rostitchery

buttonholes

i hate it when this happens.  trying to blog something "meaningful" every single day was too ambitious for me.  between the demands of building an opera, allergy-induced sleep deprivation, and my desire to be a good wife and mother, i am wiped out.

but i do want to keep trying so i thought i'd respond to alexandra's question posed in the comments section of my post about sewing gadgets:  she asked if i prefer the singer auto-pilot buttonholer, or the buttonholes made by my sewing machine(s).

i prefer the buttonholer--because none of my machines make buttonholes.  or rather, none of them make automatic buttonholes.  all my machines were made before 1970--my two favorites were made in the late 1950's, the singer 410A, AKA the slant-o-matic, and the singer 500, AKA the rocketeer.  they do make a lot of pretty stitches by turning the dials on the front to various combinations, and you can get cams to put in the top that will do a few more pretty stitches, but there are no automatic functions--no buttonholes, no start/stop, no needle-up--just plain sewing.

however, i do make buttonholes on these machines without the buttonholer--i do it manually.  this is really simple to do--so simple, in fact, that i have students do this on the second or third day in the shop--and the thru-hiker website shows you how to do it.

i use the buttonholer on things that will be seen up close--like rudi's hawaiian shirts--because they are worth the effort of installing the attachment--but for anything that won't get a lot of scrutiny, i just plop the project in the machine and zig-zag like crazy.

if you are a stickler for perfection, you can even get a presser foot to help you measure the buttonhole as you sew it, but i don't use it.  and after you've practiced this buttonhole technique a few times, you won't need it either. 

while you're at the thru-hiker website, check out their other tutorials--this is the place to go if you ever need a personalized pattern for an anatomical sleeping bag hood.  and really, who doesn't?

"ho mec"

did you take home ec?  i did, sort of.  in 8th grade, we were required to take six weeks each of various subjects--"wood shop"--"gymnastics"--"study skills"--as part of some weird 70's educational experiment--something about gender roles and stereotypes and "girls can too use a table saw"--at any rate, one of the subjects was what my brother andrew called "ho mec".  during my six weeks in the home ec room, we cooked hot dogs--ironed aprons--and sewed a stuffed animal.  by hand.  from a pre-made kit.

since i had been sewing for 7 years already--by hand--NOT from a kit--this experience did nothing but confirm my belief that the formal educational system was not a good fit for my needs and interests. 

shortly after that, my mother let me try sewing by machine.  i never took another home ec class again (although possibly i could have learned something about cooking--no, wait a minute--now that i think about it, i already knew how to boil hot dogs too).

anyway, this morning i was surfing the web, doing some research for the next opera, when i stumbled upon the new mexico state university list of how-to publications. 

they have a whole college devoted to agriculture and home economics (well, I was impressed).  and they have generously posted their entire catalog of publications on clothing construction and maintanance--39 publications in all--available in HTML or PDF formats for free!

apparently, at the university level they expect you to learn a little more than in 8th grade.  they have individual publications just for sewing sleeves!  zippers made easy!  collars and pockets and facings and waistbands and, and, and....clothing makeovers, and fashion suggestions, and color theory, and how to keep beetles from eating your hard work.

some of my favorites are the things we all want to learn more about--sewing machine maintanance--pattern alterations--and various shortcuts to make your sewing simpler and more enjoyable. they even have publications on clothing construction standards and how to judge clothing for contests--these two alone are a wealth of information to help you assess your own workmanship and set goals for your sewing future.

and best of all, the illustrations look just like they did in the handouts we got in 8th grade:

ps--my sister andrea still has the little stuffed dachshund i made in "ho mec".  ella saw it the last time we visited.  she called him "weenie".

coughing and shouting and sewing, oh my!

well, this posting every day thing hasn't worked out quite as well as i had hoped.  i haven't slept properly in several nights, thanx to a hacking cough and a very sore throat.  its not a good excuse for not posting, but its the only one i've got.  :D

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woohoo to all the new convertible dress flickr groupies!   thank you all for joining.

basimah gets the first shout out of the day, she posted a picture of her infinity dress, which she made out of a bed sheet!  i love the way she wrapped it--it is flattering, interesting, and modest.  plus i LOVE the color--i had no idea they sold eggplant bed sheets!

then go check out the oo-la-la halter swing dress that rebexi shared with us today!!!  the fabric is beautiful and so is she.

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and finally, i sewed.  since today was the first day of autumn, i decided to make a new purse.  ok, it wasn't really because its the first day of autumn, it was because i found a piece of vinyl in the shop and i wanted to use it up.  ok, it wasn't really because i found the vinyl, it was because i found this pattern a few days ago and immediately became obessed with it and then i found the vinyl. 

if i had just followed the instructions, i would have been done in about 30 minutes.  as it was, i changed so much of it that it took over an hour but in the end i really like it.  this will probably be my quickie gift of choice for a while--it takes very little in materials, very little in time (even with all my changes), and it looks impressively complicated. 

what i changed:  i cut the body of the bag shorter--i cut the straps longer--and i made a band at the top.   i think it probably needs some kind of closure but i haven't decided what it would be yet.  its just big enough to hold what i usually carry, and it smells like a new car.

i like to watch

you guys like the "sewing with nancy" videos so much, i thought i'd round up a few more online goodies for your viewing pleasure.

at the costume shops i've sewn in around nashville, i'm known as the gadget guru.  i LOVE trying new sewing gadgets, esp. machine accessories--and more often than not, i find a use for them.   i am fond of the old gadgets--i just LOVE my very kitschy "singer auto-pilot buttonholer"--and the truth is that when i use the tools that are designed to do the job, i get much better results than when i try to do a work-around.

most people are leery of trying new sewing machine accessories.  partly, i think, because they seem a little complicated.  the problem is that it takes a lot of words to describe how even simple things work--just try writing out the steps for using a can opener, for someone who has never used one and possibly never even seen one.  i actually tried this--it came out to 14 steps.

so, i was thinking about taking out all my various gadgets and having rudi take videos of me putting them on the machines and sewing with them, and then i heard my inner gadget guru say, "oh sure, ro, you can't find the energy to fold your laundry and you're going to produce tutorial videos???", and then i innerly snapped back at the guru, "hey, let's google"--and guess what--the sewing machine sales website has done all the work for me.  they have a huge library of free videos showing dozens of sewing machine accessories, and serger accessories too!

the videos seem to all show pfaff machines but the truth is that most presser feet and accessories work more or less the same on all brands--the major difference is in how they attach to the machine.

i take full responsibility for when you end up on ebay looking for a ruffler for your machine--after all, who wouldn't want to find a gadget that will form ruffles and sew them to the fabric all in one pass?  and i expect to get full blame for instigating a new obsession for circular embroidery.  i'll even gladly accept any liability for your undeniable need to apply binding to everything in sight.  but i refuse to take the rap for any fixation you should develop for making eyelets.

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ps--so sorry for disappearing for a few days, right in the middle of my self-imposed month-o-bloggin'.  i briefly thought about trying to put together some make-up posts but then my inner child whined, "no, no, no, no, no.  play with ella instead."  and that's what i did.  i hope you did something just as fun.

So by night I feel so weary that I never get out to dance

the truth is that this past weekend wore me out.  but i loved every minute of it.

i'm too tired to sew, and too tired to write about sewing, but i'm never too tired for a good show tune.  especially a show tune about sewing.

yes, more about dressforms

this time, it is for the non-pregnant community.  :D

my friend debbie cook has a FANTASTIC photo tutorial on how to pad out a dressform so that it matches your own figure.  i can't add anything to it except to say hi, debbie, i miss you and hope you are well.

now, i have to warn you--don't go poking around her site unless you don't have anything else to do for the next couple of days.  you will be SPELLBOUND with delight at her crystal-clear tutorials, her extraordinary  sewing output, and her very handsome family.

sunday shout outs

well, no post yesterday so i'll make up for it with two posts today.  let me start with shout outs, i want to welcome the new crop of members to the flickr convertible dress group!  i'm so excited to have so many companions. 

harmonyluvsisketch has added pictures of her GORGEOUS dress to the group photo pool--run, do not walk, to see it.  the color is just so lovely and the way she wrapped it is too. 

also, bienvenidos SarAmaRi!  go check out her photo albums on colors--labeled in spanish which ella is thrilled about--the verde album stopped me in my tracks.

then go visit swellanor's travel albums.  but if you live within 100 miles of nashville, skip the winter album, you will be green with envy at all the SNOW.

and now a pledge:  i PROMISE to make a new convertible dress and/or top this week, and post pictures.  who will join me?

belly pads made clearer

this is another quickie post--lots of getting ready going on here--these are pictures of the maternity belly pad.

halter body alone (its a little lumpy because it has been stored in a box):

 

with bra over it, which gives definition to the body:

the only thing you can't see is the pocket for the filling, it is on the inside of the belly and it is open so you can adjust as needed.

tomorrow is the big day!  as of 7:52am, my baby will be FOUR YEARS OLD!!!  wish me luck.

form IS function IS form

this is for annie.  :)  who swears she doesn't need to know this.  :)  but who is just curious.  :)

annie asked how to pad out a dressform to a pregnant shape.  the easy way--the way maternity clothing stores do it--is to use a round pillow and put elastic straps to hold it on.  this works pretty well, i guess that's why maternity stores do it.  to pad out the bust use a bra of the correct or expected size. 

the problem is that the resulting body tends to be sort of springy, and real pregnant bodies are, unfortunately, more affected by the pull of gravity, esp. later in the pregnancy.  my solution is to make more of a body and to fill it with something that has some weight to it.  you can use rice, dry beans, the stuff they sell to weight dolls--make a little bag and put your weight into it, then put that in the bottom of the belly.  i make my bodies with halter straps to hold the weight better, and i leave an opening in the pocket that holds the weight so the belly can be filled out as the pregnancy progresses.  weight the bra as well, you might as well use a maternity/nursing bra for this purpose.

i will take better pictures of this and come back to add them tomorrow (i was in a hurry today), but this is a maternity/nursing nightgown on a form fitted with the belly and bra i used for myself when pregnant.  ordinarily i would put a cover over the padding to make the body more even underneath but these views let you see the halter on the padded body.

so sorry for such a rough post, i have a lot going on these next few days, what with someone turning four years old and all.

long distance sewing

if you have ever tried to sew a garment for someone at long distance, you have undoubtedly run into the problem of getting a decent set of measurements.  people who do not sew are not reliable measurers--they tend to measure the body according to the clothing being worn, rather than the shape of the body underneath.

likewise, my experience says that most home seamstresses have not measured enough bodies to be able to spot a problem in a measurement set.  it was only after having measured dozens of bodies--large, small, tall, short, old, and young--that i started to recognize that how things like knowing the height of the person could help me predict the correct side seam length.

and then there is the difficulty of sewing gifts--asking someone for their bust, waist, hip, and inseam length pretty much gives away the element of surprise.

but you can get close--at least as close as ready-to-wear--just use the measurements that ready-to-wear uses.  the superior model form company has done us all the favor of posting charts of all their dressform measurements.  these are the industry standard bodies used to create clothing for mass production.  naturally, using a generic set of measurements will yield a generic size garment, but at least it gives you a place to start.  just ask for the RTW sizes of the person you are sewing for and you can compare the dressform charts to the patterns you wish to use--you just tweak as needed to allow for a bigger bust (industry forms are B-cup) or to adjust for other figure variations.  i think this is probably a simpler approach than trying to get a decent set of measurements, and let's face it:  nobody ever really tells us their real numbers anyway.  we only get them by sheer force of our presence.  :D

more of the good stuff

remember how i said that the old sewing books are my favorite?  because they just tell you how to do stuff?  and they don't expect you to mortgage your house to be able to afford to do stuff?

somebody else thinks these things too, and they have gone so far as to put some of the very best of this stuff online, for you to see, IN FULL, FOR FREE.

vintage sewing info epitomizes what is best about the internet and the world wide web:  the free exchange of ideas and information, for the greater good and for the preservation of knowledge for future generations.  to quote from the vintage sewing info site:

"VintageSewing.info is the publishing site of the Vintage Sewing Reference Library, Inc. a nonprofit public benefit corporation which publishes public domain vintage sewing, fashion, and lifestyle books and images, rescuing primary source reference material from obscurity to freely share with anyone who searches for it. We especially want to provide this information to recreationists and costumers so they can make design and construction choices from knowledge, not ignorance."

do you want to learn to make your own patterns?  then consult modern pattern design, by harriet pepin--this book is one of the most sought-after patternmaking references in the western world, copies of it are hard to find and expensive to buy--but if you don't mind getting your information online FOR FREE, whenever you want it, then you will love the digital reproduction.

would you like to learn the art of traditional millinery?  fine hand sewing techniques?  the principles of tailoring? 

oh my, make yourself a pot of coffee, you're going to need it--all that information and much much more is available at your fingertips.  i myself have used every single book on this website for either patternmaking, garment construction, or at least research.  if i owned the collection of books on this site, i would actually feel a need to increase my homeowners insurance to cover them--they are that valuable. 

and please consider supporting this website by offering them your feedback, providing source material, promoting their website on your blog, group, or email list, and of course you can always resort to cash.  :)