Beth Smith's Blog, page 2

May 2, 2020

Wrap Around Skirt

I bought some fabric. I know, it’s not a surprise but I’m super excited about it because I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it when I bought it.





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It came from Seams in East Lansing, Michigan. Check that store out. There is plenty online and there are some fantastic apparel fabrics you may not be seeing in other places.





It is a double faced fabric with wool on one side and silk on the other. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted a reversible skirt. I wanted to be able to show the shiny silk side sometimes and the lovely wooly side at other times. I also know that I feel better in a skirt with a fitted waist and a lot of volume at the bottom so that’s what I originally envisioned.





I have never made a wrap skirt and I have gotten rid of all of the ones I’ve owned over the years. The problem I have with them is that the overlap of the wrap is never enough for me. I want plenty of wrap in my wrap skirt in case of a stiff breeze or accidental twirling. I don’t want my underthings to be popping out in public.





So I started thinking about it and I decided that I would begin with my basic circle skirt pattern and go from there. I decided to cut down the bottom width a little so I took my pattern piece and pinned it in on each side taking off about 16 inched total from the bottom resulting an about a 3/4 circle skirt.





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My pattern piece is 1/4 of a circle so I usually cut one on the fold for the front piece and cut two pieces for the back so I can have a center back zipper and two side seam pockets. I did a circle skirt sew along on Instagram and saved the lessons in my highlights if you want to draft and sew your own circle skirt the way I do it. Here’s the link to my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/bethsmithtextiles/





I wanted to do a trial or two before I cut into this fabric that I don’t think I’ll find anywhere again so I started with a wax print I had that I purchased from House of Mamiwata. I wasn’t worried about making the first trial a reversible piece. I just wanted to see if I could make a wrap skirt I was comfortable in. I cut 3 pieces on the fold so I could have an overlap that went from side seam to side seam. I cut the tie/waistband about 4.5 times my waist measurement because I wanted a big bow and tie ends that went to the length of the hem.





After I sewed the three pieces together I centered them on the tie length and sewed. I then put right sides together and sewed from each end in toward the body of the skirt and turned them right side out. the tie/waistband that is attached to the skirt pieces was hand sewn in place.





I made a large three step button hole on one side so I could bring the one tie end through when wrapping. I skipped the pockets on this one because I just wanted to get it done but I may go back and add pockets in the seams.





Magically it all worked out. And I love it.





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Now, I want to make another trial version that is about 1/2 circle and see what I think about wearing it.





I also picked up this plaid piece of wool which I was shopping because I probably need a cropped jacket to go with my skirt when it’s finished.





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Published on May 02, 2020 06:46

February 4, 2020

Italia

I had the opportunity to go to Italy in the middle of January. It’s taken me this long to process the trip. It was a whirlwind. And I felt a little guilty because we had just returned from our family vacation to Disney World a few weeks before but when someone offers to fly you to Italy for a week, are you gonna say no?





Five years ago this week my friend Dana and I took a girl’s trip to Disney World. It was so fun. We went to the spa at the Grand Floridian Hotel. We saw every princess. We rode rides and ate all the things and just had a magical time. We decided to do it because our birthdays are in February just one day apart. I was turning 50 and she was turning 55 so we decided to celebrate.





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This month I will turn 55 and she is going to be 60 so we felt like something great was needed to celebrate again and since Dana and Jerome sold all of their stuff and have been travelling around the world for the last 18 months she flew me to Italy to meet her.





It was nuts though. She told me before I arrived to save all my jet lag for when I got home because we didn’t have time for that nonsense.





I landed in Rome on Tuesday evening after 21 hours of traveling but she was true to what she said. We went to eat at an awesome restaurant that Cake Travel Company suggested and drove around the city for a bit. Then we drove to a little apartment we were staying in for two nights which is right near the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints Rome Temple.





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The next day was a scheduled day to see the Coliseum, visit a couple of fabric stores, visit the Sistine Chapel and visit the temple. I just want to talk a little about the fabric stores we visited. There was one that was suggested and it had some good reviews on Google. Of course we had never been there so we were just following advice. While walking down the street we were passing a different fabric shop called Bassetti Tessuti and decided to go in. Well, let me tell you, that store was marvelous. They were so kind and patient. I had a budget I was trying to stick to and they had no problem unrolling lots of fabrics for me to look and and drool over and consider. In the end I bought cuts of two different fabrics and walked away from a lot of others that I would have loved to have.





Before I bought any though I wanted to visit the shop were were initially walking to. Honestly, I can’t remember the name of that one. We spent maybe 10 minutes in that store but I couldn’t stop thinking about the fabrics I left behind at Bassetti so back we went.





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I had spent so much time touching and oohing and aahing that we were going to be late for our Sistine entrance time so we had to take an Uber rather than going back to the parking garage to get the car and drive there. Afterwards we we walked a bit and saw a little of the city before getting our car to head back out of the city to spend time at the Temple visitor’s center.





In the morning of the third day we were on our way to Milan with a short stop in Pisa because why wouldn’t you when it’s on the way. It is a long drive but here is my one observation. The Italian countryside looks exactly like the movies show. You know how sometimes you are watching a movie and it has a town or city that you are familiar with and you know that they just shot it in the most charming areas or parts that look a little cliche? Well, Italy looks like the pictures. The houses, the trees, the farms, just beautiful.





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We stayed in the darkest hotel in the world in Milan. It was called the Da Vinci Hotel. I chose it because it was painted the color of raspberry sherbet and the price was within our budget. There was not one ceiling lamp and not one floor in the whole room. The lighting was very moody and artistic with small lights that pointed toward the ceiling or a light switch that turned on lighting that came from behind the television. When we asked for an iron they said they had an ironing room that we could use which ended up being a conference room with two ironing boards and one iron set up. Lest you think I am only full of complaints here are the pluses. It was clean and the beds were comfortable. Breakfast was included and it was a massive breakfast buffet with a lot of choices – take that Fairfield Inn!





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The minute we arrived in Milan we drove to visit Lunatica Milano. I have been following their Instagram account for a long time and their clothes are beautiful. I did get myself a tshirt and while were there we got a recommendation for a fabric shop. So the next morning were were up early-ish and our first stop was a little store called Tutto Per La Sarta (Everything for the Dressmaker) which is a store that opened in 1933. It’s a haberdashery shop and I was hunting for buttons. I was not disappointed. I talked to the man behind the counter in crazy English and somehow got him to understand what I was looking for and he began pulling out roll after roll of the most beautiful buttons. it was a sight to behold. I did bring home enough buttons for a coat project I’m going to be working on this month.





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After that we went to Valli Tessuti which is the place recommended by Lunatica and I thought I might die. This is the store that I regret leaving a piece behind. I don’t regret what I bought but I wanted both. Maybe someday I’ll be back in Milan.





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We hung out in a little square and ate gelatto until we thought we should try to find where we parked the car. That was an adventure trying to find out way back to the undergroud parking. We had to ask for help and a nice guy from a store we went into walked with us all the way to the car to make sure we were safe.





On the way back to our hotel that night we stopped at a grocery store and Dana made me go in by myself. I was very nervous. My quest was something to eat for dinner in our beds while we watched a movie on my computer. I got 3 kinds of cheese, some salami, a couple of types of crusty bread and 500g of butter. It was a feast. And I did ok inside the store.





Next day we’re on our way to Florence. I’m getting really tired by now but there was no time to stop. We stayed in a convent and it was a really nice place to stay. Clean and large and looked over a courtyard that was beautiful even in winter. We saw the David and some other early Renaissance art. It was really beautiful and just amazing to see. Plus, I didn’t realize the statue of David was so tall. I did bring home some small leather purses for my girls from Florence and a couple of funny tshirts for Ryan. We ate in a place that reminded me of Penn Station in Philadelphia and I wished we had more time in that city to walk though all of the vendors and see more of the city.





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The next day was Sunday and so we had to head back to Rome so I could catch my flight the next day. We stopped for lunch in a little city called Siena. That’s another place I would like to go back to and spend a little time. Then on to Rome where we stayed at the Marriott by the airport and ordered a ridiculous amount of food from room service.





In the morning when Dana took me to the airport I walked away pretty quickly. And I feel bad about it. There were two things going on. I didn’t want to cry was a big one. The second one was I’m not a great traveler and I had two very tight connections and so I was freaking out a little about making all of the planes. I do begin to worry in advance and so the bit of anxiety started on Sunday and was just getting bigger. In the end it was all ok. Like usual. But something about travel logic and my brain don’t mix.





But it’s all behind now and I cannot believe I went to Italy and spent a whole week driving fast around that country seeing the sights with my fearless friend.





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Published on February 04, 2020 09:11

January 6, 2020

Disney 2019 7 Outfits for 7 Days

It was a fabulous trip. Like I said in my post from last week, In June I decided to make an outfit for each day we were going to be in the parks. My plans changed and morphed over time depending on what fabrics I found and how I decide to change how I was going to use them.





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This polka dot fabric was the very first fabric I bought and I knew I was going to make a circle skirt and the outfit would be reminiscent of Minnie Mouse with a fifties sort of look.





The top is a wrap top designed by Gretchen Hirsch for Butterick. Pattern Number 6285 I love the top. I wish it were slightly longer but I can arrange the ties to cover more so it works out ok. Tasha did a blog post about how she lengthened the top and I wish i would have listened to her before I made it.





The fabric for the skirt was pretty inexpensive from Fabric.com and it looks pretty good but it has a very loose weave and so it gets looser and stretched out as the day goes by. It fits me after washing but by the end of the day it is slipping down and hanging pretty low. You definitely get what you pay for.





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This gold C3P0 was a spur of the moment decision and wasn’t on the original list. But one day I was wandering the aisles of Joan Fabrics and this gold sequin fabric popped out at me. I carried it to the aisle where the jerseys and stretch fabrics live and came across that gold stretch fabric so I bought some of each as well as some shiny gold satin for lining, pockets and a waist band.





The pattern I used for the t shirt has become my go to pattern for t shirts since I made this one. It is Simplicity 8376 from their pattern/hacking series.





The fabric for that shirt was a big pain to sew. It has some kind of rubbery coating which makes it hard for a needle to puncture so I didn’t even hem the sleeves or the bottom and it’s working just fine.





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This blue outfit is a whole story. Let’s start with the skirt. Back in November I made a dress for Maggie for her semester end singing final that I can’t remember the actual name for. I used the Vogue pattern number V1633 because we loved the comfort or it and the sleeves. But when she tried it on there needed to be plenty of adjustments because I made the mistake of not measuring the pattern pieces. She also didn’t like how narrow the skirt was and wanted a circle skirt. So this is the dress we ended up with after the fixes.





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To get to that I just chopped off the skirt because we needed to shorten the bodice anyway. So, I just took that skirt and added a waist band and a zipper and voila! skirt for me….that doesn’t fit exactly right.





Now that jacket was also a kind of work on progress in my mind. I originally bought that ombre sequin fabric to make cigarette pants to go under a shirt dress I was planning with a big skirt to make a sort of fifties style hostess set. But I hate wearing pants because I find them uncomfortable. I have never successfully made myself comfortable pants either – not even pajama pants. So, that fabric was just hanging around until I saw the new Frozen movie and saw Elsa’s costume and a little idea came into my brain. I already had the pattern which was Simplicity 8648 that I was going to use for something else but it worked for what I had in mind.





This was my least favorite outfit of the week even though I got a ton of compliments on it. The sleeves were too long. The skirt kept slipping around and I prefer a fuller skirt. On the other hand, I can see myself wearing this duster in the spring with leggings and a t shirt after I shorten the sleeves. Or, I may just give it away.





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Here’s another circle skirt and tshirt. This one was very fun to wear. I took the sleeve pattern from Vogue 1633 and combined it with the t shirt pattern to get this super fun thing. I did put the tshirt sleeves inside the sequin sleeves to keep it comfy and not have the sequins rubbing me under the arm all day.





You can’t see it in this photo but I used the red fabric for the cuffs on the sleeves .





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My Epcot dress was super comfy. The Spaceship Earth fabric came from Spoonflower and the blouse fabric is cotton from Joann Fabrics. The pattern is McCall’s 7184. I just cut a straight XL in both the top and skirt and it feels good. Daisy Duck loved it too.





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If I have to pick a favorite it might be this one. That hot pink organza with the sparkly silver Minnie heads sat on my shelf for a while. I knew I wanted it to be a sort of tutu over another skirt but I had to find the perfect skirt fabric to go under it. Every bit of this outfit came from JoAnn Fabrics and in the end I just gathered the organza and hand stitched it onto a piece of grosgrain ribbon.





I didn’t make the cardigan but it worked perfectly.





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We flew home on Christmas eve and so on that last day in Disney’s Wilderness Lodge I put on my special Christmas Dress. this fabric was found at Beetle and Fred while I was there for my class with Gretchen Hirsch in September and I made Butterick 6284.





I needed to make very few adjustments to this pattern and I love this dress so much. I think I need another one in a more year round fabric. I did need to shorten the sleeves because the fabric is directional and only 45 inches wide but I’m happy with the sleeve length I ended up with.





All of these dresses and skirts that could be worn with a crinoline were worn with my Samantha crinoline from Malcomodes. It’s my favorite petticoat I’ve ever bought.

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Published on January 06, 2020 05:48

December 30, 2019

Disney 2019 Trip in Review

We went to Disney World in December. It was for Maggie’s high school graduation but we had to put it off because we couldn’t go in May or June due to other plans. Nobody likes going to Orlando in July or August if they can avoid it and since I’m a giant baby about being in the heat we put it off longer. Then Maggie and Ryan had to be in their respective schools so Christmas time was the next available break.





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Going in December is fine with me because I love Disney World at Christmas. All of the characters have special outfits and the decorations in all of the parks and hotels are just gorgeous.





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As soon as we decided on a date which was back in May if I remember correctly, I knew I wanted a Disney wardrobe. I’ll have to go into detail about my wardrobe in another post because I have too many other things to talk about here.





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I want to talk about a few of my favorite things from this trip as well as a few complaints or things I wish were different.





Let’s start with the complaints so I can end this post on a happy note, k?





Lousmith pointed this out and then I started noticing. Disney does everything top notch….except toilet paper. Everywhere is the cheapest, thinnest, most papery tp. I can see this in the parks because of the shear number of people using those restrooms but for crying out loud, we were staying at the Wilderness Lodge! They couldn’t upgrade in the hotel rooms?The parks are crowded but while we were there they weren’t nearly as crowded as they would be the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. That’s not my complaint though. I was super annoyed by the people with double wide strollers who let their young children (12 and under) push those strollers through the crowds. Those kids don’t have enough driving experience and to have your heel run into or to be sideswiped by those transports is very uncomfortable. Please, parents, push that stroller yourself.And one last thing, if you are there with other people and you need to chat about what you are going to do next or if you think you might be headed in the wrong direction or if you suddenly get confused for any reason, the middle of the walkways, in doorways or the aisles of shops are not the places to suddenly stop and have a family meeting. There are 50 people who now are bumping into each other like a freeway pileup in the fog.



(Notice I only had one complaint about Disney in particular? LOL}





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Now for the good and happy.





I love parades and I particularly love Disney parades. The music is awesome and you haven’t lived until you think you see Tiana or Cinderella look you right in the eye and smile and wave. I’m not kidding when I say I get teary eyed at every Disney Parade.I love shows. The Festival of the Lion King, Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire, Frozen Sing a Long. I cried in every one of them. The messages are always about friendship and kindness and love with a lot of great music thrown in and it even snows INSIDE THE THEATER! at the end of the Frozen show.Star Wars Land at Hollywood Studios exceeded my expectations and it wasn’t even the part I was looking forward to. The theming and immersion is amazing! Ryan and I did build a droid and that was a really fun experience too.I’ve noticed this before but it never hot me as hard as it did this last trip. The families. You will see a giant man who might look a little intimidating in other situations who is wearing a Stitch T-shirt and Mickey ears and doing the parade around the room with his little 2 year old daughter during lunch while some costumed character leads the way. It’s a beautiful sight.



I’m not kidding about the crying and I got choked up even more than usual on this trip. I don’t know if it’s old age or if I’m just getting more tender and sensitive but it’s nice to have those feelings that are so happy that the emotion can’t stay in and leaks out through my eyeballs.





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I’ve put all of the stories that I did while I was at Disney in the highlights on Instagram. There are some parade bits and fireworks and lots of fun stuff going on if you want to watch them.





One final note. I love talking about Disney so if you are planning a trip and need some input or recommendations, I’m your girl!

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Published on December 30, 2019 05:19

December 9, 2019

Most Basic Draping

At the Sewing Expo in Novi in November one of the best classes I took was with Joe Vecchiarelli who has been working in the fashion industry for over 40 years and is the costumer for Dancing with the Stars. The class was about draping and pattern making. Of course it was only a 3 hour class and we had to share dress forms so we got only the very basics but it whet my appetite for more.





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I had never seen draping done in real time before and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I have always worked with patterns that someone else has made and honestly, didn’t really understand how the designers got to the point of a flat pattern.





But that evening my eyes were opened and I’m ready for more.





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By just using a rectangle of fabric, 8 or nine pins and a marker magical things happen.





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Using just these basics you can make any piece of clothing you want.





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After removing the flat piece of fabric and transferring the markings to a bit of pattern paper you get a pattern like this! I actually made those pattern pieces!





I saw from this class how important it can be to have a dress form that is your size if you want to make patterns using this method and so, since there was a good show special happening, I ordered one. It should be here in March.





Until then I will be on the lookout for more draping classes.





The new things I learned in that short three hour class have already had a positive affect on my sewing and how I approach altering a pattern.





If you look around on the internet you can find plenty of videos of Joe teaching draping and padding a dress form. Here’s just one:

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Published on December 09, 2019 04:41

November 26, 2019

Original Sewing Expo

Let me just tell you about this! Earlier in the year I got an email or saw an ad or something that told me that the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo would be close to my house. I am pretty sure it’s been coming to Novi Michigan for a long time but I wasn’t paying much attention.





This year I had certain things I was interested in learning about and so I waited impatiently for the class list and registration to be available.





I wanted to learn more about fitting and pattern alteration so when the class list became available that’s where I went first. Of course there were a lot of other classes I wanted to take too but I couldn’t fit them all into the three day schedule.





I took a total of 10 classes over the three days. Some were just one hour lectures and a few were more hands on. In those 10 classes I had only 4 teachers though which ended up to be a great thing.





Here’s the problem. I only took 4 photos the whole time because I was so focused.





In my next post I’m going to talk more in detail about my 2 favorite classes which were taught by the same instructor and maybe I’ll show you a couple of pieces of fabric I bought. But let me just leave this here for now with a strong suggestion to take any classes you can. Learn from other people. Ask them questions. Even if you decide that you like your way of doing things better you might get a small tip that can help you in your craft.





One of my favorite tips was from the one instructor I had only one class from but I would take all of her classes next year. Her class was a 90 minute lecture and I took 3 pages of notes from her. Her name is Linda Lee.





Wanna know the tip? Maybe it was my favorite because she put into words something I agree with wholeheartedly. She said, “Sew like the clothes you can’t afford to buy.” What that means to me is when you are in a store and you see a garment you love that is out of your price range, look at the inside construction. See what they are doing to make that garment worth the money. sometimes it’s just the label but often there are little details that make that garment stand up or stand out.





Next year the Sewing Expo will be back in Novi Michigan and so will I.





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Published on November 26, 2019 06:14

November 4, 2019

New Neckline

Now that I have 2 bodices that fit me well thanks to the class I took with Gretchen Hirsch I was thinking that those two bodices can be the basis for lots of future dresses.





I’ve never been a pattern maker and so this felt like a good step on my journey. So I started with the bodice pattern I used to make this dress.





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I took those pattern pieces and laid them over another pattern that had a round neck because for a dress to wear in the winter I wanted to be little more covered. I just lined up the shoulder seam lines on the two patterns and laid a piece of tracing paper over both patterns and just traced the lines from the patterns that I needed.





I did that for both the front piece and the back so that the neck lines would match.





And this is the resulting dress.





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I’m really happy with this. I have read often about creating sewing pattern blocks and now I’m on my way to a collection of basic patterns for myself that can be altered and and changed to make as many different dress styles as I want.





I don;t know if you have been following along with me for a long time but late last year I talked about how I am good at fitting others but have always had a hard time making clothes for myself that fit well. I think I’m over that hurdle now!





My next step is improving on making dresses with fitted bodices for customers who may not be able to come and see me in person.





If you’re curious, the fabric for this dress cam from Minerva.com . They also have a ton of great fabrics. Check them out when you can’t find what you are looking for close to home.

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Published on November 04, 2019 12:43

October 8, 2019

Class with Gretchen Hirsch Pt 2

Last week I gave just an overview of my three days with Gertie in Beacon, NY. Today I want to show you what we did to each of the muslin bodices I brought to class and how we changed the patterns to match the changes that were needed.





I started with the princess seam bodice. The pattern for this bodice came from Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book. I hadn’t made this particular bodice on my own before this class so I measured the pattern pieces and traced and cut the size closest to my body measurements. I just sewed it up and added a zipper and off I went to class.





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When I put the muslin on in class Gretchen pinched out any extra fabric and pinned it until the fit felt right. I did add sleeves to this muslin because the arms have been tight in the past. You can see in the photo above that the re was extra fabric in the shoulder and the top of the princess seam near the arm hole.





You can also see the note we made about how much to add to the upper arm of the sleeve pattern.





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This is the back of the initial muslin. Normally I do a sway back adjustment on my patterns but I had neglected to do that with this when I was getting ready to go. That’s what the horizontal lines are for. Also, the back was a bit wide from the shoulder down to above the waist.





What I did was take the bodice off with the pins in place and drew lines where the pins were. Then when the pins were removed I could see how much needed to be removed from the pattern.





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Here are the two pieces of the bodice front. I transferred the markings from the muslin to the pattern and then cut and overlapped the pieces to match. Even though the original alteration was made almost straight down it was better to angle the overlap toward the armhole so it would lie flat rather than acting like a dart. No other alterations were required on the front.





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If you scroll back up you can see that there was fabric that needed to be removed from the shoulder, across the princess seam and to the top of the sway back adjustment. This took a little fiddling and we needed to make sure the alteration was equal and even between both pattern pieces so that when the pieces were sewn everything would match perfectly again.





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The sleeve pattern piece needed to be split vertically and horizontally so that the length of the sleeve head wouldn’t be changed.





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And I cut a new muslin for one more fitting. If you look really close at the shoulder you can see that one more adjustment was necessary which I just took off of the pattern pieces and cut out the green dress (which I was sure would look more red when it was finished).





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I started on the second dress as soon as the princess seam dress was all done except for the hems.





I brought along my last muslin for the Night and Day square neck bodice. I have made 4 other versions of the night and day bodice and I felt pretty good about it but I knew there were still some little alterations to be made to make it better.





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These pattern pieces are the original pieces i have been using. For this pattern I cut the C cup with a size 14 at the waist and graded to a size 12 at the shoulder. and the part that is pinned out at the bottom of the back piece is the usual sway back adjustment I do on my own.





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And this is the muslin. All it needed were those tiny little adjustments at the shoulder. So I made a new pattern with alterations.





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You can see how we cut the pattern pieces and overlapped them to remove that extra that I didn’t need. So I made a new muslin including sleeves this time.





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I put this on and it was beautiful all except the dart points needed a little adjustment.





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If you look closely you can see the remaining thread from the original dart ad the pen mark at the point of the new dart. The bottom of the dart stayed at the same place. Scroll up and you can see the change made on the pattern piece.





All was sell and so I cut out the next dress.





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Super comfy and also flattering!





So, here’s the thing, my confidence got a boost from this class. All of these directions and help are in all of Gertie’s books as well as many of the sewing books I own but doing it when somebody is there to help you make the tiny adjustments you might not know about otherwise is empowering. I know now that I can do these things on my own. The alterations to the back of a muslin can be difficult and that’s where a friend comes in handy even if they don’t really sew, most people can see where there are bits of fabric that can be pinched out. there’s always the mannequin to help too…





Anyway, hope this was helpful. Drop me a note if you need me to clarify anything.





Will I see you in 10 days at Rhinebeck? Remember I have a Norm Hall Spinning Wheel and a Schacht Baby Wolf and a Strauch Double Wide Electric carder for sale if you are in the market.

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Published on October 08, 2019 06:00

October 1, 2019

Class with Gretchen Hirsch

Last November – if I remember correctly – I came across an Instagram post announcing the classes Gretchen Hirsch aka Gertie would be teaching in 2019. At that time I was just beginning to dip my toes into sewing seriously again. I had a goal to get better at fitting my own body. It’s hard to do and one of the reasons my mother rarely sews for herself.





I know that I often look my best in a fitted bodice and full skirt that comes to the waist. Gertie designs vintage style dresses that are just that style so I knew she was the teacher for me. I showed my darling the class and he agreed that the class and hotel would be my Christmas and birthday gift.





It was the perfect gift.





Today I just want to give an overview of the class and then in my next post I’ll show you exactly what I did during the class and what I learned.





The homework assignment was to show up with fabric to make one of Gertie’s designs as well as a bodice muslin sewn together and ready to fit. If you are following along with me I had decided to make several versions of the Night and Day Dress this year and I felt like I had made pretty good progress although it still wasn’t perfect. So I was torn because I also wanted to work on a princess seam bodice from Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book. So I decided to go with the princess seams because I felt like there was more for me to learn there.





But here’s the thing. In the end I still couldn’t make a true decision so I took both muslins just in case.





The class was three full days and after a nice little breakfast and chat around the table we got right to it. Each person put their muslin on and Gretchen put in pins and marks where things needed to be adjusted. There were 5 of us in the class and most of us were making different dresses from the others which was great because I got to see not only my own fittings and adjustments but to watch the other women make large and small changes to get to a beautifully fitted bodice.





I had a few changed to make to my bodice and so I cut and sewed a new muslin with the changes incorporated. The second one fit very nicely so I was off and running. By 1 PM I was cutting out my dress and getting her all sewn up. Rather than using facings I lined the bodice.





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By lunch on the second day I had a dress sewn up that only needed hems on the sleeves and bottom of the skirt. I was very excited about that and decided to leave the hems for later and fit the muslin with the side and waist darts. Remember that I had been working with this and had made several changes previously. I felt pretty happy that I only really had 2 little changes to make on that muslin.





I sewed up a new muslin and it worked beautifully and before the end of the day I had shopped for new fabric and Beetle and Fred, cut out the next dress and had the bodice mostly ready to go.





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On Sunday morning I finished the second dress including the hem. Yes, in three days in class I made 2 full dresses I was on a roll and I learned a ton!





During the class Gretchen was working on a new sample of her latest pattern and I got to watch her make progress and ask her questions about the design and what she was doing at each step. Just an extra benefit of being there.





I did realize that I would like a ruffler attachment for my sewing machine because I have been wanting to make a dress with a gathered tiered skirt and Gretchen demonstrated hers.





Beetle and Fred was a lovely little shop and I have no idea how they fit as much stuff as they do in there. Dress fabrics and quilting cottons and needlework and knitting and trims! It was nuts. If you are near Beacon NY go there. I’m planning on visiting again this month when I head over to Rhinebeck for the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival.





Speaking of that; if you’ve been thinking of asking me to make you a skirt I will be there with many of my skirts and my measuring tape. You could meet me and have a bit of a try on and I’ll measure you and ship your skirt to you in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Let me know if there’s something you would like to see in particular.





Also, if you need any spinning or weaving equipment I am selling one of my Schacht looms, a spinning wheel and my Strauch electric drum carder. I can bring them to New York with me…

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Published on October 01, 2019 07:56

August 27, 2019

Who Loves a Party?

Remember Tupperware Parties? How about Longaberger Basket Parties? Or Pampered Chef? Actually Longaberger and Pampered Chef might still be a thing. I’m not sure. But I had a great idea! What about a skirt party with me?





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Picture this!





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I show up to your house or venue with my giant skirt and dress collection as well as an enormous amount of fabrics to choose from and even my most favorite crinolines so you can get the full effect. I bring the racks and hangers and everything we need to have one big trying on party in your home with your friends. Anybody who falls in love can order a skirt and get measured by me right then and there.





Think of it as a big shopping trip right in the comfort of your home.





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What do you think? If you are interested in planning a time for a super fun party like this send me an email at bethsmithpink @ gmail.com and we can get to work on it!





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Published on August 27, 2019 06:00