Finishing Up

It really isn't my fault that I am constantly distracted from doing my wedding dress. I mean shoot I still have 45 days before my wedding to get the Ceremony dress sewn, start/sew the reception dress, dye the silk for the reception dress, fit and sew the final fabric for the singer's dress, start/sew my nieces flower girl dress, oh and make the 4 bowties for the rest of the band. PLENTY of time right? Did I mention I'm also making reception and ceremony decorations and a DIY photobooth using an Eye-fi card and Ipad? Like I said plenty of time. No need to panic. Right?!

Anyways I had misplaced my dyes that I was going to use this past weekend to dye my fabrics for the reception dress. Then I realized while cleaning everything up there were a few projects that I really want to get done and out of the way before I encapsulate my entire workspace with wedding shenanigans.

Let me start by introducing you to my buddies. These Pins are my absolute favorite in the world. I've only needed 3 boxes in the past 15 years. I get them in NYC at Steinlauf and Stoller. They are just fantastic, strong and clean.  If you read through this entire post I can promise you some pointers at the end of sewing with Vinyl stretch fabric.

Ok, so what I am planning to finish up tonight is a jacket for a friend that is a hybrid of two of my patterns as she puts it.  Which are these two, The Fencer white jacket and this peplum jacket with seaming.  She wanted it to be made from this black stretch Vinyl which in itself has been a task.  Stretch fabric is already up there with silk charmeuse in my dislike to sew pile, then the addition of Vinyl where every place the needle or pin enters there is a permanent hole.  Not only that but how do you line something that is supposed to be thin and body hugging or just finish it so that it looks good inside and out?  These questions are what have mostly held me up from completing this jacket.

This is what I had to do to fit the pleated mutton sleeve into the armhole.  It is not pretty but with the pins facing that way and into the very minimum seam allowance It worked out.  I had to sew very slowly and make sure all the pleats were facing the right ways.  At the height of the sleeve cap the pleats change directions from front to back making a mini box pleat.  The result is of course beautiful, but the sewing was oh so painful.
 

Slow and Steady wins the race, right?

At least going slow gave me plenty of time to take out the pins and check on the pleats.  One of the very few times I used the speed control option on my Brother Innovis-80.

After the sleeve was sewn in it had the expected lack luster hang on the mannequin but when my friend did her fitting it had a proper shoulder to fill it.  I am still going to make some shoulder pad insert that she can snap in and out to give it more and less fullness.

Last night I left off where I had made some final decisions.  I am going to self line just the back half peplum with the same black vinyl since that is the loose part and the only part anyone might see if she is onstage or above anyone. The rest of the jacket will fit snuggly around her wasit, hips and torso so it needs the maximum stretch allowance of the fabric to give her the look she wanted.  I am going to do a turned half inch top stitch to finish the bottom and continue that over the peplum and lining to make it look a continuous line.  I am going to hand finish the parts that I can't machine sew such as bling whip stitching the part of the lining that do not have a seam to attach to.

  Is that blue painters tape?  Why yes it is. 

Here we come to the portion where I will give you some tips.

1. Not just masking tape but Blue painter's tape has been my best friend to holding down seams in this vinyl.  I don't have to worry about making pin hole marks, and the residue makes it easy to come off when I need to take it off.  You can also sew through it without too much concern that the residue will build up because 9 times out of 10 it doesn't.

2. Use a ballpoint stretch needle while Sewing this.  Since it has so much stretch in it you want to treat it just like any other stretch fabric.

3. If the vinyl is sticking you can put a little bit of baby powder on it to help it glide across the bed of the machine or paper.  I use paper because I fear the baby powder will gunk up my gears even though it isn't any more harmful then dust.  Also sewing through paper is almost like using a tear away stabilizer.  The paper method also protects the vinyl from getting feeder feet teeth marks or impressions. 

4. Change your needle at any indication of a skipped stitch or even just getting a little stick coming up from the fabric.

5. Use some Thread Heaven or Sewer's Aide on the needle while sewing to help keep it going smooth through the vinyl and you can even put a drop of Sewer's Aide on the spool of thread itself and it will also help to keep your needle smooth and lubricated.

After I get this Lining sewn in a I have a few other things to do such as the separating zipper and the mandarin collar.  Assuming all goes well and this beast of a project doesn't send me flailing my arms at the kitties in tears.  This will be a great one of kind Jacket that I will probably never sew again, at least not in a stretch or Vinyl.  I'd do it in a nice woven tapestry fabric or duck cloth.

TONIGHT WE SEW IN HELL!

In my world today

There hasn't been a lot of personal stuff on the blog lately because a lot of it is hush hush or I'm so cussing busy that I can't see straight therefore I don't want to talk about it.

Well today I am going to talk a little bit about what I can.
We are currently on week # 2 of fostering this darling kitten.  She came to us as Fluffy and we have since re-named her Miss Rambo Fluffington the 1st or Rambo for short.  The Fiancee could not endure her to have a sweet pretty name so he chose Rambo, we just needed a more formal title to get along with the rest of the family.

Our other two kitties are the wiley looking woodland creature Sir Benjamin Franklin and the always proper Orange girl Princess Sophia Loren, or Franklin & Sophie aka Stankles and Chubbs.

Suffice to say she is a keeper and we are going to officially adopt her after she is fixed.

I am amidst another semester of teaching at CCAD for Pattern Drafting and Construction.  It is going well but I was in a bit of a funk at the beginning.  I think the break from winter accompanied by all the wedding planning was making me feel bogged down and not mentally prepared for this semester but I am totally on board now mentally and things are wonderful.  The summer CE classes for Pattern Drafting and Construction as well as my Draping into Pattern class are now open here if you want to apply!  Also this summer I am doing the High School 10-12 grade work shop and College Preview once again.  College Preview is probably one of my favorite programs to be a teacher in at CCAD.

I have been working on writing my testimonial for a international sewing machine company and there are several other exciting projects that may come from them as well.  I've already been talking to a company rep so it's another great thing in the works.  Once it's official you can expect a ton of awesome things.

I have some repeat client work gearing up for spring/summer.  Along with new client projects and work which is very hush hush right now ( I know it's sooo boring when I say Hush Hush but it just means it'll be that much better when I can talk about it).

Oh and I am going to be a guest lecture/workshop teacher for a local Private High School on Fashion design and the Pattern drafting process.  We are just sorting out the details.

I will have a great review about a Class I took at the Columbus Idea Foundry this week on Laser Cutting so look forward to it!

I am currently avoiding my wedding planning again...... perhaps later this week I will get back on board but I have a Jacket for a friend to finish.  It's a variation off of my Fencer Jacket.

Independents day Pre-game

So tomorrow is Independents day!  Am I seriously ready to wake up and be there by 8 AM to start set up?  It's kind of a huge deal that I am in charge of keeping 32 vendors in order and timely.  I need to get my stuff out together and positioned ASAP and then just be there for everyone else.  Is this the kind of stuff being a mother will feel like?

You should all come out and visit me it's from noon till midnight downtown around Pearl and Gay Street.  Craft Alley will be open from noon till 10 pm and we have an AWESOME line up of Craft Vendors.  Lot's of representation from the Crafty Cotillion.

Today I finally caught up on my blog reading and it's fun to see what all the "Big Blogger's" have to say about fashion week and their grand experiances.  Little ol' me just worked my ass off at the gym and sewing a frenzy.  I feel so disconnected with what is going on fashion wise.  It used to be my dream to do a runway show and now I wonder where it went?  Now I am just super happy to make things, anything all the time. 

I also realized while going through the blogs I haven't taken any pictures of myself in the past few months with outfits.  I promise that will change.  I might even keep a little trip pod set up in my cubicle for this.

I did see ONE thing that makes me want to get intensely involved in making some jackets/coats at least something for myself this fall.

Images from atlantis home

Something about the construction of this jacket is divine and I really want to try my hand at leather ruffles.  I've done pintucks and pleating and even the mutton sleeves but this seems like so much fun and I do have some leather sitting around.

P.S.  for wedding stuffs I did try on dresses for the first time and you can hear my thoughts here!