Oh, Senior Collection again...

The entire collection will be done in about three weeks, but this is all I have pictures of so far. These are not the best pictures, but show my progress none the less. The jeans still need belt loops and a hem, the shirt needs a good pressing and a nice rolled hem. I have also completed the mini skirt which is exactly like the jeans. I have a good start on about 3 other garments, and should have pictures of those soon.

NY Fashion Week is over!!

And I have free time again!!
My boss, Tina, is actually incredibly organized, so the month long lead up to fashion week wasn't as hectic or busy as it is for most other people working in fashion, but it was still exhausting, and I am reveling completely in my free weekend, sitting here with my cup of coffee looking at my workspace, planning out my projects for the day. As a way to commit to completion, I'm going to list them here:
-Start in on that enormous pile of to-be-fixed clothes. They never take long and it's so satisfying -- you suddenly have an entire week's worth of new clothes!! but I still never do it. From scratch is so much more fun.
-Develop, mock up and test bicycle saddle bags. With a lovely industrial machine, and two leads on waxed cotton suppliers, I don't have an excuse anymore. Plus summer is just around the corner.
-Make a series of draped jersey shirts and dresses for the days at the end of the week when all I want to wear to work is pajamas.
-And, along the pajamas line, draft a pattern for harem pants. It should take about 10 minutes. And oh, the coziness!

Quilting with Gee's Bend

I finally bought the book The Quilts of Gee's Bend on ebay the other day, after a year or two of covetting it. If you haven't seen the quilts made by the women of Gee's Bend, Alabama, you're in for a treat. They have an incredible free form grace and the color schemes are sometimes surprising and irregular. The stories behind the quilts make them all even more stunning.


Just before finding the book online, a friend invited me to join a little quilting group she's starting with friends in Brooklyn. I'm really excited to start my own Gee's Bend inspired quilt -- I don't want to copy the quilts, I think that out of context they would seem a little dishonest and lose a lot of their appeal. I've been thinking though about precision versus a kind of conscious imprecision, and the idea of making something spontaneously irregular seems like such a refreshing contrast to patternmaking. It's similar to when, after working on tailored pieces for awhile, you get to play around with some poufy irregularily pleated asymmetrical gown.

"Standard" work on cutting

I recently found this book at Powells and found that it had all kinds of patterns in it that used ideas that I have been curious about. I have started thinking that most of the patterns that I draft are too flat. By this I mean that the shaping of seam lines is less varied than the shapes of the body part it is covering. I imagine that this is due to many iterations of pattern drafters truing all the subtleties out a garment. Whether or not this is true I have no idea but it makes sense in my head. At work I do many patterns on much smaller things than the average frock coat but I have learned to love the tiny 1/8" and 1/16" of an inch adjustments that take a pattern from fine to awesome. The most interesting thing I have discovered about these adjustments is that they often take the pattern away from the mathematically idealized version and involve asymmetric darts and extra "bend" allowance in areas that are hard to stuff properly. (I'm thinking more of back pack straps than frock coats.) This has led me to think that all of the areas in sewing where we make straight lines on curved parts of the body might be the wrong way to approach things. So while I was thinking about this I found a book called "Standard" Work On Cutting (Men's Garments) 1886. That's right this book was written in 1886. Now before you start thinking that you don't want to make a frock coat for the corpulent figure (pg 20) let me ask you a couple of questions I have been wondering.
Why is it that the shoulder seam for men's dress shirts doesn't sit at the apex of the shoulder (or there abouts) and is in fact cocked forward by a large amount, and what exactly should that amount be?
How come it is so hard for me to find pants that fit well in the rear? And why do we draw a strait line in the rear crotch curve when its one of the curviest parts? For more on this look at the fashion incubator site for insight on butts, camel toe, and jeans fitting.
How come the interior line of a relaxed hanging arm is so much smaller than the exterior line but our sleeves are patterned symmetric?
There are these and many more questions but I would like to show you this book.




Look at these crotch curves! It all makes sense!


Look at the angles of the shoulder seams?! Look at everything.


And finally because this book was written so long ago it's copyrights have expired and you can download it for free from Google books. Take that Powells! Wait, No! I didn't mean it. Come back Powells. I love you. I swear I'll never cheat again, I promise!

P.S Sorry for all the exclamation points. Sometimes I just get carried away.

New Links!

I wanted to provide a brief introduction to the new links I've posted on our side bar.

The crowning jewel is "Vintage Sewing" Somebody is taking the time to scan vintage sewing books and post them. Please give these people money, books, your first born, what ever you think might help create an extensive data base of sewing information. The world of sewing can only profit from a population of well educated people. They have information on patterning, sewing, washing, glove making, millinery, and much more. They have many books from The Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences.

Next up we have infomat which is a hub for fashion links including trends and careers. It is slightly unsatisfying in the amount of hard information that it provides but a good link hub.

Massive Change is the brain child of Bruce Mau and in dedicated to all the intricacies of how design can better our world and environment. Their reading list is one of the best compilations of awesome nonfiction I have encountered. Feel free to educate yourself, get involve, or just peruse. These people have inspire hope in me. I think there is a chance that we don't have to destroy ourselves.

I will end with the NW Links For Raw Materials. This is sight for the Oregon/Washington/Idaho area who either have or want industrial raw materials. This includes barrels of wool, pounds of garment leather scraps, fifty gallon drums of beany babies, and all sorts of things you never knew you wanted.

Have fun surfing, I hope that there is useful info in there for everyone.

Jacket for Carly

I saw this on the Sartorialist the other day and thought of you Carly. That volume in the back, the silhouette in general - I can so easily imagine you in this.

Menswear Inspiration

Last season I posted some pictures from Junya Watanabe's menswear show. Again this season I love a lot of the pieces, (although I have to say, the addition of some yellows and metallics were a little off the deep end) and, after looking through some of the Sartorialist's menswear photos for style.com, I've realized just how influenced by menswear I am right now. It suits the world mood (with the exception of Obama-jubulence) to wear androgynous wool plaids and work boots and worn-in canvas instead of my closet full of vintage dresses.

My favorite from JW's collection.

Distressed and destroyed only really works if it's genuine. None of that pre-washed whiskered crap. Luckily I have quite an easy time staining, tearing and generally ruining things on my own.

I love the tab detail on the waistband of his jacket.

Alright, so this guy's a little too far into steampunk territory, but I really like all the pieces serparately, and I've been wanting a hat like that one for ages...

A little Winter sun

This last week end I got to go to Astoria OR, (this is where the movie Goonies was filmed for those of you that don't know.) It was still so cold that there was frost in the all the shadows but so sunny that people were out in shorts.



The Astoria Bridge

The 4.21 mile long Astoria Bridge opened in 1966. It is the longest continuous truss span bridge in the world. It had a $1.50 toll until 1994, when the bridge was paid for and the toll was removed. The bridge has more than 200 feet of clearance on the Oregon side so the huge ships can pass beneath it in the shipping channel. It is 150 feet more to the top of the span.













Click here for more info on Astoria

Senior Collection

I meant to post these a long time ago, but I have been very busy, just like most of you! I told you all about the beginning of this process, when I was working on designing these pieces, and laying them out with their respective fashion figures. Well, lets skip a few months ahead. Now these designs have actually materialized a bit. (no pun intended) This process is broken up into three classes, the first being concept and design development, the second being patternmaking and prototypes, and the third being the final product which will be walking down the AI runway in June. Overall, I was most anticipating the patternmaking and fitting to be the most stressful and time consuming. And having accomplished that portion last quarter, I am now feeling at ease and looking forward to sitting down and sewing the final garments. I considered posting the photos of my prototypes, but it takes an ambitious imagination to ignore the "muslins" I chose to sew them out of. Seeing as I will begin sewing the finals next week, I will try to post them as I go. I've calculated that sewing one design a week will get me done it time.








Thanks for looking!

Pattern Weights IV

I apologize for the delay in my response to this subject. Nonetheless, here they are. There are six of the round ones, two in each size. They are essentially big heavy washers. On the bottom, they have plastic covers with three slits extending to the edge, where you can insert a flat thumbtack. I found these in my Mom's old sewing kit, and begged her for them. This was before I even understood exactly how valuable they would be to me. I love them.



I have seen the yellow ones that were posted in a previous entry, and they are designed to function similarly as mine. However, I don't believe that the spikes can be removed. Also, they aren't quite as simplified. The plastic is a hard case with a weight inside, which is kind of loose and rattly. Also, they have little ridges built into the top so that they can accommodate each other's spikes when stacked. All of this seemed a little excessive to me. However, all and all, they do seem like a good option compared to the other kinds of weights that are readily available.

I also recently purchased this iron from goodwill. It is seven pounds, but pretty small. It is great to have around to really anchor something down. I plan to get more as I see them. They are perfect as pattern weights. They are also readily available and inexpensive.

Instructional design

I have discovered a new affection for instructional design. By this I mean designs that instruct like your ikea manual as opposed to designing instruction like the Montessori school. I have a couple links for others that might be interested but I would mostly like any information that people might have about particularly cool diagrams or books. I would like to learn more about how to make useful diagrams but also just want to collect beautiful ones as well. I have an exceptional weakness for the exploded diagrams.

Wurlinton paper workshop

Open Here

Tufte

Holiday festivities

Over the Christmas season we got the most snow in Portland that we have had since the early sixties. We rarely get more than a light dusting any given year so we are completely incapable of dealing with it. The city owns very few snow plows and we are much too environmental to salt the streets. People here not only don't know how to drive in the snow they don't even know how to put chains on their cars. Don't miss understand me. I am not complaining. I love how the city shuts down. The streets are empty and you don't have to go to work or school. The city transformes and gets that weird quiet that snow brings. Here are some pictures.







This is the intersection of 12th and Burside (usually a major interesection) at 2 in the afternoon.



This is my family on christmas.




I also went to a uni-suit (any sort of one piece outfit that isn't a dress) themed new years party that was quite fun. It was a house full of people, shoulder to shoulder, dancing all night long. I didn't get as many pictures as I should have. I was too busy dancing. Here is Emily and I. I helped her make that orange jumpsuit. She looked great in it.



This one was pretty good. The guy in the background is dressed like batman.

Pattern weights III

Since I nobody sent me pictures I can't post the wide range of pattern weights that I had hoped however I can post my collection as well as what we use at work.

These are what I use at home.
Starting from left to right on top;
1. a weight I bought off a furniture renovation shop that was going out of business, the man who sold it to me said that people use to cary these in their saddle bags and then when they got somewhere they would take it out and tie their horse to it. I have no idea if that is true or not.
2. This is a gear cluster from a motorcycle that my aunt gave me when we were cleaning out her goat shed.
3. Standard scale weight
Left to right on bottom now;
4. Some part of the brake system for a large vehicle that my mechanic gave me.
5. The same part for a smaller vehicle with a large ball bering in it for extra weight.
6. Again the same part without the ball bering
7. A triangular piece of lead with a leather cover that has been carefully hand stitched around the edge. This was made as a paper weight by Bob Beckle at the place that Hannah and I use to work.
8. This is just a large chunk of steel I stole from our scrap pile at work. I wire brushed it to get all the rust off, then lightly oiled it with WD-40. Then made sure that it was perfectly clean before I put it on my fabric.

On a side note, for cool weights I had a lot of luck typing "antique weight" into ebay.



These are the ones we use at work. Note the pen for a sense of scale. These where made by boss. They are steel flat bar with welded handle made in-house. They were powder coated white.

I was wondering if anybody has used either of these kinds of weights?

Olfa




Dritz

Another Knowledge Gap

I discovered a few days ago, much to my horror, that I have been balancing skirts and dresses wrong. To my credit, my roommate, who apprenticed at the same patternmaking studio that I did, claims that she also did not learn this valuable piece of information until after she left the apprenticeship. So I feel a little better....
I have always been under the impression that garments - all garments -- should be balanced in such a way that they are bigger in the front than the back by 1/4 to 3/8" per side. It turns out that while that is the case with the bodice, once you get to the hips it should be reversed. I admit, this makes a whole lot of sense and if I had thought about it, I would've realized right away that the bodice is bigger in front to accommodate the bust and the skirt is bigger in the back to accommodate the hips and the curvier the fit model, the bigger the difference between the front and back to insure a straight side seam. The general consensus seems to be that the two are blended to zero somewhere between waist and high hip, depending on the shape of your fit model.
I think I was confused partly because I know that pants generally have side seams set back about 1/2" because that makes the butt look smaller -- and if you look at patterns for pants designed for folks from cultures that appreciate bigger butts, like Latinas, you'll find that the side seams aren't moved back at all. This is what I've been told anyway.
Now for those of you who use blocks instead of draping, are your blocks already balanced in this way so that you don't have to think about it? That would take so much fractional math out of my life....

Pattern Weights II

Here's a photo of what I called the "nice industrial" pattern weights. They're about 4 lbs., 10 inches long, and cost between $10 and $15 apiece. I got mine for pennies when my roommate went to a huge warehouse liquidation sale. We also aquired two gravity feed irons, tons of pattern hooks and an industrial Juki machine that I can't wait to try out.

My boss has some pattern weights like these below as well. I hate them. It seems like weights should be very stable -- you want no movement at all, right? So why on earth would anyone design a weight that, when filled, bulges out into an almost spherical shape, and rolls with the tiniest nudge?

Also, when I took my very first classes from Sharon Blair in Portland Oregon, she used massive washers from the hardware store (I'm not posting a picture of this. You all know what washers look like). I like them a lot, and only have two complaints. First, it seems no one needs massive washers in NYC. I can't find them anywhere. Also, they don't have handles like the industrial ones, and I like the handles even if they're not entirely necessary.

Pattern Weights

Hello everyone. I'm sorry about the holiday hiatus. I don't know about the rest of you but I was holed up working on people's christmas presents until the ninth hour. This was exacerbated by the un-precedented (at least in my life time) snow that we got here in Portland. Christmas shopping was hard without snow plows. Anyways I would like to do a post about pattern weights. People seem to have very strong feelings about where and how they use their weights. I have also never been able to buy pattern weights I liked and have therefore made my own. I imagine that its the same for many of you. So, I would like people to send me pictures of your weights and comments about how you use them. Please send them to carlymick@gmail.com.
Cheers and a happy new year!

Sewing machine shopping

It's been awhile since I've posted anything! I have a very long mental list of posts that I would like to make, I'm hoping I get to them soon....
For now, I have a question for the sewers out there: Does anyone have any good advice as to what brand and make of sewing machine is high quality but not too pricey? A friend of mine is on a hunt for a good basic home machine, and I'm sad to say I didn't have a lot of advice for her. Any feedback would be lovely. Thanks!

Silk

This post was inspired by a conversation with Hannah earlier today. Silk is one of my all time favorite fabrics. The variety and suppleness of silk makes it appropriate for just about everything. I have seen many wonderful designs look cheap because people chose synthetics to mimic silk. Silk is a wonderful fabric to work with and has a variety of different weights and hands for all different projects. I would like to dissuade you from some silk myths and note the rarely discussed issues I've had with silk.


Myth: Silk is too fragile.

Silk is actually an incredibly strong fiber. It has been used in armor for thousands of years and is said to be stronger than steel although I'm not entirely sure what kind of strength they are talking about. Most silk is also made from a very long single filament. This means that the fiber can distribute the force over the width of the fabric and the individual fibers are not going to sluff off. The point is that silk isn't going to disintegrate while you are wearing or sewing it, unlike acetate which will melt in a wide variety of solvents. However, if you have a very fine knit or loose weave it will snag and shift, although this is true of every other fiber as well.


Myth: You can't wash silk

I think that this is the real reason that many people don't like wearing silk. They believe that you will always have to take that garment to the dry cleaner's. Well, the truth is that you can wash silk. (Believe me, I'm not a dry cleaner kind of a girl.) There are a few things that you should know about washing silk.

1. Some manufacturers don't set their dyes for washing. This is something I have heard about, but never experienced myself. What I have noticed is that the dye will bleed somewhat in the first two rinsings. This is true of most other fabrics as well. This is the best reason to treat your silks gently. You are trying to preserve the process that's been done to the silk more than the silk fibers themselves. It is always wise to wash a sample first and make sure it behaves like you want it too.

2. If you pre wash your silks you will never have any issues with water spots.

3. You should wash your silks often and gently instead of waiting until they're really dirty.

4. Wash with luke warm water and dish washing detergent. In general detergents are always gentler that soaps. Laundry
detergents are sometime made more powerful than you need for silks. Think grass stains on denim.

5. Your silks are likely to change a little when you wash them the first time. The finish that is put on fabrics is meant to make you want to buy it when its on the bolt. This finish might not be as suitable for wearing as it is for selling. Think formaldehyde and other chemicals on your skin. However the finish might be what attracted you to that silk in the first place and removing it might distroy what you liked about the fabric. Test, Test, Test. The most common ways that silks are likely to change is in the sheen and the hand. Some silks will be come less shiny or more prone to wrinkles. Most will become softer. Some will fade slightly.

6. Occasionally when I have rinsed silks there have been some strange smells. I don't know if it comes from the silk or the finish but poor susanna's shirt smelled particularly like fish. I have since discovered that most off odors can be eliminated by adding some vinegar to the rinse. This has the added benefit of helping to set the dye. You will probably have to rinse the vinegar out too but its a lot easier than weird odors.

7. Wash the yardage gently while still folded. It's easy to want to open it up and work it like cotton but silk is more likely to keep the shape it was when wet. DONT RING IT. Place the washed, still folded yardage in a towel. Roll the towel up and press the water out. Then unfold it and steam iron dry.

8. The one thing I don't recommend washing is already made garments with inner structures like jackets or suits. I can bet you that whoever made it did not pre-shrink all that foundation stuff. That's a recipe for a very lumpy jacket.



Myth: You have to use silk thread to sew silk.

You can use any type of thread with your silk. Silk thread is especially good for basting because it is a long satiny filament that can slide through the weave of the fabric with minimal abrasion. This means that when you remove your basting you don't have a bunch of little holes in your project. I like using silk thread for silk because it satisfies my neurotic desire to to put like things together. That and it feels fancy. I believe that the best kind of thread is actually cotton. Cotton is a lot weaker than silk. This means that if your dress gets caught it will tear on the seam lines instead of the silk.


Myth: Silk is too expensive.

While its true that some silks are worth a kings ransom, you can also buy many silks at comparable prices. China silk for example makes a long wearing, washable, totally luxurious lining, or slip, and can be had for 9.99/yrd at my local fabric store.

Notes on working with difficult fabrics:
1. It is true that gauzy and slippery silks are hard to cut. All gauzy and slippery fabrics are hard to cut. Your best defense is tissue or butcher paper laid on top of the silk as you trace and cut the pattern pieces. If you find you need it you can even put paper on either side of your fabric. If you chose this option your lay up would be table, paper, silk, paper, pattern piece. With one or two sheets of paper you are going to dull your scissors a little. Its best to have a pair of scissors sharp enough to cut silk but not your favorite ones. PLEASE REMEMBER not all silks are gauzy slippery fabric. There are silks in a rainbow of weights and textures. Pick one. Try it out. You might never go back.

2. Always use 65 needle or even smaller for fine fabric. It should be the finest needle appropriate for your thread. If you still have trouble with your machine sucking it down, place a piece of tape over the needle hole on the throat plate. Regular tape works fine, like the stuff you wrap presents with. You might have to trim it to the right size so it doesn't interfere with the feed dogs.


If there is anything I forgot, feel free to speak up.
Happy Holiday Silking!

Double needle pintuck.

So I tried it and had to post it right away, because it was so much fun! I just threw a double needle in my machine, threaded her all up, and sewed along my mock style line. I decided to start with denim because it was less intimidating than chiffon, but will be trying that next. Once your line is sewn, simply pull the bobbin thread taut, bringing the two stitch lines together and forcing the pin tuck upwards. It took a little manipulation, and must say it feels a little delicate. However, this is my first try and I'm sure it takes a little customizing with the stitch length and such. Very exciting though. I definitely achieved the look I was going for! Click on the pictures to see ultra close-ups.

To ravel or not to unravel.

Okay, another sewing conundrum accompanied by a vocabulary one...

I am making a pair of jeans, also for my Senior Collection of course. Here's the catch. They have a seam that travels from the hem all the way up the balance line of each leg. Then in the vicinity of the hip level line, these two seams make a 90 degree turn towards one another, meeting at center front. The very last thing I want to do is compromise my design. However, I want them to be finished very professionally and be as durable and easy-wearing as any other pair of jeans. The issue I'm anticipating is difficulty finishing these seams, seeing as I will bust them flat and then clip them.

Options I have considered are:

-I could overlock the seam and then clip.
-A friend suggested experimenting with bias tape, and finishing the clipped edge with that (something very lightweight).
-I could overlock everything BUT the curved area, as it will be on the bias, and shouldn't ravel unravel ravel. On a side note: are ravel and unravel interchangable? It sure seems that way to me. I tend to fill in the blank with UNravel, but others differ I have noticed.
-Fray check is not an option.
-Give up. (just kidding geez!).

If I absolutely must compromise my design (which I shouldn't have to), I do have a fairly decent backup plan which is to create this style line with a pintuck instead. I am planning to do samples of each, just incase one proves to be blatantly better.

Would love to hear any thoughts!

The Wilding's first project

My friend Matthew Radune has been working on a series of beautiful felt lamps recently, and has just completed the first batch.
It's been a lot of fun to watch the process of the conception of the production of these lamps for distribution. A huge amount of thought was put it into it, and I believe the first one or two were dried in Matt's oven. He's gotten progressively more sophisticated in technique, and I'm very impressed with the finished product. Here's a photo:

The idea was originally conceived in collaboration with Susanna Homann, whose picture you can see below in the Flock and Fiber Festival post. She's a lovely lady who knows a whole lot about wool felt.
For anyone who is interested in purchasing one of these lamps (Seriously good Christmas gift. I feel warmer just looking at the golden glow) they can be bought in NYC at Houndstooth Fine Vintage for Men, and, if I'm not mistaken, will soon be available on Matthew's website www.thewilding.com.
I'm not going to explain the process he used to make them, but if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Light box as pattern table

I've been spending some time at a friend's studio lately and I have to report on a brilliant but simple setup he's created for himself. He mentioned that he has started to think of pattern making as something akin to engineering, and in doing so, was inspired to set up his workspace in a similar way.
Now, one of my least favorite things about pattern making is tracing patterns in bad light. The thing is, almost all light is bad when you're using a clear plastic french curve, because the light, no matter where it's coming from, bounces off the side of the curve and creates this tiny little shadow, which is just big enough to make it impossible to see exactly where the line you're drawing is at.
What my friend has done to remedy this is essentially create a light box. He bought a large table with a frosted glass top, put a long rope of those tube white christmas lights under it, and viole, lightbox. It looks really classy, not DIY at all, and not only is the french curve tracing problem fixed, but so is the problem of creating flipped patterns for things like facings and linings. You can place a pattern face down, put a clean piece of paper on top, still see all the details, and create a mirror pattern in one trace.
I'm writing about this as if it's a new idea, but has anyone seen this used for patterns? I asked some of my industry friends here, and they said that they're generally only used for technical flats and sketches.

Oh Pintuck.

For my senior collection, I have designed a dress that I would like to make of silk chiffon. However, I would also like for it to include panels of pintucks in several areas. In looking for pointers on how to do this, I came across this little entry. Although I will probably end up hand sewing my tedious tucks, I may have to try this technique on a more stable fabric just for fun. Enjoy, and by the way, clicking on the title will link you up to the original source for this.

Pintucks are tiny folds sewn into the fabric to add texture and decoration. There are usually several placed together in vertical rows, like on the bodice of a top or dress.

If the pintucks run from one seam to another, there is no need to tie them off. But if the pintucks end in the middle of the fabric, it is necessary [normally] to pull the threads to the wrong side of the fabric, and hand tie them to secure.

This technique is for pintucks that end in the middle of the fabric. You will be sewing along a fold in the fabric, 1/8 inch [or a little more] from the fold, using a regular machine needle.

Get ready to 'think outside the box' when it comes to threading your machine. Each pintuck is sewn with a single thread from your bobbin. Remove the top spool of thread.

With the bobbin in your machine, pull thread from your bobbin. Pull enough out that it is about a foot longer than the length of your pintuck. Put this thread through the needle, threading it the opposite direction [a needle threader really helps do this]. Keeping using this thread to completely thread the machine...the machine will be threaded as usual, you're just starting at the needle and working backwards. Just lay the extra thread on top of your machine. The thread should go directly from the bobbin to your needle, no slack. You're ready to sew the first pintuck.

You start the pintuck where you want the finished end to be [in the middle of your folded bodice, not at the raw edge]. Sew along the edge of the fold, until the pintuck ends at the edge of the fabric. Cut thread and remove bodice from machine. Remove any leftover thread from the top of the machine. Voila, the pintuck is finished, and no thread tails to tie off.

To do the next pintuck, pull thread from bobbin again, and rethread machine as before.

Chuckie meets Anne Geddes

I know this isn't entirely on topic, but it does fit under the general umbrella of "sewn manufacturing." I've just read an article about a new type of stuffed animal being made in tokyo. Apparently you can get you child's face put on any animal body:

You send a profile photo of your child in, and choose from hundreds of plush animal bodies, and they send back.....umm.
Lillian just chastised me for not including the name of the company that makes these dolls. She's thinking about Christmas presents. The company is called Sha@Lark, and the names of the dolls are "Purimen Gurumi." Happy shopping!

Women's Institute of Domestic arts and sciences

When I lived in Tucson I worked for a wonderful woman who owned Desert Vintage, the best vintage store in Tucson. On top of helping me with my sewing she once gave me a book called Drafting and Pattern Design. I coveted this book for many reasons but didn't take it seriously as a sewing reference. Because of the beauty of this book I went on to collect a few other volumes published by Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences. I recommend these books for their information and inspiration.

The women's institute was founded by Mary Brooks Picken in Scranton PA (the home town of our VP elect). She authored 96 books on sewing and fashion, was the first woman trustee of FIT and a founder of Fashion Group who's 60 years worth of fashion archives can be found at the NY public library. Hint, hint for you people in NY. She was also the first women author of an english language dictionary. And you thought you were busy.



When I got this book I was still so new to pattern drafting that I imagined that it was old and there for out dated. It was not until recently while reading Kathleen's book that I remembered this wealth of information that I ought to revisit.


This book was published in 1924.

This is the draft for a basic block. Notice the unusual angle of the CF line. I have my theories about why you would do it this way but I would love to hear yours.



This is the basic fitted block if that makes it any easier.



Check out this tailored sleeve. The shaping involved is beautiful.



This is the only tool used in this book. It is called a Picken's Square for obvious reasons. Both the book and this tool assume that you might not have any experience with multiplying or dividing.



And here's a little eye candy to leave you with.