New Look 6053 View B. Mimmicking a popular trend

You know when you walk by shoe stores and you look at heels and you think "Awh man, those shoes are too pricey!"

I bet I can mimmick that in clothing.   And sure enough I did!  I saw two pairs of shoes that I wish I could own right now.

1. A pair of Valentino heels.  Whoa! Not today...($$$)
2. A pair of Steve Madden heels that were affordable but I tried them on and I swear someone must have yelled "Timber!" (or I did)

What both of these shoes had in common were the off white background -black lace overlay avec jewels.  Well, in the shoe world, I can't make my own shoes...not a chance...but I sure can make jackets or skirts with the same trend.

Hah!

And, if you haven't noticed, I love skirts.  Yep, just add this one to the pile lady!

This is where I love making my own stuff.  I get to choose the embellishments, type of fabric and reduce cost.  And, this number is more or less going to be an evening skirt because I have chosen the type of beads to go with this.
And, be aware that this pattern may be a 2 hour project, but if your going to fancy it up NO WAY...try 3 weeks.

1. I chose Delica, Mill Hill brand sead beads, and regular sead beads. No bi-hexagonal crystals...too heavy! You may experience fabric sag and eventual stress and tearing.
2. Hey, you know what? I could Austrian crystal-ize my scalloped hem line....hmmm... projects get into a life of their own
3. Need black embroidery thread to satin stitch a scalloped bottom edge.  Since the fabric wasn't finished that way...I have to make adjustments.(If I end up doing this)
4. Cotton Polyester mix fabric with polyester black lace fabric.(Find a sexy and eye catching flower scheme)
5. The usual hardware : zipper, threads, serging threads, Nymo beading thread, beading needle.
6. Bead on stable flower motifs in a random colour scheme
7. May need to line this puppy

Now, the plan of action is to bead first then attach it to the main fabric(if you unlined the skirt...hide your beading thread work please!), embroider the scalloped edge last.  I also have to match the motifs of the lace pattern to smoothly blend the front to back so that it doesn't look odd.  The last thing I need is squirelly looks from people

So these are the colours I chose to use in random beading on flower
motifs throughout the front and back

I have so much beads in all types that I could open my own store.  It is really hard to choose colours when you like all of them! (oh dear...)

The next step is to orientate your lace fabric so that the flower designs are running in the correct direction.  This is very important for one way designs, however, I can do this in either both because the look would be completely acceptable but I chose to have my flower motifs to run up-down, not left-right.
This is where the cost of your projects can go up.  Stripes, matching polka-dots, check gingham designs, animal prints or plaids are usually hogs because you have to match them up.  Luckily for me I am not really a fan of polka-dots...

Here I cut the fabric running up-down not left-right
Below the dashed line is my hem allowance I added of 10.16 cm or 4"(not to scale).
I wanted to have the lace below the fashion fabric for flair
Front piece shown here

But throw some natural flair of flowers or chintz and we'll talk.

Next thing to consider is the "Out of bounds" beading areas.  This is common sense, but let's list them anyway:

DO NOT:

1. Bead within a dart area
2. Bead along any hem, seam allowances or stitching lines
3. Bead within a pleat or tuck area
4. Bead within 2 cm of any seam, stitching lines or hem allowances (Machines get stuck or they crush beads).  If you do, you have to resort to hand sewing...only when needed right?
5. Bead in the bum bum area.  This is going to hurt every time you sit down if you bead here.

For these reasons alone this is why I don't really like buying fabric with pre-made beading or machine embroidery.  It gets messy and sooner or later you run into crushing beads or the embroidery starts to unravel because it was cut somewhere along the way.
I could be a fool about the whole thing but I could not make it work right.

Bead work progress in the left side of front...somewhere

Another area on the front with random beading

Next thing to do is decide how to attach your lace overlay to the fashion fabric.  This can be done in 2 ways that I can think of.

1. Can attach the overlay to the fashion fabric by sewing it to the top waist line and zipper seam.  You could sew your darts separtely as well as the side seams.
2. Sew it together as one piece on the side seams, zipper seam and darts as well as the waist line.  This way, your lace overlay will be secured in a couple of more places.

I think the second choice allows for a longer life out of your garment.


Now that I have finished beading the main areas of the front and back piece, I have to first sew my darts.  This was done sewing 2 layers as 1 so that the lace is attached in 4 places at least.

The back piece progress.  I had to bead outside the seat area
so I beaded more in clusters in the back mostly along the sides

Then serge together the lace and the fashion fabric together at the waist line with the darts pressed towards the centre front.
Do this for the back piece as well having the darts pressed towards the centre back.

Serge the bottom of front and back fashion fabric only at this point.  Remember I have an extra 4 inches of lace at the bottom that I added, so I can't serge the sides together yet.

I have to then hem the bottom of the front and back seperately. (3.2 cm or 1.25 inches) (You'll see why)

Here I have hemmed separately both sides of my fashion fabric (cement colour)
Then I serge the entire length of the left and right side to join lace + fabric
Then sew the sides together

I am also planning on doing a scalloped edge at the bottom hem of my lace only so I am actually finishing 2 hems on this skirt (either way, I am doing 2 hems)

Okay, once the fashion fabric hem is done then serge together the sides the whole length down.

Then, sew the sides together leaving the left side open above the notch for the zipper.

I tried drawing out the scalloped edge but my template wasn't working...I'll have to leave it.

When I finished the lace hem, the crystals were just too bulky and I didn't think they looked good for this project.  I do have another dress project in mind that it would work for, but looking at it.... it just wasn't right.

I have tons of beads on this already so I thought anymore then it would start walking over to the gaudy zone.

The finished skirt
(OPI The living daylights and Crabtree & Evelyn Red Shimmer lip gloss)

Alright, this project can now be placed inside a garment bag or whatever.  When out having dinner, just throw on some glitter nail polish  and some glitter lip gloss and away you go!

Bye for now!!!

Marfy 2204 Blouse size 48. Everyone needs a white blouse!

You know when you need ANOTHER white blouse when:

1. Your work place unintenionally ruins them
2. You MUST have a closet section devoted to whites!
3. You make one yourself because there is always one element in store bought items that annoys you

For reason 2,  I have already done in spades but for reasons 1 and 3 this is where I kind of get annoyed.
As for my work place at the time being, I get permanent stains on my cuffs and because of that, the bleaching I need to do wears the fabric out faster than I think.  This is where you might consider store bought blouses at disposible prices.
This is my personal preference but I have been seeing back yokes on women's blouses and it ANNOYS me.  I find this element on blouses for women to be too masculine.  I want to get away from looking like a box. (I only disagree with this design part personally because I have seen women wear men's dress shirts.  I thought that they might think that I don't notice these things...but I do.) There are only a few examples where this is an exception.  Counter to that, I have been seeing on backs of men's dress shirts shaping darts and that is too feminine for men.  WHATEVER!

So, what do I do?  I make my own....obviously.  So, I found looking through my current stash, I don't have what I really want, so I order a Marfy pattern....well who would have thought that of me?

And, as I pointed out, I really do get my money's worth here because for the style and price it's great.

So, this is all about putting a blouse together.  Yes, it's white, poplin material, and not to be worn to work.  BONUS!

Look at this!
No centre back seam
No yoke
Simple mandarin collar
Princess seams
Pleats on top of  3/4 length sleeve
Fancy cuffs
10-15mm buttons

Yep, this pattern pretty much defines the feminie shape...not like those yokes I see on blouses and women wearing men's dress shirts....bit of a cop out if you ask me.

Well, enough of my yoke rant.  We shall precede. 

Don't forget my disclaimer: USE THIS AS A GUIDE. I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL!

I don't know what year this pattern came from, but it has been on the Vogue website forever.  I bought it thinking it would become obsolete or run out of stock.  I got it!

So, let's begin:

Step 1:  Take inventory of your pieces.  You may have to draft something, or something might be missing(unlikely) but don't rule it out yet!

For this pattern you should have:

Front piece (cut 2)
Side front piece (cut 2)
Side back piece (cut 2)
Back Piece (cut 1 on fold)
Sleeve piece (cut 2)
Front Button facing (cut 2, apply interfacing)
Cuff (cut 2 on the bias)
Cuff facing (cut 2, apply interfacing)
Collar (cut 1 on fold on the bias)
Collar facing (cut 1 on fold on the bias)

Other supplies needed:

10 buttons of 15mm size (6 for the front and 4 for the cuffs)
Fusible interfacing
Matching sewing thread
Matching serger threads
Fabric needed 1.5 m of 1.4m wide fabric

Now, my fabric has some stripes but it is all a white based fabric, so I am not that concerned about the matching too much, but I think I can watch it closely anyway.

I have drafted in a 1 cm seam allowance with a 2 cm hem allowance.  Standard for me.
Therefore, substitute your own drafted seam allowance where suitable. I may have to remove the hem allowance.  Blouse is quite long.

To finish your seams, choose:

1. Zig-zag stitch
2. Serge shut
3. French seam
4. Pink shear seam allowance
5. Bias bind seam...bulky?

Step 2:  Cut out 2 of the front buttonhole facing with the L seam with notch and apply interfacing to the wrong side of each piece.  If you use fusible, to heat bond it to the fabric press directly down. This should provide an air bubble free application.  I also think it is safe to apply the fusible interfacing on the lowest minimum hot setting it can take.  I have singed/melted things in the past.

L notch match point is at the top at the neck line
Press under 1 cm on one long side of facing.
Sew right sides together for facing on the inside

The reason why we need to cut 2 of this piece is because there is no extension for the left side to fold back for a self facing.  Some patterns have this already drafted for one of the sides depending on the gender the shirt is for.  It is perfectly acceptable to apply two facings to both sides, but be aware that the buttonholes are on the right side for us girls!

Step 3:

Match the notch on the L match point at the top of the centre of the front. Since the picture indicates that a contrasting blue facing exists on the inside of the shirt, we must therefore:

Pin right side of facing to right side of front piece.  Press under 1 cm of the unpinned side of facing.  Sew the facing to the centre front.  Press this seam and turn to the wrong side of garment.

Press facing to wrong side and edge stitch facing
Front facing is done

Step 4:

With right sides together, sew the A seam.  This consists of the back piece to the side back pieces.  Press seam out.

If you feel the need to staystitch the curve on the A seam go ahead, I didn't need to.  See, I'm still lazy.

Pattern pieces have an A match seam on the back and side back

Step 5:

With right sides together, sew the B seam.  This consists of the front piece to the side front piece. Press seam out.  Again, staystitch this curve if you have to.

Sew the B match seam on the Front-side front.

Step 6:

With right sides together, sew the C seam joining the back half to the front half of the blouse. Press seam. 

With right sides together, sew the shoulder seams together and press.  The shoulder seam does not have a letter match point. 

Step 7:

At this point, you want to finish these 6 seams if you haven't already.  This should be done before you set the sleeves in.  I chose to serge shut my seams.  This is very common in store bought clothes, but if you choose to sew french seams, then, your seams are already finished.

I serge with the top side facing (upper looper thread) towards the centre of the back.  All you need is a 3 thread serge.  But, if you must do a 4 thread, do whatever you want

The serge here is the upper looper thread facing up
pressed towards the centre back of the shirt
Fabric too thick for French seams

Step 8:

Press all  6 finished seams towards the back.

Step 9:

Set in the sleeves.

MAKE A MARK ON FABRIC WHERE THE PATTERN SAYS : "Front sleeve"

This is very important to have this side facing towards the front of your shirt. Sometimes, set-in sleeves are perfectly symmetrical, and other times they are not, so make sure to do this.

First, with right sides together, sew the seam joining both sides of the sleeve. 

Then press seam and serge shut so you may know what the right side is.  Once again, the upper looper should be facing towards the back of your shirt which should match up with the direction of your C seam.

For this sleeve, the picture suggests to pleat the sleeve cap until you acheive a perfect fit.  Now, keep in mind that pleats are a variable at this point.  What I mean is, you can have many pleats (small size) or fewer pleats (large size) to bring your sleeve cap to fit right without having to make a gather stitch.  I could be misinterptreting the picture, maybe it is gathered, but NO!  The pattern instructions say PLEAT.  Whatever you want to do, that is fine.

I managed to fit 6 pleats to ease the fit of the sleeve cap.  I also recommend that the pleats be done between the notches on the sleeve cap.  There is a middle notch on the sleeve cap which is there to match up to the shoulder seam, so make sure you mark three notches on your sleeve cap.

Also, when forming the pleats, have them directed towards the back of the shirt.  It looks better this way.  I seldom see them directed towards the front.

Step 10:

Press sleeve seam,and softly press the pleats on the right side and serge shut. I realise that this is a closed loop now but at the end of your completed serge, the serge trail can be fixed.

Step 11:

Sewing the cuffs.

Now, Marfy has 2 cuff pattern pieces that one is used for a facing, which is the larger piece that is cut on the grain.  The other has a buttonhole marking that is cut on the bias which is the outside piece that is smaller than the other.

Apply interfacing to the wrong side of cuff facing
This wll be the piece that is larger and cut on the grain

With right sides together, sew the bottom of cuff pieces together
The pieces won't match up on the top

Here I have pressed out 1.2 cm (1/2 inch) on facing to match up with the other side

Once you have pressed out the difference in area to line up both ends of the cuffs, with right sides together, sew the side of cuffs leaving the top open.  Clip corners but be careful. Press out seams.  Baste top of cuff.

With right sides together,  pin prepared cuff to the sleeve end matching the D match point.  When finished, the cuffs will face downward.
Sew seam and press seam towards cuff.  Finish seam.

Finished cuff

Anyway, I don't know how else to deal with the cuff as the pattern pieces are and what the picture shows.
Sometimes we just have to improvise and make do.
I am skipping the buttons and button holes on my cuff.  Just because I wanna!

Step 12:

Attaching the collar.

This type of collar is a simple stand or mandarin style of collar. It is also a neck band on other full collars.  In the picture, the edge of the collar ends at the beginning of the button hole facing.  I am going to change that to sew the collar the entire length instead, so I need to draft an extra 5 cm from the fold and 1 cm at the front end. I could have done it the way the picture is, but I think my fabric is too thick!

Plus, I actually don't quite have enough fabric to cut these two pieces on a bias fold, so, I will have to cut it on a straight grain fold, and to me it looks fine.  It basically matches up with your other straight grain pieces, but, oh well.

Press  under 1 cm to the wrong side of the uninterfaced piece.

Pin the right side of the interfaced section to the right side of neck line on blouse. You will have a 1 cm more room on your collar at the end of the button hole facing at the front of the blouse.

This means you must match the end of your centre front 1 cm in from the collar on the long side.  Match notches.

Sew right sides together the interfaced section to the top of the shirt on the long end from centre front to centre front.

Press up towards the collar

With right sides together, sew the curved end of the uninterfaced piece to the interfaced piece.

Baste the open end of the uninterfaced collar to the sewing line from the interfaced piece.  Sew a edgestitch along the bottom of collar to close it.

Press under 1 cm to the wrong side

There is a 1 cm over hang past the centre front

Step 13:

Button hole sewing

Mark the position of your button holes in the centre of your button hole facing.  As the pattern piece suggests, sew buttonholes running vertically.  I suggest JP Coats dual duty all purpose sewing thread.  It is really strong and it won't break and fluff up.

Step 14:

Hand sew your buttons in place!  I think it is better this way, plus they won't fall off so easily.

I actually ended up using a 12 mm button size instead.  Works just fine.

Step 15:

Finish the hem.

Choose to finish your hem any which way you want.

Step 16:

TA DAH!  We're done!