Vogue 8543 Skirt and Jacket. A Tale Of Two Dogwoods

The third black skirt and final white flower project.

This is more of a formal skirt pattern with what Vogue calls "Divine Details".  Now this means, topstitching, pleating,  and curved and form fitting panels on the back side of the skirt.  The invisible zipper is on the left front on this pattern.

Now, when multiple curved panels are part of the pattern, one way of increasing the aestetics and quality of your work is to be precise on your cutting and match seams and topstitching from front to back.  Makes a lot of sense, and I have seen lesser quality from store bought items and at least you can notice these things and be aware.

Now, as usual, I always glam it up a little bit more by adding that extra dimension of fancy and cute combined.  I have had these pictures in my repetoire since 2004 and I finally have enough time and money to get these long thought out plans accomplished.

So, in my collection of subjects on my list, I first got pictures of Cornus x ' Eddie's White Wonder' at a friends house and its parent Cornus nuttalii from Cultas Lake (Crown land).  As it was explained to me back in the day, Cornus nuttalii was more prone to disease and crossing it with Cornus florida has provided the hybrid (Eddie's white wonder)with more longevity.  Although, mature Cornus nuttalii trees in the wild tend to do okay and it is the provincial emblem.

Also, let's be precise about this.  The white blooms of Dogwoods are not flower petals!  They are bracts.  Just like poinsettas at Christmas they are not flowers, but the bracts are specialized coloured leaves.
So, for this project I decided to do Cornus nuttalii and Eddie's white wonder bracts on the front of the skirt with bark and leaves.

Pictures of Dogwood subjects



Cornus x 'Eddie's White Wonder'



Cornus nuttalii at Cultas Lake

 Cultus Lake off in the distance.  This photo was taken atop
Elk Mountain (est elevation 1500m) facing South west

Anyway, from my pictures, it seems as though C. nuttalii is a lot whiter than the hybrid.  It doesn't matter really, but something to note.

Yes, this is project is all of my own.  I got these pictures, traced and created my own template.  The only back drop is the size of the subjects.  They are huge!  High def pictures from a digital camera are really big here so I used ones that were a manageable size.  I also love the green in the leaf colour.


Cornus canadensis taken at Lindemann Lake near Chilliwack lake



Lindemann Lake facing mostly North



Anyway, in showing Cornus canadensis, I am planning on putting this specimen on the jacket that comes with this pattern.  I really think the jacket from this pattern is really neat because of the peplum. 

Also, C. canadensis is a groundcover.  I thought it would be a good idea to put this species on the jacket front because of the compact size.  Okay, maybe it's tacky, but I like to at least try these things and see if they work, and, I can mix and match because these garments are black and they should go with anything.

I also know that the dogwood needs to go on the right front lower part of the jacket.  Seems reasonable since womens garments always have the buttonholes on the right side.  This means that it will overlap the left, so, if I put my subject on the left, it will get covered up which is what we don't want. (mental note...)

****Sorry about the lake and nature photos.  I find it more fun to get inspired this way****


Now, here is the start of the skirt and jacket pictures:

The finished look

OK, OK this was a mass produced major TYPO from the factory of Vogue Patterns but it is not a "Oh whoa is me-the world is coming to an end" issue, but one of the skirt panels was mislabelled as a jacket piece and in the instructions the centre back piece was mismatched with something that didn't work.  Here is the corrections if someone out there is beating themselves up over it.
Now, I hope this problem doesn't exist for every pattern, but these were the corrections I had to make to mine

This is how the skirt panels should be joined [side back(13)-centre back(14)-side back(13)]

Piece 13 is NOT a jacket piece

Drawing of 4 dogwood bracts on skirt, yes, they are all there!

Bottom 2 dogwood bracts of skirt



Bottom 2 bracts finished



Top 2 bracts completed.  Based on Cornus nuttalii from local forest



Completed skirt.  Needs ironing.

Wearing it from the  front view.  I sewed it but feels baggy

 

Right front of jacket with C. canadensis trace

Near completion

Finished...needs ironing!

Once the embroidery is done, and this can take a couple of weeks or longer, putting it together is all just busy work and here is the finished jacket

Finished Jacket.  Fully Lined

Lining on the inside.  It may not show it but it is a mossy green

28 mm buttons. It specified 25 mm size but I didn't like the selections.  It couldn't really focus
well, but the best I could do

Now, here is something that I did that the instructions didn't do.  I attached the lining sleeves instead of slipstitching it after I sew the lining to the fashion fabric.  It worked it's just that I had to pull the jacket through a smaller opening.  It squeezed through fine.
I then handstitched the sleeve lining to the cuff lining by way of whipstitch.  Now if anyone finds this method "crude and ugly" to each their own, I personally don't have a problem with it. 

Once again, the camera wasn't cooperating

It took me a month to complete this project between work schedules, but in the end, although I sewed everything correctly with the correct size 18, the skirt didn't really work out 100% as I would have liked. It feels like a large size 18 with some puffiness,  however the jacket was the winner here! I love this jacket!  It fits fabulous for me and I will be wearing this with other coordinates!
And, I should invest in a garment steamer! 

Until next project...

Karin

Laughing Moon 100 Victorian Corset

Older project:


As the summer drones on and I have been posting my projects past and present, I think it's a good idea to put them on my blog in case my hard drives crash again and therefore I can store my images here.

Well, I did this project back in 2008.  As it was in those days I was a couple of pattern sizes larger than the present day and this corset is probably too big for me right now, so I would have to start again from scratch as corsets are a HUGE pain to alter.

Anyway, prior to making a Victorian style corset, I have made 3 others that includes two 18th century stays and a Regency (Jane Austen era) stay all courtesy of the Corsets and Crinolines book.

Now, as a beginner, my first set of 18th century stays were not that pleasing to look at.  It takes a lot of patience to get the channels sewn in straight lines and hand sewing the binding also trys your patience.  But with 18th century stays, the heavily 'whaleboned body' shape was en vogue and a heck of a lot of channels to sew.

Here is a general guide line for supplies that I used for my projects:

18th century stays( ca1730-1789):

1. Purchase plastic whalebone 6mm wide 2.5 mm thick from Farthingales
2. Use 2 layers of fabric.  Be authentic as possible.  I use silk taffeta or heavy cotton twill and linen lining
3. Sew channels 9 mm wide to accomadate the Wissner boning (6 x 2.5) square mm
4. Purchase up to 40 m of boning depending on the pattern
5. Single laced spiral zig-zag (offset) lacing holes were common
6. Hand sew eyelets in the back for authenticity using overcast stitch

!8th century heavily whaleboned body shape with whale baleine was so popular back then.
Amen to the use of plastic these days

19th century Regency stays( ca1798-1825):

1. Use Hemp cord for thin channels
2. Use the Wissner boning as in the 18th century stays
3. Use heavy cotton twill or use coutil if you want and linen for lining
4. Single laced (offset) lacing holes authentic lacing techniques.
5. Has removable centre busk.  I bought a permanent sewn in metal busk.  Somewhat flexible

Regency stays have a lot less boning material than previous century

Victorian corsets ( ca1835-1900):

1. Use metal spiral boning and straight white metal boning (1 cm wide channels)
2. Cotton twill, silk taffeta, linen lining
3. Metal busks
4. DO NOT use plastic boning.  Not tough enough
5. Frilly lace for edging
6. Criss Cross lacing with "bunny ears" in the middle for waist tightening

So, a Victorian corset can use metal boning as is quite authentic and products these days don't rust.
For a beginner, Laughing Moon #100 is a good starting point.  I found it to be rather straight forward and the instructions were quite easy to follow

*** Do not use any man-made fibres for your corset.  Your skin needs to breathe and the fabric is generally not strong enough***

Here are my pictures

I used a tan coloured silk taffeta and linen lining:  worked well

Front Busk installed

Corset sewn with channels without boning 1 cm (10 mm)
wide channels



Looks like it fits with metal boning



Finished front. I left out the centre waist reinforcement..Just cuz

Finished grommets and lacing. See the bunny ears in the waist area?

Now, the fit with the metal boning looks as though some boning is too short for my channels.  I bought these in pre cut sizes, so I tried my best.

****This is very important for sizing the boning for each channel*******

Measure the length of your  unfinished channel eg 25 cm

Subtract 2 cm from the total length.  This is the length of boning needed for your channel. (23 cm)

Why do this? 

Well, think of your closed channel as a propane tank.  NEVER fill a propane tank 100%. There needs to be air space for expansion just like a corset boning channel needs some space for the boning material to move, otherwise, it contorts out of shape and can poke out of your channel in awful ways that can ruin your corset. Plus, the boning material can dig into your ribs or hips that can make it sooo uncomfortable.

Know what a proper fit looks like (Hard and fast rules):

When your corset is tightened enough without hurting, the gap in the centre back should be 2 inches or 5.08 cm wide.  Give or take a 1 cm , that should be a good fit.  If tightened and the gap is too wide, your corset is too small.  When tightened, and the gap closes, and your corset shifts slightly, it's too big.

Yeah, I know I would rarely wear these things except for Halloween and such, but it is such good practice and a challenge to get skills down right for any future projects that makes anyone a more experienced sewer.
Anyway, a quick post but more's coming...

Karin

Simplicity 4496 View E Plum blossoms

Yes, another skirt!!

This one was inspired in part by my phone's skin,  and a bunch of blossoms from a fruit tree (plum I believe).  These photos I took in 2007 in the beginning of April from the ones lined along the town streets, so, great, Crown Land!



Flowering Ornamental Plum Blossoms



On closer inspection

Yep, there we have it!  There is snow on these spring blooms!  Although I didn't use snow on my blooms in my project, I got the right colour of perle thread to use anyway.

I believe I ended up putting 53 blooms on my skirt.  I wanted this to be a quick project and I did this entirely with only 3 types of stitches

Detached Buttonhole-flower petals
French knot-flower centre
Stem stitch-branches

The work isn't depicting real life-like subjects by any means but it got the job done. I usually do it as real life as I can but the time involved for this project wasn't needed as much.  I might have done that on a different scale on a purse or tote bag.

So, for the construction:

Using pattern Simplicity 4496 View E which is probably discontinued (bought it in 2003?).  But any pattern can be used that has a full flowey skirt without loads of gores.



Scanned picture

Also, this is one thing I don't like about bought patterns.  I almost never follow their applique ideas directly from the patttern itself because I often don't like the look it gives.  Therefore, I just go for what I want.


The front halves.  I put the branch on the right side this time



Close up on branches

I wanted this project to be more 3D and bulky so I chose a No. 5 perle thread from Presencia in colours 1975,8080 and 2240.


Now, I know that a plum tree would actually have 5 petals per bloom but the bulk of the thread and the space allowed room for four.  And, like I said, this was a quick project.
**Make sure when you install the zipper that the waistband seams actually line up from both sides**

It is easy to make this mistake without even thinking because I have done it, so a good thing to do is mark the zipper tape on both sides, then the waistband halves will line up when the zipper is closed

If you mark the zipper tape on both sides, both halves will line up on both sides
Makes it easier and less work in the long run

I have actually made this mistake of misalignment and when I closed the zipper the waistband seam actually was out by a centimetre, which looks terrible!  So, I do it this way and it matches up!

Finished skirt consisting of 4 pieces. No gores.

I know this is a quick, more plain and less detailed than what I normally do, but this skirt will always remind me of the fabulous spring blooms I look forward to every year.

But, I realize that there are as many ideas to work on as there are cards in a Hallmark store.  It never ends.

Anyway, onto the next project!!

Bye for now!

Butterick 5404 View A handbag

***Discontinued Pattern....whatever...****

Well, another project documented on subjects that roam free in the wild just outside my door!
(Well, a 20 to 40  minute drive away and we have spotted some of them no joke!).

But seriously, I have always wanted to embroider butterflies for awhile now and I started this project between semesters and didn't finish until...March...I think...of this year.

Now, usually, I get accurate colours of subjects in a variety of reference books that I own and one of them was the Lone Pine Published Butterflies of British Columbia, by John Acorn and Ian Sheldon  and the subjects I chose were:

1. Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)
2. Hydapse Fritillary (Speyeria hydapse)
3. Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon)
4. Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus)
5. Sweet violets (Viola odorata)
6. Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)
7. English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

The thing is, you can't spot these all at the same time unfortunetely, but, butterflies are just so cute!

The other thing I would like to mention here is that when you decide to embroider insects and other animals, it is always best to put them as you would see them true-to-life by movement or appearances of scale or weight of the subject.  You can also give them emotion by choosing the right angle of eye coordination etc etc.
We all know that the work put into it isn't real and can't mimic real life subjects 100% but we sure can try as much as we can!

Okay, as for the nuts and bolts of the operation, putting together a bag by Butterick shouldn't cause anyone to pull their hair out, but what I will show is the alterations I made to the square shaped bag that can pretty well go with any damn outfit. 
Granted, this bag didn't have a huge area to work with and that is either a God-Send or a nightmare. Smaller areas mean I can finish up sooner but subjects then lose a lot of real life detail-major trade off)

Onto the progress pictures:

Mourning Cloak finished

Finishing up Lavander

Pale Swallowtail progress



Finished work on bag. The fritillary on the violets gives the impression that the butterfly is weighing down the flower.
The bend in the stem is the result of the weight of the fritillay.

So, as I was pointing out, the fritillary is bending the stem by its own weight because this butterfly is feeding on nectar and is probably travelling from flower to flower.  The Silvery Blue is angled in flight and facing downwards because the butterfly is coming down to feed as well.  It also looks as though the Pale Swallowtail is leaving the scene by its particular angle in flight. 
Anyway something to think about.  Of course all of that is up to each person's interpretation but that was my intention.

I did use cotton broadcloth for this bag so it turned out floppier than I wanted it to, but it still worked. And don't forget medium weight sew-in interfacing and buckram interfacing for the tab closure. 
I also used the pattern suggested magnetic snap tab for a closure.
I used a plum coloured plain weave silk shot with gold for the lining, which the pictures didn't turn out well because of continuous cloudy days here...sorry, I will try again.

Anyway, a simple project used on serious shopping rounds...when I can...

Thanks

Karin

McCalls 3830 Skirt

View E-shortest one!

Hey, since I am between classes, I might as well make another skirt for the going-out-to-dinner mini skirt (with fab boots or wedges) or perhaps the ideal look for the typical mall rat at any usual shopping centre. 

But here is where my imagination takes flight sometimes.  It usually happens when I have enough fabric left over in my storage for anything to come into existance, so, I go on an embroider bender and try and finish up any projects that I can do so that I can free up some valuable square footage in my apartment.

So, since my last black skirt was black with white lillies, I  used Trish Burr's Long and Short Stitch embroidery book template for my mini skirt and went with the arum lily project.  Now, keep in mind I do have my own pictures to create my own templates but it was just so much quicker. 

(Anyway, Trish does some good projects in her book, so thank you)

Now, I also must confess that this idea spawned even earlier than I realized.  When I bought the DVD to the 'Other Boelyn Girl', Anne Boelyn had a couple of arum lillies on one of her stomachers in a scene.  However, I didn't choose to do that particular arum lily but actually settled on Trish's lily.  This looks a lot like the species ' Spathiphyllum sp' but may be another of the type like 'Arum maculatum'.  Either way, this plant belongs to the Arum family (Araceae).(AIR-A-CEE-E)

Anyway, the size of the flower was right for the mini skirt.  It didn't take me 3 weeks, but less than one.  Yes, I guess this was a "quick and easy" project, but still finding myself back to the fabric store buying invisible zippers for the closures to dresses and skirts.( And you may well have guessed that I like making skirts, handbags and fancy dresses.)

So, after completing the hand work I always buy the prescribed colours for the project and end up using way less than required.  I don't get that.  So, here are my progess pictures:

Trace out and place drawing on fabric




 






Out line back split stitch and begin work









Near completion


As you can see my trace for the leaf of the arum lily is somewhat faded.  This is the part that gets me.  I usually have to keep redrawing the outline until I can do a split backstitch on it especially on black fabrics
In the picture below, work is completed but next step is to get rid of that nasty hoop crease left on the outside of the work.

Completed

As for the rest of the skirt, all the hard work is done and what is left is the construction-to-completion jobs.  So, as you may have guessed, I do put in 8" invisible zippers in matching colours, this one being black.  Easy to find anywhere.  So, I hemmed the bottom at 2 " or (5.08 cm) instead of the pattern prescribed 2-1/4 ".  I just needed it to be a bit longer.

2 " (5.08 cm) hem hand stitched

When adding optional belt carriers, a common rookie mistake of mine was to let the weight of the machine foot to keep it in place while sewing in the permanent stitch.  I must say, DO NOT do this!!!  Basting is the way to go. I don't want to say how crooked your carriers can look if you don't baste them in place.

I also don't like the companies instructions on how to construct and sew the carriers until finished.  I have another way that works better.  Until then, I won't do it their way.

Basting on belt carriers.

Okay, that is it for now.  The skirt looked  exactly like the finished picture from McCall's with a silly arum lily slapped on the left front.  More pictures updated soon.  But it's done!

Bye for now.

Marfy 9263 size 48 Completed!!! Attack of the Dog Roses

Another project done....well I actually finished this project a year ago (July 2011) but didn't get to document it until now because of 2 failed hard drives and lost data but we are getting it back slowly.

Okay, so, as you know Marfy patterns aren't for beginners but skirts are quite easy to put together if you

1. Follow and match points of letters to letters and notches from each piece
2. Add all seam allowances and hem allowances
3. Use the company's visual reference picture
4. Translate the concise instructions of the pattern piece if you can
5. Rely on your experience to put it together or consult some books if you want

I love skirts and this style was sooo cute and summery I just couldn't resist it.  I believe it may only be available by email request now through Marfy alone.  I don't know which year this was catalogued in, but check it out, it may stll be available (as of 2012).

Here is the visual reference from the company:

(I had to scan my printed file here because I did lose this original file)
*Now, looking at this reference, you got to hand it to the company for having an imagination for trendy awesome clothing. I see here in the seam of the top half and the flounce that there is a idea to stitch on a chain stitch, feather stitch or fly stitch, not to mention a hand stitched running stitch for aesthetics*

Now, I am aware that some newer and specialized machines can sew a running stitch which would save time, but doing it by hand is just as effective and costs pennies.

Can you imagine I may have done more than that?  You bet I did.  Not only did I sew a running top stitch, I also hand stitched a heavy chain stitch along the seam line and embroidered a mess of wild roses growing into each other along the flounce hem line.  What's a life without challenges?

Anyway, here are the pics:




Heavy chain stitch with perle thread

Wild roses on the first third of the flounce

Wild rose of white variety on the back of the flounce

Rose of local variety at home(R. nutkana) on last third of flounce



Finished skirt!!!

Well, along with this skirt came a waist band.  I used sew-in interfacing as I always do.  I also made this skirt out of a light plain weave cotton that isn't that opague in one layer,so, I have to wear a slip for modesty reasons. As for the colour scheme except Rosa nootkana, I had to make several photos of wild roses at the college so I can get my colour blending to meet certain criteria, and hopefully at the smaller size to look somewhat real.

And, don't forget the invisible zipper in cream colour sewn into the left side.  I only used a 1 cm allowance here.

Well, that is this Marfy skirt completed in 3 weeks.

Thanks!
(BTW, I know this skirt is wrinkled.  I have been wearing it a lot with the few hours of whole sun days we have every year)