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Finally Finishing the Outdoor Chair Cushions!!!

7/22/2013

If you've been reading my blog from the beginning, then you know that one of my first projects was making cushions for my outdoor chairs. I made the pattern and made a muslin and and then kind of set the whole thing aside.

If you type "outdoor chair cushions" in the search box you can read those blogs. I don't know how to make permanent links to specific blog posts yet. But I will soon!

I have to confess, it's a lot more fun making a tie dye dress than sewing 6 identical chair cushions, so the fabric and cut out foam has been sitting on my couch for a month and a half.

But, I'm planning a big party in a few weeks and my son and daughter-in-law will be coming to visit, so I need these cushions!!!!

First, I cut out all the pieces and Velcro tabs.

Each tab has to be turned right side out and there are 24 of them. This is the worst part!

I prepare the side pieces and then sew them to the tops and bottoms of the seat cushions.

Since I need 8 tabs per chair for the ties (actually Velcro straps) that hold the cushions to the chairs, I couldn't bear sewing and turning any more tiny fabric things, I decided to use 1" wide twill tape.

Holding my breath I take my first complete cushion outside and PHEW!!! it fits fine.

The first things to sew are all the Velcro tabs that will hold the back cushion to the seat.

Then I sew the other side of the Velcro to the back side of the seat.

I'm completely confident the seat cushions will be fine, so I finish them all.

Most chair cushions like this have ribbons or fabric strips to tie to the chair, but I know my family. If I want people to take these cushions indoors when the weather is bad, I've got to make it easy to do so. Plus since I have made this pattern specifically for these chairs I know where and how big to make the velcro loops. Ties are more forgiving. They can adapt to a variety of chair styles.

It hinges in a way that lets the back cushion rest on the back edge of the seat cushion.

I do this with 4 Velcro tabs that come from the lower edge of the back cushion and attach to the back edge of the seat cushion. This should make storing them easy, too.

So, I have to finish the other 5 and I'm ready for company. YAY!

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From my library - fun "dress-up" books

7/19/2013

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Well, in this installment of "From my library" we are back on the dining room table because it is a smaller group of books, eighteen in all. These are non-serious costume books. Or you could think of them as fun costuming books. Or another way to look at it, these are books for costumers in a hurry. And I think we have all been there at one time or another.

The largest subcategory is costuming for amateur theater. I strongly feel this is a much harder job than professional costuming where there are so many more resources and usually a group of costumers with years of experience between them. The amateur costumer has fewer resources and most likely the people helping her are not too experienced AND, she/he probably has a full time job Monday through Friday.
Below are my favorites ones from this group.

"Costuming made easy - How to make costumes from cast off clothing" by Barb Rogers really shows what can been done with thrift store stuff. This is probably the cheapest and fastest way to cobble together costumes for an amateur play.

Here she shows how to take a man's two piece suit ...

And turn in into a tail coat. I've done this and it works!

"Broadway Costumes on a Budget" by Janet Litherland and Sue McAnally is full of lots of useful costuming tips, but what this book is really good for is teaching how to organize and delegate all the work involved in costuming a show. And, the thing I like the best is how they have made categories for shows that share the same kind of costumes. This can be very useful when reusing or borrowing costumes.
If you were only going to own one book in this category I would recommend "Stage Costume Techniques" by Joy Spanable Emery. She covers basic clothing history, fabric choices, pattern making, how to set up a workroom and the costuming process, meaning what the costumers responsibilities are. Generally a good book. She also runs an amazing collection of home sewing patterns from the beginning of home sewing patterns at the University of Rhode Island.

A book I acquired recently is "Patterns for Costume Accessories" by Arnold S. Levine and Robin L. McGee. This book has loads of patterns for useful costume accessories such as these gaiters.

These three books are basically kid's costume books. The book on the right, Jane Asher's Costume Book, is really fun though. Jane Asher, the British actress, has come up with many funny and very quick costume ideas, Such as this statue on a Pillar.

What about her costume for St. George and the dragon?

I liked this costume so much I made a version of it for my son. One little kid started crying so much when he saw my son's costume I had to lift up the shirt to prove my son still had his head!

Or Queen Elizabeth made of an old curtain, netting gold paint and paper doilies?

Above is my collection of vintage costume and masquerade books. I have a reprint of one from 1892, one from the 40's, a 50's book for making costumes out of crepe paper ... really! ... seems like a fire hazard. But, my favorite one is from the 20's. I plan to devote an entire blog to costume wearing in the 1920's. They don't call it the "Roaring Twenties" for nothing.

This last book doesn't show how to make costumes but it is so fun, I've been trying to find a way to show it to you, so I'm doing it now. It is a book that gives an overview of costume history from Roman times to the present, in the humorous way only the British can do.

It is considered a kids book, but every adult I've loaned it to has loved reading it AND has actually learned some costume history.

I looked at Amazon and there are some used copies for sale starting at $.01! Well worth it.

This should take you to Amazon.

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Bad tie dye dress saved?!

7/18/2013

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SO??? What do you think? Can I wear this out?

Last week when I made my pretty blue tie dye dress, I also blogged about the first, unattractive, ugly colored tie dye dress that was my first attempt. (blog post July 13) I was going to give it to my local thrift store or use it to wear around the house, but then my friend, Jonatha, gave me some suggestions on how I might fix it.

So, I what can I loose ... Plus I am having fun tie dying. My family better watch out come Christmas ... there might be a lot of tie dye gifts under the tree.

Anyway, she suggested I over dye the dress with red, which will make the grey parts turn burgundy and the beigy-pink parts turn red.

This will remind you of how ugly this dress was.

Following my plan, I made large parallel stitches to gather up the fabric the same way I did the first tie dying.

Here is the dress just out of the dye bath, rinsed and ready to be opened up.

I made a plan, having learned the hard way things turn out better if you have a plan. I am going to over dye in red, but I'm going to over TIE DYE!

The top gets the same treatment. When all the tying is done I dye it, following directions on the box.

I'm pleased with the effect. Red is a good color choice for over dying this.

So, it's much improved. I could stop now, but it still looks muddy to me. It needs something else. Jonatha suggested adding black lines ... hmmmm.

There are so many cool products at the fabric store. All kinds of fabric markers and dyes you can squirt on. But, I have so much stuff in my studio. These two bottles of paint are left over from the production of Antigone I designed a while back (I blogged about this on July 5th). This is fabric paint that dries soft. And this is what I used.

I opened up the skirt on my work table and start adding highlights to the tie dye.

I used many short and quick strokes with a medium sized paint brush.

And do the same with the top. Cardboard needs to be put inside to keep the paint from bleeding through to the other side.

One last thing will make this dress look much more stylish and that is hemming the sleeves shorter.

So, thank you Jonatha for inspiring me to not give up on this dress!

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The art in my studio

7/17/2013

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I've got a lot of neat sewing related artwork in my studio that hardly anyone gets to see. So today ... welcome to my studio walls.

I start with a gift from Betsy Burger, my friend and the design director at Simplicity I work with. This is a page from a 1950s McCall's magazine.

Next is a gift from my son Kurt, who gave this to me in honor of our cat and all the lace up Renaissance bodices I was making at the time.

This is a small paper cut out I bought in China when I visited there in 2011.

This is a small embroidered piece I bought on that same trip to China. I love the sewing machines, the cut out garment on the work table and all the finished jackets hanging at the top.

This is a gift from Martha McCain. It's a reproduction of a painting by Jean-Edouard Vuillard entitled "Woman darning". A very peaceful piece to look at.

This is a reproduction of a painting by Antoine Raspal entitled "The Couturier's Workshop, Arles, 1760." I purchased this a year ago to hang on the wall when I was helping a wonderful young designer, Celia Reyer, create her interpretation of an 18C garment on site at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC in 2012

This is a little etching given to me as a thank you gift by a young woman who graduated with my son Eric from UC Berkeley. I gave her a little advice about working in the fashion industry and I got this wonderful piece of art. Her name is Tramaine de Senna Click on the picture above to see more of her art at her website.

OK, maybe this isn't exactly about sewing, but it is the clock above my worktable. I recently brought it back from my mother's house. It was always in the room I slept in when visiting her. This was a gift to my mother by the artist Winston Smith. He is a well know artist who's work has been on the cover of the New Yorker to mention one place. Click on the photo of the clock above to go to his website.

This tea pot is a gift from Simplicity. Every once and a while they used to give sewing themed gifts to all the freelancers. This sits on my window sill.

And, I know this is stretching the term artwork, but I like this little button shaped paper weight!
... another Simplicity gift

One year they gave chocolate bars that looked like rulers ... but, I'm afraid that one didn't last very long. :-)

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Flower testing started

7/16/2013

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My flower tester, Jaime Ferguson, has started testing. Check out her work at her sewing blog.

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RenFaire Wear Part 4 - Basic Ladies Garb

7/16/2013

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A couple of weeks ago, I showed you all how I took some old clothes from the thrift store and turned them into a wench outfit to wear to the Renaissance fair.

Are you ready to make something from scratch???
Let me give some suggestions how to go about sewing a custom made outfit.

The people who work and perform at Ren Faires usually have a strict dress code to follow for authenticity, but attendees can dress pretty much how ever they want and do! Below are patterns of mine that are currently in the Simplicity catalog. Although you can find lots of good used patterns on line and, of course, patterns by other people ;-).

This one is good if you don't want to be all corseted in.

This pattern has a nice hat and the skirt that pulls up give a nice "saucy" look.

This is a good basic skirt, blouse, bodice. You don't HAVE to sew it up in plaid.

But, this one has a story behind it, in addtion to being the best for a first time costume maker.

This is a me playing the Duchess in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "The Gondoliers".

OK ... a brief bit of background. My bachelor's degree is in classical singing and from time to time I perform in local theater groups where I sometimes costume as well. This time I only made my own costume. (I did help sew some other costumes, too ... please don't think I sat by and watched while others slaved away) The costumer for this show decided to create a whole new set of costumes for the ladies chorus who are all dressed like Italian peasants. (Hats off to my friends and fellow costumers Gaye Freese and Denise Young!!!) If you want to know the whole plot click HERE. Anyway, she was using the bodice patterns from a few of my designs that were out at the time ...
And if you haven't heard me say this before, I think costuming for amateur theater is, in many ways, harder than professional. Partially because usually the costumer has a full time job in addition to the full time job of costuming a musical production.
... Well, we were into rehearsals the week before opening and not all the costumes were finished yet. And one of the things that was hanging people up was all the seam clipping, grading and turning that all my bodice patterns required. Everyone was working so hard and was so tired. I forgot to tell you that the costumer was also a member of the cast!

Well, anyway this got me to thinking ... I decided I needed to create a Renfaire costume that would be easy and quick. Both skirts gather up with a drawstring at the waist. The bodice has a lining, interfacing and boning in the front, but it is constructed by stacking the layers and then sewing binding all around.

As I said above, it is great for a first time costume maker. This was Debbie Jacobson's first complete costume she ever made and she did a great job and went on to be my assistant for several years. Next to Debbie is Betsy Burger, my design director at Simplicity, wearing the actual coat from my men's pirate costume and me hamming it up.

We were on our way to my local Renaissance Faire.

But OH! I'm supposed to be telling YOU how to make a costume. There is a lot of really good information out there.
Check out the information at the Renaissance Faire Website.
Here's good article by Deborah H. Schreiben on the subject.
And another good one at Faire Ladies, Faire Lords, but I think they may be selling ready to wear costumes, too.

Make sure to look at lots of other people's costumes before putting money down on any fabric.

I would love for you to use one of my patterns, but you don't have to.

But, make your own if you can. That way no one else will be wearing what you're wearing!

IN the next installment of RenFaire Wear ... I will talk about my very involved Ladies Tudor gown and underpinnings.

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Lingerie at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris

7/15/2013

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We still get the actual paper copy of the New York Times every Sunday. It just isn't Sunday without lolling about with an extra cup of coffee and the Times.

Maureen Dowd is always fun to read and today she wrote about underwear! An historical look at underwear at an exhibit in Paris to be exact. And, her article is provocative to read, as usual.

One thing I learned was the word "lingerie" comes from the French word to wash, which makes so much sense, I should have know that before!! Since most clothing back in the day was pretty much impossible to wash, the best people could do was to wash all the underclothing they wore next to their skin ... their lingerie!!

So, I would love you all to read her article, especially you "Extreme Research" folks and please comment on Ms. Dowd's assertions.

Click here to go to the article.

Click here to go to the official site for the exhibition. It's in French, but there is a little British flag up top you can click on that has a lot of neat stuff in English and there is probably a way to translate the French. Please chime in, if anyone knows how.

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Tie Dye Dress tryout!

7/13/2013

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I gave my new tie dye dress it's debut last night. We went downtown to see a play.

Read the blog below to see how I made this.

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