Sew Stylish Spring 2011

I picked up the new spring 2011 edition of "Sew Stylish" at my local Sam's Club.  It's published by Threads (Taunton Press) -- and they're dependably good when it comes to sewing magazines.  I've also checked out "Quick Stuff to Sew" but never been nearly as impressed as I have been with "Sew Stylish."

So here's what I loved --

1.  The new runway fashions they note in "Fabric Lab" on pg. 12.  I could watch runway shows all day long, but I can never remember what it was that I really liked.  This helps immensely.  No wonder I really like Anna Sui -- the denim jumper from her show is adorable!

2.  The article on Cath Kidston was great, particularly because I picked up a book by her recently called ""In Print."  She has a wonderful website!  Check it out here:  Cath Kidston

3.  Hide a Zipper Inside a Pocket.  Good to know, nice reference for later.

4.  Quilt-Fabric Fashion.  There were a few things in this that helped me, and I have to say that I love working with this kind of fabric -- because it's predictable!  The section on underlining was great.

5.  The twisted cowl tank is so pretty -- and I already have a Hot Patterns version of this.  What interested me here was the way the construction was done.  There is also a pattern in the back, in case I want to use that.

6.  "Snap to It" -- what a great idea!  I loved this!  So many ways to change up a dress, skirt, shirt, sleeves -- I am forever pulling things in to give them shape.  This was just wonderful, giving a new way to do just that with snaps.

7.  Remakes -- I love the flouncy tank.  So pretty, although I think I would do a different neckline.  And since I've made some scarf-necked cardigans lately, the one they showed was cute and easy.

8.  Although I probably will never get time to do it, the Leather and Chain bracelet is a very cute idea.  It looks easy enough for me - a non-jewelry crafty person -  to accomplish.

Lastly, I have to say that I have an infinite appreciation for the way these folks always give a little photo of the inspiration for the project.  This is usually straight off the runway, very now, very on trend.  I pay attention to what's in shops now, but this is so much more helpful when it comes to keeping up.

No matter what your level of sewing expertise, you'd do well to pick this one up.  Let me know if you do one of their projects!  I'd love to hear about it!

xoxoxoxoxo

Trudy on Trudy

Now you all know that I had to post this -- It's a Trudy Q & A! I truly love this lady; she's taught me so much and I especially love that she "parents via shouting" and her mantra is "Get in the car!"

I think we may be related. My mantra is "Get over it!" Maybe her kids are younger than mine ; )

What does it matter that we've never met?

Anyway -- this was so interesting that I had to share it. I actually went over to the website and got two of the patterns -- the Three Graces tops and the Weekender Jeanius Jeans. I can't wait to try them out.

Enjoy!

xoxox



p.s. The Joseph coat is done, done, done thank GOD and I will post photos soon!

A Practial Addendum to All Nighter

I just hemmed Babydoll's dress, and I wanted to tell you a couple of things --

On the matter of draping -- or, the way a dress or skirt's fabric should hang --

I did a narrow "shirttail hem" on the dress because it was already the length she liked.

However, most of the time, you need some weight at the hemline to make the dress drape/hang as it should. Also most of the time, a wider hem (like 2-3 inches) is enough fabric weight to do that.

You can tell when a dress or skirt hasn't been hemmed properly, because it won't hang right. It looks cheap, or homemade. Usually the fix for that is simply to make the hem wider. If you don't have enough fabric to do that, you can use packaged bias tape from the fabric store.

Since these particular skirt pieces in Babydoll's dress were cut with the edges/seams having a bias (diagonal) drape, it was important to have that fabric weight at the hem to make it drape right. If it didn't have some weight, the sides would stick out and it would just look silly.

Brief aside for the newer sewers --
Let me explain the edges having a diagonal drape -- it's like the skirt pieces were triangles, with the point at the waistline. So when you laid them out on the fabric, the big arrow on the pattern pieces said to lay them from the point of the triangle to the center of the bottom line of the triangle.

That's a really basic explanation -- but you can see in your head how the sides of the triangle would angle against the grainline of the fabric.

So, to create more weight within the narrow hem, I double-stitched the hemline. I stitched the folded edge of the hem on the inside, and stitched again on the edge of the bottom of the hem. This stiffened the hem just a little, and the thread used also added some weight.

Both these things adjusted the weight of the hem to make the dress drape just right. No side seams sticking out -- hooray!

On making it look professional, or store-bought --

I did something stupid, and I should have known better.

First off, when you put in the zipper in the back, use an invisible one. I used a regular zip, so that made it look less professional. An invisible zip makes it look like there's just a seam rather than an obvious zip.

Secondly, I didn't run the actual zipper all the way to the top of the dress. Instead, I ran the fabric edges of the zip up to the top of the dress. This creates about a 3/4" gap between the top of the dress and the place where the tabbed pull of the zip actually stops.

To fix this, you should always cut (or fold down) that top of the fabric part of the zip to within about 1/4" of the place where the tabbed pull of the zip stops. This way, you can put a hook and eye at the top of the dress as a finishing touch, and there won't be any noticeable gap between the top of the zip and the top of the dress.

You know, if you're going to take the time and energy to make a garment, you should take the time and energy to make it look as professional as possible. You don't want your stuff to look homemade.

I hope these two tips help you in future projects --

xoxox