Miracle

A double Christmas present, the fabric was a gift a few years ago!

Well now, would you look at this.  I have actually made two of the items I had planned to do lately..  This from someone who doesn’t plan!  I finished this jacket on Tuesday, but the weather was not playing ball for photos.  With a breather in the clouds and rain today, Daughter No1 & I decided some fresh air and photos was in order.  I still had cards to deliver too!

Delivering Christmas cards in my new jacket!

This is the pattern I made back in November – last year!  I had been toying with the darted sleeve head idea and ran up a toile, but realised with the extended shoulders that the rever and collar were going to need adjustment. No problem, but I couldn’t make up my mind on the fabric.  I eventually used the original collar and rever and made a different sleeve, which resulted in this jacket.

Jacket unbuttoned.

I finally chose a fabric to use for the darted sleeve version,  a duck-egg blue fine wale corduroy from Ditto Fabrics that a friend had given me for a Christmas present.  But I had no lining or buttons so it languished in the cupboard for a while.  More than a while, actually!  If you check out the other jacket photos you will see the difference in the collar and revers.  I actually prefer the width of these ones, I think the previous revers were too narrow for that jacket too!

A walk in the park, loving my big shoulders!

I did lengthen the front of this jacket, something I noticed after wearing the other one was that it could have done with being about 2-3cm longer in the front. I also added welt pockets.  I realised at the first fitting that the jacket was looking a little plain and boring, so I quickly got cracking with the welts!  Note to self – decide on pockets before making up fronts and attaching to backs…     The pocket bags use some left-over silk from my Pattern Magic blouse.  I know you’re supposed to use some of the shell fabric so the lining fabric isn’t seen, but this is way too pretty to hide!

Dotty silk from the Pattern Magic blouse

The extended sleeves have some fusible wadding sew into the sleeve head seam to add support, and I moved the shoulder pads over slightly too, nothing worse than a collapsing sleeve head!  The lining was a bargain from the Fancy Silk store in Birmingham, Jaeger cupro for just £3.99/m!  Buttons are metal from Fred Winter’s in Stratford.  I would have prefered to have a matching set, but so few places sell the same styles in different sizes.  So I have horses on my sleeve vents and pretty ones down the front.

Lining & pretty silver buttons

Silver horsey buttons, appropriate for living in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this jacket.  I love the colour, love the fit and love, love, love the sleeves!  What is it with me and sleeves?  :s  Anyhow, I now need to move onto the herringbone twill for Daughter No1′s biker-ish jacket from the Burda mag, but I will be pattern cutting it to her measurements.  Maybe I will wait a couple of days first, something tells me there is an important date approaching sometime next week.  ;p

So, Happy Christmas to everyone, I hope you all get loads of what you’ve asked for (fabric & some new books in my case…).  Enjoy spending time with your families and friends. 

Autumn Leaves Jacket

After a flurry of finished projects, and some tidying up of my “fix-it” pile, I’m ready to get going with my leaf print jacket.  Maybe.  I had these two sketches in my sketchbook, either would work for the jacket, but neither was 100% right.

Jacket idea no. 1

As you can see I have copious notes!

Jacket Idea no2 (with alterations)

Ok, so what I’m really thinking of is a bit of peplum detail, but not a wavy, fluffy one.  I like structure, so I like the pleats in version 2.  I also am definitely having the neckline detail in version 1.

So here’s a version with the bits I like together:

“Final” design

Sleeve…  I’m hankering after the Crater Sleeve from Pattern Magic 1.  But full length, or 3/4 with a turn-back cuff?

Crater Sleeve from Pattern Magic 1

I really love that sleeve, and I think with the neckline from the first design it will look fabulous!  I just need to decide on the length…  Also, I need to decide if the style lines actually work on my body, rather than the skinny-minny croquis from my sketch book.  So I put together these:

Autumn Leaf Jacket design sketches

So what do we think??  Here’s another picture of the fabric.

Leaf print for jacket

And here I thought the pattern was ready, and I could cut out this weekend!  Now I’m not so sure.  :s

The Perfect Prom Dress

Daughter no2 is doing a Diploma in Catering and Hospitality at Gloucester College alongside her normal school GCSE’s, and part of that course is an Extended Project.  The students can choose anything for their topic, then they research and report.  This is a big project.  So, doing a catering diploma, you’d have thought she’d go for something food related.  Nope.   The title of her project is:

” What is the perfect prom dress for my body shape?”

So to answer that question she has researched body types, we have drawn round her and joined dots so she can recognise her shape.  She has looked up all the do’s and dont’s and on top of that, looked into the colours that suit her, all to make sure she comes up with the perfect dress.  She designed 10 dresses and then whittled them down to one, using the criteria she’d researched.

These two sketches had the main things she liked, the fishtail, the floaty draped fabric and the one shoulder.

One of the designs, this with the draping fabric from the shoulder and the fishtail.

Off the shoulder, waist defined, long skirt.

Here is the final sketch, not the one for the project, this was done quickly by her at the fabric shop, because in our wisdom we’d left the “real” one at home that day…  The proper one is in her sketch book, safe and sound!

A quick sketch done in the shop, with some fabric samples and peacock feathers to show the colour influences.

Front view of first toile, it’s not as fitted as it could be

Once she was happy with her design, I set about making the pattern.  Using the one piece dress block I adapted it to the lingerie block to get rid of excess ease.  We went for a panelled dress so we could add as much volume to the hemline as possible.  The fullness comes from the knee.  After the first toile there were only minor alterations to do, one was for a sway-back.  Also the dress needed to be tighter from the hip to the knee.  There was a certain amount of excess in the top edge which needed to be removed too.

first toile back view, too loose over hips

All the fluffy things are my tailor’s tacks. There was some excess in the armhole on this side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the final toile.  I made it up in a navy and black shot polyester taffeta so she’d get a real sense of how the final dress would look.  I put her in some proper shoes and got her to prance around the garden in her pinned-together dress!

Finished toile, more fitted.

Looks almost good enough to be the real thing!

And lastly, a side view

The final dress will be in a crepe backed satin, in a teal or blue/green sort of colour, possibly with a purple chiffon or georgette drape from the shoulder to waist, caught in a belt and flowing to the floor.  The crepe backed satin will have some body so it will hold the shape of the skirt well, and I might need to re-inforce it with some horse-hair braid.  You’ll have to look again next June to see the final outcome! 

Marching On

Brr, it’s been a cold week!  Snow last night falling on unmelted snow from last weekend has made for a pretty countryside.  But, not good for going outside to take photos of finished work!  On top of the cold, it has also been a different week.  Our most beloved kitty cat passed away on Saturday after being quite unwell, and I cannot get used to the emptyness of the house now that he has gone.  I am without his company as I sew, even if his idea of the best sleeping places wasn’t quite what I would have had in mind!

The best place for a cat to sleep - on my fabric and patterns!

Anyway, life for the rest of us goes on, and we definitely plan to have another fluffy family member soon!  In the meantime I have got on with another couple of projects.  I had some fabulous double jersey from Ditto in Brighton – these guys have some fab fabric, and have very nearly been the cause of me breaking a New Year’s resolution.  I had no idea what I was going to make with it when I bought it, I just had to get it while it was still available, and I figured inspiration would come later.

The fabric is great, but quite bulky, so many of the ideas were quashed.  It doesn’t do multiple pleats or tucks, definitely no gathers either.  So I thought something pared down with a detail in a contrast fabric would do quite nicely.

Jersey Dress

I ran up a toile for a two piece dress, and then coverted it for stretch fabric.  This means taking out a lot of the ease, which is not needed in stretch garments.  Toiling the stretch pattern was pretty simple, but as I didn’t have a fabric to toile in that was similar in weight to the jersey it was a bit of a flyer!  There were a few adjustments to make, but on the whole I had figured the fitting would have to be done on the garment itself.  So out came the fabric and on went the pattern pieces.  Well – some of the pattern pieces.

I had purchased 1.5m – plenty, I thought.  Nope!  Although the pattern was pretty simple, the sleeve is a bell shape and needed some space, and the fabric wasn’t as wide as I was counting on so, not enough!  AArgh!!  Thank goodness Ditto are quick off the mark with their first class postage!  And double thank goodness that there was still some of the jersey in stock!  I ordered online and only had to wait one day for an extra 70cm to arrive so I could cut the back skirt.  Thank you Ditto Fabric!! 

I used my overlocker on this project.  It went together like a dream, the only issue I had was the ruffle contrast.  I had started off with a black silk chiffon but it wouldn’t play ball.  As the ruffle got narrower it stood up on end, not quite the look I was going for!  So off it came and I rumaged around in my boxes for something else.  I discovered some light-weight black jersey that has done the job much better.  I used a rolled hem on all the edges, pulling slightly to get a more ruffled look, which disappeared the first time I ironed them.  :s

For fitting I ended up taking in quite a bit more on the sides, and shaping the back seam much more than I had expected to.  I do like the finished article, it is quite warm (needs a long-sleeved t-shirt in this cold though) and my favourite parts are the sleeves.  Definitely doing them again!  The only time I used my sewing machine was for the twin needle hems.

The flower is one I made using this tutorial from Wise Craft, it is such a fabulous little thing, I have made loads over the last few years.   So, photos.  I will get some done this weekend, and hopefully have the next project finished too!  Here’s a sneak peek…

Blouse with oversized polo placket

2 for 1 jacket update

While I was “away” making curtains and doing alterations and making nice things for other people, this project was burning a hole in the back of my mind!  Now the new year is here, the kids are back at school and making for others has quietened down a bit, I can finally get cracking again.  I decided to track the progress of this jacket, to show the internal workings of speed tailoring a jacket.

First things first, if you have a wool or wool blend fabric, you need to prepare it.  During the making the fabric will be subject to a lot of heat and steam, and it will inevitably shrink.  There are different ways of going about this.  Usually I cut a  10x10cm piece, zigzag or overlock the edges and pop into a basin of warm water.  If the water doesn’t get absorbed, there is a coating on the fabric, and it will need to be dry cleaned.  If water is absorbed, pop it in the washing machine on a cool, woolens or handwash cycle.  Then check it, has it shrunk?  Has the finish/feel of the fabric changed?  Has the colour run?  If the answer is yes to any of these, dry clean only!  For preparation you will need to steam this fabric.  If not, you can wash it.  Now some fabrics can be shoved in the machine, and others need a different approach.  (Most of the wool I buy gets the machine wash.)

I have a cashmere that is definitely not going in the machine.   I dampened down 2 double flat sheets (you could use old duvet covers) and sandwiched the wool between them.  I rolled the whole lot up like a Swiss Roll and left for the damp to get through the wool.  Then opened it up and draped over a balustrade/handrail.  If you have to use the washline, first cover the wire with a towel, and if possible, drape over two lines, not just one.  Leave to dry, then dry iron to remove creases.  Iron on the wrong side, and check for any imperfections.  Mark these so you can avoid the area when laying out the pattern pieces.

It really is worth taking time when preparing wool for a jacket.  The fabric is rarely cheap, and considering the amount of time you will take to put the item together, it will be pretty soul-destroying to have it go wrong.

Your next job is the interfacing.  I use a speed tailoring jacket pack that I get from Gill Arnold.  On this particular wool I have used her Weft insertion on the jacket shell and the fine sheer fusible on the facings.  I have also used some iron on canvas, and some non-iron canvas.  I interfaced the “T-zone” and all the hem edges with the weft insertion.  This covers all the areas of the jacket that are put under strain or will be sat on and crinkled!  Then I made up the fronts and back.

The next step was to apply a fusible cotton tape to the front seam, this prevents stretching on the front seam.  It is applied about 5mm in from the fabric edge and if you have a curve at the bottom, you will need to snip into it to take the corner.  Once that was done, I made the canvas chest pieces.  This is done to plump out the hollow in the chest that women have just below the shoulder.  You will need the non-iron canvas and some weft insertion for this part, and each pattern needs a different shape chest piece.

The pieces are cut on the bias.  The weft insertion interfacing is a different size to the canvas.  It is 1cm larger on the armhole side, and 2.5cm larger on the neckline side.  Fuse the canvas to the weft insertion, taking care not to attach the overlapping interfacing to anything.  Trim the top corners, cut a box 1×2.5cm and 2.5×2.5cm.  Place the chest piece on the jacket front with the armhole side on the edge of the fabric and fuse the overlapping interfacing to the jacket on both sides.

Preparing the canvas chest piece

Chest piece fused in place

Taped breakline

Next fuse cotton tape to the breakline of the rever.  This helps the rever to fall in the right place, and to stay there!  There is no need for padstitching the create the fall. Now staystitch the neckline on the facings, jacket front and back.

Once that is done, pin on the facing.  The facing is between 2.5mm and 5mm bigger/wider than the front on the rever up to the breakpoint only.  This is to accommodate the turn of cloth.  You don’t want to see the seamline or any of the fabric from the front rever peaking out.  The fabric needs to be manipulated carefully so you don’t get any puckering, pinch the excess at the corner and pin the “blister”.

Sew the front facing on from the podmark for the collar join to the hem.  Snip the seam allowance at an angle at the breakpoint and layer the seams.  Trim both of the seam allowances down by 5mm.  Then trim the seam allowance of the front facing by a further 5mm.  The rever needs to be trimmed too, but trim the front by a further 5mm, and not the facing.  Press the seams open and then  flat.  Ensure you roll the fabric when steaming so there is no seamline showing.

Seam layering on front and facing front

Now for the shoulder seams.  Pin the canvas away from the shoulder line and pin the fronts to the back.  Stitch and press open over a sleeve roll.  Remove the pins from the canvas and let it extend past the seamline onto the back.  Turn the right way round and put your hand under the shoulder seam.  Pin along the seamline, going through all the jacket layers as well as the canvas.  Turn to the inside and pin the back seam allowance to the canvas.  remove the pins from the outside and then stitch the canvas to the seam allowance, close to the shoulder seam line.

Canvas pinned back, shoulder seam sewn and pressed open

Canvas extended over back seam allowance and pinned from right side

Canvas stitched to seam allowance, close to original seamline

So that’s the body of the jacket, ready for the collar and then the sleeves.  Happy sewing until next time!

Just a quick one

Soo stoked!!  The cushions I finished last week and delivered to the store on Tuesday made it into the window display yesterday afternoon!  *Happy dance*!

Window display at The Arter, Stratford upon Avon

The photos were taken with a mobile (cell) phone, so not fabulous quality, but hey, it’s all good for me!

Window display, The Arter, Stratford upon Avon

Two for One

This weekend has been pretty productive for me, I got the cushions finished and made good progress with the jacket pattern for the grey wool..  I have kept it pretty straight forward.  I have a limited amount of fabric, so I cannot go too mad on seam detailing etc.  This is the initial sketch, nothing over the top.

Jacket Sketch

Everything has gone together fairly well, I have kept to the panel seams in front and back, although I have curved the back panel seam a little, this takes it closer to the centre back seam, I am hoping it will be a visual slimming line..  But overall it didn’t have much oomphf.  I decide to something with the sleeves …

Darted Sleeve Head

Pattern for Sleeve Head - see all the alterations??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I altered the sleeve head to accommodate 3 short darts.  It took a while, and was tricky with all the layers of paper I already had going on!  This has the effect of adding about 3m to the width of the shoulders, which is great if you have no waist little waist definition.  Broadening the shoulders makes the waist appear narrower than it really is – bonus!!  I also cut the sleeves 10cm short, and kept an angled hem line.  I added 2.5cm flare to the back seam of both the upper and lower sleeve.

Jacket pattern pieces, pinned on calico to toile.

So it looks pretty good, but – the collar and rever combination appear a little small with the new sleeve-head.  I think the rever could do with being 2cm wider, and the collar needs to be adjusted so the proportions are correct.  But if I still had a “normal” sleeve-head they would be fine.

The Back

Front, see those sleeves! Fitting alterations are pinned.

This is where the “2 for 1″ comes in.  I will trace off another sleeve from the sleeve block, and keep the head normal.  This will work just fine in the jacket as it is.  Then I will trace off the front panel and adjust the rever and draft a new collar.  This front & collar will be used with the big sleeve.   The rest of the jacket can stay exactly the same!  So I have two patterns – yay!!

Jacket front, seams altered.

Sorry about the fuzzy pics, I was using the self timer, and I cannot work out where to stand to be in focus!!

So what do you think of the collar & rever vs sleeve proportions??

Coats & Jackets

After finishing the cushions the other day I am really inspired to get going and finish the jacket and coat I started the patterns for last month.  However – Daughter no 2 and Husband and I went into Birmingham on Friday….  A quick visit to the Fancy Silk Store and a much longer visit to the Bullring has resulted in more fabric and more ideas!

Caramel wool

I got a lovely piece of caramel coloured wool (only £12.99/m!) to make some carrot leg trousers for me – I do need to make sure the style works on me first though!  I also got a caramel and blue plaid – daughter no 2 fancies a jacket…

Plaid for jacket

But – a pop into the French Connection store put something else in the front of the queue…  She found this coat, and can I please make one of these???

Coat from French Connection

It’s double breasted, collarless and has an interesting skirt.  The back doesn’t connect to the front at the side, but further forward.  This accommodates in-seam pockets pretty well. It also has bound buttonholes, but I didn’t think the opening on the facing side was done very well – it wasn’t very “City & Guilds”!! 

French Connection coat

Of course, I don’t have fabric for it now either, so I may have to force myself to go shopping – again! 

We also slipped into the Waterstones in the Pallisades.  The best part of the shop is right at the very top – 4th floor- in the Book Garden.  Daughter no 2 and I collected up a pile of craft, fabric and cookbooks and snuggled into the leather seats.  About an hour later we had whittled the pile down to three that had to come home with us.  All told it was a productive day!

It’s not just clothes geting made around here!

Nope, anything goes!  I have just finished some cushions that I started back in June! *blushing*  Excuses – none really, I just lost focus and made other things instead!  I thought I’d pop them on here so you can see the other stuff that gets made in this house.  I made these for a shop in Stratford upon Avon.

The Arter - Stratford upon Avon

The Arter is a gallery stocking arts and crafts from 26 artists in the locality.  They have some fabulous stuff, and the goods range from handmade jewellery to glass, pottery, felted creations and ceramics.  If you are ever visiting Stratford on Avon, make this little National Trust shop a place to visit!  I don’t think there is another quite like it!  In this tiny picture, it is the shop with the little red bits in the window!  Soon there will be workshops and other fun activities run there, I am looking forward to them!  Visit their Facebook page for more information.
So, the cushions.  I wanted to make some kiddie ones, and I just love the way children use colour.  A child’s colouring in book is full of the most amazing colours, so this was my main draw.  I also love the way they see things “flat”, so the designs are not 3D at all, but flat, like children draw.  I chose four African animals, to reflect my roots, and I had just come back from a 3 week holiday in South Africa, so homesickness was still coursing through my veins!  I figured I had better have some English animals too, especially as they were to be sold in a National Trust shop!

African Animal Cushions

The animals are all applique, the black outlines are free machine embroidery, I wanted it loose, so I didn’t use a satin stitch, which is what you usually use for applique.  I wanted the lines to be within the shapes I had cut, so it looks like the colours have over-run.  The giraffe cushion has a patchwork design of triangles on the bottom, not my most successful technique, but it looks good.  The swirls are what you want them to be – suns, stars, clouds…  And the grass is pink.  Why not??

English Animal Cushions

Ok, only three..  I couldn’t decide on the fourth, so instead of it holding up the works I figured I had better get on with the others.  My favourite is the fox, he is just so cute!  The same techniques were used on these cushions.  I have restricted the pallette, otherwise it could have gone overboard very quickly.  These colours are bright and cute, without being brash.  The back is a sturdy dark blue denim with an envelope closure, topstitching in a loverly orange.  The size is 30x30cm, a really nice size for a child’s bed.

I have grand plans for these designs, I have roped daughter no 1 in – I want her to paint these for me so I can do framed prints etc.  So what do you think??

Friday – busy day!

Wow, I can honestly say I am gobsmacked!  This little blog of mine has been ticking along with a handful of visitors, when suddenly the tracking spiked!!  Thank you so much to BurdaStyle for making me featured member of the week!  Another big thank you to those who have added my blog to their subscriptions lists, and those who left me comments.

New Blocks

So back to work!  I have re-drafted some of my personal blocks.  After making the jacket this last month and having way too many adjustments to make, I gave in.  So yesterday I drew a new Jacket Block, Coat Block, Close Fitting and Easy Fitting Bodice Block.  They will all be used this season!  I still need to toile and fit them, and draft their respective sleeves, but in the mean time I thought I’d share what I intend to do with them!

I have a lovely purple georgette that has been begging for something pretty and floaty.  I am going to use the Easy Fitting Bodice Block to make a loose-fitting top with a dropped shoulder and ruffles along the neckline.  Isn’t that top cute?  And purple will make a change to my usual grey, black or blue!  The georgette is not silk, unfortunately, but I loved the colour when I saw it on Ditto Fabric‘s website, so I had to have it!

Purple Georgette & Ruffle Top

Next, the Close Fitting Bodice Block will be converted into a One-Piece Dress Block and then I will adapt the bodice and sleeve to form a Kimono Block.  I have FINALLY decided what that green and turquoise silk is going to be!

Silk Graphic Kimono Dress

The Coat Block is going to be a hip length Pea Coat in the most beautiful pale, ice-blue cashmere that I bought at Fred Winter back in January on their winter sale!  I already knew I wanted something different, so I also got some Liberty silk for the lining and some Dupion to make piped details!

Cashmere and silk for Pea Coat

And the Tailored Jacket Block??  Something simple.  A cropped jacket with 3/4 length sleeves, possibly cut on the bias to take advantage of the burgundy/maroon flecks in the grey wool I got last week at Fred Winter.  I was really good, only getting 1.7m instead of going for the remains of what was on the roll, 2.5m!  I am sure I would have used it somewhere, but if I had got 2.5m I just know I would still be procrastinating this time next year!  I am going to use the last three buttons from my antique shop purchase, the others are on the Spotty Jacket.

Grey wool and Jacket sketch

So that’s that!!  Busy me!  Have a fabulous sunny weekend (if you are in the UK) I will be making winter goodies!