As I walked into the JCC this morning for my water aerobics class, the sky was overcast and the weather forecast said there was a 90% chance of rain for the balance of the day.

A young mom and dad were getting out of their car next to me and walking their two children into the day care center. The mom was dressed impeccably and wearing a bright red coat.

Wow! Pop!!

We all should have a brightly colored coat to bring us some cheer on gray days.

I’m headed into my basement sewing room to begin work on Marcy Tilton’s coat, Vogue 8934. It’s a charcoal gray wool blend from Gorgeous Fabrics. Here’s your sneak peak. No, it’s not red. But it’s warm. For me, living in Northeast Ohio, warm is a higher priority than bright.

Stay tuned.

… And some of this incredible poly/rayon/lycra knit from GorgeousFabrics and Katherine Tilton’s wonderful Butterick 5925 top. I think I am more in love with this garment than anything else I’ve made this year.

(You like the picture, don’t you? I’m channeling my inner Shams.)

Here’s the review:

Pattern Description: MISSES’ TOP: Pullover top has neckline and pocket variations, seam detail, and shaped hemine. A: slightly draped neck and pocket bands. B: pocket binding. A and B: semi-fitted, stitched hems. C and D: loose-fitting, hem band, and narrow hem. B, C and D: neck binding. Wrong side shows on hemlines, and C and D pocket openings.
Designed for light weight two-way stretch knits.

I made view D without the pockets. I frequently read that v-necks are good on me, but I rarely wear them, so thought I’d try it.

Pattern Sizing: Combinations: Y(XSmall-Small-Medium), ZZ(Large-XLarge-XXLarge)

I normally wear a Large or 14. I cut a Large and it fits perfectly.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The seaming is interesting. The fit is flowy without being overwhelming. It’s an absolutely lovely top.

Fabric Used: Poly/rayon/lycra from GorgeousFabrics.com. This link might give you some of them. The color I chose is called “ruby red”; as Ann says in the description, “it’s a deep red, almost blood red.” I think it would look good on any complexion.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Just a couple of tweaks.

1. I hand-sewed the finishing of the neckband rather than “stitching in the ditch.” I love handwork, and I was having so much fun with this yummy fabric, so decided to give myself the present of quiet time stitching.
2. I ignored every place in the instructions it said to clip the curve. I never clip when I’m working with a stable knit.
3. On the bottom front piece which, I guess, is just designed to give it a little more length and is just a design feature, I didn’t like that it wasn’t hemmed. (I also didn’t like that the instructions ignored the issue. I would prefer that instructions tell me to leave the edge raw rather than ignoring it.) I sewed it in place, then realized it was going to roll slightly, so unstitched ¼” on either end, cut a ¼” strip of lightweight knit interfacing and fused it in place, then folded the edge up and topstitched with a single row of stitching. Then I restitched the edges and I love the finished look.
4. I fused ⅝” strips of the same knit interfacing all the way around the bottom on either side of that front panel and then turned up the bottom. I now do this as a rule with all knits of this weight. It makes my double-needle hems go in so much more smoothly.
5. I fused a ¾” strip of the knit interfacing on each back shoulder seam before stitching, then pressed the seam to the back and top-stitched. This is a standard practice for Marcy and Katherine Tilton and one I’ve adopted on all my knits. It gives me a more stable shoulder.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes.

Conclusion: You cannot go wrong with either this pattern or this fabric. Go – Buy – Make – Wear – Love!

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As I said the other day when I blathered on about this fabric, I threw the top on over black pants on Saturday night to go to dinner without adding the front bottom piece or finishing the hems. That’s how much I love it. Today for pictures and to wear to rehearsal in Cleveland tonight, I’m wearing it with brown pants. It would go with gray. It would go with ponte or stretch denim or stretch cotton or jeans or …. It just goes, Energizer Bunny style.

The necklace is to love, don’t you think? From a darling little shop in Paris of items handcrafted in Lebanon. I think I’ll have to visit there again next month. (For my friends who are over there right now, it’s at 30, rue de Varenne in the 7th.)

The earrings are these sweet little wire-wrapped black pearls I got on sale a while back at Naturals.

With thanks to Katherine for this fabulous pattern, to Ann for the fabulous fabric, and to Shams for inspiring me to try new things with my camera.

TTFN. Late for rehearsal!

[Photo borrowed stolen from Marcy Tilton’s fabric store.

I wrote recently questioning the definition of design. This morning I reviewed my blog posts since early February of this year (the date I traveled to Santa Barbara and got kick-started by my friends/teachers/mentors Diane Ericson and Marcy Tilton and inspired by all my stylish sisters of the cloth on the West Coast). I have made a staggering 27 garments since returning from Design Outside the Lines. Twenty-seven!

(Oh, and that’s in addition to a bunch of knitting, two sewn bags, and helping DGD make her first T-shirt.)

Honestly, that seems a bit obscene.

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I discovered and began following Sarah Gunn’s Goodbye Valentino blog last fall and admired her Ready-to-Wear (RTW) Fast, but never thought I could do something like that. After attending Design Outside the Lines in February, I was pumped and decided to begin my own RTW Fast.
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Now let’s be very, very clear: I am not a shopper. I haven’t been inside a mall since about two months ago when my family doctor told me I had to ditch the underwires and buy new bras. 🙁 I would never, ever, under any circumstances short of the house burning down and all my clothes going up in smoke (knock wood) have bought that many clothes in THREE years, much less eight months!

So how did this happen? The Internet. I’ve been sewing for 50 years. When I was a teenager, I would go to the Singer store or to Belk-Lindsey in Colonial Plaza to buy my fabric. There were lots of decent fabrics in those days–wools, cottons, things one wasn’t ashamed to put on one’s body. (Do I sound like an Old Fart or what?!) Then came Cloth World and things started going downhill. I had my boys and sewed exclusively with Stretch & Sew, making all their cute little t-shirts and coordinating shorts. I made their father’s suits and outfits for myself.

The boys outgrew my sewing, their dad and I divorced, and I moved to Washington. I was working full-time and pursuing my Bachelor’s degree, and sewing time wasn’t readily available.

Ten years later I had finished my B.S. and J.D. and finally had the luxury of discretionary time. I learned to quilt and G Street Fabrics became my home away from home. Choosing quilting fabrics was relatively easy. But choosing a garment pattern and fabrics? Not so easy. I would pore over the Vogue pattern catalog for 20 minutes (aghast at the cost of a single pattern) and choose something I wanted to make. Then I’d wander the aisles for an hour. An hour! There were new-fangled fibers I’d never heard of, alongside my beloved and familiar natural fibers. I was in total sensory overload.

I’d try to choose fabrics and buttons to go along with the garment pattern I’d chosen. After an hour that I’d never see again, I’d put the pattern back in the drawer and walk out of the store, frustrated and sad that I was too [some perjorative adjective] to be able to choose a simple pattern and fabrics. I would make, maybe, one garment a year.

Fast forward to online fabric stores coupled with easy and flattering patterns for knit tops. Now I’m having the time of my life. I’m enjoying the sewing. I’m learning what I like and what I don’t like. I’m learning about my body. I’m learning new sewing techniques. I’m developing the confidence to ignore or override pattern instructions. I’m able to decide that something will only be worn under a jacket to the grocery store. I’m able to determine something is awful in its current incarnation and will be cut apart for a reincarnation. I’m amazed when I look inside my own head.

How is an online store different—for me—from a bricks-and-mortar fabric store? Let me tell you how I shop. I was a Nordstrom pianist for nine years in the Washington, DC, region. (Remember when Nordstrom had pianos and live pianists in every store? Wasn’t that heavenly? I always said I made “beautiful music to shop by.”) I would sit on the piano bench for five hours, amusing myself and all the shoppers in the store. I was always watching the sales associates as they whizzed by me, gathering garments for their customers to try on. On each ten-minute break at the top of the hour, I would stroll through my favorite departments, noting items I thought would be good on me. Then when I needed an outfit for an event or to supplement my wardrobe, I would go in to Nordy’s on my day off, try on several of the garments I had noted, and—within half an hour—be in and out of the store with what I needed. I don’t dawdle. I don’t try on things to try them on. I don’t waste my time.

How is that analogous to an online fabric store? Most every day, I pick up my iPad and spend five or so minutes at MarcyTilton.com or GorgeousFabrics.com or EmmaOneSock.com or VogueFabricsStore.com or MoodFabrics.com or [okay, that’s enough to give you an idea of what I mean]. If there’s something I really love and want to remember, I might pin it to a Pinterest board. Then when one of these stores notifies me via email newsletter or on their Facebook page feed that they’re having a sale, and there’s a new Vogue or Butterick pattern I want to make or I’ve decided I need just-one-more-knit-top for my upcoming trip to Europe, I’ll jump to that fabric (or a similar one if it’s already sold out) and buy it.

I no longer feel overwhelmed, as the clock isn’t ticking while I walk around the store. My finger is clicking around the stores for days, and I don’t feel pressured to buy anything on any one visit. And those twenty-seven garments? There are more than a handful that—sewn and tried-on—I love.love.love! This, which I’ll finish today; this; this; this; and the top I turn to whenever I need to smile, THIS! Oh, and my Marcy Tilton pants – Love ’em!

So what does this have to do with Thinking About Design? Some would say that design (in fashion) is imagining and creating the pattern for the garment or the outfit. I’m proposing that designing also includes taking that pattern and partnering it with fabric and notions to create the finished garment.

And, for me, online fabric stores make that so much easier. Even if I can’t pet the fabrics before purchasing them.

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I want to tell you how I have personally defined “RTW Fast.” In the months since I began my fast, I have purchased two pair of pants, two sweaters, and two pair of shoes (and a few replacement bras, on doctor’s orders). The pants were replacements for existing Eileen Fisher stretch crepe pants that I wore frequently and had worn out or had snagged beyond repair. I couldn’t make replacements—to my knowledge, the fabric is just not available, nor is the pattern. I totally love those pants and don’t want to live without them. While they’re still available, I’m going to buy them. That’s my rebellious nature popping out. A new black sweater was to replace a thirteen-year-old black sweater that was embarrassingly old and worn. The other sweater was something I just couldn’t make and needed for the cold of northern Europe in mid-November. The shoes—I can’t make shoes. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I’ve got love in my tummy for this fabulous fabric. (Maybe one has to be born in the 50s to know that song.)

When’s the last time you made something you loved so much you couldn’t wait to finish it before wearing it? That was yesterday for me! Ann Steeves had a knit sale this weekend. (If you’re reading this on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 13, runrunrun to GorgeousFabrics.com where the sale’s still on.)

I picked up some of this poly/rayon/lycra blend from Gorgeous Fabrics last week, and it is to swoon over! Every time I put my hands on it to pin a seam or run that seam under the presser foot, I can’t wait to finish and wear it. Our traveling buddies called last night to see if we wanted to go out to dinner and, before the final pattern piece of Katherine Tilton’s Butterick 5925 was in place and before any hems were sewn, I threw the top on over a pair of Eileen Fisher stretch crepe black slacks and adorned the V-neck with a great necklace I picked up in Paris in May, running out the door in glee. (And very disturbed to learn I didn’t document in my travel blog the store where I found the necklace – must find that store again!!)

Anyway – get some of this fabric while you can. It’s just fabulous. I’ll review the pattern in a day or two. It’s fabulous, also!!

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Found the website for the necklace. Artisans of Lebanon, at 30, rue de Varenne in the 7th Arrondissement, not far off Boulevard Saint-Germain and not far from Musée Rodin. Fabulous long necklace, embroidery floss crocheted onto a copper chain, with clusters of beads and sequins crocheted at random intervals. Long enough to wrap three times around one’s neck— or leave long à la roaring twenties.

Brought this bracelet from the same store to DGD for her 10th birthday and almost didn’t give it to her. Of course I had to wear it several days on my trip to make sure it was good enough for her. ☺