The Heart Wants, What the Heart Wants...

Be it man or...fabric.

In my case it was fabric. Maybe I didn't fall in love with enough "Bad Boys" in my youth so I am trying to make up for it now by falling in love with "Bad Fabrics" Who knows? I just know that I was bound and determined to make this stuff work!

So I set out to tame this slippery, slidey fabric that wanted to disintegrate at the slightest touch. I searched the archives of PatternReview.com and the CMNewsletter. I re-read my favorite books on the subject: Sandra Betzina's More Fabric Savy and Claire Shaeffer's Fabric Sewing Guide



Both great references for working with any kind of fabric. I was going to go into this fully armed.

After some trial and error, I found that I needed a VERY gentle hand in every stage of the cutting and construction process. From the finest needle, to the lightest of pressure from both the iron and the pressure foot.

I even replaced the standard needle in my BabyLock Evolve with a very fine Microtex** to do Kayla Kennington's rolled hem technique. I feared that even the finest ELX705 needle would just shred the silk and, if not immediately, would eventually just pull away from the edge. As you can see here, it worked beautifully:



Notice how the look of braiding was achieved by the use of different colors of Rayon threads. To get this look I used a very dark Peacock Blue in the upper looper, Lt. Peacock Blue that almost dissapeared, in the lower looper and a lovely and unexpected Golden Tan in the needle position.

Where two seams were attached to each other, I used a multi-stitch zig-zag with a verigated metalic Sulky thread in shades of Aqua, Gold and Lavender.

At the seams with the greatest stress, like the shoulders and where the ties would go, I fused silk organza strips along the edge prior to serging, in the hope that it would keep the seam from slipping.

Next up~ Softening up that print...

**A word of warning: ELX and Microtex needles are of different lengths, I believe the Microtex are a smidge longer. I asked my dealer about the advisability of using the Microtex in my Evolve and his response was "Well, if your not hearing anything funny or having any problems, I don't see why you can't" While I wouldn't exactly call that an endorsement, I, personally (nor did my machine) suffer any ill effects from using them in my Evolve for this project. Your mileage may vary...

Falling in Love with the Wrong Fabric!

In my quest for the perfect Ocean-Blues-Elegant-Ethereal-Drapey-Beachy-Silk to use for my Beach Fantasy Dress, I came across this:



An undeniably Gorgeous Silk Charmeuese print. That it was located in Hong Kong (!!) and the wedding was a mere 6 weeks away didn't deter me, I was in love!

It had it all: the deep blue of a storm tossed sea, green and every shade of turquoise with subtle highlights that looked like the morning sun reflecting off a calm inlet. There were even the golden shades of virgin sand beneath your feet...

I had found my perfect fabric. It was mine. I had to have it. No other fabric would do after seeing this lovely.

I dutifully awaited it's arrival from the far east. Surprisingly, I didn't have long to wait, 10 days perhaps. When it arrived it was even more vibrant and beautiful in person, just stunning!

The quality, however, left much to be desired. The first problem I noticed was a printing error where there were two 1/4" in dots devoid of any dye at the same place in EVERY Repeat. It was almost as if a piece of fuzz got stuck on the printing plate. (If they even use a 'Printing Plate' for fabric, lol)

The fabric was busy, the dots were small, the repeat was large, the dress was made of strips: I would make it work. If I couldn't cut around them, I would dye them with a Q-tip!

The far greater quality issue arose when I started tearing the fabric to get a straight edge. That's when it really hit home that there is Good Silk Charmeuse and then there is Baaad Silk Charmeuse. And this was definitely Baaad Silk Charmeuese. So bad in fact, that if I looked at it wrong the threads would slip in a BIG way, to the point of leaving actual holes in the fabric.

How on earth was I going to sew this stuff?~ Grrrr

Can I be her when I grow up?

Kayla Kennington is an Artiste Extraordinaire!

I have long admired her work and collected her patterns with dreams of some day incorporating a little of her genius into my own art.

As many of you already know, my first attempt at this was for VBG, where I used Kayla's unique seaming technique quite successfully. Here are a couple of close-ups of that:



After that I was hooked! I wanted to jump in to the deep end and make one of Kayla's amazing patterns! In July of this year I had the perfect excuse, my cousin was getting married in a small ceremony on the beach in Carmel, CA. and she wanted all of the guests to wear 'Ocean' blues.

I decided to make "Fantasia"


This is a beautiful jacket pattern I have had in my stash since it first came out. It is really quite simple when made as drafted, composed of mainly rectangles and triangles.

Of course, my brain just can't comprehend things like 'simple' or 'easy' nooo...that would be, well, too easy ;-) and apparently I must prefer my life a little more complicated.

The examples of finished garments made from this pattern on Kayla's site are truly astounding and inspiring! The one that really got my creative juices flowing was the floral silk georgette summer dress. Perfect! Except that the dress is not a draft that is included in the pattern. I did say that "Fantasia" is a jacket pattern, didn't I? But after seeing that summer dress, I had my heart set on making Fantasia into a dress for the wedding!

Since this pattern is comprised of mainly rectangles, it should be a fairly simple thing to just lengthen them all and make a dress. Right? Wrong! There are also triangles. Lots of triangles. And when you add triangles, you go from simple math to geometry. When I said my brain didn't like simple, this was NOT what I was talking about!

So what a girl to do? Call the designers website contact number for tech support, what else? I called on a Saturday afternoon, 'cause, well that was when I was getting frustrated. Not really expecting an answer, I got a recording of Ms. Kennington herself saying she was on the road until the following day. I hung-up without leaving a message.

Imagine my utter shock when the phone rang the following day, Sunday, and it was Ms. Kennington calling to say that she saw I had called, recognized my name on the caller ID (what? who? me???) and wanted to know how she could help me. OMG! It took me a second (OK a really long second) to compose myself enough to ask her about the dress draft.

We had a wonderful conversation and I must say that she is the kindest, patient and most generous woman you could ever hope to meet. She freely shared drafting help with me, even going so far as to tell me what size my rectangles should be based on my measurements and my height.

Kayla, if you happen to be reading this, Thank you Thank you Thank you! You are the best! I am just sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted, please see 'I am a baaad blogger' ;-)

Coming up: The journey of the Beach Fantasy Dress and Falling in Love with the Wrong Fabric ~

I'm Published!

Last summer Anne Marie Soto, the Editor of Notions, asked me to write an article on using Tyvek. Apparently after seeing how I had used this great stuff on VBG, she thought her readers would like a How-to article. I was more than happy to oblige, but nervous as all get out!

With more than a few false starts, a computer crash, LOTS of help from my friends (Thank you Denise and Marylynn!) and Anne Marie's mad editorial skills my article was published in the Summer '08 issue of Notions.

For those of you not familiar with Notions, it is a great trade mag published by the American Sewing Guild, or ASG. ASG is a wonderful non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sewing as a rewarding and creative activity. They do a great job!

Oh, and if it weren't for the loving support and encouragement I got from Anne Marie, VBG would never have seen the light of day!

Stay tuned for the Tyvek Tutorial...

I Won...UPDATE

A Rowenta Pressure Iron and Steamer in the Sewing With Nancy 25th Anniversary Contest! I placed second in the Fashion category, quite an honor as the first place winner was none other than Eve Kovacs, a very talented and accomplished designer who has won many contests.

Congratulations to all of the participants!

All of the winners can be seen in the Summer issue of ASG Notions magazine.

Gone!

OK, this is my first official blog rant! If you hate rants, please move along to the rant-free posts below; otherwise keep reading because if you have ever used a computer ;-) I am sure you will be able to relate.

In case I haven't mentioned it earlier, I have been asked to write a 'How-to' article for the American Sewing Guild's (ASG) 'Notions' magazine. The ASG is a great non-profit organization and some of the biggest names in the sewing industry have been contributers to Notions. It is an opportunity I am both honored by and grateful for.

At first everything is going along smoothly, the first draft of the body of the article is done but I still have to do the step-by-step instructions. My personal editors (Marylynn and Denise) are keeping me from looking like a complete idiot so now the third draft has been emailed to my real editor at the magazine. Great! She likes it! On to the project, photos, tips and step-by-steps.

I spend an entire day back and forth between my office and my studio writing steps, working on the project, taking photos, writing tips, back to the project. You get the idea. I finally finish around 5:00 pm, and before I can send a copy off to my personal editors (to make sure it doesn't totally suck) my dear husband calls to tell me to get ready to go out we have things to do when he gets home. Ummm, OK.

By the time we got home it was late and I was bone tired. I got up bright and early the next morning only to discover that sometime during the night, Microsoft in it's infinite wisdom (HA!) decided to 'Update' my computer and restart it for me!!!! Of course neither the auto save function of that great MS product 'Word', nor the auto save that is supposed to happen when you are shutting down, actually worked! Why hasn't Microsoft updated that?

All of my work is GONE! Yes, I know I should have saved it myself more often. And yes, I have searched my entire hard drive for any remnants, they do not exist :-( That is what I get for trusting auto save and MS!

Another day was spent rewriting it (after spending an inordinate amount of time cussing and searching my HD) I am hoping it is as good as I remember the first being. LOL

I won....Something?

Yes, it's true. Nancy's Notions called again to congratulate me -- I was a winner in the 25th Anniversary Contest! Wow, what an honor.

Now of course you will want to know where I placed and what I won? The truth is I have NO idea! And they aren't telling.

Since I couldn't spring for a last minute ticket to Beaver Dam, WI to go to the Expo and see the display of the winning entries, it looks like I am just going to have to wait and see what my 'Prize' is when it comes in the mail! OK, that is one way to do it, LOL. But it would have been so much less torturous to just TELL me, instead of being reticent with the information and only saying that I had "Placed in the top 5" Arrrggg! The suspense is killing me!

So, Dear blog readers, if any of you happened to be at the Expo on May 1-3 and saw the display, do put me out of my misery and just tell me already ;-)

Nancy's Notions Called...

And Valerie's Butterfly Garden is going on a trip to Beaver Dam, WI!

I was just notified that VBG was chosen as a finalist in the Nancy's Notions 25th Anniversary Contest! I understand that there were over 350 entries in the five categories and that it is now down to @90. Whew, pretty stiff competition! I am just thrilled to have made it this far and with those kind of odds, I have no delusions of grandeur ;-)

I actually sent the photos in on a bit of a whim and almost missed the deadline. Maybe procrastination is part of my "creative process?" lol

Wish me luck!

It fits so well, but I've made it before...

I am currently working on my second version of this Simplicity Khaliah Ali Pattern #3804 View E. The first one I made in a wonderful Chico's type Low-pile burnout stretch velvet. In that one I left off the cuff piece for a great 3/4 length sleeve.

Like many artists, I find duplication to be less than inspiring nor very creative. In order to utilize a pattern that I know fits me great, without reinventing the wheel, I decided to make it more interesting and challenging by trying some new techniques.

After reading about slot seams in Threads, on PatternReview and seeing the gorgeous skirt Ann did, I have been wanting to try this technique myself. I also just got a new gadget I have been dying to try out. It is the "Crop-a-dile" eyelet and punch kit. While I have always loved the look of eyelet's, I HATE cutting and setting them! This little gem is supposed to make my life a lot easier, we shall see...

I thought why not combine a slot seam with eyelet's and make this shirt lace-up the center front? I will use the slot seam technique to add a wide underlay for the lacing.

In this version, I am using a lush charcoal wool jersey (very slightly felted) from Londa's.

The lacing, cuffs and facings that will roll to the front and become faux piping, will all be made from black stretch velvet. Since I didn't have any black stretch velvet in the stash, I am recycling a shirt that is waaay too big and has never been worn. Perfect!

Pictures coming soon.

Valerie's Butterfly Garden

I was quite amazed and honored to have my garment chosen as the 2007 Grand Prize Winner in the Simplicity/ASG Creativity Contest -- Most Creative Use of Fabric and/or Trim Category.

This was the first time I had entered a contest like this, or for that matter, made a piece of art-to-wear, so this was especially gratifying.

All of the winning garments can been seen on both the Simplicity and ASG websites. I highly recommend a look, some amazingly creative work!

I have had numerous requests for photos, so at the bottom of the page is the main photo and inspiration for the piece. I have also included a slide show with commentary on the construction process.

I would love to hear what you think, so drop me a note!