Patrones Blusa

The Palmer Pletsch fitting class was interesting. It was held at All Brands Sew &Vac Center, the local Baby Lock, Pfaff dealer. A woman that lives near Richmond taught it. She had just returned from Oregon, newly re-certified as a Palmer Pletsch instructor. We did all the steps described in the book Fit for Real People (FFRP). She measured our high bust and full bust and told us which size of the McCalls 2718 fitting shell pattern to use. She measured very snugly and put me in a size 14 B cup. I normally use a size 16 pattern for tops .We cut out the pattern, reinforced the seam lines with clear tape, and clipped the seam allowances. Next we pinned in the darts and fitting folds, pinned the front to the back and put on the pattern for our first fitting by the instructor. My back fit fine, but the center front had a gap of 1.5 inches, so she had me do a Y seam full bust alteration. I have never done a full bust alteration. It was an interesting exercise, and it worked. I got the extra fabric in the front that I needed to make it fit well. The instructor did many of the same fitting tweaks I do myself, so that made me feel more confident about what I do on my own. After the class,I took the altered pattern home, and put it on my dress form to check that the form was still a reasonable facsimile of me. The pattern fit well and doing this helped reinforce the fitting processes that were demonstrated in the class. I also learned a great deal by watching her fit the other 5 women in the class. I realize now that the purpose of the class is to teach fitting skills that can be used on other patterns. A fabric shell made from the altered pattern is skin tight. It has no wearing ease. The class did not address how to use the fitting shell when making garments from other patterns. I need to check the book to see if it addresses this.

In continuing my preparation and research for my ASG presentation about using international pattern magazines, I decided to make a pattern from Patrones, a Spanish language pattern magazine. Some of the things I discovered from the experience: I miss having directions. 2. Online language translation sites do not work great for sewing instructions, and 3. I do not wear the same size in a Patrones pattern as I do in Burda pattern. I picked Chanel blouse, # 27 from issue 267 . It is sleeveless, with diagonal tucks over the bust, a divided collar and back princess lines. I had skipped right over the photograph, but the line drawing caught my eye. My original thought was Hmm, interesting use of tucks, not the typical horizontal or vertical tucks ones sees on blouses. My next thought was " tucks over the bust, what if they stick out like a louvered window?" That is when I went back to the photo for a longer look. It didn’t seem to be a problem on the stick person/model used in the photo. I wasn’t sure how well this would work, but I was intrigued. I used a soft cotton, very similar in feel and weight to fabric sold as "pima" cotton. It came from a table of odds and ends at Hancock. The design and fabric worked surprising well together. The tucks are on the bias so they go over curved surfaces without sticking out. Shaping is also provided by a small dart, really a repositioning of a tuck on the armhole edge, that creates an un-sewn dart underneath the other tucks. And the bottom most tuck is only caught at the ends, which makes it sort of like an accordion pleat, able to expand and contract.

I found that I like to have sewing directions, especially on styles I am not familiar with. I had questions about an odd shaped pattern piece I didn’t recognize, what kind of closure to use, and how to finish the armholes. I actually typed up the Spanish directions from the magazine and ran them through Google Translate. It really didn’t help much, except to tell me that there was a back zipper closure. I also tried to used the Spanish to English Glossary insert that was in my copy of the magazine, and my son’s Spanish dictionary. There were still some key words I couldn’t translate from any source. (lorzas and costadillo). Without directions, my sewing slows down. I have to think through every step, considering different techniques and their pros and cons. For example, on this blouse I think you were supposed to use facings on the sleeves, A facing shaped piece was shown on the layout drawing. But there was no information on how to finish the neck edge after applying the collar. I ended up using self-fabric bias strips to finish the armholes and inside neck edge and it worked well. The only alterations I made were to cut the collar height down by .75". It looked oversize when I did the first pin fit. I also enlarged the neck opening, and adjusted the collar length for the bigger opening. Based on the measurements in the magazine, I thought I would be a size 44. The patterns are in sizes 38,42,46. I think the instruction said for a size 44 cut between the size 42 and 46 lines. I also checked the measurements of the pattern pieces. I cut out the size 46 thinking it would probably be slightly big, but that I could always take it in. Hmm, the fit is rather snug. Not uncomfortable, but not how I usually wear my tops. DH liked it, which is also an indication it is rather formfitting. Next challenge… Mrs. Stylebook.
Answers to questions in recent comments:

Linda. I can ask the Palmer Pletsch instructor if she travels to teach classes. I believe she does. Also I would be glad to share the meeting topics from our fashion focused ASG neighborhood group, if you need ideas.

Kathy, Yes, I think Burda Jacket 104 could be made with a zipper inserted in the front seam. That is actually what I plan to do. The unfinished jacket and zipper are hanging in my sewing room.

Debbie, Yep, I have a built in triple stitch, in the 4 Way and 8 Way stitches. Busted on the "Have you read your machine's user guide? question.

Books and Baptisms

No sewing recently, but I did do some sewing related activities. This past weekend we had a family and friends get together. On Sat. the girls attended a quilt show. My SIL is a member of Quilters Unlimited, a very large northern VA quilt guild. Despite her very busy schedule as a middle school music teacher and mother of young children, she still finds time to sew and she always has at least one quilt in the show. I love the colors in her quilts. Always nice and bright. This year she was actually pushing herself to buy dark fabrics in an effort to push her comfort zone. After the show, we drove to the Centerville, VA, G Street fabric store. Neither I nor my shopping buddies bought a single thing at G Street! This was amazing given the size of the store and the selection of fabrics. But there were no bargains or “have to have’s”. I was also very good at the quilt festival. I kept the purchases down to three fat quarters, 2 yards of woven ikat fabric, several trims and handkerchiefs from a vintage booth, and two books. One of the books was 200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop, or Weave by Jacqui Carey . I have wanted this book for several years. It shows how to create decorative braids using three techniques; braiding, weaving and twisting. It contains many "to scale" pictures of completed braids, the individual cords, yarn, and bead strings used for each example, and step by step instructions. I bought the book as a source of ideas and instructions for braids that could be used to trim jackets and home decorating items, or used as handles for purses. My decision to buy it was clinched when I watched the Signe Chanel series on YouTube and saw how the Chanel jacket trims were created. Threads are unraveled from the jacket fabric and woven with other fibers to create coordinating trim. While I have no desire to replicate a Chanel jacket, I thought it was a great way to create custom coordinated trims.

On Sunday we attended the baptism of my niece and nephew. (Ages 3 & 5) They both looked very nice in their special occasion attire, but she looked especially adorable in an off white silk dress with hand smocked yoke and sleeve bands. It was made by her maternal grandmother, and was just gorgeous. She is a very girly girl and loves dresses. She danced and spun so her dress flared out around her. She looked like a mini whirling dervish. Whirling Dervish Video Some times I wish I had a girl child. Whenever I say this out loud, my brother’s eyes light up and he eagerly offers to bring her to my house for an extended stay. Perhaps a little too eagerly. But hey, I’ll try anything once.

I am signed up for a fitting class with a Palmer-Pletsch instructor next week. These instructors are trained to use the pattern fitting techniques shown in the books Fit for Real People, Pants for Real People, and Jackets for Real People. Palmer/Pletsch I am really hoping to come away from the class with a bodice sloper that I can use to make some of the patterns in the Japanese pattern magazine Mrs. Stylebook. For the ASG meeting in July, I am doing a presentation on using the patterns in international pattern magazines; Burda, Diana, Knip Mode, Patrones, Modellina, Mrs. Stylebook, etc. There is an excellent article on these magazines at Patternreview.com International Pattern Magazines . I have been using the presentation as an excuse to buy copies of these magazines. You know, for research, so I can show examples, and talk from my own experience. Unfortunately I have seen so many patterns I want to try, that I became overwhelmed and couldn't start any. I hope to get over the indecision hurdle this weekend and start a new project.

Topstitching

For some reason I am very attracted to the color green right now. When I look at the pile of fabric on my sewing table, that is the color I am drawn to. My sewing project for this past weekend was a waist length jacket in a lightweight, mint green, denim type fabric.The pattern was in same BWOF magazine, July 2001, as the dress I made last week. There was a lot of top stitching on this jacket. When I used my normal top stitching method, the thread faded into the fabric. I remembered a suggestion published in Threads magazine about using a machine feather stitch and regular thread to create heavier topstitching. I tried it and loved it!

When I first read the suggestion, it took me quite a while to figure out what it was being described. So I drew a picture to go with my explanation. Click on the image below to enlarge it. Many sewing machines have built in decorative stitches and a common one is the feather stitch. It looks sort of like the quills of a feather, and is often used in hand embroidery and quilting.

At the top of the drawing are two versions that are on my Husqvarna machine. They look different in their original form, but both give the same results when modifications are made to use them for this purpose. To form the feather stitch, the needle is making a stitch forward, and then several stitches of the same length off to the side at an angle. The angle is determined by the stitch width. The wider the stitch width, the bigger the angle. When the stitch width is reduced to zero, the needle makes all the stitches forward and backward in a straight line. It makes three stitches on top of each other before moving forward to the next stitch. Using this stitch, it will take three times longer to do the topstitching, and you have to pay attention and guide the fabric, so put on some good music or a talking book. Some of you might think… why not thread three threads through a large eye needle; it gives the same effect. Yes, it does. But the construction of this jacket required sewing pieces together with a regular seam, topstitching the seam, sewing another piece to the one that was just topstitched, topstitching that seam, and so on. It was so easy to use the same needle, pressure foot (1/4 inch) and thread for all the sewing. When I needed to top stitch , all I had to do was hit a few buttons on the touch screen to choose the feather stitch and reduce the stitch width to zero.

I should pay attention to the photos in the Burda magazine. This jacket is shown paired with high waisted Bermuda shorts. After a tryon with some pants and skirts I realized it looks best worn with pants or a skirt with a high waist, and no pockets, hip yokes or other details that cause a lot of visual activity in the hip waist area. Mint green can be used in many color schemes. For me they would be 1. With creams and light browns, 2. With grays and white, and my favorite 3. teal. This fabric inspired this teal color scheme. Unfortunately my teal cropped pants have lots going on in the hip area, including fat tummy. Guess I need to make a pair of new pair of slimming pants.

No sewing this weekend. There is a family get together in northern Virginia. For those of you that have never been to this area, northern VA contains the southern suburbs of Washington, DC. Compared to where I live it is a different world, with gobs more people, cars, traffic, cultural events, museums, restaurants and… shopping. This weekend’s trip will include a visit to G Street Fabrics. Like I need more fabric! But I know you understand.

Memorial Day Weekend 2008

It was a 4-day holiday weekend. There was a lot of family related running around, the neighborhood picnic, the local swimming pool opened, driving a 13 year old and his girlfriend to a movie "date" etc. I did manage to complete a shirt dress in a springy grass green color. The dress pattern was from Burda WOF July 2001. It is a slightly A line silhouette with a shaped center back seam ending in a vent. It has epaulettes, sleeve taps and flapped pockets. The fabric is a polished cotton blend I picked up from the give away pile at the ASG meeting. Since I am small on top with sloping shoulders, I like details like epaulettes, breast pockets with flaps, and turned up sleeves because they add bulk above the waist, that balance my hips. These design details may not be the best choice for well endowed, square shoulders body types, but there are many styles they can wear that look horrible on me.
I tend to wear garments one way. A jacket with its matching skirt, a blouse with a certain pair of slacks, over and over again. The "maximize your wardrobe" books recommend breaking apart suits and wearing the pieces with other tops or bottoms. And trying different combinations of tops, bottoms and accessories when you have some time and aren’t in rush to get dressed. So I decided to "style" this dress several different ways based on some pictures I had seen in magazines. I may not be original, but I am great at copying.


Look 1, The dress with casual sandals and jewelry




Look 2 - The dress cinched with a belt, with a big brass buckle. I tried to make the belt form a "V" so as not to put a straight horizontal line across my middle.



Look 3. The dress worn under a short sleeve, khaki, belted jacket with dressier, snakeskin, peep toe, wedges.


Look 4. The dress worn as a jacket over a print top and black pant. I have noticed the longer jackets over tops and slacks a lot lately. They are often called “dusters”. Sometimes the “duster” is a structured jacket, in a bold spring print and sometimes it is more casual like a shirt. Of the 4 ways I styled the dress, my favorites are look 1 and look 4, but I am determined to wear all four just to get more use out of it.

Memorial Day Weekend is significant to me for reasons unrelated to the holiday. 29 years ago on this weekend, I married my husband in a short ceremony by a Justice of the Peace in Pittsburgh, PA. I wore a white suit my mother had made for me. It is still in a closet and no, it doesn’t fit me any more. My husband-to-be had only the holiday weekend off , because he still hadn’t been working at his new job long enough to have any vacation time, and I started a summer job in the engineering dept. of the Hershey Chocolate company the following week. We didn’t want to “live in sin” so after 4 years of dating we got married. The honeymoon weekend was spent hiking on Skyline Drive around Front Royal, VA. This weekend, in addition to the normal humorous card and restaurant dinner, my predictable, non spontaneous, thrifty husband surprised the heck out of me by giving me a very unusual, custom designed ring as an anniversary present. I love it!

Stuck (on) Zippers

My blue jacket is still not finished. I have a bad case of zipper indecision. I ordered a 2 way, #5, bottom separating zipper from Stans Sewing Supplies (along with a dozen bottom separating invisible zippers). But when it came, it was too heavy for the jacket fabric. So I order a YKK Formal Fashions separating zipper from Zipper Store. These zippers are light weight and designed for use in wedding dresses. My local Hancock’s used to stock these zippers until they went into bankruptcy and YKK refused to supply them any more (this info. came from the store manager). I am waiting for the YKK zipper to arrive. I hate to lose momentum when I am working on a garment. It is always hard to go back later, remember where I was in the process, and get started again.
Last weekend, my guys were off camping, so I was able to spend a lot of time looking through my stash of summer fabrics. I made lots of groups of coordinating fabrics. The group that inspired me the most was an expansion on the khaki and green color scheme mentioned in the last post.
I found quite a few of what I call sorbet colors, cool frosty shades of green, yellow and blue. One fabric had all the colors. It was a cotton rayon woven with muted stripe in khaki, aqua, chartreuse and pale yellow. I purchased this fabric specifically to make jacket 116 from the April 2005 of BWOF magazine The jacket was shown in a variegated green striped fabric. I loved everything about that fabric, the colors, pattern, and texture. But could never find anything close until recently. Because my fabric was very soft and raveled profusely, I backed all the garment pieces with fusible tricot. My favorite fabrics for summer jackets are silk matka, and silk or cotton blend suitings. I almost always fuse interfacing to all the garment pieces to give them some body and prevent raveling. I use fusible Armo Weft (60% poly, 40% rayon) most of the time. My choice of tricot(100%nylon) this time was based solely on coming across it first in my search for a fusible interfacing. I think I will stick with the Armo in the future. I originally hemmed the sleeves too short. When I took out the hem and attempted to press out the original hem fold, I had a heck of a time. It was like the fold was permanently formed in the tricot. Excessive use of steam and heat on the right side of the fabric got rid of the fold line, but caused the tricot to un fuse and bubble.
I did make modifications to the sleeve. The sleeve pattern was very long and flared out at the bottom edge. You can see this if you look closely at the line drawing. In the magazine picture the model has the sleeves shoved up at the elbow. I didn’t feel the extra length and flaring added to the silhouette, so I removed both. I really like the style of this jacket and will definitely make it again, maybe in the longer version. I am not sure these paler colors are good ones to wear near my face with my coloring. Especially the yellow and khaki. But aqua blue and some greens work for me. So inspired by the mini wardrobe contest going on over at PatternReview, I think I will challenge myself to make a mini wardrobe using some of the other fabrics in this group.
Thanks to Shannon and Sigrid for the link to the archived BWOF pattern magazines. It enabled me to put the picture of the line drawing and magazine photo in this post.

Mothers Day

Today was Mothers Day: a holiday I feel is highly publicized for the main purpose of encouraging the spending of money on presents, cards or restaurant meals to honor mothers. A hug is more meaningful to me. But this day always prompts me to think about how thankful I am for the medical technology that made it possible for me to be a mother. My husband and I were very fortunate that 16 years ago, we lived in a large urban area with state of the art infertility centers, and had enough of our own money to pay for invitro-fertilization, deemed "experimental" by our health insurance companies. I wish everyone had as much success with it as we did.

My MIL came over for a visit today and I made a nice dinner of something I knew she doesn't get in the assisted living facility where she resides; crab cakes, shrimp, roasted potatoes, sauteed spinach and a decadent chocolate pie that had a crust made of crushed pretzels. The pie was a new recipe. I liked the crust, the filling was entirely too rich.

I have been in a bit of a sewing doldrum. But I am so proud of myself. During this time, I did a massive closet clean out. I can’t believe I still had suits and clothes from 16+ years ago. I know why I kept them; they were some of the most expensive RTW clothes I had ever purchased. I just couldn't bring myself to part with them until now. The fabrics and workmanship were excellent, but I haven’t worn them in years and the styles are really dated. It took this long to break the emotional ties.

For spring and summer, the trends I want to incorporate in my wardrobe are

1. A bright blue jacket worn with taupe tops and bottoms, like this.

2. A dress or jacket with safari style details like epaulets and patch pockets, maybe in taupe or khaki, but rust or black are other color options.

3. I also like the look of khaki and chartreuse green as a new, different color scheme. Like this.



4. A red sleeveless double breasted shirt dress with trench coat details like this Lauren by Ralph Lauren dress . BWOF 4/06 # 109 is almost an exact duplicate.






5. Sleeveless tops that work under jackets for the temperature fluctuations of the workplace. It is my first summer in a new office. It faces dead east, and the east facing wall is all glass. It is stunningly bright and hot in the mornings, dark and cold in the afternoon and it is only spring.

The arrival of the May Burda WOF last weekend jump started my sewing again. I am nearing completion on jacket number 101 in a bright blue silk suiting. I am trying to decide on the closure, The magazine shows a separating zipper attached with the zipper tapes on the outside of the garment. While I find this an interesting design detail, it won't be understood in the office environment where I work. And I can't find a matching blue separating zipper. Dress number 116 is next. I have a stretch twill that is denim blue on one side and a lighter blue on the other. I think I will do some color blocking using both sides of the fabric, and I probably won't make the belt.

Pattern Morph Part 2

I was attempting go from the blouse with set in sleeves in the top drawing to the T shirt in the bottom of the drawing.


Changes I made to Pattern Front

1.Discarded front yoke piece
2. Smooth out lower armhole
3. Remove facing and added 5/8 " SA (seam allowance) to center front
4. Used raglan sleeve pattern from another pattern

























Changes I made to Pattern Back

1. Added seam with 5/8" SA to center back
2. Divided back neckline in 6 equal parts
3. Redrew top of center back and side back sections to correspond with markings, This created seam lines radiating from neckline similar to front.
4. Used raglan sleeve pattern from another pattern. Required some changes to back sleeve seam for my unique body shape

After cutting out the fabric, I sewed the garment together using machine basting stitches. It was late and I was tired. I inadvertently sewed the sleeves on backward. The fit was horrible, It took several minute for panic to subside, and logical brain functions to resume. I restitched the sleeves in correctly. The fit was fine, so I resewed all seams using shorter stitch length, except the side seams, which I left open so the garment could be laid relatively flat for coverstitching. All seams were pressed open

I made a template for the openings from the swim suit pattern. I laid the template on each of the five seams on the front, aligning the center of the opening with the seam line. I marked the shape with wash away pen.
I cut out the middle of the shape, leaving 3/8" of fabric beyond marked line to turn under.
I turned under the 3/8" and hand basted, being careful not to stretch.
The seam was top stitched on both sides with a narrow 3 thread cover stitch, using variegated thread (Maxilock Swirls Polyester). The cover stitch was sewn so the chain stitches were to the outside and the double line of stitching was to the inside. I had a horrible time sewing the cover stitch around the openings because they were hidden under the pressure foot and tended to wrinkle and bunch up. I tried ironing a large piece of dissolvable stabilizer to the wrong side of the front, under the openings. But any time I moved the fabric, it came unstuck. So I hand basted the openings to a large piece of wash away stabilizer. This kept the edges of the openings from stretching. My coverstitch machine has a large pressure foot that starts behind the needles and extends to an inch in front of them, effectively blocking the view of the fabric any where near the needles. After many attempts, I learned to visualize the needle location to the edge of the opening, under the pressure foot. I also learned how to remove three-thread cover stitch quickly (pull on all three threads at the same time at the same rate). I believe I did each of the seams with an opening, at least three times. The armhole and back seams caused no problems.
The neck was finished with a simple band attached to the wrong side, wrapped to the front, turned under and top stitched. Sleeve and garment hems were done with matching white thread

.
In hindsight I think I would use one of these alternate methods to stabilizing the cutout openings
1. Steam a Seam to hold the hem under and prevent stretching.
2. Face opening with silk organza or similar sheer strong fabric, It would be held in place to the wrong side with the coverstitching.

Not everyone has a cover stitch machine, and believe me when I was having all my difficulties, I was also thinking of alternate techniques for top stitching the cutouts and seams. These included decorative stitches on my regular sewing machine using the variegated thread, decorative stitching over coordinating 1/8 ribbon, or couching decorative yarns or narrow bias strips cut from coordinating printed fabric.

This is the one of the few times I have made significant design changes to a pattern. I think what gives me the greatest satisfaction is that despite a lot of frustrations, I just kept plugging away, trying different things. until the problems were resolved. I now feel more confident attempting other sewing challenges.