Photo Day

As some of you know, I'm going to be the Presenter at the Kearney, Nebraska Sewing Expo September 21 and 22, 2018.  It's put on each year by the Bishop Method Clothing Group of Nebraska, and the Kearney-Area ASG chapter.  It's always a wonderful weekend, and I'm so excited to have been asked to present this year!  Their flyer will be out this month, and I will put it here in case anyone is interested who hasn't gotten it before.

So as you can imagine, I'm madly getting ready for my classes.  I've been working on this for quite some time, and it's getting down to the wire. 

One of the things I will be doing is a Trunk Show with many items from my wardrobe.  It will be mainly Marfy pattern garments, since that's what I sew most, and like best, but of course, there are others too.  When you come across something great, you have to go for it.  There will be 4 classes altogether including

Wardrobe Planning & Perfect Proportions

Marfy + Trunk Show

Project Planning for Sewing Success

Saran Wrap Fitting Techniques

I am so lucky to have a sister who's a whiz with a camera.  She came over today and we took quite a few long-delayed photos of my projects.  Here are a few teasers.

This is Marfy dress 2330 and jacket 3828. The fabric is from Barcelona, Spain when I shopped with the legendary Paco Peralta and Cristina.

 

Marfy caftan 3924 in silk charmeuse with lace motifs at the neckline.  This was made to wear at a destination wedding in Cozumel.

Vogue dress 1250 in a woven cotton print.  The dress is designed for knits only, but it worked out well with a side zipper and a sightly larger size.  I also added the double collar with applique.  This was made to attend a summer wedding, and it's one of my favorite summer dresses.

FSG Tunic 1960, Marfy Tank 9829, Marfy pants 0913.  The tank and tunic are in a semi-sheer knit, so two layers give opacity.  The pants are in a pleather-type fabric from one of my New York garment district shopping trips.

Flounced Mauve Dress

Ruffles are not my style, but flounces are not ruffles, and asymmetric designs are always fun.

This Marfy pattern (#3744) appealed to me immediately when I received the catalog, and just FYI, there's a floor-length version that's beautiful and would make a great prom or evening gown.  It's a separate pattern, which I can  understand, since all of those flounces are redrafted to attach to a longer main skirt.  This keeps the proportions correct.

It was somewhat challenging to alter since the bodice is not symmetric, and it also has no 'regular' darts.  So I used a combination of a princess FBA and using my saran wrap block to make sure I had made the changes I needed.  I think it turned out pretty well, and actually, this was my 'muslin', though I had hopes that it would be very wearable.  I think it is.

I used a lightweight matte jersey I got from Kashi at Metro Textiles in New York. 

I left all the edges raw.  In snoop shopping in NY and Chicago recently, and online of course, I am seeing a lot of this, and if they can do it, so can I.  The trickiest part was making the hook and eye at the top of the zipper look neat on the outside since there was no facing to sew it to.  I think this works well.  It's visible, obviously, but not messy looking.  It's stitched through the top of the zipper tape for stability, and to control the zipper tape as well.

Marfy 1128 - Autumn Cocktail Dress - Completed

This latest iteration of Marfy 1128 turned out really well, I think.  This is the finished look.  It's hard to catch the sparklieness of the actual dress without having it be almost impossible to actually see.  I got to wear it this past weekend to a fundraising dinner, and I felt very appropriately dressed.

 The hem is my favorite part.  I love the way it drapes and catches itself up, especially in the back.  I changed the back neckline from a very low square back to a higher scoop, which is still fairly low. 

I have quite a few inner construction photos for this.  The blog photos are smaller than those you can see if you click here.  As  I think I said previously, I underlined this with a fairly heavy satin lining, almost something you would use for a coat lining.  I turned the satin side toward the body, and extended it about 5" longer than the dress hem edge. 










 You can see how I turned the hem up to the outside on the finished garment photos, but here is the inside of the hem, which comes out very nicely since all the raw edges are inside the rolled part on the outside of the dress.

The original pattern has front horizontal and vertical darts, and gathering at the neckline under a chiffon collar.  I stitched the horizontal darts, but used the other ease to drape from the waist up to the neckline.  You can see close ups of the neckline and waist draping here.

The facing you can see on the neckline is a folded bias strip of the lining fabric.  The neckline stands out in places, as it is supposed to, and the bias band helps it to stay close to the body in any case.

 These two photos show the inside front of the body of the dress with the stitched waist tucks.

In the close up you can also see the stitching which tacks the bow in place.

 This is the slight flange edge of the sleeve, almost just a facing which peeks out.  It's widest at the top, narrowing to nothing at the side seam. 

You can see inside that it is also a bias strip, but of the fashion fabric.

Finally, you can see that the extra-long invisible zipper opens the entire length of the side seam.  I really have learned that this is not too long a zipper for a dress like this.  It makes it so much easier to put on, and without spoiling one's hair or makeup.

Autumn Cocktail Dress

I'm excited about this dress. It's been awhile since sewing has been this much fun, and I'm enjoying it. I'm going to a Friends of Opera Gala fundraiser this Sunday, and I thought I wanted something new to wear.

I'm using a TNT pattern, Marfy 1128. It's a fairly basic sheath dress, but with the gathered neckline under the chiffon collar, it give you a lot of leeway to manipulate the neckline if you don't want the collar.

One thing I have learned with this pattern is to use a much longer zipper than I originally thought necessary. This makes it so much easier to get into. I bought a bag of invisible zippers last time I was in LA with Kathi Rank shopping the Fashion District, and so I happened to have a 34" invisible zipper in an acceptable color (dark green), which goes in the left side seam from the armscye to the hem. I probably would not have purchased this long a zipper on purpose for this, but it's great, actually. Apparently the longer, the better.

I found the fabric at Hancock, and it really spoke to me. It's a very thin, non-wonderful brocade, but I love the colors and the look. This actually shows the wrong side while it's being cut out.

I'm underlining with a thicker satin lining fabric. Originally I thought I would do something along the lines of a car-wash skirt, as they are so current, and finally wearable now that they're not being shown only with absolutely nothing underneath them. However, I like what I have come up with even better. I extended the underlining about 5" below the brocade and then turned it to the outside and asymmetrically attached it. Here's a photo of it on the dressform with the hem pinned. I am pinning a draped effect from the left waist to the right shoulder and I think the bow will be staying, but you never know.

ASG Marfy Magic Classes

I've already told you that I attended and taught at the ASG Convention in St Louis, but I never really got to say a lot about it.  My last class was Sunday morning until noon, then we packed all my Marfy garments and everything else in the car and drove straight home to Lincoln, Nebraska.  I was home for a whole 9 hours before I left to get on a plane for a week in Sacramento, California attending the Mu Phi Epsilon Triennial Convention.  That's my music fraternity and we had a wonderful time, but nothing sewing related, except I did get to wear things that I used for display in St Louis, so packing was a lot easier at least.   

Here's the back seat of my car with some of the Marfy garments I took for the Trunk Show/Class.

Naturally I was nervous about how my classes would go, but they seemed to go very well, and I think the attendees enjoyed them too.  This is the Marfy Magic class, which was offered twice.  I have a few photos of the beginning and end of the first class.  

It's fun to work with a crowd that's so interested in Marfy.  As you probably already know, I have no connection with Marfy other than just being completely sold on their patterns.  I find I get my best results using a Marfy pattern, and so that's almost all I've used for quite some time, although I'm not giving up my TNT patterns, of course.  Some of them are Marfy too, though.

I was able to answer lots of questions and allay a lot of fears about using Marfy patterns.  They are really so well made that there is little difficulty in making up your garments even without instructions.  I think that the lack of instructions forces you to make choices based on your fabric, preferences and vision of the finished garment, and it forces you to think about it much sooner than you might if you just dove into a garment following the instructions until you suddenly realized you wished you had done something a little differently.  And then it's either too late entirely, or you have to backtrack a lot.

I really enjoy doing this class and it can be expanded into a longer workshop or hands-on event, so if your guild or group wants a program, I am probably available.  I've had many positive comments from those who've taken it.


Next I'll tell about my other class:

• Clever With Your Needle

ASG Convention is The Most Fun!

Yes, I'm having a good time.  Everyone has been so nice and as you would expect with fellow sewers,  they are smart and funny and oh so talented.  Today I taught my first class.  It was the first section of the Marfy Class/Trunk Show. A big crowd, over 50 people, and we had a great time.   I do it again on Sunday.   Tomorrow (Saturday) is Clever With Your Needle, and the fashion show.  Here are a couple photos of the rehearsal. 

Bird Print Skirt

This is a wonderful cotton twill from Santa Fe Fabrics and my trip with the Fiberlies in April.  I fell in love with the bird print and knew it would be perfect in my favorite Marfy A-line sporty summer skirt, #093. 

It's the skirt on the left in the pattern drawing below, without the belt carriers or patch pockets, and lengthened just over 5". 


The pockets I have are kind of an inset apron pocket, copied from an Alice+Olivia skirt.  I've made this skirt quite a few times, never have done the belt carriers, and although the original pockets are a little small in my opinion, I have used them at least once.  I've done other patch pockets and this pocket several times.

Here's the inside of the skirt showing the pocket construction.  

Skirt Front

Skirt Back

Inside Skirt Hem

  The rest of the skirt is quite simply done, with a faced waistband, interfaced of course and stitched through all layers at the darts and seams.















 Centered back zipper with a hook at the top for security.














 And of course a hand stitched hem for invisibility.

Marfy Scuba Dress

I've been doing more sewing than blogging lately, which is probably a very good thing.  I fell in love with Marfy 3507, and decided I had to make it in a neoprene/scuba fabric.  I wanted a print rather than just a plain color and I found an unusual gray floral print at Elliott Berman Textiles.   



I'm not usually a floral person unless it's large and somewhat abstract, and this was small/medium and very traditional.  The style is traditional as well, a coat dress, but the zippers definitely update it.  I did a lot of alteration, and ended up making a trial garment which I didn't hem but is otherwise finished, out of a heavy dark green knit.  I adjusted the front waist size smaller and went on to begin anew with the neoprene.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the fabric was a dream to sew.  It's got body galore, and pretty much did whatever I wanted it to.  No ravelling, no 'squirming' around, it just stayed put.  It did require understitching on the collar and front edges. I used Pam's Pro-Tricot Fusible Interfacing on the collar and the lapel point areas, and that was all the interfacing it needed.  

 

 You can probably see that I used some interesting zippers for this dress.  These are Coats & Clark's Cutwork Zippers and they were very easy to apply.  The only problem I had was that they only came in 2 sizes, 7" and 22".

I ended up using the 7" zippers instead of flaps for the faux pockets.  They worked perfectly. 
However, the 22" zipper was too short to be both as high as I needed it at the neckline and as low as it needed to go on the skirt hem to make the dress really wearable.   So, I took another zipper and installed it from the bottom up, stitching the lower one over the upper when I got to the join.  It's not really noticeable when worn, especially with the somewhat busy fabric.  I like to have it unzipped from the bottom for a few inches for walking ease. 

The dress fits like a glove and is very comfortable, if also really, really warm to wear.  It will be a great winter dress, although as soon as we were done with the photos, I knew I wouldn't be wearing these shoes with it.

  The color is not good on the side view, but I thought the shaping was important to see.  I think this is a great basic pattern and it would be very easy to add a buttonhole extension to it, although the zippers are fun.  Once the alteration work has been done, I like to reuse a pattern if I can.

Pattern Work

I'm beginning to alter the pattern for a Marfy dress I'm going to make. It's from the new 2014/15 catalog, #3507, and as soon as I saw it in the catalog,I knew I had to have it. I've been thinking if a neoprene dress since a trip to Chicago with Mardel. We saw some wonderful examples at Barney's, and when Elliott Berman had some, AND it's their 50% off birthday sale, I simply had to get the fabric. Here's the pattern as it comes,
partly unfolded,
and laid out to check.
Pattern alterations are never any fun. We would all like to just have the pattern come out of the package perfectly sized for us, ready to cut. Well, at least in my case, that's never going to happen. I will shorten above the bust, enlarge the bust, do a swayback alteration which will add a CB seam, and probably enlarge the sleeves slightly, as they are exactly my size now, with no ease. It would be okay for this fabric as is, but I think a little ease it's a good thing generally. Wish me luck! I'm trying an app that lets me blog from my phone, so I'm hoping it will mean more posts from me.

Thanks to becki-c, I now have the correct pattern illustration, too!

Teaching at ASG Convention

Mark Your Calendars for ASG Conference

Hyatt Regency St. Louis, at the Arch

July 24 - 28, 2014

I am so excited!  I hope you will be excited for me, too. 

I will be teaching at the American Sewing Guild National Convention in St. Louis in July!!

My friend Ruth C insisted I send in a teaching proposal, so I did, and they accepted me.  I will be teaching 3 different classes over the 4 day convention, with one repeat.  They are:

Shoes As Stylish As You:  We will cover a shoe with fashion fabric and your choice of embellishments, thus learning the techniques you will use to have a wardrobe of shoes to match your wardrobe of garments.  The class project will finish as a pincushion.  You may remember my Threads article on this topic.

Marfy Magic For You:  This is a trunk show of Marfy garments with a discussion of how to choose, use and acquire the patterns.  If you read my blog, you know I love Marfy, and it is so much fun to spread the love.  This is the class I'll repeat.

Clever With Your Needle: Specialty Hand Details:  Again, if you read my blog, you know I love to use hand details on my garments, and this will introduce them to you and discuss just why and when we would want to use them.  In a hands-on setting, we will learn to put a hand-stitched lining into a coat or jacket,  make a personalized medallion to use in a coat/jacket lining,  try some hand topstitching and saddle stitching, buttonholes, and some other fun details.  Here's a photo of the type of thing we will be talking about and trying.

So, if you are even thinking about going to Convention, think hard!  I want to see you all there, and get to meet you IRL!  When you decide, I want to know about it, so we can plan to meet. 

Fun in Omaha - ASG Class

The Coat Class I did for the Omaha ASG yesterday went very well.  I had a good time, and I think everyone else did too.  I had said earlier that I was taking about 6 coats that I'd made, but when I got them all together and actually counted them, there were 8.  I hadn't realized I'd made that many, and now I feel very virtuous, or productive, or something anyway. 


This is my latest Coat/Jacket as I'm putting it on and buttoning it up to show the fit.  Yes, it really does match across the seams and hem, but not while I'm buttoning it.

Here's a favorite I wear all the time, and you can see the slide of the Marfy catalog illustration of it.

This is the second time I've done this class, and it's just so much fun.  I hope I will get to do it again.

Ooh, also a little tid-bit I heard while there:  Kenneth King is coming to Kearney, Nebraska this fall to do a 2-day workshop for the Bishop Educators group.  I will make sure I get to attend!