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Throw-back Friday ... or ... Boho chic vs. Hippie

6/13/2014

What's the difference?

Woodstock 1960's

Fashion ... NOW

While in LA last week, I spent an afternoon at Venice Beach. It is a beautiful beach, also a vibrant, albeit a somewhat run down, place with many homeless people and artists and musician set up all over ... kind of like Berkeley in the 60's!

It was a sunny, not too warm day. My husband and I had just arrived from a week in the mountains and I was enjoying the scene, a lot!

Along the walkway appeared an enticing ally lined with shops, the kind you just have to walk into.

And, low and behold! Not only was this an ally way, but also a time machine!

I felt like I had walked into a Woody Allen film, or at least gone back to my high school days.

It's true, it's true. Everything old is new again ... if you live long enough!

I couldn't resist. I wanted to bring a piece of this day home. So, my husband was a very good sport and sat outside while I tried on bunches of things and ended up buying this skirt. I love the colors and prints, but it is sewn really badly.

It's time to look at my summer wardrobe.

Next week I plan to re-sew parts of this skirt and fix a few other summer things from my wardrobe ... the fit of a dress I made last summer needs a tweak and I want to see if I can re-style a cool top/dress my son and daughter-in-law brought me from India a while back ... stayed tuned.

AH! I found a photo of me in 1970! It is the one to the right. I also found on line the photo above from the same time. Not too different, except for I didn't wear that crazy eye make-up.

Thanks to my high school boy friend Paul for this beautiful photo.

Now, if you too want to dress in the Boho Chic/Hippy fashion. A trip to the thrift store might do it. Or, you can sew your own! Burda has four great vintage patterns for that look, available at the Simplicity site right now. Click on the image to go there.

So, how much of a difference do you see? The photo below is a modern fashion take on Hippie fashion. Except for the too beautiful models with make-up, the fashions don't seem that off, to me.

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Travel to earliest sewing memories

6/11/2014

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Hi folks! I'm back from my break and today marks the beginning of my M-W-F schedule for blogging.

I had a wedding and a funeral to attend in California last week. So, my husband and I did a bit of hiking in the mountains and site-seeing between the two events. We hiked to ten thousand feet (starting at seven thousand) just for lunch! And to sit next to this beautiful lake with absolutely no one else around.

Saw some natural wonders, my favorite being the Devil's Postpile in the Mammoth Lake area of the Sierra Mountains. These straight basalt rock columns formed over 100,000 years ago from slowly cooling lava. Amazing and beautiful.

We took the studio tour at Paramount and I got to sit on THE "Forrest Gump" bench!

Being in southern California, also, brought back some old, old memories. I spent a summer in a little dessert town east of LA when I was six years old. My husband was a very good sport and agreed to take half a day for a visit.

At the top of this blog, is a photo of me in front of all that remains of what was the main attraction in town, the Apple Valley Inn. My father, a jazz pianist, played in the band there for the Hollywood stars who performed nightly that summer.

I had forgotten what a desolate place it was. And with the current drought it was dryer than dry. I couldn't find the motel we stayed in, but it was something like this ...

But, I remember that summer being so fun. It seemed special staying in a motel. I spent a lot of time with my big sister and became a good swimmer! I got my first library card and an allowance of 25 cents a week that I spent on embroidery thread (2 1/2 cents a skein) and probably candy.

Then it came to me that not only did I learn to thread a needle and embroider that summer, I remember checking out a book about weaving. I would cut up some of my embroidery thread into short lengths and arrange them to look like the little square weaving diagrams in that book about weaving. My father was quite amused by my obsession with this and would remind me from time to time, how he when he asked me what I was doing, my answer was "WEAVNG!" for years.

Sometimes I wonder how I ended up sewing and designing for a living ... so, this was an interesting side trip I made last week.

When did you first become interested in textiles and sewing?

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I MADE MY GOAL!!!

6/3/2014

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A year ago, I decided to set up a new and improved website AND ... crazy me ... start a blog. And, I made a pledge write five days a week for the first year, to learn to blog and to get things going.

I'm really happy I did this, and I'm really exhausted from doing this. But, look at the results above! That is the graph I get on the phone app for my website provider, Weebly. You can see how I started off with just a few visitors to my site daily, to spikes of over a thousand on several occasions!!

So, I am taking a break for about a week and for the second year I plan to post three days a week, M - W - F.

I will endeavor to make really good and interesting blog installments.

I have several cool new patterns that will be issued soon. I'm going to be teaching in October at the American Sewing Expo in Highland, Michigan in October and will lots to say about that. Theresa LaQuey, my sister, has agreed to do some more guest blogging. Her stuff is always so fun to see. I will also share my fabric and sewing observations for museum shows I see and wherever I might travel this year.

Please let me know if there are any topics you would like me to talk about.

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Anna's winter dress - cape and hat sewing

6/2/2014

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We are at the home stretch! The pieces just need to be sewn together ... YAY!

This is part 5 of a 5 part tutorial. Click on these links to read the other parts. Part #1 dress cutting, Part #2 dress motifs, Part #3 dress sewing, Part #4 cape cutting.

First sew together the 2 main cape pieces along the back seam. Hem the front edges (with polar fleece a single folded top stitched hem works fine). Don't hem the bottom yet. Run 2 rows of gathering stitches along the top edge.

To attach the ball fringe to the upper cape, sew it on like this first and then fold it back and top stitch it again. Press first to ease in that curve. Then, if you are using it, rick rack can be sewn next to the ball fringe.

Press the fusible interfacing to one piece of the collar. Then sew the two pieces together, trim and clip the seams, turn and press.

Stay stitch and clip the tight neck curve of the upper cape. It is sewn to the collar first. The side that has the interfacing pressed to it.

Next, the main cape is gathered to fit and sewn to the collar next to the upper cape.

Trim away the bulky seam allowance, turn and pin the inside collar piece.

So it can be slipped stitched into place. Then the decorative hook can be sewn on.

Check that the hem is hanging evenly and fix, if necessary, and machine sew a 1/2" hem. Add rick rack, if desired.

For the hat, sew the darts on the main piece and then sew the main piece to the back. It fits better if the straight edge of the straight piece is clipped to open around the curved edge of the back piece.

Trim this seam to 1/4".

To make the seam lie flat, open up the seam allowances and edge stitch them to either side.

This hat dips down in the back, but Anna's hat doesn't, so try it on and put some pins where you would like to trim it off. Fold and pin the hat in half so the two sides can be trimmed together to ensure they will be the same.

To make the back fit the head better, fold up the bottom 5/8" and sew a casing for 1/4" elastic. Insert the elastic and pull it to fit, not too tight.

The front edge needs some purple fur (only Disney would have purple fur!). I used some purple curly Minky. It is cut about 3/4" the length of the front hat edge and is about 4" wide.

Taper the ends a bit, fold in half, center and pin to the front edge. Sew in place.

Fold the front edge back for a machine stitched hem and apply rick rack, if you are using it. Then add some ribbons to keep this hat on. Anna doesn't have ribbons in the movie, but I think this hat needs them.

And I just want to point out to you that this hat isn't fitting ths head very well, because it is a kid's hat on an adult head form.

Well, that wraps up three weeks of Frozen dress tutorials. It's been fun and exhausting!

Please share with friends. I hope there will be many happy Elsas and Annas of all ages and sizes around this year.

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Anna's winter dress - cape and hat cutting

6/1/2014

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I like that this costume has a warm cape and hat. I remember as a kid having to wear a coat over my Halloween costume and hating it. I made this cape and hat out of polar fleece which will make a nice warm costume.

To make this you will need:
Pink polar fleece or felt
Fusible interfacing for the collar
A little bit of purple fur (I used Minky)
Some ball fringe
Rick rack (optional)
One decorative hook for the cape
1/4" elastic (for the hat)
1/4" ribbon or wider (for the hat)

I'm still using pattern pieces from these 3 patterns.

The pattern for Child 3 - Girl 14 is #3725.
The pattern for Misses 6 - 22 is #3723.
And the Plus size is #2354 and it comes in 18W - 32W.
Each line is a separate link that will take you to Simplicity's site.

From this pattern you will need the Pilgrim collar, and the 2 pieces for the Pilgrim hat.

I have made a pattern for the main part of the cape here in all the size ranges as jPegs that can be saved and printed out or Word files that can be downloaded.

annas_cape_-_child.docx
File Size:	2707 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

annas_cape_-_girl_upper.docx
File Size:	2737 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

annas_cape_-_girl_lower.docx
File Size:	2712 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

annas_cape_-_adult_upper.docx
File Size:	2787 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

annas_cape_-_adult_lower.docx
File Size:	2748 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

I forgot to put this down, but the squares on the grid pattern should be enlarged to 1 inch. Make yourself a grid and plot out the pattern. I suggest only the top part of the pattern is really needed and the length can be determined by measuring. The cape should be just a bit shorter than the dress.

For the short shoulder length outer cape, use the pilgrim collar piece #12 from the pattern. It will have to be cut a bit longer on the sides and back.

To make a band collar that fits this, first find out the length of the neck seam by drawing on the stitching lines, 5/8" in from the cutting line and measuring that seam.

Check to be sure it will fit comfortably around the collar of the dress and adjust the pilgrim collar pattern if necessary.

To make the band collar, draw a long rectangle the same height as the dress collar (for me 1 1/4") and the same length as the neck seam on the pilgrim collar. Add 5/8" seams all around.

Round the front corners with something round like a spool.

Add seam allowance to the rounded part, too.

And cut it out.

The two pieces for the Pilgrim hat will be cut as a single layer instead of two. The Hat Brim piece will have the front cuff part cut off along that line that I am pointing to.

Time for cutting. See how I get the lengths for the main cape piece by measuring.

See how I've added length to the side and back of the upper cape starting from nothing at the front corner, roughly 2 inches for this small child's cape.

After this piece is cut the front edge needs to be rounded. Pin the two side together so they can be cut at the same time. This ensures the two sides will be the same shape.

When the cutting is done you should have ...

From the pink fleece: 2 main cape pieces, one upper cape piece (cut on the fold), 2 collar pieces, one pilgrim Hat Brim piece with the cuff cut off and one pilgrim hat back piece.

From the fusible interfacing: one collar piece.

Tomorrow, we put it together.

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Forward>>

Throw-back Friday ... or ... Boho chic vs. Hippie

Travel to earliest sewing memories

I MADE MY GOAL!!!

Anna's winter dress - cape and hat sewing

Anna's winter dress - cape and hat cutting

From Andrea

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