A number of you have heard me speaking about Pegs Silk suit she made for her sons graduation. Here finally are the photos you have been waiting for. Its very likely you were expecting better pictures then these, but as you know its a little difficult for me to focus on photography when excited about the completion of a lovely garment.
Peg originally saw this jacket in Threads magazine and was so inspired she became determined to replicate it. She ordered the Tussah Silk as listed in the article, but the braid and cording were purchased in NY during one of my recent trips. The blouse is made from a "tie" silk sold through Sawyer Brook and as such is printed on the diagonal. The Jacket and skirt are lined in silk crepe de chine.
The pattern for the jacket is a Claire Schaeffer produced by Vogue and I believe is called "The Channel" The wrap skirt is from a pattern Peg has made many times and altered to suit her. The silk has quite a lot of body to is and so she "controlled" the pleats along the front by stitching invisibly. For the blouse she used a favorite basic pattern of hers and changed the neckline by adding the attached tie.
This suit required a great deal of handwork, and hand tailoring which Peg really enjoys doing. She could not find buttons that suited her, and so decided to make her own by using rayon cord to make chinese knot buttons. She is not thrilled with this choice, but feels it will do for now while she keeps hunting for something more suitable.
I really commend her effort on this project. She did a beautiful job! Personally I like to do these rather intense long term projects. They are so rewarding. You might not have a lot of opportunity to wear something this fantastic, but your sense of accomplishment is profound. Also nothing fits as well nor looks better on you then these very carefully produced garments.
When Peg and I last spoke she was designing a jacket for a family member while making some " quick" tops. So we can look forward to seeing more in the near future.
of you know I just completed a week of teaching to young girls at Nicolets summer camp. I taught a Fashion Design class where the girls designed a "line" of clothing which had to include a wrap skirt. We spent 2 sessions learning how to develop a sportswear line, and how to sketch using Croquie's to produce proffessional finished design sketches. On the 3rd day we all began sewing our skirts. The girls were introduced to the machines, grainlines, proper pinning and cutting. They learned how to do a roll hem, straight seams with finishing, darts, and a simple ribbon waistband. Although they had 3 days to sew the sessions were only 2 hrs long! There were 2 sessions a day with 2 groups of girls, 12 girls in each group.
On top of that the majority of the girls finished their skirts! I am so proud of their results! My only regret is that I could not spend more individual time with girls teaching, it was fairly chaotic what with only 2 adults, 12 teens, and 6 machines. Hopefully we will see some of them at Sewing Cafe as a number of them showed a geniune interest in learningmore.
