How did I manage so far without underlined pants?

So I've managed to get back (partially, because I'm not sewing with my usual passion) my sewing mojo and finished the first two items of my Timmel SWAP the past weekend. If you remember, my provisional SWAP title is "Not Your Usual Basics" and my first two items are NYU (not your usual) black pants and NYU pencil skirt.

The NYU pants are part of my wardrobe pattern (a requirement for the Timmel SWAP is to make at least three different items from the same wardrobe pattern) - Vogue 2813, an out of print Donna Karan. I don't like pants that sit at my natural waist (I don't like how they look on me) but I do like these pants - they have a really high waist and I call them my "toreador" pants. It is precisely this high waist that made me call them "not your usual black pants". The pants look great with a blouse tucked in or over them (see at the end of the post for a white Burda shirt worn over them) and I finally get to wear my older shorter T-shirts without flashing my panties every time I bend to pick up something :)

Fabric: gorgeous wool with a bit of elasthane.



I must say I find that the pants look better in real life than in photos. Worn them in the office yesterday and at least 6 people asked if I lost weight recently. Believe me, I haven't lost one gram!

Back of pants



Now, regarding the title of this post, I have two things to say: I'm very partial to underlining lately, I think I said it before on my blog, I like how the underlining moves with the fashion fabric, instead of having two separate garments joined at some seam, like in the case of lining. It is a subjective things, of course, but I'm going to use underlining instead of lining for most of my projects. Even for jackets, I'm thinking of using the flatlining method - described by Shannon Gifford in a recent Threads article.

Part of my great liking of underlinings is this gorgeous knit lining that I'm using - it is stretchy, thin, it does not alter significantly the drape of pants and anyway it improves it, and it has a silky side that feels absolutely luxurious against the skin. Plus it really minimizes the wrinkling which is very important, taking into account that I spend long working days sitting at a desk. The result: I cannot wear unlined pants anymore! :)

I've used this tip on PR for underlining and giving a Hong Kong finish to the seams at the same time. I'd like to explain a bit this method, insisting on the turn of cloth. This method has you cutting the underlining fabric with a supplementary seam allowance of 5/8 (aprox. 1.6 cm) . Therefore the fashion fabric has a 5/8 (1.6 cm) seam allowance and the underlining fabric 5/8 x 2 = 1 1/4 (aprox. 3.2 cm). You then join the fashion fabric wrong side to the underlining wrong side with a 1/4 seam allowance. I must stress that it is very important: 1) to be able to cut accurate seam allowances (I use my rotary cutter and its guide arm); 2) to be able to sew accurate 1/4 seams - use your 1/4 foot if you have one, your zipper foot (mine sews an exact 1/4 seam allowance if I align its edge to the fabric edge). I use my normal foot and a special setting on my machine which allows me to sew an 1/4 straight stitch seam. Now, from the supplementary 5/8 (1.6 cm) seam allowance, 1/4 is caught in the seam (0.6 cm), another 1/4 (0.6 cm) wraps over this 1/4 seam creating the Hong Kong finish and the remaining 1/8 (aprox. 0.3-0.4 cm) is for the turn of cloth. Now, if your fabric is especially thick or thin, you should increase/decrease the turn of cloth and the respective supplementary seam allowance of the underlining fabric. For a thick fabric, you'd cut more than 5/8 supplementary allowance, for a thin fabric, less.
See below the finished seam. I bound the hem with a band cut from the same knit lining, to go nicely with my Hong Kong seams.



The method works for vertical seams and I wasn't sure if I could use it on the center seam of the pants, therefore for those seams I used a method described by Shannon in this post. See the center seam below. The method described by Shannon (and coming from a Threads article I think) is a lot like Sandra Betzina's method, that I used for this pair of pants. I must say I like this one better than Sandra Betzina's, first because the underlining is cut with the same seam allowance as the fashion fabric and second because it has a 3/8 (approx. 1 cm) seam allowance instead of 5/8 (1.6 cm) which for me, looks better and cleaner. See it below.



I've used a self-made polkadotted bias binding for the facing (goes well with my SWAP colours - black, white and red and with my love for polka dots) . The same polkadotted satin was used to finish the end of the zipper. Perfect match with my label too :)



The waist facing is boned, I've inserted (see below the wrong side of the facing) 7 pieces of Rigilene boning, quite wide (almost 1 cm/3/8 inches, I think). After boning the waist of this skirt, I'm in love with this Rigilene boning. You don't feel it at all, because it is flexible and it molds to your body (it is sensitive to body heat). I wore this pants yesterday in the office and believe me, I forgot there was boning in my waist. Totally comfortable, no poking, no rigidness - but enough support not to have those horizontal strain wrinkles in the waist. The facing is also interfaced with a strong woven fusible (hope you can see it in the picture).




And now, my NYU pencil skirt - Burda WOF 12/2007, the skirt from the ensemble 123.



Not so usual, because the skirt is cut on the bias and also, because I've added a black-on-black handsewn embroidery near the hem.



Let me tell you, this pattern is gorgeous. The bias cut is form-fitting and curve-enhancing but at the same time there is enough ease over the hips to be comfortable and enough stretch at the hem to be able to walk (there is not slit in the back of this skirt).

The skirt is underlined with the same knit lining and using the same method described above of underlining and giving a Hong Kong finish at the same time.



I bound the hem too at the beginning but then I found that binding made it too tight for walking therefore I ripped it and serged the hem. The underlining is cut on grain and not on the bias, because the knit lining is stretchy enough. This eliminated all the problems you normally have with bias-cut garments and made it beautifully stable. See below that there is no rippling in the side seams and no bubble at the end of the invisible zipper. And that with no special effort, simply due to the underlining cut on grain.




This skirt made me change my mind about my most-flattering skirt length. This year I preferred to hem my skirts just to cover my knee. Now I find that hemming them at mid-knee is much more flattering. Maybe because the skirt stops at one of my thinner parts instead of ending at a wider part.

And last, a blouse made two weeks ago (before losing my mojo) which will probably be a SWAP extra. This is blouse 120, from Burda WOF 01/2008.

Fabric: high quality stretch poplin, black cotton lace

Sorry for the blurry picture... Blouse over the NYU pants




Blouse tucked in my NYU skirt



There is a collar underneath the collar with the lace. It has a bit of a different shape and it acts like a support for this decorative collar. Burda actually has you put two of these decorative collars, not sewn to each other, just two pieces of fabric, one with lace and the other one with a serger finished edge. My fabric having quite some body, I preferred to make only one "floating" collar instead of too. If I make this blouse again, I might ditch the support collar underneath altogether and only put the two "floating" collars.





I've used black lace instead of white. I love the contrast...

Also, I didn't have the special closures required by Burda, therefore made loops out of fabric bias strips and used some mother of pearl vintage buttons for the closure.



The inside of the blouse is secured with two ties, one caught in the side seam, the other one attached to the left front.

Can't find a title, can't make a plan :(

OK, so I wanted to show you my first two bras today but first I couldn't find my camera then I did find it (in a drawer where I looked a dozen times without seeing it) but managed to take really crappy pictures. I'll try again tonight.

What I want to write about today is my plan (or lack of it) for the TimmelFabrics SWAP 2008. The contest takes place between 1 January 2008 and 11 April 2008 and it is about sewing a perfectly coordinated wardrobe made of 11 garments: 1 jacket, 4 bottoms and 6 tops. You can substitute a maximum of two dresses for two tops. In case of jumpers, these would count as bottoms. All the tops must work with all the bottoms and the jacket must go with everything. You can use two previously sewn garments and one garment that was purchased. You must also use a print in this wardrobe. Every year, the contest has a "twist" to make it more interesting and this year's twist is that three garments must be made from a "wardrobe" pattern. The entire text of the rules can be read here. There's also a SWAP discussion thread at Artisan Square, here and see the storyboards made until now here.

It's been at least one month since I'm trying to come up with a plan for this SWAP and I keep changing my mind or hesitating. Therefore I've decided NOT to make a storyboard, at least not for the time being.

My provisional and painful SWAP plan:

• My colours will probably be black, white and red (how very innovative, right?)
  
• I'll probably make a coat instead instead of a jacket and the coat will be made out of my print - the red, white and black boucle from TimmelFabrics

• I'll probably make 4 bottoms - two skirts and two pants, five tops and one dress
• My provisional title is "Not your usual basics", as I plan to have several basics (a little black dress, a pair of lined black pants, a pair of jeans, a white shirt) but I will try to give them a little twist.
  
• My wardrobe pattern will probably be Vogue 2813, an out of print Donna Karan

My second bra and the two matching pairs of panties are my first SWAP extra :)

Happy holidays

To all of you, my dear virtual friends, happy holidays. I wish you the happiest New Year ever, full of love and joy...

I've been sewing up a storm (pic-heavy)

I didn't vanish into thin air nor died, in case you worried about me not posting :) Just had a very very busy time at work and spend every spare second sewing. Florin was in Brussels for a week and I took advantage of it. But before I show you what I made in a week (looots of things), here is my Chanel style jacket "in action", at the conference. It looks rather interesting with the black pearls doesn't it?






Last night I had one of the happiest moments ever. Thanks to Sigrid, I've discovered Elingeria, an online shop in Germany, selling bra kits, bra notions, patterns and lots of great things (you'll see below what I ordered). I'm very happy with this shop and they provide great customer service. So here is my Christmas present for myself:



Two big cutting mats(90x60 cm). First time I have a mat and I can finally use my rotary cutters - have two and one of them even has that distance arm (how do you call it??) but I couldn't use them because I didn't have a mat!



Bra patterns (one of them by Beverly Johnson, author of the Bra-maker Manual), bra padding in various colors, bra kits: black/silver, chocolate/turquoise, emerald green/gold, hot pink/purple, dark red. Every kit has all the notions (except bra padding) and enough fabric and lace to make a bra and two pairs of panties.

And now, I proudly present you the result of a week's worth of sewing. Beware, I did nothing else this week but go to work and then go home and sew!

Coat, Burda 10/2007, 119








This is the best drafted coat pattern I've ever seen so far! I made it like it was (it is a petite pattern) and I didn't have to alter or change 1 mm of it! It's amazing! Look how elegant this side panel with pocket included is:



And I love the shape of the sleeve. It has a center seam and not cap ease - I think the pattern is cut down the center and all the cap ease is taken out in a dart. The shape is beautiful and as usual, I didn't even need to insert shoulder pads.

Back detail :



The coat is made out of the same wool knit that I used for my Chanel style jacket. The wool if you remember is very stretchy, therefore I underlined the entire coat with white cotton batiste. I love underlining, the coat is so soft and supple and so light!



Burda, 04/2007, blouse 114 with the sleeves of blouse 101 from Burda 09/2007. The original sleeves of the blouse were short and puffed. I copied the sleeve, measured from front (back) notch to the shoulder notch both on the bodice and the sleeve. The resulting difference (that allows for gathers in the sleeve) I took it out slashing the pattern and taking out 1 cm at each slash. The resulting cap sleeve was copied to the sleeve pattern of the other sleeve. The blouse is made in pure silk and I can wear it both with long ties or with a bow.









Burda 09/2007, dress 117

Dress unbelted



Dress belted





The dress is made out of two cuts (about 0.5 m each) of pure gorgeous wool. Those cuts were given to me by my mother, are at least 20 years old and come from a Romanian factory that used to make only wool fabrics.

See how gorgeous this fabric is, and it has the name of the factory (Libertatea Sibiu) woven in the selvage. "Lana pura" means "pure wool". Have no idea what "London shrunk" might mean. Christina reminded me that Carolyn describes in this post the London shrinking method. Thanks Christina! So this fabric was pre-shrunk in the factory. This amazes me.... I guess it means good quality, doesn't it? I also assume this fabric is wool crepe. I don't know the word in English, in Romanian we call it caşa (pronounced "kashà" - the word comes from German).



The dress is underlined with a great knit lining, silky and slippery (no static of any other problems over stockings, no wrinkling and practically inconspicuous). I used this tip on PR to underline and give a Hong Kong finish to the seams at the same time.







Jeans, Vogue 8202






These jeans are very low rise in the back and I noticed that good jeans are normally higher in the back. I therefore altered the waist seam of the yoke, raising it by 1.5 inches at the center and tapering to nothing at the sides.







I used two spools of topstitching thread threaded in the same jeans needle, as I didn't have any dark blue jeans thread. I'm not sure that I like that tone on tone topstitching, maybe I would have liked a rusty jeans thread better, but I wanted a pair of jeans to be worn with dressier jackets and thought that dark blue thread would be better.

Detail of the decorative stitching on the back pocket



Simplicity 4020

Chanel jacket is finished

Vogue 7975, sizes 6-22. I made size 6, view B.

Not only I wanted to make a Chanel-like jacket for quite some time (since I saw Marji's jacket - read her review here) but I was absolutely fascinated with this jacket) - it is from the Threads online extra to Susan Khalje's article about making a Chanel jacket. This particular jacket is not quilted, but mine is, because I tried as we say in my country "to shoot two rabbits with one bullet) - make this jacket and try the Chanel techniques as well.

I chose this pattern because it was recommended by many (including Susan Khalje) as a pattern adequate for a Chanel-like jacket.

Fabric: Wool spongy very stretchy knit, silk serge for the lining, white wool/poly for collar and cuffs, chain for the hem, silk thread and beeswax.

First of all, I should have made a muslin. I know I should have but patterns do fit me out of the envelope most of the times and I was so obsessed with this jacket that I wanted to start working on it right then. After quilting the entire jacket, I discovered that the jacket was a bit too large and the armhole was not as high as I would have wanted, plus the shoulder was 5/8 too long. See this post about the problems that I had.

See this about how I solved the problems:

1) I took in another 5/8 at each center front
2) I took in the shoulder with about 5/8
3) Dawn gave me great advice about inserting a gusset that would solve my too large armhole problem. She later published a great post about raising armholes and inserting sleeve gussets - read it here. My fabric being very spongy, you cannot see that gusset even if I raise my arm and you're really close :)

My fabric is not exactly the fabric you would use for a Chanel jacket. It's not boucle, but a spongy wool knit - it is very stretchy so quilting it to the lining was a challenge even with my walking foot, because the knit kept growing. What helped was pinning and holding the fabric taut crosswise. Steaming the knit also helped to make it go back into shape.

I would have never thought about making a Chanel quilted jacket out of something else than boucle, but I was inspired by Carolyn who used the Chanel-like quilting on a Jackie O inspired jacket that turned out absolutely gorgeous - see her jacket and read her posts about it here, here and here.

Therefore I used this spongy knit, I sewed the quilting lines with silk thread and afterwards brushed all the sewing lines with an old nail brush, to stimulate the "sponginess" of the fabric and make it cover the sewing. The quilting is quite inconspicuous as a result, as you can see below



The quilting was done 1.5 inches apart (it is usually done at 1 inch apart but I didn't want too many quilting lines on this wool).


I've used Burdastyle Eva 4102 pattern for the collar and the cuffs.

The pockets are not quilted, but lined and attached by hand, with very small fell stitches



Attaching the collar and the cuffs: I left both the neckline and the sleeve ends not quilted for about 2 inches. I interfaced with a soft knit fusible both pieces of the collar and both pieces of the cuff, sewed them together, turned, understitched and then attached them (together) to the fabric part of the jacket, keeping the lining away. The lining was then attached to the cuffs/collar with small fell stitches (see below).



At the time that I bought the pearl trim (more than 6 months ago in Brussels) I didn't know there was such a thing as pearl piping and therefore bought a string of pearls. I sewed them by hand, one by one, to the collar and the cuffs. See how I did that in this post.





I've tried the jacket on before pinning the chain to the hem and it fitted really good, which made me wonder if I need a chain at all. I pinned the chain and tried the jacket on again. A revelation! The jacket hangs so much better with the chain. I was lucky and got both the right chain weight and the right pinning (not too tight, as to gather the jacket and not too large, as to make it flare). Each chain link is sewn by hand to the hem, attaching both the upper part and the lower part of the link with fell stitches, securing the chain perfectly to the jacket.



I'm really very happy with my new jacket and can't wait to wear it. I leave tomorrow for a very important and official meeting outside my town and it will come in handy.

Too bad, but the photos don't show the tiny white dots on my skirt and the little pearl earrings that I wear.

Read my PR review here.