Beautiful! It's already been said but it's the immediate response I was getting as I looked closely at your pictures. And ... there I was, happily reading along ... and suddenly my own name was there ... I am delighted to read that my bias tube embellishment article was helpful to you in planting an idea. You obviously took it and used it to create your own lovely version.
I appreciated reading the story and how you solved little "problems" as they arose. Thanks for posting the story and the pictures. Great job!

When I bought the "accessories" for my pegboard, a little assortment of different size pegs, it came with some little rubber spacers to hang it. They keep the board away from the wall enough to allow the little pegs to be put in or taken off the board. I think that they'e be deep enough to allow the picture frame molding as well.
I keep all of my scissors and rotary cutters on the board and all of my rulers.
I punched holes on the two top ends of a zip log bag to keep a tracing wheel and all the different colored papers. I had a little shelf there that held a pretty can for marking pencils and other similarly shaped things. In order to have it accessible it was too close to the area where fabrics would be moving through the space and I kept knocking it over. I keep them flat in a little box now.
One other thing that has helped me organize notions that I use often is a tea chest. It is about 2.5 inches deep, 14 inches square and has spaces that are the size of tea bag, about sixteen of them. Bombay Co. made it for a gift box of fancy tea. It now holds different needles, presser feet that don't fit in the machine storage, wash away thread, small screwdrivers, extra bobbins, safety pins, razor blades, etc. It's full! I keep that to the right of my machine and it's very helpful.

The flower is really beautiful. THe color and sheen of the organza add to it's appeal.
I wonder if it will unravel and how it will look if it does.
Whether it does or doesn't, it's truly lovely.

I think that the advice that these four experienced people give makes perfect sense. I would say the exact same thing to an aspiring designer... as a matter of fact, I do say the exact same thing.
That is the first thing that needs to be stressed ...
but there is a part two to this question that almost never gets answered.
Once a person has truly mastered those skills ... truly mastered them so that they can make pretty much everything and anything that they can imagine, then what do they do?
What are their options? Of course it's unrealistic for anyone to think that they're going to be the next Calvin Klein, Lagerfeld and Coco Chanel ... what is realistic though?
That's the part that never gets answered.

This looks great. I love the degree of contrast that the two colors and weaves have as well as the way they seem to have similiarities. I would love to see close up pictures of the fabric. The style you chose is very classy ... timeless but not boring. You did a great job! I'm surprised that there aren't more comments on this ... it is truly creative and interesting and looks very well made. Keep up the good work. I hope you post other things you make.

I thought about Josefly's question about the armskye. In actuality it doesn't change the area under the arm the way you'd think ... the seam is lower in that area but the bend in the fabric ends up at the same place as it would with a normal armskye.
The lower section lies against the body for the most part. The additional fabric that is between what was the underarm and the new shape drawn under the armhole gets folded inward when your arm is down. it just allows more movement when your arm is fully extended or raised up high.

I hope I explained that in a way that makes sense.

P.S. This wasn't advertising for Carol's book! It's a resource that is tremendously helpful. Carol has written a lot for Threads and her book is put out by Taunton Press( the publisher who puts out Threads)

For in-depth information on the hemstitch options and technique you can go to the book, FINE MACHINE SEWING by Carol Laflin Ahles. She is one of the experts on hemstitching techniques and gives you lots of information.
There are many sttches that can be used. A wing needle or a large needle can be used. Finer thread than you usually sew with helps a lot also. Stitching over a piece of stabilizer helps the holes to be clean and pronounced.
It helps to take scraps of the fabric you are using and experiment with different stitches, different lengths, widths and tension. Put little notes on the strips so you know what is what ... you'll be thankful you did after trying out ten of 'em!
I thought these directions were a little on the light side, if you've never done it, it's confusing.Get Carol Ahles book out of the library and try it out. It's very satisfying to learn this and you can create lots of lovely effects.

the show was in Boston at Mass College of Art recently. There were books and a video as well as the garments shown. There were pieces of jewelry in cases too. I love seeing how she was influenced by other cultures. She had traveled a lot prior to starting to design. It would be great to find sources for some of the embroidered elements that she uses.
I did illustration for her in the late 1970's and early '80's, and didn't see any of the gowns had drawn in the Boston show or in the book. That tells me that there are even more than what are being presented in these shows.
I think she is amazing and her work is breathtakingly beautiful.

This is gorgeous. The textural possibilities it offers are great. I am intrigued at the prospect of using up fabric scraps by just cutting them on the bias and using them instead of yarns. I have such a hard time throwing away scraps of beautiful fabrics and this really may give me a good way to use them up.

The attention to detail in the construction process, figuring out what works and why and then taking the extra time to do it in the way that will produce the best results is one of the things that sets people like Charles Kleibacker apart.

it also shows us how the masters approach things ... they care! A LOT. They pay attention – close attention.

This is fantastically helpful information for all of us so that when we want to make something cut on the bias we can do a better job of it. And, if we apply those same high standards to everything we sew we'll aways get better results.

Vicki, thanks for putting this up and for the time you spend editing and re-editing ... paying attention to all those details for all of us picky peop ... er... detail oriented people. I bet ol' Charles K. would approve.

April,
What happens when you tighten or loosen the little screw. What changes, is the movement affected on the little thing that goes left to right, does it restrict the distance the fabric can travel ... those are just things I'm guessing could be going on and there may be something entirely different. Please let us know. Are you experimenting with it? Do you have a machine there that it fits on?

After thinking about it even more ... I'd have to say that vintagemodiste is probably right. I'd have to see what happens as the fabric feeds under or through it. Wish I had it here for experimentation. None of us are going to sleep tonight if we don't figure this out!

From looking at it I would guess that it is a foot which helps make a manual buttonhole on one of the first zigzag machines. It is obviously a simpler thing than a buttonhole attachment with cams, but those were made for straight stitch machines so they had to really hold that fabric tightly and shift it in all directions, left,right, forward, around those lovely rounded corners and then back again.
A zigzag machine already has the needle moving left to right so a simpler contraption could be used since it doesn't have to force the fabric left and right.
The screw at the back of the machine must allow you to set the length and then maybe it works similarly the way a cam does in a buttonhole attachment. Since manual buttonholes can be made on a zig zag machine it seems as though this would help you do it with consistency.

Please let us know what you figure out with your experimentation.
P.S. In an old manual for a White Zigzag automatic it shows a buttonhole foot with an adjustable gauge on the side. At least this confirms that there is such a thing as an old fashioned buttonhole foot. None of my straight stitch vintage manuals show anything like it.

Dear Flowerfeathers,
I can certainly understand your concerns. It does sort of seem like "double-dipping".
I wondered about entering things that have been shown on pattern review also – so much so that I wrote to the editors to ask about it before putting this into the contest.
I'm glad you brought it up since there may be others who frequent both sites and who might wonder about the same thing.
Patricia ( trishapat)

First of all, thank you to the editors at Threads and to all of you for the kind comments.

There were so many great entries, so much inspiration and so much talent. It was a great contest. In this context, I am truly honored.

Patricia ( trishapat)

These are great – they have such charactar. They are painted well, they are modeled well and they are different. I think the face on the new jester looks even better than the first so you are getting even better with each one you make. The hat on the old jester looks fantastic. Does the new one have one like that?:
You are quite the sculptress and designer. Thanks for posting this to the site.

I just discovered your blog and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Great work, great writing and helpful info. As for your inquiry about other people understanding the textural delight of washed linen, the "bubble like" quality ... YES! I get it and I, too, love it ... fabric with a soul ...

I love how you made the coordinating fabric by discharging the main fabric used. I particularly like how you added the extra detail to the buttons with the stitching.
Nice inverted pleats on the cuffs too ... and it looks very comfy. Nice work!

This is so charming and heartwarming! ( as well as beautifully made of course)This should be an heirloom garment in your family for sure.
How wonderful to please your little daughter with a lovingly made suit and to grant her request for a polar bear hat. The whole thing brings a smile to my face.

The serger finish sounds very special and quite intriguing. Those kind of details are so nice to see close up. It's a very nice jacket, looks like it will be very versatile.

I appreciate you telling us about the construction details such as the fusible interfacing and tape. The roll line on the lapel looks great.

Good choice of design for a print like this. It looks very nicely made also.

You did a beautiful job on the bead design. Your topstitching looks so nice and neat also. Nice work!

Sooo cute! Love the shape of the collar. You look so very pretty in it, it is perfect for your figure. Love seeing the closeups, the juxtaposition of the natural linen with the vintage elements, it makes it a lovely modern mix. I also like reading about the construction details and imagining them. Thanks for sharing!

Looks great! A lot of work, I am sure. Well done!

Just lovely! You look great in it.

Very cute pants. Knowing they are made in linen makes the thought of wearing them very appealing.

Wonderful choice of color, print, detail and balance of everything.
Utterly charming!

Nicely understated outfit with interesting detail. Timeless with a contemporary twist.

Beautiful job. The piecing of the main pattern pieces was so carefully done, it's impressive. I love the subtlety of the backround colors along with the boldness of the embellishments. You did an amazing amount of work on this and did it very well.

The "corsage" made of gauze is lovely. I think it would be nice as a tone on tone element on a relatively simple design.

A lovely study in texture, weave, and subtle color variation. Very nice combo.

It is nice to see such beautiful workmanship up close. Your perfectionism and attention to small detail is appreciated

Yay Deana !!! How exciting! I look forward to seeing what you do with the magazine. Hope to meet you someday.

An inspiring garment, how nice to see it !

You took on a fairly complicated pattern and completed it ... good for you!

It's a very nicely designed jacket, can anyone edit the post to say what pattern it is?

A person can either master the skills necessary to support good design or they can put them aside altogether and embrace the antithesis as an art form. It takes time and effort to learn to sew well and to integrate masterful craftsmanship as part of beautiful design. Ignoring those steps and blatantly, boldly disregarding any recognizable standard does produce a garment which will "attract" some attention. It makes a bold statement and I suppose that makes it literally attractive. It's very easy to thumb ones nose at convention and then tilt that nose up in the air. Personally, I think it takes more than that for something to have merit.