Zip zipper zipped

Zipper pouches are everywhere. Craft stalls, christmas markets, homemade shops... invariably there's a zipper pouch for sale. Cool patterns, cool coloured zips. Looking so easy to make. Sometimes lined, sometimes badly finished inside. But always instilling the "I could do that" feeling in me.

lovely examples on chic-a.com

Until I give it a try... and I am just not happy with the edges of the zip, or the general standard of finish.
So today, I tried to take it on myself to tackle the problem. To get top grips with the zips.
One of my Christmas presents, a book called Handmade Gifts includes instructions for an "Oilcloth Wash Bag". It suggests - as does a cushion tutorial I found - to add a little strip of fabric folded over on each end of the zip. I suppose my end result turned out fine... maybe I'm just being too picky.
I kept going and made another two zipped pouches:

I really like the fabric! It's an oilcloth I bought in Murphy Sheehy in Dublin. Oilcloth is usually meant as a tablecloth!

Only the largest purse of the three I made is lined. I used the same lining fabric for the end-strips at the zip ends (it's blue)... but would prefer in future to use fabric that matches the zip. Well... it would depend on the project I suppose but for the middle purse, I used a purple zip and purple fabric for the ends and I like how that turned out.
I like the purple zip but I think I was right to also use purple thread for it. I top-stitched that purse which I didn't do with the others, the machine really struggled to walk the oilcloth through, I had to tug it along.

Learn from experience

Use the length of a zip you have as your start point. Too often patterns and tutorials say "use a 12in/30cm zip" etc. And invariably the zips you have won't be in the right colour or the right size.

So the zip I had is 7"/18cm in length.
The tutorial recommended cutting the fabric to exactly the same length as the zip. I did this for the largest pouch and I didn't like how it ended up. So this time around, I decided to make the fabric a little longer than the zip... after all, I'm gonna use those zip end strip things.

Tip: if you have one, use a set square to draw the lines exactly perpendicular to each other. I don't do this enough with my sewing projects, expecting the edge of the fabric to be straight and therefore perpendicular to the edge and hoping(!). So to avoid blind hope, use a set square.

Zip is 18cm, standard seam allowance tends to be 1.5cm (although not for such small projects but anyway, it made sense to me as I was doing my calculation), plus a little .5cm - so add 4 in total. Fabric to be cut at 22cm (ignore the " symbol in diagram). And I randomly chose 15cm as the height - based on my eye judgement! Often the most useful calculator!
Then I found a scrap of fabric - jersey as it happens - to match the zip colour - and cut a strip as wide as the zip:

As per the recommendation in the two tutorials I was following, press the edge of the strip, about .5cm

and fold a strip each around the ends of the zip, then continue as normal! It just extends the zip, I guess. And makes it tidier.
I was so unconvinced, that I made the third pouch without these zip ends.
But it does actually make for tidy ends.

Tip: When sewing the sides together, be very careful to line up the top edges, especially if the zip has been topstitched.

I didn't and these two examples show how badly finished my pouches are

From a distance, the purses look good!

Copying a Coat

My aunt's friend has entrusted me with copying her favourite coat. A Max Mara. Very well-worn.
I hope I'm up to the task - because now all she has is a half coat.

...and lots of pieces from which I'll trace a pattern.

I tried tracing the coat pattern without ripping it but I'm glad now that my friend recommended this move because I had traced the arm-sleeve at the wrong angle. See how the sleeve and the main body of the coat are the one piece?

The fabric is wool cashmere.
I've preserved the buttons, pockets and shoulder pads.

Local shops here in Ireland only got in their winter stock a week or so ago. I was surprised. I had hoped to get this project started much earlier in the Summer. Even the lining has proved tricky to replace. The original lining had the Max Mara brand name printed in it

I had searched online but couldn't trust myself to buy such expensive fabrics without touching them, and even when I got samples, I wasn't fully satisfied. But all is well now, Murphy Sheehy had the stock to fit the bill.
A lovely lining, with pattern but still all black:

And lovely soft wool cashmere (which I hope will be warm enough when sewn up):

Let the challenge begin in earnest! I have a marvellous propensity to take on projects and tasks that are just one or two rungs on the ladder higher than the level I'm at myself!

Sewing patterns for sale!

I've signed up to my second pattern-drafting course. And now I feel confident enough to get rid of my commercial sewing patterns. Foolish perhaps but certainly spontaneous.

Or as spontaneous as inputting the details for 17 products on a dawanda.com webshop could be. I was put off by Etsy and the fact that they take a fee for each item + a percentage of the sale.

There's some Colette Patterns, Sewaholic, Anna Maria Horner as well as Simplicity and Burda, some old patterns from my granny's collection (she was particularly into smocking for girls dresses, i.e. for me when I was little!)

I've priced most of them at €3 each (or less). Check them out on "Miscellaneous Rogue" 

Julie Feeney's Clocks Dress

Julie Feeney is a singer, songwriter, composer, orchestrator, entertainer, performer, musician... from Ireland.

She's very supportive of fellow creative Irish people. She's familiar to people as "the singer who wore the hat on her head on the Late Late" but she's becoming a household name what with appearance on TV shows like The Hit and sell-out concerts in the National Concert Hall, in lovely sometimes remote, varied locations all over Ireland as well as New York and other places in USA and who knows where else... I digress...

I contacted Julie Feeney because I was interested in her forthcoming opera, BIRD. Maybe I could be somehow involved, especially with the costumes.
But at the time of my phonecall, she discussed with me a dress that she'd like made to go with her latest album, Clocks. She's had a "pages" dress designed and made for her pages album. Here's a pic of it that I stole from her website www.juliefeeney.com

So I took on the challenge. Here's my sketch drawing and finished product #1

See the beautiful buttons I used on the back of the blouse and at the cuffs. It goes with my 'design philosophy' of scale. A garment needs to be appreciated by the wearer, the fit, the comfort, small details, usefulness of pockets, warmth etc. Then the garment is to have an effect on other people: what they see, what it communicates about the wearer, the colour, the shape and style. And in the case of costumes, what does it look like from the stage, what does the audience see.

Here I am, leaving my apartment before Christmas with the dress, petticoat and shoes to drop them over to Julie Feeney. It was bad timing because it was such a busy period, we didn't have time to fit it and take a picture of her in it with me so this one will have to make do ;)

I added the gold cummerbund. And gathered the hemline to give it a ruched effect. These were design changes which consider the view of the audience member. The wonderful clockwork patterns on the fabric of the blouse and hem was ordered from Spoonflower.com.

The petticoat pokes out from under this ruched hem. Kind of like the clockwork of a dress. A little peep into the inner workings of a skirt! Just like you'd take a look at the inner workings of a clock. (Me and my notions!)
And the shoes... I blogged about the process of making them previously.

I chose them for the solid chunky heel but they aren't platforms. There's bits of clocks glued on to them. They do sparkle. But silly me, Julie doesn't ordinarily wear peeptoe.
The whole project has been such a steep learning curve. Julie hired me as her PA for a while because of the relationship we were building up around the dress. That was hugely fun and challenging. Other projects have come my way and I feel better equipped to tackle them because of this experience.
I hope to post a picture of Julie in the dress soon; of the two of us; or of Julie at a concert, performing and wearing my... nay, HER Clocks dress!

Sewing against the Clock

Dinner at my friend's last night... in exchange (teasing!) for setting up her sewing machine. The Ikea SY, I was very impressed with it.

And then a mini hot-water-bottle and fur-like fabric was produced; the grand plan was to make a furry cover for the hot-water-bottle.
Quick look at the train timetable. 35 minutes.

Train station is 18 minutes walk away. Can it be done? Sew a furry cover in 17 minutes?!

It felt like the last moments of an episode of the Sewing Bee. The pressure! Was quite fun. And I made the train.

My Personal Blocks

What are those multi-coloured pieces of cardboard on that hanger?!

I've been doing a pattern-drafting course at Róisín Cross Silks in Dún Laoghaire with Sarah Foy. It's a brilliant class. I'm learning so much, flying along.
Have done skirt and bodice blocks. The green peeping out from the back is my skirt block:

Could be better curved I guess between hip and waistline. And sorry you can't see the darts very well.
I went with shades of red/orange/yellow for my bodice blocks, it was especially important to differentiate between the skirt block of it and the stand-alone skirt block.

 And the sleeve is cut from red cardboard.

I'm enjoying it sooo much. I'm also doing an art class in NCAD "Drawing Approaches" on the same day. There is no doubt about the class I prefer, although the art class is excellent - I have a natural draw to the pattern-drafting, problem-solving, practical, tangible aspect of the design-work as opposed to the artistic expressive drawing output!

New Colette patterns make me stop and look

Ordinarily when an email comes in from a sewing supply shop or a pattern-maker, I glance at the images and say I'll "come back later... check it out in detail again..." but this morning, an email from Colette patterns caused me to stop in my tracks.

Ok, so the model is quite cute! I'm actually starting (or I should be starting) sewing a Minoru jacket this morning so I was really interested in this other coat pattern. It's unisex. My mother wouldn't be impressed though, she thinks I should wear more feminine coats... nevertheless, this coat could be one for the brothers.
The other pattern is for a bag - looks great in the photographs but I chose to show this image cos the drawings of the three bag options are so pretty-yet-sturdy!

I think "Walden" is the name of the collection. Cooper is the bag and Albion the duffle coat. Nice to meet you!