New Patterns & New Fabric Swatches!

Lots of ground to cover today so let's get to it.

First, thank you for all your encouragement to apply to be on the Great American Sewing Bee or whatever that show is going to be called.  I'm just wondering if television would ruin my film career; Mr. Mayer thinks it's just a fad.

I received two new patterns in the mail today.

Did I mention that I'd picked up Butterick 6164 (from 1992, and how) on eBay earlier this week?   I'm going to muslin the shorts in View C.  I'll probably add a front fly to make them more masculine looking.  And no florals or Elaine Benes hair.





My goal is something like these Comme des garcons culottes.



I picked up a swatch of this charcoal gray worsted wool today at Mood.  I'm not really a black person, though black is also a possibility.



I also looked at (and lovingly caressed) some gorgeous genuine lambskin, which I thought I'd use to make something like the tee shirt/vest up top, or the sleeveless version below.





The vest doesn't have to be leather, but the lambskin is so incredibly soft and luxurious.  It could be black, white, or just about any other color or color combination. 

I also saw this striking floral cotton print that looks almost like a photograph.  I think these are irises but I'm not certain.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to commit to it, however, so I came home with only a swatch.



I could see it as this Miyake jacket (the other pattern that arrived today, Vogue 1541, from 1994).





And speaking of Miyake, I also picked up a swatch of this pleated polyester.  I love the way it looks but I'm not sure I'd know what to make with it.  Any ideas?



I'm not sure if I've mentioned that our March Mood projects are supposed to be inspired by something from the 2014 spring/summer fashion shows: hence all this designer name-dropping.  That's not normally my style.

And that's it!  I hope your projects are going well and that you're staying warm.  We're expecting more snow on Monday -- hard to believe but true.

Have a great day, everybody!

Sewing Stars Needed!

Friends, how would you like to be a home-sewing celebrity?

If you live in the New York (Tri-State) area and would like to participate in the U.S. version of The Great British Sewing Bee, this is your chance!

All the info is below.  My understanding is that, should the U.S. pilot be picked up, there will be a group of different contestants for each hour-long episode, as opposed to the same group every show, as was the case in the UK.

Why not give it a shot?



To see the image above supersized, click here.

Have a great day, everybody!

(I wonder if they could use a singing parrot?)

FIT Class #5: The Challenge of Unlearning Old Habits

Practice Makes Perfect.  Or does it?

 As Michael's former voice teacher, the late Cornelius Reid, used to say, "practice makes permanent."  What that means is, be careful what you do (and how you do it), because whatever you practice will become your habit.

This applies to sewing too.  It's great to practice, but only provided you have good technique.  Practicing lousy technique is just going to cement that technique in your head (and hands).

In last night's menswear sewing class, we worked on collar stands and collars, using a number of methods whose value was immediately obvious to me.  The challenge now is to unlearn what I've been doing for nearly five years.

In class we call this the band.  I'd read that it's a band only when there's no collar; otherwise it's a stand. Clearly there's no consensus about this.

I exaggerate.  There's nothing wrong with my method of attaching collar and collar stand, which I learned from the Margaret Islander video, Shirts, Etc., and which I explain in great detail here.  But I can see that the method taught in my menswear sewing class is probably more precise.  I won't go through the whole process here, but it involves the more traditional way of fitting the attached collar bands (with the collar wedged in between) onto the neck edge.  (Also stitching up (the width of the seam allowance) the side that's going to fit on the outside of the neck edge.

Speaking of collar bands, something I've found potentially confusing -- not to me so much as (I imagine) to others, is the use of the terms right side and wrong side.  In class, we use it to mean not only the side of the fabric you don't want facing out, but also the inside of a finished cuff or the underside of a collar.  I asked about this last night and Professor B. replied that he could see why it might be confusing but he had never heard them referred to in any other way.  In home sewing, I have always seen the part of the cuff that's facing inward called the inside cuff and the part of the collar that's facing down, the under collar (same with inside collar stand).   Am I wrong about this?

We also talked about buttons.  We learned that you can tell a real mother of pearl button by holding it next to your skin. It should feel cool.

We've been starting our weekly classes by copying instructions for whatever we're learning that day off the blackboard, along with accompanying diagrams.  This takes time, but it does help to cement the ideas in your head.   We review them together, and Professor B. demonstrates to us, step-by-step, how to perform them, usually adding some extra pointers along the way.  (Like pinning starting at either end of a seam, then pinning your center, and then sub-dividing each side to evenly distribute ease.  Or ironing in the direction you stitch.)



My big takeaway from last night's class was marking the corner that will become the collar point with chalk (or pencil) BEFORE you stitch your two collar sides (right sides together) -- i.e, marking the seam allowance on both edges with a focus on the point where they intersect). That point is very important and it's very helpful to have those traced lines when you're stitching (also, narrow the stitch length).  Another helpful hint: as you turn the corner, stitch one angled stitch and then turn the corner all the way.  That one stitch helps to create space for the trimmed seam allowance when you turn your collar right side out.

Anyway, here's my collar -- not perfect as you can see; I'm not sewing at my best at 8:30 at night, especially when I'm feeling rushed.  The two I make for homework (along with attached collar stand) will look better I'm sure. 

The edge isn't quite straight.

I didn't push out the seam well before ironing.

Will I change my method of attaching collar and collar stand to my shirts from the one I've been using up until now?  I probably will.  I've already incorporated the cuff technique (very similar to the collar band technique, actually) and it has helped me to create a cleaner-looking cuff.

Readers, that's all for now.  (Maybe after the class is over I can offer a "New & Improved" shirt sew-along!)

Next week: sleeve plackets.

Have a great day, everybody!

The Ethics of the Home-Sewn Designer Knock-Off

Friends, does copying something you've seen on the runway or in a store feel OK to you?

I mean, assuming you're not mass-producing the item to make a profit, does this set off any ethical alarms? You are stealing somebody else's idea after all (not that they necessarily thought of it first).

While I was busy today not doing my sewing homework for tonight's class (in truth, there wasn't much for me to do), I decided to swing by a new store I'd read about recently, Dover Street Market, on the corner of Lexington and 30th St.

This is probably the coolest clothing store I've ever visited and I highly recommend it if you're visiting New York.  (You can read more about it here.)  Among the many designers they carry is Comme des Garcons, and it's a much more low-key environment to ogle and touch than their flagship store, which I visited yesterday.  Along with their culottes for men, I love their highly inventive shirts, and I couldn't help but take mental notes as I examined the unusual construction, layering of fabrics, and use of patchwork on many of them. 

On a different floor, I tried on the cotton shirt up top, from a small American manufacturer I'd never heard of, Gitman Bros., located in Pennsylvania. 

I recognized the print right away as Alexander Henry's "Home Sewing Is Easy" quilting cotton (You may remember that I own a copy of the original "Home Sewing Is Easy" instructional comic book.)

How about the ethics of the dressing room photo?

I could knock off this shirt so easily -- you can find the fabric for sale on eBay and Etsy (They didn't have it at the City Quilter store near me; I looked).   If you want the shirt above and can't make it to Dover Street Market, you'll find it here in a long-sleeve, and here in a short-sleeve.  NOTE: it's cut extremely trim -- the Small felt too snug across my chest.

So my question is, would you have a problem with this kind of knock-off?  I wouldn't be using something approximating the fabric, it would be the fabric itself.

Here's something else I'd like to knock-off: a leather vest/shirt-thing I saw today by Comme des Garcons.  The black version looks like a t-shirt in front, the white is more vest-like.  Both are secured with a belt in the back.  The leather is soft and unlined; the belt holes aren't even reinforced with grommets.





And as you know, I'm also planning on coming up with my own version a skirt and/or culottes as shown in the spring/summer collections.

Any thoughts about the ethics of copying these items or ideas?  I mean, it's not like I could go out and plunk down $879 for a mens' skirt; I'm not their customer.

On my way home I snapped a few shots of this guy walking in front of me, and regardless of what you may or may not think of the sagger look, his style seemed so effortlessly chic, it made most of what I saw selling for thousands of dollars at the Dover Street Market look fussy and even a little decadent, do you know what I mean?





In closing, readers, three questions:

1) Have you ever tried knocking off designer fashion?

2) Was your project/garment merely inspired by something you saw, or were you trying to make a carbon copy (or close)?

3) Did you lose any sleep over it?

Have a great day, everybody!

Planning My Men's Skirt Project

This afternoon I swung by the Comme des Garcons store, which is just a few blocks from my apartment.

The store is set up like a space-age art gallery and it's more than a little intimidating (to me).  But the staff people seem happy to answer questions and talk about the clothes.  (What else do they have to do all day except chat -- and make sure the the hangers are perfectly spaced between each other?)

The storefront

Friends, I couldn't even tell which areas in the store were for men and which were for women, and I felt like a rube asking, but what are you going to do?  It wasn't obvious.

The young male sales assistant who helped me was wearing the skirt posted up top, only with black leggings (not quite tights), colored socks and black shoes.  The ensemble looked great on him and it made me want to give it a shot myself.  Upon closer inspection (on the hanger, not the guy) I noticed that what I was really looking at were pleated culottes made in a lightweight wool blend suiting.  If I didn't want to draft culottes myself I could probably use Butterick 6164 (the version on the far right).



A little online research yields a lot of this kind of men's skirt/culotte/kilt thing, usually -- though not always -- shown with leggings (to keep it looking somewhat masculine, I'm guessing).

I think I could recreate the Givenchy cotton kilt below pretty easily, and for a whole lot less than $720.  I bet you could too.







Other designers showing skirts include Rick Owens, Thamanyah (the white skirt below) Yohji Yamamoto, and just about any designer who aspires to the avant-garde.  Mind you, this has been going on for more than a few years now.   You can read a few interesting articles about it here and here.







I'm excited about this project and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Have a great day, everybody!

When Bloggers Court Controversy or "Love You, Hate Your Outfit"

Readers, thank you.  Thank you for your compliments and thank you for your candor in response to yesterday's big reveal.

I appreciate that we can be honest with each other.  Some of you hated my pleated shirt and Thai fisherman pants combo (esp. when worn under a Miyake leopard coat) so vehemently that you banned me from wearing it in your home cities.  I recognize this comes from a place of kindness and concern: not wanting me to look foolish or to invite ridicule, and for this I am grateful.

Luckily, not only do I rarely travel, I hardly ever even leave my own neighborhood, which may explain my somewhat myopic view of what men's fashion is these days.  Also too, Pinterest.  Once you start poring over photos from the latest runway shows, you forget what most men are actually wearing on the street, at the office, and in Iowa.

Having become something of a fashion slave, I can now appreciate a headless clown suit...



...barcode stripes mixed with florals...



...a wrinkled skirt with ankle socks....



..and so much more.





But not everyone can.  I want to reassure those who are not on board with my outfit that -- and this is the blessing of menswear -- my combo can be broken up.  I'm assuming the look below is uncontroversial.





But can I just mention the $2 Salvation Army pashmina I found that matched yesterday's Mood outfit perfectly?



I interpreted this synchronicity as an affirmation of my ensemble from the universe.  What else could it mean?

In other news, there's a new Vogue Miyake pattern in my life as of noon today!  (It's V-1541 from 1995.)



Look at that tunic jacket above and tell me it's radically different from the tunic (below) seen in Miyake's men's line for Spring/Summer 2014?



Now I just have to find some tie dye fabric!

In closing, I think it may be time to make my mother that pique robe, or to finish Cathy's cocktail dress.  Then again, Michael has put in a request for Thai fisherman pants.

Is it too soon to revisit those?

Have a great day, everybody!

Thom Brown says skirts!

Peter Models the Plaid Pleated Shirt and Thai Fisherman Pants!

Today's the day, readers!

Click here to see my (unexpectedly polarizing) plaid pleated shirt and Thai fisherman pants ensemble over at the Mood Sewing Network.

BONUS: You'll also get to see how it looks with my Miyake leopard coat!  (Too much pattern or just right?)

After two snowy photo shoots, yesterday's rain felt like some kind of reprieve -- a sad statement on the weather these days.  I look forward to sunshine -- and warmth!

I think we all need to make some Thai fisherman pants this spring.  A sew-along perhaps?

Have a great day, everybody!