An embarrassment of riches

Now that I've finished the red linen outfit, I am on to new things. I have been thinking about this double-sided (two layered) fabric I bought some years ago after I won a gift certificate to spend at Fabricland.

It's a thin layer of denim embroidered to a thin layer of bright pink cotton. In addition, there are frayed flower shapes on the denim, which actually make it less sturdy. My plan is to make a reversible jacket, even though I will probably wear the denim side out most of the time. But making it reversible will allow me to have a bright pink jacket for the times that I want one. Now that I'm doing a fair bit of breast cancer awareness work, I suppose the pink will come in handy, although I bought it years before I even got diagnosed. I'm planning to use the Butterick 4741 pattern I used for the bright yellow twill jacket I wore to France in 2008, but adapt it with plain sleeves (no cuffs or placket) and a one piece front so the jacket can be truly reversible.

While I was hauling the denim out of the stash, I re-discovered all these other fabrics too! Hence the title of this post.

Speaking of France 2008, here are four of the Provencal cottons I got on that trip. I think I will make either shirts or skirts out of them. They are not heavy weight fabric and will probably wear forever as shirts. Delicious looking!

Then there are these lengths of rayon of the soft, challis variety. I bought the two complementary blue ones on the left side and have made a dress out of the larger print already, with accents in the small, geometric print. So now I have to make something with the geometric print. This fabric is actually stiffer than the other rayons and seems to have more dye in it or something. It has a batik look to it. I am thinking I should make dresses out of this fabric, as it is lightweight and drapes well. My only "issue" is that I don't really have much need for dresses - I can get more wear out of shirts. On the other hand, if you build it, they will come. Maybe if I make dresses, I will find places I can wear them!

Anyway, all this to say that I am still sewing up my stash - no new fabric for me! And I write this to help myself resist going and getting this green polka-dot fabric I saw when I was getting the lining for the red outfit. It reminded me of this cute shirt dress I had when I first went to law school, that I wore with a pink jacket. That was 1981 folks. Good times.

Starting something new (finally)

I have given up (for now, at least) on the blue coat.

I noticed that the front (interfaced) edges curled in. This made me avoid working on it, as I knew I was going to have to do something to fix it.

I decided to hem it, to see if this would help. I finished the raw edge with seam binding and sewed it up by hand. The lining hangs free all around the bottom.

I even sewed on a little bit of seam binding on the raw edge of the facing.

I hemmed up the sleeves and had to cut off several inches. When I hung it on my judy it became clear that the fabric was sagging. In this photo, I am holding up the waist seam and the curved-in fabric on that side corrects itself. I have therefore given up for now and won't continue to struggle with this. In fact, I wasn't so much struggling as avoiding. It seems a shame to put so much time into something and then pitch it. But it is a good lesson for me, not to buy mysterious cheap fabric. The clothes I have made recently that I wear a lot and love to wear are the ones I made with quality fabric or at least known quantities, like 100% cotton that I washed and dried and it survived.

So! In the meantime, I have become a volunteer member of the board of Breast Cancer Action and they have several fund raising events, one of which is a Gala in November. So I went looking for patterns!

After seeing the same dress over and over in other books, I got this pattern from Vogue (V1086). It is a designer (Tracy Reese) pattern but it seems quite straightforward. It has the things they keep mentioning on "What Not To Wear", such as a high midriff and a skirt that floats away from the body. Of course, I was seduced by how lovely this model looks and I will never be that thin, but it might still work well on me.
Her dress appears to be made of batiste and as such, it is not as "fancy" as a gala dress. But I wanted to go short, not long, and I had had enough of the red carpet type dress after my last creation! It may be, after I make the muslin, that I will think the pattern itself is not fancy enough but time will tell.

Now in spite of what I just wrote about mystery fabric, I got some $3/yard stuff in pure polyester but that is to make the muslin for this pattern. It is even possible that I might get a wear or two out of it, if it turns out to fit me and doesn't look too horrible. But the main goal is to fit the pattern properly.


In spite of the polyester pansies, this fabric actually doesn't feel too bad and the weight is probably good for whatever, better, fabric I end up buying. Which will probably be at
Darrell's.

I like the fact that it looks like there is a fair bit of detail in the dress, even though it should not be that difficult to sew. The bodice is gathered which is nice for ease and so is the skirt. The most fitted part will be the midriff and the shoulders, which are yokes. It has a side, invisible zipper so it does not pull over the head.

There's only one version of the dress, so I will be using all the pattern pieces, and there aren't that many of them.

The only interfacing is in the yoke, on the pieces that you have to cut four of, and the midriff, which is double thickness.

I have pinned the midriff to the judy and I think I will cut on the safe side, at size 14, and then take in where necessary. I have to say, it is a relief to have decided to move on to something else, even if it does violate my "Rule" about having no UFOs.

Provencal fabrics

Here are the fabrics I bought in Arles.

I bought about 2 meters of each except for the small prints on the right - the ones that coordinate with the stripes on the right. I bought 4 meters of those because I had in mind that I might make placements and napkins with them and so I needed two sides to the mats and napkins to match one of the sides. The four fabrics on the right strike me as essentially Provencal, with their patterns and rich colours.

I also bought all of the fabrics except the two on the left at one shop in Arles and they cost 9 Euros per meter. I bought the two on the left at the Saturday market in Arles for 6 and 7 Euros per meter and they seem a little less substantial than the slightly more expensive ones. Also, I bought them first, before I went to the one shop. I am pleased with them but I could have bought more, I am sure. I think I got a little less of the market fabric so I got about 19 meters in all.

To answer Heather's question from the previous comments, I carried them home in our back packs! We are allowed 12 kilos for one carry-on piece of luggage and when I left Canada, mine weighed 7 kilos and Peter's weighed 8. When we came back, they each weighed almost 10 kilos but we were still under the limit. Amazing what you can do when you find a laundromat and do two washes in two weeks. Of course, in most of the photos of me in France I am wearing the same yellow jacket! But you can't have everything. The weather was quite nice, even if it did rain a little here and there and it was warmer than it is at home right now. We went down to 3C last night and are only getting up to about 17C today, but in Provence, it was over 20C every day.

After I spent so much at the fabric store, I saw the woman who cut my fabric put a wrapped thing into the bag as a bonus or treat but I didn't think to look at it until I got home. It is a ceramic "cigale" or cicada, which has become a symbol of Provence. You see them everywhere and they are quite attractive, even if they are insects. The thing is, I can't figure out what function mine may have.

It is hollow and fairly large but it doesn't stand up on its end.

Underneath, there is another small hole as well as the large one where the "mouth" would be and it is unglazed on the "belly". So if anyone knows, let me know!

Other than place mats, I really haven't thought what I might make with all this fabric. Most of the things already made up were household items and not clothing. There were some very cute little girls' dresses made with this fabric but no clothes for grown-ups, except for the cowboy shirts. Apparently, the Gardians of the Camargue wear shirts made from these prints, although I didn't see any actually being worn while I was on a "safari" there. So I am planning to wash and dry it and hang it over the railing along with the red linen I got as a present, and try to think what shall I do with it all.

I'm back!

Great time! Will expound on the subject over at my other blog, some time soon. In the meantime, I learned some more (clothing) lessons on travelling and will write about them somewhere.
Here are some outfits (there may be notes on them over at Flickr, if you want to click on them and go there):

The yellow jacket and brown skirt. Great skirt pattern, very comfortable and only blows up in a very strong wind, like we had that day in Avignon.

The red polyester jacket and print skirt (same pattern as the brown one). The only bit of polyester I took with me (other than convertible MEC pants) but it never wrinkles and looks good.

The yellow jacket with the red print skirt. The skirt has some yellow in it and I thought they went well together. I think I might be adjusting my bra. :)

The same yellow jacket with the other print skirt. It brightened up a rainy day. The reason I am speaking with these nice Parisiennes is because the one nearest me has an 8 week old chocolate Labrador puppy. She was so soft! The dog, I mean.

The brown safari jacket, standing in front of Provencal fabrics. I got a few yards at this market but then I got 16 yards at a store later. Pix of those soon!

A gold party blouse

Happy New Year's Eve! I am pleased that I can still sew quick-like-a-bunny. I found the GOLD fabric and ironed a tiny corner of it. The gold feels like plastic and I didn't know if the whole thing would melt or what. But it ironed like a dream. Turns out I had bought 3 whole metres of it so I had plenty for the top and now no idea what to do with the rest of it. What was I thinking?

Pushing pins through the fabric was another story - it felt like plastic then! I got out a new machine needle called a "sharp" and it must be dull now. But anyway, I cut out both the front and back on a fold and then I cut strips of cloth diagonally and sewed the strips together to make enough bias "tape" to go around the neck so I wouldn't even have to make facings. Then it was just a matter of sewing side seams and shoulder seams and hemming and I was done. I simply pressed open all the seams and didn't finish them at all - heresy for me - but the fabric doesn't ravel at all and doesn't need finishing.

A friend says it looks like "warrior woman"! I say, look at those boobs gleaming in the light! I plan to wear a smooth bra (I may have to take the black bra off my dummy) and maybe a smooth camisole under it and a jacket over it. What the heck - it's a party.

that skirt and some other things

Where does the time go? When my husband is at home taking some holiday daze, then it goes out the window, that's where.

I finished my flippy skirt not long after I decided to make it. I didn't keep track of time but it was only a couple of hours from start (laying the fabric on the table) to finish.

It has all sorts of nice colours in it, from white to yellow to peach and red. I chose a plain peach t-shirt and voila! Dressed for the day.

I just finished ironing the beautiful blue wool - on both sides. That's careful dedication. I found a fluffy flaw near the end on one side, and marked it with some contrasting thread. I thought I "should" use the smoother side as the right side but I noticed that on the smooth side, you could see a vertical repeat every five inches. When I turned it over to iron the rougher side, I saw that the repeat didn't show up there. And so, because the flaw was on the smoother side, it makes me think that the manufacturer (designer) may have intended the rougher side to be the right side. In any event, I am going to lay it out only one layer thick and cut each piece out individually, just to make sure I get the correct straight of grain on each piece. You can go a little "off" when you fold the fabric in two lengthwise, even if you fold it very carefully. Since it was so expensive to begin with and since I know I'll be wearing this suit for at least 20 years, I will make a really good job of it.

In the meantime, I decided to postpone the cutting-of-the-wool by making a quick camp shirt out of some cheap rayon. On this way, I can do a short spot on buttonholes. I have discovered another fellow sewer in the Ottawa area and she posted about sewing tools, including something with which to make buttonholes. I decided to post about the carpentry tools I use, just for fun.

Musings

I like browsing through The Sartorialist, a blog of sorts about fashion, mostly on the streets. I don't agree with all his picks but I do like the fact that he chooses all sorts of folks to use as examples of fashion. And I get ideas from looking at other peoples' choices, like the one I noticed yesterday. It's the first entry at the June 27, 2007 spot and shows a woman in a high-waisted skirt. If I can get it to fit (and not ride up or dig in), I will be making one of these sorts of skirts soon. I like the way the skirt makes her seems taller too.

In the meanwhile, I have also decided to finally make a suit from the beautiful navy wool I got from Darrell Thomas a couple of years ago now. I have been having a discouraging run of job hunting lately and maybe if I have the most beautiful and conservative suit to wear to interviews, I will feel better about the whole thing. I was also inspired to think about my DT fabric because of the newsletter which I still get even though I haven't shopped there in too long and an entry in it which referred me to another Ottawa blog where the entry was about sewing a dress with DT fabric.

For right now, it's back to the seersucker shirt which is about 1/3 made and hanging on my dummy, who I am still not convinced is named "Rose".