On Vacay

Hellooo, readers! I'm visiting family this week. And despite my best intentions to post while away, I'm just having too much fun.

Did I mention that I have a niece?

She is delicious--I mean, adorable!

We are spending some serious quality time together this week. I take my role as "eccentric aunt" very seriously! I bought her that picture book about the gay penguins and also--a little pink ukulele!

She is a ukulele prodigy!

From here, I'm heading west to see my folks. I plan on continuing to have too much fun to blog, so let's meet back here next week, ok?

Hope you're all doing great!

OMG Zac Posen

I can't even. Is this man human? Look at those features! Those glossy black waves! The glowing complexion! The cinematic arch of the eyebrows! The perfectly tailored notch on his jacket! Oh, I could go on and on . . .

Have you been watching this season's Project Runway, readers? Zac Posen, Greek God, is filling in for judge Michael Kors, the Orange Duchess (so nicknamed for his penchant for spray tans and bitchy royal demeanor). According to Jeff, no one can replace the Orange Duchess, but then again . . . Jeff doesn't turn into a giggling school girl every time the Greek God comes on screen.

Have I mentioned his smile?

His thoughtful and encouraging manner of critiquing design?

Okay, let's discuss the elephant in the room.

Obviously, Zac would not return my feelings. But guys, that's why he's my imaginary boyfriend, not my real one. If the pesky little issue of sexual identity got in the way of women having crushes on handsome and kind and stylish gay men, well . . . the pillars of Western popular culture would basically be upturned.

I have two other imaginary boyfriends, BTW. (Don't worry, Jeff doesn't get jealous. He completely understands.)

OMG Dave Grohl.

OMG Stephen Colbert.

Wait! Make that three other imaginary boyfriends!

OMG Adam Scott. (Wow, it's getting crowded in here.)

I know, readers. I have extremely good taste in men.

Okay, back to the point. Are you readers liking Zac Posen on Project Runway this season?

Reader Question: Will Butterick 5882 Work on a Large Bust?

Hi readers! Today I thought I'd answer a FAQ about one of my new Butterick patterns, number 5882. This design has a feature called a "shelf bust," which is a set-in inlay of pleats with a bias band underneath.

The question I've been hearing a lot is: will this style work on a figure with a larger bust? My opinion is a resounding YES. Now let me tell you why.

While it may seem like a shelf bust would draw extra attention and volume to a large bust, that's only really true if the "shelf" extends to the bottom of the bustline. Let me explain what I mean.

Check out these dresses from my long-ago inspiration post.

The bustline looks heavy on all of these because it extends to below the bust, where the underwire on your bra would be.

In my version, I made the shelf more shallow to minimize this heaviness. The shelf seamline goes across the bustline horizontally, visually minimizing its proportions.

The other thing I did was to make the pleated insets rather small, proportionately. If you look a repro brand Trashy Diva's shelf bust dress, you'll see that the pleated sections are rather large.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am a HUGE Trashy Diva fan. But I tried this dress on and felt that my bustline looked enormous (and I'm a B cup!). If you look at my design in comparison, the pleated sections are much smaller.

So that's my reasoning for liking this style for a larger bustline. But please keep in mind that this is not a modest neckline! You will be showing cleavage, but I think my pattern will minimize the overall scale of the bustline, if that makes sense. 

Of course, the more important question is how to do an FBA (Full Bust Adjustment) on this style? I'm going to dedicate a post to the topic, but here's the short answer. You would need to add length and width in the seams around the bust: the shelf seamline, and the princess seams below it. From there, you would need to slash and spread the pleated inset and its lining piece to fit your new bodice. That's probably really hard to visualize, which is why I'll do a post on the whole topic. 

I hope this helps!

Silk Gazar Fabric

Yesterday was a major fabric shopping trip for me, which is its own special kind of high (no substances required!). I'm working on the next round of Butterick patterns right now, and finally pulled the trigger on some amazing fabrics after a couple swatching trips and much agonizing.

One of the designs is very tailored and structured, and I want it to appear almost sculptural. At Mood, I was assisted by the adorable Kooan, who made a brief appearance on Project Runway Season 10 before opting to voluntarily leave the show. Remember him?

Anyway, he now works at Mood and is super helpful. I showed him my sketch to get some fabric suggestions, and was surprised when he recommended a double layer of heavy silk organza. He pulled out some examples, and one (photographed above) was especially unique: extremely bouncy but stiff, light as a feather, and only the tiniest bit sheer. It seemed way stiffer and opaque than any organza I've seen, including satin-faced organza (which can tend to be less sheer than regular organza).

I later found out that this fabric is actually silk gazar, which is one of those rare birds of the fabric world. (You may recall that Kate Middleton's wedding gown was made of silk gazar, so it briefly became a household term.)

Mood only had this particular fabric in the red color here.

While it's a lovely color, it's not what I had in mind for this design. But the drape of it was absolutely perfect. So I decided to pick up a small amount (1.5 yards) and use it to underline the body of the garment, which will be made in a silk/cotton faille. The silk gazar was $35 a yard, twice as much as the fashion fabric--but sometimes the understructure is everything, right? I also hate to hide this beautiful fabric, but we must make sacrifices for fashion!

I did a quick drape with the gazar so you could see its qualities more clearly.

I love how it almost glows from within. And look how the folds on the skirt stand out! It really is a spectacular fabric.

I found only a few online sources for silk gazar. NY Fashion Center Fabrics carries it in 20 colors, and includes this fascinating description. (Note: they use the variant spelling, "gazaar.")

Silk gazaar is a heavier sheer silk fabric with a smooth texture and crisp, matte finish. Essentially a four ply form of silk organza, silk gazaar was developed by the designer Balenciaga in the 1960s. Like organza, the fabric is perfect for lining as well as for sleeves, overlays or a back piece on evening wear or special occasion garments.

Love their "grape" color. I cannot speak to the qualities of this particular fabric, but I have been happy with ordering from this website in the past. I will be ordering a swatch of this fabric, so I'll keep you updated on that. It's not cheap (about $50 a yard) but all colors are always in stock and ready to ship or swatch.

You'll also see printed gazars, which are even rarer than the solids. Gorgeous Fabrics currently has this lovely black and white floral.

B&J carries some Italian floral gazars that are so beautiful they make my heart hurt. Incidentally, the price tag makes my eyes bleed.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

SIGH.

Have any of you sewn with gazar?

Shaping a Shirt Collar

Hey readers! I realized that one of the things I can do while I'm working on top secret projects is to put together little mini tutorials without showing an entire garment. For instance, right now I'm working on developing a classic 40s style blouse pattern. A project like this usually takes me several tries in fabric, which is a plus because then I end up with several new blouses in my wardrobe! So the one you see here won't actually end up in my next book, it's just part of my process.

I've written about shaping a tailored jacket collar with steam, but it's worth mentioning that you can do the same thing with an interfaced shirt collar. Going through these steps will give you a shirt collar that stands up and rolls around your neck nicely. What you're doing is "training" it into shape with steam. Here's how it works.

First, interface the upper collar only. I'm using a soft sew-in interfacing, which gets basted to the collar piece. (Yes, I know I'm not going to win any awards for the aesthetics of my basting stitches.)

Pin it to the under collar, right sides together.

Stitch around the outer edges. I like to take one stitch diagonally across the corner to get a crisper point.

Trim down the corners.

Grade the seam allowances so that the upper collar seam allowance is about 1/4" wide and the under collar seam allowance is about 1/8" wide.

Turn right side out and use a pin to pull the corner out.

Press so that the seam line rolls toward the under collar (this way it won't show on the outside of the collar).

(Note: yes, those are little animal heads hidden among the polka dots on this print. It's a Japanese double gauze made by Kokka. Amazing, right? Purchased at Hart's Fabrics in Santa Cruz.)

Pin the collar to a tailor's ham, arranging the roll of the collar as desired. Remember that you still have a neckline seam allowance on the collar, so take that into account as you're pinning. I make the stand of my collar about 1 inch tall.

Steam well (do not press down on the collar, just apply lots of steam to it) and leave to dry for at least several hours.

When you remove it from the ham and sew it to your shirt, you'll have a nicely shaped roll on your collar!

P.S. For a hardcore shirt collar tutorial, check out Pam's blog. I've been meaning to try her method because it looks awesome!

Inspiration: Ukulele Ladies

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been learning the ukulele. Part of my intrigue with the instrument comes from 1950s kitsch, no doubt. I love anything that's 50s fad-related (like hula hooping!), and cheap plastic ukuleles were everywhere in the post-war era. I also love any hobby in which the clothes are an integral part of the process. Because, obviously, you have to have a killer dress to play the ukulele, as Marilyn demonstrates above.

There's a cornucopia of amazing "ukulele lady" images to be found online, much of it pornographic (apparently it's easier to play a uke while topless? I'll have to try it sometime). I'l refrain from anything too saucy, but I do love a ukulele pin-up! How awesome are these ones from Gil Elvgren?

Here's one of Bettie Page, wearing what looks to be an original Warner's merry widow.

And while not 50s, the fabulous Bette Midler is certainly kitschy. Gotta love her pink pineapple uke--it has rhinestones, of course.

If you cast your search way back, you'll find some very cool 20s and 30s images, like this one of a Ziegfield Follies chorus girl.

I should probably start thinking about my ukulele outfit now, just in case I ever play in public. (I'm thinking about incorporating the uke into book talks and signings, so I'm guaranteed a captive audience.) I think I would need to be wearing fringe, right?