The Sewing Lawyer

Made with a sense of humour

2012-01-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

My husband found this interesting jacket recently. It purports to be a curling jacket. It is made by a Dutch company called Scotch & Soda - Amsterdam Couture.

I think it's slightly ironic to actually wear it curling, which is how it's used around here.

I wouldn't blog about it at all except for the care labels.

More about the Teal Triangle

2012-01-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

In a comment, okie2thfairy asked if I could show in more detail what I was talking about when I mentioned "improving" the pattern for my Teal Jakku with triangle insets at the shoulder.

To remind you, here is the completed front shoulder.

Below is a picture of the pieces, before assembly, that were made according to the pattern.

The textured piece is knitted as a long curving rectangle (made with short rows so that the outer edge is longer than the inner edge). After the piece is seamed, it forms a donut-shaped piece. The short edge is then sewn to the lower edge of the upper back piece (so it forms the lower back), to the armscye of the sleeves, and then up towards the back neck edge where it forms the collar.

The back - I'm hoping that the slight ripples
relax when the sweater is washed...

The pattern, as written, instructed you to attach the piece along the front edge of the sleeve cap to the shoulder point, and then along the entire top edge of the upper back piece, which is a straight line that runs from shoulder point to shoulder point.

marked up with Skitch
a great free app for iPad

If I had followed those instructions, the collar piece would have had to detour into a corner which would pull it out of shape. In the picture to the right I show the corner and the direction in which the edge of the collar piece would have to be forced to fit.

In this photo of the front of this jacket on the Finnish pattern site, you can (I think) see the distorting effect on the upper front and collar. The shawl collar is forced open sideways and the fronts have a harder time meeting in the centre. I suspect that the jacket would be less comfortable to wear as that piece would be fighting to return to its knitted-in shape.

So I made two little triangular pieces to fill in the shoulder corner, and avoid distorting the collar. The result is that the collar hugs my neck, is very cozy, and the whole sweater feels wonderfully comfortable.

Two FKOs*

2012-01-10T22:28:00.002-05:00

*Finished Knitted Object (What did you think I meant?)

While the Teal Jakku pieces were blocking I seem to have knit a hat out of my leftover wool. Please excuse my slightly stunned expression. I think it's caused by the unexpectedly speedy pace of my production.

This is the Tundra Toque, designed by Carolyn Doe (available on Ravelry). I love the asymmetrical shape. I'm not completely fond of inside-out stockinette stitch, and the fact that you can see the increases and decreases between the lacy cables on the brim. And I think the crown of the hat is too pointy. (I am trying to block it out.)

Here's another shot that shows the shape of the brim better. There are 5 cables that join in the centre of the crown. It goes pretty well with the resurrected Burda 7731 coat.

The other piece, of course, is the Teal Jakku. It took about 3 days for the pieces to dry, and another 3 to sew the thing together and weave in all the ends. (Am I supposed to sew it together and then block, or block before sewing? Experienced knitters, please advise.)

It has no closure. I've got this big silver pin that seems OK with it.

Thanks to the clearly explained knitting videos on KnittingHelp.com (also available as a $5 app for iPad - excellent value), the assembly of this project involved my first ever attempt at the Kitchener stitch, which is supposed to be completely invisible but in this case is merely not glaringly obvious. It was moderately difficult because I was seaming the deeply textured lower edge/collar, so there is a bit of disruption in the pattern. If you must know, it's mostly located under my left arm, but because of the angle of the pattern it isn't completely hidden by my arm. This location was suggested on Ravelry but in retrospect, I think the seam would have been less jarring if I'd placed it at the CB.

KnittingHelp also supplied a great explanation of the mattress stitch which I used to sew all the other pieces together pretty much invisibly.

For those of you who think I've gone over to the dark side and are wondering when The Sewing Lawyer is going to resume producing more interesting projects, here are a few sewing-related thoughts on knitting design and construction.

According to some things I've read on the internet, some knitters will go to great lengths to avoid having to actually sew their knitted garments together. They'll knit a piece entirely in the round from the bottom up or the top down, splitting off at the shoulders to form separate in-the-round tubes for the sleeves, including increases and decreases to build in shaping (where you'd sew darts), and cleverly finding ways to include hems, pockets, buttonholes, collars and all manner of details which are joined by picking up stitches and knitting new details directly onto a completed piece. For example, the cloche hat brim is seamed at its narrowest point, but the crown is then knitted round and round, decreasing from 100 stitches picked up from one edge of the assembled brim. It's a new world.

Sewing a knitted thing together with the same wool it's made from, and carefully picking up a row or stitch at a time at each edge of a seam means that even if the thing isn't knitted together, it looks like it was. The perfectionist in me really likes this fact.

As Sherry pointed out in a comment to my last post, the fact that knitted pieces stretch means they can be forced to go together, but this isn't necessarily a good thing. Understanding how flat shapes best fit the 3 dimensional human body without distortion (i.e. how sewing patterns work) seems immensely useful to me in knitting. My decision that I should insert a little triangle at the front shoulder area, instead of forcing a smoothly curved piece to fill in a right angle corner was definitely the right one.

I have a pair of badly needed black pants cut out; they'll look smashing with the jakku.

Almost done

2012-01-04T22:54:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in my last post, my sewing has been overtaken by knitting, which definitely is slower to show results. However, my teal Neulottu naisen jakku is almost finished only one month after I started it! (The name sounds exotic and unique, but only means "women's knitted jacket" in Finnish, so maybe most knitted jackety items for Finnish ladies have the same name.)

Here's a sneak peek. I've just pinned the pieces together.

Teal jakku - almost done!

You can immediately spot the problem. The donut-shaped piece which forms the lower back and wraps and curves around to the front to become a luscious shawl collar doesn't fill in the upper front shoulder area. According to the pattern, it is supposed to be sewn under the arm, along the front edge of the sleeve cap to the shoulder point, where it must make a right angle turn and then flow along the dead straight upper edge of the knitted back.

Sure. My sewing experience suggests to me that even though it is probable that the gently curved edge of this piece can be made to stretch to fill in this corner, it won't sit there nicely and I'd be tugging at it constantly and wondering why the jacket doesn't feel right. This piece wants to flow up at an angle from the under arm area, angling towards the neck. As shown to the right.

Which leaves a little triangular opening, as you can see to the left.

I am going to knit a little piece to fill it in. Then I'm going to block the pieces and sew them together. And then, I'm going to make a dress and a pair of black pants that will go with this lovely sweater jacket.

Welcome to 2012

2012-01-03T20:33:00.000-05:00

This week I've read quite a few inspiring and (let's face it) intimidating wrap-ups of the year that just ended, sewing-wise. I certainly can't compete with folks who report having made multiple garments per month.

I feel 2011 was the year of disjointed sewing. Let's see if my impression is accurate.

Looking back on my posts for the year, I see that I managed to make quite a few things. However, the total output was hardly an effective assault on The Sewing Lawyer's stash, or a coordinated production effort for her closet.

January

The year started well. In January, month of new year's resolutions, my thoughts turned to physical activity. I produced some exercise gear and my prize-winning bike jacket. I wear all these garments a lot.

February

The theme for February was winter coats. Plural. Early in the month came the surprise resurrection of Burda 7731. The rest of the month was devoted to my mink-on-the-inside version of Vogue 1083, which got a serious workout during my trip to Yellowknife

March

March saw me complete my leather jacket. Which had been languishing unfinished since November of 2010. This is another garment I wear constantly.

April was an interesting sewing month. I made a wool sheath dress to coordinate with my leather jacket, and I had a fantastic time in Chicago with sewing friends Patti, Liana, Ann, Nancy, and the members of the Haute Couture Club of Chicago.

In May, I reported in on a pair of lined wool pants. Not only were they too warm once done, they're now too big. I'm not complaining about having taken off a few pounds, mind you, just haven't steeled myself to unpicking that hand-sewn waistband... More sensibly, I also made a couple of knit dresses.

July

August

Summertime. A simple little sleeveless blouse took me far too long, after which my version of Vogue's knock-off of the Akris suit became a long term project that got sidelined while I got over being infatuated with Vogue 1250. Phew!

All this is really good stuff. But then ... the sewing wheels fell off.

More off-season sewing. I made a sleeveless summer dress and another knit dress that just didn't work in the fall. Hopefully they'll come into their own next year. Then came a pair of PJs, a couple of bras that are tantalizingly close to being really good, some storage units for my sewing room, and a batch of undies. All perfectly OK, but nothing that made me feel I'd made anything really special.

My sewing momentum revived faintly in November with more sports clothes: my curling pants and pink Jalie top. However December was a sewing bust.

Is it a coincidence that I picked up knitting in late fall? Since early November I've made 3 hats, a scarf and most of a sweater.

So, looking ahead, what do I want to accomplish for 2012?

I need to do more sewing.
I do not want to buy more fabric. I have so much it's embarrassing. I will sew the fabric I already own. I really like it as fabric, but I think I'd like it even more as clothing.
I am going to make a work jacket. Or two. And nice dresses or separates to coordinate with them.
One of those jackets is going to be in leather.
I want to integrate knitted pieces into my work and home wardrobes. I foresee one or two knitted tops.

That seems like a long enough list. No doubt I'll get distracted.

Happy New Year!

Uh oh - too many projects

2011-12-10T15:27:00.001-05:00

And it's not because The Sewing Lawyer's sewing room has been transformed into Santa's workshop this year. Oh no. Last year I was busy as the proverbial bee, secretly refashioning all those bits into fun presents for the entire family. This year, I've got too many ideas on the go, and sorry, they're all for me. I'm trying to convince myself that doing a bit at a time on them is an overall advance, but it may be well into 2012 before any of these see the light of day.

Project No. 1 - future leather jacket

You've already seen prototype no. 1 for this - my quilted curling jacket. They say that a "wearable muslin" should be made up in fabric similar in hand and weight to your intended "good" version. Well, on that theory, this jacket was a big fail as a muslin. The knitted version is stretchy and puffy while the intended "fabric" - luscious lamb leather - is sleek and firm. Apart from the too-low armscyes, I couldn't tell if the pattern would turn out well in leather. And I wasn't certain if the armscyes would really be too low, if made in a fabric that wasn't prone to stretching in the length.

But the curling jacket did pass the "I think I like the style well enough" test. So I made a real muslin out of some hideous green woven stuff I found a bolt of at a thrift store.

I'm still liking it. And it turns out that raising the armscyes by about 2cm was a good call. But this muslin shows the things that still need adjusting.

I over-adjusted at the hip when I graded out to a size 40. I'm going to remove the extra width at least at the side seams.

The neck seam is about 1cm too high. I have a forward neck. This won't matter a bit when the jacket is open, as I'd probably wear it about 98% of the time. But I'm going to lower the neck, and lengthen the collar accordingly.

The bust darts are too long. This could be a marking/sewing error. I'll sew them shorter in my good version.

The sleeves are a tiny bit too short, though I already took out my customary 2.5cm.

As you can see better in this view of the back, the shoulders are a tiny bit too wide. I am going to think about whether to adjust the pattern, or (easier) fix this with some shoulder structure in the jacket, with minimal padding.

I really like how the seam on the front of the sleeve lines up with the princess seam.

I'm going to plan the zipper placement properly and put a seam in the right side facing and the left jacket front, rather than apply the zipper on top of these pieces. I have deluxe Riri zippers for this jacket, and even though the front one will be partly hidden, the shorter ones in the front sleeve seams will be on full display.

I am going to retrace this with my adjustments, and 1cm seam allowances. I will make a pattern piece for every single piece, i.e. one for each of the left and right sides, as taught by Kathryn Brenne.

Project No. 2 - Leather mittens

I've made leather mittens before. But the ones I've got planned will up the ante, in terms of the complexity of the pattern.

I recommend Make your own gloves by Gwen Emlyn-Jones. I've had a copy for years but confess to not really having examined it before being challenged to replicate these worn-out mittens. There are patterns in the back, in several sizes.

I mocked up a pattern, which I enlarged since my material is a little thick. I then made a muslin out of fleece scraps. Frankly I had my doubts about the thumb, which looked so much bigger than the hole it was to go into. But it was absolutely the perfect size, and the muslin turned out pretty well, as you can see here.

These are sewn together by hand - a simple running stitch - but they go together surprisingly quickly. I have some quality time with a glover's needle ahead of me.

Project No. 3 - Knitting

I'm well into my version of this great sweater/jacket. The pattern is available free here (in English) and here (in original Finnish).

I'm making it in a gorgeous teal colour.

Pictures to come. Or check out my progress on Ravelry.

Introducing Very Cherry Slouchy ... the hat that knit itself

2011-12-03T17:11:00.001-05:00

The ~~Sewing~~ Knitting Lawyer has a new problem - in fact it may be an addiction.

This is such a surprise. As I have mentioned here before, I used to knit. But that was (most recently) in the 80s! A few years back I thought I'd make a little sleeveless shell and bought some yarn and started ... and stopped. Not interesting, too slow. I figured my knitting career was over.

But now, Wow! I can't seem to put the darned needles down. What is happening?

Anyway, I am signed up on Ravelry (as Kayyy) and this is my most recent FO. The pattern is one of the thousands of free ones, and it is a fast project. I bought the yarn (Diamond Yarn Merino Superwash Aran) last Sunday afternoon. By bedtime that night the hat was 6" tall. I finished it on Thursday and wore it Friday.

Ready to knit the I-Cord

I love the way the pattern spirals up to the pointy top of the slouchy hat, and turns into a perfectly tubular I-Cord. For someone who had never knit I-Cord before, doing so was ridiculously satisfying.

There is supposed to be a bead on the end of the I-Cord but for now, I've just tied it in a little knot.

My very cherry slouchy hat keeps my ears warm. And it doesn't look too terrible on either. The colour is more accurate in the other pictures.

This afternoon I bought some Cascade 220 (100% Peruvian highland wool) to make this sweater. It's a delicious turquoisey-blue colour.

It promises to feed my new addiction for more than a week.

Mohair Sweater Refashion - Before

2011-12-01T20:13:00.001-05:00

Before

This thrifted sweater is made of lovely stuff - 70% mohair, 30% nylon. It's a beautiful colour. But it's gigantic on me, albeit labelled as a medium.

And the details of it are hideous. (As is this picture of me. Yikes!)

The body is reverse stockinette stitch, which I do not care for. (The smooth jersey face is hidden and the purl bumps are on the outside.)

The collar, cuffs and lower edge each end in a length of (right-side out) stockinette stitch, which forms a curl, and then a short length of ribbing to cinch the garment in. Yick.

I considered trying to unravel the sweater but in order to ensure that this turns into something wearable in my lifetime, I have pretty much decided to take it apart and treat it as fabric.

I'd love to turn the sweater into this top from the November, 2011 Burda Magazine. There is not enough of it, big though it is, to cut the two fronts Burda asks for. Though, maybe, I could cut a partial inner front? Hmmmmm.

Any other ideas?

PINK

2011-11-27T11:05:00.001-05:00

Remember the pink zipper? There is a tiny bit of method at work. The Sewing Lawyer has a new pink top to match. Actually, it makes the zipper look a little ... dull.

For anyone who was at PR Weekend Montreal, the pink fabric was purchased at Suzie Stretch. It has a nice smooth jersey face and a loopy wrong side. I'm hoping that makes it a little bit warmer than simple jersey.

But will somebody please remember to remind me to check the direction of most stretch BEFORE cutting? This top (Jalie 2682) has a double layer upper front and it's straining a bit. I think it would have been more comfortable cut on the crosswise grain. Since I have two more vivid colours of this same fabric (turquoise and bright yellow!) there is a chance that I'll get to test this theory out. I like this pattern a lot.

Gusset

The jacket got retrofitted with a little underarm gusset to help with the mobility problem.

It went curling on Wednesday.

I'm pleased to report that the gusset works and the jacket was cozy warm.

I'll try it with the pink top this week. Maybe the vivid colour will psyche out the opposition!

In the meantime, The Sewing Lawyer finished this lacy scarf and is itching to try a new knitting project.

What do you think of this sweater/jacket? I love its texture and structure.

Uninspiring?

2011-11-20T11:17:00.001-05:00

This is vaguely-a-test of the pattern provisionally earmarked for The Sewing Lawyer's next leather jacket project. It's #107 from the famous September, 2010 edition. It's in progress only (as you can see from the pins).

But this fabric bears NO resemblance to leather. It's a quilted knit, quite stretchy (and annoying to sew). It can't be pressed. It won't lie flat. The seams are all topstitched with one of the amusing utility stitches built into my Pfaff sewing machine.

I fear this jacket will not be long for the world. The fiberfill between the two layers of this fabric occasionally pokes through. I had been cutting the resulting wispies off but to my horror this led to at least one (found so far) little cut into the outer fabric. Guess where?*

I'm only persevering with it because I have the feeling I will actually wear this curling and schlepping around the house. It's kind of cosy.

Both the fabric and high-contrast zip were chosen for stash-reduction purposes. Do I get extra points for using bulky space-consuming stuff?

I only noticed that the right front is about .25" longer than the left when I looked at this photo. I am not going to fix it since this would require unpicking the topstitching and I fear making more little holes. I am pretty sure the fashion police won't bother with me about it.

Dratted too-low armscye

I am going to make a Q&D muslin in a woven fabric to be sure before cutting the leather that this is too big and sloppy in the body, and too low in the armscye, and to find out what the collar will really look like. For the armscye problem, I am going to (carefully) unpick the lower armscye and insert a gusset.

* Centre front. Nice one, Kay! I'm under the perhaps-delusional impression that my fix will not be noticeable.

Thanks Paco!

2011-11-14T19:03:00.001-05:00

I was pretty excited to see that Paco Peralta was offering a free pattern for a draped top to anyone who ordered from him in November. I placed an order at his Etsy store on November 1 and my package arrived today.

I ordered the cape and skirt set.

I received the draped top, as promised.

But to my surprise, the package also contained ...

The portefeuille skirt.

He wrote "It is my pleasure - I'm sure you will make a beautiful version of this skirt." Paco, I hope I can live up to your expectations!

Making fabric takes a long time

2011-11-11T10:21:00.001-05:00

Lace scarf in progress

I wanted to see if I could do it. Evidently I can. (However, see if you can find the mistake.)

I'm on the fence about whether I want or need a yellow wool lace scarf. However the yarn was in stash (and is a lovely colour) and the pattern is easy enough.

And now ... back to my regularly scheduled craft. Sewing. I'm testing a pattern which I traced more than a year ago as a possible alternative to the Material Things Fearless Jacket pattern, when I was having so much trouble with it. But then I persevered and this one got left behind.

I've got it cut out in a strange quilted knit which might (or might not) make an interesting jacket on the curling rink.

It might also tell me whether I want to commit to this pattern for my brick red lamb leather.

Stay tuned.

I want to wear these forever

2011-11-06T15:59:00.003-05:00

What's that, you ask? The curling pants are finally finished. And even though they haven't been tested in the large fridge that is the curling rink, The Sewing Lawyer predicts that they will be quite up to the task of keeping her warm, and not gapping or binding while the curious posture required in curling is attempted.

Behold

I've been wearing a pair of cast-offs since starting to curl a couple of years ago. They are RTW, ripstop nylon lined with some kind of black synthetic knit fabric with a plush surface. These pants sport a gathered elastic waist and cuffs, and have side zippers. Ick.

Last year at Fabricland, the great Canadian chain store, they had a rather nice and very beefy ponte-type knit. I couldn't resist and a pant length came home with me. In stash, a mistake from on-line shopping years ago at Wazoodle, was quite a lot of of black synthetic (supplex nylon) knit fabric with a plush surface. It's softer than the lining of my RTW pants, by a factor of 10 or so.

I muslined the interesting pants from the December, 2009 issue of Burda Magazine. Here's the line drawing.

The curved seam goes around to the back where it incorporates the dart shaping needed, and makes a little yoke.

I left off the pockets.

The biggest challenges in making these were to ensure the seams would stay flat and smooth in both lining and outer fabric. I sewed the pants entirely on my sewing machine, using a 1.5x1.5mm zig zag stitch which is stretchy but thin enough to press open.

For the outer layer, I topstitched using the same tiny zig zag stitch before trimming the seam allowances. In the lining, I flattened the seam using a 3-step zig zag, and trimmed the seam allowance very close to the stitching. This worked really well.

It's hard to take a good picture of a really black garment, and the camera finds every bit of lint!

To keep the waist and fly front relatively bulk-free, I used a cotton woven fabric for the waistband and fly facings, and the fly shield. I also interfaced the outer waistband to reduce stretchiness almost to zero there.

Pretending to skip

This pattern has a nicely contoured waistband pattern with side seams and CB seam for fitting. I used my fold before stitching, always-perfect waistband technique, illustrated here, except this was the quick and dirty (i.e. not couture, no hand-sewing) version. After the facing is pressed and folded as illustrated in the earlier post, pin it securely to all edges, and simply topstitch around the entire waistband by machine. I used the little zig-zag again for consistency.

A jeans button (hammered in, no sewing!) and machine sewn hems through all layers completed these pants.

They are warm.
And they are SO COMFY!
I'm ready!

Two pink things

2011-10-16T21:30:00.000-04:00

First, please admire the perfection of the pink cashmere, neatly wound into a ball (or is there another name for one of these?) using my new wool winder. Though my husband says I should be sure to mention what a headache it was to make the #*%# thing, I think it's brilliant.

The wool should unwind neatly from the centre.

No doubt this is all old news to you knitters out there, but it's new technology chez The Sewing Lawyer.

In other breaking news, I successfully changed my second bra (the front closing one) into a standard back-hooking bra with a closed bridge in front. It actually wasn't that hard and it fits so much better. Before, the wires were not only too far apart, the bridge was too low which meant the wires were not at the right angle. Now, as you can see, they come up higher at CF where they are more vertical.

After

Before

I sewed on 3 of the little pink/écru bows that I bought at the Fabric Flea Market yesterday. I think they look kind of cute!

Stash augmentation

2011-10-16T11:51:00.000-04:00

So I have long been involved in organizing the Fabric Flea Market. Annually since 1995. In addition to being a great fund-raiser, it's a stash transfer tool. We give the stash-busting vendors, most of whom have reached SABLE*, a way to recoup some of their investment from stash-building purchasers.

Maybe some of the purchasers don't realize that they, too, have reached SABLE.

Like me. I'm still in denial.

Without further ado: my haul from yesterday.

Starting small: stretch lace, elastic of various kinds, including plush picot elastic & strap elastic for more bra-sewing. Also, tiny bows and flowers for lingerie-decorating.

That's a roll of dark navy grosgrain ribbon at the bottom. It's rayon and wonderfully moldable with steam and heat, for facing waistbands and other behind-the scenes uses.

A really interesting wool (maybe a blend) woven with texture and stretch; crinkle rayon print; silk burnout (with white paper behind to show the pattern).

Nylon/lycra for workout clothes; 100% poly swimsuit fabric; silk crepe with zig-zag design; amazing coppery raincoat fabric; silk chiffon sari, with ombre border print.

Two stretch mesh prints; teal/brown viyella; wool/silk dress fabric (shirtdress?); more raincoating (the true colour is more turquoise).

Wool winder to turn 100% cashmere repurposed yarn and hand-spun, hand-dyed black mohair with wool/acrylic blend yarn into neat, usable balls.

There seem to be some colour themes developing. I knew about the brown and teal, and of course the orange, but the pink is a surprise to me.

What did you do yesterday?

*SABLE = Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

The Fabric Flea Market, 2011 Edition

2011-10-16T11:19:00.000-04:00

I'm a complete sloth today after two days of intense fabric-related work. Enjoy!

Imagine the buzz

Silk ... hmmm

Woolly

Stretchy!

Like candy.

Antiques

Vintage home dec.

This reminds me of Roch Carrier

Vintage buttons

Great patterns!

Pretty in pink

2011-10-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

Following hot on the heels of yesterday's post, here is The Sewing Lawyer's latest custom-made bra - all done! It is not perfect but definitely wearable.

Inner bra cup - in progress

The cups and straps are made from shiny and stretchy pink satin. It has a lot of stretch in the width and hardly any in the length.

Inside the straps (cut on the lengthwise grain) is a layer of duo-plex to ensure they won't stretch. It pads them very nicely. The bridge is also underlined with duoplex since you absolutely don't want any stretch there.

Inside the cups is a layer of flesh-tone power net. I used a triple-stitch zig-zag to flatten the lining seam. The outer cup seam is flattened with the traditional line of straight stitching about 2mm away from the seam, on either side.

The least satisfactory part of this bra (construction-wise) is the seam along the top of the cup. I used a stretch stitch to join the satin to the power net, and understitched with a straight stitch to keep the lining from rolling to the outside. This edge would look better if it was finished with elastic to stabilize it. It stretched slightly in construction, even though I cut the upper cup with the DOGS (direction of greatest stretch) perpendicular to the edge and seam to minimize the likelihood of unwanted stretching.

The fit would be better if the bridge (the little piece at CF between the cups) was narrower. I don't know if this is possible, since it has to accommodate the plastic clasp and it would be even more difficult to sew if it was smaller. Future bras will close in the back so I can better control the bridge dimension.

This bra is a modification of the Sharon front closing bra from the Pin Up Girls line of Bra-Makers Supply but, as explained yesterday, the Sharon cup wasn't doing anything for me so I subbed in the cup from a bodysuit pattern in the June, 1996 issue of Burda Magazine.

Before starting I read up on converting styles in the Bra-Makers Manual (also available from Bra-Makers Supply) and I added 1/4" (7mm) to the lower edge of the cup pieces to ensure there would be enough room for the wires inside the cup. This is needed because the Sharon is a partial band style (the cups are not sewn into a fabric piece) whereas the front of the Burda bodysuit pattern functioned like a band in relation to the cups. In a full band bra, the wire sits outside the cup below the seam joining the cup to the band, but in a partial band bra, the wire must be accommodated inside the lower edge of the cup itself.

The band is cut from pink power net which was in the pink bra kit I bought. Unfortunately I had to cut it with a CB seam since the piece supplied wasn't long enough to put the full length in the correct direction (the DOGS need to be horizontal so the bra band stretches comfortably around your ribs).

An aside: In a comment on my review of the Amanda bra pattern, Squirrelypoo (of FehrTrade) wondered why there was a side seam in the band on that pattern. I think it's because the front band of a full band bra cannot stretch but the back band must, so they must at least be cut in different directions even if you use the same fabric. The pink bra doesn't have a front band and the back band connects directly to the cups with no extra seam.

I notice there's a new pattern on the Bra-Makers site designed for foam cups - the Anita, which is made with stretch lace. But there's definitely another pink bra in my future before I need to buy new supplies.

Issa of London - silk jersey dress

2011-10-09T20:11:00.001-04:00

Issa of London silk jersey dress

The Sewing Lawyer has previously mentioned her super-talented (and lucky) thrift-shopping friend. Her most recent fabulous find is an Issa of London silk jersey dress. The fabric is superb. It may have been worn, but it's in mint condition. I think my friend paid $15 for it.

Issa dresses go for about 35 times that or more new, and several used ones are listed at well over $300 on eBay. The brand got a serious boost from Kate Middleton who wore a blue jersey dress made by Issa when she and Prince William announced their engagement.

I've got the dress on loan for a week or so to see if I can figure out what the pattern for it would look like. It is truly intriguing! Here's a verbal description which hints at the complexity of this apparently-simple wrap style. My inept photos can be enlarged if you click on them.

Starting at the top, the dress has a high back neck which extends from the front bodice (think shawl collar). There are two ingenious tucks in the collar just at the shoulder point which control the fullness beautifully. They are released at the front (where the fullness contributes to the deeply plunging neckline) and at the back, so that the back of the collar hugs the neck.

The very full sleeves are cut in one with the back of the dress, which has a centre back seam.

Back sleeve - cut on

The sleeve is gathered into a generous cuff, which is a single layer of silk jersey, folded double at the wrist opening and machine-hemmed.

Raglan seam at front

The sleeve (all cut in one with the back) extends over the shoulder (no seam) to the front where it attaches to the front bodice with a raglan seam.

The V neck has a self facing, which is simply folded back twice. It's not interfaced (there is no interfacing anywhere in this dress).

But the most astonishing feature of the dress is the pleats and ties in the front bodice.

At left you can see the bodice, untied. The upper part has three tucks on each side. One of them (the closest to CF) is very deep - maybe 2" or 5cm. The others are about half as deep.

The bodice tucks are sewn into a little front band, and to either side the bodice curves down and extends into the ties.

The skirt extends upwards
into the tie (the Issa logo
is part of the print, as you
may be able to see here)

The bottom part of the tie is similarly cut in one with the skirt. The bottom piece of the tie is narrower than the top layer so the seams of the tie roll around to the bottom as you may be able to see at right.

Mysterious waist opening

The curved edges where the bodice and skirt curve into the tie are not sewn together. In fact, there is an opening to either side of the short waistband piece at CF. It is, however, anchored by a piece on the inside. I can't begin to describe how this works.

The dress is worn with the ties wrapped towards CF and then around twice. This conceals the openings where the ties attach, and cinches in the skirt, creating diagonal folds from the hip (see the top photo of the dress on my duct tape double).

This size 2 dress looks astonishingly good on - and it seems to fit different body types very well. My friend is giving it to her 18 year old daughter because she thinks it's too short for her. It's too short for me too. Which is just as well.

If I can manage to make a pattern, I'll show it to you here.

Why I keep old Burda magazines

2011-10-08T13:08:00.001-04:00

Too pointy!

I started to tackle the Sharon pattern (at left) from Bra-Makers Supply and I can already tell that the cup design is just not me.

Exhibit A. My padded-out duct tape double is not precisely me, but close enough. Erm.

I pinned the wires in place for these pictures so the cup would maintain its shape. It sure does. It's shape isn't mine.

So to plan B.

One of my favorite old Burdas is from June, 1996. This issue included some great summer clothes (including the long tunic-shirt I showed you here) but it also had a great lingerie section, including 2 bodysuits (one also doubles as a swimsuit) and a boned bustier. All in all there are patterns for three different styles of seamed cup garments in this single issue. Bonanza!

Bodysuits from 1996-06 issue

And I had made the swimsuit before, and remembered being pretty impressed with the fit of the cups.

Against my better instincts I'm posting a picture.

The fabric was a border print, nylon and lycra. Purchased at the late-lamented Textile Outfitters store in Calgary. I remember it was fun figuring out how to use the border print on the cups. Putting the upper cup on a gold stripe meant that I ignored the grain line on the pattern. I did not use wires although the pattern is perfect for them. I like the wide straps which are pleated into the extension of the upper cup.

Sadly, the elastic in this suit has disintegrated but I'm glad I kept it for today's examination. I like the line of the seam in this cup much better than the more horizontal Sharon seam. And it's not pointy.

I think I'll just sub the Burda cups into the Sharon band. Why wouldn't this work? The Sharon pattern is designed for low or no-stretch cups and the Burda is designed for stretch fabric, but the cups are lined so they are reasonably firm. I don't think it should matter. I cut the Sharon cups out of Duoplex, a fabric included in the bra kit which, I have to say, is the most hideous stuff ever. I have some lovely stretchy satin in pink in my stash.

Calvin Klein PJs

2011-10-02T20:45:00.001-04:00

Bright red with fun jungle animals

This is fabric well aged, and used for exactly the intended target. It's just a decade (or maybe 15 years) late in the arrival. Now there's a bit more room in the stash containers.

Aside from the fact that the fabric was purchased in Europe (Grenoble, France, at Toto Soldes, which was lots of fun), the most interesting thing about these PJs is that I made the top from this Vogue Calvin Klein pattern (ca. 1979).

Obviously I took liberties with the sleeve length in the interests of night-time warmth, but more fundamentally with the attitude (suave, sophisticated) of this pattern. Silk charmeuse? Heavens no. The Sewing Lawyer's Calvin Klein PJs are made of luscious 100% cotton jersey. Printed with fun jungle animals (many upside-down) to boot.

In other news, the curling season has started. Which means three occupied evenings per week, so maybe even less sewing than before. Curling is lots of fun for young and old, and involves moderate exercise which is countered by immediate post-game consumption of the drink of your choice and snacks. It also involves periods of intense activity (trotting alongside rocks and sweeping like mad) but more time standing around in a fridge-like atmosphere. This will be my third season as a curler.

Why am I telling you this? Because I need to make myself some new curling clothes. The pants I have been wearing for this activity ... I can hardly find the words to describe them. It may be enough to say that they are RTW and handed down from my son when suddenly he got much larger. He wore them long enough to wreck one of the snaps at the waist, which has not stopped his mother from wearing them for two long curling seasons. And for cross-country skiing. They are functional.

Famous Norwegian men's curling team pants from
the 2010 Winter Olympics

I am determined this year to kick things up a notch. If not my game (my skip can count on me to be inconsistent), then my curling wardrobe.

The 2010 Canadian women's team,
skipped by Cheryl Bernard

#116 from November, 2009

There is one older woman in my ladies' league who always wears a deeply pleated kilt with black wool tights. It moves wonderfully when she delivers the rock. Everyone else (well, except the Norwegians) wears black pants. My old ones are ripstop nylon, lined with some kind of synthetic knit. It would be nice to have pants with more give to them. Since they don't need to be windproof, I'm tending towards some thick and stretchy ponte-like knit in my stash, which is probably a rayon-poly-lycra blend. I made my bike shorts from it and they are standing up very well.

After leafing through my Burda Magazines, I found a few pattern possibilities. So far my favorite is #116 from December, 2009. It has some neat seaming. The back is also interesting - the curved seam turns into a back yoke, and there are vertical seams down the centre of each leg. However, I think I'd do some major pocket modification. Perhaps modest zipped side pockets instead of the "Look! Hips!" flaps.

If I had spiffy new pants, I might have to make a new jacket too.

Simplicity 2369 - Reprise

2011-09-25T11:41:00.000-04:00

Here's the dress I finished yesterday.

The pattern is one of those reliable ones where the pictures on the pattern envelope are what you get. No fuss, no muss. Consequently, there's not too much to say about it!

I made this before. This time I used the shorter skirt and longer sleeves.

I used one of those soft rayon knits; you know - the ones that stretch longer and eventually pill and look like crap. But before then, they are soft and luscious, and supremely comfortable to wear. This is, consequently, a dress for only one season, or with luck two.

I love the print.

There is a CB seam, but it's pretty much invisible.

My pattern review is here.

Trying not to post just for the sake of posting

2011-09-24T20:48:00.001-04:00

The Sewing Lawyer does not think that she should start this post by apologizing for the fact that her last post was TWO weeks ago, do you?

In the interim, there was sewing of panties. Which shall not be shown on this blog. I have my pride.

The bra also got finished, although I haven't yet sewn the tiny little ribbon bow on the centre front so maybe it's not quite finished.

Thanks very much to all of you who left such informative comments on sizing, and more practically, on what the heck to do with the too-long ends of the underwires. I had never heard of Plasti Dip before but it looks like a very interesting product. I was not too thrilled at the idea of forking over $25.00 for a gigantic amount of the stuff when I only needed a tiny bit, so I was a little bit relieved to find out that my local hardware store had stopped carrying it. I defaulted to plan B, Liana's suggestion: epoxy. It worked.

Having a nice new bra that fits well has made me realize that all the rest of them are pretty dowdy. I am now quite motivated to make more. Today, quite fortuitously, Kwik Sew 2101 came into my possession. So there are lots of choices for patterns, and the stash seems to contain more possibilities too.

I made a knit dress. No pictures yet, however. I'll do a quick post tomorrow.

I have been musing about my next project. I think it's time for something a little more complicated i.e. a lined jacket. I like sewing for fall and winter! (It's a good thing, since we have a good 8-9 months of somewhat-cold to very-cold weather here.)

I've had the fabric pictured to the right for a couple of years. It's wool blended with something - maybe acetate? The square motifs that look like script (but which I hope don't actually say anything) are woven in. This summer I bought enough red lamb leather for another jacket. They are the same colour!

Dress and jacket, coming up ... sometime.

Hooked?

2011-09-11T12:27:00.001-04:00

One of the anxious-making things about sewing a bra is that you can't try it on until it's finished. So they say. But there was no way The Sewing Lawyer was going a centimetre farther along in the construction process without having at least a pretty good idea whether hers was going to take pride of place in the undies drawer, or languish, finished but unworn, in a dusty pile on the sewing room floor.

This morning the front was done, more or less, and the back was at the point of paralysis where I needed to know (a) how big around it should be and (b) how long the elastic straps should be. I managed to get it whacked together in an approximate sort of way, but definitely unpickable, so I could try it on.

I'm using one of Beverley Johnson's patterns - "Amanda" of the "Pin-up Girls" line. This pattern uses a foam cup and is pretty similar to some RTW bras I wear. The website says it has dramatic push up effect but that remains to be seen. I also bought the "Sharon" which is a front closing partial-band "demi-cup" style. It's going to be the next one I make.

Let me introduce you to Amanda, finished enough so that I could verify its wearability, and make some informed decisions about band and strap length.

The foam cups are covered with a very stretchy and thin tricot from stash. The front band, straps and back are made from a firmer lycra-and-something, also stash. I used one of the bra findings kits from Bra-Makers Supply. It has plush elastic for the top and bottom bands, strap elastic, hooks and sliders, underwire channeling, and some little decorative bits.

When I was at the store, Beverley turned her practised gaze to my upper half and guessed, correctly, that a 36 cup would be right. She checked the 34 too (what I thought would be my size) and indeed they were noticeably too skimpy.

I did not purchase underwires, thinking I could repurpose some wires from old RTW. Wrong! Do you know what? 34 wires just won't go around a 36 cup. The curvature is definitely not the same. So I bought size 36 wires from Fabricland, but they are too long for this cup, and stick out about 1cm. I am going to have to cut them off and attempt to file/cover/treat them in some way so the ends are not razor sharp.

The straps are sewn fabric in front, and attach to an adjustable elastic strap in back. The strap elastic is continued on the upper scooped edge of the back. Here, I've just sewn it on any-which-way to check fit, and verify that the hook and eye bits will attach properly. However, the picture shows the general idea.

Below you can see the inner construction. Washable Wonder-tape is an essential tool in attaching the stretchy fabric to the cup. The instructions are very clear and good for this process. The band/bridge piece is stabilized with a very non-stretchy layer (the pattern does not suggest this but I intuited that the piece should be as stable as possible and my fabric had, I thought, too much stretch). The sticking-out ends will be resolved, some time soon I hope.

Sewing a bra is a little tricky but not as intimidating as it may look.

However, the sizing thing is really confusing. All my life I've worn a 34B bra and here I was confronted with a 36 cup. Not only that, but the band size and the cup size can be mixed and matched. I measured myself according to the instructions in the Amanda pattern, the Sharon pattern, and for RTW as described in Beverley's book which I also purchased.

Amanda puts me at 36. In actual RTW I am a 34B. The book and the Sharon instructions put me at 32B (??!!). I know these are just numbers, but for heaven's sake!!

Anyway, there is an error in the pattern. The instructions say to trace the band size according to the cup (36) but with its length based on the under-bust ribcage measurement. They say: "If you measure 75cm (34"), trace the 75/34 line on the pattern size. If you measure 78cm (35"), trace the 80/36."

Okey dokey. I measured myself: 72.5cm around my ribcage. And checked my tape measure which conveniently has both metric and imperial measurements printed on it. 72.5cm is 28.5". I stared at the pattern and the instructions, and then back at my tape measure.

So here's the problem. The numbers in the instructions are wrong in every way. 75cm is not 34", it's 29.5". 34" corresponds to 86.5cm. And these numbers don't match what is printed on the pattern pieces. The pattern piece for size 36 has lines on it which are labelled 70/28", 75/30", 80/32" and 85/34". These number combinations somewhat closer to real metric/imperial equivalents but they are still off by enough to make your bra fit badly. Which number to choose? Accurate metric? Accurate imperial? Measuring the pattern pieces does not help because the bra has negative ease and the band length will be extended by the hook and eye pieces, in some hard-to-verify amount.

To make a long story short, I initially cut the band pieces on the 85/34" line, based on the theory that I could make too-long pieces shorter. Then in construction, I compared the in-progress bra to a RTW bra and got all over-confident and cut the bands down 2 sizes. Then later in construction, I realized the band was sure to be too short, and added a little extender piece at CB on the right side (to which the shorter hook bit will be attached). I figure the extender piece adds back almost as much as I cut out in the over-confident part of this story, and based on my almost-done fitting, I have to take most of it off again. But not all of it, so I still don't know what size I should have cut.

Next time (there will be one; I have another set of the foam cups) I should ignore the numbers and re-trace the pattern piece based on the length I actually needed for this one.

There is a similar dithery story that goes with trying to figure out how long the elastic strap extensions need to be. I won't bore you with the details. However, the principle which is guiding me in relation to both band size and strap length is that the bra will not get snugger as time goes on, all other things being equal. Therefore, I should determine lengths based on what feels reasonably snug but comfortable now, with everything positioned so I can tighten it up in future, if needed.

Amazing Fit Dress - Simplicity 2648

2011-09-06T22:41:00.001-04:00

Simplicity has this line of patterns called "Amazing Fit". They seem to be a collection of good basic designs whose main distinguishing feature is that they include multiple versions of each piece for (above the waist) different cup sizes and (below the waist) for a "slim", average or "curvy" fit. I'd been meaning to buy #2648 since my friend and enabler G started raving about it as a great pattern. When G makes a recommendation, The Sewing Lawyer listens. (Not just for sewing patterns either. Snap major household appliance decisions have been made based on G's seal of approval.)

So it is entirely predictable that Simplicity 2648 did indeed turn into a very nice dress that fits rather well. The only drama relates to how long it took me to get around to actually sewing this up. I cut it out along with the grey summer suit on June 12, for heaven's sake.

It's not that I'm having a bad hair day. Rather, the headless photos turned out sharper so are better pictures of the dress. Which is what you are really interested in anyway.

This is the last of the true summer sewing for The Sewing Lawyer. Maybe there will be one or two warm days in September suitable for wearing such a sunny summery dress.

Oh all right. More sewing details.

The dress is made from a somewhat substantial cotton/lycra woven. I hope it won't be too warm to wear, but its relative stiffness means it'll never cling.

There are princess seams in front and darts in back. And there's a waist seam. But you can't see any of them in this busy print.

I cut the B cut bodice and the "curvy" bottom. The entire difference between the average and curvy bottom is that the curvy back has 4 waist darts and the average only two. There is an extra .5" at the hip in the curvy fit.

I've had the belt I'm wearing for (conservatively) 25 years, and it wasn't new when I got it. I haven't worn it in years but would wear it lots now, if it hadn't shrunk in my closet. I'm going to clone it in a bigger size.

OOO RAH Wallet

2011-09-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

As promised, here it is. A green lamb-leather folding wallet. It measures 6" x 4.25" (approximately).

I considered doing the topstitching to complete it, but after eyeing the thickness in the middle of one side (10 or maybe more layers of inner cotton, 2 layers of padded snap tab, and outer leather layer, doubled because turned in on itself) I decided discretion truly is the better part of valor, finger pressed the edges as much as I could, and called it done.

Debbie suggests using quilting cotton for all layers, and cutting the pattern from three fat quarters. The Sewing Lawyer has heard this term "fat quarters" before, but not being a quilter, isn't 100% sure what they are and wasn't about to go out and buy fabric for this little item, since there is a fabric supply to last several lifetimes within reach at home.

And the stash came through. This cunning print, miracle of miracles, coordinated perfectly with the green leather.

Chickens?

Yes, those are chickens.

The wallet has many many pockets for the numerous credit, debit, library and other cards a person seems to need these days. In addition, there are pockets under the pockets on either side, and a deep pocket opening at the top, which is the full size of the wallet.

The lower right slot has a vinyl insert for your most used ID.

It has a zipper coin pouch at the back.

It's bigger than my last wallet effort. Maybe surprisingly, they both hold the same stuff. It's nice to have alternatives, don't you think?

I've stuffed it here, to illustrate. A person could go shopping.

Good Job, Debbie! (Click on this link to buy the pattern.)

Miscellany

2011-09-03T13:34:00.001-04:00

First, an apology for not posting much in the past few weeks. It's a source of continual amazement to see that people do continue to visit this blog daily, and that the number of followers here continues to rise even in my absence. Almost 300!!!

During her absence in the real world, The Sewing Lawyer seems to have been busy. Although there isn't much production. Actually, if I am honest, there hasn't been any. The Sewing Lawyer's sewing room has mostly been dark and neglected. Too bad the cleaning fairies didn't take advantage of the opportunity to get in there and do some serious organizing.

Really the machine has only been running in connection with a little project which is (sort of) for someone else. If you hang about on sewing sites, you will have come across Debbie Cook of Stitches & Seams. Recently she's turned her considerable talents to producing a pattern and I volunteered to help test it. She kept up her end of the arrangement admirably by sending me the pattern (PDF) and then e-mailing updates on its development in real time. I'm not so sure I've performed adequately as a tester as the item is languishing, almost finished, in the messy sewing room. I did send Debbie feedback on the pattern as I went, anticipating that this might happen, but I'm still hanging my head in shame, and hoping I'm not too deeply entrenched in Debbie's bad books.

On the positive side, the pattern (which is for a wallet) is for sale in her Etsy store where I seriously hope it is selling like hotcakes. It's very professionally-done, IMHO.

On the negative side, The Sewing Lawyer (as usual) has made things difficult for herself by choosing to make the wallet out of leather. My machine is struggling through the layers in places even though the innards are cut out of the intended material - quilting-weight cotton. I think I see some difficult hand-sewing in my near future since there is no way I am attempting to topstitch this baby by machine.

Perhaps in my far-distant future, I see a sewing machine that can power through layers of leather without faltering and skipping stitches.

Pictures to come (I promise) this very weekend. Which is a long weekend in Canada! Yay!

Other things to know, which have something to do with sewing.

While doing laundry today, the evidence clearly indicated it was time for new undies. Not only does The Sewing Lawyer have a guilt-inducing pile of bra patterns with all needed materials sitting on the cutting table, the stash contains all the stuff for making panties, including a TNT pattern (before you ask, it's cloned from a pair purchased in the far distant past, then tweaked through several home-factory panty-making sessions over the years). My version looks (sort of) like Jan Bones "smoothie" panties. But it has a lower rise.

If you are inclined to make your own underthings, not only are there commercial patterns out there (this one from Jalie, for example), there are several for download on the www. I first saw the "cheeky panties" pattern on Burdastyle, but today Google turned up this site which has a link for the graded version as well as the original instructions by Burdastyle member EmilyKate. This pattern intrigues me but having traced it out and compared it with the TNT, my strong suspicion is that it's best reserved for teenagers or those with figures like teenagers. In short, the TNT looks more like a TeNT. I console myself with the thought that the back piece has to be big because it wraps mostly around to the front.

If I blog about making undies, the posts may very well not be illustrated, if you know what I mean.

Finally, I got an iPad for my birthday last month. Being new to Apple (I'm a confirmed PC user) it's taking me some time to get comfortable with and understand how I ought to be using this intriguing little machine. Please help! What are your best recommendations for apps and content? How do you use your iPad in the sewing room?

Snagged! Butterick 5992

2011-08-20T16:48:00.000-04:00

This is one of the most elusive of the 1970s patterns The Sewing Lawyer has been trying to recover. Woo Hoo!

I think I made it when I was in grade 12, from a light weight cotton which I remember having a very nice hand. I have a mental image of the print but trying to pin the image down enough to write about it is difficult. It had a smallish scale, I remember that, and the motifs were sort of irregularly round and irregularly concentric. The colours were quite bright; a clear blue, red and white, in that order of prominence. It sounds dreadful. It probably was.

After all the lying in wait for this one, strangely I'm content to have its digital image preserved and to know the pattern number. Even though I could buy it for only $3. In a size that has never been my size.

I could have sworn this dress was made from a McCalls pattern. But it was Butterick, my favorite brand of the day.

A few of my past favorites are still lost. But I'm on their trail.

This is really boring

2011-08-20T16:25:00.000-04:00

However, it seems necessary to document the completion of my brown canvas "boxes", since (surprisingly) so many of you expressed interest in this very utilitarian project.

Without further ado.

Box open and stocked with my white interfacing collection. There's room for more! (The sides are just propped open, they are not stiffened even slightly).

Box flaps closed over contents.

Boxes in situ.

They are squashier than you may have expected. I decided against getting all fancy with closures and labels. The flaps will stay down. Gravity is my friend. And decorating the flap with a small square of the type of stuff inside is quite a graphic reminder.

Sadly, I still need a plastic bag or two up there.

I could make more, but I am going to do something more interesting instead. At least I won't be at risk of an interfacing avalanche when standing at my cutting table.

Paralyzed by clutter

2011-08-14T20:10:00.003-04:00

This is one corner of The Sewing Lawyer's rather small sewing room. It may explain the title:

Specifically, the problem is the bags up top. They contain my stash of interfacing, silk organza, and batting. There's also a bag each of biggish scraps of wool coating and fake fur up there. Every time I need some (say) black fusible, I have to take down two or three bags before I figure out which bag hides the black fusible. It seems every time I put them back, I cause a slippery plastic bag avalanche. A bag full of interfacing that falls the metre or so distance from the top shelf to my cutting board is rather inclined simply to give up the ghost and split, spilling its contents everywhere.

Recently I've basically given up putting them away, which means they are on the cutting board, and on the floor. Too much clutter makes it impossible to sew. This is not good.

I've had it. I have the equipment, the supplies and the ability to fix it. Enter a bolt of sturdy brown canvas (Fabric Flea Market).

A design. Rudimentary, but it should work.

Heavy canvas "boxes" will not slip and slide on each other. I hope they sit nicely side by side up top.

They may need some kind of handle too. I'll work it out as I make the first one. I have five cut out.

Grey summer suit - it's about time, you say?

2011-08-07T20:34:00.003-04:00

Well, for heaven's sake, I wonder what took The Sewing Lawyer so long? It may have been the intervening allure of Vogue 1250. Or her week away on holidays. Perhaps she was slightly discouraged by that mid-project anxiety which often strikes during a longer-term more-complicated sewing project about whether it would fit, or suit her, or be easy enough to wear to be a go-to outfit on hurried weekday mornings. Or maybe it was just the summer heat and doldrums, of which there has been plenty. Whatever the cause, the delay has been overcome.

The Sewing Lawyer is pleased to present to you ... (drumroll) ... her grey summer suit.

Happily, it does fit. And it seems comfortable enough. The jury is out on whether it will be easy to wear.

The last jacket that The Sewing Lawyer made with a peplum was definitely NOT easy to wear.

It was her attempt to fix the Hot Patterns jacket pattern known as the Metropolitan Jacket. You can read the whole long, sad saga here (if you are a paying member of PatternReview). She sweated and swore at that thing for what seemed like months. Come to think of it, it really was months, And then she hardly ever wore it. Too fussy. Not The Sewing Lawyer's style. Or something.

It (and its matching skirt and pants) have been donated. I hope someone is enjoying them. A lot.

Back to Vogue 8718. I feel cautiously optimistic about it. It isn't gathered. I like its lines. I still really like the sleeves, which are sort of puffed but not at all in the same way as the HP jacket. I think with time I can get over the fact that the fabric (very thin, hard surfaced wool suiting with a slight sheen) is really hard to press, so there are apparent wrinkles and puckers everywhere if you look really closely. This is one of those problems that may well disappear in the closet, if given enough time. (You know, those sewing flaws visible only to the creator...)

So... what else to tell you about this? How about some more photos?

The princess seams of the skirt (which is the same as many other skirts in The Sewing Lawyer's closet, a true TNT pattern) are more or less in the right place in the front to flow on from the pleated peplum. I notice that in the back, they are too widely-spaced. Oh well. As I showed you before, the major seams are edgestitched and topstitched because double lines of heavy topstitching thread are an interesting contrast to the extremely smooth fabric. I think that was a good call.

The pattern called for four medium-sized (3/8", or 9mm) snaps to close the jacket. I disagreed. Snaps would be bumpy, and very visible on the underlap side when the jacket is not closed. Covering them to make them less obvious would have made them prone to opening spontaneously. The jacket did not need a closure below the peplum seam (which is slightly above the natural waist). So I sewed on three hooks, on the overlap side, and made thread bars for the underlap. Here are some photos.

I am very happy with how this solution works. The thread bars are worked with a sort of button hole stitch, over about 4 foundation stitches. I used the heavy topstitching thread which is a good colour match. The hooks are ugly but they are under the overlap side so cannot be seen.

As you can see (or not) in the photo below.

Other construction notes.

I found the sleeve hem opening was much too wide. I narrowed the under-sleeve seam by approximately .75" (2 cm) on each of the front and back sleeve for a total narrowing of double that amount on each sleeve. This is perfectly fine, and I don't think my arms are unnaturally slender.

I am really happy that I used stout ribbons to pleat the sleeves instead of following the pattern instructions, which were to sew the lining pieces to the upper sleeve before pleating, and then fasten the outer sleeve to the sleeve lining to create the pleats. I just do not think that lining fabric is strong enough to support the sleeve pleats. Plus, using a ribbon allows you to get the pleating right before the jacket is totally lined.

The only dedicated lining pieces are for the sleeves. Otherwise, Vogue instructs to cut the lower and upper CF pieces as facings out of the fashion fabric (as you can see above), and the rest of the body pieces out of lining fabric. In retrospect, I wish I had thought to make a CB piece with a lining pleat, and to add a touch of length to the lining, for ease purposes. As it is, I sewed the lining with slightly smaller seam allowances, and hand-felled the lining at the waist with a seam allowance of maybe 1.2cm (1/2") to give a bit of ease in the length. Using the same pieces for lining risks having a lining that is too short/tight and will pull on the fashion fabric, disturbing the line of the garment.

The other truly weird thing about the Vogue instructions relate to the collar. This is TMI unless you are puzzling through the pattern instructions, but I mention it here in case anyone out there in blogland is sewing this jacket. They say to sew the facing/lining layer to the jacket body before the collar is sewn on i.e. leaving an opening for the collar, and then to sew the collar on with the outer SA pressed up to the inside, and to hand-fell the collar to the jacket side. I could not for the life of me figure out why... Too complicated and risks a truly Becky-Home-Ecky and bulky look. I sewed the collar, ignoring the instructions to press the lower SA up on the outer collar layer. I first topstitched the collar, and then attached it to the jacket shell before attaching the lining. I finally sewed the facing/lining to the jacket/collar at CF/neck from one peplum seam to the other in one pass, enclosing the collar seam (which had to be trimmed). Just ignore Vogue. Sorry I took no pictures of this. If you have questions, ask in the comments and I'll do my best to explain further.

One more thing - I used a fusible tape to snug in the CF edge by maybe 1cm (3/8"). Even though the lower CF piece is more or less on grain, and the upper piece is fully fused, and even though I was reasonably careful with the iron, I found this edge stretched out when I was pressing the seam attaching the facing/lining to the jacket. This was a little in-progress retrofit.

I do like the sleeves. Very much.

More refashioning

2011-08-01T14:54:00.001-04:00

Not that The Sewing Lawyer has actually done any. These projects fit into the category of cerebral sewing, triggered by a recent bout of closet purging during which some items were deemed "too old/ill-fitting-to-wear" but whose fabric was deemed "far-too-good-to-throw-out".

Exhibit A is a dress made ca. 1988-90 from cotton lawn fabric, originally purchased in the long-gone fabric department of the now-defunct Eaton's store in downtown Ottawa. Sigh. They sometimes had really beautiful fabrics, not too expensive for a just-starting-out lawyer.

Witness the fact that I can still do up the back waist zipper (lapped). There is some yardage here, in the skirt. Even though it has both CB and CF seams, I bet I could turn it into a simple sleeveless shirt.

As far as I am concerned, this is perfect fabric. High quality and smooth, it emerges off the clothesline or from under the iron crisp but quickly relaxes into a soft loveliness. Strictly speaking it is probably too lightweight for this dress pattern, Vogue 9770 which came out in 1986 and called for wool crepe, double knit, faille, gabardine and damask.

I made both views, although left off the little neckline bow on my version of the slim-skirted view A, which I made from navy wool jersey.

I made View B twice. The second version, also much-loved but less hard-wearing, I made from silk noile woven in gigantic checks. This sounds garish but you'll have to take my word for the fact that it wasn't. The colours were soft warm brown and creamy beige, and a bluish grey.

On to the next prospect.

Unlike Exhibit A, which got worn a lot, Exhibit B was ill advised so did not see a lot of action.

This is a top and skirt. Both pieces were cobbled together without a real pattern about 10 years ago (I should have known better). I remember thinking that I needed two pieces which would not have many seams to break up this fantastic print. Again, the fabric is 100% cotton. It has more body than the lawn illustrated above; it keeps its crispness when worn.

The fabric's source was the Fabric Flea Market. It was a gem donated anonymously by someone who had traveled. In the selvedge, is the hand-lettered information "Design and Hand-Printed in Peru by Silvania S.A." I remember there were also genuine batiks from Indonesia and silks from Thailand that year (illustrating our slogan, "You never know what you will find!"). Naturally, being one of the organizers and doing all the hard work of measuring and pricing donated fabric, I get to see the good stuff before almost everyone else. This is the source of much of The Sewing Lawyer's extensive stash.

But I digress.

The biggest problem that this outfit has, apart from its tight waist, is that the shirt fits very badly. I had decided that even darts would interfere with the print so though the fabric is very stable and the fit around the neck and armscyes snug (even too tight, if I am truthful), it has no shaping. I remember using the neck and armscye shaping from view C of Vogue 9548. I carefully ignored the fact that this pattern has quite a lot of seam and dart shaping. Really, what was I thinking?

The skirt is just two panels of the relatively narrow yardage (selvedges preserved in the side seams) pleated into a wide waistband.

The good thing about the lack of seams in this outfit is that once taken apart, it should yield some very usable yardage.

I am down to the short strokes on my grey summer suit. Really. It will be unveiled soon.

The Sewing Lawyer has been on vacation

2011-07-29T14:51:00.003-04:00

Which is why there have not been any posts for a little while. So... what have I been doing?

Well, right after I made my second version of Vogue 1250 we departed for a week away, planned around an extended family celebration in the great urban agglomeration that vaguely surrounds the city of Toronto.

I'm happy to report that I survived the hottest July 21 on record in downtown Toronto - the actual temperature was 38C (just over 100F) and the humidex something like 51C (almost 124F). It remained hot, but thankfully not that hot, while we attended the family event and during two days spent in the delightful tiny town of Jordan, which is in the heart of the main wine-producing region of Ontario.

Since this is a sewing blog you may not care much about The Sewing Lawyer's vacation, but let me just share with you one photo, which comes close to capturing how gorgeous this wine-producing part of the country is. (What the photo misses is the country silence, the warm and pleasant breeze, and general feeling of goodwill instilled by being in good company in such a place.)

This was the view from up high on the Niagara escarpment at the lovely terrace of Vineland Estates Winery, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner.

OK, one more thing.

Excellent local wine. Ahhhh.

Enough of that.

I did have some sewing-related touristical experiences. In Toronto, I again visited Perfect Leather and bought some brick red lamb leather to make another jacket.

Toronto has realized that it ought to celebrate its different districts and there are a few pieces of public art in the area around Spadina and Queen, the heart of the garment district.

The thimble which sits on a pile of giant buttons at the corner of Richmond and Spadina is well-known.

A quick internet search informed me that this was created by Stephen Cruise, and was commissioned as a result of a City of Toronto juried public art selection process. It dates to 1997 when street cars were reinstated on Spadina Avenue.

These two metal sculptures are located at a streetcar stop on Spadina in the heart of the "Fashion District".

These are part of a series of sculptures at different intersections created by Randy & Berenicci. According to the City of Toronto, the pieces "represent the people and events chronicled in existing public domain images that record the changes to the neighborhood throughout this century. The structures supporting the vignettes recreate the shape of the original Hydro poles, whose function to carry and transmit power and communications is maintained in a metaphorical sense, transmitting the history of the neighborhoods. Replacing the glass insulators of the original poles, overscale cast glass birds sit on various support struts, adding an element of three dimensionality and an air of whimsy." Whew!

The fact that Hamilton Ontario also has a little garment district is less well known. It's on Ottawa Street, and I had a chance to visit en route to Jordan. My semi-planned destination was Bra-Makers Supply, renowned purveyor of all things necessary for beautiful and supportive undergarments. My visit was fast, since there was little on the premises that was of much interest to my husband. Not having enough time to consider and reconsider what I was doing (my usual shopping pattern), I bought The Book (Beverley Johnson's Bra Maker's Manual), two patterns, a bra kit (all fabric and other materials needed for one bra), two additional findings kits, some spiral steel boning, and I forget what else. Oh yeah, two pairs of foam cups. I was fitted for these by Beverley herself, with 3 students taking the intensive 2-month course preparatory to opening their own custom bra businesses looking on. Fastest fitting ever.

Fortunately for my husband, many of the more interesting stores on Ottawa Street seemed to be closed for vacation, but we discovered more garment/sewing themed art.

The artist is Daniel Davelaar and it's the result of another juried public art competition. According to this site, the sculpture is 3m (10'-0") high and "draped in cloth in such a way as to recall classical Roman and Greek sculpture. It is ... carved from a single block of Mountain Rose Granite." The dark parts are polished and the lighter drapery is left rougher so it looks completely different. I love it!

Back at home, I'm almost finished the jacket from Vogue 8718. The only thing left to do is the front fastenings. The pattern calls for 4 smallish snaps. I don't like that idea - they would be kind of ugly if the jacket is not done up, and the size Vogue wants me to use (9mm or 3/8") seem all too likely to pop open at the slightest provocation. I'm toying with the idea of using hooks on the overlap side and making thread loops (almost invisible) on the underside, but I haven't decided. The overlap is very small (about 1.5" in total or 3cm) so buttons are really out of the question. Anyone have other ideas?

Betcha can't make just ONE

2011-07-19T15:30:00.000-04:00

Vogue 1250 comes in pairs. Like everyone else, I could not quite stop at one.

I whipped this up today out of (as you can see) an outrageously large print. It seemed perfect for a pattern with hardly any seams.

I stared at the print for a while before concluding it would not be useful to try to actually plan for any part of it to fall anywhere in particular. And then I blithely folded the fabric and cut the big piece, not particularly paying attention to the print.

Oh serendipity! Look at how the cowl is nestled in a V in the print! Somehow my shoulders are both more or less red, and I think that the large motifs worked out well in the front.

Of course, I blithely cut out the big piece, without checking to see if I had a sufficiently big bit left for the smaller piece (upper back). Um. No.

It has a CB seam, unlike the DKNY original.

At least I was able to more or less match the two halves through the large motif in the centre.

The CB seam in the skirt *almost* matches. I take no credit. The width of the dress is what it is. Actually, I don't much care for how the print falls on my backside, but I don't really have to look at it, so I don't much care...

And I am really happy with how the print falls in the front.

Here is one more tidbit of information about this pattern.

As you can see in the picture above, the original has this rather low V under the arm. It seemed unnecessary. So in my new version, I filled it in a bit. Below is my altered pattern piece. The front did not get altered at all. It's basically a smooth curved line from shoulder to waist. The effect of this extra little wedge of fabric is just that the back attaches higher up. It also pulls the shoulder down slightly to form more of a cap sleeve, which I like.

The other small change I made was to increase the depth of the cut-on facing for the cowl. I felt it was at risk of flipping out as originally planned (a depth of about 7.5cm). I added approximately double that again at CF, tapering to nothing where the facing attaches to the shoulder seam.

Simple.

Why I'm stuck

2011-07-13T20:38:00.000-04:00

The AC works again, so on the weekend I got back to Vogue 8718.

The peplum, which you can see here, is self-lined. This is because part of the underside of the peplum is visible at the lower edge, (though not in this picture, you can see it on the photo from the pattern envelope, and in the original Akris version, at this blog post).

Anyhow, I fretted over whether to interface or otherwise beef up the two layers of very thin wool that would make up the peplum. I finally decided to use a firm silk organza underlining, attached to the right side pieces.

I KNEW that the organza was slightly off-grain and rippling but I deluded myself all through sewing the seams, sewing the layers together, pressing, and attaching the peplum to the jacket.

I KNEW IT.

Was it going to stop rippling through sheer force of my will? Of course not.

Am I going to wear it like this? Of course not.

Luckily, I didn't trim or clip or do anything except turn and press.

Hello, seam ripper? Where are you, my friend?

Hot weather sewing

2011-07-03T20:03:00.000-04:00

I was making great progress with Vogue 8718 until I realized that our newly-installed central AC was not functioning as planned, and it is a hot weekend. Erg.

The jacket needed a lot of steam. So I switched gears. Today, I made Vogue 1250 - the DKNY cowl neck dress everyone has been raving about. There are already 17 reviews on PR and it has only been in the book for a month or so. I can see why it's popular. Three pattern pieces, and one of them is a little strip to finish the back neck. This is, as I proved today, a dress that you can make in an afternoon.

However, its design makes it a bit tricky for someone, like The Sewing Lawyer, whose top and bottom are not the same size. (FYI, the top is a pretty straight size 10 and the bottom is just a titch under size 16.)

This dress is snug at the hip, designed with about 3cm ease, just over 1". And the skirt is a single piece with only one seam at CB. Darts extend to hip level from the bodice side seam to provide shaping. To the right is the schematic drawing of the pattern pieces. I puzzled over how to add width at the hip without completely changing the design (i.e. by adding a side seam). My solution was to slice the pattern vertically through the hip dart, adding a 2cm wide strip. This worked very well, I'm happy to report. Except that I don't actually think I have as much as 3cm ease. Hmmm.

My fabric is a mystery content, striped slinky-like fabric I picked up at Vogue Fabrics in Chicago (I do love the way that sounds :D). I had purchased a generous amount for a top, which turned out to be the right amount for this dress, 1.2 metres. It only needs one length, at least in my size range.

To ensure the stripes would match, I cut one side of the front, single layer, pinned through the CF line, then folded to match the stripes before cutting the second side. At the point of cutting, I wasn't certain I would need all the 4cm I had added so had not yet cut out the hip dart. I did need it. All of it.

I sewed the dress using a tiny zig zag on my regular sewing machine (1.5 x 1.5 mm) which is narrow enough to press open, strong and stretchy.

So here's the finished dress. It looks pretty drab, but has some nice blues and cream colours in the stripes.

I was worried that the knit might stretch and the dress grow, but it seems firmer once made than I expected.

The cowl is low, but not indecent.

The back. Kind of plain.

Where's my spanx?

<<< A short time later ... >>>

2011-07-01T15:45:00.002-04:00

Starting again, The Sewing Lawyer cut a length of ribbon which is the full length of the upper sleeve seam of the lining, and another to match the lining's under sleeve seam. On the ribbon, she marked the points from the lining pattern where the jacket sleeve would attach. Then, she marked the points along the upper sleeve seam of the jacket where it will attach to the ribbon.

That's better! I still think the sleeve hem is too loose, but the folds seem to be falling properly now.

Here's what it looks like on the inside (just pinned) for your information. I will hand-tack the ribbon starting at the neck along the shoulder until the two layers need to separate for the top fold, then at each of the four attachment points, and finally at the hem. Under the arm, I'll attach at the under-arm seam, the four attachment points, and the hem.

Onward!

Dratted knock-off

2011-07-01T15:07:00.001-04:00

Last year, DIGS posted about these fantastic sleeves she had spotted on Style.com - part of the 2010 Akris resort collection. (They are in #2, #8 and #12 in the slide show.)

This peachy jacket shows the detail best.

Vogue, approximately one year later, came out with their new wardrobe pattern, 8718. Do you think it looks a little bit familiar?

Except that the Akris has a double collar, no waist seam and no front yoke, and the saddle shoulder seam is higher. And the V neck is lower and narrower on the original. And the sleeves are not quite as luxurious. But close enough.

So I got the sleeves sewn enough to pin them into the intended soft pleats/folds. I decided to tack the sleeve seams to a ribbon instead of tacking them directly to the lining fabric. It's a good thing I did, since monkeying with the pleats after the jacket was lined would have been a royal pain.

This is, however, not quite the effect I had in mind.

What went wrong? Well, first, I didn't anchor the top pleat as high as Vogue intended (due to my construction method, I missed that there should have been one higher fold).

I'll adjust that, but will also have to snug up the lower sleeve which is so loose it's flapping. Look at the Akris original. That sleeve is snug enough around the model's forearm that if she pushed it up it would stay. The sleeve is only slightly looser in the Vogue pattern photo.

Some slight deconstruction is in order. Grrr.

======================================

PS: I goofed. See the next post for more information.

Curves

2011-07-01T11:18:00.001-04:00

So sinuous, so ... difficult to sew. The Sewing Lawyer should have whittled the standard 5/8" (1.5cm) seam allowances down to 1cm but instead, she carefully pinned, held her breath, and sewed. (Why am I so enslaved to 5/8"?)

Afterwards, out came the trusted and well-used seam ripper. An inch here, 3 cm there, resewn. The last stubborn puckers eliminated (left back) through more ripping and hand basting before sewing again (3rd time). The upper yoke seam allowance trimmed down to about 5mm so it will turn nicely back on itself. This very thin fabric needs serious pressing because it has a tendency to pucker. Thank heavens for the gravity feed steam iron and suck and blow ironing board.

Holding her breath again to topstitch. Smooth and steady are the watchwords. Geometric perfection is not required. The Featherweight is perfect for this.

I thought heavy topstitching would be an interesting contrast with the very smooth fabric and the very curved seams. Hope you agree.

Time out to respond to commenters

2011-06-27T19:39:00.000-04:00

The Sewing Lawyer loves getting comments so keep them coming!
In particular thanks to those of you who expressed an opinion as to whether she ought to be seen in public in a tunic and tights. Even when you thought not. (I did ask!) I'm going with the majority and wearing them.
Commenting on my husband's prowess as a thrift shopper, Jilly Be wondered if he has a brother who's single and her age. Sorry...
There was a question about the black pumps I was wearing to model my two dresses. This made me laugh (and may have prompted my later observation that if you keep stuff long enough, it rolls back into style). Those shoes were purchased in 1979 or so. Maybe I should start wearing them for real again?
Thimbles - leather ones with a metal tip? I can't find any to match the mental image your description prompted in my mind. I bought some like these once - they really didn't work (I have really small fingers). There's a pattern on the Threads website for very snazzy ones. Clover seems to make two different ones (here and here). I would worry about them being loose.
Last but not least, a comment this week on an old post asked about what fusible interfacings I recommend. I'm really a bad person to ask because I stash interfacing, I buy almost all of it in Montreal or Toronto in stores where labels are non-existent or unreliable, and I have a habit of picking up new kinds whenever I see them. I usually have no idea what the brand name of the interfacing I just used might be. That said, I can recommend Pam Erny's interfacing which is high quality and dependable, if you don't have access to my kind of sources. Get her sample pack. Even if you have a stock of great interfacing, you can't just assume one kind will work for all applications. Test scraps (7-10cm or 3-4" square, or thereabouts) on your fashion fabric. Try more than one kind. See what they do to the hand and drape of your fabric. Is it too crisp or stiff, or too limp?

More patterns from my past

2011-06-25T15:09:00.000-04:00

Let's get something right out in the open - the Sewing Lawyer is not above shopping in thrift stores or accepting into her life items that were picked up at the curb. It's astonishing what people will give or throw away.

As has been mentioned in these virtual pages before, the Sewing Lawyer's parents seem to have tossed out many of her cherished sewing patterns from when she was a teenager. This happened so long ago that it ought to have been forgotten (those teenage years were in an era now known as "vintage"), and in reality of course I'm just having a bit of fun with the idea of wistfully yearning towards those semi-ancient styles. However, truthfully I would welcome many of those patterns back into my over-stuffed pattern drawers, for old times' sake.

So imagine The Sewing Lawyer's delight when her husband (who thrift-shops so effectively he is practically a pro at it) found a pattern-stuffed basket sitting beside the curb one day (a few years back). The first funny thing about this story is that he was originally attracted to the lidded woven basket, because he recognized it as the twin of a basket in the sewing room at home. The second is that the patterns it contained were, in many cases, equally the twins or close relatives of many in The Sewing Lawyer's own past, and they were her size! Cue up the theme from The Twilight Zone...

Here are a few examples.

Vogue 9301 dates from the mid-1970s, and I made the knee length culottes when I was in first or second year at the University of Toronto. That was either 1974 or 1975. They were scratchy wool, a herringbone, if memory serves, and supremely comfortable except for their itchiness. These days I'd choose to line such a fabric, but then I was all about getting it done, and outward appearances. I did not own a cable sweater with a cowl neck big enough to wear as a hood, but did coordinate them with turtleneck sweaters and high boots, as I recall.

I should make them again, I've often thought (BTW my copy is size 10).

Then there is this wrap skirt. I rarely purchased "See & Sew" patterns but I adored the photo on the front of this one. I made the skirt from a light bottom-weight warm beige poly-cotton and I took it with me on my solo trip to Europe in the summer of 1978. It was perfect - went with anything, did not wrinkle, was modest enough to wear in churches and dressy enough for anywhere a backpacking student-hostel staying girl was likely to go, and drip dried in a matter of minutes, it seemed. The back wrap is generous enough that wearing it in the wind was no problem, and the ties are definitely not skimpy. What a great skirt (sigh).

I should make this one again too. The pattern from the basket is still in its factory folds.

The third example is a simple dress gathered via elastic at the waist, which also hails from the mid-1970s. I made Vogue 9467 from a black and cream narrow-striped lightweight polyester fabric. I remember thinking it ought to look more elegant. I think my disappointment was a product of poor fabric selection and I do not think I have ever purchased such a difficult, staticky and generally flyaway fabric again. I didn't wear it a lot but I've always had the nagging feeling that it could be a fantastically wearable dress made from something more suitable.

Maybe I have such a thing in my stash.

Or maybe I ought to get back to my grey summer suit...

Tell me true...

2011-06-20T21:58:00.000-04:00

Does this look OK?

It's a shirt I made years ago, using a Burda WOF pattern from June, 1996. I was enjoying looking through the magazine as the shift in fashion means the styles are not looking too outlandish. If you keep something long enough, it becomes fashionable again.

Anyhow, the shirt has deep side seam slits and I've always really liked it but at the tunic length it seems hard to wear it with lots of things. So I made a pair of leggings.

Having worn tunics and leggings first time around, I'm wary of going out in public in these.

It's a comfortable and cool outfit, however.

From a sewing point of view, you can readily see the mistake I made when cutting - I very narrowly escaped the BULLS EYE effect. I don't like it when there is an obvious doubling of a noticeable print element on either side of the CF, always off centre for some reason. If I was doing this again, I'd probably cut the fronts single layer to avoid this. The back worked out better.

The text probably says something inane...

In lieu of actual sewing results ...

2011-06-19T15:19:00.001-04:00

The Sewing Lawyer will write instead about sewing process.

I have learned over the years to take my time in the preparation of my projects. Before actually starting to sew Vogue 8718 and its coordinating skirt, I had to:

Choose the fabric, including all the inner layers (lining, underlining, and interfacing). I eventually decided to underling with white silk organza, even though I have some grey in stash, because the grey is a little too stiff and substantial for the tropical weight wool.
Prep the fabric. This included steam shrinking/pressing the wool with my super-duper gravity feed iron, while checking and marking with safety pins all the little flaws. I also had to iron the Bemberg lining and the silk organza, which had been sitting in a bin folded up for quite some time.
Cut all layers. In this process I had to pay attention to the many jacket pieces which had to be cut x 4 (the peplum and front edge pieces are self-lined), which needed to be cut x 2 in the wool and x 2 in lining, and which had to be cut as well from interfacing. I decided to underline all the body pieces that were not being interfaced with my chosen fusible, and to cut the sleeve underlining on the bias to avoid stiffness in the draped/pleated sleeves. Other decisions (like whether to use the organza selvedge to stay the front edges or a fusible tape, and whether to use the slightly stiffer grey organza to underline the peplum as well) will be made as I go.
Go and buy grey thread. I also bought a spool of matching topstitching thread because I think I want to topstitch at least some seams and/or edges, although I haven't quite decided

Right now, I am at the stage of having pinned the organza underlining to the wool. True confession time: I am not going to hand-baste the organza to the wool along the seam line (!!) - I am going to machine-baste. So far I am still of the view that life is too short for hand-basting and thread-tracing and the like. I've had entirely acceptable results before without having resorted to these somewhat laborious techniques and I'm not convinced that the effort is worth the possibly-more-beautiful results. Feel free to try to convince me otherwise...

Despite my unwillingness to go to the trouble of thread-tracing, I have (as you may be able to tell from some previous projects) come around to the view that an aversion to hand-sewing is not consistent with my objective of producing well-sewn and properly-finished clothing. I took an on-line class from Susan Khalje last year through PatternReview. It was just in time for to give me what I needed to know for making my not-necessarily-black-not-necessarily-a-dress cocktail outfit for last year's PR Weekend in Montreal.

Two things of which I am now completely convinced re hand-sewing:

Waxing the thread makes it a far more enjoyable process. Say goodbye to knots and tangles. Waxed thread pulls smoothly through the fabric and is less likely to break or tie itself in knots while you are trying to work with it.
Using better quality needles will also make hand-sewing a better experience.

And there is one thing I am not completely convinced of yet, but am working on:

Using a thimble may make one a better hand-sewer.

Here's how to wax thread. Cut some lengths of your chosen colour, about 40-50cm (15"-18") long. Hold them firmly at one end, and pull them through a block of beeswax. You can see I'm holding the thread against the wax block, and pulling down slightly as I pull the threads through. Repeat a few times, to ensure that there is a more or less even amount of wax on all the threads for their entire length.

Then put the thread between two sheets of paper towel. Go over the paper towel with a dry iron. You'll see the shape of the threads on the outer sheet as the wax melts into the thread and onto the paper towel.

Simple. The result is a slightly stiff, strengthened and smooth length of thread. It's easier to thread your needles with waxed thread, and generally easier to use.

I splurged on some Japanese hand-sewing needles which I purchased from Susan Khalje. They are pretty expensive if you measure by the pound but I figure one package will last years if not my lifetime. These needles are very fine but strong, with a tiny hole (good for hand-eye coordination) and they feel very luxurious somehow.

The whole thimble thing still feels very awkward but I am going to persevere until I get the hang of it and it seems natural. I was doing some hand-sewing recently without a thimble and managed to practically shred my fingers because the fine ends of the Japanese needles are quite pointy! I do not think I could tolerate the standard closed-end thimble but in my sizeable thimble stash there was one little tailor's thimble with an open end which I like a lot better.

Googling "tailor's thimble" reveals that they are available for sale in different sizes, and how to use one. Based on the pictures on the English Cut, I clearly need to work on my technique.

Cutting in tandem

2011-06-12T20:35:00.003-04:00

Yes indeed, that grey Vogue 8718 jacket is cut out, along with a matching basic princess seam slightly-pegged pencil skirt which is another one of The Sewing Lawyer's TNT patterns created with Patternmaster Boutique. It has already been the foundation of so many skirts (like the high-waisted black pencil skirt and its non-identical twin, but there are others from pre-blogging days). It's such a workhorse of a pattern.

So many decisions need to be made when cutting. One problem was that my fabric had flaws - little irregularities in the otherwise smooth slightly varied grey surface - which I had to cut around. I located them all with safety pins so it is easy to tell where they are. The pins make little bumps in the otherwise very smooth surface on my cutting table.

There are about a million little pieces in Vogue 8718, plus two over-sized ones. Just have a look at this cutting diagram ...

On the bright side, this makes it really easy to avoid having the flaws show up anywhere important.

Many of the jacket pieces are cut x4, including the pieces at the front edge, and all the peplum pieces. I'll hide a few of the little flaws in the peplum lining. It'll be our little secret.

I made a muslin of size 10, which fit me almost perfectly. I cut almost all of the muslin pieces out of the taken-apart muslin for a dress: Simplicity 2648 (the sleeveless view). This illustrates that (apart from the sleeves) Vogue 8718 indeed takes very little fabric!

Speaking of the sleeves, have a look at the pattern for the back sleeve. The corresponding lining piece is on top for comparison. The texture of the sleeve is created by tacking the two layers together at marked spots.

Another decision is which interfacing to use. The Sewing Lawyer has a big fusible stash, picked up a few metres here and there at different stores when she finds a new type to try. This is good and bad. Good because of the variety; bad because she never knows exactly what type of interfacing she used when people ask. "It's that slightly-lofty tiny-square interfacing that's good for lightweight fabric" or "It's that fuzzy non-woven with a shiny stripe in the length" doesn't convey as much useful information as, say, "It's Pam Erny's Pro-Weft in black". (BTW I have ordered from Pam - very high quality and good prices.)

I generally audition interfacing by fusing medium sized pieces to scraps to get a sense of how the hand and drape of the fashion fabric will be affected. I often use more than one type in a jacket. In this jacket, I think I'll interface the shoulder area of the sleeves along with the fronts and the collar as Vogue instructs.

I've decided on the lining - a silvery-putty coloured Bemberg from stash. However, still to determine is whether I will underline the jacket with silk organza. I think it could help keep the sleeves from even thinking about collapsing.

So I cut out both patterns - Vogue 8718 and Simplicity 2648 - today. The dress is one of the "Perfect Fit" patterns from Simplicity. It boasts different cup sizes as well as "slim", "average" and "curvy" fit. I am one of the lucky souls who wears a B cup so not having to do a FBA is my normal (don't hate me). However, I was curious about the difference between the slim, average and curvy fit, because one of my standard alterations is to grade out two sizes (usually) at the hip. It turns out that "curvy" is all about one's derrière, since only the back skirt pieces vary. (If you also have a curvy lower front, there are princess seams to modify.) The curvy back gives a finished hip measurement which is bigger than the average fit which in turn is bigger than the slim fit. The pattern envelope says there is a .5" difference between the different pieces for the same size. Also, the curvy back has 2 darts instead of one. I cut the curvy back which is not bad once I lengthened the darts.

I haven't figured out yet if the fabric for my dress will look any good with the grey jacket-to-be. It's a cotton & lycra from Fabricland, purchased a few years ago. What do you think?

Detour

2011-06-11T15:13:00.002-04:00

What words ended that last post? Something about Vogue 8718? Oh yeah... Well I ~~lied~~ changed my mind. Only for a minute, you understand. It was just a detour. I'm still heading there. Um. Very soon. Like maybe later today.

In the meantime, I am not sure exactly why, I started auditioning blouse fabrics with the extremely lightweight wool I have earmarked for Vogue 8718. It's grey.

A grey summer suit?

Yes, it's grey.

But it's from stash.

I am NOT shopping for yet more fabric.

For this. (I made an exception for the buy-one-get-two-free Bemberg lining sale at Fabricland today ... and the black and light khaki coloured pantweight fabric for capris and/or summer-weight jeans on the same sale.)

And it's extremely lightweight.

And I don't want to use linen because I'm worried about those crazy sleeves wrinkling and not being able to do a darned thing about it.

It will be good in the warm parts of spring and fall too.

It's a good neutral.

It will go with lots of things.

So there. I'm making a grey summer suit!

Soon.

In the meantime, I was auditioning blouse fabric and I came across this little piece of rayon crepe that I picked up for next to nothing a few years back at the Fabric Flea Market. The print has a definite Japanese influence and the repeat is huge. I loved the print with the grey suiting. But I only had a little bit - not even the full width and less than 1 metre. Hmmmm what could I get out of this tiny scrap?

Enter this pattern from the November, 2007 edition of Burda World of Fashion.

So simple.

Takes SO little fabric.

I was lucky too, because I could cut so as to spread the entire crazy motif pleasingly across the front. The back is a little less pleasing. Or maybe just more ordinary looking.

As you can see from the line drawing, the shaping is provided by tucks that release at top and bottom in the front. The back has 2 vertical darts that release at the bottom in a similar way. It's not exactly a ruffle. It should function as a subtle echo of the not-exactly-ruffled peplum of the Vogue 8718 jacket.

If you should have this edition of WOF and think of making this, I warn you that the neckline is extremely wide/deep. I added approximately 2.5cm on all neckline edges and it isn't exactly closed-in even now.

Also, that back zipper is necessary if you are not using a knit for this top.

Off I go to contemplate Vogue 8718. Really.

Unruffled

2011-06-05T13:24:00.001-04:00

The Sewing Lawyer is not really sure what drew her to the ruffled blouse in the April 2010 edition of Burda Magazine in the first place. Probably it was not the ruffles. Nor could it possibly be the side zipper opening, or the deeply plunging front neck. All of these features have been eliminated or significantly altered in the Sewing Lawyer's version. She did give the ruffle a try, despite knowing that it would not be satisfactory. Forty or so years of sewing experience does sometimes enable one to predict when some feature of a garment will not be satisfactory. The Sewing Lawyer fatalistically reacquainted herself with her trusty seam ripper.

First, she tried cutting the ruffles down, dramatically. Remember the attack of the ruffles, take 1? Well, take 2, while marginally better, was not enough of an improvement. Off they came ... again.

In the end, the Sewing Lawyer's version of the (formerly) ruffled blouse is both less and more. It's ruffle-less, zipper-less, and less plunging. It's more buttoned up, more in keeping with the usual style around here, and will be worn more too. It's all good!

Here's a view of the back.

I'm happy with the print matching. There is a yoke seam at the upper back...

I'm also happy with the fact I was able to re-use the exquisite button loops and self-covered buttons from the plug-ugly skirt that this top was refashioned from. (I don't think I gave details earlier. This project started life as a thrifted floor-length skirt made from Thai silk. A button-up dirndl, floor length, is not a great thing. However, a dirndl will yield quite a lot of usable yardage, it had these beautiful tiny loops and self-covered buttons, the silk has a great hand, and I loved the quirky print and the colours. Finding that the skirt was slightly musty, after taking it apart I threw the pieces into the washing machine. It came out perfectly.)

I turned the original cut-on-the-fold front into a button-up by virtue of adding a seam allowance at CF instead. Instead of an overlapping front, I added a little shield to sit behind the loops. It is barely visible, as you can see to the right, which means it was necessary.

Some additional details. First, the armhole edges are finished with a very narrow self-fabric bias strip. I didn't initially read the magazine instructions (as usual) and thought the strip would make a little facing. When I went to apply it I realized it was too narrow. Then I read the instructions which, as usual, are slightly incomprehensible. If I correctly understand them, Burda wanted me to trim off the seam allowances at the armscye and encase them in a double-folded strip which I would be sewing in one pass. Yeah right. Instead, I cut off the seam allowances, and sewed the unfolded bias strip the desired distance from the raw edge, right sides together. I then folded that over and, on the wrong side, pressed the raw edge up into the fold. Finally, I stitched in the ditch from the right side, catching the wider folded edge underneath. You can see both inside and outside in the picture to the left.

Second, like several other bloggers of late, I clean-finished the facings using fusible interfacing. I do not know who to credit with this technique. It's fantastic - both easy and producing an obviously superior result. There is a tutorial over at Sigrid's site (from Lori V's blog, Girls in the Garden) but, thinking a few more details would help, I took some pictures while this was in progress.

First, cut your fusible as usual using the facing pattern piece. Lay the unfused interfacing on the facing, right sides together (that means with the glue side NOT against your fashion fabric). Sew the 2 together along the edge(s) of the facing which will not be sewn to the garment edge.

I think my seam was about .25" which ended up being about right, because this made the fusing a little bit easier than it might have been, I think.

So here is the beginning of the fusing process, in which I use the seam allowance to help me open the seam completely and cleanly.

I started the fusing by opening the seamed unit, and fusing in the seam allowance only while gently holding the fusible interfacing taut and away from the facing. In the photo to the right, the seam allowance is fused to the right, unfused at the left side. Obviously you have to do this carefully and just with the tip of the iron, to avoid sticking your interfacing to the ironing board cover.

Then carefully fold the interfacing over so the seam is barely on the fused side and the interfacing won't show from the right side. Fuse, starting from the seamed edge.

This fusing technique is trickier than the usual where you can take care of any misplacements by trimming away the fusible edges. But it's worth it. You end up with a perfectly finished edge.

My next project? I'm planning to take Vogue 8718 out of its envelop and contemplate its mysteries.

Who am I kidding?

2011-05-29T13:41:00.002-04:00

I hate the ruffles. They're coming off. Now.

Slow going

2011-05-29T12:57:00.000-04:00

So I'm working on a blouse. I gave you a hint here. It's the recycled skirt, which I am aiming to turn into something like this, a ruffled blouse from the April, 2010 issue of Burda Magazine.

Except that it will only have a single ruffle and it will have a button & loop centre front closing instead of a side zipper.

The fabric is blouse-weight Thai silk - not the floaty chiffon that Burda used for their version. So the ruffle is a little stiffer. I could leave it off. However, then I'd have less camouflage for this.

For what? I hear you ask. Well, for this:

They are not doing anything lewd, but there they are.

It's slow going because I'm not quite sure about them. Or the ruffle.

Two dresses

2011-05-16T22:21:00.000-04:00

Just like I said, I made two dresses - in tandem, from the same pattern, McCalls 5974. Luckily, I could use navy blue thread for both. If I had really tried I could probably have finished them in a day. I took my time and finished them on a rainy weekend, between household chores.

Without further ado, here's version 1 (view B, but with 3/4 length sleeves). This is my Chicago rayon-lycra jersey. It's very soft.

The front has an inset midriff band, the bottom edge of which is slightly above the waist. The bodice and skirt are each pleated into the band. There isn't too much bulk.

The back, however, is totally plain. I think I would like the back view better with the midriff band. If I was going to make this again (I probably won't) I'd consider modifying the back. Coffin clothes. Harumph.

I can't complain about the fit. I cut a straight size 10. Palmer & Pletsch wrote all kinds of detailed instructions for fitting this pattern but really? It's a knit dress. Knits are pretty forgiving. I liked the side seam insurance they built into the pattern, however - 1" side seam allowances. I dutifully basted and tried it on - then sewed the seams permanently exactly as drafted.

BTW I used my sewing machine to do the construction. I like using a tiny (1.5mm x 1.5mm) zig zag stitch. The seams press open nice and flat, and there is a lot of built in stretch. I used my cover hem stitch on my serger to finish the neck, using that great Jalie no-elastic self-fabric binding technique. Here's a close up view of the scoop neck. It adds just the right amount of stability to the neckline. I cut the binding 85% of the length of the neck edge; with this soft fabric I could have cinched it in some more, but it's ok as is.

And here is View C which I prefer. The waist ties give it more interest, and cover up the plain back.

The front midriff band is completely hidden by the ties, which are constructed in a strange way. Here I am before wrapping... Those ties are long enough to go around twice.

The tie is a long tapered piece sewn in the side seams single-layer, but then folded over on itself to create a finished tie.

I haven't decided which one to wear first, but I'll have to wait. It's way too cold this week for little knit dresses!

Throwing caution to the wind?

2011-05-14T11:54:00.000-04:00

When I was in Chicago, I was lucky enough to spend time with the fabulous Ann of Gorgeous Things and Gorgeous Fabric and, of course, see her wearing several of her gorgeous creations, including this dress. The pattern, McCalls 5974, was the absolute best pattern of 2010 (according to the collected wisdom of the reviewers at the PatternReview site). Well, I didn't own it. In fact, for some reason McCalls is probably the brand of (readily-available) pattern I own the fewest of. And I have a quite extensive pattern collection.

However, I do have a healthy respect for the collective wisdom of the reviewers at PatternReview, and for Palmer & Pletsch, but most of all for Ann, so I decided to go out on a hopefully-pretty-solid limb and buy it. It certainly didn't hurt that McCalls patterns were on sale for $0.99 at Joanne's when I made a hurried tourist pilgrimage to one of the Chicago outlets of that venerable chain while en route to the airport to fly home. In fact I do believe that all 3 of the sewers who were in the car and took the detour to Joanne's also bought it on the strength of Ann's recommendation.

I also bought some rayon/lycra jersey while in Chicago. (Surprise!) I had mentally set it aside for the faux wrap version that Ann was wearing, but sadly there is not enough since those ties are fabric hogs! So I cut out the other version, which is equally highly endorsed not only by Ann but also by the PR folks.

But I really wanted that faux wrap version in my closet too, so I went digging in stash, where I found a sufficient length of another jersey print, purchased at last year's Montreal PR Weekend. (By cosmic coincidence, this year's event is taking place right now, in Chicago and the participants were at the site of my purchase, although they won't have found any more of this print since we bought it all in April.)

So I'm cutting out the wrap version too.

Notice I haven't said anything about sewing up version 1 in my Chicago jersey.

Yes. I am cutting two garments out at once from an untested pattern from a brand I barely have any familiarity with. What a risk taker I am! What could go wrong???

I've got a family event coming up next weekend in Montreal for which it will be quite nice to have a new dress. Stay tuned...

Cloning a new wallet

2011-05-04T22:18:00.001-04:00

The Sewing Lawyer has been using the same wallet, on and off, since 1984. That's a lot of years for a little leather object. I know I bought it in 1984, because I remember doing so very shortly after my arrival in Cambridge, UK, where I spent a glorious year as a graduate student. I think it was very inexpensive - £5 sticks in my mind.

I thought it was pretty nice when I bought it, but I probably didn't come to appreciate how great a thing it is until I had used it for a while. It's a really simple but effective design and it's extraordinarily well made. If I had known that the leather of that wallet would stay so glossy and beautiful through moderately intensive use for more than a quarter century (ULP!), I probably would have sprung for a few of them even on my student budget. And now, if it was only a question of wear to the leather, I wouldn't consider abandoning my old friend. Unfortunately, however, the coil zipper of the coin compartment, at back, is about to give out.

Really, the thing only has two flaws (aside from the fact that the zipper only lasted for a couple million openings and closings).

First, it's a small black object that tends to lurk in the deep recesses of a black-lined handbag. The Sewing Lawyer was a graduate student in 1984. Those of you who are her contemporaries will find that enough has been said. Those of you who are younger ... well, let me just say that the day will come when you too will curse the designer who chose black fabric for the lining of your handbag.

The second flaw is probably the reason that the zipper won't be lasting into its fourth decade. The coin compartment opening doesn't open up very much, really. Over time, a lot of stress has been put on the coils at the closed end where the pull is repeatedly forced (a couple million times so far) as far open as it will go, when the Sewing Lawyer's not-really very big fingers probe the innards of the wallet to find the correct change.

So thoughts turned to producing a comparable object, but without the two flaws, to replace the original. The first problem was to get the right kind of leather. When I visited Perfect Leather in Toronto last fall, I showed the knowledgeable lady at the desk my wallet and asked her what kind of leather it was made from. Without missing a beat, she said "Goat .... what colour do you want?" There was quite an array. I came away with a couple of square feet of orange goat leather. I used some of it to make a case for my reading glasses (not all of those were presents), which is extremely easy to find in my handbag.

I approached the design and manufacture of the orange clone as an experiment, on the "just do it" approach to sewing. So it's definitely not perfect. I may make a second one that will look and perform slightly better, but for now, I'll happily use my new wallet.

This pic reveals two problems. First, the edges were too thick for my machine so I abandoned my original complete clone plan and didn't do the double row of topstiching on the original (yes, the original was sewn right sides together and turned, just as my clone is). I had to rip out the stitches around the flap, leaving unsightly holes (sigh). I would have to figure out how to remove a lot more bulk from the edges if I am going to replicate the original in this respect.

Second, I forgot to cut the outer layer of the leather flap longer than the under layer to allow for turn of the "cloth", so the seam tends to flip up in a not-great-looking way. This would be easy to remedy. Next time. And I think the flap is a slightly less attractive shape than the original, even though I made the pattern by tracing around it. This would also be an easy fix. Next time.

Anyhow, but for these problems which I might be able to remedy, the construction of this little project was super simple. It has two layers - the inner layer with two pockets and the outer layer with the zipper opening.

Construct each layer. Above you can see my functional but not beautiful gusset to remedy the second flaw. I found a metal zipper which should be stronger. To the left, proof that I realized I needed to build in turn of "cloth" room in the pockets, even though I stupidly forgot to do the same for the flap.

Apply the snap. Seriously, this was the part that took the longest, since it has been many years since I've used any of these four-part snap assemblies of which I seemingly still have hundreds in my stash. (Cleverly, the snap is attached in such a way that it absolutely does not matter if the usually-visible part matches the leather - my snap is green. Can you tell?)

Sew the layers together around the edges, right sides together. Trim seam allowances. Turn it right side out through the zipper opening.

Done (except for my abortive attempt at topstitching).

The gusset works rather well.

Unseasonable

2011-05-01T14:55:00.004-04:00

It happened again.

Lined wool pants just in time for ... spring. Doh! Oh well, maybe we will have some more unseasonable cool weather before summer hits. Otherwise, these will wait quietly for cooler weather, and in October or so, the Sewing Lawyer will be glad to have them.

These are the same fabric as the last project: a sheath dress. I should finish a top to wear with them before turning to summer sewing.

(I believe the legs are both the same length despite the evidence in the photo of the back. I hemmed them quite long, so I can wear them with heels.)

These pants are at least the fourth pair in my closet made from Vogue 7881, a Claire Shaeffer pattern.

They are plain, comfortable, and versatile. What's not to like?

And they look pretty good with my leather jacket.

Strangely, since hand-sewing is not my favorite thing, all four pairs are from the "couture techniques" side of the instructions (which are lengthy and, like all the Claire Shaeffer patterns, very informative and helpful). Really, the only special features of the "couture" version are that (1) the wool fabric is eased into the waistband instead of darted and (2) the zipper is sewn in by hand (yes really) and (3) the waistband is constructed mostly by hand.

The pattern does not call for lining but I added a half-length underlining of Bemberg. I cut it on the cross grain and use the selvedge for the lower edge of the underlining. No bulk or show-through. I don't fuss too much about how long the half-lining should be. I just place the pattern pieces on the cross grain to get maximum length and so they have the same leg length. It generally turns out that the lower edge hits around my knee.

Here is what it looks like at the fly.

Notice there is a tiny dart in the underlining but the outer fabric is eased only. I did these steps separately before basting the underlining to the pants pieces, after which I treated each piece as a single layer.

I particularly like the hand-finished waistband. You know those blumpy corners and wavery, not-square ends that result from sewing a waistband right-sides-together, and then turning it right side out? There's none of that. The couture technique that Claire Shaeffer teaches produces sharp corners, right angles, and uniform width. And it's thin, flexible, and looks great inside and out.

(Later, I added a couple of pant hook and bar closures, exactly like these.)

First, interface the waistband to the seam lines only. The pattern includes separate pieces for the waistband interfacing but you can easily remove the SAs on any waistband pattern pieces. (NB: To use this technique you do need a seam at the upper edge of the waistband so would have to further adapt a pattern which has a straight grain waistband with a folded upper edge.) I used two layers of fusible interfacing to ensure stability, since this is a curved piece with the CB area on the bias. I cut one with the straight grain at the CF and the other with the straight grain at the CB. As a result, the whole thing is totally stable and stretch-proof.

Press the upper SA of the waistband to the inside, along the line of the top edge of the interfacing. Then attach the waistband to the pants by machine. Press so that all SAs at the waist seam are facing into the waistband. To preserve the curve of the pants at the hip I've pressed this seam using my pressing ham.

The 7881 waistband piece is extra long with about 6.5cm (2.5") extending beyond the finished end of the waistband. This extension is not interfaced. Press the lower SA up on this piece as well. Notice that the extension is very slightly tapered so that it is not as wide as the waistband itself.

Fold this extension along the leading edge of the interfacing. See the nice square corners? See how the slightly narrower width ensures that it will not peek out above or below the waistband itself?

Hand stitch the extension down invisibly along the 3 edges to secure it to the waistband. This is the other end, which on this pattern has a significant overlap.

The waistband facing is cut from lining fabric. This keeps the waistband nice and thin. Again, 7881 has separate facing pieces. To adapt this technique for another pattern, the only point to note is that the facing pieces need to be shorter than the waistband, because of the long folded-back extensions.

After sewing the CB seam, press the upper edge seam allowance down on the facing. Then pin this edge to the folded-down upper edge of the waistband, keeping the facing edge a smidge lower than the upper folded edge so it will be invisible from the outside.

Fold under the leading edge SAs, ensuring the edge of the waistband extension is well covered. Then fold and pin the lower edge along the seam line, ensuring the facing lies nice and flat.

Hand sew the facing to the waistband, using a tiny fell stitch.

Done.

Kids coats

2011-04-24T10:46:00.000-04:00

Making garments for little kids is very liberating. You can test out new skills and techniques and the recipient, if little enough, appreciates the end result (or at least can't refuse to wear it) and always looks cute.

This is a pattern I bought when my son (now almost 21) was an infant. I made many little jackets for him until he grew out of it.

Here's one I made when he was 2 years old. I realized that on little kids' clothes, I could combine colours that really popped - here, purple and green. I'm not a big embellisher but I had fun making the dragon appliqué for the back of his jacket.

The dragon design was lifted from a strange little stuffed object, which you can see at right. I have no idea what its origins might be. I think it was mainly red on the other side.

I traced the shape from the original and cut it from some sturdy green fabric. I must have interfaced before applying the eye and machine stitched decorative zig-zag pattern since there is no puckering at all. The teeth and nails were little folded pieces of white fabric, and the tufts were made from some white yarn. The eye is a black button.

I balanced the back's fanciness by making up a star and moon for the front pockets.

The coat itself is super simple. For the shell, I used an outerwear fabric called Commander (according to the MacPhee Workshop site, it's a 75-25 poly-cotton blend). To line, I used a 200 weight polar fleece. With a pair of bib-front overall snow pants (from a Kwik-Sew pattern, also much-used) in the same fabric, the suit kept my two-year-old warm and dry all winter.

The following winter, my toddler had turned into a little boy who was pretty interested in fire trucks. He told me he wanted a snow suit that looked like the uniforms then in use by Ottawa firefighters. I found the guys on the trucks quite willing (after they had verified the call to our street was a false alarm) to talk about the features of their suits so was able to take notes and sketch the details, including the distinctive pattern for the retro-reflective tape. It's different for the front and back which is useful in a dark and smoky environment. The hardest part was locating yellow retro-reflective tape but somehow I did it.

Again, the outer shell was some sort of cotton-poly water resistant stuff. This coat was insulated with Thinsulate. The collar is black corduroy, apparently traditional. The matching snow pants have red elastic shoulder straps, repurposed from a pair of men's braces.

The year after that, dinosaurs were the all-consuming passion. You've already seen his Hallowe'en costume. Well, his winter jacket had dinos on it too, but they were pretty subtle... (click to enlarge).

This coat also incorporated retro-reflective features - piping at the collar, shoulder and forearm. I probably put some in the back too. It's a really great safety feature during our long dark winters.

If you have a little one, experiment and enjoy!

The exception that proves the pressing rule

2011-04-17T10:27:00.001-04:00

Mary left a comment on my last post asking why I don't press the seam (attaching the garment piece to facing or lining) before understitching. Isn't this inconsistent with the usual rule that you must press every seam before going on to the next step?

Great question! Like Ann (Gorgeous Things aka The Pressinatrix) I am a firm believer in pressing. During construction. Pressing while you go makes a HUGE difference to the look of the finished project. Not pressing will 100% guarantee that your finished garment will look home made in the worst way. This is why I've invested in a great iron, a ridiculously expensive ironing board, and a lot of pressing equipment.

So yes, Mary, always press a seam before doing anything else to that seam.

Except ... experience tells me that you get a better result if you do not press before understitching, and that in this specific situation, pressing is a waste of time. They say an exception proves the rule...

Why? Well, bear with me as I return to the goal of understitching, which is to exactly preserve the shape of the sewn seam by allowing you to easily fold the two pieces along their curved edge. The finished edge will ideally be perfectly curved with no rippling, unevenness or other distortion, and it will lie perfectly flat with no bulk.

The problem is that the cut edge inside a sewn oval (such as the neck or arm opening) is always smaller than the seam line, as illustrated. This means the seam allowances have to be stretched (distorted) to be folded back, and will always want to unfold themselves. They will take the thinner (lining) or shorter (facing) edge with them.

Pressing this edge without understitching just doesn't produce as good a result. Understitching is more aggressive with the pesky seam allowances than pressing. It sews them down flat in their stretched position, rather than just folding them back. Sewing the seam allowances to the lining or facing also firms up the curved edge.

OK, so why not press first and then understitch? Well, because you just don't need to. It's an inferior way to achieve your ultimate goal. And pressing first does not help you understitch. In fact, it tends to make the job a little bit more complicated. It's hard to press this type of opening without building in some distortion. This can be from stretching the fabric as you try to open the curved seam exactly, but more typically in my experience you will find that you have pressed in a fold which is not precisely along the stitching line. If you are going to understitch (always!) you end up having to correct this fold as you understitch.

So pressing (but ONLY in this one situation) is (1) unnecessary as well as (2) difficult and (3) counterproductive.

Clear as mud?

More about the sheath dress

2011-04-16T18:32:00.001-04:00

Thanks to those of you who signed up to follow my blog (now at ~~209~~ 210, woo hoo!), and for all the very nice comments on my last post!! Getting your comments and feedback is the nicest part of blogging so please keep them coming!

I was going to write a tutorial for how I finish a facing around a zipper. However, there are several excellent tutorials already illustrating this technique on Sigrid's sewing tutorial site (which is a superb resource, if you don't already know it), so I decided not to reinvent the wheel.

In particular, I recommend Sherry's clearly-illustrated tutorial. This technique can also be used to finish the top of any zipper opening. Kathleen Fasanella has published a great set of instructions for finishing a lapped zipper and centred zipper in the same basic way. Another variant is the faced fly front zipper - I shamelessly recommend my own tutorial for that, which is also linked at Sigrid's site.

To the left, you can see how neat and clean the inside is, as a result of this easy technique.

The zipper looks as clean from the outside. This photo also shows the fabric from my sheath better. At least on my monitor, the colours are accurate. The fabric is slightly tweedy. It's got the extremely dark coffee colour of my leather jacket embedded in it along with a tan and a rich reddish brown. The fabric is a suiting weight wool, with a tiny bit of lycra (not useful in this sheath, since I underlined it with silk organza).

Here's another detail from my dress. Understitching at the neck and arm hole edges ensures that the lining never shows. (Topstitching does the same thing, but understitching is invisible from the public side of the garment.) If not understitched, the inner layer, especially if made from a light-weight fabric as here, would roll to the outside. Once understitched, the seam attaching the lining to the dress fabric naturally rolls instead to the inside, as you can see at left. Understitching is also great for a faced edge, since facings also tend to roll to the outside.

Understitching securely attaches the enclosed seam allowances to the inside layer. To understitch a curved edge like the neck or arm opening of my dress, first trim and grade the seam allowances. I'm not a fan of clipping because little corners may form where the clips release the tension. Trimming results in a smooth curve. If you trim aggressively (leaving about .7cm or .25", or even less) the seam allowance will easily stretch enough so that the edge won't pucker or refuse to press flat. If you are understitching, there is no reason to worry about the small seam allowances compromising the strength of the seam.

The secret of understitching is to keep the lining or facing as flat as possible on the bed of the machine, forcing the seam allowances underneath to stretch into the curve. Don't sew straight ahead. Instead, rotate the piece as you sew around the curve, keeping the stitches close to the seam (and checking to ensure that the seam allowances lie under the inside layer so they will be caught in your stitching). In the photo at right, as I sew I am spreading the lining flat with my left hand, and guiding it through the needle by rotating the garment clockwise. I do not press the seam at all before understitching. While sewing I keep spreading the lining away from the garment fabric to ensure the lining isn't folding over on itself. The goal is to ensure there is no distortion in the curve.

I used the triple stitch zig-zag on my latest sheath dress. This stitch really ensures that the trimmed seam allowances are well-attached to the lining. Of course it's a pain in the neck if you have to pull it out (ask me how I know!!). You can also understitch with a straight stitch, ordinary zig zag, or by hand if you are so inclined (as I apparently was when making my 2nd last sheath, shown to left).

If you don't already use this technique in your sewing, I highly recommend it!

Another sheath dress

2011-04-15T22:06:00.001-04:00

The Sewing Lawyer cannot have too many sheath dresses, since she has a pattern that fits. For years, a simple dress with no waist seam that fit everywhere was an elusive goal, given a hip measurement that is about 2 sizes bigger than the waist or bust. PatternMaster Boutique to the rescue.

PMB produces a pattern that is a decent but not excellent fit. It needs tweaking in the pattern editor (CAD) component of the program. My goal for the program is to produce basic blocks, like this dress and my princess seamed skirt, that I can make over and over as is, or adjust for different styles.

For this sheath, I started with a princess seamed dress. This is a simple shape that as originally drafted, had both a shoulder princess seam and a second seam that corresponds to the second waist dart in front and back.

To the right are the finished pattern pieces. One of the standard changes I make is to take a little wedge at the CB waist, since PMB drafts with a dead straight CB seam. I'm not straight there, are you? As you can see, I converted the second princess seam back to a fisheye dart in the front. In the back, it's a long dart that ends in the armscye. The hem is also slightly pegged so it looks less blocky.

So this is at least the third sheath dress I've made from the pattern. You last saw it here.

Here are the pictures of my most recent iteration of this dress. So comfortable! It has about 2" or so of ease at the hip.

I think it looks pretty good with my leather jacket.

I wore this to the Haute Couture Club of Chicago luncheon and fashion show last Sunday. But I had not correctly anticipated the weather. It was 85 degrees F (29.5 C)!

Just one more?

2011-04-14T22:33:00.000-04:00

I know those of you waiting for more sewing news, or perhaps pictures of my fabric purchased in Chicago, will just be annoyed by this but I can't help myself.

Look to the right of your screen. How many followers do you see?

I see 199.

Just one more will make 200, a nice round number don't you think?

I promise to post something more interesting soon!!

Chicago! (the weekend, not the movie)

2011-04-11T21:30:00.000-04:00

The weekend has already been written about. We descended upon Chicago from far and wide - Nebraska, New Mexico, Boston & Ottawa. I was curious to meet Liana, Ann, Nancy & Patti in real life after corresponding on e-mail and reading blogs and pattern reviews. I had the best time! Good food, good company, good weather, and great sewing-related activities. Who could ask for more?

One highlight of the weekend was a walking tour in downtown, guided by Patti's friend Harry, a docent with the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The day turned out gloriously sunny but still cool in the shade. Perfect for a couple of hours on foot.

The warm air and cold water produced an ethereal mist, up high.

Throughout downtown, planters featured painted branches - too early for flowers, though we saw some of those too.

This building will look familiar to anyone from Toronto

- the Federal Center designed by Mies van der Rohe.

And the Flamingo by Calder.

In the background, the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). It's still the tallest building in Chicago.

Our group studies a Chagall mosaic.

Formerly the home of Carson, Pirie & Scott.

The El. A great way to get downtown.

Overheard (teenaged girl): "I love the bean! I want to hug the bean!!"

It turns out everyone wants to hug the bean!!

The mist vanished but the ethereal quality of the day remained.

Balancing a dart

2011-03-27T16:43:00.000-04:00

I just checked Sigrid's fantastic sewing tutorials website and so far as I can tell, this trick, which I picked up from Claire Shaeffer's book Couture Sewing Techniques, isn't there. So here goes.

What is a balanced dart? It's a dart which is, when pressed flat to one side, balanced by a strip of self-fabric which is stitched down the middle along the line of the dart, and pressed flat to the opposite side. The two layers of fabric sewn into the dart are of equal thickness to the folded strip of self fabric. The desired result is that instead of a visible ridge at the dart, which has one layer of fabric on one side of the stitching line and 3 on the other, this pressed-to-one-side dart leaves an outer surface that is as flat and smooth as a seam that has been pressed open.

Clear as mud? To the right is the inside of what you are aiming for:

This dart is pressed to the centre and the strip towards the side seam, but I don't think it really matters which goes which way.

Balancing the darts is unnecessary if your fabric is thin and will press very flat. For my dress, however, I'm using a suiting weight wool which is underlined with silk organza.

Start by cutting strips of fashion fabric which are about 2.5cm (1") wide and the length of the dart plus 2.5cm. They are cut on the straight grain. Even if you only have shreds of fabric left, you'll have more than enough to do this.

Then go ahead and stitch the darts.

Take the strip of fabric and pin it under the stitched dart, like so:

Place the strip so that the stitching line of the dart runs (approximately) down the centre line of the strip of fabric, and so that the ends of the strip are a little bit beyond the pointy end of the dart. More of the strip is visible at the thin ends of the dart than in the thicker middle, as you can see.

Then stitch along the already-sewn line of the dart.

Press carefully, with the dart going one way and the folded strip the other (as shown above).

From the right side, there is no ugly ridge.

Voila.

I like a pattern that's a fabric miser

2011-03-26T10:29:00.000-04:00

I had a smidge under 3 metres of wool. There are only shreds left. I have cut out 3 garments: a dress, a pair of pants, and a top.

My sheath dress takes just over 1 metre.

Thats it. All of it in one width.

To the right is the top (Vogue 2683). I cut it single layer from what was left after I cut out the pants (.75 metre). The spaces at lower left and in the middle are for the other side piece and back piece, respectively.

I've got to get sewing now.

Extra! More leather jacket photos

2011-03-22T20:50:00.000-04:00

My model washed her hair and consented to try on the jacket with a few existing and possibly coordinating pieces. She's looking forward to the new pieces promised, however.

This is with the Jalie tie-top in darkest brown and blue tie die print, and a pair of lighter brown wool cuffed trousers (Simplicity 4366, a Threads pattern now out of print).

Kathryn was right, I think, to have me take it in at the shoulders and upper back. However, the waist area is where I think it's a little over-fitted. The seams would look smoother if it wasn't quite so nipped in.

I like separating zippers with a pull at each end. It makes it possible to wear the jacket zipped up and still move around, sit etc. without the jacket riding up.

I keep my eyes open and buy nice zippers on spec. I was lucky to have, in stash, a very light weight separating zipper with pulls that are exactly the same as the invisible zippers used at the pockets.

To the left, here it is with Vogue 2683 (one of my TNT patterns). The colour is a little dull in the picture. In real life, the fabric is a wonderfully soft heathery mix of grey and rust. Writing it out, it sounds dreadful. However it's one of my favorite dresses to wear in the winter (with a jacket, since it's sleeveless).

To the right is a detail I didn't think to photograph before. The sleeves are split at the cuff so (theoretically) they can be turned back.

At last

2011-03-20T15:02:00.001-04:00

There's a new luscious leather jacket ready to hang in The Sewing Lawyer's closet! Just in time for crisp spring days and for an early April long weekend in Chicago. Where no doubt there will be intense scrutiny of the wardrobe, inside and out, since the itinerary includes real time with Liana and Ann among other prestigious and prodigious creators of beautiful sewn things, including the entire membership of the Haute Couture Club of Chicago (or so much of it as attends the annual fashion show and luncheon on April 10. Phew! I've got to get back to it!

But not before leaving you with some photos. Sadly (for now) none of them actually include the jacket being worn. It needs (a) coordinating objects and (b) a model who's having a better hair day. I promise more later.

I have no excuse for not having taken a full front photo; except to force you to open my blog again hoping for better pictures. Oh, and to allow you to admire (again) the invisible zipper pockets set into the side front seam. Below right is a close up showing that the lapels are indeed symmetrical and the topstitching worked pretty well.

As instructed by Kathryn Brenne, I laboriously paid attention when topstitching to the fact that the upper thread should always be on the public side, and the bobbin thread side is always hidden. This meant stopping and starting again (by inserting the needle in the hole left by the last stitch before stopping, if you please, and pulling the thread tails to the inside for knotting) at four separate points, since the facing side is outermost for the lapels but inner at the back neck. I'm pretty pleased that I placed the stopping/starting points quite well, just at the point where the leather is into the curve, so they are not visible. Because they are not perfect. (Let's hope that the ladies at the Haute Couture Club of Chicago won't be all over it looking for my boo-boos!)

One thing that is really great about this pattern (and let's not forget that there were lots of things that weren't) is the drafting at the collar/lapel. There is a perfect amount of extra length built into the under collar and front facing so that once you match the edges and sew them together (carefully stretching the other pieces to avoid any puckers) the lapel just does what it's supposed to. There is no guessing about where the roll should happen because it rolls automatically.

Here's the inside showing how the facings are sewn around the zip (click to biggify the photo to see it better). On the outside, the leather meets at CF to cover the zipper, but on the inside the facing cuts away above and below the zip. I thought Kathryn told me that the pattern instructions (which I have ignored in making this) gave directions for how to do this, but they don't, now that I look at them. Kathryn had worked out an ingenious way to make this inset box in leather after sewing the facings to the jacket above and below the zipper, but I did not take pictures and I think it would be too complicated to describe. Another way to do it, which would also work in fabric, is to sew the inset box using a thin, flat facing (silk organza is ideal) before attaching the facings. If anybody is interested, I'd definitely consider doing a photo tutorial on it because it is a super nice way to finish a separating front zipper on a jacket.

Inner construction:

I used these nifty metal clips to hold the leather for sewing, since you can't use pins. I think they are the same as a sort of hair clip, but I bought them in a fabric store. To the left, you see the facing clipped to the lining fabric.

To the right is the inside of the back and shoulder area. At the top, notice how the curved jacket-collar seam is clipped diagonally. I normally trim rather than clip, but was following Kathryn's directions.

The upper back (and the fronts) are interfaced with a fusible weft insertion interfacing. The lower edges are pinked to avoid a show-through ridge. (But if you look hard, you may be able to see a show-through pinked line. Anyway, I could see it right after fusing. My lamb leather is truly thin, but lusciously soft.) The collar and facings are interfaced with a lighter but slightly crisper fusible knit. I did not have room in the jacket for shoulder pads, but inserted a single layer of synthetic batting just to cushion the shoulders and prevent bony shoulder show-through. I used the shoulder pieces from the jacket, and hand stitched the padding to the armscye and neck seams (using a glover's needle).

The back seams are very curved (if I am truthful, they are slightly over fitted). They are edge stitched to keep them flat (leather seams have to be treated with glue or stitching; pressing doesn't make them lie flat). I followed Kathryn's instructions to clip diagonally to flatten the seam allowances. All body seams are sewn at 1.3cm or .5" rather than 1.5cm or 5/8".

Oh - I should have said all body seams except the side seams, which were the last ones sewn and due to edgestitching, zipper pockets or other treatments the only ones still available for adjustment once I had the jacket sufficiently put together so I could try it on. It would have been slightly skin tight if they had been sewn as designed. I'm not sure what went wrong.

Let me correct that - a few things happened.

One. When Kathryn saw my muslin, which I thought was pretty good, she recommended that I reduce shoulder width (by something like .7cm or about 3/16") and take in the back seams even further. She pinned out the amount, and I faithfully transferred these further reductions to the tissue and then ... cut right into the leather. (There's something about being the student in a class taught by a trained professional that makes you just trust the said professional when she repeats, reassuringly, "It'll be fine". If I had been doing this at home I would have done some serious agonized thinking, and maybe sewn another muslin, before tackling the leather.)

Two. I sewed my muslins on my trusty treadle. I used a magnetic seam guide which I placed carefully to get exactly 1/2" seams. At Kathryn's I was using one of her Berninas, which have seam guide lines marked only in metric, I seem to recall. I sewed the seams using 1.3cm (the conversion on the pattern) which in actual fact is slightly bigger than 0.5"; 0.5118110236", to be exact. That extra .0118110236" works out to an extra 0.0236" (or so) on each of 7 seams, which isn't a whole lot but...

Three. Even the thinnest leather is thicker than muslin, so takes sort of a leisurely U turn (instead of a sharp fold) when you turn it back on itself as you must at each of the 7 seams. It takes more width, in leather, to do that U turn, than it took in muslin, to do the sharp fold.

All of which is to say that it's a good thing leather doesn't fray, because the side seams at my hip are seriously tiny.

The back. The sleeve caps are also a nice thing about this pattern. There is very little ease (easy to sew even in lining fabric and a no-brainer in leather).

It really is very nice with all those curved seams. But, as I said, maybe a bit on the over-fitted side.

Leather does stretch, right?

I already wore it out to a birthday party last night (with jeans). After I take care of my bad hair, I'll post more photos. I promise.

Coordinating from stash with TNT patterns

2011-03-15T20:37:00.002-04:00

So my leather jacket completion project is moving along. The body of the jacket is finished except for the topstitching which will require a clear mind and a steady hand. Thus far I haven't felt up to it, so I started on the lining. I have to say, making the lining is the least fun part of sewing a nice jacket. But I can see the finish line so am working through my lack of interest.

The lining fabric is a silk and rayon blend from Fabricland which I think they were marketing as "dirty silk". Here's a close up of the fabric. You can see it's a floral jacquard weave and the right side is brownish-black, or blackish-brown, in an interesting kind of way. The lighter side is the wrong side, and it really does look "dirty" - the dye is uneven and smeared as you can see below (the real colour is less yellow than the photo below, and less pink than the photo to the right).
The dark side looks great with my "navy brown" and buttery soft leather.

My thoughts then turned to the inevitable question: "But what (besides jeans) can I wear this with??" I went burrowing into my stash, where I found some likely candidates.

My first thought was to identify a suiting weight fabric and I came up with a really soft and drapey, slightly tweedy pure wool that gives just the right overall effect of rich brown but is really a complex mix, in a tiny woven pattern, of at least three different browns - one really dark and cool in tone, the second a rich red-brown, and the third is a mix of beige and dark brown. I have just under 3 metres. I'm going to make my PMB sheath dress (again) and a pair of wide-legged pants. I have had great luck with Vogue 7881 which I have made three times already. There should be enough left after cutting these 2 pieces to make my favorite bias shell, from an OOP Vogue, 2683. Like 7881, this is a real TNT (tried 'n' true) pattern for me since I have made the top at least 4 times (and the skirt at least 3 times). The dress/top combo is 100% appealing to me, but the dress leaves me completely cold.

But what else to wear with these future elegant and flowy trousers? In my silk bin, I found many possibilities, but the one that has caught my eye is a refashioning project. My super-shopper friend found a Thai silk skirt in one of her second-hand haunts which she gave to me while extracting a promise that I actually do something with the fabric. The skirt is a floor length, front-buttoning dirndl in an interesting print. The colours are unusual for me since I don't gravitate towards purple, but I like that it's combined with a cool beige, black and a couple of nice pinks and reds. There is lots to make a little shirt. I could reuse the front button detail since it has really gorgeous tiny self-fabric loops and covered buttons, but right now I'm leaning towards the top from Simplicity 2938. I've made this one before too.

To the left is a sneak peek of the jacket together with the two coordinating fabrics I'm planning. What do you think?

Oh yeah ...

2011-03-12T11:02:00.000-05:00

Oops, when I spoke just now about my next project, I forgot to slot in the Material Things leather jacket. I think it deserves a little attention.

When next I report, I hope it's off the UFO pile and into the closet.

And now, I'm off to reacquaint myself with its state of unfinishedness.

Ho hum (?) basic

2011-03-11T08:13:00.000-05:00

After the mink-lined coat, I needed a seriously simple throat-plate cleanser before I tackle my next "real" project (which I haven't actually decided on yet, but is probably going to be a dress and jacket combo). So I made the turtleneck from the September, 2010 Burda Magazine.

Three pattern pieces. And two of them are almost identical.

I had 1.5 metres of a luscious wool/lycra jersey in the stash, purchased from my favorite Montreal store, Couture Elle. In about an hour, it was transformed into this top.

I decided to sew the top on my sewing machine since the fabric is a little beefy and serged seams would have been a visible ridge. I used a tiny zig-zag to keep the stretch factor. 1cm seam allowances pressed open makes for a sleeker garment.

There's something about the cold hard reality that the digital camera finds but is invisible in the mirror... It's a little wrinkly looking as is my high-waisted black skirt after a full day at the office.

In part the wrinklies are caused by the fact that this pattern has super-long sleeves. I normally shorten all sleeves by 2.5cm (1") given my short arms, but I decided to see how I liked these, since I can always make them a normal length (they are in fact cut shorter by about 3cm, due to fabric shortage, but you'd never know). The jury is still out.

I was wondering how I'd like the cut-on high neck, since I have a sort of a forward neck, and always worry about a neckline that cannot be lowered. There are horizontal wrinkles but I find the top very comfortable.

Here's how I wore my new turtleneck yesterday. The jacket is Vogue 1098, an Anne Klein pattern. I reviewed it here.

Mmmmmmink lined coat

2011-02-27T14:57:00.004-05:00

I know I promised photos on location, but so far nobody I was travelling with has obliged and I did not have any on my own camera. I was temporarily stymied in uploading the few decent photos I do have by the discovery that I seem to have lost the cable to connect my go-to digital camera to my computer. All together now: AAAAARGHHH! However I have a work around so you will not be completely deprived today, and I promise to share any additional pics I get from my colleagues.

Because they are the only ones I have of the completed coat, here are a few photos shot in my indoor "studio location".

Ahh, the mink inside. So cozy! It did finally get a "real" workout in the north when the temperatures plummeted to about -30C, with a wind. I'm pleased to report that it came through with flying colours! No wind penetration, except below the bottom button of course. If I had thought to wear my snow pants I would have been entirely toasty warm, if not so elegant.

I like how the mink peeks out from behind the outer coat at the front and collar edges.

The top button pulls a bit as you can see in the buttoned-up photo. I think I probably sewed it on a bit too high, above the point where the collar starts to curve. However, all things considered I am pleased with how the collar looks, since I had to adapt the pattern to match the front edge and collar of the fur.

I took a lot of the flare out of the hem at CB but still, the outer coat is more flared at the hem than the fur. Because the fabric is thin and a little stiff (think a synthetic taffeta) I weighted it by sewing small metal washers into the hem. I thought airport security might be puzzled, but no questions were asked.

The coat is hemmed a bit longer than Vogue called for. This decision was motivated entirely by the need to control flare. I thought the 3" hem Vogue wanted me to sew would have been unwieldy.

To the left is is the best picture showing the edges in more detail. I sewed the outer and inner coats separately, finishing the edges of each. The outer coat facings are topstitched at about 2cm (.75") using heavy duty thread on my Featherweight. I then hand-sewed the coats together along the front edge.

I've already blogged about the construction of the edges on the coat. Here are a couple more pictures. First, to the right is the front edge, showing how the bias strip is hand-tacked to the interfacing/lambswool layer below.

At left you can see how the bias strip is attached by zig zag to the lower edge of the coat, and the lambswool strip is in place. To the right, I have folded up the bias strip and mitered the corner in preparation for hand sewing it to the coat.

By the way, I used a small glovers needle with ordinary sewing thread to do all hand-sewing on the leather, even though an ordinary needle would have been able to pierce the soft leather. Glovers needles have a triangular tip (think bayonet) that went through this leather very easily.

My souvenir hat:

Dark brown fox fur. The crown is brown synthetic fabric, so ends up looking quite OK with the coat. It has ear flaps that can be worn up or down. They look kind of silly when down, but fox fur on the cheeks is divinely warm at -30 something with a wind chill.

So here's a few shots of the locale. Can you feel the wind chill?

Bullock's Bistro. I had the musk ox. The place was hopping!

Yellowknife, old and new. The Wildcat Café was closed for the season.

I was the most stylish passenger in this dog sled. Notice how the dogs are all different colours and do not have bushy long fur. I thought sled dogs would look like the ones in this Wikipedia article. Instead, they are Alaskan Huskies, which apparently originated from the "Native Village dog" i.e. a miscellaneous domesticated canine which happens to live in the far north. And loves to run. These doggies were anxiously waiting to be hitched up (I think 10 of them pulled 4 of us).

And the northern lights (Aurora Borealis) were out, and were seen, but not photographed by me (due to inadequate camera + frozen digits). Here's one taken by the pros at AuroraMAX, on one of my two late nights outside in Yellowknife.

Now I'm back at home, and looking for a simpler project!

Fur-lined coat - pattern adjustment

2011-02-27T14:54:00.001-05:00

This is a post about the adjustment of Vogue 1083. I had to alter the pattern for two reasons. First, for fit, and second, to suit the fact I was lining it with an existing fur coat.

Let's look at the fit adjustments first. There are only two reviews of this pattern on PR but they served as a warning to watch out for the shoulders. As they predicted, I found that the sleeve cap has too much ease given that it's a dropped shoulder. However, the bigger problem is that the shoulder seam is too straight (think T-shirt). The result of these features was an unattractively pointy low shoulder which had to be changed.

To fix the shoulder, I curved the shoulder seam downwards about 1cm (3/8") from just beyond my shoulder point to the armscye seam. This took a total of 2cm out of the length of the armscye seam which (along with the too-much-ease) meant that the sleeve pattern needed to be reduced in length even more. To the left is a snap of this modification (which was also made on the back yoke piece).

The second main fit alteration needed was to take width out of the front at the shoulder level. My back is evidently wider than my front. I've learned to trust the make-a-muslin-and-pin-out-the-extra-fabric method pictured below.

At the shoulder in the photo at right, you can see the pinched-out 2cm along the shoulder seam. Below the shoulder is a more-or-less vertical dart which tapers to nothing at the shoulder, and at its widest is about 3cm (1.25"). This eliminates an unattractive fold that was forming, and which would have made the coat look far too big across the chest.

At left, you can see this vertical dart drawn on the pattern tissue.

The next step is to slash the pattern along the dart's edge, and literally overlap the tissue so the lines (more or less) line up. You can see, in the photo at right, how I had to slash through the pattern at the armscye to get it to lie flat.

The style adjustments were needed to accommodate the existing line of the collar on the fur coat. The original coat had a shawl collar. I removed the upper collar which left a curved under collar (CB seam) that transitioned to a straight CF edge. Vogue 1083 also had a curved collar (a shawl) and straight CF edge but they were different shapes. The Vogue pattern's neckline was higher and tighter than Furla's. Also, the curve of the collar was lower and more gradual.

Here are some pictures showing how the final pattern pieces differed from Vogue 1083.

Finally, here's a picture of the taken-apart fur coat, with the adjusted pattern pieces laid out on top. In the end I did not use the pattern pieces to cut the fur. I completely winged it!

Toasty Warm

2011-02-22T22:58:00.002-05:00

That's the verdict on the fur-lined coat so far. However, even though The Sewing Lawyer is now Way Up North the coat hasn't had a real test. It was only -19 yesterday when I went for a long walk, and -21 just now walking back to the hotel from dinner. (Edited to say, those numbers are degrees C, but getting down to those temperatures there's less and less difference between C and F. In degrees F, -21C is -6, and at -40, it doesn't matter which letter you use.)

I'm still lacking for photos of the finished coat on me, but in the meantime I'll share some construction details.

Not knowing how a fur coat is built, I paid careful attention when disassembling Furla. It was a big surprise to me to realize how much sewing there was in this coat.

First off, the "fabric" of the fur is carefully constructed to maximize its natural beauty. The mink was "let-out" - which means that the raw pelts are sliced into thin strips, apparently diagonally, and the strips are offset and sewn back together so that the original piece is lengthened.

Here's a photo of the inside of the upper front of the coat, after I took out the lining and removed the upper collar and front facing. You can see (click the photo to get more detail) the diagonal lines of stitching joining these strips of fur, as well as vertical lines where the lengthened skins are joined to each other. Towards the bottom of the photo you can see little dashes forming connected Vs. These seem to correspond to darker markings on the fur and must have guided the furrier who originally painstakingly transformed the raw pelts into the symmetrical fabric needed for the coat.

The sewing is done with very light thread and the seams are extremely flat. There must be miles of thread in the average let-out coat.

The construction seams are a little different. They look like a tiny serged seam and create a slight ridge. In the photo you can see the seam joining the under collar to the body of the coat, at the shoulder and joining the front of the sleeve at the armscye. Something vaguely similar can be accomplished on an ordinary zig-zag sewing machine using a universal needle. Set the zig-zag for about 2.5mm in width and the same in length. The trick is to align the edges of the skins, fur sides together and sew catching both layers in the left swing of the needle, with the right swing landing to the right of the cut edges for an extremely narrow seam. So, for sewing fur you do not need to allow for a seam allowance. All the while, you have to be pushing/poking all the fur inside and away from the edges to be sewn. I found my seam ripper worked reasonably well for this, but I had to stop very frequently to readjust. If you do catch some of the fur in the seam, it may well not show, and if it does, you can (carefully) pull the hair out of the seam from the right side.

Back to Furla. Bias strips of a woven fabric were applied to all edges of the garment pieces in the original coat, as well as horizontally at the waist level. You can see it in the photo above. The tape appears to have been attached with a blind hemming machine or similar - the stitch is a chain stitch and again, very light weight thread is used. I am not sure what function the tape plays. It wouldn't work really well to prevent stretching of the fur, since it is cut on the bias. Second, it's only lightly attached in a single line down the centre of the tape (and sometimes not too neatly). Third, it is inconsistently sewn along with the skins in the seams, so doesn't seem necessary to strengthen the seams. If any furriers read this, please enlighten me - what's it for?

The skin of the mink is very soft and thin. Once I had cut off the original facings and upper collar, the edges were very insubstantial. However, I remade the edges as they were in the original coat. All edges of the fur (i.e. where the lining attached) were finished with a bias strip of lining fabric (a substantial polyester) that was folded in half lengthwise. The folded edge was attached to the fur. I cut 5cm (2") bias strips of the outer coating, which is thin, folded them down the middle, and used a narrow zig zag stitch to attach them. At left you can see an in-progress photo. The seam ripper is just visible on the right - ready to poke those pesky hairs in and out of sight.

In addition, all edges (front, collar and hems) were originally padded with folded strips of lambswool interlining. The collar and front edges were also reinforced with fairly rough-cut pieces of sew-in non-woven interfacing. Folding the bias strip over the lambswool produced a firm padded edge, very surprising in comparison with the un-reinforced fur.

To the left are the lambswool padding and interfacing removed from the collar of the original coat. I decided to re-use this material. I first pressed the interfacing, and then loosely basted the layers together. To the right is a photo of this padding sandwich, in the process of being reinstalled. You can see that I've pinned the bias edges over it. This causes the fur to roll attractively at the very edge.

I was surprised to discover when taking Furla apart that there are little holes all over the coat. Most of these are a byproduct of the sewing needed to let-out the fur. There might be a little point missing or imperfectly sewn at the edge, so the edge of one strip isn't a perfectly straight line. However I also spotted a couple of mistakes, which were roughly repaired with a couple of hand stitches. You would never spot these from the furry side, and the little holes do not impair the warmth of the coat, apparently. Unlike sewing with leather, sewing with fur conceals a multitude of errors and imperfections!

That's it for now; I've got to get ready to go out to watch the Aurora borealis tonight. My fingers are crossed for a really good show. Will try to get photos...

Fur-lined coat - reporting in

2011-02-20T21:25:00.001-05:00

I'm sure I had a clever title for this post, but it seems to have evaporated along with my energy. I was gunning to have this coat finished today, and finished it is. However I do not have pictures, yet. You will have to watch this space.

I'm jetting off tomorrow morning at an ungodly hour for points north. Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to be exact. It is 62.3 degrees north, 400 km south of the Arctic circle and about 1,500 km north of Edmonton, Alberta, which at 53 degrees is the furthest north I have been in Canada to date. I have been further north in the entire world, having in 2007 visited Iceland where one day we went to Hafsós which is at 65.9 degrees north, but that was in August. This is February. In Yellowknife (unlike Iceland which has an extraordinary and surprisingly moderate climate) it is frigidly cold at this time of year. The forecast is not filling me with abject dread - the coldest is -34 -on Thursday (wind chill -42) but daytime highs will be around -18 or so. This will give my fur-lined coat a good winter workout, without causing me to worry that my life will be at risk.

I am hoping to see glorious displays of the northern lights, or aurora borealis. This astonishing photo was taken at Yellowknife on February 5:

The garden variety northern lights are green only. But still...

I shall walk out onto the frozen surface of the lake near my hotel where it's dark, to see them better. Wearing fur on the inside.

Things to know about sewing fur:

Little hairs will be everywhere, no matter what you do.
You don't need seam or hem allowances.
Mink is very light weight and the leather is extremely soft. However, you can give it incredible oomph with interfacing and lambswool padding.
Glovers needles don't differentiate between "leather" and "skin". If you have bad hand-sewing habits, blood will be shed. Ask me how I know.

Once I'm in the NWT I'll get someone to take a picture of me in situ, and I'll post more info about sewing a fur coat.

Burda 7731 - back from the dead

2011-02-06T21:45:00.001-05:00

The Sewing Lawyer hates UFOs and sewing failures. So she has been stewing over Burda 7731 since January 1, 2010, the date on which she took it off life support, and told you about it. It was so sad. And so frustrating, since there ought to have been a warm, wind and waterproof winter coat in there somewhere. But Burda 7731 languished, unfinished, in the Sewing Lawyer's sewing room, for the last 13 months. It mocked her from its hanger. It loomed over her. And heck, she wanted a coat like that! Recently, the Sewing Lawyer was even spotted trying on coats, in stores (!) that were kind of like Burda 7731, except shorter.

And so, an idea was born.

Really, there was little that remained to be done - just the hems and buttons. So much easier after 34cm were lopped off the bottom (marked with a line of pins in the picture at left).

Now, the Sewing Lawyer likes to think that the rumpled and puffy synthetic taffeta looks sporty instead of sad.

Details?

In the stash were these interesting vintage plastic buttons, and some firm black round elastic. It was a simple matter to poke the elastic through the seam attaching the facings to the coat front. The ends of the elastic were first singed to prevent fraying of the synthetic outer coating, and knotted inside the coat before being stitched into place.

The lining is a poly satin (Fabricland). Quite some time ago (October, 2009 if Flickr is to be believed), the Sewing Lawyer used the scraps left after cutting out the lining pieces for Burda 7731 for a top (left).

Truly, this coat has been a long time in the making.

Hallelujiah for Finished Objects!

The fur is flying

2011-01-30T15:07:00.001-05:00

Remember my fur coat? (Just ignore the actual subject of that earlier post and scroll right to the bottom. The Sewing Lawyer will get back to that partially-constructed leather jacket a bit later when spring is in the air.) "Furla" as the coat is known around here (obviously not the Italian high fashion leather products company), is partly deconstructed. It's going to be the very luxurious inside to a weather-proof outside, using Vogue 1083. The muslin-modification is in progress, and The Sewing Lawyer is gathering the inner strength needed to tackle fur coat sewing. Removing the pocket bags and invisibly closing the openings in the coat fronts went very well, suggesting the project might actually be feasible.

Here are some in-progress photos. First, introducing Furla.

Here you can see the original smock-like cut of this coat. I've removed the original line-backer shoulder pads. The front and back are actually gathered onto the yoke. The sleeves extend from the yoke, and are pleated at the cap for extra fullness, and pleated/gathered into fur cuffs. The armscye is extremely deep (hits me at about waist level). The back-neck length of the coat is a full 50" (127cm). It hits me only a few inches above my ankles. And it's very large - the original owner was clearly tall and a big lady! This coat must have cost a fortune when new, there is SO much mink in it.

Now, introducing my first muslin of the pattern. Here are some pictures from the Vogue site to show you what it's supposed to look like.

I see I managed to accomplish the look of stunned concentration that seems to go with the task of taking-a-picture-of-myself-in-a-mirror.

These photos show a couple of problems with the pattern. It's too voluminous in a thin fabric. I'm going to be using a thin fabric.

It won't fall beautifully like a wool coating, which is what this pattern is designed for - check out this photo (also from the Vogue site, and yes, the length shown here is more accurate than the line drawings - the back length of the coat pattern is 45" or 115cm).

I also found that the dropped shoulder sewn according to the pattern is not sufficiently dropped to get the graceful look on the pattern envelope - far from it, it stuck out most unattractively. In the above photo, I have pinned a curved dart starting at the curve of my shoulder which will pinch out 3cm in total from the armscye at the shoulder. There is also (surprisingly, since the cap is very flat) quite a lot of ease in the sleeve which contributed to the unattractive stick-outy look. I'm going to have to take out a lot of width at the sleeve cap, but I don't want to lose the height since the angle of the sleeve is good.

So where am I going to remove volume? First, from the lower front at the CB - I may take out about 20cm at the hem. Second, in the front, I'm taking a vertical tuck of about 3cm in width to the outside of the bust dart, tapering to nothing at about the shoulder point. I've pinned it out in the above photo.

The other adjustments to the pattern I'll have to make are dictated by Furla's neckline. It is about 1.5 cm lower at the back and wider at the shoulder than the Vogue pattern. I want the necklines to more or less match.

As for Furla, my plan is to leave as much of it as I can intact. I'll let the yoke of the outer coat skim over Furla's gathers, for example. I have removed the upper collar for future purposes. The under collar will line the Vogue shawl collar which I will wear standing for extra coziness. I have to take the back yoke and collar in at CB by approximately 3cm because it's far too big in that area. I am taking off the fur cuffs, which I will save, maybe for some leather mittens since they are quite small. I will definitely have to remove width from the sleeve below the arm, and take the coat in at the sides, below the sleeves. Hopefully this will have the effect of raising Furla's armscye enough to match the Vogue pattern, which is also pretty low in that area. I will also have to shorten it. My current plan is to simply attach the fur to the edges of the coat at CF and around the collar, which will let the fur peek out only slightly.

I'm taking this a little bit slowly since I have to think it through in terms of construction and inner materials as I go. I expect to use lambs wool to pad the entire coat yoke, and I think I'll use fusible interfacing to stiffen the collar and front edges enough to support the fur. Closures remain to be decided but I have some big buttons in stash. Maybe round elastic button loops? Should the cuffs be fur or fabric? Any thoughts on any of this?

Wish me luck!

Ready for spring?

2011-01-23T16:47:00.001-05:00

Early cycling season might just be a lot more fashionable chez The Sewing Lawyer, now that my new bike jacket is all sewn up and ready to go. Now, if only it wasn't -25C outside (-30-something with the wind chill)....

This little number is made with a pattern which for some reason I think was the house brand of the late-lamented Textile Outfitters store in Calgary. It's Storm Mountain Designs "Golden Triangle Cycling Jacket". I can't find any sign of its origins in the packaging or on the internet. My copy is an antique - imagine, the multi-size pattern looks suspiciously like an actual blue print. Does anyone use that technology any more?

Anyhow, here it is - pretty blue goretex purchased last year from Ressy's Coop, lined with some sort of athletic mesh in white (from stash) and embellished in a practical sort of way with retro-reflective piping (Montreal, St. Hubert Street) and nylon ripstop printed all over with a retro-reflective pattern (stash). I used the retro-reflective fabric at the collar, back yoke and lower band.

I split the front to create a yoke seam where I could insert piping, and did the same on the sleeves. The piping starts at the back yoke, and runs diagonally across the sleeve so you can see it in the front. To the right, the back, in pretend biking position. The lower back curves down so that when I'm really on the bike, there is no risk of gaposis; the hem should be more or less horizontal in that position.

In the photo to the left, you can see how the upper back yoke is only attached at the CB. Even though goretex is more breathable than many waterproof fabrics, I expect it to be pretty steamy on occasion and this will help. If you click on the photo to the right, you can sort of see how the retro-reflective stuff performs. Naturally it's even more startling in the complete dark, but that's pretty hard to photograph!

For even more ventilation, I added pit zips (these are zippers with 2 pulls that operate from the middle). I added a plastic pull on a cord to make it easier to grab the pull when moving. There's another on the front zipper.

Again, thinking about air flow and being too hot, I made the sleeve cuffs adjustable using a velcro-ed tab. To my astonishment, I found coordinating blue velcro in the stash.

The pattern calls for a lot of fancy pockets, but I only used the lower front ones that open at the side seam. I'm strictly a practical biker (i.e. I commute to work in the 8 or so months a year when there's no snow) so I have no need for stashing energy bars or whatever the high-test cyclists put in those pockets found at the lower back of almost every cycling jersey or jacket sold around here.

I'll enter this in the PR activewear contest currently running. Vote for me!

Pattern question - a diversion

2011-01-11T21:48:00.001-05:00

I picked up the January Burda Magazine and am quite smitten with the dress on the cover.

This one. It looks very plain here, but demurely interesting in the magazine photo.

Here's the schematic drawing. I think cuffs at my elbow would drive me crazy so I'd lengthen the sleeves.

I have some really nice navy teal (if that's a colour) lightweight wool & cashmere blend fabric, with a jacquard/texture combination woven into it. Scrumptious and understated - hopefully not boring (Montreal, 2010).

Then I started thinking of jackets because a lightweight wool dress doesn't cut it for warmth during winter here in Canada's capital. (Don't laugh, I might get to it before spring!)

I have another piece - truly scrumptious hand spun, dyed & woven Merino wool from sheep raised by the spinner/dyer/weaver close to home in the Ottawa Valley (Fabric Flea Market 2009). It's a cushy jacket-weight, multi-coloured including teal/turquoise, and definitely not lightweight. I don't have a great deal of this, about 3 metres but it's only 90cm (36") wide.

I identified two candidates from the October Burda Magazine. This was my first choice, subject to a question for you:

Second choice - ignore that it's shown in shearling; I'm confident it would work in wool:

So here's the question. Which of these two styles would you choose to wear over the dress? Can two vaguely shirt-style collars get along? What if I modified choice #1 so it's single breasted with a slightly lower front neck (maybe 5cm or 2" lower)?

Any other pattern suggestions for my hypothetical jacket?

I have a feeling I know what you're going to say, but go ahead anyway!

(PS - I do remember I've got some UFOs in the sewing room, but a girl can daydream...)

New bike jacket

2011-01-06T17:20:00.000-05:00

In keeping with the recent trend in which I have been making active-wear, I'm about to start on a new bike jacket. I'm reusing the same pattern from which I made my current jacket, which has got to be 15 years old, at least. The pattern is the Golden Triangle Cycling Jacket from Storm Mountain Designs which I bought at the late-lamented Textile Outfitters store in Calgary.

I made my first iteration of this jacket from a synthetic known as "super microft", also sourced at Textile Outfitters. While this jacket is still very functional and not too worn out, its time is coming to an end. It lost some of its water-resistance over the years and the wash-in stuff (Nikwax) seemed to interfere with its breathing ability. The reflective tape is worn out in spots and looks quite ratty (though it's still pretty reflective).

Here's the front view. This is an extremely basic design featuring roomy raglan sleeves and stand-up collar.

There's a low curving hem in back to guard against gaposis.

I added reflective tape all over the place for visibility. I ride my bike to work except when there's snow and in the fall, it's really dark on my way home.

At the side, there is a lot of zipper. The zip below the reflective tape is the pocket; above it is the "pit zip". This is a zipper (18" or 45cm long) that's closed at both ends with 2 pulls that meet anywhere in the middle. It's inserted in the side/underarm seam and provides ventilation.

I had the forethought to purchase 3 sets of pit zips at Textile Outfitters and after 15 years have 2 left. That should be a lifetime's supply, I figure, at the rate I'm going!

My new jacket will be more substantial than this one since I'm making it from Goretex and it needs to be lined to protect the membrane. I've got some athletic mesh lining in the stash. To further increase ventilation, I'm splitting the back to create an upper back vent (sort of like the back of a trenchcoat).

To make my new jacket as safety-conscious as my old one, I'm going to use some retro-reflective plastic piping (looks clear in ordinary light) and as an accent on the back (from the stash), fabric with an overall retro-reflective print (looks boring grey in ordinary light). Flash!

Working through it

2011-01-04T12:09:00.000-05:00

The Sewing Lawyer is starting off 2011 with a humdinger of a virus (until proven otherwise) which has her laid up at home drinking plenty of hot tea with sugar and devouring murder mysteries. Thus it's astonishing that there are three new garments to show you!

Granted two of them were cut out before the end of 2011, and they are all from Jalie patterns, which are renowned for their ease of construction and general reliability. However, the Sewing Lawyer is taking her accomplishments as the victory they are over the dreaded whatever-it-is that makes it painful to swallow, and has turned her brain to mush.

First, a version of Jalie 3024. Oh, is this supposed to be a dress? I thought it would make a really nice workout top, and indeed it does. I made the crossover bodice, front and back. The fabric is a thin cotton knit which I purchased at PR Weekend Montreal. Fitting, since that's where the dress pattern was first débuted to the sewing world.

Here's the back.

I used self fabric for the neck and armscye binding, a technique which is included in this pattern and also had its world début when it was demonstrated by Jeanne Binet at PR Weekend Montreal. There's also a little illustrated tutorial here (yes that is the same fabric I've used for my new top). It is a super-simple technique which produces great-looking results without elastic. Genius!

Peeking out at the neck edges of this new top is that same periwinkle blue supplex seen in my previous post - it's a new sports bra also made from the Jalie dress pattern. This time I used elastic (the pattern is well-adapted to make the switch) and stopped at the under-bust band, adding elastic there for security.

I decided to make this piece for two reasons - first the Jalie top is too low cut for any other exercise bra I own, and second, I had the fabric and wondered if it would work. It does. I cut the neckline scoop a tiny bit higher so it would show. Jalie 3024 is quite a versatile pattern.

Then there is Jalie 2795, the zip-front hoodie designed for fleece. Another winner from Jalie. I love the high neck and the kangaroo pockets. The only negative to report is that the sleeve length is extra-gorilla-long. It is designed with a cuff (width about 2.5" or 6cm). The piece is still sitting in my sewing room. I turned up 1" (2.5cm) for a hem without it and the sleeve length is perfect.

I made this from a "fleece end" purchased at Fabricland for the princely sum of $8 which I believe is Polartec PowerStretch. It's gorgeous cozy stuff although a bit fiddly to topstitch.

The resulting jacket is the perfect thing to wear while sipping hot tea and reading murder mysteries!