and work at least some of the way through them. Besides I have a plan for the two linings which I think will look rather groovy once it is all done.

The cotton box is the next stop, and I do have the perfect thread colour! Unfortunately I only have one, so I will have to put a couple more on the shopping list which is a bummer.

Finding the right buttons is also a process of elimination and fortunately this time I do not have to buy anything. Yay! I start by removing everything that is obviously inappropriate because of colour, size or decoration; I do not think snoopy buttons would work on this jacket. Next I pull out all those that do not have the right amount of buttons, and when I have got it down to the semi-finalists I pick the one I think might work. As noted this time I have something (circled) that I actually really do like a lot!

I need a zip for the skirt and it has to be invisible of course! Unfortunately I didn't have anything this time though I did have the right colour ... the middle one ... btw in reality the green one was not as ridiculous a choice as it looks in the picture. It's not so greenish in the "flesh".

My Mum had some beautiful, antique, mostly hand made laces that she got from her mother. Would I be a complete heathen if I actually used them? I remember when I was little girl, as a special treat, my Mother would let me take all the laces out of the Wedgwood box unroll them, reroll them and put them back. We didn't have TV. Anyway I would like to use them but it feels a little sacrilegious to use them to finish a lining on a skirt, but I am not really much of a lace on the outside kind of girl... I will think on it.

And the last few bits and pieces that I need, I have, so I only have to get an invisible zip, 2 cottons and 6 small buttons to tone with the main ones I chose. I see a little trip to the Bernina Shop in my future. Here I have gathered purchased bias binding, fusible stay-tape and purchased shoulder pads.

So I am all pressed and ready to go. It will be a busy day tomorrow as I want to try something new as regards muslins and to get at least a portion of the cutting out done ... we will see.

Housework - Main Bedroom - Blue silk curtains

The theme for my house is blue. In each room there is a contrast toning colour, but the main colour is a lovely navy blue.

I decided on silk for the main bedroom because I wanted some luxury and nothing is more luxurious than silk, in my opinion. The fabric when it arrived was this colour, which while lovely was not the navy blue that I wanted.

The fabric was also a little too shiny, as I knew it would be. I wanted restfully elegant, not nightclubesque sparkle. I decided to risk all and dye it knowing that washing dupion silk will take of some of the shine and hoping that using professional dye marked for silk would to the job. It did, though I was a little less than happy with the immovable creasing that resulted. It also weakened the fabric a little and the fibres now come apart much easier. Fusing light weight but stable knit interfacing to the silk panels before cutting them dealt with the problem mostly but near the edges I had a couple of small holes that needed a little creative darning.

The curtain rail is black powdered metal with rings and after a little experimentation I found that I had to change the rings for the tape and hooks to work.

We also had another wee problem with the railing which we had to fix. When I first put the rail up it was anchored with one bracket screwed into wood the remaining two were set into the fibre board with fibre board clips. This was not sufficient and as soon as the curtains went up the rail came down. That made me smile I can tell you. A gritting my teeth until my gums bled kind of smile. So we screwed up painted skirting wood and then screwed the rail brackets to the wood. It's taking the weight so far. Remind me not to swing off it though.

The curtain has four layers to it; the fabric, the knit interfacing I used to strengthen the silk a little, the black-out thermal backing which I used as underlining, and the lining.

I wanted my room to be black at night, and that is what I am getting! For this shot I closed the curtains, and shut the door after I had set the camera for lowest light conditions that it could do. OoooOOOooo blackness.

I like the look of plain pleated curtains, I know you can get all sorts of fancy tapes now which pull the fabric into pleats and tucks and ruffles, but I decided on simplicity thinking the fabric was exciting enough.

I did, however, my usual perfectionist compulsive thing of hand tacking each pleat to hold it. I really do think it is worth it though because of the lovely even pleats and fall of the curtain. What's a couple of hours of my life compared to that?

I hemmed the curtain the same way I did the nets with a hemming band. It is a bit fiddly in the execution but when it comes to any repairs it is so much easier. I hand finished the band on the right side including pick stitching along the edge for extra strength.

I also pick stitched down the sides of the curtain to hold the pulled back edges. Looking good.

I love the serenity in this room now, with the outside awning, the nets and the curtains it is a lovely shady, cool room. It is on the sunny side of the house in the late afternoon and anyone who has a north facing house knows what that can do to a room. Oven! Though again this isn't the best picture because of all that light coming in the window.

This gives you a slightly better idea. Do you agree that the reduced sheen is better in the curtains? And with them up I cannot even see the creasing which I know must have occurred by being washed in the washing machine. Salutary lesson, if I do this kind of thing again I will try doing it in a large pail.

The room looks more glamorous already. Silk is a wonderful fabric.

Housework - Main Bedroom - Net Curtains

I know I said that the last post was the last one for section one; I fibbed. As part of the regeneration project I am also tidying up the house so I will be doing a home maintenance/decoration project at the end of each section. That way I do not get bogged down and bored, doing a lot of one thing can do that for you. I find if I do a little detour into curtain sewing (or whatever) I cannot wait to get back on the main road again!

It's really difficult to take a photograph of semi-transparent curtains with the sun shining through them. This is the best I could do with the awning down.

... so then I tried taking a photograph from outside as well ...

But that is kind of light on detail as well ... oh well, they are floor length, plain tape gathered curtains made from a pretty crushed voile that I found.

That has a bit of a story to it actually as when I got it home and prepared to cut I found that the #%@&%# sales girl had sheared a big concave sweep out of the fabric piece, so there was a good 50cm missing from the length, to say I was miffed is putting it lightly because I needed that 50cm!!! I didn't feel like driving all the way to Manukau City for it so I took a punt that the local shop would have some. I normally don't shop there because being a country town you can usually add $20.00 to the price of everything, but on this occasion I decided my tight-waddishness would have to deal with it. Fortunately Kevins did have almost exactly the same thing, it was slightly coarser in weave but was otherwise identical, and wouldn't you know it! It was $5.00 cheaper per metre than the other, talk about just desserts. Anyway I got the fabric and made the curtain, and next time I went to Manukau City I went to the shop there and complained, and they gave me an immediate $15.00 credit, no questions asked. So everything turned out well in the end.

As I said I used tape to gather the curtain and I am pleased with the result, though pedantic me had to hand catch each pleat on the inside for uniform results ... grins ... I tell you I can't help it!

The nature of the fabric dictated french seams which were easy to do and gave a nice flat even result due to the slight stiffness of the fabric.

Down the sides I kept it simple and did a narrow finish on the edge (stitching 3mm from the edge then turning that edge in and stitching again), and then turned the edge in, tacked it down to ensure a nice even finish and stitched it by machine once more. It puckered ever so slightly so I washed the curtain once it was finished, stopped the cycle before a spin occurred and hung it up wet with light weights pegged to the hem. I then left it to dry. The finish is like a very thorough press ... Oh it pays to have towels under the curtain to catch the drips.

Learning from previous experience I hemmed the curtain by applying a hem band. I did this because in another curtain I made, with the fabric wafting against the floor (I like floor length curtains), the fabric wore away in some areas. Using a hem band means I can replace the worn portion (should that occur again) without major effort. Secondly the additional fabric adds a bit of weight to the bottom of the fabric and serves to pull everything flat. Besides it looks neat and tidy.

To apply the band I finish the actual curtain edge (I have the curtain as long as the finished length - I do this as it adds weight and I prefer the uniform colour it gives to the hem band. If I cut it off shorter you can see the seams and whatnot inside the band and it looks untidy to me). I then cut a band that is as long the curtain plus 4cm's and 13cm's deep (the depth is personal preference, but make sure you have 3cm's of seams; 1.5cm on each edge). I prepare the band by making hems at each end similar to how I make the hems on the sides of the curtain. I then sew the band to the curtain right side to wrong side. Once the seam is sewn I finish it and press it very well with the band down towards the bottom of the curtain. Next I make two folds in the band; one at half way and one where the seam line is on the other edge of the band. Tacking the band in place ensures a polished finish when I sew the band to the curtain over the previous stitching line. Why I do what seems back to front is so that I have full control over how the front will look without mucking up the back as I use the first stitching line as the stitching guide (you can see it through the transparent fabric).

I am happy with the way the curtains turned out. I have used voile before as I prefer it to standard lace, though I once used very expensive voile lace and upon reaching past the curtain to open the window the lace motif caught on my button and tore!!! There are not enough exclamation marks in the world to indicate my reaction to that. So I now stick with plain voile having decided that simple elegance is much more to my taste than sumptuous luxury that tears way too easily.

Clothing Combinations

So to the final post for Section One. I am going to try something out, it may all be discarded as too hard, too useless or too weird, but for now we will give it a whirl. Experimentation abounds here at the House of WR!

In section one I completed 9 garments: A purple wool coat, a purple jersey dress, a black wool coat, a red/black/beige jersey dress, a grey and black knitted jumper, a black wool floral skirt, a black wool floral top, a black tricot petticoat and a black wool knitted shawl.

The items are designed to fit together as four separate outfits but here we are going to see if there are any other possible combinations. And I am only going to accept combinations I have a 70% chance of actually wearing, so there will be no rigging the numbers, I promise.

To begin we have the four outfits as planned.

Then we have the other options:-

This is a definite no

This is a pretty unlikely, so no

Maybe somebody would wear this ... but not me.

I actually like this a lot and can see me definitely wearing this combination. 1!

I always thought this would work, and it does. 2.

I'm not actually keen on this one, the styles in coat & dress are too different, though I do love the shawl over the coat so maybe with a different set of clothes that might work.

Ok so now I am just being silly. I did however try the top over the two dresses, and actually quite liked the waistcoat look, but as I am extremely unlikely to wear them like this, they got consigned to the waste bin of history, but here is a wee sample for posterity.

I kind of like this idea but it's not my style however here as a couple more silly ideas that aren't too bad in execution ... opening my eyes to new ideas? Hmmm probably not in this case.

And finally the shawl which doesn't look too bad over any of the dresses, however it looks a bit much like the shawl I throw over my dress as I run up to the village to fetch the doctor for my da who is dying of the consumption ... so nah.

At final tally we have 9 items and 6 outfits, though I realise that adding a coat can hardly be considered a whole new outfit, but as I stand at the beginning of this venture I am going to extend myself some largess and call it six. Ok so there is a little rigging of numbers.

Outfit Three

As it was my original intention I thought it only fair that I continue with this outfit as planned rather than skipping on to the additional and zippier outfit I added on later. So here we are and her name will be Sauerkraut ... I kid, I kid. I seem to have hit upon a food motif for the last two outfits and and sauerkraut is just about the only Germanic type food I could think of, that and liverwurst, so, instead we are going to go with Claudia, as in Schaeffer. Don't you think this is something she might wear? Snort.

As silver/grey is the predominant colour in this outfit it seems only right to carry it through in to the jewellery I plan to wear, so safe silver hoop earrings, silver thumb ring, silver and grey bead bracelet and my newest watch ...

... this is my third baby G, you could say I like them.

I like the hair in the jumper pattern picture, long and smooth. I also like the hair in the picture above; long, smooth and boofy! I purchased some anti-frizz stuff from the hair dresser, she swore it was the best stuff ever, and so it should be for $50.00. I haven't used it yet, but I did drop it on the floor as soon as I got home splitting the bottle and spilling about $10.00 worth of the stuff. I scrapped it back up as best as I could hopefully it doesn't have cat hair or any extra biddy bids in it ... I also bought some hair volume stuff which I am not that keen on. My hair feels kind of rubbery after using it, but it does the job as far as thickening everything up.

And as I am thinking of this as a 'going to the pub for dinner' outfit, the bag I use will probably be this one; a nice, useful, but not too big handbag. This is one of my favourites.

Ok, ok, I can't resist, here is Claudia 2, well actually it looks kind of gypsyish so maybe I should name it something else ... I'm drawing a blank so Claudia 2 she remains.

As this is a more elegant evening outfit sparklies must abound. And I mean that seriously. Earrings, necklace, tennis bracelet, 2 rings and a watch ... Bling-o-rama ... but tasteful.

Look! Jane Austen hair! So pretty and I think it will work perfectly in this ensemble.

I want a beaded evening bag. I don't have one though I really like this one from www.diamonet.co.nz. It cost $99.00 so I need to think about it for awhile longer, but I will let you know if I weaken and buy it.

To the make ups .... basically they are different version's of the same. For the "pub dinner" look we have pink gel on the cheeks (to disguise the growing blush from the food and wine consumption), berry gloss on the lips, probably with some of that stingy lip plumper to start because the gloss will be eaten or drunk off almost as soon as I get there. And I am thinking a light touch of blues on the eyes. For the "fancy restaurant dinner" look I just thought I would darken everything up a bit ... plum shimmer lipstick, navy blue and silver eye pencils with grey and black eyeliner to try and achieve that smoky eyed look (I have yet to master this as I tend to look either sick or bruised, but I will practice). And with all that action on the face I'm thinking the furthest I go with my nails will be to France.

N.B. Im sorry about face. When I drew it I thought I would be smart and just draw one side and do some jiggery pokery in the computer ... she may be symetrical but she has a tendancy to crossed eyes ...

Two for the price of one! They may not get frequent wear but I suspect they will but much loved when they are. Neither are flamboyant outfits, in fact they are reserved, quiet and rather shy, but sometimes it really is nice just to disappear into the wallpaper especially if it has large voluptuous rose posies, circa. 1943, on it.

Wardrobe Progress - Part six, seven, eight & nine

The wardrobe is really starting to look full isn't it? Ok so it is partially an illusion as there are alot of empty plastic bags in there, but the point is that there are three, 3, III, full ones. And, more importantly I have choices! And thats not all. I now have something nice to wear in a variety of places ...

... because I have nine garments and all of them wearable! So this is the second knitted thing and I would like to remind everyone that that means the second knitted thing that I have completed, ever. I feel overwhelmed with a sense of accomplishment, and now ..... I'm over it. It is amazing how good it feels to be seeing things ticked off my long and daunting list. I have now completed section one of the plan, only 20 more sections to go ... actually I am not sure how many sections there are, and I am not going to go and count them, because, I suspect, that just may freak me out.

-12- ... and yes I am freaked out because I am going to have to live for 120 years to get all these clothes made ... hopefully I won't get arthritis because that might make all that hand sewing very difficult.

Outfit Three - Black Floral Wool Skirt & Top, Black Tricot Half-Slip, and Black Knitted Shawl

PATTERN REVIEW

Here they are. I feel like I am channelling Fraulein Heidi.

Well not really, in fact the fabric is so lovely my eyes almost completely skip over the gathering. I am not a gathering sort of person usually, though I do have a soft spot for peasant blouses with gathered necklines, but that is a whole different story. Anyway, because the fabric is so delicate the gathers drape rather than 'broing' so I can deactivate the alarm on my style-o-meter and like this one.

Because of the fabric constraints I reduced the seams down to one in the skirt. And, because I decided not to line it I bound the seam edges in satin bias. Did I mention that I have no clue why I decided not to line this skirt? It is a complete mystery and makes no sense. I know I can quite easily add a lining, and I kind of think I might do so in the not too distant future, but I think I will leave it for awhile with just the half slip and see what I think after a few wears.

The fabric had such a relaxed weave that I am not thrilled with the binding (part of the reason I think I will add a lining) as it looks a bit chewed in places.

The invisible zipper is perfect thanks to a closed end tutorial I found at http://www.thesewingdivas.com/. I had always found invisible zips unsatisfactory because of the little ripple/lump that occurs when trying to finish the open seam after the zips insertion. In the Diva method the seam is sewn shut, just like a normal zip, and then the zip is sewn in. And see how much better it looks! I even managed to match the yoke seam edges well!

It's funny that I remember my mum and sister using invisible zips way back when I was a little kid and yet they have only seemed to catch on fairly recently, with me at any rate. And here I am so inspired by them that I am going to have to go and replace all the zips in the clothes I made before.

I finished the end of the zip with bias tape and caught the zipper tape in the seam bias for a clean finish. I even like the way you can finish facings on the inside with invisible zips. With regular zips you just cannot get that close to the teeth to sew a facing/lining down, and thus I always resorted to hand stitching which never looked quite so even, nor so tight. Yay for the invisible zip is all I can say.

I put a hook and eye at the top of the zip to add a bit of insurance in case of zip failure. It has happened before much to my chagrin.

The border dictated the hem as I felt it needed framing with a line of black

To finish the hem on the inside I simply satin stitched lace to the overlocked edge, and then fell stitched it close to the border by hand so that nothing would show on the outside. It took a bit of time as I placed a stitch on every hill and valley of the lace.

I made hangers from the left over satin bias with thread loops at the waistline to hold things flat. It has turned out to not be a monumental success as the fabric is so soft it crumples inward as soon as it is hung, so the skirt is living over the hangers skirt rail which is a bit of a bummer as it means I will have to press it every time I wear it :-(.

I found a long forgotten piece of black tricot and a length of wide lace so simply threw together a classic straight knee length petticoat with an elastic waist and lace embellishment at the hem. It feels rather pretentious to call a rectangle of fabric sewn together with one seam a self draft. I think 'thrown together' is much more accurate. But, even though it is nothing special I am kind of thinking that this skirt will need the support if it gets the regular wear I expect it to.

PATTERN REVIEW

The top is lovely but it was a bit of a basket to make. The fabric is like tissue as far as body goes. I decided upon a rather stiff satin lining to add support and it worked, up to a point. Everything lies smooth and flat, there are no puckers or pulls, it stands up in wearing with no odd bulges or dips, but (you knew there was a but) there is something wrong with it. I will wait until I have knitted the shawl (in 3 years), maybe it's simply that it looks rather plain without any extra embellishment, though I really think the fabric is sufficient on it's own.

I did an invisible zipper like the skirt and it went together perfectly. That method (http://www.thesewingdivas.com/) really works wonderfully.

Even the lining around the zip went in well without a murmur. Though it looks a little bulgy in the picture it really isn't. I think the camera is picking up the changes of light that are just a part of being satin and rendering them as contours. It's odd because in reality the satin lies completely flat around the zip.

The neckline is quite deep and very wide, though I promise that my size dial doesn't show when I wear it (actually I really wish I had some of those things in strategic places). The little split is a really cute feature and takes the top a step higher as far as style goes.

I used the satin lining as a facing for this top and the understitching, even though I could not take it right to the edge of the split, works splendidly. Someone asked me if the top was reversible and I was almost inclined to tell them yes.

The armholes is where I strayed from the pattern instructions the most. In the reviews I read at http://www.patternreview.com/ it was noted that the instructions for attaching the lining did not work, on top of that this fabric was demanding in it's construction. Thus I chose to put things together differently.

I sewed the central portions of the top, both fabric and lining, together around the neckline and zip. I finished the neckline completely with clipping, pressing, understitching etc. I then sewed the side bits (fabric and lining) together around the armholes, again finishing them completely. This left me with 3 sewn pieces; the front and back, and the two sides. I then sewed parts together along the front and back princess seams in both the fabric and the lining. I really believe this resulted in a better garment than sewing the neck and armholes together and hand finishing the shoulders. I in fact, hand finished the upper part of the armholes including hand picked understitching and have been rewarded with a smooth armhole.

In the pattern legend the instruction was to stitch the lining to the top around the hem, but others found that this resulted in a resistant sausage when they tried to pull the top right side out. Spurred by this knowledge, and also due to my realisation that the challis fabric begins to relax after hangs around a while to such an extent that when left hanging for half an hour, hems that were basically equal in length are now a good inch different, I went my own way. I decided the simplest and possibly most effective method was to hem the fabric and the lining separately. The fabric I simply turned up and fell stitched by hand including the mitred corners.

The lining I stitched lace on the inside to cover the edge and then topstitched all the way around.

As the neckline is wide and the shoulders are comparatively narrow I made lingerie loops which you can hardly see in the above fabric. Photographing black garments is a frustrating and largely disappointing performance. I did try upping the contrast and lightness but it ruined the pictures. Anyway, I made the lingerie latch out of satin bias which i hand stitched into shape and added the ball part of the dome too and stitched the corresponding socket to the lining of the garment. Strong and useful.

Wow, somehow I managed to compress my usual three years of knitting into 3 months, funny enough it still felt like three years in the execution. I guess it bodes well that I completed this project in semi-reasonable time, though when I look at the throughput of some of the experienced knitters out there my mind boggles. How do people knit that fast? I timed one of these rows and going flat tack it took me 9 minutes :-. That means if I knitted constantly without stopping, all 161 rows would take me 24 hours ... hmm that is not as long as I thought it would be, and thus my point is kinda undermined. Lets move on.

I am glad it is done. I am also glad that there are no glaringly obvious errors. I guess I am also glad that it is pretty. If I keep concentrating on the good the bad will pass, eventually. So what if I had to unpull it 15 times. Yep, that many. It was only then that I learnt that the way to stop myself from losing count over 350 odd stitches was to type each row out long hand.

I feel a little embarrassed that I needed that sort of primer to complete the job, but I shouldn't really complain as it was that, combined with stitch markers, which mostly solved my problems, and as noted, at the end there are no obvious blunders. Thank goodness!

I also got to grips a little more with pattern knitting so I am feeling a little bolder when it comes to trying new things. No more stocking stitch for me! That of course is a bit ridiculous but in the next few projects I am looking at a quilting stitch, which I partly understand but think I will be able to work out when I have it in my hands, and cables! I'm wondering if cables maybe easier than I think and that I have been freaking myself out needlessly over them. Hopefully so. Positive thoughts, positive thoughts.

One bit I did fudge on was the edging. It was supposed to be crochet, but as I read C3, tr across, DC through back, I decided that I would pick up stitches along the edge and do three rows vertically of garter stitch instead. I like to climb only one mountain at a time, thanks.

Ok so costs and whatnot, firstly for the skirt, top and slip. I had some difficulty finding something to compare as when I put border print wool dress into search this is what I came up with ...

.... for $49.99 US at Chadwicks.com. I pass no judgment on this dress as it was just about the only thing that even remotely compares to what I have made. Obviously I am out of fashion again! Anyway, my outfit cost considerably more than that. Though www.emmaonesock.com does not appear to keep records of transactions so I cannot check the price of the fabric. My guess would be around $40 NZ per yard, so at a guesstimate around $62 NZ. The notions including the patterns, zips, bias, lining etc came to $53.40, so a total of S118.40. Add on another $14.50 for the petticoat and in my opinion I got my moneys worth. What do you think?

Now the shawl came to me in kit form from HERE, and it cost $34.95. Seems reasonable to me especially as a hand knitted shawl cost $69.99 ($129.93 NZ) from HERE. Those shawls sure are lovely though aren't they, and I don't see one bit of hair pulled out, or red faced swearing in them. Makes you think about what the real cost is, don't it?

Outfit Three - Planning for items 2, 3, 4 & 5 - Black Floral Wool Skirt & Top, Black Tricot Half-Slip & Black Knitted Shawl

This outfit has a bit of a history and has gone through several incarnations. Initially I had the jumper ...

It took three years to finish, but I always had in mind a kind of peasanty style skirt with perhaps a petticoat ... ah la this kind of thing ...

I know I am like 2 years late on the petticoat trend, but that is my usual MO. I am not a dedicated follower of fashion, I do not haunt the style sites, or read fashion magazines religiously. I do check out the latest patterns but I can go for seasons without buying anything and then fall in love with the latest looks, buy the whole catalogue and make them 3 years later. I like to think of it as being eclectic or maybe just a shade eccentric. And then I saw this beeeyotiful fabric at

http://www.emmaonesock.com/...

It is a wool challis and is very light and silky. The colours are a little off in the picture as the charcoal is actually black, and it's a little difficult to tell but the grey is actually a slightly metallic silver, and I can only rhapsodise about just how lovely it is. I will admit that I am a fabric junkie, much more so than I am for clothes. I actually have a couple of pieces of fabric for which I have left instructions that when i die I want to be wrapped in them in the coffin ... OK I imagine that is way too much information and also kind of creepy huh? OK, moving right along ...

When I initially saw it, I immediately thought of it in something like this ...

... a full twirly skirt, piping, and a cute bodice of some kind, more evening oriented than not. I hastily put in my order for 3 yards please. A day or so later I received an email stating that she only had 1.6 yards left. Heartbreak! OK, that's a little melodramatic but I was disappointed and my grand plans shrunk proportionally. I knew I still wanted it and I still saw a fullish skirt, maybe just a little more modest.

Initially I thought a traditional dirndl might be nice, but, not being rude to dirndl's, they are rather common, and as I had also discovered that the fabric was a perfect match for the jumper ... that's when I decided that the yoke would be a better idea as it would not bunch up under the jumper.

Due to fabric shortage I did have to make an alteration or two. The skirt will not be as full as there just wasn't enough border to go around. I also changed the zip from the side to the back, again more to do with fabric shortage than design as I had to put a seam into the back yoke, and to me it would have looked a bit odd if I had not put the zip there.

I still hankered after that dress however, and oddly enough, even though there was not enough fabric to make a fuller skirt, due to the border, there was enough to make a top. So I chose a pattern for a sleeveless, round necked top with a couple of cute design elements that was long enough to cover the yoke in the skirt.

Here's a slightly closer up version. I read at www.patternreview.com that there are some issues with the lining so I will have to play around with that when I get there, I am thinking I might hand stitch the armholes. I usually like to do that anyway in faced or lined tops because, to me, doing the turn through the shoulder is clumsy and often ends up with an amateurish result as the seams don't meet.

As you can see the top has a back zipper, which I again will make invisible, and cute little slits here and there. I am thinking this way I may get the best of both worlds with separates that look like a dress! I hope so anyway. So that is items 2 & 3 of outfit 3, even though item 3, the top, has nothing to do with the jumper ... oh well.

Item 4 is just a tricot petticoat to go under the skirt as I have decided, for some reason I cannot explain, to not line the skirt.

Item 5 is because I am a complete masochist. More knitting ......... and not straight up and down, easy to understand knitting either. Very lovely but complicated, unclear, confusing knitting, and in black. So knitting that will take at least another three years, drive me insane, and send me blind all in once go! Awesome!

This is the pattern and it tells me to do things that I don't understand. And I think it has mistakes in it because it tells me to knit 9 stitches then start the pattern and that doesn't make any sense, but I am worried it's just because I don't speak knittish and that the mistakes are in me!! Anyway I have cast on the 35 gazillion stitches required and have vowed to conquer ... though I have another problem that I am confused by; how do you use circular needles? Like joined together normal ones, or do you just keep knitting forwards forever and ever? The main problem is that it is 356 stitches. 356! It would kill me to have to undo it if I made a mistake. It took me like half an hour to put them all on the needle in the first place ... I'm afraid I am going to just procrastinate ... for 3 years ... out of fear! I'm so stressed!!! ... and excited.

Wardrobe Progress - Part Five

My first knitting success story now lies cozily with it's kin that have been knitted by other people (usually sweatshop workers in China by my reckoning). My sweater drawer is looking kind of full so I think I will have to institute a one in/one out policy, the trouble is I have already done the major purge of nasty and cheap, so what is left I like and has quality. Mind you at the speed I knit I am thinking everything in the drawer is quite safe for some time to come.

Outfit Three - Grey & Black Textured-Knit Jumper

Well I couldn't really do a planning post on a jumper that I have been knitting for three years now, could I? Though I have to say that this is a very special jumper. Why? Because after 5 tries I have actually finished something I have knitted!!!

It's from a pattern and yarn that I got from http://www.foxcollection.co.nz/. The yarn is made up of two threads; a black and a pearl/grey, the black one having lumps (not the official term I am sure).

It is knitted in reverse stocking stitch, which seems remarkably like regular stocking stitch to me, the only difference being what side you choose to use.

The sleeves are raglan and the neckline falls off the shoulder with a ribbing collar, and other than that there isn't a great deal I can say about this garment, apart from the fact that I like it. I will admit that I did make a bit of a booboo on the neckline. I castoff a little bit tight so the collar doesn't sit as flat as it should, and I have no idea how to fix the problem, if it is even possible to fix it? In any case, I do still like it I am just a little concerned that I won't wear it so much because it has the habit of reacting like a taut elastic band that has suddenly been released each time I move. I am not fond of clothes that require me to stay rock still so as to look any good.

I can't even do my usual cost analysis because it is so long since I bought the pattern and yarn that all record has been lost ...

EDIT: Well I bit the bullet and unpulled the neckline and redid it. I was thinking as I picked up yet another stitch about the book 1984 by George Orwell and how Big Brother had developed a way of reading peoples minds so that when they tortured them it was with the thing they feared most. After two days of dealing with flippin' stuck bobbles and shredding yarn and finding missed stitches after I had progressed 5 inches and having to go back and the yarn being all tight and .... and ... and. I am pretty sure they would read in my mind to torture me through unravelling necklines. Anyway post rant here is the renewed collar, it does look much better and actually stays in place.

OUTFIT TWO - Part A

Another great reveal and I think this outfit shall be called Paprika. The reason should be obvious! Spicy and hot is the word!

I decided that the jewellry should be understated and classic like the coat to combat the rumbuctousness of the dress, so I have chosen small gold hoop earrings that are about double the width of sleepers, a gold bracelet watch, and just some simple gold band rings ... though when I say gold, I am actually saying in the nature of gold, or gold like ... just in pursuit of honesty ... grins.

The watch is a Paolo Gucci, and while it is rather robust looking it is not overly embellished, which I like.

When I first saw the dress and coat together I did get quite a strong 'spanish' vibe off it, so I thought that maybe I would let my hair be itself and just tie it back with a cute black barrette that I got from http://www.franceluxe.com/.

I always think of my hair as straight but it actually has quite a bit of wave, so I thought I might just spray in some hot curl and blow dry it and let it do its broingy thing, rather than trying to tame it into sleekness like I normally do. I am sure we both could do with the rest. Though even in it's wildest dreams my hair is not as curly as that in the picture, but that is the best I could find to show what I have in mind.

I will most often use the same satual as for Passionflower. It's pretty subdued in colour and style so goes with a lot of things. It also is big enough to hold everything I need without being too voluminous. My go to satual.

On cold days I usually wear these felt lined black leather gloves, so I guess they should get in on the act too.

I thought this outfit needed a scarf artfully tied around it's neck. I had this black merino wool one sitting around, so it got called into service and gained itself a new lease on life.

I think that make up colours need to be more in the browns than the pinks for this one, even though the dress has bluish reds in it, as the beige changes the tone of it. See, make up IS a science. Anyway ... I decided that apricot on the cheeks, ivory, brown and maybe a little olive on the eyes, with black mascara and I am undecided if it should be ginger or red on the lips ... though I think it will most probably be ruby red I will keep my options open, and I probably will do red on my nails either way, I even have a polish called chili so it fits right in.

How cool is this outfit? It is going to get worn to a rag I tell you. That is the funny thing about clothes huh? I look at what I make, and by and large like/love it all and yet there have always been a garment or two that has got worn a lot more than the others. What is that about?

This follows the same policy as before, as soon as I have a photograph of myself in the completed outfit I will post it, until then you have this blurry, swirly picture to keep you entertained!

Wardrobe Progress - Part Four

Wow, I really feel like I am on a roll now. It's becoming quite warm and summery now with longer days and brighter light which has me more in the mood to sew. The odd thing is that I am sewing winter clothes for some reason. The third outfit I have planned is also wintery but I promise I will start on some summer stuff after that. Oh but don't think we have finished with Outfit Two yet, part B is yet to come!

Outfit Two - Black Wool Coat

PATTERN REVIEW

Scrumptious, that is the word that comes to mind when describing this coat. I really love it when something comes together so well you feel incapable of criticising it. Rare but precious. The fabric was a dream to sew, the underlining/interfacing worked perfectly, even the slippery, skiddy lining behaved impeccably thanks to a little spray on starch. So here it is in pictures.

I think a coat either has to be exactly the same length as the dress beneath it, always a challenge, or at least 2 inches longer or shorter than the dress, otherwise it looks like you were trying to match the length and failed. I intended to make the coat longer than the dress but umm forgot. I seemed to do that a lot on this coat as I also forgot to do a Roberta Carr off grain adjustment on the front ... slaps head. In any case this seems to be the fashion at the moment, shorter coats over longer dresses, so I am consoling myself with that. I finished the hem edge by sewing it to the lining and then hand catching it to the underlining thus making the hem invisible. I reinforced the hem at the seams by stitching, by hand, in the ditch to hold everything flat.

I slanted the pockets and I think they look much better, somehow the horizontal pockets give such a hard line to the garment, and when it is on a wider part of the body it is, in my opinion, totally unflattering. In any case I prefer them on the diagonal, and I do like flap pockets, they seem to convey the idea of luxury just by their very existence. I used plain black satin lining to face the flap. I also pick stitched along the pocket edge to try and control them a little. It worked, mostly.

Revere collar: Our hated friend. I think revere collars are the best looking collars, but they are a pain to do. I don't care how good a sewer you are, reveres are always going to give you pause. I tried a new way (for me), found in a Claire Shaeffer book. After using this method I kind of feel that there is a slightly higher guarantee that I will like the end result, but it was still hard graft. Despite that I am very happy and would go so far as to say that this is the best revere I have ever done. I think the fabric made it easier because it had quite a bit of spring back that basically pushed the collar into shape. After which some pick-stitching tamed the beast so the shape was retained. It all sounds rather dramatic I know, but reveres can kill your will to live I am telling you. The original pattern asked for top-stitching, I decided not to do this after partially sewing the coat and really liking the smooth finish.

For the internal construction of the collar I fused the interfacings (light fusible and tailors canvas) to the underlining and then did machine padding. When I placed the underlining with the fabric I decided that I needed to sew through both layers which I did with a close narrow zigzag. This provided a bit of firmer construction where it needed it because I felt that if I left the 5 layers of fabric to just swim I would have continual difficulty with holding the collar flat.

My patented method of doing sleeves triumphed again and resulted in a 'perfect' sleeve head. I didn't make the shoulder pads as the purchased ones I had were the right size and did the job well. I bound the seam, which is part of the 'method', besides it just looks good, even if it is under the lining. I have never had a sleeve go wonky while doing this. I know that I do steal away a little of the lift in the sleeve cap, but for a smooth supported sleeve I am willing to make the sacrifice. I have never felt that it made significant difference in any case. I made a sleeve head to try and restore some of the loft and all in all I am happy with the result.

Tada! Buttons! Do you like them? Cause, I do. Just the right amount of class with a little panache. I went quite a bit further than Auckland and bought them online at http://www.sawyerbrook.com/ and yes I will be shopping there in future, their selection was astonishing and beautiful. Don't tell me I am on the edge of a button addiction as well!!!

I love this lining. Even though it was a relatively inexpensive synthetic charmeaus it adds such an air of luxury to the coat. I know that linings are there to serve a purpose part of which is not to be seen but I just can't help thinking that a sneaky bit of flamboyance never hurts anybody.

I didn't do the binding on the facing just as i thought I wouldn't, but I didn't do the piping either. When I looked at the weight of the fabric and the finikitiness of the facing/hem/lining junction I decided to fake it and do piping without the cording. I think that kept the softness in the construction that meant the facing and the coat went together properly. That probably doesn't make sense, but I have always had trouble getting the facing/lining/coat/hem portion in the front corners of the coat to meld properly. No matter what I did the coat front corner either bent in, or bent out, or there was a dimple at the facing/hem edge or some other malformation that made my brow furrow and teeth grind in frustration. Then I did a coat without piping and suddenly everything resolved. But, as I said, in all the flash RTW and couture sewn garments they have piping ... obviously I have yet to learn the trick that made the perfect corner possible with piping. It seems to stiffen the facing so that it doesn't fit the coat anymore. Mind you when I think about it, probably the interfacing applied directly to the coat had something to do with that ... hmm I see some experimentation coming on with the next coat ... I mean if there is a next coat. I also used a method of achieving a clean finish to the hem/lining/facing junction found at http://www.fashion-incubator.com/. This was the first time I used it and it lived up to the recommendations.

I used the same method to secure the lining at the vent back, and it was much easier and provided a cleaner finish than the usual hand sewing marathon. I am not, however, happy with the look of the lining at the vent. In my opinion it comes too close to the vent edge and doesn't look good. Next time I will cut the vent itself and the lining so that there will be a margin around the vent where there is no lining. It's the paradox of colourful lining really. If I had just used black this would not have jarred half as much. Still I am not ready to give up my vibrant linings just yet, this can be worked around!

I like the idea of securing the back pleat with embroidery. It looks pretty. I'm not sure the purpose of the coat hanger though, there is no way I am ever going to hang this coat from a hook by the door. Neither am I likely to sling it over my shoulder hanging from a single finger. It would probably break from the weight!

So assessment time: The cost for fabric, linings, interfacing, underlining, pattern, thread, buttons, shoulder pads, seam tapes etc ... comes to $207.57. I did the same as last time and put 'Black Wool Coat' into Google and came up with this one from http://www.neimanmarcus.com/ ...

... which went for the equivalent of $460.00 NZ. I may be biased but I think mine looks better ... Am I happy? Why yes I am!

Outfit Two - Planning for Item Two - Black Wool Coat

It's coat time again! As I mentioned I want something serviceable, that goes with everything so I decided that it had to be black and classic. Funny enough there were no inspirational ideas for this item either, just like the dress. However, I do like the idea of a bit of a challenge, so I am looking for something quite tailored. The fabric is a nice wool melton from http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/, ahh yeah you could say they have had a bit of my business lately. The fabric has a nice smooth face but is not overly heavy or stiff.

For the lining I went for a charmeuse print again, but one that was a little less bold than the last one. I was so impressed with the interfaced underlining arrangement I am going to do the same thing again with this coat. While it did make the purple coat heavier than it otherwise would have been it remained soft and fluid and comfortable to wear.

It's funny but I was discussing with a friend what actually constitutes classic when it came to coats, and I mentioned that for me it meant, I guess, what you would call a great coat. She, on the other hand, thought of it as something closer to a trench coat ... so it would seem, as in everything else, what is classic is a matter of taste and perception ... what do you think?

However, there is still a limitation upon what I get; what patterns are available. I had a great coat pattern years ago that I made a couple of versions of, one in camel and one in rust, and I have always had a fondness for that design. Unfortunately I no longer have that pattern as back in the day I was rather wasteful and thus a bit cavalier in my treatment of patterns ... oops. So I searched the pattern company websites and came up with nothing, so started up on ebay and pattern review and still nothing. Obviously my 'classic' design is not in fashion at present. Ever sanguine I went back and reviewed the patterns I had seen and decided that I could stand McCall 5247. In it's way it is a truer classic than the one I had in mind, so I am it turns out, happy with this choice.

As you can see it is a simple design, and I think in black it will be very useful. I actually have a black coat made from a Vogue pattern (the number of which escapes me and it is well and truly discontinued), and even though I said we don't get a lot of coat wearing weather here I have used it until it has become a little threadbare and rumpled (this was one of the coats I used sew in interfacing with, and didn't like it that much).

As far as alterations go, the only thing I am thinking of changing is the placement of the pockets. I don't think that horizontal placement is flattering on anyone and I tend to either remove them or place them on a bit of an angle. I will probably slant these ones rather than change things significantly as I do like inset welt and flap pockets. I will play around with placement etc. once I have cut out the pattern. Oddly enough in this pattern the flap pockets are fakes and there are inset seam pockets in the side. I have never seen that before ... I hate pretend pockets. Why bother?

It can't be said that I don't learn from my mistakes; I have yet to purchase buttons for the coat, and I won't until I find the right ones. That may delay the coat construction as I plan to do bound buttonholes again and those are constructed fairly early in the piece. So I will go as far as I can, and then, when I go up to Auckland next, hunt for some buttons. For my last black coat I got some awesome ones that look like big eyeballs. That doesn't sound all that attractive but actually they really are.

For this coat I want something more ... I am so over using this word ... classic. I was thinking maybe plaited leather or a plastic version of the same (I bought some brown leather buttons for another coat, then found some plastic ones that looked so much better). Other than that the notions are pretty easy, thread, shoulder pads (which I may make from scratch), seam tapes, and I may do proper piping instead of binding on the facing this time, so some fine cording.

Funnily enough this coat feels a little anti-climactic after all the fanfare of the purple one, and yet it probably will be a lot more useful ... does that sound like a metaphor for life or something?

Wardrobe Progress - Part Three

Ohhh look part three already. Now I know I am still imagining what will be there more than actually seeing dramatic progress but I am truly feeling like I can claim ownership of something that is starting to be worth having.

The next item on the list is another coat ... while I am still in love with my purple one I decided I needed something a little more serviceable .... it will probably take a bit longer to sew, so until next time I bid you farewell.

Outfit Two - Geometric Jersey Dress

PATTERN REVIEW

Another one bites the dust! This dress is so fun. How often do your clothes make you smile? Well, whenever I look at this frock, I smile. I am not sure why. Maybe it's the colours or the bold pattern or maybe the flirty design. It also fits well, and is so flattering ... though I am yet to get any feedback on that, so we will see. Oh and the neckline alteration worked semi-perfectly, I raised both the back and the front and was nervous all the way through, but it went together well, apart from some fiddling to get the gathering looking right. Thank goodness the fabric was not all that slippery or this could have become a wadder. I think I can say at this point that I am a complete convert to jersey dresses, and already have a couple more planned. It's funny I have always been a suit person, and most of the clothes that I have made which have become favourites have been suits. However, these last two dresses are starting to change my mind, and I can see 'the jersey dress' becoming a mainstay of my wardrobe. They are cute, versatile and in my opinion stylish.

I even liked this one without sleeves (seen here before I sewed the sleeves in), however this dress is meant for winter and it would be a bit chilly if I had left it this way.

I sewed this dress in the same way as I did the first, using the overlocker, and we had another success in that area. I also repeated the part underlining and part lining method for the lower skirt. On the first dress the change over wasn't visible on the outside at all, but on this one there is a slight dimple. I think perhaps because the fabric is less dense. The two dresses drape pretty much the same but I think the different weave means that this fabric is not as robust as the zigzag one. I ummed and ahhed about it, the perfectionist vs rationalist battle ragged for a bit, but then I decided that unpicking it could very likely create more problems than it solved, so the bump remains.

I used a cover-stitch to finish the hem on the fashion fabric, but this time I stitched narrow lace to the lining. It was and wasn't a huge success in equal measure, as the lining hem went into a flurry of ripples which would have looked awful apart from the fact that it came out as a ruffly lettuce effect and I really really like it, and I don't care that purists would see it as badly sewn.

I was going to bind the sleeve hems in black, thinking that a bit more contrast would serve to calm the print down, but once I had the sleeves in I could see that the reverse would be true, so I simply repeated the cover-stitch hem, and I am perfectly happy with it. Though I have to say that it is still one bodacious dress either way.

The funny thing about the different density in this fabric from the first jersey is that it actually works well with this pattern. I think if I had used something with the same weave as the purple the gathers would have bulged, whereas in this fabric they sit smoothly and without bunching. I am thrilled that chance was kind on this occasion, because, if I am being completely honest, I wasn't thrilled when I first saw this fabric. That will teach me for being a doubting Thomas.

One thing I am very glad of is that before I cut it out I recognised the potential mine field of this fabric as far as pattern placement in the chestal area ... whew.

Doesn't the black make this dress look crisp and elegant ... I tacked the yoke into position before sewing and actually did it a different way than the pattern recommended, not wanting to leave raw edges. I constructed the yoke as a complete unit before sewing it to the dress using the chain/overlocking stitch. I did stitch the seam to the lining (keeping the fashion fabric free) on the inside to act as a kind of under stitching. I'm not sure if it was strictly necessary but I do think it is holding things a bit flatter than they would have otherwise been.

A couple of others that felt that the neckline needed raising actually omitted the band at the back of the neck. Considering what a fiddly pain that it was to accomplish I am severely miffed that I didn't think of that too. Why it was difficult was that in the pattern the back neckline was a low V. By adding the band I complicated things significantly as I had to draft the neckband from scratch and then fit it to the altered back. Without the band it would just have been a matter of redrafting the back and sticking a binding on there, and from the examples I saw it still looked good. Still the my band came out well and I am happy with it. It just took quite a bit of time is all.

The pattern called for set in sleeves which was made even simpler through the gift of stretch. I did not bind the sleeve seams as is my usual habit, purely because I think it would have looked a bit odd on the inside, still I would be hard pressed to find something wrong with these sleeves, and you know I do put a lot of effort into finding fault with my work, so that is really saying something!

So lets break it down; the fabrics, lining, pattern, cotton, elastic and tape came to $ 95.55. As I had no inspiration specifically I simply put 'geometric jersey dress' into Google and came up with this frock, which seems to me fairly similar and is made out of rayon jersey, and cost $178.00, so I would have to say my dress is a bargain at half the price literally ... hehe.

I was thinking about why I do the price comparison thing, I have done it for years and I wondered if it was to validate my expenditure. I have decided that is not the case, but rather because I like to give my effort it's due. Is it vanity? I hope not, but rather maybe just acknowledging the fact that I do, do quite well thank you, and thus can feel content with the resources I sink into my sewing, both financial and time/energy. It is true that I could buy RTW, as I have in the past, and have a perfectly adequate, wearable, if somewhat uninspiring wardrobe, but I know for a fact I would not get a tiny percentage of the enjoyment that I do from making it. Am I strange and slightly too intense about things? Yes, yes I am.

Outfit Two - Planning for Item One - Geometric Jersey Dress

Jersey became the fabric dujour this year in sewing circles it seems. I can see why after the first dress I sewed (apart from learning that it's really not a good idea to leave a jersey dress sitting on the manniquin over night. That is unless you are really long torsoed and your hips actually hit somewhere around knee level), it went together wonderfully and looks polished, and most importantly is comfortable and flattering to wear. So I decided to try again!

This time the fabric itself was the inspiration. Again it came from www.gorgeousfabrics.com and I admit it is a very bold statement!

The fabric when it arrived was more of a t-shirting than the the last jersey and it was also a little lighter weight, which made the decision to line/underline an easy one. This time I ordered some stretch lining from www.emmaonesock.com, which turned out to be the same stuff that I got from Spotlight up in Auckland, go figure.

The pattern I chose for this one was, as I said, dictated by the fabric design. Actually I can't remember who was the chicken and who was the egg come to think of it. In anycase, either the pattern dictated the fabric choice or visa versa, you get the idea. I decided shorter was better this time around and that the fabric needed to be broken up with some plain black, which is where the neckband comes it. Vogue didn't have anything to offer, so I checked out Butterick who I normally do not like as they are, to me, Vogue's poor relation. That said there were a few designs for jersey fabric that I liked. So sorry Butterick for dissing you in the past.

There are no alterations that needs to be done apart from raising the neckline by a few centimetres. Is it just me or has that become increasingly frequent; modesty is not in fashion it would seem. I admit to feeling a bit intimidated in attempting this alteration because of the distorted front pattern piece, but in practice found it quite simple. I altered the yoke piece and then made a paper muslin to fit the front together. I haven't actually sewn the dress yet so it may all turn to custard, but in theory it all seems to work.

I don't normally plan my alterations on the legend being a bit of a neat freak and liking to keep my patterns in good condition, so the squiggles on this one show just how intimidated I was feeling :-P

One of the things I like about these dresses is that they are super light on the notions. A bit of thread, some clear elastic, a bit of cotton tape and we are done. Another thing I like is 'one day', and I have a new dress! I can see more of these in my future especially as there are some beautiful fabrics circulating at the moment, and as I mentioned there are quite a few patterns available that are different, pretty and easy. I am hoping that I will have a wearable wardrobe before too much longer.

This is my sewing set up. It's compact but everything is close at hand. I converted a corner computer desk into my sewing area and put a fold down ironing board right at hand, so I only have to swivel a little in my seat to do almost every job. I have got into the habit of going out and using the kitchen table if I have any prolonged hand sewing to do, but other than that everything is done right there, just as I like it.

OUTFIT ONE - Part A

So here she is, and we will name her Passion flower. Why? Well, while the passion flower is not purple the fruit is, and passionfruit just doesn't do it for me. It should be obvious why I want Passion in her name!

This is the jewellery I thought I would wear, though I am not sure about the broach now. When I bought it I had not done the transition in my head to the felting on the coat, so now I am thinking that maybe it is a bit much ...

... what do you think?

Edit: It has been decided through consensus that the broach is overkill so it has been relegated back to the jewellery drawer. However, I am looking for a pearl ring to compensate and will post a picture as soon as I find what I am looking for.

Because I see this as a meeting outfit, the bag I will mostly likely use with it is my black satual (have to have something big enough to hold all those books and pens and things). It's leather and I like it and that's all I have to say about that.

Simple and sleek that is my thoughts about hair. Something like the above picture though in brown obviously. I bought a straightener with the misguided idea that it would simply be a matter of turning it on and straightening my hair. Then I watched the how-to DVD ... I have the feeling that 9 times out of 10 my hair will be going au-natural, annoying kinks and all ... I do have grandiose ideas from time to time, but when it comes to getting out of bed an hour early to do my hair my laziness/pragmatism usually wins out.

Part of the whole wardrobe refashion includes sorting out the make up tin ... I haven't actually bothered with make up much for quite awhile so it's fun to play with it again. My colours of choice this time are, predictably, purple, gold and a little silver on the eyes, and slightly shimmery bronzer on the cheeks. I did debate what lipstick would work and decided a light mauve might be nice though I do have the option of the following ...

No? Well how about this then?

On my nails of course. I can't remember when I got the purple lipstick and what I wore it too. Hopefully only to try it on, and upon taking one look in the mirror I discarded the idea immediately. I like dark lipstick now and again, but not one that makes me look like a cadial infarction is in my imminent future. Purple nails though will look quite chic I think.

This will be me in said outfit when I get round to dressing up and taking photos.

I love this outfit, I can see the dress getting a lot of wear, and the coat being pulled out on special occasions. It is heavy and thus, I think, more of an accent piece than wardrobe staple.

But even with the wearability problems I decided that having only one thing that 'went' with such a beautiful coat was a waste so the idea for Outfit One Part B was born, however, that will be down the track a ways because now we have Outfit Two to look forward to, too!

Wardrobe Progress - Part Two

Whoo hoo. I have an outfit! I now have something to wear that does not involve a T-shirt! The wardrobe still looks alarmingly empty but somehow I feel like my plans are starting to come together ... or maybe that is just my delusion.

Oh and I know they* say that I should not be using plastic clothes bags, but rather cloth ones, but I have to make those too and well, at present, the clothes are taking precedence. OK?

* That is the they we use when we don't actually know who said it, but they sound like they know what they are talking about.

Outfit One - Purple Felted Coat

PATTERN REVIEW

So here it is! Did I mention I love coats? I love this one in particular. I love the design of it with the 50 - 60's styling, and I love the felting, which turned out to be easier but more time consuming than I imagined (this coat took three weeks to make!). The underlining idea I had worked really well, but it did render things weighty so I can't see the coat being used too often, unless I start making plans to go to Alaska, which I would really love to do ...

Isn't it pretty though! To do the felting I started with a single felting needle to set the design and then I punched it with the Clover multi-needle. It took ten passes to integrate the wool into the fabric on the right side. I then turned the cloth over and punched the loose threads back through to the right side. The wrong side had a cute fuzzy look (forgot to take a picture sorry) and I can actually imagine using it as the front side though I don't know how stable that would be. To finish the felting off I used the single needle on the right side again to tidy up the edges and re-punch the design one more time. In my inspiration picture they used machine needle punching, but as I didn't feel spending $500.00 was a wise expenditure for something that I didn't know if I would like or use again I decided doing it by hand was best, and I think I was rewarded for my efforts. It's cool!

I still find it amazing that there was only one design on Vogue for raglan sleeves. I like the lines of them and they are so easy to insert, though I remember the first time I did them being very confused. The coat pattern was cut without ease for shoulder pads, and when I tried the coat it sat well without them (obviously my mannish shoulders were enough support).

The sleeve hems have a vent in them for interest sake and it provided a vehicle for a bit more felting embellishment so I left them as is. Because of the boofy fabric, however, I did prick stitch along the vent to try and tame them a bit.

I could not imagine doing machine buttonholes on this coat, so bound it was. Of course with this rambunctious type of wool coating the buttonhole lips were a bit thicker than I like, but they still came out looking good I think. We wont talk about the buttons. Though I did do the recommended reinforcing button on the back and that looks good at least.

I bound the hem in the purple satin and I think it came out well enough. I just liked the idea of everything that could potentially be seen (I did not sew down the lining hem) being finished.

Because of the weigh of the fabric, and because of previous bad experiences with seam finishes showing on the outside, I stuck with a simple pink and stitch seam finish. I really like the clean look of it and because the fabric was felted it hasn't raveled at all. A little tip I will file away for future coat making endeavours.

A during sewing alteration I needed to do was when I found that with the thick spongy fabric the collar refused to sit flat (like the sleeve vent), despite a turn of cloth adjustment, so I ended up pick stitching all the way around the collar and also along the fold line. I made sure to catch the underlining and not the upper collar so it is invisible on the right side but I think it looks kind of groovy in any case.

And here is the super cute lining. I thought if fitted with the 60-ish vibe of the coat and I just loved it's bold swirls of colour. I still think the three different purples work together, my confidence may be a little blunted after someone said 'pity they didn't match', but I still see the slight discrepancies as a good thing.

One of the most frustrating aspects of jackets and coats is the little dimple that can form at the junction between lining, facing and hem. The best way that I have found to 98% guarantee it won't occur is to hand stitch the edges together while the coat is hanging on the maniquin. This seems to ensure that everything is meeting as flat as possible. I find that heavier fabrics tend to be a bit more forgivving too, so I had no problem with this coat ... yay!

I used one of my machines decorative stitches to hold the back pleat in place. I did have grand plans to pick out some of the design in the lining with silky thread, but after three weeks I decided that I had already used up the time allotment and then some, on this particular garment.

I wanted to carry on the theme of the purple binding, so as a final flourish I banded the lining hems (body and sleeve). I simply cut the hems away and inserted a panel of the purple ... not difficult.

In the final analysis of the coat: It cost $260.71. I have never seen anything RTW to compare it to, but I feel it would be worth considerably more than what I paid for it; most 100% wool coats being around the $500.00 mark, and none of them had any hand embellishing. So even if I factored in the cost of my hours and electricity it comes out bearable, and really only a totally obsessive compulsive person would do those kind of calculations ... not me, I wouldn't do that ... !

Moving on ... my final opinion of Outfit One is that ... I LOVE IT! Though I have decided that there will be a part two to it at a later date simply because, as it is, this coat will not get the amount of wear that it deserves (or that would make all this effort worth while).

Outfit One - Planning for Item Two - Purple Felted Coat

Phew, I thought for a minute that all there was ever going to be was that one dress sitting all alone! But wait there is more ...

I love coats. I don't really live in an environment where a lot of coat wearing is warranted, perhaps 10 days a year are truly cold enough, mostly you can quite happily get by with a cardi and a brolly. But as I said ... I love coats. The luscious fabric, the sumptuous comfort, the elegance ... yep, I sure love coats. So, a couple of years ago I was given this magazine as a sample, and whadayaknow I loved this coat too! I didn't plan to make it in purple initially, actually seeing it as a red ensemble (I even have the fabric).

However, when my Missoni inspired dress begged for a co-ordinating coat I bought a beautiful grape coloured wool coating at www.gorgeousfabrics.com at the same time. Still having the red ensemble in mind for the felting, I didn't plan to do needle felting on this coat, actually thinking that a simple counterpoint to the busy pattern on the jersey was what I wanted. As they say though, the best laid plans of mice and men are liable to change and so did mine. I did have a certain type of pattern in mind (raglan sleeves, high wedge style collar etc.) and as I let the project sit and stew for awhile the idea of needle felted embellishments resurfaced and became a reality.

It is a truly lovely fabric, thick and soft, but not so thick and soft that I would look like a great big purple teddy bear in it (well not because of the fabric anyway). I was nervous about hot washing the fabric in the machine and drying it in the dryer. It could very well have shrunk to become a rather expensive dolls blanket, but after a few tests I could see, not only was it an essential step if I didn't want the roving wool falling out in big clumps, but the washing did not appear to affect the fabric greatly (at least not in the tiny sample I used), so I risked it.

Some doodles later and my mind conjured up exactly how perfect this was all going to look (never a good thing, as I don't believe I have managed yet, to make anything that has lived up to my imagined creations), and the decision was made to give it a go.

I bought the roving wool from www.cobwebcottage.co.nz, and the felting equipment from http://www.foxcollection.co.nz/.

Another thing I love about coats is that big, bright, flamboyant linings do not look out of place in them, in fact the louder the better in my opinion. I found this lovely synthetic charmeuse at Spotlight in Manukau City. I decided that I also needed a matching monochromatic satin to act as a bridge between the lining and the coat fabric. None of the purples actually match precisely but to my eye they blend well and the differences add to the whole. I will admit I do have a slightly quirky idea of colour, but after many compliments I can only assume that my ideas are not as wacky as I sometimes fear.

One thing I have never been fully satisfied with when sewing coats is the interfacing. Because of the piled surface of the wool, and the stiffness that results from fusible interfacing I feel that the character of the cloth is completely changed, and not for the better. I have used sew in interfacing a couple of times, however maybe because of my lack of know-how (though I followed the method in an often credited book on tailoring), the fabric and the interfacing seemed to work against each other rather than one providing support and structure to the other. Anyway the upshot is that this time I have decided to try something a little different and underline the coat in a light 100% cotton broadcloth to which I will fuse the interfacing. I think I will then sandwich the interfacing between the coat fabric and the underlining. My only concern is that it will add too much weight which will be counterproductive to either the sewing or the wearing of the coat.

We will see if this is the best idea ever, or my beautiful coat is destined for the plastic bag on top of the wardrobe where the failures that I cannot bear to part with end up. My resolve, of course, is to one day pull each and every one of them apart and repair whatever damage there is. It's like one of those gaping wounds of life that haunts me, but which I never seem to find the time (or inclination) to heal ... sighs. Note: Only the first bag contains my sewing disasters, the other bag is fabric for the house (curtains and whatnot). Just as to be clear that I am not such a terrible sewer as to need two bags to contain my mistakes. Though that said it does look like it's bursting at the seams doesn't it. Obviously I need to set aside sometime to actually do something about some of the stuff in there or I won't have anywhere to put the disasters for this next year!

As mentioned I have a strong idea about what I want this coat to look like. It must have raglan sleeves to mirror those in the dress. It won't have a revere collar, but rather one that circles the neck which is necessary to carry out my diabolical plan with the needle felting.

It's hard to credit, I know, but Vogue only had one raglan sleeved coat pattern; a short one. I prefer Vogue patterns I know a lot of sewers seem to dismiss them, but I like the fact that they are more or less universally well drafted, and because of that they are easy to alter to suit my personal taste. I find the drama of Burda with the multi-pattern, and the drafting, and the seam allowances (which I always seem to forget to include, I suppose because I am used to Vogue doing that bit of work for me) tiresome. I do like some of the designs, speaking of which I would happily give my right leg for the February 2008 edition. The last magazine I saw on Ebay went for 20 pounds (approx $50 - $60), so I guess I am not the only one lusting after this one. And for me, at that price, the affair must remain unrequited. I am a loony when it comes to patterns, but even I must draw the line somewhere! ... UPDATE: I got one and for a not too insane a price. See patience and a determination not to completely lose your mind does pay off!

Anyway, I bought this pattern (V8123), and altered the length without too many issues. I considered putting a walking vent in the back, but on reflection felt that it wouldn't really suit 'the vision', and made it slightly A-line instead. I also added welt pockets.

I do have one large and festering gripe about this project: The buttons. OK so it was partially my fault because I was being lazy and I asked someone to go and find some large, simple, purple buttons (never, ever, ever trust someone else to make that kind of decision when you are putting this much work in to something ... ever). They very kindly did and came racing back to report that for $1 a button I could have 'the perfect' button dyed to match the thread colour. Sounds awesome doesn't it? Three weeks later I get the call that the buttons are ready, only the $1 price has inflated to $2.60 per button due to some palaver about the $1 being only if I ordered 1 million buttons (something like that) and postage and the shop making no profit ... wah wah ... Still $2.60 is not expensive for a button by any means, and my friend said that they were 'perfect' remember. I was taken aback again when told I had to purchase 10 buttons, when I only needed 5, but still the word 'perfect' kept flashing before my eyes, so I coughed up the $26.00 only grimacing a little and wondering what food I could live without this week. Then the buttons arrived!!! Perfect turned out to be the cheapest looking plastic tat I have seen in a long while. They even had a highly visible second set of uncut holes in the centre ... my mouth was very much in this shape ( only not sideways. I even tried painting them with clear nail varnish to disguise their flaws. All that achieved is that they now look shiny and cheap ... !!! I did consider taking them back, but was too chicken (the lady in the Bernina shop is scary), so then I considered beating the price out of Beryl's* hide, but she wasn't around and by the time I saw her again I was kind of over it. I do know that when I get the chance I will be looking for the 'actual' perfect button to replace them. EDIT: It is awesome having friends! A good friend has said he will fix my problem by boring out the second set of holes. I will post an update picture once I get that done, until then my complaining will remain.

*Name changed (but not too much) to protect the guilty.

So with roving, horror buttons etc. in hand, we are ready to begin ... how exciting! (This picture reminds me that I really need to replace my blocking board cover ... blush.

I must admit that looking at my sewing area all preped and ready to go inspires me to sew. Unfortunately I don't feel the same when I see a slab of uncut, albeit beautiful fabric ... I love sewing, but hate cutting out.

Wardrobe Progress - Part One

Well the wardrobe is still empty but progress, albeit small, has been made. This feels miraculous especially after the last couple of months which have been one of the stormiest and wettest winters we have had in a looooong time, as well as being one of the sickest for me. First there was the flu which I thought was going to kill me. I had temperatures of 40 degrees celsius and a heart that thundered so fast I was sure it was just going to give up ... scary. Then there was the lovely septic throat .. ugh and painful. Then the cold that just wouldn't leave. Well finally it has left and I have started to work on outfit one item two ... exciting, especially as the part I hate (the cutting out) is over!

Outfit One - The Purple jersey dress

PATTERN REVIEW

So here it is and I am 89% happy with it. I wish I could have matched the pattern on the seams but it proved impossible as the pattern on the fabric was not uniform and the seams had shaping, still everything is on the same level so I beat down my inner perfectionist and decided to be happy with it as is. The other thing that left me less than happy was the neckline. I think I took it up a little too high and because of my inexperience with sewing jersey it has a round shape rather than the sharp V I had envisaged. Still I am happy with the finish and the fabric sewed beautifully despite my lack of know-how.

I used my overlockers (serger) combined chain and overlock stitch to do all the seaming, which I am happy with. I used a woolly nylon in the lower looper, which I didn't find visually appealing, (the white on the purple looked kind of cheap) but it did give the strong, flexible finish that I wanted. I am quite confident that it will take considerable wear to break these seams.

On the seams that I felt more strength was needed (shoulders, armholes, upper sides) I zigzagged clear elastic along the seam edge. I was pleased to note when I tried the dress on, that this gave it the perfect amount of 'hug' without being too overt or too constricting, and the seam felt strengthened without any added bulk.

I lined/underlined the dress in lycra mesh as I felt the jersey fabric was a bit light to be truly forgiving on the female figure (well my female figure anyway) where it needed to be. I decided to underline the top portion of the dress but wanted the lower skirt and hem to hang free. Thus I did an ol' switcheroo just below the hip on the side seams. I tacked the two fabrics together as underlining all around the upper body, (neckline, shoulder, armholes, upper sides) and then sewed the side seams with both fabrics captured within the seam until i reached the point where I wanted the change over. There I divided the fabrics and finished the side seams in each fabric separately. It worked well.

I cover-stitched the hem on the fashion fabric, and zigzagged a wool braid to the lining. I am happy with the finish on both, as the finish on the dress was light and strong (no danger of broken threads here), and the braid on the lining gave it a bit of weight which combated the lycra mesh's innate desire to creep upwards and wind itself into a strangle hold around my knees.

One design feature of note are the underarm gussets. They are unnecessary for function as this garment has perfectly flexible raglan sleeves, so they are, in the truest sense, just for design. I'm not actually mad on them to be honest as all they seem to do is add a slightly irritating bit of bulk. I did consider removing them and sewing the resulting holes closed, thinking that perhaps the stretch of the fabric would compensate for the slight loss of ease. After some consideration I decided not to risk it as, as I said, the annoyance of the gusset is only slight.

The other feature is the neckline which has the front pattern piece extending into a raised collar at the back neck.

As previously noted the neckline has become more of a round rather than a V, which I am a little disappointed with. I think that I allowed too much bulk to creep in, in my quest to get a smooth concealed finish on the inside. If I had things to do over again I would take more care in the clipping and have since read about a fusible bias tape that is designed for such applications which may allow for a crisper finish. Jersey is, however, soft and fluid by it's very nature so I guess that makes a sharp edge a bit of an impossibility anyway.

I kind of had the same difficulty at the point where all seams meet on the shoulder. There is 4 layers of fabric that all have to meet at a point and they really didn't want to. I am content with the outcome though it is not perfect, but a little bit of off setting was needed to avoid a little mount everest of fabric at the seams junction.

In the original pattern the neckline was faced, but after initial construction I decided to convert the facing into an internal binding. Another alteration was necessary as I found that the binding did not sit flat and tended to show on the outside, and I ended up stitching the binding to the lining, keeping the fashion fabric free. Again I had my doubts as the binding seemed to pull the lining up and cause it to bulge, but my concerns were soothed once the dress was on as the weight of the lining pulled everything into position perfectly.

I like this dress, it suits me and it is a definitive example of the type of garment I favour; simple, form fitting without being revealing, elegant in styling with just a little flair - in this case the fabric. If I had known what I was doing with the fabric it would have been economical, however a significant blunder or two required that I purchase more fabric, so the cost, including the fabric, the lining, the pattern and the notions came to $119.95. Certainly not exorbitant compared to $2,000 odd, but still more than I expected or wanted to pay.

Outfit One - Planning for Item One - Purple Jersey Dress

It started with this dress, well actually quite a few dresses similar in style to this that lead me to this particular dress. Of course the $2,000 price tag put paid to any idea of getting my greedy paws on the original so the fabric hunt was on.

I loved the multi tonal theme in the original and I spied the perfect alternative at http://www.gorgeousfabric.com/ . While not having the variety of colours it has the spirit I loved in the dress. In shades of purple and tan it is pretty close to the following photo in tone, though it is a little more intensely coloured.

It's odd how when placed beside the navy lining, which is a lycra mesh by the way, the beige becomes much more prominent than it is in reality. Funny enough the intensity of colour in this photograph is more correct and the tone is wrong ... go figure.

The pattern I settled on was fairly obvious as i realised upon getting the fabric that I didn't actually want to cut the fabric design around as much as the Missoni dress would require, so instead I settled on what I thought was a simple shift.

I imagined a long slim line dress (maybe a little A-line) with the interest mainly provided by the fabric.

Vogue patterns are normally very good at providing enough detail for you to make an accurate decision about a pattern online. In this case however, no line drawing was provided and the clothes depicted on the site were made in dark, non-detail-revealing colours. Still it looked like it was exactly what I had in mind so I decided to take a punt, and purchased the pattern.

When it arrived I was more than a little disappointed that my imaginings of a long, cool, elegant shift were not to be realised; not straight out of the envelope anyway. Still it won't take too many alterations - If I take the neckline and sleeves from view C and the dress shape of view A I think I will have it. I might make another tweak or two depending on what occurs in cutting out. I may raise the neckline a bit, lengthen the dress considerably and remove the centre seams (in an effort to maintain the integrity of the fabric pattern).

Edit: I made a muslin out of tricot with the alterations as mentioned and it all seems to go together well. Of course tricot does not have the stretch of rayon jersey so I may also end up putting darts in the back of the dress to snug it up a bit. We will see.

SECTION ONE

I tend to ascribe to the idea that it's possible to eat an elephant if you approach the task one plateful at a time. While my mission is lofty, I do intend to completely remake my wardrobe from the ground up in approximately 12 - 18 months, I know the only way to keep myself on target is to attack the project one chunk at a time so with that in mind here are the plans for SECTION ONE: Winter - Getting Started.

I am planning 7 items in total and have the fabric and patterns for all of them. This will make up into 3 outfits that fit into the 'work', and 'going to the pub for dinner' categories.

OUTFIT ONE

1. Jersey dress made out of the purple missoni inspired fabric. (V2091)
2. Ankle length coat to accompany the purple dress in purple 100% wool coating. (V8123)

OUTFIT TWO

1. Jersey dress made out of the red/black/tan/white geometric circles fabric. (B5173)
2. Knee length coat to accompany the above dress (though I want this to have broad appeal) made in black 100% wool coating. (M5247)

OUTFIT THREE

1. Knitted jumper in grey/black textured yarn - 3/4 done.
2. Dirndl style skirt in black & silver floral wool challis with a border. (V8295)
3. Black broidery anglais petticoat/skirt to be worn under the dirndl skirt or on it's own

Edit: I have made some changes to the plans for outfit 3 which has now become outfits 3 and 3a ... I have discarded item 3 (broidery anglais petticoat) completely and instead decided upon a simple knee length tricot petticoat. I have also added a top made out of the wool challis and a knitted shawl in black so the revised list is ...

OUTFIT THREE & THREE A: REVISED

1. Knitted jumper in grey/black textured yarn - 3/4 done.
2. Dirndl style skirt in black & silver floral wool challis with a border. (V8295)
3. Knee length half slip in black tricot (self draft)
4. Sleeveless shell top with neck and hemline slits in black & silver floral wool challis (V2865)
5. Shaped shawl in black 100% wool (Navia)

Reviving my Wardrobe

Yep, that is one empty wardrobe, nothing can disguise that fact. So the plan is to record my progress at filling said wardrobe with clothes made by me. Why? Well when I make something it feels a little anti-climactic, especially at the magnitude of the sewing I have planned, so I decided recording each project in picture and text might give me that "finished" feeling. I guess I will see if that proves to be true.

As to why my wardrobe is this empty and so desperately needs reviving? I do have clothes (the beauty of a second wardrobe) but they are by and large bought, and are also, mostly, ill fitting, badly made, cheap RTW that while fitting the bill during the time that my life was in chaos, now just depress me. Thus starting from scratch seems like the best idea, and to be honest the thought fills me with glee ... so here goes!