Sewing - #2

[Nymphaea]

^^Pics by me and stylebop.com.

Thanks Jila for your input!!! The next time I'm gonna use leather I think I'm gonna fuse it. Like you said, you're more sure that the leather is uniform in it's behaviour. Can you use an invisible zipper with leather?

An older acquaintance of mine recognized the square from the years 1950/60, but that's all she knew. I will see what my other acquaintance (with lots of coat sewing experience) has to say about it, because the shoulder area has to be different than I have come up with so far. Probably she can solve my problem.

 

[Crying Diamonds]

I'm pretty obsessed with kimono sleeves (sleeves without seams on the shoulder) and have pattern cut them a lot.
The gusset must be cut on the bias as so it has that slight stretch and give when one lifts one's arm. It's a diamond shape and each side of the diamond must the same length. A gusset is only needed on tighter-fitting kimono sleeves, larger kimono sleeves (as in the case of their Japanese namesake) probably wouldn't bother with one.
The garment is then slashed under the arm at a specific point on the side seam, the slashes must be the same length as the sides of the gusset and must point towards the centre of the neck. When it's sewn in (usually they are easiest to sew in by pivoting when sewing up the side seams/underarm seam) it will be invisible when the arms are down.
Despite me telling you this it's probably best to look up a visual guide because it is tricky and it has to be in the right place.

Other alternatives are to just literally have the armpit of the garment open - Lagerfeld's Spring 2011 collection for Fendi was mostly kimono sleeves and he described in an interview how the 'Butterfly sleeve' was possible because of the armpit being open.
The collection actually cleverly incorporates ways to make a tight underarm into the designs, like having the sleeve and bodice almost completely separate, only held together with a strap.

 

[Nymphaea]

Great explanation Crying Diamonds! I get your point and love your input. It was rather funny, because every time I had had a look at the pics I saw something new. Slowly it's coming together how they made the coat and it gives me a lot of respect for the design. I love those details. If I had known this on forehand I would have draped the coat with muslin to get the right pattern.

 

[Jila]

ive actually been told you cant use an invisible zipper on leather. i suppose maybe you can if the leather is thin enough and you use fusible tape/bridle tape on the area, but i personally wouldnt. i made a dress with moderately thick cotton twill and put in a center back invisible zipper. even though it wasnt crazy thick, the fact that i got a bit too close to the teeth in some places made it permanently split in the center. i tried to fix it for hours because i didnt have time to buy a new zipper, but it was not happening. i eventually had to take it apart and put in a new zipper. but it wouldnt not have been pretty if i had to do that with leather, since you want to put in the least amount of holes as possible when sewing leather. id avoid it all together and just stick with exposed zippers. if you really dont want an exposed zipper, id do a lap zipper (as annoying as they may be).

 

[Nymphaea]

My leather skirt is almost finished! I will post some pics. I have to finish the bottom part. The upper part at the waist in the back, where the zipper starts, was in fact too thick to fit beneath the presser foot, so it isn't as perfect as I hoped for. But that problem will be solved in the future, because I won't buy the same thick leather again. But I'm very content with the overall result and now I know how to do it and what the difficult parts are.
For the invisible zipper, I'm gonna try it sometime. When I see pics of other leather skirts, I often see they've used a invisble zipper, so it should be possible!

How was your portfolio night Jila?

 

[Nymphaea]

My finished leather skirt!
I learned a lot from this experimental project. The next time I'm for certain going to use much thinner leather, this deer leather was a bit too thick for my sewing machine when multiple layers had to be sewn. Especially the zipper part at the waist was a huge problem for my sewing machine unfortunately. But I'm fairly content with the result of my first leather project.

 

[daniellat]

It looks pretty good! Just try to eliminate darts in the future, it's less bulk.

 

[lucy92]

My finished leather skirt!

i think you have done a fantastic job. this skirt will last forever. i think its a great length also.

 

[Nymphaea]

Thanks guys!

 

[Betinapple]

After not having sown since I was a child I have taken up sewing again.

My first project was this dress. Not too easy to see in these pictures but the shape is really flattering.




And this saturday I made this skirt. I have wanted a denim skirt for ages so when I discovered an old and too big denim dress in my attic I decided to turn it into a skirt. I cut it of at the bottom to keep the bottom hem and the pockets, and then pleated it to give it shape. Then I added a zipper in the back and used the part that used to be below the bust to create a waistband.

 

[Nymphaea]

After not having sown since I was a child I have taken up sewing again.

My first project was this dress. Not too easy to see in these pictures but the shape is really flattering.

Great job, I like the dress, looks very comfy and elegant.

 

[Betinapple]

Great job, I like the dress, looks very comfy and elegant.

Thx a lot it really is.

 

[kalice]

For my suit I had this inspiration from Chanel and the result is pretty good if I may say so:

My pics/style.com

That suit looks really great! May I ask you what pattern you used?

 

[Nymphaea]

Couple of weeks ago I made this wool boucle winter dress. I have to fancy it up with a nice brooch or some pearl necklace.

my pics

 

[myown]

wow.

 

[Nymphaea]

^Thanks! At the moment I'm battling a silk blouse, hair pulling fabric.

 

[Nymphaea]

The other day I made a pencil skirt and I narrowed the lower half, but the fabric started to pucker at the side seams. Does anyone have any ideas why? TIA!

 

[Crying Diamonds]

The other day I made a pencil skirt and I narrowed the lower half, but the fabric started to pucker at the side seams. Does anyone have any ideas why? TIA!

Could be the tension is wrong on the sewing machine, that's the usual cause, what fabric is it you're using for it?

 

[Nymphaea]

Could be the tension is wrong on the sewing machine, that's the usual cause, what fabric is it you're using for it?

I first noticed it with my boucle dress (upper leg area), but also on my leather skirt. The side seams are perfect centered so that's not the problem. What would you do with the tension?

 

[Crying Diamonds]

I first noticed it with my boucle dress (upper leg area), but also on my leather skirt. The side seams are perfect centered so that's not the problem. What would you do with the tension?

Loosen the tension if it's a thick fabric and tighten it if it's a thin fabric, sometimes, if the puckering is mild, you can literally just iron it lightly and the puckering with come out