Palm Springs, Purple Hair

Hello, lovely readers! I'm in Palm Springs soaking up some much needed Vitamin D. I'm guest teaching at Heather Ross's weekend sewing workshop starting tonight. Today, however, is all about relaxing!

Oh, and I changed my hair a wee bit.

Purple! This is the result of Manic Panic's Rockabilly Blue blended with my existing pink. It kind of has three tones: purple, pink-violet, and blue. It's a nice change.

I'm wearing a new swimsuit by the famed Esther Williams. I've been researching and examining swimsuits a lot lately . . . can you guess why? More details and hints to come this summer.

I've also got a sew-along in the works for one of my new Butterick patterns. I was thinking about starting with the stretch slip, since fabric choice and knit construction requires a bit of extra knowledge and planning. More to come next week.

Look at this sky!

Body Snark, Vintage Hollywood Style

There's a fascinating article in the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly about Irene Sharaff, a costume designer who had a hugely successful Broadway and Hollywood career. She earned a whopping 16 Oscar nominations. The article is a retrospective look at some of her biggest productions. However, I could not get past this quote on the first page, about a Hollywood actress she designed for:

"She was five feet two and had difficult proportions: high waist, large bosom, short arms, no behind, and wide hips. I was not awed by her." 

Readers, Sharaff was talking about Elizabeth Taylor. Can you imagine?!

My first thought: If Taylor had "difficult proportions," the rest of us are screwed. It's sad to read a quote like that--I mistakenly assume that Hollywood had more realistic expectations of stars in the 50s and 60s, when a more womanly figure was in fashion.

On the other hand, it's kind of nice to read a designer's candor about the challenges of obtaining Hollywood perfection, even for an hourglass figure like Taylor. Obviously, even female costumers are not immune from the pressures of creating a perfect screen-ready body at any cost.

Sharaff won the Oscar for her designs for Cleopatra in 1963. Despite Sharaff being underwhelmed by Taylor, they must have been on good terms. Sharaff designed the dress Liz wore for her first wedding to Richard Burton.

Sharaff seems to have been known for her bitchy quips. Of working with Faye Dunaway on Mommie Dearest, Sharaff said: "Yes, you may enter Miss Dunaway's dressing room, but first you must throw a raw steak in--to divert her attention."

Sharaff, like Edith Head, had an idiosyncratic sense of style. She wore super heavy eyeliner, a dramatic up-do, and lots of black.

Fun fact: Sharaff and her team designed 26,000 costumes for Cleopatra. Does that even seem possible?!

My New Butterick Patterns for Spring 2014!

Exciting day! I have two new pattern designs that just released. The first is B6019, and it's a dress I've been dreaming of for a long time. Ever since I did the Bombshell Dress class on Craftsy, I've wanted a dress pattern that was more authentic to the designs of Alfred Shaheen. Here are a couple of his designs from the '50s, to give you an idea.

I love the details: the bias band across the bodice, boned bodice, structured bra cups, removable halter strap, sarong skirt, and elastic shirring. So I designed a pattern to these exact specifications. Here's the line drawing.

As you can see, there's a full-skirted version in addition to the sarong version.

The bra cups have batting for structure.

There's shirring in the back panels, and a lapped center back zipper.

The second pattern is very different: lingerie!

B6031 was inspired by vintage lingerie, but is made in modern stretch fabrics. As much as I love the look of vintage slips, I find the nylon fabric they're made of to be sticky and uncomfortable.

So I designed something similar in matte jersey. This is an entire lingerie set with slip, camisole in 2 lengths, and panties.

All the designs are finished with stretch lace and pretty bows.

The undies are my modern interpretation of vintage style panties. They have full butt coverage and low-cut legs but the waist is shaped more like a boyshort. You can make them higher waisted for an authentic '50s look!

I hope you enjoy the new patterns! I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Tips for Sewing with Velvet

Ah, velvet. So lovely, yet so cruel. This is a fabric that seems to have a mind and body of its own. It moves without warning, shifts inches away from where you want it, and worst of all--gets ruined at the mere suggestion of bring pressed.

Quick note: Silk/rayon velvet (like the blue fabric I made the dress above in) is drapey and soft. Cotton velvet tends to have a thicker feeling to it, with more body. Cotton or synthetic velvets have the same challenges as silk velvet, since they all have a pronounced nap. Silk velvet can be a little trickier to handle and cut because of it's slippery feel.

The trickiness of sewing velvet can all be blamed on its nap. The nap (or "pile") refers to the texture of the velvet--the little hair-like fibers that stand up, creating a luxurious fabric that feels heavenly to the touch. The nap is tricky to sew because:


1. It has a direction, just like a cat's fur grows in a certain direction. If you pet the cat in the opposite direction, the fur stands up and looks messy. And the cat gets kind of pissy, too. Velvet's the same way.

2. The pile shifts easily. Imagine trying to sew two pieces of carpet together, with the furry sides together. They would shift up and down as the pile tried to settle itself in a flattened position. The pile can slide back and forth, causing unpredictable movements in your fabric.

3. The pile can get crushed with improper pressing. Crushed pile creates these weird shiny spots on your garment, and it's impossible to get the pile to stand up again.

Now that you (hopefully) understand velvet a bit better, here are some tips that work well for me:


Cutting and Marking

*Lay the fabric out with the wrong sides together. Any time you put the napped sides of velvet together, it starts to do its shifty dance thing. Keeping the smooth sides together helps keep it in place while cutting.

*Try using a rotary cutter and mat so you don't have to lift the velvet as you cut it.

*Transferring marks: I used waxed tracing paper and marked just inside the marked lines of darts in case the tracing wheel disturbed the nap. The other option is tailor's tacks.

Pressing

*Do not EVER touch the fabric with the iron. Steam, while holding the iron about an inch away from the fabric. Use your fingers to coax seam allowances open after steaming.

Sewing

*Baste! Hand baste your seams before sewing. A double row of basting works best: one row of basting on either side of your seamline.

*Hold the fabric taut as you sew, holding the fabric out in front of and behind the presser foot.

Lining/facings

*Consider using an easy-to-sew fabric for your linings or facings. For my blue velvet dress, I lined the bodice in cotton voile. It feels nice against the skin and reduces the stress level of sewing a bit. When you're lining in slippery silk or rayon, you have two difficult fabrics to deal with instead of just one.

*For facings, don't use velvet. Any time you can avoid sewing velvet right sides together, you should take advantage of it. Find a coordinating, non-napped fabric.

Stabilizing

*Stabilize necklines with staystitching or strips of silk organza hand stitched to the neckline.

*Do not use anything fusible--interfacing should be the sew-in kind. You can use muslin if it matches the weight and drape of your fabric well.

Closures

*I prefer to do a hand-inserted zipper. If you must do a machine-inserted zipper, use two rows of basting before stitching on the machine.

I hope this was helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions about velvet.

Dress Form Review (with Discount!)

One thing that readers ask me often is if I can recommend a good dress form. I've purchased most of my dress forms second-hand, so I didn't really have a source to pass on. However! A site called The Shop Company recently contacted me and asked if I would like to review one of their forms. It seemed like a good opportunity since their forms are available online and are relatively affordable. 

They sent me a Professional Female Form with Collapsible Shoulders. It shipped in a large box and was super easy to put together. I had it up in mere minutes.

Here are the things I like about it: 

• It's very sturdy and balanced, with a heavy metal base.

• This form is professional quality and has all the marks you need for draping, patternmaking, and fitting: princess seams, armhole plates, side seams, neckline, waistline tape, under bust seams, etc. All these marks serve as guideposts when making a new design.

• The cage helps get a level hem. 

• The shoulders are collapsible so you can get garments on and off easily.

• The side seams are raised so you can feel them through fabric. 

• It's easy to raise and lower the form with the foot pedal. 
• It's pretty! I love the simple linen cover.

• It has a butt!

• The cost is great. At $225 (plus a discount with this post, see below), this is a professional form at an accessible price. For comparison's sake, a Dritz dress form is $260 at full price, though you can often get 40% off with a Joann coupon. Still, I would recommend saving for one like the Shop Company sells. The Dritz forms aren't very sturdy and they lack the marks needed for draping. On the other end of the spectrum, a Wolf Dress Form (the highest-end brand) is $850 for a similar form. I have a vintage Wolf, and I feel that the Shop Company form is close enough in quality that it's an excellent affordable choice. 

I did a little draping on the form in my lovely blue velvet to show you the creative potential of designing on a form. 

Fun!

On the flip side, here are some potential reasons this form might not work for you: 

• Pinnability. (New word alert!) This dress form can be pinned at a side angle only, through the top linen layer only. This is standard for professional dress forms, but some home sewists look for forms that you can pin straight into. If that's the case, you might want to consider this fully pinnable dress form. It's cheaper than the professional form, but you miss out on some things like the collapsible shoulders, metal armhole plates to mark the armscye, and the cage bottom. It also doesn't raise or lower. I would recommend going for the upgraded model and learning to pin sideways--it comes naturally at a certain point. 

• Size Range. My measurements put me at a size 12 dress form, and it's quite close to my figure. This range goes up to a size 20, which may be limiting for plus size sewists. 
• Adjustments may be necessary. It's unlikely that any form is going to match your figure exactly. In this case, the hips are flatter than mine, so I'm going to need to pad the form. The best way to do this is with batting, which you can cover with a spandex tube. Then you'll need to transfer the forms marks to the outside with twill tape. (Hey, I should do I post on this, huh?) Anyway, my point is that it's not one of those forms that promises that you can adjust it to your exact size in no time flat. (And, for what it's worth, I have one of those forms and found the quality to be lacking.) 

Overall, I would highly recommend this form. It's a serious professional form at an affordable price. If you're looking for something that will help you design and drape, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to you. If your primary focus is fitting/replicating a hard-to-fit figure, then this may not be the form for you. In any case, I hope this review helps answer some questions about what to look for in a dress form. 

And finally: The Shop Company is offering 10% off their dress forms to my readers. Use the code TSCgiveMe10%off on the shopping cart page. Thanks, Shop Company! 

Blue Velvet and Dotted Tulle Party Dress

The first dress of 2014! The folks at Michael Levine Fabrics in LA sent me this amazing silk/rayon velvet to play with. I've wanted a navy velvet dress for ages, so I saw this as my opportunity! My first instinct was to make a sheath-style dress. But then I came across this circle skirt in my closet . . . It coordinated perfectly with the blue velvet!

I made it back in 2011 for an article on circle skirts for Quick Stuff to Sew. (You can download the article for free here.) It had a waist size of a tiny 25", and I finally got up the nerve to cut off part of the top of the skirt to make the waist circumference bigger to fit me. Then I used the top of my recent draped sheath design to make a sweetheart-neckline bodice. I'm really happy that the skirt is getting some use again. It's a lovely tulle with flocked velvet dots, with an iridescent taffeta underlay. That's too much fabulous fabric to go to waste!

After our recent discussion on vintage pattern illustrations vs. reality, I've been interested in revisiting a super-retro silhouette, aided by the proper foundation garments. So I specifically fit this dress to be worn with a corset cincher (from Dark Garden), pointy bra (this Vasarette one has a lot of oomph), and crinoline (I like Malco Modes).

It really fascinates me how extreme the difference is when wearing era-appropriate undergarments. It shows that the fantasy New Look silhouette is partially obtainable, if you're willing to go there. It's nice to have the option to fit a dress either way. (For instance, I would never wear a performance dress with a corset because I need to be able to breathe freely to sing/play an instrument.) You just need to know in advance so that you can fit the dress with the undergarments on. (Downside: it's a huge pain to get in and out of a corset every time you want to do a fitting!)

That said, I feel slightly ridiculous wearing a skirt that huge, so I took some pictures without the crinoline too.

That feels way more wearable to me. Oh, I also made a little sash/cummerbund thingy which really only seems to work well on a cinched waist, in my opinion.

I'm trying some new stuff with my hair. My bangs are long enough again to do a psuedo-victory roll.

I have more to say on the construction of the dress (plus tips for sewing velvet!) which I will get to in another post. It's kind of nice to break these things up, don't you think?

Thanks to Michael Levine Fabrics for the velvet. And Happy New Year to you all!