Cox Couture

A little lady in my life turned 6 last week so I made her this cherry dress. The pattern I chose was pretty straight forward:

It’s a simple sleeveless A-lined dress. It’s so simple that I full lined it. That was the easiest way to keep the seams clean.

I had fun with the trim and the details. The hem features regular rick rack while the sleeves sport mini rick rack.

I made the complementary cape.

It was perhaps more simple so I made it fully reversible with another cherry-themed fabric.

This young lady loves dresses and prefers sleeveless ones, even in winter (go figure) so I thought the addition of the cape would be a nice accessory.

I am determined to use up whatever supplies in my house as long as possible before acquiring new ones. If I could make it an entire month without going to JoAnn, it would be a success.

This cherry fabric was left over from a skirt I had made myself last summer.

I never posted it, but I made it during a time that most of me sewing supplies were packed up during the move and I had very little equipment and few patters. Therefore I made the skirt from a rectangle of fabric cinched at the waist with two rows of elastic. Pictured above as a tube before the insertion of the elastic.

As most summer skirts made from cotton look better with a lining, I made this skirt completely reversible with another summer-themed print, palm tree. I just ripped both cuts of fabric on the grainline to get the cut completely parallel.

This is so reversible, the casing was made simply by sewing the top edges of the two layers into channels. 

Although not entirely visible in these photos and I failed to take a photo of the FO, the palm tree side of the skirt hem is trimmed with green rick rack and the cherry side is trimmed with a cherry trim.

And now I am excited to further diminishing the amount of fabric in my stash.

This is an odd hat. I must have been excited about it when I saw it in the French Girl Knits Accessories book I got at my library last winter.

It’s called “Sapphire,” by  Kristeen Griffin-Grimes. I immediately fished out the first hank of black yarn I could find in my stash and looped up my needles. Who cared if the specs were not exact?  I was so sure I would finish the hat swiftly I didn’t even photocopy the pattern. 

Fast forward one year later when I am trying to get back to some UFOs. I had to wrack my brain to remember where I had seen the pattern. Then I had to do an inter-library loan to get my hands on the same book. And now I have this hat.

I see from the photo that it is supposed to be slouchy. I guess that appealed to me at the time. The construction was bizarre: there was an entire section of short rows I guess to create the slouch. I cannot even tell which way is front but I am going to wear the hat with the brooch on the right side just like the picture.

I don’t even normally wear black, but I guess since I recently acquired a black coat, the hat will go with it.

I think I prefer beanies. In fact, I’ve already got my next hat project lined up, like this one.

This is more my style. Cable knits. And yes, it will be pink. 

Let’s hope I finish it before winter is over. In the meantime, I may as well give my new feather hat a try.

I was reminded of this craft from my Pinterest board of sewing ideas before Christmas and decided to gift one to my son. It was a big hit. It’s a “pajama eater;” you put your pajamas in its mouth during the day if you don’t wash them after just one use. 

I have now made a total of four pajama eaters. In addition to this one, I made two other ones that I failed to photograph which I gave away to my son’s friends for a birthday gift and a Christmas gift. I have just finished another one for another birthday girl.

It pleases me to use up scraps in my stash; all of the fabrics for all of the four monsters have come from my stash. I even found enough rickrack for the teeth. The only thing I had to supply afresh was 14″ zippers.

I was tempted to buy the pattern for the pajama eater I saw online, but I convinced myself I could make it up myself and save the $8. In fact, probably none of the two monsters is the same as I just made it up as a I went along. It’s just a square with rectangular limbs.

I originally made a 16″ square but I didn’t have a zipper that size on hand for the first one. Then I cut the square down to 14″. Since big plastic zippers, for little kid fingers, exist in abundance in that size, I went with 14″ squared for all of the patterns. For the limbs I just estimated a circumference and corresponding oval and semicircle for the extremities.

Each monster is fully lined inside with my trademark label.

Eyes are made of felt.

I get tired of giving the usual toys to kids when my son is invited to birthday parties so I am glad to have a new alternative that is so popular.

When the fall started, I had so many ambitions about how many jackets and blazers I was going to get done for the season. Now winter is here, my mind is already in spring fashion mode and all I’ve gotten done is this one jacket.

(Clearly I am not a professional photographer and these photos are not great and the light is messed up but this jacket is navy blue.)

I got the inspiration for a puffer jacket blazer from this #BrooksBrothers number some years back, but for women, of course.

I obtained the pre-quilted fabric from @joannfabricsofficial during a recent summer without any particular project in mind for it. When I saw this Donna Karan pattern on @etsy I envisioned this great puffer jacket shielding me from stinging winter winds with the hood. 

But there’s more! What’s great about the hood is that it unzips to form a stylish collar!

I spent a lot of time on the FOUR, count ‘em, four welt pockets, all of which are fully functional, as are the sleeve vents. Once these details were completed, putting together the jacket was fairly easy. I happily completed lining installation, including that of the sleeve vents by hand. Shiny gold buttons complete the look.

Despite the unusual texture, working with puffer fabric was not difficult. Cutting it out, on the other hand, was tedious as there were a lot of pieces and the fabric was slippery. I lined the bodice with a warm knit fabric which I failed to photograph. Sleeves and pocket flaps are lined with a purple flannel-backed satin, also from @joannfabricsofficial.

For a long time I have been curious about making underwear from woven fabrics. Most underwear is made from knits. 

I first got the idea of making underwear from a woven fabric from a kit that came from Love Sewing magazine, a British publication that costs as much as a book here in the US but which entices you to purchase it with an alluring project or kit enclosed.

This is the result of that kit.

The pattern is cut on the bias, I imagine to maximize the stretch possibility.

I made the @orange-lingerie fox bra with some fabric I had printed on @spoonflower. At that time, I had also printed a knit version of the same design for a regular pair of underwear (whereabouts unknown). When I came across this fox fabric at JoAnn, I thought it would complement the fox bra. Also shown is a set of underwear made from an old shirt with a tiny fox print patter.

I suppose the cut of an underwear pattern for woven fabric would differ from that of a knit fabric; you wouldn’t be able to use the same pattern. On @etsy I found that @ohhlulu-blog has a pattern for woven underwear. I gave it a try, going all out on details such as ruffles, bows and keyhole openings.

Unfortunately, I made the keyhole opening in the front of the front pictured pair of underwear, and not the back, because I wasn’t paying attention when I cut the fabric. The opening is...awkward. I will have to figure out a way to cover it up.

We were looking at a Debbie Bliss book together, my son and I, during the summer.

“Oh look”, we said, “what a cute scarf.”

“If I made if for you, would you wear it?”

“Yes,” he said. 

So off we went to JoAnn to get some acrylic yarn because when knitting for kids, you are going to use acrylic.

I did the tedious part first, the long scarf. Then I did the intarsia last. 

I was on a four-country tour of South America lately which required taking a lot of flights. Somehow I have developed an irrational fear of flying. Namely, it scares the bejeezus out of me. I don’t understand aerodynamics and I think I am going to die at any time the ride is not smooth. So I try to distract myself with knitting. Knitting furiously through turbulence. I took six flights. I got the lion face done.

Intarsia is not always pretty but neither are a lot of our insides that present nicely on the outside. Nice metaphor.

I received my son’s promise this morning that he would wear the scarf...but not at school. Good enough, I guess.

Snow was predicted for today. This is what we got.

It’s not much, but it has also been very cold here. I don’t normally like to break out my winter coat until December, but I have been freezing lately without it. This forecast spurred me to finish this winter coat that has been in the works since 2011!

I planned this winter coat way back when my son was a baby. I don’t normally wear black, but I tried to convince myself that the wool coating was navy when I bought it a G Street Fabrics 7 years ago, before their Falls Church store went kaput. It is clearly not blue but at least having a black coat will give me something to wear when I wear black pants because I don’t like to mix black and navy and my other winter coat is blue.

For much of its existence, this coat has been dormant. Back in 2011 I finished about 10% of this project: the cutting out and the pockets.

I don’t even remember what pattern I used but I must have put together a number of them as I also added a removable, fur-lined hood for those really snowy, chilly days.

I spared no detail in planning this coat, including the following:

Side-seam pockets underneath the flap/welt ones (back in 2011 I only had the welt pockets but when reviving this project last year, I decided to add side-seam pockets for the practical reason of keeping my hands warm

Sleeves with functional buttoned cuffs

Epaulets

Belt with button accent and belt loops

Pleated skirt hem

I know it is very hard to see in these dark photos, but the coat features a pleated skirt detail. This was my way of avoiding a vent and also making the coat a bit dressier. I do not like coats that stop before the end of skirt so I made this coat as long as most skirts I wear.

After doing the above, the coat was about 95% complete...at which point I put it aside as I tend to do when so close to completion of a project. Spring, summer and fall came. Hey, it’s still fall!

Today’s forecast spurred me to spend an hour and a half this morning making the six coat front buttonholes and sewing on the buttons as well as stitching the zipper tape on the hood in time to wear this coat to work and brave the elements.

It’s a masterpiece. That’s why I love sewing because you can create without limit. Whatever detail you can imagine in your designs, you can do it.

The reader may recognize the fox mitten here from my 2014 post. They are the same ones. My son never wore them. So I am re-gifting them to my nephew, with the addition of the matching hat.

Pattern is thanks to Debbie Bliss.

I think the set is adorable. I hope that because my nephew is 3 years younger than my son, he might wear them. I hope that he is not too cool for them yet, which I think was the issue for my son. I understand. 

Well maybe I don’t understand. You see, I LOVED it when my mom made me things when I was a kid. I felt special. Not only did I love wearing her gifts, I wanted to learn how to sew too. I took an intense and early interest in seeing what she was making and how. I was extremely precocious when it came to sewing. That is why my mother gave me my first Singer when I was 7 years old. I have been sewing my own clothes ever since, as this blog is testament. I only added knitting in the past decade because I wanted to make sweaters.

Obviously my son is not me. Plus, there are gender stereotypes when it comes to sewing and textile arts, which is unfortunate. It is such an empowering skill. If ever my son showed an interest, I would be thrilled. But I cannot push it. However, he will be self sufficient when it comes to basic mending before he leaves the nest. At least.

Girl Friday. Noun.   An efficient and faithful female assistant.

Such was the term ladies were called in the 1950s.

Though now pejorative, the point is that this handy sewing assistant is to be your right-hand man, er, lady, when organizing your on-the-go sewing projects, or so says Heidi Staples, author of the very satisfying Sew Organized.

I’ve been on a spree of sewing tools to organize my sewing room and supplies (stay tuned for the unveiling).  I took this one on a long trip to sew by hand but ended up finishing it very quickly once I came back and used my machine. 

As you can see, I acquired a lot of sewing-themed fabrics for this effort, all from Etsy.

I do have some complaints about the directions though. They could have been a little clearer. The directions just gave a list of dimensions for what to cut out for almost 10 pieces. I thought it would have been more helpful to have a visualization of what those pieces looked like and also to label them with letters or numbers. It is not necessary to have templates of the pieces, but a somewhat-to-scale drawing of the pieces would have helped.

Similarly, I am pretty sure I did not interface the right pieces correctly and my front pocket is too stiff as a result. I also ended up having to use the lining pieces as the exterior and vice a versa because I interfaced them wrong. Then, one of those pieces ended up being too narrow so the whole case ended up being an inch narrower than it should have been.

I am debating whether or not to keep it. Although it is cute, it is very narrow but I suppose that would work for all the hand sewing I am carting around with me lately. I guess I could stuff it with an undie or bra project. Or, I may give it away to someone who won’t necessarily use it for sewing. Christmas is coming up, after all...

I came across this boxer pattern when I was in Canada, two and a half years ago. I love finding patterns and thrift stores when I travel!

Isn’t that sweet? I could make make them in an hour. Sure, if that’s all you do for one hour. This set took me two and a half years. One of the reasons is because I finished all inside seams.

I created bias binding for the fly edges. For the rest of the seams I flat felled them.

For some of the tops I created a casing for elastic. For the rest, I applied the elastic directly to the top. The reason is that I was short of fabric.

I wanted to make a bunch of these boxers for my son and nephew. One of the reasons is that I dislike the way brands and images and colors are marketing to children.

Why should boys be all about trucks and girls all about princesses and pink flowers? In case you didn’t know it, that certain colors are said to be for boys or  girls is a marketing scheme designed to make parents buy more clothes:

Prior to this early-20th century idea, moms could clothe their girls in the same clothes they used for their boys with hand-me-downs. When marketers decided pink was a girl color and blue was a boy color, moms believed they had to buy their newborn girls their own wardrobe rather than have her wear her brother’s old clothes, and vice-a-versa.

I will admit that I am also victim to this mentality. A few years ago I went with  my son to pick out some bed sheets. He picked some sheets that had ice cream cones on them with a predominantly pink color scheme. I could not tell him he could not buy them because they were too girly. Ice cream is for anyone. I could not send him the message that because they were pink, he could not choose them. A color is a color and not masculine or feminine. But the exercise was a challenge for me.

Returning to the boxers, when making your own, a sewer can avoid those stereotypical themes that currently flood the market: trucks and cars or boys, pink and princesses for girls and licensed characters for either. But guess what, my son picked out these fabrics himself! If you will notice, there are some trucks and there is some Dora. 

Try as I might, I may not be able to prevent him from being influenced by marketing messages.

When I originally made 6 pairs, I was planning to give most of them to my nephew to encourage his potty training. Now that I’ve finished them all, my son says he wants to keep  most of them, which surprised me as he doesn’t normally wear or appreciate things I make for him (no biggie; I don’t take it personally...sniff). The ones he doesn’t want to keep? Dora and Paddington.

According to Kenneth D. King, a contributing editor at Threads Magazine, couture fashion designer, author and popular professor at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, sewing by hand should not be considered a weakness in the construction of couture garments.

Prior to understanding this concept, I considered doing any hand-stitching in sewing garments to be a cop-out. This feeling even extended to complicated jacket linings because it seemed my favorite ready-to-wear garments didn’t have to resort to hand-stitching. 

Because of Kenneth D. King’s wisdom, I have changed my frame of mind when it comes to hand sewing. I now recognize the value and indeed higher esteem in hand sewing when it comes to haute couture. 

Not only do I employ this more versatile technique on tricky garment constructions, such as jacket linings, but I have also learned to embrace hand stitching in times when a sewing machine was not available but I otherwise had the time and desire to sew.

Such was one of these times when I was on a 4 hour bus ride. Setting aside the risk of dropping pins on my seat to the peril of the next passenger, I am pleased to demonstrate the practical completion of this bra done entirely by hand.

I have not made a bra in a long time: witness the date of this last exhibit. Part of the problem is that making bras requires a lot of small pieces. As any sewer knows, getting up and down from the sewing machine after having sewn barely a dozen stitches to prepare for the next step is cumbersome. But when one is in an enclosed space, relying on body heat for “finger pressing,” making a bra by hand takes no time at all.

For the majority of stitches, I used back stitch. Visible seams, seen above, I finished with a simple running stitch. I will disclose that by the time I came back from my trip, all that was left was the channeling and the elastic. Because my machine was available to me at that time, I used it for these final steps. Certainly it would be possible to completely finish the bra by hand. Didn’t our ancestors used sew all their clothes by hand before the advent of the machine? (Which also explains why they had so few clothes, unlike our current throw-away culture. But, I digress.)

During this same trip I was able to also whip up this handy knitting project bag by employing the same finger pressing technique. 

Notice the decorative row of top stitching which was achieved with two rounds of running stitch.

There used to be a fabulous fabric store in downtown Washington that sold high end fabric. Alas, it is no longer here, but more than 10 years ago, I got this Burberry fabric and set out to make myself a Burberry bag.

I finished the bag some 10 years ago. I remember tallying the amount of time I spent working on it and it exceeded 20. I spared no detail: notice the matching plaids and the leather trim, the utility pockets.

However, at the time, I was not aware that you could buy pre-made straps. This was before I discovered Etsy. 

In the original bag, the buckles I had used were too heavy for the thin leather strips and they tore off. I don’t even remember what strap I used but I put the broken bag away.

Until now.

I hand-sewed new buckles and new straps. Unfortunately, I had to through all layers as the lining was already complete. Even the lining fabric is Burberry.

The reader may be wondering why the flap is a different print. That is because in the original bag, I did not have a closure; I don’t know why. But I decided I wanted to be able to close the bag shut with a flap. The problem was that I didn’t have any more of the original fabric. But Mood had another style.

There was only half a yard left. For $30 I got this scrap of Burberry wool felt. I used it to make a flap. I found the bow twist clasp to seal it closed. And I still had fabric left over. So I made myself some fabric covered shoes.

The original shoes had a handy seam line to allow me to decorate the top end only of the shoes.

I first cut some fabric out of muslin to check the size. Then cut out the symmetrical pieces and glued them to the shoes.

Matching Burberry handbag and shoes.

For the sake of my back, I love backpacks. They distribute the weight of my schlep well to reduce back pain, which is no joke.

At the same time, I like my bags to match the seasons. Hence, the need for a summer back pack.

I chose a blue and white toile fabric for this project. It was a remnant at JoAnn. The inside was also a remnant.

This bag must have been two years in the making. And now, now that I have been without my sewing machine for 3 weeks due to moving, I finally finished it.

This bag was a direct copy of another backpack that I used to have from Barnes and Noble.

That bag was great until it fell apart. I took its measurements to duplicate it identically.

I used a pretty heavy Peltex for the interfacing. It’s probably stiffer than it needs to be and stiffer than the model. I lightly quilted the flaps and bound them with regular seam binding as I have so much trouble with leather sticking to my machine plate.

By the time my machine went away, all I had left to do was insert the lining. FULL DISCLOSURE: I didn’t put my machine away completely. I can’t! I left some sewing notions out for simple projects I can work on by hand, but for attaching the lining, I set up my machine on the floor as I no longer have a kitchen table. If you can imagine that you run a sewing machine with a foot presser, doing so on the floor requires quite the acrobatics skills. But I managed.

I knew I wanted to be able to cinch the top with a drawstring but given my limited supplies, I thought buying a grommet tool would be the best way to achieve that goal. I probably added too many grommets, now that I think about it, but the plier tool I got was brilliant. Tip to anyone ever working with grommets and snaps: buy the pliers. They make your job much easier than any hammering tool ever would.

Rather than buying some cord, I bought a curtain tie back as it was cheaper and already had the tassels. I cut it in half as each end started and ended at the side of the back piece. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much of it left on the other end to create a big enough knot to stop the cord so I added a big button.

Normally when making a bag you add the flaps and magnetic closures so that the hardware back is hidden on the inside layers of the fabric. But since I didn’t really know where the placement would be on the finished project, I decided to hand stitch these closures at the end. It’s not pretty on the inside, but who is going to look? For the outside magnetic snap, I covered up the hardware with a coordinating button.

The more bags I make, the better I get at them. Now that I have discovered pre-made straps and closures, my bags look a lot more professional. Here is a side-by-side view of recent bags I have made.

The pressure was on. My getaway to the beach was only weeks away and I still had not started the collection of swimsuits and cover-ups that I had planned to make myself for the trip. I had no one to blame but myself. This trip had been planned for almost a year but I kept putting off the time I would work on the outfits.

I got the idea for making swimsuits from a magazine. They really are not hard to make and for the amount of fabric needed, cheaper than buying them.

For months I scoured Etsy for retro swimsuit and caftan patterns. I purchased all the coordinating fabrics, lining fabrics and sport elastics shortly after booking my tickets, knowing that I had plenty of time. I was going to make a mix-n-match collection of nautical themes.

The seasons changed. First one, then another. My trip was coming up and I still hadn’t started the outfits. The problem is my sewing strategy. I don’t like to sew on deadline; instead, I like to go with the flow—working on what I feel like working on whenever I feel like it. Following a linear process would stifle my creativity, I was sure. There’s no rush.

But now there was one. My trip was less than three weeks away. I told myself if I applied myself, I could still finish the beach collection. I could wake up at 5 a.m. every day to get in a good hour of sewing before I started my day. That would give me plenty of time to easily finish two bathing suit tops, two bottoms and one cover up.

With two weeks to go before my beach get away, I had to take an overnight business trip. I came up with a plan: I would take all my fabric and patterns with me. When my work event was over, I would cut out patterns in my hotel room. Cutting out patterns is probably the most time consuming step of all. Why not use the otherwise wasted time as I was far from my machine?

I packed six sets of fabric and a box of pins in my suitcase. Since I was only taking a carry-on bag, I knew I would not be able to take scissors. When I got to the town, I headed to a drug store and bought the best pair of scissors that I thought could handle cutting both fabric and paper since I was not going to segregate the tasks.

After my work event, I set up my equipment on the hotel room floor in front of the TV. Each swimsuit bottom had seven pieces. I cut out two sets in fabric and two in lining fabric. The tops were similar. For the cover-up I chose the most basic design with the fewest number of pieces. I even pre-pinned all the initial seams so that when I got to my machine, I could fly through the first step.

I can only wonder what housekeeping thought of the little scraps of fabric in the trash bin along with an abandoned set of scissors they would find in the room when I left. I worked beyond the point of exhaustion. This was my only chance.

As soon as I got home, I forced myself to only focus on this project. I had to put all my other projects aside as this one was my priority. Sure, I was tempted to pick up a few other works-in-progress as was my usual tendency, but if I had any chance of taking a new beach collection with me on this trip, I had to devote any and all time to it.

There were some blurry eyed early morning sewing sessions, but I am happy to say I was able to complete the collection. I wore my suits with pride at the beach. But that was only after I took a long nap. I was exhausted by the effort.

I don’t play tennis. It’s just like with the nautical look. I don’t like boats, but I love the colors and styles of sailing. Must be in honor of my father, who loved both activities, and lived life to the fullest outdoors.

I actually finished this dress last summer but never wore it until this week. This is the second tennis dress I’ve made, but completely different in style. The first version:

This one is a tennis dress because of the trim. It’s hard to see, but those are tennis ball buttons with a tennis racquet ribbon trim under the placket.

The inspiration for this dress was this Thom Browne one from the Brooks Brothers Black Fleece collection.

I liked the idea of a long line with uneven shirttail lengths and I copied that. 

I started out with this McCall’s pattern as a base.

Unlike the inspiration and the pattern, I cut separate bodice and skirt sections to be able to create a more fitted form. I then made my placket run as long as the model one through both pieces after they were joined together. There are no other closures. I put long sleeves from another pattern.

The skirt part of the dress is lined with organza. This was to provide interlining so that the skirt would not be transparent.

I guess it’s laughable that you could play tennis in a dress like this, but isn’t this how women had to dress back in the 1900s? 

I can’t get enough of stripes! I love stripes! Must be the nautical vibe. 

The inspiration for this garment came from this Land’s End version. 

Sadly, it was sold out before I had a chance to snag it. No matter. I could make my own!

I used this Vogue pattern as a guide. See View C.

I had started making this pattern out of another fabric last year but it went into hibernation. As I am moving, many of my supplies and projects got shuffled around. I could not find where I put this pattern. Being very frustrated looking, I waited for the next Vogue pattern sale at Joann and then bought myself another copy. The $4.99 I paid for another copy was worth the saved frustration of pulling my hair out trying to find this pattern in my house.

I was in the mood for a longer tunic so I chose the version with the shirttail hem. I also felt like creating a color block effect in the yoke area. I marked the sleeve notch area where it connected to the front bodice to create the cut-off line for the color blocking.

Mood had some “Saint James” striped ponte. I bought some complementary solid ivory ponte for the top part of my yoke and for the yoke which I made out of a separate piece of fabric.

I found that the solid ponte was a much better quality than the striped one, in terms of it being more stable. I wish the striped one was as thick. All the same, it worked out.

I used two sets of each yoke piece to create clean seams on the inside of the garment. 

For the front closure, I used small blue anchor-embossed plastic buttons. As an added feature, I made the top buttonhole at the neck with red fabric. I also added some nautical trim to the side seam bottom edge.

You can’t see it in this photo, but the cuffs also feature a strip of tri-colored ribbon to which I added red plastic anchor-embossed buttons. Nautical look complete.