ASG Sewing Blog – Page 75

March 22, 2019

Button, Button, I’ve Got the Buttons

This is my week! It’s National Button Week and I love buttons. I REALLY love buttons. In honor of this auspicious week, I want to tell you a story about the buttons I have loved. Then I get to reveal an exciting new members-only discount. No peeking! You’ll have to wait until the end of the article!

My fascination with buttons began when I was a child. My mother’s button box served as one of my favorite toys, second only to my Barbie doll. I remember sitting for hours sorting and exploring the beautiful buttons the large tin contained.

Button Bling

One of my favorites was a blue and green button that sparkled in the sunlight on a wool jacket she had made. Her philosophy was that the buttons made the garment, and today would be called the “bling” that made it special. I remember the “Life Saver” buttons that were the focus of my brown calico dress. No one noticed the dress, or the beautiful white Peter Pan collar. Instead everyone commented on the buttons, proving her point.

Playing with those buttons is one of my favorite childhood memories, so I was devastated when I returned home from college and found that the entire collection was gone. She had downsized. How could she just throw away all those beautiful buttons? What had become of them? These questions plagued me until I decided to do what any practical person who wanted to preserve her sanity would do. I started my own collection!

Having little money in those early days, I started out cutting buttons off old garments. Then gradually, I added to the collection by buying them. First it was just the ones on sale. Then it was any that attracted my attention.

Specialty Buttons

Now I have quite a collection. I have large buttons, and teeny, tiny buttons. I have completely round buttons, and flat buttons. I have some that say, “I love grandma” and others that say “Mood.” I have buttons that are pumpkins, skulls, snowmen, snowflakes, Christmas bulbs, cats, dogs, rabbits, cars, dice, gingerbread boys, fish, etc. I even have buttons that look like Olympic medals and police badges.

Benno's Buttons

You may ask yourself, “Does she ever use these buttons?” The answer is yes—sometimes. I put the seashell buttons on a jacket. Some of the snowflakes reside on a sweatshirt along with snowmen that form a tic tac toe pattern with trims. And the pumpkins can be seen on one of my fall purses. And if you look closely, the next time we meet, you may just get a glimpse into part of my collection.

Special Offer for ASG Members

Now about that discount… We are excited to announce that Benno’s Buttons will offer all ASG members a 15% discount. You can find the discount code in the Member’s Only Special Offers section of our website. Benno’s Buttons has been a respected nationwide supplier of quality products and services to apparel designers and other industry professionals for many years. They offer so much more than just buttons! Check out their pin on buttons, lace, appliques, trim and more. You definitely want to check out the Benno’s Buttons website. And if you are shopping in the Dallas area, be sure to stop in to say hello and thank them for their generosity and support of American Sewing Guild.

~ Rosemary Fajgier; Individual button images from Benno’s Buttons

March 15, 2019

Doodle Shoes

Zentangle®, is where art and craft meet meditation and careful thought.

Zentangle®, founded by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, is a method of creating complex art from repetitive lines and easily sketched forms, all while enjoying a relaxing state of thoughtfulness. It’s a lot like the doodling we’ve all done while waiting on a phone call or listening to a less-than-engrossing lecture. The supplies are simple – just a pencil, pen and paper. But you can use anything you want… like shoes!

Although Zentangle® itself is deliberately non-representational and doesn’t take on a specific form, it has inspired a number of other works of art. When I started drawing these intriguing black-and-white patterns, I wanted to take them out of my sketchbook so others might enjoy them. In the back of my closet was a pair of inexpensive white canvas sneakers. I’d bought them with the intention of decorating them somehow, but never gotten around to it. It seemed the moment had arrived.

Supplies

To decorate my shoes, I used a black Pigma Micron pen, size 1.0, for drawing on my shoes. It’s a good all-purpose size that can draw fine lines or fill in larger spaces. It’s also permanent on fabric. Fabric pens or Sharpie markers are other possibilities.

The hardest part of the project is getting started and making that first mark on a pure white surface. My advice is to dive right in. Remind yourself that the shoes were inexpensive and if you’re really not happy with the end result, you can wear them in your garden (visiting rabbits won’t be critical). Part of the magic of this drawing technique is that you can keep adding more detail – extra lines, darker shading – until wavering lines blend right in and stray marks become part of the pattern.

Let’s Doodle!

Mentally divide your shoes into sections. The shoes’ construction seams will provide some guidance. I especially like the semicircle on the heel of each shoe and the wavy seams around the shoelace holes. Draw a grid on a section, just a simple crosshatch of horizontal and vertical lines about 1/2″ apart. Now fill in the squares of the grid any way you like, creating your first area of pattern.

For variety, draw a pop-art flower on another part of the shoe. Make patterns of lines or circles on the flower petals, and fill in the background around the blossom with swirling lines or another grid-based design. Keep adding shapes and patterns, filling in areas between specific designs with more patterns. Strive for a balance of light and dark areas; placing a pattern with a lot of black next to an area of white space will make the division stand out, while two areas of balanced black-and-white shading will blend together.

It’s easy to find patterns for inspiration on the Internet or in books (be mindful of copyright laws). Architectural details, wrought iron fences, and flower in the garden also provide inspiration. As sewing enthusiasts, we have still more sources of doodle patterns to explore, like quilting motifs, patchwork patterns, and the decorative stitches on our sewing machines.

Now here’s an idea: taking doodle art to fabric and thread! Maybe my next project will be embellishing a solid-color fabric with doodle-inspired stitches. Wouldn’t that be fabulous as the flap on a handbag or as a jacket lapel?

There are Zentangle® books and pens available at local quilt stores and online. Zentangle® also offers classes by certified teachers.

~Adapted from a post from October 3, 2014 by Rebecca Kemp Brent, Ph.D., author of “Redwork from The WORKBASKET,” “Machine Embroidery Wild & Wacky” and numerous other magazine articles and books. She can be seen in several episodes of It’s Sew Easy. Visit her website at rkbrent.com.

March 1, 2019

Could You, Would You, Make a Vest for Dr. Seuss Day?

March 1 is Dr. Seuss Day. Every year when it comes around, I am reminded of this experience.

I am fortunate to have a son who is always willing to help me out. When I needed to have my large embroidery machine serviced, he carried it in without a hint of annoyance. He never complained while I chatted with the shop owner. He carted my bolts of fabric to the cutting table and waited patiently. So when an extra bolt appeared on the pile, I really couldn’t complain. I knew it had to be his. But when I looked at the orange fabric—it was furry, no fringy, no stringy, no… very different.

“Without a doubt, I knew this was going to be my next sewing project — payback.”

Cautiously I asked, “And what did you have in mind?” He replied, “I thought it looked like the Lorax. I figured you could make me a Lorax vest for Dr. Seuss Day.”

OK, ordinarily a vest is easy—but it had to be shapeless like the Lorax. Then it had to close in the front, but buttonholes just wouldn’t work with this . . . fringy, stringy, furry fabric. Hmmm… I found an open front hippy style vest pattern in my stash. Feeling quite smug, I figured I could whip out this vest in under 2 hours. I laid out the pattern and began cutting. That’s when my luck changed.

The fabric backing was a stretch knit that rolled terribly! If cutting furry fabric wasn’t difficult enough, cutting one that stretched and rolled was nearly impossible. After just a few snips of the scissors, fur was flying everywhere. Then the knit backing started to run like a nylon stocking. OMG! I had to darn the fabric before I could even stitch the vest together. Grrrrr, sewing was supposed to relieve stress, not create more. Was this worth all the effort? Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy one? But where could I buy a Lorax vest to fit a grown man, and how could I get it in just 2 days? So I persevered all the while chanting my favorite mantra, “Finished is better than perfect, finished is better than perfect, FINISHED IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.”

Two days later I emerged from the sewing cave looking like a mutant with orange hair everywhere but carrying a completed vest in hairy hand. Ignoring my orange hairy body, he put on his vest and said he would wear it to work the next day, Dr. Seuss Day. And he did, with LORAX written on his name tag.

The vest is not an example of sewing perfection. But it is perfect for him. How do I know? From the twinkle in his eye and the smile on his face when someone said, “Nice vest,” and he replied, “Yeah, I’m the Lorax, and my mom made it for me.”

Was it worth all the stress? YES, every hairy minute! And that’s why I sew.

~ Post by Rosemary Fajgier

February 23, 2019

The French Jacket Experience

The allure of the classic French jacket – its mystique has captivated for years.

Long before rediscovering garment sewing several years ago, I admired this garment for its timeless elegance on the outside, never understanding that the magic on the inside is the real story. Quilting lofty bouclé to silk lining with rows of stitches that are all but invisible from the outside produces a sumptuous quality double-layer that hugs the body almost like a sweater and feels like heaven to wear.

While creating this garment is a lengthy process with a great deal of hand sewing, (many have estimated it to take anywhere from 70 to over 100 hours), none of the steps are particularly difficult. Many find the slow and steady pace to be relaxing and contemplative, thoroughly enjoying the rhythmic repetition, the time-honored techniques and the effort of perfecting one stitch after another.

If one were ever to splurge on materials and trims, this is the time!

Given the amount of labor invested, only the best will do. Quality bouclé can be sourced at many online retailers – some of the more popular are:

Linton Direct UK
Elliott Berman
Mendel Goldberg
B&J
Emma One Sock

You’ll still be thousands of dollars ahead in the end. Did you know that the price of an off-the-rack Chanel original averages around $5,000 and the made-to-measure haute couture version begins at upwards of $15,000 to $20,000?

For anyone interested in trying these techniques for the first time, Blueprint’s class (formerly Craftsy) “The Iconic Tweed Jacket” by Lorna Knight offers great value and an approachable starting point. I was thrilled with the success achieved on my first jacket and came away with the confidence to move to the next level.

For a full-on couture experience, Susan Khalje’s class, in-person or on-line, is thought by many to be the gold standard. True haute couture methods are employed throughout and her three-piece sleeve with vent allows for prominent placement of featured trim and fancy buttons, both authentic hallmarks of Chanel.

It starts with a muslin

A perfectly fitted muslin (or toile) is your best friend when beginning this project. Vogue 7975 is the pattern many use since its shoulder princess seams permit the best opportunity for bust adjustments.

Time for Adjustments

Once necessary adjustments have been made and the muslin fit perfected, it is cut apart on the seam lines and used as the jacket’s actual pattern. For optimum accuracy, each piece is thread traced along the seam lines on a single layer of fabric. Measured seam allowances are not used in couture sewing; large rough borders are cut around each piece and the thread traced lines are matched throughout construction.

Machine Quilting the Sections

Each bouclé section is then machine quilted to silk charmeuse lining and the bouclé layer is sewn by machine while keeping the lining edges free to be hand fell-stitched together on the inside. Next, each lining seam is carefully pinned and hand fell stitched closed.

The control one has by hand stitching is truly unmatched. Before falling in love with couture sewing, I would have avoided hand stitching at all costs but I now find myself including some on nearly everything I sew. Collars, cuffs, facings and basting of any sort; they all benefit greatly from the accuracy of hand stitching.

On to the Sleeves

Once the “vest” has been completed, the sleeves are similarly assembled then attached to the jacket entirely by hand. Front hook and eye closures are added and the jacket’s trim is hand applied before fell-stitching the outer edges of the lining closed.

Pockets

The desired number of pockets and their placement is determined and they are constructed and trimmed in the same manner as the jacket. Each is backed with hand stitched silk lining and matching trim is applied.

Buttons

Finally, decorative buttons are added to the sleeve vents and pockets and the iconic chain is stitched along the inner hemline. The chain is said to counterbalance the weight of heavy buttons and prevent the jacket from slipping forward on the shoulders but, primarily, it adds that special touch of luxury on the inside!

Not just for Suits

While I’ve made a matching skirt for all but one of my six French jackets, they are most often worn with jeans, proving there is a place in every wardrobe for this classic you will be proud to say you’ve created yourself. No one will believe you’ve made it!

~ Post by Julie Starr – Julie is the co-author of the Tunic Bible with Sarah Gunn. Both will be teaching at the 2019 ASG Conference in Boston.

February 15, 2019

Community Service Around the Country

It’s a forgone conclusion that if you are a member of the American Sewing Guild, you obviously love to sew. Why else would you be a member? But in addition to a general love of sewing, one of the hallmarks of ASG has always been a love of sewing for the benefit of others. Over the past several months, as I have read chapter newsletters from the east coast to the west coast, I have seen such a variety of community service projects and the creativity in ASG and the diversity of ideas never ceases to amaze me!

You have sewn for soldiers, for domestic abuse shelters, for the homeless, for medical facilities and more.
You have combined sewing challenges with community service with ideas like making sweatshirts for a competition then donating all of them to a needy organization.
You have shared pictures of your chapter laughing and smiling, clearly enjoying the experience of working together for a common good. Your pictures confirm what I have known to be true, it truly is better to give than to receive.

If your chapter hasn’t yet joined in the fun of sewing for the community together, you may be wondering how to get started. How do you select a project and organization to donate your time and efforts to? Here are a few tips you might consider:

If you are looking for some new ideas, peruse the pictures in this article.
Check out Giving Back in the Resources section for ideas.
Don’t miss the link on that page to an additional LONG list of project ideas to choose from.
Gather up some of your chapter members and brainstorm with them. Someone just might have an organization that is near and dear to their heart. Reach out to that organization and design your own creative community service project.

Whatever organization and project you chose, I hope you will experience the great joy of giving. And I also hope you will inspire us by sharing your pictures and stories. As Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on!”

~ Sheryl Belson, Plano Chapter