Burda 08/2010 #113

Je campe devant la boîte aux lettres, clés en main, en attendant mon patron et pendant ce temps, je me suis dis que j'allais vous montrer la veste ratée que je porte tout le temps.

A part mon choix paresseux d'entoilage, j'ai fait une autre erreur de débutante : je n'ai pas décati, il semble que j'aie été pressée de la couper et quand j'ai commencer à appliquer de la vapeur sur les coutures, la laine a rétréci et pas l'entoilage. C'est la gentille dame du pressing d'Etel qui me l'a sauvée. Je lui ai apporté presque en pleurs et grâce à son savoir-faire, j'ai retrouvé le sourire.

Au final, je la mets tout le temps, même si on voit la doublure au travers et même si elle est un peu raide parce que sans trop y penser, j'ai fait une veste qui va absolument avec tout ce que je possède.

Tout n'est pas perdu.

I am camping in front of the mailbox, keys in hand, waiting for my pattern to come, in the meantime, I thought I would show you the disaster jacket I wear all the time.

Apart from the lazy interfacing option and the see-through lining, I made another beginner mistake : I didn't steam the fabric. I was too eager to cut it it seems, so when I started pressing seams, the wool shrunk but not the interfacing. The really nice lady from the cleaner in Etel saved it. I was almost in tears when I brought it in and her know-how brought back a smile.

I wear it all the time, stiff and lining showing because without thinking too much about it, I made a jacket that goes with absolutely everything I own.

All is not lost.

Disaster in the Making

I am so mad at myself for not going the extra mile!

This is the same Burda jacket I made last year, a great pattern if you have very little fabric to work with (in this case, 84cm plus some odd bits Suzanne gave me), it fits me great and I wore mine a lot last year. I blockfused like in Sherry's RTW sew-along, I had already done all the pattern making stuff and as you know by now, I am lazy, so I am still trimming allowances, but next time, believe you me, I will not!

I was out of fusible interfacing.
Sadly, 2 fabric stores closed up near where I live just last month, so, instead of driving the extra 30 kilometers to get to the good stuff, I went the haberdasher that has a small selection right near my house and bought the lightest stuff she had and I have regretted it ever since.

I don't think it'll ever fall right, it's really stiff.

Anybody knows if this can be fixed or at least made better? Would a wash do it? Lots of steam? Hammering? Tenderizing? Cooking? Freezing? Nuking?

Oh! And speaking of another questionable decision, lets look for a minute at my very wise lining choice which is showing through. I wonder how this'll work out...

Le Désastre Annoncé

Ah! Comme je m'en veux de ne pas avoir été plus loin!
Je me refait un Burda comme l'année dernière. Je l'aime bien parce qu'il nécessite très peu de tissu, dans ce cas, 84cm et quelques retailles que Suzanne m'a donné et il me va bien, je l'ai beaucoup porté.
J'ai posé l'entoilage comme Sherry le préconise dans son RTW sew-along (un must en anglais dans le texte!) mais, vous le savez bien je suis paresseuse, je n'ai pas retravaillé le patron comme indiqué vu que je l'avais déjà fait alors je coupe toujours des marges de couture. Mais on ne m'y reprendra plus la prochaine fois, c'est exactement la méthode que j'utiliserai.

Je n'avais pas assez d'entoilage thermocollant et maintenant que les 2 magasins de tissus près de chez moi sont fermés, il faut faire 30 km de plus pour trouver celui que j'aime alors, je suis allée à la mercerie toute proche, elle en a un peu, je lui ai pris ce qu'elle avait de plus léger et je le regrette amèrement depuis.
Ce veston sera toujours un peu raide et ne tombera jamais bien.
Quelqu'un connait le remède? Un lavage? Beaucoup de vapeur? Un martèlement constant? La congélation? Une bombe nucléaire?

Puis dans le genre décisions hasardeuses, j'aimerais porter votre attention sur mon choix judicieux de doublure! Ça se voit bien non?

Bagging A Jacket

As you know, I am quite lazy when it comes to hand sewing. I endeavour to do as little as I can especially when you are not going to see it. Thanks to The Fashion Incubator for showing me how to. You can download the .pdf file here for further reference.

Write if you have any question.

Prète à Porter

Comme vous ne le savez peut-être pas, puisque jusqu'à maintenant mon blog parlait anglais, je suis assez paresseuse quand il s'agit de coudre à la main, surtout quand ça ne se voit pas! Grâce à l'excellente Kathleen Fasanella de Fashion Incubator, je peux maintenant finir une veste presque sans couture. Je vous ai mis un .pdf ici pour référence.

Ecrivez-moi si vous avez des questions.

Burda Août/2010 #113

Je suis tellement heureuse de vous présenter ma version de la veste Burda n°113 du mois d'août, que je n'ai même pas pris le temps de faire de jolie photos.
En sachant que j'avais si peu de tissu pour travailler, c'est un miracle que j'aie réussi à aligner les carreaux (sauf pour les poches, que j'aurais refait si il m'était resté assez de rab), coudre ce tweed était fantastique, on aurait dit du beurre!
Pendant que je faisait l'assemblage final, j'ai pris plein de photos, est-ce que vous aimeriez voir un tuto pour savoir comment finir une veste à la machine?

Burda 2010/08 #113

It is such a thrill to present you with my version of August's Burda #113. I couldn't even wait to take proper pictures to show you. 

Considering I had so little fabric to work with, I am amazed I was able to somewhat match the tweed (I would have redone the pockets but I didn't have a big enough scrap), sewing that fabric was like sewing buttah! 

While bagging it, I took a gazillion pictures, would you like me to put up a tutorial?

Sewing Is Infinity

I am working in small increments and progress is barely perceptible. I promised to try to sew 20 minutes out of every day, my machine is on the kitchen table, all the pieces are on the counter, but life gets in the way or should I say my record collection gets in the way?

This is one of my most irritating habit : my record collection needs to be in order before I start anything, ain't that weird? One of the few things that I need be done before going into the "sewing zone", is making sure my iTunes collection is shipshape. I need all the little pictures for the songs and albums and my chosen songlist, usually iTunes DJ, Genius is not imaginative enough, culled from songs I don't want to hear on that day and then I can start sewing.

I can sew around children, dishes not done, dust everywhere, hair in battle, legs unshaved but I need a clean iTunes. What's your idiosyncrasy?

Fortunately, if I am not sewing a lot, some people have. Self-Stitched-September is in full swing. It's an entire Flickr Pool of inspiration. There are as many ways you can make a garment as there are seamstresses out there. Sewing is infinity, now that's a concept!

I Need Your Help

Am I doing things right here?

Burda's 08/2010 #113 is all cut and marked and interfaced, ready to sew, but I am still having doubts. There are a gazillion fusible interfacing tutorials, but there are no tutorials on WHERE to put interfacing.

I've read just about everything available at Sewing U (Googling sewing keywords) and I made choices. I didn't fuse the seam allowance because my fabric is really thick. I made a bigger interfacing piece on the side piece because the pocket would have looked funny and I thought it needed a little support. I abided by some of Fashion Incubator's tips about interfacing : I used a light fusible knit and crossed the fold line on the hem. I stabilized the neck area and the armhole, but I still have doubts.

So if any of you, my kind readers, have any tips you would like to share, I would be delighted. There is still time to correct the obvious mistakes.

Also, I bought this fabric at the local goodwill and it smells like it's been stored in a damp attic some place for years and though I have machine washed it, it still stinks when I iron it. I would gladly love to hear a tip about getting rid of the odor too.

In Progress : Another Burda

Emboldened by my very recent successful experiment with a Burda pattern, I am making another one!

I recently found this wool at the thrift shop and was going to make a skirt, but after washing it, I thought it would be a waste and a jacket would be better so I set up looking for one with very little yardage : #113 looks awesome. I am not sure about the back slit yet, but I like the extra long sleeves and I found this matching crazy ass chemical experiment gone awry polyester print for the lining and gave the project a go! 

Being out of drafting paper, I looked around the house for a possible replacement and found cooking parchment. It's slippery and scotch tape won't stick to it, but it's transparent enough to make sense of the psychedelic pattern sheet. 

Like with the Claire Shaeffer, I drafted every pattern piece, outer shell, lining and interfacing, which will help me get the precision I want. I did a quick tissue fit last night and everything looks in the right place. I'll try cutting it today and get back to you. I have very little fabric to work with, matching the plaid will be difficult, but I only paid 2€ for it so I won't fret over it too, too much.

Just in case you are wondering how I cut the lining pieces, Burda has a great video on how to do just that, I will use Fashion Incubator's tutorials on bagging a jacket and the Vogue 7467 instructions for the pockets so I won't follow the magazine's cryptographic instructions which never cease to baffle me, in either French or English. 

It's a regular complaint, I wonder why they don't document the making of the garments they sew for the magazine's pictures. Now that's an idea....