Hemming a Tulle Skirt

It’s prom time and one of my dear nieces asked me to hem and alter her dress and to sew a really puffy petticoat for under the dress.    Absolutely beautiful and a skirt of yards of tulle.

The first and most time consuming step was to remove and replace about half of the lace applique and bead-sequin trim.  While this took time, it was straight forward.  On the other hand, I knew that hemming the tulle was a once and done affair.  If not done correctly the first time, removing stitches would result in damaged tulle.  Here’s what the hem looked like originally – a narrow turned over hem.

As you can see, it wasn’t sewed all that well when the garment was manufactured.  It was turned over twice and sewed close to the edge.  Originally my plan was to repeat that process after the dress was cut to the desired length.  Fate changed that plan.

On the day that I was finishing the dress alterations, one of my sewing friends came to my house to see how a serger works.  One of the finishes I showed her was a rolled hem. Immediately I realized that’s what I should use for the hem.  Why hadn’t I previously thought of this?  The result was a beautifully finished rolled hem.

How to Serge a Rolled Hem

While this process will vary slightly by serger, the general process is the same.

1. Remove the left needle.

2. Thread the right needle and the upper and lower looper with thread that matches the fabric.

Note: Because of the limited serger thread color selection, I used one spool of regular sewing thread and wound 2 bobbins in the same color. 

3. Set to a very narrow stitch width.

4. Set stitch length to a very short stitch – some sergers have rolled hem settings.

5.  Disengage the cutting blade.

6.  Place cut edge ~1/16″ to the right of the right needle.  This part will turn under and will disappear into the rolled hem

7.  Sew a sample one the fabric you’re hemming.

Note: The fabric should not pull or ruffle the edge. 

8.  Adjust tension as needed.

Note: This is the part that varies by machine so it’s difficult to provide specific directions.

The result is an amazingly beautiful hem and it takes only minutes to complete.  I was so thankful that I remembered to use this finishing method, which would work equally well for chiffon, crepe or many other fabrics.

Settings for a Baby Lock Evolve (or similar serger)

• Remove left or Overlock 1 needle
• Disengage cutting knife
• Stitch width 3.5
• Stitch Length 1.5R (Rolled hem setting)
• Stitch Selector  - D
• Upper Looper Selector – Up position
• Tension – no settings as this is automatic on an Evolve

I Own Print Blocks, but Now What?

It seems so long since we were in India and Nepal though in reality it was only one month ago.  Not only was I left with substantial knowledge of the countries and cultures, and great memories, but also a new textile-related interest.  Previously I wrote about the decline of the textile industry in Nepal.

Interestingly, as a result of textile companies going out of business, there were print dye blocks and bulk powdered dye was for sale in flea markets and souvenir stalls.  The dye colors were intriguing, but what if I could actually dye fabric with the blocks?

Powdered dye in gorgeous colors

Since I didn’t purchase any fabric, it only seemed appropriate to purchase some dye blocks and dye – maybe I could make some interesting fabric?

It must be said that I knew absolutely nothing about how to dye or print dry fabric, but I was confident that I could learn.  My GD’s and I gave it a try several weeks ago, using standard liquid dye and fabric paint.  They had so much fun, especially because one of the blocks is a cat, and they have each wanted a piece of clothing with a cat design.  It was great fun I found out that I have lots to learn.

Stay tuned!

Textiles in Nepal

Women in historic Bhaktapur

Like India, Nepal’s fashion scene is pretty spectacular.  While the clothing is different from your favorite fashionista’s attire, the colors are beautiful and women wear their garments with great pride.

Time for Socialization

Unfortunately, instead of being manufactured in Nepal, using the traditional block printing methods, many of the fabrics are now imported from China.  This causes concern on two fronts: 1)The end of the tradition of block printing and 2)Loss of jobs for persons who work in the textile industry.  Our tour guide spoke of two textile plants recently closed leaving 1400 people unemployed.  As China produces fabric more inexpensively than Nepal, this will continue to occur.  Not to Nepal’s benefit, there are rolling electricity black-outs in most communities which certainly doesn’t benefit this or any other industry.

One of dozens of fabric stores in the Kathmandu Valley

All of the gorgeous fabrics are not cottons as many of the sari’s are also made from polyester.  No matter which fabric, the colors are gorgeous.  Below are several more photos.

Mother is rubbing mustard oil on baby’s hair

Daily trip to the community well to obtain water

Babas in their colorful garments

Fashion in India: Easy on the Eyes

In the past few weeks we had the privilege of traveling in India and Nepal; a countries where we saw thousands of women wearing the gorgeous and elegant “sari”.  Surrounded by all of that fabric, it seems impossible that I would have returned home without a single cut of fabric.  Even my BIL bought 2 Indian sari’s –  essentially 6 yards of fabric, and I’m sure he has never before purchased fabric.  What was wrong with me?

In areas where we traveled in India, there were some but not a large number of fabric and/or sari stores.  Most of the stores had gorgeous and very colorful fabrics with lots of bling, however most fabrics were polyester.  Admittedly, I dreamed of returning from India with bags of silk fabric.  Of course the textile factory we visited had gorgeous silks but at incredibly high prices, even for U.S. fabric stores.  Thus “bags of fabric” didn’t happen.   (Sorry, Karen, I know you really wanted some silk from India.)

With no purchases to show you, I’ll share some photos of the beautiful women of India wearing stunning garments.  They were so easy on the eyes that I couldn’t stop my camera from snapping just one more photo.  Enjoy!

Next time, I’ll discuss Nepal’s textile scene, which is somewhat different than India’s thriving textile industry.

Sewing a Draped Front Cardigan

Still stylish this year is the draped front cardigan, which is so easy to sew, even if you don’t have a pattern.  One of my sewing friends asked me how to alter a cardigan pattern to make a draped front, so I thought I’d share the information with you too – with apologies for the poor photos.

Literally smiling at the camera, I was wearing a very lightweight wool knit sweater I sewed. (because of the fabric weight, it doesn’t drape as well as heavier fabrics).  Because of the striped design, it is easy to see how the sweater pattern was altered.

This was Jalie’s pleated sweater pattern 2919 with the pleats removed and without a collar.  In the next photo, you will see that 14-16″ of fabric was added to each side of the center front in order to achieve the draped look.  The neckline was curved slightly as well.

In the following photo you can see that when widening the front, I kept the edge on the grain of the fabric.  To finish the neckline, I cut a 2-1/2 or 3″ band of fabric (cut on the grain, using the lace pattern in the fabric) and sewed it along the entire neckline. The neckline band was not stretched; it was simply used as an edge finish.  The vertical edge was stitched with a 1″ hem to add weight.  For a heavier fabric, folding over a 1/2 or 5/8″ hem would have worked.

Using this same technique, here’s one with more draped sweater.  To achieve this, I extended the front center another 2-4″, or so that when pulled out straight, the center front edge was beyond the armpit on the opposite side.

Hope this helps you to make this stylish sweater without buying yet one more pattern.

Fashion Designers in the Making

My DGD both love sewing American Girl doll clothes.  Doesn’t every American Girl doll need a fine-looking wardrobe?  Besides, with a fabric stash at hand, Mira and Cate don’t need to save their hard-earned dollars only to have them evaporate with a single purchase of doll clothing.

Sewing Together

Writing this reminds me of my incentive to sew when I was a teen, my parents paid for fabric to make clothes however if I wanted ready-to-wear, I bought it with my hard-earned money.

Back to the story.

Cate’s Creation

Recently, both Mira (age 10) and Caitlin (age 7) had dreams of a “beautiful” American Girl doll dress.  My conversation with Cate went something like this:

Cate:  Grandma, I want to make a REALLY beautiful dress for Kit and McKenna.

Me:  What type of REALLY beautiful dress?

Cate:  One that’s REALLY beautiful and made from your fabric, not from Mira’s and my box of fabric.

Me:  Well, let’s see what we can find.

We made a trip to my sewing room and dug through the bin of “silk and pretties” (Cate knew exactly where that bin was located) and she quickly selected an Asian print, followed by a quick rummage through my lace drawer to make her trim selections.  Most important of all, I asked her to draw a picture of what she wanted.  I wanted Cate to be successful but secretly feared that she wished for something very complex).  Here is “Cate’s Creation”:

Cate’s Creation

I found the simplest possible 18″ doll dress pattern and soon we were cutting and sewing.  With an amazing command of the sewing machine, Cate zig-zagged all of the edges, sewed the seams, ran the gathering stitches and gathered the skirt.  Here is the REALLY beautiful result:

So Pretty in Pink

Proud Cate with McKenna

Mira’s Couture

Mira has loved creating fashion for both Kit and McKenna, though she is not the owner of either doll.  This however was the most elaborate to date.  Prior to designing this dress she made an adorable white top hat with black trim for Kit (maybe I can get a photo and add later) and then envisioned the black and white dress to be worn with the top hat.   More experienced with a drawing pencil, Mira provided sufficient detail to challenge both of us.  What a gorgeous design but where would I find this pattern?

In a box of scrap fabric, we found some white poly crepe and black velvet, and she selected a small embroidery design.  Mira cut out the dress and sewed most of the it except the sleeves and cuff – much of it was independent sewing.  She selected the appropriate sized snaps (no velcro here) and we shared sewing them onto the dress back and cuffs.

Kit’s Black and White gown

Mira and Kit – so lovely

Tutorial: American Girl Twirly Dress

Kit’s new dress

The last post was a tutorial on how to make this dress for a big girl.  Here are a few tips on how to make this  Twirly Dress for a doll.  The steps are the same as described here with the following changes and tips.

1.  Use an 18″ doll pattern for a top or T-shirt.

2.  Instead of cutting the top back on the fold, add 3/4″ for an overlap.

3.  Finished length for the side seams on the top – 5-1/2″

4.  Skirt tiers – cut 3 strips 1-1/2″ by the width of the fabric.

5.  When assembling the top, sew both side seams but not the back seam as the back needs to be  at least partially open in order to get the dress onto the doll.

6.  Kit’s dress is a little too twirly.  Gathering ratio should be less than for a girl’s dress.  I would recommend no more than a 1.5:1 ratio.

7.  After tiers are ruffled and sewed onto the dress, sew up the back seam, stopping at the point where the skirt meets the top.

8.  Add closures, using velcro or snaps.

Not sure why, but here is Kit in a “time-out”

Tutorial: Girl’s Twirly Velveteen Dress

For Christmas, every girl deserves a pretty new dress. This year, Catie’s dress was a Twirl Dress – a T-shirt dress with a ruffled skirt and of course a matching dress for Kit, her American Girl doll.  Made from stretch velveteen, this twirly dress is a favorite style for girls and in fact, it’s the third in this style that I’ve sewed for Cate.  Most of all, mom’s love it because it looks dressy, is washable and the color doesn’t fade.

Christmas dress for Cate and Kit

The steps to make this adorable dress are so simple that it’s hard to believe it all starts with a T-shirt pattern.  In this case, I used a boy’s T-shirt pattern (minus the neck binding) I’ve modified a number of times.

Tutorial:

Supplies:  1-1/2  to 2 yards of knit velveteen fabric (depends on the fabric width), matching thread, embroidered design.  Wider fabric

Steps for Dress Top:

1. Select a T-shirt pattern of the desired size, or one size larger if you wish to have growing room.  For the length, use the full length of the T-shirt.  (Cate’s is a size 6x-7 with a finished shirt side seam is 12″)

2. Cut T-shirt from the fabric, taking care to have all pieces cut in the same direction.

Tip:  In order to get the richness of the velvet color, when cutting velvet the nap should go upward.  In other words, when you brush your hand upward on the fabric, it feels smooth.  

3. Calculate how many strips you will need for the twirly skirt.     

• Tier 1 – at least twice the circumference of the top  (52″ for Cate – fabric was 60″ wide)
• Tier 2: One-and-a-half to twice the circumference of Tier 1 (requires sewing 2 strips together)
• Tier 3 – One-and-a-half to twice the circumference of Tier 2 (will also require sewing several strips together)

Note:  If you are using a ruffling foot, do not cut the strips to the desired length as ruffling is not an exact process.  You can cut off any extra fabric after the tier is attached to the previous layer.

4.  For the top front, I made the final cut after the embroidery.  For the skirt, cut the number of strips you will need, cutting across the grain.  For a smaller size, these strips are 3″ , 3-1/2″ or 4″ wide.  For Cate’s dress I cut 4-1/2″ strips, which allows for 4″ tiers minus 1/4″ for each seam allowance. 

Cut pieces. Top front was embroidered before the final cutting.

5.  Embroider or place your desired design on the shirt front.

Close up of embroidery and neckline finish

6.  Assemble the T-shirt but do not sew the bottom 5 or 6″ of one side seam.  Finish the sleeve and neckline but do not hem the shirt.  (For the neckline I turned over 1/2″ and sewed with a coverstitch however  using a double needle method on a standard sewing machine would work as well).

Now Assemble/add the Skirt:

There are several ways to make the ruffles.

1. Gather the top of the cut strip and attach to the dress top (i.e. t-shirt) at a 1.5:1 or 2:1 gathering ratio.  For subsequent ruffles, add the gathered portion to the bottom of the previous ruffle.  Test to see how you want it to look.
2. Use a ruffling foot on your sewing machine or serger, set to a 1.5:1 or 2:1 ratio.  For this method, it is important to do a test or two to get the result you want.  My preferred method is to use the serger ruffling foot.

Method 2: Sewing the first tier onto the dress top.  Clear strip is water-soluble stabilizer. Bottom layer is being gathered.

Steps if using a Ruffling Foot:

1.  Place the piece to be ruffled on the bottom, with right sides together.

Note:  Because this fabric is stretchy, holding a narrow strip of water-soluble stabilizer over the top fabric (piece that’s not being gathered) will reduce the amount of undesired stretch.

2.  When you get to the end, you will likely have some left over ruffle.  Cut off.

3.  Sew the next two tiers in the same manner.

4. Sew the open side seam.

5.  Hem by turning under 1/4″.  Sew on a standard sewing machine.

6.  Steam dress from the back side, using a generous amount of steam over the ruffled seams.  If the top layer stretched, the steaming will help the latex in the fabric to shrink back into shape.

After steaming the ruffles.

From the back

Cate, Mira and dolls

How did that Cruise Wardrobe Work?

It’s been so long since the last post that you probably think I fell off the face of the earth. In reality we were traveling for several weeks, then on a 14 day cruise, visiting our son in Philly and being sick.  The day we got off the cruise ship, both Kevin and I got some type of illness.  Now, two weeks after the cruise ended, we still have a fatigue that seems impossible to shake.

After bragging about the small volume of cruise clothing I tucked in the bottom of my backpack for our recent trip, it only seems fair that I publicly evaluate the plan.  The following are my thoughts, but first a few photos for proof:

LBD with silk shawl

Silk top, black shawl and LBS (this is my favorite)

LBD with a tube of petal trip basted onto the neckline.

1.  When traveling on land for two weeks, I was incredibly grateful to only have a small bag of formal cruise wear at the bottom of my backpack (aka suitcase).  At each hotel it stayed in the bottom of my bag and I didn’t even look at it until we got onto the cruise ship.

2.  I still smile with delight as I think of our cruise-mates struggling with two suitcases apiece, each nearly the size of a small car.

3. The number of pieces of formal clothing was perfect for four formal nights on the ship; a lbd, a long black skirt, 3 sleeveless tops, 2 silk shawls, one pair of sparkly flats.  In fact I didn’t need one of the silk tops for a formal night.

4. The amount of wrinkling was not insignificant, however after hanging the clothing most of the wrinkles fell out.  Thankfully the ship has a laundry service which was only necessary for the lbd which is made from a poly-rayon-lycra blend.

Suit-in-a-Bag

I didn’t mention that Kevin packed in a similar manner.  Naming it “a suit-in-a-bag”, he packed a Lands’ End wool blazer and pants in a zip-lock bag.   When he hung the pieces, they hardly had any wrinkles.

Kevin’s “Suit-in-a-bag” and me in ruffled tank and LBS (long black skirt)

Cruise Wardrobe in a Bag

No excuses for not posting sooner – blogging mojo has been low.  Just like when I was a kid going to confession, “I’ll try to do better”.

In the next several days we are leaving for a 2 week European vacation followed by a 2 week cruise, followed by Thanksgiving and a wedding in Philly before finding our way back home.  Here’s the dilemma:  We’re budget travelers (within reason that is), not only in how we spend our travel dollars but also in how we pack.  That means my 2600 cc. backpack will be my trusted friend for the next month.  Being a one suitcase kind of person, you can’t imagine the shock-waves that went through my body upon learning that the cruise has 3 formal dinners and 5 semi-formal dinners.  That just doesn’t fit with backpacking.  I’ll tell you more about the plan in a minute, but here, in a 2 gallon ziplock bag, is my dress-clothes cruise wardrobe.

Cruise Wardrobe:

• A LBD and a long black skirt (LBS) that I can wear with tights or leggings while traveling.
• 3 sleeveless tops – a black ruffled tank, silk tank left over from my work wardrobe and a lightweight royal Thai silk top from my closet.
• 3 shawls – 2 silk (one print, one black) and a Pashmina (will be my warm and stylish scarf in cool countries).
• Wool top with scarf trim (will also wear this while traveling)
• Chiffon trim that I’ll baste to the LBD neckline for one wearing.
• Rhinestone brooch.
• Black sparkly flats (not in the bag).

Here are the pieces of clothing all laid out and ready to pack.

Seems possible to get 8 outfits out of this mix. What do you think?

Travel Wardrobe:

• Jeans, black pants and a denim skirt.
• 4 wool knit long sleeve tops
• 2 very lightweight sweaters for layering
• Long undies, undies, wool socks, etc
• Tights and leggings, fleece hoodie, jacket, Pashmina, mittens and gloves.
• Clogs and a back-up pair of shoes

Wedding attire:

We are cheating on that one.  When Shaun and Deb visited several weeks ago, we sent our wedding clothes with them.  Sure didn’t want to carry that dress around for a month.

Come to think of it, I sure hope the cruise ship has a pressing service or I’m in trouble.

While I don’t sew all of my clothes, this is the first time I’ve traveled with a wardrobe where I’ve sewed every piece of clothing.  Maybe that’s why I haven’t been blogging?  At any rate, I took lots of photos of lessons learned and will share them in future posts.