(Are they still called "facings" if they go all the way around the neck?)
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
09/10/2015
Facings
It turned out I had beginner's luck with the first band... but now (after some picking-out, new try, more picking-out) all the bands are in place. Also, all the facings are in place.
(Are they still called "facings" if they go all the way around the neck?)
(Are they still called "facings" if they go all the way around the neck?)
06/10/2015
03/10/2015
22/03/2015
A little sewing on the side
(but don't tell anybody that the very sloppy-looking stitching is mine, please!)
"Can you make a cover for an inflatable beach ball? It needs to be mainly blue, and have patches in several colours."
"Er??? I mean yes, I suppose so, but what...?"
"It will represent how much each of us humans would have at our disposal, should the earth (resources) be fairly divided."
So I looked in the "eyes", found some blue, green, yellow, red and black acetate lining fabric (and a couple of other scraps). The "client" made the pattern (it was his beach ball, after all), and I sewed.
It was fiddly to appliqué the patches (I'm using the word quite loosely, here - they are merely basted on), and it turned out the ball was a tad too big, thus the not-very-sightly gusset-y thing. But it is ready for play tomorrow, which was one of the wishes from the client.
(The blue is for the sea, red is for "unusable" (mountains and wasteland), yellow is for savannah, green for forests, the blue-with-plaid is for pasture and the black is for fertile land. There are two of each "non-fertile" patch. Each human has a total of 5 and a half football fields, which is what all the patches combined sum up to, I am told.)
13/06/2013
An odd commission
"Can you make a bag for my three-dimensional puzzle?"
(Er... 3-D puzzle? Bag?)
"Sure. How big is it?"
"About 30 x 30 x 45"
"It must be some puzzle, being that size... Can I see it?"
"No, it isn't here. And I need it asap, the bag"
(yes, of course - )
"OK, I'll see what I can do"
"Oh - and it weighs some 20-30 kgs"
Obviously, my silk stash would not be of any use, here. (Or, the bourrette might, but it crocks even after several washings.)
Fund a roll of unknown upholstery fabric, probably polyester, probably indestructible. But 30 kgs? And it needed some padding, thus also some covering fabric. Well - I still have some of that waterproof poly...
It soon became obvious that it would be so much easier if I had the thing itself to make the final fittings, so we went to fetch it.
Here are some of the pieces:
The puzzle (nearly done) in it's bag:
And the final fitting of the lid:
The puzzle is (I have to take this on faith) a 3-D model of the energy consumption of the whole of Sweden 2010, and it is made of solid wood. And yes, it did weigh some 20-30 kgs.
Next time (if there is one), I will try a slightly different way of sewing it up, I think. There were some tricky seams...
(Er... 3-D puzzle? Bag?)
"Sure. How big is it?"
"About 30 x 30 x 45"
"It must be some puzzle, being that size... Can I see it?"
"No, it isn't here. And I need it asap, the bag"
(yes, of course - )
"OK, I'll see what I can do"
"Oh - and it weighs some 20-30 kgs"
Obviously, my silk stash would not be of any use, here. (Or, the bourrette might, but it crocks even after several washings.)
Fund a roll of unknown upholstery fabric, probably polyester, probably indestructible. But 30 kgs? And it needed some padding, thus also some covering fabric. Well - I still have some of that waterproof poly...
It soon became obvious that it would be so much easier if I had the thing itself to make the final fittings, so we went to fetch it.
Here are some of the pieces:
The puzzle (nearly done) in it's bag:
And the final fitting of the lid:
The puzzle is (I have to take this on faith) a 3-D model of the energy consumption of the whole of Sweden 2010, and it is made of solid wood. And yes, it did weigh some 20-30 kgs.
Next time (if there is one), I will try a slightly different way of sewing it up, I think. There were some tricky seams...
15/05/2013
Matching stripes!
Laura's summer top mk 1:
(click for bigger and better view of the matches)
And the next one is cut (and serged):
(click for bigger and better view of the matches)
And the next one is cut (and serged):
14/03/2013
Organized!
No more pawing around among the gown patterns:
Now that I have (yikes!) six different gown patterns, I decided it was time to make a "foolproof" organization. I made copies of such pattern pieces that are used in more than one, put one complete pattern, including a printout of the how-to description, fabric samples, best lay-out for production... in one bag and hung them over the guest bed in the studio.
Two more bags to prepare ('cos one of the gowns will never be produced again).
(And now you know where I buy my food, too :-)
Now that I have (yikes!) six different gown patterns, I decided it was time to make a "foolproof" organization. I made copies of such pattern pieces that are used in more than one, put one complete pattern, including a printout of the how-to description, fabric samples, best lay-out for production... in one bag and hung them over the guest bed in the studio.
Two more bags to prepare ('cos one of the gowns will never be produced again).
(And now you know where I buy my food, too :-)
04/03/2013
And… they’re OOOFFFF!
(is what the, hm, what’s-it-called? "speaker"? yells when the racehorses jumps out of the starting gates)
Two of these are now in the mail.
For me it remains to write up all the details, including what I learned about "appliqué-ing" velvet onto a flat surface.
And perhaps present it to my pals in the Burgon Society, to get (informed) critique...
Oh – and here is a link to a video showing a couple of the velvet gowns on stage (opens in new window, as usual).
02/03/2013
Another detail
This is a sleeve decoration, in place. (The not-yet-attached lining is just hanging inside)
This model, like every "new" one, has caused several procedure reflections. For the velvet gowns one problen was to attach the (flat) silk to the velvet. Here it was the opposite: how to attach the velvet to the (flat) worsted. The pile of the velvet tended to make the worsted pucker.
One can go any lengths towards perfection, but for several reasons there have to be compromizes – time is limited, and time is also money.
After some (false) starts I had found a "good enough" way to attach the velvet facings. (The cording helped, too)
Now, to attach the sleeve decorations was another thing... but I think I have found a way.
This model, like every "new" one, has caused several procedure reflections. For the velvet gowns one problen was to attach the (flat) silk to the velvet. Here it was the opposite: how to attach the velvet to the (flat) worsted. The pile of the velvet tended to make the worsted pucker.
One can go any lengths towards perfection, but for several reasons there have to be compromizes – time is limited, and time is also money.
After some (false) starts I had found a "good enough" way to attach the velvet facings. (The cording helped, too)
Now, to attach the sleeve decorations was another thing... but I think I have found a way.
24/02/2013
15/02/2013
There is velvet
and then there is velvet...
Some time ago I wrote "when sewing velvet, there is no such thing as too many pins, or too much basting".
Little did I know.
In fact, I was Very Lucky with that velvet...
Now, this velvet... gets marked by pins, by basting, by tracing the pattern pieces...
Hand sewing is underrated anyway, right?
(Front piece just pinned to the dummy, which has a... Prominent Colour)
And a free tip: for ages and ages I have used these nuts to weigh down the paper pattern pieces (or whatever needs to be weighed down). Some time ago, I found one can buy special weights to use for this - and they are quite a bit pricier than are nuts from the hardware store...
Some time ago I wrote "when sewing velvet, there is no such thing as too many pins, or too much basting".
Little did I know.
In fact, I was Very Lucky with that velvet...
Now, this velvet... gets marked by pins, by basting, by tracing the pattern pieces...
Hand sewing is underrated anyway, right?
(Front piece just pinned to the dummy, which has a... Prominent Colour)
And a free tip: for ages and ages I have used these nuts to weigh down the paper pattern pieces (or whatever needs to be weighed down). Some time ago, I found one can buy special weights to use for this - and they are quite a bit pricier than are nuts from the hardware store...
11/02/2013
05/02/2013
New adventures in academic dress
Same principle as the others, only longer and wider, this is part of a sleeve.
Trying to use a very old version of Elements, not really knowing what I’m doing – is there a way to optimize the pattern layout to minimize cabbage?
25/01/2013
Fabric to frock
First catch your fabric...
If it turns out that your favourite fabric shop has stopped "doing" black velvet (Black velvet? Out of fashion? – come on...), you can always go to London, after having made sure that all shops at Goldhawk Road are still there.
Arrived at Shepherd’s Bush underground station. It snowed...
(When we first got the through-trains to Copenhagen, a prominent local politician talked about how wonderful it was to be able to get to London "before lunch". If you like your lunch late-ish, and have a car to take you to Växjö to catch the first train, I suppose it is still true...)
After rummaging in 3-4 shops, I had secured the velvet I needed. With still 2 hours to go before I had to leave for Gatwick, I had a well-deserved pint with some crab cakes.
- like Cinderella, I was home before midnight, if only just.
About 40 work-hours later, even the second gown was done. (The first had been mailed.)
I delivered it in person, yesterday. By train, this time.
Sunset over Stockholm.
It is good to be home.
If it turns out that your favourite fabric shop has stopped "doing" black velvet (Black velvet? Out of fashion? – come on...), you can always go to London, after having made sure that all shops at Goldhawk Road are still there.
Arrived at Shepherd’s Bush underground station. It snowed...
(When we first got the through-trains to Copenhagen, a prominent local politician talked about how wonderful it was to be able to get to London "before lunch". If you like your lunch late-ish, and have a car to take you to Växjö to catch the first train, I suppose it is still true...)
After rummaging in 3-4 shops, I had secured the velvet I needed. With still 2 hours to go before I had to leave for Gatwick, I had a well-deserved pint with some crab cakes.
- like Cinderella, I was home before midnight, if only just.
About 40 work-hours later, even the second gown was done. (The first had been mailed.)
I delivered it in person, yesterday. By train, this time.
Sunset over Stockholm.
It is good to be home.
10/01/2013
Da capo, sort of
04/08/2012
Seafaring and the importance of weaving
Nearly every time I say something like that, at least one person laughs and objects. Weaving – important for ships??? Oh, come off it, you weavers always want to show off.
Well.
The first "boats" were probably raft-like: timbers lashed together by... ropes, perhaps?
Some time later, so called "sails" were invented. And sails are... woven, right?
Sailing ships were around for a long time – according to Wikipedia from about 3200 BC, until the birth of the steam-driven ships (Wikipedia, again: [...]France, by 1774 [...]working steamboat with rotating paddles [...]sailed [...] 1776, apparently the first steamship to sail successfully.)
Several of the sailing ships had rather large sails.
It is believed that Santa Maria, Columbus’ flag ship, had a sail area of around 350 square metres – and the biggest ever sailing ship (Preussen, built in 1902) sported 4650 square metres of sails. (Even with a weaving width of 2 metres, that means a roll of 2325 m, or more that 2500 yds, of sailcloth.)
I think I have made my point: before there could be sailing ships, both spinning and weaving must have been invented...
On a trip to Karlskrona, I saw some examples of "fibre arts" pertaining to sea-faring:
The sloops were built between 1830 and 1860, and are now used for (small, but still…) regattas every Thursday during summers. Read more here.
In the museum I saw some more "fibre arts"
Jarramas is one of the world’s smalles full-riggers:
To complete this post: a rather big "water spout"
Well.
The first "boats" were probably raft-like: timbers lashed together by... ropes, perhaps?
Some time later, so called "sails" were invented. And sails are... woven, right?
Sailing ships were around for a long time – according to Wikipedia from about 3200 BC, until the birth of the steam-driven ships (Wikipedia, again: [...]France, by 1774 [...]working steamboat with rotating paddles [...]sailed [...] 1776, apparently the first steamship to sail successfully.)
Several of the sailing ships had rather large sails.
It is believed that Santa Maria, Columbus’ flag ship, had a sail area of around 350 square metres – and the biggest ever sailing ship (Preussen, built in 1902) sported 4650 square metres of sails. (Even with a weaving width of 2 metres, that means a roll of 2325 m, or more that 2500 yds, of sailcloth.)
I think I have made my point: before there could be sailing ships, both spinning and weaving must have been invented...
On a trip to Karlskrona, I saw some examples of "fibre arts" pertaining to sea-faring:
The sloops were built between 1830 and 1860, and are now used for (small, but still…) regattas every Thursday during summers. Read more here.
In the museum I saw some more "fibre arts"
Jarramas is one of the world’s smalles full-riggers:
To complete this post: a rather big "water spout"
20/09/2011
A Thursday in Borås
VÄV2011 was held in Borås the weekend past.
As usual there were lots of people, lots of yarns (but why so many knitting yarns?), lots of books... and lots of exhibitions.
As usual I wondered why I had gone, when I was inside in the heat, throng, ready-warped rug warps... (I seldom find anything at these fairs, 'cos I can't concentrate and I don't like to have to use my elbows to "get to see".)
I did meet with many old friends, some of which I haven't seen for years. This meant I had lots of coffee!
But: in Borås, there are several other things to be found. My big finds where about 75 meters of thin worsted fabric and 10 kgs of thin worsted yarn (I think he said it was 2/56, but it doesn't really matter), both from an industrial outlet.
Black is hopeless to photograph, at least to a hopeless amateur like me! The fabric has a nice drape, which may (or not) show in the picture.
The yarn is posing on the table of one of my sewing machines, and lies beside a cotton 22/2.
On the way home, I visited an exhibition (no water spouts in sight, but it rained).
This was labelled as an "area rug", and the pattern is just brushed. The attendant assured me it was not fixated(?) in any way, which means one can't touch it without destroying the images. Not very practical, but impressive to see all the detail the artist had managed to "brush in" (click to enlarge).
10 minutes from home, there were double rainbows pointing at my house, but as I was driving these will have to do:
As usual there were lots of people, lots of yarns (but why so many knitting yarns?), lots of books... and lots of exhibitions.
As usual I wondered why I had gone, when I was inside in the heat, throng, ready-warped rug warps... (I seldom find anything at these fairs, 'cos I can't concentrate and I don't like to have to use my elbows to "get to see".)
I did meet with many old friends, some of which I haven't seen for years. This meant I had lots of coffee!
But: in Borås, there are several other things to be found. My big finds where about 75 meters of thin worsted fabric and 10 kgs of thin worsted yarn (I think he said it was 2/56, but it doesn't really matter), both from an industrial outlet.
Black is hopeless to photograph, at least to a hopeless amateur like me! The fabric has a nice drape, which may (or not) show in the picture.
The yarn is posing on the table of one of my sewing machines, and lies beside a cotton 22/2.
On the way home, I visited an exhibition (no water spouts in sight, but it rained).
This was labelled as an "area rug", and the pattern is just brushed. The attendant assured me it was not fixated(?) in any way, which means one can't touch it without destroying the images. Not very practical, but impressive to see all the detail the artist had managed to "brush in" (click to enlarge).
10 minutes from home, there were double rainbows pointing at my house, but as I was driving these will have to do:
21/02/2011
In case you wondered:
I am not a collector.
The fact that I own 6 electric sewing machines, 4 treadle machines, one hand-cranked and 3 sergers does not mean I am a collector.
The other day I met with the glass-industry study group (don't ask - or, take a look at the glass portion of my other blog) we came to discuss collecting. They declared themselves to be collectors (of glass, mostly), and offered me a definition: a collector has no interest in if the thing (maybe I should say artefact) "works" - if only it looks "good".
And more: a true collector would never use the thing (artefact) - if s/he has paid good money for a (say) glass vase designed by (say) Gate, s/he would perhaps put it on a shelf somewhere, but would never even dream of using it to put flowers in. (Knowing some of the self-proclaimed collectors a bit better, I would suspect
the artefact would be placed in a box somewhere, the new owner hoping it could one day be sold - an investment, in fact.)
The idea of restoring an artefact is unthinkable, I was told.
So - I am not a collector.
Well - maybe this one is more for looks than for (even potential) use:
He is, as you can see, called Shakespear and was born in Birmingham. The manual that came with him is dated 1865 - but, according to this site that can't be true. I bought him for his looks - but: he sews! He is a chain-stitch machine, and it is awkward to have to dedicate one hand to the cranking.
My mother gave me my first sewing machine when she got a newer Adler. This is a Singer, and she got it from her mother as a treadle machine. Mother invested in an upgrade, and he has been motorized in all my life. He still sews beautifully, and I use him for "important" edgestitching. Unfortunately, the treadle is unconfortable if used for any length of time. At the moment, he sits on a shelf.
Later, I bought a Husqvarna (in 1972, if memory serves). She served me faithfully until last year - and I will probably have her repaired. (Why? because I'm an idiot - and found a new Elna for approx the same price as the repair would have cost. I suppose it works - but there are no feet for it. AND the "standard" feet that I have been able to mount on ALL the other machines don't fit. Sigh.)
When I started to sew professionally, I bought Princess Pfaff, but I also needed other machines - topstitching in grey, green and yellow took way to long if I had to re-thread for each gown. I had the Singer and the Husqvarna, but I also retrieved the old Adler...
In the meantime, as I had space, I found an old treadle machine - a Husqvarna Triumf - a machine with a shuttle (instead of a bobbin). After some, er, fiddling, he sews. The shuttle looks almost exactly as does a fly-shuttle for weaving - the problem was to figure out how to load the bobbin.
I know the Triumf was maufactured in 1889, but haven't found out for how long.
I especially like the plate with the recommendations of which thread to use with which needle!
Then came the Sackmann's Victoria - I couldn't resist her, with all the mother-of-pearl inlays!
She also has a shuttle, but it operates sideways. Her needle/thread recommendation plate photographed better, as it is flat. (And I wish there was a better choice of sewing threads nowadays!)
She also has another detail - a small grindstone to sharpen the needles! (It took a long time of gentle oiling to make it turn - but now it does.)
Some 'net-search results indicate that this was manufactured by Singer - but the picture on this site shows an inlay much like my Victoria's - and says she comes from Germany.
For some time I also had a Singer 29K70, like this, bought from the estate of a shoemaker. The most interesting feature of that is that the whole needle bar (or maybe just the foot) could be rotated - you could sew "forwards" and have the piece going "backwards". In my house, it was only used once - we repaired a sail with it. And one day, I had a customer who "gave me an offer I couldn't refuse", so it is now gone. Hopefully to a good home.
Anyway. As I am no collector, I can disregard everything, and just enjoy all my sewing machines - even USE them!
- There are other things I also don't collect - like encyclopedias. For readers of Swedish, the pages Kuriosa on my website have some thoughts on the use of encyclopedias through time...
The fact that I own 6 electric sewing machines, 4 treadle machines, one hand-cranked and 3 sergers does not mean I am a collector.
The other day I met with the glass-industry study group (don't ask - or, take a look at the glass portion of my other blog) we came to discuss collecting. They declared themselves to be collectors (of glass, mostly), and offered me a definition: a collector has no interest in if the thing (maybe I should say artefact) "works" - if only it looks "good".
And more: a true collector would never use the thing (artefact) - if s/he has paid good money for a (say) glass vase designed by (say) Gate, s/he would perhaps put it on a shelf somewhere, but would never even dream of using it to put flowers in. (Knowing some of the self-proclaimed collectors a bit better, I would suspect
the artefact would be placed in a box somewhere, the new owner hoping it could one day be sold - an investment, in fact.)
The idea of restoring an artefact is unthinkable, I was told.
So - I am not a collector.
Well - maybe this one is more for looks than for (even potential) use:
He is, as you can see, called Shakespear and was born in Birmingham. The manual that came with him is dated 1865 - but, according to this site that can't be true. I bought him for his looks - but: he sews! He is a chain-stitch machine, and it is awkward to have to dedicate one hand to the cranking.
My mother gave me my first sewing machine when she got a newer Adler. This is a Singer, and she got it from her mother as a treadle machine. Mother invested in an upgrade, and he has been motorized in all my life. He still sews beautifully, and I use him for "important" edgestitching. Unfortunately, the treadle is unconfortable if used for any length of time. At the moment, he sits on a shelf.
Later, I bought a Husqvarna (in 1972, if memory serves). She served me faithfully until last year - and I will probably have her repaired. (Why? because I'm an idiot - and found a new Elna for approx the same price as the repair would have cost. I suppose it works - but there are no feet for it. AND the "standard" feet that I have been able to mount on ALL the other machines don't fit. Sigh.)
When I started to sew professionally, I bought Princess Pfaff, but I also needed other machines - topstitching in grey, green and yellow took way to long if I had to re-thread for each gown. I had the Singer and the Husqvarna, but I also retrieved the old Adler...
In the meantime, as I had space, I found an old treadle machine - a Husqvarna Triumf - a machine with a shuttle (instead of a bobbin). After some, er, fiddling, he sews. The shuttle looks almost exactly as does a fly-shuttle for weaving - the problem was to figure out how to load the bobbin.
I know the Triumf was maufactured in 1889, but haven't found out for how long.
I especially like the plate with the recommendations of which thread to use with which needle!
Then came the Sackmann's Victoria - I couldn't resist her, with all the mother-of-pearl inlays!
She also has a shuttle, but it operates sideways. Her needle/thread recommendation plate photographed better, as it is flat. (And I wish there was a better choice of sewing threads nowadays!)
She also has another detail - a small grindstone to sharpen the needles! (It took a long time of gentle oiling to make it turn - but now it does.)
Some 'net-search results indicate that this was manufactured by Singer - but the picture on this site shows an inlay much like my Victoria's - and says she comes from Germany.
For some time I also had a Singer 29K70, like this, bought from the estate of a shoemaker. The most interesting feature of that is that the whole needle bar (or maybe just the foot) could be rotated - you could sew "forwards" and have the piece going "backwards". In my house, it was only used once - we repaired a sail with it. And one day, I had a customer who "gave me an offer I couldn't refuse", so it is now gone. Hopefully to a good home.
Anyway. As I am no collector, I can disregard everything, and just enjoy all my sewing machines - even USE them!
- There are other things I also don't collect - like encyclopedias. For readers of Swedish, the pages Kuriosa on my website have some thoughts on the use of encyclopedias through time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
