New project - B 5355 raglan tunic ... in silk charmeuse!

All those carefully laid (half-baked?) Ren Faire garb sewing plans and corset plans went out the window with Friday's mail.  My son has another sports award banquet scheduled for the 17th, and I have no warm weather nice clothes.  As I've learned more about fitting, I've learned there is just no possible way I can buy clothes at a store that will fit me, so sewing it is!  Besides, I have some really nice fabrics I've scored on sale, that sit and look pretty and inspire dreams of beautiful garments ...

My silk charmeuses are a good example!  I knew when I bought them back in January I wanted drapey-flowy tops of them ... and I have now started on the first one: Butterick 5355 raglan tunic, in this silk charmeuse:

B5355 silk charmeuse

The pattern cries out for drapey-flowy fabric, just as the fabric cries out for a pattern to show off its fluid finery.  And the word "fluid" is especially appropriate for this silk ... it really does want to find its way to the floor!  Getting it laid out is the first major battle on the cutting table, because it loves to slide around on itself, even when folded wrong side together, right side out.  It's ten times worse if you try to fold the right side in ...!

Before I even dug the lovely silk out of its hiding spot, I asked for tips, tricks, and advice on cutting and sewing it in the PR chat room.  Here is what I was told would help preserve what little sanity I have:

• Make sure cuticles are trimmed and fingernails are filed ... charmeuse snags easily!
• Get a pinking blade for the rotary cutter, and have a good mat to cut on ... Olfa was recommended by name for both.
• Silk pins help ... I bought a new (PINK!) tomato pincushion to keep my silk pins separate from the normal ones.  If you are inclined to pin your pattern pieces, do so only in the seam allowances.  I pinned the selvages, then weighted the pieces with votive candle holders.
• Use cotton thread - Gutterman was recommended by name.  Test on a scrap before sewing to see just how small of stitch looks best - 1.5 to 1.8 was recommended (mm, I *think*).
• French seams to sew silk charmeuse, which automatically finishes the inside.
• Quilting gloves called Machingers were also recommended, but I have no way to get them in a timely manner.  I may order them anyway since I do have the two couture silk charmeuses, plus the silk brocades.
• Sharps needles ... I thought I had size 8, but I only have size 10s.  The size 10 Sharps still sew better than size 8 universals in my test.

I'll spare y'all all the whining and blubbering of the past week ... except to say my son looked dashingly handsome in his rental tux for prom, and we had two and a half days rainfree which included the kids getting to prom without getting wet.

A little more coffee, and I'll go wrestle the silk charmeuse into place to cut the wide billowy sleeves .... then the sewing silk adventure will start!

Silk splurges and sales acquisitions

I mentioned last week about my sewing being interrupted by the arrival of a box of fabric splurges and promised pics ... the procrastination on that is over as I had this urge to pull out my latest splurges and fondle them, so why not snap pics?  This time, instead of laying them on my table I draped them over Mathilda since the prints are huge (and there's currently a very yummy chocolate cake on the table since yesterday afternoon!).

Not surprisingly, these come from that "ebil enabler" site, FabricMart.  When I first saw these two silks back in late November, they were $35/yd, so they truly put the "wish" into my wishlist and I joked that the only way I would get them would be if we won the lotto ... I was wrong.  First FM marked them down to $30/yd ... then put them in the 50% sale.  Hubby spoils me rotten at times, plus has a wishlist of things he wants me to sew for him, so he gave this splurge the green light.  This time, my pics turned out!



 My pic 

  FM's pic 

Charmeuse #2:

FM's pic

My pic

On the utility fabric acquisition side of things, today I picked up cotton muslin on sale again for 99c/yd, a bit of cotton twill at $2.50/yd, and last week grabbed a couple yards of cotton down-proof mattress ticking to try out for corset cores. The ticking is lightweight, strong, and has little bias stretch and will be the core of my next attempt to turn KS 3850 into a four-layer corset.

Before I dive into version 2 of the bustier corset, I think I'll finished sewing up the Vogue coat mockup, as all three of my cats have discovered the outer shell and all three think it worth the effort to jump up and lay/shed on it ... even my oldest, fattest, and by far my laziest cat.  It doesn't take too many days of decent weather for these furry monsters to start shedding like mad ... so I need to get the mockup done and hung up!  Just for fun, here's all three napping (and shedding) on our bed:

More silk/rayon brocades!

I hinted at this a few days ago after I ordered them but not received them yet ... but I simply could not resist when FabricMart put the remaining silk/rayon brocades on half off and bought the three I wanted but didn't buy before.  By now, a few of y'all are tired of hearing about my red floral silk/rayon brocade, especially the one who denies it exists.  LOL

Two sold out before I could copy the pictures off FM's website, so y'all will have to suffer with my poor photog (lack of) skills for these:

The blue with Asian-style flying dragons ... it went fast once it was marked down.

A lovely pearl white - with my usual problems trying to capture that color on pixels.

FM calls this one "creamy gold" because they have/had another gold colored brocade with a different design, but compare my sorry pic of it to the professionally done one from FM's site:

Trust me, I won't be quitting my day job for photography any time soon ... LOL
I can't help but wonder if maggie resisted the brocades yet again.  I know she succumbed to the brown silk velvet I managed to resist ... greatly aided by it selling out before I caved in and ordered.  We're doing a fabric trade and I did ask her for a small swatch of it just so I can feel what real silk velvet feels like.  I'll need to ask her in chat if she has a brocade, or if she'd like a small swatch of it just to fondle ...

The true beauty of having multiple brocades in similar or complementing designs and colors is I can patchwork and colorblock the leftovers into a garment, assuring none of it goes to waste.  Without a doubt, the red is still my favorite, and still "Myyyy precioussss ...".  Just call me Gollem, with the red being the Brocade of Power!  LOL

Revelling in fabric

I've made some recent fabric acquisitions, along with a couple fabric splurges ... aided and abetted by sales, of course.  This afternoon, I decided to pull out my fabrics and take photos - always a good excuse to fondle the fabric!  Here we go:

From left to right: charcoal grey wool coating, lavender silk dupioni, emerald silk/rayon satin, a cotton that has the texture of linen, and a soft cotton flannel.  Not pictured is the 15 yards of unbleached cotton muslin I scored for only 59 cents per yard.  Now, for the splurges:

This one I paid regular price for ... a red silk jacquard.  It's a bit difficult to photograph properly, but I think y'all can get the idea from this.  Another splurge (on sale even!)

Silk charmeuse, that has been on my "wishlist" at FM for well over a month ... and it finally went half off!  I adore the wild large print and the colors.  I need to find the "perfect" pattern for a long tunic to show it off.
Now, I have some mystery bundle fabrics ... and I am still on the fence about getting these or not.  First, the fabrics I think I can do something with:

I just discovered this afternoon the teal on the far left is silk ... a ravel thread was stuck to the glitter stretch velvet, and I tried to snap it.  No dice.  That's when I finally saw the small piece of tape in the corner: "2-silk".  The burn test confirmed this.  I'll certainly think of something for it ... now for fabrics where I am scratching my head - or working on a trade:

Knit - knit - stretch woven.  There's also a white knit and a brown stretch woven that didn't want to photograph right.  The salmon/coral on the right is not accurately depicted, and neither is the light taupe-ish knit on the left.  Heck, for that matter the dots on the knit in the middle are a very pale peachish.  Oh well ...

And oh joy ... the other silk/rayon brocades went half off yesterday!  I have no willpower when it comes to these ... had to get 3 more to complement my lovely red floral splurge.  Hopefully, that box will arrive by Saturday.

The red silk/rayon brocade

Y'all will probably hear a lot about this fabric acquisition ... actually, this one is firmly in the "fabric splurge" category.  Yes, Mom, I paid regular price for this one ... but this falls firmly into that same category as the fabric for my prom dress you made me (*mumble mumble*) years ago.  The one I still have.  The one that still got complements when I wore it to hubby's battalion formal in 2006 (the last time I fit in it again).

I originally only bought a 2 yd piece, but when it arrived, it was love at first pet.  Of course, this fabric ravels if you just look at it, so I had to immediately overcast (overedge?) the raw ends because I don't want to lose any of it.  It disappeared off FabricMart's website for a little less than a week, then reappeared ... someone must have cancelled their order because I cannot imagine how anyone would return the beauty.  So I truly splurged and bought the last few yards of it ... I just finished overcasting the raw edges on the second piece because I was thinking of it, and it's a good excuse to fondle such luxurious, rich fabric.

I have at least two plans for this gorgeous stuff: the outer fashion fabric layer of a mid-Victorian corset, and also a mandarin-collar jacket.  I need to practice both ideas before I dare cut into this ... while it may not be "haute couture" expensive, it is definitely not cheap enough to make any mistakes on!

Since I bought the last of it, I had to post this beauty up to share.  OK, maybe just a touch of bragging here ... but this is definitely one of my better fabrics in my possession.