Construction Tips and Creative Ideas

Something rather fun happened :)
I popped over to my YouTube channel to see if any messages had been left, and low and behold!!!, there was a message from Jennifer Scott, the author of the Madame Chic series of books, and the Daily Connoisseur blog. I could not believe my eyes! Someone had left her a message about the video I did last week, so she decided to check it out. She left the most gracious message. What a lovely treat for me :) If by chance you missed the video I did, you can find it HERE.  

It's no secret that I LOVE to shop at resale shops and antique stores. I guess it's the thrill of the hunt :)  

I recently visited a resale shop and found 2 wonderful pieces. Each had something rather interesting about them that I thought you too might enjoy seeing.

This skirt is a 16 gore skirt. The principles of making this skirt are exactly the same as the basic 8-gore skirt, just divide by 16 rather than 8. 
The gores are not what caught my attention...

Rather, the construction of the waistband, or at least what works as a waistband.

The gores of the skirt were sewn together, in this case, serged together. Rather than adding a typical waistband, a 1" strip of fabric that was cut on the straight of grain was serged to the top of the skirt and stitched down.

On the outside, a strip of grosgrain ribbon (typical grosgrain ribbon, not petersham ribbon) was stitched over the stitching line of the strip that had been sewn to the inside of the skirt. It's such a simple application, but I think it makes for an interesting way to finish a waistline and add a little interest.

I paid a whopping $3.00 for the skirt.

The second piece I purchased is just so much fun. This skirt is more of a design inspiration piece. Velvet and taffeta were used to make the skirt, but wonderful hand painted touches were added. 

The 2 strips of velvet ribbon were both painted and then stitched to the front of the skirt.

On the right side of the skirt, a painted panel was done on the velvet. 

The waistband was made from a piece of plaid taffeta and accented with the panel on the side. The added panel is just an accent piece as there were no pockets added.

The back has a velvet yoke sewn to the taffeta that has also been painted. Love the addition of the ring that hangs from the yoke seam.

A second piece of taffeta was used to face the hem and the center front zipper opening.

I got such a kick out of the tag. Yes, it really is quite cute :)

I cannot wait for the temps to fall a bit so I can wear this skirt. For those of you who love the warm summer weather, please forgive me ;)

This past Sunday, my husband took me to the teeny tiny town of Creston, IL to do a little antique shopping. I only found 2 items, but I thought they were both quite special.

Both pieces were painted and embroidered on silk with the original protective paper still in tact.

I initially thought of the painted skirt above and thought that it might be fun to do something similar with 1 of the pieces, but I'm vacillating. They are so very beautiful, so I may just have them framed and enjoy the art aspect of each piece. 

If you do enjoy antique shopping, or going to resale shops, keep your eyes open for pieces that might translate into a wonderful piece of art that could be worked into a garment, like the embroidered and painted pieces above. It's unique things like this that can really make our garments extra special :)  

Hope my resale shop pieces gave you a little inspiration!

Master Sewing And Design Certification/Building A Better Waistband

When I have the opportunity to visit Houston, I love to hit the The Guild Shop. What a fabulous place to shop. I always find a treasure...well, to be honest, quite a few treasures. In fact, the last time I was in Houston, I ended up with an extra bag to carry home. Next week I'll share a glorious bias number that I can't wait to remake. But today, I wanted to share a beautifully finished waistband on a Louis Feraud pencil skirt. 
What initially grabbed my interest was the fabric of this skirt. It's a lovely silk, woven into a basket weave pattern. The skirt is a little too big, but a quick alteration will fix that. 

 The darts were not stitched down, but just pressed in place.

Rather than a hook closure, this skirt is fastened with a button. It's obviously cheaper and quicker to do. I prefer the stitched hook method that I shared with you a few weeks ago. 

The lining is not stitched to the zipper, just turned back and stitched. Again, not my preferred method.

So here's how the waistband, lining and skirt were stitched together. The waistband was made and laid against the skirt, then the lining was laid on top. All were stitched at the same time and then the seam was serged. Not couture, but clean and easy. 

Once the waistband and lining have been attached to the body of the skirt, the waistband is held in place by stitching in the ditch, which is the seam between the waistband and the skirt.

On the opposite side, the lining was extended to match the waistband extension. The lining was actually extended further, look closely and you'll see that the extended area is folded back and stitched. All in all, it was extended approximately 1 1/2" past the waistband extension.   

The lining is not stitched to the zipper, with this application, it would be impossible. The center back seam is shaped, similar to the shaping that would be done for a back pleat. 

This waistband was not cut in 1 continuous piece, but in 3 pieces. This makes alterations a quite a bit easier, but takes a little more time in construction.

I like how the waistband and lining were attached to the skirt. I'm not a big fan of how the lining was treated, but it's an option that you might want to experiment with. 

For the Master Sewing and Design Certification Program, you will need to demonstrate 3  types of waistbands,

1. On-grain waistband

2. Elastic casing waistband

3. Contoured/Faced waistband

The above waistband would be considered an on-grain waistband. The positive side of this waistband is that it holds it's shape. The down side is that since it is cut on the straight of grain, it is not the most comfortable waistband to wear. The most comfortable waistband would be probably be the elastic waistband, but typically not the most attractive. The contoured waistband sits beautifully on the waist and is quite comfortable. 

I'll talk more about waistbands in the coming weeks. 

In the meantime, if you live in Houston, or take a trip to Houston, by all means, stop by The Guild Shop. I know you'll find a few treasures :) 

Master Sewing And Design Certification/Couture Hooks

Of the 7 modules in the Master Sewing and Design Certification program, Garment Construction is probably the most labor intensive. In this module, you must demonstrate in Section One;
1. Various Types of Seams
2. Seam Finishes
3. Hand Stitches
4. Machine Hems
5. Proper Interfacing Choices
6. Closures

In Section Two you are required to construct 4 garments that demonstrate various darts, pockets, facings and waistband techniques.
Over the next few weeks, we will concentrate on working through Section One of the Garment Constructions Module. I hope that it will be fun as well as informative. 
A while back, I did a tutorial on how I sew on my hooks for Sew News when we were constructing the Decades of Style Arches Skirt. So many of you asked for a video, so to kick things off, I thought I would do a little video on how I sew my hooks.
In the written tutorial that I did, I used a standard bar hook. You can find that tutorial HERE.

For the video tutorial, I used a decorative hook. It's a little larger and I felt that it would be a little easier to see. At least that's my hope :)

I hope you enjoy the video tutorial. I love doing things like this!


As I said, in the upcoming weeks, we will be doing lots of seam finishes, hand stitches and hemming techniques.  
Enjoy!
Rhonda