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Vogue 8747 – Version 3

coudremode — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:57:03 +0000

This version was originally going to be 3/4 sleeve with a french cuff like Version 2 and when it came time to add the sleeves I ~~messed up the contrast fabric~~ decided it looked better with a short sleeve, the long sleeves seem too “heavy” looking somehow. But I did add a contrast inner facing to the sleeves instead of the grograin ribbon noted in the pattern. The plum colored buttons are from Pam at Fashion Sewing Supply, these are the buttons she sells by the “scoop” and they are really great for shirts and blouses because (1) the colors are fab and (2) they are at a great price. After mine arrived I spent a zen hour or two listening to music and sorting them out by color into small zip lock bags, which makes it easier to match them to fabric. I ended up with a least 8-12 buttons each in 7-8 different colors.

This fabric is a kind of soft and heavy blue broadcloth-ish cotton with faint stripes in white and bright blue so the buttonholes are matched to the blue stripes. I like to use machine embroidery thread for buttonhole because the fibers are smooth and I like the sheen. The placket and collar edge has matching blue topstitching in regular thread. One disappointment is that I worked so hard to match the white stripe horizontally across the placket but I still messed that up as well and it also match it to the blue – but it’s a subtle mistake and I’ll wear this shirt anyway :)

For the next version I have some fitting refinements to make and I really need to work on a cleaner join where the collar stand meets the placket at center front.

All in all a good basic spring-summer shirt

When is a Ham Not a Ham? When It’s a Stitch Nerd Custom Ham

coudremode — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:09:02 +0000

Isn't she a beauty?

As soon as I read Pam‘s blog post about the custom pressing hams made at Stitch Nerd I had to have one! The item I really wanted was a contour ham, this is a sewing/pressing tool I’ve craved for years ( I kid you not - years) and while I had searched high and low, I never found a conotured ham that met my standards., the reason being is that I have a vintage June Taylor regular ham from the 70′s that my mother gave me and so I knew how a proper pressing ham should be made:

It has one cotton side and one wool side (100% wool and 100% cotton only thank you)
The outer surface is really a cover and there is an inner form filled with sawdust
It’s must be heavy and solid to withstand hard use with a heavy iron and steam

Oh sure, Dritz still sells pressing hams, but it’s kind of like the difference between a self-stable canned ham sitting in nasty, salty jelly on a supermarket shelf and an artisan ham made from free range pigs lovingly smoked in a barn by someone who makes only a couple hundred a year instead of millions - there is just no comparison.

The most fun thing about Stitch Nerd products is each customer chooses their own fabric combination of wool and cotton and the choices are really great. I actually go over to the web site just to play with the different fabric combinations. Mine has a Tudor black-and-white floral on the cotton side and a very 70′s London Punk pink & black plaid on the wool side. Sonia puts a lot of love into each order, notice she centered the floral motif on the cotton side so it would be as pretty as possible. I LOVE THAT. I have to say too I’m really impressed that the wool plaid is perfectly square over a complex three dimensional surface. Stitch Nerd sells two sizes of contoured ham sizes, I have the large one. I really recommend the larger one.

After your make your fabric choice Sonia lovingly crafts each ham and sleeve roll by hand. She packs each order well enough to surive a trip to Mars in tissue paper and pink bubble wrap, which was a big hit with my teenage daughters. As an added bonus the sawdust filling has a light and fragrant smell of cut wood – kind of the sewing equivalent of new car smell and just as appealing.

In addtion to hams and sleeve rolls also available is a ham holder; a very handy wooden stand that props up the ham. Ann has one of these; I didn’t order one only because I have a vintage plastic June Taylor ham stand that my mother gave me but I have to say that if you buy a Stitch Nerd ham try to include the ham stand as well because in order to use your ham to the fullest it needs a stand for stability.

So what exactly does a pressing ham do? Several things…

The concave side is used to press things such as a a facing on a sleeveless blouse
The convex side is used for pressing princess seams and the like
They are really great for steaming a shirt collar into a round shape
I like to use them to pin embellishment when I mock up ideas (the sawdust filling is perfectly pinnable)

Stitch Nerd products really fulfill the “form follows function” mantra and in addition to its usefulness of my contour ham I just like looking at in my sewing room. There is value in beautiful tools because it helps us create beautiful garments.

Make a Sleeve Board Cover

coudremode — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:53:12 +0000

The Cover Pattern Traced Off

Finished Sleeve Board Covers - One wool side, one cotton side

A good sleeve board is something every sewer can use; I find them a bit more useful than a sleeve roll. The small one below I’ve had for years and it was okay but not really long enough, strong enough and it was not well padded. Ann went to New York this week and brought me back the type of sleeve board used in sample rooms and on Project Runway – isn’t it great? These are made by Newhouse Specialty Co. and are sold on their web site. The boards are cut from MDO plywood connected with an aluminum bracket, padded on both sides and each has a muslin cover. The cover is sewn to fit tightly over the open end. On the bracket end a casing with a string pulls it tight. The boards are two different widths, one is for shirts and the other is for jackets. I know from experience that these covers don’t last forever because they scorch from the heat and eventually fall apart. So I made new covers to go over the muslin ones. I made a smooth cotton cover for the shirt board and the jacket side has a wool tweed cover. Pressing tools like hams, sleeve boards and seam rolls have two fabric sides for different situations. The cotton side is used for cottons, lines and blends while the wool side is used with wool, silk and heavy steaming because the wool side absorbs moisture and the pressed fabric dries faster. There is no rule that says one side has to be wool and the other cotton really that’s up to you.

Making a cover like this is easy, just remove the original muslin, rip all the stiches out, press it flat and trace it off to make a pattern. Ripping won’t take long because the original cover made at the factory is sewn with really long stiches and it goes fast. Press the muslin cover flat and connect the dots from the original needle holes to mark the seams. The traced off pattern will look like the example at the right.

Padding - it's just taped down

Don’t throw out the original muslin cover! After the pattern is made you’ll stitch it back together and put it back on the board. The fashion fabric cover goes over the original muslin covers.

Materials:

Seam ripper

Cotton string, 20 inches per cover

Fashion Fabric: two 27 x 12 inch remnants of fashion fabric is all you need for each cover and a cross grain or selvage grain layout is fine it doesn’t make any difference. I chose these two fabrics because they look nice together, one is a silk-wool tweed and the other a stretch cotton. The new cover is made exactly like the original the only change is that the center back seam for the fashion fabric cover should be reduced to 5/8 from the original ¾; this little bit of ease will make it easier to pull the fashion fabric cover over the muslin one. Also use a small stitch length on both the fashion fabric cover and the re-sewn muslin.

The process of ripping apart the original cover will pretty much reveal how it goes back together, the steps are these:

Cut out the fashion fabric and clip the four notches as noted on the pattern. The space between the notches is the opening that fits around the aluminum bracket. The area above the notches on the big round end forms the casing for the string. The area below the notches is the t-shaped seam that end fits over the small end of the board.
Fold under the area between the notches to clean finish the bracket opening. Starting at the bottom notch stitch all the way around the big round end folding it to make a casing for the string. Come all the way around to the lowest notch on the other side. Yes, sew from one bottom notch all the way around to the other bottom notch. It’s ok to sew across the top notches as long as you leave enough room to insert the string.
Run the string only through the top notches near the big round end to form the casing.
Fold the fabric rights sides together. Sew the center back seam from the small round end to the first notch. Press this seam open.
Align the rounded cut edges and sew the end seam. Clip this seam to ¼ inch.
Turn the cover to the right side and put both covers, muslin and the fashion fabric, back on the boards. The muslin goes first and the fashion fabric last.

A few hints:

This is not fine sewing and I didn’t bother (and neither did the factory) to finish the edges of the muslin for the bracket opening and the string casing, however the wool tweed was ravelly so I serged those edges before sewing the casing. I didn’t serge any of the edges for the t-shaped seam because that end of the cover fits so tightly to the board there’s no reason to do that.

The final assembly: Pull the covers onto the boards one at a time, muslin first and fashion fabric next. Pull the casing string to tighten it around the wide end of the board. Tie several strong knots and clip any extra string. Steam the fashion fabric at both ends of the board so it’s nice and smooth over the padding. Save the traced off patterns to use again when it’s time to replace the covers after they get scorched and stained from pressing; The length of time they last depends on how much you sew, mine last about 2 years.

Enjoy your fab new sleeve board covers!

Benedikt NY Jewelry – Part I

coudremode — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:00:14 +0000

Over 20 years ago I bought a Maltese cross brooch at the (late, great) Filene’s Basement store in Boston. It became a favorite and I wore it constantly and then one of the cabochons fell out and I was so crushed. One day on a whim I googled “Maltese cross” to see if something similar was available much to my surprise saw several images of a virtually identical brooch listed that was signed “Benedikt NY”! After some additional sleuthing it seems that Howard Benedikt made high-end costume jewelry from 1955 to 1973. His store was located at 389 5th Avenue in New York City and that is all I can find out about him. His pieces are considered collectible and are certainly as well made as vintage Hattie Carnegie pieces but are much less pricey. The brooch I bought in the 80’s was clearly a Benedikt knock-off and from time to time I see his designs copied by today’s high end costume jewelery brands such as Kenneth Jay Lane. I have three of these brooches, a white/grey crystal, a blue crystal and a topaz cabachon.

Benedikt jewelry is always marked “Benedikt N.Y. (c)” and one of his most elaborate pieces is the Maltese cross. It was most commonly made in red, blue or green with both a faceted crystal center or round cabochon center. Blue and green with crystal centers are by far the most common. I’ve seen red and green cabochon centers but the blue only once in my research and it turned up on Ebay in 2007. The center cabochons are colored glass and the oval cabs on the arms on the red and blue examples are colored glass or occasionally opaque pink glass or blue faux lapis (that’s what my blue one has.) This heavy brooch is 2 inches square and weighs one ounce. It’s constructed from three pieces of cast metal held together with a pin under the center stone/cabochon.

Benedikt Maltese cross brooches within each colorway are by no means identical. Sometimes the stones on the arms of the cross match the rest of the colors as in the green crystal example below. My personal preference is for clear crystals but I did make an exception when I bought the white cab cross; I think the subtle grey of the stones is actually really nice. The color of the metal is most often bright gold, only the topaz version seems to have that bronze finish.

Other variations that are rare but do come up include these, see the photos below:

White cabs with black stones on the arms and a black crystal center. There was a bidding war on Ebay for that one!
Turquoise cabs with amethyst stones. This stunner has been on Ruby Lane for a while and is by far the most expensive and unusual I’ve seen.
The red and green cab version was on Ebay in 2008 and I have not seen it again myself.

In addition to a pin back each piece has a hook at the top which allows the brooch to be worn as an enhancer to a necklace and this looks pretty fabulous! The opening is very small though so a bail is needed to attach it. In the photo I pinned the brooch to my dress form because the hook won’t fit over my 4mm Mikimoto pearl necklace. I’ve been looking for a 14k gold bail that works with the style of the brooch.

If you love this brooch and want one here is what l’ve learned in the two years I’ve been collecting Benedikt NY jewelry:

Condition: generally very good to excellent. These must have been expensive pieces of costume jewelery when they were new. I also think they may have been available ready-made and made-to-order, the latter might explain why there are so many interesting variations.
Most examples will not have stones in the tiny prongs circling the center cab/crystal. My white one has them but the other two don’t. I think they were made this way.
Condition issues to look for:

The stones surrounding the arms are occasionally missing so carefully scrutinize photos.
The baguette stones on the points are fogged about 50% of the time (visible on my blue one but the baguettes on the white one are clearer)
Sometimes the pin holding the three parts together has some play in it. This can be fine if it’s minor but if there is a lot of looseness the cabs may fall out because the middle layer holds them down in their prong setting. See the side view for info on how the components fit together.
The fleur-de-lis above the arm cabs should be straight. Notice on my blue brooch, on the left arm, one of them is bent. I also think that happened when it was made.

Prices: starting bids are $14.99 to $49.99 with the winning bid average in the $30 – $60 range on Ebay auctions depending on the time of year. On sites like Rubylane the prices are higher, in the $60 – $80 range. Rubylane is a antique dealer site and has the highest price I’ve seen so far which is for the $188 purple turquoise piece.
Availability: Still pretty good, Benedikt Maltese crosses come up maybe 10 – 12 times a year on Ebay.

I have other Benedikt NY pieces as well and I’ll do another blog post about those.

Mom’s Sweat Shop

coudremode — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:26:46 +0000

“Mom, can you make me a tank top from this to wear to FX next Friday night?”
“How do you want the back to look?”
“Can you make it a racerback?”
“Sure but I have to make the back in white knit because that silver sequin is left over from Siobahn’s costume and there is only enough for a front”
“That’s ok”

Add 1 Jalie 2805 (modified), one coverstich machine, one very pretty rayon knit remnant that Ann gave me and 2 hours later:

“Thanks Mom!”

You’re welcome Sweetie.

Namaste

coudremode — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 08:46:09 +0000

The Dalai Lama, Facebook status update , September 11, 2011 at 4:58am

Today, as we mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11th 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC, let us remember all the innocent lives lost and ponder the continuing impact of that tragic day. September 11th reminds us of the horror we human beings can unleash on ourselves when we allow our human intelligence and powerful technology to be overtaken by hatred.

We need to learn from our painful memories of September 11th and become more aware of the destructive consequences that arise when we give in to feelings of hatred. This tragedy in particular has reinforced my belief that fostering a spirit of peaceful co-existence and mutual understanding among the world’s peoples and faith traditions is an urgent matter of importance to us all. We must therefore make every effort to ensure that our various faith traditions contribute to build a more caring, peaceful world.

The Dalai Lama

September 9, 2011

Originally published in the Washington Post on September 10, 2011.

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.

Handy Dandy

coudremode — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:00:02 +0000

The last time I got a manicure I noticed the nail tech used a little pump bottle for polish remover and I said to myself “I want some of those!” Polish remover comes in tall narrow bottles that are very tippy and I’m very clumsy. A quick search on Ebay turned up 180inShop based in Hong Kong who sells them in packs of 5 for $8.99 ($5.99 + $1.99 shipping)…these little bottles have a ton of uses: there are two in my sewing room, one filled with water for removing wash-away marker and the other filled with rubbing alcohol for cleaning Sharpie off my Sewing rules. And of course the third one is being used for nail polish remover. The last two went to Abby and Emma and I might just have to take them back!

Memo to John Galliano

coudremode — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:03:44 +0000

TO: John Galliano

FR: CourdreMODE

RE: The Incident

John, I have admired your astounding work for many years and I just need to give you some sincere advice. I’ve worked in the corporate world for for a long time and have witnessed all kinds of corporate intrigue and you made a few crucial mistakes:

Develop a relationship with your CEO. I read in news reports that Mr. Toledano said that he had no personal relationship with you and he communicated with you through staff. This is career suicide for someone at your level because even the lowliest worker needs allies in business.

Every cell phone has a camera and people are always on the look out for ways to compromise celebrities. You may not be Oprah Winfrey in terms of face recognition but obviously more people know who you are than you might think.

Remember that the people who really make it all happen in couture are the seamstresses and tailors – the people onstage in the photo. Karl Lagerfeld understands this, just watch “Signe Chanel”

Please don’t turn out like Yves St. Laurent, who lost the last half of his career to various demons and substance abuse issues. The last two collections you did for Dior is some of your finest work and I hope that you solve your problems and come back stronger than ever. The world needs the beauty you create; we don’t need hate speech, there is plenty of that in the world already. Coco Chanel spent a decade in exile and I hope that doesn’t happen to you.

Best of luck,

CoudreMODE

Costume Not Couture

coudremode — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 03:47:29 +0000

Sometimes it’s just about getting the job done and these days I’m in dance costume mode. This jacket and dress is for a solo (not one of my daughters) and the routine is jazzy and edgy. The challenge in coming up with a costume to was to avoid cliche, especially a peculiar erstaz-Fosse type of costume that I just see over and over and over at Nationals (lots of black, bowler hats, fingerless gloves – ho hum.) So this costume is meant to be fresh, urban and youthful. The jacket pattern is Kwik Sew 3764 and the dress is Jalie 2674. I’ve already turned over the dress to the dancer so you’re looking at some extra fabric pinned to my dress form. The only change I made was leaving the straps off; she’ll wear a set of clear straps to make the dress look strapless. The jacket was an interesting challenge because it had to be as sheer as possible and several details were left off, such as the epaulets and the zippered pockets. The seams and edge finish are a three thread narrow overlock; and the heavy stress seams (e.g. armsyce, shoulder, side seams) were done on my industrial and the serger was used to clean finish the seams. The zipper was a challenge and there I just laid the zipper under the overlocked edge. The jacket fabric is dark blue silk organza and the dress is a spangly sequin knit.