Camp Couture and updates

You may have wondered what I am doing now, readers... I hope.

I am in Baltimore! Taking part in Camp Couture with Susan Khalje, of course. Again... You can't have enough of it, seriously!

I am working on a guipure lace dress with inner foundation and overlay organza dress inspired by this Louis Vuitton SS2012 number.

My lace is grey, however. And, there will be slight modifications to the overlay organza dress. Otherwise, pretty much close tot he look you see.

I spent two days working on my inner foundation and lace dress muslin, went through several fitting and construction steps, which I will be happy to report about once I am back to New York. My old laptop just doesn't want to upload images I took here.

Let me tell you a few words about the dress is going to be constructed.

Inner foundation

The inner foundation is essentially a corselet that extends below the waist, so it not only supports the strapless lace dress but also helps shape the area below the waist. After three kids, you know...

You basically make two corselets out of this cotton and then join the two layers together and treat them as one. Then you stitch two parallel lines 3/8" (1cm) apart for the boning, add hooks and eyes, insert boning and finish the neckline and the hem. Sounds complicated? Chack in for pictures early next week!

The problem is I initially bought matching cotton for inner foundation without realizing it was stretch cotton. And the sales person at the fabric store didn't mention it. I went on and, after three muslin fittings, made the foundation. I laid out one layer on lengthwise grain, and the other on crossgrain, hoping this will prevent the foundation from stretching. Nope... it didn't work. So, I went on today and bought a different non-stretch cotton at Jo-Ann's today. So, now I am going to start the foundation from the scratch - I hope I will finish it by the end of the day tomorrow....

Guipure  dress

Now, the lace will be laid and shaped over silk charmeuse layer, which I decided to back with muslin to give the dress some support and structure. My guipure lace is relatively soft and I wanted to have a crisp look.

Right now, I got peachy charmeuse and muslin cut and basted together, so we can have final fit tomorrow before we lay the guipure lace over the underlining and tuck it to these two layers.

That's my plan for tomorrow.

I promise I will post detailed pictures of what I am doing! If you have any questions about construction of this dress or about inner foundation, post a comment - I would be happy to answer them or to ask Susan if I am not sure.

Couture Classes: Sit & Sew Day 3

Welcome back, readers! So, today, it's all about Day 3, which I spent mostly basting underlining to my jacket...

However, I learnt that while men's jackets are entirely interfaced in front (except, of course, for lighter summer versions), women's jackets are often soft tailored, with interfacing covering only center front and the area above the breast and around shoulder. The back support is similar for both sexes. hmm, I guess you knew it already... 

ok, I also decided to underline the jacket, which is not a common thing I understood. Why? I am terrible with my clothes, I let them hang on a chair, throw them on a bed, or any other surface - this is probably because with children I just take care of anything else after I took care of the kids... So, to cut the long story short, I need clothes that are more resistant to wrinkles and that retain their shape despite this disrespectful treatment. Underlining provides exactly what I need and I chose silk organza, so the jacket remains light and soft. Organza complements tweed very well - I love the feel of the two layers. 

For the interfacing, Kenneth recommended very lightweight Hymo hair canvas, which I bought at Steinlauf and Stoller. 

Finally, I also got my lining cut, for which I chose a solid silk charmeuse from B&J, the only store that had a matching color.  

Cutting and underlining took me entire day, and new demos by Susan and Kenneth were a welcome interruption to this rather monotonous activity.

Corset Demo by Susan

Unrelated remark: see those grey handle scissors? Those are my paper scissors! Never ever come to Kenneth class without paper scissors - he won't take you seriously! I misplaced mine on Day 4 and ended up listening that silicon in paper dulls the blades. And it's true, readers! By the way, the same applies to synthetic fibers. So, if you have expensive tools and sew frequently, listen to Kenneth!

Back to Susan! She showed us where the boning is usually placed in a strapless dress or corset. You can see that the corset has a waist stay, so Susan explained the use of the waist stay. Waist stays take the weight and strain of a garment from a zipper or shoulders. Use waist stay on a strapless dress and never again will you need to pull it up every time it slides down exposing your breasts. For perfect support, use boning, of course.

A waist stay is made of grosgrain ribbon, which is cut slightly shorter than the garment. While the garment would have some ease, the waist stay should fit snugly.

here you can see how waist stay is attached to the corselet

Fly zipper demo by Kenneth

Kenneth showed us this very fast method of putting together a fly zipper. I diligently took pictures of the process, but was not able to remember the steps. It was not complicated at all, but it will require some effort to remember and write it down...

Oh, right, and Devra's project. She wanted to make a vintage dress and bought this amazing italian shirting fabric and matching lining. I think the choice of fabric could not have been better, or?

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed the post and please leave your comments and questions about the class!

Couture Classes: Sit & Sew Day 2

Readers, Day 2 was so much better (mostly because I finally slept). I continued creating paper pattern pieces from my muslin and transferring adjustments we made to the paper. It was very interesting to see how adjustments are made following Kenneth's method. And I really have to learn his moulage technique. Some of the participants made their moulage in the class, and I was soooo jealous! Well, to compensate I asked Kenneth to bring his Moulage eBook, so I could try make it at home. I will just need someone to take accurate measurements for me.

Lotus Flower Demo

In the morning, Kenneth showed us how to make a Lotus Silk Flower - he made it out of muslin though :-). I have no idea where I would use the Lotus Flower but we all Ooh-ed and Aah-ed because it did look cute. You can making it too - Kenneth posted a tutorial on Thread's magazine blog couple of years ago.

Cutting Lace

Then we were for a treat from Susan! She showed us how she cuts lace, this lace was for one of the participant's project. With lace you want to match as accurately as possible to achieve the best look! With  many projects flower details are thread-traced around them instead of tracing following straight (or curved) lines on the pattern. Those extended details are then appliqued on the adjacent piece... we should  make a lace garment together.

To be able to position pattern pieces accurately, Susan showed us her trick. After she took the fitted muslin apart, she placed it underneath the lace, which was then pinned to the muslin pieces. Then, the lace is cut and thread-traced, ready to be assembled.

The day passed by very fast, and then, when I was ready to leave, guess who came by to say hello? Gretchen (or Gertie). Ann invited us for a drink in her hotel in the Garment District, and then another one downtown and... I thought it was so nice to meet all these wonderful people - at the beginning I was blogging in a vacuum - I knew nobody and I really wanted to connect to like-minded people and here you go. Gertie's and Ann's blogs were first blogs I was looking forward to read every time I came home after work when I just started. And now I am sitting with them on a rooftop terrace in the Garment District. Love sewing and love the sewing community - we are the nicest, most helpful and peaceful people on earth!

from left to right: Ann of Gorgeous Things and Gorgeous Fabrics, Gretchen of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing and Devra, our class participant and vintage aficionado! I was trying to convince Devra to start blogging...

Right?!

Couture Classes: Sit & Sew Day 1

This was another class with Susan Khalje, and with – new for me – Kenneth D. King. I did take online classes with Kenneth and was very impressed how resourceful he is, and how innovative are his techniques (all the relevant links are at the end of this post).

I joined this four-day class, which took place in New York’s garment district studio, hoping to start a tweed suit inspired by Burberry’s suit from his AW 2011 collection. The idea was to have one well-fitted pant muslin, as well as to learn more about custom tailoring techniques for ladies’ jackets.

Guipure skirt

Susan showed us her guipure skirt and explained us some construction techniques.

The skirt that she showed us was surprisingly soft. It was constructed in several layers: guipure lace on top, charmeuse under it to give it a color background and some shine. Charmeuse was underlined with lightweight cotton; the guipure lace was tucked in regular intervals to this underlined charmeuse. Silk lining was the last layer. Despite these four layers, the skirt was surprisingly light and soft.

Those who have Thread Archives DVD can read more about the construction of this skirt “Amazing Lace” by Susan Khalje (Issue #124)

Embelishments

Kenneth showed us a demo for one of his signature embellishments

The projects

For the whole day we were busy fitting and re-fitting muslins for projects we wanted to fit.  The group was great, and the projects were exciting: a lace jacket, moulage, coat, dress, pants, my tailored suit, corset, leather pouch and more.

For the traditional Show & Tell session we brought in projects we accomplished with Susan before: Ann (yes, The Ann from Gorgeous Fabrics) brough her Chanel(-inspired) jacket and her lace corset; I had my Chanel(-inspired) jacket and the LBD from the online class on Pattern Review; and Debra showed us her retro-inspired Pucci coat. We all Ohh-ed and Ahh-ed and got on our work again.

Ann of Gorgeous Fabrics (see link below) showed us her Chanel (-inspired) Jacket

Cloning a garment

In between, Kenneth showed Debra how to clone a blouse, using a piece of silk organza. He offers an online garment cloning course on Pattern Review, so check it out – it’s really good.

I love these courses because it’s so much fun to sew in a group. Both, Kenenth and Susan are so great, helpful, always smiling, always willing to explain…

Kenneth even modeled his jeans for me, here:

… and we had time to stitch and bitch, of course:

The only annoying thing was the space: sewing machines were placed too close to each other and there were only four cutting tables. The space was somewhat cluttered and we could not work beyond the studio opening hours (from 9:30 to 5:30). With lunch breaks and some shopping, that gave us only around 25 hours to sew. This is one of the reason’s why I loved the Baltimore class more! The latter was truly a couture boot camp and I could focus entirely on my project.

My suit

Readers, I spent the whole first day transferring muslin markings to paper. Since tailoring is Kenneth’s specialty and he does it this way, he insisted I do it.  And, even though I complained a lot at the beginning, at the end, it was a good idea, because it was much easier to draft lining and interfacing pieces from paper pattern and also to make alterations by cutting, slashing, pasting etc… However, I haven’t touched my fabric for the whole day, I hope it will be cut by the end of the class.

I was also much slower than usual. The day before, on Wednesday, I went to Alexander McQueen exhibition and the choice was: McQueen or muslin making. I chose McQueen, naturally, an spend whole night before the course making the jacket muslin, and another half a day making a pants muslin… phew

Check out these links:

Susan Khalje website: http://susankhalje.com

Kenneth D. King website http://www.kennethdking.com

Kenneth D. King book: Cool Couture

Susan Khalje: Linen and Cotton: Classic Sewing Techniques for Great Results

Susan Khalje: Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear

Pattern Review online classes

Gorgeous Fabrics store website

Classic French Jacket Class: Day 5 (or why it takes 17 hours to set-in the sleeves)

8:30 a.m. I am already in the classroom – the classroom is almost full again. It’s my last full day and I still have to accomplish a lot.

Yesterday, I finally booked my bus back to New York. Rosie, with whom I will be travelling, insisted I do it because ‘Amtrak is just so unreliable’. I gave in and followed her instincts.

Today, I plan to finish the sleeves and the jacket hem, which is currently pinned every half a centimetre. I also want to finish the jacket edges and start sewing on the trim. The sleeves, however, will take up most of the time.

Remember, I told you that it takes seventeen (17) hours to insert sleeves and finish them? Here is the breakdown of the steps, so You know what I am talking about:

• Make a muslin for the sleeves.
• Fit the muslin, make necessary alterations
• cut the fashion fabric and the lining
• quilt the lining to the fashion fabric
• clean up the sleeves and finish the vents
• insert the lower part of the sleeves (by hand!)
• fit the upper part of the sleeve on the body, pin it, and finish inserting the sleeve by hand.
• Finish the sleeve seam allowances and cover them with the lining fabric (by hand, again)
• Try the jacket on  to determine the sleeve length and finish the sleeve hems.

the upper portion of the armscye still has to be fell-stitched

By 2:00 p.m. I was able to finish all, but the last step of the sleeve

Susan quickly explains how to sew on hooks and eyes (I am not using buttons, because my trim is rather opulent) and how to attach the trim.

03:30 p.m. …after sewing eight hooks and eight eyes…. They are loose – I have to resew them

04:00 p.m. …still loose… Are they sliding out, or what?!  I have reinforced them everywhere!

04:30 p.m. Loo-oose!!!!

05:00 p.m. Damn! I cannot believe it! I went through the entire jacket construction epic without a major glitch, and am now failing at sewing on hooks and eyes?

Dawn, another class participant and an extremely helpful and resourceful person, suggests using silk organza to reinforce the loosely woven bouclé underneath. Did I tell you I had to open the edges of the jacket to resew the hooks & eyes?  Anyway, organza helps!

12:00 p.m. I decide to take the remaining work to my room, but, then, fall asleep in my bed while fellstitching the jacket edge again.

This happened because I wasted two hours complaining about my trim. My eyes are tired of looking at it and I have my doubts… I thought it was too dressy – and I wanted to wear it frequently. Shall I use fringed selvedge and chiffon strips instead?.. finally I am able to make a decision!

(to be continued)

Classic French Jacket Class: Day 4 (epic sleeves)

Summary:
Sleep: 5 hours
Meals skipped: none, yay! (I thing it was related to my happiness level, see below)
Happiness level: ........  I tend to eat more when my happiness level sinks...

Did you know that it takes freaking 17 hours to complete sleeves for this jacket!!!!! Now I know what Susan meant when she said we would freak out if we saw the instructions before the end of the class.

9:00 a.m. I am in the classroom, cleaning up and fell stitching the seams on the sleeves. This is a three-piece sleeve. One seam runs as an extension of the shoulder seam, and two other under the armpit, so the vent has a very pleasing placement.

11:00 a.m. fell-stitching...

12:45 p.m. Still fell stitching....

Susan's tip: use pins as a stitch: insert a pin at the very edge of a fabric fold for very accurate marking

My sleeves are quilted as well, and we are waiting for instructions on the sleeve vent.

01:45 p.m. Susan shows me how to handle the vent and sends me back to my table to finish up the other.

06:00 p.m. Still working with the sleeves. Susan tells me to finish all the remaining work to prepare the sleeves for fitting.

11:00 p.m. I am done with my homework, but decide to stay in the room and keep company to my fellow couturiers and work on other things.

01:00 a.m. I am exhausted  - time for bed. It seems there is no end to these sleeves. I am so looking  forward to the next step. Today, I worked 12 hours on sleeves only....

(to be continued)

Classic French Jacket Class: Day 3

Summary:

Sleep: 5 hours

Meals skipped: 2

Exercise: A trip to Jo-Ann's

Happiness Level: 5 (out of 5)

Optimism about finishing the jacket by the end of the class: rapidly sinking

9:00 a.m. everyone has gathered around Susan's table, where Diane (the lady in the center wearing a black and white graphic top) has arranged her treasures: a piece of couture lace and two Chanel-inspired jackets made in previous classes.

The jacket is one of Diane's previous creations.

This French couture lace (by Lesage) adorned with beading, sequins and ostrich feathers
was bought at Mendel Goldberg we were told.
Mendel Goldberg has beautiful laces, but this one is very unique even for this exquisite store.  

This is the back side of the lace - beading, sequins and feathers are arranged on delicate netting

Look at this workmanship! Can you imagine how many hours it took to make it?

10:00 a.m. Enough fun! We are sent back to our tables to get on with quilting and sewing up the seams.

I am happy I stayed late yesterday and finished my quilting, so instead of working and enjoy cakes and coffee brought by Diane (it was really generous of her to treat us to her couture possessions and food). I catch up on my skipped breakfast and get back to my jacket - I still need to stitch the seams on the bodice.

Look at the seams on this image. We haven't basted them. Instead, we pinned them into the seam with regular pins, making sure that the pattern on both layers matches and then reinforced the seam with so-called fork pins - those double pins you seen on the image. Susan recommended them for any matching job in future - it saves time with basting and is pretty accurate. We later drove to Jo-Ann's and bought more packs for everyone. But you can also order them from Amazon, for the same price - Susan said Clover has better quality than other brands.

 

11:00 a.m. Seams are done and we are queuing again to be fitted.

12:30 p.m. I end up with tiny alterations on five seams, auch! All the new seamlines are traced and I am stitching the seams again. Well, that's another three hours for perfecting the fit - absolutely worth it.

4:00 p.m. (or around that time) we are ready to clean up the seams. Susan shows us her method, and that's what we are doing for the rest of the day and the evening.

(to be continued)

Classic French Jacket Class: Day 2

All I can say about this one is that it was a long long day...

Summary: 

Sleep: 7 hours of undisturbed sleep! (no kids around)

Alcohol intake: 2 glasses of white wine.

Meals skipped: 2

Exercise: none

Shopping: Michael's fabrics (what did I want there, again?)

7:00 a.m. I am wide awake before the alarm goes on! This is what children do to a normal person. If someone told me fifteen years ago that I would wake up around 7, on my own, I would have laughed... 

I put on the TV and tune in to CNN ... ? ... The first thing I hear them say is that New Zealand is still there! Right... of course, it's the Judgement Day today and by the time I woke up, New Zealand was supposed to be gone, right? 

Anyway I am ready to have my breakfast!

8:00 a.m. Breakfast in the hotel, at the Northern Lights restaurant. Does anyone know why would a hotel in Baltimore call its restaurant 'Northern Lights'? I was thinking about it as I entered our sewing room at

8:40 a.m. Whoa, Susan is already here and my fellow couturiers are already queuing to get fitted! I thought I was early...

11:00 a.m. we all gather around Susan's table to marvel at each other's fabrics and trims! Susan comments on our choices.

That's Becky's fabric and trims. She was telling us that even though this jacket is quite expensive, it would amortize over years, costing just $10 per week. Whoa, I note it down - it's a great reason for taking this class after all. 

see my fabric on the right, with all the sparkling going on?

Susan demonstrates the jacket she made for the Threads feature (Issue 121). She shows us all the typical characteristics of this jacket, including quilting, seam allowances, abut lining, pockets, trims, buttons....

Jacket seams are open at some places offering a peek inside. We all ooh and aah as Susan explains us that these jackets are a completely independent subcategory of couture.

We quickly grab our notebooks and start taking notes. Susan stops us saying she got seven-page instructions for us. She will send them to us after the class, she says. "You would freak out if you saw them now," she explains. That's a comforting thought, right?

12:00 a.m. or close to this time we are all sent back to our tables to true our muslins and to start cutting fashion fabric and lining.

Those of us who bought fabric that needs to be matched realize that we are going to spend our evenings in the sewing room! Sleeves for jackets that need matching are not cut yet, we will fit them on the finished bodice to be able to match them precisely.

Phew, all bodice pieces are matched - we can now cut fashion fabric get on to the next step: quilting. Susan shows us how to prepare the fabric for quilting.

Look, my table is in the back, next to the window :-)

Lining is cut right after fashion fabric

Meanwhile, I decide to join a few of my fellow classmates on the way to Michael's fabrics - I am still not sure what lining to use and decide to buy 3 yards of crepe de chine. I get a handful of new coat weight wool swatches there and end up buying a beautiful off-white tropical wool suiting... Nice! I see some Chanel bouclés at Michael's as well.

7 p.m. Susan gives us some 'homework' - we need to finish quilting. With a couple of classmates we stay up until 2 a.m. next day...

(to be continued)