Bluebird of Happiness - Coat - Part I

Starting To Quilt

Since I didn't have all my thread to finish auditions at the end of last week, I wasn't able to start working on the borders. I decided instead to start working on quilting the body and sleeves of the coat. When working on large projects like this there is always a point where you can't work on exactly what you want to for some reason or another. That doesn't mean that the whole project has to come to a screeching halt! The solution is to find something else productive to work on. That something else was the quilting of the body and sleeves.

The body and sleeves are being quilted in a 45 degree diamond pattern with a twin needle, with the lines spaced 3/4" apart. Because this a large coat, the quilting is a rather time consuming project. It isn't a hard to do, just a little tedious and certainly not as exciting as applique or beading. It does need to be done, because what I have planned for the borders (more on that and another sample in another post!) is rather complex and the simplicity of the quilting on the body will give the eye a place to rest. It is difficult to look at a piece that does not have some simple places to compliment the complex ones - I feel rather bombarded with visual input when I look at pieces like that.

Below, you can see a portion of the back already quilted. These pictures will also give a sense of the shade of blue that I'm using. Pictures don't do these sorts of things justice, but you get the idea.

Here's another shot, showing one of the fronts attached and ready for the quilting to begin:

I should be finishing up more samples and finishing this quilting over the weekend. Once those two things are complete, I can start working on the borders.

Parting Shot: Polished Rocks! My daughter brought these home today from school. Her class studied rocks and minerals this quarter and they had a rock tumbler in their classroom. It has been running for quite a few weeks and here's the result (along with a quieter classroom!).

I'm Back From Houston!

What a whirlwind trip! I started out my day by dropping off my children at school, dropping off two ensembles for a show next week at a show coordinator's house and then going to the airport to catch my plane. It was a quick trip, but I am so glad everything worked out so that I could go. I got a third place in the wearable art division with Midnight Garden, which I am very happy with.

The Winner's Circle Event is basically an awards ceremony, but better because there is a multimedia element, too. As the awards are being announced and the winners go up to receive their prizes, the name of the artwork, the name of the artist and a picture of the artwork are projected onto the screen at the back of the stage.

If the piece was a first place winner, it was actually in the ballroom, covered with a black drape which was drawn up and a spotlight placed on the piece as the award was announce in addition to projection on the screen. On three sides of the ballroom, to the left of the front section of seating, the front of the ballroom and to the right of the front section seating was where the pieces were all displayed. By the end of the awards ceremony, all the first place pieces had been revealed.

After the awards ceremony was over, if the winning artist was present they stood next to their piece to meet and greet people. I *know* the pictures below are blurry, it was actually more difficult to take pictures in there than I'd expected. You at least will get a sense of how the whole thing was set up.

It was a neat experience and I hope to go again next year - maybe I'll get to stay longer!

Parting Shot. As Promised, the Houston Dress. I finally got a picture of myself at the hotel after the awards ceremony. You'll have to excuse how I looked at that point - after all this was the end of a very long day. I did end up wearing the belt. Once I actually had the dress on it looked like it was missing something without it. Yes, it does fit right through the shoulders, it was just the way I was standing. No, there is not a spot on the front - I cropped the picture and fixed the red eye. I'm not sure what happened. I really love the dress and got quite a few compliments on it. Better pictures another day, maybe!

Houston Dress - Final Details

I finally have the dress done! There are no pictures of me actually wearing it, but I promise that I will ask some poor soul very nicely to take a picture of me wearing it in Houston.

Since the neckline is wide, the dress needs lingerie carriers. In the photo below you can see one of them. The carriers are made of small pieces of bias strips hand stitched to the inside of each shoulder with a snap at one end, and the other half of the snap sewn to the dress.


The hem is also now complete. I always do the hems for circle skirts or any very, very full skirt by machine. I might be crazy, but I am not crazy enough to stitch those hems by hand. I have a couple of techniques to do this, and for this project, I chose to finish the hem with bias strips. Before stitching, I had to trim the hem. You can see from the photo below that the bias did stretch a bit. Once that was trimmed, I also trimmed an additional 2" off the bottom because I'm short.

I usually use premade single fold bias tape for the hems, although depending on the project, I might actually make my own. I open up the tape and stitch it to the hem, right sides together, aligning the raw edges and stitching on the fold line.

Once all the bias tape is in place, it is pressed to the inside and stitched along the top folded edge of the bias tape to finish the hem. Very easy, unless you forget that you need two packages of bias tape to do one hem, like I did and had to go to the store and get another one! Sigh.

This hemming method takes very little of the skirt fabric and is perfect for when you need a very, very small hem (like if you've cut something too short!). It is also good for circle skirts because there is very little fabric to ease into the hem. The larger a hem you turn up on a circle skirt, the more you will have to ease the raw edge to fit the space. The circle gets smaller as you move up the skirt, thus the raw edge is larger than where it will be pinned, needing to be eased. Another good reason for using this method is that it adds a little bit of stiffness to the hem, which makes the circle skirt stand out just a bit and look nice.

Last but not least, I stitched on the paisley button. I figure I can always switch the button if I want to at another time - it's only sewn on!

I think that's it, and tomorrow early I will be on a plane for Houston. I've never been to Houston, but I like to travel so it should be fun. I will be back to posting on Thursday with a full report and pictures. If you'll be attending the Tuesday night event, please come up and say, "Hi!", you know what I'll be wearing!

Parting Shot: Teddy Bear. Today is teddy bear day in my son's class at school. Each student was sent home with a cardstock teddy bear to decorate, cut out and return to school. My son initially asked for glitter to decorate his bear. Now, I know I have glitter, but I'm not exactly sure where it is. I asked him if sequins and rhinestones would be ok. I *do* know where those things are! He thought it was a great idea, and was happy as a clam with the bags of sparkly things I provided. Poor kid, he will probably have the only teddy bear decorated with sequins and glue on rhinestones in his class.

Bluebird of Happiness - Dress - Part I

Bodice Muslin

Just for fun, today I decided to make the dress bodice muslin. I know this is pretty early in the project, but given the style of the dress and that the pattern is actually a size too large for me, a muslin is something I must do. Making one this early allows me plenty of time to get the fitting done and to think carefully about any changes that need to be made.

Here is the muslin so far, and yes, it is too big and the shoulders too wide:

The bodice is interesting to make as there are only four main pieces, albeit irregularly shaped pieces. As a review, note the pieces in the diagram below from the instruction sheet:

The front and backs are similar, and both are attached to side front or back pieces with two seams. The fabric is reinforced, then clipped and the side is attached, then a shorter seam is sewn to the edge of the sleeve, making an underarm. You can see a back section below, completed:

Once all the pieces are put together, the fronts and backs are joined at the shoulder and overlay in one seam. I like how the shoulder seam portion is slightly curved to fit the shoulders better:

Lastly, the side seams and sleeve seams are sewn in one long seam from the sleeve hem to the bottom of the bodice. Notice that there are no gussets in this dress, as is common in many kimono sleeve style dresses of this era due the underarm seams created while attaching the side backs/fronts.

I've tried it on and there will be quite a few fitting sessions. I need to get the boning in it and then try it on again to start the fitting process. By the way, in case you're wondering, this dress does have a center back zipper. I'm not moving it, either.

Tomorrow I will finish the Houston dress (just the hemming left!) and show the final details on Monday!

Parting Shot: Picking out Patterns. My son needs a new pair of trousers, and I just happen to have some black corduroy in my closet. I've let my son loose with the magazine and a pen and he's marking what he likes. Besides trousers, he seems to like the blazers with the detachable hoods.

Bluebird of Happiness - Introduction - Part III

Thread and Bead Auditions

Part of the fun of making these art garments is getting to pick out all the fancy thread, beads, sequins and rhinestones. Of course that means that there are some things that won't work for the current project. The only way to find out is to make samples.

To start, I pull out all the thread, beads, etc. that I *think* will work for the project. You can see these below, assembled with the sample. If I don't have enough supplies, then I purchase threads and beads to fill in the gaps. The nice thing about the tubes of beads is that my local bead shop will exchange the unused tubes for the right beads once I figure out exactly what I want.

I then sit at the machine with a sample of fabric, batting and backing (important because the finished product will have all of these layers) and just play - I try out all sorts of decorative and straight stitches in all sorts of threads. Once I think I'm getting close to what I want, I'll add some beads to see if I like the effect or if I need to change something.

This is also a good opportunity to check thread tension. You can see some fuchsia thread from the bobbin in the sample below - not good tension at all, but at least I know that now! I try to use up all my odd ball left over bobbins during the testing phase, so that explains that odd bobbin color choice.

Here you can see that I'm testing two different shades of a shiny poly/rayon blue thread for the satin stitching. I like the lighter color toward the top of the photo better than the darker color so far.

Once I get an idea that I think will work for my project, then I start adding beads to check that effect:

What part of this sample will make it into the final project? Well, only one shiny blue poly/rayon, one metallic blue and one gold metallic thread. I'll need size 8 gold beads, size 11 gold beads, size 11 ivory/cream beads, gold sequins and green sequins. The only problem is that I'm not quite done testing yet! I'm supposed to get a shipment of thread on Monday, one more gold color to test, before I make a final decision - of course getting brocade samples may influence that, too! Keep watching and reading and you'll get to see what goes into the final product!

Parting Shot: Vintage Earrings. I found these vintage earrings today at a local antique shop. There are a lot of neat things that I will pick up there when I have some spare change. I am hoping to wear these with the Houston dress, but I'm not sure yet. I am going to make a small pair, too. I'm a bit concerned that they'll overpower the button, plus they're clip earrings and a bit tight! We'll see.

Houston Dress - Part 4

The Belt

The pattern for this dress also has a pattern for a belt. Now, I'm short waisted and I usually don't wear belts at the waist as they tend to make me look just that much shorter in the torso. With the tab and button detail at the neck, I really don't think I need the belt as it would be a competing detail in the already too short torso region. So, why did I make the belt?

Well, I made the belt because it was a good challenge and good practice. I also wanted a "complete" outfit should I decide to sell or pass on the dress. I see too many vintage dresses that don't have their matching belts - you can tell because the dress usually has belt carriers at the side seams, but no belt.

Making the belt required quite a few tools. I dug out my vintage covered buckle and belt kits, plus my hammer, pliers, button and eyelet chisels, and my eyelet kit.

The first challenge was to cover the buckle. If you ever want to do something this crazy (and yes, you could send out fabric to certain places and get a belt back for a fee!) here's a hint - place the fabric on the bias rather than straight of grain, as it will be easier to mold around the buckle form. After wrapping and basting the back went on and the buckle was complete.

To be able to wrap the fabric around the center of the buckle and for the buckle's metal tab to come through, some patterns tell you just to cut a slit in the belt. Cutting a slit into any fabric for any reason without reinforcement is just not a good idea to me. I made a small buttonhole at the spot in the center of the belt and then passed the metal tab through the buttonhole to attach the belt to the buckle.

The one thing that interested me about this particular belt is the belt keeper - that extra belt loop looking thing over to the right of the buckle. I had never seen this feature on any vintage belt pattern before. Many patterns come with belt patterns, but not with this feature. It is just like making a belt loop, but the ends are stitched to the back of the belt.

Q/A: There are a few today. First, for Pam (in Jerusalem, soon to be in Estonia), here's the link to my chrysanthemum button tutorial. Just as a side note, Paco noted that there is a variety called button mums - clever play on words since I call my buttons chrysanthemums.

Second, regarding my neck/armhole finish, Nancy K wanted to know, "Do you make larger sas [seam allowances] in the neck and armhole for the dress?" No, I actually don't. I just try to stay stitch them as soon as possible so they don't stretch or shred before I get to the hand finishing.

Third, Carolyn, wanted to know, "Do you know why those side zippers were so popular?" Well, I'm not actually sure. My only guess is that the designers did not want to mar the front or back view of a dress with a zipper, and possibly poor installation. Do remember that invisible zippers were not available. Metal zippers were. Let's be honest, putting in a regular zipper by machine isn't the easiest or most foolproof thing to do. I rarely put in a regular zipper by machine as I prefer the invisible zippers (I can but it takes a lot of hand basting!). If the dress has no long opening in the front or back and it is as fitted as these dresses are, there is no way the waist of that dress is going over the bustline or hipline without some extra space, hence the side zipper. I have to admit, I do move zippers to the side seams for many of my art garments for aesthetic reasons, but usually the garment is strapless and the zipper starts right at the armhole. Here's the real kicker about the Houston dress pattern. The high necked back version calls for a short (6") zipper just at the neck at center back in addition to the side zipper! Why? I have no clue - why not one long zipper at center back?

Parting Shot: Quick Project. At least quicker and less complicated than making a belt from a vintage pattern and vintage supplies. I was able to take a few minutes and make a brown mock turtleneck for my daughter to wear with all her school clothes. It is a little big now, but either it will shrink or she will grow.

Houston Dress - Part 3

The Zipper and Some Finishing

This dress has a side zipper, a feature not uncommon on vintage dresses. The side zipper provides the only way to getting the dress on if there is no closure at center front or back. The side zipper allows the dress to open up enough through the mid section to be put on.

For most side zippers, I do a hand picked zipper application. Occasionally I will put in an invisible zipper, but only if the top edge is at the armhole. Since this one wasn't and I couldn't find a green invisible zipper locally anyway, hand picking was the obvious choice. It is not worth my time or frustration to do a centered or lapped machine application. I don't like wrestling with the entire dress and I actually like hand stitching. I can actually put in a hand picked zipper in a side seam just as fast as I can by machine (counting all the time ripping out and redoing since I'm never happy with the first try), and I know it will be neat and right the first time.

Once the side seam is basted shut, the zipper is basted into place. The yellow thread is the basting thread. I then mark for distance away from the seam line that I want the stitches to be - in this case, 1/4" - that's the white line. The pins then mark exactly where each stitch will go, spaced exactly 1/2" apart. That distance may vary depending on the garment.

After everything is marked, I stitch up one side. I then mark and stitch the other side, pull out all the basting threads and I'm done. Here's the completed zipper from the inside:

I've also started the hand finishing. I chose to finish the armholes by hand. Since I was fully lining the bodice, I stitched the shoulders seams of both the bodice and lining and then attached them at the neckline. Each armhole was stay stitched, clipped, pinned together and fell stitched together. It sounds like a lot of work, but actually isn't. This is another place where I prefer hand finishing sleeveless armholes to following the directions in patterns for finishing those shoulder seams. I always find them awkward and in the end it is easier for me to hand stitch.


I just need to try on the dress one more time to make sure the darts look nice and then I will stitch down the lining on the inside and the dress will be ready for hemming this weekend.

Regarding the button choices, yes, I think see them on the dress would probably be best before chosing! Here are the choices:

#1: The chrysanthemum button (that's what I call them because that's what they look like to me!)

#2: The paisley button

I'm leaning toward the paisley button at the moment. It is more interesting to me.

Parting Shot: Meet Mr. George. A few of you wanted to know who the designer was of the recent Advance pattern that I showed. Here he is, Mr. Eddy George of Casual Time of California.

Bluebird of Happiness - Introduction - Part II

Artwork

Today I'm going to show you a little of the artwork that I've been working on for BOH. The artwork isn't all complete at this point, so I'll continue to work on it as it needs to be done. The main part of the artwork is the border for various parts of the ensemble:

In the photo above, I'm not done with the border, but you have a good idea of where I'm going with it. Along with the hand drawn artwork, I worked up a sample, just to see if what looks good on paper will look good in fabric. I also made the sample to try out a few ideas; some worked, some didn't. Not every concept on paper or idea that looks like a good one, is a good one for the current project. The ideas aren't wasted, there might be a project in the future that is perfect for today's discarded idea.

I still need to draw some flying bluebirds. I showed you the bird perched on a branch that I drew and colored the other day, but I know I'll need some flying birds. For inspiration, I've pulled these two birds out of my vintage embroidery transfer collection that was once my mother's. If you look carefully, you'll notice that the flowers I drew are similar, too.

The next step for this project? Auditions. The thread and beads must be auditioned to see what will actually make it into the project or be sent back to the bins.

Parting Shot: Buttons. I'm almost done with these two buttons that I've made for the Houston dress. I still need to put the sequin edging around the paisley one. I had planned on doing that last night, but had choir practice. (We were working on Christmas music.) I haven't decided which button to put on the dress yet. What do you think?

The Houston Dress - Part 2

Bodice

Yesterday I got to work on the dress a bit and got the bodice and bodice lining assembled and fitted. Thankfully the fitting was easy. I was using a pattern in the correct size, so all I had to do was shorten the neck to waist length. To fit the bodice, I basted all the seams and then checked the fit. Once I was sure the fit was good, I stitched all the seams permanently. Even though I'm lining the bodice, I've decided to finish the seams by using pinking shears. To prevent print marks from pressing, I'm suing a low tech solution of strips of a manila mailing envelope under the seam allowances. Since the mailing envelope was beyond being able to be recycled and mailed again, I cut it into strips for pressing.

This morning I was able to stitch the bodice to the skirt and try the whole thing on. I wanted to double check the fit with the whole dress before finishing the waist seam. Everything still fit well, so I finished the waist seam by pinking it and adding a very narrow waist stay. I found a very narrow piece of grosgrain ribbon and stitched it to the seam allowances just above the waist seam. This ribbon is perfect because I didn't want a side piece of grosgrain adding extra bulk at the waist.

Right now, I'm starting work on the zipper. It will be handpicked as usual for me for a zipper in this position. I'll show you more detail on the zipper in the next Houston dress post.

Parting Shot: Advance 7931. I just got this one over the weekend. Check out that tab detail at the top of bodice yokes front and back.

Sweater Refashions!

I took a little time out this week to refashion a couple of sweaters. First, a size medium J. Crew orange wool v-neck pullover sweater that looked like this (you can see my thread tracing, oops!):


Is now this:

This cardigan now has a silky polyester gathered lower section, front bands and matching chocolate brown vintage velvet ribbon ties. The bands are full finished on the inside and any exposed seams are serged.

Second, a size large burgundy turtleneck pullover sweater that I've added some golden tan rayon bamboo brocade to make a tunic length top with gathers at the center front and center back. Some of the bamboo leaves are burgundy to match the sweater portion.

Sorry, no before picture, but just imagine what would be a regular sweater bottom half where the brocade now is. This sweater also looks good with a belt:

Again, serged seams for this sweater, 4 thread, just for extra insurance against fraying or unraveling of the sweater and brocade.

Both of these sweaters are for sale. Please email me if you're interested and would like more information on sizing. They will be placed in an Etsy shop on Monday if I don't sell them this weekend.

For other news, I found out this morning that I won a first place at the Pacific International Quilt Festival (see side bar for link) in Santa Clara, CA with Forget Me Knot (winners list here). I'm sure glad now that I re-hemmed that dress!

Parting Shot: On the Deck. My son on the deck right outside of my dining room this morning. Check out all those gorgeous fall leaves!