Small Thrills

Some of my sewn garments were professionally photographed yesterday. It was totally unplanned. The company was updating it “Employee Pictorial Archive”, the collection of employee photos used in company brochures or booklets, typically published around subjects like Diversity, Key Values, Benefits, or Work/Life Balance. A very persuasive co-worker was trolling the offices looking for volunteers. Evidently the email solicitation effort wasn’t successful. And I, thinking it was the regular company photographer said yes. I didn’t even check hair and makeup. Rounding the corner and seeing two unfamiliar photographers and two assistants slowed my steps, but I figured what the heck, if the pictures are crummy, they won’t use them. Ha, Ha, my husband laughed later, as he told me about one of his coworkers, whose unflattering picture had appeared in every company brochure in the past 5 years. I was dressed “business casual” because I was in the factory, having presented to the Factory Management team earlier in the morning. I had on a wine suede jacket sewn from Vogue Pattern 2679 back in 2007 for an ASG meeting presentation I gave on sewing leather; a black turtleneck and the black wool tick weave pants with the pleather yoke made from Vogue Pattern 2987.

They had me pose leaning casually on the balcony railing, both smiling at the camera and staring pensively off in the distance. All the time they were enthusing about the quality of the light coming through the 3 story glass wall opposite the balcony. I was just hoping it was flattering to middle aged features. Then they had me in the same pose holding a folder with the company logo. Like I’d just read something profound and was pondering the implications. Perhaps decreasing sales and possible workforce reductions? Which is actually happening here. No, No! Happy thoughts please, no furrowed brows. Then they did close-ups of my hands and the folder. Fortunately my nails were clean and all the same length. Those who know me know that I am very much an introvert. Doing this kind of thing takes an enormous amount of physical and mental effort in order to overcome my inherent reclusive tendencies. Sometimes I do things to that require me to get out of my comfort zone, but it has to happen impulsively like this did, or I over think it and retreat. All in all it was fun. And I hope they are kind when choosing pictures for the next company brochure.

Am I Shrinking?

I hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season. For me Christmas is over, the visitors have come and gone, and I am heartily sick of Christmas cookies. I got my sewing machine and serger back from the shop, where they went for minor repairs and a long overdue tuning. They were gone for a little over a week, but I was so busy getting ready for the holidays, I didn’t miss them much. They positively hum now. I am working on the Vogue 2987, Anne Klein jacket. In November, I was following along with Ann’s blog http://annsthreads.blogspot.com/and her “adventures” as she worked on this jacket. But she left for a overseas trip before finishing, so I had to go forth on my own. Based on Ann’s experience, I decided to pin fit the pattern on my dress form. I found that the pattern pieces fit together well, but that there was a lot of ease in this pattern. It is described as semi fitted which by Vogue Patterns definition is 4 3/8 - 5 3/4" for lined jackets. I prefer fitted lined jackets to have no more than 4 inches of ease in the bust and 2 inches in the hips based on the fit of favorite ready to wear (RTW) jackets. I typically make a size 16 in Vogue patterns, and taper out to an 18 at the hips. When I pin fit the pattern on my dress form, I was shocked to see the size 12 had the best fit in the bust area, and the 14 in the hips. Because I am using garment weight suede which is thicker than most fabrics, I cut out a size 14 on top and 16 on the bottom. The following picture shows the final fitting on the dress form. I used binder clips, since pins could not be used. I need to take 1” seam allowances on the side seams and there will still be plenty of room for the lining and wearing ease. Just to make sure I hadn’t stretched the suede while sewing, I measured the flat pattern and compared the measurements to those printed on the pattern pieces at the bust point and waist. The printed measurements are the finished garment widths. Size 14 finished garment bust was printed as 42”, flat pattern measurement was 43.75 inches. No wonder the size 14 was still too big for me. My bust is 38”, a size 14 would have been almost 6 inches of ease. Long story short; I am making this jacket two sizes smaller than I normally do in Vogue Patterns. Before I cut out the sleeves I need to shorten the length, not something I normally do but they are really long, and reduce the sleeve cape ease to zero to accommodate the suede. I also need to do some top stitching on the back and front seams before sewing the jacket pieces together . I can’t decide to do matching topstitching (green) or contrasting (gold). I am going to use snaps in an old gold finish rather than buttons.

As of today, I am planning on participating in the Timmel 2008 SWAP, but I am not in the throes of cutting and sewing preparation like many of the other participants. I have a couple of garments I made several years ago that will work as the presewn garments. I am going to take my 2007 SWAP on the road again when I visit the Charlottesville, VA ASG group in a couple weeks to help present a program on Wardrobe Planning. It should be fun, and there are some independent fabric stores in Charlottesville.