Ench By Sew-38: Tartans and Plaids

Direct Download - Click on this link OR Click on this link in iTunes 

Myrna Loy begarbed in plaid - "The Thin Man"

At this time of year, I particularly love to sew plaids. No matter what other plans new pooch, Jasper, has for me, I’ve also got plans - for some seasonal sewing, with some of my favorite plaid fabrics. OK, maybe with our dear new pooch-kid it will go extra slow, but I’m determined to get one or two plaid garments going over the next few months

BTW if you know anybody looking for the perfect pooch, I’d highly recommend the  group where we found Jasper.
 They’re called Tiramisou Dog Rescue and they foster dogs all over – even in other countries.
 Administrator Lou (tiramisudogrescue@gmail.com )  was really great about reading my list of needs for the right dog for us  and suggesting dogs for me to check out. (Those needs included not hassling our ancient little blind dog, not chasing kitties, and being super affectionate – all of which she found for us in Jasper).
https://www.facebook.com/tiramisudogrescue
tiramisudogrescue@gmail.com

In this month’s show

* Primero (First): Tartans and Plaids – What’s the difference?

* Entonces (Then): Tartans – Who’s got the rights to wear them? A Famous Historical Myth

Delightful Historical Fiction - DIANA GABALDON Time Travel Adventures- A Wonderful fast paced historical series, for plaid-loving romantics. Claire travels unexpectedly back to the time of the Jacobite rising in the highlands of Scotland and finds a place for herself that suits her even better than her life in post war Britain. Meeting a gentle, handsome and funny over six foot highland Scot doesn't hurt.


* Y Tambien (And Also):   A Visit to the Edinburgh Tartan Weaving Mill – recorded on my trip to the U.K. early this last summer
* Pensamiientos Finales (Final Thoughts): Why I love plaid

NEXT MONTH – Technicos for - Tartan and Plaid Matching - It's not only about how you lay out your pattern

~ ~ ~

Web Resources: https://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/plaid-and-tartan/

Experimenting: Singleton Button Making - Learning Precision

Most of my recreation time right now is going into my Moulage/French Pattern Drafting class. I don't have a lot to blog about in that regards this week, because there's a lot of repetition in my homework. I'm working on creating a sloper this week, but it looks an awful lot like the moulage!

~ ~ ~

For a little fun between muslin sewing and pattern drafting, I've been playing around, learning to create Singleton Buttons.

These are my attempts at Singleton Buttons to date.

Since I'm not yet there when it comes to getting a clean, precise edge, I'm not yet concerning myself with creating the thread shanks with which I would fasten them to a garment.

Clockwise from top left
The button with more yellow flowers has a piece of thin fused quilt batting, cut the same size as the full pattern
The pink flower has no interfacing
The purple flower has a piece of paper, cut about the same dimensions as the metal ring

I've mentioned many times that I'm working on learning to be more precise.Playing with creating my own Singleton Buttons, looks like a good way to get some practice in. There's something about the way I need to learn to hold things and work with the needle when it comes to getting that precise edge I'm after.

My favorite so far, is the top left button. I used a thin piece of quilt batting in that one.

Next, I'll experiment with rings of a slightly larger diameter. I think that might make those tight, precise, edges more achievable.

~ Basic Techniques~

- I made a pattern circle, 2 and a half times the diameter of the metal ring.  I scored some welded metal rings at my local hardware store. I'm sure you could buy something at a fabric store that's actually intended for this purpose.

I've tried different kinds of inside bits.
In this attempt, I simply used a piece of paper.
That wouldn't actually wash well ,but I wanted to see how the edge worked.

 - Then I ran a basting stitch about 1/8 inch away from the edge of my circle, tightened it up, and stitched back and forth to cover the edges.

- The 'X' on the front of this button was basting stitches, to hold that piece of interfacing paper in place

- After I stitched the back closed, I stitched around the inside edge of the metal ring.

- At this point, in the future,  I'll stitch up a thread shank -  I'll be doing that once I'm happier with the way the buttons are starting to look.

Terminado - The Bramble Blouse - Another Semi-Fitted Sleeveless Summer Blouse

You don't hear the term brambles used to refer to berries much these days.
I think it dates more from times when lots of berries grew naturally
in woods and fields, and folks just went out to pick their own, come summer time.
Nowadays most of us find our berries in a box or frozen bag.
The birds and squirrels score most of the ones I have in my yard.
Oh well, they can't run to the grocery store like I can! I don't really mind.
And it saves me a bit o' trouble in those prickly bramble bushes.

Hey! Do you remember the podcast I did in July, where I talked about creating my sleeveless, pink and white seersucker blouse Amaryllis blouse from my much altered tried-and-true shirt pattern (it started out life as B5586)? Well I enjoyed wearing Amaryllis so much (that gal has been a real go-to summer wardrobe choice) that I made another blouse from my same much altered pattern.

And doesn't it look pretty durn cute with my sage'y green shorts from two summers ago? I think so! I've also been wearing it with my new Midnight Sky black denim skirt, but I don't have a really cute photo of that combination yet :-)

Oh yeah, I altered the pattern a little more!  I just can't get enough of altering now - no pattern is safe from my fideling fingers.   Blame my wonderful dress form buddy Conchita for that! Because this crisp bramble printed cotton doesn't hang off a woman's body in the same way as the loosey-goosey seersucker I used for Amaryllis, I made a few changes to my Bramble Blouse as I was creating her. . . 

i) I took the long front darts I'd created from the hem, up the princess line, to the bust apex, and extended them up above the bust apex. 
ii) I also took those darts in more - so my Bramble Blouse is all together narrower than Amaryllis.  
iii) In addition I added long darts along the back princess seam. 

My dress form Conchita was really useful
when it came to making the
Bramble Blouse more fitted

These alterations resulted in a semi-fitted blouse that's just a little more fitted. 

OK, I admit it. I used good old
safety pins to try out that extended dart.
Because just after I tried this out on
Conchita, I slipped it on
me and checked out that new dart in the bathroom mirror.

Amaryllis is somewhat fitted,
but less so than my Bramble Blouse
That works because she's made out of a non-crisp seersucker

~ ~ ~

Web Resources

Audio/Podcast Summer of the Blouse - Amaryllis http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/07/ench-by-sew-022-summer-of-blouse.html

Blog Posting about Amaryllis http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/07/amaryllis-my-new-semi-fitted-blouse.html

Wardrobe Builder - The Midnight Sky Black Denim Skirt http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/08/terminado-wardrobe-builder-midnight-sky.html

Creating Conchita, my Dress Form Friend  http://enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2013/09/ench-by-sew-12-dress-forms.html

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.

~ ~ ~

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.

Sir Douglas of Brittex (a San Francisco Field Trip)

 co-published with http://MeEncantaCoser/EnchantedBySewing.blogspot.com

I don’t think I’ve ever entered the San Francisco Sewists Mecca,  Brittex, and not encountered Sir Douglas on the first floor.  This man isn't simply a salesman, he's a kindred spirit who shares his love of fabrics with nearly every customer who enters the shop. 

Despite the fact that I’m typically headed for the third floor (notions, trims and buttons), this gentleman always has a kind word for me. I’m also always struck by his gorgeous vests, which seem to be a part of his everyday costume. Vests are a special love we both share, agreeing that they give us that slight touch of formality. They also give this man a real sense of presence, helping him to appear dressed up, without the need to wear a suit jacket. 

You don’t see salesmen, or other professional men, wearing suit jackets in this area, as you once would have done. Despite the fact that Brittex is in a very traditional part of San Francisco, suit jackets seem to make men feel overdressed. You'll see them outside, but once a gentleman walks inside, he sheds his jacket. Besides, when you sell fabric you need to move around. Vests allow Sir Douglas the mobility he needs along with the slightly dressy look he wants.

This particular vest is a vintage one. Don’t you love the buttons? I think it's velveteen. I’m also partial to it in combination with this striped shirt and those delicious metal buttons.

OK, you know what happened when I stopped to admire this outfit, and ask for permission to include Sir Douglas in my blog. Yup, two yards of beautiful green and blue plaid wool to make up into a vest for next years cooler season!

Hey, it was on sale!

If you're traveling to San Francisco, Brittex is just off of Union Square. It's a short walk off BART (the underground). Use the Powell Street Station. When you're tired of shopping in Union Square, take a walk down Market Street towards the water (ask anyone which direction that is) to the Ferry Building. Pass through the building (I didn't say you shouldn't check out the fun boutique style shops and local artisinal products and often a farmer's market) through to the water side and soak in the beautiful views of the Bay, bridges, islands, sea gulls and the whole deal. Oh yes there are also usually street vendors just before you reach the Embarcadero - that's the last road before the water that runs perpendicular to Market- selling all kinds of fun goods from tables and booths, hand carved special pencils, inexpensive jewelry, bags, etc.

1001 Nights: Scheherazade's Peacock Purse

Scherazade's Purse Sewn by L.R. Shimer
Hot Patterns Vintage HotPatterns Hangbag Heaven Nairobi Handbag
Iman Home Fabrics, Punjab Peacock Radicchio

Do you laugh when people ask you... "But where do you get your ideas?" Ideas are not our problem, are they? I know that my head is tumbling full of them, and I bet yours is too. It's completing the projects inspired by these thousand and one ideas that's the challenge!

Our sewing stories are like the thousand and one stories that Scherazade told her husband. There's always another one waiting to be imagined. Still, I thought it would be fun, perhaps for the sake of the people who don't think the way many of us do*, to think about where the inspiration for each of my sewing stories comes from.

Do you recall that it was Scherazade's own idea to be married to the shahryar who was infamous for having already married and beheaded a 1001 wives? To my mind the man sounds like a power-mad brute, but Scherazade saw him as a challenge. She believed that he was just one crazy, mixed-up dude who, having been betrayed by one woman, had gone mad by love. Her plan was to keep him entertained by telling him story after story. Of course she told him that the stories were for her little sister, Dinazade. As the light of morning broke after a dramatic story filled night, Scherazade always managed to leave her most recent story hanging. Her version of story-telling therapy worked. After a thousand and one stories, the shahryar was cured. The couple went on to a happy life together.

Who'd a thunk it? Well, I guess marriage is always a chancy business.

I can fit four dvd boxes to go back to the library in my bag. I like to envision Scherazade, perhaps with help from Dinazade, packing her toothbrush and nightie in a bag much like mine, when she went off to take her chances on marriage. When I walk off to the library, or downtown to buy a box of bandaids, with my Scherazade-inspired purse hanging over my shoulder, the beautiful Rimsky-Korsakov symphony runs through my head. You can listen to it here.

Sewing Details: I finished creating Scheherazade's peacock purse last week. Bare Bones: It's made using a "Vintage HotPatterns Hangbag Heaven Nairobi Handbag" pattern. The material is designed by Iman Home Fabrics and is called "Punjab Peacock Radicchio". I bought my fabric on line. I'm not sure if I managed to cut it out of the half a yard the pattern suggests, because I had bought two half yard pieces. I sewed a simple tote for my daughter out of some of it. Also I wanted to have a lot of peacock eyes nicely displayed so I'm sure I used more fabric than I normally would, laying out the pattern pieces just so.

I also quilted, in the ditch, along the seam lines, using scraps of some type of cotton heirloom quilt type batting that I happened to have on time. It gives it a nice shape and heft. The lining is a jade green poly/satin I recycled from an old bridesmaid dress I found for free. Instead of the pocket included in the pattern, I cut off a small poofy sleeve from the dress and stitched it down inside. The sleeve had elastic at top and bottom. It works great as an inner pocket.


*Hey some of us are network/web thinkers and others are more focused and linear, right?

Sewing- In No Kind of Hurry- The Never Too Many White Shirts Project: 2.1 Designing The Perfect Shirt

Related History

Entry 1: Sewing- The Never Too Many White Shirts Project: 1 IMAGINING The Perfect Shirt

Entry 2.1: DESIGNING the Perfect Shirt

Despite the challenges of the season I managed to get my

golden mustard fleece vest with it's Phoenix birds French trim and it's mustardy comrade teeshirt done. Hooray!

I've even made serious inroads on the seond fleece vest I cut out last year during our short California cold season, an irritating little fuzzy white creatures whose long hairs hide pins and get caught in the zipper. I'm working on getting Sir Fuzzy done in very short sewing increments, before my next semesters classes begin in mid January. A little extra inspiration comes from having seen a woman wearing a white regular-type-fleece vest or a dark, long-sleeved teeshirt when I was traipsing around San Francisco with my daughter last week. Hummmm I have a cranberry colored turtleneck and a long sleeved black tee shirt. Won't the contrast look nice under the fuzzy white vest once it's done?

Does anybody else make notes about other people's color choices on their ipod Notes app when they walk around a big city? I particularly like looking back at these later to find that the app changed all my spelling to words it knew, but they aren't the words I meant. So the note now reads, "Really good choice of exfoliant with pump".

My vision of that perfect first white shirt is beginning to blossom. This is a wonderful chance to really take my time and focus on designing and improving some sewing skills while also taking my time getting the first one done.

Two podcasts inspired me to slow down and smell the steam iron as I begin this project. The first was Lori's Sew Forth Now podcast interview with Barbara, of Sewing on the Edge. Barbara is the creator of the Never Too Many White Shirts Project. The talk between Lori and Barbara brought home to me that it might just be ok to really take my time to think things through and practice on this project, no matter what else is going on in my life.

My second source of inspiration was a recent podcast from one of my other favorite shows, To the Best of Our Knowledge from PRI (Wisconsin Public Radio). A recent episode, "Change Over Time" included an interview with Slow Movement promoter, Carl Honore. Listening to this reinforced my plan to take a thoughtful approach to this project.

I regularly sew things in a hurry. This time I'm going to just take my time and think it through. Here is the first of the design pages I've begun.

....

* This entry represents one sewers progress

in the Never Too Many White Shirts Project at http://sewingontheedge.blogspot.com/

Sewing- The Never Too Many White Shirts Project: 1 IMAGINING The Perfect Shirt

December is a kinda extra-special busy time for anybody involved in music performance. But I managed to slip in an hour yesterday. And next week I'm definitely, absolutely, positively going to schedule time in. Fifteen minutes to a half an hour after piano practicing will move me along.

Right now I'm sewing the perfect white shirt.

It's perfect because, well I haven't actually put the pedal to the metal (actually, my pedal goes down on terra cotta tile) on this garment.

Nor have I cut anything out.

I haven't decided on a pattern yet.

But it tumbles around in my mind when I'm walking or driving. Mentally, I sort through the white shirts I've made in the past. And I DO wear them a lot. I've worn several out. Even though each one has things I'd will change in this perfect shirt.

I need to finally figure out something about fitting around the shoulders. My standard yoked shirt pattern that mostly fits, drags back from the shoulders. I think that means the armscythe (sp?) is too deep. But my arms aren't small and I always worry about having my sleeves be roomy. Maybe it's not the armscythe. I need to find a visual fitting tutorial. I see that Robin at A Little Sewing has the opposite challenge. I think I might learn something from thinking contrary 'wise by reading her entry. Nice drawings Robin!

Also I need to look at the gathering on my favorite L.L. Bean green shirt. I've had that since my now 20 year old daughter was 3. I love that shirt and it always gets a lot of compliments. It has gathered sleeves on a kind of dropped shoulder. It's very romantic, but it's got a stand up collar and a yoke. It's definitely a shirt and I love it. I need to do some measuring on that shirt.

I could cut up that old denim shirt that was comfortable and pretty for so long - now where did I put that.... It's really, really worn out and stained. Time for it to move into pattern land. I can do some comparisons with the shirt pattern that pulls back from the shoulders and also the gathered green sleeves.

I think I will make a first attempt in good old plain white muslin. It will be a muslin, but one that I can wear too. Also I have some muslin in my stash. So, I can feel pretty virtuous starting with that. I will focus on fitting with the muslin. Then just do simple recycled men's shirt buttons and machine buttonholes. I can move onto more elegant buttons when I go for version number 2 in some kind of dreamy, elegant white material.

I like the word 'material' so much better than 'fabric'. It's the word I grew up using. I was a kid in the 60's and came of age in the 70's.

Right now the shirt is a vision. A vision I will start on AFTER I finish sewing a forever-more already cut out project. You know that project? Oh yes, that's right it's leftover as a halfway-done from last cold season. And it seemed rather simple last year too. But somehow it wasn't. Then it got warm. Ugh! Who wants to sew fleece in California in April?

It's a nice golden mustard fleece vest, with a kinda breast-welt pocket embellished with a piece of beautiful French trim decorated with blue and turquoise Phoenix birds (from Brittex in San Francisco - those trims make me shiver). It zips up the front. Also I have a long sleeved teeshirt cutout to go with it that is not sewn at all. The fleecy vest has it's zipper in. Yes, I had to finish it off by hand because with the double thickness fleece, I couldn't get the zipper all machine sewed in. I've finally moved onto doing the lining for the back of the vest. Then I have to figure out what to do about making some kind of neat band around the bottom. Then sew on the collar. It's already to go. THEN I will make the teeshirt.

I invented the vest pattern from my favorite fleece jacket pattern, so I have to reinvent how to make it. I sure hope that bottom band comes out right. Maybe a little elastic...

Trying really, really hard to sew down my stash. It's working but it's slow. Also it sure is nice to make things I get a lot of wearing out of . This combination should see some serious time this winter. But I have to get it done this winter.

Then onto my vision of a white shirt!

....

This entry represents one sewers progress (or lack thereof)

in the Never Too Many White Shirts Project at http://sewingontheedge.blogspot.com/