Saturday, September 10, 2011

Vogue 1170 - Rachel Comey

The front of this shirt is cut on the bias and the back on the straight grain. You can see the bias creates lovely rolling folds at the knotted areas. The fabric is a polyester crepe de chine suitable for this design.

Rachel Comey Vogue 1170

Vogue 1170 front knot


This pattern has a lot narrow hemming, "reinforce and clip" areas (8 in all), and french seams so if you need to practice these techniques it's the perfect pattern.

Here is the reinforced and clipped area and just beneath it, the first line of stitching for the narrow hemming.
reinforced and clipped first line of stitching for narrow hem

2) fold fabric at stitch line (having stitch line at edge to stabilize), and turn and stitch.
Trim this area.

Narrow hem in progress

3) To complete the narrow hem, you still need to turn it and stitch one last time.
final pass for narrow hem

I can only tell you that without a straight stitch foot and feed dog plate with a small needle opening, this is difficult to do because the feed dogs on the zigzag feet and plate have a tendency to push down into the bobbin area, and don't feed the fabric evenly. I am using a Singer Featherweight but it's not the only one with this feature, so if you were ever wondering why you would use that tiny foot and plate this is it.

French seams
Here is the first pass of the french seam 1/8" on the edge with wrong sides together, so the right side has the seam allowances.
french seam step 1 wrong sides together stitched and trimmed

You then press open.
Those little double motifs will disappear soon.
French seam wrong side up

You fold the pieces, now right sides together, encasing the seam allowance and run another row of stitching.

French seam second line of stitching

And that's it, a perfectly clean seam treatment, and that double motif is tucked in the seam.
French seam finished

The pattern gives detailed instructions at the beginning for the narrow hem, but doesn't reprint the instruction every time you run across it later in the pattern.

French seam complete pressed open and edgestitch on center front opening


Saturday, September 3, 2011

Bias and lingerie Kwik Sew 2325 pantie

Kwik Sew 2325 has a pantie pattern made from woven fabric. You could miss it if you blink, after some pattern alteration however you can create a nice fitting pattern which can be used time and time again.

The pantie is cut on the bias front and back, made from silk scraps they are very thin and comfortable to wear.


Silk Jacquard yellow panty


Here are some of the alterations made to the pattern after the muslin.


more pattern alterations

Friday, May 27, 2011

Folkwear Intimacies # 219 bias slip




This is an interesting pattern the front and back are exactly the same, but because it's cut on the bias it molds to the body.


Folkwear intimacies

And just to let you know, it doesn't look like this from the start.
daisy slip masked

As a matter of fact once it's cut out, it will look pretty sad.

daisy slip wip

daisy slip close up

The thing about bias is that it will come around.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Bias Project #1 Part B - Raincoat Tom and Linda Platt Vogue 1180

From the same pattern Vogue 1180- The Raincoat, it is unlined except for the sleeves.  It also does not come with a closure in the front, but can be worn with a belt or left to swing open.  The cut of the collar is flattering.
front closed

Collar close up

Back with collar up


This project is relatively simple, the challenge was finding enough space to cut it out.  It is 1 1/2 sofas long and 60" wide.  I had wanted to practice Hong Kong seams until I realized that there are few seams here and they are all flat felled.... and it would leave me with the challenge of finishing off the edges, which are all just turned under and top stitched.  Have you ever sewn while holding your breath?  That's what this project was like, being careful to keep the edgestitching from falling over the edge, and the stitch lines parallel to each other.  My machine only has space for a 1/8" double needle and mine was closer to  3/8".

Back topstitching

If you are working with raincoat fabric, when you are finished cutting out the garment, take a few scraps and try to iron them.  Even practice the seam finishes on the scraps and iron them.  You may get some permanent shine on the fabric.  I used a pressing cloth and tried not to press down too hard.  This fabric is like a tafetta, it's Technical Nylon faille..  It is perfect for this project, it is very stiff, so you can mold the collar in any position and it stays for a bit.

 Challenges are as follows...
- the instructions are easy to follow except for the upper collar.  It's not easy to get the collar points at the same angle and reduce the bulk at the corner, especially when the collar is only 1 piece and not underlined in any way, so you have to know how to do a mitre corner to ensure a clean collar point.... and the fabric unravels easily.

You might want to practice the corners on the scrap fabric as well.  I did two collars, and contemplated cutting the same piece out of silk organza to treat it like any other typical collar but in the end decided, to finish it as the pattern recommends. Since silk organza really isn't waterproof.

If you do decide to finish the collar with another collar piece, you need to be aware of the seam at the neck which is turned and topstitched so doubling up the bulk at the neck seam might leave it a little bulkier than you might find acceptable.


- long stretches of edge stitch and top stitch
- working with rainwear
- Using a sharp or Microtex needle and topstitching thread

Am really happy with the results!!
It looks as good on the inside as the outside....

Inside lining

Friday, March 11, 2011

Bias Project #1 Part A Tom and Linda Platt Vogue 1180 - Dress

Vogue 1180 by Tom and Linda Platt is a good simple bias dress project.



Front View

Dress with scarf


This is my first LBD, it's a little shorter than I would have liked, but I really like it with the scarf.  Since the dress is cut on the bias this was one project that was cut on the floor.  It's a mid weight linen, lined with black acetate, it has lingerie straps, and the neckline & armhole was understitched with a pick stitch.

011

012

If you wear it without the lingerie stays it tends to ride forward, and creates a pleat width wise in the small of the back and cups the bottom.
Back view Without the lingerie straps

With the lingerie stays connected...



 I love the way that the neckline and armhole cover everything beneath, and it is a flattering neckline.  It also hangs well, but for the next variation, I will be adding some length and possibly removing some width from the back or reshaping the side seams a bit.  The other thing I liked is that the only notions required were two snaps.  It has no interfacing, just fabric, lining, thread and two snaps.

It's a good basic bias project, you might want to read this Threads Article for treating the side seams if you want to learn more about bias.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Vionnet Pattern books

In studying Vionnet, since access to garments is limited, there are a number of books published that illuminate pattern drafting and construction. These are the two that will be used for the Vionnet dresses.








The diagrams in this volume are a suggestion or a nod to what the pattern pieces look like.  


This other Vionnet book has received better reviews because the patterns are easier to understand, even if you don't read Japanese.

Vionnet Japanese