I'm kind of worried

They say the Europeans have their fingers on the pulse of fashion.  This is, apparently, why the patterns in Burda Magazine often look completely outlandish to me.  They are 2-3 years ahead of the provincial little town I live in. Apparently.  

I confess: I do not have my fingers on the pulse of fashion.  (This may not be news to you.)  


I remember the first pattern I saw with an exposed zipper.  It was in the January, 2009 issue. 

Yuck, I thought.  Nice skirt, except for that stupid zipper.  I made the skirt.  I put a demure invisible zipper in a seam at CB (where a zipper belongs).  

I resisted the exposed zipper trend until very recently.  I do love my LBD with the long metal zip.  It took me 39 months to come to terms with this trend.  It's probably just about over.

 

So imagine my alarm when I saw this last week.

At first I thought the good folks on Ravelry were putting a bunch of amusing 30 year old patterns up for posterity.  No.  This is a pattern by Bergère de France from their 2012-13 collection.  


Here's another one. (It's designed for a yarn that includes lurex for "discreet sparkle".)


ACK! 


Burda's doing it too.

I figure I have until fall, 2015 to stay in denial.  

As promised - but no time for text

Worth the wait?

FINALLY The Sewing Lawyer finished that dress.  You know, that one she's been taunting you by mentioning since FEBRUARY?  The one to be made from luscious peacock blue wool crepe, underlined with silk organza and lined with china silk?  That was cut out (all layers) in APRIL?  The sleeveless dress with the asymmetrical faux closure and side zipper?  Surely you remember it!

In case not, here (again) is the line drawing.

As of March, 2014, the pattern is available for download on the BurdaStyle website.

I made a muslin.  One thing that needed adjustment was that the bodice was too long.  I shortened it by about 1cm.

I also realized that despite recent weight (and circumference) reductions, I still needed a bigger size in the hip, and some of the extra needed to be in the front thigh area.  I could add a bit to the little tucks, and to the underlap left side front.  However, I had a moment of puzzlement as I contemplated that dead straight right side overlap.  I outwitted Burda by installing a long dart along the foldline.

Here's the pattern piece.

Pattern piece showing enlarged tucks and long dart

Once the dart is sewn and the facing is pressed back along the dart line, it is totally invisible.

As you can see at right (sort of).

Let me see, what else can I tell you?

I installed a lapped zipper at the side seam.  I decided I didn't want the zipper to open right into the armhole, although in retrospect, that would have made climbing in and out of this dress less of a contortionist's worst nightmare.  I haven't done a lapped zipper for years.  I remembered a trick which involves centering the zipper on the basted seam and sewing one side of it (the underlap side) permanently to the seam allowance only.  The next step is to pull or push the zipper and seam allowance over towards the overlap side.  Once it's pressed in place, the third and final step is to sew the overlap side through all layers.

Wow, that's unclear!  Hoping a picture could be worth a thousand words, here I am pushing the zipper over in preparation for step two.

The dress is fully lined with fun china silk (2nd hand find courtesy of my husband) for the bodice, and slippery bemberg for the skirt.

What can you tell from this flat on the floor inside-out photo?  One:  there are facings at the armcyes.  It would have been impossible to sew the lining  to the edge by machine at both the neck and the arm openings, and handsewing would have been (a) clunky and (b) a nightmare.  I puzzled over this and then decided to take DIGS' excellent advice which was to draft a little facing and interface it with a clean finished outer edge.

I've done this before.  Here's a pic of the interfacing side of the facing.

Two:  there is a fashion fabric facing at the lower end of the underlap side of the skirt.  This was a retrofit; according to Burda I should have lined to the edge.  A facing is needed for (a) stability and (b) looks, since when I sit down in this narrow skirt the underneath of both sides of the opening would show.

Three:  the entire faux opening is ATTACHED BY HAND.  I truly hope it's sufficiently secure.  One of the (many) reasons why this dress is so delayed is that I was puzzling over whether I could possibly sew this by machine.  I came to the conclusion that I could not for many technical reasons, and that if I tried it would look like crap and I would just have to rip it out and do it by hand.  So I skipped to the end and just did it.

On the outside, the faux overlap is topstitched using ordinary sewing thread and a triple stitch.  And I added two functional buttons at the top.  They're gorgeous, heavy and expensive enamel buttons which I found at Darrell Thomas Textiles.  I think they are absolutely perfect.

The dress will be modelled tomorrow when there is some light.

I need a simple sewing project ... badly!

In my defence

At least I'm finishing something, if not my turquoise wool dress.

Gray Harmony

Here is my latest knitting project, which I think is quite successful.

It's made from a blend of 70% silk, 30% linen acquired from ColourMart.  The gauge is about 30 stitches to 10cm (4") so there are about a millionty-million stitches in this puppy.

It was an adventure from the beginning because I used a pattern available only in French found on Ravelry (it's called Harmony; look it up if you are a member).  Though it had been on the site for several years, nobody had posted about making it.

Harmony

The first challenge was to translate and understand the pattern.  This involved some e-mails with the designer who was very responsive and helpful.

The second challenge was to decide if the pattern as written would actually work in my yarn.  I decided it wouldn't so I set out to adjust on the fly.

The third, of course, was the actual knitting.  It took just over six weeks.  

Things I did differently from the pattern:  chose a different fibre with different properties; increased the number of stitches; changed the cabled rib pattern a little bit; knit in the round to eliminate seaming as much as possible; adjusted the shaping to create the cowl; added i-cord binding at the arms to improve the finish.  It's a good thing I'm apparently fearless.

All that said, it looks quite a lot like the picture on the Ravelry pattern page, so I'm very satisfied.

World's oldest UFO

Breaking news!  Today I am shoveling out the sewing room sorting my possessions, including those stashed carefully in the deepest corners of my sewing room, and I found the colour-work knitted vest I started in the fall of 1985!

The only things missing are the buttons and the garter stitch bands for the arm openings.  I knitted the bands, just didn't sew them on.

I think I stopped so close to the finish line because it didn't fit as illustrated (see below) and the closer fit didn't suit my 80s sensibilities.  I could probably block it a bit bigger, but now the fit seems just fine.

I inspected it with the benefit of additional decades of life (if not knitting) experience during which time I have become far more picky.  
I am impressed by the knitting.  My tension was great and the floats on the back are nice and relaxed.

However, I did a bad job on the assembly.

I wouldn't choose these colours if I was starting this project today, but methinks I'll resew it to meet current quality control standards chez The Sewing Lawyer, and finish it (finally).

The pattern is "A sleeveless cardigan for Sir or Madam" from The Man's Knitting Book - classic patterns from the '20s to the '50s by Jane Waller, now out of print.  If you come across it, it's a really nice collection.

This pattern is from the roaring '20s.

Hits and misses

I'm working on my latest dress (yes, yes, there has been progress) and, as usual, have needed to try it on periodically.  This one has a side zipper.  I haven't done a lapped zipper in any location, let alone a side-seam zipper, since before the turn of the century.  It went in OK and all that, but the combination of a side zipper, not extending right into the armhole but just below it, and a close-fitting skirt means that this dress is not easy to get into.  Which worries me about whether I will like to wear it.  Which in turn leads me to ponder what exactly it is that makes a sewing project a real hit.

If we can identify the magic criteria, I could perhaps ensure that I'd have more hits and fewer misses. 

Not that I have an indecent number of misses.  But there are definitely items that I turn to again and again, and those that stay hanging in the closet.  Have a look at these jacket projects, which all date back to 2007.      

First some hits:

Jacket is #108 from Burda WOF, August
2006.  Top is OOP Vogue 2683

I love this jacket.  I wear it constantly in the winter, along with the simple bias-cut matching top.  In fact I've made the top (Vogue 2683) so many times I lost count.  I wear the pair with a long pale grey skirt or with plain brown wide-legged pants.

What I love:  The fabric - the leaves are woven into the fabric - purchased at Tissus Tuéni in Montreal.  The colours - mix of warm brown and beige, and cool greys.  The fit.  The piping.  The collar.  I like being able to throw on the jacket and top for an instant ensemble.  I like being able to take the jacket off if I overheat.

Vogue 1472 - Paris Original (ca 1959) 

Next, what about this jacket, made from a vintage Vogue Paris Original Christian Dior pattern, found (uncut and including the Vogue label with the Eiffel Tower) at the Fabric Flea Market one year?  I made a skirt to mimic the one in the pattern but with some room so I could actually walk, climb stairs etc.

What I love:  The fabric - lush wool with a woven-in design, purchased at the Wool House in Toronto.  The somewhat boxy but still refined fit.  I appreciated the couture details, like the fact that the collar is cut so that the corners are perfectly square and on-grain (CB seam is off grain as a result), and that a perfect amount was already included for turn-of-cloth.  The buttons are vintage glass, purchased from a local collector.  I did a good job on this jacket, pad stitching and all.  Bound buttonholes, even on the non-working sleeve vents.  (More photos here.)

This is a very feminine suit, but still (am I deluding myself?) powerful.  I wear it often with a little shell.  A jacket and sleeveless top combo is very practical in my office.

Unfortunately, doing a great job sewing-wise isn't the ticket to a hit for my closet.

Vogue 7908 (Claire Shaeffer pattern)

This jacket fits, it's well-made (more pictures here), and it combines orange and teal in a tiny woven-in pattern. I love the colours and lined the body with orange silk.  However from a distance the colour is less interesting, and the jacket fabric is a little stiff.  I think it is a wool blended with some synthetic.  The stiffness carries into the very structured collar (I think I used a fusible hair canvas) which fits very close to my neck at the sides.  This isn't completely uncomfortable but detracts somewhat from the feel of the jacket on.

There is an unsuccessful matching skirt, which is seamed in a way that makes it impossible to turn into something else, unfortunately.  So the jacket is a bit of an orphan.  That's a problem.  I like it, in theory.  However it doesn't get worn very much.

Do these garments reveal anything to you about my style and preferences?  Want to see more ancient (pre-blog) projects from The Sewing Lawyer's closet?

Scattered in spring

The Sewing Lawyer can't even use gardening as an excuse for her absence from this blog since DH is the gardener around here.  He's very good at it!  (More pictures here.)

This first long weekend of the season, I have found that it's extremely pleasant to knit on the deck.  Even when a tiny special stitch marker dropped directly into the gap between two cedar planks, into the inaccessible abyss below.

What are the odds of that happening?  Apparently 100%.

However, this delightful sock is emerging.  I took a day off work a week ago to learn sock-knitting from one of the masters (mistresses?) - Cat Bordhi.  She's a knitting genius.

Knitting a sock from the toe up, sculpting it without seams or even picking up stitches into this astonishing 3 dimensional shape, reminds me of making a shirt with every seam perfectly felled, no raw edges anywhere, entirely by machine.

And for those of you who are contemplating unsubscribing to my blog in disgust at finding (again) no news of actual sewing, I promise you the machines have been in use today also.  Please don't go just yet!!!

Another pattern from my past

The Sewing Lawyer developed an early interest in tailoring. It's hard to believe, but in those ancient days when she was in high school, a course in tailoring was in the public school curriculum.  Thus, as has been mentioned before, in grade 12, she made a plaid coat.

When you are young and fearless, you just carry on and do the most amazing things.  So I went on tailoring, not realizing that this was actually pretty hard to do well.  Attending the University of Toronto brought with it an introduction to the wonderful nearby garment district and the mysteries of the stores that supplied real tailors.

And in the 1970s, it wasn't considered all that strange for a student to wear a 3 piece suit, on occasion.

In my memory, it was perfect.  Luckily I don't still have the suit.  I'm pretty sure the tailoring wouldn't measure up to my current standards.

This pattern is on offer at Lanetz Living today.  Only $3.00.

The zipper

I've had a few questions about the zipper I used in my all-black colour block dress.  Mostly, the questions break down into two types:  where/how did I find the exact perfect length zipper, and is it comfortable to wear a dress with a big metal zipper that runs from neckline to hem?

I had no great desire to add the zipper to the dress until the perfect zipper, a silver-coloured metal two-way separating zip presented itself to me in a tiny semi-basement Toronto store stuffed with fascinating notions.  I blogged about my flying trip to the Leather and Sewing Supply Depot here.

Now the zipper wasn't the right length - it was too long by about a foot.  But when you're dealing with zippers, too long is not really a problem.  If you have pliers and aren't too intimidated, it's pretty easy to remove teeth and replace the zipper stops where you need them.  There are how-to videos on You-Tube and other sites.

Replacing the slider if you accidentally pull it up above where you removed the teeth (oops) is a little bit harder but also not a show-stopper.  I had to do this - not, I hasten to say, because I pulled the slider off accidentally, but because the zipper I bought had the top slider on the inside of the zipper so I had to take it off and replace it on the other side.  I would explain how I did it, but I'm afraid it would be pretty incomprehensible.   My advice, if you ever need to do this, is to search for a video on line.

As to wearability, apart from the first little frisson of cold when I put the dress on, the zipper is completely comfortable to wear - it's not even noticeable.

And on another zipper-related topic, today is the 132nd anniversary of the birthday of the inventor of this ubiquitous and essential notion. His name was Gideon Sundbäck.  Google commemorated this great event with one of its animated home pages.  Enjoy!

My new dress (to be)

I was going to call this post "introducing my new dress" but I decided that would be cruel.

A bit further along than flat folds

At least it's cut out...

This will be the sleeveless dress with the asymmetrical faux-closure from February's Burda.  I'm making it from turquoise wool crepe, which will be underlined with silk organza. The bodice lining is the China silk print and the skirt will be lined with slipperier Bemberg.

Since taking this photo, I finished basting the underlining in place and construction has begun.

"Harmony" knitting pattern
by Nadia Zarrouk - available
on Ravelry

However, again I've been sidetracked by knitting.  My new project is a pattern found via Ravelry.  So far I've done the 2nd cable twist row and it's looking good.  I have some stash fabric lined up to coordinate.  More on that later.

I'm making the top from a silk and linen blend (70-30%) fingering weight yarn, which I ordered from ColourMart.  Oh my, if you are a knitter, you should check out the CM site!  They have lots of really luxurious yarns (cashmere, fine merino, silk etc.) for very down-to-earth prices. Four cones, each about 500 metres of 100% silk yarn for $22 (shipping included), were delivered to my door on Friday.  

100% silk DK in maroon

Here's one of them, auditioning with a scrap of a beautiful wool bouclé from stash.  Did Chanel knit?