Closures

A few weeks ago, a sewing friend and I made a presentation on closures to our ASG neighborhood group, Citywide Couture. So, of course, the Ericson sewing duo was central to my part.

https://dianeericson.com/blogs/journal/i-ching-in-the-garden

I started with this closure idea from Diane Ericson's online journal. The pattern is the High Five, a joint production from Linda Lee and Louise Cutting. It is mostly rectangles, a super simple sewing project. I had made it as a jacket. This time I made it as a top.

The fabric is interesting, A fellow student in my Susan Brandeis class, Veronica, represents the Diamond company. She brought in her samples for the students to view. She sells to a local quilt store where I was able to find only a limited selection. 

From the limited selection, this deep burgundy with pink crosses spoke to me. I bought 1.5 yard on spec (the way I usually buy fabric). The crosses are formed with long floats on the back. This worried me for a while as they seemed to catch on everything while I was sewing. It does not seem to be a problem now that I'm wearing it. 

Per usual, I was short of fabric. So I used a remnant for the sleeves, as well as the closures. This piece was gifted to me by my then-future SIL, something he brought back from a trip to South Africa. I had enough for the sleeves and the bias strips that make up the buttons.

The "buttons" are formed by simply sewing a 3-4" strip to the spot where I button would be and then tying in a simple overhand knot. Diane suggested painting the ends to discourage fraying. I used a copper colored paint for that. It hardly shows, but was fun to do.

And, of course, I showed my fellow sewists at ASG some books by the undisputed queen of creative closure, Lois Ericson. Her publications are such a treasure trove of ideas - more than could possibly be explored in one lifetime. But she did!

The other closure I presented was the Spanish snap buttonhole as explained in this Roberta Carr publication. It has become my go-to for couture techniques since ASG Atlanta offered a class with her protege, Marla Kazell. 

As you may know, the Spanish snap buttonhole is actually just a faced buttonhole. By using a bias cut hole facing in a contrasting color, you create tiny lips that show on the inside edges of the hole. The "snap" occurs when you turn the facing to the inside and give it a snap to place it. 

It needs another faced hole on the garments back side for a truly couture look. My mastery of that part is not up to par yet. Or maybe I should find a piece of silk organza that matches the fabric better than my sample below does.

I still need to work on my bound button hole skills, someday. Right now I'd much rather spend my time on creative closure, especially closures using bias tubes.