Glitzy Halston-inspired outfit UPDATE!

Friends, it takes a certain kind of man to pull off a 1975 sequined pantsuit.  Fortunately, I am precisely that kind of man.

I'm not quite done with Simplicity 7295, my matching top and bottom ensemble, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  (Actually, it's a disco ball.)  I still need to add the sleeves, which is going to mean trimming the sleeve caps a bit and lowering the armhole.   I've been here before, fortunately.



Putting this baby together has been relatively straightforward but not without its challenges.  I think I mentioned that the "sequins" (they're really plastic stickies, like shiny Colorforms) don't lay flat folded on the diagonal and if you try pressing them they start to peel off at the corners.  There was a considerable curve in the back center seam (to create more fullness in the backside) which I had to remove so that the sequins along the seam would be vertical.



Then I created a lapped seam, which looks very clean though I may add another row of edgestitching. This way I knew that on this very visible seam none of the sequins would be folded in half.



The pants were easy.  The pattern calls for a back center zipper but there was no need for one; the fabric has sufficient stretch to just pull the pants on.  There's a simple casing with elastic inside, just like men's boxers.





I cut the jacket facings from my fashion fabric and serged them on, cutting off the 5/8" seam allowance in the process.  (As I mentioned yesterday, I couldn't fold the facing to the back because of those darn plastic sequins.)  I'll add polished cotton bias trim to the edge and cuffs, and most likely, the hem.





The two front darts on the jacket were a bit of challenge and required some experimentation.  I used a tiny stitch and trimmed the dart close to the stitching, otherwise I wouldn't be able to press it flat.  It's not perfect, but it's acceptable.





I think I'm pretty much done for today; I can only look at this fabric so long before my eyes start to ache.

Simplicity 7295 is a very fun pattern and could totally work today, imo.  It makes me think of Studio 54, Bianca Jagger, Donna Summer, and the Bee Gees.  And that woman who sings New York, New York -- what's her name again?

This stretch fabric has wonderful drape and really makes a statement -- hopefully a kind one.



Hope you're having a fun, whether you're sewing or not.

Have a great day, everybody!

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Puttin' on the Glitz!

Rhinestones.  Bugle beads.  Sequins.  Fringe.

These are the elements of glitzy dressing, our topic for today!

You can't really talk about glitz without mentioning Hollywood, where the glitziest fantasies were made reality, or rather unreality.







Garish and guilt-free, glitz has its critics.  My mother was/is the least glitzy person you can imagine.  She used to criticize her friends (to me, me) whom she thought dressed too flashily.   My next door neighbor, a boy named Maury, was also my best friend in elementary school, and his mother, Francine, a sexy divorcee, was the polar opposite of my mother.  Francine had a clothes closet worthy of Ann-Margret. 

 

I know this because after school, Maury and I used to go through it and try on anything trimmed with marabou or sequins, which was just about everything.  (The die was cast early, folks.)  She had enough costume jewelry to rival Jolie Gabor and I still remember her collection of chunky psychedelic Lucite rings that were so popular in the early Seventies.

Parenthetically, is anyone named Francine anymore?

Strange as it may seem, I am not a very glitzy person today and neither is my cousin Cathy, who's more Greer Garson than Mitzi Gaynor. 



No conversation about glitzy dressing (or Mitzi Gaynor) would be complete without mentioning designer Bob Mackie.  I've always loved Bob Mackie, who is probably best known for the wacky, flamboyant costumes he created for Carol Burnett and Cher on their respective television variety shows in the Seventies.



Mackie has continued to costume Cher, seen here on her way to the Piggly Wiggly.



I recently picked up a copy of Mackie's Dressing for Glamour on Amazon, signed by M. Mackie himself!







To be honest, this book doesn't quite live up to its title, being more of a What not to wear when you're short, fat, busty, or some combination thereof guide.  Lots of photos but very few color plates.  Mackie also talks about what it was like to work for various people in the business, but since this was at the height of his busy career, he's diplomatic to a fault, though he does get a dig in at perfectionist Barbra Streisand, who insisted on dyeing her own shoes when she appeared on The Judy Garland Show.  Perhaps she feared Judy might be dyeing them...



And speaking of Judy -- no shrinking violet in the rhinestone department herself -- one of our foremost glitz icons is Liza Minnelli,  most closely associated with the late designer Halston.





Was a Halston design the inspiration behind Simplicity 7295, a vintage pattern from 1975 I've just started making, and part of Simplicity's "Designer Fashion" line?
 

Patterns from this fabulous line can still be found cheap today and many look just like the more costly and collectible Vogue Paris Originals and other designer pattern lines of the period.  Perhaps it's inspired by Diane Von Furstenberg (?).  Anyway, I picked up this pattern recently for just a few dollars on Etsy, and I'm making it with the glitziest fabric in my stash.



I don't know how I ended up with this fabric, a sturdy knit (most likely Poly-Spandex) with little plastic "sequins" heat-transferred onto the surface.  This is both good and bad.  The sequins are strongly adhered to the fabric, but seams must be pressed with great care (not too hot an iron; a press cloth is a must), but they will not crease on the bias.

If you try to press a crease with an iron, you melt the glue and the sequins want to peel off.



What this means is that rather than attach a traditional facing to the front, I'm going to cut my facing (made of my fashion fabric for draping purposes) serge off the seam allowance while attaching both layers (right side of facing to wrong side of garment, with the facing under the garment), and then bind the seam edge with either bias strips of polished cotton (which I've tried) or some silk knit I have in my stash (which I haven't tried).

Either way, this will help to stabilize the edge and provide a smooth, professional look.  I'll likely do this on the cuffs and hems as well.  Again, the fabric won't crease sharply with those plastic do-dads attached.  Can you think of a better way to do this?

Here's a sample (done with white thread) of my binding.  I attach it, right sides together, fold it over the edge, and stitch in the ditch.  To avoid too much thickness, I probably won't fold the inside bias edge under, but either serge the edge before I attach the binding, or just leave as-is.  It won't fray.



Vertical seams are less of a problem, as you can see below.



And that's it.  I am happy to be sewing again after my month-long hiatus.  Despite the cold, the dogs are getting plenty of exercise on their treadmill.



In closing, friends, how do you feel about glitz and glitzy fashion?

I know some of you make costumes for figure skating, ballroom dance competitions, and theater, but outside of those venues, do you ever "glam it up" with sequins, Swarovski crystals, or bugle beads?

Any glitzy gown you remember from your youth, perhaps seen on TV, that made an indelible impression on you?

Who's ready to channel their inner Carol Channing?

Happy Friday, everybody!

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Farewell, Pfaff 30, etc.

Friends, if you've been reading MPB for more than a year, you probably know that my vintage Pfaff 30, which I found at the end of 2010 on Craigslist and bought from a Broadway actress (whose mother had purchased it new) was one of my most treasured sewing machine finds.

It hadn't been sewn with for decades and the motor burned off many layers of smoky dust at first.  But once I had this machine cranking, it was a fabulous workhorse and I thought we'd be together forever.  But life doesn't always turn out the way we expect.

How could I have predicted that between then and now I would acquire two Singer Featherweights, a Kenmore 158.141 in a table, a Kenmore 158.1040 (the 3/4 portable with the rose-embossed case), and a Singer 201 gifted from Rain?  Suddenly, my Pfaff, which I'd sewn on constantly throughout the early part of 2010, felt redundant and, once I found my Featherweight table at Christmastime last year, it took up precious space I no longer had.

I decided to sell it, but due to my ambivalence, I didn't do much to make that happen.  As it does so often, however, fate intervened.  Two MPB readers, Kimberly and Amanda, came to see me in Noah's Very Unusual Insight last Friday, and while I was chatting with them after the show, I offhandedly mentioned that if either one of them was interested in a vintage Pfaff straight stitcher, they should let me know (ha ha).  Lo and behold, the following day I received an email from Kimberly saying that she was interested in the machine!

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let it do the talking.  Below are Amanda (left) and Kimberly (right) last night.



Here's Amanda carrying the table (without the machine in it, of course) out of my apartment and out of my life (sob).



I'm still in shock, but Kimberly assures me that I can come visit my-I mean her Pfaff in the East Village whenever I want (That IS what you said, isn't it, Kimberly?).  That made me feel a little better.  I gave Kimberly a detailed tutorial on how the machine works -- how to oil it, thread it, wind the bobbin, etc.  I wasn't sure if I was being overly parental but, hey, I could be Kimberly's father (alas).  I feel responsible.

Thankfully, this painful goodbye has been somewhat offset by a few exciting hellos.

My O'Mast video arrived yesterday!  This is the documentary about Neopolitan tailoring by Gianluca Migliarotti I mentioned over the weekend, which has also been featured on the blog Made by Hand -- The Great Sartorial Debate.  Should we have a home screening/pot luck sometime this Spring perhaps?  Look at the cute packaging!







I also just received Lynda Maynard's book, The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques.  I'll talk more about this one in the future, but here's a peek.









On Sunday, I promised you a pic of Michael's sister Sara's Prada pumps, picked up at a NYC consignment store at a great -- albeit still high in my book, but what do I know? -- price on her visit here last weekend.  I must say they're lovely and (Sara assures me) practical!



Big news!  We now have RCN cable Internet service instead of crummy Verizon DSL.  Uploads are practically instantaneous.  I called for installation on Monday and Monday evening we were already using it -- how often does that happen in life?  Normally I hate dealing with phone/Internet/cable companies, but it felt SO good to cancel my Verizon service, I can't tell you.

Friends, that's it.  A few questions:

1) Have you ever sold a vintage sewing machine and later regretted it?

2) Have you ever bought/sold shoes on consignment? 

3) Can anyone recommend a good HD video camera (or a still camera that has HD video capability) for less than $500?  (Ideally much less)  Now that I have cable Internet I'd like to produce some higher quality video but my Canon S90 doesn't do HD.

4) Anybody up for a spring potluck/screening (maybe we can throw in another video and make it a double feature.  The Singing Nun perhaps?)

Have a great day, everybody!

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Valentine's Day Sewing -- YEA or NAY?

Readers, let's be honest.  As bad as the modern world can sometimes seem, all one has to do is take a peek back in time to realize that we've come a long way as a culture.

Gone are the days when the "little lady" would stitch herself up a special Valentine's Day duster (pictured up top) to surprise her other half, who would most likely surprise her with a toaster or other chrome-plated kitchen appliance.  (My mother herself experienced this in the Fifties and she wasn't happy about it.)





Speaking of the bad old days, last night I watched the cloyingly false, yet undeniably watchable nun-athon, 1966's The Singing Nun starring Debbie Reynolds  (Did Charles Schultz dream up that ad copy?).  Worst. Nun. Movie. EVER.



That said, if you like the song Domenique, you might enjoy The Singing Nun.  The fact that the real singing nun, Jeanine Deckers, upon whose life the film was (very loosely) based, later left the convent, came out as a lesbian, and killed herself in a bizarre double suicide love pact, needn't spoil the joys of watching Agnes Moorhead, sans Endora makeup, as Debbie's sour sidekick.  

But let's get back to Valentine's Day sewing.  Friends, it should come as no surprise to you that I strongly resent holidays like Valentine's Day, Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, and the like, when we're supposed to march in lockstep to the Hallmark Card aisle of our local Rite Aid drugstore and robotically purchase an overpriced greeting card which we're to dutifully sign, seal in an envelope, and hand to our loved one on February 14th, perhaps along with a cheap box of Whitman's chocolates.

Thankfully, as sewers, we have so many other options!

I don't quite understand why a woman would want a Valentine's Day apron, since, let's face it, she'd have to make it for herself.  I suppose it might be a sexy surprise if she showed up wearing nothing but the apron, but I don't think that was the original intention.  Or was it?







If an apron feels too retrograde, perhaps a Valentine's Day vest (upper left corner, below) might fit the bill?



Of course, little girls love Valentine's Day, at least according to the pattern companies.  What's cuter than a two year old decked out in hearts, ribbon, and lace?  Sadly, she doesn't come dipped in chocolate with creamy caramel centers.





If you wish, you can spend the next two weeks making Valentine's Day decorations, to fill your house with the spirit of the season.  A heart wreath!



A heart quilt!



Heart-shaped jewelry cases!



A...um...what is this, exactly?



Readers, in closing, will you be sewing something special for Valentine's Day?  Have you ever given -- or received -- a homemade Valentine's Day gift?  If so, was it appreciated?

Valentine's Day sewing -- Yea or Nay?

PS -- What's your favorite nun movie? 

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