Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class 2014 - #3 Closures

For this project I used a Sandra Betzina blouse pattern, Vogue 7281, that I had made before.  The fabric came from a pair of flowing pants I bought at Maxwell Street in Madison, intending to use the fabric in them for another garment.  I was able to place the border of the print along the front edge of the blouse.

For the button loops I used some middy braid I purchased at
Gayfeather Fabrics.  I doubled the braid and tied it
in knots and used this for the button loops.

The buttons were made out of triangles of the fabric that had a layer of fleece inside and I sewed a layer of the facing fabric to the back.  I rolled then up into little croissants and then hand stitched them to the fabric.  I put a circle of heavy felt behind the button to hold it up and so that it wouldn't pull the lightweight fabric.


Close up of croissant button and loop.


 



Finished project.

 

Note:  One think I learned from sewing with metallic fabric is that it is very delicate.  I should have lined the entire blouse as it he long threads on the inside tend to catch and break.  Next time:)



Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class 2014 - #4 Using 5 Fabrics in a Garment

I have a wonderful silk print that I have coveted for years - too afraid to cut it up in case I screwed up the resulting garment.  It features a grouping of Asian people and I have been pondering for years what to do with it.  The assignment for our class prompted me to think of using it as I also had a few yards of another orange silk flowered print that worked with it - now to find 3 others!  I had an orange corded silk in my stash that worked and after digging through my kimono pieces stash I found 2 more green shibori pieces that worked.

The pattern I chose had an Asian feel to it, as do so many of my garments - it was one of Lorraine Torrence's patterns, Grainline Gear Crossroads Jacket. 

I remembered reading an article in one of Sandra Betzina's books about making a silk jacket.  It involved backing each piece with a matching piece of flannelette that was fused with interfacing.  The flannelette gave body to the fabric while the interfacing gave it abit more, without being directly fused onto the silk.  I hand basted each piece (exhausting!!) with the 3 layers before sewing them together and then lined the piece in more of the orange silk.

Thee garment needed closures of some sort and I had purchased some buttons at a flea market in Madison that were just perfect - men's heads in a scale that matched the print to perfection.  I used a covered snap as a closure underneath and then sewed the buttons onto the front band as decoration.  So glad I waited for the perfect garment and the silk feels wonderful when I wear it!

Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class 2014 - #5 Using Panels

Every year,  Cat's Pajamas Productions puts on a fantastic vintage clothing show and sale in Elgin, IL. (www.catspajamasproductions.net).  It is held twice a year and is wonderful not only for the shopping but just for browsing and they usually put on some kind of clothing-related exhibit.  If you go to the show on Friday nights and dress in vintage they will give you $2 off on your tickets.

A couple years ago I found 2 beautiful silk pillow cases.  One I used as is on my bed and the other
I used for a project in Lorraine's class.  Our assignment was to make a garment featuring panels so I took a favorite vest pattern and was able to cut up the pillow cover and use it for the front panels of the vest. For the back of the vest I used an embroidered piece on the upper back. 

 

 

 

I love the vest but unfortunately the embroidery has lots of long threads and it is easy to pull them.  This will definitely be for special occasions.

Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class 2014 - #2 Threadwork

Closed

Open

For this project I used a Paw Prints pattern by Dana
Bontrager called Kimono Jacket and Vest.

Since this is a rather boxy
vest, I decided to add about
4" in length to the pattern
and then added width to the
sides, below the armhole, in
a wedge shape to make more
of a swing shape to the vest.






I'd like to wear this vest both ways, so I added a snap so I can wear it closed and can also
let it hang open.

Here is a closeup of the stitching I did on the neckband
using #5 Pearl Cotton and Sashiko stitching.  I got the
idea from an excellent article entitled Pocket Panache in the October/November 2013 Vogue Patterns Magazine.





The long red item on the left is a button from JoAnn Fabrics (amazing!) that I stitched on with some small black beads to cover the holes in the button.

What Are You Sewing?

Vogue Patterns magazine (one of my favorites along with Threads) has a monthly feature entitled What Are You Sewing?  They ask their readers to send in a photo and explanation of a favorite project as an inspiration to other sewers.  I decided to send them a photo of the coat I made from a Vogue pattern (#7663) by Marcy Tilton and it showed up in the April/May 2014 issue.  You can read about my project below. And  THANK YOU Vogue Patterns for awarding me a one-year subscription to your fabulous magazine!

 

Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class 2014 - #1 Repurposed Ready-to-Wear

I signed up for Lorraine's Creative Clothing Class at Gayfeather Fabrics again this year, as did most of my classmates from last year.  The first  assignment was to repurpose a piece of ready-to-wear.  My project for this go around was a long, black silk Dana Buchman vest I found at a consignment store for $20.  I decided to use some of the beautiful pieces of handprinted silk scraps that I had bought from Laura Goldstein, who has a business in Milwaukee called Grotta & Co.  She makes the most fabulous scarves and pillows from her fabrics (www.grottaco.com). 




Before

After

I first fused the silk pieces onto some fusi-knit interfacing and then sewed the pieces into strips which I basted onto the hem of the vest.  Then I used some black and white ribbon I got at Gayfeather Fabrics and topstitched it onto the top and bottom edges of the strip to finish it off.





























Using a grasshopper motif from one of the silk scraps, I made a patchwork square which I stitched on the upper back to add interest.

 

 

I had planned to change the button that came with the vest but decided the large mother-of-pearl button was perfect. 

Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class #1 - Repurposed Ready-to-Wear

 

For those of us sewists lucky enough to be located in Madison, WI, we now have a great wearable artist/quilter in our midst.  Lorraine Torrence, formerly of Seattle, WA has relocated to Madison and is now teaching at Gayfeather Fabrics on Willy St. in Madison.  I am enrolled in one of her classes entitled Creative Clothing and am keeping track of the projects I have made for this session.  

 

Our first assignment was to repurpose a ready-to-wear garment.  I chose this black Flax brand linen jacket that had been hanging in my closet for far too long.   This jacket had many interesting design features which went unnoticed.

 

 

 

 

I chose to accent the lower pockets in the peplum with white linen fabric and added stacked buttons to the center front, alongside the front flange.  I didn't care for the collar so I constructed a new neckpiece over the old one and accented the sleeves and center back with more of the white linen fabric.

 

One thing Lorraine impressed upon us was to always put something in the back of the garment that

relates to the front to pull the design together.

Wow - who matched this print?

As a garment sewer I was amazed to find that this garment, by designer Trina Turk, was not only allowed out of the factory, but was featured in the March 2013 Saks Fifth Avenue March Fashion Catalog.  So much for quality control.  For $388 I would expect more.

Indian Textiles

 

In July of this year I attended a presentation at the River Arts Gallery in Prairie du Sac, WI.  Two local women had recently traveled in India and they were sharing their textile purchases in a talk and slide presentation.  Mary Dickey and Annette Mahler, along with Marion Nelson (founder of Global View, a wonderful gallery and shop in Spring Green, WI) traveled to Gujarat and Rajasthan and shared their finds with us.

 

The garment I made was inspired by their talk.  Unable to find any indian block print fabric yardage, I ended up at SERRV, a wonderful shop on Monroe Street in Madison, where I purchased a beautiful blue and white block print tablecloth.  By carefully piecing and cutting I ended up with the garment show above - thanks to a great Indygo Junction pattern (Tribeca Tunic IJ797).  I did add about 7" to the length of the pattern.

 

 

Decades of Style

 I haven't sewn for myself in ages, but decided to try the Decades of Style #2001 Tulip Kimono after seeing a couple versions done by members of my sewing group.  It went together quite easily and I'm pleased with the results.  I used some fabric from Canvasbacks and ended up using 2 layers of the fabric to give it more body. 

Fabrics From China

 I’m not a big fan of commissioned work, but when you share a kindred vision with someone, they have beautiful fabrics for you to work with and they trust your artistic eye, it’s well worth the effort.

I recently spent 14 plus hours working on an indigo fabric kimono – starting from copying the pattern from a purchased garment, piecing together 5 incredible fabrics and then putting it all together.  At the end I got to embellish it with buttons from the client’s incredible collection of vintage, carved mother -of-pearl buttons – what fun!

The client wanted to feature one of the firmer printed fabrics with a dark blue section of printed Chinese characters  in white, so I used it for a set of matching patch pockets on the front.  The firmer fabrics were used in places where they could help structure the garment (i.e., front band, sleeve bands).  I used a double layer of the thiner shibori fabric on the back, utilizing a diagonal printed motif on the shoulder.  This gave weight to uphold the structure of the garment and also provided a design feature which was highlighted with stacked mother-of-pearl buttons.

I made a closure consisting of 2 buttons and a loop which can be used to keep the garment together at the top or works just as well as a decorative element.

She LOVED the garment – enough said!