Innholdsfortegnelse for #196 - April-May 2018 i Threads Magazine

Who has been your best sewing mentor? JACQUE GOLDSMITH (“Premium Denim Details,” p. 38) says, “My best sewing mentor was my high school home economics teacher. I made a raw silk blazer with a shawl collar. She helped me each day to construct a designer-quality blazer. After I graduated, she confessed that she was a foods major in college. She went home each night and studied her garment construction textbooks to guide me. I am grateful to Sheryl Post for teaching me quality garment construction and her exceptional commitment to teaching every student.” Jacque is a Craftsy instructor and she chairs the sewing program at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland, Washington. LOUISE CUTTING (“Precision Placket & Vent,” p. 32) says, “I have been fortunate in my life to…

Rickrack is a zigzag braid with a long history. Many of us associate it with little girls’ dresses from the 1950s and ’60s, but I’ve found a way to give it an update. When rickrack strips are woven together, they form a colorful, textured fabric that’s great for creating unique garment details, such as sleeves, yokes, midriff bands, bodice panels, or pockets. This trim is available in cotton and polyester varieties, and in numerous colors and widths. “Baby” rickrack is ⅛ inch wide; giant rickrack is 1½ inches wide. If you use cotton rickrack, prewash it to prevent shrinkage later; the rickrack loses about 1 inch per yard. It’s fun to experiment with color combinations and arrangements. A solid color scheme showcases the intricacy of the weave. Multiple colors can…

Your favorite top or blouse pattern is the ideal starting point for a fresh redesign. Keep the basic silhouette and fit, and revise the closures, collars, cuffs, or hemline—any of these elements can give it a new look. Consider two details that provide style and functionality: The first is a beautifully engineered tab-front opening that can be casual or sophisticated, depending on the fabric and closures you use. Replace a full button-front opening with this, or add the tab neckline to a pullover top. The second adaptation is a lapped, mitered side vent. This feature is subtle and elegant. Because the opening edges overlap, you can create a deeper vent that allows the blouse fabric to move without revealing too much skin. Once you learn the technique, consider trying it…

The standard centered zipper application never goes out of style. You may have studied garment construction in home economics class or followed the zipper’s package directions to teach yourself. However, you probably didn’t learn the fine details that make for a perfect application. Typically, a centered zipper is stitched down one side and up the other, but this can lead to zippers that curve to one side, even when the fabric is properly cut on grain. Patience, some basting and invisible tape, and directional stitching techniques all make the zipper lie perfectly straight. Daryl Lancaster weaves, sews, and knits in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. DarylLancaster.com Baste and stitch the zipper in place Pave the way for a perfect centered zipper installation with preparatory steps. Basting is the key to holding…

Carefully opening the box from my mother-in-law, I ran my fingers across vintage treasures: a 1950s sewing book, thread, and miscellaneous tools. In the middle of her health crisis a few years ago, she took the time to be certain that her box of sewing notions would be delivered to me 600 miles away. She had fallen in her living room, shattered her leg, and was immediately admitted to a nursing home. Her life’s belongings and memories were ruthlessly cleared out in one weekend and reduced to what would fit around a bedside table and in an armoire. I was holding what was left of her sewing story. Like many in her generation, she learned to sew in school. She made her wedding dress, then later, clothes for her four…

EDITOR’S NOTE The pants pursuit Many sewers have an ongoing fitting quest. The challenge that stands out for me—and from what I hear, for many readers—is to sew flattering, well-fitting pants. The more I learn, the greater my expectations are. As a teen, I dreamed of pants that were long enough. Later, I recognized that skinny jeans were too skinny in the waist, but not skinny enough in the legs. These days, I have added further refinements. I want side seams and creases that fall straight and true. I mean to have “expressionless” pants that do not smile or frown anywhere. In this issue, Contributing Editor Judith Neukam’s story, “Vertical Seams for Pants Fitting,” p. 44, approaches this challenge from a new direction: vertical. We use princess seams to fit…

Originally the fabric for the common workman, lowly denim has made its way to high fashion and premium prices. When you shop for jeans or other denim garments, you’ll find a wide range of price points. There’s a difference between a $35 pair of jeans and a $200 pair, and it comes from the fabric—which should last for years and get softer and more comfortable with wear—and the construction techniques used to make them. Factors that make expensive denim worth the price include the fabric’s yarn, the dye, and the weaving technique. I’ll share the details that set high-quality denim fabric above the rest. Once you know how to choose the best denim fabric for your sewing, you’ll want to re-create the well-sewn, sturdy features of premium jeans, including a…

In recent seasons, the sleeve has been a focal point of fashion. Add a unique sleeve to a basic blouse or dress, and you have a showstopping garment. It’s easy to design your own sleeves based on a simple, one-piece sleeve pattern. I’ll show you how to add volume to create three romantic and dramatic sleeves styles, suitable for many woven fabrics. As you create these variations, you’ll learn patternmaking skills you can use to try even more designs. These are just a starting point for your creativity. No matter how you reinvent a garment sleeve—whether with one of the designs featured or your own original style—be sure to plan the construction. It’s important to make a muslin test garment; this tells you whether the proportions are correct and serves…

Eyelet fabric is at once nostalgic and modern. Garments made in eyelet fabrics can be simple, sweet, frilly, romantic, whimsical, elegant, or edgy, depending on pattern choice and application. Eyelet is typically a lightweight woven in which a pattern is made by cutting small holes. The openings’ edges are finished with button-hole stitches in matching or contrasting embroidery thread. This form of cutwork isn’t a true lace but can be used similarly. Eyelet may feature a border design, allover design, or both. These fabrics come in many colors, however white versions, called whitework, broderie anglaise (meaning English embroidery), or Madeira work (which denotes examples from the Portuguese island) are the timeless examples. CUTWORK HISTORY Examples of eyelet date to the 16th century in Eastern Europe. Broderie anglaise is tied with…

LOOK FOR THESE ICONS ON THE PATTERN REVIEWS Includes sizes 24 and up Fast and easy Challenging techniques Petite options For knits Downloadable pattern Butterick 6482 (Butterick.com) From the Lisette line, this dress design has strategic pleats and prominent top-stitching. Inverted box pleats shape the midi skirt and three-quarter sleeves. The inset waistband has five rows of topstitching, and topstitching highlights the bodice seams and pleats. The dress has a left-side invisible zipper, and it can be made with or without a collar band. Our tester recommends pressing open the curved overarm seam on a ham, as well as clipping and pressing open the lower raglan seam allowances, in order to topstitch these areas smoothly. Our staff seamstress suggests understitching the sleeve hem facing before turning and topstitching. The sewing…

Spring runways were brimming with fresh aesthetics, as cheerful colors and playful looks grabbed the spotlight. Many of last fall’s styles, refreshed and strengthened for the new season, accompanied inspiring new concepts and proclaimed a sense of freedom. Flounces, peplums, shirt-dresses, midi- and maxiskirts, casual jackets, and full-legged pants are redefined with a lighthearted energy. Interesting shoulder and sleeve treatments dominate the runways, accompanied by a strong 1990s revival in a more refined and grown-up mode. Designers presented flowing silhouettes, interesting cuts, flirtatious details, and elevated everyday fabrics from casual to chic. Spring is here, and it’s shedding the past year’s need for cozy retreat and embracing an upbeat, vivacious mood. Stephani L. Miller is a former Threads special projects editor. She sews historical costumes as well as unique clothes…

Instead of laboring to make invisible fixes when you patch sheer fabrics, make mending an opportunity to enhance. Embroidery is stitching, after all, and it can hold fabric together while adorning it. Here is a solution for a common mending situation in lightweight, translucent fabrics such as chiffon, georgette, organza, and in delicate knits. Follow a brief process to make embroidery fixes that suit the fabric’s texture and care requirements and the garment’s style. You can adapt the concept to other fabrics: Lightweight fabric demands sparser stitching, while heavy fabric can support a denser design. If there is a snag or tear to be made in chiffon, Threads Editor Sarah McFarland has managed to do it. Repair the cloth The chiffon skirt on the facing page was torn in three…

This black satin evening jacket, created in 1995 by design duo Conover Mayer, is graced with four elegant features: a sophisticated inset band detail on the front bodice, an in-seam buttonhole in a pointed tab, a cloverleaf neckline, and a crescent-shaped sleeve cap. This original style would be equally exquisite daywear made in another fabric such as linen or wool crepe. To learn how to incorporate similar inset curved bands into a pattern, go to p. 26.…