Setting in sleeves

Although the new pattern, Infant Wardrobe I, says you can use light weight denim, Patricia ran into a problem when making the jacket for her two year old grandson. This little guy lives out in Calgary, home of the world famous Calgary Stampede. Patricia envisioned the boy's view made up in sporty black denim with brilliant colours of native embroidery and set off with a T shirt, cowboy hat and boots. All went well until she went to set in the sleeves.

All patterns have limitations and a designer can not predict how every fabric will react. I want you to think beyond the Christening outfit and be creative. Don't be afraid to be challenged. There is always a solution.

The denim plus the lining proved rather bulky and the results were more like a puff sleeve which might have been fine for a little girl but not the tailored look she had planned.

 

So she brought it to me and asked what do I do now? The jacket was finished - buttons, buttonholes and embroidery all in tact - she didn't want to ruin it after all that work.

It was obvious to us both that there was simply too much fabric at this combined weight of denim and lining to allow the sleeve to fit smoothly into the armhole - so - a trim was needed! 

By shaving three eighths of an inch from the cap and tapering it to nothing at the notches the amount of fabric would be reduced significantly and the angle of the sleeve in the garment only slightly altered. The notches were transferred to the new cutting line. The gathering threads would have been put in place again at one quarter inch and one half inch but I was not going to remove the whole sleeve from the jacket! If you were starting fresh that would be imperative but I knew that a technique from tailoring would work well in this case.

With this technique, you divide an area in half and pin. Then divide that area in half and pin. You keep doing this until you have no more room to place a pin or the fullness is used up. On the left you can see how the notch and the shoulder seam have been matched up and the area to the left has begun to be divided and pinned. On the right you can see my hands dividing the area to pin. Or you can fold the fabric in half, lining up the last two pins to find the centre of the sleeve and armhole. This is more accurate in the beginning when you are working with a large area.  As you get down to less fullness you can see how much fullness you have to divide and pin.

Here you see the sleeve pinned in place. There is no more room for any more pins because of the bulkiness of the fabric. Next I hand basted the sleeve in place. Yes, hand basted! with a back stitch to get the most control. Back stitched because I had to use  stitch that I could 'pick and poke' to get the gathers eased out. Had I gone to the trouble of putting in the gathering threads once again, I could have pulled them up and eased the fullness further. But I didn't, so hand basting was imperative! And I might say it worked perfectly.

So here you can see the finished seam and how I am easing in the fullness of the raw edge as I overcast with a zigzag stitch. I used a trolley needle to hold the gathered down and in place as the fabric passed under the machine foot. When the seam allowance is pressed into the sleeve it acts as a support for the sleeve cap and helps it to sit properly.

Oh, but you are not finished yet! Setting the finished sleeve with a bath of steam is important. Steam works best as you won't have any shine from the iron. If you don't have a tiny sized pressing ham or the sleeve won't fit over the end of you sleeve board, create a ball-shaped support from a towel or a couple of washcloths. This needs to be pretty firm though so it may take a bit of 'finaggling' to get something to fit into the sleeve cap area. If the jacket had been made of wool the sleeve could be set with steam alone and all fullness worked out. But with cotton denim (which stretches!) a good bath of steam with the support to shape it all will work well. Remember that it is a child's garment and will be washed often so don't over stress yourself! I just have a tendency to want perfection. 

So here you can see the finished product. I think you will agree it looks much better and Patricia was happy with the results. 

Every fabric is a learning experience and I can hardly wait to see the photos of this little guy all decked out in his Western version of the Infant Wardrobe. I will post photos as soon as she send them so watch here in the next couple of weeks.

Until next time then - you know the drill - keep stitching!!!!

More wedding photos

People keep asking for more photos of the wedding. We still don't have the photographer's photos - just the proofs. So here are some that we and friends have taken.

Robyn, one of her bridesmaids and I went for French manicures as a treat two days before the wedding at a spa on the outskirts of Ottawa. I have never seen such a large establishment! There were 15 stations for nails, plus 3 stations for French manicures, plus 2 - 3 stations that accommodated 4 people for drying nails, + a separate room with 10 stations for acrylic nails, + rooms for tanning, waxing and massage! To my surprise, about half the technicians were men but it is my understanding that in Vietnam boys start training as early as age 7. I was impressed. The price was quite reasonable and the manicure lasted nearly two weeks!

The Salon/Spa

So let's jump to the day of the wedding. 

We were staying at a Bed and Breakfast, The Old Burnside, just a short drive from Almonte, ON which was the site of the wedding. The mansion was circa 1840 and simply incredible. I invite you to check it out on line: <www.oldburnsidebedandbreakfast.com> It is so picturesque being situated on the backs of the Mississippi River (no, not the big one!) the food was fabulous and we had the whole place to ourselves the night before and after the wedding. Robyn had two rooms on the second floor - one for sleeping in which was "gianormous" and a second one for her and her maids to dress. We had the third floor all to ourselves.

I admit that we were the tradition 15 minutes late getting to the location. But this area is like the Bermuda Triangle of GPS and the photographer got lost finding the Mill as he was using his. It was only a 5 minute drive but he ended up somewhere else and so the ceremony was about 45 minutes late starting. As a result everyone was getting somewhat sunburned!

So here is the Bride on the arm of her Father starting down the path to the ceremony.

The Bride and Groom about to take their vows.....

Who gives this Bride to be wed?

Ceremony over and they are about to leave as Husband and Wife....

Look at all those beautiful wild flowers and the line up of maids of honour

Mom and Dad with two of the Attendants behind.....

It's over and now the fun can begin!

Older brother Paul, Robyn, Mom and Dad

Mr & Mrs Bent Gellerich!

Last but not least, cutting the cake at midnight.....

What a perfect day and evening. They both had to work for part of the week following the ceremony but took a couple of days at Le Chateau Montebello near Montreal for a much needed rest. (Check it out on line - it is quite an historical place! <www.fairmont.com/Montebello>) Then they flew to New York for the U2 concert and then on to the Caribbean for their honeymoon. Bent kept it a total secret as to where they were going until they went in the airport and security asked where they were going.

Reality has now set in as the honeymoon couple have returned home to work and school. We heard from them on the weekend and they sounded well rested and ready to 'begin the rest of their lives together' - just like they say on the soaps.

So now it is back to reality and work for me as well. 
Enjoy your summer and keep stitching!! Until next time.....

What a hot week!

It has been a record breaking week this past week for temperatures here with extreme heat warnings. Nothing like the southern states, of course, but 118 degrees F with humidity factored in, for us, is not to be sneezed at. At least it cools of at night and won't last much longer. There are how many days till Christmas?

The first interpretation of the "Infant Wardrobe I" has just come in. Lynn B has made it up in the 11 lb, size, in pink broadcloth solid and coordinating gingham with a pink batiste shirt - very girly! 

Lynn chose to clean line the jacket in the same easy-care poly/cotton broadcloth as the jacket was cut and bound the edges with bias gingham broadcloth. 

She used the same bias to edge the solid pockets on the pants and used the solid pink broadcloth for the front waistband.

By leaving the pockets off the jacket there is no competition with the pant pockets. The old adage, less is more, works well when the outfit is all together. 

Note how she has smocked the shirt collar and edged it in lace!Such a pretty touch! She rounded the corners of the collar to give it a softer look. Again she has used the bias gingham to finish the neckline so everything ties in together perfectly.

Lynn said she increased the width of the sleeves a bit to smock the wrists as batiste requires a higher ratio of the pleats for smocking.

I love what she has done with the tam - gingham for the upper portion and headband and solid for the underside. That jaunty ribbon bow just sets if off.

What a great job, Lynn. Thank you so much for sharing this with us all!!

Pictures of the wedding are beginning to come in so I will post a couple more in the next post as you have requested.

Until then keep stitching!

The party's over....

The Event of the Year for the Marquis and Gellerich families was held at the Mill of Kintail just north of Almonte, ON on July 9.  And oh, we had such a beautiful day! A perfect day!! The sun shone with temperatures in the mid 20's C and there was a light breeze wafting through the trees at the cloisters.

It had been a whirlwind week leading up to Saturday as the bridal couple had chosen to do most of the wedding prep themselves. We loaded jelly beans into organza bags and tied them to wine decanters for guest favours late one night. I just couldn't resist taking a picture of the pile of little bags; they looked so pretty.

                                      
We folded, stacked, printed, tested sound equipment, cut fruit and cheeses, set up tables in the marquis tent, made up the place cards, set battery powered candles in little white paper bags and small pillar candles in sand in mason jars (a M.S. touch that worked so well). We laughed and cried over the course of the week and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning too many nights!

All the bridal party and many of their friends showed up and worked really hard the night of the rehearsal and the morning of the wedding to be sure everything was perfect for the outdoor reception. Here are the parents and sister of the groom at the rehearsal night BBQ at their farm (also the reception site).

Of course, my camera battery died just as Robyn was donning her gown so the rest of these photos are gifts from family.

Bent and his Mom

Robyn and her Dad on their way down the aisle

Robert, Brittany (our youngest niece) and me - all in matching blues!

So many of you have asked about my dress. It was made by Angela Anistakis and was a bamboo and Lycra knit which Angela beaded around the neckline. She made a matching triangular stole which came in very handy later in the evening when the fireworks were set off! I made a little drawstring bag of the same fabric and beaded the base to coordinate with the dress beading. The fabric is very stretchy but it drapes beautifully and was wonderfully cool to wear. The skirt flared perfectly so that it had that 'kick' at the hem. I wanted something very simple but elegant (to show off my 45 pound loss) and I think Angela succeeded.

I will close for today and when I get more photos I will post a few - but not too many to bore you!

Till next time then, keep stitching!

                                                           

Embroidering Bridal Hankies

It's been an intense week and a half as I created monogrammed hankies for my daughter's wedding. When I asked her if she would like me to make her a special bridal hanky, she came back with a resounding yes and a plea for hankies for each of her attendants. Then I got the bright idea of making one as a memento for the groom's mother as well.

So it was off to my embroidery books and a serious look at alphabets and the rules about monograms. There was actually a section on hankies in one book from my shelves and they are usually about an inch high! Pretty small and since I don't like doing padded satin stitch I chose to work them in shadow embroidery.

Next it was to the fabric stash to search for suitable fabric. I found the perfect Pima Cotton Lawn and started pulling threads for perfect squares. I practised each of the initials to be sure they would work and adjusted each one, adding curlicues and details. Initially I had wanted to add colour and pulled the palest of pink, mauve, blue and green but once I saw the test samples, I opted for simple, elegant white. 

I like to work shadow embroidery from the back using the herringbone stitch. I was sure I had some white floche in with my specialty threads but no luck. So again I experimented with all the different threads I had on hand and ended up with regular stranded cotton. I drew out the initials, scanned them into the computer and then used the mirror image feature to reverse them. With the fabric loaded in my hoop and a fine point fading marker, it was easy to trace the fine lines for stitching. I took one evening to do each initial. I had forgotten how satisfying shadow embroidery can be. Working the spacing for the stitches is like a tiny, wee puzzle!

With the hand embroidery done, it was time to add lace insertion and edging. Now I turned to the sewing machine and used a simple blanket stitch and #120 needle to attach the lace. My machine handles this beautifully without adding a stabilizer other than spray starch.  I mitred the corners of the insertion and gathered the lace edge to turn the corners of the soft lace edgings. (I think that makes them look more feminine.)

Just before they were finished, I remembered about dating special things like bridal gowns, Christening gowns and naturally bridal hankies! Back to the think tank! I chose to work the date in numbers with a colonial knot in between. To work the digits, I chose a very, very tiny continuous chain stitch and positioned the date along the side of the lace insertion, in the opposite corner from the monogram so it would not be too conspicuous.

So here are three of the finished hankies.

For some reason mauve seems to be appearing in my gardens right now this spring. The sage and poppies are both blooming at the same time. (And oh, the sage does have a lovely scent! I see why the bees are so attracted.) Nature so often exhibits colour schemes that we wouldn't come up with ourselves and here is a perfect example! It is doubtful that I would ever choose a vibrant orange leaning to red to put with a pinkie mauve but look how wonderfully they go together here. The green of the grass and foliage make it all work.  And then here is the ornamental lilac tree we planted last spring. What a show it made and again the scent was wonderful every time you passed by.

 

Believe it or not, I do sometimes take time out to socialize! Last weekend I met with five of my school mates, three of whom I have known since first grade! Here we dining in Lindsay, ON at Pane Vino, a fairly new Wine Bar at the east end of Kent St. on the north side. The angled parking can be a bit tricky but there is no charge in the evening!
I chose a pasta dish with shrimp and a fresh salad. Oh it was divine! and the espresso I chose in place of dessert just hit the spot!! I do highly recommend dinner in this tiny gem of a restaurant but be sure to make a reservation as the seating is limited and always busy!

Overall we haven't aged a bit but can you guess who doesn't colour her hair?

So until next time, do keep stitching!

Infant Wardrobe I - Special Occasion Dressing now ready to ship!

At long last all the parts are here and assembled, folded and stuffed ready to ship! It will be delivered to my distributor on Fri. You can order from the Amberlane web site or from Grace L. Knott at the moment. The stores won't have it for a while but do be sure to go in and request it!! Erika is working furiously to get everything on the web site updated and the photos of this pattern posted in the Atelier.

I've spent this week folding the large pattern sheets as there are no machines that will do this to the size needed to fit the envelope so it is with weary shoulders that I write the post. It has taken what seems forever to reach this point. I did 99% of this pattern on the computer so this is another another personal milestone. (And I continue to fold...) The little suit that was shown in Sew Beautiful last year has come a long way and I hope you will like what has evolved.

This is the little jacket and dress pants as they were photographed for the magazine. At the time I couldn't find a mock turtle T-shirt to put with it and the magazine staff didn't have time to go looking either. I was amazed that they found a baby to wear the suit! Anyhow, the little boy is wearing a matching hat from my pattern, "The Baby Boy's Smocked Bonnet".

 

Two weeks ago I met with my designer friend, Angela, and we travelled down to the fabric district in downtown Toronto to shop for the fabric for my dress for the wedding. We found the fabric in one of her favourite stores, Queen Textiles (at 444 Queen St. W.). Although they have the shelves chalk-a-block full to overflowing, fabrics like I was looking for are tucked away in another part of the building where they are kept in pristine condition.  I chose a royal blue bamboo knit so it drapes well, is 'environmentally friendly', incredibly soft, cool to wear (bamboo breathes) and has 'give' to make it comfortable to wear. All important factors for a July wedding! 

Here are the two ladies from the shop and more of their fabrics.

That done, we spent the remaining time looking for just the right beads to trim the neckline and wrist. Angela's specialty is beading so I can hardly wait to see what she creates. Here she is examining some of the incredible embroidered silks. Fri. I have my first fitting! It is all so exciting. Yes, I will post photos of the dress and the wedding when we return!!

One of my students, Lynn B, entered a number of her garments in the Schomberg fair this spring and won 10 first place prizes, 2 second and 2 third place prizes! (Here in Canada, first place is a red ribbon and second is blue.) The dresses shown are all from the Grace Knott bishop patterns. Congratulations, Lynn, for work well done! 

 
And this one will go on to be displayed in the craft room at the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies Convention in Toronto, Feb. 2012!! I am so proud of Lynn.

So for now I will leave you and get back to folding those large pattern sheets. They simply can not live in my dining room and there are no more places large enough left to store them. Wish me luck as it is going to be a fabulous week weather-wise and it will be just too tempting to play hooky. 

 

So until next time, keep stitching!!!

The Pink Truffle Collection

"The Pink Truffle Collection" is on display at The Art Exchange on Wortley Road, London, ON. Up until now I have not been able to show the Collection due to contract restrictions. But now that they are on display in the gallery at long last I can show you what I was working on over the winter!  

                                      

If you go to their web site you can see the exhibit, "The Fabric of Art". Simply click on one of the photographs and a slide show will come up of that artist's work. There are some really amazing pieces on display and for sale during the exhibit. The Fabric of Art closes on June 4th. I have been promised photos of the installation and if they come through, I will post them here.  

This is the first time I have entered into an art gallery show and I have certainly learned a great deal. 

So this past weekend we opened the cottage. It was so warm on Fri. evening that we had the sliding doors to the deck open until 10 p.m. - we haven't been able to do that at home. Well it didn't last long! The next morning it was cold again and raining so I worked indoors to get the place ready for summer. Of course, as we were about to leave on Sun. the sun came out.  I caught a photo of one of the trilliums we planted a couple of years ago. I thought if we planted some they would multiply but so far no luck. The woods behind us were carpeted in them but it wasn't fit to take pictures. If they are still in bloom next time we are up there, I will take more photos. The trillium is Ontario's provincial flower and comes in pink and red but white is the most common colour. In fact I am not sure I have ever seen a red trillium!

While I am waiting for the printer to deliver the new pattern, I'm working on Christmas ornaments for A Needle Pulling Thread Magazine. The deadline is June 1st so I have some heavy duty stitching and writing to do to be ready for that date! As is normal, I will be submitting a beginner, an intermediate and an advanced level design. We shall see what space Carla has and, if she approves of the submission, then I will let you know the publication date. 

It is great fun to create Christmas balls any time of the year as they are small items and can go with you to the hockey rink or the soccer field. They make a great medium to try new stitches, techniques and fibers. And you can make some amazing decorations with fabric you would never wear. So watch for more information.

My friend Angela and I have started on my dress for Robyn's wedding. This week we are going down to Queen Street to look for the fabric. With my silver hair, I am hoping to find a rich royal blue which should also be slimming. Last week we worked out the design and did a pin fitting. Angela was couturier trained in Europe and had a bridal wear business for years. Now she teaches at Seneca college. Her specialty is beading so I am eager to see what she has in mind for my gown.

So until next time, keep stitching!