Sewing

Armani / Swarovski Dress

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Armani Privé evening gown. Silver silk, Diamond Leaf Swarovski crystals. Fall 2007.

A couple of years ago on the New York Garment/Fabric Shopping trip we visited the FIT Museum – this was the first item you saw as you walked into the exhibit. It’s an amazing garment – created in 2007 by Armani at the request of Swarovski to showcase a new “leaf crystal” added to the Swarovski collection.

We weren’t able to see the internal construction of the gown, but it must have been substantial to allow a wearer to hold up the 50 or so pounds of crystals!

I’ve been looking for images of the dress since I got back. I finally got the idea of writing to the FIT Museum to ask about it. They answered me with a lot of information:

The dress was designed for Armani’s Fall 2007 collection in collaboration with Swarovski. It is embellished with approximately 100,000 Swarovski crystal beads and rhinestones as you describe. The beads appear in graduated sizes from small ones around the neckline to larger ones at the hem.  I’ve also included the label text that appeared with the dress in the exhibition in 2012 (Fashion journalist Suzy Menkes described Armani’s elaborately embellished women’s clothes as “symbols of escape from everyday reality.” This gown features approximately 100,000 Diamond Leaf crystals, a new shape designed by Armani for Swarovski. Prior to this collaboration, Swarovski had not worked directly with a designer since the 1950s, when the company partnered with Christian Dior.)

Embroidered Silk Shirt

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A couple of months ago a friend gave me this embroidered silk fabric in a bundle of silk fabrics she was discarding from her stash — a real find for me. This one I immediately thought would make an “elegant” shirt jacket (two of the other pieces are earmarked for a quilt).

So two days ago I finally cut the shirt out, being careful to match the sleeves, the two fronts, the cuffs, and especially the pocket. The under collar, inside collar stand, inside of the cuffs are done in a solid white silk dupioni which I bought through Etsy.

The real accomplishment was matching the two fronts across the front placket! It really was a lucky accident – because I was careful about matching the embroidery across the two fronts, it happened that the lines aligned across the placket. And the pocket matched exactly the embroidery beneath.

I plan to wear it with a shell underneath, and white pants, I think, at one of the family bar mitzvah gatherings.

Palazzo Pants

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Bali is hot, and we also have a few hot days each summer here in Halifax. So I decided to make a pair of palazzo pants — loose fitting pants with a yoke that sits just below the waist.

This is the first pair — I used some of the katagami (Japanese batik) I bought several weeks ago. I’ve used this fabric in a couple of quilts (I backed one with it). It washes well, presses nicely and drapes softly.

The pattern I used didn’t have pockets (I added two on the front – deep enough to carry my phone in my pocket), and it had a side zipper. This pair I put in the side zipper with an added tab (with a button) at the top.

I’ve made a white and a navy pair – each with a fly-front which I prefer to a side zipper. I’ve got two more pair cut out – I think at least one of them I will cut off to a capri length.

Definitely comfortable. They’re not all for Bali (I’ll probably only take a single pair), but they’re great to wear in our weather which has been warm and humid for the last couple of weeks.

Luggage Tags

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The women on the Bali trip have been talking about how to recognize one another in the Denpasar airport when we arrive. We’re coming from both the east and west coasts and from locations in between. Some travelling west, I’m traveling east. Several of us are arriving at about the same time in Denpasar. Since most of us don’t know anyone else on the trip, the suggestion was made to create luggage tags in a lime green so we can identify another trip member at the luggage pick up.

Seemed like a good idea. So yesterday I whipped up a couple of luggage tags – one for my suitcase, and one for my backpack (which I will be wearing). Very easy to do.

  • Cut 4 pieces of 3.5″ x 5″ fabric as well as 2 pieces of 3.5″ x 5″ heavy weight interfacing, two 6″ lengths of grosgrain ribbon and two  3.5″ x 5″ pieces of plastic.
  • Fuse the interfacing to two of the pieces of fabric.
  • Place the other two pieces of fabric on the right side of the fabric/interfacing piece and sew on three sides.
  • Turn inside out, press.
  • Insert the folded grosgrain ribbon (cut ends) into the open end which has been folded  inward. Stitch the open end closed.
  • Take a business card (or a card with your ID on it) and lay it in the middle of one side. Place the plastic piece on top and stitch around the outside, then stitch around the edge of the card. Trim the plastic as close to the seam as possible.

And there you have it – a personal luggage tag – won’t look like anybody else’s!

Elegant Attire

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I got my invitation to my great-nephew Ben’s Bar Mitzvah last week. The invitation says: “elegant attire”. I wrote my niece asking her what that meant and she sent me back a photo of her new dress for the affair. The Bar Mitzvah is end of August, in Toronto, certain to be a hot evening. I went through my wardrobe looking for “elegant attire” — I have outfits but everything is more suitable for winter, too hot to wear on a late August evening.

I hate shopping for clothes, I prefer making stuff — it’s as much about the making as it is the wearing. So I went through my fabric stash. I have a lovely piece of blue and white stripe silk which I bought in Portland OR last spring, and I might just have been able to squeak out a dress from it but I didn’t want to cut the fabric and find I didn’t really have enough, that the dress ended up too short. That fabric will get saved for another garment of some kind.

Instead, I went to the local fabric shop and picked up 2 m. of a Japanese katagami stencilled indigo dyed cotton fabric. There were lots of large bold designs but I thought this one was delicate enough to be considered “elegant”. Yesterday, I cut out a t-shirt dress from the fabric; today I sewed the pieces together. IMG_3029

This is me wearing the completed dress with some large Navaho silver jewellery, green shoes. The dress will certainly be comfortable – it’s loose, and cotton. I think it will also pass muster as “elegant”!IMG_3028

New Back Pack

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Just finished this new back pack. I made one like this using faux suede a number of years ago and I use it regularly. It holds quite a lot and sits comfortably into the small of my back. I made a pattern from a Japanese back pack which a friend purchased in Japan. I used one of the pieces of Japanese fabric I’d bought in Portland Oregon a year ago. Took about 5 hours to cut out and assemble.

I made this one to take to Bali at the end is September because the older one is surprisingly heavy. This one was made using lighter fabrics.

New Nightgown for Joan

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It was my neighbour Joan’s birthday on Wednesday. A couple of years ago I made her an heirloom nightgown. Two weeks ago she asked if I could fix a rip in one sleeve. The tear was too large to “fix” so I replaced the sleeve – the gown was like new. At the time I thought, time to make her another gown. I use a white batiste and this time I did a bit of embroidery on the yoke. Used a binding on the neckline, and didn’t bother with a lot of fancy heirloom stitching on the hems. I gave it to her this afternoon.

Knit Dress

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Thinking about summer (it still hasn’t warmed up here – I continue wearing wool socks!). I was in the fabric store last week and came across this bright knit on sale. Found a simple pattern for a plain t-Shirt dress. Very quickly cut out and sewn together. I used my new serger to “cover stitch” the hems. The dress doesn’t look like much on the hanger, but it drapes softly on the body.

There was enough fabric left over to make a t-Shirt as well.

Kimono

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Since my trip to Portland last spring, I’ve been purchasing bolts of old silk kimono fabric from Ichiroya Kimono Flea Market in Japan. I learned about the silks from Ann Williamson, the wonderful clothing designer in Portland who pieces amazing jackets and other pieces of clothing with these silks. I now own 8 bolts – they’re sitting in my stash waiting for time and inspiration to work with them. Having discovered Ichiroya I signed up for their newsletter which comes weekly.

This week’s newsletter is about a kimono and obi fashion show in Paris held by Hinaya – an obi company in Kyoto. There are photos of kimono and obi combinations. I’ve copied two to showcase here – I just love the colours and patterns in these two sets of garments. I can imagine how wonderful it would feel to be wearing these outfits. kimono 2 kimono 1

Projects

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This is the state of my sewing room: at the top is the enlarged photo for the next art/landscape quilt of the two boys, below that is the pattern and fabric for a jeans jacket I want to make in the next couple of weeks, on the seat of the sofa are two quilts that are stitched in the ditch but need to be quilted, and fabric and ideas for one quilt from a stack of fat quarters and another from a jellyroll. Lots to do and not enough hours in the day! First to finish the two nearly done quilts, then the jacket, I think, before I tackle the two new quilts. Endless ideas for projects.