CoudreMODE » Embellishment

A Great Tool: Rivet-In

coudremode — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:51:16 +0000

Right now I’m finishing up a vest from Simplicity 2556 for Abby and she wants nailhead embellishments on the leather collar. The most secure way to attach studs or nailheads is with a bench setter, but they are way more expensive than what I need for an occasional project like this. Hot-Fix nailheads are not really an option as they fall off after a few weeks when applied to leather. Over the years I’ve experimented with various hand held setters and each and every one of them has been a disappointment.

Still last week I thought I’d check Ebay one more time and Lo! I found a listing by Susan’s Sweet Beads for the Rivet-In, an inexpensive, fast, easy to use and accurate way to set studs and nailheads. The Rivet-In is a solid metal, 4″ long, spring-loaded tool for setting metal studs onto fabric. It works best on denim and solid fabrics but can handle lace to thin leather. It also sets rhinestones with rimmed prong settings. There is a story behind this too: In the 60′s an aircraft parts manufacturer in Culver City, Calif. was commissioned to make this tool for a company, once it was approved they made about 2,000. The company bought 1 ,000 and then went out of business. Susan had been buying them100 at a time from the manufacturer till he retired in 2002 and then she bought the remaining inventory. There are a just couple hundred left and if you think you’d find this useful get one because they they’re gone they are gone for good. Susan has a video in her Ebay store that she has allowed me to use on CoudreMode and it perfectly illustrates how to use this handy tool. No more hammers and clamping tools! YAY! Susan fulfills orders with lightening speed and a joy to deal with.

Book Review: “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty”

coudremode — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:10:19 +0000

“I never conform to any sort of fashion ideal. My ideal was to always show reality, even though I started at Savile Row and ended up a Givenchy in Paris, to depict the times I live in”

- Alexander McQueen, Harper’s Bazaar, September 2008

VOSS collection, spring/summer 2001

The death of Alexander McQueen in February 2010 at age 40 rocked the fashion world and elevated his too-brief 15 year career to mythic status. Savage Beauty is the book published in conjunction with the 2011 Metropolitan Museum of Art’s retrospective of his work and it’s a fine addition to a sewers library as a visual chronicle of the most unique couturier ever to work commercially in the modern fashion industry.

This book is all about his work, don‘t expect much insight into Lee Alexander McQueen as a person. Unlike Andy Warhol or Yves St. Laurent, both of whom had very public artistic careers that spanned decades, McQueen was clearly an artist who spoke through his work and for the most part eschewed the glitz of the fashion industry. The book recounts that instead of hanging around after his shows to speak with the media and press the flesh more often he would duck into a car and speed off, leaving his work to speak for itself. There is some biographical content but no new information or analysis of his tragic suicide other than to note that he ended his life just 9 days after his mother died from cancer. Like most fashion books the preface is several pages of bloviating fashion writing and the most interesting content is at the end, where Sarah Burton, who took over as creative director after his death, offers fascinating insights into the creative process behind his work.

And his work speaks volumes.

Carved elm wood. No 13. collection, spring/summer 1999

Aimee Mullins ensemble

“Art is a man’s name” is a quote from Andy Warhol. Those 5 words, so simple, dismissive, ironic and astute, pretty much sums up our modern world were Art with a capital “A” has no real influence or meaning in the lives of most people. After Western fine art freed itself once and for all from the constraints of the church and cultural censorship by the end of the 20^th century it had all been said, done and put out there and really for those of us alive today what is left of Art with a capital “A” that is transcendent and yet accessible? Well we still have fashion and fortunately someone like McQueen to show us what can be produced from the convergence of history, culture, painting, sculpture, performance, couture, technology and metaphor. Add to that mix a good dose of mystery and a willingness to embrace taboo like Diane Arbus or Robert Mapplethorpe and the end result is the most potent, provocative, frightening and beautiful fashion of the recent past. And just like Arbus and Mapplethorpe he was one of those rare and brave artists who had no persona in his work: what you saw was really him and he put it out there for the world to see without apology.

Savage Beauty does a good job of explaining the more obvious and easy to understand aspects of McQueen’s work and the book’s large format and numerous full length photos enable a reader (and especially a sewer) to linger over his astonishing technical skill in not only couture dressmaking but also bespoke tailoring. His facility with color and texture is amazing; there are gowns made from the shells of razor clams and mussels, gowns with animal skulls, horns and taxidermy birds rising from the shoulders. There are close ups of digitally printed fabrics that are milled in such a way that the pattern pieces must have been printed at the same time as the motifs and then the garment was hand draped before being sewn. In these same prints the motifs continue flawlessly from woven fabric still with its selvage fringe (I’m guessing) to a knit mesh with no interruption in the motifs. He worked in every conceivable type of fabric and material with equal skill whether it was wool, silk, lace, metal, leather, rubber, wood, hair, fur or boning. He also used just about every embellishment technique known to man, everything from beading to historical types of embroidery such as Stumpwork, used on the piece that is my absolute favorite in the book, a jacket made from grey and pink silk Birdseye. Stumpwork is three dimensional embroidery done with padding and wire; notice how the bird’s wings stand away from the surface. The Amaranthus in the hat look almost totally 3-D. Notice also the sleeves cross over the body like those of a strait jacket. I’m still trying to figure out what that means.

Click

As with any art book the format is large and the binding is very nice. The paper is matte finished so every detail can be seen at once, and my only small complaint is that some the photos are heavily retouched in the details and this is especially notable in accessories like shoes. The front cover has one of those flat plastic lenticular lenses that we all know from childhood where the image changes depending on the angle you view it; a melting skull transforms into McQueen’s face. It makes me think of that Frances Bacon painting that interprets a Diego Velazquez painting of Pope Innocent X. The two seen together sum up, for me the approach that McQueen used. And the very last piece in the book is what his art is about in metaphor: it’s a wooden boot that is actually one piece from a pair of prosthetic legs carved from elm wood that legless athlete Aimee Mullins wore in his 1999 show with a knee length skirt made from lace and a leather corset. So many emotions come together in that one silent but fascinating object: craft, fashion, disability, norms, beauty and perception. Evidently fashion editors still request it for shoots thinking it’s merely a pair of boots.

This book is rich in meaning and one that repays me with with something new every time I open it. For Alexander McQueen “Art” was much more than a man’s name.

A Dress For Lily

coudremode — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:13:48 +0000

Click for a larger view

Wow it’s been quite a while since I’ve done baby sewing! This dress is for Lily, my first cousin three times removed; her grandmother is my mother’s cousin. She’s 18 months old and is the flower girl in her uncle’s wedding. He is my first cousin twice removed, his mother is Lily’s grandmother. The family ties come full circle because Lily’s grandmother, my mother’s cousin, was the flower girl at my parent’s wedding in 1957.

The pattern is Butterick 5458 in a size 2; I made a few alterations. I wasn’t crazy about the rounded neckline so I made it a more elegant bateau shape. The back zipper was eliminated and replaced with a simple slit closed with a buttonloop. The button is vintage; its from my grandmother’s stash and I added a pearl in the center to dress it up a bit. The pattern has a back zipper however I think a zipper on a toddler dress is just weird. The wedding is in North Carolina next month and the dress is fully lined in batiste so she won’t need to wear a slip because it will be pretty hot. The fashion fabric is Kaufman seersucker from Fabric.com and this is a beautiful fabric! I may need to order a few more yards – I need new summer shirts! If you’re doing vintage pattern sewing this seersucker is the real thing and it’s a joy to sew. The hem of the lining and her bib are trimmed in ecru Cluny lace from my grandmother’s stash. Lily’s mother will love the family ties, my late grandmother is Lily’s great-great aunt. I also made her a diaper cover because the heirloom effect is kind of ruined with a modern disposable diaper. Fortunately I haven’t thrown out all of my baby patterns and I was able to draft the diaper cover from a romper in OOP Simplicity 5115. The bib was a last minute idea. A few years ago I made a silk organza christening gown for a friend and it ended up with a big formula stain on it and I don’t want Lily’s Mom to spend the whole wedding fretting over this dress. Now Lily can wear her matching bib at dinner and have a piece of wedding cake with no worries. I drafted a pattern for the bib from the dress bodice and it lined with batiste as well. The silk ribbon ties are a remnant from my stash. The sash is a good quality polyester organza from Jo-Ann’s if you can believe it!

Overall this was a very relaxing project it was perfect for summer; the finishing and details were most of the work. When my daughters were little I made lots of heirloom garments for them and it was nice to stroll down memory lane.

Click for a larger viewlane.

Click for a larger view

Bollywood Jam – The Story Behind The Costumes

coudremode — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:21:46 +0000

The video finally arrived from ADA Providence! I wish this was in High Def but competition videos tend to be shot in an older format so they’ll play on virtually any DVD player. From start to finish it took me about six weeks to make all 56 costumes. The inspiration was a Salwar Kameez for the girls and Kurta for the guys, both are South Asian styles worn in that part of the world by millions of people every day. To get started with this project I had a meeting in January with Rennie Gold and Kellie Grant to get a sense of what they were thinking for a costume. Rennie is the director and owner of The Gold School and Kellie is on the faculty. Rennie choreographed “Bollywood Jam”. He had a thick catalog of dance costumes and while there were a few South Asian styles available they were interpretations of formal clothes such as Nehru jackets or were variants on sari, such as a choli (the blouse worn under a sari) paired with loose pants. All of these were out because two years ago another dance school did a big Bollywood production routine that used those types of clothing styles. Plus, the Level 3 dancers are under the age of 13 and, unlike many other dance schools, Rennie will not allow young girls to wear costumes that are not age appropriate. Plus the colors weren’t really what he was looking for either. He used my Pantone deck to chose a color palette and I did web research to come up with ideas.

Rennie’s final choice was a turquoise blue for Level 1 (the oldest kids, age 13 and up), a lime green for Level 2 (ages 11 – 13) and a bright yellow for Level 3 (ages 8 – 13). He left the color choice for the pants up to me and that was an interesting challenge. It had to be dark color because all of the dancers wear the same tap shoe: black leather Capezio G100′s that cost $65 a pair. Asking them to buy new tap shoes for one routine was out of the question. The pants color also had to coordinate with the three tunic colors. Lucky for me research revealed that a dark merlot wine color is used in real South Asian clothing and it looked great with the tunic colors.

Design Sources

The Girls: Salwar Kameez is a garment for women and girls made from woven fabrics; the basic design is a loose tunic with side slits, a pair of tapered pants fairly tight through the leg that scrunch at the ankle plus a scarf or shawl in a chiffon. The scarf and pants are often the same color and contrast with the tunic. It can be a day or evening garment depending on the fabric. Even though the design is simple the fabrics range from plain woven gauze to sari-type fabrics in bright saturated colors with beautiful metallic designs woven through and embellished with elaborate trim. The tunic can be sleeveless, short sleeved or long sleeved and a v-neck is most common.

The Guys: a Kurta is a tunic worn by men and boys, very loose, and the only embellishment is at the neckline. It’s also made from a woven fabric and the pants can be matching or not.

Fabric: This was an even bigger challenge! My first choice was sari fabric for the tunics and a knit for the pants. Sari is widely available on Ebay in poly-cotton and I found a source that had the three colors I needed. Each sari had a stunning jacquard clover motif woven through with a silver jacquard border. One sari is 7 yards long and I found a source for about $15 per sari and I could get several tunics out of each one with a cross grain layout. I ordered one to make a prototype, however, the fabric was really really sheer and it needed a lining, which was totally out of the question for 56 costumes. So I had to go with a knit for the tunics as well and Spandex House came ot rescue; they sell Milliskin which is a 4-way stretch knit (80% nylon, 20% Spandex) and it comes in 40 colors. It’s meant for dance/gymnastic costumes and work-out clothing. Spandex House has the matte finish version which was perfect. Several of the girls told me they found the leggings to be really comfortable, I think that’s due to te high Spandex count. It’s a rather heavy drapey fabric like Slinky but thankfully it doesn’t “grow” like Slinky. A raw edge on Milliskin will not run or ravel and not having to hem sleeves and pant legs was a real time saver.

Trim: the move away from sari fabric to a plain knit meant I had to look for trim and it had to be at a great price. Trim is always more expensive than fabric and my price limit was $75 per costume. Ideally I wanted to find a trim in three different colors – lo and behold Cheep Trims had metallic fan braid in yellow gold, light gold and silver at a great price point: 20 yards for $12 and I easily met the minimum order requirements.

This was the silouette we wanted

Patterns: Initially, New Look 6086 was exactly what I was looking for in terms of a Salwar style tunic. A short sleeve was perfect because I didn’t want to worry about sleeve length. The scarf was eliminated because there is partnering in this routine. However, once I switched to a knit for the tops I wanted to look for a simpler design without darts to cut down on construction time. Jalie 2805 (the t-shirt pattern) was the final choice and I lengthened each pattern into a short tunic shape with side slits. The end result is much more body conscious than a real Salwar and more appropriate for a dance routine. In tap routines the judges need to see every dancers legs and feet for scoring. Jalie 2920 was used for the leggings and I extended the length by 6 inches to get the ankle scrunch. The guys costumes use Simplicity 9900, a pajama pattern. A few minor adjustments were made; a v-neck was added and and the Henley front and center seamwas eliminated. Oddly the younger boys costumes fit them perfectly but the older guys costumes were HUGE even though I made them in the correct sizes. After the try-on each one had to be cut in two inches on each side for both the pants and the tunic. Now these guys are dancers and all in amazing condition nonetheless the sloper on this pattner is so huge I recommend going down a size for any guy if you decide to use it.

Production

Production sewing was the biggest challenge. There are three sets of dancers in this routine, both guys and girls,a nd the age range is from age 9 to 18. In the end it worked out to 56 costumes in 12 sizes across four colors. Yes – I made 112 pieces of clothing! The school gave me basic measurements for the girls (bust, waist, hips) and I took measurements for the 7 older guys (chest, waist, back length, waist to floor from the side). I winged it on the younger boys because they are all about the same height & size this year and a boys medium worked for the three of them. In the end I traced off and altered patterns in 12 sizes forhte girls and 3 sizes for the guys. That was a ton of work but I have them saved so I can use them again.

The costumes had to be delivered a full week before the first competition so Rennie could do rehearsals and a run through prior to the competition. My biggest fear was handing them out and discovering that one (or more!) dancers would not have a costume when they needed to wear them that weekend. I came up with this production plan to prevent that:

Each dancers name, gender, measurements, size for each piece and dance level was put on a 3 x 5 index card
The girls costumes were made first, then the guys.
I sorted the cards and made a separate list on a legal pad of how many pieces were needed of each size in each color. For cutting the list was grouped by size, costume color then by dance level. Bodices were cut first, then sleeves.
all of the pieces for each garment were rolled together and placed in a wire laundry basket to the right of my serger. As I finished each garment I dropped each one into another laundry bsaket to my left.
Trim was added after all the costumes were made.
As each piece was made it was checked off from the totals for that size and each piece was marked with its size on a piece of tape.
When a color was finished in a size I added the dancers names to the tapes, put each into a ziplock bag and dropped in the 3×5 index card with the name facing out.
The pants/leggings were sewn and added to each bag in the same manner..

After all the costumes were done I did a double check against the master list of names to make sure each dancer had a costume. On costume day I did not miss ANYONE!

There were a few glitches during production,the electronics in my serger overloaded and I had to enlist Ann’s help and her industrial serger to finish them up. She gets a big THANK YOU and a giant hug for being such a solid and supportive friend. There have also been repairs here and there. A few kids went through a growth spurt and their costumes were too small based on measurements taken last fall. Some have been accidentally washed, but hat’s no big deal as I have extra fabric (never wash a dance costume!) For Nationals next month I’ll whip up spare leggings in a few sizes because if somethigbn needs repair there will be no time for fixing anything while we’re in Boston at the Hynes Convention Center. One final touch for the girls will be bindi and jewels over their eyebrows.

All in all it was a fun challenge and I got paid for it too!

Party Time!

coudremode — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:03:17 +0000

For sewers with teenage daughters, Spring always means “Mom, can you make me a dress for the (insert: dance, semi-formal, prom)?”…when my daughters were young I did a lot of sewing for them, but now that they’re older they like shopping and that’s fine, it means I can sew for myself. However, when prom season rolls around they know Mom can make them something much nicer than anything they could buy in a store for the same cost. So between now and the end of June I have two dresses to make for the Thurston Middle School 8th Grade Semi-Formal. Here’s what they chose:

Emma – McCall’s 6283

A couple months ago Emma gave me a tearsheet from Seventeen for this $296 Terani mermaid gown. She wants a cocktail dress version, basically the whole look without the mermaid hem. McCall’s 6283 is a perfect pattern and is virtually identical to the original. This style is in McCall’s “Create it!” series and the instructions include a croquis so that budding designers can style their own dress. I love that idea and I’ll hold onto this pattern. Em wants the fashion fabric to be a textured Thai Silks silk/linen blend with 1 inch black silk satin ribbon for embellishment. Construction on this will use tried -nd-true couture technique. I’ll make a boned corselet and the dress will attach to the corselet on the top of the bodice. Susan Kahlje’s website has steel boning and there a several web sources for genuine silk satin ribbon. The biggest challenge is all of those buttonholes for the ribbon, I need to think more about how I’ll make them. I think an oaktag template for marking and a whisper light machine embroidery stabilizer under the fabric might be the way to go. I might even make the buttonholes first onto blocks of fabric and then cut out the pattern pieces.

Abigail – McCall’s 6201

Abby’s dress is not as complex, a few months ago she saw McCall’s 6201 and loved it exactly as it appeared in the catalog. She wants View C in the same blue-purple fabric as the original. An FBA is built in this pattern and I’ll need that for Abby. A silk charmeuse should work well here; the shoulder embellishment will be mesh-covered jewels in a couple different shapes from M&J Trimming. No boning needed on this dress, most of the work here will be in making the shoulder pads and embellishments. The jewels are sew-on and I think the shoulder pads will need to be slightly formed and lightly padded, maybe wool felt steamed into shape . I don’t want the stitches that attach the jewels to pucker the underlying fashion fabric.

I’ll do muslins for both dresses although there should not be much fitting to do, both girls dance 15+hours week and they’re in perfect shape.

One Down – 56 To Go

coudremode — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 01:01:38 +0000

The past month has been a blur of holidays, work, snow, pattern uploading, school, dance, snow, work, school, seed catalogs, snow and more snow. I’m not one of those people who bitch about winter though and this lovely blanket of white is good news for spring and summer gardening. I also have my Etsy shop CoudreMODE Vintage Patterns up and running and I’m adding patterns about once a week. Today I finished part of Abby’s costume for her solo, she’s doing a contemporary routine to a White Stripes tune and her choreographer wanted something rocker but happy. New Look 6648 had the perfect style; this is a very simple pattern with a nice gathered waist. The kimono sleeves are done on a straight stitch machine not a serger, a trick I learned from Gigi and this really gives the sleeve a nice drape. There are no changes from the pattern other than folding the neckline down with a coverstitch. No armsyce seam meant it was perfect for this big Gerbera daisy print from Gorgeous Fabrics. This style really perfect for a poly knits with a large scale patterns. The flower centers have a bit of gold foil color and I added Swarovski 12ss hot-fix crystals in Light Topaz for understated bling. Those came from Crystal Rhinestone Boutique on Ebay (great prices and every size and color.) The rest of her costume? A pair of dark wash RTW jeggings. The other 56 costumes are a silver sequin mini dress under a sheer motorcyle jacket in dark blue organza and 55 costumes for a Bollywood tap routine. Tomorrow I start the production sheets for those!

Unique Soles for Unique Souls

coudremode — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:59:32 +0000

The weather this weekend has been glorious and yesterday I took a long-overdue trip into B0ston for a stroll down Newbury St. In the 80′s I had great apartment on the corner of Newbury and Dartmouth so I was feeling nostalgic for the old neighborhood. Shopping was on the agenda and now I’m the happy owner of two pairs of John Fluevog shoes! Fluevog is on the funky end of the style spectrum, certainly not to everyone’s taste that’s for sure, but I love his work. He is actually a rea l person and according the sweet 20-something in the store he has a foundation that gives arts grants to his employees, she’s in a band and was the recipient of such a grant. These are Mollie Johnson Bellevues, and I know some of you are thinking…they look like granny shoes. Well, I think there is more to shoe life than stilettos and pumps in my opinion and since yesterday I’ve been having fun doing fall wardrobe planning around these beauties. Velvet ribbon, silk satin ribbon and maybe even polka dots and striped ribbon is in the plan.

The Original Shoe Laces

Petersham Ribbon From My Stash

2 Inch Black Lace Also From My Stash

Most Vog’s come in several colors and he makes both men’s and women’s styles. And if you think every Vog style is merely funky-crazy, check out these over-the-knee boots called “Gaga”

McCall’s 5591 – Dotted Swiss Summer Skirt

coudremode — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:54:53 +0000

Click!

Miss Cranky Pants is banished, this skirt managed to exorcise her! Recent projects by Gigi and Bunny inspired me to dig through my stash of heirloom trims and use them up. I did a lot of heirloom sewing when my daughters were young, but they outgrew those styles long ago and these pretty trims have been languishing for years. Sewing heirloom its easy and predictable like quilting, but wearing heirloom styles can be dicey in a modern context. It’s actually rather tricky to come up with heirloom garments that don’t look like reenactment clothing or Sunday best; I wanted something I can wear to work in the summer. Plus for me personally, as much as I love the look, a full-on Luxe Boho/Shabby Chic style looks silly on me .

For heirloom to work for me I need the trims need to be discrete and the pattern itself has to be more sporty/tailored than frilly. McCall’s 5591 has those qualities and its a summer skirt: flattering, easy to wear and a good base for embellishment. I made View A and eliminated the pockets. The yellow band at the hem on the pattern envelope is a piece of fabric folded in half with the fold forming the hem. That’s a separate pattern piece, so I just added that same amount of length onto the skirt pieces. The dotted Swiss is semi-sheetr so I added a n underskirt made from vintage eyelet that belonged to my grandmother. The embroidered dotted Swiss is from Gorgeous Fabrics (natch) and its cut in single layer layout so I could match up the embroidery at the side seams.

Click!

The trims are white tatting and French Val lace, and I made the lining a bit longer than the skirt to let the underskirt/lining peek out. The lining hangs free and the contoured waistband holds both the underskirt and the dotted Swiss. This was a little tricky because the center back seam of the underskirt was the last to be closed so I could finish the inside of the back zipper with hand fell stitching. The hems are done with a 1/8 inch narrow hemmer, and I have to say my vintage Wilcox & Gibbs hemmer foot works much better than any hammer foot on my domestic machines. I have no idea why this is but I love using it! After the skirt and underskirts were narrow hemmed the tatting and lace was attached with a narrow zig-zag. The tatting is butted up against the hemmed edge and in the zig zag the needle sweeps over the edge of the tatting to bind it to the hem.

And the cameo? I wanted to to see if I could style the skirt to show off the pretty underskirt. It’s a vintage piece my mother gave me and I really can’t wear it on the skirt without it being damaged but maybe I can find fabric flower or a nice vintage costume pin instead.

The next question is: what to wear with it? Maybe New Look 6755.

Seersucker for a Heatwave – McCall’s 6116

coudremode — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:44:19 +0000

Click!

New England is sweating away in the heatwave and this dress is kind of timely. One thing I remember from childhood are seasonal fabrics that have virtually disappeared from summer, old favorites such as madras, seersucker and dotted swiss come to mind. Gigi made a wonderful top from dotted Swiss and Ann rocked a skirt out of madras. When was the last time you saw a man in a seersucker summer suit? For me it was the 80’s I think. Modern knits are amazing, but they are ubiquitous year round and sometimes I really want to wear a summer fabric that’s not linen, so when I was at Jo-Ann’s a few weeks ago the store actually had several bolts of very nice seersucker and I could not resist!

Buuny did a cool version of 6116 that lowers the temperature just by looking at it, and I wanted a similar breezy shirtwaist to wear to Orlando next week. I found this great pair of retro Chie Mihara shoes to coordinate with an Alfani bag I’ve had for a few years so this homage to summers past is complete. Do you like the muslin strip that mocks up a belt? I do need to find one and I think a woven jute or woven metallic leather would look great. The buttons are Dritz, also from Jo-Ann’s and the piping and ribbon trim breaks up the green. I love this color, its kind of that Jadeite green so popular in the 1930’s.

Click!

This is a Palmer Pletsch pattern, and as Gigi noted the drafting is much better than a run-of-the-mill Big 4. The pattern tissue has a complete set of full bust adjustment lines and very detailed instructions for FBA changes. I’d say that if you’re ready to tackle an FBA just picked up this PP pattern and the whole process will be completely de-mystified.

My Circa 1972 Sewing Project

coudremode — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:11:20 +0000

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!