It’s the end of the day and my beloved and I are watching Coast, whilst someone sits at the window watching out for those pesky rabbits.
Sorry about the quality of the pictures, but I didn’t want to put the lights on or use the flash. We’re just sitting here in the dark watching the darkness creep over the hills, with only the TV on.
Today I’ve been working on my waistcoat project and am going to press the outer shell seams – I’ve not pressed them in case I needed to take in or let out a little, but the fit seems pretty good, soI’m going to press now, and then start on the lining.
It feels good to be using fabrics that have sat in my fabric chest for a good many years, and I’ve decided to use up what I’ve got before going buying any more! The reason is not that I’m going on an economy drive, only that when I prepared the wool (using this ), I discovered there were some moth holes in the fabric, so I had to take care when cutting out that I avoided the holey bits. As a result I don’t have enough to cut the front facings so they will have to be cut from the paisley lining fabric.
When doing the stay stitching on the front opening edges and shoulders, I applied some stay tape, half an inch in from the edge. This is the first time I’ve done this and I’m not sure if I’ve done it correctly – please feel free to tell me if I haven’t!
Going to press and start putting the lining together now.
So here’s Burda 135-08-2010 finished. It comes from the ‘Take one, make four’ feature in August’s Burda. The four patterns are all short skirts, supposedly in the style of the four main characters from Sex and the City. This one is supposed to represent Carrie. Burda made their version up in bright pink duchesse stain and styled it with a stripy T-shirt and a sequinned waistcoat. I have to admit, mine reminds me of school uniform rather more than Sex and the City. But kind of in a good way.
The pleats at the front are a separate panel that’s overlaid onto the front skirt panel. Underneath it’s a very plain straight skirt, so no need to worry about high winds. There’s a zip in the left side seam so no centre back seam. Hmm, I probably should have pressed that hem a bit more. The instructions say not to press the hem or the pleats but I think they look better with a sharp edge.
The pattern is amazingly quick to make up. There’s no hemming because all the skirt panels are cut out on folded fabric with the fold where the hem would be. The extra fabric is folded inside to become the lining. There’s also no need to finish any seams because they are all completely enclosed. There’s a little bit of hand-sewing needed to finish the zip and that’s it. I made it in an afternoon.
There are a few things that Burda’s instructions missed out. The pleated panel is really heavy and the weight distorted the front yoke seam. I found that sewing stay tape along the seam sorted that out. I didn’t use interfacing because the instructions didn’t mention it but another time I would definitely interface the yoke. And I couldn’t follow Burda’s instructions for finishing the zip at all, so I did the method I always do for finishing zips which is pretty much .
I’m pleased with the end result, and it was really nice to be able to make a garment up so fast. That’s it for instant gratification for a while though, because my next project is a dress made out of some very beautiful red wool I got in Scotland. There will definitely have to be a muslin and some careful fitting before I cut into that!
It’s the last day of August and finally the weather is beautiful.
The thistledown is ready to float off with the next puff of wind.
Lady Grey arrived over the weekend. (of Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing) is having a Lady Grey sew-along starting in September. I’m not brave enough to formally join in, but I shall carry out a covert lurking operation.
For UK readers, I got my pattern from .
Finally here is a better photo of the fabric I’m using for my waistcoat. It has a beautiful shimmery effect, similar to two tone shot silks, where the colour changes as the fabric moves. It looks green but changes to fuschia.
I’m attempting the double breasted version (middle sketch on bottom of envelope). The paisly cotton lawn is for lining and picks up the colours in the wool, which don’t show very well in the photo. Muslin cut out and ready to go!
Thanks everyone for the comments on the ! Emily H. mentioned a pleated skirt from the August Burda. There are two in that issue and strangely enough one of them was what I was already planning to sew next. I want to sew the other one too but I don’t have any suitable fabric for it yet and I’ll have to grade it, so that’s a way off.
Here’s the technical drawing of the one I’m doing now.
I am making this in a beautiful 100% wool blue and black tonic suiting from Textile King, which is on Berwick Street in London. I really didn’t want to risk washing it so I tried pre-shrinking using a method I found on the Internet. You wash a big sheet and while it’s still wet lay it out flat. Lay the fabric flat on top, and roll the two together. Pop the lot into a bin liner, tie it closed, leave for a few days, then remove and iron the fabric. It worked pretty well for this fabric. It certainly shrunk a bit and it also got softer. When I bought it the fabric had a rather scratchy feel and that’s gone completely. I will definitely use this method again when sewing with wool, although next time I’ll use a towel rather than a sheet as it might crease the fabric a bit less. I’m not a great fan of ironing.
Here’s the fabric. It’s more of a royal blue than the periwinkle shade it’s come out as in the photo.
So where does the disaster come in? The pattern calls for 1.55m of 140cm wide fabric, not that I bothered to check this in advance because everyone knows a tiny little skirt takes less than a metre, right? Wrong. Not when it has pleats and is self-lined.
My piece started out 150cm wide and probably a bit over 1.5m long so I thought I had plenty. The fabric was cut very off-grain, so I probably lost 5-10cm length in straightening that up. I don’t know how much it shrank when I wet it because I didn’t measure, but some. Then I added 5cm to the length of the skirt when I traced the pattern. This becomes 10cm in terms of fabric because the skirt pieces are all cut double with the hem on a fold, another thing I didn’t really think about in advance.
So after I’d cut all the skirt panels I didn’t have enough fabric left for the four yoke pieces. This was a new experience because normally I buy far too much fabric and have large bits left over. Eventually, after much rearranging, I managed to squeeze all the pieces out of the remaining fabric by cutting the inside back yoke out upside down. That’s bad on shiny fabric as the shine might be directional, but it’s the inside piece so it won’t show. And I have marked it very carefully with my new favourite gadget, the chalk wheel. So all was not lost but you can bet I’m going to check the yardage in advance next time.
I finished it at last! If you’ve not been reading along, this is my attempt to make a version of Vivienne Westwood Anglomania’s .
I’m really pleased with it. The camera has done something a bit strange to the stripy fabric in the long shots so there’s a sort of moiré effect going on in some of the pictures. It’s better in the closeups. The fabric came from the remnant bin at in Glasgow. I’m pretty sure it’s wool. It’s certainly warm to wear.
Here’s the back view:
The fit isn’t perfect because the waistband came out a bit tight. This is because I drafted the skirt to end at my natural waist, and checked the fit at the waist, and then added a waistband of the same width on top of that. Oops. Next time I’ll know better. I used hooks and eyes for the closure of the waistband so I just sewed them on a bit further out to give me some breathing room.
I tried adding an inseam pocket to the design but it really didn’t work. It had to go on the side with the pleats because the other side has the zip. The side seam went all wonky with the pocket in place so I ripped it out. It’s quite hard to unpick seams in this fabric because stitches just vanish into it, but once you’ve managed to remove them it doesn’t leave a mark.
I like it with the plain black T-shirt (‘s finest). I’m not sure about shoes. The blue ones are nice but I couldn’t resist trying it out with my Vivienne Westwood platforms.
Unfortunately they aren’t very practical. In fact I can only just walk in them, but they’re good for posing!
I made a lining by cutting it out from my original tailored skirt draft. This is a regular skirt block with darts for shaping. I made the draped pattern by , so in theory the lining ought to be the same shape as the skirt once I’d sewn the pleats and darts. I could have used the same pattern pieces for the lining as the fashion fabric but I had visions of catching a toe in the pleats while putting it on. Amazingly this did work.
I wasn’t sure what the correct way to finish the lining hem would be. I definitely didn’t want it hanging free at the hem as it would be bound to show at some point given that the skirt hem isn’t straight. I originally considered using my lining fabric as underlining, but couldn’t bear the thought of itchy woolly seam allowances so the skirt had to have a proper lining.
In the end I attached the lining in the usual way and stitched in the ditch at the side seams to fix the lining to the fashion fabric near the hem. That allowed me to treat it like an underlining when hemming and sew the fashion fabric to it.
This project has been a really educational experience. I’d like to try drafting some more things now, although I’ve got a couple of projects from patterns ready to go now. Next up is a BurdaStyle skirt, if my fabric survives the bin-liner-and-wet-sheet preshrinking method. I’ll let you know on Sunday!
Following my last post I began to get pangs for the satisfaction of achievement and so began looking into courses that might keep me out of trouble now that September is imminent.
My first port of call was the institution that is Dublin’s Grafton Academy. As they’ve been training budding fashion designers for over 70 years, and have a rather impressive alumni to boot, I firmly put my faith in their skills to teach even the most dexterity challenged of us. Along with the dressmaking classes that teach students how to read patterns and create something special from scratch there are also part-time courses for the ultra ambitious who are up to the challenge of creating the patterns themselves. The college also offers courses in Millinery… how fabulous a pastime would that be?? ‘Oh this old thing? I just took a birdcage and some pins and voila! a hat for every occasion’. www.graftonacademy.com
Elsewhere the marvellously named This is Knit offers various levels of knitting courses in the beautiful surroundings of the Powerscourt Centre. As well as learning the dependable plain and purl (never could quite get my wrists around that one), there are also crochet classes for one and all along with workshops on related crafts. Particularly great is the one hour ‘take your pick’ class that they offer once a week – just let them know what you need to work on and you can book them one at a time! Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a Luas carriage full of clicking needles rather than clicking iPhones?? There’s no App to make your aunty Flo a lovely Christmas jumper you know. www.thisisknit.ie
Nearby across in Castle Market my favourite haberdashers, Murphy Sheehy, are getting in on the expertise sharing. The store is an Aladdin’s Cave for everything dressmaking related and each visit inspires new ideas or projects so I’m especially excited about their two-hour sewing workshops. Here you’ll learn how to make one of three soft toys in delightful Liberty fabric. The slightly random fruits of your labour are then yours to take home, keep it handy in your bag or even pop on the desk … wherever it’s within easy reach for you to have a little brag about your newly acquired skills. www.murphysheehy.com
For the more surprising course content, I’m always interested in what Re-dress are hosting. The ethical fashion advocates hold an array of fantastic DIY courses, often one day workshops. Besides realising that wealth of talent that’s been bursting to get out, it’s also just a rather lovely way to spend a day and meet like minded folk. From their charmingly titled Crafternoon Tea fashion skills crash course to a Curious Collars class, they really do seem to have a little something left of centre for everyone. Although I’ve yet to make it to the course, it’s the French Knickers and Cocktails evening that I’m intrigued by … if only every girl on the town would make the same undergarment choice when Cosmos are involved. www.re-dress.ie
Of course these are just a taster of what’s on offer in Dublin but if you do come across any other lovely courses or workshops around the country, please be sure to share them with me. I’d personally love to improve (establish) my cookery skills… although I’m pretty sure no one will be buying any of those particular creations.
