Liberty Shirt with Pulled Collar

One of my local sewing pals, Sara, saw this collar on a RTW boutique tunic. She reverse engineered this interesting treatment and shared it with me.

It's a straight collar, with no stand. There is a long bias tie, sewn at the CF of both fronts, and exiting through buttonholes at CB. You can pull the tie and knot it at the back. When you pull it, the fronts of the collar turn inward.

I decided to use the Liberty top as a vehicle for the collar.

I wasn't sure how this would look on me, as I don't have a particularly long swan-like neck, so I decided to use this cotton shirting from FabricMart, as a test fabric. I think it looks ok on me, though it would be even better on a long necked woman with short hair, I think. I may make it again, but I'd use a linen fabric or something more edgy.

Closeup of dyed buttons, next to an undyed button.

I have a lot of these mother of pearl buttons in my button box, as they were very cheap at Fabrix. Long ago, maybe two years ago, I threw a bunch of these buttons in a cup of red dye. (Dylon, I think. Or maybe liquid Rit.) I left the cup on my counter for weeks, hoping the buttons would turn red. They did not turn red. They turned pink. I don't sew with much pink fabric, but the shade was perfect for this shirting.

Before I took most of the hangar shots, I pinned an original, undyed, mother of pearl button near the shaded buttons so you can see the subtle shading of the dyed buttons.

Closeup of tie in the back collar.

Closeup of collar.

Hangar shot

One of Our Own Goes Corporate

Do you know Robin, of a little sewing, and also an active poster on Stitcher's Guild? I really like Robin and have followed her for a long time. When I took that fabric road trip a year ago last April with Peggy, we visited A Fabric Place (aka Michael's) in Baltimore. I knew that Robin worked nearby, so I arranged that we meet for lunch and a subsequent run to the renowned fabric store. I later blogged about it.

Well, Robin has been sitting on some exciting news which she has finally announced. Someone at Vogue Pattern Magazine was following her blog, and offered her a job as an editor!! You can read about it on her blog, which is going on hiatus for the time being.

She started her new position today, and is now living in a cozy little New York apartment. I am just busting with pride. One of our own (and by that, I mean a hobby blogger) has infiltrated the corporate sewing world in the very best way. I can now say I know an editor at Vogue Pattern magazine. Did I mention that I'm Busting.With.Pride???

You go, girl! I can't wait to see what you will be up to and to see your smiling mug peeking out from the pages of Vogue Pattern mag! I will miss your blog, but I'm sure we'll be hearing from you!

Jean Paul Gaultier and Margy

Stunning, no? Never have I seen anyone receive so many unsolicited compliments from complete strangers. It was fun to move in that "sphere of elegance"!

Some months ago, my blogger friend, Margy, asked if I knew of anyone who could help her with a pants draft. (That link takes you to her discussion of the subject.) She realized that she was having consistent problems with the fit of the backs of her pants (which she didn't realize until she started photographing herself from behind).

"Yes!", said I.

I knew that Lynda Maynard, who is located in the Bay Area and well known as a fit expert, could help. I gave her Lynda's email address (which can be obtained from Kenneth King's website) and they made plans for Margy to come to the bay area so they could meet. Even better, they decided that Lynda would draft the pant, giving Margy some time to play!

We crammed a lot into our limited time. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.

Along with Jillian, we saw the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the De Young Museum. Loved it!

I loved this suit at the beginning of the exhibit. In front, a rather conventional linen suit. In back, it's painted with a nude male form. The derriere is covered with an actual pair of denim cutoffs, sewn into the side seams. Fun!

Another piece I loved. From the front, a beautiful French-inspired striped top.

From behind, you can see that the stripes are strips of black and white fabrics...

and are released at the waist...

and fall to the floor in a ribbon-like train. Love!

It is a fabulous exhibit and I will definitely be seeing it again before it leaves for Europe in August. You can see a few more of my photos on Imgur, read Jilly Be's great blog post on the exhibit, and see Margy's photo album of the exhibit.

We separated as we meandered through the exhibit, in the way that one does when absorbed by whatever tickles her fancy. When I exited, Margy and Jilly Be were waiting at one of the benches. We sat and chatted for a bit, when, surprise of surprises, who should approach us but two of my favorite sewists, Ann Smith and Barbara V! (Ann's link takes you to her blog post on our meeting and Barbara's link, who is blogless, takes you to her reviews on Pattern Review.

I had met Ann in the last year, but have wanted to meet Barbara for ages, so it was a delightful surprise to see them both! Barbara is wearing the new Marcy Tilton dress, which she hasn't reviewed yet, but it was adorable on her.

Taken just before Barbara and Ann walked by!

More Trippen Goodness

We ate


We drank

We shopped for fabric at Stone Mountain & Daughter. At the cutting table, we were approached by Suzan (the "& Daughter" part of the business) who asked if she could take a picture of us for her Facebook page. She said she loved the fabrics we selected and how "elegant we looked." I was not elegant, but was basking in the sphere of elegance. ;)

Best of all, at the end of the visit, Margy had a perfectly fitting pants muslin!

with Lynda Maynard

You can read more about Margy's visit on her blog.

Margy's visit made me acutely aware of how lucky I am. I am grateful to have such a wonderful community, my local sewing community (you know who you are!), as well as the extended sewing community I enjoy through the internet. I am lucky to have such wonderful resources, including great fabric stores and also great places to snoop shop. I am also lucky that San Francisco is a destination for so many sewing buds that I am able to meet when they are in town.

Margy's visit also made me aware of a wardrobe hole. I need more clothes for this sort of occasion - when I need to up the ante in the "casually elegant" department.

I have two garments I need to blog, but have just been too busy. Stay tuned!

Shams Sewing Tip #231

Trippens, Trippens, who's got the Trippens?

It might startle you to know that I am not the epic house cleaner. If you know me well, you might consider this an amusing understatement. But I want to share a sewing tip that is, as far as I know, unique to me.

What do you do with those scraps that are too small to use? I hope you do not put them in a box, neatly labeled, "Scraps too Small to Use".

What I do is to take a handful of them and, before heading to the trash, I seek out dust bunnies. I swipe floor boards, corners, wherever dust collects. The following example is from underneath the piano and behind the coffee table.

This cotton shirting is from my current sewing project. Stay tuned for the finished top.
You're welcome!

ReAnn and Jillian Meetup

Match the Trippen to the Sewist!

On another note, ReAnn was in town towards the end of last week. She, Jillian and I got together for a long lunch and a quick run to Fabrix. I wish I'd had more time to play, but I am seriously lacking vacation hours at the moment. In fact, my lack of vacation hours caused me to cancel attending the Haute Couture event in Chicago earlier this month.

Our visit was short, but a lot of fun. We all decided to sport Trippens, our favorite collective shoe brand. (Though we are Trippen amateurs and bow to Margy, the Trippen Goddess.) As we walked the half block from Fabrix to the restaurant, a group of people (3 women and 3 men) stopped us to admire and ask about our shoes.

Trippens bring people together! :)

The L Flounce

I actually made this top last March at the sewing retreat. I didn't quite like how it turned out, so it was tossed into a corner. This week, I decided to try it on again and, low and behold, while not perfect, it had improved with age.

This uses my TNT t-shirt pattern (one of the Style Arc tops - I can't remember which one) with a couple variations: the Chico Twist neckline from "Nifty Necklines for Knit Tops", and an asymmetric flounce at the hem that I call the "L Flounce". The fabric is a yummy rayon lycra knit from Fabrix.

I was perusing a RTW website some months ago and noticed this flounce on one of the tops. I realized, from studying the picture, that the flounce was a very simple L-shape. (I love it when that happens!)

What is so Special about the L Shape?

Up until now, similar patterns I have seen place the draping at the hip. I have made several patterns like this and I do like that look. But the L shaping places the drape over the leg, not at the hip. This does not add any bulk to the hip and creates a flattering line for virtually anyone.

This diagram shows how the flounce is drafted. The "inside" edge of the L, or the length of A + B, is equal to the width of the front (or back) hem. For my top, I made the length of A to be about 1/3rd of the width of the front hem, and B was the remaining 2/3rds. This placed the long "point" of the hem 1/3rd of the way in from the side seam, as the "point" hangs directly below the inside corner. I made the length of the flounce 10", but you can use whatever length you prefer.

You cut two of the flounce shapes - one for the front and one for the back. (Though, if you don't want a "point" on the back, you can cut a simple rectangle that is A+B wide and 10" long.)

When the fabric is cut with right sides (or wrong sides) together, both the front and back will have the points on the same side of the body. When the fabric is cut with right-side-to-wrong side (so that both layers of the fabric are facing the same direction), the front and back points will be on opposite sides of the body.

In the diagram, the edges marked as 10" are the side seams. To construct, sew the side seams, wrong sides together. Sew the flounce to the hem of the top using a 1/4" or 3/8" seam allowance. Sew straight across the inside corners, which is quite easy to do in a stretchy knit. In a woven, stay stitch the inside corners at the seam line and clip to the stitching before attaching the flounce to the garment.

You can use this L Flounce on any top, loose or not so loose — just vary the lengths of A and B appropriately. I did not hem my flounce, but you certainly could, though I would recommend using Steam a Seam Lite 2, if you do.

For my top, I started with my TNT t-shirt and cut it shorter, to allow for the length of the flounce. I also cut the neck wider for the twist neckline. If I use this neckline again, I will not make the neck quite so open.

The Chico Twist neckline, from "Nifty Necklines for Knit Tops". The neckline is a bit too wide.

My first attempt at the Chico twist neckline. For this top, the neckline was too high. Next time I will get it juuuust right!

A New Tote Bag and Maker Faire

Side 1

Side 2

If you recollect, I reported on a FabMo tote bag class I took a couple weeks ago. In class we made a small tote bag, a perfect size for a sewing caddy or a lunch tote. But our packet included measurements and instructions for a large sized tote.

So, last Sunday, looking for a fun creative outlet, I rummaged through my FabMo fabrics looking for larger pieces. This tote is more involved than the smaller one, because it has 6 pockets: one zippered inside pocket, two inside patch pockets, and three outside pockets: one on each side, with a credit-card sized pocket peeking out from one of the larger pockets.

It ended up being a one day project.

One of the lining pieces with a contrasting patch pocket. Notice the lower right corner? That's an oops. I was supposed to cut away a 3" square to create the bottom, but I cut away a 4" square. To fix it, I pieced in another square and then cut the proper amount away.

The other lining piece. This one has a contrasting patch pocket below a zippered pocket. Notice that this one has the same oops? I had layered the two pieces together when cutting out the too-large square.

The backside of the above lining piece, showing the bag for the zippered pocket.



Alongside the smaller tote, for comparison.

Maker Faire 2012

The FabMo booth, before the event opened and the crowds descended.

And speaking of FabMo, last Saturday I volunteered to work in the FabMo booth at Maker Faire. I had been meaning to get over to Maker Faire for years but never quite managed it, so this was a good excuse. After my Saturday morning shift, I didn't have much time to see the rest of the fair, but I managed to see a bit of it before I had to leave for another event.

Maker Faire is an interesting event - it's a bit like "Burning Man Lite". It includes a Steampunk contingent. (I saw a couple who had just married in a Steampunk-themed ceremony, riding a Steampunk carriage around the grounds.)

Decorations on one of the booths selling Steampunk jewelry.

I didn't hang around long enough to understand what was going on here, but this exhibit was playing music.

There is a darkened building filled with light shows and laser booths. There are areas to play with legos, electronics, computers. There are funky vehicles to ride. There are robots including at least one Dalek. There are people sporting interesting and bizarre costumes.

This metal dragon is capable of breathing fire.

There is an area with people knitting and making jewelry and doing Tapigami. Tapigami is kind of like origami, but with masking tape.

The Tapigami display

Closeup

In one building there are crafts activities, such as the FabMo booth. And there is food — lots and lots of food.

The beignet booth was right near the FabMo booth.

Will I go next year? I'm not sure. But it was interesting.

The Mammoth Dart

It's interesting that I often get questions from folks who sew for the uber busty more than I get questions from the uber busty. I guess the uber busty learn to deal with it, and move on. :)

I recently received a question from an expert sewist who was sewing for her uber busty daughter and struggling with the mammoth dart. I'm not talking about those darts where the legs are maybe half an inch apart. I'm talking about darts where the legs are 2" or 3" apart. This sewist was asking me how to sew such a dart so that you don't get a "point" at the end of it.

I hate that point. Hate hate hate. And I don't know about you, but my uber bust lacks sharp points, so a dart that ends in a point is to be avoided at all costs.

There are several ways to deal with a large dart. All are valid and you can play around to find the approach you like best for your particular project.

• Convert the mammoth dart to a seam, for example a princess seam. A princess seam goes through the bust point. It can go from the bottom seam/hem to the armscye, from the bottom seam/hem to the shoulder (I recollect this is called a military princess seam), from the side seam to the armscye, and so on. This is really not that hard to do, but I won't cover the "how to" in this post. (I googled and found a Burdastyle pictorial, Change darts to Princess seams, showing how to do this with a sloper, but the approach is the same for a garment.)
• Convert the single mammoth dart to two or three smaller darts. This is also quite easy to do using slice and slide. (There might be a better term for this, but it is descriptive of how I do it.) For example, convert the large dart to one that goes to the side seam and another that goes to the armscye. Or maybe put two darts at the side seam, but one heads towards the hem, in what is called a French Dart, and the other ends higher up, maybe towards the waist. Note that angled darts create a more flattering line than a strictly horizontal dart.
• Use some shaping when sewing and pressing the dart. This may not always work to your satisfaction, but is most successful when you are using a print or a textured fabric that will help camouflage the dart.

For this post I want to talk about the third approach. There are several aspects to sewing a dart, which is a big reason I sew my darts at the end of constructing a garment. I pin the darts right on my body. That is not always possible, for example if you are sewing for someone who is not geographically available, but it really works the best.

First, you must consider the length of the dart, and this relates to the shape of the bust. A full, rounded bust, like mine, requires a shorter dart. A less rounded bust (does anyone with an uber bust really have a cone shaped breast?) requires a longer dart. But never do you want to sew the dart all the way to the bust point, at the fullest part of the bust. It should end before that point. In my case, maybe 2 or more inches before. In the less busty, maybe an inch before.

Secondly, I don't sew the bust dart in a straight line, though it is always drafted with a straight line on the pattern. Again, if the breast has a more conical shape, this is fine. But for me, a gently concave (or is it convex?) curve works best. Again, if you can pin it on the body, it's easy to achieve the correct shape.

Next, and possibly most importantly, as you are sewing the dart, start from the legs and sew towards the point. However, as you near the point, approach it gently. Ease into it. Think of a beach where you can easily walk far into the water, rather than one that drops off sharply. It's almost impossible to accomplish this if you start sewing from the point.

Finally, press the finished dart flat (do not press all the way to the point or you will create a crease) and then press the garment opened flat, over a ham. This is an important step, so if you do not own a pressing ham, treat yourself and get one from Stitch Nerd (scroll down in the post). Note that her regular ham is on the smallish size. For the uber busty, you might want her larger sized ham.

Lay the garment opened flat, so that the dart drapes over the gently curved ham and the fullness of the dart is folded down, towards the hem. Cover with a press cloth, if needed, and press, with lots of steam. You want to squash that "point" flat and encourage it to be a curve. This works better in some fabrics than others; wool, for example, is very malleable.

Despite all of this, sometimes a dart just doesn't behave as well as you'd like. When this happens, it's best to take a philosophical approach. The garment will still fit better than anything you've purchased. ;)

By the way, thanks for all your feedback on my muslin post yesterday. I really do appreciate your perspectives and input! We are having a gloriously sunny day today, so at some point I will take photos of my latest project, which is not a wearable item.