Research, upskilling and costume courses

My blog has  been very quiet lately as I have been improving my knowledge and sewing skills lately and attending The Dreamstress blogger Leimomi Oakes  classes at Made on Marion in in Wellington. I will blog about those later when I have the pictures and progress sorted.

The VPLL pattern releases have slowed and their preview patterns in Facebook are the next ones I want to sew. But until then I am researching and reading up on:

Clare Shaeffers Fabric Sewing Guide. 2nd Edition. I needed to understand how to select, manage sewing and more difficult fabrics and identify inappropriate fabrics to sew for the various costume periods.

Nancy Bednar & JoAnn Pugh- Gannon Encycolopaedia of Sewing Machine Techniques. Facinating. It needs a blog a page as I work thought the instructions on how to do  amazing techniques. If only I had the time. Very useful so far.

Alison Smith The Sewing Book Tyler. There is only so much on u tube. Diagrams and instructions are very clear. I keep dipping into it.
 
Gail Brown Pati Palmer Sewing with Sergers. I have had a overlocker / serger for years and only done the basics. How to get more out of the machine you own.  Still playing with various techniques.

Costumes all comming together 1912 Titanic Dinner



 

The perfect Victorian Gentleman accompanying me at the Wellesley 'Wellington on a Plate' Titanic dinner.  The pocket watch is his grandfather's, made of gun metal, the cane (silver tipped) and the glasses are authentic.

Black beaded dress over my mother-in-law's wedding dress with the VPLL afternoon wrap

Afternoon wrap VPLL




Hubby and I



Oh, and of course the excellent food and company:

pudding



a vegetable course



A Gentleman's Outfit

I have been a little busy lately making  (and remaking) costumes for my husband and also for a comedy theatre production at the Gryphon theatre 'Immaculate'- 4 Greek robes for the Greek Chorus. No pictures as they were very plain and black.

This has meant the 1912 Project sewing had stopped for a while.  The sewing experience has been frustrating but I have learnt new things about fitting mens' patterns correctly, material drape, avoiding cheap material and  interfacing.

Folkwear Victorian Gentleman's Waistcoat 222

I had to alter the original pattern a lot and I will never use cheap Chinese brocade and interfacing again. This is my second attempt. The first lot of material was unpicked, remade then discarded. The manikin is home made of black duct tape with a white tape marking the centre line.

Neue Mode Stil Gentleman's morning suit jacket 10225.

This fabric is metallic, quilted and very stiff. I must be a glutton for punishment in using unsuitable fabric. I unpicked the quilting on the fabric to get a contrast with the collar lapels, as suggested my one of my costume buddies. I had to make this collar twice too and throw out the cheap interfacing.  I went for advice to the Fabric Warehouse and bought proper suiting interfacing.  The pattern also needed a lot of adjustment to get it to fit right. It does look good on though.- Now to finish my 1912 evening dress.

My Victorian Gentleman's Waistcoat Disaster

I have been making a Gentleman's Victorian Waistcoat pattern from a Folkwear pattern for my husband for our wedding anniversary present. I have made such a disaster out of it so far. 

In the end I put the fraying and unpicked original Chinese satin material pieces aside of rampant snarling back threaded dragons and started again. I had to buy more Chinese satin, different lining and iron on interfacing. I had used too thick lining, overstretched the satin when pressing it with too hot an iron, and cut the pattern in the wrong size even though I had carefully checked and measured it out.

So the following week, with husband in tow, we went to get more of the material he had specially picked out . Of course they had sold out and no they weren't expected any more. So we picked different pattern bright red with black cherry blossoms.

Sigh. Patience of a saint- and the new larger waistcoat version 2 that I had pinned, tacked and muslined first, still didn't fit right on him but did on the second duct tape manikin we made that weekend. Pooh. Its the neck fitting  that is all wrong. So I have unpicked it across the back and collar to rethink about what went wrong. The muslin had sat right when I checked it out.

I get my newly overhauled sewing machine back to inspire me to try again next Tuesday. Third time lucky. I am determined to get it right sitting well and looking professional on him!

Then I will share the finished photos with you. All I have to show for many hours of work is a  pile of unpicked, frayed material and a half finished waistcoat divided into two also unpicked.

I need a new unpicker now as my one has gone blunt from overuse!

Other sewing projects

Its been quite  a while since I sewed a 1912 Project pattern. I have though, been very busy sewing and learning about how to get more use out of my sewing machine and reading sewing technique books.  And developing a manic determination to get things right.

Sewing Books

The latest books I have are The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible by Wendy Gardiner and Lorna Knight. This book prompted me tocontact my friend that I have given my old Bernina to that had odd sewing feet attachments I never did learn what they were for. She said she would never use them so I asked for them back. I also invested in an invisible zip attachment.

Then my sewing machine lost its setting for automatic buttonholes and I took it to the shop for a service. So I haven't had time to practice with the new toys:tailors tacking foot, embroidery foot, invisible zipper foot, pin tuck foot and hemmer foot.

The Complete Photo Guide to Fitting by Sarah Veblen is a book I like a lot because it has 650 photos of how clothes don't fit then shows you the adjustments to make to make it fit better.

I was then inspired to make my own duct tape manikin form of my husband so I can stick pins into it without it complaining.   I stuffed it with newspaper, stiffened it with gap filling foam and he put it on a frame with lockable wheels. I followed the instructions via a  u-tube video. The foam over expanded and changed his shape humpback with one side of his chest bigger than the other.

I had to disassemble it, cover him in recycled duct tape and try again. Not before I had to clean off the sticky adhesive from around the edges of my kitchen bench that I had attached the end of the  recycled strips of duct tape on to, so I could use then again.

How to make Sewing Patterns by Donald McCunn- I haven't got into this one  much yet but I hope that it will help me understand the patterns better when I adjust them and they don't sit right.


 4 Greek Robes for 'Immacculate' a prodcuton by BackYard Theatre

I finished these in a long weekend for the cast of four. I make up my own standard pattern using their measurements and they went together well. The material was from the Fabric Warehouse a black stretch material with a wide satin band stripe, it had to be full length and quite thick to cover their actors own costumes.

The feedback I got from rehearsals was 'Awesome!'. Another person has made the masks to go with them and the opeing night is in July. Hopefuly I will get photos then too.

VPLL Checklist for Ladies Afternoon Wrap #0291

1. Pattern Name Ladies Afternoon Wrap #0291
2. Sewer’s Skill Level: Advanced, Intermediate, Beginner- Beginner
3. Pattern Rating: 1-Not a Fan, 2 – So-So, 3 – Good/Average, 4-Better than Average, 5-I LOVED IT! and why? 3. Good/average, The pattern is simple and quite dramatic with the feature of the four tassels. The wrap is comfortable and sits well on the shoulders and arms held in place by the front fastening and belt and weight of the sleeve tassells.
4. What skill level would someone need to sew this pattern and why? Beginner for plain fabrics if the wrap is not lined. Trying to get a professional finish for the wrap was most fiddly for the satin and silk cotton fabric I selected and to get the collar to sit evenly and correctly.  This was probably due to using incorrect serger tension that I had used to control the fraying fabric.  I needed to use my sewing machine walking foot earlier. Hand finishing was minimal but careful pressing was very important.
5. Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, but it did assume you knew what to do to ensure the collar points and front edge was aligned at the front seam.  I chose to line the wrap and followed the instructions for lining. If not, what needs to be changed? Advice on the collar fixing would be good with simple diagrams and marks on the front piece where  the collar is to align with would be good to ensure each collar point is even. The pattern layout picture showed 2 pieces cut out on the same fabric placement, that is incorrect.  I joined all the lining right sides together with the wrap fabric after fixing the collar first. I sewed the seams from the back neck down either side separately to even up the seam sewing line due to the  stretch of my misbehaving fabric. I left the bottom back open to minimise hand sewing and ensure all final checking was done before competing the last seam.
6. How was the fit/sizing? Did it correspond to what you thought? It printed out accurately to advertised size 34 inch waist.  The bust and shoulder darts did not need adjustment and fitted nicely. The pattern made up unlike the pattern diagram that shows the sleeve length well above the elbow.
7. Did you make any pattern alterations? If so, what alterations did you make? Where they fit or design alterations? I enlarged it to fit a non- Edwardian body shape to fit for a size 44 inch bust. Adding a few centimetres on each of the front panels worked well and spread the enlargement proportionally but I should have added more for an overlapping front.  I altered the fastening with two buttons with a ribbon loop.I made a belt that was wide enough to cover the button fasteneing and gatther in the waist a little, if I chose to wear it that way too. I lengthened the sleeves and I did not put in the waist gathers. I did not overlay the sleeve trim as the instructions said, as my trim fabric was transparent and showed the pattern through. I would have had to line the sleeve trim as well otherwise making it too thick to drape nicely. So I cut four sleeve trim bias strips and sewed two pairs together then added them on the end of each sleeve. This effectively lengthened the sleeves that then sat just past the elbows. I positioned each tassel along the middle seam line.
8. Other notes: I would recommend the best kinds of fabric to use. I would recommend this pattern to others as it feels wonderful to wear and looks exotic.  The belt  material I used was a wide indian bead embroidered trim that I lined with the same fabric as the wrap. It covers the two front buttons if I choose to wear it that way.

Conclusion: I will make this wrap again in a different fabric, it is very flattering and feels elegant to wear.

 

Final Blog Afternon Wrap #0291

The techinical difficulties of using very slippery and stretchy fabric took a lot longer to sort out after what I thought was good progress a few weekends ago. I was not satisfied with the collar and recut it using the lining fabric as the collar lining, as the fabric I chose- (a fine cotton silk blend) was far to floppy, very strechy, easily creased and didn't sit correctly when sewed to the satin.  The material needed a rounded needle too - I only had a sharp pointed set of needles.

The wrap without the belt

I ended up unpicking most of the work this weekend that  I had done and resewing it using a walking foot that gave a more even stitch by moving the fabric evenly under the foot.  I tried using it before on this wrap but it caught on the sile fabric, making uneven pulling marks, so I didn't use it.  Once I used the lining on the recut collar though, I could sew along the neckline with the walking foot without it catching the fabric.  Otherwise I would have to revert to sewing with tissue over the top of the fabric.

I still have problems with the seams stitch pulling along the seams under the arms. It sits well once it is ironed, but then contracts back again to look rumpled. When I wear it it is not so noticable. Part of the problem is my overlocker tention was incorrect for this fabric and tended to have a slight gather depending on the direction in which trhe fabri seam was sewn.

The white tassels using two large buttons

The white tassels were used to pick up a white fleck in the fabric pattern but looked very boring jyut hanging there. I used two white and gold buttons threaded through each of the 4 tassels cords placing the buttons back to back for additional interest.

Wrap fastening using two buttons and a ribbon

As I hadn't made the front quite wide enough to overlap as per the wrap pattern, I elected to compromise and have two orange and gold buttons placed under the each collar piece that were joined by a yellow ribbon that hooked over the buttion to hold the wrap together.

I have made a belt to go with this as another wearing option using the indian orange beaded border that I also lined with yellow lining same as the wrap.