Correct Me If I'm Wrong:-) Semi-Bilingual Sewing

I added a new spanish word*
to my knowledge-base-
while enjoying the historic
pictorial street signs I
encountered,
walking through Madrid

When we share an enchantment for sewing, whether or not we speak the same language, we still want to communicate about our passion with the needle, the thread and the tela.

I may not be fluent in languages other than English, but it doesn't keep me from using them when I get the chance. Sometimes, of course, I mess up. But I can communicate with others, and often follow simple, or even more complicated, directions using pictures and words in context. For any of you who've ever helped a child learn to read, that's how you begin to read, or read things that are beyond your level. And, of course, it's how we can continue to learn as adults.

My spanish isn't fluent, but I use it whenever I get the chance. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, many people speak spanish, and it's just plain fun to make the world my language professor. Who knows when I'll get a chance to shop for material in a Latin American country or go back for another visit to Spain?

Here are a few words and phrases I find useful when it comes to chatting about sewing in spanish.

(la) costura(1): sewing, couture, fashion
costura, puntadas (2):seam
sin costura: seamless
sentar las costuras: press the seams
(el) bordado: embroidery
* bordadores: Embroiderers (profession)

alta costura: high fashion
la costura italiana: Italian fashion

At the Store

yarda: yard (of fabric)
tejido,tela, fieltro: fabric
material de uso o de adorno: material/ material for use or adornment

Tools of the Trade

maquina de coser: sewing machine

las tijeras de costura: sewing scissors
(el) hilo: thread
ua aguja e/y hilo: a needle and thread
hilo de algodón/nylon: cotton nylon thread
hilo de hebra: silk thread
hilo de bordar: embroidery thread/silk/floss

necesser de costura: sewing kit
el cesto de la costura: sewing basket

The Process
to sew or do needlework: hacer costura (also referred to simply as labor - as we might say in English when we say I'm taking my work to do while I'm listening at the meeting)

ester a punt de reventar pro las costuras: When a garment is bursting at the seams (hummmm.... how could that happen? :-)
Enctonces/ Then we need to.....
soitar una costura: let out the seams

confección: dressmaking

Another nice sample from Collins Spanish English dictionary that puts a few words together

Una chaqueta con cordoncillo azul en las costar: A jacket piped with blue at the seams

     (Náut)   seam

Listening Practice

Mi Tiempo Entre Costuras/ My Time Between the Seams (a Video Log/Vlog) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b41HNA_E3b0

My Time Between The Seams - I'd love to find an episode of this show to watch!

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-02-11/spain-beautiful-seamstress-another-era-has-created-sewing-revival

~ ~ ~

Resources

http://dictionary.reverso.net/spanish-english/costura

Fitting the Tee - Every Knit is Different - Duct Tape Dress Form

What do I love most?
 The embroidered hummingbirds?
The under-bust tucks?
The fringy bits I created from knit scraps?
The deconstructed neckline?

I've been squeezing in a little time here and a little time there on this simple rose pink tee with the embroidered hummingbirds. It's been one of those life-is-sometimes-like-that times. Bet you know how that goes :-)

It's a funny thing, I'm using a tee pattern I've altered in the past and sewn several times, but this time through the tee just didn't hang right on me. I'm so glad Lori addressed the variable character of knits so many times in different Sew Forth Now podcasts. Now I know it's not just me who has these challenges. You just never know with knits, they each have their own drape and stretch.

In this case, I admit that I was working with a very flimsy knit. I cut this shirt out of two rose pink commercial tee shirts. I keep them around more as muslins then for my regular wardrobe. But.... they were a pretty color and I just wanted a quick tee fix.

That's where the front detail came from. After doing the machine embroidery (I posted about those dragonflies last time) I just didn't love the way the shirt hung, so I added a little hang of my own.

Don't you love that elegant view of the
old newspapers coming out of the neckline of
my Duct Tape Dummy (DTD)?
It's not glamorous, but it helps her keep her shape for now
I'm not worried about filling her up properly, 'cuz
I'm actually taking a Dress Form Making class !
So, no, my little DTD is never going to be properly filled.

Hey, you knew I was going to show off the value of my Duct Tape Dummy again, right?

I first got out my lovely Dummy after I tried on the shirt and found I didn't like the typical fabric neckband. I did the slight stretch and fold over fabric neckband thing and no matter how much or how little I stretched the neckband/trim, the shirt  reminded me of something Beaver Cleaver wore. So I unpinned and unabasted (never commit the stitches till I'm sure!) and created this deconstructed neckband instead. It's simply a strip of black knit I cut off the bottom of another tee and then twisted and pinned, twisted and pinned all the way around. It's actually still pinned (as is the decorative bit in the front) waiting for sometime soon when I get a chance to sit and do a little hand stitching. The under bust strip is the original unsuccessful  neckband (which was shorter than the new deconstructed one), pinned in place over some tucks (or would you call them darts?) I just pulled in place by hand and safety pinned. I twisted that strip in the same way that I did the deconstructed neckband. 

I created the fringed bits in the front  from
- The ends of that strip hanging down
- Additional strips I added in and braided a little bit at the top
- Scraps of the rose pink I bound around that 
- Cutting each strip in half or thirds to make more and thinner pieces
Entonces... Finally I hung onto the top of each strip and pulled on the opposite end to get a longer, narrower rolled , dangly, fringy piece

Filling in the time gaps with my rose and  black tee shirt , adorned with hummingbirds and creative scrap embellishment really keeps me enchanted by sewing.