Clothing Engineer

Yesterday I hit the thrift stores in the area. I picked up seven pairs of pants, one Columbia Sportswear button-down shirt, a GAP cotton jacket, and a leather jacket for $106. Some of the pants were only $2. (Yes, you can buy two pairs of pants for less than the price of one gallon of gas in CT.) A khaki skirt from Talbots that looked brand-new was $6. The leather jacket was marked down to $21. The most expensive item I picked up was a $30 pair of G1 Outdoor Gear khakis. (Some amazing details on those pants I would love to copy.)

You could hardly tell most of them had been used. I was thinking of sewing a pair of cargo pants, but when you can buy a brand-new pair of $38 Gloria Vanderbilt cargos with tags for $12, is it really worth spending all that time? For the typical casual weekend clothes it almost isn’t even worth the effort, especially something as detailed as these cargo pants. But attractive suits, dresses, and business casual clothes in wool and silk seem hard to come by. I could not find one business blazer/jacket in my size that looked good. Looks like I know where my sewing focus will be for a while…

I made this one over the weekend:

I didn’t expect this one to be as close-fitting as it turned out. The picture above is pretty accurate in how the fit is. I’m glad I used a stretch poplin instead of plain cotton shirting. But overall though I’m pretty happy with the fit, considering how I usually don’t do so well with princess seams. It was also extremely easy to sew, and I was able to complete it in one day. After I cut out it out I didn’t even glance at the instructions. I think the only thing I would change if I made it again would be to lengthen it an inch or so.

Burda 4/08 #113

I’ve been waiting forever for a cargo pants pattern like this, though I think I’d lengthen the legs to full length.

Correction: sagewillow has brought to my attention that this is in the April 2008 issue, not the 2007 issue.

Wow…I’ve done just about nothing during winter break. I originally planned on starting (and finishing!) my heathered black wool crepe suit,
but it just never happened. So I’ve decided to start off with a less
demanding project to ease myself into it again. Hence, Burda 9/06 #114:

I like the military look. This particular pattern is one of my
favorites because of how neat, timeless, and versatile it is. There
were a lot of good looks in this issue.

I bought a navy Italian wool/angora blend knit
from fabric.com to use for this pattern. I’m in the process of washing
and steaming it a few times to make sure it is properly preshrunk. It
is a very soft knit, but seems a bit fragile.

I received an especially thorough message about my dry-clean only cotton shirt post,
so I thought I’d post it here in addition to adding it as a comment on
that post. Check out the part on how people used to use gasoline as a home dry-cleaning solvent!

That dry clean only label is a legal thing. Not everyone knows the
properties of fabrics or how to do laundry. If there is a “dry clean
only” label on the garment, both the manufacturer and the retailer are
protected from financial loss and nuisance lawsuits . If somebody
washes, say a rayon, garment in hot water and throws it in the dryer,
it will be ruined and she will return it to the store. More problems
for everyone. It’s easier to use a label which the dry cleaner, the
supposed expert, will understand.

I wash “dry-clean only” garments all the time, with no ill
effects…but…I know what I’m doing and I know I have no recourse
should I ruin something. I have only ruined one garment in 20 years and
it was cheap, so cheap it did not pay to dry-clean it!

I will wash some, but not all, wools I am about to sew, so that I
may wash them in the future, cashmere sweaters (gentle cycle with cold
water) with never a problem, light-colored silks (only if shrinkage is
not an issue) etc. I could go on. In the past people did dry-cleaning
in the backyard with gasoline. Old sewing books give instructions on
how to do it. A neighbor of my father’s blew up the back porch of the
house, doing this. We have safer solvents now!

I always dry-clean anything with a lining, anything tailored, dark
silks, anything made of multiple fabrics or with indeterminate trim.

In general, if you want to take a risk on washing a “dry-clean
only” garment which does not fall into the above categories, simply
wash it in cold water and hang to dry. You’re right, that shirt could
most likely be washed at home!

I definitely have to make another one of these.

I’m wearing the first one I made almost every day now. (Its so warm and comfortable…and the color goes with everything!) Mill Direct Textiles
has some stretch fleece in a few different colors. (The Rainshed is
also a good source, though the last time I ordered they only had one
color in stock.)

I’ve got just about all the materials I need for my first fully lined wool suit. I’ve chosen Burda 1/07 #113 and #111 as the pattern.

I love the inverted pleat pockets and the seaming of the skirt. Very European, and different from the average corporate suit.

I’m using a heathered black wool crepe from FFC
for the fashion fabric. I had an unusually bad experience the first
time I ordered from them, but this time had no problems. (I read this a
lot online - they seem to have a 75% success rate). For the lining I’m
using black ambiance bemberg.
I’m a bit up in the air about interfacing. I have a considerable amount
of armo weft that I would like to use but I’m not sure if that’s the
best choice for this fabric and style. Whatever I use will be
interfaced to a black cotton lawn
underlining. (From what I’ve read in quite a few places fusible
interfacing doesn’t work well with wool crepe, and should be interfaced
to an underlining instead.)

These are the buttons I picked out. (The background is the wool crepe.)

Like the buttons, the topstitching thread will also be silver.

Last night I worked on preshrinking the wool crepe. This suit
requires about 2 1/2 yards, so I cut out 3 from my stash to accommodate
for shrinkage. I know most of the sewing gurus would probably have a
heart attack if they read this, but I soaked the length of wool crepe
in a basin of lukewarm water with Eucalan wool wash. I didn’t agitate
it at all, just gently placed it in the basin and soaked it for about
15, 20 minutes. Then I very gently squeezed the water out, and rolled
it in a towel to absorb even more of the water. I let it air dry
overnight, then used a steam iron to smooth out the wrinkles and shrink
it even more.

I did end up with a bit of felting after washing it, but it was so
minor that most people would have a hard time noticing the difference.
(I really don’t know why sewers are so afraid to do this. It is so far
from being anywhere near
ruined.) It feels a bit softer too, probably from the lanolin in the
wool wash. Since I don’t plan on wearing this very often I will
probably end up not washing it, but rather just brushing and airing it
(esp. the jacket). But at least now I know its OK if I get caught in a
rainstorm while wearing it. I don’t really care for the idea of dry
cleaning, so with the exception of leather my rule is that everything I
make must be able to take a little water.

Next will be preshrinking the ambiance lining and armo weft
interfacing. (The cotton lawn is easy - just throw it in the washing
machine a couple of times.)

I think for this one I’m going to make a muslin first. Normally I’m
a rather fearless sewer and can’t even be bothered to tissue fit. I
just estimate, cut, start sewing, and and try it on a few times for
alteration purposes. Surprisingly this has worked for me so far.
However, I’ve never made a Burda jacket or skirt before, so I’d like to
get an idea of what to expect with ease before I cut into the fabric.
I’ve already spent $90 to $100 on supplies for this project so I really
can’t afford to screw up. Oh, yes, there’s also the whole fact that
I’ve never made a suit jacket before.

Just finished this today:

First thing I’ve made recently. I used a taupe stretch fleece from The
Rainshed. I will say it isn’t one of my better projects. In general I
don’t like working with knits, and this one was twice as hard to work
with because of the thickness.

I had some issues with the zipper. What ended up happening is I didn’t
account for the fleece being a four-way stretch knit, and the zipper
ended up being lopsided. I ended up chopping off the uneven part of the
collar and using some binding around the raw edge to disguise the
unevenness. Looking back now I should have interfaced the front before
putting in the zipper. It works, but it could have been a lot better.

One thing I do like about it is the fit. It is a bit hard to tell
from the picture but in person this is fairly fitted and very
comfortable. I did go a little larger on the bust than usual because I
wanted to make sure there was enough room for layering.

I was actually quite restrained this time. 90% of what I bought was on my list. I haven’t been there since July.

The key to effective weight loss for sewers is to buy a lot of fabric and notions, then have no money for food. Or time to eat.

Take a look at this evening gown from Claire Schaeffer’s Custom Couture Collection:

Now that is one sexy evening gown. But at the same time it is very
elegant and classical. I think this is going on my list for the next
time Vogue patterns are on sale at Joann’s.