My Guayaberas or Mexican Wedding shirt

To begin this fashion journey we must travel back to March when I visited London determined to finally purchase some Liberty of London fabric.

Liberty of London fabric is extremely lovely 100% cotton fabric that is also extremely expensive. Liberty of London started importing fine fabrics from the Orient over 135 years ago. In 1884 the company began hand printing it's own designs. The fabric was very popular during the Aesthetic movement and Art Nouvea movement in the late 1800s.

Liberty of London fabric is available in the USA but, I found this discount store in a sketchy London neighborhood and still could only bring myself to purchase a remnant.

After much thought I finally came up with the idea of a Mexican Wedding shirt. This style shirt was developed about 300 years ago and no one is sure if it originated in Cuba or Mexico. The main features are the light cool cotton fabric, the vertical pleats in the front and the four pockets for carrying guavas ( thus the popular name Guayaberas for the shirt )

Oops, my research was not very good and I didn't put any pockets on my shirt. The main objective was to incorporate the small amount of Liberty of London fabric I had purchased. 

I'm actually really pleased with the finished shirt, although I am probably the only person to see the Guayaberas influence.

For my shirt I pulled out my favorite shirt pattern that I've used many times so it is already altered to my shape and 5'11 height. 

Shirts I have made using McCalls 3541 pattern

Of course I always have to make things difficult so I decided a hidden placket so the buttons wouldn't show was a great idea. Somewhere I have a book that gives formulas and measurements for creating a hidden placket but, I just do it.
There are basically three main ways to finish the vertical center front edges of a button front shirt. Either fold under the vertical front edges, sew a facing to the vertical front edges or sew a placket to the vertical front edges ( which is like a folded over facing ).
What matters most is that the center front line that is marked on the pattern tissue remains in the exact same place so the finished shirt will fit together properly.

For the hidden placket on only the right side of the shirt add enough fabric ( keeping the center front line intact ) to  (1) fold half the finished width, then (2) fold again double the finished width. Suggest doing it with paper first to get fold depths correct.

The left side of the shirt is finished normally. The left side of the shirt is where the buttons will be sewn.

I am indicating where the stitching line should be

Sew a vertical straight row of stitching through the fabric and front down the middle of the (2) second fold.

This stitching will also catch the (1) first  half width fold and now the folds are anchored and cannot unfold.
The double fold allows the buttonholes to be on the inside fold so when the shirt is buttoned no buttons show.

It's not hard- don't over think it!

Fold the fabric back towards the center front, press well with the iron and your hidden placket is complete. Finish shirt per instructions. 

*hint* measure the neckline now and make sure collar or collar stand will fit correctly

Here is a close up of my Guayaberas hidden button placket when buttoned up.

 Isn't my Liberty of London fabric pretty!

I must confess that I also stitched up two additional shirts with my Guayaberas.

That allowed me to tweak the hidden placket and use up some of my fabric stash.
I often work in multiples.

 Barack Obama WISHES he was also in a cool, stylish Guayaberas!!!

! Viva the Guayaberas !

No White after Labor Day?

What's up with white and Labor Day?

Coco Chanel wearing white long after Labor Day

All my life there was the unspoken ( and spoken ) rule that wearing white clothing after Labor Day was   against the rules. 

Who made the rule and why?

Labor Day was declared a national holiday in 1894 by President Grover Cleveland and celebrated on the first Monday in September. 

Eventually this September date coincided with the end of the summer season for the very wealthy. White clothing was cooler and only worn during the summer months away from the heat and dirt of the cities. Poorer folks striving for acceptance also adopted the ' rule' of wearing white only during summer months.

So the 'no white after Labor Day' is really about cliques and status and an excuse to feel superior.

Many people say phooey to this rule and Coco Chanel was one of them.

White on!

Changyeostyle; A Fashion Student Success Story

 An email the other day announced a trunk show at a local boutique by the up and coming fashion line

Changyeostyle

What made the announcement exciting is the two founding designers of Changyeostyle are BOTH former students of mine from FASH 100!

Angelina Yeo and Annie Chang met in my class years ago and now are designing and selling their own line of fashions.

Could not resist this skirt and easy top

Changyeostyle fashions are perfect for the casual SoCal lifestyle. 

The designs are easy to wear and the knit fabrics are dreamy soft.

And another easy top in very unique fabric

I purchased two tops and a skirt thinking I would send them to my daughters BUT, I tried them on and loved the feel of the fabric and the great designs. So I'm keeping them!

Angelina and Annie are very creative, original designers with a great eye for detail and fine finishing.

I truly liked all their pieces and wish I had an occasion to wear black lace pants because they've got an amazing pair!

Go to their website, check out their entire inventory, and watch for details about their next trunk show in September at The Hanger in Tustin. 

One Hour Skirt

Been super anxious to tackle some of my ever-growing pile of projects and finally had some free time to actually attempt a project.

Since I only had about one hour I decided to whip up a quick knit skirt from this great fabric remnant I bought in LA for under $1.

The width of the fabric was just the right measurement for the length of my skirt so I just needed my hip measurement for the circumference of the skirt.

With a woven fabric 3" should be added to the hip measurement for ease but, since this was a knit I went with only 1' of ease. 

Ease is the difference between your actual body measurement and the finished garment measurement.

Cut my fabric into 5 pieces; biggest piece is skirt, 2 smallest pieces will be elastic waistband, 2 larger pieces will be a hem band because hemming knits is difficult.

Since this is a single or Jersey knit the fabric curls towards the right side of the fabric. 

One quick overlocked seam and I had the tube which will become my skirt. 

Next overlocked my 2 waistband pieces together at the short ends to create casing for the elastic.
Overlocking ( or serging ) knits is the quickest best way to construct knits.

  

Left a 1" gap in a waist band seam for opening to insert elastic.

Folded the waistband lengthwise and lined up the unfolded edge of waistband with the top of the skirt.

The waistband is on the outside ( right side ) of the skirt when I overlock the waistband to the skirt.

Cut the 1" wide elastic to a comfortable length for my waist and inserted the elastic into the waistband. 

Using a safety pin on the elastic end I was pulling through the waistband made it easier to feed the elastic through the waistband.

Sewed the elastic ends together and the waistband was complete.

Decided to add interfacing to the hem band to make it a little more rigid. 

Did not want the hem band all droopy, and uneven.

After folding the hem band in half I took a minute to hand baste the hem band so no chance of hem band rippling while I overlocked it to the skirt.

  

Third and last time at the overlock machine the unfolded edge of the hem band was lined up with the bottom of the skirt on the outside ( right side ) of the skirt and overlocked together.

And my skirt was finished!

It honestly took about as long to blog about the skirt as it did to make it.

One project done and only 239,756,000 to go.

Long Beach, California International Quilt Festival

A few busy weeks ago my amazing award winning quilter Mom and I attended the huge annual

 West Coast International Quilt Festival at the Long Beach convention center.

The show is an inspirational delight for anyone with any imagination.

I always love the super traditional quilts, especially the flower themed quilts. 

If you can wrap your brain around the fact that each different color you're seeing is a HAND SEWN separate piece of fabric then you can begin to truly appreciate the skill and amazing artistry of quilting.

Painted fabric and images are starting to show up in quilts and I think that makes it less a quilt and more textile art. The bird image above is painted and the one below is a vibrant fabric pieced parrot.

I like them both but, the pieced parrot is much more than a pretty image.

And for the first time I saw what I can only describe as minimalist quilts...

I think the simplicity and composition is just uninteresting. 

My resistance makes me think of how everyone hated the impressionists when they broke away from realism in painting. But, I don't think a Picasso or Matisse is behind these unattractive quilts.

Of course never say never because I do actually like this very non-traditional quilt. 

I like that it's an abstract fabric pieced flower.

And this is a phenomenal quilt of quilting. 

It's huge, all pieced fabric and the black outlines are bias strips hand sewn around the amazing hands quilting.

It is by a quilter in Japan and you really have to see it to believe how great it is.

And out of the 100+ quilts I can confidently say that this is my most favorite.

Not because of the theme or composition but, because the quilter used the most incredible mix of bright, printed, not found in nature colors to create her animal menagerie.

And again, every color is a HAND SEWN different piece of bright patterned fabric.

Matisse and Picasso would be impressed by this amazing mix of color and pattern.

And finally if the thought of the hundreds of hours of work that goes into quilts is overwhelming; 

have hope!

This extremely large fabulous quilt of the village of Berne, Switzerland was made by the quilt guild of Berne Switzerland in 2010.

One hundred fifty six different squares all pieced together make up this exquisite quilt.

Some things truly do take a village!

Kelley Osbourne's Cool Shoes

Are these not the ' coolest ' shoes ever? 

Kelley Osbourne wore them to Fergie's baby shower.

 From the front the shoe is all business; plain black but, the back is such a sweet surprise! 

AND the shoes are scented to smell fruity.

Who could see/smell these shoes and not smile?

These plastic shoes are a collaborative effort with Brazilian shoe label Melissa and Karl Lagerfeld.
$175 at Saks Fifth Ave website

Recycling 'Make and Mend' in 2013

Sustainable, recycle, re-use, and eco-friendly are all current popular phrases about combating pollution and waste. 

Recycling in fashion is an idea that is being recycled...

 During the Second World War the British and Americans were encouraged to recycle fabrics from garments in the Make and Mend campaign.

Fast forward to the 21st century and here is my 2013 Make and Mend recycled garment. 

The original sweater was a turtle neck and much too hot for SoCal.  But, I really liked the color combo of the sweater so I carefully removed the sleeves. I found a great black denim shirt at a thrift shop and removed the shirt sleeves and attached the sweater sleeves. 

The finished recycled garment is perfect for casual California lifestyle and weather.

With the success of my first recycle I eyed another sweater I loved but, was getting ratty. 

Once again I carefully removed the sweater sleeves and also the sleeves from a denim shirt purchased from a thrift shop.

Sewing the sweater sleeves into the armhole was again surprisingly simple and again I really loved the end result.

Recycle garment #2

Well now I had these nice denim sleeves so I went to my favorite resale store and found this great sweater by Cabi and you guessed it...I removed the sweater sleeves. 

*note* it is critical the sweaters have set-in sleeves with a seam between the sleeve and the armhole.

Fitting the woven denim sleeve into the knit armhole was a little challenging because the armhole grew as soon as the sweater sleeve was removed. A simple running stitch ( pink thread ) allowed me to pull up the sweater armhole until it was the same size as the denim sleeve head.

The sleeves and sweater were sewn together and again I am very pleased with the end result.

So pleased I think I will re-activate my Etsy store ( Lemon Twist ) and see if I can sell them...

Of course I made all these recycled sweater/denim tops over a period of time because I always have at least five projects going at once. In between these sweater shirts I was in San Francisco and could not resist this jacket. 

A commercially made sweater denim combo.

Nothing is ever new in fashion!