Project #9 - green draperies

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I'm not sure why it is so but we have mini-blinds on the windows in the two bedrooms and on the one in the kitchen. But they didn't put any blinds on the windows in what is supposed to be the living room and dining room. I don't really understand the rationale. Anyway, soon after we moved here, I put up beautiful sheers. Then last fall we went to IKEA and picked up, among other things, this semi-opaque, plain-weave fabric that matches the rug in my studio. In December, I managed to find and buy the tape that goes at the top of the panels so the little hooks have something to grab (we have these cool curtain/drapery tracks installed on the ceiling around each window and the hooks ride inside the tracks). It has taken this long to actually start the project, mostly because I don't like home dec sewing.

(The fabric is a lot more green in real life, not this pukey color on my monitor.)















I sew primarily clothing. I like to take a flat piece of fabric and create a three-dimensional garment. I like sewing curved seams. Long straight seams leave me cold. That's why I'm not big on home dec. Long straight seams plus you take a flat piece of fabric and when you're finished, it's still a flat piece of fabric, albeit hemmed on all sides.

But today I made draperies for our windows. Nothing fancy, just hems and tape at the top. The cutting, though... let me just say that it will be a while before I take up another project of this scale. The fabric is rather loosely woven (semi-opaque) and it was hard to grain it up on the cutting table. I ended up just pulling a thread, measuring up along the selvedge, and pulling another thread to mark where I needed to cut. Then I rotary-cut in the spaces left by the pulled threads. Luckily for me, the fabric happens to be grain-perfect and the panels look great. I made them for the large window in my studio as well as for the window and balcony door in the "dining area" (continuation of my sewing space).

In the end, it was a lot easier than I had thought it would be and I love the results.

Project #7 - gray sheath - part 4

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

And the dress goes to.... the UFO pile.
(Actually, I don't have any UFOs so this one will just have to hang out in the closet for a while.) I really didn't even want to write this post. And I really didn't want to give up on this project. But I am so thoroughly frustrated with it that I need some time to think about our future together.

There are two main issues:
1) The organza is really wiry and it does affect the drape of the wool crepe a lot more than I had thought it would. Note to self: next time take the advice of expert dressmakers like Susan Khalje.

2) There are some funky wrinkles I can't seem to get rid of. They are especially pronounced in the back. I think that maybe the organza wasn't perfectly on grain when I cut it or maybe I shifted it during basting. Or maybe there wasn't enough basting to hold it in place securely and it shifted during sewing. I don't know but I'm not taking it apart to start all over. I'd rather cut a whole new one.

Pictures:



















So... I'm going to give it some time in the closet. Hopefully I can come up with a solution in the meantime.

I'm thinking I need to get some silk crepe de chine for the next underlining project. Or maybe I should not try to underline anything again as I am obviously so (not) good at it.

Now that I'm looking at the pictures, the front doesn't look too bad. So maybe I could find a job where I would stand with my back to the wall all day so nobody would notice the wrinkles. Then this gray sheath could be a work dress :-)

Inspiration files

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

The crazy weather outside doesn't inspire me to sew. Actually, it inspires me to curl up on the couch with a good book and a cup of hot tea. Good book having been replaced by Pharmacology for Nursing Care, the picture is fairly accurate. But today, it's one exam and one paper down. (One of each still to go before the end of the week.) Halfway done for the week, I felt free to at least browse through my collection of pictures to feel some connection to my beloved sewing.

Here are some of the things that make my heart flutter. (I do not know which websites these pictures came from. I really need to come up with a system to note where I download which picture.)

This lovely dress - love the boucle, the trim, the neckline... All of it, actually. I plan to knock it off soon.



















This Missoni cardigan/duster has been in my inspiration folder for a while now. I don't know when I'm going to find the right fabric in the right colors, but when I do, I'm making this. The whole outfit has such a casual simplicity to it... I love it.



















This Dockers shirtdress - I like it all except the turned-up sleeves. I'll make them short. And I'd like this in black twill and red twill and also blue denim. Gotta get the fabrics but it just looks like the kind of dress I could live in all summer long.



















This short trenchcoat - love the color. I think when I get to it, mine will not be double-breasted. We'll see. I have two colors of wonderful cotton raincoating from Michael's Fabrics - black and red. They both reverse to Burberry stripes. (I thought Burberry had a plaid, not stripes, but what do I know.)



















And this picture is here for both the mood (lady-like, elegant, and icy) and the collar shape. I love the way it frames the model's face.



















I am also growing my hair out. I think I'm ready for longer hair again after all these years. My hairdresser is thrilled.

Oh, and yesterday I was the featured member on PatternReview, which resulted in several lovely messages from other members. Thank you all very much, it means a lot to us.

The look of spring...

...German style














Looks like it may be a while before I can wear my dresses.

I am so ready for spring!

Withdrawal and dilemma

Withdrawal
Between volunteering at the clinic and school work, I've hardly touched the gray dress. I have this paper to write that's been hanging over my head. It has a way of completely blocking my creativity so I'm going to put a stop to it tomorrow. After I submit it, I'll be able to breathe again. And sew.

Dilemma
I was reading Gigi's post and saw the white skirt with grommets of all different sizes. That set me off on a day dream about my planned grommet suit. The question is, should I stick to my original plan of knocking off the St. John suit as closely as possible or should I use various sizes of grommets to decorate the neckline and sleeve hem bands? .

Project #7 - gray sheath - part 3

Hmm... you know how I had these great plans to sew this weekend?
Didn't happen.
Because instead, life happened.
Oh well. So I tried to catch up today.

First the basics - put the zipper in, sew darts, sew shoulder seams and side seams, press up hem.
Then I could devote time to the neck and armhole edges.
I staystitched the curves with a matching thread (good thing) which made it difficult to see it (bad thing) when I had to press the seam allowances toward to inside. After the first tentative press, I basted very close to the edge to ensure a smooth line.














Susan Khalje says to press before clipping to avoid having divots in the edge. After pressing, I clipped the seam allowance until it lay flat.














Same thing with the armholes: press tentatively, baste, press for real, then clip seam allowances.














And then I catchstitched the seam allowances to the underlining only. The nice thing was that I could take nice big stitches, not pick one thread, because they don't show on the fashion fabric.














The next sewing session will entail catchstitching the hem and sewing in the lining. That should be fun!

Back to sewing

My loot from ATS came in and in it was the invisible zipper for my gray sheath (along with 27 invisible zippers of various colors and other assorted notions). This is great because I can get back to work on the dress. I plan to finish it this weekend and wear it next week.
The grommet suit will be next. I have to remember to order the larger grommets. All I have on hand is the 1/4" size. I am currently debating 3/8" or 1/2" for the suit. It's hard to decide without seeing them. I do need to make a decision quickly because with the way our (military) mail has been running slower than usual, it may take a while for the grommets to get here.

Planning the next project

Not a lot of sewing going on here this week - I've been catching up on my Pharmacology reading. I'd been dodging the book because it's difficult. Not difficult to read, mind you, it's actually very well written. The problem is that unlike most textbooks, this one doesn't have any areas that would provide relief for the brain. Every single sentence is either very important or critical information. Sheesh! And it's all about rote memorization, which is not my favorite way to learn. The next exam is on Wednesday so I had to catch up.

I've been looking for jacket inspiration lately and I finally found it. Charity posted this excellent tutorial on setting eyelets along with this picture. It's a St. John suit, available from Saks Fifth Avenue (not my usual hangout). I am totally loving the grommets/eyelets around the neckline and on the sleeve hems. I immediately printed out a jacket and skirt pattern from PatternMaster Boutique. I'm going to make this in a wool crepe because I'm not nearly good enough with the knitting machine to knit the suit. I'll get there one day.

I printed out an armhole princess jacket but when I made the muslin mock-up, I realized why there are no princess-seamed items in my closet. I don't like the seams. I prefer the look of darts. I'm not sure why this is so, I can't really put my finger on it. No problem, though, I'll simply use an older PMB pattern. I'm still going to make a muslin mock-up of it, even though I'd made three jackets from it, because I want to work out the width of the grommet bands and the shape of the neckline.

And that is all for now. I have to go read another chapter about hormonal therapy.

Project #8 - blue knit dress

The gray sheath is patiently waiting for an invisible zipper and silk charmeuse to arrive in the mail sometime this week (I hope). I prefer to finish each project before beginning another one but I just couldn't wait. I wanted to sew.

And I made this:












This dress is from the same pattern as the brown dress. The only change I made was reducing the flare of the skirt. I pinned the brown dress so that the skirt would hang straight at the sides instead of A-line and transferred the modification to the pattern pieces. It turned out to be 3" both front and back. I blended the new side seam with the original at the hip.

This blue fabric is also the Double Knit Stretch from Nancy's Notions, in color Heather Blue. I don't know why they called it that because when it arrived, it was definitely navy. It still is. (In my pictures it looks slightly heathered but it really isn't - must be the fuzzy surface.) This is some seriously wonderful fabric. I can't even find the right words to do it justice but let me just say I wish I could live in it 24/7.

The right and wrong sides are just barely different. After the dress was cut and marked, I decided I like the other side better. Good thing I use chalk that brushes out.

The neck band on this one lies better at the side of my neck. I learned from sewing the brown dress that I need to keep it flat in the back and stretch it across the shoulder seams. I think it could be better still so I'm going to shorten the band by 1/4" next time. Yes, there will be a next time. Once I spend time fitting a pattern, I want to use it over and over, similarly to what Carolyn does. She is such an inspiration, by the way, so if you haven't visited her blog, please do now. She makes beautiful, classy clothes with a twist.

My husband did the photo job again. I really appreciate it because it helps me share my passion for sewing with him. (I don't know if he appreciates it; sometimes he grumbles.)

So now I have this great new dress and nowhere to wear it. At least not now because it's snowed all day. Snowed!!! But not much of it stayed because the temperature hovered right around 33-34F. It's supposed to go down into the lower 20's overnight so maybe we'll get some more. It would be nice to look at but I've never driven in snow. I really ought to learn soon.
Here's hoping spring comes soon!

My first handspun

I learned to spin yesterday. Some members of my knitting group also spin and they offered to teach me. Yesterday I took them up on it. This is the result:











Yes, I realize it is way overspun and curly. I also know that most people in their right mind wouldn't think of paying money for anything that looks like this. But I am quite proud of myself. Mostly because before going to the spinning meet, I had horrible visions of the spindle falling to the floor and shattering. (does wood shatter?) I didn't drop it once.

Dina started me off with two yarns so that I would get an idea of what I was supposed to do. Once I had the yarns twisting correctly, I could advance to the real deal - roving. It was slow going, with yours truly the control freak trying to make sure the yarn was thin and even, slowing down the process further. I was doing something called "park & draft" which involves "parking" the spindle between the knees and drafting the next bit or two of fiber. Apparently the beginner version of real spinning. It's been a while since I was a true beginner at anything.

The next thing that I found helpful was Faith's comment about "the drafting triangle". I don't really remember what she said but the concept of watching the space where the fiber goes from a fairly wide strip to a thin twisted yarn stuck. Until then, I was watching the space between my fingers and the spindle. Now, I was watching a place farther away from the spindle, where the yarn was actually starting to form (this is probably so obvious to experienced spinners that they don't even think about it) and I noticed that my yarn was much more even.

So, for what it's worth, from a total newbie:
If you're learning to spin,
1) watch somebody do it first,
2) practice with two colors of yarn to get the idea,
3) when you progress to roving, pay attention to the drafting triangle.