CoudreMODE

I like to stop for coffee on the way in to work, and after almost 2 years at my current job the morning coffee fashion tribes at my local establishment are well defined…

Work Out Babe – This is a pumped up woman in Uggs and a flashy track suit, either Juicy Couture (high end) or Pink (low end).  Her sweat pants have a provocative noun or adverb printed on the butt; she wears makeup and hoop earrings to the gym.  She drives an Escalade or a Hummer2 and leaves it running at the curb.  Takes forever to order because she has to consult with the person at the register about every item on the menu and its caloric content. 

Moscow Mobster – Instead of a suit this guy wears a lavishly fringed black leather cowboy jacket with big raglan shoulder pads.  His jeans have creases pressed into them and he also sports black cowboy boots and a belt with a huge silver buckle.  He’s a bad dude who looks like Pee Wee Herman. Has a cell phone glued to his ear and rapidly scolds people in Russian, switching between two conversations.  He occasionally breaks into English and proceeds to browbeat some unfortunate soul for not getting something across a border.  Might be on the OFAC list.  Drives a used late model Lexus or baby Mercedes that he bought with cash.

Salary Man - He is feeling the pressure and has a 3 hour commute from another state.  Wears a (Scott) brown barn jacket and drives a Toyota Tundra vanity truck. Probably sleeps with his Bluetooth device attached to his head.  Like Moscow Mobster he carries on two conversations at once, using his best sotto voce to make sure everyone in the vicinity knows how busy he is.  Cannot stand waiting for even 30 seconds and if he is behind you in line you can almost feel his breath on your neck.  Conveniently parks in the handicapped spot because he keeps his mother’s hang tag in the truck.

Marshalls Matron – Often does not make an appearance until after  9:00am, stopping by to fortify herself for a morning of heavy shopping.  Wears a quilted coat and carries a metallic Kathy Van Zeeland bag that makes your eyes hurt.  Is in her late 60’s but mysteriously has no grey hair.  Never moves to the side after she gets her change and always counts it before she puts away her wallet.

Life is Good – This gent took an early retirement 25+ years ago.  Meets his buddies every morning for coffee, politics, sports and investing tips.  Drives a Detroit sedan, either an old Caddie or a Buick.  Wears a baseball cap, an old Timberland jacket and Merrells.  Has a winter home in Ft. Myers and a rock solid pension. Methodically plants himself in front of the coffee station, fills his cup, adds sugar one packet at a time, STIRS IT and takes a sip all the while holding up 20 commuters who just want to get to work.

Mobile Office – this is guy who uses the free Wi-Fi to run his business.  Drives a sporty Volvo with a Thule rack.  He nurses one cup of coffee and settles himself into a four person booth for a productive three hour session of email and phone calls.    Jeans, a Patagonia fleece jacket and iEverything.  Ignores all larger parties looking for tables, especially moms with small children and fragile seniors. 

Fill ‘er up!

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This video shot inside Chanel’s private apartment above her Rue Cambon boutique is better than most I’ve seen, there are some really cool shots of the  objects inside and its fascinating to see how these things influenced her designs.

And this is a two part French interview from 1969; this was only two years before her death and she is quite elderly (age 86); however she’s pretty feisty nonetheless.   There are no subtitles so I have no idea what she’s talking about, but one point her eyes well up with tears;  from what I’ve read vulnerability was a not a trait associated with her so it’s pretty remarkable to see this on film .  The interview also cuts away to her 1969 collections and the soundtrack is, of all things sitar music  (well it was the late 60’s after all.)    In those days couture shows were not the multimedia extravaganzas we expect from Fashion week, they are much low key as you will see.

Part I

Part II

Here she exits from her Ritz Carlton suite and walks across the street to work at Chanel.  I love the little kids running around on the street; passersby ignore her so she must have been a daily sight.   Part II shows her 1970 collection, just a year before her death.  I hope I’m that spry when I’m her age!  There is a runway show here too.    Who is the rock star in fop suit and fur hat??  I wonder if its Brian Jones or Jim Morrison. I love the chain necklaces with brooches attached that pin at the waist or hip; I’d love to see what KL would do with that idea.

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Me and Susan Kahlje

Okay shameless plug time;  in December 2009 I took a short class with Susan Khalje at the Gorgeous Fabrics Studio.  This was something I had wanted to do for literally 10 years and I was not disappointed.  Susan is a warm and personable teacher who is generous with her incredible knowledge of couture sewing and fashion history.    She told the class that her new web site would be up soon and it is, and there a couple things to let you know about it:  the copyright for Bridal Couture has reverted back to her and she  is making it available on CD-ROM in February 2010.  This book is indispensable for anyone who is serious about couture sewing technique.  Even though the  focus of the book  is bridal most of the techniques can be used with any type of garment.  A used copy on Amazon is easily $80 so I’m really happy Susan is making this great book available.

Also on her website Susan is selling  fabric,  very special French notions  and her favorite Japanese hand sewing needles, which are absolutely the best and they make hand sewing a joy.  I bought two packs of them!  And she has chain for Chanel jackets in gold and silver.

In my mind Susan is part of the sewing holy trinity along with Kenneth King and Claire Shaeffer and if you ever manage to take of her in-person classes you will absolutely love it!

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There is an interesting discussion over on Pattern Review around how thorough reviews should be vis a vis how they should (or should not) help less experienced sewers.  I haven’t jumped in and the thread is winding down anyway, but one thing I detected from some posts is a sense of entitlement that really irked me.  Personally, I don’t feel that an experienced sewer has any obligation to make a review into a sewing lesson.  Writing a good review takes effort and no one who posts reviews is getting paid anything for doing it so how much information they provide is a personal decision.

I suspect what is happening here is there are thousands of sewers on PR who are largely self-taught and they view PR as a free educational resource for improving their skills.  Which is fine, that’s largely what the internet has been about., however,  experienced sewers like me, Ann, Gigi, Pam, Els, Mary Beth and Debbie probably tend to see PR less as a school and more as a stage to express our individual interest in specific areas of sewing.  I just bristle at the notion that I owe anyone guidance just because they want to learn sewing; that sounds Darwinian I know, but PR also has good quality and inexpensive on-line sewing classes for all levels. When I see people complaining on the message board that reviews don’t tell them enough I just want to say “Take an on-line class for cryin’ out loud!”  PR has classes from top experts (Susan Khalje, Kenneth King, Shannon Gifford, Sarah Veblen etc etc) and in-person instruction from any of these folks is far far more expensive than what they have on PR.  Trust me, I’ve taken their in-person classes and I now this is a fact!

Okay rant over now I need to go clean my sewing room

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I should go over to Jo-Ann’s tomorrow to see if McCall’s actually had the stones to print this onto pattern tissue.

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I learned to embroider when I was about 7, and I was maybe 14 when I made this shirt.   The pattern is long gone, but it’s Big 4, probably Butterick because back in those days (and unlike today) it was actually a trendy line and my favorite.   The fabric is a truly wretched synthetic pretty typical of that era;  for laughs I did a burn test and got a hard irregular char that did not melt and smelled of vinegar so I’m guessing the fabric is a linen acetate.    One thing I find pretty funny is there is no connection at all between the various embroidery motifs, we have a tropical sunset on the yokes, ivy tendrils on the collar, a row of flowers on the cuffs and a beetle on the hem in the back.

All of the images are clickable!

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Another coat I wore in high school; this is grey leather with rabbit trim and the closures are a row of five turnbuckles.  This is a very Hot Patterns coat, don’t you think?  The rabbit fur is in pretty good shape considering its about as low on the ladder of fur as one can get; there has been some shedding but not too much.  This coat has not been stored professionally and amazingly the leather is still soft and supple with no defects or scars.  No dry rot either.  Two piece sleeves as well with a small dart at the elbow.  The is a waist seam with two vertical bodice darts.  It has a size 8 tag AND IT FITS ME .  No designer label on this one either.  Both Abby and Emma love this coat and fortunately it’s too heavy to wear to school or stuff into a ½ size middle school locker and since Mom can still get into it well, I just may need to wear out out a bit with boot cut jeans and a white turtleneck sweater.   And black Ray-Ban Aivator shades.

 And Gigi, you can borrow it any time!

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Coats are something I kind of have an obsession with, at last count I had seven and evidently this is a trait that has been with me for quite a while.  My mother came for a visit last week and brought some of the coats I wore in high school, and my daughters, who are getting into vintage, pounced on them!  So I’ll share these gems with you over the next few days.

Abby snapped this up the minute she saw it  and has been wearing it to school with skinny black jeans; this coat has a ton great detail.    It needs a few buttons replaced but is mostly in good condition.     The 70’s is my absolute favorite decade for coats; I just love the exuberance of design in that era.   Other than knowing its US made I have no idea who the designer was; its red vinyl with a good quality rayon faille lining.  The label is long gone but its US made because there is a ILGWU tag in a side seam.

Let’s look at the details:

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The collar totally rocks!  I LOVE the size and the buttons and that the upper collar and the lapels are not attached.  Love the way it hugs the neck and I think the reason is:

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There is no collar stand!  I find this quite interesting and I suspect the center back seam on the under collar is there for support.  Notice the two shaping seams in the middle of each shoulder seam.

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The front seams are also interesting, instead of a seam that runs to the hem it stops about 8 inches from the hem. 

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The back view; notice the belt pulls the back skirt into a pleat.  This is intentional and part of the design.  The belt is set into a princess seam that runs from the armsyce.  Notice the two piece sleeves.

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Forgive my wonky seam tracing!  The left line is the side seam with the pocket welt, the right line is the princess seam and the belt attachment.

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And lastly, the HUGE pocket welts, which I think are so cool.   Here you can clearly see them set into the side seam.  If Abby didn’t love this coat as much as she does I’d pick it apart and draft a replica for myself!

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I love my gravity feed iron but I had to figure out a way to keep the cord and tubing out of the way when I use it.   The problem is the tubing goes up to the water jug suspended from the ceiling and the cord goes down to the wall outlet.   My Silver Star came from  Zipperstop and it came with two plastic s-hooks.  The first hook keeps the cord and tubing aligned and the second is rigged with string looped to the ceiling hook.  Even if your iron didn’t come with these handy s-hooks just go to Loews or Home Depot and get three small s-hooks and some chain.   The s-hooks should fit snuggly onto the cord and tubing.  Attach one end of the chain to an s-hook and attach a second s-hook to the ceiling hook that suspends your water jug.  The third s-hook is used to keep the tubing and cord parallel. The chain should be long enough to allow the iron to extend comfortably to the end of your board.  The whole contraption will look this this; the small white object is s-hook #1 and s-hook #2 attaches to the string.

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This Friday Ann is hosting Susan Kahlje at the Gorgeous Fabrics Studio and I finally fixed on my project.  For a while I’ve wanted to make a Lagerfeld-era Chanel jacket.  I really like this one from spring 2010 RTW.  Photoshop is great for altering photos to pick up details; the highlights were darkened and the shadows lightened.  As you can see there is more to this jacket than you might assume from the runway photo:

• There is a conventional shoulder seam
• The side panel is uneven
• The front black panel appears to be steam shrunk to  keep the grain of the boucle aligned with the pattern piece

I also believe the black panel has been just laid on top of the upper bodice piece and stitched down; the white and black fashion fabric trim hides this lapped seam; a lapped seam also keeps the jacket fluid.

The trim is simple but ingenious:

• There is a lace underlay on the sleeves and the black panels
• The black panels also have double (looks to be bias) fashion fabric trim around the outer edges.
• There is a zipper closure
• The collar edge has more fashion fabric fringe as do the sleeves

Fortunately I found this jacket from Burda WOF to use as a base:

• The basic shape is the same in terms of the princess seam placement
• I’ll re-draft the two piece sleeves into a three-piece sleeves and shorten them
• The bottom of the armhole may need to be raised because this is an outwear pattern
• The collar needs to be a little wider and shorter
• The facings and other details are eliminated
• I’ll need to draft the front panel (the black pieces on the original)

Today I need to trace off the pattern and do traditional thread traced muslin so that Susan can help me fit and re-draft the sleeves.

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