5 basic tips to work with velvet (and cousins!)

Velvet. The king of fabrics. Really, velvet is from centuries one of the materials connected to royalty and richness with its soft pile and incredible texture. But - for us dressmakers - how velvet can turn into a nightmare our sewing project? Many times, trust me. It happens to experienced seamstresses too so no worries! In this little guide I'll explain you some tips to work with velvet (and cousins - like crushed or stretch velvet) and 

If you're here, I'm sure you probably faced the problems related to velvet so let's get started.

Crushed/panné velvet

Silk velvet

1. Stay calm.

Sewing with velvet can be hard but it's not impossible. First of all, you must keep in mind you're working with an expensive fabric (as silk) so think twice before cutting. Do all the mock ups you need, take all your time but stay calm. Hurry can be your worst enemy. If you want to serge your velvet make a try on some scraps before proceeding: not every velvet type is serger-friendly. 

2. Forget your iron

Don't miss this step! Your iron can ruin your fabric irremediably. The heat can damage and burn the pile of velvet so use your iron always on the wrong side on the fabric, avoiding to touch it; some steam may be used but be careful to don't touch the pile.

Via Threads Magazine

3. Clean your workspace

Velvet doesn't fray easily but it leaves lot of small, fluffy balls. Breathing these balls can be a problem for your health so always keep your vacuum near and clean your working space often. Wearing a mask can be useful too. 

4. Pay attention to nap/pile

This is the  most important step, in my opinion. A garment sewn with two different naps scream homemade (remember: your creations must look handmade and not homemade, these are two different things) but  this mistake can be easily avoided paying a little of attention. The nap is the direction of the pile, which can run up or down; usually, the nap running down gives to the garment a darker, richer tone. There's not a general rule (up or down is the same) but the important is to cut the pieces in the same direction: this may require extra yardage so check out the instructions on your pattern envelope.

via byhandlondon

5. Hem by hand when possible

Velvet may stretch a little, especially on edges, and it can roll on the inside. This counts especially for crushed and stretch velvet. Hemming your garments by hand is a good solution to control stretching: bias tape could work good for this purpose, using a hemming stitch on the inside. Never leave your hems raw! 

via Threads Magazine

Read more:
http://historicalsewing.com/conquering-velvet-24-tips-ease-your-fears-working-textile
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/24556/how-to-sew-velvet-like-a-pro/page/all
http://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/16654484-nerdy-sewing-tips-sewing-with-velvet

A Regency day in Osasco: dress and undergarments

If you followed me for a while, you may know I'm kinda new to 18th century and Regency costuming. Being definitely not what you can consider a tall lady, I've never been a huge fan of high waistlines and raised breasts because I considered them bad looking on me. I was wrong. Really wrong. My perception of Regency era simply mislead by movies, period dramas and lack of knowledge. Being honest and admit your limits is the first step to open your eyes and start studying seriously a certain historical period and fashion. 

Period dramas and so on forced the public to think Regency fashion was something delicate, extremely feminine and with a great freedom of movement given by the lack of corsets, heavy undergarments and underpinnings such as panniers or pocket hoops. Many ladies I know who sewn a Regency dress think the same but this is partially true. Regency women WORE corsets, even if they were surely more comfortable and less constrictive than their predecessors. They wore several layers too, such as chemises, petticoats, chemisettes and so on. 

So, after making my own and serious researches I radically changed my point of view about Regency costuming; those dresses looked bad on me because of the lack of proper undergarments. That's all. You don't need to be tall to look good in your historical outfit.

After all these considerations, I can (finally) tell you something more about my first Regency event. Two months ago (ok, I'm a little bit late!) I was invited by Le vie del tempo to join one of their events at Osasco castle; I didn't have an early 19th century wardrobe so I had to sew or purchase everything. I mean...everything. The only thing I had was a pair of flat shoes. Sounds great, uh?

I started with a bodiced petticoat. Since we were at the end of July I decided to skip the chemise to survive the italian summer heat (I failed) and I drafted the pattern for my bodiced petticoat in a while; it's a basic top with a gathered skirt at the underbust with hooks and eyes at the back. I used some cotton in my stash and I sewn the hems with a basic running stitch. The garment when together easily and without surprises. Phew!! 

Then the corset or - better - the short stays. They're made of two layers of cotton with plastic boning and metal grommets, not accurate but I was out of time and on a budget. I drafted my own pattern and since I'm not busty I avoided the gussets. 

Bodiced petticoat with pinned stays

Now the fun part - the dress! I originally planned to make a blue cotton dress but the cotton I had was too heavy to be worn at the end of July (and still is...) so I run to the fabric store to look for a lighter fabric. I ended to buy the same fabric of my Ancient Roman green tunic with some extra satin piping for the back seams. 

Ta-dah!

I wanted a drawstring dress but my bodice wasn't big enough to be gathered; after consulting Historical Sewing again about Regency dresses closures, I went for buttons at the back. I put piping at side back seams and between puff and lover sleeve but adding it to the neckline has been a mistake. The neckline became too heavy and large for my bust and needed to be filled with a fichu. 

I don't have nothing new to say about the construction; the dress is made of a 5 pieces bodice and a two pieces skirt partially gathered. That's all. For a fuller skirt, just add another panel and you're done. 

I have larger biceps than an average woman of my size so I wanted to hide them with long sleeves. A mistake, again. But they were really nice. 

Here you can see how the gathers look. I love how the piping came out! 

The ladies from the group especially loved the braided hairstyle my boyfriend made me that morning. 

Indeed he really did a great job! 

Some photos from the event:

Taglia e cuci Singer 14SH654: domande e risposte

La taglia e cuci. Chi, appassionata o meno di cucito, non ne ha mai sentito parlare? Quel macchinario con tutti quei fili, la lama, che corre veloce...a prima vista può spaventare ma vi assicuro che la taglia e cuci non è quel mostro che sembra. In questo video tutorial sul mio canale Youtube ho cercato di spiegare le basi di questo macchinario, partendo dall'infilatura a tre fili. Personalmente non utilizzo quasi mai i quattro fili (di conseguenza i due aghi) perché preferisco effettuare la prima cucitura a macchina e poi rifinire in un secondo momento. Perché? Perché la cucitura a macchina mi permette un certo margine di errore, che con la TC non c'è. Ma andiamo con ordine. 

               

Cos'è una taglia e cuci? 

La taglia e cuci (che abbrevierò TC) è nient'altro che un macchinario che taglia, cuce, e rifinisce in un solo passaggio le nostre creazioni, donando loro un aspetto molto più professionale rispetto alla solita rifinitura a zigzag. Essa è quindi un prodotto essenziale per chi vende online i propri lavori e vi assicuro che una volta provata, non ne potrete fare a meno.
Si tratta di un macchinario complementare alla macchina da cucire (con una TC non potete attaccare cerniere o bottoni) e funziona ad una velocità maggiore...occhio alle mani!

Come funziona? 

Il funzionamento è molto semplice. La lama sistemata accanto al vostro piedino rifinisce i tessuti tagliando l'eccesso, che ricadrà alla nostra destra. Il mio modello non ha un vano raccogli-rifiuti ma in commercio ci sono davvero molte marche che lo forniscono in dotazione: in questo modo non dovrete preoccuparvi di raccogliere i vostri scarti a termine della cucitura.
Per infilare la macchina bisogna seguire il percorso indicato dai colori e le istruzioni riportate sul manuale (nel video vi spiegherò tutto). Regolate le tensioni esattamente come fate con la macchina e siete pronte a partire. Quando avete finito di cucire non tagliate la catenella finale, lasciate un 5-10 cm di avanzo per poterla "incastrare" nella cucitura appena realizzata con un ago dalla cruna molto grossa e possibilmente senza punta.

TC in azione sullo chiffon 

Posso usare i fili della macchina da cucire?
Certo, se di ottima qualità e resistenti. La TC consuma molto più filato rispetto ad una macchina standard quindi è bene munirsi di coni molto grandi (i miei sono pure esagerati  ma li ho trovati in super offerta in merceria...come non approfittarne!) per non restare a secco nel mezzo del nostro lavoro! Si tratta però di filati un po' più cari e all'inizio vi consiglio di accontentarvi della classica combo filo bianco e filo nero; con il tempo potrete ampliare il vostro magazzino di filati ed abbinare i colori. Il bello della TC è anche poter giocare con i fili, realizzando cuciture esterne contrastanti.

Si possono fare gli orli?
La vostra bella TC è perfetta per realizzare orli arrotolati e decorativi. Avete presente quegli orli piccolini che vedete spesso sui capi acquistati in negozio (sciarpe, foulard, gonne molto leggere, abiti in chiffon e/o organza...)? Ecco, quello è l'orlino arrotolato che potete realizzare voi stesse, dando sicuramente un tocco in più ai vostri capi. Lo uso moltissimo, anche sui costumi fantasy: permette di ottenere una bella rifinitura senza dover ricorrere all'orlo normale, risparmiando molto tempo. Attenzione però: l'orlo arrotolato non può essere eseguito sui tessuti pesanti (video tutorial coming soon...)

Un esempio di orlo arrotolato a TC su organza

...E le curve?
Le curve. La TC non  ha molto margine di errore. Una volta tagliato, è tagliato per sempre. Le curve possono rappresentare un problema, specialmente se usiamo la macchina da poco. Bisogna sempre tenere la stoffa dritta, anche in presenza di una curva, ma non è un meccanismo che si spiega bene a parole: è molto più semplice vedere il procedimento dal vivo.

Ne ho davvero bisogno?
Sì, se cucite regolarmente e volete vendere le vostre creazioni. Anche l'occhio vuole la sua parte e l'interno merita di essere curato come l'esterno, soprattutto ad un certo livello della vostra carriera sartoriale :) A breve caricherò un video nel quale vi mostrerò le differenze tra una cucitura a zigzag e una a TC.

E voi? Avete ancora paura di quel mostro-a-quattro fili-due-aghi-mangia-spolette? Ne possedete una o vorreste acquistarla? Fatemi sapere le vostre opinioni!

A medieval-fantasy gown: Eowyn

Do you remember the green and gold velvet gown worn by Eowyn in "The Two Towers"? The movie came out in 2002 and since then I've been a huge fan of that dress. It looks soooo medieval, with the long hanging sleeves and the beautiful gold details...a dream! I never had enough budget to buy a replica of the costume so - ta-dah! - I bought a commercial pattern to sew my own version. The pattern still lays in its envelope due to lack of time but I managed to sew a very personal version of the costume with matching colours but a different design. 

For this costume I used a beautiful emerald green crushed velvet as main fabric and gold satin for the contrasting panel and the lining of hood and sleeves. I'm not a fan of poly satin 'cause it frays a lot and it's looks really cheap but you know - budget is budget. To my customers I recommend to choose taffeta, which has a richer texture than satin and looks less fancy.

The dress design is a classic: a medieval-fantasy dress with hood and square neckline, with front and back lacing. Nothing new but this is the kind of dresses which fits me at best and I love to make. 

The lacing is made of fabric eyelets and satin ribbon. To hide the arm seam I hand sewn a piece of gold trim. 

The dress is really comfortable and the lacing allows a perfect fitting. I enjoyed a lot these photos in the woods - the beautiful necklace I'm wearing is by Aeternum Nocturne Jewellery. 

The hood is wide and covers the head like a glove, falling on the shoulders when not worn. The satin lining falls nicely on the skin and I love how it turns on the outside when the arms are left in a lower position. The crushed velvet is so bright and follows the curves of the body, a blessing for ladies who have large hips like me. 

Some professional photos:

This costume is listed on my Etsy shop and can be ordered in different sizes and colours. Feel free to leave a comment if you have questions about! 

Tudor court dress pt.1

Hello folks!
As some of you may know I'm working on a new sewing proect for some weeks: my first Tudor gown! I've always been in love with that period of English history and - of course - I love the dresses worn by women as Anne Boleyn or Jane Seymour (the style under Elizabeth I is quite different and is known as "Elizabethian"). I was planning to sew a dress like that from last year but I didn't feel good enough to start it and so I postponed this shopping. After a year I felt ready and I bought the famous pattern by Simplicity (and I've been lucky because it has been announced discontinued in March 2014!). While I was waiting for it I started to do a little bit of historical research about the real Tudor dresses and I discovered something really interesting: Tudor women wore skirts with a long train and a hoopskirt (the variation of the spanish farthingale brought in Englad by Catherine of Aragon) and - this was really surprising! - without pleats. If you look at period paintings you'll notice there are almost no pleats on their skirts so this is a big difference if compared to the pattern which requires cartridge pleating (cartridge pleating is when small pleats have to be stitched on a very thiny bodice - it's a long process to be done by hand exclusively).

I didn't have enough money to buy the huge amount of fabric for the overdress (8 metres!!) and so I started working on the underskirt and the foresleeves. Tudor ladies wore a multi layered outfit, from the white underdress to the final overdress, which was rich and extremely decorated for the court ladies; it's really important to wear the right undergarments with this kind of costume, so don't forget your chemise, your corset, your hoopskirt and at least one underskirt. I'll wear a black pleated satin skirt over my hoopskirt which won't be visibile once the dress will be finished: the central panel has to be worn as a small apron tied on your waist by a band and this fabric has often to match with the foresleeves.

What are foresleeves? This is the most difficoult step I met during my research. Finding a good tutorial about them has been really hard. Foresleeves are a sort of fake sleeves, often rich and decorated with pearls or buttons, which were tied to the main sleeves and could be changed when women wanted to. This is supposed to be due to the hot weather during summer or to simple fashionable reasons. Women could change their sleeves when they want and they can have several pairs. Don't be afraid when you'll look at pattern instructions: foresleeves HAVE to be big! The best result will be achieved with a lot of white lining pulled through the side and central openings, like in italian renaissance period dresses.
So I started working on the foresleeves and I've been immediately surprised by their size. They're really big and wide, I think I'll made them a little bit smaller in the next costumes because I feel them quite uncomfortable. After cutting the pattern and the fabric I cut the central stashes and I decided to trim them with some burgundy crushed velvet I had at home. It's not period at all but making an historical accurate garment is not my actual aim. Only this process took me a week only, I didn't have enough time and stashes have been really hard to be stitched.

 

Now I can say I've a new friend:  bias tape. I never used it before and I was really surprised by the price (0.30€ at metre! Lovely!) and the huge amount of things you can do with it. It's surely better than the classic satin ribbons which can be ugly to see on the corners. Bias tape is perfect for trimming raw edges and corners, try it and you'll love it! You just have to take a moment to understand how to sew it: there are fast and simple techniques but a little training may be required. After learning how to sew it I trimmed the edges of my foresleeves and then started to search for a lining. Ok, I know. Lining should be stitched before the trim, but at first I didn't want it. Then I remembered to have some white cotton at home and I was pleased to discover it was enough for my lining. Unfortunately it doesn't come out from the stashes as I wanted/expected so I've learned something new for the future: cut your lining bigger than your sleeve, otherwhise your fabric won't be fluffy. Shame on me. I love how they turned out, the white lining gave a completely different look to my foresleeves! Then I sewed some ornamental buttons to keep sides closed and I LOVE, totally LOVE how they came out.

The easiest way to stitch bias tape.

The pinned lining.

Finished foresleeve.

Now the final touch: the ribbons. Foresleeves were tied with ribbons inside the dress to the main sleeve (the upper one) and so explains the rigid posture of Tudor court ladies.
Actually I'm waiting for my fabrics to come so I cannot explain you how to finish your overdress. I hope you've found this part interesting enough and feel free to contact me for any question!