It's a Learning Process: Gathering Silk

Wherein Quilting Bibliophagist works on a First Communion dress for her Granddaughter and records her trials and tribulation as she learns new skills, new techniques, and boldly goes where no quilter has gone before. (Cue theme music.)

Never having worked with silk before, I've been very careful to test everything, everything, on a sample before working on the actual dress.

Take gathering, for instance. Who would have thought that there would be so much difference between having the gathering line on the straight or crosswise grain of the fabric?

The sample in the upper part of the photo has the gathering line parallel with the selvage of the fabric. See how nice it looks? The bottom one has the gathers parallel with the crosswise grain. Lumpy-bumpy! I think it does that because this silk has tiny cord-like lines running through it in an east-west direction. Unless you're up close, you can't really see the lines because it's such a fine silk. But they're there and they stubbornly resist the gathering stitches. But when gathered in the other direction, they line up sweetly. To achieve this effect, I'm going to have to lay out my skirt pieces on the crosswise grain, rather than the straight grain. I'll feel like an anarchist if I do, but it just might save my sanity.

N.B. Posts do not reflect QB's current progress.

Why I Haven't Been Blogging Lately

Well, I've been making a First Communion dress for my second granddaughter.

I started at the end of February, thinking that it would be a simple and quickly completed project. Little did I know...

I wanted an elegant dress that would incorporate some of the heirloom techniques that I'd learned while making the my Heirloom Blouse, but simpler -- no lace shaping, for instance. McCall's 5792, a pattern from 1977 seemed perfect. It included tucks, which I think are darling on little girls, and would allow me to throw in a couple other heirloom flourishes. I was envisioning a dress sewn in white linen. But the teacher who taught the heirloom sewing class insisted that what I really wanted to use was silk dupioni. Well, what grandmother could resist the allure of sewing her granddaughter a silk dress? Plus, she offered to take me to the garment district on her next fabric shopping trip where we'd be able to find some at a reasonable price. (That trip was amazing and deserves its own post!)

So after buying the fabric, I blithely stitched up a muslin and mailed it off to my daughter-in-law, Mrs. Darwin. I'd had to draft a new bodice, because Darwinette #2 is longer waisted than the size 6 pattern which otherwise perfectly matches her measurements. That took a while because I'd never done alterations before. But it was fun to learn a new skill, and I looked forward to cutting out the silk and barreling ahead.

Alas! The muslin did not fit properly. The neck was too tight and the back would not close.

Panic ensued as I scoured eBay for another copy of my pattern, but in a larger size. In the meantime, I received reassuring emails from Rebekah of St. Gemma's Art and Needlework who had recently volunteered to be my online sewing buddy. (Rebekah is a talented young woman who has far more experience sewing clothes than I do. I'm just a simple quilter who is easily confused by 3-D garment sewing.) She assured me that my pattern wasn't the wrong size; it merely needed to be fitted to my granddaughter's personal measurements.

From the photos which Mrs. Darwin sent me, Rebekah surmised that the neckline was too high. And luckily, she knew how to fix that. She sent me photos and clear explanations which allowed Mrs. Darwin to mark a new neckline on the muslin.

Once I received it (yay, Priority Mail!), I was able to draft a new neckline for the bodice pattern and new facings. And of course a new collar -- because any time you alter a seam, you have to alter anything that's sewn to it. I found Gertie's Peter Pan collar tutorial to be invaluable. Not having a French curve, I had a little trouble getting the shape right, but at last it was finished.

I also had to alter the sleeve and cuff after I discovered that Miss D's upper arm measures 8.5" and the cuff was only 8.25. So I added an additional inch and hope it won't be too wide now.

So finally it was time to preshrink and iron the silk. Being a cautious seamstress, I cut off an 8 inch strip of fabric from the five yards that I'd bought. Then I cut it into two pieces and serged the edges. I soaked them in cold water and then hung one on a towel rack to drip dry. The other I tossed into the dryer on low. When the first piece was merely damp, I pressed it dry using the "Silk" setting on my iron and a piece of silk organza* as a press cloth.

It looked awful! And for the first time I noticed that my beautiful white fabric had tiny black flecks in it.

I felt devastated. Another paralyzing panic attack! Obviously I'd bought the wrong fabric. Gloomily I began to look through Martha Pullen's catalog. Maybe I'd better order some linen. Handkerchief or dress weight? Would her Victorian Batiste be too thin? What about her Classic Cotton?

(The piece that had been put into the dryer looked worse, even after ironing. But I didn't feel quite so bad about that piece, because the sewing teacher had told me not to put silk in the dryer, but I was just curious to see what would happen if I did.)

Luckily, the teacher was now back from her vacation, so I dropped by the shop with my questions. She said that I'd probably ironed the silk at too high a temperature. When I got home I re-wet the fabric and tried pressing at the "Synthetic" setting. Much better. She also told me that dark flecks were normal for this kind of silk. (I suppose the flecks wouldn't really be noticeable on a colored silk; they just show up more on white.) I still felt a little uncertain though. After all, this was a First Communion dress, with the white symbolizing purity.

Another thing I'd been worried about was where the two ends of the cuff overlap. As you can see from the pictures below, the pattern calls for clipping to the seam line at the bottom of the sleeve and then folding up the fabric between the two clips to make a narrow hem.

When the cuff is attached, the little corner near the end of the collar is actually a raw edge. This is a quickie technique that you sometimes see in children's patterns, and when used with something firmly woven, like a quilting cotton for instance, I suppose it's appropriate technology. But I was worried that the silk would fray. And it seemed a cheapish sort of technique to use with on a formal dress.

My teacher agreed and suggested that I put in a continuous placket (I think that's what it's called) which means another pattern alteration.

Right now I'm wondering if maybe a plain band cuff (no placket, no overlapping, and no buttonhole) might not be a better plan. But that brings up its own problems -- such as how to attach the lace.

And I still have qualms about the fabric. It looks like it will be very difficult to iron. And the dress will have to be hand washed (or machine washed on gentle), air dried until damp, and then ironed with a press cloth. Will it be too much of a hassle for my daughter-in-law? I'll include a piece of silk organza for a press cloth, but will she curse my name for not having chosen fabric that can be run through the washer and dryer?

Well, I guess it's time for me to stop hyper-ventillating and get back to work. But that's why I haven't been blogging.

============

*By the way, silk organza is amazing stuff! It's so thin that it's transparent. And though it looks extremely fragile, it can withstand very high heat.

Update From the Madhouse

I need a sewing buddy, someone who can commiserate with me when I suddenly realize that I should have sewed on the patch pockets before sewing the bodice darts in the infamous pink checked dress. My confidence in the pattern instructions is now shaken because they told me to do the darts first. And now I notice that they don't call for interfacing along the front opening where the buttonholes will be. And no interfacing on the collar. Was that negligence on their part, or a deliberate decision? A bug or a feature?

I try to think back to the last time I made dresses for the granddaughters. My middle-aged memory seems to have gone on holiday. To interface or not to interface: that is the question. I hate improvisation when sewing clothes. That's because I don't have the same confidence as I do when I'm quilting.

I need a sewing buddy who knows more than I do -- someone who, after a quick judicial glance, can tell me what I really need to do so that I won't sit around dithering. Well, this is why I like to have so many projects going at the same time. Time to leave off with the pink dress for a bit and get back to work on the Heirloom Blouse.

Back to Heirloom Sewing -- And Checked Dress Update

I guess I haven't yet mentioned that my long awaited heirloom sewing class has finally begun. I took the prerequisite technique class way back in September, but the sewing class itself was delayed until February. We are working on a linen shirt which showcases various heirloom techniques. So far: lace shaping, wedding tucks, hemstitching, puffs, and machine embroidery.

I'm the only one in the class who doesn't own an embroidery machine, so the teacher did the embroidery for my shirt on one of the shop's machines. (The class is held at a local quilt store which is also a Janome dealer.) The white embroidery on white linen is very elegant. I wish I could post a picture, but my digital camera has gone senile. (That or it's mortally offended my laptop because the computer refuses to recognize it.)

While I was there last Friday, I confided to the other members of the class my problems with the pink checked fabric. The teacher took a look at it and suggested that I lay out the skirt of the dress on the crosswise grain so that the hem will fall near the selvage where the check is least distorted. I've managed to lay out the rest of the pattern pieces in such a way that the checks should look relatively straight. Luckily, the dress has kimono sleeves, and the front and back bodice pieces are joined with a bias insert which obviates the need to match the checks. I also received helpful advice from the Vintage Sewing topic on the message boards at PatternReview.com. (Click on the message board tab, then choose the Vintage Sewing topic. My thread is Child's Vintage Dress.

So I'm not only struggling with the pink checked dress, I'm also trying to keep up with the other students in the Heirloom Blouse class which is not easy because I'm the slowest seamstress in the world. But oh, I do love working with linen! In fact, working on this blouse has inspired me to try making a First Communion dress for one of my granddaughter. Just what I need -- another project. And one with a deadline! How is it that I keep adding stress to my life?

Sewing Detour!

Is quilter's ADD a bona fide affliction? It must be -- why else do so many quilters have so many unfinished projects stashed in their Closets of Shame? I try to put a good face on my own case by talking about how much I like to focus on the process rather than the finished end result. But the bald truth is that it doesn't take much for me to exclaim "Oooo -- shiny!" and jump into a different project.

Just now all of my ongoing quilting projects have been moved to the back burner (Eeek! A very flammable metaphor for a seamstress.) while I try to whip up Simplicity 2210 for Granddaughter J.

I cannot resist the cuteness of View 2 -- especially since I already have some pink and white checked quilter's cotton. So on Sunday I nipped over to the LQS for some compatible, reads-like-a-solid pink for the collar and sash. (Yay, Superbowl Sale -- 25% off!) It's a very subtle tone-on-tone floral. A perfect combination!

J's measurements exactly fit the pattern's except for length. I'll have to add 5 inches to the skirt. (According to the picture, little girls wore their skirts very short in the '50s.) And I may alter the sash a little. The pattern calls for a single layer of fabric, narrow hemmed all the way around. I'm thinking that a double layer sewn right sides together and then turned right sides out would have a nicer, more finished look.

So, having having preshrunk and ironed my fabric, I began to lay out my pattern pieces. Oh, no! The checks are not printed on the straight grain of the fabric! (I know, because I tore the fabric along the crosswise grain.)

Okay, I'll just match the pattern's grainlines to the printed checks. Urrrgh! The printed checks are not really straight. The bottom of the skirt is going to look as though I sewed the dress crookedly. Now I remember why I hate checks and plaids. "A pox on directional fabrics," I say, "A pox!" What, I wonder, am I going to do?

Suddenly, everything begins to look shiny. I can feel my quilter's ADD beginning to take hold...

Gosh, maybe I should go put the borders on my Bricks & Stepping Stones quilt. And I've been meaning to sort my stash of 3.5 inch squares according to color. Or wouldn't this be a good time to start cutting those 600 half square triangle units for my Cotton Boll quilt?

No, no! I must focus. One can properly take years to finish a quilt, but a granddaughter's dress pattern will be quickly outgrown. I'm not sure yet how I will solve The Case of the Off-Grain Check, but I do know that next time I attempt something like this I'll make sure to buy a true gingham. (Real gingham has the check pattern woven into the fabric rather than just printed on it.)

Simplicity 2210

Here's something else I bought at Road to California: Simplicity 2210. One of the vendors had a few vintage patterns at the back of her booth, and this one caught my eye from across the aisle. The kimono sleeves have an interesting bias under-arm inset which I'm looking forward to making.

It's a perfect fit for one of my granddaughters -- except I'll have to lengthen the skirt a bit.

I'm wondering how to make the skirt poof out like those in the picture. (Well, I know the picture is probably a bit exaggerated -- artistic license, don't ya know. But I'd like the skirt to stick out just a bit.) An underskirt, perhaps? If so, what should I make it out of? The dress would be cotton, so any underskirt must be washable.

Any suggestions?

Road to California 2011

Having a major quilt show in one's own backyard is a treat for a driving wimp like me. I didn't learn to drive a car until late in life, and I'm still not comfortable behind the wheel. This is awkward in Southern California where practically everything requires freeway driving. So I look forward to "Road to California" all year long because I can get there on surface streets. And I always buy the multi-day pass because it's just too large to see all in one day.

Yesterday, I had to work. But this morning I was up bright and early, hoping to be at the show as soon as the doors opened. Unfortunately, I was halfway there before I realized that I'd left the house without my multi-day pass which I'd bought at a local quilt store weeks earlier. So I had to turn around and go home for it. But even so, I was able to pull into the extra parking lot on Guasti at around 9:30, just in time to board the shuttle to the Ontario Convention Center. (Yeah, I could have walked there, but I prefer to do my power walking in air conditioned comfort. I am so not into sweating!)

First I looked at all the quilts in both halls. I'll be talking more about those later, after I've had my second look on Sunday.

Then I hit the vendors. I'd decided that this was the year in which I'd buy a SewEzi table for my sewing machine. The Costco banquet table I currently use is too long, too high, and vibrates when I sew fast. I'd also decided to investigate long arm quilting machines. Maybe this is just an unrealistic dream. Maybe I'm too old or too weak to handle one of these. (I had back problems this past year.) But what the hey -- looking is free. Right?

I was rather intrigued by the Innova Quilting System. It seemed very smooth and easy to move. I liked that the handles, both in front and in back, were adjustable which I think would help the individual user to avoid strain. The delivery and set-up comes with some preliminary training, but the sales price includes three days of intensive training which seems to cover just about anything you'd need to know. (The downside is that the training is in Utah, so that "free" training would really cost you in travel and lodging expenses.) But they also have 24/7 customer phone support and claim that they can talk you through most problems. And I appreciated the extra info they included with their brochures showing how much room space you need to set up their various sized models and how large a quilt you could do on each one.

I spent some time looking at the Handi Quilter. They also have a sit down model, the HQ Sweet Sixteen, which has no stitch regulator but which takes up a whole lot less space than a long arm frame. You face the head of the machine and move the quilt with your hands just as you would with a domestic sewing machine. But the throat is much larger, and it has very good lighting in the stitch area. The table is only 30" by 36", but you can expand it with optional 18" extensions, and it's also height adjustable. I liked it better than I expected. The down side is that you're expected to take the head in every couple of years for servicing. I can't imagine lifting it.

I tried the Tin Lizzie, but I really wasn't sure about that wooden frame and the comfort of the handles.

I also tried the Nolting Fun Quilter which did not seem quite as easy to move about as the Innova. I think they have one of these at one of the local quilt stores. You can rent time on it, and that would probably be the best way for me to learn its pros and cons.

I skipped the really huge professional machines (with price tags to match) and didn't bother to pick up brochures for anything that made my back feel strained. I look forward to sitting down and looking up the websites for the various models, but I can tell that if I ever do purchase one of these it will only be after a whole lot of research. One of the dealers suggested I look at mqresource.com and the ABM longarmer's group on Yahoo.

I didn't buy anything except the SewEzi, but I enjoyed window shopping at all the booths. Rainbow Resource had a lot of fabrics with interesting motifs printed on various colored or batiked backgrounds. I really liked their dragon flies. One little bin of fat quarters had a small sign on it saying that sales of this particular fabric would be donated to prostate cancer research. But I couldn't figure out what the print was supposed to represent. I guess it's really hard to recognize something that you're not expecting to see. Then, suddenly, something clicked, and I realized that it was a scattered pattern of little, um . . . yes . . . that's what it was. Had I been a couple of decades younger, I would have been very embarrassed. But being a widow, and late middle aged, I was merely, "Eeeeeuw! Not a fabric I'd want." I suppose the designer meant well.

It was also at that booth that I heard about a run which the proprietor had with a customer on a motorized scooter. Although strollers and wheeled carts were not allowed, there were lots of scooters for attendees who were either disabled or just not up to a lot of walking. But one of the ladies lost control of her scooter and rammed into the side of the booth, first bringing down the overhead display onto the proprietor's head and then knocking over a pile of bolts onto the poor woman. Who knew that vending could be so hazardous?

At around 4:30 I slipped upstairs to the classroom where Bonnie Hunter was teaching. The class had just ended, and as I peeked inside I saw Bonnie who graciously invited me into the classroom to see a design wall where one of the students had been arranging her blocks. I introduced my self and, pointing to my homemade name tag which featured the Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll logo, told her that I was working on her current mystery quilt and that I would have loved to have signed up for one of her classes had they not been already full by the time I found out that she was teaching at Road. (I really wish I'd been able to attend her Scrap Saver's lecture the night before, but I had the late shift at the library on Thursday and could not have gotten there on time.) Bonnie recognized my screen name, and even remembered that C.B. stands for Catholic Bibliophagist. So did the person who was with her (whose name I did not catch), and who even admitted to having read my blog. So I suppose I've had my 15 seconds of fame.

I'm looking forward to going back to the show on Sunday when I'll have my mother in tow. Road to California has become our yearly mother-daughter ritual. Although she's not a quilter, she loves seeing the amazing quilts on display -- though she marvels how anyone could possibly have the patience to finish a quilt. (I notice that the most common question non-quilters ask is "How long did it take you to make that?") I can hardly wait to show her Bonnie's quilt in the faculty exhibit. "Rectangle Wrangle" is sort of a bargello quilt made with rectangles -- mainly plaids of course -- with strong diagonals in black. I love its border of stars. My mom will faint when she sees all those tiny pieces!