Patronizing the Garment District

No, not the garment district in NYC--the one in DC! LOVE the play on the name; if you really live here you call DC "The District," so it's quite a clever pun.

Garment District DC is an initiative to bring cool local retail to an otherwise empty space for a few months both to showcase local artists and to encourage permanent development. The location is fantastic, a huge space at 7th and New York Ave a half block down from new hotspot The Passenger (which shows its DC pride in its slogan "God Save the District") and across the street from the DC Convention Center.

I walk by this space every day and marvel that it hasn't been snatched up and filled with retail, so when I saw Garment District my curiosity was piqued. When I saw a room full of sewing machines, it was doubly piqued! They have been offering lessons in various techniques and there are still a few to come.

Lots of local artists have taken advantage of the venue for clothing, accessories (check out my awesome purse from L~Shandi!), jewelry, and art. I've popped in a few times and the stock turns over fairly quickly so there is always something new.

Unfortunately, this is only a temporary installation and it will end March 20. Be sure to stop by and check it out!

Cycling Rain Pants: Once, Twice, Three Times a Muslin

Get out your ice skates and check for flying pigs because I muslined not once, not twice, but thrice for my cycling rain pants. I bought 10 yards of $1/yd fabric for lining at Jomar during PR Weekend Philly, but when I got it home I realized I'd been in too much of a frenzy. It is very loud when walking and also very staticky. I put it in the giveaway bag but realized in the nick of time that it would be *perfect* to muslin these rain pants. It has no stretch or give, doesn't ease, and is impossible to pin. Very much like the Gore Tex.

I purchased the Gore-Tex from Fabric Mart last July when they had it for $9.99, so it's been in stash for a while. I leave for a bike trip in The Netherlands in early May and we have been warned to expect rain so I couldn't put it off too much longer. The Mini Wardrobe Contest is running this month on PR and I figured I'd kick start my bike sewing for the contest. The ladies on the discussion thread were very encouraging about tackling the bike pants so I decided to get them over with.

I looked through my Burda archives for suitable patterns. Despite my triumph with the lapped zipper, I decided that trying to do my first fly front in a difficult fabric in which mistakes are strongly discouraged--every needle hole is a potential leak--which has to be lined *and* all the seams must be sealed (making the order of construction complicated) was not in the cards. So I chose 12-2007-127, a pajama pant pattern with a flat front and elasticated side and back waist.

The first muslin is almost straight off the pattern sheet. My only change was to add a crotch gusset. I was pleasantly surprised by the fit and the look, which was not too Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

I had marked the knee line on the outside so I could compare it to mine. Unsurprisingly, given my short legs, it was about 1.5 inches too low (very useful info for making future Burda pants).

The front waist was also remarkably low. The back fit fine, mostly a function of the elastic I suppose but I was surprised that I didn't need any swayback adjustment for length or volume.

Even the width of the leg was perfect. I could easily pull them on over sneakers but there wasn't any more ease than was needed to accomplish that task. I totally lucked out with this pattern!

Although the knee was too low, when I sat on my bike with my leg in the most upright position, that marked knee line was halfway up my thigh. One of the PR participants had recommended a knee gusset, which makes great sense for biking clothes where the knees go through a much larger range of motion than walking or running.

Because the marked position of the knee moved a good six inches or more as I moved my leg, I added the gusset at the marked knee point rather than my knee. I reasoned that the extra volume is needed not when my leg is straight but when it is bent and therefore the gusset should be at the knee on the upswing. So while the gusset is below the knee when standing, when I raised my leg to parallel it was at the knee.

Unfortunately, when I went and sat on the bike, things changed a bit and the gusset ended up halfway up my thigh. I decided that the utility of the gusset was lost in these wild variations in position. I thought about it for a while and decided in the final version to add extra knee articulation with pleats. I had previously done a web search for cycling pants with an articulated knee. Now I did a search for rain pants with a pleated knee and lo and behold this is quite common for athletic wear. I didn't know whether to feel pleased that I'd hit upon the proper solution or disappointed that I'm not as original as I thought!

On muslin 2.0, I raised the front waist. It now matches the back waist (or close enough for my taste). You can see that the waist on the rain pants is lower than on my cycling shorts, but I prefer it that way. The waistline is at a comfortable spot. Also, I don't know how comfortable the Gore Tex will be against the skin at the foldover waistband, nor the mesh lining. If I'm wearing rain pants, I will also be wearing a rain jacket, which will cover well below the pants' waistline, protecting me from the rain.

I also changed the shape of the crotch gusset for the second muslin. I am short and need a large range of motion to hike my leg up over the saddle to sit down on the bike, not to mention the discomfort of sitting on seams.

For version 1.0, I had drafted a symmetrical oval shaped gusset 6.5 inches long and 4 inches wide. I was pleased that it fit into the crotch so nicely and added a range of motion, considering I'd never made anything with a crotch gusset ever and all I knew about them was from looking at a few RTW items. Note that I did not change anything about the crotch of the original pattern--just used the gusset to add space.

Anyway, the first crotch gusset was remarkably functional, but I saw that while it reached the front of the crotch area, the back ended shorter than it could. So for the second iteration of the gusset I extended the back an additional inch and a half, making more of a kite shape. It now reaches the back of the crotch area.

A downside of making pants is that you end up saying "crotch" way too much. Ick.

I again marveled at how un-Stay Puft these pants are. Then I sat down while wearing the muslin and realized the reason they're so flattering is that they have about 3/4 of an inch of ease at the largest part of my thigh. I had no problem moving in these pants and they didn't pinch or feel too tight, but I just am not comfortable with that little ease in active wear. I don't know how well the mesh lining will slide over cycle shorts or yoga pants over a long ride. And also, I really never want to make another pair of these things so I wanted to be able to accommodate some weight fluctuation.

So for muslin 3.0 I added an additional 3 inches of room in the hip and thigh. Whoa. Now I got your Stay Puft right here! I had drafted the additional room to match the saddlebag curve of my thigh and boy, did it. I pinned out some extra ease to give me a flatter appearance. I still had a good 2.5 inches of ease left, so I flattened out the pattern.

At this point I had reached the end of my patience. I admit that I didn't not actually sew up another muslin with the flattened hip curve. I felt confident in my alteration and was ready to cut the Gore Tex.

At this point I'd been working all day and felt like I had nothing to show for it, so I decided to go on to the pockets. I purchased 5 inch water resistant zippers from Joann and planned to make cargo-style patch pockets large enough to hold keys, money, ID, and cell phone (divided between the two pockets). I first muslined them to get size, including pleat width. The muslin looked good, but I decided I wanted a deeper flap. I don't know how "resistant" the zips are and wanted to cover them as deeply as possible.

Once I got started on the real thing, the whole construction order issue of sealing seams revealed itself as quite the puzzle. I am using iron-on seam sealing tape rather than the brush on stuff. I think it looks nicer, I trust it to be more secure, and most importantly I don't have any outdoor space in my condo for ventilation! How I would love to have a balcony for doing toxic things... Anyway, I had planned to treat the lining and fabric as one, but then realized that I couldn't seal the zipper seams from the inside if I did that. So I had to sew the zips in, seal the seamlines, then jigger in the lining.

Once the real pockets were completed, I realized that I couldn't have the deep flaps I wanted. As the pockets are only five inches wide, with the deep flap I couldn't reach in to actually grasp the zipper pull! Luckily, the flap is just a rectangle and had sewed the zipper on one layer (gotta minimize seamlines!) so I just folded it up higher and cut off the excess at the top.

That was a 10 1/2 hour day!!!!! I was tired.

The next day I cut out the real pants (Gore Tex layer) and sewed the outseam. Not as simple as it sounds because it involved the outseam, two rows of reflective tape, and pocket placement and then sealing all the seams. That was enough for one day. I am hoping to finish them this weekend.

All photos of this work in progress are here.

Butterick 5333, Experimenting with Straight Skirts

When I bought my $20/yard-most-expensive-ever-piece-of-fabric alleged Versace boucle from Golden D'Or in Dallas over the holidays, I knew this was one pattern I'd want to muslin before cutting into it. I want the skirt to be a wardrobe staple for years to come and if it turned out not-quite-right I would be very disappointed. I want something straight and fitted but not pencil, because a pencil skirt can be a little confining to walk and sit in. I also want a separate waistband that sits at natural waist. A waistband looks nicer when items are tucked (in my opinion), and natural waist is rarely "in style" but is not faddish like a high or low waist and can weather the waistline storms over the years.

For the straight skirt being such a classic, I found few patterns that fit my vision. A couple of the Butterick wardrobe patterns have skirts with two darts in front and back, which I thought might be helpful for my large belly and derriere. I chose Butterick 5333, the Mrs. Obama wardrobe as I call it, as it was clearly riffing off her famous black and white dress from the campaign.

When I had enough of the black and pink houndstooth wool left to test out the pattern I was so pleased. I have fabric I can use for muslin, of course, but for the boucle I think I'm going to get the best results if I test the pattern in fabric of a similar weight. Darts in a thick wool are going to behave differently than darts in a thin fabric.

Based on the finished measurements, I cut a straight size 12 and the fit is excellent. This was a pleasant surprise. Not the size 12 part, the fitting part.

As I mentioned when reviewing the dress of the this fabric, the print is not quite on grain. In the comments, some suggested that I sew with grain instead of print. However, this is a judgment call, in my opinion, and I am more comfortable with a slightly off drape than with a crooked print. I feel that a crooked print would be much more noticeable and make me more self-conscious.

And speaking of crooked print, this is what happened when I put together the waistline. UGH!!!!! You can see where I thread-traced the line of the print. Although this skirt is wearable, it is definitely a wearable muslin for me. It's a bit of a unitasker skirt because it can only be worn with black (other ideas welcome). Life is too short to wear black, in my opinion. I wore it with this black tee and a black jacket to have a "friendly" meeting with opposing counsel (which turned out to be not so friendly!), so it is good for "less than a suit" work stuff, but not something I'll wear often. So I was loath to go to the trouble of fixing the ugliness of the print. But after letting it sit for a day I acknowledged that I would *never* wear it with the horrible print effect at the waistband and picked it out. The waistband itself was also crooked so I had to recut, but I didn't have enough fabric to recut on grain so I did it on cross-grain and had to add side seams, which adds bulk at the waistband. But it's still better than crooked.

My big excitement for this skirt was my first successful lapped zipper!!!! Yes, it deserves four exclamation points. For the dress, I inserted a centered hand-picked zipper, but felt that the centered zip wasn't perfect because the lips open up a little and the zipper can be seen. So for the skirt, I decided to try my hand at a lapped zipper.

I think I have tried one once before and it was something of which we shall not speak. So I searched the web for help and found this video tutorial from What Would Nancy Drew Wear. Note: clicking on the video launches YouTube in a separate window and then the video begins to play on *both* the blog and YouTube (at least it did for me). Turn one of them off or they will be playing a second or two off from each other and impossible to understand! The video holds your hand all the way through the process. I mimicked Lisette's moves exactly. I think I made the lap a little too large but as a technical matter, it is perfect. I was on a high for the rest of the day. And the next day I realized...a fly zip is just a variant of the lapped zip. (Right?) OMG, could I actually handle a fly zip?

There's not much more to say about this project. It's a skirt, for heaven's sake. I used hem lace again, though I used a machine blind stitch rather than hand hem. Sorry the pic is low quality. I lined this one in off-white rayon instead of pink because I bought a ton of the off-white and not as much of the pink and wanted to save the pink for projects I'm more excited about.

Unfortunately, this pattern is not The One. The overall fit is great and the back lies smoothly over my posterior. But the front is puffy. Yuck. I thought the double darts (for a total of four in front) would help with fit, but that is too much dartage for my front. I need a flat front or only two small darts, I think. I have a waist, but it is almost all in the back and my front is much more rectangle/apple shaped. I haven't decided if I will try to tweak this pattern or search for another. The bigger issue will be deciding what fabric to sacrifice for the next muslin!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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Thank you for all the nice comments on my pink cashmere sweater refashion! Several people asked about the neckline. I took a photo and added a discussion of how I finished it to the post.

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Confidential to Our Heroine: I would love to comment on your posts, but I do not want to give Disqus all my personal information. I tried using my yahoo ID to sign in, but I have to share everything associated with that ID with Disqus, no opting out. Any chance of a less intrusive comment manager?

Sweater Refashion: Cashmere Goes 80s

While we're on the subject of hot pink peplums, it seemed a good time to share this sweater refashion I did at the end of last year. When I was shopping the thrift store for suitable sweaters a couple years ago, I ran across this one. 98% cashmere and hot pink, how could I resist? At first, I planned to keep the neck tie thingy as a neck tie thingy, but move it so that the tie was to the side rather than center. The vaguely sailor-esque thing didn't do anything for me. Then I hit on the idea of using the tie as a waistband and the whole thing came together.

To shape the bodice, I used the popular boatneck top Burda 02-2009-108. I actually refashioned the sweater before making my ruffle shoulder top of the pattern. I had to cut the front with a scooped neck due to the original design of the blouse, so I widened the shoulders about 3/4 of an inch to ensure the blouse didn't fall off.




I also kept the original sleevecap, as I wanted an exaggerated 80s puffed sleeve. It didn't turn out as puffy as I'd hope, but I think it still looks deliberate rather than just poorly eased and installed.




As mentioned, I turned the tie neck into a waistband. The tie was a different weave from the rest of the sweater, ribbed and a little thicker and more stable. Unfortunately, it wasn't woven as a straight piece but had a "bulge" in the middle. I cut it as straight as I could along the "ribs" but it also had a slight curve so that wasn't 100% possible. I gathered the peplums into the lower edge of the waistband.



Several people asked how I handled the neckline without stretching it. In this case, when I cut off the tie I was careful to cut as small as possible along the stitch line. The neckline next to the tie had been reinforced in manufacturing, and so I just needed to treat it carefully to prevent stretching. To finish the neckline, I used a twin needle and was careful while sewing to position the raw edge of the neckline (down along the feed dogs) so the "zig" would be on the neckline and the "zag" would be just off it. I tried to manipulate the photo so you could see the stitching on the outside and inside; click to enlarge.

If your neckline is not finished in manufacturing, it can still be finished nicely! First, finish the edge. I recommend a zigzag over a serged finish unless you are very confident in the differential feed of your serger. If you use the serger, put it on the most gatheringest differential feed setting. Once the finish is done, you must steam steam steam to get the neckline back into shape. The beauty of working with wool is that it should steam back into a reasonable facsimile of a neckline. Once it's back in shape you can fuse it with a strip of tricot interfacing cut on the bias to keep it in shape. Then sew with a twin needle as I showed above.

Note that I don't have a coverstitch machine, so I can't say how coverstitch would perform versus twin needle.


It definitely needs a belt. The 80s styling finally got me to add a length of elastic to this belt buckle purchased from Exquisite Fabrics in Georgetown in October 2009 for $5 (the packaging makes me think it was actually from the 80s). I don't know what took me so long to make this considering it took under 5 minutes to thread the elastic through the bars on the belt and stitch it in place. I've worn it a ton since then, it is too fun!




I bought five or six sweaters to refashion in late 2009 or early 2010 and realized as 2010 was drawing to a close that I hadn't done any refashions yet that winter. When I bought the thrift store sweaters, I went for 100% wool (or cashmere in this case) only. However, I wasn't really thinking about my taste. Most of the sweaters are a thick wool and I don't see myself wearing something that bulky no matter how cute the refashion. So I think I will be doing a re-donate for most of them. However, this thinner texture is perfect for me, not to mention I love the color! The refashion isn't perfect (the waistband area is truly ugly), but with a belt to hide the imperfections it's a great go-to sweater.

All photos are here.

Butterick 5520, An 80s Revival in Hot Pink Peplum

I think the first version of Butterick 5520 that I saw was Eugenia's, with the lace overlay on the sleeves. I liked the dress as a classic sheath with embellishment possibility, and when I saw that it had a peplum I was really into it.

I associate the gratuitous peplum like this (a peplum in a jacket is both design and functions to add length) with the 80s, but it is not entirely out of date. Balenciaga put this sleeveless number with asymmetric front slit on the runway for Fall 2008 (although since F2011 just walked the runway, it is still not exactly au courant). Charlize Theron totally worked it on the red carpet without the arm covering thingies. But I don't need the peplum to be in style. It is a great shape for a pear--in exaggerating the hip, it actually disguises it.

I bought the wool at H&M Fabrics in NYC in November. At $10/yard, it was expensive by my standards, but I just adored it. Although PR's stash contest was running the past two months and I generally try to sew up stash, I just *had* to get this piece done. I felt like I needed to get it done while the current 80s moment is on. But when it was done I was surprised at how un-outrageous it is. You put the words "peplum," "houndstooth," and "hot pink satin" in the same sentence and you expect to be a little over the top, but this is almost...tasteful. Which is nice, because it should be able to stay in my wardrobe for many years.

I started with Broad back adjustment and small bust adjustment. When it was completed I thought maybe I shouldn't have done the broad back adjustment because when my arms are at my sides the extra fabric sags a little there and the back is overall a touch baggy. But later I felt vindicated because even with the broad back adjustment I popped the stitches on the lining under the arm when wearing the dress and vigorously messing with something on the floor. So I will have to deal with the slightly saggy back in order to have full range of motion.

For the SBA I narrowed the dart.

I also shortened the bodice an inch. I have a high waist but a long torso so I generally don't mess with the length of the bodice. Here, I wanted the waistline to be slightly high as I didn't want the peplum to hit me too low on the thigh. If I made this again, I would probably shorten the waist only 1/2 inch, but I am happy with where the waist hits me on this project.



I lined the peplum in hot pink rayon satin, purchased from Fabric.com for $2.79/yd last September. While I love the contrast underside, I wanted to ensure that it would not show unless the peplum flipped up. The first step was to trim the side and lower edges of the peplum lining to make it slightly smaller than the fashion fabric. This creates a turn of cloth after they are sewn together.



Anytime I am pressing a lining or facing, I always press from the underside. As I arrange the fabric for pressing, I make sure that I can see the tiniest edge of the outer fabric and then press. If you can see the tiniest edge of the outer fabric from the underside, you won't see any of the underside when the garment is on.



Here you can see that the pink satin lining does not show at all when the peplum is laying flat, and you can also see the tiny edge of the fashion fabric that shows from the underside. This closeup shows a little better how you can see the edge of the fashion fabric rolling over the lining.

I use invisible zippers almost exclusively. I will only use a regular zipper if the fabric is thick and crosses a seam so that an invisible can't be invisible (or if it is invisible, won't slide past the hump). I used to be competent at regular zippers, but I now do them so infrequently--no more than two a year and probably less!--that I have completely lost my touch.

The last time I put in a regular non-invisible zipper (I think it was over a year ago on my houndstooth fail dress) I decided that the next time I had a regular zipper to do I would just hand pick it. So that's what I did here. I basted the center back together as for a machine insertion, pinned the zipper, and sewed it in with a prick stitch (tutorial on Somerset's blog). It didn't take too long, maybe 25 or 30 minutes. I would have spent that much time sweating it over the machine and it would have looked terrible. I can see doing a fancy beaded hand-picked zipper for a special project.

I'm still not entirely happy with the zipper as I feel that the "lips" open up a little over it. I actually did my first lapped zipper to see if it's better when making the skirt of the leftover fabric so stay tuned for that...

Another downside of regular zipper--you have to hand sew the lining to the zip. Again, didn't take very long, but man, an invisible zipper is so much easier in about 12 different ways.

I've gotta say, I just love stepping into this hot pink satin lining. I feel like a character in a movie, maybe Jessica Rabbit.

While the pattern is well drafted and all the parts fit together, for some reason the peplum just does not sit right for me. You can see that it sort of bulges out about halfway down. I had to take a hand tack on the front and back openings to get them to lay right. I don't know what that's about. In cutting, I spent a long time decided whether I wanted the peplums on the bias or the crossgrain for visual interest, but ultimately decided that houndstooth, peplum, and hot pink satin were enough visual interest and cut them per the marked grainline. So I don't think it's a grain issue (though the print is very slightly off grain and I cut with the print rather than the actual grain). I guess they need to be shortened at waistline at CF and CB for me? I don't know.



The final finishing touch for this project was a hand hem with hem lace. Here I did not do a fancy stitch, although I have seen hand blind-stitching and it is exquisite. I just went with my default, the whip stitch.



This was a rather painstaking project, starting with cutting everything out in single layer. Even that was harder than it could be because the houndstooth on this fabric are printed on rather than woven in, and they are very faint on the wrong side of the fabric. So the first piece was easy to cut, but lining it up with the second piece was no fun. However, all the houndstooth match and are straight, although the back hem mysteriously does not run straight on the right side. I counted the houndstooths at the CB and right side seam and there are the same number. I traced the houndstooths across the right skirt and they run straight across from the CB seam to the side seam. I just can't figure it out. I'm pretty sure I am cursed in this arena. However, it is not nearly as horrible or noticeable as the last one.

But a nice wool dress deserves painstaking and I don't begrudge any of the effort involved. I have only worn it once and will try to wear it one more time before cold weather ends. Knowing I have this in my closet will make next year's onset of cold weather bearable (but only the onset, not the duration!).

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.