January 2022 – The G. G. Files

A Silk Blouse for Barbados: Post-COVID (!) travel wardrobe planning

Posted on January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 by ggherself

I don’t know about you, but when my husband and I retired from our real-life jobs a few years ago, one of our plans was to pursue one of the loves of our life―seeing even more of the world. That started auspiciously!

Three days after my husband retired―and while I was on a university sabbatical―I whisked him away for a trip that I’d been dreaming about since I was in fourth grade: a week in Tahiti followed by a cruise through the South Pacific islands. It was heaven!

As you can see, we ended that South Pacific trip in Sydney, Australia. What a wonderful city!

Then there were lots of other trips―Rome and the Med, Venice, Istanbul (what a mesmerizing city), transiting the Panama Canal on a ship, Peru (and the forbidding Atacama desert), Chile (and the magnificent Andes), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Japan! They were all beautiful experiences that we‘ll take to our graves

From Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, to the Great Wall of China and onto learning about how Alpaca wool is refined to the Atacama desert and LIma Peru, it’s been wonderful to retire and travel!

And, of course, the occasional revisit to favourite Caribbean islands, which is when I did a little capsule cruise collection I designed and created a couple of years ago.

A few pieces I designed and made for the cruise collection.

Of course, two years ago, just the week we returned from a driving trip in Florida, all hell broke loose, and we haven’t dusted off our passports since. Well…that’s all about to change. We think.

Next week, the gods of COVID and Air Canada willing, we’ll be landing in Barbados to begin a bit of island hopping (no, we’re not getting on a cruise ship amid this COVID chaos). Naturally, one begins to think carefully about what to wear, doesn’t’ one?

My plan is to pack lightly. Although we’re planning to be gone for three-and-a-half weeks, I plan to take about a week’s worth of clothes and make good use of hotel laundry services. There are a few pieces from my original “cruise collection” that I’ll probably take, but one does need some new things, n’est-ce pas?

To that end, I whipped out that piece of divine silk I bought last fall in Montreal and dug out a pattern I’d been waiting to use―Butterick 6765 (which they brought out in 2020).

I loved the drape over the front, and I especially loved the cut of the short sleeves. However, I paid a lot of money for this fabric, so I didn’t want to cut into it without knowing how it would work and fit. Que the left-over rayon I used for another blouse I took on that last vacation before COVID.

One of the things I know for sure about making muslins or test garments is that it’s important to use fabric that has a similar hand and drape to the one intended for the final garment. I learned this the hard way! This rayon drapes a bit like the silk, so I figured it would give me a good idea of fit and style.

So, I cut out View C with the short sleeves and the front drape that dipped below the waist.

Here are some of my observations about this pattern:

The overlay is too much (large, bulky, long)―blah, blah…there’s just too much of it.
The back opening is unnecessary. The thing fits over my head without taking the trouble of doing this opening.
The neckline finish suggested in the pattern is inappropriate for the kinds of fabric you would likely use for this style (bias binding with the back opening just turned in *rolls eyes*). On this same topic, they suggest using a bit of elastic to fasten the button. *rolls eyes again*
The style would be more flattering with a slightly wider neckline (for me, at least).
The cut needs more side shaping.

So, what did I do? First, I created a facing for the neckline, which encompasses the back opening.

Then I cut a self-loop and encased it in the facing. As you can see from the finished product, it’s a bit overpowering for me and a bit too generous.

When the test blouse was finished, I redrew the pattern to make it more shapely at the sides and give it a slightly wider neckline. I also removed the back seam since it was no longer necessary, making the silk hang better. Then I created mirror pieces to cut the whole thing in one layer, my preferred (and recommended) approach for cutting out silk.

Since I found the overlay too big, I used the View A overlay when I cut the final blouse. It was a much better choice for me―not so overpowering. I cut in one layer and used silk thread tailor’s tacks and my most delicate silk pins!

When I did the test pieces before I began sewing, I did them with all the recommended accoutrements for sewing silk: cotton thread (I didn’t have enough silk thread in a matching colour), the walking foot, 2 mm stitches. Well, none of this worked well. Yes, I know polyester thread sits on top of silk more than cotton or silk, but I could not work with the cotton thread and this delicate fabric. As for the walking foot (am I a sewing nerd for having a favourite sewing machine part? It’s mine), it didn’t work for this fabric. There were more waves with it than without it. A bit of gentle tension on both sides, and my regular foot worked wonderfully well. And those 2 mm stitches everyone recommends? Nope. The 2.5 looked better and worked better.

I did, however, do French seam finishes on all seamlines. Now, I know this isn’t a remarkable feat (although I was proud of myself!), I also did them on the armscye. Yes, you heard that right. It occurred to me that expensive silk garments have these finishes throughout them. Well, I guess you have to go higher than Judith and Charles (retail for $250-400 CDN―I buy mine on sale) and Vince (retail for $300-500 CDN―ditto, only buy them on sale) to get a French seam finish on an armscye. When I examined my two Judith and Charles and two Vince silk blouses, I discovered (the horror!) that the armhole finish is serged. Oh well…not on my Barbados blouse (I decided to name it Barbados in honour of our planned first destination this year).

I did find this excellent video tutorial on French seam finishing for armholes, but I didn’t watch it until I had already decided on my own approach. And I have to say that mine is a bit less like sewing inside a paper bag.

I decided that I would insert the sleeves not as I usually do with a traditional insertion, but more like putting them in as if I were making a men’s shirt―flat (but with that ease). I eased each one in flat, then I basted as I usually do, first wrong side to wrong side, trimmed, pressed, then right side to right side. It worked! Then I did the entire underarm and side seams from garment hem to sleeve hem as a single seam.

I am very pleased with the finished product and will share photos of it in action when (and if) I get to the Caribbean in ten or so days. Wish me luck with the pre-trip COVID test, the weather and the airplanes. Maybe I’ll post from the sunny south!

fabrics, sewing, sewing patterns

The Joy of Fabric Shopping (and yet more sewing for the winter)

Posted on January 10, 2022 by ggherself

How many times have you read a book or watched a movie that was at least partially set in a book shop? There are quite a few (remember You’ve Got Mail?).

But what about a fabric store? Wouldn’t that be an excellent place for characters to explore life? I mean, just think about the possibilities.

There are so many temptations―so many choices to be made. There are practical considerations, and there are aesthetic considerations. There is an opportunity to do something serious (remember mask-making and sewing up scrubs?), but there is an equal opportunity to do something frivolous―that chiffon cocktail dress, perhaps? All in all, I think it’s a marvellous idea. Alas, there are so few.

I did set part of one of my novels in a fabric store. Remember The Year I Made 12 Dresses?

Charlie meets a fabric whisperer guru in a fabric store as she learns how to make increasingly complicated dresses while learning increasingly more about herself―and her late mother. That fabric store was inspired by one that I frequent myself in the fabric district in downtown Toronto.

A jumble of fabric bolts of a dizzying array of colours and fabrications, Affordable Textiles is as good as its name. Its crowded aisles, with bolts of fabric to the ceiling, inspired Sew Fine Things, the fabric store in my novel. Just as their name suggests, they carry the more affordable fabrics that I like to use with occasional pieces of natural fibres like bamboo, which is one of my favourites. I did find the bamboo for this T-shirt there.

Across the street, I love Chu Shing Fabrics because they are the most organized store on Queen Street West! They carry higher-end products of higher quality.

Of course, I found the fabric for my husband’s bespoke shirt at Maryan’s Fabrics up on Yonge Street. Affordable it is not! Indeed, I spied the most expensive fabric I’d ever seen on their shelves.

Maryam’s stocked the most expensive boucle fabric I’ve ever encountered- $500 a metre!

Two years ago (just pre-COVID), my husband and I took a Florida road trip. What I love about being the planner of these road trips is that I can sneak in fabrics stores along the way. My husband has come to love browsing in these little gems. I found a great one in Sarasota. Florida. Situated along what is really more of a highway, Pennie Fabrics is located in an old bungalow where even the garage is filled with bolts of fabrics. I found a terrific piece of fabric for a shirt for me and some printed silk charmeuse that made its way into the lining of a jacket when I was teaching myself traditional tailoring. I always think it’s worth incorporating a bit of fabric store reconnaissance into any vacation planning!

This past fall, we took the train to Montréal, where we ventured into the northern part of the city from where we usually stay near Old Montréal to find the fabric district there. Rue St. Hubert is the street. It is lined with fabric stores from the high-end Tissus St. Hubert to the cheap Goodman’s. I shopped at both. The myriad Italian silks and wool jerseys at Tissus St. Hubert were breath-taking, and the jumble of polyesters at Goodman’s was such fun.

High-end silks and wool jerseys versus a jumble of synthetics…I love them both.

But is there any fun in online fabric shopping? First, what does it mean to shop, really? Does it mean you have to buy? I don’t think so (at least that’s my position on this, and I’m sticking to it!). I love to window shop in online fabric stores. Who wouldn’t love a lazy half-hour browsing through the collection at Mood Fabrics online (I did have the opportunity to visit their LA store a few years back. It was fabulous!). And then there’s Britex with their excellent high-end offerings. I also like to browse Watertower Textiles here in Canada since they seem to have a collection of higher than average quality cottons and bamboos.

And what about Etsy? OMG, I can fall down that rabbit hole so easily! I have a favourite shop which is located in India. Sownsown has such an array of fabrics that it boggles the mind.

I’ve bought two pieces from him, and his service is impeccable. I used one piece for my son’s bespoke shirt, and the other awaits fabrication into a summer top/blouse/shirt that I hope to make before we head off for our winter holiday in the Caribbean (if it happens, of course. These days, there are no guarantees!).

Finally, who among us in Canada could write about online fabric stores without mentioning Fabricville? Every time someone compares them to Joann’s in the US, I chafe because there is really little comparison. Of course, they do have their penchant for synthetics (polyester, anyone?), as does Joann’s, but they do offer more. I was able to procure two lengths of higher-quality fabrics when I blogged for them over on the Fabricville blog. I loved the bamboo jersey and the digitally printed rayon blend. But I’ve also made mistakes (or they have made mistakes). Here are some fabrics from Fabricville online and stuff I’ve made:

I ordered fabric that was supposed to be a double knit, but it turned out to be heavy scuba *gag.* I also have a weakness for their end-of-season buy-one-get-two-free sales. I end up with three metres of something with an idea of what to do with only one-and-a-half metres usually. *sigh* It does, however, give me enough fabric left over to do something with rather than those little scraps that would only make patches―or a single sleeve―and who wants patches? Or a single sleeve, for that matter?

As I continue my winter sewing projects, I finally decided what to do with that beautiful piece of red fabric I bought at Chu Shing (mentioned above).

I used McCall’s 7247 again. The last time I used it, I chose an inappropriate fabric―read I didn’t follow the cross-grain stretch recommendation. The top looked terrific but was uncomfortable―the neckline had no “give” to it. That was when I first started sewing with knits. So, I’ve learned that not only does fabric sewing have to focus on aesthetics, but also the functionality and appropriateness for the project in mind.

With all the research I’ve done over the years, I think I have an idea for a novel set in a fabric shop. Sound interesting?

sewing

Continual Improvement―Sewing Goals for 2022 (and free classes to get there!)

Posted on January 4, 2022 by ggherself

I don’t know about you, but continually learning is one of my life goals. Way back in another lifetime, I worked in a job that had in its title “continuing education.” That kind of lifelong learning is still a part of my psyche. I don’t think it matters how old you are (and we’re all getting older as we speak)―you can (and, in my view, should) continue to learn new things.

There are lots of reasons why we should learn new things. There are new things to learn even within a specific area like sewing or styling fashion. And it doesn’t matter how good we get at some aspects of sewing and style. There is always something new to learn. But, you might ask, why should you learn something new?

Quite apart from the obvious one that your skills will improve, there are lots of other more general reasons. Here are a few I think are important.

Learning one new thing increases the speed and ease of learning other new things. I think this is brilliant. If I learn something new today, it could take me less time and make it easier to learn another new thing. Evidently, this results from the stimulation of neurons in your brain. Who knew?

Learning something new makes you a more interesting person. Think about those friends you get together with regularly (or did pre-COVID). Have you noticed that the conversations can become similar from one encounter to another? Learning something new gives you something new to talk about. Just imagine learning something new about sewing and being able to share that excitement with others who sew! And what about all those friends who don’t sew (horrors, I know―but they do exist!). What if you could wear something new that you created after learning a new technique? How to re-create a Chanel-style jacket, perhaps? Now, there’s something to make you sound (and look) interesting!

I sought out online mentors before learning how to make this, my first Little French Jacket

Learning something new prevents the dreaded boredom. Every time I see that someone has lost their “mojo” to use the jargon, it makes me sad because I think that learning a new way of doing even the same things you always do can make you less bored. But what about if you learned something completely new? No more boredom. (And if you’re nearing retirement, learning something new is the best way to stave off boredom.)

Over the past two years, I’ve learned shirt-making by seeking out online teachers and great books.

Continual learning can help to avert the dreaded dementia. This is a heavy one, but the science is there to back it up. When you learn new things, you prevent what is called demyelination of the nerve fibres in your brain. Your brain cells have a myelin sheath that can deteriorate with age. This deterioration is what contributes to the development of dementia. Learning can slow that process. What more could you want??

Learning something new can give you a great sense of accomplishment. I remember when I learned to tailor a jacket using traditional methods. I searched for online assistance and found several teachers who helped me through―and what a sense of accomplishment when I was finished!

Learning new things makes you happy! This is the best one.

So, where is all this coming from today? Well, today is the day that registration begins for a series of classes called Sewing Summit 2022.

I had the privilege of being asked to participate as a teacher for this online sewing summit. Since I’m primarily a storyteller, I produced a class that drew on my research for my recent books. The class is all about Sewing with Vintage Patterns from the 1960s to the ‘90s.

But my class is only one of the classes that anyone who registers has access to starting January 31 (but get registered asap!).

The 2022 Sewing Summit is a free online event with 42 classes.

You’ll learn how to sew bags, toys, garments, games, decor and more. There are specific references to pattern adjustments and how to sew with a wide variety of fabrics.

Join me and thousands of sewists like us worldwide for the FREE online summit from Jan 31st to Feb 4th! I’ll be taking a few classes myself.

What – Sewing Summit 2022

When – Jan 31st to Feb 4th

Where – Online, watch from anywhere in the world

Who is it for – Everyone who loves to craft!

Cost – Free!

Here’s the link to register: https://rebeccapage.lpages.co/2022-sewing-summit-free-registration/

FYI I don’t make money from this. It’s a labour of love!