I am finished with the Koos class, but not finished with the jacket.  It’s not because of the pattern, though, it’s because of some fabric I used that wouldn’t cooperate.  The class was very fun, and the coat is coming along.

I haven’t been blogging as I go because sewing for eight hours a day wipes me out.  When I get home from class, I am totally exhausted. It made me think of the statue of the garment worker in New York City and what it must have been like, working in a sweat shop bent over a sewing machine 12 hours a day, seven days a week.  Hard work, indeed!

This Koos pattern is pretty amazing in so many ways.  The most interesting part is the sleeves, though, and the way Koos made the sleeve seam curve around the sleeve on the diagonal.  The other appealing part of the jacket is the fact that the coat is really one major piece that becomes the jacket lining, and then you place smaller pieces on top of it to make the design.  The way Koos designed it, you could easily put any shape you want on the main piece to create your own unique design.

Here is the sleeve.  You can see how the seam curves around diagonally:

**My sewing instructor, Marla Kazell, took a class from Koos, himself, to learn how to construct the jacket, and the way he constructs it is very different from the Vogue pattern instructions.  Koos adds 1/2″ seam allowances to his patterns, then lays out the main pattern piece and glues the individual design pieces on top of the main piece, and then sews on the bias tape.  Vogue added full seam allowances so that you can sew the individual pieces together before adding the bias tape.

**Another change that Vogue made to the pattern was to put some of the pieces on the straight of grain and some on the bias.  The Koos pattern has each center back on the bias.  I’m not sure why Vogue would make that change, since you would want the back on the bias for the drape effect.

In my sewing class, we put all pieces on the bias and we glued the pieces on, which meant that we had to trim some of the seam allowances off.  There are options to glueing.  One option is to use a permanent glue (which is what Koos uses), which will give your jacket more body.  I didn’t want that look (I wanted my jacket to drape more) so I used the Sulky Temporary Spray adhesive, which was the good news and the bad news.  The good news is that the jacket will be drapier, the bad news is that the pieces don’t stick very well, especially if they are silk.  Most of my pieces were wool, but I did have a nasty little piece of silk that caused me CONSIDERABLE trouble.

If you use the temporary spray, you will need to add stitching (like quilting) to hold the pieces together.  Then you will need to pin, pin, pin, as well.  Here is a picture of my jacket at the stage where I had finished glueing and was beginning to pin bias strips on the jacket.

I forgot to take a picture of the lining, but it is the same shape as all the top pieces put together and is laying underneath these pieces.  As you can see, the piece at the hemline is actually two pieces that are sewn together at the center back, then the piece is sewn along the hemline to form the hem.  That piece is then turned and glued to the lining, as are the rest of the pieces, overlapping by about 1/2 inch.  As I said before, I had to trim some of the seam allowances away, since Vogue added them to their pattern.

Here is how the back turned out:

By the way, I used an extra small size.

So now, I have the basic jacket put together, one sleeve sewn on, and tons of things (like Hong Kong binding) left to do.  I’m not sure how much of this I’m going to get to until after Christmas, but I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

**These paragraphs were edited after the orignal post.

I recently decided to make some faux fur infinity scarves for Christmas presents this year.  I haven’t made an infinity scarf since the two I made for my Italy trip last year.  I thought it would be easy to sew a few scarves together quickly.

After several tries and several bouts with the seam ripper, I decided my instructions from last year were not very clear.  So, I’m revising the infinity scarf instructions, and this time I hope they are easier to follow.  Here are the steps:

This is 1 1/2 yards of fabric, cut to 14 inches wide.

1.  Choose a piece of fabric that is at least 1 1/2 yards long.   The width of the piece is dependent upon the thickness of the fabric.  For example, last year I made my silk scarves with fabric that was 60 inches wide, and they were quite chunky.  If I were to make those scarves again, I would cut the fabric in half to 30 inches.  I think that would make a nice silk infinity scarf.  But, since faux fur is so much thicker, you would need a narrower piece.  My faux fur was about 56 inches wide, and I cut it into four pieces, each 14 inches wide.  So, you have to play around with the width a little bit, depending on the type of fabric you are using.

Folded in half lengthwise, right sides together

2.  Fold the fabric piece in half lengthwise, right sides together.

This is one end after it is stitched.

3.  Beginning about 4 inches from the end, stitch along the open edge, using a small seam allowance (about 1/4 inch).  Stitch to about 4 inches from the other end.

This is the piece with one end shoved into the tube to the other end.

4.  Sewing up the edge creates a tube.  Now take one end of the tube and push it into the tube until that end reaches the other end (see the picture above).  Now the two ends are right sides together and can be stitched from edge to edge using a small seam allowance.

This is the end you will stitch closed.

5.  Once you have sewn the end together, you will have a hole in the scarf.  Turn the fabric right side out through the hole.

This is the hole in the scarf before it is turned right side out.

This is the hole in the scarf after it is turned to the right side.

6.  Finally, hand stitch the hole from the right side.

Hand stitch the opening to close.

I hope these instructions are easier to understand.  Enjoy your infinity scarves.

While I’m waiting to begin the Koos jacket, which is part of my winter 6 pack, I decided to make another top from this pattern.  If you remember, I made this top in a wild and crazy (for me) rayon knit for the 6 pack.  I really loved the way it turned out, so I decided to use my precious Missoni knit from Emma One Sock to make the next one.  This is not a top-of-the-line Missoni.  It is polyester, which I really hesitated to buy, but I’m so glad I did.  It really doesn’t have a poly feel.  You would probably guess that it is a cotton/rayon type knit.

The knit is fairly loose, so I decided to reinforce on the front and back shoulders (since it’s a raglan sleeve) and along the neck edge:

I had to lower the horizontal seam on the bodice. I think anyone who isn’t very flat-chested would have to do the same. Otherwise you will end up with a seam running across the middle of your boobs. I lowered the seam by 2 inches, which might have been a bit much, but it looks fine. Here is the finished top:

This is a comfortable top and I will probably make it again.  I especially like it in the sweater knit, because it works with a “beefier” fabric.

My focus this week is in finding the chocolate binding for my Koos jacket, and altering some clothes, since weight loss has me looking baggy and saggy these days.

Koos class starts on Thursday .

Mood was a must on my travels, but it was hard to find.  If you are ever in the area, looking for Mood, just know that it is in a nondescript building on the 3rd floor.  There is no sign, unless you look up towards the 3rd floor windows.  This is what it looks like from the street:

See, no sign.

Here are some random interior shots of Mood, including the precious doggie, who was running around like a bat out of hell the whole time I was there:

Looking in from the elevator

Yes, lots of fabric (on two, large floors)

He was pretty cute!

And, finally, here are the fabrics I have chosen for my Koos coat:

I am going to use a dark chocolate binding to delineate the different fabrics. I wanted the colors to be the same, but the patterns and textures to be different. I’m hoping the brown binding will make it pop.

Included in the fabrics are a wool herringbone, a wool stylized plaid, a wool tweed that has sparkles, and a silk.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to visit the Garment District. It IS a bit overwhelming, so if you are planning a trip, make sure you have a list of fabrics you want to buy. Also, try to set aside at least two days for the district. The first day I just walked around in a state of total disbelief and confusion. It wasn’t until the second day that I could finally make some purchases.

I’ve just completed Vogue 8120, and yes, I made a few mistakes (shhhhhhh).  I made the white view (3/4 sleeves), but with buttons.  Here is the completed top, worn with my Vogue 8435 skirt:

I used a pattern that went from size 6 to 12, which I really hate because my hips require a size 14.  I wish they would just put all the sizes in one envelope.  I would even be willing to pay more for a pattern with all the sizes.

I decided to use the size 6 through the neck and shoulders, but I still had to do a narrow shoulder adjustment.  This was complicated by the fact that the top has armscye princess seams, and I wasn’t sure how to do a narrow shoulder adjustment with these seams.  That, and having to grade up to a size 14 at the hips led me to do the unthinkable…I made a muslin.

I’m glad I made the muslin, because the adjustments were pretty easy, once I could see what I was dealing with.  I’ll never say “I never make muslins” again, but I WILL still say that I hate making them.

This fabric is either a viyella (cotton/wool) or more likely a wool challis.  I decided to use french seams, and I even did them on the armscye:

I love this blouse, and will probably make it up again in white cotton.  It would be the perfect white blouse.

I had been looking for a cowl neck that wouldn’t fall off my shoulders, and many people recommended Vogue 8634:

I made the middle view with 3/4 sleeves:

I liked this top so much, I made it in a sweater knit, as well, which I will show you on another post.

Both of these tops go with the Vogue skirt I made for the six-pack.  So, I have three pieces done and three to go.

Some of you asked me to post a picture of my jacket with me wearing it, so here it is:

I included a side view so you could see that it is not a swing coat, like the envelope would have you believe.  It’s okay with me, because I love the way this coat turned out, but if you have your heart set on a swing coat, this is not it.

I am on my way to New York City tomorrow to go fabric shopping for the Koos Coat that is a part of my six-pack.  I’ll have lots of NYC pictures to share when I get back.

The funny thing is that I had just purchased two pieces of fabric to test my newfound color skills.  Those two pieces, plus some oddballs I’d had in my stash for years, will make up my Winter Six-Pack.  Here are the fabrics:

The top piece is a brown wool gabardine I might use for pants.  The second piece is a viyella print (believe it or not) that I found at a local fabric store.  The third piece is wool jersey for the skirt and cardi.  The last piece is a rayon knit I’ve had in my stash for a few years.  The fabric that isn’t here is the jacket fabric.  I’m making the new Koos jacket and am still working on the fabric for that piece:

This is the plan:

1 jacket (in multiple shades of brown)

1 skirt (in a rust wool jersey)

1 cardi/vest-type thing to go with the skirt (the same wool jersey as the skirt)

1 woven top (the multi color viyella)

1 knit top (in a rust, orange, and brown knit)

1 pants (brown wool)

The first piece is actually finished.  It’s this out of print Vogue Woman pattern:

Vogue 8435

I hesitated to pay the price for this pattern, but it’s a real sleeper.  I saw it on a fellow sewist at sewing camp and had to have it.  This is now a TNT pattern for me, so I’m thrilled I bought it after all.  Here is my version:

The pattern calls for a stable knit, so I made mine out of a wool jersey.  I have a bit more of this fabric left, and want to make something to go with this skirt.  I could use some help with the selection of the coordinate.  Here are some options:

Marcy Tilton for Vogue 8779:

I think the long skirt with the short swing jacket will look a little vintage.  That might work.  On the other hand, are the proportions right for that look?  And, if I make this jacket, I have to deal with putting a separating zipper in a knit.  I’ve never done that and this fabric is a nightmare to rip out!  Ask me how I know.

Here is another option.  It’s the new Katherine Tilton vest, Vogue 8777:

I love the back detail of this vest, but will the proportions be right with the long skirt? Will the whole profile be “long and skinny”?

Would love any feedback on the cardi/vest piece, or any other suggestions you might have.

You see, I have a color problem.  I’m not exactly color blind, but I just don’t see color the way others do.  I’ve figured this out over the years as friends would tell me I looked great in something horrid that I found in the back of the closet, and I would look, aghast, in the mirror, thinking they were crazy. How many people have told me that I am a “warm tone” person, when I know in my heart of hearts that I am cool?

So, I bought Color Me Beautiful and went through it intensely, pen and paper in hand.  One part of the book struck me the most, and to this day it’s the only part I remember:  If you have a gray ring around the iris of your eye, you are most definitely a “summer”.  That would mean that I look best in cool tones.  Yay…I knew it!  For years I dutifully carried around that little folded-up color chart in my wallet, waiting for a shopping opportunity.

I have struggled with color ever since.  Why doesn’t anything look good on me?  Oh, every once in awhile I get lucky and try something on in a store that looks “wow”.  It would usually be outside my color zone and I would just shrug my shoulders and carry on.  But, when you sew, the color problem is intensified.  You realize that you can’t try the clothes on in the store under that glorious store light that makes everyone look wonderful in their worst colors.  When you sew, you have to take a leap of faith that the final garment will not only look good in the fabric, but that the whole thing will look good on you.

One disaster after the other, and too many wadders later, I started losing faith in my color scheme.  I thought I looked good in red, but not anymore.  What about pink?  That used to be my best color, but it looks awful on me now.  And camel?  Is that in the “summer” color zone?  I became so confused that I started wearing only two colors:  brown and navy.  They were safe.

I recently went to a sewing camp, and after I got to know these ladies well (as you tend to do after five, eight hour days of sewing), they sweetly and subtly let me know that I was wearing the wrong colors.  Most of these ladies had little color palettes that were made just for them.  They could take these palettes to the store when fabric shopping, and be assured of selecting the right colors.

I HAD to have one of those little palettes, so a fellow camper and I made an appointment to have the color specialist, Ethel Harms, work her magic on us.  And she did.  Here is my color palette:

Yes, I’m a medium autumn, with warm undertones.  So to anyone in my life who has told me I’m an autumn, and to whom I have argued that I am NOT an autumn, but a summer…I apologize.  I’m just not very good with color.

After my appointment with Ethel, but before I actually got the palette, I went fabric shopping and picked out something I thought would fall into my color palette.  This is what I bought:

I don’t know if you can see from the picture how well it fits with my color palette, but it does.  And the print looks fabulous next to my skin.  This is a print I would never in a million years have chosen before.

If you are a sewist, and are color insecure, I highly recommend having a color analysis done.  It will not only save you wadders, but you’ll end up looking fabulous!

Oh…and that gray ring around my iris?  It’s actually green.

I was six years old in 1954 – a long time ago.  I never thought I would want to go back to that era’s style, but when I saw this jacket, I just had to sew it.  Of course it was out of print, so there goes $25.00.  I’m glad I purchased it, though, because it made a wonderful jacket that I’m sure I’ll wear a lot.  Here is my version:

Buttoned Up

Back

Opened

Lining

This is my first “advanced” pattern, and I’m very pleased with the way it turned out.

I had two big challenges.  One was learning how to make bound buttonholes.  I must have ripped the buttonholes out at least five times each before I got the hang of it.  Lesson learned:  make a few practice buttonholes before you attempt to forge right into your final piece.  What was I thinking?  It turned out well, anyway, and I now know how to make a bound buttonhole.

The second big challenge was straightening out a rather crooked and ripply hemline after I topstitched it.  I owe a rather large piece of chocolate to my wonderful sewing instructor, Marla Kazell, for getting me through this part (and all parts, really).  The main thing that Marla has taught me is how to “feel” the fabric until you determine where it doesn’t feel right so that you can adjust.  Marla is known by her students for having “magic fingers”.  I’m hoping some of her magic will rub off on me.

The fabric is a gorgeous piece of navy camelhair that I purchased on sale for $9.99/yard from FabricMart.  I lined it with a rather abstract print silk charmeuse.

I’m pretty sure I’ll make this jacket again someday.  It really is a timeless piece, and it went together very well.

I’m using this heavy stretch cotton, stylized paisley fabric that I got from Marcy Tilton a few years ago:

It’s difficult to tell on the computer screen, but the colors are dark brown, navy blue, and light gray.  I’m going to top stitch with a gray to somewhat match the gray in the fabric.

Most of the things I sew are less fitted than this jacket, so I’m learning a lot from this very slow process.  I always start by measuring the flat pattern at shoulder, waist, and hips.  I have very narrow shoulders, so normally I will choose the smallest size (usually an eight) to fit in that area.  Even then, I will have to make a narrow shoulder adjustment.  I use to do a full bust adjustment, but discovered that if I simply go out a few sizes under the armscye (usually to a 10 or 12), it works better for me.  For most of the knit tops I sew, those two adjustments are enough.

This time, I am working with princess seams, which is new to me.  I couldn’t decide whether to adjust the shoulder from the armscye, or to take in the princess seams.  I was worried that the 1 1/2 inch adjustment I had to make would put the princess seams too close to the shoulder seam if I adjusted at the armscye.  I posted this dilemma on Stitcher’s Guild, and AnnR came to the rescue.  She had made the same jacket and took in the princess seams to make the narrow shoulder adjustment.  So, that was the first adjustment I made.  I might add that Nancy Erickson, on the same post, thought that 1 1/2 inches would be too much to take in at the princess seam, and suggested I take half from the princess seam and half from the armscye.  Armed with these two opinions, I chose to take all from the princess seam.

Next, I pinned the front and back pattern pieces together and tried it on.  I noticed that there were two points that didn’t match, the bust point and the waist.  I’ve never noticed this before, but I knew I couldn’t ignore it (much as I would like to). The crazy thing was that the bust point was too low and the waist was way to high.  Ya gotta love body oddities.  So I had to split the pattern (both front and back pieces) in two different places to make the adjustment – just below the armscye to make the bust point adjustment, and just above the waist to make the waist point adjustment.

I’m almost embarrassed to show my pattern pieces after the adjustment, but here is the naked truth of my sewing life:

As you can see, I don’t always trace the pattern before I make adjustments, but I usually trace the final, adjusted pattern piece.  I figure, if my body changes, it’s better to go from the traced pattern piece that is always going to fit me through the shoulders, then I can just adjust the parts that are going to change with time.

So after I draw all of the cutting lines on the original pattern piece, with adjustments, I then cut all of the seam allowances off.  It’s just easier for me to see the pattern this way.  At this point, I deal with it as I would a BurdaStyle pattern.  I trace it off, then add the seam allowance with my Olfa rotary cutter with seam gauge.  If I were a really great sewist, I would thread trace the seams instead.  Maybe some day.  Here’s the final, adjusted pattern pieces.

Of course, this is just the front and back side pieces.  I had to alter the front and back front pieces in the same way.

Now I’ll need to go through the facing pieces and see what needs fixing there.  More to come.

I took two of Katherine Tilton’s classes, The Arty T and Using Raw Edges.  I’m going to start with the raw edges class.

I remember the first time I sewed Vogue 8497, I didn’t realize it had raw edges.  I finished it and hated it!  I just couldn’t wrap my mind, or my style, around raw edges!  I guess when things are really different, it takes me awhile to get accustomed to it, not that I would ever say I’m rigid – I actually consider myself quite flexible (a wonderful teacher-trait) :=). But I guess I’ve been pretty traditional when it comes to style, and now that I’m retired and can wear anything I want, I’d like to break out of my mold a bit.  Nothing too radical, mind you, but a few raw edges here and there will NOT kill me.

Katherine’s idea of raw edges can be pretty radical.  She will just throw odds and sods of fabric on garment edges, and it turns out wonderful.  That would never work for me.  But I will say, she did inspire me.  Here are some examples from her website:

There are raw edges at the bottom of this Vogue 8691 T-shirt.  It’s hard to tell, but I think the vertical piece on the front has exposed edges, as well.

I’m not sure what the above pattern is, but this cardi has more raw edges than you can believe.  Isn’t it cute?  This is one of those garments where she just puts pieces of fabric in different places…and viola!  Looks easy, huh?

I love this cardi!  Check out the raw edges on the bottom and the top (and probably the sleeves).  Katherine will sometimes use the role of the fabric as a natural finish on a neckline.  Also, she will use a double fabric treatment for style and warmth.

Katherine and Marcy both use tule or netting for edges, so I bought some at their expo shop.  I washed it today, along with some other fabric that will go with it.  We’ll see what I come up with.

In the Arty T class, Katherine showed us that you COULD combine fabric that you really wouldn’t think would go together, to make beautiful garments.  What I took away from that class is that fabrics will work together if they have at least one color in there that sort of matches.  Mixing patterns on fabrics adds interest and distinctiveness to a homemade garment.

The last class I took at Sew Expo was a class on using my Babylock Serger.  I have an Imagine, which doesn’t have a coverhem.  In this class, we used an Evolution, which does have a coverhem.  Boy, is that baby easy to use.  I love my Imagine, but I am now officially coveting the Evolution.  NO, I WILL NOT BUY IT!

Speaking of buying things, after much deliberation and research, I purchased this Naomoto HYS-58 gravity feed steam iron:

I’m very excited about this purchase, which I thought I would never say about an iron, lol.  I now must locate an IV stand to hold the water container, then I’m set.  Press on!