holy bias-stretch, batman!

measure measure, cut cut

and then hanging until the bias stops growing.....

Shrinking Silk

free, with the breeze running through my fur....

The theme of my wedding is stress free and happy.   (Even if I have to kill everyone to make it happen)   This means my dress can't be so delicate I'm spending the entire day worried something will happen to it -- so I decided to investigate pre-shrinking all the silk chiffon I'd gotten so that the water that I *know* will get spilled on it when I get excited, forget I'm holding a glass, and start talking with my now-empty-because-I-dropped-the-glass-on-my-skirt hands doesn't ruin everything,

I popped a sample into the washer on hot, and then into the dryer on no-heat fluff.  Total shrinkage is at about 14% in each direction.

The process changes the texture and the opacity -- as everything has tightened up, its a bit thicker and not as smooth.   While I prefer the look of the untreated silk, the shrunken is still very nice and will be a lot more robust to whatever I throw at it over the course of the day.    (Although, realistically, I am 100% going to be wearing a full length bibbed apron during whatever part of dinner I get to sit down for)



So-- as its time to start the skirt, I figured out what I needed, added 14% to the length and popped it into the washer.  (This is sounding so much more carefree than it actually was.)

and now I wait as 15 yards of silk rumble around where I can't see them.....

so many yards.....

soon to be 12.9 yards.....

fancy fabrics

snazzy indigo ikat

Turns out there is a source for handwoven ikats (and quite a lot of other stuff that is wildly out of my price range) in town.   (Both wonderful and dangerous)  Yesterday, Mom and I went and checked it out - everything was gorgeous and for the most part, wildly out of my price range.      However, thanks to Mom the enabler, I have three and a half yards of a stunning indigo ikat that is going to become a sundress sometime very very soon, so that it can sit in my closet and mock me as long as possible.

purple cotton woven

There were also little end cuts, and I got myself a yard of this purple to turn into a shirt - I found last summer that my one woven/fitted tank top got the most use and was worn the moment it got out of the laundry, so me thinks I shall make several more.

The lady who runs this business has an online presence, and you can find her at Mekong River Textiles.  (I did not get paid, nor did I get a discount, I just think this is nifty stuff.)  Besides just being super snazzy fabrics, she works with local collectives to provide economic opportunities for local women other than prostitution.  Seems pretty win-win to me.

someday my spring will come.....

Theoretically, someday it will be warm again, and in that hazy someday, I have a couple of weddings to attend and sundresses will once again be my standard fair.  Bring on the bright colors!

A few months ago, my mother, the enabler, blithely ignored my fabric fast and offered me a cotton eyelet and lining she had left over from one of her own projects, which I was powerless to resist.   (Fun fact:  I'd swear this was a bright pink, but she claims it is red.  Thoughts?)

pink or red?

I decided to go with more or less the same frankenpattern I'd used for my new year's eve dress - although instead of using a third pattern for the skirt, I'm using the original from V1174.  I lust after pockets with an unholy desire.

pockets and straps.  I will win the weddings.

Thus far I have the outer shell of the bodice put together.   (It won't look that pointy when I'm wearing it.  I'm afraid the table and I have rather different figures.)  The next step is overcoming my winter induced malaise and cutting out the lining (the same cotton) and catch-stitching all the seam allowances so it lays flat and pretty.

and so it begins...

 Does anyone else loose productivity in winter?    I can sew up a storm on summer nights, but in winter I just turn into a lump on the couch and watch movies sideways.

black and white and...

I'm really not sure what to make of this dress - I really like it, without actually liking it at all.  (I know)  I was talked into buying the fabric, against my better judgement, and on its own, its a bit (a lot) much.  Since then, it's grown on me, and now gives me flashes of the destruction of the Death Star and/or  Speed Racer, depending on the angle I see it from.   ...and I do like the Death Star.   However, from time to time, I see crazy early 90s insanity, which I'm not so fond of.  But hey -- we're focusing on the Death Star.

Actually, its kind of a Rorschach test of a dress - so - what do you see?  hmm... very interesting...

I find I like it best toned down a notch or twelve with a sweater - I love black and white, but everything is better with color (and a nice section of solids, so one's eyes aren't fried out)

Anyhow - it is the fourth incarnation of the many-paneled dress that started out as an experiment with old bedsheets and immediately became one of my favorite patterns. (versions one, two and three - information on drafting here)  The skirt is enormous, far more than a full circle, and flares out straight at the waist if I spin fast enough.   (This can be slightly problematic when dancing, but then, that's what leggings are for...)

I'm starting to think it would also work really well with brightly color stockings....

Catching up

I have obtained batteries!  It took repeating "go buy batteries" the whole way home one evening, but damn it, I did it.

But look! New fabrics! (because I totally needed them...)   As occasionally happens, I went in looking for something specific (6 yards of something thin, drapy, abstract and woven) and walked out with something else entirely.   The birds are a thin chiffon (I haven't done a burn test yet), the black is a gorgeous thin jersey that will be another many paneled dress (I've wanted a black one for ages, so this was the only justifiable purchase of the lot) and a tie-die gauze in purple, blue and teal that I lost my heart to, right as the heat wave ended....  

Currently in progress!  
The black and white many-paneled dress is almost done, all it needs is a hem....      Despite this, I'm not entirely sold on it - it keeps looking mid-90s workout - but occasionally, I see flashes of exploding death-star and I like it a lot.  So.... we shall see.     The other primary project of the moment is B4978 out of the chiffon birds.  Rebel that I am, I am not building the lining into the dress and will instead wear it with a slip.  (more on my various modifications in a later post), this has entailed lots of french seams.   I knew how to do them before, but now...now, I am their mighty queen, and all the seams must bow down before me!

And finally, in a fit of bizarre laziness, I couldn't be bothered to rethread my serger last night (we're talking 5 minutes, tops) I decided to figure out and start cutting out everything I'd need for a tessellated card trick quilt.  

I've been thinking about this one for a while - I have a huge bin full of scraps and I've always told myself that I'm not a hoarder, I'm just saving them to make a quilt, because it would be a shame to waste so much fabric.  So-- diving in.   I imagine this one will be going on in the background for sometime, as according to my calculations, I need ~320 L-shaped blocks, of three squares each, to make a queen size quilt.   So far, I have 20 sets....

currently in progress

As usual, I have about four projects going at once - but the one currently occupying the majority of my attention is the latest installment in my fixation on long floaty dresses.   Simplicity 1801 was an unusual choice for me, as I usually avoid waist gathers like the plague, but I'm using a very thin, very drapy rayon, so I figured I could get away with it.  I also reduced the width of the skirt by about 4 inches to make it less gathery - it worked well in the muslin (which photographed very badly) but it was a stiffer fabric....  not quite sure how it will look, but... I'll make it work one way or another.

The fabric was an impulse buy the other day at the store (ostensibly, I was there for fabric makers...) It looked like water and made me think tropical thoughts.    I intend to wear it to work and pretend really really hard that I am actually on an island paradise*.     It got my thinking of Scruff's  fabric vs. pattern first question. Usually, I am pattern first and then dig through my stash to find something that suits.  In this case, I saw the fabric and knew it needed to be a long dress.   Then I dashed over to the pattern counter, found a dollar-a-pattern sale on simplicity, and here we are today.

Plus.... it has pockets!   

*Those of you who know me in real life may point out that I actively avoid going to the beach.   I respond, no one said I had to sit in the sand and bake in the sun.   I imagine myself in a charming cabana, with shade, a cool drink, a lovely view and nowhere particular to go that afternoon.

mending sheers

I'm still not sure exactly how I managed it, but I managed to rip my floaty dress the first time out.   

The tear was right next to the seam - as in the fabric of one side sheered right off.  It took me a little while to figure out how to repair it so that it wouldn't show... 

Enter a fine mesh, nearly same color as my skin and very very close to the slip I wear under this dress.   I pinned everything back into the correct place and hand sewed along the seam and around the dots (I decided the transitional areas would show less than right through the dark patches)   I cut the edges of the mesh in a wiggly line to avoid any sharp transition that might help to give it away.

Which resulted in a fix that's nearly invisible on my hand and totally invisible on my back (which, of course, I don't have any new pictures of...  just trust me on this one)  But!  It held up all day!  Win!

In which I am given saris!

The ever glorious, often demure and generally lady-like Anju recently told me her mother was planning on cleaning out her (the mother's) closet -- and was getting rid of saris.   I don't recall if she brought this up to offer them to me or just as a bit of news that was going on, but I immediately offered myself as a receptacle for any such garments her mother no longer wanted.  

Last night I got my grubby mitts on them, and I couldn't be more pleased.   (If you will believe it, I got a text a few days ago asking if it was 'okay' if they were silk.  I know.   Somehow...somehow, I think I will manage)  There are three - the first is a thicker, two tone blue with gold embroidery.  As with most saris (I say this like I knew ahead of time) the end which gets thrown over the shoulder has extra decoration.  Creativity will be required when deciding what to do with them. 

The second is a much lighter weight silk - more what I would expect a blouse to be made of.   This one is moss green with cream and brown.   There is about 2 yards of material in each sari (~6") so this one may end up as several shirts...  although I could also see a fancy summer dress.   I don't know....

And then there is this wacky one -- not only is it bottle green and hot pink, it refuses to rotate to the correct orientation no matter what I do to it.   I have absolutely no idea what I will do with it, however, I imagine someday it will be perfect for something.  Its too crazy not to be.

Thank you Anju and Anju's Mom!

Refashion Fun

once upon a time, at graduation

 A couple of weeks ago I ended up going to a reception for a project Kel has been working on.  I knew it was coming up, but for whatever reason, I thought it was going to be low-key, during the middle of the day and of course, I would not be going.  Silly me.  It was at night and formal - in fact, not just formal, but described to me as everything up to, but not including black tie.   And I only had four days.  In the normal run of things, not such a big deal.  I have a couple of perfectly lovely dresses - one brown and one navy- but it turns out Kel was going to be wearing black.   I know.   And only four days....   Now, I almost never have a reason to dress up, so I haven't bothered doing anything with some of the stunning will-someday-be-formal-wear fabric I have, as I tend to focus on things that will be more practical.. and only four days.   (First world problems, I know, but so terribly terribly frustrating.)

trying it on last month

Anyhow, enter my blue silk dress  (store bought. not me me-made) -- I hadn't worn it since graduating college, and didn't really love it even then.  The fit was just never quite right, although at the time I didn't know what was bothering me   Anyhow, still loved the fabric, and still hated the fit- although by now what was once a trifling annoyance had become unacceptable to wear out of the house ... so I chopped it in half and made a skirt.   I was originally trying to reshape the bust and keep it as a dress -- but that just wasn't going to work out unless I put in a lot more time / patience than I had.  ..so, chop chop chop!

new waist band

I cut it off right below the empire waist section, which didn't quite work, as the variation between the width of my butt and waist is rather more than had been built into the garment - so - a couple of rear darts, some extra lining to bind the raw edges and a new zipper for when I accidentally pulled the original's pull off and couldn't get it back on, and whamo! new skirt!

all snazzy and wearable

It turned out to be a good thing I didn't have weeks to prepare, as I would have ended up way overdressed.  But lets be honest, who would really care?   Party dresses are fun and people are boring.   Party dresses for everyone!   (Someday in the future.   Still working on practical coats over here.  grumble grumble grumble)

Anyhow, as this took a dead weight out of my closet and turned it into something new, and because I am already tired of this fabric-fast, I am counting this as item two of fifteen.

Fabric-Fasting, Stashbusting Event of Insanity!

I was cleaning out my sewing closet the other night.... and I am putting myself on a fabric fast.   With the exception of halloween and items needed to finish projects (linings, trims, closures, whatever) and I am not allowed any more fabric until I finish at least 15 projects.   This includes new, in-progress and UFOs.  I know.   But this is getting insane. and I have at least five UFOs languishing for want of minor finishing.


The rules:

-Any fabric currently in my stash is allowable - full piece or left over scrap.   There are no limits on the size (can we say polar fleece socks?  'cause I sure can)
-If I cheat (which I may, because of the whole choir dress debacle that goes on year after year) I add another three items to the stash bust per item of illicit fabric.
-If evil people tempt me (Mom) they will be mailed cat fur.   Don't tempt me.
-Items which use several different kinds of fabric still only count as one item (the point of this is to use what I have, not just to get the numbers)


Just pictured here there are 24 different pieces of fabric.   Not all are created equally in terms of usefulness - but I also have three large rubbermaid tubs and several shelves with more.

Anybody else suffering from an embarrassment of riches?  Got ideas?  I actually need pants and could use a cold-weather dress or two.  I may end up making a couple of the formal dresses just because.  I'm not so sure about gifts, as I don't like putting all that effort into something unless I know it will be adored beyond reason and measure, but who knows what may happen.

Another sort of pin

Waterproof fabric is a tricksy beast, but this is working pretty darn well.

Coat Fabric is Here!

 Yay and Horray! I have the fabric for my coat!

I went with the codura faced ultrex for the shell (waterproof, windproof, breatheable -- it's the dark blue with the white- with the white being the waterproof bit) from seattle fabrics and a bright blue rayon bemberg (static free and breathable)  from vogue fabrics for my lining.






I also got waterproof zippers -- I have five - one for the center front, and two each for the pockets and pit-zips.

This amalgamation is rounded out by the thinsulate I got last year for my previous attempt at a winter coat.

I'm a lot happier with this pattern, more sure of my ability to work with my materials and have a better plan for how to accomplish everything.   Wish me luck!  My goal it to finish by the 1st of October.

It's arrived!!! ARRIIIIIIIIIIIVED!!

The ultrex arrived today!!!!!  (This is the generic gortex equivalent I was talking about the other day)  and I think I have found my coat fabric! (!!!!!!)   (!!!!!!)   (!!!!!!!)  There is a dark slate blue (they call it navy, but its too gray for that) with a 500 denier codura facing -- think backpack weight, but still really tough.   Within 20 minutes of getting the package I was outside rubbing samples on concrete.   I tested a three ply, the codura faced one and the two ply.

 The real difference between two and three ply weatherproof materials is the need to add a lining.  In the two ply the rubbery weatherproofing is exposed on the inside, which isn't a good idea as it can get scratched and whatnot -- but if you are planning on using a lining anyway, as I am, then its fine, and about $5 a yard cheaper.

Anyhow, they all performed admirably, so should you be in the market, I can recommend any of these.  Now I just (hah, "just") need to do my final muslin to get full yardage and I'm ready!   My arbitrarily chosen 15 seconds ago goal is to have it done by the 1st of November.

Various Technical Fabrics

 You may recall my blatant and ruthless abuse of gortex a few weeks ago ---   well, despite being quite pleased with the product, the price was a bit more than I liked, so I looked around for another supplier.  Well, I found one (SeattleFabrics) that offered an off-brand version of the same material as well as several others I'd never worked with but found rather intriguing, so I ordered sample sets.   The maddening thing is that the one set I really wanted -- the Ultex -- is back ordered and not in the package, so I'm still waiting for that one to show up....   However, in the mean time, I present an exciting swath of technical fabric fun!

Wicking Lycra

Think yoga clothes or long underwear for backpackers.    It comes is a gazillion colors as has a similar hand to thick cotton jersey.   Its a little rougher feeling on the inside, but still perfectly comfortable for clothing.





WeatherMAX65

This is a water repentant fabric - I haven't put it through its paces like the gortex, but for a non-waterproof jacket, it seems like it would work well.   Their big thing resisting water without all the chemicals (and environmental impact) of the gortex types



1000 Denier Codura

This is the stuff suitcases are made of.   I'm trying to show you all the colors, but I am particularly fond of the brighter green I'm holding up.  I think it will be a bag *and* shoes.   Yes shoes.   I found  awesome soleing!






Reflective Materials
The silver and orange on the right side are all (there are in fact three, two silvers and an orange) reflective fabrics.   The others are ribbons or piping.   The top silver fabric is floppy and lightweight while the other two are quite stiff.    All items are very reflective.





Insulations
various thickness of thinsulate and permaloft (the uber fluffy one)   I got these to gauge thicknesses -- permaloft seems like nothing so much as batting.   with a layer of something I can't identify on one side.   Their thuinsulate has layers of something on both sides (kinda feels like disposable diaper material) which would prevent a lot of the problems I had with it catching on things.    I also got a pre-quilted swatch --- its only done on one side, and the fluffy catch stuff side is still open.

 Clothing Mesh

at this point I may have been going a little sample happy -- but it worked out really well as in the very back (where you cannot see in this picture) there are samples of powermesh.  Its supposed to be great for lingerie.   The other materials are what you'd expect if you've ever dealt with a sports jersey.




Bag Mesh

This one included trampoline fabric.  I have no idea why -- but it is glorious.   It also has mosquito netting, so I have visions of a glorious trampoline in the middle of the amazon....

The other meshes are quite stiff and seem sports baggy to me.

found my bathing suit fabric!

Not much in the way of sewing lately, but I have found bathing suit fabric!    I was wandering around on Saturday and came upon a store that specializes in stretch materials (Fabrics on Fourth, if you are in the Philly area)  and fell for this one.   It looks kind of like gears and kind of like splotches - and is of course nothing like the rich, deep red solid or the blue polka dot I'd had in mind.   C'est la vie.

now to decide on a pattern....   I've been thinking along these lines:

  

picture sources:
top row: target (a few seasons ago), bravissima veronica, bravissima antigua
bottom row: all from unique vintage swimwear  (middle suit is this one)