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!

A Quick Trip to NY

....and I got to meet Nancy K where we trekked around the Fabric District and I got to see the McQueen Exhibit  - more about that later.

My first impression is that I was shocked since I had last been there at how many of the smaller shops were closed.  It breaks my heart.  But Nancy took me to her fav zipper place (Pacific Trims) and I loaded up on exposed zippers for clients for a while!

Then the cursory visit to B & J and Mood, and lunch and poof the day is gone...bummer!!! 

But Nancy asked me about lingerie loops.  You know, those wonderful little loops on the sleeve that keep the bra and shoulder/neckline/straps in place so that the bra never shows and so the bra strap never falls down.  They are a true luxury and I love 'em.

So for Nancy here's a shortie technique on making lingerie loops

UPDATE:  Well, who knew that Nancy & I could be so sexy....if you saw this video and learned how to make lingerie straps, but you also got an eyefull.  And just for your edification, that was not me, because if was, you would have had irreparable damage to your eyes as it would have been classified as classic eye pollution.

This is all to say that in the minds of the YouTube search engine lingerie = sexy = sex = porn.  So I have removed the video from YouTube and from here.  Please friend me on Facebook, and I'll post the video over there where it will not forward you to any porn sites.

I know those of you who are here to see porn are disappointed, but alas, such is life!!!  The rest of are headed back to the sewing room after this interuption!!!!

No more jokes!!!

More on Vogue Fabrics, Jan 2011

Oops - I'm registered on Vogue Fabrics by mail, and some of the links I provided on yesterday's post are for those registered.  It's free:  granted it's another password and username to remember, but it does give you access to the latest fabrics by mail.  I think after a month they are all accessible.  In the meantime I do have some of the pictures up of the fabrics.  What my intention was that if you receive the samples by mail, but are looking for ideas for the fabrics.  Hope that makes sense.

A perfect example is the Parity Tweed.  It looks like a tweed (and is even called a tweed), but when you put your hand on it, it's a lot like a blouse weight.

So you can definitely add backing to the tweed to make it structured like a typical jacket-type fabric, or you can think outside the box and do something a little different, but something that works.

The first idea is to do some sort of blouse look.  (This does not require any backing)

This is BurdaStyle #104 from May, 2010, but you can download it on the Burda site here.  This would be an easy solution, and sort of a "folk" look.

But what about something different (this doesn't require backing either):

This is from the same issue #126 or you can download it here on the Burda site.  This looks much more like the jacket that the tweed is meant for, but it's loose, and would make a really fine look.

For a fun variation a slit up the back taked with an embroidered arrow would also be a neat look:

You can do this one of two ways...you can insert a block pleat with a stay at the waist, or an opening (this would entail you always wear a shell or camisole under the jacket, unless you want a really big raise at work (OK, not funny!)

Following is a short tut on how to make the embroidered arrow tack.  I like to place this so that the flat edge is at the bottom and the point is at the top.  The stay needs to be at the bottom of the tacked area, so that should be where the bottom, not the point of the arrow needs to stay this area.

My iron

My iron has to work like 24/7 and not complain, need any service, come on fast, stay on strong, for a long time.  I would hate to be my own iron.

But the great thing is I don't hafta.  I have a great iron.

A Reliable i300 which is the medium sized-boiler steam model.  Here's a little video on the iron, what it does for me, you can tell why I like it, but also why I recommend it.

One caveat - it's expensive, but every time you use it, you're thankful you spent the money.  Also for the home sewist, I suspect the iron would last around 20 years - for me it's about 10 years (probably more for the home sewist).  Divide $400 by 20 and you get $20/year, for an outstanding quality appliance that works way beyond what the home appliance models can do.  For those of you who have good sewing machines, I really recommend looking into this model.

I purchased my iron through Atlanta Thread, but they are available widely.  Make sure you get the iron AND the steamer/boiler.  Some sellers are only selling the iron, or the boiler.  For the first setup you will only need both.  BTW, the old one is fixed (with a part about $20 from Reliable) so it's a stand by, and as a surprise (although I don't think it will be a surprise now), I'm taking it to my September class so my students can have a real treat when ironing.  

BTW, I don't get a commission or break or anything.  This is just a good product that I have used for a long time that works and like to pass on info like that as much as info of products that don't work to save you all the headaches and anxiety of wondering, "Is it me or the iron?!"  Most of the time, I'll bet it's the iron!!!

Here are some links to some of the tools in my work space.

Clover Awl
Big and small Needles - embroidery which has the long eye, where you are able to get many threads through one hole of a small needle.
Point Turner
Orange stick push
Clover chalk marker
Suede brush
Sewline marker
Clover fabric pencil
Soft Ticondaroga Pencils
Tweezerman Tweezers
Knife Edge Ginger Scissors
Clover needle Cleaner
Needle threader (most of the time it's free in a large assorted sized needle package)

Rolled Hemmer Foot

This foot for Bernina works on the same principle as the flat felled foot.  I received so many requests about curved and special parts of hems, that I did a short little video to show how to do this.

Basically, this isn't all that difficult, but you just take it slowly through the difficult parts, and even though you are sewing slower than you might normally in sewing a seam, it is still much faster, much more efficient, and you have a much better result than if you were to do this by hand.  Believe me, I've done it by hand. (and by hand, I mean having to turn up the dang hem and pin it every 2" or 3" to get it to stay up while you sew the seam down.)  The foot makes it so much more uniform and professional looking.

The other method to be aware of is that you will curve this just slightly as you follow the curve of a hem - the same way you would as if you were putting in a blind hem, or any other type of hem in a curved hem.  I prefer to keep the left edge of the foot about ¹/₂" to ⁵/₈" from the edge of the fabric.  This allows enough fabric for a nice roll - too much (or too deep a hem) will cause the fabric roll to buckle and have tucks in it (not good!).  Too little hem allowance and there won't be enough to tuck under the fold and the raw edge will fold out.

Think about this for a minute....this isn't that difficult.  If you were just folding up hem and sewing one fold, you would curve around the seam to follow the curve of the hem.

 

You do exactly the same thing with the rolled hemmer...follow that same curve of the hem (or the edge of the fabric.)  If your hem is thick in some places and shallow in others, then you will need to cut the hem so it is the same thickness all the way around.  It's impossible to stick more fabric into the hem (on a thicker hem) without the hemmer causing the hem to buckle which will make the hem look sloppy.

Take out a piece of muslin and practice this.  This is often what design schools will direct you to do to learn a new or what may seem awkward technique.  After you learn it and can get a couple of good hems behind you, believe me you will get the hang of this.

Enjoy!

FBA

And no that isn't First one to the Barbeque gets it All!!!!  Ha!

This was mentioned in the Front Bust Alterations tutorial and how to pick out your size.  In doing this alteration, one thing that came up was measuring for your correct size.  This will be included (with better resolution) in the tutorial, but this is a quick technique for insuring correct pattern size.

I have always chosen the shoulder back measurement - the one across the back and up over the neck bone and to the other shoulder.  The neck bone is that bone that sticks out at the base of the neck and top of the spine.

 

The reason I use this as my measurement to pick out patterns is that you can add, subtract, or otherwise alter most other areas much easier than this shoulder measurement.

The shoulder measurement involves the armscye or armhole alteration and back and collar and neckline and then a whole bunch of other things that have to get altered and then cats and dogs start sleeping together and it's the end of the world as we know it!!!

Here's why - if you're interested

 

It's a curved thing and it involves the same principal as altering the crotch seam in pants.  However in pants we haven't got an FBA we can alter so we gotta alter the crotch and you know how hard that is. 

Part of it is because at the lower part of the armhole has a strange deal going on; when you take in, you are actually making the garment bigger, and when you release the seam you are actually making it tighter.  I know - it's like some sort of anti-universe thing, but it's true.

Another thing is that if you get into altering the shoulder...then you have to add - not at the seams, but you have to draw a line through the middle of the piece, spread it apart, then redraw that back shoulder seam, then re work the front shoulder seam to match the new longer shoulder seam.

or.....

you can do the front bust alteration aka the front bust dart. 

Yes, you can do it the way I've described above, and yes it does work, and yes it can work.  But here's from the "keepin' it real" department.  Why go all through that when you can just do a simple alteration to the front and be done with it.  No collar, neckline, shoulder alterations. And it does the same thing and gives you an excellent fit

That's why I say, measure your back shoulder and buy a pattern according to that size.

Pants - that's another story!