Spring has come...sort of...still cold!

Well, I have to say that 2 skirts involving the arrival of the vernal equinox has put me in the mood for French style prints.

Let me say, when I started these in mid-March, I had plenty of things on the go.  I was dealing with a school final exam, resident hummingbirds that sip me out of a house and home, work and the usual things that clog up our daily routine but I managed to keep trekking on with my projects.

First off, let me express my love for antiquated French prints.  One of them is Toile du Jouy, which has been kicking around since the 18th century and that are available in many textures and colours. So, this means it really has never gone out of style and it is so popular for home decorating that you can extend that to making garments because I know that some décor fabrics are not that heavy and is acceptable for garment use.

I also went back  to Hamel's Fabrics which technically is a quilting store, but, as I said, you can use quilting cottons for garments and I looked under the Floral prints and found this print:

Yeah, I'm the bitch that took the last of this printed cotton.

Isn't it lovely??!!!!  They have it a red-cranberry background which I will be going back for(well...duh) really soon.

Here are the company's view of the skirts:

 

And the Toile du Jouy that I bought which was a heavier cotton:

And, this brought forth 2 new skirts to make for the warmer weather look, looking chic, style appropriate, and an all round knock-out.

I can't get enough of Toile du Jouy it's sickening!  I also have my bedroom quilt in this and another skirt that I had made for me about 11 years ago, which is awesome and still wear today and my everyday go-to skirt.

For the grayscale Toile I used Simplicity 2257 in view C, which I changed some things in the general construction:

1. Made the belt carriers wider instead of sewing them more in the centre of the yoke front and back.
2. DID NOT add that gruesome wide trim they had on the cover picture.  It may have been better if it was not so wide.
3. Edge-stitched the yoke facings to the skirt seam as you would with a neckband on a blouse 
4. Serge finished all of my seam edges because this skirt wasn't lined.
5. Hand sewn my makeshift blind stitch.  I REALLY want a blind hemmer machine!

For the other skirt I chose to redo Simplicity 5259 view F in size 16. As you may recall it was 1 of 3 black skirt/white flower series but this time I just wanted a more simpler one which the fabric print can do the talking for me and not the embroidery statements I have done.

Here are the close-ups of the changes that I made to Simplicity 2257

Edge-stitched belt carriers on the seam for skirt and facing for a wider space
for belts of varying widths.
This method didn't cause my machine to spit, sputter and seize up  with the bulk of the carriers and the yoke!

Edge-stitched facing on the seam line like a neckband facing on a blouse

Left biased hand stitched blind hem.  (I am left handed)

So, that is it for this particular Spring run.  I have more coming! 

Stay tuned!!!

A night fantasy garden- Marfy dress pattern 9921

Sewing Marfy Dress Pattern 9921 Size 50

Yeah, this dress was and still is pretty popular!  It was featured on the front of their catalogue for Spring/Summer 2006, which I didn't know about because I wasn't sewing Marfy patterns just then, but....whoa what a cute dress!

Then, this one was on my 'wishlist' for like FOREVER!!  I finally bought it and I am not sure if it is still available but oh well.

Now, I know I am an embroidery queen of sorts so I looked at this and I love the flowers they put on their conceptual finished product.  But, I am going to do something similar.  I am going to bead a similar outline based on a picture and then wear it out hopefully in public. I may or may not do a scalloped hem.
It is also hard to see from the picture if the embroidery was done by machine, by hand, or the fabric had this already woven.  My guess it could be handiwork but I can't zoom in enough to know for sure.

OK, here is the picture I wish to translate onto my fashion fabric

This presents a simple beading outline of a structured image.
This should work

Now, as you may extrapolate from a section, you can make this extend in any direction you want.  Which is exactly what I am going to do.  Here is what you may want to consider:

1. Decide right off if this is an evening or day time dress.  This will dictate what bead colours and textures you will choose to be most appropriate.
2. Choose your bead types and colour scheme.  I have Crepe de Chine silk here so I am not going to destroy this future work of art with tacky and gaudy beads.
3. Choose the correct weight of bead.  DO NOT use plastic pony beads.  They wreak of tacky or cheap for evening gowns or dresses.  They are not useful for this kind of project.
4. Use shiny, crystal, or any AB(Aurora Borealis) finish bead.  Some beads may exhibit opalescence(mother of pearl) like shine.  If you are using crystal, don't get beads that are too large(weighty)

Now, as for my fabric plans, I have already chosen what I am using which is similar to the concept.  I bought a dark navy silk crepe de chine and as for the front bow it is a peacock jewel tone blue shantung silk.  My bow is a lot darker than the one in the concept which I perceive to be a light sky blue.  But who really cares right?  OK, here we go:


Pieces to Cut:

Front Cut 1 on fold
Back Cut 2 on the grain
Bodice Front Cut 2 on the grain
Ribbon tie Cut 2 on the grain
*Belt cut 2 on fold (one for facing) 

*Optional.  You can choose this or the ribbon ties if you want the belt as shown in the conceptual drawing with the floor length option.

I may toggle between showing pictures of my toile piece and the actual fabric.  I did this for photographic purposes. I also lost some images of this project due to a old and then faulty hard drive.

I have serged my fashion fabric because silk frays like crazy.

Ribbon tie pieces

You may want to add interfacing to the ribbon tie or the belt option to the wrong side of the fabric.  With my shantung fabric, I didn't need it.  However, you might if you pick a lighter weight fabric.

With right sides together, match sides and sew all along the open edge because the straight end will be open.  Clip corners and turn right side out making the tip as sharp as can be.  Press out.
I did this similar approach with my DIY sew-along belt Silk Black Belt

The straight end is completely open.  The ribbon piece fold line is the centre line

Please leave ribbon ties for now.  We will come back to this later.


Back Piece

With right sides together, sew the centre back seam the whole length. There is no zipper in this seam, which is actually located on the left side of the dress. Press seam out.

On each back half, sew the shaping darts on the wrong side of the fabric.  Press darts towards the centre back seam.

Centre back seam sewn  with darts pressed towards CB

Next sew gathering stitches where the shoulder seam is for L and R halves of the back piece.  Set your machine stitch length to at least 4 mm.(Long)


Lower Front... V match point dart

In looking at the lower front there seems to be this oddball dart that joins at the front bodice at right angles...YIKES.  Excuse the picture quality....


Mark your dart lines and it may be wise to also make the centre fold line where the dart is.  This will be important trust me.



This dart has the centre line marked.  At the top of the dart
is the V match point.

 Place the straight end of your ribbon tie into the dart placed below the seam allowance(the bodice still needs to be attached) and loosely baste into place. When the dart is sewn into place the ribbon tie will be secured. (I placed the points of the ribbon ties downward)

I know this seems unorthodox to do this insertion this way, but there are other ways.  I think for myself I hate cutting too much fabric and it spells disaster for me, but I felt right about doing it this way.
When all is said and done, press darts towards the centre front.

Place the straight end of ribbon tie into the dart at the centre of the dart
Then , sew your dart as usual

Bodice Front

With right sides together, sew the bodice R and L halves in the centre front up to the notch.  Press seam out and within the seam allowance, along the lower bodice, sew a gathering stitch. 
From the distance from V point to V point (darts) with right and left side of the lower front, gather to fit bodice.
Sew the side of the bodice to the front and pivot at the V point, continue sewing the gathered front and continue until the other side is complete.  You may have to clip the V point for a sharp pivot but may not be necessary. (Basically you are sewing the bodice to the lower front in a U type shape)

Sew a gathering stitch along the shoulder span analogous to the directions from the back piece.
***Be careful not to catch your ribbon ties or belt.

Sew the centre front up until the notch.  Then sew a gathering stitch

Sew along side, then pivot at the V match point and continue.

Shoulder Seam


With the shoulder seam, the pattern piece says to reduce the width to 4.5 cm.  Why this distance I don't know exactly, but perhaps it was theoretically derived somehow.

For both front and back sides, gather and measure until you hit the 4.5 cm distance(watch your seam allowance).  Sew with right sides together the shoulder seam.  Make sure that your gathering stitch becomes secure and won't undo by tying a knot on either side.  (One way to do it)

A match point seam RS

This is the side seam.  The right side seam can be sewn all the way through.  The left side has the zipper, which I strongly urge you to place an invisible zipper in place with a finished edge.
Finish the LS (Front and Back) of the A seam but DO NOT sew this seam yet.  Later....

A match point seam LS

As mentioned before, use your preferred finishing technique for the front and back aspects of your side seam A.  This prepares the seam for the zipper installation.
Sew with right sides together a seam from the hem until the notch. Reinforce the seam at the notch.
Place the invisible zipper next to your finished edge so that it lines up with your seam allowance.  This time I only added a 1 cm seam allowance and therefore I placed the edge of the zipper tape along the fabric finished edge. Baste zipper in place testing the top part so that it closes at the underarm area without using a hook and eye closure. If you want it, fine.
(You will be adding a lining, so account for this extra space).
With invisible zippers, they may be too long for this dress, but not to worry, you can shorten it.  It makes it a lot easier to sew in the zipper.


Beading Embroidery Frames

I feel that making the theme of the dress more nocturnal and somewhat fantasy like by putting leaves on that are not natural in colour.(ie blue). It won't look bad-here I'll show you






An antiquated project of mine of a Regency dress in 2005.
This is the CF of the bodice-at the time not completed.

This picture was taken many years ago (2005) on a Regency style dress that I made to see the Opera of Mozart's Don Giovanni. This happens to be in unnatural hues but against the navy blue Dupoinni, it actually turned out pretty good.
See, I know what I am doing.....however, you may have noticed from the above pictures that this Marfy dress will have matching blue of the ribbon ties instead of a mixture of blues I did with my older project.
And as such, I will keep plucking away until I am finished.  I chose the thread for the leaves to be the same colour as the silk tie on the dress. It is actually a perfect peacock blue-green and the cast-on roses are a sapphire blue, which in real life you could never get this colour in a rose.

OK, beading is not quite like your traditional style embroidery but you still have to use a hoop.  Otherwise your beading work will become slow and frustrating.  Beading will become regimented and faster when you do use a hoop, and you will be amazed at how quickly the work can become less of a chore and more enjoyable.

Frame 1 at the CF of the bottom hem of dress.
I have my hem line basted at 2 cm so that I don't go below this.

 

Yeah, I know, We don't quite see the full picture here yet, but don't you worry, I got ideas stashed up my sleeve.

Frame 2
See how natural light changes the colour of my fabric?

Frame 3
See, the multitude of directions one can go?

Front bodice beading mess.  It isn't really, but a random assortment of rochaille
and delica beads.  Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle!!!
See the gather along the lower bodice seam?

Frame 4.  This is the part where it starts getting higher on the dress
and differentiates. 

Finished major work to the front Sept 24,2013 16:00h PST

An albino fuchsia that poops golden pollen or nectar

Cast-on blue roses with a crystal centre

Now that the front is done for the most part, I still have to bead the raindrops on it.  I would imagine that the bodice seam containing all of the sparkly mess would be like a gutter of water and it will rain on the dress motif.

Front area where it is raining the most as a soft drizzle-like we don't get that here!

On the bottom of the front there appears to be beaded snow drops(Galanthus nivalis) which of course exists in real life, but not in crystal form.

Getting plans for the back of the dress....and don't be surprised that it took me this long between work and school.

Not much for the back but, need to sit down without a bead jabbing you in the behind
You can imagine that this vine is in the process of growing upwards.
Beading completed November 21, 2013 21:30h PST

I have no way of knowing exactly how many frames I ended up doing-possibly about 15.
I went through 2 full bobbins of Nymo beading thread, now that is using your supplies!!!

Onto the final phase.....You know you're finishing a project when...

You attach the lining.

 And definetely, buy about 1.5 m of lining of 1.4 m wide (55").  I happened to be real different here and buy a navy blue bemberg.  I also wanted to add a bit more weight to the whole dress because silk crepe de chine is really light in weight.  But it has a good drape to it that on later projects will determine if I need a bias cut front dress.

While I was beading my dress, the weight of the beads diddn't make the dress  too saggy, which I was afraid it would.  When I test wore it for fit I feel comfortable wearing it which is always a bonus.

Pieces you'll need to cut: Use the same pattern pieces as the fashion fabric

Cut 1 front piece on the fold
Cut 2 bodice front on the straight grain
Cut 2 Back on the straight grain

*Add your applicable seam allowance as well. In my case I added 1 cm.

For the hem of the lining, cut it flush with the pattern piece omitting the added on 2 cm hem allowance(in my case).  We won't need it for the lining.

Lower Front Lining:

In the same manner as above, sew the darts (on the wrong side of fabric) at the V match point but omit the part where I inserted the ribbon.  Sew the angled dart as usual.


Bodice Front:

As mentioned above, sew the two bodice halves right sides together until the notch in the front.
Sew a gathering stitch along the bodice front as well.  Fit bodice front from V point to V point.


Back:

As with the fashion fabric, with right sides together, sew the whole length of the centre back seam.  Sew double shaping darts on the wrong side of the fabric. Press darts towards the centre back.

A Seam RS

Sew, right sides together as the fashion fabric the whole length of the seam.  Press seam out.

A seam LS

Sew with right sides together, the seam up until the lower notch on the side.  Now, Marfy did not specify where to stop sewing and reinforce your end to match the zipper, at this point, you can always make an inference as to where you want the zipper to begin.  I naturally chose the lower notch because often I find it helps getting into dresses easier that way when the zipper length is longer, but your chosen length is a variable but keep in mind the method has to match your fashion fabric.

Shoulder seam

Sew a gathering stitch of the front and back pieces and reduce your width to 4.5 cm regarding your seam allowance as well.  Sew with right sides together the shoulder seam connecting the back to the bodice front.

Attaching the lining to the fashion fabric


With the lining shell put together just as the fashion fabric, with right sides together, attach the lining front neckline to back and sew the whole circumference.  The top of the dress is fully attached, to the lining.

I basted my attachment first because as I have learned with bemberg, it is kind of slippery, and just going in and sewing with the pins in place is really annoying. I also do this so that the seams match and the seams are sewn out and flat.  A little trouble doing this can save you time and frustration.

Now press this seam and understitch the entire circumference so that the lining doesn't pop out when it is finished.

Attach the lining to the zipper with a regular zipper foot, and sew on the side that shows the stitching from the fashion fabric(wrong side) so that the stitching from the lining does not interfere with the other stitching line and that the lining will not get caught in the zipper teeth.
It serves as a very good reference.

I sandwich attach the lining to the armhole area by pressing under the seam allowance from the lining and the fashion fabric, baste the lining to the fashion fabric and edge stitch together.  Now, under most situations it is not a most professional technique, but I think it is fine plus it also serves as an understitch as well. 

Hem:

Finish lining hem and fashion fabric hem in the way that suits you best.  I always hand-blind stitch my hems for my fashion fabric(beading present) and edge stitch my lining hems turned up the exact same allowance my fashion fabric has.  As mentioned before, I added a 2 cm hem allowance on the fashion fabric and also turned up 2 cm on my lining so that the lining will not be lower than the fashion fabric.
I regret that at this time I do not have a good template for a scalloped hem. I did not do this.  I should look for some and where to look?  In a scrapbooking store maybe?

Anyway, that is it!

This darn dress took me 2 years partly because I have school work and a harsh mistress(job), but also I had to re-think my design on the dress a couple of times and it got benched.  Sad huh?  This dress rocks and I wish I had completed it earlier than now, but as fate would have it, things work out they way they are supposed to and I guess this was meant to be!

Bye for now!!!

Butterick 5685 size 18

Winter Coat

Butterick 5685

I finally finished my winter coat for this year.  I chose Butterick 5685 size 18.  I wanted a damask pattern jacket, and I found some drapery fabric on sale for $4.00 per metre, and with it being winter I also decided to put a layer of batting for warmth. 

To extend the life of this jacket, I decided to tack down the batting to the fashion fabric with glass beads.  By doing this the basted layers won't seperate as easily.  I suspect this will be a dry cleaning issue in the future, and the beads make it look really nice.

By adding a batting layer, it also made this thing really heavy overall, but what are you going to do in the winter when you're cold and outside?

Overall, I found this pattern to be very easy to put together, as it states it was at the "EASY" sewer level.

Be aware that the cotton quilt batting layer caused a lot of fluff off everywhere!  I used the lint brush like you would not believe.  I think I could fit into a size 16 but I chose 18 just in case.

Here are the supplies used:

Butterick pattern 5685 View C (full length)

7m of 150cm wide drapery fabric(yes, one way designs are hogs when it comes to fabric usage)

2.5m? of heavy weight black linen ( I used what ever I had leftover, didn't measure)

5 packages (minimum) of Mill Hill brand seed beads (Colour #3002)

2.8 m of cotton quilt batting

2 m of black light weight sew-in interfacing
Navy colour sewing thread
Black colour sewing thread
Navy serger thread, Black serger thread
6-23mm pewter coloured buttons

Finishing and attaching the lining:

I went on a limb and broke away from the intructions way to attach the lining only because I HATE slipstitching, so, I sewed on the lining seperately from the main fabric, attached the lining to the collar and attached the sleeve lining and bottom hem with a handsewn blind hemstitch or whipstitch.  To me it looks fine and attaching the lining is way easier for me this way.




Back View C

Beading on sleeve

Button detail

Marfy blazer pattern 1444 size 46

New Post in 3 years!

What I used in this project:

size 46 Marfy pattern #1444 blazer

wool/poly blend aubergine fashion fabric

grey bemberg lining

black thread(complimentary)
grey matching thread (lining)

lots of serging black thread
2-18 mm size buttons

3-23mm size buttons

I have wanted to finish sewing this blazer for over a year now, and I finally finished it.

I first had a hard time deciding what colour it should be, and I found a wool/poly blend in aubergine that I just loved and so here it is!

First, always look at the company's artistic drawing. This was a real help when it came down to looking at the tabs in the front and how to attach it to the front.

I won't lie, the way I wanted them to go on the front I found was a bit tricky and then I cut out a facing for the tab part. I used the pattern piece that contained the front tab O-Q match points that is cut on the bias. I only traced the area from O-Q and below and added my seam allowance above the notches and around the surrounding area so that the facing looked more or less like a square with a gable top. The seam allowance above the notches I figured was to be sewn to the main front piece.

*Please sew the tab facing by hand, either by slipstitch or back stitch to join up with the main seam of the top half/bottom half of the front*

I secured the front tabs with the 18mm size buttons. I did not edge stitch around the border of the tab to secure it to the front. I didn't want that look but would be acceptable if you don't want the facing sewn onto the bottom portion of the O-Q match points

For the front buttons I used 23 mm size buttons. I found these buttons with a bellflower(campanula) type design. I lucked out.

Everything else was pretty straight forward. Marfy has their way of doing things and the trick is to match letters from piece to piece and know that the patterns are well drafted and will fit together well.

I drafted a 1 cm seam allowance to all the pieces and used that for the hem as well. I didn't want to increase the length so I kept it as is.

Any other ideas on how to put this together? let me know.

(Sorry, but my camera lost battery power, used my phone instead)