Almost a Sari Skirt

My parents recently visited India and my Mom brought back this lovely semi-sheer fabric that was finished at both ends. I declared it must be a sari ( which literally means strip of cloth ) but, a sari can be from four to nine yards long and this piece was too small.

The actual size of this fabric strip was 38" wide by 89" long which could work for a long skirt. However working with the print was a little challenging.  If the stripes went horizontal the skirt would     not be long enough so the stripes had to go vertical. 
           In the picture the fabric is folded in two with the white weights on the finished ends. I cut through the fold parallel to the finished ends so the fabric was now in two pieces; a front and back.

I didn't want to lose the stripes that ran the length of the fabric on the front and back so I used a French seam for the side seam without trimming much fabric away.

This picture is of the finished side seam with the front and back stripe joined in the middle. 

Since the bottom edge of the skirt was already finished the side seams were the only seams. 

Since the fabric was semi-sheer I purchased lining and decided to also use the lining to create the casing for the elastic at the waist. Two side seams and a rolled hem and the lining was finished.

 I went with the current trend of a short lining under a long sheer skirt.

The width of the lining was smaller than the width of the skirt ( but still plenty large enough to fit over hips ) so I slightly gathered the skirt to fit the lining. I matched the wrong side of the lining to the right side of the skirt and stitched them together. I used 1/4" seam allowance because I needed all the length of the skirt.

The lining was turned to the inside of the skirt and I edgestitched through the skirt and the lining at the top. The edgestitching reinforced the tiny seam and will keep the lining in place.

Next a parallel line of stitching the width of the elastic ( 1/2" ) and the casing for the elastic was done.

The  29" length of elastic was inserted into the approximately 70" length of casing and the elastic ends were sewn together. I manipulated the gathering of fabric on the elastic so 4" at the front and back of each side was flat. 

The flat ( not gathered ) fabric over the hips is very slimming.

A line of vertical stitching 4" from the side seam in each front and back insures that the gathered fabric cannot travel into the flat area over the hips. 

And the almost sari skirt was finished.

And while a real sari can be draped and worn more than 80 different ways;
creating one lovely skirt for one of my lovely daughters is a lovely compromise.

Lacis Museum of Lace and Textile

Any time I find myself anywhere near Lacis Museum of Lace and Textile I always stop at this fascinating place.

Located at 3163 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA it is conveniently right across the street from the Ashby BART station. That means it is an easy trip over from San Francisco.

When you first enter it is a little overwhelming because of the sheer volume of items in the very large storefront. Lacis really does celebrate many  techniques that are not very common in our modern times, noticeably corsets, tatting, lace making, millinery, and more.

Supplies, books, examples, vintage pieces are literally everywhere; floor to ceiling.

Many, many, many of Lacis items are hard to find, one-of-a-kind specialty notions or materials.
There is an online shop www.lacis.com/ but, a computer screen cannot begin to compare to the sensory overload of walking thru the multiple rooms discovering interesting, unique items.

These random pictures I took inside Lacis really are better than 1,000 words. 

And I did not come close to photographing everything.

Lacis has almost everything I can think of except  everyday fabric. 

It is a place to let your imagination run wild and rejoice that the skills and knowledge of our great, great grandmothers was not lost with them. 

I tried hard to resist any purchases because projects are piling up but, the apple green semi-sheer sari fabric was irresistable. And a book is just a good investment and this one is by a favorite sewing guru' Claire Shaeffer. And I realized I did not own a red beret! Problem solved :)

However you get there, Lacis is worth the trip.

A Macrame Seed Bead Idea

This project is a little departure from current fashion and a trip down memory lane to the happy hippy homemade era of the sixties.

And I may be dating myself but, I LOVED the whole creative, express yourself, be unique vibe of  those days. 

Hey, I was only in elementary school so all the bad parts of the sixties was over my head.

Anyways, I was driving past the Bead Store in Laguna Beach with time on my hands when I remembered a necklace I had seen and wanted to recreate.

It required strands of seed beads, string ( I bought hemp ) and some jewelry findings.

Luckily I had a book on macrame ( a French word meaning knotted lace ) to refresh my memory on macrame skills learned as a Girl Scout so many years ago. With a little practice and good written illustrations I relearned the secret to knotting a twisting design in twine.

The seed bead strands were tied to a large jump ring and then the twine was artfully knotted onto the jump ring and the knotting began...

At one end of a 3" section of twisting, macrame twine a clasp was tied on and a jump ring was tied to the other twisting macrame end.

And my new macrame seed bead necklace was complete. 

And I have rediscovered my love of macrame. 

And I am now thinking of knotting up an eyeglass case next...

Thought from Narnia

Summer Sewing

Project #1

Since apparently I am NOT going on a vacation for my three quick weeks off from teaching I have decided to dedicate myself to quick, easy sewing projects.

Boxes overflow with fabric I have purchased so it isn't hard to find something to sew.

This striped single knit would be nice paired with this polyester strip remnant from a student.

Let the sewing begin... 

First stop was my t-shirt drawer and finding a t-shirt that did not have set-in sleeves ( if knit garments get any simpler we will all be back in togas ). 

I simply folded my fabric with right sides together ( remember single knit edges roll towards the right side when stretched ) being careful to lay the stripes right on top of each other. 

Next my t-shirt was placed on top for a cutting guide lining up shoulder points and hem points and then I cut my fabric adding a 1/2" seam allowance as I cut.

The neckline was measured while fabric was flat on table because neckline will stretch out once it is not flat. The flat neckline measurement was used for the neck binding which was cut at 2" wide. Important tip for sewing ends of binding together; instead of a straight seam sew a slightly < seam and when binding is folded in half the top of the binding will be smaller than the bottom of binding so it lays more flat against the neck.

The shoulder seams and side seams were overlocked together and then the neck binding was placed right side against right side of neck and overlocked together. 

Since garment neckline was stretching I marked the binding in four even sections and pinned at CF, CB, and each shoulder seam, easing any stretch before I overlocked.  

To keep binding flat I edgestitched the binding seam allowance to the garment.

I like to mix up the direction of stripes so sleeve cuffs were cut twice as long as needed and then folded in half. Right sides of cuff was placed against right side of sleeve and overlocked together. Again I edgestitched the overlocked cuff seam to the garment for visual continuity.

And that was that! I added a tube of fabric on the back so the top would not slide off my shoulders. I toyed with using the polyester remnant as a big tie at the back but, decided against it. However I did still really want to incorporate the polyester pop of color...adding woven fabric to knit is always dicey.

So in the end I was crazily inventive LOL and added the polyester remnant to the bottom of my top.

This project took about 2 hours and the end result is pretty sweet.

 I think I actually like it :)

Hat Confessions

Often I have blogged about my love of hats. 

And for the last few years I have seriously pursued learning millinery skills so I could create hats that I would love.

Well, I've made MANY hats and I have yet to love ANY.

The following pictures are of the almost good, the bad, and the ugly of my hat making quest so far...

Recycled hat made from a sweater. B+

Hat I made while learning to knit. C-

Knit hat I totally made up. B+

First fascinator. A-

Second fascinator. C+

Buckram and linen hat that took approx 20 hours to make. C+

Buckram and fabric hat that doesn't fit. D+

Current cloth hat project. B+  ( so far )

First blocked hat. A-

Second blocked hat. B+

 So as much as I love sewing clothes the truth is that I have greatly distracted by hats!

What tops a Hat

Making hats is a very challenging undertaking and without a doubt the best part of the process has been the wonderful people I have been meeting in my millinery quest...

Jasmin Zorlu steaming a hat for blocking

 I was fortunate to take a very informative hat blocking class is San Francisco with Jasmin Zorlu. She really knows hat making and is now living teaching and pursuing her millinery dreams in NYC.

www.jasminzorlu.co.

My fellow hat blocking students

Joan Goodspeed modeling a student's fascinator 

My only other formal millinery education has been a 16 week millinery class at Saddleback College with Joan Goodspeed. She is an extremely entertaining teacher.

Seeds Studio in Jerome, Arizona

Learning about millinery skills is very interesting but, what is really inspiring is finding artisans who are actually practicing the millinery arts.

Sawdust Festival Laguna Beach, CA
www.edithlagunabeach.com

New York Milliner Guild Hat exhibit
www.millinersguild.org

But, of course the best part of ANY creative endeavor is the hilarious, fabulous meeting of fellow wacky wonderful people who totally understand a hat obsession :)