LJ posed a several very good questions on thread tracing:

“I am still confused if i start w a pattern, how do i thread trace the seams for both pieces of the fabric? why sew seam markings on a [...]]]>

Machine thread tracing a pattern piece for a muslin

LJ posed a several very good questions on thread tracing:

“I am still confused
if i start w a pattern, how do i thread trace the seams for both pieces of the fabric?
why sew seam markings on a machine if (a) my question is whats the best way to get seam markings from pattern to fabric when the tracing wheel and wax paper combo is so ineffectual? and (b) wht sew seams on at 13 stitches per inch if i may need to take it apart and make adjustments for a final fitting? and just how DO you thread trace?
any input will be appreciated, I presume everyone knows this but me!”

Let’s tackle these questions one by one:

if i start w a pattern, how do i thread trace the seams for both pieces of the fabric?

There are two answers here actually:

If the plan is to thread trace by machine the pattern is laid out and cut out as usual and then each pattern piece is run through the machine one at a time.  The seam guide on the machine is used to mark the seam allowances.  In the photo above my daughter is machine thread tracing a pattern piece.  For hand thread tracing the pattern is laid out single layer and each piece is thread traced individually as shown in the red silk pattern piece in the photo below.

why sew seam markings on a machine if (a) my question is whats the best way to get seam markings from pattern to fabric when the tracing wheel and wax paper combo is so ineffectual? and (b) wht sew seams on at 13 stitches per inch if i may need to take it apart and make adjustments for a final fitting?

A sewn together muslin with machine tread tracing that marks the stitch lines

A tread traced muslin piece. Click for larger view

Marking a seam line with a tracing wheel and sewing wax paper is certainly okay, for me it just goes faster doing it on the machine.  I also believe there is more accuracy to the fit with machine tracing because the stitching lines on the cut pattern pieces are calibrated to the machine’s seam guide.  The seam line that is marked at 13 stitches per inch doesn’t get picked apart, it’s just used as the guide for joining the fabric pieces. The stitches that do get picked  apart are the seams holding the muslin together.   I do those in a much longer stitch length in a contrasting color so it’s easy to rip and I can tell the sewn seam from the traced seam lines.

and just how DO you thread trace?

Tread tracing done by hand

It can be done by machine as outlined above or by hand.  When it’s done by hand the technique is slightly different.  On a hand thread traced piece the seam lines are traced onto a single layer layout before the pattern piece is cut from the yardage.  After the pattern piece is outlined in thread  it’s cut as a big block and seams allowances are added on outside the hand tracing.  The tracing stitch is a long  running stitch that traces the outline of  the pattern piece.  The photo on the left shows a hand tread traced pattern piece.  The seam allowances need to be added back on when it’s cut from the block.

Deciding when to do machine vs. hand thread tracing really depends on the project.  When I made a dress from the red silk you see here I used hand thread tracing because  I had to match a pattern along the hem.  However, when I made the muslin for Ralph Rucci gown at right I used machine thread tracing.  Generally speaking machine thread tracing is used on muslins and hand thread tracing  is used on the fashion fabric.

Here is the finished red silk dress.  All of my blog posts on the construction of this dress can be found  if you search my blog on “Holiday 2007″ .  The finished Ralph Rucci gown made from the muslin above can be seen here.

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 [...]]]>

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!

This Aquilano Rimondi blouse is just to die for, but the price tag, Ayyyyy!!!  However I think I can  knock this off for myself.   I’ve been looking for something foppish and feminine but not too formal or spinster-ish to fill in the neckline of my (almost finished!)  Burda jacket.   This blouse would [...]]]>

Click for a Closer View

This Aquilano Rimondi blouse is just to die for, but the price tag, Ayyyyy!!!  However I think I can  knock this off for myself.   I’ve been looking for something foppish and feminine but not too formal or spinster-ish to fill in the neckline of my (almost finished!)  Burda jacket.   This blouse would be great in white silk charmeuse with the matte side out.  For a pattern the middle view of  Vogue 8322 comes pretty close.  It has the covered placket, smooth sleeve cap and narrow sleeves of the original and I think I can redraft the collar to bring the edges together at center front.  The princess seams in the bodice differ from the original but that’s not a deal killer for me.  One thing I really like are the “pleats” across the front, which are not pleats but more like layers of fabric; notice  the top two layers hang free, the one across the bust appears to be stitched into the armsyce and the bottom two layers hang free again.  The short sides of each free layer are ever-so-slightly canted inward.  I also think each loop of the ascot is sewn individually.  The original also has a placket on the sleeve and the neckline fastens with a two buttons on a chain (love that!)

Sublime.  The more I look at it the more I love it.

A sewn together thread traced muslin

Machine Thread [...]]]> Lindsay asked me to blog about thread tracing, so I thought I’d give you a brief tutorial on the two types and when I use each one.  Each has its own advantages and you can use them together or separately depending on your project.

A sewn together thread traced muslin

Machine Thread Tracing is done to a muslin to mark the seam allowances, grain, darts, center front, center back, waist etc.  This is so you can quickly sew up a muslin for fitting and easily see where the seams and garment lines fall.   A thread traced muslin that is altered is picked apart and the muslin itself is used as the pattern.  In machine tread tracing I like to use black thread and a really short stitch length, 13 or more per inch, and when sewing up the muslin I switch to red thread and a longer stitch length, 7-8 stitches per inch.  I do this so it’s easy to pick apart the red stitches and not accidentally pick the black tracing stitches.  One advantage of machine tread tracing the seam lines is that it calibrates the pattern seam allowances to your machine’s seam plate and you get a more precise fit than you would if you marked the seams with a pen, or made up your garment by cutting right from the tissue pattern.

Hint: Always mark the right side of the fabric because the fabric front and back looks the same in a thread traced muslin.    The photo on the right shows the black thread tracing and the red construction stitching on Abby’s Ralph Rucci muslin.

Hand Thread Tracing; I do this right on the fashion fabric from the right side.  Hand thread tracing is done with seam allowances removed from the tissue pattern; the tracing marks the seam lines, grain, darts, center front, center back, waist etc.  Hand thread tracing can be used when you’re working with fabric blocks if you have a pattern to match or a fabric that ravels badly, like a boucle or the silk taffeta I used for this 2007 cocktail dress on the left.

I used hand tracing on the Ralph Rucci bodice lace because there was no other practical way to mark the seam lines and I needed to see what beads & sequins have to be removed from the seam allowances.   A hand traced pattern piece block doesn’t need to be cut until you’re ready to sew it; I like to roll them up and set them aside until I need them.  I use a sharps needle and take long running stitches with small bites to get a good outline. And I make sure to push the needle under to the wrong side of the fabric exactly at corners and intersection points to mark them precisely.  The seam allowances are added on before the piece is cut and the tracing is removed right before sewing.  The thread on the Ralph Rucci bodice lace is basting thread, which is cotton, thick, very soft, breaks easily and leaves no holes.  I’ve also used silk thread tracing on silk fabric for the same reason. 

Hint:  on a hand thread traced pattern block the grain always needs to be thread traced on each piece because you’ll need to re-grain the piece before you cut it out.  In the example above the grain also happened to be at center back so I didn’t need to thread trace a grain line.

Last night I cut out my pattern and began to study it in more detail, but first let me share with you some interesting information [...]]]>

Here is a photo of the center front piece pinned to my dressform; as you can see, the darts wrap around the body and they are hidden in the tucks.

Last night I cut out my pattern and began to study it in more detail, but first let me share with you some interesting information I received today about how this dress is constructed.  Gail (who is certainly in a position to know) has confirmed that the construction method I’m investigating for the pin tucks is correct.  She also offers more insights into the tucks that I’ll excerpt for you:

“…. I thought I’d offer some comments to let you know that you are on the right track. I have not seen the commercial pattern that you are working with, but I can tell you how the samples are made in the (Rucci) workroom. The pattern allows 3/16? for a 1/8? pin tuck. You are constructing the pin tucks correctly, and you are right, there is no stabilizer or cording in the pin tuck. The knit that was used for this dress is not jersey, it is actually interlock, which is a different knit construction. If you are a knitter, you will recognize jersey as having a flat side and a bumpy side, like stockinette stitch. Interlock is a double knit construction, it makes a beefier, more stable cloth, it is flat on both sides…. “

Needless to say I panicked and immediately inspected my sample to determine the type of fabric I have, and this wool knit is indeed interlock, albeit one that is very lightweight, but it does have the stability that Gail references.  Whew. 

So now we know that Vogue’s fabric recommendation is wrong: you need wool interlock, not wool jersey.  It also must be 60 inches wide because the front needs to cut single layer (and I suspect this is also why Vogue does not offer this pattern graded higher than Size 16.)

Now that I know the exact fabric this design requires, I need to hit Jo-Ann’s to find an inexpensive interlock to use for muslins, which brings me to my pattern observations.

After giving it some thought, I cut off the seam allowances because I’ve decided to thread trace the pattern seam allowances onto blocks of fabric in a single layer layout. Why? Because that’s how it’s done in haute couture, and also because basting the pin tucks by hand onto flat laid fabric will require a single layer layout anyway. The seam allowances also just made it too difficult see the finished lines of this dress

A quick observation on petite and FBA adjustments in general:

• I’ve decided to go down one size to a 12 for the 1^stmuslin. Vogue slopers have linebacker shoulders, and I have narrow shoulders.
• This dress really hangs from the shoulders and bust. Fortunately, the shoulders and sleeves are simple, there is no set in sleeve, just a kimono-like shoulder with a single seam that runs runs down the top of the arm from the side neck to the wrist. Ease is supplied by the knit fabric and under arm gussets. To determine your own size match the pattern as closely to your bust size as possible because the skirt portion is a very simple A-Line shape that skims the body and will be easy to alter; the fit through the bust however is crucial.

Next post I’ll pin the upper bodice front and back to my dressform so you can see how those pattern pieces relate to the body.

 Thank you Gail!  To say I was a little verklempt when I read her comment is putting it midly.  You can read all of Gail’s comment here (scroll to comment 16.)

 Next post: How I’ll tackle the muslin and more photos of the pattern pieces.

As you can see from the pattern pieces; this is a pretty interesting design!  The instructions that come with this pattern basically stink like a monkey and I don’t believe for a minute they actually show how Rucci would make  a dress like this, although I do think he would make it entirely on a regular sewing machine as the instructions imply.  

The [...]]]>

As you can see from the pattern pieces; this is a pretty interesting design!  The instructions that come with this pattern basically stink like a monkey and I don’t believe for a minute they actually show how Rucci would make  a dress like this, although I do think he would make it entirely on a regular sewing machine as the instructions imply.  

The pintucks are marked on the pattern pieces, but there is nothing that specifically indicates how wide they are supposed to be.  However, the pattern itself does offer an intriguing clue; the darts are hidden in the seams of the pintucks. 

I measured the difference between the marked dart lines and a pintuck, and its 1/8 of an inch (3 MM).  So I’m convinced these pintucks are supposed to be 1/8 inch (3mm) tall.  Shannon Gifford has suggested on Stitcher’s Guild that  at a twin needle is not really the best choice because there is no twin needle wide enough  for these pintucks. 

I do think the widest Schmetz twin needle might produce something close to 1/8 of an inch but I won’t use a twin needle for other reasons: (1)  The front pattern piece is really large – it spans the entire width of the fabric in layout, selvage-to-selvage.  I believe that trying to maneuver a double needle through my wool jersey and around those curves is asking for trouble and (2) there is no way the darts could be hidden when the pintucks are stitched with a twin needle.  

I really had to rack my brain over this conundrum, and I think I’ve come up with WWRD. Here is my pintuck plan:

• Cut the front in a single layer layout
• Use a full size oak tag stencil of the front to mark the tucks
• Lay the front out flat and hand baste the tucks from the right side
• Machine stitch 1/8 inch pintucks with a walking foot
• Remove the basting.
• No backstiching the ends of the pintucks; I suspect Rucci does the same thing that Chanel does on their quilted jacket linings; the needle side thread tails are threaded onto a hand sewing needle, brought to the wrong side, and tied off with the bobbin thread.

Truthfully, I can’t think of any other way to do these pintucks without losing control.  Of course I’ll have to test this theory before I plunge into the real thing.  The second illustration shows the bodice piece; and this is oriented as in the finished garment.  On the top drawing you can see interfacing at the neckline and two sets of bust darts.  The darts are made first and then the pintucks are stitched, and the stitch line of the pintuck must precisely follow the stitch line of the stiched dart because in the finished garment the darts are invisible (just look closely at the pattrern envelope photo – there are no darts to be seen even though they do exist).  The angled straight edge is the center back seam. This pattern has an additional challenge – there is no provision for above waist adjustments, so that means for someone short-waisted  like me I’ll have to figure out how I can deal with this.  The trick will be to raise the waist with as little distortion to the pintucks as possible.

I think I’ll need to make a full size test garment straight from the pattern, unadjusted, and then work out my figure adjustments, and then transfer those changes onto a new pattern piece.  But this isn’t so bad because I’ll get to practice and perfect those pintucks!

I think I’ll also head over to Amazon to order “The Art of Weightlessness” – there might be some insights to be gleaned from the Rucci garments in that book.