The Seamstress

The Seamstress' Apprentice

2011-02-07T06:16:00.000+00:00

There are a few things in sewing that one can't do alone. As described before, the last course was about changing into the potato sack called the toile, to then, in front of the whole class, stick pins into each other's in the hope to follow the shape of the body. The homework comprised of marking the position of the needles with a pencil. We however had run out of time, so it felt sensible to retouch the position of the needles a bit, before attending to the main task.

Full focus on the task!

I am rather flexible but not so flexible to reach my back comfortably, and surely not to put needles into the right places without risking serious injuries. So I got lucky that friend Vidhya came over with the intention to learn how to do lasagna, which hubby was brewing one level below of my attempts to kill myself in a voodoo session with my toile. The good girl swiftly jumped in and showed quite some talent in pinning the thing together.

The top bit is not looking too bad, enough room for movement around the shoulder blades, but it's darn difficult to make the transition from an size 8 waist to a size 12 rear. The front bulges, although I got confirmed by my training buddy that I have a really rather flat tummy, and the bit above the rear is always the problem. It seems that the darts are not 'darty' enough...

And then the solution actually lay in not pinning it away as a dart in North-South direction, but as a fold East-West. Still a bit of a bulge, but now the original darts have almost been folded in. So it might be a solution to put them back and there we are. The surprised exclamation of my apprentice as she looked up from her focussed work: 'Yay, it's a dress!'

So, now that I was neatly sitting in this template of a future dress, there was no getting out of it anymore. OK, we removed the needles in the back but in the end we had to cut open a few inches from the stitching in the back of the skirt as well, to free me from the prickly thing.

Eventually I could attend to my actual homework, the marking of the needles. A pencil stroke on one side on top of the needle and from the other left and right of it, will help finding the right shape once the toile will be disassembled and 2-D again.

Not sure how to deal with the rather small arm and neck hole, though. Well, there is always another Thursday to tell!

Ta ta

... more of toile

2011-02-04T06:55:00.000+00:00

So yesterday was the day of truth. After having made my homework by tacking my toile together:

darts first,
North-South ones ironed to the outside, East-West ones ironed down (well I got that wrong and ironed them up...)
then the sides
then top to bottom bit
then closing back only the skirt

there was more tacking to do in class

along the lines of neck, arm holes and back
then using those lines to tack over arm holes neck and one side of the back

nipping little cuts so in tight bends it would fall nicely

And then was dress-up time. Two of us had their toiles finished and went off to change and help each other closing the back. Then in front of the whole class and the observing eye of Roger a lot of nipping happened. We had to pin down the toile to shape size which is a rather delicate thing to do especially around the boobs... whoops sorry, we call it 'bust' these days.

Didn't get round to taking a picture yet, but will before I get on with my new homework. Will show you next time.

Ta Ta

Making a Toile

2011-01-30T19:41:00.001+00:00

Eventually the lovely notebook
found a good use

Apart from being a rather complex decorating pattern on cloth, a toile is a test garment used to create a cut pattern to suit a person's shape. According to Roger, our couture teacher, one doesn't need a dummy if one has a pattern made from a toile, as a dummy is symmetric while people usually aren't. So a cloth tailored to the body will do the trick.

To start us off he had standard size cut patterns in all sizes from which we had to choose ours. That was interesting! Obviously one has to measure hips, waist, and bust to then select the size that is the closest match towards the bigger end - which means size 20 (European 46) for me. How unflattering!

Bravely I copied the massive thing, luckily it comes in four parts so the finals size doesn't instantly become obvious, and then happily made my way home after the first lesson.

For lesson number two some medium calico was required, thus some shopping was in order. The only haberdashery shop I know, however had run out of it except for a tiny piece. Never mind, I got it anyway and invested in a new measuring tape - imperial and metric in one go - and a thimble.

See, that's my fly in the ointment of needlecraft indulgence: I don't have a clue oft the terminology. I learned those things some 40 years back in Germany. I however found that even things like the humble thimble have elaborate Wikipedia pages. What would we do without the Internet?

Moving on: On inspection of my pathetic piece of calico, dear and very patient Roger suggested to do a short skirt... I took it as a reference to the prominent hip area of mine which sort of covers everything that might need measuring below of it.

Second lesson over with the cut pattern transferred to the calico, and having received instructions on how to tack it together, home I went. Today now was the day to take the first needle action. As advised I was as thorough as possible - although it will all be taken apart after having nipped and tucked it to shape - and nevertheless some seams didn't quite line up... oh well. The brain has not become any faster over the years and neither have the fingers. The trouble always starts with remembering which bit goes inwards and what is the difference between left and right.


... a bit frazzled yet happy

In the end however it sort of looks what it is supposed to look like: A potato sack!

I am utterly keen to see how to make this into the pattern that will make me look gorgeous. Additionally I can't wait to start on my first real piece. Teachers orders are 'a simple pencil skirt'. I look frumpy in pencil skirts. Again, I am keen to see what will be suggested to remedy that. I however need a skirt for my corsets and anything I produce will be better than the stuff that I get from the rail. I guess this is calling for another shopping trip - this time for the perfect fabric.

Will keep you posted!

A Seamstress?

2011-01-28T06:53:00.000+00:00

I never could have my thumbs twiddling for long, before I came up with something creative. The one thing however to which I keep coming back to over and over again is sewing.

It doesn't take any wonder, given a shape that has a variance of 3-4 dress sizes depending on where it is measured. I always had to take my trousers in at the waist, and sometimes that was not even possible - which I had to learn the hard way - as this might make the hole so small that the legs won't fit through anymore. Well, one of them, possibly, but not two.

During the immediate pre-IL phase I only was wearing my own creations of trousers of which I only could find one picture which shows something blurry black. It seems that although I was proud of my creations, I was not proud to be seen IN them. Then stretch fabric came back into fashion and I got a bit leaner, but the proportions still were unfortunate ones, at least fashion wise.

With all my new confidence and shape, I on top of it all don't want to be seen in something which everybody else is wearing. True individualism shows in the choice of clothing! Then I heard of this course where a proper couturier is teaching, and couldn't help but join. I was hoping that this approach would put the fun back into the one hobby I did out of need. I don't like mending and fixing, I like creating, and in sewing one will want to get it right, the outcome is very much on display after all.

Well what can I say? With this course I found a golden egg. These are the two hours of the week when everything falls of me, I am like in a bubble, and as I am creating this blog in the wake of those events I call it 'The Seamstress'. I am glad in a way that I didn't discover welding first, something which I really would want to learn as well. I think 'seamstress' has a nicer ring to it, than 'welder'.

This first article will have to be short, though. I still need to create the blog header, have to add it to the ILP landscape, too, and I have to take pictures to document the two weeks, which already have passed. I just wanted to let you know that there is a new kid on the blog, the number 13... Let's make it a lucky one!

Ta ta