Non-Sewing Related Post

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IV drip from yesterday’s hospital visit.

There’s been a lot going on at home lately, but I haven’t abandoned the sewing:

  • Steadily working on red chiffon (crape?) 20s-inspired dress (no pictures as of yet)
  • Finished the pants muslin for Clover the other week
  • Signed up to be a Sew Weekly contributor
  • Graduated from watching self-gratuitous tv while sewing (Toddlers in Tiaras, Ru Paul’s Drag Race) to Sons of Anarchy (that show makes me wish I sewed more leather) and prison documentaries

I’ve been sewing in short bursts lately since between work/family/friends I’m never home, but slowly yet surely things are getting done.

Colette Patterns Clover, Muslin #3

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I tried making Clover a few months ago and my first try at it was a complete fail. I’ve since read Pants for Real People and the next draft was a little better. I used a stretchy cotton that will mimic my final fabric, and fitted the pants as best as I could. Muslin #2 (not shown here) was baggy and even more unflattering, but this muslin turned out better.

Alterations:
- cut a size 4 (instead of a size 6), but it was still way too big (?)
- shortened the leg by one inch
- added one inch to the crotch length
- sewed all seams 1″ (after 5/8″ was still too baggy and unflattering)
- added the waistband to the muslin for even more accuracy

I think this is as good as it gets and will be making this version out of the fashion fabric. I’m not sure if the blue stretch twill I’ll be using will be as stretchy as the muslin, so I’ll be basting 1″ inch seams first, then testing it, then finalizing it if that works out.

2012 New Years Resolutions

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Debbie Reynolds, ringing in 1953.

2011 has been a crazy year for me, and hopefully 2012 will be better.

Sewing-related resolutions:

Make better pants. In the winter I wear pants a lot, and that means pants of all sorts. Here are some of my favorite pants I’d like to make or perfect: Wearing History high-waisted 30s (and could pass for 40s) style trousers, 1950s high-waisted cigarette pants, Colette Patterns Clover. In the warmer weather, it’s shorts, culottes and capri pants.

Learn how to drape. I received a draping book (possibly an FIT textbook?) for Christmas, and I fully intend to use it.

Draft more patterns. I really like being able to “copy” (or be heavily inspired by) other dresses and patterns that I’ve seen. It’s very freeing from using a pattern and trying to figure out what the pattern designer intended. Conversely, if something goes wrong and the fit is off, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Conquer your fear of sewing with knits. I still have no idea how to sew with knits, and I’m still intimidated by it.

Find your “sewing voice”. As a self-taught web designer/dev, I was always drawn to hand-drawn, slightly imperfect, lots of grunge, overlays, and the darker side of design. As someone who sews, I still have no idea what my “sewing voice” is. I know what my personal style is and what projects I tend to wear and what patterns I tend to gravitate towards, but if I were to design my own dress, blouse, pants, or even a collection I’d have no idea what it would look like. Perhaps this will come with time (and lots of sketching.)

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Personal life resolutions:

Test and perfect your rolls. I’ve been studying jiu jitsu for a few years now, and it’s taught me so much both on and off the mat. I finally (no idea how) learned my rear roll, and my front roll. The only thing left is to go up on the next belt test.

Just roll with it. I’ve seemingly inherited my mom’s tendency to be worried about everything, including things I can’t control. This year I’m going to learn to be happier with the status quo (not to be confused with being complacent), not take anything for granted, and learn to live in the present.

Sewing Inspiration: Wit’s End Dress, circa 1920s

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I have a 20s themed party to go to at the end of the month, and again I have nothing to wear. I don’t have any patterns from the 20s, so I decided to draft something that would look appropriate. Here are some patterns that I found inspiring.

Butterick 1856. I really like the skirt on this one, but the bow on the top part seems a bit much.

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Butterick 1191. I like this dress overall. I have no idea how to do the asymmetrical ruffles on the front part of the skirt — maybe make two ruffles and hand-sew them on, curving upward?

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Unnamed pattern, 5833. I really like the clean lines and the pleat detailing on the skirt, but is it too plain?

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Excella 2576. I really like the skirt treatment. It’s plain but maybe with the right fabric it can work.

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Excella 2576, back view. The pieces look simple enough to drape/draft and mimic.

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McCalls 4704. Or I could always cheat and draft something like this “50s does 20s” pattern.

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I’m sort of on the fence about the boxy dropped-waist silhouette. This might be as flattering as draping a rectangular burlap sack for a dress, but I don’t care, this is what the roaring ’20s is about. Period authentic (yet unflattering?) or flattering but not authentic?

2011: Year End Review

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This year yet has to draw to a close, but I wanted to look back on 2011 and recount the changes and challenges that have happened so far.

Sewing Year End Review

- this year I got more into drafting and designing my own patterns
- I didn’t make the same pattern over and over again
- I sewed a lot more separates this year, which I end up wearing often
- I didn’t have enough time to sew as much as I’d like to, but hopefully that can change next year

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Sewing Goals for Next Year

- include outfit posts more often so I can figure out how much of my sewing I actually wear
- sew more separates
- design and draft more patterns
- sew from as many different patterns as possible
- sew more projects

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Favorite project:

Black lace dress.

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Personal Changes

Ruffian pamphlet for Fashion Week.

This year was the first time I’ve ever gone to Fashion Week. It was very inspiring to see mainstream fashion and surprising to see how small the runways really are.

Earlier this year I was laid off. I’ve since then found something stable and fulfilling, but that transitional time period was definitely stressful.

Later this year my four year relationship ended, forcing myself to look at myself objectively. At a time where it seems all of my friends have already gotten engaged or married it definitely can be difficult, but I’ve learned a lot about myself and have learned to be happy and comfortable in my own skin.

In terms of other personal projects, I’m working on another iPhone app that I hope to finish by early next year. I’ve kept up with jiu jitsu as much as I can, and it’s taught me discipline both on and off the mat.

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Me and Nanay (my mom).

In October of last year my mother was diagnosed with Stage III cancer. She and my father lived with my briefly for the first half of this year while she was going through chemo, and I have a chance to see everything firsthand. My parents have always been blessed with good health, and it was shocking to see her go through this difficult experience. She’s fine now, but what happened made me realize how short life is. It puts everything into perspective and forced me to not take my day to day life for granted.

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I’m immensely grateful to have my family still around me this year. I’ve also reconnected with many people this year who I haven’t spoken to in years. For some of them our friendships have picked up where they left off, and for others it’s a continuous process of getting to know each other all over again. I’m very thankful to my friends and family for supporting me in difficult and turbulent times in my life.

I’m also glad to have a creative outlet that’s practical. Sewing is both technical and creative, and sewing from vintage patterns makes me realize there’s a world of history that modern fashion and modern times have sometimes overlooked.

2011 has taught me a lot and hopefully I can continue to grow and and evolve both in sewing and in my personal life.

Black Lace Dress, self-drafted

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Closeup view.

Front view.

Our company had a holiday party last week and again I had nothing to wear. This dress was supposed to be made from Simplicity 4298 but right after I finished the muslin, I lost the drive to make it.

So it was back to the drawing board. I wanted something that was easy to make on a deadline, since I had a week to go before the event, with simple clean lines but a unique detail. I came up with a one-shoulder dress with a fitted bodice and tulip-shaped skirt with pleats, loosely based off of a 1940s skirt. I drafted the top based on my bodice block.

Sketch of dress.

I underlined the black lace with a nude colored lining, and it worked well enough for modesty. Fitting was a bit of a pain since the lace stretched and I had to take in the side seams quite a bit. I don’t know how many one-shoulder dresses I need, but I’ll probably use this pattern again for another variation if necessary.

Bodice, work in progress.

Bodice, closeup of lace.

Personal Style: Why I Sew Vintage

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Credit: James Taylor for Vanity Fair

I ran into this interesting article this morning about the devolution of style, how little has changed in American style in the last 20 years. The article covers mostly men’s fashion, but women’s fashion has had the same trajectory.

Me in 2008. (Hair is artificially straightened, arm isn’t finished yet, dress self-dyed.)

I started sewing (and more particularly, adopting and sewing vintage-styled fashion) about two years ago. I had just developed an allergy to hair dye. I used to wear black for years and years year-round and had a bright red streak in my hair. It was easy to get away with the rock and roll / goth look for years, but all in all it was the same uniform: black jeans, boots, some t-shirt, a blazer, a leather jacket, lots of eyeliner and leather cuffs. These days it would be a variation of this, but add on leggings, jeans or leggings tucked into boots, a long shapeless tunic. I started sewing from vintage patterns because I didn’t like where fashion was going, and it seemed it wasn’t going anywhere new anytime fast.

In NYC there are loads and loads of girls dressed in this same combination, which for me also detracts from dressing like it’s 2011. Some days (especially recently), I find myself dressing like this when I’m out running errands or am just plain too lazy to set my hair.

Speaking of which, I plan to do more outfit posts too in the future to remind myself of what I do and don’t wear. I always remind myself that fashion is less about fitting into a certain look, lifestyle or genre but is an extension of your creativity and self-expression.