No newsflash here, we all know that Google Reader will be kaput as of 1 July, i.e., tomorrow!! For all you Google Reader readers out there, I’d love you to stay with me.
I’d recommend following along on Bloglovin, it’s my personal weapon of choice.
Talk soon!
Z xx
I am so close to finishing my Papercut Patterns Undercover Hood. All that’s left to do is bind the neck and topstitch – yay! If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you would have seen a sneaky peak of this garment last weekend.
The one thing that confuzzled me during construction were the cuffs/bands. I was having some serious ‘I don’t get it’ moments when putting these together, so I thought I’d share the details in case anyone else suffers the same moments. The stripes were messing with my head… This method will actually be relevant for any knit cuffs too.
Please note, it’s unlikely you’ll find this technique used on RTW garments, it’s bit more spesh 🙂
Lay your cuff on a flat surface right side up, with the top of the cuff at the top and the bottom at the bottom (i.e. closest to you). Fold in half on the vertical. You’ll then have a fold on the LHS, wrong side up, and the two edges on the RHS. Pin and sew the seam down the RHS using the allowance the pattern asks for. Making sure you match up your stripes too if you dare go to stripetown.
Press the seam allowance open.
Step 3Turn through halfway – with the wrong sides inside. In my case I had to make sure that the halfway point lined up with a stripe. Also, just watch the seam allowances and flatten them out again if they bunch up – avoiding bulk.
Pin the open seam and baste in place – again, watching stripes if necessary.
Take the cuff and insert it down the sleeve, lining up the raw edges of the cuff with the raw edge of the sleeve. Line everything up and sew the cuff to the sleeve. I basted first to make sure my stripes played nice. Don’t forget to line up your seams and notches. 🙂
And when sewing, make sure you’re only sewing one side and not catching the other also. It’s a bit fiddly, but just take it slow.
Step 6Overlock (serge) the raw edge. I don’t like the idea of having to unpick overlocking (as detailed in, ‘Renfrew you, Renfrew me‘), so I turn through and check everything is just so (just ‘sew’ lol) before overlocking.
Step 7Turn through and voila! A very nice looking cuff. A press probably wouldn’t hurt here too.
And that’s it! Is this how you make knit cuffs? It’s probably a bit old hat, but I wanted to get it down in case I suffer from another case of sewers confusion! Hopefully it’s at least helpful for some of you!
As you may have seen in a recent post, I had a bookish, sewing surprise turn up not so long ago! Janene of Ooobop! fame was particularly interested in, and very subtly suggested that I review one of these books – Claire Shaeffer’s revised and updated Couture Sewing Techniques. So here goes Janene! 🙂
I would like to preface this review with the sad fact that I in fact have not had a chance to read this cover to cover, but I will give you my thoughts so far.
I am thoroughly enjoying this book, and I am particularly enjoying looking at the beautiful images of couture garments, many of which are actually from the authors own collection (jealous much?!), and others from a range of museums. Not only do you get to see the gorgeous exterior of these garments, but we as readers are treated to the behind the scenes ‘innards’ view – and it’s amazing!
Have you ever wondered how couture garments sit ‘just so’ on the wearer? There’s a ‘stay’ for everything, or perhaps weights were used in the hem, or maybe there’s a harness in there – you’ll never know (until you read this book of course!).
Look at all these secret closures - Marc Bohan for Dior
From the author's collection, without the harness shown on the right, this Oscar de la Renta dress would fall open and shift off the shoulders.
I also particularly enjoying travelling into my imaginary world where I can afford to purchase couture garments! Early on, Claire takes the reader into a Parisian house of couture and explains the process you would go through to order a couture design. Right from making an appointment with the directrice, through to the premiere taking your measurements, and finally the design being logged into the livre de compte, and being carefully packed and delivered to your hotel or shipped to your home.
What? A girl can dream 🙂
Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wanted to know exactly what makes a garment ‘couture’ as opposed to high end ready-to-wear (RTW). Ms Shaeffer has answered my prayers with a lovely double page spread table comparing many, many features. There’s a taste of this marvellous table below.
Introduction to Haute Couture vs Ready-to-Wear
As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t gotten through this delight in its entirety – unfortunately! But for your information, the book is basically split into two sections, Part One: The Basics of Couture Sewing, and Part Two: Applying Couture Techniques. I’ve covered off a little bit of part one above. What I’ve shown above is almost the background information I guess, but the book does get much more practical, showing the reader how to execute these gorgeous techniques.
Here’s a taste of what else is covered in part one:
And part two, applying couture techniques, covers things like:
And along with Claire’s descriptions and ‘how-tos’, we readers are treated to many diagrams and hints – yay! – a sample of which you can see below.
An example of the diagrams and hints throughout this book.
So, overall, I think this book’s a winner! And for only $25 (or thereabouts), you can’t really go wrong!
Have you read Couture Sewing Techniques? What did you think?
Apologies for the photography, but I don’t profess to be a photographer 😉
Oh and one other thing…
The gorgeous Tina over at Down the Retro Rabbit Hole passed me ‘The Versatile Blogger’ award – oh em gee, thank you Tina!! Tina’s from Philadelphia in the United States, and describes herself as “Borderline crazy cat lady with an affinity for old things…” – I do like me a crazy cat lady! And Tina loves grammar – I love grammar too! I do get a bit loose in the blog world though (I’m sorry, perhaps it’s my pathetic form of rebellion) 🙂 Anyway…
So, what exactly does this Versatile Blogger Award entail?
It does come with a few rules:
Hmm, so seven random facts about me hey…. what a boring topic, but I’ll do what I’m told. Here goes:
Ollie, the cute, furry animal. A friend's latest addition to the family - so cute!!
Soooooo, who shall I choose as the next round of winners… (I’ve tried to change these out from my recent Liebster Blog Award nominees, sharing the love and all – you know how it goes.)
Woah.. what a long post. I will stop boring you now. 🙂
Z xx
I can get jealous of the vast available options for sewers overseas, especially in the US! There’s so much variety, and everything seems to be cheaper there too. ‘Down Under’ we can certainly purchase these bargains online, but the postage costs can be a killer. In fact, sometimes the postage costs more than the actual purchase!
Anyway, I find that half the fun of shopping for fabric and the like is the retail experience. I like to see the true colours, touch, rub, stretch, drape and play with fabric before I purchase it – it’s like the fabric and I are bonding!
Shopping in a Melbourne laneway
Here in Melbourne, I have my tried and true favourite haunts, and every now and again I’ll come across a fabulous new ‘sewing resource’. It could be a new fabric store, or a perhaps a place that makes custom buttons and belts.
I want to share the local sewing wonderlands I know of and discover with other Melbournians (and visitors to this lovely city), so I’ve created what I’m calling the ‘Sewer’s Guide to Melbourne’. A map that shares all the local, fabulous sewing delights here in Melbourne.
You can view the guide on the My Sewing Resources page. The map is an ongoing work in progress that I plan to update whenever I find somewhere new.
Have a look and let me know what you think, and let me know of any other places I should add too! I hope you find the guide useful!
ZoSews 