Innholdsfortegnelse for #217 - Spring 2022 i Threads Magazine

What useful update would you like to make to your sewing space? LAURA NASH (“Scalloped Skirt,” p. 50) says, “When I was in college, our cutting tables were cork-topped, and my habit was set. Since that time, I’ve been searching for pinnable worktable solutions. I’d like my next update to be a few sheets of Homasote, a cellulose fiber wallboard. Adding this to the top of my cutting table could be the permanent solution I’ve been looking for.” Laura creates fashions with a stylish mix of modern and vintage at Sew Chic Patterns. She has a bachelor’s degree in Apparel Design from Oregon State University. She teaches, has published works with Craftsy and Threads, and has designed for Simplicity Patterns. THERESE LAMAN (“Sewing Saves: Belt-loop boost,” p. 86) says, “I…

How-to ◆ Projects & Patterns ◆ Tools & Supplies ◆ Inspiration A new take on pattern reviews Watch a new video version of this issue’s look at Amy Nicole Studio’s Whitney Raincoat. In the following weeks, we’ll share video reviews of By Hand London’s Sandeep dress (with circle skirts made for twirling), and Butterick 6828, a surplice-front blouse. Visit our YouTube channel or our website to get a closer view of these garments, which are guaranteed to brighten even rainy days. Check out these Web Extras Patterns for real bodies: In “Fit for Your Posture,” p. 43, Sarah Veblen explains pattern adjustments for common fit issues associated with postural differences. Visit ThreadsMagazine.com for additional images of the revised patterns for upper and lower back curves and forward shoulders. Free downloadable pocket…

Organza is a versatile player in the theater of garment construction. A thin, stiff, and some what transparent fabric, it is typically a balanced plain-weave fabric, meaning the warp and weft threads are the same weight and cross each other at regular intervals. Though the weave version is most common, organza is also made in stunning ng prints, delicate jacquards, and with a plethora of embellishing finishes for oomph. While it is available in polyester and rayon, silk organza is preferred by many sewers because it is less likely to pucker at the seams and it resists heat damage. Lightweight silk organza makes the best interfacing and underlining for any silk fabric that needs added ided body, since organza is crisp without hollt being bulky. It gives support and resists…

A lattice is an open-worked structure of crossed wooden strips or bars, often used as a foundation for climbing plants. When made of fabric, it can take the place of lace or other sheer fabrics. In the pale pink 1930s dress at right, a wide collar was made from a lattice with a scalloped edge. The collar visually refers to flower-petal shapes as well as to the trellis that supports the blossoms. Although the lattice appears to be woven, it’s less complicated than that. It was made of on-grain fabric tubes, flattened and arranged in perpendicular rows, without interlacing. Edgestitching secures the tubes to create the trellis effect. The collar was cut from a single layer of lattice “fabric,” and its edges trimmed and bound in a scallop pattern. Although it…

If you use commercial sewing patterns regularly, it’s likely you’ve learned what a standard pattern looks like. As you start custom-fitting those patterns to your own figure, you may find yourself doubting the pattern shapes you create. Armscyes may look too deep or shallow, seamlines too straight or curvy, and darts too short, long, deep, or narrow. I’d like to give you a more realistic idea of how patterns look when adjusted for a range of body types, so you feel more confident in your own fitting work. My fitting method involves pinning and adjusting a muslin test garment on the body, then transferring these changes to the pattern. You can find out more about this method in the articles listed in “Fitting Tutorials,” p. 47. Even though I thoroughly…

Mapate Diop has an appreciation for African textiles that reaches back to his early childhood. His mother would return from visits to her home country of Nigeria with bolts of ankara fabric, the boldly colored and patterned wax prints traditional to West Africa. She would also seek out the textiles from small shops in New York City, where they lived. Transformed into shirts and garments that Mapate’s mother could not purchase elsewhere, the fabrics connected Mapate to his heritage. He recognized early on that these garments enabled him to celebrate his identity. In 2018, Mapate cofounded Diop, a Detroit-based fashion label, with friend Evan Fried. The company makes garments and accessories in traditional African prints and shares the stories of those who wear them. A self-described African diaspora-inspired streetwear company,…

Spring anticipation It is Christmas week as I write this letter to you. Outside it is bright and sunny, with only the cold temperature to signal the season here in upstate New York. Though I do not want to rush the end of this year, I confess I am looking forward to spring 2022. Working on this issue has filled my mind with plans for light, joyful, colorful clothing. We have new sewing tutorials and project ideas to share, as well as fitting guidance. Much of recent fashion coverage has talked about a turn to more elegant dressing. In the “Spring Preview” article, p.68, stylist and sewing blogger Emily Hallman examines the season’s fashion outlook and shares a self-sewn wardrobe that touches on key colors and silhouettes. She offers plenty…

BEST TIP Invisible zipper stops I needed an invisible zipper for a dress, but I didn’t have one that was long enough. Then I remembered that I had a roll of invisible zipper in my stash. I cut a piece to the desired length and installed it in the garment. However, there were no zipper top or bottom stops. I couldn’t use the stops from another zipper because the coils on the zipper I used were larger than the other zippers tI had. I got the idea to make stops with glue. I applied drops of glue at the desired top location to create little balls. You can remove the teeth above the stops before or after adding the stops. The glue dried clear and I was able to zip…

This spring, enjoy the contemporary trend for coats with extralarge embellishments by trying large appliqué. The effect can look like a custom printed fabric or elaborate embroidery, and the method is simple: Cut, fuse, and stitch pieces of print fabric to a self-made or purchased garment. Choose a bold, contrasting motif to enliven a classic neutral, or select a subtle print that closely matches the base fabric for a more subdued effect. PRINT SELECTION Examine home décor prints, as they may feature motifs larger than those found on fashion fabrics. Look for a print that has standalone and easily trimmable elements. Many floral designs, for example, have blossoms and leaves that entwine and overlap, a treatment that adds dimension to the print, but diminishes its suitability for appliqués. And some…

BurdaStyle 112621 (BurdaStyle.com) A youthful, off-the-shoulder, blouson style, this top has a lower edge that sits above the waistline. The blouse has 1⅛-inch-wide straps, elastic-gathered neckline and hemline edges, and bias-cut, two-tier flounce sleeves with the underlayer sitting 1¾ inches longer than the outer layer. The elbow-length sleeves are topped with a 3¾-inchwide band finished with elastic thread shirring. The nine rows of elastic are first couched on the fabric’s wrong side with a zigzag stitch, then pulled evenly to gather. The sewing instructions are brief and have no illustrations. Those with sewing experience will have no trouble understanding them. Our tester says: • Seam and hem allowances are not included. • A pattern piece for the straps is not included; the instructions list the dimensions to cut. The numbered…

Hello, spring. The arrival of a new season feels like a fresh start, and the memo from designers is clear: It’s time to forget the sweats and have fun with fashion again. Much like Dior’s iconic New Look designs after World War II, the trends for spring 2022 mark a reawakening. Gone is the casual minimalism from the past few seasons, replaced with a carefree sense of joy about getting dressed up again. Designers presented collections with flirty low-rise miniskirts, sheer dresses, shrunken cardigans, and bra tops for the adventurous among us. These looks were presented alongside beautifully draped dresses that are a fresh take on body-conscious silhouettes, as well as sophisticated white pantsuits for a sartorial metaphor on the clean slate that a new season brings. Pants with relaxed…

One of the most underappreciated pieces of sewing equipment is the lowly ironing board. Whether you are tailoring wool or setting a sharp crease, the pressing surface works in concert with the iron to create the desired shape. Given the wide range of options available, it can be confusing to choose among different pressing surfaces. Some materials are better suited for pressing wrinkles from yardage, others are ideal for high steam use in tailoring, and still others may give a crisper, sharper press. There are two main types of pressing surfaces: the traditional, stand-alone ironing board or press, and the pressing board or mat. Traditional ironing boards and presses have a three-part structure. There is a base, often consisting of metal mesh, perforated met-al sheet, or a wooden board. The…

FABRIC MEMORY ALBUMS I’m was reading Threads #214, Summer 2021, and found the article by Kate Strasdin about the dress diary of Anne Sykes. Suddenly, I remembered something from almost 40 years ago, when I visited Manchester to meet relatives after a year away from home after high school. I was introduced to Great Auntie Narnie and shown a fabric swatch book. Apparently, the family had been in the “rag trade/schmutter [an alternative spelling for “shmatte”] business” for a few generations and she still had some of the history at home with her. I wish I’d been more interested then and could remember more about the book. Sadly, (having been in touch with her granddaughter), I’m told that Narnie’s son sold the business 30 years ago and the location of…

Altering a fitted dress pattern to create a one shoulder design is easy, and you can adapt the look to suit any aesthetic. A single-shoulder dress offers benefits you might not have considered: It allows you to show a bit of skin, but it is less difficult to fit and wear than a fully strapless dress. Plus, the neckline’s asymmetry adds drama to an otherwise streamlined design. We show a version in soft lace with a wide, scalloped edge. The lace’s border is used along the diagonal neckline and repeated at the straight skirt’s hemline. For different looks, you could go vintage-casual with cotton gingham, tough with dark denim, or glitzy with sequined fabric. Add a skirt with your favorite silhouette, from full to pencil. Or replace the skirt with…

Everybody loves a dress or skirt with pockets. If the pattern you choose doesn’t have pockets, you can add some that don’t interrupt the lines of the garment, such as in-seam pockets. These type of pockets are an easy and useful addition to most dress or skirt designs. However, the process is less straightforward if the garment is designed to close with a side seam invisible zipper. Moving the zipper to the garment’s center back calls for pattern changes that you may not wish to do. I prefer to keep a zipper closure on the side seam, where it is mostly concealed during wear and keeps the garment’s back plain and uninterrupted. If you are creating a vintage look, the side-seam invisible zipper is convenient and doesn’t call attention to…

Learn how to reduce a collar, narrow shoulders that are overly wide, or shorten sleeves that are too long. Although I explain in this article how to make these fit alterations on men’s shirts, they can be done on garments made for or worn by any gender. Your effort will be repaid in a shirt that skims the body smoothly with minimal excess fabric. Manufacturers market to middle-sized people, so if you are at either end of the size spectrum, you might not find shirts to suit your measurements. But you can start with a store-bought shirt and customize its fit. Off-the-rack shirts are typically constructed with flat-felled seams and narrow hems, so they have little seam allowance available for enlarging the garment. Therefore, to get adequate ease in a…

An outside vent on the sleeve is a make-or-break detail on a designer jacket. Executed beautifully, it’s a wonderful functional detail, as well as a place to show off dazzling trim or exotic buttons. Yet often the highly desirable French-style designer jacket is made in a lofty bouclé or tweed. Such fabrics have lovely texture and depth but are not easily controlled. In that situation, the necessary ingredients for a sharp vent are: a light and stable underlining; judicious basting; a bit of stabilizing, and a cautious but confident hand when it comes to clipping in to corners. It’s always slightly terrifying to make a deep cut into a seam allowance, but there are times when it’s necessary. What a deep clip does is allow you to manipulate the fabric—and,…

A cape-like collar is the star of this 1930s dress, made of blush-pink rayon crepe. Also sometimes called a “bertha” collar, this wide, draping style covers the shoulders and, in earlier centuries, filled in low necklines. In the 1930s, the cape collar was a popular neckline treatment, especially on surplice-front frocks. A traditional bertha collar, from the 17th through 19th centuries, was made of precious lace, offering the wearer an opportunity to display her affluence through her wardrobe. The designer of this dress replaced delicate lace with latticework of self-fabric bands. A bias-bound, scalloped edge finishes the collar. Find out how to create a similar lattice, to be used in collars or other garment details, on p. 28.…