Second in the series: I Love...

I am carrying on Barbara's theme of LDC members sharing things they really like.

For me, I LOVE PONTE ROMA KNIT FABRICS!

If you have never heard of ponte roma knit fabrics before Plush Addict has created a great blog post on this here. So why do I love them so much? Here are some of the reasons and the garments I have made with ponte roma knit fabrics. 

Stable Knit Fabric

If you have been thinking about trying knit fabrics ponte roma is a great place to start. It has a lot more stability than a slippery jersey and has a good weight and thickness which makes it easier to work with, both in terms of cutting out and under the sewing machine. As long as you use a ball point needle you should be fine. The fabric also does not fray which is great. 

Vogue 8667

Fit Issues

When I work with a knit fabric I find I have fewer fit issues than working with a woven as it moulds to the shape of your body so much easier and works very well with patterns that have negative ease (negative ease is when a garment is cut smaller than your actual measurements but stretches to fit).

New Look 6123

Comfortable Fabric

On a personal level I just love how comfortable knit fabrics are to wear. Ponte Romas are soft and warm and the perfect fabric for an Autumn/Winter garment. 

New Look 6735

So are there any cons to sewing with a ponte roma knit? The only thing that I have found is that  I have had varying success with finding good quality ponte roma knits that don't pill. If I am honest it is also something that happens with ready to wear clothing.

Where is the best place to find ponte roma knit fabrics? You can find this in most of the fabric markets in London such as Walthamstow Market, Shepherds Bush Market, Ridley Road etc. Fabric Land also supplies a wide range of solid heavy ponte knits at very reasonable prices here.

Has anyone else had any experiences with ponte roma knit fabrics? Which fabrics do you love or hate? 

Last chance to visit the Riviera Style exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum

If you haven't already been, scoot along to this exhibition before it closes on 13 September.  The Museum is closed on Mondays but open until 8 pm on Thursdays.  Their website gives the details of opening hours etc here
 It is not mentioned in the information that Art Fund card holders get in at half price.  Also there is a very nice cafe at the side of the museum should you arrive before opening time or need refreshment.

I loved this exhibition because of all the ideas on shaping fabric to fit the body and decoration that it gave me. The pictures that follow concentrate on women's garment but the display includes men's as well.  Before you get to the main exhibition there is  a room dedicated to the display of shoes by Rayne, a prestigous shoe makers.  Most of these are suited for a lifestyle where you are not tramping the wet streets of the city, in fact you are probably not tramping much at all, but they are beautiful things to look at.  Personally the shoes I longed for are these from the 1930's included in the Riviera Style exhibition.

I loved the way braid is used to trim these early bathing costumes.  I can see this being translated into a stylish shirtdress to wear today.

And these women's swimsuits from 1920's  show further inspiration for adding decoration to a simple garment.

Here is a close-up of one of them.

This boy's costume in knitted fabric shows a good way of stabilising knits when doing buttonholes by backing the placket with a woven fabric.

These two outfits , a playsuit from 1935 and a 1930's beach outfit could be worn today.

 There were not many swimsuits manufactured during the years of the WWII; most people knitted their own and I have a pattern for one in a book published at that time.  However this is one manufactured costume, which has the CC41 utility label, and I love it for the simple shaping, bold pattern and great colour combination.

 Here is a cotton playsuit and matching jacket from the late 1940's that is very much in line with the fashion for day clothes of the time.  I have just made a cotton jacket from a vintage pattern for a day ensemble that is very similar to this jacket here.

By the 1950's there was a lot more demand for leisure clothing, and fabric designs were so imaginative.  This blouse with cuffed kimono sleeves and narrow collar has a  matching pleated skirt and is made in a super print with scenes of produce harvesting.

This rose patterned 1950's playsuit, which also has a matching skirt, shows the variety of methods used to get a skin tight fit.  From the front you can see the princess seaming and centre front seam used to shape the bodice.

And from the back ruching is used to shape the side panels with a centre back zip to allow the tight fitting garment to be taken on and off.

 Ruching (or shirring) was a popular way of creating shape with woven fabrics using elastic tread in the bobbin.  This British cotton swimsuit from 1957 uses this and makes a garment that, elongated, could be copied to create a delightful summer dress for today.

From 1960's  I liked this set that seemed so typical of the period in shape and fabric

  And now the 1970's.  The skirt of the orange costume unbuttons for ease of dressing  and the red one is in then popular "wet-look" fabric.

And, although it is not a garment, I can't resist showing you one of the bathing hats, this one is from the 1960's.

This bikini from 1980's had a caption saying it shows how small swimwear became in that decade.  Difficult as it is to believe now, when you see me, I used to wear ones even smaller than this!

The display of contemporary swimsuits show that designers have an element of nostalgia in their creations.  Even men's swimwear has a print showing a resort in the 1960's and women's suit often have the ruched style of the 1950's.

John Galliano's design has echoes of the late 1940's ensemble in pink, a little fitted jacket and a belted suit.

 And the burkini harks back to the European costumes of the early 1900's.  There really is nothing new under the sun.

 Have you visited an exhibition that you would like to blog about on this iste?  Please contact Giselle through the Meetup site of the London Dressmakers Club for more information on how to do this.

I LOVE...

Tell the World- the Sewing World, that is- about something you really like.
The organisers hope to encourage members of the Dressmakers Club to post some blog articles.  Any member can do this, just contact Giselle or Barbarags, either in person at a meeting or send a message via the Meetup site, and we will tell you how.  I promise you it is really, really simple.

I thought of trying to persuade members to write about themselves, a new member each month but I discovered that you are so busy that it is hard to work to a deadline or you are so shy you hide your light under a bushel.  So this is a new theme, write what you want when you want, as long as it relates to sewing, about the things you love, are inspired by, couldn't do without etc.  Maybe it is a particular pattern that really works for you, your sewing machine or gadget that you think is brilliant, a shop or on-line company that has great stuff to offer, a course ( hands on or on the Internet)  that has increased your proficiency, a designer or exhibition that has inspired you, a particular style ( 1940's, Goth or such) that shapes the clothes you make or a book or magazine that gives you help or ideas.  There are so many possibilities  that I hope you will be queueing up to tell us about these things that make sewing a joy and about which you can spread the word .

To start off I am going to say  I LOVE OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS.  It is such a good way to meet other sewers in a relaxed and friendly way.  Often people say that they don't know any one else who sews and with whom they can talk dressmaking.  The monthly meeting attracts sewers of all standards and it is great to hear about and see what they are making.  You can pick up tips and ideas at every meeting, I hear people talking about fabric shops they have visited, where they buy vintage patterns. Often members bring along books, magazines or patterns that they have recently bought so you can browse and see if they appeal to you and maybe interested in getting them yourself.

At our August meeting I discovered that Celine had made the jacket and skirt that I plan to make in the future and she advised me that the fit of the jacket was looser it appeared on the photograph on the pattern packet and the skirt came up tight.  Even better for estimating how that pattern will fit me,  Celine and I appear to roughly the same size as we discovered when she tried on the jacket I had made and was wearing at the meeting.  This will give me a head start on the sort of alterations that I will need to tackle when it comes to making it myself so I am particularly glad that I went to the meeting.

You may get inspiration to tackle an item that you have always wondered about making.  At August meeting I saw an amazing corset and two beatuiful bras at a previous meeting, both of such quality that you would think they were made by professional makers.  Have you ever dreamed of making these to your own measurements?  Here is proof that you can.

Don't be afraid if it is your first visit, we are a friendly bunch and, although the meeting starts at 6 pm, we are always there  beyond 8 pm so pop in on your way home from work.  This month (August) we are sneaking in an extra meeting on Monday 24 August so come along to this one at Ev's near Waterloo station if you can't wait for the September meeting.  Check out the Meetup site for the details here

Block fusing

Isn't learning to sew just really good fun?

You don't just get to learn how to do things in the general way (and following the instructions in the pattern envelope), - no, you also get to learn how to do the same things even better!  I really love that about it: that you get to figure out as much as you want to.

It is fantastic when you come across something that makes a process easier and more accurate - saving time and nerves. That's my kind of thing!  Particularly when the "old" way led to frustration because it just never turn out that well. Have you ever found that?

The new way of doing something can even turn out to not be quite easy, you just have to know of it: block fusing is one of those things.


Have you had to cut out a collar (x 2 in fabric and once more in interfacing), possibly even on the fold and found that your collar pieces ended up quite wonky?  It is so easy to get the 'on the fold' placement slightly wrong and you end up with a collar that's too tight, too shallow, or does any other kinds of things like sticking up a bit or having one side that's gone off the grainline, or even with a kink down the middle! Horrible. There's too much that can go wrong.

I did get round the 'on the fold' issue by redrawing the full collar pattern piece but it is still so annoyingly fiddly to cut out all three pieces and then iron the interfacing shape to one of the fabric pieces. I've never been really happy with the result doing it this way.

With block fusing you iron a piece of interfacing onto your fabric first and then cut out the lower collar piece out of the fused, stiffened material (plus the upper collar piece without interfacing: you only want one stiffened layer) - it is much more accurate and so much less fiddly nor frustrating!

You want to make sure you use a big enough piece of interfacing by allowing a generous enough margin but still avoid ending up with too much scrap material - I like to cut the interfacing along one long side of the pattern piece and leave enough on the other sides to take account of any slight shifts if your tissue piece moves around a bit.

You fuse your roughly chopped out piece of interfacing to your fabric, and then place the collar pattern piece on it to cut the interfaced layer (make sure you get the fabric grainline right) - you will only need one, so do make sure you cut the other layer from just fabric, without the interfacing.

You will probably find that interfaced fabric has shifted a little and that longer edge you cut earlier may need trimming - but you do get the chance to cut out a very accurate stiffened piece overall.

I have seen this technique presented on at least a couple of blogs, so if you want to know more then these blog posts have lots of photos that you can check out.

What do you think of cutting out interfaced pieces this way?

Please leave some comments below - we would like to know that the blog is getting readers! If you have problems posting, please mention it to me at a meeting.

Member of the month - Beth

How to sew a ball gown in a bedsit without (entirely) losing your mind

 

I am fairly new to sewing and when I started I shared a large two bedroom flat with one other person....  now I live in a very small "Studio" (really a bedsit) in East London.

 

This adventure started as most of my sewing projects do… with some beautiful fabric I bought nearly eight months ago. And for the sake of full disclosure I am still working on this project. But there is a photo shoot on the 31st of May  and I am hopeful it will be ready.  I will post photos of the completed dress. 

 

 

It being an African printed canvas as I had to buy 6 yards of this beautiful gold and turquoise material, with a complex geometric pattern.  For £15 how could I go wrong? If you live in London go to Dalston market and look for the store near to the butcher selling cows feet.

 

Having so much beautiful fabric I decided to make myself a ball gown length full skirt. To put this decision into context I live in a tiny bedsit in central London so sewing something this big was always going to be a challenge but little did I know how much of a challenge it was going to be.

Also I am also a very novice sewer and the only things I had managed to complete before starting this project were a pleated skirt and some shoe bags. But fortune and fashion favour the brave, and I foolishly thought that it would only involve sewing longer seams. A lot of unpicking for accidentally sewing the pleats together happened when sewing the skirt.

 

I experimented with various ways of pleating the fabric, but as it was very stiff it looked more like a kilt than a ball gown.  My solution buy a vintage vogue dress pattern and just not sew the top bit, and add half a meter to the bottom. Turns out that this would have some interesting structural implications.

 

My first challenge was cutting out the fabric.  I discovered that the fabric was very narrow compared to others that I have bought. This meant that the gold bits would be hidden in the pleats of the dress if I used my original vertical layout, so  I opted for a vertical layout. I also had to cut from salvage edge to salvage edge. 

 

My room is only 4.5m long so I needed to rearrange my furniture so that I would have a clear path to lay out the fabric.  This was like playing solo twister! 

 

I then started to place the fabric so that the patterns would match, given the horizontal & vertical patterns in the fabric, choosing a pattern with princess seams, was not the best idea (next time solid colours only!). I thought I did the pattern matching correctly but turns out I matched on the cutting edge rather than the sewing line. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!  After much foul language, tears  and ripping out seams I got to a place that I was happy with, the patterns if not the fit.

 

The pattern was originally a dress and in altering it I forgot to take account of the weight of the fabric.  It being very heavy I needed to put some structure in place.  I originally tried grosgrain in place of boning on the outer skit, then tried to use it as casing for plastic boning. Neither really worked. I tried boning the inner skirt, but it wasn't strong enough.

In order to provide the support  that I needed I had to sew a underskirt and add a wider boning to it. Professor Pincushion has some useful tutorials. But this didn't look that great. I have now opted to sew the boning to the grosgrain then sew the grosgrain to the outer fabric. 

And this is where I have got to so far.  To do  this week: 

1) adjust fit of skirt (I have gained weight over the last 8 months)

2) finish sewing in the boning/grosgrain 

3) attach Petersham at waist 

4) attach underskirt

5) do zipper

6) hem 9m of circle skirt :( 

 

7) Find an occasion to wear this thing! 

 

What I have learned

• Buy a foam gardening kneeler (pound shop ones are good), it will save your knees when pinning and cutting fabric.
• Yes it is worth it to baste your seams.
• If you are going to be walking on your fabric to cut it out wear clean socks.
• Electrical tape is awesome for marking hemlines and holding seams together.
• Write the piece number and direction to the centre front in the seam allowance so that you can remember which piece is which when you come back to your project  after a few weeks.