Flannel Dress for Carpentry

At Fixer's Collective our motto is Working Together to Fix the Things in Our Lives. Folks bring broken items that need fixing. Repairs are a collaboration between the object's owner and knowledgeable guides who offer ideas and skills. Am able to share mending know-how. Last month, instead of being in my sewing advisory role, was mentored in a carpentry project.


from CNN & HLN

Flannel dress a winter comfort!

More about Fixer's Collective here.

Subway Observatory

Winter on the Subway, 2012
The spectrum of colors worn during the winter is narrow.
The subway acts as an observatory.

Pants:
7 blue jeans
5 black
1 green

Jackets:
11 black/grey
3 blue
1 brown
1 red (also 1 red team jersey)
1 fuchsia


Gazelle Neck Blouse

High Neck Blouse: cotton lace knit, 2012
Here's to a revolution in terminology: Gazelle neck? Yes! (With all due respect to turtles.)

To make a blouse with a Victorian high collar began with a previously drafted pattern for a blouse with a yoke. Replaced the yoke in the pattern and raised the scoop neckline to accommodate the collar. The fabric is a knitted cotton lace which doesn't stretch. Therefore, the collar required an opening. (Were it a stretch knit it could be pulled on.) Sorting through a small stash of buttons found an imitation mother of pearl shank button and three small flat buttons for the back closure.

Hum, 5" is a very high collar! It is perhaps more giraffe than gazelle. Modified the pattern, lowering it to 4".  (Photograph shows the 5" version.) 

Detail: fabric

Detail: back buttons

Toledo Tea Dress

Tea Dress: 
rayon, silk chiffon, charmeuse
Three tiers, the bottom tier silk chiffon lined with charmeuse.

In other words there are four hems! Most of the design was draped then a flat pattern was made. From there a rough sample was sewn to  test and make necessary modifications. The bodice pattern evolved over the course of three drafts, the sleeve pattern was finalized in two drafts. The tiers came next. 

Was determined to complete the dress for an event on October 7th. The entire process took about three weeks using every available moment and working into the (late) night.

The dominant material is hazy grey/mauve with a tiny abstract bud pattern. There was enough fabric for two tiers. Wanted to add a third layer to make the dress full length. Experimented with the color for the lowest tier. The main fabric was vibrant paired with purple, however, the only similar weight fabric in the purple family on hand was a pale tinted lavender silk crepe. Tried it, leaving it overnight at the bottom of the dress. Walked home in the dark, looking at people on the street observing whether they paired a light top with dark bottoms or vice versa and considered the effect of each of these. In the morning the lighter layer beneath the upper tiers seemed like a dangling participle, an unfinished sentence. The bottom tier had to end the sentence. It required a darker shade. (This also avoided the hazzard of wearing light fabric at curb level in New York City).
Detail: back, sash

Had a piece of mauve charmeuse. Sewed it in but there was too little material for a gathered tier. That is where the chiffon came in. With little time, went to one fabric shop in the garment district. There was plenty of charmeuse yet none was a match or a good substitute. The closest to mauve was a beautiful piece of silk chiffon. There were benefits to using chiffon. Although the photograph makes it less apparent (and doesn't do justice to its color), the chiffon tier is hyper-gathered! It sways and floats slowly back into place. The charmeuse lining behind it protects the delicate material and makes a wonderful sash.

Hemming was an adventure. More on that to come.

Girdles and Bras

Lingerie Shop with a Bra Repair Service 

Am designing a dress that skims the body at the hips. It might be an opportune occasion to branch out and make a girdle. Before doing so, I'm learning more about their design, materials and construction. At a local lingerie shop the owner insisted adamantly, "They aren't called 'girdles' any more."

Went to Borough Park, Brooklyn where a girdle is still a girdle. In a corner of a lingerie shop that I visited a seamstress sat at a sewing table using an industrial sewing machine. A pile of bras was draped on the table. Each had a manila tag tied to it specifying the repairs or alterations to be made. As a job was completed the bra went into a black plastic bag, its handles were knotted together and the repair tag attached.

Kindergartner All Grown Up

Linen Shift with Belt (leather & metal), 2012

At age five dressing myself for kindergarten one morning, hesitated to change out of a buttercup yellow, lace trimmed nightgown with an aura of prettiness, into school clothes. Considered: "It looks like a long dress, doesn't it? I could, couldn't I?"

Wore the nightgown to school, triumphantly confessing to a schoolmate: "It's really my nightgown!"

The memory emerged this summer in Lithuania when Agne and her sister-in-law were surprised that the linen shift made while staying with them was intended as a nightgown. "It's too nice! Wear it as a dress." Hum...

To transform it sewed a deep hem and made a contour belt from a design that had been on the drawing board. It's like a "wrinkle in time", a kindergartner gleefully in cahoots with the grownup she's become.


New Video: How to Add Length to a Pattern Piece

...demonstrated using a sleeve pattern. The identical pattern alteration technique works when adding length to the legs of a pair of trousers or lowering the inseam, extending the front/back of men's & women's shirts or lowering the waistline of a dress (and more).
Enjoy!



Lengthen a Sewing Pattern from verysweetlife on Vimeo.

(Click on the video title "Lengthen a Sewing Pattern" to view the video in full screen format.)

Looks Like a Dress. It's Actually Math!

Detail: Lace neckline. Cotton, linen.
Sewing by hand is rhythmic. It's almost musical. Hand sewed a lace border around the neckline of a breezy, loose weave linen dress.

Been making garments (including this dress and the pirate pants) based upon geometric forms, measuring and cutting fabric without a pattern. The pages of notes for these garments are extensive and hilarious. (Must add a photograph to illustrate!) 

Interview

Months ago was interviewed by the journalist, Elizabeth Cline. She was writing a book delving into fashion and consumerism. Published in June, has a terrific title: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. It adds to the dialogue about sustainability, from manufacturing to waste in the industry. (Chapter 8 contains material from the interview.)

Overdressed is gaining well-deserved attention!




Tiny bio correction: 
Am a decade younger and grew up in a different city!



Businessweek

From a book review in Businessweek about Overdressed, (see above):

Toward the end of Overdressed, Cline introduces her ideal, a Brooklyn woman named Sarah Kate Beaumont, who since 2008 has made all of her own clothes—and beautifully. In her monastic dedication, she’s reminiscent of Joel Salatin, the fanatical grass farmer whom Pollan hails as a model of sustainability in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. But as Cline is the first to note, it took Beaumont decades to perfect her craft; her example can’t be knocked off.
-Julian Sancton, June 21, 2012 


Lithuania, Back from the Countryside

Friends in Lithuania say it is known as "The Land of Rain". It might be "The Land of Bread" (incredibly dense and flavorful). 

Was in the countryside in Lithuania, arriving back in Brooklyn this week. 

Countryside in LIthuania, June 2012
Brought home some dark, dark bread bought at an outdoor market where it was sold by weight. It's impressively heavy. 

Had e-mailed hosts prior to my arrival to ask whether there was a sewing machine available to use during the visit. This was greeted as a normal question. (And answered in the affirmative!)

During the visit shared sewing skills and made a pair of maternity pants for the wife of my host. 

Working by draping and taking measurements, without a paper pattern, constructed a linen shift. Wore it yesterday with a belt and heels in Brooklyn, but in the countryside Lithuania the scene is utterly different.

Linen, 2012

Pirate Pants, Ahoy!

Pirate Pants & Tee, 2012
It's been raining so often there's practically a mist in the air. Time for some pirate attire! The pattern for these pants is continually evolving. Written as pure numbers, it is without pattern pieces to trace. The calculations are algebraic, using a formula with variables. Brain food, all this!

The pants wrap and tie at a high waist. (Must hire a photographer; photographing self in mirror has limitations when attempting to show a side view!) Besides sailing through the mists of Brooklyn these pants were great when sewing today. Drop a pin and there it is, in the apron-like folds rather than on the floor. Pants as a labor saving device?

Rarely wear tees, yet this one is unusual with a host of design details. Pretty. The pattern is less complicated that it would appear! 

Design Rendered in...Kleenex

Pattern Notes and Modeling
Late at night, cozy and warm in bed, was making notes on a pattern for a pair of pants. Imagined a similar construction for a top. Would it work?

 Rather than hopping out of bed to get fabric & scissors to experiment, found a nearby alternative: a tissue. Ideal! Carefully tore, folded and shaped it into a three dimensional form. Sketched the design. Next there will be more precision--measurements, etc. The most beautiful idea requires a skeleton (even if it's made out of Kleenex)!

And the pants? Wearing the first pair now.

Corset Detail

Detail: Corset Back
A Victorian corset. Gradually almost all the overhead lights in this lovely brownstone flat ceased to function. Practically a Victorian night scene: hand-stitching the corset binding by lamplight, wearing a long chemise and a woolen shawl. Amused.

The looser a garment, the more one-size-fits-all a pattern is. A corset is the antithesis of a muumuu! It's hyper-individualized according to measurements. (After a day of wearing a corset donning a muumuu is appealing.)

Drawstrings

Ironing Board Cover, 2012

Working for weeks on making a Victorian corset.

Meanwhile, there was a beginning sewing class in the studio. Time to recover the ironing board before students arrived! Pieced together odds and ends to make the cover. A drawstring (cord) was encased in a channel on the underside and heave-ho, tied! 

More in the drawstring-themed project category: an embroidered muslin bag.

Embroidery Detail, 2012
Small Muslin Bag, 2012
(on new ironing board cover)

The Life of Pants and Shirts

First fitting: short pants, 2012
In-process short pants. Tend to make dense notes on patterns. Trying these on led to more ideas. And notes!

My grandfather who was fastidious, grew up in a factory town in Pennsylvania. As a young boy he wore short pants. Putting on his first pair of long pants was momentous. On that occasion his older brother offered to sell him very important information about life for five cents (a lot of money at the time). Tantalized, my grandfather scrounged around until he came up with the fee. His brother accepted the payment and said... "always lift the creases of your pants before you sit down."

Throughout his life my grandfather paused before he sat, his fingertips pinching the center crease of each pant leg, lifting it slightly as he bent his knees. It was an enduring investment and distinctive gesture.
  

 
Shirtwaist: cotton, 2012
Two top layers: a blouse and camisole edge beneath. Made a blouse years ago by deconstructing and reworking a man's shirt. The shirt was well-worn when I'd begun and now in its second incarnation it has become threadbare. It's a favorite--deliciously soft and a quasi-sampler of mending techniques! Recently drafted a pattern based on that improvised design and made a new version (photo).

Adventures in Underwear

7 pairs of underwear: silk, cotton, rayon, elastic
Began by making hats. Then underwear. Now there's a mini-stack of underwear in the closet and a hall tree with hats by the front door.

It is happiness-inducing to begin getting dressed each day with handmade underwear!

These are from different years--the deep purple from the initial year, fuschia made last year and printed silk jersey undies assembled this winter using fabric salvaged from cutting long underwear tops.

(Tend to write much more before editing down to the essentials. Ah, the many philosophical musings about self-reliance in draft form!)


Arabian Nights

Detail: Deep neckline held with ribbons
Ah...bedtime! Recently made two nightshirts--one based upon an 18th century shift and another with a Middle Eastern influence (in photos). Long--with high side slits and a deep v-neck with ribbons. From hem to neckline the vertical weave alternates between translucent furrows and opaque ridges. Made of a diaphanous fabric, it floats around the body.

 Nightshirt, 2012
It looks so much better on the body!!

Wearing while writing this--early in the morning!



"You're sewing!" exclaimed the flight attendant...

Sewing on airplane. (Note pocket of seat in front.)
"Yes." I smile.

"I sew too. Buttons, when they need to be sewn," she adds, pantomiming wielding a needle and thread before beginning the official pre-flight safety demonstration.

Stitched snaps to a newly designed blouse and hand stitched a few seams where (my) machine stitching had been overzealous and had to be reworked. 

The announcement at take-off and landing is streamlined: "turn off anything with an on/off switch".  Electronic devices all around. Stitches are sewn without interruption.

Marvelous to be at this juncture with access to innovation and able to savor the inheritance of ancient skills.