Storing Velvet

Ah, velvet. So lovely, so temperamental. I bought an amazing silk/rayon blend in a gorgeous mulberry color from B&J. At the store, all the velvets are kept on hangers, attached by the selvage with safety pins. For some reason, I never thought to wonder exactly why this was done.

And then I got my velvet home and stored it in a bin, as usual. One day, out of the blue, I was dreaming about my velvet and had a sudden panic: the nap would get crushed if stored folded! Of course! Duh. I rushed to my fabric stash, folded the velvet like an accordion, and hung it from a metal hanger by attaching it by the selvage with safety pins.

Velvet has a short pile that basically has a mind of its own. I like to think of it as one of those brush doormats that make you slip all over the place when you step on them. (I hate those things. Just try stepping on one in high heels. Evil!) If you press velvet directly, or even just look at it wrong, the pile will crush. And, of course, if the pile is flattened in a bin for months on end, it will stay crushed permanently. The only thing to do then is channel a Stevie Nicks look and crush the whole damn thing. I want my velvet to say Hollywood glam rather than "witchy woman", so a non-crushed pile is essential.

So there's a little storage tip for you, readers! Hopefully it's more of the useful variety than the "Duh, Gertie" variety.

The hard thing now is figuring out what to make with my lovely velvet. I was hoping for a peplum jacket, but darts and style lines don't look so great with the nap. I might just need to wrap my naked body in it, toga style, and flounce around the apartment wearing it. It's that fabulous.

An Ode to Japanese Cottons

I've been getting a lot of questions about Japanese cottons in my new online course, since that's one of my top recommended fabrics a sarong-style dress. I've been using them for a few years, and didn't realize that they weren't familiar to everyone. Well, you're in for a treat, fabric hounds. This stuff is gorgeous, easy to sew, and has a lovely drape for garment sewing.

The first type of Japanese fabric I think of is 100% cotton, with a discernible grainline. It's rather similar to vintage barkcloth, which might be why I love it so! See the prominent grain in the lovely ume branch fabric below? (Note: all of the fabrics pictured in this post are from Fabrictales.com, my favorite place to shop for Japanese cottons.)

These fabrics will often be recommended for quilting, but I use them for garments all the time. They don't seem to have the sizing that regular quilting cottons have, and they drape very nicely. Many of the prints have a vintage feel to them and are perfect for sarong-style dresses, kimono-sleeve bodices, and full skirts. Best of all, they're extremely easy to sew. I recommend them to my beginning seamstresses for their first skirt projects.

Other types of Japanese cottons you'll see are linen blends and double gauzes. These are both also nice for garments, with a little less crispness than 100% cottons. Linen blends tend to have a bit more heft and absorbency than pure cottons. Echino and Kokka are two well-known companies who make lots of of linen/cotton prints.

And lastly, double gauze. This stuff is so unusual and lovely! It's two layers of thin, cotton gauze that form a doubleface fabric. They'll often be reversible since they have two layers. They're extremely soft, and make very nice pajamas.

Where to find Japanese cottons? Lots of quilt stores carry them, and I know you can find them at B&J here in New York. For shopping online, my favorite is Fabric Tales; also try Super Buzzy. A search on Etsy will bring up lots of options too.

Are you a fellow Japanese cotton fan?

Small Screen Skirt

This is one of the skirts I made for my big TV debut! It's the Linda skirt (available at BurdaStyle) made up in a green hammered silk/wool blend from B&J. They have this fabric in an amazing range of jewel tones, including a gorgeous azalea color. I just adore this emerald tone.

The technique I was demonstrating was adding horsehair braid to a hem for fullness, and this skirt uses a super-wide 4" horsehair for a very dramatic effect. Twirly! You can read my horsehair braid tutorial here.

I doubled the width of the waistband and added a big statement button with rhinestones. 

I love this pattern; it's a great classic and extremely easy to make. A few hints: 1) I would recommend going a size down if you're going for a retro look, and 2) definitely let your skirt hang for 24 hours before marking the hem to let the bias sections settle, and 3) you may need to run a row of gathering stitches at the top of the skirt to ease it into the waistband. Also, a lapped zipper is a really nice touch.

It gets a little "sock hop" with the sweater and ponytail, so I added leopard kitten heels for a little edge. I'm also feeling sick of wearing glasses, so I took them off for this little photo shoot. Time for contacts?

This Pretty Much Sums It Up

My life, that is. Fabric, glorious fabric! It's especially appropriate that these tubs have taken the place on the wall where I usually photograph my finished garments. You see, I've been in the thick of making the patterns for my book, testing them, and getting ready to stitch them up in these lovely fabrics. So of course I haven't had a moment to make anything to actually model. I hope the sight of this fabric bounty will make up for that a little.

The super exciting thing is that B&J Fabrics is providing all the fabric for the book. They are my absolute favorite store in New York's Garment District, and they've been generous beyond belief. They're even cataloging all the fabrics I'm using online so that you can order the same once the book comes out! In the meantime, I highly recommend their Liberty of London section, which is the largest Liberty selection online.

Here's Pip guarding the fabric. She knows the good stuff when she sees it. 

So yeah. Life is good over here. What have you all been sewing?