Ench By Sew-15 Festive Time Fabric Quiz - Made for California (Winter Holiday)

Our Best Holiday Edition Ever!

The Enchanted by Sewing

Made For California

Festive Time

Fabric  Quiz

In California Toyon Berries are Natures Gift for the Winter Holidays

Hey! 
The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Two Ways to Listen
Option I)You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on the this link
~ OR ~
Option ii)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes
Did I miss any links mentioned in the show? If so, please post here and let me know, or else email me EnchantedBySewing AT gmail DOT com
~ ~ ~

This month I’m taking a leaf out of the book of some of the podcasts and columnists I enjoy, who run a themed quiz during the winter holidays. I’ve always enjoyed taking these kinds of mini tests,  and feeling like a smarty pants when I’m  able to answer their questions. I also get a kick out of trying to wow my family with my knowledge of trivia on various subjects. They are rarely impressed.

My own, Enchanted by Sewing holiday quiz is focused around four fabrics that work well for sewing, wearing and enjoying here in California’s temperate San Francisco Bay Area. So pull up a few bolts of your favorite stuff, plop down on top, and let’s get started .And don’t forget to keep score!

During the audio quiz... you will be ranking four fabrics in terms of their strength. At that time, I sing you a little fabric themed tune. Since cotton is one of the fabrics in the quiz, I thought you might enjoy my updated version of the old "Boll Weevil" song, Here are my adapted lyrics.

The Boll Weevil is a little black bug
Come from down south they say
Come all the way to California
Just a lookin' for a place to stay.

Chorus
Just a lookin for a home.
Gonna get herself a home.

The Farmer said to the Boll Weevil
I see you on the Square.
Yes, 'mam, said the Boll Weevil
My whole gol durn family's there.

Boll Weevil said to the Doctor,
Better put away your pills,
When I git through with the Farmer,
She Cain't pay no Doctor bills!

Boll Weevil said to the Business 'Mam,
Sister, drink your lemonade.
When I git through with you, Gal,
Gonna drag you outta that shade!

Boll Weevil in yo field, gal,
It's just like shooting dice,
Work the whole gol  durn year around,
But the cotton won't bring no price

The Boll Weevil knocked on my front door,
She said I've come to eat,
I'm gonna starve you plum to death
And get the shoes right off your feet.

Ranking your fabric savy

There are 12 points possible on this important examination.

If you get:

0 - Fabri-Wanna-Be Hey, you tried hard! Go back and try again. (And that rayon date is pretty easy, so I say do that one first)
1-4 – Junior Fabric Fairy- I’m proud of you! You have definite potential. Next time through, you’ll be flying high onto the top of the fabric inventory pile.
5-8 – Fabraholic - Hey, good job! You are on the path to material excellence.
9-11 Fabric Wizard – You really know your stuff when it comes to the goods!
12 – Fabric Royalty – You are a genuine know-it-all, the queen (or king) bee of the fabric pile.

 * * *
When it comes to garment creation, Clare Shaeffer (in her Fabric Sewing Guide)  says of linen “Select patterns with tucks, gathers, pleats and gores” No kidding.

When it came to draping Lucy, those basic tucks that had created simple bodice lines in the muslin test garment, turned into lovely graceful swirls when I cut out the pattern in the natural linen fabric, and hung it on my dress form. Suddenly folds that hadn’t been there before sprang to life and Lucy was born!

Learning more about, and sharing knowledge of, the fabrics I love to sew, are the kind of thing that keep me…

Enchanted by Sewing.

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Resources

* Me Encanta Coser/Enchanted by Sewing is My Regular Sewing Blog.  Recent Postings Included: Draping Holly, Draping Lucy, Christmas Tutu 1 (I did a few Christmas themed ballerina ideas in December). 

* Thai Silks/Exotic Silks Buy in store or online

*Fabric Sewing Guide by Clare Shaeffer 

* I have a number of sewing related boards on pinterest. I pinned links to several sites I referred to when preparing this 'cast to my Gorgeous Fabrics pinterest board.

San Francisco Field Trip: Pacino's Good Italian Food near Union Square (haiku)

Looking for sit down food

Near Union Square- Charming, Tasty

Pacinos has it!

Draping Lucy - Terminado! New Dress and back to Rec Sewing

Lucy is the first garment I've
created  from a pattern I
made entirely myself, on my
custom dress form.

I haven't done any regular, recreational sewing all semester (one semester = 16 weeks) because I've been focused on the class work and final projects for my two fashion classes at Cañada College. The first class was Pants Drafting, taught by Lynda Maynard (that's the woman who knows what we really want to sew, and teaches us how to do it!).   In that class, I used drafting techniques,  and many fitting followups, to produce inumerable muslin garments, tissue pattern drafts, and my first pair of jeans. Can't wait to use that pattern again and again!

My second class was Draping. This class is excellently taught by Judy Jackson. Again I went through a lot of muslin, this time learning to design my own patterns by draping them in muslin fabric on a dress form, then creating tissue patterns from those draped garments. You may have seen some of my posts this fall that showed off some of the basic garment shapes I created on a standard sized 10 dress form (I called her Babs, a name that seemed appropriate for a mannequin who came to life in the early '60's). I also began draping on my own custom dress form that I created over the summer. 

When I last talked about my custom dress form I was calling her Colette, but I've since realized that she is really a Conchita. 
I found working with Conchita even more challenging than working with Babs, and Babs wasn't an easy customer. Was it because Conchita represented clothing I actually plan to wear? I'm not sure yet. But if I figure it out, I'll let you know!

Starting around midterm time, I spent several weeks creating a muslin sloper (a fitted bodice and fitted straight skirt) for Conchita. For some reason I found this very challenging, though I had produced the same garments for Babs. My teacher seemed to think that there should be the same amount of challenge, if only I was careful with my measuring. I worked very hard to be exact but all I can say is that it was much harder for me and just took a lot of time, muslin, tissue and patience.

Another view of Lucy

As you can see, I moved on from my sloper to make my first garment. I had originally planned to make a traditional shoulder-yoked, dropped shoulder, shirtwaist dress with a collar and front button plackets. I was of two minds as to whether the dress would have a separate skirt joined by a waistline seam or be a one piece dress. I was planning to use a beautiful piece of deep forest green silk noil (raw silk) that I have for that dress. In my mind the dress I was planning to drape was named Ivy. I'm still planning to take up with Ivy in the not to distant future. But I got distracted by Lucy....

I'll be writing more about the process of draping Lucy in upcoming postings in this journal. One thing I know I'll be reflecting on repeatedly, is learning to read the fashion fabric's story. This lesson came from my experiences in both my pattern-creation classes this semester. In both cases I saw that constructing beautiful garments is not just about designing a piece in my mind or on a sketch pad. It really comes down to watching the behavior of the fabric I've chosen to sew with, after it's cut out and initially put together on me or my custom dress form. Creating a muslin test garment is an important part of the pattern making process, but once I start the ball rolling with muslin, I then really have to listen to the story the actual material for that garment is telling me. That's what is going to guide me to bring the garment I'm sewing to life.

Learning to listen to, and read the fabric's story really keeps me

Enchanted by Sewing

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Resources

You can drape on a person or on a dress form. When creating for ourselves, it's easiest to use the dress form approach!

In the September Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast Dress Forms Episode, I described my experiences creating two different dress forms. You can listen to this talk either online on the web, or you can download the show to your mobile device (like an iPhone, Android, etc.)
http://www.enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2013/09/ench-by-sew-12-dress-forms.html

I'm just beginning to learn the historic and modern art of draping. It's a very artistic experience !  I've begun to develop my skill set in a class taught through the Cañada College Fashion Department. I'll be continuing my draping journey by continuing to follow the richly illustrated draping tutorials and examples in our class textbook, The Art of Fashion Draping. This excellent, and highly regarded book, by Connie Amaden-Crawford has been in use for decades. both within the industry, and by home sewists. 

Thanks Sponsors! 
When you buy products through links in this blog, you support the regular work of this blog and The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast.

California Tree Spirits (haiku)

Click on the illustration above
to fully enjoy the details of our CA dusk

Tree spirits thrive 'round here.

They chat 'neath westering sun.

California!

Ballerina - Holiday Gift Tag

I got my final project done for my draping class - and my goodness what a lot of time that took! I'mm looking forward to taking some time to reflect on the project and show pictures in a few days.

In the meantime, I altered the ballerina I created as a little fantasy sewing project while I was working so hard on my project. I love to make my own holiday present tags. Feel free to print this tag and use it yourself. I print mine on postcard stock.

Vintage Threads - Katherine Hepburn Mid-Rise Waistlines

Hepburn often sported a mid-rise
waistline - a very 30's look

I've been exploring waistlines off and on since early last month. I started with thoughts on no waistlines, then moved into under-bust waistlines. I've also included some elements of fashion history. 

Now I'm moving on down to think about mid-rise waistlines, those that occur between the under-bust (like Empire style dresses) and the natural waistline (like those on "New Look" bouffant skirts).  

You see the mid-rise waistline at several times in history. Some of my favorite are those sported by Katherine Hepburn. The timeless striped dress she wore in "Bringing up Baby" had a mid-rise waistline. I journaled about that dress back in a discussion of vintage godets - the Bringing Up Baby post

Of course Hepburn wore this waistline frequently because it was what was in style, however I also think it flattered her slim-hipped figure. For women who don't go out much in the hip area, this look lengthens the body. It also shows off the leg line. Hepburn had a very active style about her. Indeed she was quite active, and liked to get a lot of exercise. Her mid-rise waistlines make the most of her quick style of movement.

I don't have Katherine Hepburn's slender figure, but I do share one trait with her. I don't curve out much in the hip area. I noticed when I worked on fitting my first pair of jeans, that a high-rise waistband is flattering for me. As I'm working on my first complete (and final) garment assignment for draping class, I'm paying very close attention to where I'm defining the waistline. I've marked both a traditional and a mid-rise waistline on my custom dress form, and I keep experimenting with where to define the dress waistline.

No matter where I draw the waist's line, considering and placing it to best suit my own figure is the kind of project that keeps me...

Enchanted by Sewing!

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Resources

Vintage Threads - Bringing Up Baby - Katherine Hepburn's striped dress with godets http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/11/vintage-threads-katherine-hepburn-in.html


Enchanted By Sewing Audio Podcast - Creating my own Dress Forms http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/09/ench-by-sew-12-creating-dress-forms.html

My first pair of jeans, created as the final project for my pants drafting class,  have a mid-rise waistline http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/10/jean-sewing-my-first-jeans-are.html

Christmas Tutu 2 - Romantic (Blue Sky Fantasy Sewing)

This ballerina is wearing a classic Romantic Styled Tutu

As I found the last time I blogged, fantasy sewing is a nice release from challenging project like the one I'm working on for draping class. And tutus are perfect fantasy sewing for December, a month when I'll definitely be attending the ballet.  After all, it's Nutcracker month!

When it comes to actual sewing work, I'm still working on my final project for draping class. And I'm not yet ready to write about those experiences in this journal!  I don't feel negative about what I'm doing, in fact I love learning about draping. I just can't stand back from the work yet and see where I am. Also my concept for my final project keeps changing as I move through this first full scale draping project. The fabric is telling me a story, and I'm still learning how to listen. I'm looking forward to being able to tell that tale in this journal a little way down the road.

Fantasy sewing for this Christmas tutu- togged ballerina helps to remind me that, no matter what challenges I encounter,  I'm still....

Enchanted by Sewing

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Resources

I love to pin tutus and other ballet related pages. Check out my virtual bulletin board at ... http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/tutus/

" The problem in modern ballet is the problem of the color line. Scan the rosters of the nation’s top companies and African American dancers are rare, while African American ballerinas are nearly nonexistent. " Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/shannon-harkins-the-face-of-african-american-ballet-dancers-struggle/2013/11/26/06c28738-5083-11e3-a7f0-b790929232e1_story.html

Cracking Nuts at the Opera House: A Nutcracker Visit http://www.simpleromantic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/cracking-nuts-at-opera-house.html

Christmas Tutu 1 (Blue Sky Sewing)

A Christmas Tutu
Sewn in the Imagination of  LR Shimer

What I'm actually working on sewing 'wise, is my final Draping Class assignment. I'm at that hard point where I'm still creating a pattern and it looks nothing like what I originally planned to make. Funny how that is.

I'm under the pressure of a deadline to finish up that pattern and sew the garment it represents. It's just as well to have those deadlines from a class, of course, because it makes me quit changing my mind and focus on completion. Creating can be like that - Drape or cut bait* I guess.

A little fantasy sewing is definitely in order when I'm getting a little fussy about completing a project. I love daydreaming about all the other things I could be creating, but had better not be distracted by. The more impractical those projects are, the better they are for soothing any concerns over finishing up a challenging task.

Big on my fantasy sewing list this year, is a Christmas tutu. I actually do hope to learn to how to sew a tutu in the future, though probably not in 2014. One thing that inspires me to participate in this lush world of costuming is this youtube video from the costume shop at New York City Ballet.

My love of tutus is also inspired by daydreaming about the art of the ballet. When I was writing My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times, I was entranced by the scene where Larissa explores the beauties of the Lilac Fairy's classic romantic tutu, and helping the little ballerina prepare for that role in a performance of the Sleeping Beauty Ballet. It was one of those times when I didn't need to think about what to write, I just let the people in the story take it away, and the words came out.

One day I will sew a tutu. 
It will be worthy of dancing in the Sleeping Beauty. 
It's knowing that sewing fantasies can become real, that keep me...

Enchanted by Sewing

Resources

I love to pin tutus and other ballet related pages. Check out my virtual bulletin board at ... http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/tutus/

* If English isn't your first language, I'm referring to the idiomatic phrase "Fish or cut bait." It means stop daydreaming and finish the task you're working on.

Waistlines: Greek Revival in the English Regency (time travel)

Lady Selina Meade
Painted by Lawrence

Continuing thoughts on designing and sewing waistlines

Dramatic changes in society

An artful focus on music, poetry, and classic Greek lines

High-waisted frocks...

A little English Regency time travel is always in order.

What time travel method would carry us back to the days of Jane Austen, The Peninsular War,  Beau Brummell, and his well-fleshed friend The Prince Regent ?  A little fiddling with something neoclassical maybe... A bust of Socrates? An enameled snuffbox, perhaps? Or better yet,  a high perch phaeton, driven by a dashing female!

The Perfect Time Travel Method
back to the English Regency

Such changes in ladies fashion in this early part of the nineteenth century! One older dame complains, "I'd look fine with my skirt up under my armpits like you young gels!" 

No more immensely stiff, mid-waisted, Georgian skirts in weighty brocades. The Empress Josephine's doing it across the channel in France, so why not here? It's floaty, airy high waisted gowns these days. 

So drape your lightest muslins up just under the bust line and come along with me. 

Creating a fairy-like, neoclassic inspired frock for a time travel trip like this is the sort of thing that keeps me.... 

Enchanted by Sewing

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Regency Resources

Georgette Heyer was the spark that lit the craze for Regency Romance fiction and did that lady ever know her era! She had collections of the ladies journals that her heroines read, and her stories include every elaborate detail of the toilettes of the day. To step into a Georgette Heyer novel is to step into romantic adventure, complete to a shade (as one of her books denizens would have proclaimed) with the beautiful fashions of the day.

Fairy House, Toad's Stool, or Simply Spoors End? (Haiku)

Fairy houses or merely seats for a toad
Fungi dwell on the path I often walk, along the railroad tracks
towards San Francisquito Creek.

Thread-like hyphae spread,

Find food decomposing here.

Your spoors drop and fly.

Audio Podcast - Marie Antoinette Meets Betty Crocker (Aprons, Ench By Sew-14 )

Hey! The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Two Ways to Listen

i)You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on the this link

** * * 

~ OR ~

ii)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes 

Did I miss any links mentioned in the show? If so, please post here and let me know, or else email me ,  EnchantedBySewing AT gmail DOT com
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Apronology – Or Marie Antoinette Meets Betty Crocker

A good time of year to consider how rethinking of women’s societal roles and life choices has affected attitudes towards the use of aprons. Free apron pattern download and discussion of sewing techniques.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/CastApronologyMarieAntoinetteBettyCrockerEnchantedBySewingPodcastNov13.mp3

Porque Aprons? – Why study the social and technical science of apron creation in late November?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_festivals

http://www.thekitchn.com/ramadan-when-its-ok-to-eat-and-94989 (In some years Ramadan occurs in December. Due to the lunar and Julian calendar's not being in sync, that won't/didn't happen this year).

http://www.oregonlive.com/cooking/2013/11/thanksgiving_and_hanukkah_conv.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/holiday-central-kwanzaa/package/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa


Marie Antoinette Meets Betty Crocker – How and why I got inspired to start making and wearing aprons, kinda late in life and despite strong family concerns about what apron wearing symbolized!

MARIE BOOK
Technicos –A basic free download 3 Apron style pattern on the web. How I create and sew  my favorite style  apron

- Threads Three Free Apron Pattern Download
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/22423/patterns-for-three-apron-styles/page/all

- Variety of vintage and other aprons that may inspire your own apron designs
http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/0sewing-aprons-inspiration/


Final Pensamientos - The Red Headed Chicken Apron
Aprons can tie into representing and reminding us of the emotions involved in a friendship.
http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/11/aprons-chicken-apron.html

Marie Antoinette Would Wear This (Time Traveling Apron)

Nothing nicer than sewing and wearing a toile apron
Like Marie, I like to indulge in a few low-key,
agrarian pleasures - like visiting with local chickens-
 when I wear one.

You may also enjoy reading The Red Headed Chicken Apron

I'm so happy you followed up on my invitation for another time travel jaunt!

For this visit to past times, we need to visit the old merman fountain in the park down the street. They say that fountain came from the old Flood Estate, and Flood picked it up somewhere in Europe – somewhere in France perhaps? Anyway, It was an antique when he got it….

Maybe you can hop over the spouting turtle first and give me a hand up there on the top of this mer- fellows big tail. Oh yeah, that’s doing the trick. A nice way to travel, don’t you think ? and Versailles is lovely at this time of the year – quite roomy and so distant from that little trouble that’s been brewing out in the city. I’m sure the Parisian rabble is just a little confused about what’s really keeping them short of food. Surely it couldn’t have anything to do with the cost of keeping this place well planted and running smoothly.

If you’re a regular reader of this sewing journal or the Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast, you may have noticed that I’m intrigued by Marie Antoinette’s life and her wardrobe. I know she’s a hedonist and not exactly a woman of the people. I’m not saying I actually respect her, but her image as a fashion icon still has tremendous appeal.

Marie still attends public functions in the full splendor of big hair and those ultra wide skirted gowns she first donned as a young girl  when she arrived here in France to marry the future Louis Seize - when she had little choice about her garb. Like Cinderella going to the ball she’s a real presence moving along in the Versailles glide, that slithering walking style that’s de reguiere for the upper class,  clad in rustling silken sack back gowns. That Silk is produced in France, of course, and the nobilities requirements for ell upon ell of that home spun stuff, provide an important benefit to the economy. That gold Lyonnaise silk with the Roccoco chinoiserie pattern and the Berlin floss trimming that the queen is wearing today really catches the eye, non?

Of course I’m also hoping to get  in with the right people here, and score an invite offered to only a privileged few at one of her majesty’s little pied-a-terre , just down the alleyway here, at Le Petite Trianon. Does she go by her childhood name of Antonia in that little hideaway ,with her intimates, I wonder?  I find it totally chic that Marie has began to develop her own sense of style. In this relaxed setting - hanging out with a few tidy farmyard animals and her closest friends - she favors naturalistic Rousseau-inspired high waisted muslins dresses with wide ribbon sashes, and cute little decorative aprons. These gowns, about which there is a great deal of controversy (People say it looks she is going out in public in her undergarments!), will lead to a styles favored by a whole new generation of women . Unfortunately for the economy , and Marie’s reputation, that muslin is the product of her Austrian country of birth and not at all French. Two strikes against her majesty.

Despite daydreaming about recreating a luxurious sack back gown (in yellow silk perhaps? So practical for a bike ride to the park don’t you think?), or a sheer floating white muslin dress with a crimson sash – hum..... I might reinterpret that in a nightgown- The fashion that has actually most inspired my modern day fashion creations, is Marie Antoinette’s interest in promoting and popularizing the use of toile de Jouy fabric. I hear that the queen actually honored the business establishment, where this new fabric is produced, with a visit, and it’s now been proclaimed a “royal factory”.

The Jouy  (actually Jouy-en-Josas ) is, as you may already know, a place in France ten miles south of Paris. The toile part refers to the fabric popularized by Christophe Philippe Oberkampf who started a factory at Jouy to print cotton toile. Toile is, of course, a French word referring to cloth. (Linen cloth for example is toile de lin. )

Toile de Jouy is and will continue to be despite the trials and tribulations of revolution and war ,a heavy cotton fabric printed with scenes of an idyllic simple country life and stylized nature –  trees, simple vegetation, birds and other animals. The kind of romanticization that followers of Rousseau’s back to nature movement create for themselves, no matter how little connection there is between the realities of the agrarian scene and the pretty pictures on the fabric.

During Marie’s era, and for many in modern times, the ones I come from, toile is and was typically used for home dec items like pillows, bedspreads, curtains.

But, back in my own time, my favorite thing to sew up with this heavy weight, beautifully figured, story-telling fabric is an apron.

Sewing aprons, especially in toile, is the kind of thing that keeps me

Enchanted by Sewing!

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Resources*

I highly recommend the lovely, and informative, book, Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. It's a great read about what Marie Antoinette actually did wear to masquerades , grand balls, or just toddling around Le Petit Trianon with the dear little daughter, she nicknamed Mousseline, a fun allusion to the fashions that Marie herself made popular at the time. 

Since I like to keep my iPad happy, I bought the Kindle version of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution.

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* Thanks Sponsors! *

* Thanks so much, to readers who sponsor the work of this blog and the Enchanted by Sewing Podcast, by purchasing books, ebooks and other products through links in this blog.