tutorial

preparing for the cold…

It is perhaps wishful thinking right now, but just about all my sweaters have been pulled out and are systematically being gone over. Whether they need cleaning, mending a small hole or replacing a lost button, I’m doing all the work now so that I don’t have to scramble (or worse still, wear a holey sweater!) once it does get cold enough. (Let’s just say I’m hoping that by doing all this it might make the weather cooler! hehe.)

Vintage sweaters require special care. I rarely send mine to the dry cleaners unless they are beaded or embroidered (or have some embellishment that does require care that I can’t manage at home). Solanah’s tutorial she sweetly wrote for a guest post last year is still one of the best at-home methods out there that I’ve tried.. I’ve used this for the past year since she posted it, both on nubby wool sweaters from the late 40s and luxurious cashmere pieces from the early 60s. Although eventually I need to stop at the local yarn store and see if they carry Eucalan or Soak woolwash, which I’d like to start using to wash sweaters. The real key to hand washing sweaters is handling them with the utmost care when they’re wet. Wool felts extremely easily, but if you are gentle the results are well worth the bit of effort. I’ve even washed a vintage angora-blend sweater by hand with no ill effects!

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For beaded pieces, Jody at Couture Allure wrote a great post on cleaning garments with beading and/or sequins that has proved very helpful. Especially since with vintage garments you need to make sure that everything is secure (and can handle the cleaning) prior to dropping it off at the cleaners. I honestly only have a couple beaded sweaters (contemporary pieces too; I have yet to acquire a vintage beaded sweater), mostly for the reason that I just hate having to send things to the dry cleaners! (Which is probably why over half my wardrobe can be hand washed in the sink at the very least…)

Finally, one issue with buying vintage (or thrifted) sweaters is often that there are insidious odors that cling to the wool fibers. I recently had to try and get out the smell of cigarette smoke from a thrifted sweater (the angora one). The odor didn’t show up until I immersed the piece in water, but was stubborn in coming out after it dried. No sure what to do (not being able to wash or dry this sweater—angora is particularly tricky!), I turned to readers on Facebook to ask for suggestions. (Not every solution is suitable for working with wool, so keep that in mind.) A simple airing for a couple days worked wonders, but had the weather been less than ideal, I think I would have opted for the baking soda in a closed container method! (I am convinced baking soda is magic…)

What are some of your favorite ways for cleaning and repairing vintage knit pieces?

September 30, 2011 · 22 lovely thoughts
posted in thrifting + vintage · tags: cleaning, thrifting + vintage, tutorial

cssa: hemming

Wow—can you believe we are this close to being finished with our circle skirts? I hope you all have enjoyed making these; I always forget how quickly the style comes together until I get to the end and think “Am I done already?”. Today I have three hemming options for you; you can pick which one will suit your fabric best. These, of course, are not all the hemming techniques possible for a circle skirt, but the ones I tend to favor. So feel free to deviate if you have another method you prefer!

First, before you even touch the hem, you’ll want to let the skirt hang for about 24 hours. Because of the bias element in the skirt, this can sometimes stretch a bit, and you want it to stretch now, rather than after you’ve hemmed the skirt. Try the skirt on post-stretching, and mark the hem an even distance all around from the floor. My favorite way is to use the handy hem marker I picked up a few years ago at a rummage sale (they’re still available though). But you can also have someone else mark the hem evenly around the bottom using a ruler/yardstick. Use pins spaced every few inches to mark where your hem will be. (Or try this solo-marking technique.) Just keep in mind you’ll need at least 5/8” below that pin for the actual finishing of the hem.

Take the skirt off and measure down from each pin 5/8” (or more, if you’d like a deeper hem. But stay about 1” or less.), and mark the cutting line. Trim the hem following those cutting-line marks. I usually find it helpful to baste the hem fold-line in at this stage, which can be done on machine.

Non-Woven Hem

If you are working with felt, which is a non-woven and does not ravel like wovens do, then your hemming is relatively easy. Follow the directions for marking the hem, and trim to 3/8”. Turn the hem to the wrong side, pin, and top stitch around the hem for a narrow finish.

Turned-Up Hem

This is just your basic hem, turned back an stitched by hand (or machine—though I only recommend that for casual styles and non slippery/thick fabrics). The real trick is how the raw edge is finished.

For firmly-woven fabrics and casual styles, you can get away with pinking the edge, or serging/zig-zagging over the raw edge. (Use thread that matches your fabric as closely as possible, so if the hem flips up it won’t be as noticeable.) Keep in mind that if you’re working with a wider hem, you may have to ease the top edge a little to conform to the curve of the skirt, and prevent those folds/tucks that can warp the finished hem edge.

Another method of hem finishing would be to use a narrow seam binding or hem lace to cover that raw edge. You’ll need to make sure your hem is fairly narrow (1/2” to 5/8” at most), to avoid the puckering/excess ease I mentioned above. You can finish the raw edge if you’re working with a fabric that likes to ravel a lot, and them lap the tape over the hem (wrong side of the tape to the right side of the hem) by about 1/4”. Straight stitch over the area where the hem and tape connect, being sure to turn under the tape at the end, and overlapping the starting raw edge (for a neat finish).

Once you have determined how to finish the edge, turn the hem to the inside of the skirt along the basted hem-fold line. Pin. You can either evenly machine stitch around the hem (use a slightly wider stitch for this), or you can slip or catchstitch the hem to the inside of the skirt. Hand hemming may seem daunting on a circle skirt (be prepared to spend a few evenings doing it), but the result is far more subtle and soft—suited to fabrics whose surfaces show machine stitching too easily.

Machine Rolled Hem

This is my favorite hem for a circle skirt, and one that is recommended in a few of my sewing books. This will work well on most light to medium weight fabrics. You will need a hem of 5/8” wide for this.

Begin by staystitching 3/8” from the raw edge of the hem. Press the staystitching to steam out any ease in the hem curve. Press the hem to the wrong side of the skirt along this staystitching. Pin if necessary.

Stitch 1/8” away from the fold line along the hem. This can be tricky with slippery/thin fabrics, so go as slowly as you need! Trim the excess above this line of stitching, right alongside the stitching line, trimming as close as you can (without clipping the stitches of course!). If you have a pair of applique scissors, this makes the process go a lot quicker.

Fold the hem again (to the wrong side of the skirt) a scant 1/4”. Press and pin if needed. Stitch 1/8” from the hem fold around the entirety of the hem. Press again.

Horsehair Braid Hem

This is probably the hem I’m most excited about right now, since this sew-along gave me an excuse to finally try it! If you want a skirt that has some form and structure without wearing a net petticoat, this is the way to go. You’ll need horsehair braid, though (Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch kindly sent me some to try out for this!), which can be a bit tricky to find at your local fabric shop (unless you live in a big city with good fabric stores).

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to direct you to Gertie’s excellent tutorial and follow-up post. This is the basic technique for apply horsehair braid to a simple hem. For my skirt, I opted to forgo the machine topstitching along the top edge, and instead am using a hand-worked catchstitch to secure the top edge of the braid to the skirt. (Yes, it’s taking a bit but the result is hardly noticeable on the right side!) Let me just tell you: I am completely in love with how full the hem is!

That’s it for the construction of your circle skirt! Post-hemming give it a good press and step back to admire your handwork. I’m going to try to get my petticoat made and a tutorial written up over the weekend, and posted next week. If not, I’ll just have a round-up of tutorials online to direct those of you who want to make your own. Then it’ll be time for the circle skirt party! Stay tuned for details…

September 29, 2011 · 18 lovely thoughts
posted in sewing · tags: circle skirt sew along, sewing, tutorial

cssa: inserting the zipper

As I previously mentioned, there are three methods I’ll discuss for inserting the zipper in this skirt. The first is for suitable for both skirts with and without side seams; especially if you’d rather have the zipper in the center back. The second and third (lapped skirt and invisible) are suitable for skirts with side seams, as you’ll need a seam to insert them. Either way, we’ll be doing this prior to adding the waistband. Be sure to read through each, as they have different steps in regards to sew the side seams.

Slash Opening Zipper

This method does not utilize a seam for the zipper insertion, so it’s perfect if you want to add a zipper to a skirt that has no side seams, or the center back of a skirt that does have side seams. The best part of this method is that it uses a patch to finish the slash opening, so the zipper teeth are not exposed. If you are sewing a skirt with side seams, follow the first step. If not, skip to step 2.

I also recommend basting by hand with silk thread if you’re using a fabric that tends to mar easily when threads are pressed.

1. Right sides together, sew the right side seam. Press seam open and finish. Repeat on left side seam.

2. Mark the length of the slash opening at the center back from the waistline down (the length will be zipper teeth (for example 9”) plus 5/8”). Baste by hand or machine over the marked slash line.

3. Cut a piece of your fashion fabric 1 3/4” wide by the length of the slash line you marked on your skirt, plus 1”.

4. Place the stripe right sides together over the basted slash line, centering it over the basting. Baste in place around the perimeter to the skirt by hand or machine.

5. With the wrong side of the skirt facing up and using a small (2.0 on my machine) stitch length, stitch along the basted slash line. Start about 1/8” away from the slash line at the waist of the skirt and taper to nothing at the bottom of that line. Pivot and stitch the angled line to match the other side. Stitch again around the bottom point of the slash line to reinforce.

6. Carefully cut along the basted slash line from the waistline to the point (be very careful not to cut through the stitching you just did!), through both the skirt and patch layers.

7. Press the patch to to the wrong side of the skirt, making sure the bottom point is wrinkle free.

8. Baste the opening edges closed by hand or use a wide zig zag stitch to join the two edges temporarily. Make sure the top (waist) edges are level and the opening edges just meet but do not overlap.

9. Wrong side of the skirt facing up, place the closed zipper along the basted-close slash, centering the zipper teeth over the slash, about 3/4″ below the cut edge (waistline), so the top stop is clear of the waistline seam. Switch your machine’s presser foot to a zipper foot. Pin and baste by hand or machine.

10. Stitch (using a regular stitch length) around the zipper from the top (waist) seam, around the bottom (carefully—don’t hit the zipper stop! You may want to mark where it is with a pin before you begin), and up the other side. Stitch far enough away to give the zipper pull space, but about 1/4” within the slash line on either side.

11. Remove basting stitches around the perimeter of the patch, and the basting holding the zipper in place and slash opening closed. Gently steam or press (with a press cloth covering the fabric) the zipper opening.

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September 19, 2011 · 42 lovely thoughts
posted in sewing · tags: circle skirt sew along, sewing, tutorial

pretty summer ponytail

With summer here and being in a 50s mood fashion-wise of late, I have been wearing my hair in a pompadour ponytail style for weeks. It’s really easy, gets my hair off my neck (which has officially reached “mermaid hair” length… it’s at my mid-back now! Part of me wants to chop it off, and part of me is curious to see how long I can grown it! It’s just a pain for 40s ‘dos! Not impossible, but poses more challenges…), and is a look that goes well with lots of my vintage frocks. I posted this video tutorial earlier in the week on YouTube, and thought I’d share it here as well!

What are some of your favorite summertime hairstyles?

July 14, 2011 · 18 lovely thoughts
posted in beauty tips · tags: beauty, hair, tutorial, video

50s dress tutorial pt. 2

As promised, part two of the 50s sundress tutorial! I’m going to preface this by saying that I did not photograph each step blow-by-blow (however I did write about each step). This was simply because what I wanted to focus most on with this tutorial was drafting and the shoulder/neckline finish. I would recommend that you have a good sewing manual on hand, or feel free to ask me questions. If you’ve sewn a dress before, you should be fairly familiar with the order of construction and ways things come together and shouldn’t have a problem!

I would also highly recommend you read Grace’s comment on the drafting post about reducing the curve of the armhole if you’re using a pattern that originally had a sleeve. Between forgetting to do this with my dress, and a run in with the serger (gulp), that is why mine had to have darts from the armhole. Which in the end was totally find, and added some fit–plus it’s a detail I’ve seen on 50s dresses before (and I’ve been itching to try to add some extra bust “oomph” to a dress!). But be sure to check the fit before cutting your fashion fabric. Whether you just use the pattern pieces to tissue fit or make a muslin–don’t forget to double check! Remember: measure twice, cut once. Update: Grace posted an excellent photograph and description of what her comment describes here.

Let’s talk about fabric before we jump in, shall we? This sort of dress is very well suited to medium weight fabrics: linen or cotton are my first choice. Be careful with quilting cottons, however, as they tend to get extremely bulky when gathered. As I mention in the supplies list, yardage requirements will vary based on your size. A way to figure out approximately how much you’d need is to do a bit of what I like to call “sewing sleuthing”. Check out one of the big pattern companies sites and find a dress in a similar style (full skirt and fitted bodice), and see what their yardage requirements are for your size. This will give you a ballpark estimate as to how much you’ll need.

Dress Pattern: instructions for drafting your own in part one.

Fabric: it will vary based on your design and size preferences, but about 3-4 yards (45″ wide) should do for a very full-skirted dress.

Double Bias Binding: 3-4 yards; either pre-made or you can make this yourself.

22” zipper: to match your fabric.

Thread, scissors, sewing machine, regular and zipper foot, pins, iron. (Usual sewing equipment!)

Lay out the pattern pieces on your fabric. I’m using a medium weight cotton. Cut out the bodice pieces; one front on the fold, two back pieces and four pocket pieces. Transfer all dart markings. I want to note here that I underlined my bodice pieces. What is underlining? Read about it here. For my fabric, I chose to do this to add a bit more body to the gingham and also reduce the sheerness.

Measure and mark your fabric for the skirt pieces. I just used tailor’s chalk to mark everything on a double layer of fabric and pinned along the lines so the fabric wouldn’t shift. Cut out. It’s a good idea to pin little notes to the top edges or sides of your skirt pieces—especially since these are all rectangles!

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July 11, 2011 · 25 lovely thoughts
posted in sewing,tutorials · tags: sewing, tutorial

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