Thoughts on Plaid

I HATE IT!
I really really do.

Especially, the bad kind of Plaid.
what do I mean by that?

Plaid that's printed irregularly. YES! that exists!
It's proof you want?
Fine.

White stripes indicate stripes that are matched, red stipe indicates stripe that is not matched even though everything around it IS.

HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN???

I then resigned to matching only the horizontal stripes, which does not make me happy but I really don't have a choice.
I spent two hours yesterday matching the stripes while cutting the pattern and I then spent another two hours mathcing the stripes in order to sew the pieces together? worth it? I don't know.

I'm attempting to recreate this blouse with this fabric:

Isn't it absolutely amazing?? let us see if I will be successful!

What do you guys think about plaid? Have you ever had issues with uneven printing of stripes? what didyou do to fix this?
I wonder, what is the general opinion on this - I haven't managed to match my tripes completely as I stupidly decided to make this blouse with princess seams (I really deserve a whack on the head), would you completely scrutinize a sewer who didn't match their plaids/stripes completely or is this an acceptable err?

Thought about the blouse??

Cat Blouse

The first look! and more importantly - the look that started it all...

The Cat Blouse!

 Yes! it's made out of quilting fabric with little cats! I admit the pattern isn't very ooh-la-la but I thought I should keep it simple because the fabric is SO CUTE!

I used my bodice to create this pattern, I was inspired by the Colette Sencha Blouse and Gertie's (or Vogue's) Bow Tie Blouse and created a vintage silhouette (which admittedly you can't see in this picture, I basically look like a balloon. I blame it on the Doctor Peppers I've been drinking non stop for two months).

It might be more obvious in this one:

 You can see the definition of the waist better in this picture. (Though sadly I'm wearing a deer-in-the-headlights look. I still can't decide if I like this picture much). I made it a little longer than the blouses I mentioned above and seemed to have over compensated out of pure hysteria because the last few blouses I've made have come out quite short.

Yesterday, I talked about how I had to put a lot of thought into the making of these blouses. When making clothing with the intention of selling them, you really have to think about how long each process will take you, otherwise you will have to charge a FORTUNE for the garment you're making. The issue with this is thinking about time and also thinking about the finishing of the garment at the same time. You don't want to send out a garment that looks like a piece of crap or damages the integrity of the original design because you're trying to save time.

The focal point of this blouse is the buttons in the back. now I know you can't really see them well and I blame that on the busy print, but I assure you they're quite prominent in real life!

One of the examples for thinking about the way I do things is the back button placket, let's take a closer look:

In the original blouse I had an actual separate placket for the buttons that I cut on the bias. I decided to shorten my sewing time by elongating the back pieces to overlap and creating a facing to make the button strip sturdier. In retrospect, I can't really decide which design I like better. This definitely saved me at least half an hour of construction (it might seem silly but these things add up!) but maybe the placket made the button more noticeable? Anyway I felt that this gave the blouse a cleaner finish and made it simpler to construct. What do you guys think? would it have been better to leave a separate placket?

I'd love to hear your thoughts! I love this shirt, I love the fabric, I really think that you can't find this kind of shirt at a store - at least not out of cotton! It's definitely work appropriate and is quite easy to accessories because it has such a simple cut!

What do you think about my hat? A friend made it for me (YES it's the same friend I made a Cinderella Dress for and have mentioned too many times) It turned out a tiny bit small but I have the option of stretching it a bit because it's felted. Thoughts? should I leave it like this?

I'll share more simplifying techniques I used as we go along. What do you guys think of the basic idea? do you think of the easiest way of doing things when you sew or would you rather spend more time on a garment and use a more complicated technique?

Tell me!

Fall Look Book

Hey guys!
I had SUCH a busy summer! I did so much sewing, seriously I was like a one man sweat shop! It all started with my friend wearing a Circle Shirt to work (this is the same friend I made the Cinderella Dress for. I'm not as nice as you think though, she bought me two Collete Patterns in return - more on that later!) One of my friend's cow - workers liked the shirt that I made and offered to buy one from me! How exciting is that? I've never gotten money for something I've made!
It kind of made me realize how much I improved my sewing skills in the last year. I know that non sewers don't really notice the stuff we do, like seam finishing and so on but I felt comfortable making something for someone else and I couldn't say that about myself a year. like I said in the cinderella dress post I think one of the big changes were in making that dress. I usually don't pay much attention to detail, I'm far from a perfectionist, but when I sew for other people I really do feel that I have to make the extra effort for everything to look nice on the inside! (I'm not saying that my garments look like I put them through a shredder it's just not perfect).

Anyway, the next awesome thing that happened was that I wore one of the shirts I made for myself (and have yet to post about it)  to the Princeton Jazz Feast and wandered into a boutique. One thing led to another and the boutique owner asked me where I got my shirt (isn't that the most perfect compliment??) I told her (after doing a little dance) that I made it. She then offered that I make a few shirts and sell them on consigment in her shop.

Holy Sh@#$t!

Can you believe it? I'm like a celebrity!
To be honest, it's not the best deal in the world money wise but who cares?? 

I decided not to think about what people will think, and if they buy it and if the shop owner will
like it and just have fun with it! I came up with a few looks for fall (this was after a lot of thought  and consideration. I had to think of the hours it'll take to make each garment as well) that represent my style. I thought of it as kind of a Project Runway Challenge and tried to have fun with it (it was most stressful at times. believe that) .
This is what I came up with:

What do you guys think? Can you guess which one is the Shirt that started everything??

I'll write separate posts for each shirt and explain more about each one.

what do you think?? huh? huh? huh?
I'm really excited about the looks!
  

Stud Ye Collar

Finally I am back with a creation post!

I made this shirt in my sleevless-blouses-with-collars faze. I'm am sad to say that it lasted too long, which caused me to have a I'm-not-even-a-little-bit-creative-when-I'm-sewing breakdown. Does this ever happen to you? when you feel like all you're doing looks exactly the same? Anyway, after making my Double Collar Blouse and my Crochet Collar Blouse I felt like I was overdoing the idea. I am now staying away from collars and sleeves blouses and have started with a new obssesion, now all my shirts have a distinct vintage sillouete to them, as in, wider at the shoulders and come in at the waist.  It seems that I am incapable of making only one shirt of a kind, I insist on using the same pattern (as I draft them myself) and decide to clothe a whole country with them. why is that?

Also, if I ever write a novel I am using the picture above in the "about" section. Even though I am not by a book case or wearing glasses (which means I will not be taken seriously in the literate world) it has a I-did-not-pose for this quality and you can kind of see my bra through the fabric (more on this later) which is always a plus.

I have taken to like sewing with jersey. I bought this gold-silver fabric and had no idea what I would do with it.  I always have trouble with unique fabric. I feel like the right move is to make a simple garment and let the fabric speak for itself, but why do I sew if I let the fabric do all the speaking? I want some Kessem speeches in my clothes, otherwise I will have to compensate with the use of my verbal attributes which are over used as is (a least according to my mother).
How do you feel about this readers? do you make complicated garments with complicated fabrics or do you like to let your fabric do the work?

I almost wore this shirt to a job interview. THANK GOD I DID NOT. I HAD NO IDEA THIS BLOUSE WAS SO SHEER. I now understand the looks I have been getting from middle aged men while wearing this shirt.

I bought these studs in attempt to be trendy. I had them for quite a while before using them (their first debut was in the Chain of Fools Blouse in which they embellished the pocket.) I have to say, studding is addicting, even though I'm not set on having them on every garment I make I WANT to add them to everything. EVERYTHING. I fixed one of my mom's reusable shopping bags a few days ago and found myself thinking about embellishing them all with studs. My mom will be the most stylish shopper at Whole Foods is all I'm saying.

I attached the collar to the shirt with cotton bias tape, which was half a mistake and half genius. the reason it was a mistake is because the bias tape is MUCH heavier than the fashion fabric so it kind of pulls the fabric down and gapes a little. the genius part of it is that the bias tape offers stabilization to the collar (as I usually don't add stabilizer to jersey) which is nice.
Now that I have my handy dandy Bias Tape Maker I don't think I'll do this again. but just know that this is possible, if not stupid.

The only issue I have with this shirt is that it's too short and I can only wear it with very high waisted bottoms to avoid looking like a pop-over.

and with that I leave you with some questions from this post:
1) do you get into sewing rants and sew the same style garment over and over like I do?
2) How do you feel about interesting fabric? do you focus on it's uniqueness or somehow mold it into your own creation?
3) do you stupidly mix sewing fabrics and feel so ashamed of it you confess to the sewing world in the hope of getting penance?

That is all my friends!

A Few Cool Sewing Things from Boston

No, I did not buy fabric. (I'm going fabric shopping tomorrow in Philly though!), I just wanted to share with you guys a few cool things a saw in Boston that I immediately took pictures of so that I can show you guys.

So, I saw this store front on Newberry Street:

Sorry for not being able to take a picture of glass without me staring back at you.

you see the four vintage sewing machines? isn't that cool for a store front? you know whats even cooler?

THEY HAD A WHOLE WALL OF THEM!

and you know whats even cooler?

THEY HAD TWO WALLS LIKE THIS!
(no picture for that, sorry)

I nearly burst into the shop begging them to give me one, I mean, they're not even using them! it was a RTW store. It was high end and everything, but I just cant imagine them saying - oh you need us to shorten that? sure why don't I just pull my vintage Singer sewing machine off the shelf here and sew it. Now, I can't remember which of the 200 had a black bobbin, but if you'll help me we can find it in the next 15 min.

Next, we went to a Modern Art Museum (no idea why I capitalized that) and I saw this:

It's a cube of sewing needles that is holding itself together by basic physics laws (no glue, nothing!) my dad's a physics professor and he wouldn't believe it. he walked around the cube for a while waiting for the guard to turn so that he could poke it. he didn't.

Imagine having that as a needle holder instead of a stupid magnet. you'd never run out of sewing needles! (today I was hemming the bottom of a blouse and had to do it in segments because I didn't have enough pins. I really have no idea where they go off to.)

This made me laugh.

Please don't unfollow my blog because I make stupid jokes.
They're toothbrush holders that attach themselves to your mirror. And you may not lick them.

About stripe matching

Ever since I've started sewing, I feel like I notice more details in garments while shopping or looking for inspiration. For instance, if I see the back seam of an unlined jacket is finished with a hong kong style binding I'm impressed. I've never seen french seams in an RTW garment but I'd throw a whole parade for a garment like that. Right in the store.

On the other hand, seeing poorly made clothes DRIVES ME NUTS. I'm not talking about fraying seams and stuff like that, (I'm assuming non sewers notice that too?), BUT IF YOU'RE GOING TO SELL A DRESS FOR 60 $ TAKE THE TIME TO MATCH YOUR F&#$% STRIPES!
fewoh! I've been bursting to say that.
This is what I'm talking about:

I usually love Modcloth's products, I frequently peruse their site for inspiration (excellent evidence of this here), but this is just too much! I mean the stripes are at least  half an inch off (and I'm not even going to start about the skirt). Do people really pay 60$ for such a mistreated garment? I would think even non sewers would find this annoying.

What do you guys think? am I making too much of a big deal out of this? do you find that you look at all the tiny little details when you go shopping? (and your friends find you obnoxious and keep their shopping excursions secret so that you don't come an spoil all their badly made -in - china garments?)

Again, I'm not dissing Modcloth (ok, maybe I am a little), not to worry though, I have absolutely no spine and will, in about five minutes, go back to searching the Modcloth site while Oooing and Aaaahing.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cinderella Dress

I have never been more excited about a dress in my life! I made this dress for a friend so I did everything right. You know what I mean? This is terrible, but I am not even close to being a perfectionist, so when I make clothes for myself sometime I cut corners, get lazy with seam finishing and so on. I've been doing a lot less of that and I think that this dress was the catapult to my good behavior, because when it comes to making clothes for other people, I do want it to be perfect.

I drafted the pattern myself using a bodice sloper I created for my friend. I have to tell you, I've never put so much thought into anything I've sewed. I created the princess seams and the sleeves with the gathering detail. When I cut the pattern I measured the seam allowance really really carefully (I never measure anything carefully) and thought about everything twice before I made the first cut. I do realize this is how I should be treating every project and that just winging it just shouldn't cut it for me. But I really am lazy. I'm working on my sewing habits, though and my projects after this dress are so much more proffesional than my pre-dress creations.

The back has a low neckline (which I love) and the skirt is a full circle skirt (which was a nightmare to hem. I let it hang for two days and the skirt hem was so off I couldn't believe it was a circle to begin with)
Even though circle skirt take more time and effort than any A line skirt, I think they're SO beautiful and flattering. I love the way the drape and - for a lack of a better word - flop.

I finished the waist tie and hem with little scallops using Gertie's tutorial and I can imagine this was a uch easier way to finish them hem than a narrow hem, even though I did have to sit and cut of the scallops for two hours. I did this while watching The Good Wife so no harm done.
(can you see the belt loops?? how cool are they?? I don't remember where I found the tutorial for this - if anyone recognizes this tecnique let me know! but I just took 6 pieces of thread an sewed a zigzag stitch with my machine over them created a thin braid for the belt loop. cool huh?)

I used a poleyster satin for this. I almost gagged when I bought it (at my friedn's request), I though she'll end up looking like a girl in a beauty pageant. To my surprise - it turned out beautiful! I really feel like a Disney character when I wear it:

Convincing huh??
(after Bambi and I took this picture I started singing and a bird answered me and then two butterflies draped a shawl on my shoulders as it was getting chilly)

 I finished the armholes and neckline with store bought satin bias tape that was EXACTLY the color of the fabric. I couldn't believe my luck!

What do you guys think?
I'd really like to make one for myself, but I have nowhere to wear a satin dress (I go to a pathetic amount of social gathering a year) so maybe I'll make it in a different kind of fabric.
Any suggestions? I'd love your thoughts!