The gala dress muslin

Remembering the 52 people killed in London on this day, 4 years ago.
It rained on and off all day too, which I always find appropriate. And since it was raining, I didn't even go out at all. I got some reading done and then I cut out the muslin. It was easy because I didn't cut a single layer but allowed the fabric to be double thickness, saving myself a lot of time and fussing. And I didn't use pinking shears, as all the seams will be finished in some way.

Then I fused on the interfacing to the yoke and midriff. I may go with sew-in interfacing on the actual dress, depending on the fabric. I often find fusible interfacing eventually bubbles in some fashion. I looked at the over-all colour of the fabric and decided on the ocher colour for the thread and zipper. It was a toss up, really, but I figured the ocher colour was the most muted and least likely to stand out.

I have started to stack up the pieces to be sewed together. You can't really tell from this photo but the instructions call for french seams and I have pinned the pieces together, wrong sides together. That always goes against the grain (whoo, all these sewing metaphors!) as the pieces are usually right sides together. I have to double check each one before I stick it under the needle and get going.

Cutting the raw silk

It is taking some time to cut all the pieces out properly. Here is the upper collar, which I decided to re-cut. It had to be cut on a fold and even though I was careful about the vertical lines, the horizontal lines of pink didn't line up with the notches. I saw that the collar will look a little bit crooked if I use this piece. Also, there was a substantial flaw, where the pink threads had broken. I was sure it would end up in the seam allowance but because it was crooked anyway, I re-cut it and was done with it.

It's going to be close with the skirt! There is just barely enough in the width to get the front and back pieces cut. Plus I will have to be very careful cutting the front, as it is cut on a fold. I will cut the back pieces out individually to be very sure that the vertical threads are totally straight down the back.

Plaid wool suit, finished and starting the navy wool

I'll start where I left off, which was on my way to Darrell's to look for buttons. I wanted the buttons for the beige plaid to be subtle yet distinctive, a possibly difficult combination as, if they are too subtle, then they aren't distinctive, and vice versa.

I was totally successful! First, although we were having another huge snow dump, I got downtown by bus and back again with no issues. I even spent a short enough time at Darrell's that I was able to use my original transfer to get home. Cheap I know but sometimes, every penny counts. Second, I had bought some lovely horn buttons ages ago from Darrell and they turned out to be just too large for me so I took them back, just wanting him to have them for someone else, and he gave me a credit for them! [Thank you so much Darrell, I didn't expect that.] Third, he still had some of that wonderful printed lining that I had coveted for the Chanel style raw silk I want to make (one day, I hope soon) and so I bought some of it. And finally, I found just the right buttons for the plaid.

Here is the jacket, completed. It will still require some judicious pressing to train those curly bottoms into line but I also think it will help to wear it a lot, which I plan to do, starting tomorrow.

Here is the button in close-up. That red glow is my range-finder, I think. To me, they are perfect. They stand out but they aren't shiny or sparkly. They contrast with the plaid but not too much. Even the slightly green tone is a little contrast to the pink tone of the beige. I like the fact that they are matte in finish and yet have a metal rim.

Then it was time to cut the navy wool. I cut each piece out of a single layer of fabric, to make sure everything was all straight.

The front panel of the skirt has to be cut on the fold so I ran a line of pins down the fold to make sure the fabric had folded exactly along one of the warp lines.

And with each pattern piece, I also put pins in the stright-of-grain lines and then turned the pattern to make sure I was straight.

This extreme close-up doesn't do a lot more for you but here it is anyway.

After I had cut everything, I still wondered which side I should use for the right and the wrong side. I don't know how much you can see in this photo, but I chose the left side in the photo as the correct/right side because it is ever so slightly less fluffy than the other side.

Finally, I settled on sew-on interfacing because the fabric is so nice, I didn't want to take chances with issues associated with iron-on interfacing - bubbles, scorching (not that I've ever had that). I think I will also zigzag stitch around the raw edges of most of the pieces because it is a fairly loose weave and I don't want to risk any unravelling later. I plan to press all seams open and only trim the ones that need it, like shoulders and facings but I plan to wear this suit a lot and for a long time so I want it to be sturdy.

Plaid wool suit

The New Year. When I went back to my sewing room after making the GOLD top (which was successful and comfortable, if also very very GOLD), I pulled out all kinds of remnants, none of which inspired me to make more of the cap-sleeved top. So I put them all away and ironed the beautiful beige plaid wool I got from Darrell's. It feels wonderful too.

As usual with really nice fabric but mostly because I want to match the plaid lines, I am cutting out each piece individually. Also, with each pattern piece, I line up the straight-of-grain arrows very carefully and then decide where I want the darker plaid lines, both vertically and horizontally.

Once I get one piece cut out and all the dots marked, I unpin it and lay it right side down so all the plaid lines line up exactly before cutting out its mirror image piece. I have examined this fabric minutely and it appears to be identical on the right and wrong sides, so I am being careful to mark each piece to indicate which was the "right" and which was the "wrong" sides.

I started with the large front piece and then I lined up the plaid lines and the notches for the side back piece. I want the plaid lines to match horizontally at the underarm seam, where the front piece is sewed to the side back piece.

This just shows a little closer what the lining up of notches looks like. Don't forget that you can always click on the photo and see it larger at Flickr.

This is the back piece, which I am lining up with the notches on the other side of the side back piece. What I forgot to show was how I also lined up the notches on the top of the shoulder with the back and front pieces, so the plaid lines will match vertically as well as horizontally. You'll see that as I start sewing the pieces together. Right now, I am still cutting and I haven't even got to the skirt!

Green Wool Suit

I finally put away some patterns I had scattered all over my sewing room and found the jacket and skirt patterns I want to use for the green wool. I ironed the paper pieces and organized them and then I looked at the fabric, which I had laid out on my cutting table, folded in half lengthwise. I knew then I should cut out each piece in a single layer, not two pieces at a time as it would be if the fabric were folded in half. So I unfolded the fabric and staked it down with 48 oz. cans to prevent it from sliding off the table.

I was going to write about how much extra work it was, to cut out each piece twice, but as I cut, I realized that it was just a bit of extra time and not extra work, really. As I cut each piece, I realized how nice and precise it felt, to only cut one layer at a time. I knew that each piece lined up exactly with the stripes in the fabric, and that the under piece (because there wasn't one) wouldn't be slightly skewed. I also knew that each piece would be flaw-free.

There were several flaws in the fabric, which I noticed and marked with contrasting thread as I ironed the fabric originally. Now that I'm cutting out each piece, one at a time, I can position the pattern piece carefully to avoid the flaws. It's actually less stressful to do it this way, than to cut two pieces out at once, on folded fabric. And easier on the hand too, because you are only cutting one layer of fabric. Which is not to say that I won't ever cut two layers at a time, ever again. But I am not minding this step at all, this time.

I know I've posted this jacket before, but it was easier to take a new photo, rather than find the old one. This is the McCall's 3796 pattern made in a raw silk. I won't be doing piping with the green wool but everything else will be the same.

For fun, I draped the front jacket pieces on the dummy, over the silk jacket, just to see how they will hang. I am quite happy with the fabric so far.