Wow. The pants article is great. I have some Tencel that I was going to use for pants, but I believe it is a microfiber and, according to the article, won’t be as nice as some of the other fabrics suggested. I needed this article. The swim suit article goes step by step and, since I haven’t sewn a swim suit, since I got a serger, this is really nice. I would like to have seen prettier fabric for the swim suits, although I do like the zebra print. The article, “Goes Against The Grain, is very interesting. I just bought some matte jersey and the article about taming jersey knits will come in handy. Understand turn-of-cloth, will also, be very handy. I am learning so much. The Caribbean style wedding dress by Tatyana Merryman from Tennessee is gorgeous! I love this issue. Way to go guys.
Marcy
Replies
Thanks so much!
What is microfiber, really? I thought it was a synthetic. Tencel is a natural fabric made from wood fiber, a rayon, and I have pants made from Tencel which have a wonderful drape.
Oh, good. I wasn't for sure and I was hoping someone would notice my comment. That's great because I have some fabulous tan color Tencel and I love the feel of it. Thank you so much for noticing this and taking the time to write.Marcy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/design/textiles/fibresrev5.shtml don't know wether this will work
but 1st. time ive tried to apply a link to the revision pages available for my students so i thought some of you might like to have a go at some of the questions /revision that they hopefully are all busy revising from now - their exam is in 2 weeks i think!!
it might simplify fibre classification - but i do think it might be a little confusing to some as terminology does not always apply to other countries
you could always test yourselves to see how well you'd do!
Jan
I second that! Tencel is great for pants.
Coldwater Creek used it in many of thier garments! So did Spiegel's, you can see them in the catalogs where they acturally tell the fabrics. Mary
Spiegel's were fun catalogs to look at, even though they didn't sell much petite garments. I had a Coldwater Creek catalog, but they were pretty pricey to be so simple.Marcy
Speigel's had two outlet stores in Colorado. I went very few months until they closed them. It broke my little heart! That's where we bought all our clothes and linnens. Have never found another place like it. They had better prices than Target or Walmart! There were lots of petites in the store but not the catalog.
I used to copy the styles from those catalogs, especially when I got my first embroidery machine and it was all the rage. That was 25# ago.....
I didn't know they had an outlet store. I loved their clothes, but had to have petites or the sleeves were too long, the legs were too long and the crotch would hang down to my knees. I hope your little heart is o.k. now. LOLMarcy
Well, my lil heart is just fine now, but it would be even better if I could find a new place to shop for clothes that are more flattering and don't need alterations. I'd rather be sewing, can't wait till those new patterns come out!
I'm leaving this week for a road trip to Illinois with my brother. We are leaving our spouses at home. It should be a fun time going back home together, this is a first! Mom will enjoy her Mother's Day with 3 out of her 4 there.
Hope I get her quilt finished! I bought one more piece of fabric today for the strips since I redesigned the quilt. It needed a bit more green in a smaller print. This quilting thing is interesting. Mixing prints is new to me too as I usually like to make clothing from solids and textures and maybe one or two prints. I'm more into embellishing simple designs and solid fabrics. The piecework is almost done anyway, hopefully I will work my lil buns off tomorrow. If I don't go back to the Denver National Quilt Show. That's what I did today but didn't get to see it all as dh's knees were hurting. Mary
I can't handle piecing all of those fabrics together, but I admire those who can. In Nancy's Notions catalog, she has a double wedding ring design that says there are not as many pieces to put together. It is in a deep wine and cream color. I think it is gorgeous. That is really tempting me. Oh, and if you like to stencil your quilts, they have this product now that looks like a black board eraser and you lay your stencil down on the quilt and go over it. It is like putting chalk down in the stenciling. Well, you don't have to draw all those lines and if you goof, all you have to do is put an iron over it. The lines disappear and you can also, just put an iron over the stencil and the marks are gone. Pretty neat, I think. I haven't bought one yet, but I have always wanted to use my stencil on quilts I make on the machine. You know the kind that isn't pieced, just a top, bottom and batting. Going on a trip with your brother will be fun, I'm sure. After my mother passed away, my two brothers and I needed to get together and handle some business of hers. We would go out to eat and then meet with financial adviser, or whatever. We had so much fun, and I had my two brothers, all to myself. Enjoy each other and your mom. They are precious.Marcy
I will check into that stencil idea if I do another quilt. I think after this one and a nice little vacation, I will be ready to tackle my fitting issues. There's alot of positive energy flowing in the sewing room again! It feels good to enjoy sewing again and really put myself into this project!
The trip will be shorter than I had hoped, but it will be wonderful to see my family and my best friend. We don't get together very often but we always manage to pick up where we left off. I feel blessed to have this opportunity!
U know just how to whet our appetite - we have no chance of getting the mag yet!
Just a bit afraid that my next coat could end up looking like my sofa or curtains!!
Presumeably the article is going to give pointers about actual choice of fabric/print?
Anyway - I'm looking forward to the issue in question - Jan
I agree with you on the pants article; it's very well done.
But the swimsuits...oh, dear, they look awful, even on those lovely young models! The boxy fit, the white binding on the edges, the stylings look so homemadey. Last year, I found a tankini for $30 that fit, flattered, and even got this mature mom out into the swimming pool again--never would I spend the time, money and frustration to end up with a suit that makes a professional model look frumpy.
I have seen some really nice looking swim suit patterns and great looking lycra out there. I don't understand why they went with that. I think it is good for people that have not made a swim suit before, to try it. You learn a lot. I won't be caught dead in a swim suit, now. If I were small and wore the 2 piece, it would be fun to create my own, every once in a while. If I were a decent size, I would wear tankini's, like you.Marcy
I did like the blue and white suit that is shown on the cover because I like blue and white. I do think that there were lots of pictures to illustrate the steps properly. I did like the bra cup instructions. The two piece suit shown was Kwik Sew, which IMHO has the best instructions of anyone of how to make a suit, but whose styles are conservative so that might explain the leg opening being like Grandma's. I make swimsuits for other people and I do a lot of skating and dance costume work. I really like stretch fabrics, I have a hard time with woven cottons! I do have a couple of criticisms of the article. Two criticisms are related to fitting which might not have been a primary focus of this article. It could have talked about altering the leg openings from modest to high cut. It could have talked more about altering the pattern for long torso. In ready to wear suits, that is the biggest complaint and the biggest cause of wedgies is a short suit. It's easy enough to add to the pattern length, but some women are long above the waist and some are below the waist. But probably my biggest criticism of the making of the suit is that the fabric and lining were treated as one piece together. What it should be is that the fabric is sewn together, the lining is sewn together and then they are but together with the seams inside towards each other. That way, there is no annoying seam to rub against your skin, and for sewing, you're not sewing through four layers, there are only two at any given time. You can also use different lining on front/back/belly for control purposes and as it floats within the garment it does wonderful things without that showing on the outside. Have you seen the suits in the stores with the floating bras inside? Same idea.An illustration of double needle topstitching on a zig zag machine would have been useful, AKA how to fake a coverstitch when you don't have a serger. So kudos to Threads for the article because it's been a long time coming but maybe a follow up article on fitting a swimsuit might be worthwhile especially around the bust and fanny.
I'll pass this on to the editor
I am a Granny and would like to see an article on how to make the leg openings longer (boy leg?) But then again even that might not be enough to cover me!
Becky
sounds good!
I've enjoyed this issue of Threads more than any in a while. The article on pants was great, and I also liked the dupioni silk trench coat. And, like the person in Message 1 on this topic, I too LOVE the Caribbean bridal dress by Tatyana Merryman. It says it was based on Vogue 2539 as an inspiration, and I tried to find that pattern to see how far her creativity took her. But I can't find it anywhere--not even a picture of the original envelope! Anyone have one?
Linda 03052
Thanks Linda! Have you tried the Vogue Patterns site? I may be mistaken, but I thought that they had archives there.
Hi Amber,
Yes, I did go there, and I searched on their out-of-print patterns, and it wasn't even there! It would just be fun to see what she started with to get to such a beautiful creation!
Linda 03052
Its here - thats good service!
I like it!
or most of it
and I think I might just look at some upholstry fabric!
make a great change from curtains etc - which I hate doing!
still can't see me doing a swimming cossie though!
Jan
Maybe it's just me, but I like having available sewing instructions, just in case I need it one day. The swim suit article I like, especially for that reason. I don't like sewing curtains, either.Marcy
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