Folkwear contest - the Egyptian shirt

The Final Version

At nearly midnight on New Year's Eve 2010 I finished and uploaded pictures of this Egyptian shirt for the Folkwear contest. It was fun to make though it is not terribly flattering on me. I do love the design and like it in floor length best. Here I used cream silk noil for the base. The black is a silk/cotton blend. Both pieces were washed and dried before I started. For closures I chose loops and Chinese knotted buttons. The buttons were made by braiding bias tubes from both the black and the cream fabrics together. 

Initially I chose to leave the tails on the buttons, but later removed those. Too much like Annie Oakley. They had to go. Either that or add fringe to the sleeves. Not so Egyptian. That version is below.

Too Annie-Oakley

The neckline is actually a facing that is turned from the wrong side to the right side and then hand-appliquéd in place. I really like that technique because it looks equally nice inside and out. On the back I inserted another braided and knotted piece of the bias tubes. I also hand-appliquéd the sleeve accents. There are in-seam pockets on the black side sections. And here is the truly amazing part. I won. I was one of six winners. The other winner's garments are fabulous.

Back

Sawyer Brook Distinctive Fabrics

What a find! On my recent trip to NH to visit son and family, I became aware that Sawyer Brook has a warehouse showroom located in MA about 35 minutes from son's home. They are open to the public occasionally. They are primarily an online outfit. I emailed ahead of time to see if they would be in. Indeed they were! Hooray! This first picture shows what you see from the street. The sign for their showroom is not actually a door. You have to enter through the door that says *Ramblin Realty* and wind up an old narrow stairwell to their location on the 2nd floor of the warehouse.

Here I am with DGD C standing outside their showroom. What an interesting building - there were lots of antiques in the halls and very little obvious activity. Opening this door led into a fabulous mecca for a fashion fabric addict such as moi.

Here one of the employees cutting some fabric for herself. She was cutting this delicious silk tweed and a rayon batik in similar colors. Alas I had to resist buying exactly what she was cutting (and more). Look how beautiful these pieces are. Oh, and they had coordinating buttons. Lots of other very cool buttons too.

I bought two pieces - a gorgeous purple, navy, pink linen plaid (subtle plaid) and a cute black cotton print with Lycra.

Back in November 2000, Threads magazine had this cover showing Nancy Shriber's fabulous silk jacket with hand sashiko stitching. The pattern is Vogue 2232, a now out-of-print Geoffrey Beene design. Both the pattern and Nancy's interpretation of it are intriguing. I've always wanted a jacket out of this pattern. Pam Howard's recent ASG SWAP knits wardrobe contest inspired me to try it out of sweater knit. Hmmm....

The first hint that things were not going according to plan was when I followed Sandra Betzina's advice to wash the yardage in cold water prior to cutting. It took 2 days to dry and ended up felting, just slightly, in the process. Undisturbed by this omen, I moved forward, cutting it out, and now finally putting it together. I like the top-stitching effect using a twin needle. And I like the back. Everything else is suspect, at the moment.

The front is very plain. It has no shoulder seams and wants to slip off. It seems too big. The sleeves are too long (this never happens). Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, it's kind of heavy. But I'm not giving up. I've increased the SA for the sleeve insertion which can be done a small amount without distorting it too badly. Next I plan to remove all that self-binding and maybe replace it with bias silk binding. In the process I can shorten the sleeves.

Never say never...Well, maybe.

The blog spot has gotten weird with pictures. I have to rotate them 90 degrees to the left and then blogger rotates them back where they should be. Gotta check on that. After I get my mojo back.

Christine Jonson Travel Trio I - Tee Shirt

What fun to (re)discover some soft rayon knit I bought at Gail K a couple of years ago. It's almost like free fabric so it is the perfect fabric to test the T-shirt in Christine Jonson's Travel Trio I t-shirt pattern. Not only is it soft, it is easy to sew and I love the chocolate color. (The color doesn't reproduce well in these pictures.) And it fits! So it's a definite choice for the upcoming Pam Howard class, SWAP* Knits Wardrobe. Now I just need to steam my wool jersey and cut out the top, skirt (Pam's Flirt Skirt), and jacket (pattern TBD - maybe the wrap top in this same pattern envelope).

I tried out the Jean Muir hem technique that Ginny brought up at Sew Incredibles recently. This is also covered in Marcy Tilton's book, Easy Guide to Sewing Tops and T-Shirts. It definitely improves the hems, giving them more weight and definition.

I used an old TNT Stretch-N-Sew technique from the 70's for the neckline. It's strip cut cross grain 2 inches wide, longer than needed for the finished neckline. First sew the binding to the neck edge, about one-to-one using a 1/2 inch SA. The jersey stretches a little as you go and this creates enough *give* in the seam. Then wrap the binding to the inside and stitch-in-the-ditch from the top. It's OK to trim the inside but I think it's more secure with the remaining SA left intact.

Ginny's Gift Bag

Some months ago, dear friend Ginny gave me a lovely crocheted vegetable bag out of denim blue, one of my favorite colors. She also made a charming little batik bag to hold it. It was a gift for one of those big-oh birthdays that she and I each celebrated in 2010.

So when I was looking for a quick hostess gift to take to a party last night, I remembered the cute gift bag and set out to copy it. I made it out of two batiks - one red with frogs, and another olive-brown geometric patterned. I used an olive cord to gather it up.

First I cut each batik piece about 7 x 16 inches. Then I placed them RST (though with batik it makes no difference) and stitched the ends at about 1/4 inch. I also stitched down each side from the end about 1.25 inches. This forms the little flaps at the top edge. I clipped, turned and pressed. Then I returned it to the RST position. I grabbed the red piece in the center, forming a tee-pee so that the only red piece was folded onto itself RST. Next I stitched the red side seams up to about 1/2 inch from the flap stitching. It's important to stop about 1/2 inch from the previous stitching to leave room for the channel that gets gathered. I did the same thing for the olive piece, but I left an opening in one side large enough for my hand.

I turned it to the right side and shoved the lining inside the red outer bag. Then I pressed everything flat. You can see that in the picture where it is not gathered. I then formed the channel for the cording by first stitching across the top (creating a rectangle of stitch on each flap). Then I stitched in a parallel fashion about 1/2 inch down from the first line of the channel. This of course leaves the sides open for the insertion of the cording.

Inserting the cording was fairly easy. I looped it through twice to make it easy to open and close. When gathered (closed), there is enough for a bow. I edge-stitched the inside lining together where I had left it open for turning. It's *almost* reversible now.

Lastly I placed a piece of sweet-smelling handmade soap by Rena into the bag. Voila - hostess gift!

Olive Top continued

Work on my first Olive top is suspended, maybe indefinitely. I'm thinking it will be a cool top for my petite pregnant daughter. But will she wear it? I think it will look great on her with black leggings.

It's not so cute on a *mature* figure but I'm still working that angle too. This particular size S is definitely for DD, not me. I used black silk knit for the sleeves and they feel yummy. It's an odd pattern. I wasn't expecting it to be so form-fitting.

Given my funky fabric, I had to do something different with the neckline as well as the back. I'm fairly pleased with both. And of course there is no point in trying to do anything with the hem. It has to be left raw - otherwise the fun of the fabric is lost. So maybe this version is complete.

I've decided there may be more to this pattern than I first imagined. The angled seams are interesting. I've now made an official muslin - out of cheap interlock knit. I've moved up to a size M-L but I think it is still too closely cut for my figure. It's pretty snug on my dress form and she is much more toned than I am.

Maybe it's time to try a different pattern. But isn't the hemline fun?

Olive Top - Crazed Fabric

Some months back I bought some *novelty* knit. I only just realized how novel it really is. I'm not sure if that is exciting or maddening. The base fabric is black knit as can be seen in the picture below (back side of fabric showing). The front side (at left) of the fabric has strips of knit sewn vertically to the black backing. The strips are gray on one side and white on the other. They flop all over the place. I'm learning that I need to sew edges carefully to avoid strange corners of the strips popping out from the seam. Of course, I'm learning by unsewing :|

If I don't become overly anxious, this may turn into something fun. It's hard to control and I'm so glad I selected the Sewing Workshop Olive top for it. It has a minimum of seams. The pattern calls for an exposed zipper going down the back. I'm pretty sure I don't want an exposed zipper going down the back of this top. It is purely decorative anyway - the top slips right over your head. When I cut out the left and right backs, I purposely evened up the seam in anticipation of this.

The only trick to cutting was to be sure to AVOID flipping the pattern pieces over when laying it out. The left and right backs are quite different from one another even though I evened up the back seam. The front could not be cut on the fold for the same reason. Only the sleeves could be cut double.

This fabric was a little pricey so I only bought 1.5 yards - not enough for the Olive top. That's going to be OK though. I don't think I'd like extreme texture all over. The sleeves will be solid black jersey, as will the neck band. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, if I don't lose my mind in the process.

Is wine considered a sewing notion?