Bright Star

I made plans to go to a movie with a friend this past weekend. She suggested we see Bright Star, which I hadn't heard of before, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Directed by Jane Campion, Bright Star is the story of the poet John Keats and the girl he fell in love with, Fanny Brawne. What may be of particular interest to readers of this blog is that Fanny sews many of her own clothes and, especially at the start of the movie, there are plenty of close-up action shots of delicate hand-stitching.  At their first meeting, Keats learns of her interest in fashion and asks Brawne what she thinks of his clothes; she tells him he would look better in a blue velvet jacket and I thought for sure this meant she would surreptitiously sew one up for him during the course of the movie, but no such luck for him! Anyway, she does many great pieces for herself, including what she claims is the first "triple mushroom collar" in her part of the countryside, seen in both photos here.

Photos from IMDB

If you're up for a period piece with eye candy costumes, a love story, and a tear jerker all rolled into one, this is the film for you!

Queen of the Nile

I spent most of my Halloween Saturday sewing my costume for a party that evening! I decided on Cleopatra several weeks ago, but in typical style waited until the last minute to sew it up.

A Google image search for Cleopatra will show you that most RTW costumes have these common features: a sleeveless white gown, a wide collar, a belt with an embellished flap hanging down at CF, armbands, and a sheer cape.

I used BWOF 3-2005-114 as a starting point for the dress, tracing just the bodice without the sleeves.  I added a waist seam and drew pieces for a long split front skirt.

For supplies, my first stop was the thrift store where I found what would be the main fabrics - a king sized bedsheet ($3) for the dress, and a super wide poly dupioni pinch-pleat drape in a peachy color ($4) for the accessories.

I hit up Joann for cheap gold trims and the sheer cape fabric, which turned out to the most expensive part of the outfit at $10.  I used a zipper, velcro, and elastic from my stash.

The collar and the wristbands close with velcro.

I put elastic in the armbands to help keep them tight and in place on my upper arms.

The sheer cape, edges left raw, was stitched to the CB neck and the armbands.

There are all kinds of issues with this dress that you would only allow on a Halloween costume:
 - the invisible zip is a contrasting hot pink as it's all I had on hand - but is of course covered by the collar and wig
 - all seams are unfinished
 - the curved skirt hem is super wavy

My friend who is a professional makeup artist did my face, which is always a major treat. I'm wearing the Didi lashes by Make Up For Ever.

Tim went as a race car driver and I had a hand in his costume too - I sewed all those patches on!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Carolina Herrera fabric meets Burda jacket

Burda magazine 9-2009-127

I finished this jacket during my recent sewing retreat, except for the last few buttons which I was just too tired to do then. This past weekend I added those, stitched in my label, and voila, it's done.

Fabric
As described before, the fabric is wool and organza by Carolina Herrera. The pattern calls for 1 and 5/8 yards of 60" fabric, but I purchased 2 yards so I could match the plaid at the seams, and I needed every inch of that 2 yards to successfully do that! The lining is Bemberg rayon. The interfacing is Pro-Weft fusible from Sew Exciting.

Notes on construction/alterations
I considered lengthening the sleeves on this jacket but in the end decided against it.  I actually don't own any 3/4 sleeve jackets yet so I figured I'd see what they're all about. 

This jacket pattern does not include pockets, and I forgot to add them.  Just something to consider for others who want to make this up.

I bagged the lining, using the instructions in Cecelia Podolak's Easy Guide to Sewing Jackets, like I usually do. I don't know what I would do without that book!

I briefly considered bound buttonholes but since my machine buttonhole sample turned out so nice, I went with those instead. 

Conclusion
I think this would be great in a solid color with a matching skirt to wear as a skirt suit, as suggested in the magazine. The shawl collar didn't turn out as large as I was expecting, perhaps it's because of how my thick fabric affects the turn of the cloth.  If I were to make this again (which I would most certainly consider), I might redraft the shawl collar to be a bit wider.

I don't think this is a jacket that I'll wear often, the fabric is a little too delicate for that, but with the right outfit and in the right weather conditions, it'll be just the thing.

Seattle BurdaStyle Club sewing retreat

Instead of our usual monthly meeting at Stitches, yesterday the Seattle BurdaStyle Club held an all day sewing retreat. One of our members kindly volunteered her mom's home for the event, and eight of us got together for nearly 12 hours of sewing, in addition to plenty of chatting, and snacking too.

 

It was raining like crazy on Saturday so it was the perfect day to stay inside and sew.  Coats and jackets were the most popular item - Vineta started an incredible blue wool coat from Vogue, Amy nearly finished a fall coat from McCalls, and Cheryl traced, altered and cut Burda 10-2009-109, which really piqued my interest!  Diana and Cheri both worked on woven shirts, and Stephanie mastered the blind hem on her new machine.  Plus we had a special 8-year old guest who sewed up her first garment ever, a pair of leggings from Ottobre.  They turned out fantastic, that young thing has a bright sewing future ahead of her.

I eased into the day with a pair of easy yoga pants, a BWOF pattern I've made before, and then I finished the jacket with the Carolina Herrera fabric I mentioned in my last post.  Pics and reviews to come as soon as I get them photographed.

All in all it was a fabulous day and we all want to do it again, soon!

I am infatuated with this fabric

I'm still around, just haven't been doing much sewing... until this past weekend that is.  I spent some quality time working on the jacket I started cutting during Cindy's visit last month.

First, a closer look at the fabric. I bought it at my local fabric shop during their annual sale; even at 30% off it was pricey, but I deserve it, right? It's Carolina Herrera, and after some sleuthing on Style.com, I discovered she used it in her Fall 2008 RTW line.

Runway pics from Style.com

It's a plaid wool, what makes it unique is that the right side is really worn and slubby, plus it has black organza stitched on in a diamond pattern. 

Wrong side above, right side below

It's kind of hard to see in the photos; the darker diamonds are the areas where the black organza is.

The pattern I chose is Burda magazine 9-2009-127, a shawl collar double breasted jacket. 

I used Sew Exciting pro-weft fusible in areas that needed stabilizing.

 

Burda tells you to fuse only the armholes on the back pieces, but I went ahead and fused more (in addition to all the hemlines).  I also decided to thread trace and I'm soooo glad I did.  I found that a couple of the pieces had stretched out a bit, probably when I was fusing them.  I was mostly able to steam them back into shape.

On Saturday I sewed up the lining (Bemberg rayon), even before I started the jacket shell, just like Ann told us to.  Ever since I read that tip, I've always sewn my lining first, and I'll never go back.  Today was a furlough day for me so I got the jacket shell done.  Now all that's left is to put those together and stitch some buttonholes...

Stashaholic fabric event in Seattle

Hey Seattle-area sewing fanatics, I recently learned of this event that is going to be happening next weekend, October 3 and 4 - it's a fabric swap/stash purge party!  You can participate in one of two ways - you can sell, or you can shop.  And it's not limited to fabric either, any "raw materials" like notions, sewing machines, patterns, yarn, beading supplies, scrapbook supplies, etc. are fair game.

Check out this link for more details: http://www.ourfabricstash.com/

I am going to spend this afternoon going through my stash to see what I'd be willing to get rid of - I seriously need to free up some space...

A visit from a sewing sister

I first met Cindy a year and a half ago at the Pattern Review weekend in LA. I hung out with her again at the Portland PR weekend earlier this year, and she visited me in Seattle this past weekend for a sewcation.  She got a lot of work done on a trench jacket that is going to be a-maz-ing.  Me?  I was pretty much in the project planning phase for the majority of her visit.

If Cindy ever asks to come visit you, say yes.  She is the best houseguest.  The icing on the cake was when I came home from work on Friday, she was already cooking dinner!  She could teach my husband a thing or two.

Conveniently, my local fabric shop, Nancy's Sewing Basket, was having their once-a-year 30% off fabric sale the weekend of Cindy's visit.  We went twice, poring over every bolt of fabric and button.  We were so absorbed, we forgot to take pictures both times!  Several nice things came home with us after each visit, naturally...

Among other things, we both got cuts of Carolina Herrera fabric - Cindy got an amazing navy cotton/silk shirting, and I, two coatings (I'm cutting into one above).

It was a wonderful, relaxed long weekend, with lots of great food (Cindy is a great cook!) and conversation - we talked sewing, we talked life.  Cindy, you are welcome back anytime!

Italy trip - part 3 - sewing stuff

Of course I couldn't visit Italy without checking out at least one fabric store. A Google search led me to a NY Times article on Bassetti Tessuti, said to be Rome's largest fabric store. So that was my pick.

 

Conveniently the store was located just a couple of blocks from the flat we rented.  I saw it within my first hour of being in the city :)  I waited a couple of days to actually go in though.  They are doing some remodeling on the exterior, as you can see.  The main entrance was closed, but there was a boy hanging out whose job it apparently was to guide us to the side entrance.

 

Exterior window

Inside, the store is huge.  I think there are 7 different rooms, divided mostly by weave or fiber type.  Oh, the bolts and bolts stacked up to the ceiling of fine Italian shirtings and suitings would make any seamstress swoon!  It would be the perfect store to shop at when you have something specific in mind, they seem to have everything.  I didn't take any photographs inside because there were about 3 salesmen in each room, more sales staff than customers, and I didn't feel comfortable asking...

I spent close to 30 minutes looking through the various rooms to try to pin down what I wanted.  Frankly, the prices were higher than I expected.  Most of what I saw and liked, nice cotton shirtings, for example, were 20-30 euros per yard.  That translates to ~ US $28-42/yard.  This probably helped prevent me from going crazy buying up everything.  Also, it makes me realize that the Italian fabrics that are being offered at my local fabric shop or our favorite online retailers like Gorgeous Fabrics or Emma One Sock are priced very reasonably!

 

Ultimately I ended up choosing this animal print rayon jersey, it was 13 euros/yard (US $18/yard).  This is the teal colorway, and they also had purple.  Am I imagining things, or did EOS have this for sale recently?

Let me tell you about the sales process, because it was different than anything I've encountered before.  First you select your fabric, and one of the salesmen in that room will cut it for you on a counter in that room.  And when I say salesmen, yes, they are all men, I didn't see any women cutting fabric.  Then, he writes up a sales slip with your name, and escorts you down to the cashier area.  There are a few women sitting at a counter and they are separated from you by a glass partition (dangerous job?) and he gives the sales slip to one of the women and puts your fabric on a counter behind you.  She types the info in to a computer and then another woman calls your name and you pay her.  Then you get your receipt, and you take it to the counter where your fabric is, and another gentleman cross references your receipt with the fabric and bags it up for you.  Phew!

  

 I picked up the September issue of La Mia Boutique; like Burda and Patrones, it has a fashion-magazine type of layout with pattern sheets included to trace.

 

You can buy La Mia Boutique at any ordinary news kiosk like this one.  Can you imagine if it were that easy for us to find sewing magazines in the US?! 

Some pictures of the garments...

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

  

Maternity

 

Plus size