Getting it right! Falling for a Soft Knit Dress

Fall is on the horizon, and I've been thinking about dresses! Finding a great dress pattern is easy, but if you're not used to wearing them, then it becomes a little more problematic! When I saw our customer Ruth's Lynn Mizono Vogue 1312 dress made in one of our imported Japanese cotton double gauze, I fell in love with the pattern and the fabric.

I loved the ease and fullness of the skirt and thought of making it in a soft knit while I waited for this fabric to come back in. I chose a Bamboo/Rayon and Lycra  knit because of the way it draped over my hand. The pattern calls for 4.5 yards, and you will use every inch of it.

 Laurel's oriental rug is a 9X12, so you can get some idea of how much 

fabric is in the skirt of this dress (hope I won't get lost in it!).

Because of the sheer volume of the lower skirt and the fine gauge of the knit, she marked the four sections of the skirt with masking tape before trying to assemble the lower skirt. Not only did the panels all look alike, it was hard to distinguish the right side of the fabric.

Remember that there is no "one-size fits all" stitch for knits.  You need to consider the weight of the knit and it's stretch.  This rayon and Lycra knit is exceptionally drapey and heavy.  Given the volume of the skirt (remember that 4.5 yards?), Laurel tested several stitch settings and decided on a small  zig-zag.  The length of her stitch was set at 1.5 and the width was set at 2.0.

Sewing a "straight length" of fabric around a "corner" can be scary.  The trick is to take it one step at a time. For a sharp corner, Laurel sewed on the lower skirt side (the straight length), then flipped it over to make sure that there were no puckers in the corner. If you're happy with it, trim off the outer corner.

Most fine dresses use an invisible zipper, and this one is no different. Usually an invisible zipper is put in BEFORE any of the seams are sewn together - this makes it easy to match everything up.  However, this side zipper is put into an "opening" in the side seam, making it a little more tricky to do a stellar application.

Kudos to Laurel for sticking with it, but she reports she had a rough time.  That should tell you that even the experts can't do everything perfectly, so don't be too hard on yourself if your garments aren't perfect. We are not all about perfection here at Stonemountain...we are about having fun and enjoying the process.  (I would have told her to give it up and put in a regular zipper!) This puppy is going to be under my arm anyway. I'm good!

Such a soft drapey (and voluminous) knit dress calls for a steamer to get the wrinkles out, rather than an iron. If you want to tackle the iron, be careful with your temperature on some of these finer knits - if your iron is too hot, you can create a shine on the fabric...a definite downer! I'm so happy one of my friends gave me a professional steamer that I use on all my clothes at home.

What a beauty! Can't wait to try it on! 

Fast forward a week to fitting day at the store: Okay, I think we have some issues.  The very qualities that make this fabric so dreamy are the same ones that impact the way it fits. The sheer weight of the skirt caused it to hang off my shoulders, stretching the armholes...and it's just too big in the bodice.

We decided to take it up in the shoulder seams and in the bodice.

Fast forward to Laurel back in the studio...Among the least favorite tasks of any sewist is ripping out your work.  As I mentioned before, this Bamboo/Lycra fabric has such a tight knit that "deconstructing" it was not fun.

Even though seam rippers are designed to do this sort of thing, often a sharp pair of embroidery scissors is more effective. And after all the pain of that invisible zipper, we decided the fabric and style of the dress didn't really require a zipper anyway. So we took it out!

A word of advice: When you have to undo all your hard work on a garment, don't expect it to go back together as easily as your initial construction - it rarely comes back together as well.  It takes patience and an understanding of just how far you need to rip to make it work.

In the end, we're happy with the adjustments we made and when I get to actually wear it, it's going to be glorious!  I LOVE this dress!!

 The Re-engineered Lynn Mizono Vogue 1312 Dress, ready for prime-time!

I am going to make this dress again in the double gauze from Japan featured in our customer's dress above - stay tuned!!!

Creatively Yours,

Suzan

Visit the FabricLady Collection of Garments on display at
Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics and Sewing Center
2518 Shattuck Ave. @ Dwight Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
www.stonemountainfabric.com
email: fabriclady3@gmail.com
M-F: 10 am - 6:30; SAT: 10 am - 6 pm; SUN: 11 am - 5:30  pm

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

One Hour Dress? Not!

When our customers come in to look at our pattern books, they find all manner of styles and designers for all levels of sewing experience. Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics has one of the largest inventories of independent pattern designers and we often choose these innovative designs for my wardrobe (many are listed in our on-line store).

But I also love to try designs from our larger brand patters such as Burda, Vogue, and NewLook. Although most of the Vogue designs (Stonemountain discounts all Vogue patterns 50% everyday!) tend to be a little more intricate with the seaming and design details, I do love the simple designs featured in the other pattern company books as well.

For example, take this NewLook 6347 maxi-dress.  Right there on the front of the pattern it says "Easy 1 hour". So what does a 1 hour dress pattern look like?

This maxi has three pattern pieces: a front that is placed on the fold, a back, and an armhole facing.  The neck edge is supposed to be finished with single fold bias tape and the hem is finished with hem tape, both of which are purchased separately. Evidently, it slips over your head, as there's no zipper.

 I thought it might be fun to put Laurel to the test! Perhaps we can learn some aspects of garment sewing that might make a difference in the construction of the dress. For starters, when you see the pattern envelop up close, there is a tiny little asterisk beside the "1 hour" label. Scanning to the bottom of the pattern - oh snap!- that doesn't include any of the time that it takes to trim all the pattern pieces in the envelope, or the time it takes to lay it on the fabric and cut it out. One hour equals sewing time only.

Second, the pattern calls for woven fabrics such as cotton, linen, crepe up to and including silk fabrics. However, we picked out a cotton knit for my dress just because I prefer the wearability of a knit. Before trying out a new pattern, sometimes it's fun to check out the Internet, just to see what others say about your pattern.  When we looked up this one, we noted that one person who had made the dress said that the neckline didn't look anything like the photo. After cutting out the dress in our knit, we sort of agreed - that neck did look a little wide.  In fact, the whole dress looked a little "wide", even though we stepped down a size.

We can say from experience that knits generally take more time to layout than a woven fabric. And if you factor in a bold pattern, you can add some more time to your layout process to make sure you've matched your prints in the best way. Laurel reports that it took her 25 minutes to cut the pattern pieces on the knit. To begin the sewing process, there's some prep time that we're wondering if the designer factored into the 1 hour, i.e. bobbin winding, stitch selection, marking darts - all that pesky preparation work that also takes time - add 7 to 10 minutes.

Several aspects of this 1-hour dress ended up adding time to Laurel's construction, primarily because of the knit fabric. Sewing bias strips around the curved armholes and neckline without puckers requires a little patience and care - not the sort of the thing we think about when we're doing "slash and dash" sewing - there's a lot of trimming, pressing, pinning involved. More time needed!

Knits often add there own set of nuances and surprises.  Remember that the pattern called for a woven fabric? Not sure how this happened but check out the side seam at the hemline. No, it wasn't stretched or pulled...but whatever happened, we'll have to fix it, so Laurel is wrapping this dress up until I try it on - we'll trim the hem at fitting.

She is pretty sure that the neckline is going to fall off my shoulders, but our "time test" did not call for ripping out seams and altering. All total without even hemming this 1 hour dress, we've got almost 90 minutes into it.  We do love the fabric and agree that it's totally salvageable, just because it's so soft and flowing, but probably not without some minor adjustments.

So did this dress measure up to it's claims? We can't really say for sure, since we didn't use the simpler to sew woven fabric it suggested.  But we can say that even the simplest of patterns require more time than you might think. Laurel has been sewing since she was ten and she says that she used to start making a garment in the morning to be able to wear it that night. But even then, she can't remember ever making anything that only took an hour.  (Those darn facings will kill you every time!)

So, we say take your time and factor in the surprises and challenges that you may encounter.  Every garment has at least one or two, even for the expert sewists! Anything worth wearing is worth taking your time and enjoying the process.

Creatively Yours,

Suzan
Owner, Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics
2518 Shattuck Ave @ Dwight Way in Berkeley
510-845-6106
www.stonemountainfabric.com
email: fabriclady3@gmail.com

Do-Over for a pretty knit!

Some fabrics are just too pretty to not use again.  I find that when I'm picking out fabrics to buy for the store or have made up, I can usually envision several different garments that would work up beautifully.

I love this stretch silk knit Satsuki dress that we made last year. I kept a length of the fabric on a shelf in my office because I knew that I wanted to use it to make another garment.

Victory - Satsuki Dress

With the warm summer days we've been having, I have loved wearing a more casual look, especially separates, and t-shirts in particular. Since we already had made a tank from another silk knit (below), we decided to reuse this great Burda Easy pattern 7645 with the t-shirt/tunic option and make it up in my red and grey silk knit.

The top is so easy to work up and the fit is DIVINE! The neckline has a bias strip that is attached, turned under and then top stitched. The sleeve are just serged, turned under and also top-stitched.

What else can we make out of this sumptuous fabric, Laurel?

Burda 7645 - with Cap Sleeves - Love it!!!

Speaking of top-stitching, finding the right color of thread to use on a multi-colored fabric is a case of trial and error. The only safe way to get a good match is test out several colors on your fabric and choose the one that blends the best.

  

For our silk knit, Laurel chose the medium gray. However, if we were making a garment that actually incorporated top-stitching as one of the design elements, then color choice, fiber content and thread weight become more important. For this reason Laurel and many of our sewists keep a lot of threads on hand just for times when matching fabrics is critical. The consideration is whether you want to highlight it or hide it!

 

Just for grins, why not make this same top in a soft rayon knit...in black of course. And on this shirt, our top stitching rows are doubled for added interest around the neckline and the hem.  Top stitching just requires good thread, patience and a slow speed on your machine. And practice, practice practice! (Yes, I'm going to wear this top with everything!!!)

Love this rayon and lycra knit!  Love this Burda top!

Burda Top 7645 and Burda Skirt 3152
My new favorite Top and Skirt!

At Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics we have a great selection of threads in all manner of fiber content and color. We have everything from the workhorse Polyesters to fine Rayon and Silk threads. And naturally, we carry a variety of threads for our quilters and crafters as well - those of you that are free-motion quilters know exactly what I'm talking about!

Are you a thread collector?  You have to admit, that having thread stash to compliment your fabrics is like having a box of sumptuous chocolate truffles...you just can't wait to try one!

I want to also wish Laurel, my partner is sewing, inspiration and this very blog - a big Happy Birthday Leo Sister! Please check out her wonderful blog for even more fun and ideas!

Creatively yours,

 Suzan

email me at fabriclady3@gmail.com