Regarding the question of beads falling: When you pull the end of the organza feathers through the bed twice, that keeps them on pretty well with friction. (I've never lost any.) But if you want a little "insurance", you can do a tiny dot of Fray-check on the hole once the bead is on, and that will set it.

As for cleaning, a gentle hand wash for the garment is recommended.

And, as for why I didn't show a finished garment--I'm limited to 20 photos for the post. Also, the readers of Threads are of such a high caliber, that I know they all will see a new technique and immediately get going with their imaginations and use the technique in amazing ways!

Hello!

Thanks for the kind words!

Regarding the question of finishing and cutting, this organza is polyester, so I use a hot stencil cutter (the one quilters use for stencils) to cut the organza. That way there is no fraying--the edges are sealed. So, you can dry clean or wash ith no problem.

In answer to the question: Do I stay awake nights? In short, yes.....

I want to thank you all for the kind comments!

TO answer questions: To Jackie50, the pattern determines the curves, and that, you get from fitting on the person. If you match the seam lines, the outer clipped edges of the seam allowances will spread exactly the amount they need to, without you having to do anything. One thing to remember--make sure you mark all your matching notches from your pattern to the fabric. Then everything will work smoothly.

To Twilight Dancer, regarding the show "Sewing Today": Nancy Fleming, who was the host, was really wonderful to me, and I can't say anything bad about her. She took a lot of time to make me feel comfortable in front of a camera (she did lots of TV in her career), and was generally a lovely woman. Just what you'd expect from a Miss America. If anything came across in the videos, it was because I was the nervous one, and didn't reflect on her. A truly lovely gal.

To Wanda J,and establishing my own sewing-content site: I teach on Patternreview, and feel fortunate to be associated with that site, and it's inventor Deepika Prakash. She's worked really hard to provide a community where people who love sewing can connect, all over the world. I couldn't even begin to compete with that (nor do I want to, as it's a boatload of work), because she "wrote the book" on doing it well. I highly encourage you all to check them out if you haven't. Also, she has a book coming out in the fall, which I am a contributor to.

To Mynick: I'm with you onthis. I assumed for a long time that people were taught this, but it seems, not. I saw this in my students at FIT, as well as seasoned sew-ers, so that's why I posted this.

THis flower can be made from wide ribbon or strips of organza, either will do. Cutting on the bias won't work here, as the petals are very long and thin--the bias would make them pull apart very quickly.

You can use polyester organza and the hot knife, and this gives a sealed edge so they don't ravel. Otherwise, they will ravel over time, but I think this adds to the charm of the flower.

Another suggestion, if you are using silk organza, is to curl the petals with a small diameter curling iron before you make the flower. This will give a completely different look, one that is smaller in diameter but fuller in texture.

Hello, everyone!

The main question that seems to be appearing here is: what the heck do you use this for? Fiona has a good idea for trimming the Chanel style jacket, and rally, trimming edges of garments, pockets, and the like, is what this braid is best suited for. It's flexible, so you can easily go around curves, and the abundance of folds in the fabric will conceal stitches well.

Another idea is to make it from different widths or textures of ribbon, and use it, sewn in stripes (generally vertical) onto the body of a garment. I'd go with the narrower ribbon for this, as you don't want to visually add too much bulk, and a wider ribbon, which would suit well for an edge, won't work well for an all-over stripe.

As for the summer camp memories, I never went--but I remember making a braid out of gum wrappers (remember those?) that is similar to this. I should investigate that, to see if it translates to fabric...

To Makeitfittrish: Yes, you could just add the extra to the undersleeve. I've seen this done in Ballet jackets--but the construction is a little trickier and klunkier. Having the undersleeve extend down the side as I showed, I think looks cool, and from a construction standpoint is easier to set in.

To Adagiolane: Thanks for the kind words!
Yes, this sleeve is one of a genre of sleeves that one saw in clothing of the mid 20th century and before. These sleeves, sadly have fallen out of use with the advent of improved stretch fabrics, but they are still worthwhile to know about.

To Villa: I would determine the amount the shirt hangs over the shoulders first. Then, you can make a vertical line mid-shoulder (both front and back pattern pieces) that is parallel to the center front or back. Fold this amount out parallel to raise the shoulder--it will also reduce the total circumference of the shirt.

If you just want to reduce the shoulder width, slash the pattern down from the shoulder to the intersection of the armhole/side seam. Make sure not to disturb the armhole curve. Pivot the armhole back at the shoulder, pivoting on the point where the armhole and side seams intersect. Essentially you are rotating the armhole towards the center, at the shoulder. Then, draft new shoulder lines from the armhole to neck.

Did that make sense?

To Fwren: I don't know of a pattern for the trouser with a gusset, nor have I cut such a pattern. So, sadly I can't answer this one...

To Josefly: I wouldn't use this on a sleeve that has too low of an armhole, because I think it would look sloppy--there is a rule-of-thumb here. The higher the armhole, the narrower the sleeve can be. The narrower the sleeve, the more negative space between sleeve and body. The more negative space between sleeve and body, the trimmer the entire figure (read: waist) appears.

But the original coat I saw this on, was indeed a coat that had to fit over clothes. In the final analysis, though, I'd make a test garment before I made it in real fabric anyway, to evaluate the appearance.

To Muffie--I don't use commercial patterns so don't know if there's one available. I think not--this sleeve falls under the "specialty taste" category. But if you use the instructions here, you can graft it onto a patter you already have.

To Quiltbeads: Yes, you can enlarge the under sleeve, and some on the upper sleeve, to accomodate the bicep, then you can do this technique. It will then accomodate the arm, and let you have a smaller armhole.

To SNikwas--I used a standard dinner jacket pattern I had, with a two part sleeve, for this demonstration--sorry for your confusion. The concept came from a Norfolk jacket which I purchased at a flea market, but as I wanted to demonstrate HOW to draft it onto an existing pattern, I used an existing pattern. Sorry you got confused by this.

To Vquilter,
In the case of net gain, the drag lines indicate a bind, or an insufficient amount of fabric along the line. (Somewhat like the guy with the beer belly, wearing a too-tight shirt, where the belly causes the buttons to pull, making horizontal drag lines. The gaps on that shirt indicate how much extra fabric it wants across the front, so it can relax.

Keeping this (rather unattractive, yet useful) image in mind, imagine the center front of the shirt as the slash line you need to make 90 degrees to the drag line. If you were to unbutton the shirt (sorry), you would get a gap, that would tell you how much to add across the front to make the shirt fit the beer belly.

That's why you need to cut the muslin 90 degrees to the drag line. When the muslin spreads, it "tells" you how much area you need to add to that region of the pattern to adjust. When you add to this region, it by definition will change the outline shape of the pattern piece. Sometimes the pattern will look strange to the eye, but as long as it "reads" properly in the body, it's correct.

To Denisesews,

The differences in the outlines of the pattern are very subtle--to the casual glance, the pattern really looks the same. The changes that occur, were explained to me by someone I met at a party whose hobby is physics (go figure!). He said,t hat fabric is a grid, and this all had something to do with lines of tension and vectors. Textile Maven expressed that well in her (I think her?) post. So, just changing the angle of the dart won't effect any change here.

To Smockerlady,
The jewelry findings on the cuff, are vintage old stock. I purchased them probably 15 years ago from a small bead store going out of business. However, if you keep an eye out, in bead stores and places that sell jewelry findings, you can find similar things to create a similar look.

This is a response to Kuf, who asks how the pleating gets to the tape--you pull it out of the pleater, after it cools, then lay it onto the tape, and pin. ake sure to let the fabric cool off first, so the pleats are set properly.

By the way, for those not familiar with my web site, it is: www.kennethdking.com

Hello!

First of all, thanks for the kind words--I blush!

I am reticent to give yardage, as I find that the different diameter cords make up into differing lengths--meaning that a really thick cord will yield less length for a yard, than a thinner cord.

When approaching a project such as this, I'll buy extra cord, and mark a yard increment with thread on each one I'm weaving with--then when I get to the thread marks, I know for sure what finished length I get per yard of cord.

When working with cords or ribbons, I find that 8 times the finished length, if I'm estimating before buying yardage, will give sufficient material to do the job.

As for the question of what to do to fasten it: On the example shown,they sewed all the cord ends together, leaving one of them long enough for a loop--then, they wrapped the stitching with a length of rattail cord to cover all of the raggedy ends and stitching. On the opposit end, they put the loop end through a brass hook before sewing it down.

You could also make a leather "sleeve" somewhat cone-shaped, and put the ends inside that, and stitch across to close.

I hope this is all helpful....

Hello, all!

To answer some comments here:
As for the smocking, I don't do a lot of it, but if I were going to get a piece that was as wide as I needed, it would have to be done by hand. I had a smocking pleater machine once, but was frustrated by exactly this issue. It takes some time to do the hand work (running the stitches in rows after all that marking), but to my knowledge, that's the way to approach it.

I would like to clarify,that this is not my work (embroidery), but a vintage piece I found. I would love to claim it, it is so fine--really really an exquisite piece of work. The monogram is satin stitch over a padding--my guess is split stitch underneath the satin stitching.

As for the cordonnet thread, it's a garden variety cordonnet I bought at Daytona Trimmings in New York. I believe it's rayon, but could be cotton--I threw the label away long ago so don't know the fiber content.