commissioned work...

You may have noticed that I don't sew a lot for other people and almost never on order and for money. I've done a few things like that for friends but mostly, the bridal alterations job I used to do has cured me of any desire to try and make a living by sewing. 
And yet, the first sewing related thing I'm doing now, after coming back from holiday, is to draft slopers for a commission. It's for a lady who helped me get started with bouldering. I'll be making her some tops, mostly in jersey and maybe a dress as well. 
Knowing the pitfalls of sewing for other people, I have warned her that it will be a bit of a process, requiring several fittings. 

I took her measurements before I left and have finished the patterns today. One regular sloper for woven fabrics (which has waist darts, a shallow one at the front and two deep ones at the back, but they don't really show in the picture) and a zero ease one for jersey.
I'll sew them up tomorrow. They look quite odd to me. The client is a petite but very athletic lady and a great rock climber and boulderer. As a result, she has, among other features, big muscles in her back and shoulders. I guess those are what makes clothes shopping particularly challenging for her. It also made drafting the slopers a bit odd. Using the back width measurement (back width is notoriously difficult to measure so normally I look up the corresponding back width for each bust size in a chart. I just knew that wouldn't work in this case) made the back pieces substantially wider than the fronts and messed with a couple of other things. I think I've ironed out the real oddities but kept the width difference. I'm also pretty certain that the back width will have caused the shoulders to be way too wide.
Oh well, I warned her the first fitting would be about correcting slopers...

In the mean time, I'm thinking about styles which might flatter her. She seemed mostly concerned with getting a close and flattering fit but also mentioned halter necks, waterfall necklines and V-necks. I completely agree about the waterfall necklines and some V-necks can work well for a lady with a small bust (but certainly not all) but I think tops with twist details at chest height would also work really well and with autumn on the way, I think we should be looking at which sleeve shapes work for her. 
As far as I know, she is a rather sporty dresser but I don't know how much of that is out of choice.  
Any suggestions?

I really don't know...

I decided to make another top for my grandmother. I've already made her two but in those cases, she showed me the design she wanted and picked the fabric.  The first one turned out great and she wears it a lot. For the second one, she bought fabric without me. A really soft viscose jersey which was a bad match for the jacket-like design she wanted. I did my best but I'm really not proud of the result. And I don't think it gets much wear.
This time, I wanted to surprise her. My grandmother is in her eighties and has all the fit issues you'd expect from a lady of such advanced age: hollow chest, sloping shoulders, rounded back. I made fit alterations on a basic t-shirt pattern when I made the first top but it's still a good idea to think about styles which might flatter. She also prefers tops which she doesn't have to pull over her head. 

I thought some kind of wrap top would be nice. One with gathers or with a collar. I went so far as to draft the pattern for the one with the asymmetric collar.

However, fabric choice was an issue too... For some reason, a lot of the jersey fabric in my stash is grey-ish or black. Neither of those are likely to look good on her. I wanted to buy new fabric especially for this project, but I couldn't find anything suitable. Just a lot of synthetic stuff and really flimsy jersey...

The one fabric in my stash which might work was this bright blue stuff. Fairly heavy cotton jersey with a very soft, sweatshirt-like brushed back. The only problem? I had just one meter of it. Nowhere near enough for that wrap design. 

So, I made a new design. A zip front cardigan with small pleats along the center front. I had just enough fabric for that. But the only separating zipper I could find in a matching colour was this chunky plastic one... For myself, I might have gone with a metal zipper with a zipper tape in a contrasting colour, maybe red. In this case, I thought it might be better to go for the matching one. 

As it is now, the top only needs hemming and some little bits of finishing, like tacking down the facing at the shoulder seams. I can easily have it finished before I see may grandmother tomorrow evening. I just really can't predict whether she'll like it... 

Selfless sewing?

The sewing I do in my own time is mostly for myself. I think I have that in common with a lot of sewing bloggers. Sure, I also make a lot for the man in my life but usually, that's it. Apart from the occasional alteration for a family member. Or a baby gift. Or an unusual clothing need (trousers for my mother when she was waiting for her second hip operation). I've stopped doing assignments for friends (who did pay for it) after three customers because it took so much time...

Put like that, it sounds like I actually do a lot of selfless sewing but it's all about proportions. I really don't.
I'm working on something right now though. And to be honest, I'm not enjoying it.

A little over a year ago, I made a fairly fancy long sleeved t-shirt for my maternal grandmother (the same grandmother who is knitting for the whole family). She showed me a picture of the kind of style she wanted, we went to the fabric store together to buy the fabric and I made the top using Burdastyle's Lydia (a plain long sleeve t-shirt which I can't find anymore on the site now) as a base. 
Back then, I made a muslin first and had a fitting session with that. I was glad I did. My grandmother in her 80's and at that age one's body shape has really changed. Thanks to our care in fitting though, the shirt I made for her fits well and looks pretty good. She wears it a lot.

I noticed and started thinking about making another one. I just didn't know what colour she would like. When I discussed this with her, she told me she would like a top with a front closure because that is easier to get in and out of. 
This time, she bought the fabric herself and she had some different pictures of what she wanted.

And made this sketch (which is a crumpled because it has been in my bag for a while).
So far, so good. Of course, I am willing to make a garment which suits her wishes and requirements. However, the fabric, a nice double-face jersey which is burnt orange on one side and black on the other, is rather soft and drape-y (but has no vertical stretch, which is good in this case). Not at all what I would want for a tailored look like this.
To make my job easier, she wanted the front pockets to be fake. So, those are just little flaps which I will sew down later. It's just that I really don't like fake version of functional details...
Which is also why I didn't like doing princess seams in this case. 
The collar is fairly simple, just really annoying to make in this fabric. Especially if you have to unpick and re-do it. I hardly ever need to do things like that anymore but I did now. When I started on this shirt, I made a cut-on straight fabric (I had thought about making the center front double, for a clean finish but decided against that because it would cause bulk at the 'pockets' and make the front so much heavier than the back that the whole thing was likely to sag forward). It wasn't until the collar was almost finished that I realized how bad that facing would look if the collar would be worn half open. So, off it came. I made a new facing which, at its top, extends to the shoulder seam and put the collar back on. 

That's when I thought I was almost there. Just the cuffs to go on. And the hem. And buttons and buttonholes. 
It took me a while to find the right buttons (which I did before starting on this). Gran wanted mother-of-pearl but not the small ones you get on shirts. I finally found the right medium sized mother-of-pearl buttons when I was picking up my sewing machine from its repair.
And now, I tried to make a buttonhole. I started with the easiest piece to do that on: a cuff which was still separate. And of course I had stabilized it with some thin fusible interfacing for stretch fabrics. And it didn't work. Whether I tried the official 'stretch fabrics' buttonhole or a normal one, my sewing machine would not make a buttonhole in this fabric. I tried everything and when I tested it on a scrap of other fabric, it stitched those buttonholes without a hitch.
I've given up for now. I'll see my grandmother on Christmas Day, so the shirt should be finished before then. I could try layering the fabric with tracing paper under it. Or even with one of those fancy special materials they have for that purpose.... I don't know.

An alteration

I've been doing useful stuff...
This weekend, my relatives who live in London will be visiting my parents and we will meet them there. Which means I felt kind of obliged to work on and finish the alterations on the coat belonging to my aunt H.
To be fair, she left it with me on their last visit, in January and mentioned that it was fine if it took me over a year to alter it. She must have heard how long I took to take in my grandmother's skirts.... (which also, was no disaster. Although my grandmother had lost a lot of weight and was happy for me to take in six skirts, she has a lot of other ones so she didn't miss them too much).

Anyway, H is the only relative, apart from my grandmothers, who occasionally asks me to alter things for her. Like most seamstresses, I hate doing alterations but I can be swayed to do them for my loved ones. And I know that H really can't sew, unlike my mother and other aunts. And she accepts my expertise in the matter, which is nice.

In this case, she had brought me a coat which was way too large for her. H caught the running bug a few years ago, and as those things go, has lost a lot of weight since. This coat was bought just before she started running and was now... about... eh, 4 to 6 cm in circumference is the difference for one dress size, so... 3 to 4 sizes too big...
It's a fairly straight , classic design but with the usual nice, tailored details. Which, unfortunately also means that the pocket welts go through the front darts, eliminating any opportunity to take out some excess width there. The front side seams were very close to those pocket welts as well, so no luck there either. As a result of the coat's anatomy, most of the difference had to be taken out at the side back seams. I would have like to distribute it more evenly but there really was no other option.
And it was so large that even the shoulders were too wide. The combination of that with the fact that I had to take in seams which ran up to the armhole ment that I had to alter and re-set the sleeves... 
I wish I could have raised the armscye a bit but of course, I can't add material where there was none.
All in all, it's quite a job.

On the up side, it's a nice coat. Beautiful thick stable wool coating, nice not-too-thin satin lining. The tailoring is nothing special, all fusibles, but it has been neatly done. And I like seeing how exactly they've treated the shoulder and sleeve head. Not that it's news to me but, that's how you get that nice rounded edge at the top of the sleeve. 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a 'before' picture but I'll try to add one of the finished product tomorrow morning (it's too dark now). 

I'll be curious to see how the coat will fit her now. I don't think I gave any guarantees for this one and indeed, that's how it should be. This was a lot of alteration for a complex garment that doesn't really allow for much change.

First winter

Little J's winter suit is finished!
I explained a lot of its details in the previous post: modified Knippie patterns, wool coating and interlining, cotton lining and rib knit.
I have to say I really like the combination of this fairly dull dark blue fabric with the bright red. I have I bit of both left, so I may even use them together again…

I bagged the lining of both garments, catching that rib knit between the layers. At those really small hand leg and arm openings, that was really fiddly.
And of course, I had to make the separating zipper quite a bit shorter. 
The zipper, by the way was also sewn in from the inside so there is no visible stitching there, not even on the flap behind it.
All the jacket still needs is a red lace for the hood. Unfortunately, I went to four different places (three market stalls and a store) which sell notions and none of them were selling laces anymore. I would have expected at least one of them to sell the stuff by the meter, I know they used to. 
And I'm thinking only now that I should buy actual shoe laces instead. On this small size, their length should not be a problem and those will have nicely finished tips… I should have thought of that earlier.

Now, all I have to do is hope that it will fit J and he and his parents will like it.

Family sewing

After all that time spent agonizing over the details of the 1930's inspired dress, it seemed to be time for some un-selfish sewing. 

My sister's son in six months old now and looking forward to his first winter. He has a coat, but his mother requested a kind of coat suit (two pieces) which he can wear on bicycle rides (riding in a child's seat on the handlebars of one of his parents' bikes, obviously. No idea how common that is anywhere else, but here in the Netherlands, parent cycle with small children like that all the time).

And she preferred the outfit to be made from all natural fabrics. Because of that, I'm using thin blue wool coating for the outer shell, un underlining of thick boiled wool knit and red cotton for the lining. And red cotton rib knit. 

A couple of weeks ago, I sent her some sketches to find out what kind of outfit she was looking for. She liked the hood, preferred a zipper closure, in the middle and thought my idea of using rib knit to keep the wind out would be good. 

At first, I planned on drafting the pattern myself but then I realized that all the instructions I have about drafting for children are for children who are old enough to stand up and not wear diapers anymore. And my nephew is obviously younger than that. (By the way, Dutch readers who want top sew for babies would do well to look up Pieke Stuvel's Baby & co. It's an easy-to-follow how-to book with patterns for babies. I gave it to my sister (who sews occasionally) as a birthday present just before little J was born and she has made good use of it)

So, I went to the library and borrowed the 2011 collection of Knippie magazine (the children's version of Dutch sewing magazine Knipmode). 

Unfortunately, there where no baby winter coats in it but I found some patterns I could use:

I traced these two for the basic shapes. Obviously I didn't bother with the pockets, decorative stitching etc. I don't see why anyone would want to fiddle with tiny patch pockets for a wearer who can't even use such pockets yet…

I made quite a lot of changes to the shirt. I went up a size in width for the ease needed in coat, replaced the button band with a zipper and made the bottom edge straight so I could at a rib knit band.

I'm working on it now. I really hope it will fit. Baby clothes really through off my sense of proportion. I just have no idea.

I'll show it to you when it's done but I probably won't be able to give the outfit to my nephew until the end of the month.

Development and degradation

I've had to put the red bra on hold for now. I still plan on getting it right but something else had to be done first.

E. is leaving this Saturday for a three week work trip. To Shanghai. He doesn't like hot weather and temperatures over there are higher than those here, even during the current heat wave. So, even keeping in mind that 'proper' dressing is probably kind of required when attending classes, he wanted to be sure to have enough hot weather clothes.
Because we've been experiencing a heat wave here in the Netherlands this past week (and some nice summer weather before that) he's been wearing his me-made bermuda shorts and thin trousers quite a lot. And just this week he completely tore the back of one of the pairs of shorts. Not at the seam but from the corner of the (welt) pocket down half the leg. And the center front seam on the oldest pair got undone right to the zipper and to the cross seam. I thought I might be able to repair it but when I studied the fabric, I noticed it had gotten very thin at the crotch.
So now, he was down to only two pairs. By the way, let this be a lesson to anyone who considers making the occasional item for a loved one: If you really get it right, the recipient may get hooked on the look and fit of the clothes you make which will kind of oblige you to keep them coming...

 This is the oldest remaining pair of shorts I've made for E (the first one was exactly the same but when I finished those, they were too small. Which I fixed later by adding 2 cm wide strips of black along the side seams). They're not normally this wrinkled, I've just plucked them from the line and haven't ironed them yet.
It was my first attempt at making him trousers. I drafted a sloper, tweaked it and then made this from it.
I had found the camouflage print at the market and went all out on the details. Front pockets, cargo pockets at the sides and welt pockets with flaps at the back. And flat felled or hong kong finished seams throughout (to be honest, I made this just before I bought my serger/overlocker).

I found all those pockets to be too labour intensive and he didn't really need the ones on the side. In wearing, the welt pockets got damaged quite easily. Oh, and E really missed belt loops. The black shorts he tore this week were like these, just without side pockets (and with serged seams inside, rather than the more labour intensive ones). The pair after those had patch pockets at the back instead of welts. After that, there were no new shorts for a while, but I did make four pairs of long trousers using the same basic pattern (the first two were made last year, the latest one last week). These all had front pockets, patch pockets at the back and belt loops.

This is the latest pair of shorts. I made two of these on my day off, yesterday. The first in thin black linen and then, after dinner, this one in heavier linen with narrow pinstripes. This is the simplest design I could think of: same pockets as be recent trousers but no fly. Instead, I made the fit a bit more loose. Which is nice in hot weather and works well in a thin and loosely woven fabric like light linen. Instead of the normal shaped waistband, I made a straight one in pointe knit which I stretched to fit. In it, I made two buttonholes for the drawstring. 
These are ridiculously quick to make. On this last pair, I spent no more then two and a half hours, including cutting and fusing and looking for the drawstring which I had accidentally put in the drawer with the interfacing (just in case you are wondering: Of course a design like this doesn't take a lot of interfacing. I just used some fairly light fusible stuff on the facings of the back pockets, the slanted edges of the front pockets and to stabilise the place on the waistband where I wanted to put the buttonholes. Oh, and my sewing machine does a special buttonhole for stretch fabrics which works rather well). Just what I needed with a busy schedule for the rest of the week and a very clear deadline.

I would definitely not make all his trousers like this from now on, but for the height of summer, this works so well I might even consider making myself a pair like his...

Strung out

After finishing E's trousers, I started on another un-selfish project:

My eighty-something grandmother had several skirts which got too big for her. So, I offered to alter them. Like many seamstresses, I hate doing alterations. But it is different if it's for my grandmother. Who wouldn't even ask this of me.
I've had those skirts at home for a while and started to feel kind of guilty about that.
I finished one of the summer skirts. The one in the picture is the second one. I stopped there because I didn't have sufficiently matching thread for topstitching. 
And then, I ran out of steam. Work is still pretty hectic so by the time I get home, I'm just tired. I haven't sewn at all this week...
I'm not worried, I know I'll be back in the sewing room soon, just not right now.

Coat progress

Unexpectedly, I had quite a bit of time yesterday and today to work on E's coat. As a result, significant progress has been made:

This is (about) where it's at. 
I had to do a bit of puzzle-work with the facings to get this coat cut out of what I had left of the black wool coating (which I also used for E's previous coat). It's a good thing the two other people who half-requested black coats in the mean time didn't go through with it...
After cutting fabric and lining, I had to make some decisions about interfacing. And I had to find buttons. I knew I wanted to make bound buttonholes and in those are best done early in construction, so you won't have to deal with a huge slab of already-constructed garment. 
I found plain and simple, but large enough, black buttons on the market last week (a card of 12. I need 6 for this coat but hey, they're black buttons...). And as for interfacing, this lovely, fairly thick, densely woven black wool just screams out for the use of horsehair... Looking back, I can't imagine why I didn't use any on that previous coat. I still had some fusible horsehair (yes, that exists. I bought it some years ago when I was looking for the regular kind. It sticks really well and makes for a very stiff interfacing which is why I haven't used it in a lot of projects. For a fabric like this though, it's pretty ideal) which I used for the facings, collar and pocket flaps. 
Because this coat is a bit more formal and a bit more fitting than the old one, I decided to interface the upper fronts as well. For this, I used normal horsehair interfacing (also because I ran out of the fusible stuff which I originally bought in a closing-down sale) Which I stitched on by hand at regular intervals. I will also do some real padstitching for lower lapels of the collar later.

Then, construction could actually start. I made two bound buttonholes (the third one is in the 'waist' seam) sewed seams and made the pockets which hang from the horizontal seam and have only their flaps showing on the outside. I'm pretty pleased with it so far. The fabric definately helps. Thick-ish wools are the best: this one sews well, presses well and just generally shapes well. And am I the only one who enjoys the smell of pressing wool? Like clean sheep. Not to mention the smell of the horsehair. Largely made of linen, that smells like freshly mown grass. Clean sheep in a clean meadow, like a summer idylle ;)

After taking this picture, I also inserted the sleeves and made the collar so the lining is next. Not my favorite part, lining fabric is always disappointing after the nice stuff used for the outside, but definately worth it. 
I hope I can finish the coat this weekend, so I can take some pictures of E wearing it...

P.S. Just a comment for those of you reading this blog on a mobile phone or use the RSS feed: I've altered the sidebar last week and it now contains a blogroll and a list of links to all my tutorials.

A good deed

In the past few months, I've made no less than four pairs of these:

I know the photograph is horribly over-lit which makes this pair of trousers look a bit nasty, but bear with me please.

These are for my mother. (And I haven't posted about this before out of respect for her privacy. However she insisted I'd get the word about these trousers, as a good option for anyone dealing with similar issues, out on the internet.)

She's had hip replacement surgery about three years ago. A style of implant which can handle more activity than the more usual style. Perfect for the active fifty-something lady she is.

That was then. Unfortunately, this is a 'metal in metal' implant which, through use, sort of grinds itself down, releasing cobalt metal in the host's bloodstream. This causes swelling around the implant.

Obviously, she is seeing all the appropriate medical professionals and she's already booked for another round of surgery. However, that still left her having to walk around with swolen hips, abdomen and lower back for several months. Which happened to be the only department where a loving daughter could be of any real help. She asked me for trouser which could be adapted to the swelling. She was thinking about buttonhole elastic at first, but I talked her out of that. Elastic waistbands still create a pressure line which has to be unpleasant with swelling on one's lower back. Instead, I made trousers with a wide waistband made out of jersey.

What I did is very simple indeed and could work well or be adapted for anyone with any kind of size and shape issues (in fact, I've made this kind of waistband once before: for a pregnant friend. only then, I used a much higher piece of rib knit).

I drafted a pair of straight legged trousers to her current hip measurement. Of course, you could also use an existing pattern. Summer issues of Burda often include wide legged styles like this.

Take off all detail like the fly extention and pockets.

Then, take a bit off the top. The trousers I drafted were fitted to the natural waist and I took off 10 cm. Extend the legline upwards, making what is now the top of the pattern piece as wide as the hipline. Do this at front and back.

For the waistband, use the subject's current waist measurement and cut a waistband out of solid but stretchy jersey which is 10% smaller than that and 20 cm high, plus seam allowances. If you're using rib knit, go for about 20% smaller to compensate for the greater stretch of the material.

For the legs, I bought woven fabric with stretch. In fact, with so much stretch that I would never by it for anything for myself. That was a good choice, because the swelling actually keeps increasing slowly.

To sew the trousers, assemble the legs as usual, and sew the short end of the waistband together. Then you fold the waistband in half wrong sides together and pin it to the trousers, equaly distributing the excess fabric. Sew it on while stretching the waistband to fit the top of the trousers.

My mother is quite pleased with these. In fact, they're the only bottoms she is wearing at the moment and as long as she wears them with long-ish tops, a lot of people don't even notice anything wrong.

I'm posting this in the hope that it might help anyone struggling with different-but-similar issues (and I guess this method would also make very comfortable trousers for lounging about). So please, feel free to spread the word and if anything isn't clear, just ask.

Getting there...

This is a pretty bad picture, I know... I just wanted to show you I have actually been doing something.

This is what E's jacket looks like now. It will be come a casual jacket, shaped like a classic blazer. It's made from black twill and will remain unlined. I used flat-felled seams where I could and applied bias binding the edges. The shape looks weird now because the coat hanger is too small for it. I'm also not entirely sure about the top lapels. Their points may be a bit too long. I could reverse-engineer the collar the make them shorter, but I don't think I should get ahead of myself here. Let the man try it on first...

The jacket is now waiting for him anyway because we have yet to decide on a pocket style. Classic welt pockets are not an option because the jacket is unlined. I considered Carolyn's fancy double pockets but E. has something similar in an old store-bought coat and he doesn't those. And he has that typical men's habit of putting everything in his pockets so whatever kind of pockets he get, they'll have to be functional.

The poor guy is having a madly busy week at work, so I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to let him try the jacket on and discuss pocket options. It's a good thing that better weather is predicted for this weekend, otherwise I'd be worried he wouldn't even get to wear this jacket anymore, this year.

P.S. Thank you all for the great comments on my 'retro sewing' post. I've read a lot of very valid arguments. And I had no idea so many of you are drafting patterns as well. This is definately a subject I'll return to.

It's nothing yet

... but it's progress.

Last year, I wanted to make a short coat for my boyfriend. Casual, but based on a blazer block. I drafted the block and fitted and fitted and couldn't get it to work. In the end, I buckled and tried a less fitted casual coat block instead. With good result.

In spring, I revived the jacket project, this time with an unlined, casual jacket in mind. And failed again.

This week, with the unreliable weather and remembering the experience I've gained in fitting my own new blazer block, I decided to try again.

I simply started where I had left off (I had stopped cutting into the pattern at some, which was good, it would have been overly tight and useless had I made those last changes I had marked down) and this time around, I wasn't as puzzled with the issues.

I'm now absolutely convinced that Grondvormen (= Basic shapes but the book has only been published in Dutch) was first published in the 80's and the jacket blocks haven't been changed to suit later fashions.

Just like me when fitting my jacket, E in the jacket muslin looked OK at the front, just with way too wide shoulders but had endless pools of excess fabric at the back.

I know now that it's best to deal ruthlessly with those issues. I did so and here on the table is the second version of the muslin. And I think I will work with this one. It won't 'fit like a glove' but I think a (man's) jacket needs ease.

Now, I'll just have to draft a collar, decide on a pocket style and choose between the three different weights of black twill and denim I have in my stash...

For the man in my life

Do you sew for the men in your life? I do. I make shirts for my boyfriend. All the shirts he ever wears, in fact. I've made a few shirts for my younger brother as well, and a bag for my father.

My boyfriend used to be, and my brother is until this day, the sort of guy who always dresses in black jeans, a band t-shirt and army-surplus boots. And yes, they have long hair and beards as well.

My brother lives in deny of summer heat, never seperated from his black jeans, but my boyfriend appreciates lighter and even shorted trousers when weather gets hot. I've made him a some bermuda shorts last year, a pair in camouflage print and one in olive green. Based on a block I drafted for him, of course.

After each pair, I've tweaked the fit and the design based on my observation and his comments. Now, I have bought 7 meters of black twill and I plan to use it for trousers for both of us. Before I tried cutting out a pair of full length trousers (risking a significant amount of fabric) for him, I decided to test the fit once more by making him another pair of shorts.

These are knee length, with a jeans-style rise, curved front pockets and welt pockets with flaps at the back. I know they look a bit wonky on the hanger and black is a great fabric choice for hiding details, but let me assure you: they are symmetrical and I'm not lying about those pockets.

E is away from home this week, and the weather has been less than summer-y but I really hope these will fit great and he'll enjoy them when he gets back.

Sew so tiny

My boss's baby boy was born last week, so I thought be nice to make a gift. The amount of baby-boy-appropriate fabrics is my stash is rather limited, and I wanted it to be both nice and practical.

I made this (hopefully) baby-sized hooded sweater (I put my fabric scissors in the picture as a size reference).

The dimensions for the sweater itself came from the book 'Babydol' (the title is an untranslatable joke in Dutch, refering both to 'babydoll' the garment and 'fun for babies') by Pieke Stuvel (a Dutch writer and illustrator of DIY fashion books, one of which appeared in English translation)

The hood was my own addition. I drafted it using instructions from my normal pattern drafting textbook but I had to guess at the basic dimensions of a baby's head. At first, I thought it would be too big, now I worry a little if it isn't too small for the rest of the sweater.

Anyway, I hope little L will enjoy it.

Another jacket

Yeah! I can post again. Blogger wouldn't let me in for a couple of days (It also still won't let me comment on your blogs quite frequently).

Thank you all so much for your nice replies to my planning-and-explaining post. I am always interested in how other people's creative processes work and I'm very happy with your support for me and my sewing and blogging ways. I think I will devote a post to 'approaches to planning' later. And I still stand by my resolution to make another pattern available as soon as I have the time.

At the moment however, work is crazy, so on my one day off this week, I won't be writing much.

I wanted to show you this jacket, which I made for my friend J. It fits her an awful lot better than the dummy. Which it should because I drafted the pattern especially for her. She also picked the fabric and buttons and decided on such styling details as length, collar depth and pocket style and placing.

She came to pick it up on Thursday (just after I took this picture). I was a bit nervous about the final look and fit. We did have a fitting before I attached the lining, but I'm always worried about details not working out. When I put it on, one of the sides was twisting in which made me think I had made some small but terrible mistake in attaching the facing. I gave it a final pressing and when she put it on, there was no problem and she loved it (by the way, she payed me to make this jacket, so it really should what she wanted it to be). Succes is sweet.

Result!

This is just a very quick post.

As I told you before, miss R came over yesterday to pick up her suit... Well, here she is wearing it! It was a very hastily taken photograph in which she was making a weird face and the trousers seem uneven because I've pinned up the hem on one leg but I hope it shows something. Anyway, there were some small thing which I thought could have been better but she didn't notice them even when mentioned. She looked great in the suit and was very happy with it.

P.S. In response to several comments, I will put together some answers and explanations about sewing with leather later this week.

Finally finished

I really wanted to make the drape-neck top tutorial today. Really. But it's too dark to take pictures now. And today was the only day I had this week to work on this: miss R's suit.

The jacket doesn't look good on the dummy but that's because R's bust height is quite different from the dummy's.

Also in this picture: the disheveled state of my sewing room. I usually clean up after each project...

It's a long story. Over a year ago, I asked my friend, miss R, if she would let me make her a suit. As her figure is radically different from mine, I thought it would be a fun challenge. And I had the sneaking suspicion I might be able to make her look better than she does in RTW clothes.

How vain of me...

It was the start of a very long journey.

I drafted slopers. Sewed them up in muslin. Fitted them. Discussed the design (jacket, waistcoat , trousers and a dress, originally). Got a bit frustrated with her desire for a 'normal' look. Drafted patterns for the actual garments. Made muslins. Fitted them. Discussed the final design....

All of this not at all helped by the fact that R is a very busy lady. Who was working hard to get into shape at the same time. And succeeding.

Eventually, we went fabric shopping in May (dress was postponed indefinately at this stage). Fabric bought (she bought it, let's be clear about that), I sewed up the suit as far as I could without doing anything irreversable. (so: no pockets, no waistband on the trousers etc.). Then, I waited until she could come over for a final fitting.

At which I found out I had to take everything in even more.

By then, I had almost lost faith in the entire project. So it was a good thing she 'reminded' me of it a little over a week ago: I just had to get this done.

Today was the final push. Almost. I still need black grommets and a ribbon for the back of the waistcoat. And we'll pin the hem on the trousers when she puts them on with her 'work shoes'.

I'm glad it's done but I can't enjoy it yet. She has to come over and try it all on now. I fear she might have lost weight again. Or will be just too used to having clothes tight is some places (inevitable in RTW if you're not 'standard' shape, whatever that may be). I keep my fingers crossed...

Oh, and I will make that tutorial on Saturday.

Tying up loose ends

There's not a lot of interesting sewing going here, this week. It's more like tying up loose ends. I just finished this skirt.

I copied the pattern from the favorite skirt of a collegue of miss V's. Before you think I've gone crazy and am now sewing for everyone, she will be paying me. Well beyond the cost of the fabric etc. This skirt is sort of a try-out, which she will get at a reduced price. The fabric has been in my stash for over a year, and I know I cannot vouch for the longevity of this woven floral. I bought it because I loved this jaquard-like pattern, but never made it into anything because it just seemed so 'different' for me. Now, I'm starting to like it again. I may just make myself a jacket from what's left.

I'm slightly worried about the match with the jersey top though. In some light, it matches the blues in the flowers rather perfectly. In other light, it ehh, doesn't quite do the trick. I hope she'll like it. The colours in this fabric are just so hard to match (especially knowing that this lady tends to think black stands out too much...)

Random update

Hopefully, I'll get around to doing a proper post later today, however, I kind of feel like sharing assorted experiences from last week with you.

First of all, thank you so much for all your nice comments on my twist dress! Of course I'll keep you informed of other developments at that front.

Secondly, sewing for other people... Hmm, how can this be so rewarding and so so frustrating at the same time. Miss V came and went yesterday. She has managed to loose quite a bit of weight and circumference recently, forcing me to alter the dress and corset I made for her. So, both are back on the to-do pile. Argh. However, she loved the look of both, actually sort of appologized for changing shape so much and is really looking forward to these pieces...

And it's not just her, I'm also finally going to make a real start (as in, with the real fabric) on miss R's suit. I will just keep my fingers crossed and hope she will stay at her current size. Which is very good, by the way.

And then, I was helping out at M's this week and we decided we needed another dress for a fashion show for sustainable brands which is coming up this week. She pulled out an old pattern. It was a dress with a one piece body. Not one pattern piece, cut out twice, but really just one piece and sleeves. Of course, it was a free form kind of garment, but a rather interesting one. Two tucks, a center back seam and some gathering... I'm sorry I can't show you a picture, but I don't have any and it doesn't seem right to show you the fruit of someone else's creativity and hard work without her knowing it and approving.

Let's just say this is why I love to hang around there. Still so much to learn. So many other ways to look at design and pattern making. So much experience and flair...

And lastly, for now, how about some more books? Did I ever point out my love for my local library? I should. Most 'nice to look at all those pictures' kind of books and even quite a lot of pattern making ones, I don't buy, I borrow. Some of them again and again. This pile is in my house right now.

It includes biographies of Chanel and Dior, a big book of fashion prints from the 17th till late 19th century, a book on fashion theory, David Page Coffin's trouser making book, another pattern making book and this beauty: Waisted efforts by Robert Doyle.

This is nothing less than a guide to recreating period corsetry (although not the corset in the picture on the cover. that's an S-curve one and although the book mentions those, it doesn't give any information on making the pattern. this might be for health reasons, those things are supposed to bend your back in a very bad way) to size. It is intended for use by costume makers and it is utterly brillant. Just look at some pictures inside:

The book starts by having you create a 'French block', then introduces different corset shapes in chronological order and explains how to create those from the block. It also contains a lot of background information and scale reproductions of 19th century corset patterns.

I haven't made anything from it yet. I just keep borrowing it to read and stare at it all. There are always so many other, more practical things I 'need' to make... Which is also why I haven't yet been able to justify the expense of buying this book, but believe me, I want to. If you are more into corset-making than I am, and you would love to learn more about its history and draft patterns to size (although, to be honest, a majority of the instructions are, like the one above, for Renaissance-style corsets), this book is not to be missed!