That little strawberry was filled (back in the day!) with emery (as in emery board....), and it was for keeping your needles sharp. I've no idea where to find it......
Readers???

And thanks for the mention - I started carrying them in my classes a number of years ago to make life easier for my students (and I still do, and now they're in my store, as you've so kindly noted!). I was so frustrated seeing my students work with awful pins - things that were so hard to work with, that just destroyed the fabric. The fabulous Judy Barlup first told me about them (and the equally great hand-sewing needles) - she said I needed to make them available to my students. She was so right - anything else seems like a pitchfork compared to them!!! Would I use them to hem jeans? No - but anything else, absolutely - they're so nice to work with.

And yes, I do put the pins slightly on the diagonal - I think they're a little easier to put in that way than on an exact right angle - they do fall into the hand better. Also, I think I've convinced myself - and this verges on the unproven - that I'm getting two pin's worth (or maybe one-and-a-half) of pinning that way - where it first goes in, then a tiny bit further along, where it comes out. Who knows about that one....!!!

Funny how such a small thing really does make a big difference....my pleasure to add something new!

We recently (well, a few issues back) did an article about hems - and that particular situation was included.

If you see my earlier post, you'll see that I refer to the lining treatment. Clearly this is much too fragile to be left uncovered.

Thanks for all your kind words - nice to know you'll find this useful!
And certainly, all of the inner workings will be covered with the lining - and we did do a couture lining article ages ago - I'm afraid you'll have to consult the archives to fine that one!
But basically, the stitching line of the lining is staystitched, it's turned back then fell stitched into place, then it's understitched (by hand) about 1/2" below the edge. An upcoming article deals with this a little bit, too.

I know - the thought of sleeping in something so lovely! But, I have to say, the fabric - which combined wool with cashmere - was very, very soft.
And the Denver class was one of my Couture Sewing School sessions - it wasn't a class for weaving or dyeing. Teresa just happened to be in the class, using a fabric she'd woven (and occasionally I get students who have done that). I was so fascinated with the wool and stainless steel fabric that I asked her to show me more of her work....so that's how it all came about. And interestingly, another student happened to have a stash of antique kimono fabrics and antique Japanese stencils...so that added to the experience, too. Very synergistic!!!

One of the nicest things about being involved with Threads is that Kenneth and I have become close friends and colleagues. I love seeing his creativity in action, and I thought of him today when I read an article by Nick Axelrod in the September issue of Elle Magazine:
"Raf Simons, the Belgian-born creative director of Jil Sander, is not one for lowest-common-denominator dressing. 'Let's say you are in an environment where 50 women are dressed in....something with a clear accentuation of the body. And then there is one woman who is very much the opposite....me, as a person, automatically I would be much more attracted to that woman, because she has a fascinating and different approach. She stands out against all the others. I think, who is she? What is she all about? What's her psychology? Why does she do this?' "
To continue..."This fall, Simons and other confident designers are proposing an audacious, thought-provoking ideal for everyday fashion - an antidote to a decade of cookie-cutter sameness....taking their cues from master craftsmen such as Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga, they're transforming....dresses into elevated yet accessible ready-to-wear for women willing to pay a premium for resolutely distinctive clothes."
I don't know how many of you saw the wonderful Alexander McQueen exhibit recently, but there was a quote from him on the wall as one entered the space: "I will take you places you've never been before." How rare, and how wonderful is that - and I applaud anyone - McQueen, Kenneth King, Raf Simons - who can do that extraordinary thing.

I'm so glad you're enjoying the details in this coat - it belongs to the daughter of a sewing friend of mine, and it was a not-terribly-expensive off-the-rack coat. The color really is prettier than what shows up online - it was sort of robin's egg blue, and a medium-weight wool. And the sample snap I did used other fabric altogether.

Certainly, the extra fabric shaped into those darts could have been dealt with in a number of ways, but I think this use was fun and lighthearted (not to mention a little bit unexpected), and it certainly worked to give the back the shaping it needed.

Apologies again about the lack of a picture of the whole coat, but you'll just have to take my word for it that the rest of it is pretty straight-forward - knee-length, just a continuation downward of what you see.

to Copywriter - yes, you'd most likely have to hold the facing in place some way - so I'd do a couple of things. I'd catch-stitch the raw edge of the facing to the underlining (if the facing went all the way to a princess seam, then I'd catch-stitch it to that), and I'd also do some understitching along the inside edge of the center front folds - again, through to the underlining. That would help hold things in place, and it would also nicely define the front edges.

for mo12 -
If you're using these sorts of loops for a laced-up back - and you certainly can - you'll want to be sure that the bodice itself is sturdy. There's so much horizontal tension that you may need to counteract it with vertical support, in the form of boning along the looped edges - it's easy enough to hide it in an inside layer. And be sure that your machine stitches really grab the ends of the loops - make your stitches really small.

My guess is the suit is from the 80's, with its safari-style pockets, and yes, the twill is quite light-weight (in fact, the skirt fabric is a little bit lighter weight. The rosettes on the skirt are all cut on the straight of grain, which is why they "deconstruct" so easily.
Yes, it's young, it's fun, and while I wouldn't wear it (though back in the day I would have), I find the details charming and the workmanship first rate. And yes, it's a little surprising that the buttonholes weren't bound, but they are covered up, and they are flatter worked the way they are. And when I first saw the skirt, I figured that front band would be removeable - well, it is, but it's tacked, not hooked or snapped.

To LindaLouise -
It really depends on the show. Some are quite strict, and you need a wholesale license to get in; others are more relaxed and sell to the general public as well as to professionals. Often the vendors are reluctant to sell small orders to the general public - and understandably so - they're just not set up for that, and in fact, sometimes they only have sample fabrics with them. Then again, there are vendors who are perfectly happy to sell small amounts of fabric.
I'd contact the office of the show you're interested in and see what they say.

Good morning!
I'm so glad you're enjoying this post - I was pretty interested when I saw these jackets, and I'm glad you like them as well. It was a fun post to put together!
I've asked Mary Ellen to respond to some of your specific questions, and I'm sure she will.

To Belinde, about finding the brocade....as I recall, it came from Satin Moon, a small but very nice fabric store in San Francisco. Britex (also in SF) always has a good selection of those Chinese brocades, too. Just bear in mind that they're generally very narrow.

To Wendy's comment about the frog placement - well, you're sort of stuck in that one frog has to go at the fullest part of the bust, and one has to go at the base of the collar, so that sets the spacing....so the others end up where they end up.
And for Martha, about slippery charmeuse - I always use lots of pins - and patience! Normally, there's an underlining involved, and that helps stabilize things, once you get the two layers together. And of course, basting seams is pretty much required - but, it spares you the frustration of re-doing things and a poor result.

To Point Patou -
I agree about the cuffs - but - it's part of an outfit, and it brings up the whole idea of proportion, which is every bit as important as fit, if you ask me. So, I have to think that when the jacket was on the client, with the long brocade gown, with a person in it, maybe the cuffs didn't look quite as exaggerated as they do now! After all, you want to make a statement, and if they're just sort of normal-sized, then they don't become much of a design detail. And while the jacket is a pretty color and that collar is nice and the frogs are cute, there's not a lot going on. Enter the cuffs!

To Laurie Diane -
The nice thing about putting the lining in by hand is that you can sort of sneak those hooks and eyes in there, and pretty much cover them up. They're sewn on first, of course, then the lining goes in, with small stitches around the hooks and eyes so that the lining stays nice and flat.
They're not the easiest hooks and eyes to fasten (there's so little showing of the hook), but at least they're pretty invisible, which in this case, at least, is the more important issue.

Thank you all for your kind words!
Now, to answer some of those questions...
as for the pattern, I don't remember - but I think it was just a standard princess seamed jacket, and I flared the sleeves out a bit, experimenting with the muslin. Looking at it now (remember this was a few years ago), those sleeves look a little exaggerated, but, there was a whole brocade dress to balance it out, so maybe in the whole scheme of things it must have bee fine.
Nanacosta asked about the layers - and we've got an article on underlining coming up so this is timely - each garment section is treated individually, with its layers. The underlining is marked with stitching lines and the straight of grain - and then that's placed over the flannel (lining up the grain lines perfectly, pinned securely, then cut out - and then that pair of fabrics go on top of the charmeuse - again, being careful with grain lines, and then the charmeuse is cut out. So - the 3 layers work together. There's a lot of smoothing out to do, and once the layers are in order, they're hand-stitched around the perimeter. After that, the 3 layers work as one. And the extra layers don't add a huge amount of bulk - they really don't - and you can always trim the flannel out of the seam allowances; that helps a little bit. And in this case, I sort of like the padding and softness that the flannel added.
And Elsa asked about a crisp hem - underlinings help in this case - but often couture garments don't have a really sharp press on the hem. If you look closely at the hem, there was a little row of basting that held all the layers together just inside the fold line - so that helps.
Susan

Suzannity wanted to know about Balenciaga books - happily, there are many of them, including these:

Balenciaga and Spain will appear in the spring - it's by Hamish Bowles, who curated the New York exhibit.

Baleniaga and His Legacy, by Myra Walker, accompanied a Dallas Balenciaga exhibit a few years back.

And Balenciaga Paris, by Pamela Golbin, was the book published in conjunction with the large exhibit a couple of years back at the Musee des Arts Decoratif in Paris.
So, plenty to read!!!

If you go to the end of the article, you'll see that that's been addressed. They're pretty much the same, but the other part is a little more slippery (without that ball to hold the fabric in place), so I think it's good to start with this part first to learn the technique.

I thought that jacket looked familiar!!!
What a lovely job you did!
And enjoy wearing it - you'll look smashing!
X
Susan

I've known Fred a long time - we met at the first ever ASDP (then PACC) meeting in Las Vegas in 1993. Even then, her style was impressive - and beneath that style was a person of warmth, enthusiasm, and talent. We roomed together last year at the ASG Conference in Albuquerque - one night, after a long day of teaching, we were too tired to go out, so we ordered room service and watched the ABBA movie on TV. We laughed and laughed - and I love thinking about that evening. I was lucky enough to see her on Mother's Day - and we spent much of our visit waiting for our respective children to call (which they did!). I knew it was probably the last time I would see her, but we took a little walk together after dinner, and did, indeed, stop to smell the roses in the gardens in her pretty neighborhood. It's a bittersweet memory of a dear friend.

I think we'll try to do a future article (or at least another post)on that gusset. When I'm next in SF (which will be next month), I'll see if I can spend a little more time with the coat, and perhaps take a pattern off it.
And didn't you love the opera-goer's tale!!!!
Susan

While Canerday's suggestion of looping the base threads around to the back is tempting, I find that it can sometimes distort the thread bar and pull the whole thing out of place. And as for that spiraling of the knots (and it does happen), if you twist your needle as you work (rotate it when you grab it to twist the thread - you're going to be spinning it counter-clockwise, if you're looking straight at your thumb and index finger), that will counter-act the tendency. In fact, that's a good thing to do with all your hand sewing, whenever the thread starts to twist. It beats holding it in the air to let the thread un-twist, at which point the needle often falls off and lands on the floor!
Although you're hardly aware of it, you're constantly re-grabbing your needle - and if you feel the thread starting to twist - and this may never happen, it may happen with every stitch, it may happen every 10 stitches, who knows - just give the needle a little spin as you grab it.

By the way, I asked Cindy how she thought that ruffle on the chiffon blouse had been finished - and she said it looked as if it had been hemstitched, then cut apart (as suggested above).

I'm so glad you're enjoying the garments in Cindy's collection - and trust me, this is the tip of the iceberg!!!
Cindy says that the green dress dates from the 1860's, and the embroidered blouse is from the 1890's - 1900.
Susan

I'm so glad you're enjoying the post - it was a fun project. To answer a few questions:
- I stand by my no-smashing-of-beads policy (see my longer comment in part 1)
- I got the fabric at Mendel-Goldberg in New York
- I don't do any extra machine stitching with the zipper - I've found that double thread, coated with beeswax and then pressed, really is strong enough; kind of amazing, but if you ever take one of those zippers out, then you realize how sturdy they are
- and the basting that holds the fashion fabric to the underlining stays in; it's done so that very little thread is on the public side of the fabric (nothing to snag); almost all of the threads, therefore, is on the inside
- and finally, I trained in couture in New York, at a wonderful small couture house called Chez Cez et Bez. Sadly, it's no longer there, but I use what I was taught there every time I sew.

I'm going to have to disagree with pheather - I've never liked the idea of smashing the beads (though I know people do that) - I'm uncomfortable with the idea of glass shards, no matter how tiny, inside a garment or in the workroom. And there are chain stitches and there are chain stitches - some pull apart right away, but often they're more stable than you'd think - tugging at the remaining beads will be your clue. I prefer a tiny dab of glue on the underside of the fabric, or an extra stitch or two to hold things in place.
Susan

Hi Julie -
No, it's not a kick pleat - it's simply a hem with pleats. And when you hem that sort of skirt, the area at the back of the pleat - that back fold - can get awfully when it's hemmed, when there's a seam along the back edge of the pleat. And with any sort of a pleated skirt, there's got to be a seam somewhere, even if there's only one seam in the whole skirt. So, folding up the hem allowance and dealing with those seam allowances can get a little bulky - they're hard to fold with the seam allowances inside the fold. So this is another way to deal with that. Basically, the seam(s) are open, the skirt is hemmed, then the seams are sewn, sewing through the turned-up seam allowances as well.
I hope this makes things more clear!
Susan