Elegant Baroque

Elegant Baroque by galaatelier featuring ankle strap high heel sandals

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I would publish my style ideas for day or evening

I will call it Polyvore Weekend!

Looking at quality up-close

Let's have a look....shall we?!!!

 

 

A while back I may have mentioned sewing projects that can exhibit store-bought features that make it look professional?  This occurs in the finish and the sewing.  I want to quality assure this dress that I bought on sale under $100.00 and describe how well we can do as home sewers without fancy industrial machines and how to damn well rival the techniques.  Now, it occured to me that most of the time I have saved a crap-tonne of money this way and I haven't paid horrific designer prices but if you want....be my guest.  I just want you to be aware of what to look for so that you know the difference.

 

I may not have covered all the QA inspected points but I am going through the scope of what this dress can offer.



Keep in mind that I am not here to point the finger or annoy anyone, I just want anyone who didn't know what to look for when choosing decent to well made quality clothing  so that you know what you're spending your hard earned money on.

Point 1-Seam alignment

For the L and R sides of the front and back bodice joining to make to shouder seam, take a look.  This goes for any other seam join in R and L sides of other areas of a dress.

Left side shouder area.  Seams match at junction!!

Right side shoulder area.  Seams match at junction!!

Gold Star!! This passes point 1

Point 2-Neck line facing match

At the top of the centre back, the L and R sides of the facing must be of equal length and width. 
I have stressed about this so many times and how to make sure they do not get mis-aligned.  Anything you show to the outside world has to show little to no flaws as possible.

You can see the invisible zipper pull that has the L and R haves in line with
each other.

Gold Star!! This passes point 2

Point 3-Topstitching integrity

Although this dress did not have a lot of top-stitching, the attachment of belt carriers to the fashion fabric should have a consistant width.

Consistant 6 mm topstitch of belt carrier

Gold star!! Dress passes point 3

Point 4-Serging tension and finish

To use a serge-shut technique that I frequently use, I know how the tension of the serge shoud be.  Keep in mind that some fabrics are difficult to deal with, but this is a woven fabric and should not present too many problems.



This seam looks like it was done all on the serger with a chain stitch.  Tension is
a bit tight



Lining chain stitch serge finish (5 thread serger).
Upper looper thread a bit tight.(Drags lower thread down)

Lose 1/2 point (1/4 each for fashoin fabric and lining) on Point 4

Point 5-Understitching

Understitching is important when you don't want your lining to pop out above your fashion fabric.
Surely in the back near the zipper, I thought that it could have gone a bit farther.

Understitchng done well on front bodice

Understitching stops a long away from centre back. Why?

Lose 1/4 for premature end on Point 5

Point 6- Hem and finish

Here, the centre back seam has both sides serged seperately for a fuss-free zip installation.  I do this all the time.  The hem is a consistant 1.25 inches

The serge finish is correct in tension and colour scheme

Blind hemmer looks like it is a bit loose in its execution.
Is this correct?

Typical 1.25 inch hem.  Fine with that.

Lose 1/4 point for blind hemmer machine execution on point 6.  Blind hemmer machines can be fussy.

Point 7- Zipper Installation and finish

This is one of those major points where it is imperative that we must make sure an invisible zipper looks like a seam to the outside world.  If not, we haven't sewn close enough to the edge of the zipper tape.

The lining attachment is safest when it lies farther away from the raised portion of a closed zipper so that we don't want it to catch.

This is consistantly sewn at equal distances from the raised portion of the wrong side of the zipper.  As in point 2, the outside zipper is not to be seen.  That is good.

Gold Star. Dress passes point 7

Point 8-Thread tails if found

Shouder seam with a netting re-enforcement.  Cut your tails!!!

Lining along CB where end of zip to bottom. Serge shut technique
as in starts into the seam allowance.  Cut your tails!!!

The dress loses a 1/4 point as this is not a serious flaw to the outside world but I would have taken the time to clean this up personally.  I know I nit-pick.

Point 9-Structural sewing execution

What I mean here is any construction to manipulate shape as is drafted into the pattern ie the dart.  This was noticed on the lining and was conspicuous enough to notice what was going on.

The tip end of the dart seams bungled and knotted plus
it was not sewn off the end of the fabric.  Makes for a
not-so-sharp end

Lose 1/4 point on dart execution.  Not a huge concern as it is the lining.

Point 10-Centre Back Zipper tip

Here is the last point I shall make here.  This is what I enjoy seeing.  The edge of the zipper tape was sewn right to the tip essentially removing the need for a hook-and-eye closure.  Plus it is even when closed.

This is a great execution!

Well...How did this dress do out of 10?  (8.5/10)  Well done you pass!!!

This is a well made dress for less than $100 per item.  Keep in mind that nobody will be perfect and trying to do so may drive someone crazy.  Murphy's Law is in charge here most of the time and can't be helped.

Thank you all, until the next post....

Quick projects Simplicity 1941

The 2 Day Challenge and saving buttons

OK, so, I am getting ready for work, look at my white shirt and look at the wear and tear on my shirt. It doesn't look pretty at all, in fact it's down right nasty, and 3 years later of trying to get out that unseen grime build up over that period of time, you know your garment is getting filed under "G". This particular shirt was made out of good quality quilting cotton because it was $4.00/m, and it did last well, but we must part with our loved one and move on....

Now, I know I ramble on about how much it rains here, and it's true, but I need a cutsie-poo shirt that looks good and has short sleeves that lets me hold onto my youth and makes me feel so summer-like care free whatever, so, I chose this pattern because it has all the elements that I look for in a shirt for work and play.

Also, I need to stress that buttons can be pricey, so, if your one with money to burn, buy new ones every time, but I don't. I save them. They are more or less utility and plain buttons but NONETHELESS.....we shouldn't have to throw them away. I even save buttons from not-so-attractive dress shirts of men's garments too...so....yeah....

By the way, I did this on my 2 days off between July 5-6, 2013 which I thought I can prove to myself that I can do it!!!

 

Inspecting the old piece of junk: Look what bleach did!!!

Look at the sleeve seam, button hole and side seam.
I know I know the dirt cannot be removed!!!





The french seam is still intact but top layer has disintegrated



Botttom-most buttonhole torn and repaired




Side seam disintegrating

  And you are probably thinking: "Why are you wearing this in public?"

Well, no longer! It has seen better days.

2 Day Challenge: 8 am Friday to 10 pm Saturday night.

I actually took breaks during this time because I know working straight would make the statement "Haste makes waste" actually true and to prevent myself from going stir-crazy, I did pace my self and it worked. I could have sewn french seams but serged my seams instead of course due to lack of time, but I might try that one out for another day.




Finished blouse for work and off-work
View C without ruffle

For 160 cm wide fabric on sale 50% off you've GOT to build your wardrobe on that! And I used 6 out of 8 buttons salvaged.

 

PS:

 

The only snag I encountered was the sleeve fit.  I KNOW I cut out the correct size and followed the pleat lines, but I found that the front part of the sleeve between the single notch and the shoulder seam had so much slack that I had to add an extra pleat to fit exactly to size.  It is not an END OF THE WORLD dilemma it's just that I have an extra pleat in the front and I hope nobody else has this problem. 

 

Until then, ta-ta

 

 



Project Diary.....New Look 6003 Inspired project. Summer Garden

New Look 6003...YES another skirt.  I am omitting the peplum at the waist line on View C (knee length) only because it will take away the handwork features.

Oh and uh....I used this pattern because it is a variety of the pencil kind.

May 23, 2013 Inspired project

Funny how things can jump at you and put other projects on hold.  I recently bought a magazine (People StyleWatch June 2013) that featured a polyester skirt and it had a greyscale floral print on a white background and I was thinking to myself that I would try to do something similar but with vibrant colours and so here we are. I wanted to do a similar greyscale project but I changed my mind and also decided to put my favourites on there and a bit more.

In looking at the greyscale printed skirt I started seeing repeats of certain flowers.  I did some repeats in my version, however, it was not a repeat of the same type of flower.  I also planned to add insect species because that is nature.

So, I started fishing out all of my traces of butterflies and retraced some of my own flower pictures from my extensive library(jpegs) and here is what I will put on this skirt so far:

Rosa nutkana (wild dog rose)

Lepidoptera

Nymphalis antiopa(Mourning Cloak butterfly) dorsal (superior) view
Lycaena cupreus (Lustrous Copper butterfly) ventral(lateral-side) view

Papaver sp. (White Poppy)
Potentilla fruticosa (Cinquefoil)
Weed variety (Tansy Ragwort???)
Anenome sp (Ranunculus species)
Spiraea japonica(Cultivated not Hardhack)
Rosa gymnocarpa (Dwarf rose)
Papaver somniferum (Red oriental poppy)


Diptera

Metasyrphus americanus (Hover fly, mock bee) Lateral(side) view

Gastropoda

Common garden snail.  I don't know what species I embroidered. Lateral view


So far so good right??  I'm telling you, this is a big bite to swallow.  I also know that I need a white skirt, and you may know that I can never have a plain thing happening, so, this will keep me out of trouble.

Well, I also know that I can pull this off before we get some real sunny weather happening in the month or two that it comes per year or so, and I will also wear this with my GEOX printed floral wedges!  What a plan!

My GEOX Respira wedges!!!

May 26, 2013 Nymphalis antiopa

I completed the Mourning Cloak in the first frame I finished. I have a video of capturing this butterfly at Campbell Valley Park, BC but I couldn't get a decent frame in focus.

Real life subject.
 I have seen this insect flying around near the college grounds,
blackberry shrubs near roadsides, remote lakes, Crown land parks.
This dude is all over the place!
 

My completed version finished Frame 1 on May 26, 2013

May 31, 2013  Tansy Ragwort weed.

Ok, so, I was on the fence about including this subject, and I didn't know if it was going to work with the general leaf structure I drew on my white skirt and I sort of put yellow flowers on this frame.  Now, keep in mind that for the Tansy Ragwort the leaf structure is totally wrong on my skirt and doing it is WAY too much work at this point in time, so I feverishly did 16 leaves and slapped on a yellow flower of some kind.  Basically, I wanted a very natural setting being that there will be some insect species floating around on my skirt.

Once I drew it on my skirt it was a done deal anyway only because the tool used was a 2H pencil perfect for white backgrounds and permanent (non-iron transfer) images. 
You can see where the Mourning Cloak is situated with respect to the Tansy.

Frame 2 Completed 
This leaf structure is wrong for the Tansy but it looks natural
This is also situated on the topmost right side of the front of the skirt
I won't go higher than this

June 3, 2013  Rosa nutkana and Lycaena cupreus


In looking at all of my traces of butterflies that I did, the trace that worked with the right size I needed came from the family that the Coppers belong to (Lycaenidae), so naturally I found a species that exists in the lower mainland of BC which is the Lustrous Copper.  It may be slightly out of my range geographically, but my book offered a nicely coloured ventral view of it anyway.

Also, in dealing with dog roses, I know for a fact that they are quite easy to do and fast.  And I love roses anyway.  I also decided that in any frame that they are in, I will not include rosebuds being that right now, I see too many fully opened blooms in places where I know they exist (roadsides and such and such)

Frame 3 completed June 3, 2013.
This is bordering my hemline and this is how it's situated
This  is located in the bottom right side of front of skirt
(Get a load of the compound eye I put on the Copper)

This brings this pretty much up to date.....keep you posted.  Working on Frame 4.


June 8, 2013 Rosa nutkana and Potentilla fruticosa L., Papaver sp.

I had to finish the dog roses right next to the other frame because it made sense.
These are the real life subjects that exist pretty much everywhere around here.

Roadside roses. This is a large shrub.

Potentilla fruticosa L.  Geez, another member of the Rose family.

Frame 4 finished June 8, 2013

The white poppy(most likely an albus variety) was one that I mimmicked from a storage box I bought at Winners which by the way holds my unsewn projects.  Of course I didn't get the exact colours from the picture, but it wasn't meant to be a large image copied anyway.
The Cinquefoil of course is not finished because I couldn't fit it in my 18 cm diameter frame.

June 12, 2013 Anemone sp Redoute colour scheme

During the time I was working on the anenome, I have two on this skirt, however, the picture I took will belong to another frame.  This lighter blue variety was one last minute add-on design that I had to add blue because the red/pink was becoming overwhelming.  So, I used one project from Trish Burr's Redoute Flower Anemone Simple, which worked out great.

Frame 5 finished June 12.  This is on the lower left front/back of skirt

June 14, 2013  Revisit of Potentilla fruticosa L., and Triticum aestivum (Wheat)


Frame 6 was the quickest one completed because it was a continuation of frame 4.  I therefore added a spray of wheat to create colour gradients and perhaps some depth.

Frame 6 finished June 14, 2013

Stay tuned...still not done.


June 18,2013  Anenome sp, not Redoute

OK, so it may be part of the skirt that begins to repeat itself, I know for a fact that this is my own design and colour scheme with a bit of a change to the stamens and anthers of the centre of the flower.  Instead of using the standard french knots I decided to use delica and seed beads for the centre giving it a bit of a shine.  My own special touch.  I also made this one a bit more darker than I expected.

My own picture.  I had to get this one in time as they were almost finished.

 

My version.  Frame 7 completed June 18.  This was the smallest frame

June 20, 2013 Spiraea japonica not Spiraea douglasii ssp douglasii.


This frame crossed over from Frame 7, but my space is becoming less and less as I get into finishing the area that I planned to do work on.  I see this growing EVERYWHERE I go, so I am pretty sure I am seeing both varieties around here. (I see Spiraea douglasii ssp douglasii along greenbelts (riparian zones and naturalised parks))
Keep in mind that Spiraea is also very cultivated and I realised I was seeing this type along roadsides where I normally walk here and there because businesses and Crown Land love to plant this low maintenance shrub but anyway.
And I found out that leaves are a great filler for space.

This is Spiraea japonica that I took a snapshot from Crown Land

Frame 8 finished June 20, 2013.

Still going, stay tuned.


June 22, 2013 Rosa gymnocarpa dwarf rose


Here we have another set of wild roses that I frequently see on local trails and such and such.  I wanted to make this frame of roses smaller than my other set which in real life is true since these roses are quite a bit smaller than R. nutkana.  Anyway you see it, I can't get enough of roses it's sickening.

Frame 9 finished June 22

Rosa gymnocarpa picture taken on Teapot Hill

Oh, don't forget that I added more Spiraea just because I know that they are slightly invasive if left to their own devices.


June 25, 2013 Rosa gymnocarpa finished

Frame 10 finished June 25.  Easy, just missed that one from frame 9

June 26, 2013 Papaver somniferum(Posterior view)
 
When I originally traced and 2H penciled my skirt I knew I had wanted a red flower on the skirt.  As the weeks droned by I then temporarily forgot what I traced and looked through my papers I then remembered.  I had taken a lot of poppy flowers that existed around the college but were all pink poppies and so I had to rely on my bought project books and some pictures from books.  Anyway, as it turned out, I remembered why I only wanted one red poppy on my skirt.  The truth is, before it was done it looked as though my skirt was bleeding red and similar shades of red and I just knew that one was enough.  Overwhelmingly red.  But it offers a good balance that offset the mass of blue that was hogging the colour scheme.

Frame 11 finished June 26, 2013.  Posterior view
Last frame

Oh, and look! More Spiraea!


June 27, 2013  Insect and invertabrate add-on

Well, I decided to do a very quick add-on of a garden snail and hover flies.  These flies are kind of cute as they are beneficial to the garden.
As always the lighting is bad right now as we had nothing but rain since the first day of summer, so, I also want to point out that these did not really have a designated frame but were put randomly wherever.

Used Stumpwork techniques for this little dude.

Not very detailed because they are supposed to be small.
I have 3 of these on here.

Alright, I will finish this up for real.


June 30, 2013  Finishing up


With a little extra time on my hands I figured this time I would line this skirt because I know it will protect the work for longevity and wear and tear.  I did get this fabric on sale that has machine embroidery on it and to me it pales in comparison.  Suprising huh?

Finished front

Finished vent, invisible zip

Lining. Been blue-bombed

What I did for the lining was cut out my skirt front and back, cut the hem line the stated allowance above the cutting line for view C and construct it in the same manner as the fashion fabric.  I then attached it to the facing of the waistband, zipper and vent area. 
I would also like to stress that at this point, massive embroidery work as much as I try to avoid it tend to self wrinkle when I have to change frames so often.  Now, if I had a large area hoop that would take into account the whole area at one given time then it won't look so wrinkled. 

 

*********I need to invest in one of those************

Got to get rid of the blue-bomb.  But that is it.

PS: Elements planned but omitted: Cornus florida.(Pink flowering dogwood)
I intended to put this on here but honestly, it was too much for me to reach my end-of-June deadline

 

 

 

 

Well, another goal accomplished.  Back to other projects.  Stay tuned...

Marfy 3074 Flared skirt- A MYSTerious thing

Scanned picture from catalogue 2013/2014

This is probably the first time I used a free pattern from the catalogue and that it is the first catalogue I ever purchased.  I like getting free stuff with purchase, I just find the pattern pieces to be a bit of a maze, but I persisted.

First off, if you have been following me in any previous posts I LOVE SKIRTS!!!  This one has the right amount of flare and length, so I decided to scratch one off my wishlist and use this one instead. Also, skirts are so easy to make and aside from a basic shirt this has the least amount of pattern pieces, which can qualify as a quick and dirty project.

As for an embroidery project as I always plan, this black skirt inspiration came from a very favourite game of mine.  The Myst Series. (If you haven't played this game you should it is awesome!)  The idea presented such a good contrast of colours on a black skirt I couldn't resist.  Let's have a look at what I plan to put on the skirt:



From Uru Complete Chronicles -desert blue flowers in the Cleft (rainy version)

This is my Relto Age from Complete Chronicles here with the blue flower and
the red butterfly Relto pages added. A better view of the flowers



Red Butterfly from Kadish Tolesa ( said: KAY-DISH TOLL-EE-SAH) emptied vault

White-lavender Butterfly from the rest age Direbo(said: DEE-RAY-BOW) in Myst V
This one is also found by the entrance to D'ni by the Cleft in New Mexico

These should provide ample work during my free time.

And, I did a little bit of research on the blue wild flowers that could possibly grow in the state of New Mexico desert, and the only one that came close to the description and illustration in the Myst-Book of Atrus was the wild flower Eriastrum eremicum.  The pictures I found were the same colour as in Uru Complete Chronicles in the Cleft.  I think I got the right idea here.

Eriastrum eremicum.  

As for the fictional butterflies in Kadish Tolesa and Direbo, I will just have to embroider them as is.  I could not find any real-life counterparts right off, but, the game version will work. (Any suggestions to those who do not live in North America?)

As for the pattern itself I know, I can find a hundred patterns with the same flare, but since I already had it here when my catalogue came, I decided this was the way to go.

If you have access to the multi sized pattern sheet or you are planning to order it as is, you should have 6 pieces.

Front cut 1 on fold
Back cut 1 on fold
Side Front cut 2 on the straight grain
Side Back cut 2 on the straight grain
*Waist band front  cut 1 on fold in double on the straight grain
*waist band back cut 1 on fold in double on the straight grain

You'll also need:
1.8 m of 1.44 m (55") wide fabric
Invisible zipper 18 cm long
Interfacing for waist band(lightweight fusible)

I traced out a size 50 because I only wanted a 1 cm seam allowance and a 3 cm hem.  I wanted this size because I didn't want it to be too snug, plus it is a casual skirt, not for work.

* Waist band construction is variable.  You can make your own by a continous strip or like me you can put them in seamed sections.

Step 1: Layout

Front, Back ,Side Front, Side Back pieces

Step 2: Front-Side Front

With right sides together, sew the seam with the E match point.  You should use the pattern piece labelled E-F at the top for your side front piece. Press seam

Sewn in order from L to R
FE-E-EF

Step 3: Back-Side Back

With right sides together, sew the seam with the D match point.  The side-back piece is labelled D-F at the top. Press seam out.

Sewn in order from L to R
FD-D-DF

At this point you want to finish your seams E and D, so there should be 4 of them.

Step 3: Side Front-Side Back

With right sides together, sew the F match point seam on the right side.  For the F seam on the left side, leave the seam open above the notch to install the zipper.

(If you don't plan on any embroidery, skip this step and do what you want.)

If you are not lining your skirt(ie myself), you will want to serge each side of your side-front side -back pieces first before sew your seam and before you install your zipper for your left side.  This ensures that your zipper has a straight finished edge for better more easier installation.  Plus, it looks a bit less home-sewn.

For my own purposes, I sewed the F seam on the right side, pressed, and serged shut.  I serged the F seam separately on the left side of each front and back aspects but I have not sewn the F seam yet.  I also serged the top and the hem, as to get my shirt prepared for the embroidery.

Embroidery plans:

I need to use one of my butterfly tracing for the red butterfly and the white-purple one.  It looks as though they have slightly different wing structures, so, I will just need to translate that onto my fabric with matching thread colours.
I looked in my Butterflies of British Columbia and will:

1. use the Family Pieridae (Whites and Sulphurs)  for the Direbo butterfly
2. use the Family Nymphalidae ( Brush footed ) for the Kadish Tolesa butterfly

Next, I will also need to trace the growth habit of the blue flowers, the leaf structure and the flower petals.  I should only use maybe two tracings and then I will use my own variation of branches, flower clusters etc.

Also, let's keep in mind that these flowers are meant to be ground cover type flowers from the game. This is also the part that saves time too, since you don't have to cover the skirt 100% from top to bottom.  I think I should only cover the skirt with 1/4 to 1/3 the distance of flowers from the bottom hem up.

I really should stress this while we are talking about placing designs on skirts.  When things start looking "silly or ghastly" we should always remember a couple of things:

1. DO NOT draw attention to suggestible areas in a bad way on your clothing pieces in the front of a skirt.
2. DO NOT draw attention to the rear in a bad way.  It can start to make people laugh.

I traced some butterfly shapes from my book

Yep, this is the portion of the project where it slows right down.  Had I only wanted a plain skirt I would finish it in 2 days, but I love a challenge and I may be the only one in my town with this design on my skirt!
I love originality!

First frame completed on CF of skirt at hemline

This is the first frame completed.  This one always takes the longest.

Here are some steps to ensure that your involved embroidery project doesn't get overwhelming and gets thrown on the "LATER" pile...possibly for a year or two.

1. Put skirt together and adjust your fit before closing the zipper side. (Have skirt as one long open sheet) 
2. Finish all seams and serge hem raw edge(don't fold or stitch hem yet)
3. Baste your hemline and any other sewing lines for seams, darts, pleats to establish "out of bounds" areas
4. Plan your design before you dive in.  This may be the part where you can bite off more than you can chew.
5. Do as much as you can handle at one sitting.  Take breaks. Do what you can when watching a movie.
6. Be determined to finish
7. You can embroider over seams if you think your body mass won't fluctuate   Keep in mind that once you do embroider over a seam, it's a done deal.
8. Do not work too hard as eye strain can set in, so pace yourself.
9. If you have an embroidery machine disregard most of the aforementioned steps.  Turn on your machine and have a nap. ( To me this is not my focus)

In choosing my colours, I really go back to my favourite standby of all time.  I usually use DMC embroidery floss because they are durable, colourfast, and have standardized dye lots that make it real easy when you need to go out and buy another skein because the colours don't change, and they are also really inexpensive and quite build able in terms of layering to create textures.  Now, I am not saying that other threads can't achieve this, others are much better actually, but on everyday clothes, DMC is very versatile.

For my flowers, stems and leaves:

Blue:  813

Green: 471

Maroon: 903

Purple: 550

Yellow: 3382

Sixth Frame completed

Drawing completed for the Side Back right side
This will take up two frames to complete

Most of the time, drawing vegetation can be whatever you want in whatever typical growth pattern it can come in.  I also think that one should put variation into the growth habit of flowers because nature never behaves the way an embroidery machine computer algorithms do, but fall under the laws of physics instead.(This is one of my major beefs with machine work. A person's skills and imagination wins every time!).  Since my work is on a smaller scale I lose some definition.

Here I chose the vegetation to be a bit more sparse as I head towards the centre back, only because I figured that under the sun the vegetation can be struggling with little water available, I hope I accomplished that here.
In complete contrast to this, where I live we have a problem of too much rain and other forms of precipitation, and when I make a design of flowers from here, I might want to create the image that they are weighed down by rain, not growing to find a source of more water.

Frames finished but stem shapes hae changed due to marker rubbing off

Flowers on the CB piece

Last flowers on Side back right side

Now, onto the butterflies!!!!

I figured I would embroider from L to R and then start over with other frames that only concern the two different types of butterflies.  Keep in mind that there will not be as many butterflies as there are flowers in this project, and I figure that I should do about 5 to 7 butterflies for the entire skirt.  You actually know when you are DONE!!

Anyway, on closer inspection of what my monitor captured with the highest quality resolution, the colours for the Kadish Tolesa butterfly revealed more orange than red, but it appears that red has highlights, and here are the colours for this butterfly:

DMC

844 -dark gray, 318-cement, 825-royal blue, 762-silver gray, 350-pumpkin orange, 321-fire engine red

First Kadish butterfly done on CB

Now, in taking these pictures, I can't believe how hard it was to photo this overall red butterfly.  It is gray here as usual, and lighting kind of bites, so it did not turn out true to form.
I also discovered that the orange colour should be used as a highlight here as I find this colour generally disgusting, so I have to be careful here.

I also see from my game pictures that the butterflies have no bodies and therefore I have no clue as what to do, however, I used complimentary colours for the head, abdomen and thorax.  I also thought that looking at real pictures I have taken of resident butterflies (cabbage whites-yay) that their bodies are kind of fuzzy, which tells me that a Ghirodes knot(aka Turkey stitch) is in order here as the size and space can provide for such true-to-life adaptations. (Can a machine do that? ....NO!)

Now onto the Direbo butterfly.

In looking at my game picture of this butterfly, I can see that it is mostly light lavender, white and some charcoal gray.   The great thing about this part is that I know I am close to being done.
I didn't realise that this project would be so involved but hey, whatever.

In choosing the colours for this thing I picked from my stash:

DMC:
762, 3743, 318, 340, 844

I only made one of these, as I began to think that the lighter coloured buterfly was starting to clash and any more would make it look gaudy, but if I change my mind in the near future, I can change that...no sweat.



Step 4: Sewing the left side zipper seam or F match point.

 With right sides together, sew the F seam up until the notch.  Back stitch this to reinforce where the bottom of the zipper will be installed.  Press seam out.


Step 5:  Installing the zipper. (choose an invisible zipper-18 cm long)

By now, I have this stage of the game down pat, but, using an invisible zipper really makes it look more professional, plus, there aren't really any weird overlaps to deal with etc.

In using a standard invisible zip, I know that a 1 cm seam allowance works out great and I don't have to align the serging edge to accommodate the standard 1.5 cm seam allowance used with bought patterns, so I can align this with the edge of the fabric.

Place the top of the zip to align with the top edge and side edge and baste into place before you stitch permanent stitches.  Pins don't really do the trick.

Baste zip into place placing the top of the zipper flush with the top of the skirt

Step 6: Waistband sections


In this step, which I didn't show on the layout, in looking at the picture, even from my catalogue image that the waist band looks like there are seams in the Back piece to each Side Back, and the front looks like it was cut on the fold. Now, my catalogue came with two pattern pieces which in measuring 50 times over, I decided to put them all in sections, so I used my tailored measurements plus my seam allowance, I didn't use the pattern waistband pieces but made sure to extend the width by a factor of 2 times as it says to fold in double.

I also extended the overlap on the left side at 2.5 cm sewed on a buttonhole and button and that finished that.
Q: Which way do we fold in double?

A: The width because we need the other half of the width to serve as a facing on the inside of the skirt to conceal raw edges.

Take note of where the notch is for the size and which corresponding match point letter goes with the waist band to match up with your side back or side front seams on the skirt if you are using the pattern pieces, I just made sure my seams matched up.

Once your waistband pieces are cut out use this template to cut out your interfacing. May I suggest fusible type or use waist band interfacing?

With right sides together, matching seams etc, sew the waistband to the skirt. Press the seam towards the waistband. Be sure to sew your zipper folded in so that when you turn your waistband rght side out, it won't contort.

As you can see the interfacing and seams to the waistband, press under
your seam allowance (mine 1 cm) on the top of waistband
If you press under, your won't need seam binding

Now that you have sewn the waistband to the skirt, with right sides together, sew the ends of your waistband just like you would with a neckband making sure both sides are even. I have my overlap on my left side so I sew my 1 cm from that end whereas the right side is sewn flush with the zipper.


Step 7:  Hem finish and Tweaks

I finished the hem as I always do just as handstich a blind hem by pressing under 3 cm.
When the waistband is folded and pressed to the inside, there won't be any need to seam bind the raw edges.



See how the zipper was sewn folded inward so that when the zip is closed it won't twist?
I top stitched the bottom of the waist band



That is it.

 

Finally, 2 months later...