Another Noa

Here is a second version of the Noa, this time in silk dupioni. I had more fabric to play with this time, so the tunic is closer to the original in length, but not enough for the enormous cascading cowl, which is at least a half circle, if not three quarters. Instead I did my usual rectangular cowl, which is less spectacular but will have to suffice for the moment.

I used the StyleArc Toni Designer Dress as a base pattern this time. Details of the sewing process are on Pattern Review.

With different accessories and a scrunched down cowl.

 

This is linked to RUMS.

The Great Tunic Knock-Off

Not sure if it will be that great, but I certainly have put in a considerably amount of effort so far. Here’s hoping! My target is Bryn Walker’s NOA tunic. There are pictures of it all over the internet, and they all look great.

I wanted something similar and started a process of trying to develop a pattern. My first try was simply winging it, based on an analysis of this picture I found.

That didn’t go so well. It was especially disappointing because I had used an expensive linen in a favourite colour. It looked a bit like the image below, flat at back and front with some extraneous bits tacked on at the sides.

I am happy to say that I managed to recut the tunic and rescue the beautiful sea coloured linen I had used, but the result wasn’t the same as a NOA. So I had another go, this time sensibly intending to make a muslin first.

Now what pattern to use? I made a start with Vogue 9188 by Kayla Kennington.

Strangely, this pattern seems to have disappeared without a trace from the Vogue site, although I bought it only recently. Maybe nobody else liked it. I wasn’t that thrilled with it either, but I wanted it because it had an extension on one of the side flares, just like the NOA. However, when cutting out, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t really need to piece the fabric there in any case. Maybe the Noa was done that way because it allowed more economical use of fabric when producing on an industrial scale. But I don’t need to worry about that, on the contrary, I need to use up stash!

My muslin fabric was a little short, so I couldn’t cut the longer side flare as long as the real NOA , but otherwise it’s not bad. Only, if you have a close look, my tunic curves outward a lot lower down than the originals. You can tell if you imagine where the belly button or waist is on the models and then on me, and where the outward curve is in relation to that. So I needed to shorten the pattern halfway between the bottom of the armscyes and the widest part of the flare, otherwise the tunic would turn out too long.

Of course I didn’t realise that, genius that I am, until I had cut into the silk for my real, no-longer-a-muslin tunic, sewn up the shoulder and side seams, tried it on, and found that the lower side came down to my ankle!

It actually looked quite elegant and I could have left it, but I wanted a tunic, not a dress. I wear tunics all the time, dresses less so because I often feel too dressed up for everyday wear to the office and for manhandling my grandkids. Besides, I wanted to develop a TNT pattern for further use, and I need tunics, not a gazillion long dresses!

Shortening at the hem is out of the question with this design, so I recut in the shoulder and bust area, taking it down by 15cm. I also used the opportunity to chicken out of the very wide armscyes and sleeves of the V9188, and substituting the ones from a TNT pattern where I know and like the fit. As I have said many times before, with a lot of volume around the hem you need a tighter fit in the shoulders and bust, or a short and stout person like me risks looking huge all over.

Now to the cutting out process itself: V9188 is cut on the bias, so you get a whole pattern piece for front and back, not just half, because you can’t cut on the fold. I ignored the bias cut and separated the two front and back halves to spread them at the hem, to insert more volume there. I want a lot of swing to my tunics, so I almost always add more volume at CF and CB. This is because I am not as slim as the models, and adding width preserves the proportions.

I laid the tunic on the fabric with one side closer to the selvage than the other, seeing one side flare needed to be longer than the other. To paraphrase for clarity, the middle of the tunic was not on the middle fold of the fabric, but off to the side. I then took both flares right to the selvage. From there you need to cut the longer flare back towards the middle on the diagonal, as you can see very clearly in the picture of the grey NOA. If you don’t do this the flare will just hang there vertically, while making it narrower at the hem than the point forces it into collapsing into itself to make nice folds, which I prefer.

The last step was to cut the hem on the diagonal. I shaped this a bit like in the picture of the white tunic, not straight like the grey.

Then, when I had finished cutting, it suddenly hit me: except for the hem, the shape I had cut was pretty identical to the StyleArc Toni designer dress pattern I had just finished working with and blogged about in my previous post!

Sure enough, when I compared the shapes they were really close! So you could use that pattern instead, much cheaper and easier to get hold of if you live outside the US like me, and much more useful for other garments like pointy dresses. You do need to shorten between shoulder and side ‘point’ as shown below. Of course you also need to make one side longer than the other and cut the diagonal hem.

I used a thin lining silk, very slightly crinkled, and overpainted from a harsh neon green to a more sedate dark green with black streaks. I’m not mad about how the paint job turned out as the green is a little darker than intended, but it’s ok for now. When I did the overpainting last spring it seemed dirge-ey and depressing, but it suits the mood of autumn much better.

 

This is linked to the German blogger party RUMS

 

Dyeing Undone

Some time ago I blogged about a linen jersey top I dyed, because the original white just never made it out of my wardrobe. It didn’t turn out the way I envisaged, a bit meh, but I still wore the top a lot because it had a relaxed vibe good for weekends and the linen jersey was nice and cool on hot summer days.

But after a while I couldn’t help plotting how I could improve the look. Block printing did not look a promising option, black wouldn’t show up very well and any other colour wouldn’t look much good either. But I had been thinking about whether colour could be removed altogether if one of my dyeing experiments turned out disappointing. Having something like THAT up my sleeve would be such a bonus!

My favourite dye supplier, Batik Oetoro, sells a discharge agent called TUD, which removes Drimarene K and Procion MX dyes. Success is not guaranteed, but I thought the above shirt would be a good candidate for a trial. Following instructions I boiled the linen jersey on the stove in the mixture for the time instructed, and the result was a dirty white, with orange patches where the black had been previously. Not great to wear as is, but perfect for redyeing!

I used a strong turquoise and was quite pleased with the result. The orange patches went to green and blended with the turquoise to a tropical undersea landscape. All it needed now was a block print to complete the picture. I chose this Maori turtle symbol I found on Google, transferred it and carved ot out of Eazycarve.

Here is the result.

Pointy With A Twist

I have made several versions of this dress already, all winter versions using knits, either jersey or ponte.

For the dresses above I used a pattern I found in an Italian pattern magazine years ago, and adapted to fit me better by using a TNT t-shirt for the bodice part. Then I discovered the Toni designer dress by StyleArc and downloaded a copy, so I would not have to fiddle around with cutting from a previous dress overlaid with a t-shirt pattern. I still have to fiddle if I want long sleeves, as the Toni is sleeveless with extended shoulders, but for a summer version I can cut straight from the pattern (- with a couple of modifications of course, as always!).

Below is what the pattern pieces look like:

My summer versions both use woven fabrics, both crinkle linen, although the green seems to be a linen mixture rather than pure linen and is quite stable despite the slight crinkle. The black is softer, more stretchy and crinkly, and also quite sheer.

Serendipity took a hand in the creation when sewing up the green dress below. I happened to try it on for fit with the seams below the side pointy tip still open. When I looked in the mirror I liked what I saw, and the result are two Toni dresses with open lower side seams. I also put a cuff on the extended shoulders to make a short sleeve.

For the second summer version I decided I wanted bracelet length sleeves, wide enough to roll up, and so I overlaid the body of the Toni once again with the armscyes from another pattern, this time suitable for wovens, and used the matching sleeves.

I think this dress turned out a little long, as the crinkle linen seems to have expanded. Next time I have black thread in my machine I might just chop a bit off the bottom and re-hem.

 

And all ready to go out with scarf and bag.

 

 

African Zombie

I’m not sure if there is such a thing as an African zombie, I think zombies are native to the Caribbean, aren’t they? But what else can you call my latest block printing motif, when I only has one eye and hair standing up in all directions?

                                                
Last time I went to Rathdowne Remnants in Melbourne, I picked up a piece of brown linen from one of their remnant bins. It seemed a really good quality, but I could see why it was still for sale when there was not a lot of other linen left: the brown colour was especially unappealing. But I thought I could do something with it and so it came home with me. Then, when I came across some African graphics online I thought a couple of them would be the right look for my linen piece.

I have always liked the combination of black and brown, it is counter intuitive but somehow the black gives the accompanying brown a sort of coppery-gold appeal. And African looking graphics compliment those colours well.

But what to make out of the fabric? When I bought it, I had a sleeveless maxi dress in mind. Not a bad idea, except that I don’t wear dresses a lot. I feel too dressed up, if you pardon the pun. What does get worn, day after day after day, are tunics over pants. With my linen being a bit over 2m, I decided I had enough for a long sleeve tunic with a modest cowl.

For a pattern I used an Vogue 8542, now OOP. It is meant for knits and very oversized. I have made it up many times, always in a size 8, which goes to show how much ease there is. But this time I was using a woven, and therefore I went two sizes up to a 12. Possibly a little over the top, as the fit through the upper bodice is quite loose. I did want the dropped shoulders for comfort and to be able to wear a long sleeve tee underneath in colder weather, and the downside is the looser fit. If you want to read up on the details of the sewing process, please go to my entry on Pattern Review.

On to the printing details. Please skip these if block printing is not something you are interested in.

I always start my new printing session on paper, to make sure the block is carved properly and no extra bits show up. It also allows me to work out print placements and patterns. This time I was using two blocks, so this was particularly important. You want the finished piece to have a nice even distribution of motifs and a pleasing balance of fabric and ink.

I usually cut out my garment pieces and print them in the flat. I could print the whole fabric length, but that is a lot of extra work. I do join the shoulder seams on the front and back pieces, because the print placement around the face is important. I don’t overlock/serge the seams because it would add extra bulk that will show up when you place a print over it. With this project I also had a centre back seam, which I ironed flat with the seam allowances apart for the same reason. If you need to overlock it can be done later.

I did a grid of one motif first and then filled in the other one in between. When placing the motifs I use my hand or fingers as a guide (a whole hand’s width or so many fingers between motifs) and also the motifs themselves, i.e. how far to overlap the rows. I am reasonably good at this, but if you are starting out you may need more help with a ruler or a piece of thread placed across the fabric piece.

One bonus of using black paint was that I found colour penetration on the fabric to be especially good. Probably because I have been printing pastels for a while which are heavily mixed with super cover white, a paint that is quite thick. The black in comparison is much more runny. I also wet the foam roller first, squeezing out the excess, but the depth of the roller stays wet, stopping the paint from getting gluggy as it builds up in the foam over time. I use the foam roller to ink up my block, and the quality of paint it deposits is important.

I fix the ink in the hot dryer once it has air dried on a clothes rack. The inks I use are screen printing inks called Permaset, an Australian brand but I think they are available overseas as well. If you want a detailed explanation of the printing process in my posts Block Printing on Linen and Leaf Print Version 2.

Here are a few more pictures of the finished tunic.

  

Linked to blogger party RUMS

Live and Learn

There really is no substitute for experience. As I get more and more into fabric dyeing, printing and painting, I not only learn about what effects different techniques can achieve, but also what I will end up liking and using and what not. Sometimes the latter is quite counter intuitive. 

A case in point was when I branched out from painting silk to painting some of my existing boring white tops I wasn’t wearing. A couple of years ago I was mad keen on the new linen jerseys available, and I bought a few metres of white and made a couple of tunics. Problem was, that the white linen jersey was rather thin and quite sheer. You couldn’t really wear the sleeveless tunic I made without a tank top underneath, and what is the sense in that? If it is hot enough to wear sleeveless, would you really want a double layer?

The short sleeve version I also made with the white linen jersey made more sense worn with a tank underneath, but I found that I wasn’t wearing that either. I think the plain white just wasn’t exciting enough, once I got over the novelty value of the linen knit. So it hung in my wardrobe, unworn, but too good to get rid of because of the expensive fabric.

That was until I was all fired with zeal from my silk painting experiences and was looking the next project. So I took the short sleeve tunic, put it on a hanger, stuffed it with a large plastic sheet to stop the fabric surfaces from touching each other when wet with dye and had a go.

  
  
It didn’t work as well as I had hoped, and yet it was more of a success than I first thought.

   

From a technique point of view, the fabric dye didn’t spread nearly as well as it had with the silk. This is because the silk is much thinner and the dye runs and mixes like you wouldn’t believe. With the linen the dye stays put a lot more, which makes WHAT you actually paint on the fabric more important than it is with silk. With the silk, you just slap on the dye any which way, and apart from choosing and balancing the colours, what you actually paint on the fabric is not that important.

Fabrics thicker than silk such as a jersey knit are a different kettle of fish. I didn’t realise this when I painted the linen top, and once I had, it was of course too late. The deed was done.

I tried again with the sleeveless top, making it wetter before I started painting. Better I think, but still room for improvement.

  
Strangely, even though I felt a little disappointed with the painting job I did, I have worn the tops a lot. They have a relaxed hippy vibe I really enjoy on the weekends. Somehow the fact that they are not good enough to be suitable for work makes them favourites during my time off. Horses for courses, apparently, and that is a part of the learning process too.

But I think apart from painting the fabric very wet, the colour strength is important too, unless you want a particularly dark result. When I later painted some muslin bunny rugs (also called receiving blankets or nursery squares depending on which part of the world you live in), I not only painted them dripping wet, but also diluted the dyes heavily to get a more pastel look. I like the results a lot.

   

   

Encouraged I painted some tshirts for DGS where the colours have blended almost as much as with silk. I hung up the tees sopping wet with fixative and slopped on a lot of heavily diluted dye. Sort of like tie dying without the ties.  I used old pantyhose to hang them on my clothes horse and stuffed them with plastic bags to prevent dye soaking through from front to back. The latter may be unnecessary as I realised later.

 

Once they had been washed and dried I block printed the white dinosaur shapes. I made the stamps with foam stick on shapes I had bought at Eckersley, our local art materials chain. I stuck two shapes on top of each other to a piece of perspex. I think three shapes would have been better  as I kept getting ink on the backing when inking up with the roller and had to wipe it off.

  
DGS is crazy about dinosaurs and knows all the exotic ones. Unfortunately grandma only had some common garden variety dinosaur shapes for printing, but the shirts went down well anyway. 

    

…and the back where you can see the colours a bit better…
  
Pity I didn’t photograph the tees when they were nicely ironed after I fixed the prints. Catching up on that later when they had already been worn and washed was not the same, a long way from the glossy marketing photos on the online RTW sites.

To talk technique for those interested, the dye needs to be mixed with a ‘fixative’ to take properly, which is a soda ash solution and a bit of salt. You can mix this in with the dye and paint it all on together, but the mixture will only be active for an hour before it becomes exhausted and doesn’t dye properly anymore. For longer painting sessions, you would have to mix up your dyes every hour, which is not really economical, because you would inevitable mix up a bit more than you actually need to make sure you don’t run out before you finish a garment. The leftovers would end up wasted. But the Drimarene K alone dissolved in water will last for a long time if not mixed with the soda ash. So instead of wetting the garments/fabric length in plain water, I soak them in the soda ash solution before painting, and give myself more time to use up the dyes. You still get some of the soda ash into the dye as you move the brush from dye to fabric and back again, but not a lot. To eliminate this altogether, you could try squirting the dye on with a squirt bottle. I think this would work particularly well with thick fabrics and t-shirts. You could lay the latter flat and soak the front and back with dye at the same time. Like I said earlier, like tie dyeing without the ties.

For detailed instruction on the dye painting process and dye recipes, please refer to my previous post ‘Silk and Paint! Yay!’

Silk and Paint! Yay!

If ever there was a match made in heaven, it must be white silk and the gloriously intense colours of silk paint. I have no idea why I waited so long to get back to silk painting, hand painted silks are just made for Lagenlook. The painting process is a bit messy, but nothing that can’t be managed. And it is absolutely well worth the effort.

For dyeing, I have been using both Dharma Tradings Procion MX dyes and Batik Oetoro’s Drimarene K. Procion works really well for cottons and linens, and has a great range of pre-mixed colours, not to mention that it is very economical, but for silk, ‘the colours tend to shift’, as it says on the Dharma website. This bland understatement means is that you don’t get the colour you expect, and mostly not in a good way either. Dharma has silk dyes that do a much better job with silk, but I prefer to use a local product, which is the Drimarene sold by Batik Oetoro. It is quite a bit more expensive, but I think easier to use and the colours are wonderfully predictable. I can try them out on paper if I need to get an idea about a new combo before I risk ruining some expensive silk, and the finished result on the fabric won’t be that different. A bit paler probably when it has been washed and dried, but essentially the same. That is particularly important when mixing up a new colour.

Batik Oetoro have a number of recipes for different Drimarene K dyeing processes on their website. I use the one for the hand painting process below:

_______________________________

HAND PAINTING PROCESS

1. Dissolve 10g DR-33 thickener in 1 litre of cold water add teaspoon of acetic acid, stir. If no thickener necessary omit step 1

2. Dissolve

A. 60g Urea and 5g Resist Salt in a little hot water.

B. 40g Soda Ash and 25g Bicarbonate of Soda in a little boiling water.

3. Combine A and B together and add cold water to make 1 litre, bottle and use as needed. (Chemical water)

4. Dissolve dye, add prepared A & B solution and DR-33 ( or Manutex) paste. Adjust to required consistency by adding either more A&B solution (or DR-33 paste if thickener is used).

Once the chemicals are added to the dye solution the prepared mixture must be used within hour.

5. Apply to fabric and leave to dry as long as possible, then rinse in cold water containing SYNTHRAPOL and few drops of vinegar.

______________________________________

I don’t use thickener, because I want my paint to flow freely and run as much as possible to achieve a watercolour effect. I also replace the resist salt with ordinary cooking salt (NOT iodised). I was told that this was ok when I tried to buy the resist salt, and so far using the substitute has worked for me just fine.

I prepare the chemicals in the water solution and fill them into a bottle. Make sure you label it well, so nobody will be tempted to drink this concoction. I don’t think it is poisonous, but it won’t do your husband or kids any good either. It really is best not to use a food container for chemicals to avoid mix ups.

With the bottle of chemical water at the ready I set up the fabric. I use four old chairs for the four corners of the fabric length, and attach masking tape to the top of the chair backs. Then I pin the fabric to this masking tape with a normal pin. It is a good idea to double up the masking tape in the area where you pin, or it might tear. If you have more than 2 m of fabric to paint, you may want to use additional chairs or use something else to support the fabric. As it is, the fabric sags between the attachment points, creating a sort of vortex at the lowest point once you apply the paint. I rather like that effect, but if you don’t, you may want to spray large sheets of cardboard with spray adhesive to hold your fabric while you paint. Or fix the fabric to the cardboard with thumbtacks or pins. I have not tried this, but will if or when the need arises.

I mix up my paints, meaning I put a couple of teaspoons of dye powder into a plastic cup and add hot water to dissolve the powder. Don’t use too much water, you still have to add the chemical solution in the bottle and you don’t want to dilute the dye too much. You don’t need at lot of dye. A third of a plastic cup for each colour is heaps.

One important point about the dye: it only works on natural fibres. It dyes my wooden chairs (just as well they are ancient), but the small plastic camping washing machine I use for dyeing, the Chux cloth I use to clean up the dye drips, the plastic cups I use to hold the dyes, and pretty much anything else of man made origin remains completely untouched. That is very handy to know in case of spills. Oh, and wear gloves. This stuff dyes skin beautifully and semi permanently, at least until the top layer of skin is sloughed off. I use a plastic scouring pad to try and keep my hands respectable, but gloves are much less painful. And I also wear black clothes, old ones, just in case.

Once the paint is ready I put some of the chemical water into a spray bottle and spray the silk until it is thoroughly soaked. I don’t think this would work with cotton or linen, you would need to immerse these fabrics. But silk is so thin that it soaks easily with the spray bottle.

When my fabric is soaked all over I take a big paint brush, dip it into the paint and start to paint freehand. I start with the lightest colour, because I can paint over the top of this if need be. If there is too much of a dark colour on the fabric there is nothing you can do to fix that. I like to get a nice balance between my colours, and I always add black. Not for any particular artistic reason, I just have a lot of black pants which I want to be able to wear with the finished top. 🙂  Of course if you want to wear pants or a skirt of a different colour, you would try to incorporate that colour instead. But black is easiest to match.

I leave the painted fabric in place to dry, then take it down and leave it overnight. Not sure if the latter is strictly necessary, but it doesn’t hurt. Then I wash it with Synthrapol and vinegar as instructed.

And here is the end result, using the Tessuti Fave Top pattern. You can find a detailed discussion of this pattern here. The finished garment is lighter than the wet fabric, but I just love the colours all the same, so much so that I can’t help looking at them when I am wearing the top and admiring how beautiful all the different shades and combinations are. Pathetic, isn’t it, guess this has turned me into a colour junkie.   🙂

And fired with zeal, I also painted this scarf. This time I used only turquoise, mid blue and black. If you have a close look you can see how the scarf has been attached to the chairs for painting. (And you can see the paint drips from the previous project still on the tiles).

I bought the silk blank including the fringe at Dharma Trading about 5 years ago, and it has sat in my drawer ever since. But once I got going it only took about 5 mins to do! It made a nice scarf for a friend, I hope she enjoys wearing it.

 

And here is the red silk made up, again using the Fave Top pattern (link at the start of this post).

I narrowed the top across the bust, by scooping out around 5-6 cm on each side where the sleeve joins the bodice, and I also shorted the sleeves a little.  I think you can see the difference in the comparison photo below. When using a fabric with body, I think that it is not a bad idea to make the tunic a bit more flattering in making it look slimmer up top. With a really drapey fabric it wouldn’t matter nearly as much.

And 3m of silk shantung, destined to become an evening coat. First wet…

  
  …and then dry.

  
This has been linked to the blogger party RUMS.

 

 

How to Print a Pattern from a Sketch

I use Pinterest as a source of inspiration and ideas for my sewing and it has made a big difference to my wardrobe. Instead of being restricted to the offerings of the pattern companies I can choose from the best Lagenlook designers have to offer. Of course the snag is that none of these lovely pictures on my pinterest boards come with a pattern. I am quite good at adapting and combining patterns, but I am emphatically not a pattern maker and have no drafting skills. Consequently developing a pattern for something I have seen on Pinterest is a big pain. And of course designers and patternmakers do a prototype and tweak it probably several times before it goes into production. For me the prototype is it. My time is limited and if the first try is not at least highly promising, meaning it is a very wearable garment, I seldom go any further. I am very happy to see that at last the pattern companies are offering some Lagenlook patterns, and independent designers like Boho Banjo are specialising in Lagenlook, so there is now a lot more choice.

But there are also other ways than drafting or buying to get your hands on a pattern. Online sketches, if they are in proportion and the garment is not too intricate, can be enlarged, and combined with elements from a TNT if necessary, to make a pattern. So I was rather delighted when some time ago I came across this page on a Russian blog by Janna Jena. Google helpfully translated it for me as F&F. Fashion. Style. Life. I don’t think the Fs stand for anything impolite. 🙂

The translation is a little odd, as all computer translations, but what is of real interest is the sketches. There are about half a dozen different designs in the blog post, chosen for simplicity of style and aimed at the felting community. Luckily these simple styles also suit Lagenlook. Each design is shown finished on a model and also a sketch of the pattern. What makes this so exciting, at least for sewing tragics like me, is that it is quite easy to translate the sketch into a tiled printed pattern you can actually use to replicate the garment. I only wish everything on Pinterest was as easy to get a pattern for!

Printing this actual sketch in full pattern size has been quicker, easier and more successful than trying to replicate it myself. I think I would have drafted the body and flared hem longer and narrower based on the finished picture on the model, and would probably have ended up disappointed. You can of course also wing drafting this by hand based on the measurements, but I prefer to print it as a tiled pattern. For me, the digital world is so much easier to deal with than having to cope with pen and paper.

So how do you do this? You need at least one measurement on the sketch, although it is possible to estimate if there is none and you are really desperate to make a pattern anyway. Fortunately the sketch above had several measurements to work with. The resulting pattern has now become a firm favourite. I have made it several times and am planning more versions as we speak. This is what I did to get my pattern:

1. Save the picture of the sketch by right-clicking and selecting save from the menu.
2. Open it in something like Photoshop or Gimp. Print it out onto an A4 page. DON’T scale or fit to page. If necessary reduce or enlarge it in Photoshop to fit nicely onto a page without scaling when you print.
3. Measure the actual size on the printed page of one of the measurements given. One of the larger ones is best because the outcome will be more accurate when you scale it up to full size.
4. Work out the proportion of the small printout versus the size the garment is supposed to be. In my case, the chest measurement on the printed page was 7.6cm. On the garment it was supposed to be 47cm. 47 divided by 7.6 is 6.18. You therefore need to enlarge the pattern 6.18 times, or by 618%. Do this in Photoshop or Gimp. If you don’t know how to enlarge or reduce an image in your software, google for instructions.
5. Of course the enlarged size will no longer fit on just one A4 page. When you print it, you need to select the ’tiled’ option. Again you must avoid scaling or fitting to page, because you don’t want the size distorted.
6. Assemble the pattern. I use sticky tape rather than glue.
7. I overlaid the shoulders, arm holes and bust with an existing pattern I know fits me, and also used the sleeve from that pattern. With some of the other, looser styles on this blog page you would not necessarily have to do this.

And here are some garments I have made from this pattern. The blue quilted top has slightly dropped shoulders, because I wanted room to wear something underneath. I used the shoulders and sleeves from an OOP Vogue pattern I have used many times before and knew it had the fit I was after.

 

I also chose the dropped shoulders because the quilted fabric I used is quite thick and not very stretchy, and I wanted ease of movement. I added a cowl, practically obligatory for a cold weather garment in my opinion. And I trust the outfit is rounded off nicely by a pair of furry ugh slippers.

For the next two tops I used my TNT t-shirt pattern, which happens to be Burda 3197.

   

Here is the resulting tunic in a black wool Jersey. This style can be worn on its own (although with the wool I would probably wear a cotton layer underneath), or with a shorter jumper over the top and the hem of the tunic peeking out. Or over a dress, like in the pic below. The dress is a winter version of the Tessuti Eva, made up in ponte and with long sleeves. And here is a version in printed viscose jersey worn over a bengaline tube skirt.

And here is another version with the tunic lengthened by a good 25cm, so the lowest point covers the knee.

Leaf Print, Version 2

You may remember the first version of this block print, done a couple of months ago.

And another version of this motif, different colour and style.

I have been champing at the bit to do more block printing, but found it quite hard to find suitable motifs. Some of this is because block printing doesn’t deposit the same thick layer of ink onto the fabric as screen printing, there is only as much ink as will adhere to the surface of the block, so the prints are just a little faint. I feel that this limits what sort of motifs can be used. I tried a new motif which looked fine when I tried it out on on paper, until I had a closer look. If it was printed with a thick, even colour application such as a screen print it would have been ok, perhaps a bit heavy, but that could be fixed by placing the blocks further apart. Unfortunately it was too patchy to look good and would have been worse on fabric. Enlarge the second image below and you will see what I mean.

I think large print surfaces are unsuitable for block prints, because the ink application is uneven. Motifs that balance printed and unprinted areas are better. Next comes the way the single motifs are arranged. Random, different orientations, in rows horizontally or vertically, offset? It helps to use paper as a trial run, but that doesn’t help with the colours. I suppose I am fussy. I print on good quality, expensive linen and I don’t want to mess it up.

For anyone who gets bored easily, have a look at my Pinterest board, there is plenty of variety there to choose from and I will move on eventually too. But I am not finished with my leaf pattern yet. Now that I know that it works for me I am happy to keep going with it for the moment. There are variations to be explored. When I printed the rectangular cowl piece for the top I discovered how nice the leaves would look as place mats.

I always thought the leaf motif would look good in black on natural linen, and it does. I used an Ikea curtain piece, rescued from the ‘As Is’ bin, which is an economical way to get my hands on linen while I learn how to print. It is thinner than I would like, I prefer the beefier kind, because it doesn’t wrinkle as easily. But I am only brave enough to print on the good stuff, not the best. I have some heavy natural linen in my stash, which I will tackle when I have a bit more experience. And courage.

I used the Tessuti fave top pattern, again, because is a simple shape and, to be blunt, batwing tops don’t need to be washed as often to stay fresh as tops that are more fitted in the armscyes. This is a consideration with any top you don’t want to have to wash too often, and I’m not sure how the printing ink will stand up to frequent washing. I am trying to find another pattern to use for my tops, I truly am, but the fave has so many good points that it is hard to beat.

However, I thought a cowl might be in order, and cuffs, as a point of difference to the white top I already have. I find that a loose cowl needs to be a minimum of 80cm wide, and can be as much as 90-95. More and it will slip off my shoulders, especially in a knit. This time I made the cowl 80cm wide and 40cm long (to be doubled over and stitched down, and then folded down when worn).

I think it is a good idea to cut out the pattern pieces before printing, because it saves quite a bit of work not to mention opportunities for ‘oopsies’. One fumble-fingered drop of the print block onto the fabric, and the project is ruined. Printing on the cut out garment also allows more control of where the motifs go.

So I sewed up the shoulder/upper sleeve seams, ironed the seam, opened out the garment and laid it down flat. You can print with it double and use newspaper to stop the prints from leaking through, but it is better to have a single layer to work with. Less opportunity for wrinkles in the fabric you can’t see until it is too late.

Last time, if you recall, I used a polystyrene print block carved with a soldering iron. This produces a textured print, because the polystyrene has a textured surface. This time I wanted to try a rubber block bought at a craft shop, which has a perfectly smooth texture, like lino. But it is a lot softer and easier to carve, and not prone to crumble and fall apart during a long print run like the polystyrene.

This block was inked with a foam roller, which is ok, except that the foam soaks up a lot of the ink. I might try a rubber roller down the track, which will save ink, although it is unlikely to improve the print quality. What might give me better coverage is to use the foam roller directly onto the fabric over a stencil. I am toying with using a thin layer of polystyrene as a stencil, such as is used for take-away containers or disposable plates.

This is because the PS is thin, and I could cut this out easily with the soldering iron. Cutting with a knife is ok with straight lines, but more difficult when you need to achieve nice smooth curves. I have not found any suitable plates yet but I am looking. The nice thing about a stencil with raised edges is that you can’t easily roll off it with your inked roller. Definitely worth consideration.

But back to this project. My printing was much better this time, a lot less messy. Not so many blobs of ink where they weren’t meant to be. This is because I took care to cut the block as close to the motif as possible. Any surplus around the edges is asking for smudges. I also inked the block and printed it on paper, and then re-carved any areas that were printing when they weren’t supposed to. But even so, not every print is perfect. If you don’t press evenly you get some of the leaves to look fainter than others.

Even so, I am happy with the end result, and am trying to see imperfections as a plus. At least until I can get rid of them.

And another thought: combining the block printing with some Alabama Chanin stitching may just be an interesting idea.

The LBD – My Way

The song has been done to death, but the sentiment remains. I see the wisdom of having an LBD (= little black dress) in my wardrobe, but I don’t really like the standard version. I hate anything tight and the prospect of having to either wear stockings or spray on a fake tan isn’t exactly thrilling either. On top of that I refuse to torture my long suffering feet with a pair of high heels. They have an important job to do and should be treated with respect. With another wedding to go to, what to wear was a conundrum. As just another guest there was no call to pull out all the stops as there is when being the MOB or MOG, but you still want to look nicely turned out and feel comfortable in your skin, especially when you are likely to meet a lot of extended family who haven’t seen you for years.

On my last trip to Germany I had picked up a sinfully expensive silk charmeuse print in one of their wonderful fabric markets, which seemed just the thing. But the charmeuse proved to be spectacularly uncooperative, and needed a pattern as simple as possible. Just straightening the cut edges was a bun fight, with the silk slithering all over the place and every touch distorting the grain. Grain? What grain? You can’t see it and just trying to lay the fabric down flat and straight was close to impossible. Every breath of air made it move and even the selvages were not a lot of help, they were firmer than the rest of it, but still slithered as they pleased. The actual cutting would be no problem with a brand new, super sharp circular blade, but which way the grain would go in the end product would be a total stab in the dark.

So I wanted something simple, one of the floaty toppers that are so current at the moment. I was thinking of the Tessuti Zoe, minus the straight hem which I am not keen on because I think a straight line across my hips is not as flattering as a concave one. So I cut a neck opening into the silk and bound it with a bias strip made from a scrap of linen. The linen is a reasonable colour match and gives the silk edge some much needed support. As it is folded to the inside it can’t be seen.

The result was a silk poncho with a nice sloping hem line, that moved and draped beautifully. I was quite happy with it until I saw the photos. Oh dear, too shapeless around the upper body, especially the bust. The silhouette needed some definition or it would just look make me look fatter than I am. Maybe not as bad when you can see the silk ripple and move, but definitely not flattering in the stills. So as much as I am trying to move on from the Tessuti fave top because I have already made it a gazillion times, it seemed like a tempting solution, especially given the difficult nature of the fabric and the fact that I was now running out of time.

The cut in sides of the fave top did improve the look, and I chalked up a win. Only to discover that the silk was just a bit too sheer to wear comfortably without a layer underneath. I live in cotton tank tops under my tunics, but in this case I wanted something more dressy, so I would have the option of taking off the topper and be cooler in something sleeveless underneath. Never mind that my arms are a bit chubby these days, it is a spectacularly hot and humid summer in Sydney and silk is a great insulator. I didn’t want to end up dissolved in a puddle of sweat.

The piece of black silk I was intending to use for the pants part of the outfit was happily enough for a tank top as well, but this was when things took an unexpected turn. There was not only enough for a tank top, but actually for quite a long sleeveless tunic. The ensemble made a nice version of an LBD.  Bonus!

So I wore the printed silk fave top for the wedding ceremony, which was mid morning while it was still relatively cool. As things hotted up over lunch I took it off and wore my LBD pantsuit, or whatever you want to call it. I think this will be very handy outfit for all sorts of dressy occasions in the future. Because it is so plain it will be easy to vary it enough with a shawl or jacket/evening coat or floaty top, so it will look different every time, and these will give a bit of camouflage to my upper arms as well. Win-win, I’d say. No stockings or fake tan required on my legs either, and no heels. I was perfectly comfortable in flat sandals with a little bit of bling.

For a patterns I used the Tina Givens Phoebe pants again, although without the side panel, adding width to the main pattern pieces accordingly and shifting the crotch upwards. I also tampered with the front crotch curve and raised the back waist. With all those alterations there is really nothing much left of the original pattern other than the ankle cuffs, and you could just as easily use any wide pants pattern with an elastic waist that fits. But I store my downloaded taped patterns flat on top of a cupboard, and find it easier to use a small number of patterns and make appropriate changes, than to have a huge stack of pattern pieces and needing to find and extricate a different pattern for each project.

The tunic pattern is the Tessuti Lily linen dress, again one of my TNTs sewn up many times with every conceivable variation. This time I cut it across the grain like the pants, and therefore put the pattern piece on the fabric sideways. It was longer than the 90cm wide fabric and where the fabric finished at the selvage, that was the hem, literally. The selvage is of course straight, and because this hem is not curved the sides of the tunic have a dropped point, which happily makes them quite trendy. I did fold the width of the selvage to the inside for a simple narrow hem, mostly to help tidy up the points. I also always cut the back of the Lily with a CB seam, which saves oodles of fabric and gives a nice vertical line.

All three of the patterns used for this outfit are downloadable and inexpensive. I have used them over and over, and hope you have as much success with them as I have had.

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