Bound Buttonholes, Welt Pockets, and Other Perilous Details

I had a weird experience the other day.

I was at my grandmother's house and she had a department store catalog on her sofa, so I was flipping through it absentmindedly when a perturbing trend stood out to me.



Wrap Coat

                                Open Wrap Coat

...this looks like a glorified robe!














                             

Oooooh look, it's a button!!!

Are we seriously at the point where even ridiculously-priced department stores are so cheap that they don't even want to put proper closures on outerwear?!?!

Hence, the very simple reason I have spent the last week sacrificing my time, my eyesight, and my fingertips to my latest sewing project: If I don't make myself a coat with respectable buttonholes and pockets, there's no way I'm ever going to find one in a store!

I'm currently working on Vogue 1419, a Ralph Rucci coat pattern that features nearly every painstaking and exquisite detail available to a coat--particularly, mitered corners, bound buttonholes, welt pockets. All of which are a little tricky and nerveracking. In general, I think anything that requires a seamstress to cut into an already-assembled garment without being able to preview the final look is guaranteed to be tricky, not to mention nerveracking! (P.S. Take a look at the finished coat!)

Now I've never done any of these techniques before, so I'm teaching myself as I go along and my coat isn't quite done yet. But I thought I'd post on the techniques I've been learning so you can see what I've been up to lately!

DIY Cake Stencil Out of Stuff You Have Sitting around Your House!

Cake stencils are a really intricate, professional-looking way to decorate your confections quickly and simply. This tutorial is going to teach you how to design and make homemade cake stencils out of stuff you have lying around your house! Getting rid of junk AND beautiful dessert? Win-win ;)

What is a cake stencil? 
They're a perforated piece of plastic that you use as a template to paint/sprinkle a design onto your cake. They can get super intricate!

Picture courtesy of Baking Pleasures

I usually put mine on top of the cake and then sprinkle some sort of powder--like sugar or chocolate--over it, leaving a really beautiful design on the cake!

Design in powdered sugar

Design in Cinnamon

Here's how you do it!

Skirts in Seconds: Square Skirt Pattern Generator!

I've got a special present for everyone today!!!

Lately I've been working on a new project: teaching myself some computer coding! Now when I write my blog I can do fun things like use fancy font or give you a magic cursor right here. Whoo!!!!

Naturally, as soon as I unlocked my hitherto unbeknownst computer-harnessing superpowers, my first thought was to figure out how to use them to make more clothes faster. (I should say, to help YOU make more clothes faster, because writing this program definitely took longer than making a skirt ;) )

If you've been following my blog, you'll remember that near the beginning of the summer I made a dress featuring a square skirt of a specific waist measurement and length. A little while later I wrote a tutorial explaining how to put together a square skirt to your precise specifications using geometry and a calculator.

Today, the computer is going to do it all for you ;)

Go on, check it out! It's pretty cool (if I do say so myself).

Square Skirt Pattern Generator

Waist Measurement:
Waist Ease:
Desired Maximum Skirt Length:
OR Desired Minimum Skirt Length:

Knocking-Off Marfy, Part 1 (featuring MY FIRST SELF-DRAFTED PATTERN EVER!!!)

If you are not yet acquainted with Marfy, here's the link. Don't worry, my blog will still be here in two hours after you're done browsing ogling.

 

Some of my favorite Marfy designs. Their dresses (daywear, evening, and even bridal) and jackets are amazing.

Now I have to stop extolling Marfy because otherwise I'm going to run out of room for the actual part where I sew things.

...Ok maybe just one more mouth-watering picture.

I love this design. It's very simple--unlike what attracts me to most other Marfy patterns--but it's arresting and flattering at the same time. I love how it creates curves. And I like how the side panels start under the bust, which creates the impression of a prominent chest (something I need help with for this particular style of dress) and sort of blocks off the shoulders and the chest. Plus I knew immediately what I would make it in :D

But it's so...simple. Here's the thing. Marfy patterns are expensive. A knee-length dress like this one will cost you about $20, plus shipping from Italy. And you have to wait. About 3 weeks. I can justify the purchase if I'm looking at some distinctive, intricate design that I wouldn't even know which two ends to put together and it's for a special occasion. But I'd feel guilty splurging for essentially a (flattering, refined) princess-seam dress. So I told myself I would modify a basic pattern and try and  mimic the same effect.

Then I took this beginners pattern-drafting course at Mood (SUPER FUN, by the way) and my head got all big, and next thing you know, 

I'm armed with a dress block, a French curve, and Google trying to figure out how to make a princess-seamed dress. (Except not really, because this design has princess seams AND darts--double whammy.)

So here we go! I'm going to show you how I went about (clumsily and with a minimal amount of pattern-drafting experience) recreating Marfy 3149! 

DIY Customized Square Skirt Tutorial (in which all the geometry is already done for you)

Hello everyone!

Last week I made a sundress that featured a square skirt (also known as a handkerchief skirt, which sounds fancier)

 and I promised that later this week I would post a tutorial. Here it is!

Making a square skirt is really easy! It's literally a square with a big hole in the middle for your waist. The corners of the square create long, bias-cut triangles that can give your gown a dreamy and ethereal look.

Here's a line drawing for a square skirt, adapted from the line drawing for Anna Sui's Vogue 2968

This tutorial is based on the assumption that you want a skirt that will fit a certain waist measurement and be a certain length (either at its highest or lowest point). From there you can come up with a pattern that fits your specifications.

Let's get started!

Narrow Rolled Hem Tutorial

 Above are two projects using this technique: my sparkly Anna Sui blouse, and Frankenpatterned Sunset Dress. Both made out of chiffon.

Hello readers! This brief explanation on how to make a subtle, itsy-bitsy rolled hem was actually part of my post on Sparkly Springtime Separates, but I use this technique so much I thought I would put it in a separate post for ease of reference. Enjoy!

Subtle, Drapey Rolled Hem Tutorial
This hemming technique is a pain in the butt (like most nice hems) but it's great if you want a really small, subtle hem that won't interfere with the draping of your fabric. Ideally, try to find a thread that precisely matches your textile or would provide a nice decorative border to your hem.

Here's the basic process. In this example, I used black thread so you can see what I was doing, but really you should be using thread as close to the color of the fabric as possible.

Stitch 1/2 away from the raw edge of the fabric.

Trim as close to the stitching as possible WITHOUT snipping the thread

Using the thread for leverage, roll the fabric over the thread (you can think of it as making a very very very small narrow hem that encloses the thread.

Stitch in place

Works like a charm! Go ahead and leave any questions you have in the comments!