Wool Winter Coat: Gathering Materials

I've decided to embark on making a winter coat! Since it is the middle of summer, I figure there is a remote chance I'll finish in time for the cold weather ;). I was thinking about relining my current winter coat- again!- but then I noticed how threadbare it is getting. All of the fluffy wooly parts are rubbing off of the edges of the sleeves. And it isn't a fantastic coat to begin with, just your basic RTW wool coat, bought at a spring sale 6 years ago. Time for a new coat! And I think my skills are up for it... or at least I hope so!

I've already ordered my fabric! I got swatches from Emmaonesock, Gorgeous Fabric, and Mood. The wool/angora double face from Emmaonesock was luscious, but my husband started telling me about how they pluck the fur out of live bunnies! In any case, at $48 per yard, it would be quite an investment. A close second was a great basketweave textured coating from Gorgeous fabrics-- I just love neutrals with great texture!

Mood had such an array of great choices. I just loved this purple heather, it is very soft and a really beautiful shade of grayish-purple.

But the winner is... a charcoal black cashmere/wool blend from Donna Karan, 53% CASHMERE, 35% WOOL, 12% NYLON-- over 50% cashmere! It is beautifully soft, and I love that it isn't quite black or gray. And it is only $30 a yard... I know, not cheap at all, but considering cashmere is usually $50 a yard an up, it seems like a good deal.

I've also ordered a bunch of supporting materials. I can't decide on what to underline with. I have a bunch of horsehair canvas, and I just ordered silk organza and my favorite fusible for jacket making: Pro-weft Supreme Medium. I know a lot of people are against fusibles, especially in a coat, but I think I'm going to have to do a little side-by-side comparison to see what will work best with my fabric! I ordered both of these from Fashion Sewing Supply. It isn't cheap, but my experience with interfacing is that you get what you pay for. At least it is on sale right now!

For warmth, I have two options. I ordered cotton flannel from Emmaonesock, which was a total deal-- she has flaws on sale for $6 a yard! Since it will be interlining, it doesn't matter at all if there are spots on it. I also ordered lambswool/rayon from Bergen Tailor Supply. I'm just not sure what I'll need in terms of warmth. It does get pretty cold here in Western New York. I have a down jacket for the coldest days, so I'd like this coat to be pretty warm for late fall/early winter.

lambswool interlining

For the lining, I'm going to try silk charmeuse again. I haven't had such good luck with it in winter coats, but I'm going to try to learn from past experience. I plan to use a heavier weight charmeuse and reinforce the seam lines and heavy wear areas with fusible interfacing. In addition to all of that, I'll sew the interlining into the lining, so that will hopefully also help take some of the stress off of the lining. I 2 yards of gorgeous, heavy silk charmeuse in my stash, so if 2 yards is enough I think I'm set.

The other big thing is buttons! I can't decide on that at all. Classic black, handmade artisan, metal? Any ideas?

And then there is the problem of a pattern! But that may merit its own post...

Waves top and dress- Mother/daughter outfits

I spent my Mother's Day sewing! What could be better!

This gorgeous fabric was just calling out to be a summer top for Mom (me!) My favorite pattern right now comes from Simplicity 2404. What, it doesn't look like the pattern envelope? Well, yes, this is a dress pattern... but I traced the bodice and extended it into a top and it makes a fantastic princess seam top.

The fabric is from Marcy Tilton. It is cotton, but a luxurious cotton that almost feels like washed linen. The pattern is a vintage kimono print that makes me think of Hokusai. Any excuse to think about Hokusai is a good thing.

Both sides of the fabric are lovely... one is more blue, one is more of a warmer palette. I sewed down the seam allowances as a seam finish and I liked it so much that I made it the right side of my garment.

The neckline and armholes are bound with bias binding made from extra fabric. It is almost reversible, except I didn't finish the shoulder seams as neatly as I should have.

In a previous version I made the sides longer, in this one I gave it a bit of a 'tail'- I made the back longer than the front.

Little bug's dress uses the bodice from Simplicity 2237, traced and extended into a simple shift dress/tunic.

She loves it! She wore the muslin for the dress all afternoon, and was so excited when the dress was done.

A 21-inch square of fabric turned into bias binding using the continuous method was just enough to bind both the dress and the top.

Of course her dress has pockets! Sort of a necessity for toddler garments. I'm sort of just lucky I got them in the right places since she refused to try on the dress at the critical point. The dress has a back zipper too for quick dressing of a wriggly toddler.

One funny story. When I finished her dress she put it on right away, totally excited that Mom had made her something. So while she was occupied playing with her new pockets, I was trying to finish my top and not watching her too carefully. But then I got that feeling... you know, that little nagging feeling that it has been quiet just a bit too long.

When I turned around and she has my seam ripper in hand and was busy altering her dress! "Sewing" just like mommy.

So there's a hole right in the front of the dress, in between the pockets!  I patched it on the back with a piece of fusible and it isn't too noticeable. You can't really even see it with the pattern. Whew!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Tiny Stars Blazer: Simplicity 3628

I'm on a bit of a sewing spree here! There are a couple of good reasons for this. One is... I really missed my sewing machine. Rome was amazing, and I wouldn't have had any time to sew anyway, but four months without my machine was a long time. Another good reason to sew... I'm in a childcare gap, and there are lots of things I SHOULD be doing, but sewing is one of the few things I can do it little spurts and starts, with interruptions every 5 minutes. My writing projects aren't doing so well, except for blogging, which is about the only kind of writing I seem able to do in bits and pieces.

And another reason to sew: I didn't buy any clothes when I was in Italy, but I did buy fabric! Italian wool, silk, and... Denim!

Okay, so maybe it is weird to buy denim in Italy, but I totally fell in love with this gorgeous printed denim. I was looking for polka dotted denim or wool, and wasn't finding any... and I decided tiny stars was even better! And, did I mention it is a S-T-R-E-T-C-H denim! I'm all about comfort in a blazer.

The pattern is Simplicity 3628, a Threads pattern. It is a blazer with a mandarin collar. I just love mandarin collars-- they look classy and sporty at the same time, and just a touch Asian without being cliche. Also, lapels go out of style so quickly... too large, too small, etc.

I've had this pattern in my stash for forever. I think it is one of the first blazer patterns I purchased, but I haven't gotten around to sewing it until just now. It is a great pattern, I'm so glad I finally broke it out.

 I did however make a few changes. Just a few. The biggest one is that I replaced the one piece sleeve with a two piece sleeve. I used this method, it worked pretty well. It took two tries on my muslin, but I think it was worth it. I also significantly reduced the size of the sleeve head to reduce the amount of sleeve ease. Pretty much every Simplicity pattern I've tried has MUCH too much ease in the sleeves. I also thought that the denim wouldn't ease as well as a nice wool and I didn't want any gathers or puckers. I left just enough ease so that I got a bit of a head on the sleeve. To give the jacket a more tailored look, I also added a piece of wool felt to the sleeve head. To be honest I only skimmed the directions, but I don't think it told you to do this.

I also added zippers! This jacket would have been done weeks ago, but I couldn't find a decent zipper anywhere. WHERE do y'all buy zippers? I really wanted something nice... shiny metal with a classy, unique zipper pull, like what is on RTW blazers. I looked first at my local sewing store and their selection is just dismal. I even went back for a second look after failing to find anything great online, but I just couldn't see putting any of those dull-looking metal zippers with ugly, blocky zipper pulls on a jacket I had worked so hard on.

I finally got turned onto Riri zippers and ended up at Pacific Trimming. This place is AWESOME, I am so glad I found them. I chatted online with one of their reps, and ended up buying a 36 inch separating zipper and 3 matching zipper pulls. I used the bottom 18 inches for the main zip on the jacket, and 6 inch pieces from the top to make the pocket zippers.

I don't think my pictures do these zippers justice. They are GORGEOUS. And super-smooth. The Riri zipper wasn't cheap ($15 for the zipper and $3 each for the pulls) but I would have ended up spending $15 buying 3 zippers at Joannes and I wouldn't have been nearly as happy with the finished product.

The original pattern uses hook and eyes or loops that are sewn in on one side. Adding an exposed zipper was really easy... this pattern is practically made for it. I just sewed in the zipper tape in between the front piece and the facing piece. The only tough part is making the two sides line up perfectly, and I thought I had that in the bag.... but you'll see what I mean later.

For the pockets I followed a tutorial by Gertie on Youtube. Easier than a double welt, in my opinion!

It was so easy that I even did one in the lining! I just love having an interior zipper pocket, it is one of the best things about sewing my own blazers. WHY don't RTW blazers for women have an interior pocket, it is sooooo useful. I think it is sexist that the guys get one and us ladies don't. I placed it just under the breast so when I put my wallet in it, it doesn't look like I have lopsided boobs!

Since I had drafted a two piece sleeve, I also added sleeve vents. Sort of a lot of work for a non-functional vent, but they do look nice. I had never done them before, and this tutorial on Pattern/Scissors/Cloth was great. The buttons are La Mode from Joannes, they are inexpensive and there are lots of choices of styles.

It is lined in a gray stretch silk charmeuse from Mood from my stash. I love the luxuriousness of using silk for a lining, and I used stretch because my denim is a stretch denim. I used the bagging tutorial from Threads and another one from Grainline Studio. Both of these tutorials have you sew the lining to the front facing, and of course I didn't do that... I finished the jacket, then I finished the lining, and then I thought about how I was going to put them together. But the "bagging" works even if you do it this way... you just have to go around some annoying right angles. The only problem I had was that I didn't have a very deep hem.. only 1.25 inches in most places. I guess I made the jacket longer than the pattern. It wasn't a real problem, but it made the lining sort of close to sticking out, so I didn't leave much ease in the lining. As I was doing the final press, I realized that the lining was causing the back of the jacket to wrinkle-- it was too short! So I had to rip out the back section of the hem and allow a little more lining out of the seam, and the problem was solved. Fortunately I had an extra fabric on the lining seam allowance.

Okay, so here is the one bummer... the top of the jacket, just under the collar, doesn't line up! AAARRRGH! I only noticed it at the very end, I could have sworn it matched up before. It must be that one side turned more cleanly than the other and I didn't notice. Maybe I'll try to fix it, but it is a big pain to fix now that the lining is in and everything is topstitched. Maybe I'll just leave it. I rarely wear jackets zipped up all the way.

I really love this jacket! It fits me better than the jacket I made last summer (oh, another alteration is that I narrowed the shoulders, that was the thing I disliked most about the last jacket I made... the shoulders are too broad for me). I also like the more casual styling of this one, the other one might be too tailored.

A bike built for me!

No one has ever built a bike for me. I've never built a bike for me!

I've owned mountain bikes and road bikes, new bikes and old bikes. This one is the best one I've ever rode!

I've been struggling with the whole mommy-bike stage of my life. Two summers ago I put an iBert on my road bike (front carry baby seat), which worked fine while Lilly was little. Last summer I bought a 3 speed ladies' Schwinn, which was even better with the iBert and was step-through, but Lilly was growing out of it. That bike weighs a TON and the shifting is pretty much non-existent. At the end of the summer we tried putting a seatpost mounted Yepp (a version of the orange seat we are using now) on my bike... and it was a disaster. So incredibly unstable, and it made a heavy bike just impossibly heavy. We sent it back.

David built it from a trek frame he built on Ebay. It is amazingly light... well, when the Yepp is not mounted, and especially when Lilly is not in it! The shifting is totally smooth, with a great granny gear. It has a great back track (to carry the Yepp) and a great front rack. And it looks totally cool!

It is an incredible hill climbing bike. When Lilly isn't on it, I can climb up a steep windy road to Cornell sitting down, not even using the granny gear the whole way. On my road bike I almost always have to stand to get up this hill. When I have Lilly on it I can still make it, with liberal use of the granny gear!

David says it climbs so well because of the geometry of the frame, long chainstay, 26 inch wheels and special times that helpe maintain the momentum. I wouldn't have believed it was possible, but it is!

 

Favorite phrases: 16 months

"It's a bit heavy now."
Mama snuggles (breasts). "I want to snuggle." "Other snuggle."
"Snuggle: all done. Movie: all done." Used frequently, usually when the stated subject desired but likely to be refused. Other subjects can be added as needed. Said with a smile. But perhaps also hopefully?

Lilly's italian words

On the plane home.

When we were in Rome, Lilly spent all day at an italian day care where very few people spoke any English at all. They say she spoke italian to them. When she came home, she would refuse to speak italian to us- sometimes insisting on the English names for things (mom: "il cane" Lilly: "DOG!). She would even come up with new English words I had never heard her use before.

There are a few italian words that she has let loose in public. "Aiuta!" is her favorite, used liberally. Others: ciao, si, gatto, ballo, giro, pizza, pasta, l'aqua, pesce, arancia. The babysitter heard her say the word for parrot, and David heard her say "non voglio."

Favorite words 25 months

Lilly's favorite words at 25 months...

"Soup water" which usually means emergen-c water (vitamin c drink mix).
"Milk soup" which means kefir. But incrasingly she is using "soup water" to mean kefir also.
Gookie
Movie!
Stop it, stop it, stop it. Doesn't sound cute, but it us when she says it!
Put it on- means what it says, and also take it off.
Light on- means light on, and light off.
She says lots if other things, often in full sentences.
Not much italian yet... When she us in the mood she will parrot words in english or italian. We are hoping she is quietly listening and learning- she goes to an all- italian daycare.

Toddler Princess Dress: Simplicity 2237

I should sew more things for my little girl!

It is a bit crazy to spend so much time crafting something that will get worn only a few times, but it is totally worth it to see her enjoying something I'm really proud to have made.

This dress was made for a special occasion- a friend's wedding. She wasn't a flower girl, but she sort of stole the show.

I sort of went all-out on the fabrics. The bodice is a japanese plum blossom print from Fabric Tales. It was so exciting to get a package from Japan!

The skirt is 4 layers. The top floaty layer is pink silk organza. The layer under that is white silk charmeuse. Then there is a layer of tulle, and a muslin inner skirt for comfort.

The back is elasticized with a zipper and a simple tie for the halter neck. This is a great design for maximum wear, I'm hoping it will fit her for at least a year.

Overall the dress was pretty straightforward to sew. I did a muslin to check the size, but otherwise I used the pattern straight out of the envelope. I didn't really follow the directions, but I did glance at them to figure out how to get the elastic in the back of the dress. The zipper went in without any trouble at all.

Hemming the organza was a bit of a trick-- I did a simple rolled hem, but I just couldn't get it perfectly straight. I don't think it really matters a lot, it has a beautiful effect all the same. I made the organza layer just a tad longer than the charmeuse, and let the tulle stick out a couple inches at the bottom.

 

This is one of my favorite things I have ever sewed. And she just looks so totally cute!

Polka Dot Linen Dress: Simplicity 2404

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I'm just in LOVE with linen for summer. This is a linen blend woven from Marcy Tilton, who has a fantastic selection of linen fabrics. I chose Simplicity 2404 because it is a classic style- a shaped sheath dress with interesting neck variations. 

Admittedly, I made a lot of changes! I got rid of the pleats, and put in princess seams which I think are more flattering to my figure. I also made the dress a button front, instead of a zipper back. I thought it would be a fun style, and it also has the benefit of making it possible to nurse while wearing the dress, since I have a baby that is still nursing and so few dresses that I can wear without undressing when she is hungry. I also changed the shape of the neckline-- I thought it gave it a bit more of a flirty character, appropriate to polka dots and the first dress of spring. I fit it pretty loosely, with the thought that this would be a casual summer dress, with the linen comfortable on the skin on a hot day. I cut a size 16 B cup graded out to an 18 on the hips and did a sway back adjustment.

Even with all these adjustments, it sewed up pretty quickly... I have mostly been working with knits, and it is actually sort of a pleasure to work with a woven and not have to worry about so much stretch!

The button holes were a challenge though. Up to this point I have completely avoided button holes because I had horrible, ugly, and frustrating results when I was learning to sew as a child! Unfortunatly, the 4-step buttonhole function on my 80s era singer just served to bring back all of that childhood frustration! My best attempts were just ugly, ugly. 

So I bought a vintage buttonholer on ebay for $8+ shipping (the Singer Professional, for a machine with a vertical needle and a zig zag stitch). I sort of can't believe this contraption works, but it does, and BEAUTIFULLY! I made all 11 buttonholes in a row, while keeping one eye on a toddler, and every one is PERFECT, they look better than my RTW garments. I am going to start seeking out patterns with buttons, because it is so much fun. If you have a totally un-fancy base model sewing machine like mine, you should try this!

Maid of Honor Dress: New Look 6643 with the Chris Palu bias chiffon shred

When my best friend asked me to be her maid of honor, I had no idea what I was getting into!

Really, it was fantastic. A lot of work though-- and not just the dress! Shower, bachelorette party, the toast... I had no idea.

I digress... onto the dress! Of course I had to make my dress. Fortunately my friend went with the super-awesome idea that us ladies could pick any dress we wanted, as long it was the right color and cocktail length. I briefly entertained the idea of buying a dress, but I have a hard time buying RTW to begin with and the choices were limited. Forget about buying one of those made-for-bridemaids dresses that you order in any color... those poly-satin confections are just not for me. If she had insisted I would have spent the $$ on it, but it just would have gone right to the Salvation Army after the big day, what a waste.

Ever since watching Chris Palu create those gorgeous shredded chiffon designs on Season 10 of Project Runway, I've been dying to try it. I figured this was the perfect opportunity!

I'm not quite bold enough to design something as risque as Palu's designs, so I chose a simple sheath dress pattern: New Look 6643. I couldn't find anyone doing a bias shred tutorial online other than this very cute version in knit, so I sort of had to make it up.

I added a center front seam to the pattern so that I could get a chevron effect. Other than that, my adjustments were standard-- a sway back adjustment, and a tweak here or there on the muslin to get it to lay right on my body. 

My fabrics were totally lux. The base of the dress is stretch silk charmeuse. I know it sounds crazy to have chosen a stretch fabric, but I love that extra bit of comfort in my clothes and it really didn't give me any trouble. The overlay is silk chiffon, a beautiful floaty, delicate fabric. It was a bit difficult to work with- very shifty, and easily damaged.

I couldn't get anything to mark it without damaging it, and it was difficult to sew anyway, so I basted the two fabrics together then basted a piece of tracing paper over the chiffon. The chiffon cut on the grain, just like the base fabric of the dress. The fact that my cuts would be diagonal across the body meant they would automatically be on the bias.

I made my diagonal lines on the tracing paper and sewed through all layers with thread that was the closest match I could get to my fabrics. I considered using a silk thread, but in the end I ended up using regular all-purpose guttermans because that was the best color match.

Next, I then tore off the paper. This took forever, longer than sewing! The paper was perforated where I had sewn, but little pieces got stuck under the stitches. A thinner tracing paper might have helped-- something more like what commercial patterns are printed on.

I was worried that the chiffon would fray too much, so I held off on cutting the chiffon layer until the dress was sewn. I sewed the seams on the bodice with french seams, sewing the charmeuse and the chiffon as one piece. But when I had to transition to the skirt, where I wanted the charmeuse to flow freely, it was a bit of a trick figuring out how to transition. I ended up clipping the seam allowance where I wanted the skirt to start and then finishing the seams separately.

Oh, and one other change-- I did an all-in-one facing instead of separate armhole and neckline facings. I did it in silk charmeuse (same fabric as the main dress)- it just feels great next to the skin! And no worries about armhole facings getting out of place. 

The pattern called for an invisible back zipper. I interfaced and tried my best not to shift anything, but I kept getting the dreaded bubble at the base of the zipper. It looked terrible, this little bump on my but! So I carefully undid it all and went for a side zip instead. This worked beautifully! I'm totally a side zip convert.

As the very last step, I cut the chiffon lay in between the lines of stitching. It actually took quite a bit of effort to rough it up and get it to a good fray. It was sort of disconcerting, mistreating a dress that I had worked so hard on!

I absolutely love the dress! It is totally comfortable, and it fits really well. I've worn it several times since the wedding already.

The necklace was the one I wore for my own wedding. It was another DIY, I'll blog about it sometime- it is crocheted silver wire with pearls.