French Fold Shrugs

Pattern: French Fold Shrug from Diane Ericson

This is a super interesting pattern designed by Diane some years ago. It has floated across my consciousness over the years and I finally decided to make it. The overall design is almost zero-waste. The resulting garment is created through folding and strategic cutting. 

It starts with a rectangle, so the result also is related to the size of the rectangle which can be varied to create longer/shorter sleeves, as well as longer/shorter overall piece. This could be a small shrug or even a longish coat, I think. So many opportunities for play!

Sizes: S, M, L (easy to adjust up or down)

Seam Allowance: 1/4" or whatever you like.

Inspiration and Help: Diane Ericson (with Gayle Ortiz) and the big sew along by Gini

VERSION ONE: Size S (20.5" long X 54" wide), pieced linen plus a hand-dyed linen/cotton blend. The lining is light weight cotton dobby weave. 

The front *flanges* are folded to the back beneath the upper jacket. Likewise the back flanges are brought to the front and placed under the upper portion of the upper front. 

I had fun playing with the folds on version 1.

This looked fine flat on my table. The dress form was invaluable for evaluating the various folds. 

I added pleats and then overlapped the flanges to avoid that bulge in the back seen above.

Lessons learned: 

• Stay stitch ALL the cut edges, especially the place where three seams come together
• Lining ups the ante for learning. The place where 3 seams meet is not pretty.
• I'm really a size M. Size S is too tight through the shoulders. There is no size chart.
• I want to play with length, width and more folds.

On me:

VERSION TWO: Size M (36" X 48"), heavy weight cotton double faced positive-negative weave on a thrifted piece from Goodwill. I omitted the lining.

Placing the garment flat is interesting but not as important as draping on the dressform.

Above the black side is right-side-out. Small cuffs are folded back and the front flanges are folded over themselves along where the side seam would be.

The same is done in the back. There are no side seams in this version. There is a vertical fold forming a vent of sorts.

Similar to the folds above except that the white side is the right side and the flanges are folded at an angle.

Above the front flanges are folded to the front and the back flanges are left to drape at the side.

The shrug is pretty but more ordinary if the flanges are left dangling. Here it appears the way a T-shaped kimono might looks if it is wider than it is long.

Lessons learned:

• Stay stitich ALL the cut edges. Serging is challenging given some of the angles.
• That positive-negative weave provides lots of design options.
• Yep, I'm size M, though with different fabric I might even go up to L.
• It can be completely zero-waste by changing the front cut a bit.
• The off-white and black is not great on me. I may dip it in blue dye and see what happens.

VERSION THREE: Size M (36" X 48"), Brussels washers in a beautiful green apple green. No lining.

I chalked in the cutting lines and stay-stitched at 1/4" before actually making any cuts. 

After adding the second row of stay-stitching, I decided that I did not want the raw edges.

Binding: I tried binding the edge by simply wrapping it with light weight printed linen. I settled on a bias facing, about 1.5" wide to start. Binding the sharp interior edges has still proven to be quite challenging. This is especially true at the underarm juncture. Diane has some clever work-arounds for this that I may try later.

Wrong side at neckline. Binding is not sewn down yet.

Right side at neckline. The lower portion tends to fold back, creating a shawl collar effect in the front.

I even made a sample!

The sample is a right angle, so easier than my tight acute angles. The sample gave me a start. I'm still working on it.

Options, options...I think it's time to stop!

The neckline has variations too. If the pattern is cut with a T shape up the front, then a slight shawl collar is formed in the front. I've noticed this in some of Gayle's pieces (see the above link to Diane's blog)

On me:

Probably not the silhouette I'm after. I think the dress should be way longer, or the shrug should be re-proportioned with folds, making it shorter.

Lessons learned:

• I stay stitched twice around all raw edges, once at 1/4" and again at 1/2", thinking I might leave it raw edged. However, the fabric ravels too much to do so, IMO.
• The drape and weight of Brussels washer is perfect for a summer shrug.
• Still size M.
• Tried the zero waste option by cutting a T shape up the front. This creates a lovely fold-back that I like.
• I'm still playing with the edge finish. For now, I've attached a bias piece of light weight printed linen to the edges and sewed it in place with a running stitch.

VERSION FOUR: This exists in my head. I think it would be great in a two-layer cotton (or other fiber) knit, sort of Alabama Chanin style with raw edges. 

The knit needs to be stable to handle raw edges. Some knits look rough when left raw-edged, IMO. For example, ponte can be left raw-edged, but I'm not fond of the way it wears, if the raw edge is visible. 

Alabama Chanin cotton knits would work great. And then I would add lots of sashiko. Wouldn't that be lovely to sew and to wear?

NOTE: I have not finished any of these. Finishing is overrated. Honestly this pattern lends itself to never finishing. It is hard to stop playing long enought to finish. 

Shakerag 2023 - Soft Books with Lotta Helleberg

Fabric-covered book with added hand-stitch

This is the 3rd year I've been able to attend a week-long workshop (Shakerag Workshops) in Suwanee TN. Oh, my goodness. I love this place. Surrounded by all those creatives, some who return year after year, so I get to catch up with them. This year was no exception. I had a blast.

This time I took a class taught by fiber artist, Lotta Helleberg. I had not met her before but had been following her for several years. Her work focuses on botanical prints for wall art, as well as art books. We learned to bind *soft* books with our botanical prints on paper and fabric.

Though I've had some limited success with botanical contact prints in the past, I was so looking forward to learning her approach. And I had basically no experience with book binding.

It felt a bit fast and furious while I was in class, but I came away with so much to practice at home. I love that.

We learned 4 different soft bookbinding techniques. I kept getting confused. But now that I'm home, that is all good. I have been practicing. I *may* have it in my head (now).

At the beginning of the workshop, we students walked around the St Andrews campus with Lotta. We collected leaves to try printing. I love Lotta's experiential approach to this. She inspired some fearlessness. Today I did the same thing in my own yard. My results are cooling as I type. Maybe I'll have something to show before I post this. Fingers crossed. 

The above example is called Dos-a-dos, based on the two bindings, I suppose. It is really two books with one common back. It contains blank paper - writing paper for one side, and watercolor paper for the other half. It's all set to take on vacation.

The one above is a Japanese stab-stitch binding and contains a mix of printed paper and printed fabrics. The fabric on the right is silk. The paper on the left is printed via a dip in logwood ink.

I wish I could remember the names of the plants we used to print leaves. Maybe I should work harder to remember them. Perhaps I should start in my own yard!

This one almost glowed. Maybe it was smokebush?

Cover for the Dos-a-dos book.

I was able to print on my old piano sheet music from the 60's. I've tried using it in other paper crafts and it crumbled. So I'm pretty pleased to see this. Interestingly, the black ink from the music, printed in bright blue on adjacent pieces.

Silk prints beautifully.

I was pretty excited when I finished this *tiny* book at home. It has a woven binding and contains water color pages. So it will be modified over time.

Some classes are fun at the time but I never know how/if they influenced my creative practice. I feel sure this one will continue to entertain me, as it combines paper, fabric, and even watercolor.