Yves Saint Laurent Exhibit --- A Must See

We took the train up to San Francisco yesterday to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. The area was packed with visitors, probably due to the holiday but also because of the re-opening of the California Academy of Sciences, which is supposed to be an amazing place, complete with a rainforest and a planetarium! My husband, the science guy, has been itching to go, but alas for him, yesterday was reserved for Yves. We'll visit the rainforest another day.

The Yves exhibit was breathtaking and one of the most extensive fashion exhibits I've seen. The exhibit spanned his career from his first 1958 collection up to the 2000s, and included some of his most iconic pieces, such as the Mondrian dress and the tuxedo. The details were stunning, particularly the beadwork on the Van Gogh-inspired jackets and the precision of the construction. Only a few of the pieces were walled behind glass, so we were able to see quite a few of the details up close.

Here's a San Francisco Chronicle story with some of the details. It is most definitely worth a visit --- the exhibit runs through April 5, 2009.

Latest Obsession - Pumpkin Chair

I've received a lot of wonderful, positive feedback on my Sparkly Tweedy Jacket, and I'm very thankful for that. Interestingly enough, sharing the construction process as I went along was one of the things that kept me motivated to finish the project!

Regarding my latest obsession, it has absolutely nothing to do with fashion or crafting --- but furniture. It's called the Pumpkin Chair and was recently re-introduced by Ligne Roset. The chair was originally designed and introduced in 1971. I love it. I hope Santa is reading this!

Image from www.kioskdesign.ca

Sparkly Tweedy Jacket - Finished!

After a bit over a month, I've finally completed the Sparkly Tweedy Jacket! I love it --- it fits well and is versatile enough for work or as an accent to jeans.



It can be worn closed or open (I think I prefer open).





The trim was easy to sew onto the jacket, and it really adds a special touch. Two snaps close the front, so no buttonholes were needed.



Because the trim is beaded (small beads on sheer organza), I hand-sewed it to the jacket edges, including the sleeves.





Overall, I will definitely make this jacket again, but in another fabric, such as silk or brocade, to obtain a different look. The style is simple, so I think a dramatic fabric will work well. I'm still not a fan of the pocket flaps in the front, but I can live with them --- I will probably choose a different pocket treatment for the next one. I have some extra yardage, so I'm actually making a pencil skirt --- may be too much "sparkly tweedy" to wear together with the jacket as a suit, but the fabric is just too cool to just throw in my stash!

Quirky Japanese Fashions

I can't believe this made the front page of the WSJ yesterday (granted it was the lower half), but there it was --- an article titled "Japan's Latest Fashion has Women Playing Princess for a Day". Perhaps it was meant to balance all of the bleak financial news of the day?

Anyway, the article highlights a recent fashion trend in Japan --- the princess (or "hime") look, which adopts Marie Antoinette-esque styles for modern times. There is a video clip embedded in the link above, which highlights all of the frills, puffy hair and bows that elicit exclamations of "cute!" in every other sentence spoken by the interviewee. The look is definitely fairy-tale, so it is surprising to see adult women in their 20's and 30's (one of the interviewees is a housewife in her mid-30's) latching on to this trend. The story did mention that "escapism from workaday stress and economic uncertainty" and "a longing for a happy-ending fairy tale" could be potential drivers of this look, which makes some sense given these challenging times.

I lived in Japan in 1990-1991, right at the end of the Japanese bubble economy, and I don't recall these types of extreme fashion trends. In fact, the looks were generally pretty uniform and on the conservative side (a lot of mid-calf circle skirts a la 50's). It seems that some of the quirkier looks, such as the baby doll (adult women dressing up in frilly outfits reminiscent of baby clothes), appeared in the mid-90's, when Japan was firmly entrenched in its decade-long recession. Perhaps there is a correlation between recessionary times and escapist fashion?

Trims

Here's a photo of the trim I've chosen for the Sparkly Tweedy Jacket. I purchased it from Britex Fabrics in San Francisco --- they have a great selection of trims, and I found this one in the bridal/formal section (counter across from the buttons).



I'm planning to hand sew the trim to the collar and front edges, as well as the sleeve edges. I think it will add a nice finishing touch to the jacket.

Looking Appropriate in a St. John Suit

The Suit That Turns Me Into a VIP is a fun little article in the WSJ about the effects of wearing a St. John suit, namely being offered better tables at restaurants and garnering more attentive service (not to mention a better chance of nabbing a cab in NY).

While my mom has always coveted anything St. John, I've always dismissed the brand as being too "old lady who lunches". My mom is also the one who leaves the house perfectly groomed, while I've always preferred "casual comfort". In fact, I've worn my "hobo-ness" as a badge of pride at times --- being unique and staying true to who I am. Therefore, as much as it pains me to admit this, I think my mom may be right about the concept of being "appropriate" when out in public, and I think the article solidifies this. There have been many times when I have been treated differently because I looked appropriate and put together, and as I get older, I seem to be getting more sensitive to this.

Anyway, the other reason this article reasonated with me was because I've actually been thinking about how nice it would be to own a St. John suit and how professional I would look in one --- how is that for feeling old!

Love-Hate Linings

I have a love-hate relationship with linings. I love choosing the fabrics, especially for jackets, because I can choose beautiful silk charmeuse fabrics with amazing prints. It is really fun to think about what kind of fabric would look great as a "flash" of color when the jacket is opened or taken off. Often, I end up choosing lining fabrics that are way too bold for a garment, but really love the drama of the print or colorway. Here's the lining for my Sparkly Tweedy Jacket, which is actually quite muted, but given the sparkly nature of the jacket, I thought that a less-flashy fabric was in order.



So what do I hate about linings? I really dislike cutting slinky silks. Silk charmeuse is a gorgeous fabric that has a beautiful luster and amazing feel, but it is so difficult to lay out, pin and cut each of the pattern pieces. The fabric moves around; you have to use very fine pins otherwise holes will remain in the fabric; and I have yet to cut a clean edge using regular scissors (a rotary cutter works better, but I'm not very adept at using them). There are a lot of tips out there for working with silks, but I still find it challenging. I guess the best advice is to be patient and very very very careful! Here's a video with some tips for sewing silks.

One fun feature of jacket linings is the back pleat, which is added for extra ease of movement. The pleat is along the center back line, and you can either machine-baste 2-inch sections along the upper back, center and lower back to hold the pleat in place, or you can do a decorative hand-stitch. I chose to do a feather stitch using a metallic silver thread, which I think turned out pretty well.



Another decorative touch, which I didn't do for this jacket, is to add a contrast piping along the edge of the lining and jacket facing. I thought about using a lavender-colored bias strip for a piping, but I decided that I was too lazy to do that.

Now I need to sew the lining hem and the sleeve hems, and add more fun decorative stuff to the front of the jacket!

Facings and Hems

I've made some progress on my Sparkly Tweedy Jacket, but I didn't take any photos along the way. I'll be sure to take some later tonight.

Facings
I sewed the back and front facings together (including the upper collar) and just attached that piece to the jacket, making sure to match any seams. Because this jacket doesn't have a lapel and has a stand collar, there is no need to make any extra allowances at the collar for when it is folded over to the right side. After sewing, I pressed the seams, trimmed the seam allowances and pressed to make sure the seam remains flat and rolled to the inside of the jacket. A very unattractive feature of a jacket is having the seam show on the right side!

Pressing is very critical here, as it is important to have the center front seam flat and well-pressed, while making sure to maintain the integrity of the fabric. One suggestion is to make sure you know your fabric and how it presses under what conditions --- I have had the unfortunate experience of over-pressing my center front seam (I call it over-zealous pressing), which left the fabric in that area a bit shinier than the rest of the jacket. Some tips:

1. Always use a press cloth (loose-weave cotton and silk organza are good) and the appropriate temperature for the fabric type.
2. Depending on the fabric type, use a piece of the jacket fabric underneath what you are pressing to help maintain any texture in the fabric (so the fabric doesn't get flattened when it should have some texture).
3. In tailoring, a clapper is often used, which is a piece of wood that flattens the seams and ensures the steam and heat from the iron are pressed into the seams. Instead of buying a special piece, you can just buy a wood block at a hardware store --- the concept is to steam iron the seam and press the wood down onto the seam line while the pressed section cools. This creates a flat and crisp seam, which is especially important for wools.

Hems
Using the same method as the sleeve hems, I hand-stitched hair canvas interfacing along the jacket hem, pressed the hem up using steam to make sure to ease the fullness, and hand-stitched the hem. Again, pressing is important to keep the hem flat and crisp.

Eventful Week

I can't believe it has been almost a week since my last post. It was an eventful --- as well as historic --- week, so perhaps I don't need to feel guilty!

Election fever enveloped our household, and Tuesday was all about Obama, from standing in line at the polls for an hour to cast our votes to watching him clinch the election later that evening. It was truly an historic event for people of every color, and a testament to how far this country has progressed in the last 50 years --- from segregation to the presidency in the span of a generation --- amazing.

We also celebrated our wedding anniversary this week with dinner at Wente Vineyards in Livermore. It is a beautiful location and the restaurant is always excellent --- so nice to go back!

Sleeves and Shoulder Pads

Sleeve Hems
To add some weight and stability to the sleeve hems of my Sparkly Tweedy Jacket, I used a bias cut strip of interfacing along the hemline. After sewing one side of the upper sleeve to the lower sleeve, I pressed the hem up by its hem allowance to mark the hem line. Because I chose to use a sew-in interfacing (hair canvas), I hand-stitched the interfacing to the fabric using catchstitches and a basting stitch. The key here is to make sure the interfacing extends down into the hem allowance (for a sew-in, it should extend down by 1/2 inch), so when the hem folded up and sewn, the interfacing adds extra stability to the hem.

For this jacket, I chose to make a slit rather than the standard vented sleeve, so I mitered both corners of the slit. After mitering the corners, I hand-stitched the hems using catchstitches and sewed the remaining sleeve seams.



Easing the Sleeve Cap
One of the most difficult things for me to do is ease the sleeve cap and sew it into the armhole. For jackets, I learned an amazing technique that really makes it easier than the usual "baste a couple rows along the cap and gather the fullness" procedure.

1. Cut two bias strips of wool that are 2 inches wide and the length of the area that needs to be eased (usually marked by dots on the sleeve patterns). Mark the center of each strip with a clip.

2. Match the center of the strip with the top of the sleeve cap and pin to the inside of the sleeve, matching the raw edges.

3. Beginning at the top of the sleeve cap, anchor the needle and begin sewing, just inside the seam allowance, down the cap toward one of the dots, making sure to stretch the bias strip as much as possible as you sew. It is important to stretch the bias strip, as this automatically eases the sleeve cap. Repeat on the other side and on the other sleeve.

4. Check the shape of the cap, which should be slightly cupped. Check the fit with the armhole to make sure enough of the sleeve has been eased.

5. With this process, the bias strip acts as the sleeve head, which is traditionally an extra piece of wool or mohair that is sewn into the sleeve cap for extra shaping for the cap.



After easing the sleeve cap, I further shape it with a steam iron and a tailor's ham. After that, I just pin the sleeves into the corresponding armholes and sew.



Shoulder Pads
I still remember the '80s and those big, bold shoulders, so I'm generally not a huge fan of shoulder pads. However, I learned that they are an important element for tailored jackets, as they shape and smooth the jacket shoulders, lending a certain polish to the finished product. Commercially available shoulder pads seem to be on the thick side, so I make my own now. There are patterns out there, but check out the shape in the photo below and size it for the jacket you are making. Some notes:

1. I use a Pellon fleece that is used for craft projects --- I found mine among all of the interfacings at Joann's.

2. Each of my shoulder pads has 3 layers of fleece cut in three different sizes. You can add more layers if you want a thicker pad.

3. Tailor baste the 3 layers together, shaping the pad into a curve as you stitch. If you want, you can cover the pads with muslin or a coordinating fabric for a more finished look, which is important for unlined jackets.

Sparkly Tweedy Jacket Progress

The Sparkly Tweedy Jacket is coming along, despite a few days off from the project. Tailoring jackets really is a time-consuming process --- definitely not one of those "instantly gratifying" skirts or tops!

Back Neck Stay
A back neck stay is a piece of muslin or interfacing (hair canvas) that spans the upper part of the back from armhole to armhole. In tailored jackets, the extra piece of fabric serves to stabilize and smooth the upper back. For this jacket, I used muslin, as I didn't want the extra weight of the hair canvas. The photo clearly shows the shape of the back neck stay pattern, which is easy to draft by tracing the garment patterns. The back neck stay is machine-basted to the back at the armholes and neckline.



Shoulders and Side Seams
The shoulders are an area that require special treatment when tailoring a jacket. The shape of the jacket hinges on how well the it hangs from the shoulders, so in addition to fit, the shape and stability of this area is crucial to the final product. When sewing the front and backs together at the shoulders, I use twill tape (the same 3/8-inch cotton tape used for the lapel and jacket fronts) along the shoulder line to stabilize the area.

After pinning the shoulders together, easing in the back piece, measure a length of twill tape that corresponds with the front shoulder line and mark 1/4-inch from one end. Then, pin the 1/4-inch mark at the edge of the shoulder line so the tape runs the length of the seam line. Sew the twill tape as you sew the shoulder seam, making sure the tape is centered on the seam line and the fullness is eased in. With this method, 1/4-inch of the shoulder length is eased in, which yields a very slightly rounded and more natural shape.

After this, I sewed the side seams (checked the fit after this) and sewed the under collar to the jacket. Next up are the sleeves!

Felt Scarves from Harlequin Feltworks

At the Artistry in Fashion event last week, Harlequin Feltworks had the coolest handmade scarves and shawls --- all made in San Francisco, which is always a plus! I bought two --- one for me and one for my mom, but haven't had a chance to photograph them, so here's a photo from their website.

Image from www.harlequinfeltworks.com.

The felt is made from merino wool and silk, so it is really soft and not scratchy at all. It can be worn as shown in the photograph (most dramatic) or simply draped around the neck. Love it!