Vintage wedding gown detail photos
19 August 2008, 12:29My grandmother’s wedding dress arrived safely on Friday! I person, it’s absolutely jaw, droppingly gorgeous, even 59 years later. The preview photos I drew the technical drawing from didn’t do it justice, so I’m hoping these photos on James’s DSLR will help to show some of the amazing vintage details.
The dress is entirely silk satin with no lace, embroidery, or beading (just from a mesh panel around the neckline), and the weave of the silk is still perfectly and soft and so very strong still. Granny told me she bought this in a shop on South Street in Philadelphia in 1949, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you the designer as there’s no label and she’s long since forgotten the details. But the workmanship speaks for itself, and it’s very interesting for me to see that they’ve not wasted any silk where it couldn’t be seen – the mesh fabric is used for all facings, the seam allowances are only 1/2 inch, and there’s no lining.
Laid out on our table:
Our table is 6 feet long and this dress uses the entire length of it, cascading for a good two feet past the end and at either side. She wasn’t lying – I’ll have a lot of material to work with when I reconstruct it. Forgive the lack of a proper full length photo – I want to show it off when it’s at its best after a proper cleaning and pressing, not after the poor dear has spant a week crossing the Atlantic in a tiny box…
Colour comparison:
If anything, I think the aged colour is actually more beautiful than a stark, bleached white. Though I am thankful I shouldn’t have to colour match any additional fabric at all!
Brooch and collar:
The headpiece has these same flowers in a crown/tiara, and this brooch is detachable.
Gathered, piped, front waist seam:
Bust pleats:
The bust treatment on this gown is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before in a pattern – a vertical waist dart opens up into several pleats on both sides.
Side lapped zipper:
This zipper is the only opening on the dress, apart from the buttons on the back neck, which only go down as far as the collar at shoulder height:
Sleeve buttons:
Notice the tiny mesh facing at the sleeve edge. The edge of the sleeve ends in a point, which is off-centre to point to the ring finger on each hand, as is traditional. Even though these sleeves look absolutely tiny, I was actually able to get my arm in it up to the bicep, where my weight training makes my upper arms decidedly un-vintage in shape and muscle tone.
Sleeve elbow darts:
Back peplum:
The back waist of the dress has a peplum which is constructed rather uniquely. Each side is a tube, open at the side seams and at the centre back, and lined with the mesh fabric. So I could stick my arm entirely through it and out the other side, and I’m guessing this was fluffed up to stand out from the body originally. The underside of the peplum has the same beautiful, piped seamwork as the front waist seam.
Finger loop inside train:
This was to allow my Granny to lift the heavy 3 foot train out of the way of her (and others’!) feet for the reception dancing! Notice how the clever seamstress cut the train pieces with the edges on the selvedge so that these wouldn’t fray as they dragged along the floor. The seams further up the skirt and in the bodice weren’t done in this way and have frayed slightly (nut not alarmingly so).
Interior shoulder “pads”:
The only place where the bridal silk satin was used inside was where the mesh neck meets the off-the-shoulder collar, where these silk semicircles were placed. There’s no padding, so I’m not entirely sure of their purpose, really.
Interior gathered waist seam:
There are a few places where the stitching has come undone in the bust and sleeve seams, and there’s one small stain from the blue tissue paper it was wrapped in for 60 years (unfortunately placed at thigh height in the centre front skirt panel), but apart from that, the dress is in exceptional shape.
I’m afraid this is as much as you’re going to see of it for a while, though, as we’ve got a bit of major demolition and construction work coming up in the next few months. I’ve decided the dress is safer rolled up in its box (in white tissue paper this time!) the way it is so I’m not going to get it dry cleaned until after the dust has settled and I’m all set up in my new sewing room with enough space to hang it…
In other news, I’m now blogging for BurdaStyle! I’ve been a member of the site from even before it was live and running so it’s a great honour to be asked to regularly contribute! My first post went up last week, but I’ve got another in the works, too. I’m not anticipating repeating FehrTrade content, so make sure you subscribe to their RSS feed so you don’t miss anything…
Tags: dress, vintage, weddingComment [6]
Versace vs Burda WOF
14 August 2008, 10:41Breaking news!
Burda WOF have just posted a full preview of their September 2008 issue (though only for members at the minute), and this dress practically jumped off the screen at me:
Gorgeous, right? Well, the reason it stood out to me is because those central bodice seams are a spitting image of a Versace dress from Fall 2007. I saw the ad with Kate Moss last year and I loved the design so much that I ripped it out and have had it hanging on my sewing room wall ever since:
So let’s have a closer look at those bodice seams, shall we?
I’ve turned up the contrast on the BWOF image above so you can see the seamlines better (the technical drawings aren’t up yet). If anything, I think BWOF 09/08 #114 is an improvement on Versace’s original since the new neckline is much, much more wearable by anyone who isn’t a world-famous supermodel!
So who else is on the lookout for aqua fabric now? Perhaps I need another run to Goldhawk Road…
Tags: bwof, dress, knockoffComment [2]
London fabric shops: Goldhawk Road
8 August 2008, 16:04I can’t believe that I’ve lived in London for 6 years and not been out to the Goldhawk Road fabric shops yet. I mean, I’ve heard people talk about them, but it’s a full hour on the tube for me to get there, so I’ve just never really seen the need to explore…
Until yesterday, when fellow sewer Anwen took me by the hand and showed me around her favourite fabric shops there.
WOW. I was prepared to see a lot of fabric shops with an awful lot of fabric stuffed inside, but I wasn’t prepared for the incredibly high quality of the fabric in the shops. Polyester was in the minority, with a huge range of silks, woollens, suitings, and other really luxurious (and usually hard to find!) fabrics being the norm, and at really reasonable prices, too.
I had a strict budget I imposed on myself, and I only spent twice that. Ummm. But I still came away with a nice stack of fabric, and a ton of research for next time!
Just like my review of London haberdashery shopping, I thought I’d give a rundown here of the highlights from yesterday, though there are at least six other shops next to these that we went into but I didn’t write down the names and addresses of. Most of the shops seem to be open Monday-Saturday, though I imagine they’d be really very crowded on Saturdays if you decide to go then. Goldhawk Road tube station is on the Hammersmith and City Line, but you could easily walk from Shepherd’s Bush station (so when the Central Line station there reopens that might be more convenient). See the map at the bottom of the page for details, but roughly, turn right out of Goldhawk Road tube station and prepare to enter FABRIC NIRVANA….
——
A to Z Fabrics – 53A Goldhawk Road
Our first shop, where I ended up blowing all but £6 of my initial budget. Oh dear, I thought I’d peaked too soon, but I got three lovely fabrics for winter…
(left) Black wool sweater knit with purple flecks – £5/m (talked down £6 after I ummed and ahhed)
(bottom) Speckled black and white 100% wool British suiting – £10/m
(upper right) Super super soft grey marl jersey – £4/m
——
Classic Textiles – 44 Goldhawk Road
The most silk charmeuse I have EVER seen in one shop. This stuff is like golddust here in the UK, usually going for £50+ per meter. And here it was, in a million colours for £7.50. I was lightheaded and giddy at seeing this, and I don’t think it was just from the heat upstairs… If you go here, make sure you go all the way to the back of the ground floor because the stairs down to the basement are easy to miss, and the rolls of fabric down there are no kidding, about 20 rolls deep on either side.
At this point I was beginning to see why they don’t list anything online – even just documenting the first five feet inside the door would take a month!
Also silk jersey for £14/meter (£8 for silk blend jerseys that felt just as nice), wool jersey for £9, slk double crepe for £9/m, a huge range of British-loomed wool suitings…
I didn’t actually buy anything here due to a bit of overstimulation on my part, but Anwen got some amazing finds, and I’m definitely coming back for wedding fabrics! I love a store that puts the silk jersey swatches right by the tills for impulse purchases! They certainly know their clientèle..
——
Fabric World – 49C Goldhawk Road
I only had some change in my purse after the first store, but I still had trousers on my mind, so I made a savvy purchase and used up exactly the change I had left!
Silver grey denim with a slight crosswise stretch – £2.99/m
Yes, that’s right – silk charmeuse in a million colours for £6.95/m (there’s actually a whole other rack to the left of this that’s not in the photo
Also a beautiful range of coloured leather skins (I very nearly bought some mustard yellow for a new purse, but decided I could get it cheaper than £15 at a leather shop by my office), waterproof trench coat fabric, and a huge array of denim.
——-
A One Fabrics – 50-52 Goldhawk Road
Walking inside, I tried to keep myself on track by chanting “Must think ‘bottom weights’, must think ‘bottom weights’, don’t be distracted by the pretty shiny things…” in my head. I think it worked, because I came away with some brilliant cords for fall and winter trousers…
Red and olive green corduroys – both £3.50/m
1 meter remnant of beige corduroy – £1 (I found this after I was debating whether to buy 1 meter of beige anyway for a particular BWOF skirt! Score!)
Lycra knit – £3.50/m (as were the whole rack of similarly beautiful lycra knit prints, including this in a red colourway, too)
Plus Gutermann thread, buttons, zippers and other bits of haberdashery, and 100% cashmere coating.
I restocked my trouser zipper and thread supplies and alas, out came the card since I was down to 60p in my purse!
——-
I’ve added all these to my London sewing and haberdashery stores map, which you can see in a larger window, complete with reviews, by clicking the link underneath…
Tags: shoppingComment [3]
Wedding dress ideas
5 August 2008, 12:29We visited our venue (and totally geeked-out at the museum!) on Saturday and met with the wedding coordinator there so we now have a date – the rather auspicious 19 September 2009. Or to put it another way, 19.09.09 (09/19/09 for the Americans)!
Good thing we have over a year though, because we’re going to need every single day of that to save up and prepare for it. Oh my, the grand total was an eye opener, and we’re not being frivolous in the slightest with our plans!
Luckily, then, my grandmother has given me her gown from her wedding in 1949. She’s insisted I use it and NOT be afraid to cut it up, saying she’ll cut it herself if I don’t, or donate it to goodwill or sell it on eBay. I think it’s her way of not letting me get too scared about changing it or treating it like a relic or something. In any case, I’ve seen photos of it, but I’m going to make you all wait until it’s shipped over to me, cleaned, and pressed before I document its “before” state properly.
Until then, here’s my rough sketch based on the photos and my mom’s eyewitness account:
It’s got a high neck of mesh fabric, leading down to an off the shoulder collar (affixed with a beautiful brooch in the centre front), very long sleeves with a pointed, mid-hand hem, fitted princess-seamed bodice, back peplum, and full skirt leading to a three foot train. It’s made entirely of silk satin, is unlined, has a tied waist stay, and the only closures are a side zipper and five self-satin covered buttons at the back neck in the mesh area.
Now, for the dealbreakers – the measurements. The waist is 27 inches, which is doable for me to get down to in a year’s time, but the bust is a very scary 30 inches! BZZZZZ! Nope, I’m afraid you’ll have to console yourself with the at-home game, m’am… My ribcage at my absolute leanest was 32 inches, so there’s absolutely no way I could fit into the bust without surgically removing a few ribs. My mom (bless her!) even measured the seam allowances, which are all 1/2 inch, so I’d only gain an inch or so at the most by letting those out a bit.
So with the bust measurement being completely unworkable, I’m now in the fun territory of refashioning the vintage wedding gown to suit my body and my style. Luckily, the fabric in the bodice, arms, and train should be enough to work with, though there will of course be a thousand muslins before I wield the tailor’s shears…
Vogue happened to have a sale a few weeks ago so I put an order through the US site for all the wedding possibilities I’ve had my eye on, and it still turned out cheaper than buying two Vogue patterns here in the UK.
I thought Vogue 8191 might be a good basic dress pattern for mixing and matching and generally checking sizes and fit, but there’s nothing here I’m completely in love with. Vogue 2237 is a gorgeous gown, but a bit vampy for a wedding if you ask me. The bolero, on the other hand, looks fantastic and will more than likely come in handy for a mid-September reception on the patio, so I’m keeping that just in case. The big pattern to run away with my heart, however, is Vogue 2965. Oh, I still sigh when I look at it! The cowl neck top, the deeeeeeeeep V back, the detachable chiffon train. Oh yes!
So right now my plan is to morph the top half of 2965 into the bottom half of the vintage gown. Just eyeballing it, I reckon I can get the back and side panels from the material in the long sleeves, and the cowl (plus a waist piece) from shortening the train. And then I can add on the suggested detachable train if I feel I need it.
I’ll also be making the two bridesmaid dresses (my Man of Honour will be bringing his own suit!), so I bought a few patterns with them in mind, too:
I wasn’t necessarily thinking straight when I bought them, though, and so it wasn’t until afterwards that we hammered out the requirements:
- length: above the knee or floor-length
- FBA issues – both are curvy, busty girls, unlike myself!
- I demands knits only for my pre-wedding sanity
- They’ll wear the same dress, but with colours of their choice
Vogue 7488 is a men’s waistcoat pattern I bought with my Man of Honour in mind when I thought perhaps he should match the bridesmaids, but I am just so unbelievably sick of people asking me “what are your colours?” that I’m not going with colours at all now. Vogue 2091 got nixed by Bridesmaid #1 for being a really bad style for full busts, resulting in a “shelf effect”, as did Vogue 2879 for the same reason. But I am just as in love with 2879 as I am with 2965 above that I think I might make it for myself in a shorter length for a reception dress. Vogue 1027 got the go-ahead, but in a different hem length, so that’s still an option.
Also proposed was Vogue 8381 and the bodice B of Vogue 8386, but the search continues, and Bridesmaid #2 still needs to get her vote in. Once again, I’m very glad there’s plenty of time!
We still have a big stack of BWOF archives to go through yet, too, but I can think of few evenings more enjoyable than leafing through pictures of pretty dresses with a good friend and a nice bottle of wine!
Tags: dress, vintage, weddingComment [15]
We have a winner!
1 August 2008, 14:13Today is the end of the competition to win a Patrones magazine, and since I don’t have a cute kid to draw a bit of paper out of a hat, I’ve instead turned to the cold, indifferent statistical knowledge of a random number generator to decide the winner…
And comment #27 was Julia!! So congratulations to her and thanks to everyone who entered. If I get any other bits of serendipity I’ll share the love again in the future…
Until then, I’ll leave you to ponder exactly which wedding dress patterns I’ve been buying up to use in adapting my grandmother’s vintage gown (oh yes, there will be cutting! How very exciting and nerve wracking!). We’re off to see the UK venue tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll have a date to go along with the pretty pattern discussion next week. Have a great weekend everyone!
PS: Cidell, if it had picked your comment I’d just have drawn again!
Tags: magazine, patronesPatrones 270 preview and 269 competition
25 July 2008, 11:39I’ve had another bit of good luck from the kindness of Patrones-enabled strangers! After borrowing so many issues from my lovely Patrones benefactor and sending James’s parents off to search for me on their holidays, Madrid local Cintia has very kindly offered to send me some issues as they come out! So with very special thanks to her, I can now show you some of my highlights from Patrones 270!
See the thumbnails of everything in #270 here (image opens in new window). I personally get a lot more information from technical drawings rather than photos, but unlike the other pattern magazines, Patrones doesn’t do a collection of tech drawings that’s easy to scan, so these thumbnails are the next best thing!
This is the summer issue, but I really love the skirt in the photo above – the pockets are the real feature here – they look big enough to pack my lunch in! The photography here reminds me more of English summers than Spanish, though!
The navy blue blouse above is like an updated “Kriss Kross” top – it’s got a button down in the centre back and a nice band in the front which would make this ideal for summer suit jackets. I can really see this in a beautifully draping silk crepe under a linen suit…
Now, I am not a shorts person in the slightest (give me dresses and skirts all summer long!), but I really like the design of these. The V-shaped buttoned yoke is just too cute, though I have a feeling the pleats underneath it wouldn’t look too good on me, unfortunately!
The green Missoni skirt on the right above is just lovely – I’m not sure if you can see it in the photo, but the curved seam lines look like they’d be really flattering. This is something that would work just as well in a light cotton (like recycled bedsheets?) for a casual look as it does in the silk satin used here.
One thing I find Patrones do really well are nice button-down blouses, and the white one on the right above is no exception. Beautiful bib detailing and great seam lines – it’d make such a stunning basic!
Win Patrones #269!
Since I’d have such good fortune in getting issue #270, I thought I’d share the wealth and give away my spare copy of Patrones #269 since James’s parents were able to get me two! You can see some of my favourites from this issue here (scroll down), and you can
see the thumbnails of everything in #269 here (image opens in new window) to see if it’s something you’d like… This issue is sizes 40-44-48, except for the last seven garments (marked “Tallas Grandes”), which are Plus sized (I think they’re 48-52-56 but I forgot to check). Patrones size charts are here, and my general explanation of what’s in the magazine is here.
To enter the competition, please leave a comment below saying which of the style in issue #269 is your favourite (ie: “3rd row down and 6 from the left”, etc). I’m happy to ship anywhere in the world as I know how difficult it is to find everywhere, but please only enter if you’re going to use it yourself (and not just resell it on eBay or something!). I’ll pick the winner by random number on August 1st and notify them by email.
Good luck!
Thank you to everyone who’s entered! The competition is now closed. Congrats to Julia!!
Tags: magazine, patronesComment [35]
Splish Splash
22 July 2008, 10:17Looking at this week’s London weather forecast, it seems for once, rather than being really late to the summer swimsuit party, I’ve actually timed this all rather well. We may actually get some nice summer temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s F (upper 20s C), which will actually feel really hot after the summer we’ve had again!
So I’ve finally been given some impetus from the weather on top of my recent confidence-boosting forway into sports gear to finally tackle one of sewing’s ultimate challenges – swimwear! I’ve been wearing two piece suits since I lost so much weight a few years ago, but I was so smitten with the one piece suit in KnipMode 06/2008 that I just had to try this as my first bathing suit:
When I went to cut out the pieces for a muslin, though, I realised that I’ve actually been a bit too good at using up my knit stash, and had to place a quick order to Chawla’s for some cheap muslin lycra. So forgive the shiny, neon blue – it really is just a practice suit!
I learned a lot in making this suit, though – like how to apply lycra edging (serge onto the wrong side, then flip inside again and zigzag from the right side) and how much you can stretch it before the lycra starts to pucker (take a look at those shoulder straps, argh)! The Threads swimsuit issue from last summer (June/July 2007) was especially helpful at applying the leg elastic, as it said to apply the elastic 1:1 at the front, but then stretch it to create fullness in the back. I only ended up edging one leg on this muslin since I have no need for a practice suit, though if I still lived in Pennsylvania, I’m sure I’d find this especially useful for muddy creek swimming!
All in all, I was really pleased with this muslin and in terms of fit, I only needed to add an extra inch to the torso length to get it perfect.
So it was without fear that I cut into my beautiful Lineazzurra swimsuit lycra from eLingeria, taking a huge amount of care to get the butterflies and stylished arcs running the right way up and in flattering ways in my pieces.
As you can tell by the amount of fabric left, the print is only placed sporadically along the edges and in alternating directions, so I’ll have to take equal amounts of care when I go to make my two piece suit from this fabric! I was able to sew up most of my final suit yesterday so there should hopefully be some (artfully photoshopped!) photos for you later this week if all goes well.
Though I’m not about to take a dip in the Thames any time soon. Ewwww.
Tags: knipmode, knitComment [4]
Pattern magazine bonanza
10 July 2008, 12:23I’ve suddenly become inundated with pattern magazines, which is an excellent position to be in, especially since the Big 4’s recent offerings have been dull, dull, dull (really, how many times can they restyle the exact same sack dress?).
First up is the Italian pattern magazine La Mia Boutique, given to me by the lovely Anwen, who’s soon going to guide me around a few London fabric shops I haven’t been to yet! She’s clearly a very good lady to know!
This is the May 2008 issue, and there are dresses galore in it. I really like the navy blue dress with the extra cowl layer on the bodice, and the spotted dress with the interesting scoop bust detail (click on the big photos to see the technical drawing). The last dress is a Plus, but I just love the bust detail and the curved skirt seams. I know La Mia Boutique patterns run way smaller than the other magazines, but I’d still have to grade that down quite a bit to make this worth my while (don’t get any ideas, Mom!).
Next up is a Spanish Burda magazine, bought by James’s parents for me while they were holidaying in Spain a few weeks ago. I sent them away with instructions to buy as many Patroneses (Patronii?) as possible, but they felt bad since they could only find two and so bought me this as well. I’ve seen German and Dutch editions of BWOF before and found them to be identical to the English version apart from the text and an odd page here and there, but the Spanish version is like a different magazine entirely! Luckily I can show you how it compares to the regular English edition of Burda World of Fashion (BWOF) magazine, since I already have the June 2008 issue to directly compare it against.
The first dead giveaway is that they’ve chosen a different pattern for the cover photo!
Here’s an example of the Spanish (top) vs English (bottom) layouts. They use the same photoshoots, but the layout of the magazine is completely different, and like La Mia Boutique and KnipMode, they show the technical drawing right alongside the photos! Argh, I’ve been wishing the English version did this for years!!
They’ve also retained the special “focus on fabric” feature that English BWOF used to have, this time focusing on how to sew with nylon.
And here’s a comparison of the instructions for #109, which I made earlier. They seem to have roughly the same wordcount between the two, so it’s not like we’re missing out of full instructions or anything!
The big addition in the Spanish version (and, I believe, the German version) is the designer premium download pattern, which I got very excited about until I realised it was a pay-for download pattern. So they get an extra pattern, but there’s no interviews with the exclusive design or childrenswear designers like I really enjoy in the English version.
I was happy to see the pesto recipes appear in the English June BWOF, but now I feel shortchanged to see our Spanish sisters get a ton of chocolate recipes!! Oh, and “Burda sudoku”, hahah!
Luckily, James’s parents were able to grab me one issue of Patrones magazine, which is really difficult to get ahold of outside Spain, but contains an amazing array of designer patterns. I’ve very excited to say I’ve just made a new online friend in Spain so I may be getting a steady supply to show you all through a harmonious “Patrones for penguins“ exchange! Heehee!
This is issue #269, a special vacation issue with loads of summery holiday clothes!
These are a few of the ones that really jumped out at me from this issue (in the third photo it’s the small Mango dress I prefer over the cover issue dress), but for me, the real star here is the formal Prada dress!
I’m not a big label slave or anything, but I do absolutely adore Prada and this dress is just stunning. I’ve included the technical drawing and layout here so you can see how the pieces fit together and just how much is on the bias! Sooo lovely! I shall now be on a mission to buy reams of crepe gorgette and throw that dress a party…
In “July is Knit Month!” news, my frankenpattern dress is neeeeeearly done but I’ve had to stall it this week to do a big rush project in time for Saturday. Which actually doesn’t involve any knits. And isn’t for me, or for James. All will be revealed in due course, and hopefully along with the frankendress (not nearly as scary as it sounds!)
Tags: bwof, la-mia-boutique, magazine, patronesComment [8]
London haberdashery shopping
5 July 2008, 11:19Since we can’t really afford to take a proper holiday this year, what with the boat renovations and wedding to save for, I’ve opted to take a few days off here and there to just spend at home or around town. My first “holiday at home” day I took on Thursday, starting with a decadent breakfast at The Chop House (which I walk past every single day and drool over) and then moving on to pick up a bunch of haberdashery supplies at the stores around town that are normally best visited (or only open) during the work week.
I did really well, starting at McCulloch & Wallis around 10, and finishing up at Borovick around 1, with a quick jaunt around Uni Qlo‘s sales (navy chinos and a white cotton/cashmere jumper for less than a tenner total!) and a pit stop at the Japan Centre thrown in there, too. The shops were nearly empty and at some points, there were more staff than customers. It was a revelation that shopping can actually be fun if you go on a midweek morning, as it’s usually the 9th circle of hell in that area on the weekends…
Here’s most of my habby haul, starting in the upper left corner, when I stocked up on overlocker thread at Kleins and got 10 rolls for a fiver in various neutral blending colours. There’s also some miscellaneous rolls of Gutermann thread from MacCulolch & Wallis and a bottle of fray check in there (to keep those overlocker tails from running amok) which I picked up at John Lewis. Their haberdashery department grows more and more pathetic each time I go there, and it just makes me depressed to go in there these days when McCulloch & Wallis are 100 feet away and ten thousand shades of fabulous. I was delighted to see that McCulloch & Wallis are stocking Gutermann thread again, with Coats Duo shoved in a tiny corner, ha! I can only imagine the protests we customers put up after the Coats Duo cartel worked its way through town a few months ago..
I also picked up a few tailoring bits for my winter coat, starting with shoulder pads at MacCulloch & Wallis, who had a huge basket full of about ten different kinds, all priced at £2-5 per pair. Compare those to the bog standard foam ones you find at at John Lewis and elsewhere for the same price and it’s just no competition!
I also bought some sleevehead from Kleins which they sell by the metre, with four shades of white, black, and grey. I had thought at one point I’d need to import some or just improvise somehow, so this was a very happy discovery.
Kleins also had a huge range of elastic by the metre, including plushback (lingerie) elastic, swimwear stuff, and corded, but I restrained myself and just got some clear plastic elastic to use in knitwear shoulders. I also managed to rummage around and find some foldover elastic (FOE)! It was the only roll, in in teal only, but just finding any in UK shops is like golddust!
Continuing on through Soho, past all the uber-expensive silk shops (£50 a meter for silk charmeuse? gag!) and it was needle wonderland at Borovick Fabrics on Berwick Street, my personal favourite shop for fabric around there due to their super friendly staff and substantially less astronomical prices. The left and the right packs shown above were £2.85 each and Borovick had the widest range of machine needles I’d seen all day. The centre pack of needles were the only twin ones in stock at Kleins and were similarly priced (but no variety of standard vs ballpoint vs stretch).
This should hopefully leave me well stocked for the foreseeable future (bar an odd zipper here and there), leaving future holiday days left to sewing in my pajamas… Bliss!
As inspired by Lindsay T’s map of the NYC garment district, I’ve placed all these stores in their own map so you can plan your day out in London. I’ll be adding to it as I discover more shops (and get the approximate locations of my favourite Walthamstow market stalls!) and striving to improve it in at least some of the ways she has!
Tags: coat, shoppingComment [5]
Two duds in a row
4 July 2008, 16:04It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a pattern that just did not work for me at all, but strangely, I’ve just had two in a row that I’m giving up on entirely.
I fell in love with the chic styling of the Hot Patterns Monaco Top – the slit opening, the slim lines, the angular bib, the pieced bottom, and all sweetened by the cute gathered sleeves. At least, that’s what I thought the pattern was for…
I should have really listened to the earlier reviewer of this pattern (who also didn’t make it past the muslin stage) and just cut my $18.50 losses and run far, far away.
I’d sewn up Hot Patterns’ Nairobi bag loads (it’s my go-to handbag pattern!) but I’d never sewn one of their envelope patterns before, so I wisely opted to sew a muslin for this to check the fit. So please excuse the busy print on the bedsheet and my Sharpie marker points, as this is the muslin in the photos.
oh my.
Things wrong with this pattern:
- The 3 bust points (two darts and a corner of the bib) form an AWFUL bust space that’s both floppy, pointy, and flat all at once. It’s deeply unflattering, and completely different than the technical line drawing suggests. I cannot stress how enough awful this bust shape is! If you can image a step pyramid or mesa mountain made of tissue paper on a windy day, then you’re halfway there.
- The hems at the side seams are different lengths. I double checked this, and for size 12, they’re off by about an inch. I couldn’t see anything in the instructions about easing the side seam, either (which would be strange in itself…).
- The sleeves are only long enough to stretch the whole way around the armscye and still meet the shoulder point if the back of the sleeve isn’t gathered at all. Even if you make it a cap sleeve and leave the underarm open, the gathering is really uneven between the front and back to get the marks to align properly.
- The overall fit is really baggy in order to make it fit over your head without a zipper, but this styling really needs a closer fit and a zipper to make it flattering (everything else nonwithstanding)
End conclusion: I’d be better off drafting this from scratch than to correct all these problems, which is a shame, because I love the style in the drawing. The drawing just has very little to do with the pattern, as it turns out. I’ll be using the earmarked blue stretch poplin in the Summer 08 sewing plan for another pattern since it’s already prewashed and ready to go.
Next up was the BWOF tulip skirt (05/08 #108) made from the rest of the white coating fabric I used to make this Simplicity jacket. The pleats went in nicely (though mine are mirrored to the magazine due to one-sided fabric and the constraints of using scraps), the fit was spot on – I even added a lining and introduced a centre back seam in order to add a walking pleat. It was all going really well right up until the point I removed the pleats’ basting stitches and put on the finished skirt and actually tried to walk in it.
And then I realised that this skirt only looks good if you don’t move. Or breathe. Or let the wind blow. Frankly, blinking your eyes is a bit much for this skirt, and the pleats go funny and bulbous and the hem flips out and it all goes very wrong indeed.
We actually took more photos of me looking unhappy and doing some “I’m holding my breath and not moving and possibly also a little teapot, short and stout” poses but frankly, I’m not sure this skirt deserves more than one photo. This is a skirt designed only for a model’s photoshoot. No action shots possible here, I’m just trying desperately not to upset the pleats and fixing it between nearly every shot. Which is 100% incompatible with my life, and so to the ash pile of history this tulip skirt goes!
I’ve just had two dismal pattern failures, both in wovens, and so I’m declaring the rest of July to be a knit-only zone (with the exception of any work on the the winter coat, which I’ve just finished a second muslin for). I shall be putting my new overlocker through its paces, sewing up tons of teeshirts, dresses, and activewear, in an attempt to rid myself of this terrible sewing bugbear….
Tags: bwof, hot-patterns, skirt, topComment [8]