Skirts and Pattern Matching

I was asked a question today that got me thinking….hey, I don’t even know how many yards go into my skirts!

Figuring Out Skirt Yardage

My basic (very basic, no gores, cartridge pleated) methodology is this: 

(Personal caveat:  I rarely actually measure.  I rip out the first panel, using the “step on it and pull up to waist” method, plus a generous hem allowance, and do pattern matching from the top by “rounding up” to the next matching element at the bottom of the fabric and cutting there.  I feel like I’m not making sense.  Please let me know……)

waist-to-floor" x 2/3/4 panels + 12+" = total inches needed

waist-to-floor"  My waist-to-floor, straight down* is 41”.  I find that if I measure straight to the floor, I (usually) get a good walking-length when petticoats are added.  I usually don’t wear shoes with heels, but if you do, make sure to either add a few inches, or do your base measurement with the heeled shoes you’re gonna wear on.  (If you’re feeling particularly confident, skip the whole measuring bit, and go ahead and rip off a panel as I described above for the first panel, and use that as a guide for the rest of them)

Where it gets different is if I’m doing pannier skirts, haaauge bum skirts, or anything with a cage/crinoline, but basically same dealio, get the waist-to-hem measurement**.

2/3/4 panels This is where it gets a bit….squidgy, and has a lot to do with personal preference, type of fabric, type of skirt,  width of fabric etc.  I usually end up doing two or three panels, as a general rule.

12+"  More squidginess over here.  The very, very bare bone minimum I feel comfortable squeaking out a skirt + hems is 12” over all.  (that gives me a mere 3” hem, since about an inch is taken up in doing the cartridge pleats) More hem is always safer.

So, all that to tell you with no pattern in the fabric, that I use 2.6 yards (very minimum) to 5.5 yards (very maximum) for a plain, no gore/train cartridge pleated skirt.  I suppose my average skirt is somewhere in-between!

Pattern Matching Skirts

Ok, now on to pattern matching in skirts.  The basic rule of thumb is, the bigger the pattern repeat, the more yardage you’re gonna need.

For fabric without a pattern repeat, all you have to do is figure out your length, and you’re set to cut.

The very first thing to do when figuring out yardage for patterned fabric, is to measure out your base panel (in this case, 46”)

Unless you’re really, really lucky (it’s only happened to me once), your pattern isn’t going to just match up with your specific measurements***. 

The top of the panel starts half-way through the repeat, so the 2nd (3rd, 4th) panels will also need to start 1/2 way through the first repeat.

 

Here is a link to a post I did about how to figure out the top curve when attaching skirts to bodices without all that fiddly draping.  After sewing the panels together, that’s the next step in my skirt/gown construction process.

 

*An easy way to get this measurement with no help is to step on the measuring tape, grasping the end (the 1” end!) and stand up straight, holding the end of the tape to your waist.  Bend over, and see where the edge of your foot is marking.  Here is a totes cool stick figure showing you what I’m talking about:

**To get a waist-to-hem measurement with hoops, it’s backwards from the waist-to-floor measurement.  First off, it’s easiest to have someone do it for you, but if you’re totally stuck doing it yourself, make sure your measuring tape isn’t all curly at the ends (like mine tend to be), or use a retractable metal measure-y thing.  What is that called?  Ummmmmm…..huh.  Just googled it.  I guess that’s called a Tape Measure too.  Anyway, I digress.

So, put on your hoops or petticoats, or whatever fluffy bits you’re gonna be wearing , and feed the 1” end of the tape to the floor, going over whatever bit of you is sticking out the most.

***FYI: most modern brocades & jaquards I’ve used have been woven so the two selvages are the same. This makes it easier to match up patterns. There have been times where the patterns are off-kilter, and instead of matching across selvages.  If this is the case, then you’ll have excess at the top of one, and at the bottom of another.  If this doesn’t make any sense, lemme know and I’ll draw it out.

Tufted Buttons

Holly came down to visit while Kao was away on business, but job interviews and a nasty cold has taken up pretty much every moment, up until now!

We looked at inspiration portraits and decided some design details for her ACC dress.

Her main inspiration portrait is this beauty:

Bronzino, Agnolo. Portrait of a Lady. 1550. Oil on canvas. Galleria Sabuada, Turin.

She’s using blue velvet from my stash (to be traded for probably jewelry at a later date) 

Because I’m still kinda feeling out of it, I suggested that we work on cording and buttons first, and do some pattern drafting and cutting tomorrow.

I kind of had a plan of how to create tufted buttons like the ones on the portrait, but I wasn’t sure if it would work until I sat down with needle and thread….And I had to figure out how to do it before I could teach her!

Here’s what I came up with, something similar looking, but not quite a copy:

1.  Start as you would a regular thread-wrapped button, but with extra length.  (I’m using a arm-span length)

2.  This is where it gets a bit different.  Tie off the thread on the bottom, then go back up through the top and use a needle as spacer for the loop, and go back down 2x…..if that makes sense.  (I may still be a little loopy….)

3.  Take the needle out of the little loops; now this is where the tufts are going to be anchored.  I used the back end of my favorite bone crochet hook as a spacer……loop through the anchor loops as many times as it takes to get a pleasing puffiness.  (In my case, 7x)

4.  Wrap around the base of the tufty loops to lock in place, and plunge the needle back through the bead core.  Firmly square knot, and voila! Tufty cute buttons!

5.  It’s a good idea to dab a bit of glue on the end of the button to make sure that everything stays in place, then all that’s left is to sew onto a garment!

Holly and I have dubbed these “Blueberry Buttons”, as Bethaval has “Cranberry Buttons” on one of her recent(ish) gowns!

Saccoccia

There are a couple of different pictures of saccoccia in blue and gold – I happen to have a bit of blue and gold scrap fabric, so I decided to do this quickie tutorial in that fabric. 

I sewed this on a machine, so isn’t at all something I would show off as ‘period’, but is good enough for holding cell phones and cash hidden under skirts at events!

I don’t know how to upload documents yet….I very carefully drew this out to scale in Photoshop, then realized I may not be able to upload it as such! 

Aaaaaaanyway…..it’s not that complicated of a pattern…just kind of an elongated teardrop shape.  (I would suggest making the top longer than you think it should be….you can always cut off excess at the end)

Hokay.  So, you’ll want to cut 2 fabric & 2 lining.

On the wrong side of your fabric, draw the slit line.  Sew around the line as close as you can. 

When cutting the slit, make a “Y” cut at the end:

Turn right side out & press slit.  (I top stitched the slit opening for extra durability)

Pin lining out of the way, and pin fabric right side to right side.  Sew around the outside edge, clip & press.

Pin fabric out of the way and pin lining right sides together.  Sew around outside edge, clip & press.

You’re going to end up with a bellows-looking thing.  But don’t worry!

Turn right side out and tuck lining inside.  I’ve been folding over the top and stitching down, but you could bind the top edges or make an internal casing.

Voila!  Saccoccia! 

Quick Headband Tutorial

Take one cheap headband, and some ribbon slightly wider than said cheap headband.

I’m going to be putting a bow on the side, so that’s where I’m going to do my join.  So, you’ll need to measure how much ribbon (doubled) is needed to cover the headband.

Stitch right up next to the each edge of the ribbon, making a little casing.  I folded the ribbon in half so the nice folded edge will be at the ends of the headband.

Now you’ve got a covered headband, but there is still an unsightly join to deal with.  You can cover it with a big flower, a bow, or just wrap it with a ribbon.

I stitched down the bow, and then used the center “knot” to wrap completely around the headband and hide the join on the inside as well.

And here it is, modeled by one of the people who happened to be in my sewing room today.  Thanks, Michelle!

Trapunto

I first heard of trapunto a few years ago when I found the “Tristan quilt” while browsing through the Victoria and Albert collection online. I went searching for more information at the time, but couldn’t find any, and gave up on it, but always had it in the back of my mind as ‘something I’d like to learn one day’.

Fast-forward to the Southern Regional Collegium, and there was a class being taught on trapunto – I was SO excited!

I was planning to just link to an already-existing tutorial on trapunto, but I haven’t been able to find one, so I’m going to do my very first video tutorial*. The technique isn’t difficult, but is hard to convey through pictures.

From the “World Wide Quilting” page on Trapunto:

“Trapunto is a whole cloth quilting technique which produces a raised surface on the quilt. Trapunto patterns consist of vines, leaves, grapes, cherries and so on. The vines and straight line patterns are threaded with a soft yarn or cording. The rounder shapes are stuffed with small amounts of batting inserted from a small slit made in the backing fabric. After the shapes are stuffed, the slit is whipped stitched closed. A second backing fabric is then added to the quilt and normal quilting is done all around the previously stuffed shapes.
Another style of Trapunto uses a loosely woven fabric for the quilt backing. Then, instead of making slits in the backing to stuff shapes, a needle is used to carefully push the backing thread apart to form an opening for the stuffing. The threads are then carefully pushed back into place. This eliminates the need for a second backing fabric.
Trapunto originated in Italy in the early 16th century. It appeared in the United States in the the late 1700's and remained popular until the Civil War.”

Trapunto

1. Draw the quilting design backwards on a loosely woven linen backing.

2. Layer the top fabric behind the backing fabric in a hoop frame & back stitch over the designs.

3. To stuff shapes, poke a hole in the backing fabric (being careful to only poke through that layer) and use the point of a stiletto to shove batting into the space between the backing fabric and the quilt top.

Trapunto–stuffing shapes

4. To stuff lines, use a large upholstery needle threaded with yarn and thread the yarn or cord through the channel. For curved lines, you will need to poke the needle back up at the apex of the curve, and sink the needle back through the same hole to continue around the curve.

Trapunto–stuffing lines & vines

5. The last step is to quilt the trapunto piece to the final quilt backing fabric. In the ‘Tristan quilt’ , the un-stuffed background is stippled with a running stitch, and additional detail is provided in the padded areas.

Trapunto–background stippling and texture detail

Other links of interest:

Wholecloth Quilts, Trapunto & Boutis

Labor of Love (an article about a group of people who made a copy of the “Tristan Quilt”)

* I’ve learned a lot going back through the videos – I need a better setup for sure! I apologize for the beeps in the 2nd video and the sea-sickening back-and forth in the 3rd video! I mis-spoke a couple of times in the videos, but I think you’ll understand what I mean even if I’m babbling like a loon most of the time! My stitching isn't the prettiest; especially the stippling at the end, but you get the idea!

Sophie-Anne’s collar

There was an article on Threads yesterday that is going to become helpful when it comes time to make the True Blood dress; “Pressing a Rolled Collar into a Curve”

I’m also going to be surfing through “Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing” to get some tips on sewing retro garments. (She is SO awesome, btw)

Purple Pincushion

Once again, I got distracted on the internets and decided I needed a pincushion, all due to this tutorial found on Crafty Pod.

I won’t rehash the tutorial here, or how to do yo-yos (unless someone really wants some details on how to make yo-yos?) since I did pretty much the same thing, with only a few small changes.

I also stuffed the pin cushion with 1/2 polyfil stuffing and 1/2 walnut shells. (Walnut shells help give it weight, and protect the needles)

I went a little nuts with the yo-yos though, and decided the ones on the side needed some décor. Things got a bit out of hand, and got a little rococo.

I made 2 different yo-yos for the sides. The first kind are a floral pattern with a little bow held on with a button.

To make a bow, fold ribbon with edges overlapping, and run a stitch down the middle.

Pull the stitches tight , and voilà! A pretty bow!

The second color is a darker purple with a ribbon cockade held on by a button.

To make an easy ribbon cockade, fold over the raw edge, and run a stitch along one edge.

I don’t have any good rule of thumb for how long the stitches need to go, I just kept checking every few stitches to see if it looked right.

Once the gathers are beefy enough, I stitched the overlap, being careful not to go through the front of the cockade.

Then snip off the excess ribbon, and there your have an easy peasy gathered ribbon cockade thing!

And just because I think they’re cute, here’s the whole string of yo-yos all lined up.

I couldn’t decide which fabric to use for the top & bottom, so I did a reverse of each.

I’m trying to decide if I’m going to whip the edge of the large yo-yo to the cushion – I kind of like the way it ruffles!

Seekrit Project

 

So - if you guys haven't realized already, my hubby and I are huge nerds.  You know what else is nerdy?  QR codes. I'm also a big 'ole textile/craft nerd (whodda thunk it, right?!)....so.  I am making mah hubby a QR code sampler for his b-day....which is tomorrow.  Which is why I'm crowing, I just finished the last stitch moments ago.  All I need to do is block and frame it!

Woohoo!

Wanna know how I did it?

Ok.

1.  I went to this website, and created my QR code.  I used the "XL" size, and the "text" options.  When the code generated, I saved out the image.  It looks like this:

 

2.  I messed around with some free cross stitch pattern generators, but for such a relatively small and concise pattern, I couldn't get anything to work.  So.  Being the nerd I am, plain old graph paper isn't good enough, so I used excel instead.  (For the nitty gritty:  I bordered every cell, and created a 5 count using 'thick border'.  I used a dark color, but not so dark, I couldn't see the grid lines.  (I used color, rather than symbols, since I hate reading x-stitch patterns with symbols with a firey passion))  It ended up looking like this:

3.  Then.....I stitched away!  (Ok, what you really wanted to know were the details.  Ok....It's an 18 CT, and I used double stranded floss.)  Anyway, this is what the finished stitching looks like:

I'll unlock this post tomorrow so the surprise isn't ruined (In case hubs swings by for some random reason...), and post a picture of the final framed piece.

So, it's a little later than 'tomorrow', but here's the picture of the finished piece.  Hubs loved it!  :D

Uhm.....who was that??

 

Someone, somewhere, asked about rolled hems.  I don't think it was anyone on my friends list, but I was batting around the idea of writing up a tutorial for her (?) ....... but now I've forgotten where I saw the original questions, or if it was even on LJ.  Anyway, I was seriously going to do one over the weekend, but serendipitously stumbled across this fabulous tutorial.  (And it's true - the trick is the spit!  In fact, I seem to remember them being referred to as 'spit hem' somewhere.)

Anyway, a whole lot of preamble to point you to this lovely Rolled Hem Tutorial, and fabulous blog.

I'm always in awe of people that can put together a beautifully photographed blog/tutorial!

Simple Tassel Tutorial (for bodice_goddess)

 

The same method can be used for itty bitty tassels (like I use on my shirts), or big huge chunky tassels, like in my Tribal belts.
Same method, different outcomes!

Itty bitty tassel is out of thread and fine cord.....big chunky tassel is made out of yarn and braided chunky cord.

1.  Tie a knot in the end of your selected string/braid.

2.  wrap the strands that will become the tassel around a card or CD case or whatever - just make sure that it is 2x (plus a smidge more) wider than you'd want your finished tassel to be.
Wrap 'round and round until you get enough 'body'.  This is totally subject to personal preference, but you don't want your tassel to look skimpy.  Neither to you want it to be so boofy it's unmanageable.   (Pro-tip:  don't wrap so tightly you can't easily slide the card/case/whatever out after you're done wrapping!)

3.  Take a long piece of strong thread/string/yarn, and tie a knot in the middle of the wrapped threads.
(Pro-tip:  You'll be using this same thread to tie off underneath the 'balloon' portion of the tassel, so you'll need to decide if you want this string to match or contrast the body of the tassel.)

4.  I find I get plenty of stability just by butting the two knots together and skipping to step #5.  If you are worried about your tassel falling apart, tie the cord around the knot you just made.  This makes the body of the tassel bigger, and sometimes it can be harder to hide the ends of the cord, so experiment and see what works best for you.

5.  Now, this is where keeping your knotting thread long comes in handy!
Arrange the fringe around the cord, so there are no huge gaps (don't worry if it's not perfect, you can fiddle with it at the next step.  Just make sure it's not all clumped together)
Now, take those long ends and wrap around the fringe and the cord, just underneath the knots.  PULL TIGHT!!!  Do a bunch of square knots to make sure everything is secure.  (I guess at this point, if you were really worried, you could do a dab of glue on your knots, but I've found it to be unnecessary.)

6.  Now, flip all the fringe the opposite way.  Arrange all the fringe to be nice and smooth over the body/bulb of the tassel  (This is where you want to be extra-picky.  It's going to show, and it's hard to fix after tying off!)
TIGHTLY wrap the long tails underneath the knots.  Knot off the ends.  (I usually to back into the middle of the tassel and hide the knots in there).......and voilà!  You've just made your very own custom tassel!

ETA: 7.  Trim off all the loops to make the bottom of the tassel even!  Heh.