Shirt Sleeve Placket - up close look

This week I am catching up on projects I set aside in July.  I cut out and started sewing the Liberty of London cotton shirt which is based on an existing garment, posted about here and here. I rarely make shirts, in fact there are a few categories of clothing I never make for myself.  These include jeans, t-shirts, almost any kind of button front blouse or shirt, swimwear, shorts, and gym wear.  There are only so many sewing hours in a week, and being someone that for the most part has made all my dresses, suits, jackets and coats it is a pleasure to walk into a store and select a pair of jeans or a shirt to wear immediately. To tell the truth, shirts are something I should tackle.  I could make a silk blouse for a fraction of the price in the department store.  Perhaps I will, since I have now shed my fear of plackets.
I think I had a bad experience once upon a time with plackets, plus they are so fiddly, consequently I have often avoided them.  With this blouse project, there was no avoiding, so I did some playing around with placket samples and now I have a fool proof placket that looks good inside and out.
This is not an original idea but a recreation of the menswear style shirt plackets I found among the examples hanging in my closet, with a healthy dose of tips from my various sewing books.


To start, create the placket pattern.  This is a case where I don't use the pattern pieces that came witth the pattern, but draw up my own. (Of course for this project I made the pattern myself so no envelope pattern piece to ignore). Below is a sample, in muslin and the sleeve in quilting cotton, so you can see the components.  Make the placket pattern piece longer than the opening you want in the sleeve, you can cut the excess off after sewing.  The widths are noted, then the solid lines add 1/4" to the placket and are also the fold lines.  The smaller white piece starts as1" wide, fold in 1/4" each long edge, and then fold in half, plus fold back top edge 1/4".



I think that some placket fear stems from the fact that you have to slash the sleeve to create the placket.  No good can come from slashing.  OK, an exaggeration, but how many times has the slash maneuver gone wrong.  Don't get me started.  The saying - measure twice but cut once - really applies to the slash. I think also on this slash, in fact on the whole placket, it is really important to work on both sides at the same time, having them on your worktable as mirror images, so that you end up with a right and a left.  No fun to create lovely left sleeve and then another perfect left sleeve, aaargh.  


First sewing step is to apply the under placket piece, rather like a tiny seam binding. Shown below, pinned and sewn. The folded edge of this little piece is at the top of the slash, and creates a nice finish. 




Next step is to apply the upper placket piece. I neglected to take a photo of the inside, to show that the shorter side of the folded placket is matching the top folded edge of the under placket piece. The horizontal pin marks the point where the stitching will be horizontal to catch the two sides of the placket and stitch off the top of the slash point. 




After stitching, this would end up as the left sleeve.  Please ignore my slightly wobbly stitching.  


A look at the finished placket in the Liberty cotton fabric.  It disappears which is just what I want in a sleeve placket. By using the measurements noted above, the placket pieces overlap and keep the sleeve bottom measurement as it was before it was slashed.

Back to the sewing room, lots to finish today.  And tomorrow a fabric shopping excursion to Stone Mountain fabrics with fellow blogger Jean of J.Kaori Designs.  Looking forward to that!

Things in the SunnyGal garden are looking a little dreary, we are at the very dry end of summer and nothing new is blooming.  A few dahlias are still bringing a bit of color. Here is a dahlia I bought years ago in a pot and have divided many times.  I always think it would be so nice if it bloomed at Christmastime as it is peppermint candy cane colors.   


Happy start of fall sewing,
Beth

Compare and Contrast, Vogue 1159 Donna Karan and V1191 Michael Kors Dress Patterns

When I completed my last project I had mentioned doing a post comparing that dress to one I made previously this year.  They are both Vogue Designer Patterns, knits only, featuring a front twist detail and both have a large, unusually shaped and slightly confusing pattern pieces that makes up most of the dress.  I really like both dresses, however only one is in my closet as I made the first one for a friend.   The posts received lots of comments and a few questions, so here is a comparison.

First up,  Vogue 1159,  Donna Karan pattern.   I think they should have shown the dress on the envelope in a solid color as it is quite difficult to see the design.  The front is one large pattern piece which is pleated below the waist, twisted to create a grecian style drape across the upper front and attach to the upper back piece, with a diagonal seam on the back skirt.

On the right is my finished version of the dress. If you would like to see the original post with more info and pictures here it is.  I think this is a case where I like the outcome but it doesn't really look like the pattern envelope version.  It turned out a lot more "grecian toga" than it looks in their photo.  On the body the fit is very nice, hugs the curves and enhances the waistline.

Compare now to Vogue 1191, Michael Kors pattern.  Another knits only twist front dress that features one large front pattern piece which extends to the whole skirt, also pleated at the waist and draped across the front bodice.  Looking at the technical drawings in proximity it is really interesting how similar they are.  

Having just made this dress last month at the end of August I wanted a more summer look so I modified it to be sleeveless, which worked out very well and makes the pattern more useful. I also think that would be nice with cap sleeves.  For more photos and info on making this dress, here is that post.


Now let's get a little nit-picky with these patterns.


Vogue 1159 Donna Karan dress - pros and cons.

• center front is basically open, drape crosses in front to cover, sort of. I think most would need some kind of hidden fastening or hollywood tape to prevent a wardobe malfunction, but not insurmountable.  Strategic safety pin would suffice.  
• pattern as shown appears to have a cap sleeve, but as worn it does not really create that cap sleeve effect on the shoulder, more like a regular sleeveless dress.
• inside of dress is finished very well, the design includes a skirt lining which calls for a knit, by using a more stable knit, it creates a Spanx-type effect in the skirt portion of the dress which I thought was genius. Really holds you in,however I sewed it into the dress inside out so my seams are showing inside, but not the worst mistake in the world.  I blame that on the instructions which are somewhat inscrutable.
• pattern markings,which some had trouble with did not bother me. The most important section being the center front where there are many pleats came together well and lay nice and flat when finished off.  I am a fanatical pattern marker with thread tailors' tacks so with this one you just grit your teeth and mark, mark, mark.
• no size adjustment possible, there is a bit of ease so I suggest choosing your typical bodice size.
• the underarm area is weird, attaching the front twist closes up the side area, but it creates a very deep V at the underarm, which looks odd.  I sewed a triangular insert to raise the V and create a regular underarm side panel.  Everyone who reviewed this dress had the same issue.

Here is a look at the inside of the dress and close up of the center gather point.  The drape is pulled back and pinned so you can see the finished section.  Without the pin the drape falls nicely.

Next up Vogue 1191 Michael Kors Dress - pros and cons

• center front is quite low, particular if you are shorter than the pattern is designed for.  Fortunately it is easy to raise it by extending that seam,  I added 2 inches.  This does pull the bust area tighter but as it is a knit it works.
• with this dress it is possible to adjust the size a bit, as it has regular side seams in the bodice area so you could add a bit around the bust. I actually added a bit in the center back skirt seam to fit that area, and just eased the extra into the waist seam, worked fine.
• the lining is only in upper portion of the dress, waist is finished with a facing.  I found that the back lining didn't want to fit to the waist, perhaps because the dress fabric was way more stretchy, so I left it unattached.  Not the most beautiful finishing but as usual, no one will be seeing the lining.  If I make it again I will add a skirt lining as in the DK dress.
• center front gather area is kind of wonky, it doesn't really disappear under the bodice twist so I had to hand stitch it a bit to stay in place.  
• with a very stretchy knit and no sleeves the zipper seemed unnecessary, but I think with a more stable knit it would be needed.  

Photo on the left is a look inside, you can see that I left the bodice lining unattached, it should be sewn into the same seam as the facing.  Somehow it just didn't seem to reach the seam.  Now that I am looking at it again, it might have worked fine and pulled the skirt up under the twist better.
Funny how stepping back from a project and then returning and rethinking gives a new perspective.  I am almost positive I will make this in the long sleeve version in wool jersey and then I will attach the bodice lining to see how that works.  On the right, the center front twist. There was a opening left after I followed all the instructions, so I hand sewed this closed, with a few stitches that don't show.  Where all the pleats come together it is a bit of a clump, somewhat less elegant than the pleats on the V1159.

I highly recommend both these patterns despite my criticisms, which are as I said kind of nit-picky.  As for difficulty level, they are both easy to sew and yet difficult at the same time.
Knits are forgiving, there is built in ease in the fabric, sizing and design so I think getting a well fitting and flattering dress is almost guaranteed.  They both have TONS of crucial markings which must be done, and both have very confusing huge "front and back" mysterious origami-like patterns pieces which cause a lot of head scratching and referring back to the occasionally enigmatic instructions. If pressed I would say that the Michael Kors dress has fewer problems, allows for some fit adjustment and could be more versatile, day or evening depending on fabric choice, and sleeveless or long sleeve.  The Donna Karan dress is much more dramatic, I think a more dressy look, and has the clever attached skirt lining but has a design issues that require a bit of improvisation in the sewing.


So now that I have made 3 knit dresses this year - yesterday was doing some web shopping for more knits.  What next, actual knitting?  No chance of that :)


I am still catching up from my unexpected break from sewing, so yesterday I cut out this blouse in the Liberty cotton fabric.  

Today's SunnyGal garden photo, one of my favorite flowers, which always says summer to me.  I usually buy the bag of assorted dahlia tubers, so it is fun to see what color comes up.




Happy early fall sewing to all, Beth 

Vogue 1191 Michael Kors Twist Front Knit Dress

It has been a great Labor Day weekend here, a little sewing, a lot of relaxing and some fun birthday celebrations. Last night was dinner out with family and friends and I wore this dress which I mentioned in my previous post.  Maybe I am changing my opinion a little bit on knits, now that I have successfully sewn 3 knit items this year - more than I have in the last ten years.  My grumbling about sewing this dress did bring out a few commenters who were ambivalent about knits as well, so I can only say that perhaps there is space in my closet for another knit dress, even this very one in a winter version.


Vogue 1191, Michael Kors Knit dress, with one very big change, in that I decided to make it sleeveless.  It seemed like such a perfect summer style and this is definitely warm weather fabric, rayon knit in shades of coral.  

Pattern envelope, showing dress with sleeves, and a look at the back of the dress.  I eliminated the sleeves by making the bodice facing finish both the neckline and the armholes, and leaving the shoulder seams open until the last, sewing the shoulder seam and then hand stitching the remaining opening closed.  This is the technique I use on almost all sleeveless dresses that have a lining.



I did love wearing this dress, and I think it will make it into the suitcase next time I go somewhere beachy - one of those dresses that you can roll up and stuff in the suitcase, and then look relaxed, cool and colorful at cocktail time.  


When I was sewing this I did have some issues with the directions and construction and I was struck by some comparisons with another dress I did this year, the Donna Karan V1159 which also has a mystery twist element that magically resolves into a very pretty front drape. I think my next post will be a "compare and contrast" of these two patterns.  
Here I am, at the end of the evening.  I had wanted to take some pictures when it was still a bit light, as this restaurant might be recognized by movie fans, another Bay Area film location (among so so many).  If you saw the movie Mrs. Doubtfire, with Robin Williams, the long dinner scene where he is bouncing between tables and trying to keep up his disguise was filmed here at Bridges Restaurant.  

Now that I see the dress in a photo maybe it could be an inch or two shorter, perhaps it is stretching a bit.  Also not crazy about the shoes but for now I am being really careful with posture, shoes, how I sit, stand, get in/out of the car and generally just doing everything possible to make sure my back issues continue to heal and not regress.  Enough said!


Since it is Labor Day here in the US I will mention something I read this morning. The article stated clothing manufacture is one of the last remaining industries that still exists primarily with human labor - that to hold two limp pieces of cloth and accurately stitch together is something the human hand can do and machines cannot. Interesting, and something to think about this weekend.


Happy end of summer sewing, Beth

V1191 Kors dress sneak peek and a birthday present to me

In my last post I asked if a designer could be a genius.  The jury is still out on that one, but testing my theory I am making Vogue 1191 Michael Kors draped front knit dress for my birthday dinner.  It is Labor Day weekend here in the US, which means my birthday falls around this time.
Some years on the actual day, causing many jokes about how my mother felt when I was born, ha ha.  Never heard those before.  But actually I have always thought it was fun to have a birthday fall on a long weekend, and usually I am on vacation, so this is the first year in about fifteen that I am at home.  Which is a good thing as I am not quite up to suitcase wrangling or long plane rides.  We are set for a lovely weekend and I have plans for a dinner out with family and friends so I am sewing this dress.  
It is fun when other bloggers give a sneak peek of their projects  - Shannon of Mushywear does this very well, and she recently used this same fabric. Great minds think alike and it is interesting to see a fabric made up in totally different styles.  Here is a look at my work in progress.

That is the pattern piece pinned up behind the dress form.  With these crazy what I call mobius strip pattern pieces, I find it helpful to have the piece there to reorient myself when putting it together.
Here is the pattern envelope, I am doing one design change which is to make it a sleeveless dress as the fabric is more summer than winter and I wanted to wear it now.

My next post will be the finished dress, including how to change from long sleeve to sleeveless.  For some reason I want to write a "compare and contrast"  since I am currently fascinated by these drape and twist dresses.  I made the Donna Karan V1159 earlier this year and these two dresses have some similarities and also big differences in construction and result.  


For my birthday present to me - a couple of books for my sewing library.  They came in the mail yesterday and I spent about at least an hour with the Pattern Magic book.  Now that is genius.  There are so many things in it I would like to try, especially the Bamboo shoot bodice, however I settled on the Twist top as a first project.  Then this morning in my blog reader - Carolyn of Handmade by Carolyn who I admire so much is wearing her version of the top.  Kind of getting me interested in winter sewing! 

The second one is Pants for Real People by Palmer and Alto.  While the photos and styles in their book series may be a bit dated, the information is fantastic and I highly recommend their fitting books.  So maybe I will finally make some pants for myself.

Here is today's SunnyGal garden photo, actually taken in June.  This is my favorite Hydrangea, the big mop head type, which has retained its purple color since being planted there next to the front door.  

Happy Labor Day Weekend Sewing,  Beth

Apropos of Nothing

Today I am madly sewing a bridemaid dress that I have to finish this weekend, so I don’t have any finished projects to show you.  For today’s blog post, I have some topics jotted down in a notebook - none of which seem to merit a their own post, however I do enjoy it when other sewing bloggers do a kind of random thoughts post.  A great example of this is Victoria’s Ten Thousand Hours of Sewing weekly post, sometimes including sewing plans, new shoes, or other “stuff orbiting her brain.”  

Which got me thinking about my hours of sewing and doing a few calculations. I started sewing around age 8,  but really seriously around age 14. From then on I have always had a project going so I am estimating a total of somewhere between 15,000 - 20,000 hours.  Whew!  Yes I was the one who made my prom dresses, my first business suits, all my party dresses.  I have always told myself that all the money I saved on clothes I could spend on shoes!  Anyway - kind of amazing for something that is a leisure time activity. 

Pattern Tracing 

Just can’t seem to do it.  I have seen some great creations from Burda or La Mia Boutique pattern magazines, but somehow I don’t have the knack for finding all the pieces and tracing the pattern.  I ordered a My Image magazine earlier this year, thought I would give that a try, and one day I took out the pattern sheets, started looking for the components of a simple dress and gave up.  Eeek!  it looks like scribbles to me.  Oh, I can make out the various garments but it just doesn’t seem worth it.  Not when my lovely tissue patterns are so easy to use.  So despite my hours of sewing, this task escapes me.  

Project Runway

Wake me up when it’s over.  OK, not really, I watch every episode but I find this season’s designers are really boring and the challenges repetitive.  The producers seem to have forgotten the show’s roots in fashion and couture, and have moved to more of the kooky challenges using unconventional materials, which I always find less interesting.  Also the team challenges means more drama and fighting, and usually fewer garments.  So enough with the crazy creations and let them make actual clothes.  The preview for next week did not bode well, it almost sounded like Halloween costumes.  Hope not.  A little of the workroom theatrics adds a nice spice to the show, but I watch it to see what they create.  My favorite season by far was Season 3 which included Jeffrey, Laura, Uli, and Mychael.  The participants were outstanding, some of them had already been in business, the skill level was a lot higher, and the challenges were mostly very interesting, my favorite being the week they had to use a famous fashion icon’s style as inspiration.  Also Season 4 was good, and with Christian being quite phenomenal to watch and Rami making some beautiful clothes.   If you want some international Project Runway entertainment, I can confess that I watched Season 1 of Project Runway Australia in its entirety on line (although it may be removed from YouTube now due to copyright)  and it was fantastic.  

Fall Sewing

Sewing for Fall.  While I do love making tailored jackets, using gorgeous wool fabrics and sewing holiday party dresses, wearing the autumn/winter items fall into the category of " guess I have to get through another winter so might as well sew something fun to wear".  Granted it is not exactly arctic here, I feel a bit guilty when I see the weather reports from the east coast, cities digging themselves out from blizzards and serious sub-freezing for weeks on end.   But I am a California girl, through and through so with a nod to the Beachboys,  I say Endless Summer would be fine with me.  Friends who are from other states say they miss the changing of the seasons.  Our seasons change, believe me, as evidenced by my heat bill and the quantity of leaves falling in the garden.  But I could not leave my home state where it snows in the mountains as it is supposed to and not on my driveway.    Late August and September find me hoping for our typical SF bay area early fall which usually brings the most sunshine in the city proper, much to the delight of the tourists.  In fact if you plan a trip to foggy San Francisco, think about  September which is statistically the warmest month in the city.  

Some of my all time favorite creations have been winter garments, such as my black wool coat, but considering my output of cotton dresses and affinity for sandal over boots I will be picking out a few fall/winter patterns and dreaming of summer by reading all the lovely Australian sewing blogs. 

Strapless Dresses

In my last post I said that I didn’t care for strapless dresses but that it was a topic for another day.  Its not that I would never make or sew them, but that they seem to have taken over the formalwear and bridal category, to the detriment of so many other styles.

Two things about them.  FIrst - it is really not a good style for many body types, a change in neckline or addition of sleeve or strap can serve to flatter a shape.   OK, some actresses like Anne Hathaway can look great, but as evidenced by many of her red carpet appearances, she can wear almost anything.  Someone a little more endowed, such as Penelope Cruz, also looks great, but I suspect that anything she wears is fitted to absolute perfection so the result is dazzling.  Other times you see a strapless dress and it is too tight, so there is too much girl on top of too little dress.  The other issue, causing an equally bad result, is a dress that gapes because it is not fitted enough to the body contour, or the bodice is too short and the wearer hunches over a bit to keep the bodice in the right place.  My second criticism of strapless dress is that they have become boring, like an evening wear uniform.  There are so many options for a dress, formal or daytime, and a strapless dress takes away the option of neckline and sleeve variations.  

Can a designer be a Genius?

Slightly facetious question, but I have been very impressed this past year with the Donna Karan Vogue designs,  some of them really are genius in the way they go together and flatter the body.  Could it be because she is a woman?  Interesting to ponder.  Based on the number of people making them I think many will agree.  I am having some great success as well with Michael Kors designs, and found a vintage pattern in my stash that will appear in a future post.

So any of your thoughts on summer vs. winter sewing, Project Runway or strapless dresses, it would be fun to hear them.

Back to sewing - next up a dress for my birthday dinner.  Thanks for the nice comments on my last dress, appreciate it.  Also thanks to all who wish me well with my back issues, especially Shannon (Mushywear)  - as I know you are quite the athlete now so that gives me confidence I will get "back" to normal, even if it takes longer than I want.

Here is my SunnyGal garden photo - a very nice plant (feverfew) I bought at the garden club sale earlier this summer, and I now realize is missing.  I hope the gopher enjoyed it.

In the Mood to Model

And its not a dress for me!  I started this dress a while ago, as I had ordered yards of the cotton sateen fabric to use in my Etsy shop and now it is all but gone.  So I am giving this dress to my hairdresser Lia.  She and I are just about the same size and height.  I decided to slip into her dress take some photos of myself for a change.


Before I get to any sewing, I want to say a very heartfelt thank you to everyone who commented on my last post with lots of good wishes for a speedy recovery to my back problems.  I am being careful, slowly healing, diligently doing my exercises. Surely I speak for many when I say that through a year of blogging I now have some wonderful friends in all corners of the globe and it would be so great to meet in person. If only!  And go fabric shopping!

This is one of my all-time favorite fabric choices.  You know I love the super-colorful but my sister pointed out that for other people who may not be as color crazy as I am but want a print or some color, the 2-color or one bold color on white is a good option.  I think she is correct since this fabric was snapped up pretty quickly.

Of couse I put pockets in it.  The pattern is New Look 6457 with a few tweaks, such as much thinner, wide-set straps to give it a retro look.

This summer I have altered a few J.Crew strapless dresses and they all have the inside elastized back strap which helps with the fit and maybe keeps someone from a wardrobe malfunction.  I really dislike strapless dresses but that is a topic for another day. So I added the inside back strap to this dress to try it out and I am really happy with it, I don't know why this is not included on patterns, such an easy addition.  This version is not particularly beautiful but I made it on the fly - next time it will look a little better.  I attached it by stitching in the side seam through all layers (dress plus lining) from the outside, the stitching is hidden and it makes it very secure.

This pattern has a nice shape across the top of the bodice and an attached facing that creates that pleat across the front.  I used the same pattern last year on my Floral Dress for a Sunny Day.  As I did on that dress the front facing was changed to 2 pieces, and is sewed into the side seam.  

The SunnyGal garden photo was included in my first photo - the crepe myrtle trees in shades of pink.  So instead a look at my newish sandals - I really like them, but due to my back issues they will only get out for photo shoots, 5 minutes at the most. I bought them on a whim,  silvery-bronze on cork wedges.  Oh well, next summer. Plus you get a peek at my lovely tennis-sock tan lines.  

Happy Summer Sewing, Beth

Unexpected Break from Sewing and Pleated trim tutorial

As the title says, I have had a very unexpected break from sewing, as well as gardening, cooking, walking, going out to dinner, enjoying life, in short just about everything.  A back injury has kept me mostly off my feet for the last 3 weeks.  Long story and I will spare you the medical details however now I am on the mend, thanks to a great physical therapist and some new ways of moving.  
The last few days I have been catching up on everything, and finishing the unconventional wedding dress made from Japanese Kimono silk I mentioned some time ago.  I have taken lots of pictures but the post and photos of the bride in her dress will have to wait until after the wedding which is in 2 weeks.


Today I did some alterations and finishing on a dress I started months ago.  My neighbor Jenn kindly models for my Etsy shop photos and looked so great in this color so I decided she should have it.  


I used Butterick 5314 (out of print) as a starting point, which is a basic dress with bust and waist darts, separate skirt, and different neckline views.
I changed the neckline to make it a bit deeper, and pulled in the armholes at the shoulder as I like that look.  For the skirt I changed it to a very slightly gathered skirt where the center front is flat and then the gathers begin where the front darts would be which gives an effect of a smooth front but the ease of gathers.   












Here is a look at the pleated trim on the neckline.  This is so popular right now and I have my own low-tech way to make the pleats.

This is my pleat maker,  which started as a manila folder.   To make one, measure and mark the pleat distances, fold, press and secure the edge by stitching.  No glue or pins needed.

Before pleating, make the ruffle to the desired width, and finish the edges.  Then pleat away.
I used a scrap of white fabric, unfinished, to show how the pleater works.
On left, fabric placed in pleater.  On right, fabric pressed and ready to shift to pleat the rest of the strip.

Next step is to shift the pleated area down, placing the last pleat into the bottom slot, and then continue until the entire trim is pleated.  Once I have the whole strip pleated, I can stitch down the center to secure, or just pin it directly on the garment and then stitch down.

So that is my handy-dandy handmade pleater.  I think I saw a contestant on Project Runway, Andy from Hawaii, show Tim Gunn pleated garments he was working on and there was a quick flash of his handmade pleater so that is where my idea came from.  Does anyone else watch that show with a notebook in hand?  There are some very clever tips and techniques for the sharp-eyed viewer in between all the workroom drama, which I also enjoy.

Here is Jenn in the dress - actually before alterations so it is a little big on her but I think the color suits her.

I have lots to catch up on this week,  around the house and in the sewing room.  Hard to resist the temptation to do too much - but I REALLY don't want to go back to where I was 3 weeks ago. So I will be taking it easy and enjoying feeling better :)




Definitely no gardening for me for the time being, so I will share a beautiful tropical bouquet sent to me as a get well wish.