Innholdsfortegnelse for #219 - Fall 2022 i Threads Magazine

JUDITH NEUKAM (“Quilted Jacket 3 Ways,” p. 52) says, “I taught myself to sew when I was 9 by independently exploring patterns, books, and the sewing machine. I have no idea what the first thing I made was. But early in my career as a beginning sewist, I made a Black Watch wool dress by tracing my shape on the fabric, cutting it out, and sewing it together. Needless to say, the dress didn’t fit because it had no girth. That’s when I started using patterns.” Judith, a former Threads editor and now Threads contributing editor emerita, is still learning to sew in Omaha, Nebraska. LINDSAY OSTLIE (“Zero-Waste Blouse,” p. 64) says, “According to my mom, I first started sewing on her lap around the age of 3. I don’t…

Pattern Reviews in the Round The Designer Stitch Dita Dress (left), a modern dress with a vintage sensibility, comes alive in a 360-degree view. Read more about this pattern for stretch knits and its multiple design options in Pattern Review, p. 22. Check out these Web Extras Skip the scraps: Visit ThreadsMagazine.com to find step-by-step instructions for drafting designer Lindsay Ostlie’s zero-waste blouse pattern, p. 64. Even better, save steps by downloading and printing a full-scale version of the top’s yoke pattern. Thanks, it has pockets: Find a free pattern and instructions for adding a side pocket to your next pair of knit pants inspired by Christine Jonson’s article, “Chic Knit Pants,” p 40. This clever feature is designed for garments with no side seams. Luxury Loungewear Challenge: See how…

LOOK FOR THESE ICONS ON THE PATTERN REVIEWS  Includes sizes 24 and up  Fast and easy  Challenging techniques Downloadable pattern Printed pattern Projectable pattern Statement Sleeves for High Drama Vogue 1847 (SomethingDelightful.com) Skill Level: Rated Easy by Vogue Patterns. Pay attention to details, such as properly basting the pleats on the sleeve cap. Size Range and Fitting: Misses and Misses Petite 8 to 24 to fit bust measurements 31 ½ inches to 46 inches. The design’s seams and cup-size pattern pieces offer multiple fitting opportunities. Fabrics: Vogue recommends firm wovens such as linen blends, broadcloth, cotton satin, and brocade. Be sure to use something substantial enough to accommodate the structured sleeve cap. Style and Sewing Details: This structured, futuristic blouse with funnel neckline, voluminous sleeves, gently curved hemline, and princess-seam…

Knit pants are versatile, easy to care for, and designed for all sizes. We love them. They answer the question of what to wear now, when many of us are seeking ways to look pulled together wherever we go—and always feel perfectly at ease. Stretch-knit pants are flexible, literally and figuratively. They take us to work, to the gym, to dinner and the theater, and comfortably across continents looking great. It is time that sewing pants becomes a positive experience for the home sewer. Creating pants you will wear repeatedly is within reach, especially since the essential elements are few: highquality ponte double-knit fabric, a pattern that matches your style, and a clear understanding of the styles of garment ease. I’ll explain how to assess a fabric for suitability and…

If you care about fit in the garments you sew, you’ve probably learned ways to adjust patterns for your figure. For many sewers, the resulting pattern can look unconvincing: Shapes and proportions you’re used to seeing in a commercial pattern have changed enough to make you wonder if the garment you plan to sew will work at all. You’re not alone: Even with many years of fitting experience, I still sometimes hesitate to believe in the pattern pieces I have adjusted. To keep on track with your fitting, remind yourself that a commercial pattern is a standard size and shape. It is meant to fit a body that looks something like a dress form, with perfect symmetry, erect posture, square shoulders, and few curves. Unless your body has this shape,…

When dress historian, author, and filmmaker Bernadette Banner started a YouTube channel in 2018, it was a means to combine and share her interest in garment construction and her passion for visual storytelling. Staying true to her interests, she releases engaging and high-quality videos, drawing a following that has grown to more than 1.3 million subscribers. Banner founded her channel after she embraced traditional hand-sewing techniques as a student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Working with dress historians and then as a costume assistant on Broadway spurred her love of historically accurate garment construction. Her meticulous slow-sewing approach and application of traditional techniques comes through in her content. Her eponymous channel offers many garment creation posts, as well as videos about pre-World War II garments, exploration…

On our cover, we exhort you to find joy in fall sewing. This doesn’t necessarily mean you must approach your sewing in any particular way, though. In fact, the notion that there is a “right” way to sew—or to love sewing—can get in the way of finding your joy. You may like to sew alone in peace, or together with friends in a community. You may focus on casual comfort in the garments you create, or prefer statement-making, special-occasion clothes. Some people gravitate toward tried-and-true patterns that promise consistent results; others can’t wait to take on their next big, novel challenge. Do you look for stash-busting projects that make use of your beloved scraps or avidly seek out new and different fabrics? Maybe you enjoy zipping along seams with a…

Challis is a lightweight plain-weave or twill fabric with an extraordinarily soft look and feel. It is one of those fabrics that make up well in almost anything. It is comfortable to wear. Its drapable quality makes it ideal for full garments with gathers, elasticized shirring, unpressed pleats, or draped sections such as cowls. Consider challis for shirts, dresses, A-line or full skirts, scarves, and luxurious bathrobes. Challis originated in England in the 1830s and was made from worsted wool and silk. Today, the fabric is made from wool, rayon, cotton, or blends. Pure wool challis is considered the highest quality and wrinkles less than the other types. You may find rayonblend challis is more readily available. The name challis is derived from the Anglo-Indian word shalee, meaning soft. Challis…

Vintage clothing is a source of inspiration for many designers. Inspiration is not the same as copying, though. An exact copy of the circa 1940 dress on the back cover would look costumey. A small change to the original design can have a big impact, though. Now the look is modern and interesting. The inspiration dress’s most intriguing feature is a button-back collar that looks like a pair of outstretched wings. A small stand-up collar is extended and widened at the front, then passed through a ring, folded back, and buttoned to the yoke. This neckline treatment is a way to perk up a basic blouse pattern, and you can draft the yoke and collar by following the process detailed on these pages. When selecting fabrics, choose yoke and collar…

When it comes to creating nearly any kind of headdress for theatrical performances, Arnold S. Levine is among the top practitioners of the craft. From his studio in New York’s Garment District, Levine and his crew of skilled artisans bring life to the sketches of the foremost theatrical designers. The theatrical milliner’s work helps to complete the appearance of so many characters, and it plays a key role in setting the overall environment for performances on and off Broadway. It’s a job that requires highly specialized skills. WHAT EXACTLY IS MILLINERY? Levine defines millinery as not just hats, but as things worn on the head. In the past, he says, millinery encompassed hats plus all the trimmings—bows, tassels, swags, etc.—that coordinated with and finished an ensemble. Today, millinery overlaps with…

Are you ready to skip the scraps? Try making this versatile“ almost zero waste” blouse I designed for the Threads/Association of Sewing and Design Professionals 2021 Salvage & Selvage Challenge (see the winning garment in Threads #218, Summer 2022). Zero-waste design wasn’t a require  ment of the challenge, but it fit with the theme of upcycling and reducing fabric usage, and I wanted to incorporate it into my ensemble. There are a few reasons for my interest in zero-waste design. I previously worked in garment manufacturing and was alarmed by the wastefulness I saw in the industry. Now I’ve challenged myself to reduce the impact of my sewing and design work. Also, using fabric efficiently speaks to my frugal farm upbringing. Many resources have gone into growing or manufacturing the fiber…

Iam primarily a garment sewer, but occasionally I quilt place mats or a baby quilt with bound edges. In the past, I used the eyeball method to make the corner miters. Most of the time, the miter would come out looking uneven and mismatched. I just went on and was satisfied with less than perfect. When I mastered a better way to attach binding, I wanted better-looking corners, too. I made a template out of card stock to help me fold more accurate miters. Using the template doesn’t take more time than the eyeball method, but the results are so much better and more consistent. Read on to learn how to make and use a template to miter corners in double-fold binding. Judy Parker of Madison, Alabama, is a longtime…

American fashion designers turned to utilitarian materials in the 1940s, influenced by war-torn Europe and the limitations on available fabrics. Clothing became more casual and easy to care for. Despite these restrictions, the public enjoyed garments with color and detail. Claire McCardell’s well-known dresses illustrate this trend. While not a McCardell design, this dress, made between 1938 and 1942, shares elements that characterize her work of the period. It has a defined waistline, wide shoulder line, and modestly gathered skirt. The fabrics are simple: shirt-weight woven cotton and corduroy. Two patch pockets are enhanced with contrasting fold-down edges. The highlight is a clever collar that looks like a large neck bow. This effect is created by flared collar extensions at center front, which pass through a ring, fold back, and…

SHIRT RENEWAL I received my Spring 2022 Threads magazine in the mail a little while ago. As I usually do, I reserved time to read it in its entirety. My heart skipped a beat when I read “How to Alter Men’s Shirts, Part 2.” In September 2019, I attended your sewing conference, the Threads Experience, in Manhattan. At one of the fabric shops in the Garment District, I purchased the most beautiful white pinstripe shirting material I had ever seen or felt. So excited about it, I went out when I got home to purchase a pattern and muslin. I used McCall’s 7575 (reissued as Butterick 6852). I sewed the muslin and applied the forward-shoulder adjustment I had learned from conference presenter and Threads Contributing Editor Louise Cutting. When I…

On an outing in the Big Apple, a wellphotographed member of a royal family appeared in a simple shift dress that was elevated by a stunning embellishment. Her Valentino original featured self-fabric flower motifs, attached to the dress with crystals and paillettes. The petals are given a lift by beads hidden beneath their tips, and paillettes add shimmer. The tone-on-tone effect looks lovely up close and subtle at a distance. You can re-create this decoration—or your interpretation of it—on any garment. I used a die-cutting machine to create the petals, but you could hand-cut them if you prefer. You’ll need a fabric with body, and a treatment to prevent undue raveling of the raw-edged petals. Then you're ready to select crystals, beads, and paillettes. Follow the design I derived from…

It’s been a style journey for us over the past couple of years as we swapped our “outside” clothes for loungewear, but fashion has made a triumphant return this year. Fall 2022 introduces a splendid combination of traditional fashion staples (blazers, wool pieces, camel and warm neutrals) along with a sprinkle of whimsy. You’ll see a handful of trends that combine comfortable classics with fresh ideas, reflecting our readiness to get back out into the world and be dressed again. There’s still a sense of practicality that threads everything together—the mood is one of clothes that are meant to live in. But you’ll find elevated details such as embellishment or a wellplaced bow, like the ones seen at Valentino and Schiaparelli. This season, pair slouchy denim with a sparkly top,…

Threading a needle is the most basic part of sewing, yet it is a task many of us dread, especially those with less than 20/20 vision or unsteady fingers. Thankfully, there are different needle threaders available to make threading easy. Let’s look at the different types of threaders and how to use them. There are two types of needle threaders: those that pull the thread through the needle’s eye and those that push it through. Each has advantages, so it is helpful to have both available for different threading applications. Katrina Walker is a designer and teacher based near Spokane, Washington. KatrinaWalker.com Pull Threaders A pull-type needle threader consists of a fine wire loop that you insert through the needle’s eye. Once the wire loop goes through the eye, insert…