Sunday, November 30, 2014

Back home

Of course it feels good to be back home again, but it was almost sad to say goodbye to everyone this morning. These were wonderful days with a fabulous group of ladies. To finish off my blog posts about this event a few of the garments as they were this morning, finished or almost finished.

Definitely doing this again next year!

Back to work tomorrow, catching up with others and back to my (ir)regular blog posts and sewing, I have so much inspiration now.

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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Canterbury – part three

Our sewcation together is almost over, one evening to go and tomorrow morning it’s an English breakfast (by tradition), cleaning up and going back home.

Who would have thought November 29 would be such a glorious day.

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A photo from outside in, it’s quite a sewing ‘mess’.

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Marta in a top she’s not happy with. a Vogue pattern that did not work as expected/hoped. Several of us tried it on but it díd not do a lot of good on any of us. Unfortunatuely trashed….

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I’ve been working on a jacket again. This time I’m using a bouclé fabric I bought years ago and has been waiting in my closet as I was too afraid of sewing it into a wadder or to the amount of time it would take to make it. I always intended to make a more or less French (Chanel) jacket from it which as most of you know is taking a lot of hand sewing and a huge amount of time. Recently I realised that I’m not that much attracted to follow the exact construction of such a classic jacket, nor do I want the classic neckline or trim. It just does not suit me and I would not wear the jacket. No use putting that amount of time into it then. Being me I am using my own vision on how I want it to be and how I want to construct it. Basically I wanted to try the quilted lining, not all the other details.

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I decided early on I wanted a lapel collar and drafted the pattern I used for my brown jacket slightly. The muslins collar is more narrow than the final garment. The sleeves are changed to a 3 piece sleeve. In this way the vent will be more visible.

 

Front piece interfaced (quilted) with silk oranza, added roll line and a stay tape at the edge.

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The collar, one side done with the trim showing between the layers. It has a little sparkle that’s a bit outside my comfort zone but I quite like it.

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It won’t be finished today, though I hope to at least sew the other collar. I did quilt the lining and most of its seamlines still have to be sewn. That I will do by hand.

I can heartily recommend a sewcation like this, spending a few days with likeminded people. You should have seen a couple of us this morning: risen early and cutting patterns, sewing in our pj’s. No one but sewing friends will understand that. No photos of that though ;)

Friday, November 28, 2014

Canterbury – part two

We are having such fun. There really is nothing like spending time with friends with the same hobby.
Here is Viv, our style icon :), working on a coat inspired by a Burberry one. I can tell you hers will be a great knock off.
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Van Gogh in the background, Breughel on the skirt. Lista helping with pinning the hem.
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Other projects in progress. Valerie, if you want a fashion show, be sure to be there next year!! I will post a few more pictures though during the next days.

I got stuck in my project this afternoon and before continuing I thought it best to take a run. From the place we are at to Canterbury cathedral and back (about 5 km in total). With this gorgeous sight just after dusk.
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Yesterday evening, part of the group.
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And one of the highlights of the weekend: the ugly fabric swap. The fabric Joana is holding got the ‘prize’ for the ugliest fabric. If you could only feel the texture and material….
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Thursday, November 27, 2014

Sewing weekend

It’s that time of the year again, we are having a sewing weekend! We loved the venue we went to last year so much that we went there again. We are spending 4 days in Canterbury with 9 sewing friends (10 on Saturday, Pauline, so sorry you can only make the one day). The group could have been a bit larger, we are sadly missing a few ladies who for various reasons could not make it this year (we MISS you ladies!!).

The house has ample space for >10 sewing machines and sergers, apart from the other practical things as two stoves, enough bedrooms etc. Yesterday we all arrrived and today we were up early and started sewing, pattern tracing, unpicking a loved garment to re-create it etc. There is no general plan, we just work on that what we want to do or want help with. No worries about at which time the rest of the family comes home, shopping, laundry and other obligations. Just the fun of sewing together, helping each other, talking about all things sewing related as well as other subjects that come up.

It’s wet weather, which adds to the good feeling of sewing inside the house.

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A little impression. I do hope to show a few finished projects later. And will have a few pictures of my muslin and a dress I finished last week but have not blogged about because the lack of photos.

In the evening, machines not yet working, but ready to start.

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Inspiration all over the place, this is only a very little bit of all we brought in.

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I’m trying on a top made by Joana, definitely copying it. She’s wearing a StyleArc top.

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This is what I’m working on, details later.

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Monday, November 10, 2014

Jacket – self drafted

I’m still going to class working on pattern drafting. The past weeks I worked on a pattern for a jacket, inspired by a Marfy pattern. It is a complicated pattern and it was not an easy task to make it. I’m very happy with the result though.

My version of the jacket has princess seams on front and back, one dart in the front (not continuing below the pocket), no side seam, welt pockets and notched collar. The original has a flap in the pocket, two darts and probably bound buttonholes.
After all work on the pattern drafting constructing the jacket was not very difficult, I’ve made quite a lot of jackets before and I decided not to use tailoring techniques, speeding up the process of construction a bit too.
     
The jacket on me, it’s difficult to take pictures with the sun giving such strong shadows and changing the color. Inside is not a real alternative, the light there is not good either in November.
I think the back could use a tiny bit of extra space at the hip. Otherwise the fit is quite good. The fabric I bought when meeting my sewing friends Pauline and Clare about two years ago. It’s a great quality for a jacket in a nice brown (not my usual color, I have to make one or two skirts to go with this).
For this jacket I made a muslin first and it needed almost no alterations, something I can’t say for commercial patterns. I want to make another jacket soon to see/feel the difference of another amount of ease (this one has only 6 centimeters bust ease, I wanted a fitted jacket). It takes a bit more time in the drafting phase, but for me that time is well spent as it did not take me 2 or 3 muslins to get where I wanted.
 
A few details: the roll line for the collar, the sleeve and the lining. The collar was made using a Threads article by Jan Schoen. This article on their website describes this method.