It's been awhile and there is much to discuss!
Contents
- Chiffon topper
- Artistry in Fashion 2017
- Exhibit: Degas and the Millinery Industry
- Video: Sandra of Phyllis Boutique
- Seattle
It's time to come clean and admit my guilty pleasure.
I LOVE chiffon and chiffon-like fabrics, such as georgette. Especially crinkle chiffon because, well, you know...texture. I am a bit baffled by my love of chiffon because I am not a fan of many feminine fashion details, like ruffles, bows, Peter Pan collars, stilettos, or light pink.
I have amassed a sizable collection of chiffon fabrics. I prefer prints, ombre gradations, and border prints, over solid colored chiffon. Last spring I made a Paisley blue silk chiffon duster. I've worn it a number of times, but I haven't been completely happy with it. I'm not quite sure why.
I purchased this chiffon when I visited the New York garment district in July 2016. It was my first and only visit to Paron Fabrics before they closed, and this was the only fabric I purchased.
I was inspired by the Zandra Rhodes pattern, Vogue 1547.
I loved the skirt of this pattern, but I wanted to make some changes:
- Eliminate the underdress.
- Eliminate the back zipper. (I live alone, and for years I had frozen shoulder in BOTH shoulders. I reject back zippers, unless they are purely decorative.)
- Make the bodice less fitted.
- Use a CF opening (instead of the zipper).
I decided to merge the skirt from Zandra's pattern with Vogue 9427, a simple cardigan.
Alterations and modifications
I started with a size large cardigan (size 16-18), and a size 20 skirt (which fit the bottom of the top). I made numerous changes, especially to the cardigan.
- Wide back adjustment, adding 1" (total 2").
- Broad back adjustment, adding 3/8" (and a dart on the shoulder, in addition to the dart at the neckline in the original pattern.
- Lowered dart, and increased by 1-1/2".
- Forward shoulder adjustment, 1/2".
- Rounded shoulder adjustment, 3/8".
- Split the skirt to create a CF opening.
- Omitted the sleeves.
- Finished the 8+ yards of hem and CF opening with tiny micro hems.
- Finished the neckline and armhole openings with 1" self bias strips, folded in half and pressed.
- Closed the front of the bodice with elastic button loop tape and 22 tiny buttons from Britex.
Process pics
The skirt
The skirt on this dress is a circle skirt (including the 4 corners of the skirt), but it's not your typical circle skirt. Rather that cutting the waist hole in a circle, it's cut as a narrow oval. I love this design, because it throws the fullness of the skirt off to the hip, rather than distributing the fullness evenly around the waist. I blogged about this effect back in 2009, in Draping Circle Skirt Fullness, complete with some rather ugly (but effective) sample photos.
OOPSIE!!
I spent a lot of time on the bodice and the skirt. I fully hemmed the skirt, and finished the raw edges of the bodice, before joining them together. I was feeling hopeful.
I joined them together and tried them on.
UGH.
I don't usually sew garments with a waist seam. And this is why.
I asked Ann Smith to help by pinning it up. She did, and it was better but, after carefully removing the seam and re-sewing, it still didn't look great. It took me 4 or 5 trips from the mirror to the machine to tweak it. I raised the entire seam, and it's no longer straight across my front, since my curves affect how the bodice hangs.
It's NOT perfect, but it's better! I can live with it now.
I wore this topper to work on Tuesday and it's fun to wear!
Last weekend was another great Artistry in Fashion! The guest speaker this year was Sandra Betzina, who talked about the 10 most common mistakes sewers make. (You can read more about her talk on the Cañada College Fashion Dept blog.) She brought books, videos and patterns to sell and had two racks of her garments—one in her talk and one in her booth outside. I had been meaning to buy All New Fabric Savvy, and this gave me a great excuse.
I also learned that she's changed the subscription model for her site, Power Sewing. You can now subscribe for $6.99 a month to have access to over 250 video programs that are 30-60 minutes in length.
It was a great talk! Sandra was funny and shared lots of into.
And, of course, the shopping was good, too!
The classrooms in the fashion department are set up with student work. I was particularly impressed by the work in this little bolero! The back and front are both different and both beautiful.
I also saw some friends!
I'm sorry I didn't take a lot more photos, but I get so involved and I forget!
Exhibit: Degas and the Millinery Industry
The Legion of Honor in San Francisco has been hosting an exhibit that I've been meaning to see. I finally got there at the very end of its stay!
The exhibit, Degas Impressionism and the Millinery Trade is a tad misleading. Many other impressionist artists were also featured. Along with the paintings and prints, many period hats were on display. I mostly took photos of the art, which called to me more than most of the hats.
Let's start with the hats!
Caroline Reboux
French, 1837-1927
Woman's Hat, ca 1904-1905
Woven straw and dyed cotton flowers
"The labor intensive process of flower-making involved treating the material, typically silk or cotton, with flower or gelatin to improve its pliability, and then carefully cutting flowers and leaves from it. The material was often cut in layers to allow many flowers to be created simultaneously. Shapes were then punched into the flower by hand using a mallet. The flowers were dip-dyed, also by hand, and often several times to achieve the desired hue. Next they were shaped, scored, and crimped, and then secured to their intended hat by wire or stitching."
Camille Marchais
French, active 1854-1922
Woman's hat, ca 1895
Silk plain-weave and silk-velvet flowers and leaves, and metal wire
Masses of blossoms frequently appeared on hats in the 1890s. Maison Camille Marchais, maker of this example, was one of the most renowned artificial flower and millinery shops in Paris, famous for creating flowers so lifelike they could be mistaken as real. A story from the newspaper Le Figaro tells of a Marchais bouquet that was ruined after accidentally being placed in a vase of water."
There were also beautiful paintings featuring a millinery theme. I took photos of just a few.
It was a beautiful day at the Legion of Honor!
Video: Sandra of Phyllis Boutique
About a month ago I purchased a "scarf/necklace" from Sandra at Phyllis Boutique in Palo Alto. On the same visit, Margy bought a similar piece. After returning home, I couldn't quite make it work the way Sandra did (and neither could Margy), so I went back a couple weeks ago and asked Sandra if she would mind if I made a video of her styling it, so I could share it with Margy and others.
She graciously agreed.
Here's the result. You can see what a delightful, creative force Sandra is. (And please tell me my voice isn't that weird.)
Enjoy!
I was in Seattle a week ago (was it only a week ago?) for a mostly-work trip. But I managed to squeeze in a visit to two fabric stores and one yarn store! On Monday night, my colleague Kathy and I took Lyft to Bad Woman Yarn, where I found some leather "buttons." Actually, they are clever screws!
We then caught another Lyft to Pacific Fabrics. I had heard of this store, but I hadn't realized that there are FOUR of them in the Seattle area!
We visited the Northgate location, which also has a sizable yarn collection (for Kathy). What a great fabric store! It was very much like the old independent fabric stores that we used to have where I grew up in Santa Rosa, CA, like New York Fabrics, and House of Fabrics. The salespeople are knowledgeable, friendly, and it's easy to spend a lot of time there. They have a particularly nice home dec selection and juicy flat fold tables. They are very active on Instagram.
I am not sure how I missed all FOUR of these stores when I visited Seattle in the past! They are located in: Bellevue, Northgate, Bemerton, and Sodo Seattle. Sodo (South of Safeco Field) houses their headquarters.
I will definitely be back!
On Tuesday, I had plans to lunch with Maris, of Sew Maris. We had met briefly at Puyallup, but this was the first time we were able to hang out. After lunch, she mentioned needing to run over to nearby Nancy's Sewing Basket and did I want to go.
Did I? Did I???!
She had a car, so I grabbed my purse and off we went!
I enjoyed petting the fabrics... It rained during our visit, so it was easy to think "fall."
Thanks, Maris!
Overall, it was a great (but quick) trip...even at work.
Now that I've completed the chiffon wonder, my next project is a wool boucle from Britex. I am also planning a trip to Ashland for Design Outside the Lines, and a trip to Japan later this fall. It's a busy time!
Have a great weekend, and join me on Patti's Visible Monday and Style Crone's Hat Attack!
