Fashion at the Hillwood Estate

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Hillwood Estate in DC.  The first time I visited was during last year's Seersucker Social, but I was too sick to walk around and enjoy the estate.

 This time my aim was to see the Pret a Papier exhibit of the work of Isabelle de Borchgrave.

Isn't that a beautiful dress?  Is it made of silk, cotton?  Is the lace Belgian?  Well, the lace is Belgian because the artist is, but it's made entirely of paper.  Amazing.  I didn't know what to expect with the dresses.  Once you know they're paper you can tell (mostly), but without that knowledge I would be a little stumped, I think.











The lace was one of the best details, in my opinion.  She uses very very fine transparent paper and the carefully paints the lace design and scallops with scissors.  Close up you can tell it's created with paint, but from a few feet away the likeness is pretty astounding.








 The Hillwood commissioned several pieces for the exhibition based on portraits in their collection.  They displayed the dresses with the paintings by which they were inspired (here is another one, though I think this piece had already been created based on another of the artist's works).



















The artist creates her own prints, including plaids and florals.  I loved the delicate print to this French court-style gown.  And don't miss a close-up of that waist adornment.

















Everything is made of paper, including the jewels and other non-fabric decorative elements.










The artist even created shoes to go with some of the items!











Unfortunately, this whole post is sort of a tease.   I went to the exhibit on the next to last day. It closed on January 21.

 However, there are still plenty of reasons to visit the Hillwood for fashion inspiration! There are many portraits throughout the estate, some from past centuries and some more recent. I loved the flapper vibe to this one.












In addition, there are display cases with jewelry and knick knacks in various rooms of the estate. I was really charmed (heh, punny) by this egg charm necklace. And if you notice the emerald brooch in the photo above--the real thing is displayed in the bedroom closet and it is jaw-dropping.

The grounds are not to be missed. The Japanese garden is beautiful even during the winter.





And if it's too cold to enjoy the grounds (January 20 turned out to be a ridiculously nice day--I walked around with only a sweater), there is always the greenhouse to get your orchid fix.

Though I am spoiled by DC's copious free museums (the Hillwood is $15 per adult), it is definitely worth a visit!

There are several more dresses and details to look at here.

Pants Drafting Class with Annette Hickman

Although I do not plan to become regularly be-pantsed, it really would be nice to have a pair or two for those winter days when it is too cold to wear a skirt even with wool knickers.

But pants.  They are impossible.  Impossible, I tell you!

It was time to turn to the experts.  For the first time in my life(!!!!), I signed up for a sewing class.

G Street offers drafting classes, one for a bodice and one for pants.  I keep meaning to develop a bodice sloper.  I haven't out of sheer laziness but feel that I can do just fine for that on my own as I have made many reasonably well-fitting dresses.  But pants.  I need some professional help.

It is a big time commitment for me:  the class is 4 hours for 3 Saturdays in a row at the Rockville location, and with Metro broken every weekend it takes me 1 1/2 hours each way to get there.  I left my house at 8:30 on Saturday morning.  If you knew me, you would understand the depth of my commitment to these pants.  Ain't no 8:30 on a Saturday morning in my life.



We started the class by taking detailed measurements.  We did the measurements ourselves rather than pair up (there are 7 people in the class, but one is a man sewing for his wife so pairs would have worked out).  As Cidell pointed out, the benefit of this method is that you learn how to do them on yourself for the future.











Then we used this crazy complicated mathematical diagram to draft them.  I have seen this type of drafting instruction before in the blogosphere and it makes me tired just to look at it.  It turns out if you just take it step-by-step...who am I kidding, it is still crazy complicated and way beyond my ability to follow.

Luckily, our fearless and fabulous instructor, Annette Hickman, took us through each step with a demonstration.  Her patience and humor made this much less painful than it ought to be.












This photo is not so great, but if you squint you can see what looks like a real life draft!  So exciting.  I felt very professional and all ready for Project Runway.






For our class this Saturday, our task is to (1) look at other people's butts, (2) read the materials in our course packet, and (3) trace our draft into muslin and mark two inch seam allowances.  We will partially construct the muslins and Annette will help us fine-tune the fit.

However, I could not resist throwing together a quick and dirty muslin.  I traced the draft onto tissue.  While tracing it I noticed the back waistline seemed oddly, freakishly narrow.  I measured it and compared it to my exhaustive measurement chart and lo and behold it was two inches too small.  I added them to the waist and blended that line into the crotch.  So any back crotch problems may be the result of that.

Without further ado, here it is:






















The waist, belly, hip, and upper butt fit are excellent.

The front crotch is pretty good.  4 out of 5 stars.  The crotch isn't totally perfect, with tiny wrinkles forming a sort of handlebar mustache right under it.  It feels like the problem is the crotch not snugging up high enough rather than a crotch shape problem, as the wrinkles are not always there (or at least visible in the mirror).  Crotch crotch crotch.  The joys of talking about pants.  My quote of the day in the first class was, "Can I ask you to come take a look at my front crotch?"


The back, well, not so great.  2.75 stars.  I've got the downward-pointing chevron of wrinkles below the crotch.  The good news is, the wrinkles do not seem to extend all the way down the leg  in a cascade of nested chevrons as seen in this Burda pant (this is version 2.0 of the Burda).  But that may just be a function of the sturdier fabric and relatively short length.  At any rate, it is about where I ended up with the Burda pattern after 4 painful muslins, so I am actually pretty satisfied to be starting where I gave up in frustration last time, rather than starting at the beginning.

I am super excited to have Annette fit these on Saturday!  It is almost worth getting up at 8:00 on a Saturday morning.  Almost.

All photos are here.

Sewing in DC: Singa, Inc.

So remember Garment District, the pop-up emporium for local designers in the Spring? It was a bummer that it had to come to an end, and the beautiful building where it sits at 7th and New York Ave NW has been empty since. So imagine my delight when I was walking home from the gym one night and saw this sign in the upstairs window advertising sewing lessons. So exciting! This is a prime location a fairly easy reach from all 5 metro lines near lots of night life and some retail with a lot of foot traffic. Sewing has gone high profile!



I looked around for more information and found this set of flyers on the door at street level. Apparel, fashion, and textile classes? Be still my beating heart! I wrote down the information and checked out their website when I got home.

I liked what I saw. They have a good solid set of classes, from comprehensive Sewing I-III courses, to one day fun classes on topics such as crazy quilting and refashioning. I sent an email to singainc [at] yahoo (don't want to get them spammed!) to learn more.

The founder, Ms. Jackie Hart, quickly got back to me and arranged for me to visit a class. Singa, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1996 with the goal of promoting local fashion in DC. Offering sewing lessons to the public is only a part of its mission. DC has an active summer youth employment program, to keep kids out of trouble and introduce them to earning money. Singa has participated in the program several times, taking 100 kids who have never sewn and by the end of the summer they've made at least 6 of an item (tote bag, apron, etc.), created and defended a business plan, and taken their items to Eastern Market to sell. One of the students ended up with an order for 25 more aprons!

And of course there are the sewing lessons in DC! For a 10 week session with two hour classes fees range from $130-$160 (do the math--that breaks down to less than $10 per hour). They also have one day courses, such as for a crazy quilt or altering jeans into a skirt, for $50-$60. For the small class size, professional equipment, and talented and experienced teachers these are a real bargain. The class I observed was a Sewing II class taught by a former sewing teacher at Wilson High School. The students were clearly learning good fundamentals in a logical way, including the importance of precise cutting, good pinning, and careful stitching. As there were only 3 students in the class I visited, each of them got plenty of personal attention.

Ms. Hart's true passion is design incubation in DC. She is a graduate of FIT and was a buyer for DC's venerable (and now departed) Woodward & Lothrop department store. In addition to her work with Singa, she teaches fashion history and textile science at the Art Institute of Washington. There are very few local internship opportunities and job opportunities for the students and graduates. Rather than seeing all the graduates have to move to New York or overseas to engage in their passion and profession, she would like to create an incubator/coop space where designers can go to work, get marketing help, and be connected with local boutiques looking for local designs.

This young lady in the sewing class is a designer--working under the name Thembe Fashions--who wants to learn how to sew to improve her skills. She will be participating in a fashion show next month.

Do these professional dress forms make you swoon? I sure did. Turns out these are just a few of the forms Singa owns. How about these little half-size ones for draping? And then Ms. Hart mentioned that 20 industrial machines along with industrial sergers, hemmers, tackers, and zigzaggers that the organization has in storage.... These are meant to go into the design incubator space. Potential DC Project Runway contestants, take note of where you can learn how to use an industrial sewing machine!

The Fall session of classes will begin in September and will likely be held at the 7th and NY Ave NW location, 1005 7th St. NW. Singa is looking for a more permanent home (that beautiful old building is in some disrepair and does not have adequate heating for the winter). Visit Singa's website or email them at singainc [at] yahoo for more info on the classes.

All photos are here