Ikat Beauty!

2015 is off to a wonderful start here at Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley!

As many of you know, there are more and more exciting fabrics and patterns to entice us into the world of sewing garments! It is our mission to support all sewists make choices with more confidence and have a higher rate of success. Here in this blog, Laurel, my amazing seamstress, friend and blog partner, shares many tips for sewing each garment that transfer throughout all projects. If you are new to my blog, please take some time to scroll back in time to see the amazing garments we created in 2014!

To all of you who visit me in the store and say "hi" and for all the moments we get to share. Let's do more of that in 2015!!!

 As I mentioned in my last blog, there are many things that make me smile! All the new fabrics being imported from India rank high on my list of fabric loves!

Now onto the inspiring topic of IKATS!!!

Ikat is a weaving style common to many world cultures. Likely, it is one of the oldest forms of textile decoration. Ikat weaving styles vary widely. Many design motifs may have ethnic, ritual or symbolic meaning or have been developed for export trade. Traditionally, ikat are symbols of status, wealth, power and prestige. Because of the time and skill involved in weaving ikat, some cultures believe the cloth is imbued with magical powers.

To get really technical, Ikat is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs a resist dyeing process on the warp fibers, the weft fibers, or in the rare and costly 'double ikat' both warp and weft, prior to dyeing and weaving. In ikat, the resist is formed by binding bundles of threads with a tight wrapping applied in the desired pattern. The threads are then dyed. The bindings may then be altered and the thread bundles dyed again with another color to produce elaborate, multicolored patterns. When the dyeing is finished the bindings are removed and the threads are woven into cloth.

And to get really real, we love ikat fabric and I love keeping it in the store.  We took one of our simple dress patterns, New Look's 6013 to make our ikat print dress.  Remember, this is the same pattern that we used for our Japanese Print, and the same pattern that we made up in muslin for a perfect fit.

 

This little dress pattern is a snap to make and sewing on our ikat print is just as easy. 

Seams and dart press into shape with a hot iron.

 

Use a pressing ham on these curved sleeves for a polished look.

Ikat fabrics do ravel, so you will need to finish off seams with a serger 

or use some other seam finishing treatment.

(You can see all the different colored threads that make up this gorgeous fabric!)

Laurel finished off the faced neckline with a double row of topstitching.

And just like that, I'm right in step with our Funky Dress Revolution!

Yep, there's that cool copper zipper down the back. Magical!

I am SO Berkeley!

Creatively Yours,

Suzan

Let's Get this Sewing Party Started!!!

Happy New Year Fellow Fabric Lovers!

Welcome to 2015 - The Year of Garment Sewing!!!

If you are anything like me, you crave a unique wardrobe created with fabrics you love and full of garments that fit you!  Why not spend some time at our pattern table (or in our webstore) and pick out designs that will flatter your figure and make you smile. Or you can start by cruising our fabric aisles to see and feel what calls out to you! All our fabric is yummier than ever - year round cotton, not just special occasion silks, Italian wool, comfy rayon and knits for every day running around…how can it get any better than this?! 

My seamstress Laurel and I spotted this beautiful Asian inspired "chirimen" rayon - it came in two different patterns and each of us wanted a dress from it. The two of us tend to gravitate to the same fabrics though our body types are totally different.

After seeing our Mary Jane in a (Vogue 1390) loose fitting dress at our Sandra Betzina event in November, I wanted this design, too.  Laurel wanted something more fitted, so she chose the New Look 6013 pattern, which we have already mad twice for me. Either design will be smashing in this rayon fabric. And, needless to say, Laurel made a muslin first to ensure a great fit!

Since Laurel actually had an upcoming event to wear her dress, we started there. We used a soft cotton batiste to inner-line the body of the dress to add a little weight to the rayon.  We also chose a black linen-look rayon fabric for the sleeves and added a band around the hemline to "frame" this busy pattern. Remember: it these design details are the very things that make your dress unique to you.

Secure the inner lining to the fabric using a zig zag stitch

Nothing says Asian influence like Chinese red on black…
so red thread for the serged seams and, 
just for grins, why not add a bright red zipper?

Securing a facing is either done by tacking it by hand or sewing it by machine,  usually resulting in a top stitched effect.  Laurel's first inclination was to just add a stabilizing top stitch to the neckline facing...but since we're going all out here, let's try a fancy stitch...

After making the Key Stitch pattern in red thread, it became more than obvious that the line of red stitching was too pretty to hide (we can thank her hubby for the suggestion - "Why would you hide that?!). So instead of turning the facing at the neckline seam, she shifted the facing upward to expose the beautiful key stitching. To secure the facing, a "stitch in the ditch" technique was used.

Oh so very pretty!

Laurel's dress inside out…
Details that only you can see make it unique!

And, the finished dress - total perfection!

We have to say it looks amazing on our Laurel! 

She wore it to her friend's "Fancy Coat" dinner, 
where a group of friends all wore their fancy coats, 
celebrated womanhood and shared some great food.

(In case you wondered, Laurel's "fancy" coat is a vintage Joseph Magnin swing coat fashioned in silk faille fabric, not a fabric that you see too much these days…)

 It sounded like a great evening! Now I'm anxious to see the Sandra Betzina design made up for me in this luscious rayon print - sometimes its nice to make an average day special by wearing something special! Truthfully, you can dress this fabric down if need be...pair it with some leggings or boots. The fabric would make a great short jacket too, check out the chairmen rayons we have in stock below (or find another great choice!): 

 


Have a dress that you've made?  Send us a photo! We all inspire each other and that's what makes sewing SEW FUN!!!

Creatively Yours,

Suzan

fabriclady3@gmail.com

www.stonemountainfabric.com

Oh My! Little Black Dress!!

In our recent Stonemountain and Daughter Blog, we talked about the classic stylings of a Little Black Dress. Most of us tend to think that the LBD is an evening wear look, but we love the dresses that can go both ways - day or evening. And that's exactly what we were thinking when we started this NewLook 6013. With such a classically simple pattern, it's all about fit and fabric!

Laurel made a muslin for this dress to ensure that the fit would be perfect - see our post Do your Homework - The Muslin. And last week we did a final fitting and made a few more adjustments.  This may seem like a lot of work, but the whole point of having a Little Black Dress is that you look and feel spectacular in it!

A final fitting also allows you to make some major adjustments. When I tried on the muslin initally, I thought that the length of the dress should be about four inches longer, so Laurel made that adjustment in the dress length in the pattern cutting phase.  But when we had our final fitting of my dress, I had to rethink the length and we ended up cutting it back off.

After adjusting the the front darts, it was time to finish off the dress - lacey zipper, hem, neck facing, etc.

What a great design choice to add the lace on the sleeves... 

Finishing a dress out of a woven fabric such as the Japanese print I chose is a lot different that the finishing of a knit dress. Most notably, there is a lot more hand sewing, if you want your garment to reflect the beauty and quality of the fabric. If you hate the notion of hand sewing, just remember that coutuiers rely heavily on a needle and thread to finish off their most prized gowns.

Whereas a knit dress might have a narrow machine sewn hem, a dress such as our LBD should have at least a 2" hem.  We serged the edge of the hemline first, but you could also use satin or lace hem tape. Laurel used an ordinary whip stitch to sew the hem, taking care not to create too large of a stitch that might show on the outside of the dress. Some dressmakers use a thimble for hand sewing, but Laurel does not - if it "pricks" her index finger ever so slightly, she can better gauge the size of each stitch. (As an aside, she did mention to me once in passing that she never made a wedding gown that she didn't bleed on...so be careful with those sharp needles!)

Most woven dresses also have a finished facing at the neckline. It is important to tack down a facing wherever it might meet with a seam. Because this dress is not to be a sporty look, we did not use any top stitching details, which tend to make garment look more casual/informal.

Hand sewing can be the most relaxing part of your dressmaking experience.  Laurel says that she saves all her hand sewing - hem, sleeve hems  and facing tacks - and does them all at once. She said the hand sewing portion of this dress took about 35 minutes and a cup of coffee to complete.

I love the zipper on the back - so funky!

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you all take some time for yourself this month.

Remember to do the simple things that bring you pleasure, like sewing!

always creatively yours,

Suzan

fabriclady3@gmail.com

Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics

2518 Shattuck Ave. @ Dwight Way

Berkeley, CA 94704

Hours: 

M-F: 10 - 6:30 pm

Sat: 10 - 6 pm

Sun: 11 - 5:30 pm

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Do Your homework - The muslin!

Marie Antoinette in her Muslin

Before cutting pieces from the final fabric, a dressmaker may test the fit of a garment, using an inexpensive muslin fabric, thereby avoiding potential costly mistakes. This garment is often called a "muslin," and the process is called making a muslin. In this context, the term, "muslin" has become the generic term for a test or fitting garment, regardless of what it's made from.

In previous posts, we have mentioned the importance of making a muslin, especially when you're using a pattern that you've not tried before.  No matter how much you sew or how many garments you have made, pattern designers all have their own concepts of how a particular garment should fit. Making a muslin is the only way to insure that your garment will fit you the way you want it to. Isn't that why we sew for ourselves, anyway?

Remember the pants we were going to make out of a lovely wool? The muslin proved that this pattern was not going to look good on my body, no matter how great it fit.

Our New Look 6013 dress is another perfect example of why it's important not to assume that your customary pattern size will have a good fit.  This pattern is a basic sheath dress with a raglan sleeve - it's meant to hug the body, so proper fitting is important.

Cutting out the muslin should be just as precise as the layout and cutting of the actual finished fabric - otherwise, proper fit could still be an issue.

Certain pattern pieces can be skipped in the muslin stage, as an option.  For instance, we did not make a muslin of the facing pieces.

Here is why we make muslins: this pattern is my normal size, but look how much extra fabric there is in the body of the dress...we are so glad that we took the time to do a muslin test - this could have been another fitting disaster!

Pinning and marking the muslin shows us where we will adjust the final pattern of the fabric. Me thinks Laurel looks a little stressed, but she assured me that this process is well worth spending time to ensure a good fit.

After the muslin fitting, we know exactly where we will be adjusting the pattern pieces. The final garment will fit like a glove, all because of the care we took in the initial stages.

I am super excited about this dress! Stay tuned to see how we funk it up a bit...

Creatively Yours,

Suzan
fabriclady3@gmail.com
Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics
www.stonemountainfabric.com

Let's Get Funky for Fall!

I can't believe that summer is virtually gone - August flew by so quickly we've barely had time to think about our fall wardrobe. As I look back at the things we've been making, as much as I love each and every garment, I'm starting to wonder if I'm too much a creature of habit, too color conservative, too predictable.

For me fall, like spring, is a time for renewal. It's that whole "back to school" mentality that we never seem to grow out of as September rolls around: time to gather sharp pencils and new notebooks, buy new dresses and boots, maybe try a fresh hairstyle. For those of us who sew, it's a time to peruse the new pattern books, check out the new fabrics and plan our fall/winter wardrobes.

This season I'm feeling the need to branch out a little with my fabric choices… and I have been inspired by our own staff here at Stonemountain.  Most of them are sewists in their own right and their creativity and use of our fabrics inspires me to shake off the everyday Suzan and morph into: Funky Zan.

I'm surrounded with creativity every day at the store. Wow, these women can sew!!

When I see their creativity, I am excited to step out of my comfort zone and add some real flair and color to my wardrobe.  I am equally inspired by the "Fall Cool-lections" (my new term!) in the pattern books. 

Plaids are everywhere…BurdaStyle magazine has patterns for "back to school". We love it when fashion design students visit Stonemountain to choose their fabrics! Talk about inspiring!

I love to see what retail fashion has too offer too. I saw this idea that in a fall catalog: check out the added lace to this top - love it!!

I want to try this idea on this Japanese Print cotton, to be made up in the New Look 6013 dress. But call me old-fashion, I hate it when my bra straps show, so I think we will just layer the lace over the sleeve fabric. I had my first fitting with the muslin mock-up on this dress and I love it!

Laurel inspires me with her creativity as well...she took one of our cotton stretch knits to create a "slouchy sweater" for her European car trip.  She used Marci Tilton's boxy jacket pattern (Vogue 8430) that we've both used several times, and lined it with some left over rayon knit.  It's reversible and kinda funky!

Have you noticed that big capes are making a comeback this fall? We love this pricey Burberry cape, but for we sewists, there are other options.  Why not pair some of our great fall woolens with this Vogue pattern.  The possibilities are endless!

We have picked out some great fabrics and styles this month,  all to help me get down and get a little funky for fall. Stay tuned to see how these plans come together! I would love to hear your ideas on what you are doing to "funk" up your styling for the fall...

Thanks so much for reading my blog…I value this community more than words can tell...

Creatively Yours,
SuZan
a.k.a. fabriclady
email me at fabriclady3@gmail.com
Check out my store at
www.stonemountainfabric.com
Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics
2518 Shattuck Ave. @ Dwight Way
Berkeley CA 94704
Store phone: 510-845-6106