Friday, January 10, 2014

What Are Your Favorite New Independent Pattern Companies?

When I look at reviews on Pattern Review there are  lots of new, or at least new to me, independent   pattern companies out there.  Years ago my mother in law was a small business counselor for Score.  She said that she got no end of prospective business owners wanting to set up pizza parlors in neighborhoods with established stores.  She would ask them what makes your  product different enough to get  people to change where they are currently buying their pizza?  That's the feeling I get when I look at a lot of these new companies.  There are an awful lot of t shirts out there and I can't help but think  what makes them worthy of my spending my hard earned dollars especially when I can pay $3.99 for Vogue on sale.  I mostly sew with Burda Style Magazine and Vogue. I have bought and sewn Hot Patterns to mixed results, but my tnt pants pattern is based on their Razer pant and my jeans pattern is from them as well. I've found the reviews on Style Arc and some of the designs worthy of paying  not only for  the pattern but the shipping from Australia.  I haven't made any of these patterns yet but they are in my sewing queue.   I've sewn a Pamela's Patterns cardigan, and one of Silhouette's knit tops but her sizing confounds me and prevents me from sewing anything else. That and the styles aren't well, stylish or current for the most part.  Not very stylish is my impression of most of the newer companies.  I don't need another t shirt or knit dress pattern that I've seen a million times.  I may be older but I like fashion and like to sew garments that are current, if not avant garde. Part of the problem for me is that a lot of the patterns are just too young for me.  But, if I was in my twenties I wouldn't be looking to sew them up either. I remember what I sewed in my twenties and thirties and it was a lot more detailed and interesting than what I see out there.  I was sewing a lot of Vogue designer patterns and there were a lot more of them back then too.  Issey Miyake when he was still doing the designs, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Geoffrey Beene.  Those were the days.  

 Here's a list of pattern companies that I found on the Threads magazine site.  Wow, I had no idea there were so many!  I eliminated all of the historical and vintage patterns. I didn't eliminate children's patterns because I am not sure what some of these companies design.  I don't sew accessories but some of you probably do.  
Which ones have you used?  Which pattern companies are worth a second look or sew?  Which patterns companies are worth the money?
CONTEMPORARY FASHION, ACESSORY, and OTHER APPAREL PATTERNS (adult and children)
Lauren Marsh Sewing Patterns



ONTEMPORARY FASHION, ACESSORY, and OTHER APPAREL PATTERNS (adult and children)
Lauren Marsh Sewing Patterns

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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Can This Pattern Be Saved?

When I signed up for Craftsy's class,  Sewing With Silks by Linda Lee, it came with a pattern for  The Sewing Workshop's Liberty Shirt.   I've gotten several patterns with classes and I  haven't used any of them.  This  isn't one I would have bought for myself either.  There are no darts or or other fitting seams which makes it not exactly the most flattering garment for someone with a DD cup bust. 
.

What looks like a princess seam is actually the stitching line for the facing.  I really hate the floppy standing collar and it would just make my short neck look shorter.  Why is it that most of her patterns are so buttoned up?  I get claustrophobic just looking at this one, never mind wearing it. But in some respects it's an interesting pattern. with an interesting shape.  The question is, can it be saved or should I just give it away to a reader who is better suited to this style?  How would you change this pattern to work for a curvy woman?
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Friday, January 3, 2014

Two Tee Shirts

TNT (tried and true) patterns are a real time saver especially when you always have to make lots of  pattern alterations.  I've made this t shirt shorter, longer (these are on the longer side) with more ease, and less.  I've made it with short sleeves, 3/4 sleeves and long.  For the most part they are pretty basic, but they fit and I can cut them out and know that they will work.  I cut a 1" sas to accommodate knits with differing amounts of stretch.  I like them looser when the knit is very light weight like this gray wool rayon lycra jersey.  This silky,  high quality knit is from B&J.  Sigrid was looking for some special pieces of fabric when she was here so we headed to B&J for  our first stop. They have some exquisite and unique pieces; some priced  in the stratosphere,  but there is a lot that is well priced and gorgeous. We both found what we were looking for. 
Python prints are very big this year and when I found this one on Fabric.com I bought 4 yards, all that they had at the time. You've seen the dress and I had enough left over for a t shirt.  But I love the color blocked look of print fronts and solid backs and sleeves. I made this one in a V neck because they are always touted as 'slimming'.  Maybe, maybe not.  But I don't like them too deep in winter because it's cold to have so much exposed chest!


 The pants are from the summer in my tnt pattern for pants,  made from a linen lycra blend from Marcy Tilton.  Certainly not for today's weather!  I need a pair of heavier gray pants to wear with this, which is actually next up on my sewing list after the sweater jacket I'm working on. The second top, or rather the third, if you count the black and white stripe Style Arc knock off, is also made with  fabric from Marcy Tilton.  It's another of those double layer textured knits that I like so much. I don't remember what the content is but it has lycra and at least some polyester.

I also made a pair of red linen pants just like these, so I won't bother to post them.

 Now for a taste of my new sewing, Burda Style 117 11/13.




 The pattern calls for ponte knit, leather sleeves and leather trim.  I'm using this beautiful double sided wool sweater knit from emmaonesock/ instead, with the striped side showing for the sleeves and the plain side for the body of the jacket.  The collar is a single layer and the inside or the striped side shows.  The trim will be black leather from a leftover skin I've had sitting for several years. More next time.

 Have a great weekend.

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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

La Mia Boutique #4 9/10 Review

Sometimes a picture isn't  worth a 1000 words. Particularly in some of the pattern magazines. Burda is certainly guilty of looking more like a fashion magazine than a pattern publication.  If there hadn't been a good technical drawing I'd never have known what this actually looked like! The picture is certainly telling me that this is more appropriate for Alex than for my curvy body. But I liked the lines of the technical drawing and I knew with some added length it could work for me.  I made a muslin for this with some really ugly rayon lycra knit. (yes, I actually bought it)  It was a softer, lighter fabric than the cotton lycra I ultimately used. Never having used La Mia Boutique I decided that making a muslin was a smart move.   I am enamored of animal prints, not a surprise huh?  I was seeing a lot python prints in ready to wear. and I scoured the internet for one in a knit.  This one came came from Fabric.com not one of my favorite sellers, but this is a nice quality with good weight.  The biggest issue I had with it, and I have found this to be common in cotton lycra knits, is rolling at the cut edges.  This can make it a pain to sew; lots of pins at the edges is the only way to sew it easily. 


Were the instructions good? I have no idea since I don't speak Italian. I never bother translating because I find the translation nearly as incomprehensible as the Italian.  It's really good way to become less dependent on written instructions. Even when they are in English, as with Burda Style they aren't very good.  I write a construction order to make sure that I do things in the most economical and intelligent way.  Of course this doesn't always work, but it gets me thinking on how I want to proceed.  This was really a very simple first pattern to make with La Mia Boutiqu

Does it look like the original?   As you can see in the photos, it's not really easy to tell what it looks like.  But, I like how it came out and that's all that matters. Actually, looking at the photos I would make it a little shorter and peg the bottom in a bit more. I still may do that.  I wore this bare legged and with gray wedge sandals which I think that it looked better styled that way.

Changes I made  Obviously I lengthened it.  I made a vertical fba, using my upper bust measurement for the neck and shoulders and the amount of negative ease I wanted at the bust.  This depends on how much stretch there is.  I also don't want to make the midriff area tight, so I adjust the bust accordingly and ease into increased width at waist and hips. I always add an in case seam allowance on the side seams so that I can adjust the fit. It allows for difference in stretch  among knits. The pattern magazines don't have a stretch guide like the big 4 do.   There were no markings for how much to gather the side. I made an educated guess. I used narrow elastic for the gathering because when I tried to use basting stitches, the curling was just too difficult to control even with wider seam allowances.

Would I make it again? Probably not since I've got a lot of dress patterns I want to make and I don't wear dresses all that often. 

This was made back in September to wear to a luncheon honoring my MIL.  She's 93 years old and the Asheville, NC. YWCA honored her, along with two other women as a Woman of Influence at their annual luncheon.  That she certainly is.  Her list of accomplishments is way to long to list here.  


 
La Mia Boutique is available from Around the World Fashion Magazines   in both single issues and by subscription.  I was in the store in September and they had a lot of older issues and I think they had this one if you are interested.  Give them a call and ask.
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Thursday, December 26, 2013

I'm Back

Sometimes the longer you put off doing something, like writing this blog the harder it is to get back to it.  I wasn't sewing a lot and I not one of the patterns I posted in my last blog post got sewn..
Ah well, there is always this spring but in the meantime I have done more sewing this fall.  I have some more pieces to photograph but none of it was very difficult or challenging.  I did finally make a dress from La Mia Boutique which was only challenging because I don't read Italian.  More about that when I post it.
Mostly I used my tnt patterns. I've used this Silhouette Giorgio's top so many times that it's become a tnt pattern.

 This is a double layered knit with the outer layer cut to reveal a sheer black knit attached underneath. I'm always looking for unique fabrics like this one from Marcy Tilton.  The pants are from my tnt pattern, much altered from the original wide leg Hot Patterns Razor Sharp Pants.  The original is a fly front faced pant; mine has a fly front and a straight waistband. I've narrowed the leg down here  and cropped it a bit.  The fabric is a light matelasse in a stretch blend from Emmaonesock.  Posing in my new front garden this fall you can see my husband's handiwork in the stone path made from recycled bluestone salvaged from a client's former patio.  The blue plant on the left is Geranium Rozanne, a newer hybrid that blooms all summer long. Really.  I planted it blooming in May and here it is October still blooming.  



Jump ahead to Thanksgivikah otherwise known as Thanksgiving and Chanukah. No, this is not the Style Arc pattern. I had just ordered some patterns from them. When they posted this as the freebie of the month  I really didn't have the budget to order more patterns so I used my tnt t shirt and cut it apart.  It was fun to do  and I like wearing it.  The top fabric is from Emmaonesock, a beefy rayon lycra jersey.  I've been making my sleeves longer than normal because I am tired of having rayon shrink more and making my sleeves too short, but I may have overdone it here. 

If you find wool crepe fabric hanging in your closet in a cleaner's bag that you have no recollection of buying or having had steam shrunk is it free?  Seriously, I found this lovely wool and lycra crepe in the hanging portion of my fabric closet and made yet another version of my tnt pants.  I underlined it to the knee with a stretch silk remnant.   I sewed the darts on lining and outer fabric before basting them together. Then I treated them as one.  I lengthened the cropped pattern and narrowed the pants a bit more.  I've been using cotton and rayon petersham  from Judith M. It's stiffer than the 100% rayon I've gotten from Pacific Trimming and works better as a facing for my waistband.  It's comfortable and stable. I do add some mid weight interfacing to the outer band.

My children were both visiting for Thanksgiving and it was nice having them both here at the same time.  Alex cleaned out more stuff from her room and my dh packed 4 boxes of books to send to Texas. She needs a few more bookcases before they all get sent.
Here is  another of the Vogue 8815 blouses that I made her  for Chanukah. This time it has the usual cb invisible zipper.  I also  used self trim for bias binding as I did fir the silk top I made her last February. 



Unfortunately  none of the pictures were very good.  It's  cotton with woven circles  from Emmaonesock.  Lily likes it too.

More to come. I've got the La Mia Boutique dress and 2 more tops to photograph.
Have a great New Years!
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Friday, May 10, 2013

New Patterns

The recent BMV sale was a boon to my pattern stash, or a glut, depending on how you look at it.
I was really surprised that Vogue managed to get it's sold out Marcy Tilton and Sandra Betzina patterns back in stock for the next sale.  This is what I picked up.

I cannot wear this as fitted as this, but Marcy wrote a blog post on the dress and suggested adding ease so that it  just skims the body.  I also will add sheer sleeves to this I think. Sleeves at any rate.


I like the lines of this coat.  I do think that I may play with it a bit.  It's a bit too long for me I think and I don't know if I like the side slits.  It calls for yards of double seam binding which I don't love. I do  love to sew  a Hong Kong finish on seams so I'll do that instead.  Kenneth King, in his new Craftsy class shows a very nifty way to make lots of yards of bias  strips easily.  I just can't find the right fabric for this. I want it in a color that will go with my neutrals. At first I sent for lots of metallic linens, but they seem too much for daytime.  Maybe if I can find the right yellow.  Royal blue, or a marine or light navy  is another options  Question, for those of you who saw this coat in person at PR weekend.  Did she say why she used bias sleeves?  It would save a lot of fabric to change them to straight grain.  

I've never been into crazy pants, but these look really wearable.  I have a lot of yardage of black rayon lycra knit that I bought at Metro a few years ago for a nightgown and robe I never made. It's light weight but these should be roomy enough for it at least for a muslin.  
The other dress bottom in this pattern is the one they chose to make up and it's god awful.  But this one is perfect for a summer linen dress. I've got some acid green linen that would work perfectly for this.  Yes, readers a color!  I bought it at Waechter's in Asheville about 3 summers ago. Time for  me to use it.  

 Finally, my first acquisition of Style Arc patterns is here.  I bought the Marita dress for some snake print jersey in my stash.  Yes, now  have two snake prints.  Not the cotton lycra one I showed last time, but a rayon lycra from a sale at Fabric Mart. When?  Long enough ago to not remember I had it when I bought the cotton piece.  It's a different color way at least.

Did you know that instead of telling you what kind of fabric to use that they include a sample fabric?  Great for beginners who don't know fabrics yet.  This is supposed to take 1 hour.  We'll see.  I also got a grading from them which will be helpful in enlarging the hip area. I also bought a blouse and got the free April blouse as well.  I like this month's freeby but I really need to wait until I make this up before I buy any more.  Burda was abysmal this month, so nothing gained there. At least I've got these lovely new Vogues to sew.

That's it for now. Hopefully the next post will actually have sewn by me clothing. 
Have a great weekend.
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