Claire Kennedy Design

White and such things

Now that summer is in full swing, white is all the rage again.  (Don't you just love it how fashion discovers white all over again every summer!!!!  But it's good no matter what time of year!)

Anyway, there are some things that go along with white that a sewist must remember.  White is transparent.  More than any other color in the spectrum or in your fabric stash.  I had to learn that certain colors on my watercolor palette are transparent - greens, blues, but my reds, yellows and oranges were all opaque - why cause the cadmium in the warmer colors was opaque....why?....I dunno. 

Why is white fabric transparent?....it just is, don't ask - just accept it as law!

Here's why!!!

No matter how well you sew or how great your fabric is (or how thick your white fabric is), the pockets, fly, seam allowances and anything else underneath will show.  And although they are spectacular for summer, white pants must be lined.

Actually, I'm not really a fan of white pants, and only on certain occasions will I wear them - when I do it's usually with a jacket, tunic or other longer top garment over my bum (as the Brits would say!)

Well, this is a big much, but makes my point.

  
Lining your white pants completely solves this problem of seams and "other things" showing through.  If you can't stand lining, but are obsessed with wearing white pants, you can half line the pants - to the knee, after this, the pants are usually loose enough not to show the lining hem.

And in case you are still not persuaded, then view the following - of course at your own risk, and please remove the children from view of the computer screen.  I won't be responsible for blindness or severe emotional damage.

My point made - enough said!

Designing for the no waist figure

Continuing on a theme - how to dress for different figure types....and my rant crusade for acceptance of sane body shapes, here's the latest - about the waist.

 

For my star du jour this blog, I've chosen Dame Judith Dench. An English lady who we all probably first saw on "As Time Goes By" on PBS late at night - or at least that's where I saw here, and after that she seemed to pop up everywhere - "M" on 007 series (she's so fabulous there),  Most of these are from the red carpet, so they are clothes that either she picked out or were for her - not costumes from movies.

This is just OK - nothing special.  When a star walks out on the red carpet she should look great, and there are people to help her.  She's not going to the local market to pick up a liter of milk and caught off-guard by the paparazzi, she's dressed to the nines....just to show you that even people in the public make mistakes.

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This expression looks like she was caught by the papparizi, and she looks a lot better...Dame Judi looks fabulous in pants as we'll see.  They lengthen her. She must have legs to her bust or something because it works time and time again.

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I know light colors are fun to wear, but with no shape and the way light projects, it's just real dangerous and here's the reason why.  No shape, she looks like she's wearing a sequined gunny sack, and there are so many more things she can wear (and does) that really look smart.

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She must be smiling cause she looks so good. See what pants do for her.  But there's something else working here.  It's the tunic.  She has it open and a low-cut camisole under it.  The long lines of the tunic open and particularly how it hits her decolletage is very lengthening which helps her look much slimmer.  Also black recedes, white projects...she's not anything but a wall flower here - she looks stunning.

One of the many things I like about what she wears, is the detail.  All of her clothes seem to have great attention to details and detail ornamentation or effects.  Shows great care in her selection of clothes.

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Again with the long scarf, long tunic and pants...there's no Ms. Frumpy here...very smart looking, even though I wouldn't have picked green for her, she looks very smart and well put together.  Another feature of what makes this work is her rolled up sleeves.  She will frequently wear 3/4 length or rolled up sleeves.  This keeps the tunic (which is large to start with) from looking frumpy or over-bearing.

Try this sometime...you have a large jacket, tunic, top or whatever, and it's long-sleeved.  Now pull up the sleeves to just below the elbow or a little lower and you will be amazed at how much more sophisticated you'll look.  OK - so it's 12" of snow outside, obviously this won't work.  But when weather permitting, try it.  I will often get a couple of rubber bands to put at the cuff area and push my sleeves where I want them and the rubber bands are lost in the folds of the sleeve and keep the sleeve right where I want it.

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She does so well, and then boom - back to frumpy dress.  The shawl is just too much, where's her waist?...where's her beautiful, long legs?  Gone.

 

Oh yikes....no more light colored dresses.  Love the detail...it's beautiful...imagine how much better this would look 3/4 sleeve length, and if the tunic was shorter, and a little more shaped to her body.  She really doesn't have to look this shapeless.

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See - with her right color - trademark scarf, long tunic, and great pants and killer shoes...she's off.  Very well done.  Good color - lavender and it makes her look glowing.

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I just love her as "M" who you do NOT say noo to her - EVER - even with double 0's!

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Wow!  This has everything...starting from the top - the great feature around her neck and face to take away from the no-waist bod.  She's got sort of a lace trimmed tunic with a collar on it, and the whole effect around her neckline is terrific.

Then she's got on either large balloon type pants or a to-the-body skirt and this works on her.  It's probably chiffon and just falls straight which works.  Anything too full, and she's toast.

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But my favorite no-waist person is my far Princess Diana.  She was totally beautiful and she was NOT fat.  She worked out compulsively, but genetically she had no waist.  That's why this dress, even though it flows like a dream and I'm sure that's what she loved about it, looks really thick through the waist.  This would work great on Marilyn Monroe, but Diana just doesn't have the waist to do this.

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I think that Diana went through a "princess" phase soon after her marriage, and she wanted to try all those full and exotic gowns and thank heavens she got them out of her hair, but in the meantime, it was really hard to watch.

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And then she got it right.  She has no accentuation of the waist...accentuation is on her thin hips and tall, tall legs and she looks wow!!

 

For people who are dressing for a large bust or shoulders and no waist, the biggest thing to stay away from is that under arm droop.  Do not think that you have to get a size 142 to fit your bust or chest....it's your shoulder you want to fit, and then add that front bust dart...that front bust dart is the space you need not through the shoulder. 

Then keep your jacket, top, blouse uncluttered in the midriff area - that's around the waist and just above...don't let that get too full or too tight...shape it to your body and give yourself a little nip of a waist, but remember fit is NOT skin tight or the buttons popping off.

Consider too, doing a 3/4 length on the sleeve or push your sleeves up holding them with rubber bands or elastic in the cuff.  This is very effective and can go a long way toward adding to your length...it keeps the jacket  or top from looking too frumpy and just too much fabric on top.

A longer tunic with pants is a classic way to look long in length.  A floor length skirt works too, but it has to be close to the body, like chiffon or something with a very loose drape.

Dame Dench is queen of the scarves and things around her neck, and hopefully you can see how a contrasting color long scarf can really add length...and this can be something as simple as a piece of nice fabric that has been edged nicely and then wrapped around your neck...it isn't hard to make one of these things.

 

OK - hopefully that gives you lots of ideas for lengthening and stretching out a "no-waist" body style.

 

Why are pants so hard?

Part of what makes fitting pants so hard is to know what a good fit is.

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some movie stars and their pants and how they fit.  Mostly these are from the 50's and 60's because these were made of fabric, not stretch fabric.

Why?

Because stretch is not a fit.  Stretch is a fabric that fits no matter what, and fitting and making stretch pants doesn't require that much fit.  The other side of the coin is that stretch pant show ever error of your body, whereas a great fitting pair of woven fabric pants will make you look great.

So here we go.

I love using Marilyn cause in my day, she was the penultimate sexy symbol...she had the perfect figure that everyone wanted to emulate.  She was not skin and bones, she was voluptuous and very sexy.

Look at these pants...even though she's not standing straight, which is where you want to fit your pants, you can see that she has wrinkles in her pants.  Some of these are due to her position, but some are natural...the wrinkles in the middle are from when she's sat or stooped in them and these are natural wrinkles in woven fabric.  Also look to see how small her waist is compared to her hips.  This is fit well too - no drooping or excess around waist or hips.

I would like everyone to cut the picture below out and past it on their wall.  Look at the stomach this gal had and it was considered sexy.  It's also fit well.  If you look closely here you can also see some saddlebags - albeit small, but it's there.  See how there is fullness just below the hip line?  This helps mask this saddlebag look.

Another great shot of Marilyn's stomach and how well it's fit.  You can see in this check the darts and how they fit her waist and stomach.  And notice again the fullness below her saddlebags which helps mask the fullness through the lower hip/upper thigh area.

Reading the wrinkles here, the ones that are in her inseam, are natural for the position she has where she's standing on one hip.  This is common, but not ill-fitting.  If these wrinkles were pointing toward the crotch area, then we'd have a fitting problem, but seeing them being parallel to the ground, makes them OK - they just come from her body position.

OK - to one of my favorite movies (Gentlemen Prefer Blonds.  Note to self:  record the movie and take out some stills showing how well the clothes fit in this movie)....Look at Jane Russell's waist - it's small, small especially compared with her hips.  This was considered hugely sexy. And although it's really tough to see the detail on Jane's pants, you can see that every it fitted well here (see below for a better photo).  But there's something else - a little off subject, but the tromp l'oiell that is created by the men wearing nude colored trunks with black trim.  It really makes them look like they're not wearing anything which is kind of a fun way of doing these trunks.

OK - I lightened this up so you can see Jane Russell's pants better.  First notice the seams in her bodice, and notice the wrinkle in her right inseam.  This is caused by her standing on one hip. (Don't try and fit yourself while you're standing on one hip or another!).  But in my book this is fine.  The part that is amazing here is that Jane Russell has a very small waist to very large hips.  So this fit can be done.

Hopefully some of these make my point about fitting and how it actually can be done.  The actresses, models and women of the 50's and 60's had voluptuous, full figures - that's what was considered healthy (probably after seeing so much starvation in the conquered areas after WWII), being full-figured meant that you were healthy.

But what I wanted you to see out of this, is that not only is it possible, but it's done.  Fitting voluptuous bodies, full-figured bodies, irregularly shaped bodies - it can all be done.

And remember this.  Once you have that pattern, 99% of the battle of making pants is done.  It takes literally little or no advanced expertise to make pants.  The hard part is the fit.

Pantone Color

I've had my great Pantone chart for almost 40 years.  I think maybe it might need a tad bit of updating.  I particularly knew I was in trouble when Gorgeous Fabrics starting listing the colors for their fabrics in Pantone and a number combination I had no idea where or what it was.

This looks fine and all is right, but with just a turn.....

....the cards turn a little too warm.

Then a little too cool.

Or a little too green.

Well, you get the idea and can see how handy this sample is.  They are an investment, but I had my last one for almost 40 years.  Everyone has access to Pantone, and it is the standard by which you can describe and transmit true color.

When I recently did a new design on Spoonflower, I sent along the Pantone #'s for colors as I was very specific about how I wanted these colors to look.  As I hold the fabric in my hand, it turned out just as I had envisioned.  I also use Pantone in my digital art, so that when I'm transmitting it, again the recipient can see the exact color.

These charts are invaluable when it comes to helping my clients through a color problem.  Being a watercolorists, I know how the colors mix and when a purple is warm or cool or a wine is too warm for a client, and with these charts I can show it.

For your own benefit, if you're having difficulty with either describing color or even deciding on one, this is the chart to have.

 

What are the components of a well-made garment

Sometimes it's important to step back and prioritize or at least take a look at the whole picture.

We sewists often get so bogged down with the details that we forget the whole 9 yards!

Here are some of my points that my garments have to meet before my clients get to take them home:

1. Construction - this is a given - not only well-constructed, but put together well - well-inserted sleeve heads/armscyes, good roll on collar (if desired) and other tailoring elements as well as buttonholes, zippers closures and finishing details executed well.
2. Fit - the garment must fit - this is not a "stretch" fit, but a fit with ease (here's a good American ease chart).  Remember this is a personal thing, but still fitting with ease is what I'm looking for.
3. Seated well - this refers to the pitch or angle, also if you have to constantly adjust the garment to have it look right, then it needs to be anchored or repitched better.
4. Proportion - is the length and width and positions of various features of the garment correct proportionally for my client's shape and size.
5. The Look - does this meet the style, persona of my customer....is this what she want...does she feel excellent in the garment.

This may sound like a lot, but again, in small steps this can be accomplished.

There are several elements to each category, but these are the basic guidelines that my garments must pass before I'm finished with them.

As you begin to sew more for yourself and garner your own style, you may even add some more categories as you need.  And as you become accustomed to fulfilling one or more of these categories, you will most likely do this so naturally that you will probably even forget it as a guideline.

Quality

A couple of days ago, I had an interesting dialogue about how far to go on a garment to make it complete.

I will admit that for myself sometimes, I'm known to take a short cut here and there, but for my clients, I have a hard and fast rule:

My best is what my clients pay for, it is what they expect and it is what I deliver.

To be honest, most of them wouldn't know the difference.  It's only me that knows.  And to be honest I could get away with doing less.

But I would know.

One client was at a luncheon with none other than Oscar de la Renta, who asked who "made" her suit.  She told him, and asked him how he knew.  He said, because the workmanship was so fine.  The delicate pattern in the garment was matched and even used to make detailed borders on the suit.

She came back to me beaming.  Fortunately she's one of those gals around town who doesn't know to keep her mouth shut - the perfect "happy" client.  She's been better than a whole year of advertising!

See, it really does matter.

You will eventually garner enough experience and appreciation for fine workmanship to the point that you will know the difference.  Whether it's purchasing or creating it, quality becomes something that will mater.

This is a long way to say, it's worth it to take out that seam....again;  it's worth it to work through that small buckle in the seam;  it's worth it to make that waistband just a little closer fit for you body  - whether that's looser or tighter....

 

It's worth it in the long run.

It's a hard habit to get into, but once you do, it makes your sewing look really professional - even better than anything you could buy.  Well, that's not exactly true, if you want to find someone like me or fly to NY or Paris to have someone like Karl Lagerfeld do your clothes, you can sure do that.

But that's the quality of work you want.  The amazing thing is that this doesn't take a degree from MIT or FIT to do better work, it takes making a decision on your part to make your sewing neat, clean and functional. 

I'm not saying you'll run into Oscar or Karl....but just in case....well, you know....

A delicate seam - part 2

Isn't it amazing how a delicate almost weightless thing can cause so much consternation!  It's always the way.

Holly - thanks for the comment and compliment.  You are exactly right about the weight.  I have yet to get a light enough French seam to hang well, and even a seam with too much edge stitching (either over lock or serger) is too heavy.  This is what works the best on my dresses, skirts and long trains which are long and much heavier seams than blouses our dresses.  I've even been known to sew these by hand - usually when they are lined or faced. This may not be very cost-effective, but the most important thing here is that the finished garment hand and look straight.

Here are a couple of photos

 

This one (above) shows the seam hanging - it's just as straight and unwobbly as a seam like this can get.

This one (above)  is a more detailed photo - click on image and you can see the light stitching.  The stitching is fairly far apart, making it less thread per inch, making it more light-weight.

A lot of folks have told me that this is not being money wise about my time.  I tell them, I have a fabulous reputation today because people know this is the quality of work I turn out.  If it takes me doing it by hand, so be it. 

Here again are my rules (the "not by hand rules!"):

1. The seam, technique or thread (or amount of thread per inch) can't weigh a lot

2. The seam can't buckle, wobble, wrinkle or crinkle at all  - what I call easing in a lot of fabric into a short space.  I lay it on a flat surface to match the seams as closely as possible, and pin about every 6" like this:

   

   When you sew on the edge (or serge on the edge as I do, then the pin does not interfere with the needle or any other mechanism and yet the fabric remains tacked and in place while the sewing occurs.

3. The seam has to sew in just as the machine will feed it.  This means that there's no pulling or stretching or pushing involved, that you might otherwise be able to get away with in another fiber or fabric. 

For me, this comes down to a clean seam.  I don't care how it looks coming out of the machine or after I've pressed it.  What counts is how it hangs on my client.  If the seam is straight on my client, that is what matters.  Even in some of the beautiful designer hand-made garments that I have altered in chiffon, the seams are done very lightly and very delicately - some are just sewn with no over-stitching on the edge at all.

Now, here's the joke.  I remember once I was going through a particularly hard learning curve on a lapel on a jacket once with my mentor teacher.  She had me taking that dang thing in and out about 5 times, I swear.  I had put in the collar backwards, and she wanted me to take the collar out of a notched lapel of a tailored jacket after I had done all that hand work to get the interfacing to roll just so on the collar.  Out came all the pad stitching, the collar, the interfacing and turn the collar going the right way - some how I got confused and put it in backwards again (see, even we advanced students make mistakes), and had to take it all out over again.....grrrrrrr!

 When I finally got it right, and the garment passed her inspection, she said to me, "Now, Claire, had that been me and I was doing this for a client, I wouldn't have spent all that time doing it again, I would have recut it as it would have been more cost effective!!!"  Grrrrrrrr.  I think I went bald for a couple of months while I pulled my hair out - we laughed of course, but I was exasperated.

Then why did she have me do it - to learn the lesson - sometimes you can't redo it, and guess what?  I never made that mistake again.

So here's the deal.  Most of the time you don't have to worry about this on garments like short skirts, blouses and other shorter-seamed garments.  I have to on my long skirts and trains - they are a different animal.  The weight of that much fabric, the weight of the seam all take a toll on the seam.

If you can get a clean seam without this technique - go for it!  It's the clean seam you're after.  If you can't get a clean seam, try this technique.  I think it will work for you.

Doing a difficult seam

One of my favorite techniques I use to solve the problem of a wobbly seam on a sheer or particularly slippery fabric is a little laborious, but once you use this technique, you won't want to do this any other way.

First, you must lay out your pieces and match your seams on a flat surface so that there's no buckling or warping.  Usually skirt seams like this are not exactly on the straight, so laying down the fabric seam on top of seam means that you are making sure that the seam won't buckle or wrinkle.

Next, pin about every 6" which may seem like a lot, but you'll be glad once you're sewing it up.  I almost always pin with the pin perpendicular to the seam edge and with the pin standing out at least 1" or more from the seam edge.  This allows you to keep the pin in and it will appear to that you are sewing over it, although the pin itself and the needle of the serger will not come in contact with the pin.  IOW, you aren't sewing over the pin and running the risk of jamming the pin into the shuttle of the bobbin or other damaging act, but at the same time you're fabric is kept in place by the pin.  I have the video below which helps show this.

Thirdly is to allow the machine or serger to feed in the fabric at it's own speed.  No pulling or keeping the fabric tight or taunt while sewing it through the machine.  This as well ensures that there will be minimum wobbling or buckling in the seam.

Finally after I've finished, I press the garment on the wrong side to "bend" the seam the direction I which with a finish pressing on the right side to make sure that the seam looks as clean as possible.

OK here's the video, and we won't look at the mess of my studio, and me...when I'm in my studio working, I look more like the mad arteest!

One last technique here to make this look really good.  More often than not these skirt seams are not on the straight - not the exact bias either, but they don't have to be on the exact bias to stretch a little.  So it is very good to hang the skirt for at least 24 hours before you hem it to make sure that the hem won't stretch out after you've hemmed it.

Typical fabrics that this technique would be useful for are chiffon (poly and/or silk), charmeuse, crepe de chine, light-weight crepe, rayon, and even some minimum stretch knits. 

This isn't particular a hard technique, but it is a little bit more time-consuming, but it works every time. A seam in a drapey, loose fabric like this that is not buckling, wobbly or crinkled, is really a fabulous look.  It keeps the smooth drapey look of the fabric, yet without that horrible wobble in the seam. It just works, and for my girls' dresses to see this seam on the outside as smooth as glass, it's well worth it.

Enjoy!

Mother's Day

When I was growing up, I adopted several mothers.  Each one of them were very special.

The first one was my aunt.  She was one of the four of my famous "Glam Aunts" - I nicknamed them - from left to right, my father, Elizabeth Taylor (for her beauty and ability to know what to do with it), my grandmother, Marilyn Monroe (for her incredible beauty), and Lauren Bacall (cause she was so smart and savvy).

 
Aren't they glamorous!

Here are 3 of them with my grandmother and father...the oldest died early of lung cancer.  But you can tell they are a handsome group, but not only that they were/are bright and charming and always a lot of fun. 

The one on the far right lived in the same town, and bought me my first Bernina.  As a little tyke, I had a knack for doing patterns for Barbie (she never changed sizes), and making her one ball gown after another - I never got tired of making beautiful things for her.

Then when I was first married, I took a sewing course from a local well-known designer/seamstress.  It was pretty obvious after that first class I not only loved sewing but was very good at it.  My aunt saw that immediately and was instrumental in making sure I got a great sewing machine.  My sewing improved incredibly after that first Bernina (which I still have today).

The next mother I adopted was my sewing teacher, who became my mentor.  I studied under her for almost 10 years, then did piece work for her when I first started my business.  As I started building my own clients, I would use her for consulting to get me through some technical situations. She not only taught me the techniques for getting through those difficult fittings, but taught me how to discover them and learn them on my own.  What a gift!  She saw me through so much and taught me so much.  I still have her "workbook" and was in the process of making a tape of her classes, which I can lay my hands on one day.  To this day I do not have a photo of her, which breaks my heart.  But she is still in my heart.

The third adopted mom, was a wonderfully exciting gal. 

 

I knew her as a tyke, but we really didn't get to know each other till later in her life.  We would go to lunch frequently and talk about our loves and life in general.  We had such a similar beliefs.  She really helped me a lot in my love life (after divorce) to believe that I was actually desirable, fun and would end up with someone really excellent.  I did.  And fortunately she got to meet him before she died, and gave her unequivocal blessing.  

Even though all three of these women are gone, they gave me so much...my aunt (and her "glam aunt" sisters) gave me the genes of artistry and the ability to dream and be creative about it with a Bernina to boot.  My teacher gave me my art and craft, and Mother MM gave me my dreams...again after I lost them.

Happy Mother's Day to all of them!

Just to show you...

...that even professionals make mistakes.

There's an old adage:  A person who never makes a mistake is probably not doing anything, which means if you sit around pointing out mistakes, it probably means you're getting a lot of stuff done.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it!!!!

A couple of months ago (OK it was more than that), I did this jacket.  It turned out OK....but I wasn't all that crazy about it. 

So I finally got Esmeralda out and put the jacket on to do some major re-fitting.

This is a great lesson on how to really use a mannequin to the best advantage. 

There's no way I could possibly fit myself on this, even the master fitter that I am, I just can not reach behind me and fit the back as well as I would like.  My arms aren't that limber, which is just as well, cause I would have to be horrible double and maybe even triple jointed to do this!

That's the beauty of a mannequin.  But there's a caveat with this - there's always something.  You have to be very careful when fitting to a mannequin as you can easily have a tendency to fit right to the very exact shape of the body of the mannequin. 

That might fit you, if you don't breathe, move or particularly if you just stand an exact right way.  But we move, and I don't know about you, but my waist moves when I eat, and my body has a tendency to "spread" when I sit, and I like breathing which requires a little room - just funny little things like that, which make fitting right to the very exact shape of the mannequin a real problem.

Of course you could shape the mannequin with the ease already figured into the body, but I don't like this either.  It doesn't really solve the problem, as you need to get used to fitting using ease, not fitting without ease.

The best way to guard against too close a fit, is after you have fit yourself on a body double, try on the garment to make sure it works....

In the case of my "redeux" it did....

 

Even though the sleeves look a little long here, I like this...this cord is heavy and I like having a long-sleeved jacket to cover my always cold hands.

And most of all my match in front is preserved and show (for those who care!!!)

Fitting - the skirt

There are lots of ways to fit a skirt and lots of styles.  And of course the style defines a lot of the fit, but starting with a simple straight skirt, these are some of the basic fitting lines.

This isn't that difficult to understand.  You want to fit the waist, upper hip (just below the waist) to hip without it looking funny, jagged or contrived.  The darts in the waist help that - this means that the side seam doesn't have to do all the fit and have to be cut with an extreme curve in it.  You can add a waistband if that's your comfort level, or face the skirt, whichever you like best.  Fitting on the center front is not recommended here as this keeps the skirt clean and classic in front which goes with the style of this skirt.  A straight skirt is about as classic as you can get and you don't want to get too tricky on this.

There's another way to keep from having to cut a deep curve on the side seam:

You can have a yoke to the skirt.  This yoke is curved and the skirt is curved a little less, so that you get a wonderful fit with this technique.

For fitting a skirt, the first picture is really the classic version, but the second version makes a nice alternative, and remember don't get too carried away and think that you get scared of this.  Take this one step at a time, and do not get discouraged if your first alteration doesn't work - keep at it.  This is the way all sewists learned how to do this. 

Remember that it is possible to fit all body shapes and sizes.  There are issues with every body shape and once you understand what it takes to fit yourself, you're home free - try some experimenting and let your imagination run with this.

Enjoy!

Fitting - responses

OK - you all are so great with your responses, I just wanted insert this before I did something on skirts.

First, do not get discouraged with this fitting process - it is a process and it takes a while to get this right, but once you get it right, you can use that information for all future alterations.  Don't make this hard, it just takes time sometimes.  Even me, as many bodies and types I have fitted, sometimes I will run into a problem for one reason or another, fabric is not cooperating,  client changes shape, things just aren't working - don't give up - keep going, there IS a solution to every fitting problem (well except for the ones that want to defy gravity and other physical laws).

Second, calmly think through your situation and more than likely you will work through the solution to your fitting areas.

I really like this making a bed analogy....think about this - if you were making the bed which would be the muslin of your body for a sway back, what would you have to take up?....where would you have to smooth out the wrinkles?....If you totally fit the back, then you should have more fabric in front - a wrinkle.  How would you smooth that out?....you would most likely pinch it out.  Do the alteration to the muslin and try it on again.  Are there other wrinkles, is it smooth?  Work back and forth till you get that line just right.

I don't like making this complicated and don't try to out think this too much.  It's pretty much like making a bed, and work from that frame of mind, keep it simple and be tenacious and you will work through to your fitting solutions.

Good luck!

Fitting - the Bodice

OK - starting at the top - the bodice.

Thinking about the sheet-smoothing process - there are several places on the bodice that are commonly used as fitting seams.  These aren't the only ones and certain creative designers (not to drop names, but Geoffrey Beene was famous for this), use all sorts of other lines, but to start with these are some great basic lines to start with.

1. Front Bust Dart
2. Side Bust Dart
3. Sleeve Dart
4. Center Front
5. Armscye or Armhole

Some of these are better places to alter than others.  I've put them in order of how common they are to least common.  It's hardest to alter that armhole so that's the last on the list.  The most effective dart is the front bust dart,

So how do you use these in fitting.  These are the first places you will tuck in or pull in to check your fit.  If you already have a dart or seam there, work with that seam.  Check back on the fitting I did for my friend Dianne, to see how I did this.

Don't make this into rocket science.  All you need to know is that it doesn't fit - common sense, and how to take it up - keep in mind the standard dart/fitting lines/seams. 

I know this sounds too simple, but keep at it...remember the sheet on the bed, you had to go from side to side, till you got it smooth.  The same thing may happen (and often does) here.  You may take up one place and it causes another to wrinkle.  That doesn't mean that the original dart was wrong, it just means you have to refit the other dart.

Keep in mind also the hierarchy or what you want to fit first (on the above list) - the front bust dart and side dart give the best fit first, and then go to the sleeve dart (which is mostly for tight-fitting sleeves), and if you have to do a little fitting on the center front seam, and only as a last resort do the armhole.

Now that you have the basics down, here's a few variations:

1. Princess seam
2. Sleeve dart
3. Center Front
4. Armscye or Armhole

Again - in order of efficiency and ease.  This is a princess seam which effectively combines the side and front bust darts.  It usually starts from the armhole and curves over the bust (this is the best fitting dart) and then curves to be parallel to the center front line.  This is an excellently fitting dart, and although it can be a little more difficult to do (that curve requires a lot of ease without gathering), it makes the front fit very well.

Another variation is rotating the dart.  This is where you keep the centerline on the bustpoint and rotate the dart line around the bodice.  Here it is in front.

The cross/circle is the bustpoint and you can see how the front bust line has been rotated using the bustpoint  as the radius (or center point) of the circle. 

Here's the back

Again in order of difficulty

1. Back side dart
2. Back neck dart
3. Center Back
4. Back Armscye or Armhole

There are no tricks here or anything that is nearly as complicated as the front.  You want to have enough room to spread your arms, and as long as you are comfortable (again this is where you get to fit to your preference, not the what the designer decides is your preference).  The only thing here that is different is your back neck dart.  This is for an extra rounded shoulder and I recommend you not use the center back dart to fit this as this will make you look more Quasimoto-ish and that's not fashionable.  Use the two side neck darts and not only will you fit this well, it will be smooth and it will look right.

On the bodice there's one seam left - the shoulder seam.  This can be lightly curved downward toward the armhole, or keep it straight and even a slight uplift if you are using shoulder pads.  During the 80's during gargantuan shoulder pads, this line was curved up at the armhole extensively, but in today's style a gentle slope downward is very attractive.

Don't let these variations intimidate you, they are meant to encourage you and show you the possibilities of fitting.  The purpose here is to acquaint you with some of the more basic lines of fitting on the bodice so that you can use these lines to fit.  After you get the hang of this and you do your first front bust dart rotation, it gets very exciting - and bust dart rotation is not that hard.

Enjoy!

Fitting - again

You know I just don't think that I can talk enough about this, cause it's really at the crux of everything we do.  One of the biggest advantages of being able to make your own garments, is to fit yourself so that you look neat and correctly fitted.

But the big question has always been, how do you do that?

People who have worked with the human body have a pretty good idea about how to solve these problems, which can come from extensive education or simple solving the problem over and over again.

But there's something interesting to note here.

Look at this jacket/coat in Sense and Sensibility (this always bothers me when I watch this movie - I know, I have issues!!).  This was a very fashionable style, but doesn't fit really well - but it was the look of the time.  See that back armscye/back seam?....it's just way too full.  This was put in for ease, but the truth is that  there are other ways to solve this without going to such extremes.

The point here is that even some past styles didn't have good fitting techniques, so don't feel funny if you don't know all there is to know about fitting.

One of the best examples of what you have to know to fit is making a bed.

The idea is that if you can make a bed, you can fit.  Think about it.  You pull up one side and when you do you create a set of wrinkles in another side.  You pull up that side, and then you might have to go back to the other side, cause there are some other wrinkles again on that side.  But eventually you get the sheet smoothly over the bed, by pulling and smoothing over the bed.

Now granted this is a smooth surface - the top of the bed being 2 dimensional at most, and your body is massively and complicatedly 3-dimensional, but the same principal applies.  Put the garment on you and look at the wrinkles.  What do they tell you? (Take me up here, I'm tight here), pay attention to that.  Release the seam, take up the dart, and see what happens.

The real truth here is this is an opportunity to fit just exactly the way you like - a little more ease here, a little more fit there - just the way you want it.

There are classic lines and darts through out the common garment today, and I know I hate posts that are in parts, but I hate even more rambling posts, so more tomorrow on some classic fitting lines.

Pants Fitting

Pants are one of those garments that when they fit, they are a dream, and it takes a really well-made pair to fit right cause there are so many things that can go wrong.

Recently I just finished a pair for one of my grande dame clients.  My grande dame clients don't necessarily refer to the Pat Buckleys, Nan Kempners of this world that smoked and starved themselves to fit into a pre-pubescent size (read here on my opinion on that!).  I'm talking about the women who have had children, lived full lives, and now bake cookies with their grandkids, and have NORMALfigures and usually need a lot of fitting when they do clothes.

And this (above) is NOT a good fit.  Just because it's stretch and you can zip it up, does not mean it fits!

Some of the areas you have to fit that are only worrisome in pants are: 

• waist to top inseam - front and back
• width hip
• width of top leg
• inseam width not too baggy, but comfy when you sit
• ease for waist to move when you sit/stand
• hang correctly (no tilting to the front or back)
• inseam height comfy, not too tight, not too home-boy styled

This sounds minor, but the difficult part is that inseam height affects inseam width.

When you enter into the green area, you get into a sewing netherworld where in is out and out is in.  It's like some sort of Einsteinian trick or something.  This is the space where if you take the seam in - which means you normally sew on the inside or fabric side of the seam, you are actually creating more room, and if you let the seam out, which means you are sewing on the fabric edge more, you are actually making the pants tighter.

What this boils down to is that at a specific point (which is variable for every body), you have to switch from the inside of the seam to the outside of the seam if you are taking it in and vice versa if you are letting it out.

Has your head exploded yet?  It is sort of an anti-matter world in that crotch seam, but this concept is what makes pants so difficult.  Now if you can get your mind around this, you got the main battle of pants solved.

There's something else to remember here too.  If your inseam height is good, but you need more space in the hips, then you have to hit that "sweet spot" and keep your inseam height the same while changing your hip width.

You can see why pants require so many fittings.  This is why a pants sloper or basic pattern is absolutely a dream.  Once you have that pattern, you're home free - cause pants take up to an afternoon, if you're a casual sewist, to 2 hours, if you're sewing skills are honed and ready to go.

As with your blouse/shirt or any pattern, you want to buy the pattern size according to the most difficult part to alter.  In the case of pants - it's hip width (to keep from having to attack the netherworld of inseamness!).  So buy your pants pattern according to your hip size and alter your center front/back and side seams accordingly.  This will be the best way to get a good fit without that "home boy" or trailer trash (see photo above!) look that we all love so much!!! (joking of course!)

OK - I won't try an test any more of your little grey cells on this.  It can be a little daunting, but if you tackle each step, one by one, pants are a dream when they fit and they are comfy and such a fabulous contribution to your wardrobe.  I find I rely on them more and more as my knees get older and older.

What's wrong with this dress?

Often I will get a client who comes to me wanting to either redo a dress, alter it, fix it, or make it just a little different for the younger sister to wear (one of my favorite things to do).  So I look at a couple of things that might help in answering the eternal question:  What's wrong with this       (fill in dress, pants, shorts, blouse, top - or whatever)         ?

Color

First thing I look at is color.

 

We all tend toward warm or cool colors, and wearing the wrong color won't make anything about the dress right - even if everything else is right.  Color has to be right.  If you're not sure what color looks good on you, I like that old Color me Beautiful - or have your colors done - there are a myriad of ways to do that.  But find your color.  One sure way is to pick out all the clothes you look good in and then do a quick color chart - if they are in the blues, greys, purples, cherry reds - you're into the cool side of the color wheel.  If they are tomato red, orange, rusts, naturals, greens - you're into the warm side.  This is well worth the time.

Lifestyle or Your Style

Next is your style.  Queen Elizabeth would look ridiculous in a pair of capri pants and a knit top, and it just doesn't work.

 

OK - now that we've had our morning jollies, and you've spilt your coffee (sorry 'bout that)....back to style!

What you want to do is stay in your style.  What's that?  If you're a mom running car pool, going to little league games, ballet recitals, piano lessons while fitting in a cycle ride or palates, then a bunch of suits in your closet isn't going to fit your lifestyle.  They most likely will not only look out of place, but they won't work for you.  If on the other hand you are running a company and meeting with attorneys, clients and employees 24/7, then a comfy pair of low rise knickers with a tube top, not only isn't going to work, but won't look right to your eye (let's not talk about the office!) 

This is what life style and making your clothes work for you....where you wear your clothes not the other way around.

Fashion

Next is style - more at today's fashion.  And I'm careful about this...even though this is a beautifully made garment:

There's no way I would promote this as "today's" look...the shoulder pads don't work.  They did in the 40's & 80's, but not now.

But that doesn't mean that you have to loose everything about a well-constructed garment for the sake of fashion.  The shoulder pads here are a very dramatic statement - we make this more classic:

I meant this to be merely a line drawing of how to take an unfashionable (as defined as not being in the current fashion), style and making it fashionable.

What happens when we get attuned to certain fashions is that our eyes see certain parts of our body in different ways as fashion changes.  During the 90's when shoulder pads were waning in fashion, I remember a lot of my friends saying they would never give up their pads, cause they balanced out their hips - and they did.  But here we are, and none of them (well, almost none of them) are wearing those pads today. 

Our eyes have adjusted to a smaller shoulder, but give us time and fashion will have a broader shoulder back in style.  All of this is cyclical.  But the point is in an effort to keep the ensemble "right", we have to be aware of the fashion of the times and at least be a little au courant.

As in anything, don't take this too far - if you have a hem length that is fabulous on you - don't stray too much from it.  Some of my clients have beautiful legs - to a point, and above that, it's almost sinful...either their upper calves are too large or their knees are just plain ugly.  It is not fashionable to succumb to the latest style, even though it isn't even somewhat pretty on you.  The purpose here is to show YOU off, not the clothes!

Fit

Finally fit.  You might think this is first, but it's very funny sometimes how just a change in color or lifestyle applicability or fashion of clothing can make the ensemble work when so often we think it is fit.  If none of those work, then fit is where the problem lies.

This is the technical side of the issue.  If the dress doesn't have good fit, it won't work.  And I've fit many a varied figure in my life and one thing I've discovered is that no matter what the shape, when the fit, style, fashion and color is right - it works.  Women who thought they looked bad in this or that style and have decided that clothes just will never work well on them, are shocked to find that I can design and fit them in something that is not only comfortable, but also works.

This blog has gone on long enough, but I did a short video with my friend Dianne who came to visit me, and used her as a guinea pig - well, I used her as a perfect example of fit.  That's in the next episode which I hate doing, but this has gone on long enough and I want to really put some "meat" into the fit part of this "What's wrong with this dress?" post.

Putting it all together

Combining all of these (color, lifestyle, fashion & fit) can change a frumpy, bag-lady look like this:

 

to a drop-dead, knockout like this:

or this (one of my favorite looks of all movie-dom!)

 

Enjoy

A little business talk

After reading some of the comments about MMW, (my muse's wedding), there are lot's of questions about my business.

How long does it take to make a wedding gown?
It depends -

...on the design of the gown. 
...on the customer.  A lot of this comes down to how well the customer can tell me what she wants.  Does she know what she wants?....is she OK with telling me what she wants?...is it easy for her to speak up?  Naturally my debs are slower;  they don't know as they haven't been exposed to as much as my "grande dames" or my divas.  So I have to schedule more time for them, and  if I feel the deb is a little reticent, then I encourage the mother to attend the fittings.

 

...on the difficulty of the dress.  Slinky silk charmeuse is more difficult than a simple polyester - and yes I do use polyester for special purposes.
...any embellishments...beading - need I say more!
...the bottom line - usually 2 weeks (working 24/7 & if I get total access to the client), about 2 months on a regular schedule. But I have to have the fabric in hand, and sometimes that can take 6 months! (OK Lindsay - no smart remarks about the NY Fab District!!!!)

Those are just some of the elements that make up the difficulty of the construction of a gown.

How do I charge for a gown/contract? 
I don't count my hours.  What I do count is my expertise.  I've been doing this for 30 years, and when I started out I was a lot less expensive than I am today.  I've done and learned a lot of techniques and all this knowledge adds up. 

I'm also competitive with my local market.  I can not charge more than the local market and expect to stay in business.  This has recently turned to my favor as the local bridal house is now charging an outrageously huge amount of money for their dresses.  Not only can I meet that price, but I can design a dress that is far superior, fits better, made from finer fabrics and still make a nice profit. But in reality, I'm usually designing dresses that are in the $20,000 category if they had an "Oscar" or "Carolina" or "Vera Wang" label in them.

.

What I have done and still do periodically is count up the hours that goes into a contract and see if that comes close to paying for my time, supplies, overhead, and if not, then I can make adjustments as necessary.  It's taken me about 20 years to get a feel for this, so this part isn't easy.

Customer Education
Believe it or not, there's a learning curve between shopping at Neimans or Saks or Dillards and having something designed and tailored just for you.  Most of my clients aren't familiar with the process and appreciate knowing what this entails so they don't have to ask.  This means that "settling" or being conditioned into believing that "you look just great darling - now where's your credit card!" doesn't really work with me  In addition my clients need to know that they have some responsibility during the fittings, not just to stand there and do nothing and they need to know what that is.  They also need to know what is possible and what isn't so that if they start asking for the impossible I can tell them why it's imposible.  I do not talk down to them, but I do tell them what the process entails, and have been told more than once they are grateful to know what is ahead of them.

Coming to my door and not really seeing a garment exactly what they are buying is a tremendous leap of faith, so I have to be a little on the guardian angel side to guide them through the process.  Part of what allows at lot of peopleo  make that leap, is that even though I live in a metropolis of 500K, I have a rep for being excellent at what I do!  This is really a small town.

How do you keep a business going like this?

Deliver more than you promise.
I am expensive and I have a reputation for that, which I do not dispel in any degree.  This saves me a lot of time explaining what I do and why I charge what I charge, but my clients are almost always satisfied.  When it comes to the end when the client writes the check, this is most always done with pleasure and gratefulness, and the client has received way more than what she had originally thought.  That does a lot to keep 'em coming back!

Also, if I make any boo-boos or if they happen (my client changes shape a lot during or after fitting before the event), then this is taken care of instantly, and without much ado from the client.  The gown is whisked away and delivered back in primo condition better than before.  This does so much to build up good will.

Being picky about clients.
This sounds strange but during the first meeting when I'm with my client, I'm interviewing them as well as them me, although they may not know it.  If they are difficult or unable to communicate to me their desires - that usually gets into mind-reading, and I gave that up for lent last year!!!!  I don't really turn them away, but I do suggest other alternatives as there are usually lots of other options. 

There are some people who can not be pleased and they are a disaster waiting to happen, and I don't need that disaster happening with me.  My work is so much fun and part of what I like to keep a tradition is that the whole process of making "princess fairy dresses" (whether they are for debs, brides, moms, divas or grande dames), fun and creative. 

The Bottom Line
For all of you who want to make these dresses for yourselves or for your daughters/nieces, etc., the most important thing to remember is time.  It takes me about 2 months to do this and I'm fast.  I have to be.  I'm on the clock.  I've also been at this for 30 years so I know how things are supposed to progress and how to solve most problems (I'm not perfect and do not pretend to know how to solve every problem, but that doesn't mean it's unsolvable...just a puzzle to be figured out!)  So the best advice I can give for those who want to do this, schedule at least 6 months to make the dress.  This allows for time to work through all the puzzles you will have, and you will have a whole bunch of them. But allowing yourself enough time, means that you will enjoy it and it will be a true labor of love, not a burden to you.  Which leads to my last and most important part of what I do.....

My secret weapon - Keep it fun!
The most important secret of all, I can give you about starting and keeping a business like this is love what you do.  All that business about "Follow Your Bliss" from Joseph Campbell.  It's true.  I've had extraordinary deadlines that were impossible to meet, but met them anyway;  people who abused my talent and skill;  had to be the rainmaker and then turn on a dime and be the bill collector;  and had to forge and learn my way through difficult designs and circumstances, but for me it's all worth it, cause once I'm in my studio sewing, I'm as happy as a clam.

Scientist have studied the musician's brain while performing his/her music and the conclusion is that the endorphins released during the performance are the same as those release during eating something tasty like ice cream or desserts and enjoying sex.  I happen to believe that the same is true of enjoying your art or talent or skill that you enjoy. 

I can't fake that.  So no matter all the grief - it's worth it cause I get to sew!

I love my job!

What's up

See - I'm sitting in my studio - minding my own business....

When the doorbell rings and I rush to see a package from Ann (Ooooooooo - I think I know what it is!!!)

Opening it up:

And there is nothing like opening up some fabric you've just ordered.....the gowachuss print (not my word but very descriptive!!!) begs to be a great pair of pants....while the black (looks boring here, but believe me it's a great cotton with a slight sheen which is perfect for a top for the pants).  Then there are the two linens on the side....both are iridescent-ish - or where the woof weave is one color and the warp weave is another so that the nap and shading on the fabric does some marvelous things....in addition - the fabric is one color up close and another color further away - love these sorts of things.   And they're linen, which means they will have rich wrinkles - I love linen!

And isn't it wonderful when life is fortuitous because, I had bought this pattern after a few comments on some blogs I follow had talked about the great style (I think so too).

But didn't have anything in my "immediate" inventory (so of course I had to get something - but what!)  Hadn't really put the iridescent linen and this pattern together, but have now!!  I'm really hot to try this jacket.

And another project has been burning a hole in my head to get out and get done.....

This is just a little mock-up of what I want to do....They should wrap, but I want them to wrap really more center front than just evening in back and front....this is hard to explain but this picture pretty much shows how I want them to look.  In addition, I want them to be fairly fitted on top, but balloon-y and full at the bottom, but not flappy big.  Confusing, I know - but what can I say.

I'm seriously thinking of using the Badgley Mischka pants as a base, I love the way they fit at top and balloon at the bottom.

Gee I wonder what else I can think up to do in the next couple of days?....why do I have to sleep anyway - it's such a waste of time!!!!