Oilcloth

Lots of people have been asking where I got my oilcloth tablecloth - here are some resources if you want one too! Real oilcloth is a super-practical and easy way to cover your table. You care for it by wiping clean: that's it.

The kind of oilcloth I like most is widely available in the UK but hard to find stateside. It is heavy cotton-linen union fabric that is lightly coated with a layer of plastic, so that the feel and look of the cloth remains intact.

If you've ever bought those noxious (and possibly insalubrious) PVC tablecloths, please try to find real oilcloth, which is coated with a thin layer of vinyl. It has no bad smell and doesn't feel so plastic-y. You won't be able to live without this wonderful stuff.

Stripes from Ian Mankin (UK)

Fun elephant and giraffe print for kids from Cath Kidston

Lovely floral from Just Wipe

Top Dog print from Just Wipe

(or find it at John Lewis)

Classic, refined William Morris Willow Bow print

(from the Curtain Shop)

My very favorite oilcloth comes from Ian Mankin in London. Ian Mankin sends samples very quickly and they ship from the UK, so there is no problem whatsoever if you want to order from the US. You may need two meters to cover a big table, but it is well worth it. This oilcloth has a light, matte coating so it feels and looks much more like natural fabric. It does stain if you are not careful - coffee or red wine should be wiped away immediately - but with just minimal bit of attention you will have a flawless, child-proof table covering for years.

Other wonderful sources for oilcloth are fifties-style goddess Cath Kidston (UK), groovy modern Marimekko (order from Textile Arts in the US), or see a very big range at JustWipe. You can find William Morris prints at the Curtain Shop (UK).

If you are in London, pop into the John Lewis department store for a big selection, or visit the Blue Door Barnes, a shop selling Swedish furnishings, for exquisite pale blue and oatmeal colored linen made into oilcloth. In Paris try Printemps for "la toile cire'".

Now you can relax and enjoy your meal: no tablecloth to wash or iron!

Kids' T-Shirts

Back to posting after a long time off. This summer I made (nearly) all the clothes for myself and my son. I haven't quite worked my way up to dressing my husband - Ralph seems to do a perfectly adequate job there - but I did make a mountain of t-shirts for my son.

I used the Ottobre "Best t-shirts" pattern and it worked perfectly. It does help to know a bit about sewing knits before you start with this pattern, as the explanations are fairly brief.

T-shirt in stripey Hilco Campan fabric

This fabric comes from Banberry Place, a fabulous resource for kids' (and particularly girls') European fabrics. This knit for Hilco in Germany is sturdy, stable, has body without being heavy-weight, and sews up perfectly. It's the nicest kids' knit or for that matter adult knit I've ever worked with. Well, at $24 a yard, it had better be. I'm not sure this project turned out to be a money-saver, but don't the little ones deserve the best?

Arthur models his t-shirt in "Carlo"

also from Banberry Place

Here are a few tips for making Ottobre t-shirts:

Determine the size Start by calculating the height of your little (or big) boy or girl in centimeters (2.54 centimeters = 1 inch). Use this measurement to determine the size shirt to make. My son is six and I made a size 116 cm.

Trace Now trace the pattern from the pattern sheet. If you prefer short sleeves, measure the sleeve from a shirt that fits your child, then add about 2.5 cm to the bottom edge for the hem. Add seam allowances to the pattern before you cut it out.

Cut your fabric Be careful to position the stripes to match front and back.

Assemble the t-shirt The pattern gives great assembly directions. I like the sewing instructions from Jalie t-shirts: if you don't have a serger, use 3-step zigzag or normal zigzag to sew the seams edges together first, then sew the seams at the seam line using a normal stitch, stretching slightly. Of course use a needle suitable for knits.

Hem Make the hem a bit deeper than what's called for to avoid having it flip up during wear, and interface the hem area with a strip of fusible knit interfacing.

Apply the binding I discovered a few tricks for applying binding. Have a look at the excellent video on the Threads website, which gives excellent instructions. Then cut your binding to the length specified in the pattern and sew the binding strip in a loop with a narrow hem.

You can reduce bulk by snipping the seam in the middle. Snip in between the zigzag almost to the seamline (see photos below). Now fold the binding in half lengthwise to apply it to the neckline, and placing half of the center seam to the left side and half to the right. Voila, you get a very flat, professional looking, non-bulky binding.

Now press carefully to flatten and gently stretch out any wrinkles around the neckline...although my son generally jumps into these t-shirts before I get a chance to press them. There's something magnetic about clothes your mom makes personally for you - you just love them more than other clothes.

Sew the binding to form a loop,

then snip the seam allowance at the mid-point of this seam.

Don't cut through the seam itself!

Push one side of the seam allowance to the left

and the other to the right

Sew the binding to the neck opening, stretching evenly to fit

(Check out the great tutorial on the Threads website)

Now you have a perfectly flat, non-bulky, professional binding

My son tries his hand at machine sewing

(under close supervision by mom)

A createur in the making? After this lesson I locked up the power cord, though.

Translations of Marie Claire Idees

Some of you have said you'd like to purchase translations of Marie Claire Idees. I am happy to translate project instructions for you. If I get enough demand I will can translate all the projects in each issue. For right now, please contact me and let me know which projects you'd like translated and I will give you a quotation - and please have a look at the sample translation of the Mexican skirt! Thanks...

Marie Claire Idees

I subscribe to a wonderful French magazine called Marie Claire Idees. For those of you who don't know about this publication, it is the best crafts magazine anywhere in the world. You can subscribe here. (On the left side of the page, look for "Abonnement dom-tom / etranger" which means "foreign subscriptions." Click on the pull-down menu and opt for "Etats-Unis d'Amerique" which means "USA".)

This magazine is only available in French, but I'm thinking of offering a downloadable translation in English, so please let me know if you are interested. Here's a design that appeared in June 2008 (Issue No. 69) that I may make for this summer - instructions in English follow.

Mexican Inspiration - Flowered cotton skirt 

Rating: Very easy to make

Size 38/40 

(which is about a size 6/8, so you may want to adjust the measurements as required)

What you need

Cotton fabric, 54 or 60 inches wide:

1 yard of cotton fabric, printed with a small black and white floral design

1/2 yard of cotton fabric, printed with a black and white patchwork design

3 1/4" strip of black cotton fabric for the waistband

Interfacing for the waistband if desired

Black and white zigzag: 

You need 28 yards of zigzag in different widths. Each piece should be 2 3/4 yards long.

Black thread

White thread

65 cm of flat elastic, 2.5 cm wide

How to make the skirt

Preshrink and press all the fabrics and zigzag.

Cut out the fabric pieces

Cut 2 strips of printed black and white floral measuring 50" x 13" (125 x 33 cm)  

Cut 2 strips of printed black and white floral measuring 50" x 5"

Cut 4 strips of white fabric measuring 50" x 2"

Cut 2 strips of white fabric measuring 50" x 3 3/4"

Cut 2 strips of patchwork fabric measuring 50" x 3 1/2"

Sew the fabric pairs together

Sewing each pair together along the short edges, using a 3/8" seam allowance. 

Sew the two 13" pieces of floral fabric together, matching the short edges.  

Sew the two 5" pieces of floral fabric together, matching the short edges.

Sew two 2" pieces of white fabric to form one strip; sew the two other 2" pieces of white fabric together to form another strip.

Sew the two 3 3/4" pieces of white fabric together, matching the short edges.

Sew the two patchwork pieces together, matching the short edges.

Now cut and add the zigzag trim

Cut the zigzag into lengths, allowing a 3/8" seam allowance on each end. 

Sew 5 lengths of black zigzag onto the the 2" white bands.

Sew 3 rows of white zigzag onto each 5" band of floral fabric

Sew 6 rows of white zigzag onto the bottom of the 13" band of floral fabric

Sew the bands together

Stack the bands and sew together, allowing a 3/8" seam allowance. Start with the wide flowered band at the top, then:

Attach a 2" white band under the big flowered band

Attach the patchwork band

Attach a 2" white band

Attach the second floral band

Hem and finish

Fold the last white band in half lengthwise to add some weight to the hem. Sew the last (folded) white band onto the bottom of the skirt. 

Finish the seam allowances inside the skirt.

Sew 2 rows of black zigzag onto the white bottom band. 

Now assemble the skirt by sewing the vertical/back seam.  Work carefully to line up each strip.

Adding the waistband

Reduce the waist diameter to 90 cm by pining a lot of tiny pleats all around the upper edge of the skirt. 

Cut out a 36" strip of black fabric to form the waistband. Sew the short ends together with a 3/8" seam allowance to form a loop. Sew the waistband to the skirt right sides together. Turn the long unsewn edge of the waistband under 3/8". Now fold the waistband in half lengthwise and sew it to the inside of the skirt, leaving an opening to insert the elastic. Insert the elastic into this casing and sew it closed into a loop. Slipstitch the casing closed.

The Delicious dress: deliciously slow

Thank you to a dear reader for a great suggestion: Vogue V8578. This is quite glam and could be extended to maxi length. 

The one to try next:

Vogue 8578

In the meantime we chip away at the Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Delicious dress, which is so easy to make...unless you make it extra hard. The usual: a couple of seams, no zip, no buttons, all agony. So far, I have interlined all the pieces, pressed them nicely, and begun to assemble the dress. It isn't anywhere near ready to photograph but I include a photo anyway, so you can see the idea.

A pile of underlined pieces

Pinned together before sewing

Some initial learning: 

Work area: This is fairly self-evident but you need a big work surface to cut out the pieces for the maxi dress. 

Max-imize: I have the sense that the maxi dress works better aesthetically than the short dress. The long length gives somewhere for all that drape to go.

Basting: I basted all the underlining pieces to the fashion fabric pieces along the grainline. I've also basted the seams in place in areas where pieces were likely to slip. It's a bit of work but results seem good.

Pressing: The shoulder seams are curved. I pressed the seams flat after sewing, then pressed them open over a tailor's ham (with a bit of card underneath to prevent leaving a line), then pressed them on the right side, again over the tailor's ham and covered with silk organza. 

Sleeve gathering: I am now trying to figure out the ruched sleeves. The pattern suggests that you slit the sleeve opening, and then roll a narrow hem while inserting a bit of narrow elastic in the slit hem. I think this could work, but I am not sure I like this method. 

I took a break to walk around in downtown Manhattan Beach, and I passed a shop window where I saw with a beautiful spring dress, pale green with white flowers. When I looked closely I noticed that the white flowers were embroidered with beads. What a lovely idea. I might try adding a beaded detail to the hems of this dress if I need to weight it toward the hem. Do, and overdo, in other words.

Some segments now partly basted, partly pinned

(It's not as bad as it looks)

More to follow...

In for a penny, in for a pound

Thank you, dear friends at PatternReview, for your advice on how to make myself look like this, except with more color:

The Dries van Noten dress of dreams 

(Oh come on Dries, a little peachy blush couldn't hurt)

I started making this dress exuberantly enough, tracing and then cutting out a muslin of the HotPatterns Deco Vibe Delicious Dress.  

"This dress isn't all that fitted," I said to myself, "I'll use my bust size." Wrong assumption, as it turned out. The muslin was a vast poof from the waist down. 

I've taken some advice from many people at PatternReview. Rather than add darts or try to shape the seams,  I traced the pattern in a smaller size from the waist down. 

I gave up on making another muslin, as the fabric was just too stiff. I rather bravely decided to skip making a second muslin and instead pin fit the Swedish tracing paper. The new size seemed to fit well enough, and was much sleeker.

Scissors in hand I launched into a long piece of deep blue silk. I was too terrified to cut into the Pucci fabric in my stash, but I needed to try this HotPatterns dress in very, extremely drapey fabric to discover whether this pattern would ever work. I was prepared to sacrifice this blue silk crepe de chine that I bought a few weeks ago on sale.

 I found that the blue silk was rawwther sheer

(My hand, visible through the silk)

I contemplated how to solve the sheerness problem. Wear a slip? Or underline? This dress is still an experiment, but it's getting more expensive by the minute. So far, I've bought a pattern for $18.95, plus shipping, and then $24 of silk and $5 of thread. I've made one muslin and traced this pattern twice using up practically an entire roll of $12 Swedish tracing paper. I've already spent $65 on a pattern I'm none too sure will work. 

But hey, why not go whole hog? I cut out the blue silk, which has great drape, although it was just too thin for a dress. I decided on interlining, thus my next step in crafting this utterly unproven HotPatterns design was to make another purchase: this time gossamer silk underlining, four yards at $12 a yard. I bought this silk at my local fabric shop, where the girl behind the counter had no idea what it was. 

"What kind of silk is this?" I asked. "Gold," she answered. We held up a length of the blue crepe de chine with this gold silk behind it. The two fabrics married as though draping a Grecian goddess.

Photos can't describe the delicacy of this gold silk,

whatever it is (habotai?)

This gold silk was so light that it was difficult to cut without pinning it to a surface. I didn't have a big enough piece of cardboard, and feeling impatient, I pinned it to my Persian carpet. Not at all the recommended method, but it worked a trick.

Silk pinned to the carpet

Underlining sewn in place, before pressing

The underlined silk panels have the most astonishing lava-like drape. Hopefully drapiness will be the trick that transforms the Delicious Dress experiment from maternity dress to goddess-wear. I'll let you know in a few days. I've got yards more basting to do.

In the meantime I'm still contemplating the Pucci fabric in my stash. I've ordered two patterns from Marfy. Maybe this fabric wants to be a tunic? Or an asymmetrical dress? 

The butterfly is missing a wing

Does it work? I think I love it.

A great square pleated neckline

Sometimes there are just too, too many options out there.

DecoVibe Delisch Dress - waist not want not

What I had in my mind:

Dries Van Noten, Fall 2007 collection

Dear seamstresses and fashionistas out there: I have been imaging myself at a swinging 1970s party, glass of wine in hand, stylin' in my drapey maxi dress. 

Things have not worked out as expected. I made a muslin for the Deco Vibe Delicious Dress. I really do not want to admit this, but I'm feeling seriously disappointed.

 

Muslin of the Deco Vibe Delicious Dress

Muslin fabric cannot, and should not be allowed to tell the story of this dress. But it's clear the muslin I made from the pattern does not look like the illustration on the pattern envelope. There is one important reason why: no waist.

The pattern envelope describes shaped center front and back seams. If you look at the illustration, the dress appears to have a shaped side seams as well:

The illustration shows waist shaping

Here's the side seam of the muslin

Slightly, but almost imperceptibly shaped 

(I was too despondent to iron it)

Something else about the Dries Van Noten dress: the gathers start at the very bottom of the V, at the lowest point of the neckline. These gathers all emanate from one point and open horizontally and vertically. The design ends up fitting something like an empire dress - at least that's how I read the photo. It's not the same shape as the HotPatterns dress.

I'll attempt to reshape the muslin by:

1. Curving the side seams

2. Adding darts to the back

3. Adding a seam for the center back of the neck binding

4. Adding a zipper down the back

If any of this works I'll let you know. Otherwise I'm trying something else: Simplicity 2754.