This is called a "pattern card." It has a line drawing of the garment and lists all of the pattern pieces by number and how many pieces should be cut from the fabric, lining, interfacing, etc. As you can see from the scratch-outs, I should have used a pencil to write down the information! There are A LOT of pattern pieces connected to this garment!

The first meeting of the advanced sewing class was yesterday.  The class meets each Friday for 6 1/2 hours.  And it is expected that we will be able to move fast! That said, we will be working on our tailored jacket for nine weeks. Our task for yesterday was trace off the manila pattern and cut the pieces out.  Until, that is, we found out that our planned field trip to the garment district for today, Saturday, was scrubbed because our source for the wool is closed this weekend for the Labor Day holiday.  Mrs. Poteet told us that we could go get our fabric if we wanted.  Soooooo, my friend Alex and I hopped into his car and rushed down to the garment district two hours before everything shut down.

Jacket Fabric and Notions (and Samples*)

• 2 1/2 yards of 100% wool (note from prof: “The best choice is a wool flannel–easiest and most successful = higher grade”)
• 1 yard fusible weft insertion interfacing
• 1 1/2 yards tricot knit fusible for upper collar, front facing, and samples.
• 2 yards tailor’s edge tape for the roll line, shoulders, and underarm (try to get 1/4″ wide)
• 2 yards 45″ wide lining.  Bemberg ® rayon is the best choice for lining fabric; silk fabric may also be used.  Acetate and polyester should be avoided.
• Shoulder pads–Model TTF
• Sleeve heads
• All purpose thread
• Silk thread
• Three 3/4-7/8″ buttons
• Seam roll
• Ham
• 1 package of hem lace (non-fusible) in a color that matches fabric
• 1 package narrow double fold bias tape –1/4″ wide
• 1 package Seams Great ® tricot binding
• 1/2 yard Bastiste or other lightweight cotton for back stay in color that matches fabric
• 1/4″ Steam a Seam fusible tape

*In addition to our jacket, we have to create samples of various techniques, such as making welt pockets, using a page size square of our fabric .  These are put into our notebooks and graded.

What Came Home With Me Yesterday

Our first stop was B. Black and Sons Fabrics for the wool because they gave us a 25% student discount. I knew exactly what I wanted: the same royal blue wool flannel that Mrs. Poteet had brought to class as a sample wool.  I haven’t seen a beautiful blue wool like this since I moved from the east coast.   Fortunately they still had some, so I snagged it.

Royal blue 100% wool flannel and Bemberg® rayon lining

While Alex was looking for a tweed he liked, I looked at the wool crepes.  I love crepe.  I love it!  I can blame Caroline (from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic fame) for getting me hooked on it.  She knew just where to buy it in every color of the rainbow for dirt cheap in NYC’s garment district.  I like crepe because it is a high-twist yarn which means that it is like a whole bunch of thread springs woven together to create the fabric.  It has a nice drape and is more forgiving when having to travel.  Finally, it is lightweight enough that it can be worn here in California for most of the year.

100% wool crepe and Bemberg ® rayon lining

My husband and classmates are trying to get me out of the “black clothing” rut I’ve been in for a very long time.  Part of the reason I’ve relied on black is because my favorite colors haven’t really been available in the ready-to-wear world for a very long time.  So, I avoided the impulse to buy black crepe and Alex gave his nod of approval for an icey-pale-lilac shade (and, according to Vogue Patterns, icey shades are “in vogue” this fall).  As the clerk was rolling out the fabric, I noticed that the tag said to watch for dirt.  So I did.  The dirt was on the outside along the fold–it looked like the bolt had been put down somewhere it shouldn’t have been put.  As a result, he gave it to me for 1/2 price.  I just took it out of the washer and the dirt is gone!

We also bought the fusible weft, tailor’s edge tape, the shoulder pads (these aren’t like the ones you buy at JoAnn’s!), sleeve heads, and Gutterman all-purpose thread.

Shoulder pads and sleeve heads in the foreground; the black fabric is the "weft" interfacing

Our next stop was Michael Levine so that Alex could get some canvas to support the bodice of a wedding gown that he is making and we wanted to get the batiste for our jackets.  This store is “the store” that home sewers feel the most comfortable going into their first time visiting the garment district.  There isn’t any haggling but everyone I’ve encountered has been very helpful AND they are open on Sundays when the district isn’t quite so crazy.  They didn’t have any batiste so we bought some Kona quilting cotton.

Our last stop was IDS International Design Supplies (they seem to be having trouble with their website right now but I want to provide the link for when it is working again).  IDS International had been visiting our classes all week and dropping off fliers offering great prices on design tools.  Alex needed a new portfolio and I needed a Vary Form hip curve ruler and we both needed more glass head pins.  The women who run the shop remembered us from their visits and offered to sell a “rabbit punch” to me at cost.  I wasn’t going to pass up that opportunity!

The Kona cotton, pins, vary form, and rabbit punch

What the heck is a rabbit punch???? The easiest way to organize your pattern pieces, pattern card, spec sheet, etc. for a garment is to hang them on a pattern hook.  The rabbit punch is like a hole punch that creates nice big holes that enable you to hang the patterns and paperwork on the hook.  When buying one, always go for the cast metal one.  They are often the same price as the plastic ones but will last forever.

Pattern hook; this enables me to store all of the patterns I've made for my classes in the closet in my home office

Another view of the rabbit punch

What I Still Need to Buy

Aside from the various packaged tapes I can buy at JoAnn’s, I still need to find very fine silk thread (used for basting) and…

Seam roll (I’ve been faking it with a rolled up towel):

Tailor’s ham (mine has disappeared):

Clapper/point presser combination:

These tools are pressing tools.  The school has them but since we’ll be doing a lot of our sewing at home, I don’t want to do a half-baked job on the project just because I don’t have the right tools.

So, there you have it!  That’s what followed me home yesterday!

I couldn’t bring myself to sew.

I wasn’t interested in reading the sewing blogs I usually follow.

Patterns and fabric I bought over the summer just sat on my sewing machine.

I was crispy fried when it came to sewing.

I’m sure you figured that out because there weren’t many updates coming from the sewing cabinet.

And you know what?  I think it is perfectly legitimate to give one’s creativity muscles and juices a break.  For ten months they had been working overtime despite Alice’s surprise birth and my grandfather’s mostly surprise passing (he was 96, after all).

But school has started for the year.  I am tutoring the intro to fashion course and taking both intermediate and advanced sewing classes.  After a two month break, I am ready to jump in and learn, learn, learn and sew, sew, sew!

Oh, yeah, and share with you all what I’m learning!!

PS: Don’t forget to become a “fan” of Grandma’s Sewing Cabinet on Facebook for in between blog/podcast posting updates and conversation.

I remember when I was intimidated by the idea of having to make bust dart adjustments.  What is this slash and spread thing and where do I cut?

First, make a “working pattern” by tracing the original pattern.  You want to have your original pattern intact in case you need to start from the beginning again.  This will also give you confidence when you start marking up and cutting into the pattern to make your adjustments.  It may feel tedious but doing this step has saved me on more than one occasion.

Before you do anything to the pattern, you need to have a good handle on where your bust apex really is…not where you wish it were but where it is (perhaps having to do this step will encourage you to get that new set of bras that you’ve been putting off…). Wearing a snug, but not constricting, knit top and the bra you will wear with the garment, measure from the point where the shoulder seam intersects with the curve of your neck down to your bust apex (nipple).  Make sure that your tape measure is perpendicular to the floor when measuring.  If you angle it, the measurement will be off.  At the same point on the pattern, measure down from the shoulder and mark were your bust apex is located (for example, see purple lines on illustration).

Measure how far the pattern’s dart point is from the pattern’s bust apex.  It can be anywhere from 3/4″ to 1 1/2″, depending upon the design of the pattern.  Make a mark equal to that distance next to your apex.  That is your new dart point.  If you wish, you can draw a line from the dart point to the end of the dart legs.  Also, draw a line from the dart point, through the apex and the center front.

You are now ready to make some of the adjustments that Shirley Adams demonstrates in this video…

Click here if the player does not work for you

Betty Draper’s white dress intrigues me because I love pleated skirts and the buttons that partially go down one side of the bodice.  I’ve been trying to figure out how to adapt it for Southern California fall where it stays warm clear to Thanksgiving (and beyond) but I don’t want a sleeveless look.

Simplicity’s 4399 might do the trick!  Although Betty’s is not a true wrap around, this pattern could be adapted the following ways to evoke the white dress without actually replicating it:

• Use View 1 bodice and sleeves
• Use View 2 skirt but pleat it instead of gathering it.  Debating about whether to keep the flat panel and wrap around or to simply eliminate the wrap around and put a zipper into the side seam.  The flat panel would masquerade stomach pooch that might be emphasized by pleats sticking out where they shouldn’t be.

Image courtesy of Out of the Ashes Collectibles

The second ensemble is a Hitchcock Blonde suit and easy to replicate.  Oh how I wish I were a Hitchcock Blonde!  But only for the fabulous wardrobe, not all of the trouble that besets them.

We only get the gist of it but I’m guessing that it is in the mode of a Jackie O dress/suit.  There are a lot of Jackie O style dress and suit patterns available but most of them do not have a collar.  However, Simplicity 5383 not only can be adapted for our use, but it also has a vintage Chanel attitude about it (Betty’s wardrobe seems to be moving in that direction), too.  To adapt this pattern, simply scallop the front closing and collar.  Interestingly, when I was looking through a mid-40′s Butterick pattern book, there were a lot of dresses that had that scalloped look.  I think it is a great way to add interest to a rather simply silhouette, don’t you?

Image courtesy of Out of the Ashes Collectibles

What do you think?

But, in honor of the new season of Project Runway, I thought I would show a clip synthesizing the Fall 2010 collections to get us in the mood for some fall sewing.  I didn’t find anything I liked.  Truth is, I want to look at stuff I could imagine me wearing…not something like the Donna Karan Vogue Pattern I talked about yesterday. (I loved Betty’s comment about it on the Facebook fan page: “It looks like she forgot to sew up the back and decided to just tie up the corners and tuck in the raw edges! No one will notice, right?”).  So much of the runway stuff I saw looked completely unwearable in real life.  I’m going to go out on a limb and just say it: Just because it is on a runway doesn’t mean that it is fashionable.

So, in desperation, I decided to go to individual designer’s sites to see what I could find.  I was rewarded at the Chanel site with the Fall/Winter 2010 Haute Couture collection.  While the collection didn’t reflect Vogue Pattern’s Fall Fashion Forecast (PDF File) exactly, the influence was there.

Okay, so why did I like the collection so much?  Generally speaking, I loved the silhouettes.  I don’t know if it is the influence of my sculptor husband but form is one of the first things I notice (the texture of how light plays with color is the other thing).  The silhouettes in this collection are completely wearable or easily adapted for real life.  I’m not going to wear a brocade dress to work, but I could see myself wearing that particular shape.  There were a lot of flared skirts and sheath dresses.  The designs were feminine and timeless and person who is not six feet tall and weighing only 100 pounds could wear them, too.

There are several variations on the sheath with a cropped back-closing jacket (see the maroon photo above).  After I had my dissertation defense, I started working on a vintage pattern from the late 40′s with that silhouette to wear to my graduation party.  Alas, I ran out of time and bought a cute little party dress.  I still like that silhouette but think that with my current bustiness, I’d have to add darts to make it curve under the bust instead of just hanging straight down.

Oh, and before I give you the link (since I can’t find a way to embed the video), I just have to tell you that I hated the clompy boots.  It’s bad enough that models stomp their way around the runway but the boots make it worse.  I thought for sure some of those girls were going to fall! (And don’t get me started on wanting to brush their hair!  *arghh* I’ve turned into my mother!!! *laugh*)

Click here to watch show (approximately 15 minutes)

Click here to see the individual pieces