I guess I am a bit of a hypocrite. I get excited when I know a new batch of Vogues are coming. I am anxious to receive my magazine (this time mine came more than a week after other folks on Stitcher's Guild reported receiving theirs!), and I am even more eager to see them posted on Vogue's website. Usually the website is updated long before I see a magazine, but this time the website was very poky indeed, but they are finally up.
I mean, I have my hands more than full with projects, so I really don't need more patterns, but then the new patterns come out and, inevitably, there are some that I am excited to make up, making my project queue even longer. It can be overwhelming.
It's a pickle, I tell you.
So, here we go. First up, a pattern I.MUST.MAKE. This dress is stunning.
Vogue 8705
Now, of course, I could not wear this dress. No way. But I happen to have lovely daughters who could. Luckily, my eldest would be happy to have this.
OK, now on to clothes I could, and would, wear.
My favorite thing is when Marcy comes out with new pants patterns. Here's her latest offering.
Vogue 8712
Cute, huh? And notice that both views of these pants have pockets?!?!? Thanks, Marcy, and Vogue! I especially love the round pockets on View A.
This top from Katherine Tilton is gorgeous!
Vogue 8710
This top is right up my alley. I especially love the stylized princess seams on View B!
Marcy also has a very interesting new blouse. These tops with volume at the hips aren't always the most flattering on me, but they can work if they are more fitted through the bust and not too long.
Vogue 8709
It has very interesting collar and pocket detailing and it's hard to make out exactly what might be going on. I look forward to seeing this made up!
Look at this cute, easy to wear vest. I could imagine this in many different, interesting fabrications. It has an "Eileen Fisher" vibe to me.
Vogue 8713
This next jacket has some very nice details, such as the ruched sleeves, neckline shape, and the peplum. Do I need it? Probably not. Will I make it? Probably not. But if I have an excuse to make it, such as a wedding, I just might. :)
Vogue 8718
I like the little evening jackets shown in Views B and D. I would only make one of these if I or my daughters had a relevant event, but it's a nice little pattern to have when you need it.
Vogue 8721
Finally, I like this little top with the peplum. I'd have to alter it substantially to fit me, but it might be worth the effort.
Vogue 8714
That's all I would highlight from this offering. The spring Vogues also include many cute, fitted dresses and one nice draped, pencil skirt. These patterns are listed on other blogs, but they don't really fit my body or lifestyle.
But I really do want to make 8705 for my daughter - with her dancer's body, she would really look great in that. :)
It's rare that you find Shams in a night club gripping a cocktail that is both too delicious for words and too complicated to remember its name, but that is exactly where I was a few nights ago. One of my sewing friends, Georgene of the Sewing Divas, had learned about an event in San Francisco (and also Seattle and Portland), called Fashion Feud 2011. This is the third year of Fashion Feud, but the first time I'd heard of it.
This event, hosted in a local club, is held over four evenings from January to March. The first three evenings pit two designers head to head. Each designer is given identical fabric from Mood, New York and 60 minutes to create a garment on a live model. Meanwhile, a small team of hair and makeup folks prepare the models (clad in black slips) while onstage.
Models being prepped.
This is a very "young" event, with most attendees and the designers in their twenties, I would guess. (When they were carding folks at the entrance, I just balefully looked at the young man.) So there were Georgene, Masouma Rose, and myself, decidedly not twenty-somethings, with our cocktails, in the prime location at the end of the short runway, observing the interesting process.
The two designers were given very little fabric, and it was an unfortunate fuchsia-colored cotton (cotton/poly broadcloth, I think, or maybe cotton sateen) with a coordinating print. Not something that would inspire my mojo, but the designers attacked it with enthusiasm and each had such a different approach.
Designer #1 ironed her fabric and started creating what looked to be a pillowcase. It was a shapeless, sleeveless Grecian-style garment and, for most of the hour, it promised to be a disappointment. She had an enthusiastic cheering section who had great faith in her, however.
Designer #2 (with a much less vocal cheering section) brought a dressform and immediately started draping a very complex piece on it, using plenty of steam from her iron to set the horizontal pleating on top of the sleeve and to form other details.
Designer #2 definitely gave a better show. She draped, she cut interesting shapes on the dressform - it was fun to watch her process. When I would look at Designer #1, I pretty much saw a pillowcase on her table. Since she did not use a dressform, it was much harder to see exactly what she was up to.
At thirty minutes in they "stopped the clock" to briefly interview the designers and #1 said she was making a "draped back dress." Ten minutes to go and #1 finally picked up her coordinating print and started cutting into it. She quickly whipped up a gathered bandeau top that tied in the back. When they announced the one-minute mark, she still hadn't put anything on her model, though #2's model was almost completely ready and #2 was mostly tweaking and cutting threads.
Designer #2. You can see a bit of her interesting design, towards the beginning of the process, on her dressform.
Finally, #1 got the bandeau top on her model and tied in the back. She popped on the pillowcase and did some magic - I think there were some ties in the back underneath the drape to pull the garment in to the body. I then noticed that there was a big triangular cutout in front and, yes, a deep drape in the back, exposing the gathered bandeau top both front and back. The hem dipped to a point at CB.
It was SO DARNED CUTE. And something I had not seen before. My allegiance immediately switched from #2, who was perhaps a little overly ambitious, to #1.
I wonder if #1 always works this way. :)
Time was called, and both designers stepped away from their models for a short modeling/photo op session. The two judges were introduced and attendees were encouraged to vote on their mobile device using the Fashism app available online. I do not own a smart phone, so I did not vote, but the attendees votes were accumulated to a single vote, and the winner was the designer with two or more votes.
Designer #1 won. I was very happy for her. There are two more evenings, similar to this one, and then the winner from the first three events will go head-to-head-to-head at the final event in March.
And that's why I was in a club on a Tuesday night drinking a very delicious $8 drink that I can't remember the name of, (but it was basically a Mimosa with some fancy and tasty addition), and very much enjoying Georgene's and Rose's company. :)
I did not bring a camera and waited to post this, hoping some pics would be posted online, perhaps on the Fashion Feud website, but I have not been able to find any. This surprises me since there were many people there taking pictures, one or two even balanced a camera on my head - I kid you not. Masouma Rose took a few with her mobile device and has kindly allowed me to share them. It was a dark room, and moving models, so forgive the quality of the images.
Designer #1 and her model, wearing the winning design.
The back, with the drape exposing the tied bandeau top. You can see a bit of the back of Designer #2's garment to the right.
Pattern Review Winter Wear Contest
The votes are in and my needle felted coat took 2nd place. Thanks to those of you who voted! You can see the gallery here.
Black Cowl
I have recently realized that I needed a black, warm scarf-like thing to go with three of the coats I've made in the last year. I have a "fashion" (meaning 'not warm') scarf I've been wearing, but it's been too cold! I have a healthy queue of projects I'd like to make over on Ravelry, so I decided to pick one and make it up in some warm black yarn.
I ended up choosing a long cowl that you can wear as a giant loop or doubled, bunched up around your neck. This free pattern is a knock-off of a scarf that Gap was selling last fall. I made mine narrower than designed; since I do not have a long neck, my narrower version was plenty big when worn doubled. I knitted it mostly in one night, using a nice chunky Malabrigo yarn and size 13 needles, though it took me three attempts to cast off, since I kept underestimating how much yarn to leave for my loose cast-off.
This cowl is knitted in a seed stitch. I really love the texture of seed stitch, but would never want an entire garment from it, since it adds a lot of bulk and bulk, I don't need.
Though I hadn't woven in the ends, I wore it to Fashion Feud and just tucked in the loose pieces. I was so warm! Mission accomplished. And I've already ordered yarn to make this again in two other colors. :)
If you want look the pattern up on Ravelry, it is called the Gap-tastic Cowl. I will eventually post my review there, but I've been busy with work and kids this week.
There's been very little sewing here, which makes Shams sad. I do have a jacket mostly finished that I started over holiday break, but am having problems with the binding and may have to put it into timeout for awhile. I am child free next week and it's a 3-day weekend, so I hope to get something done soon, as I have so many plans!
Do you want a free download of a (bilingual) Italian pattern drafting book with gorgeous designs and published in 2004? Of course you do.
Kathleen Fasanella blogged about one last night and I've already downloaded it. It looks amazing at first glance.
If you think you might want to create/sell a line of professional clothing or patterns, you really should buy Kathleen's book and read her blog, Fashion Incubator. I have no desire to do so, but I still enjoy her blog. So much interesting info from an industry insider.
By the way, they offer a Kindle version and I downloaded it but have no idea how to get it onto a Kindle. If you know, please leave a comment!
And now, on to another pressing topic. ;)
Freedom for Patterns!
I mentioned in an earlier post that I put my Christmas tree up on the 24th and I put it on a "table." It was actually a cedar chest and clearly I wasn't thinking because all of my independent patterns are housed inside this chest. Almost immediately, I was starting to feel some separation anxiety. (I thought it would be ok!
The offending Christmas tree, draped in a skirt (I made when I was 22 and living on my own in my first apartment) that is mostly covering the cedar chest of pattern goodness.
To complicate matters, my daughters had really gotten into the holiday spirit and done a beautiful job decorating said tree and weren't in any rush to dispose of it.
Well, I finally got rid of my tree a couple nights ago and was sooooo happy to be reunited with my patterns. Within a minute of hurling the tree over the front porch, I was in the chest, stroking my patterns, and searching for one in particular. I haven't sewn all week, but at least one of these patterns will be coming up soon.
A couple of old ornaments. The one on the left is part of a whole series I made at the age of 11 or 12, using instructions from a grocery-store craft magazine, probably McCalls Crafts. I remember saving the yogurt lids from my mother's daily yogurt for this project. I cut into my treasured photos (I was always a photography buff), glued them in, and crocheted the cover using Red Heart yarn. This one features my childhood cat, Willie. My kids like these tacky ornaments much more than I do. I like the one on the right very much. :)
I entered my recent coat with needle felted polka dots into Pattern Reviews Winter Wear contest. I am not asking you to vote for me, but I am asking you to vote. The competition will be stiff, I think.
On other news: Marcy Tilton's free shipping sale began at midnight. All you have to do is to order your fabric online, and then, at the end, select Purchase Order (don't select Paypal). Then call them with your credit card info. It's done this way because paypal will add shipping automatically and, rather than disable that system, you just call and they can handle it manually. And you might get to talk to Marcy personally, when you call, which is always a treat. When I called at midnight, I got the answering machine, but you can leave your cc info there. The sale lasts 3 days and she doesn't do this very often.
I ordered some good stuff, but I left plenty for the rest of you. :)
Today is my last day of my sewcation. (I've been off work since the 23d.) I'm gonna sew like a madwoman, 'cause I'm working on jacket #2. I won't be able to finish it, but I hope to make major progress, though the muslin is not quite finished yet. I can see my alterations will work, though the final tweaking will be in the final garment.
I hate altering patterns that already have a dart. The pattern company always puts a too-small dart in the wrong place (both latitude and longitude) and it can be very tricky to enlarge it and to move it, especially if it's shaped or angled. I'm one of those rare busty gals that would prefer to do my own dart.
First, Happy New Year to all!! (And Happy Birthday to my former Father-in-law, one of the greatest guys ever born.)
I've toyed with the idea of a "2010 recap" sort of post, but, so far, haven't been motivated. If you want to see one, let me know. If you are grateful I didn't do one, let me know. I'm curious. :)
Thanks so much for all your kind compliments on my most recent project, my jacket with the needle felted polka dots. I really appreciate the comments more than you know! At one point during this project I was hating it and thinking it was ugly chicken pox. :)
This is a very word heavy post, so here's a table of contents, to aid your navigation, though, of course, you will want to read every single word as if it's descended from heaven. ;)
The needle felting technique I used on this piece has garnered a some interest on Stitcher's Guild, so I thought I'd talk a bit more about the process. Note that at the end of this post, I've included some videos to introduce you to various techniques.
First, there was some confusion that what I did involved getting my hands wet. Nope. There are two forms of felting: wet felting and dry felting. And let me stop right here and say something that most true felters will appreciate. Felting is when you take wool in fiber form and "felt" it together. When you take wool yardage, or a wool sweater (or something knitted/crocheted) and toss it into the washer, or even in the sink, that is not felting. That is called fulling the fabric. Felters become a little annoyed when we call that process felting because, I think, it demeans their art form. I often call it felting too, but I try to be more sensitive, especially when true felters are in the vicinity, and I do know a couple. I'm just sayin'. :)
A word about vendors. I purchase my supplies from Living Felts, but there are many excellent suppliers – these days felting supplies are widely available. I found this particular vendor through Ravelry. There is a needle felting forum on Ravelry, so I went there to see where people like to buy their supplies and this vendor was prominently featured. I'm a true believer in short cuts when it comes to this sort of research. :) I am not affiliated with Living Felts in any way, other than I got excellent service when I called and asked questions and my order came nice and fast and their wool batts are *gorgeous* colors and I was very happy with their needles.
First I will talk a bit about wet felting, which I have dabbled with. But if you aren't interested, go to the Dry Felting section.
Wet felting, as the name suggests, involves hot water. Added with a little soap and agitation, you can make the wool fibers stick together. Within the wet felting world, there are several techniques, such as Nuno felting (where you felt wool fibers onto a silk base), but there are other sorts of wet felting, such as felting over another object, or felting with other sorts of resist (such as bubble wrap, and using sushi mats) to create purses, hats, slippers, all manners of wonderfulness.
I used to do wet felting when my kids were little and attended a Waldorf school (where felting is very popular and routinely taught to the children). I would use a bowl of hot water, with a few drops of soap, and wool roving to create pieces, such as Easter eggs. These were formed over plastic eggs. Later, when the "eggs" were dry, I would cut them open in a zigzag shape to remove the egg. I would then tuck in a little chick sewn from fulled sweater knit, so that it was peeping out of the egg. Sadly, I have no pictures of my work, but this is a very popular Waldorf item for little kids. I even taught a one-off class on this at San Francisco State, where I was taking classes for a Master's Degree in Fashion. A program I was not able to complete, sadly, and has now been discontinued. But I digress. :)
After playing with wet felting for awhile, I gave it up for a couple reasons. One, I was not that good at it. I am not artistic in that way. This sort of felting is great for those folks who can sculpt things out of clay, for example, but that is not me. The second, more compelling reason is that it caused a flare up of my tendinitis. I developed severe tendinitis after the birth of my first child and my hand has never been as strong since then. Wet felting caused too much stress on my wrist and the tendinitis came back. So that was that.
Meanwhile, my friend Renee taught herself to Nuno felt, where you use a base of silk and add wool fibers to that. That is a very wet process and I've never tried it, but I have two of her beautiful scarves that she has gifted me. I can imagine that this makes a giant mess on one's kitchen table, so I appreciate the scarves even more for the love and care (and mess) that went into them.
You can see that this process requires an artistic eye and the more trained/developed that eye, the nicer the result. I don't have that kind of eye. :) I'm not complaining, mind you, there are different types of creativity, and I have some, but it's a different kind. I used to think I could develop my creativity, and I took painting classes, but the classes made me want to throw things, and not in a good way, and I decided I didn't need that kind of frustration. :)
But enough about wet felting. There are youtube videos which show more about various wet felting techniques and I've linked to a couple in the videos section.
In dry felting, you don't have water to encourage the wool fibers to stick together, so you use a barbed needle. The barbs on a felting needle are very tiny and point down. When you press the needle into the wool, the hooks catch the fiber and cause it to felt together, but when you pull the needle back out, it comes out smoothly because the barbs aren't engaged. You can gently stroke a felting needles in both directions and you will find it's smooth going down, and a bit like sandpaper going up.
The end of a felting needle is very sharp, so water your fingers. I'm just sayin'. :)
There are three ways (that I am aware of) that you can deploy your needles. First, you can use a single needle, which is what I used on my coat project. This is the slowest approach, but gives you great control. Or, you can get a handled tool that will hold several needles. This tool makes your work go faster but gives you less ability for fine detail work.
I considered getting a handled tool for my project but I spoke to the folks at Living Felt and I explained my project and they pointed out that the handled tools have a diameter of at least 1/2", maybe more, depending. That would be difficult to maneuver in a 1" cookie cutter. I stuck with the single needle, but it occurred to me, as I needle felted 37 circles in one day, that I could have used the single needle inside the cookie cutter, but I could have switched to the handled tool once it was removed. This would have saved me a lot of time. Of course the fine folks at Living Felt didn't know I was planning to make so many circles, so I don't fault them for their advice. :)
If you get into needle felting, or need to do large areas of needle felting, you might want to consider buying a machine. These machines look like a sewing machine, but just hold several needles (from 5 to 12 needles, depending on the brand/model of machine). Where the bobbin would be is a hold that collects lint. These machines are cool and I admit I covet one, but I don't think I will really felt enough to warrant one and I have no place to put one anyway. But I spent some time watching them on youtube and they are impressive. You can also use them to texturize fabric. Drool... I have some youtube videos below for your elucidation.
Many people free form their needle felting, and that is perfect for folks who can do sculptural sort of work. Again, not me. For this sort of felting, you are holding the wool in one hand and stabbing at it with the other hand. (Though a foam pad is still used at some points.) I imagine these folks have poked their fingers many times. :) This is the technique that yields gorgeous, intricate animals, elves, mushrooms, and the like. Again, real pieces of art. Or maybe a few pumpkins. I have never tried this technique, but could probably manage a pumpkin or two. :)
If you want to needle felt onto fabric, you need something to felt against. Something that won't felt with the wool, so that it can be removed. Most people use thick foam for this. If you've recently bought a large appliance, maybe it came with some foam. You can buy foam specifically for this purpose. Some people also use a stiff nylon brush, with the brush fibers sticking up. I haven't tried this.
You can needle felt onto all sorts of fabric. Wool is a natural choice, but denim or other heavy cotton works well too. Just do a sample first.
All that is left is a demo. Unfortunately, my technical skills don't extend to making/editing videos, so I can't make my own youtube video for you. I have found some on youtube, and while not perfect, they will give you a general idea of the technique. So, without further ado, here are a few links to get you started. There are lots more to be found!
Needle felting onto fabric:
Dry needle felting to make a pumpkin:
Wet felting over a bar of soap (I used to do this!):
An example of Nuno (wet) felting:
A machine felting video - this shows a Janome:
Here is Nancy, of Nancy Notions, demonstrating a machine:
Oooh, I'm wanting a machine again. Time to get off the computer. :) I hope you found this useful. I'm off to Stone Mountain to buy supplies for my next jacket. I'm stoked they are open on New Years Day! :D
Let the Year of Twelve Coats and Jackets Commence!
#1: Au Bonheur Coat with Round Collar and Needle Felted Embellishment More pics here
I was excited about this coat when it came out a couple months ago. I was doing an Au Bonheur order for some friends at the time, so I took the opportunity to buy a couple for myself and this was one of them. I especially liked the princess seams and silhouette of this coat, but the circle embellishment also gave me ideas.
This multi-sized pattern contains sizes 36 to 46. Size 46 is about 6 inches too small for my bust, so I did a whopping 3" princess seam FBA. I made no other changes and sewed it up using another castoff floral curtain from my daughter's room.
I was happily surprised that it fit quite well with no other alterations. It was a bit long in the sleeve, which is typical for me. But this pattern is beautifully drafted, even if the instructions are in French, skimpy, and rather vague where clarity is most desired.
For the fabric, I ordered some wool-blend boucle from Fabric Mart. I was surprised to see that this fabric is very similar to the boiled wool I won in Sandra Betzina's contest last month. It's a fine wool knit that has been fulled - it is technically a knit, but a very stable knit. And, just like the fabric from the contest, it has a wonderful drape. This fabric was a joy to work with and you might want to buy some before it's all gone. :)
To pre-treat the wool, I used the pre-shrinking technique that Pam features on her blog, Off the Cuff. Basically, I threw both boucle fabrics into the dryer with a large wet towel. It's best to use an older towel that has minimal lint because you don't want the lint to become embedded in your wool. I dried it for 40 minutes. A great, easy technique, and you should check out her blog for more information.
Materials:
Wool-blend boucle (60% wool 40% rayon) in burnt sienna and black from FabricMart
black fusible interfacing from Fabrix for the buttonhole placket and facings
Felting needles - size 38 - and foam, also from Living Felt
Set of circle cookie cutters in graduated sizes (from ebay)
Black embroidery floss
Black 30mm sew-in snaps
Needle Felting
After the coat was constructed, I needle felted the circles using cookie cutters as templates. The original pattern used sewn felt circles but I was happy to find an excuse for needle felting. If you go to youtube and search for "needle felting cookie cutter" you will find examples of the technique.
Needle felting supplies
Auditioning the wool batting
In progress. The needle felting took me one full day. Sewing the circles on took me most of another day.
I used the two smallest cookie cutters as templates and 11 different colors of batting. I felted circles onto scraps of black boucle and then trimmed them with either a round or a square border and affixed them to the coat using a combination of the running stitch and the back stitch. In the end, I made 32 circles in the two sizes. This part of the construction is left up to you. The pattern directions are "Customiser le bas du manteau selon vos envies" or "Customize the bottom of the coat according to your wishes."
Felting inside the cookie cutter
Finishing the felting without the cookie cutter.
The back side. The fuzz on the back gave the piece some dimensionality when I sewed it to the coat.
When it came to the button treatment, I originally planned to buy buttons from Britex. In the end I decided to use needle felted circles as faux buttons. I had plastic rings in several sizes (the cookie cutters were too large) and I made several samples. Once I found the right size, I made up five "faux buttons." The coat is closed with 4 30mm black snaps that I secured with 3 strands of black embroidery floss.
Working on the faux buttons, which are smaller than the appliques
Other Construction Notes
In the process of translating the instructions, I added a couple more phrases to the French sewing glossary.
This pattern has no pockets. I added in-seam pockets.
The coat is unlined. I spent time debating whether to line it, but the fabric reminded me so much of a sweater knit, with its wonderful drape, I decided to maintain the feeling of a sweater coat and left it unlined.
Because this is a fulled wool, the edges can be left raw. The hem and the collar have raw edges. The black contrast was laid underneath the brown wool and held together with a running stitch. I sewed it once with matching thread and then again with 3 strands of contrasting black embroidery thread for a decorative effect.
Closeup of the contrast embroidery
I also used 3 strands of the black embroidery floss to sew on the giant snaps. I took pains to make the stitches as even as possible.
My sewing productivity has really suffered the last week or so. I've started a muslin for a coat, but have spent most my recent evenings cleaning house, wrapping gifts, organizing, and making a necklace or two.
I hope each of you who celebrates gets to spend the time doing whatever you like best. :)
