Category: stash

A couple of days ago I discussed the fusible interfacings I
have been using along with some ideas as to how things might be changing in the
future. The second drawer of my
file-cabinet contains the sew-in interfacings, my subject for today’s post.

I know that I have probably more interfacing than a lot of
people. This really doesn’t bother me,
but the amount of fusibles will be reduced as I work through the various
samples purchased. Still, I really don’t
mind using sew-in interfacing and there is quite a bit in the second file
drawer, more than I had initially realized.

Silk Organza: I usually keep a variety on hand, especially
in peach, which seems to work well under most things, and off-white or
white. I usually get these from Thai
Silks. I also keep silk organza in other
colors, when I find those I like or think I might use. Sometimes a color is necessary if I think
there may be show through and besides silk organza can make lovely blouses and
nice accents on other garments. Right now I have deep green and a couple of
shades of purple, besides the basics.

Cotton Batiste: Also makes a nice soft underlining for
certain garments and can add a little gentle support where fusibles will not
work. I can’t find 100% cotton batiste around
me so I buy it when I see it; I might have a couple of different weights on
hand. Since this fabric also makes
lovely lightweight summer tops and blouses, I keep colors in stock as well,
especially when I can find the deeper colors I prefer to wear.

Hair Canvas or Hymo: Stocked in various weights and almost always
used in jackets and tailored garments, at least a little piece somewhere. I can’t seem to wean myself away from hair
canvas and move to completely fused garment. Hair canvas has changed a great deal over the years. The stuff of old was stiff and often contained
horse hair. G remembers stiff jackets
from his childhood with horsehair interfacings that would occasionally poke him
through the wool of the jacket.  Today,
the ones called Hair Canvas today are stiffer and often a large part polyester
instead of horse hair. I tend to use the
Hymo or Hymo Hair Canvas products. Now
most of them are at least partly rayon. I try to find blends with a high degree of goat hair or wool mixed with the
rayon and I have several types from several sources, some is fairly stiff, some
fairly soft. I adore the premium hymo
from Greenberg and Hammer called EURO, which is 42% wool,  because it is firm yet soft with good drape
but I also tend to keep a few pieces of their other products, such as LT-030 which is 30% cotton, 34% hair and
is quite firm for those times I need serious support in a garment. I also use MD-021 and the hymo called BLACK,
which is black. The hymo I recently
purchased from THE SEWING PLACE   is a middle weight, between the Euro and the
LT-030. I haven’t used it yet, but I
think it may prove useful. 

Years ago I also used a good bit of Cotton
Organdy. It was great for
plackets and collars in lightweight cotton and handkerchief linen blouses as
well as other lightweight garments. I would also use it to interface button or
buttonhole bands in crisp tops.  I would
get it at a store in the garment district that sold only imported Swiss
cottons, long since closed. It was
available in several colors. Now I can
only find white and usually have to purchase it from an heirloom sewing
store. I like organdy because it is
firmer than organza or batiste yet still light and semi-sheer. As I fashions
have gotten softer, I tend to use organza more than organdy, but I still keep a
small bit around.

Baby Flannel: I started using this many years ago, when I
first read Sandra Betzina’s POWER SEWING, the original version. She used it to underline jackets, especially
jackets made from lightweight silk fabrics. Remember those silk crepe-de-chine and sueded silk jackets of the late
1980’s and early 1990’s? I loved
those. I used the flannel to underline
some of them but eventually, as I noticed that in designer jackets the entire
body of the silk might be fused, I moved on to using fusing my silks to
permanently underline them and “beef up” the fabric. Sometimes the baby flannel is the perfect
thing though and I still use it, it can also be great for underlining a jacket
or coat where the fabric is not quite heavy enough. 

Wool Felt, Lambswool, and Mohair: I keep small bits of these for use in
sleeve heads or occasionally other places. Pure versions of these are increasingly hard to find but the blends
aren’t nearly as versatile for use in garment construction. Sometimes they are purchased. Some of my mohair consists of scraps from
garments or sweaters which I have felted. I don’t usually need large pieces so scraps suffice.

I have a couple of pieces of Coutil
which I purchased as an understructure for corset or bustier-like bodices when
I was sewing more evening gowns. It was
also useful in those wide, waist cinching belts that were popular for a few
years, as well as the boned, corset based blouses, when I wanted something more
structured. I considered using it to
actually try to make a corset last year when I was having increasing problems
standing up straight due to pain or just plain old crookedness in my back. I might still consider this but at the moment
regular Pilates seems to be helping and the crooked days are fewer.

I also have pieces of several products that are sold as
sew-in interfacings, such as VeriShape which is used to stiffen collar stands,
flex weave, and a few others. I am not
particularly consistent in my use of them, but there have been times I have
been very happy to have them on hand.

Oddly enough I may be coming full circle. Originally, when I started sewing, I
exclusively used sew in interfacings and had trouble with fusibles. Then I moved away from sew-in interfacing and
fused almost everything. Now I use both
and have found myself appreciating their different qualities.

As I moved the interfacing supply back into my sewing room I
started to think about interfacing, what I use, what I don’t, and what might
need to be changed.

For a long time I always used the same interfacings. Because I had come to like the performance of
certain interfacings, and because I could not usually get them locally, I began
buying bolts or large pieces to insure that I always had some on hand.  To make life simpler I settled on a couple of
interfacings that I consistently liked and stuck to them.

The first two interfacings that I used consistently were Armo
Weft and Fusi Knit. Armo Weft is used
for support in tailored garments, kind of like a fusible hair canvas I
guess. I used Fusi Knit for everything
else. Probably not very sophisticated
but it worked for me.

Gradually I noticed that designers made jackets out of
lightweight fabrics like cottons and silks and fused the entire body pieces to
give the fabric enough weight to function in the more tailored application of a
jacket. Fusi Knit was too firm for this
and I eventually found So-Sheer. For
years I used So Sheer and eventually, Textured Weft, which came out later. Sometimes people had trouble fusing Textured
Weft and I haven’t found that it works well with all fabrics. It certainly maintains the loft of textured
fabrics better than So Sheer and it changes the hand of the fabric far
less. In time Textured Weft became my
primary fusible for underlining, but I still use So Sheer for some things.

As I mentioned above, I can’t get these interfacings
locally. Most of them are, or were, sold
on 25 yard bolts so I just bought bolts of each so that I would have them on
hand. When I get started on a project,
nothing kills it faster than having to put it aside waiting for interfacing to
arrive. By the time the interfacing
would arrive other things would have happened and the sewing project would be
abandoned. It seemed excessive in the beginning, but I have had to replace every bolt of my original purchases, some more than once.

These interfacings now live in one of the top drawers of the
file cabinets that make up my cutting table.

But my needs or ideas about sewing are in the process of
change.

I have two full or almost full bolts of Armo Weft in two
colors, probably a lifetime supply at this point. I find that Armo Weft is sometimes too firm
for the kind of very light soft shaping that is fashionable in women’s jackets
now and I might want to find something different.

Fusi Knit is still useful, but again is too firm for some
knits and light fabrics, although so-sheer works well for support in very light
knits, and I have been increasingly using it for structural support in knit garments. I might need something in between. Both Fusi Knit and So Sheer change the hand
of some fabrics too much, although on others there seems to be little
difference. I still adore Textured Weft
and am almost out, so you know that will be replaced soon.

BUT

What do I do about new styles in interfacings and tailoring of
women’s garments? I don’t really want to
stock a dozen different interfacings. Life needs to be simple. But I
also want to accomplish a particular look.

My discontent started about a year and a half ago, in
September 2004. I was making a jacket
out of a very nice menswear suiting fabric from Dormeuil. I did need to fuse parts of the front of the
jacket, but the fabric had a good bit of body and I was having trouble getting
the look I wanted. So Sheer was too
stiff. Textured Weft maintained much
more of the drape of the fabric but still made it too “thick” and affected the
drape just enough that I was not satisfied. I did not know how to proceed, so I put the jacket aside.

I picked that jacket up again a few months later when some
of the sewists at Sewing World  were involved in a “January Jacket
Journey”. I ordered a bunch of samples
of interfacings from several places, intending to make samples and compare them
and reconsider the entire interfacing question. In the meantime, while I waited for UPS, I looked at the various other
odd bits of interfacing I had on hand. There was some red interfacing I got from Sandra Betzina called “Armani
Interfacing”, no longer available, which had good drape, but was not as nice as
the Textured Weft in this fabric. And I
had some interfacing called DEEP FLESH COLORED FUSIBLE INTERFACING from Fabric
Collections which I had used for a silk jacket the previous year, finding it to
be much softer and with better drape than So Sheer. I had also used this interfacing on a light
topper made from a hand-woven wool which was something like a cross between
gauze and burlap with a very loose open weave. I ended up using this interfacing on the blue menswear wool as it had
drape and suppleness I wanted. The
fabric was just like a slightly spongier version of itself with more
support. The hand was much more like the
original fabric than with the Textured Weft. The jacket turned out to be wonderful. Fabric Collections no longer imports this interfacing however and the
little bit I have left cannot be replaced.

When I started moving interfacing into its home in the new
sewing room, I began to readdress these questions. I still have those samples, about a yard of
each, waiting in a box. I wondered what to do with all of
them. I also still had some of that
wonderful blue menswear suiting left, the one that gave me interfacing
difficulties.

The solution seemed to be that I should make an interfacing
catalog. I decided, for consistency, all
interfacings should be fused to the same fabric no matter what they were
intended for. That way I would have a
basis for comparison. Each sample should
also be adequately large that I could get some sense of the hand and/or
potential drape of the fused fabric. I
decided to cut 8” by 10” pieces of the navy wool and fuse them, with each
interfacing getting a page in a standard three ring binder. A sample of the same wool, unfused, would be
saved for control purposes.

Here are some of the pages with the fabric samples, and me
squinching one piece to see how it feels. I am learning there are some interesting interfacings out there and I
see several that might be good for light flexible underlinings. I am not sure where I will go with this yet,
but there are certainly possibilities and there are a couple of potential new
favorites. I certainly think that one
of the new ultra-light fusibles will replace so-sheer as my other standard
underlining in the near future. Luckily
I have pieces of several nice things. I
will keep you informed of the changes.

I am also impressed so far with the sample Whisper Weft that
I have fused. It seems something like
Armo Weft but much lighter, with a much softer hand. This may be what I am looking for to achieve
that softer tailoring look.  I will definitely be trying this in upcoming projects.

It seems there have been many changes in the world of
interfacings and I am looking forward to trying some of these new, at least to
me, products. I also think that my new
interfacing catalog will prove invaluable when I am looking for something to achieve
a desired look. Although interfacing
will react differently with each fabric, having the samples gives me a big leg
up on the process of narrowing down my choices. I am sure that eventually my catalog will be expanded to have samples on
other base fabrics as well. In the end,
I think the time spent compiling this book will prove to be time very well
spent.

It was a dark and stormy night….
And I went shopping at EmmaOneSock.

to be continued….

Yesterday was a bumper day, mail-wise.  The new Vogue and Bazaar came, filled with eye-candy for my continued perusal and inspiration, and a stack of knitting pattern books from Filatura di Crosa and Stacy Charles as well.   Also in the mail haul were swatches from Leandro Fabrics and Michael’s. 

Leandro sent a stack of gorgeous super 120s wools, and, in a separate package, a new Chanel boucle in shades of olive with a deep fuschia pink yarn running through it.  Most of the colors of the 120’s were nice but did not inspire me, even though have been thinking of suits in plain fabric again.  However there was one deep maroon that really caught my fancy, as well as the Chanel boucle

Michael sent a collection of Swiss cotton shirtings that were absolutely gorgeous.  The fabrics are great quality and have a truly sinful hand.  They remind me somewhat of the cottons used in George’s Charvet shirts.   At $12.50 a yard I really don’t think they are unreasonable for the quality.  I ordered three, shown below.

I finally opened the package from Emma One Sock.  It actually came a week ago  Friday but I was in NYC that day and spent most of that weekend otherwise engaged. After that the box served as a resting post for my NY Sheep and Wool purchases until I could get them sorted out and put away.  Although I am usually tempted to open a package immediately, and probably would have had I been home when it arrived, I was afraid to do so with this because I knew I would want to delve right in. 

My fears were well founded.  The knits are wonderful and I want to start sewing them but it is the red Oscar de la Renta wool that is truly fabulous.  It is much more vibrant and drop dead gorgeous  in actuality than could have been conveyed by any photo.  I hadn’t planned on getting to it right away but I am beginning to wonder if I should change that plan.    Sawyer Brook had a similar fabric in a muted gray/blue which was much more subtle – it spoke casual, country sophisticate to me, whereas this fabric screams feminine charm with a touch of glamour.

——————-

I have finished the muslins for George’s vest.  I am pretty weary now, even though it is early yet, only 9:30.  I will cut another time, when I am less likely to make mistakes.  I have one more alteration to make, but it is simple, one shoulder leans more forward than the other and is less wide.  This is an alteration I make for myself frequently and I have marked it on the muslin; I will transfer it to the pattern tomorrow.  I knew that George was curved over a little more since he has had some collapsing in the vertebrae but I had not expected it to be as noticeable as it is.

The sun came out a bit this afternoon so I went outside to start dividing daylilies.  The daylilly bed I am working in is pretty much packed clay and the ground is wet enough now to dig them up pretty easily.  I am surprised they grow at all in that area.  This is the one bed I paid a landscape company to build and plant and they did not do nearly as nice of a job as I usually do.  They cost me a pretty penny as well.  Nothing else grows there, the soil is too packed and they did nothing much to amend it except sprinkle an inch of soil on top. Some of the daylilies will go into the new stone bed under the kitchen window and the others will go into a temporary holding bed while I double dig their current bed and seriously amend the soil.  I didn’t get far today, the blade of the shovel broke at my third clump, not that I am that strong, there has been a fracture line across that shovel for some time. I guess that means I will be going shopping tomorrow on top of normal Monday work, gym, and household tasks.  I might not get to the vest until Tuesday.

I have not been sewing, so despite my best intentions I have been shopping:

Today I bought this cotton knit from Emma One Sock:

and also this wool jersey:


Isn’t it a great color?

These will be joining my purchases from a couple of days ago (Monday I think) which Linda is shipping to me today:

I think this is absolutely beautiful.  I had not been checking the Emma One Sock site regularly as I knew I would buy, but eventually my resolve broke down.  How I admire those who do not have the stashing gene.  I wanted enough for a suit and luckily for me there as just enough left for the suit I had envisioned, one piece for the jacket and one for the skirt — obviously it was meant to be.

I also indulged in two printed Onionskins.  I am still of mixed feelings on onionskin.  When I was younger my purist tendencies would not have allowed for their synthetic nature but I am much more relaxed about that kind of thing now.  I am enjoying playing with the fabric.  Sometimes I am quite successful in my choice of project but I will admit I have had some spectacular failures:  I don’t mind the exploration has been fun.

Here are the two I purchased:

If you are one who pays attention to detail, you might have noticed that the caftan was unhemmed when I took the photo the other night.   This was intentional.  At that point I was feeling a bit lazy and thought I would just not do the hem.  The knit was stable, it was not necessary.

As usual I changed my mind.  But until after wearing it that evening.  The next day Matilda got to wear the caftan so I could sit, obeisant, at her feet and turn up the hem, which is now complete.

Since finishing the caftan I have kept myself entertained by putting away my summer fabrics and bringing out the fall/winter and “transitional” fabrics.  Transitional is an open term and here refers to whatever I might feel like sewing that is not obviously fall/winter.  As I told you some time back, I had previously sorted the pile in my sewing room into the “sew” and “store” piles, but I had not progressed beyond that point.  Since then I took some fall fabrics out of the closet and can now transfer the summer fabric to their spot. 

Usually, when I buy new fabric, it is immediately indexed and stored.  This summer all rules were suspended (I am still paying the price) and the new fabrics were just stacked up in my sewing room, a most unsatisfactory method of fabric storage.  One evening I sat down with all the summer fabrics, the two boxes they are to be stored in, a pile of index cards, and my handy glue stick and set to work.

 

This resulted in 21 index cards of fabric that I p

urchased this spring and summer and did not get around to sewing, and one, the yellow linen, of which there is enough leftover to make a little camisole, but that fabric was a stash fabric and not a new purchase.  How embarrassing.  I will not even tell you how much yardage is involved, but I am sure you can make an intelligent guess.  More fabric than I could normally sew up in one summer.  Now these will be the first things pulled out when spring sewing approaches.  As I begin to look at the spring photos from New York Fashion Week, I think that they will all be quite appealing next summer as well.

At least I am trying to make a concerted effort to not buy much fabric this fall, unless I have a specific garment in mind and I am actually ready to sew it at the time I buy the fabric.  Even then, I have to sew more stash fabric.  So far I have been successful.  The fabric situation is not yet out of control and it shall not become so.   I think there is a hording gene and it runs in my family.  I hope not to succumb.

Perhaps I should just confess that this is really a fabric acquisition blog masquerading as a sewing blog. 

Here I am looking at all the fabric I haven’t sewed this spring and summer, and what do I do?  I BUY MORE FABRIC.  Perhaps it is just frustration because I am not sewing.  I could be sewing, but I am doing other things such as digging in the garden.  When I come I am too tired to stand at the cutting table and cut anything out.  Well, that is probably just an excuse.  I am just too tired and lazy period.  However, have chair, computer, and mouse and the world of fabric shopping awaits; it is much easier to buy the fabric and dream of sewing it than actually make something.

Actually, the most recent fabric purchase was prompted by the dreaded (at least by my husband), drumroll here, swatch in the mail.  Of course when I checked the mail and saw the thick package from Michael’s Fabrics, I could hardly contain myself.  I checked the mail thoroughly but quickly, saw that there were no pink slips, normally cause for sadness as it means “shucks no packages”, and with glee slipped out the door, thankful that I did not have to stand in line but could escape promptly to the sanctity of my car.  As soon as the door was closed and I could pretend that I was in my own little bubble world, I ripped that envelope open and started fondling fabric – gorgeous fabric.  I am unrepentant.

Isn’t she lovely??

I considered going right home to call Michael immediately.  However, I let my responsible side take over and I ran my errands first.    I needed to go the Home Depot to get more spikes and bolts for the garden bed I am building as all construction has halted until the right materials are procured.  Once in Home Depot of course, I was temporarily distracted from fabric.  Who ever knew bolts and screws and metal and all that STUFF could be so fascinating?  Still I knew my brain was slightly addled when I started looking at a display of wires and cables wondering what kind of FABRICS they would make if I knitted them up.  I was especially taken by some thin stainless steel cable…. 

I managed to wrench myself away from the cables, get through the checkout line, and rush home and call Michael.  The fabric, or at least a piece of it, is mine, all mine.  I have no idea what it will become.  I think I can waste a lot of time dreaming of the possibilities.

On the other hand, I had better not dream about it too much tonight as I have hours of office accounting ahead of me.  I spent the afternoon in the yard with the drill bolting landscape timbers together and now I must spend the evening working and earning my paycheck so that I can conintue dreaming of fabrics.

 

I finally succumbed to the lure of EmmaOneSock‘s new fabrics and ordered a couple of pieces.  I was actually far more moderate than if I had jumped right in and ordered when I first started getting the e-mails about new Italian fabrics and sales and so forth.   I would check out the fabrics a couple of times a week, dream about what I would sew, shop and sew vicariously through the posts on sewzine and otherwise remind myself that I have a big stack of fabric right next to my computer waiting to be sewn.

Nonetheless, the call of fabric is like a siren call — it cannot be completely resisted for the fabric knows who is most tempted by its lures and sends out its signals sure and strong.  I placed an order this morning; the fabric will be shipped on Monday.

This is what I ordered:
  You can see the details here.   I  am imagining that it  wants to be a dress.  I’m not sure and will reserve judgment until it actually arrives.  I have sewn tops out of onionskin but have never sewn a dress and am not sure how that will work.  It could be just the pattern that says "dress" and the fabric will say something else when it actually lands in my sewing room.  It will be draped over Matilda and its true nature will come out.

I also purchased this cotton knit, one of the promised Italian knits:

Here are the details.

I think this one is REALLY COOL and must admit I looked at it for a week and drooled, but put it and aside in a folder and thought about it along with two other fabrics,  this  mosaic knit  which sold out and is not really my color anyway, and this Matte Jersey, which I still love but decided not to buy because I have a couple of pieces of matte jersey I have never sewn and there is no point to buying more, no matter how pretty.

My initial thought on this is that it will make a really neat sweater set that will go with a lot of things in my wardrobe.  Of course I still have to look at the actual fabric and see if I think I would wear it in that form, It depends on how busy the fabric looks draped over Matilda.   I know I love the fabric but I have trouble translating how I imagine the print from a picture, to how I think I will like the garment.  I need to let the fabric work its magic when it arrives, I know something wonderful will be born.