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Balmain inspired cropped tuxedo jacket

Inspiration came from Olivier Rousteing, and this cropped tuxedo jacket appears almost in every season's collection in a different iteration.

Balmain menwear, FW-2016

I chose a navy-black synthetic blend fabric from fabricville. The weight was quite heavy, but it was not horrible to work with. The satin for the lapels came from the same place. Lining fabric came from sultansfinefabrics.com.

I drafted the pattern using Rundschau system (Мюллер, журнал Ателье). It went well, but I see some adjustments required, especially in the back. The sleeve was huge - I took out 6cm in circumference, and still find it wide.

I did not fuse the fronts. I used hair canvass down to the waist, as well as horsehair and French collar canvas for the shoulder area. I made the shoulder pads myself.

The pockets are jetted, however they kept opening up, so I sewed them shut.

There are 3 decorative metal shank buttons on the sleeves. I was relieved to not make buttonholes.

James is happy.

Balmain style orange jeans, Halloween 2016

It all started with the Lego Movie's Emmet costume.

My colleague donated a blue hard-hat = which was spray painted red.

A few sheets of foam core cardboard, orange and yellow cardboard (from Dollarama), colour craft paper, acrylic paint, silver duct-tape, spray and hot glue and markers made the top.

The time came to figure out the bottoms. I itched to sew, and...

Went shopping for fabric. Had to be cheap - alas, orange upholstery fabric at a whopping $6. Yes, I left Fabricville with just 1m. of fabric!

Drafted a pattern following instruction for Rundschau (Мюллер) method. Introduced biker styling. Made a mental note - do not stack horizontal seams in vertical seams... spread them, space them - will be easier to sew.

I wanted to break the orange with some denim panels, and make those illusive ribbed panels Balmain is famous for. Balmain uses a double needle with an elastic thread at the bottom. The space between two rows is 8mm... My machine can do 4mm max. So... after a lengthy deliberation on a sewing forum, I opted to use a synthetic jersey as a backing.

I stitched two layers of fabric (denim and jersey) with one row of stitches. Then, using the width of my presser foot as a guide, stretched the bottom jersey layer to the max, and run a parallel row of stitches. The denim did not form itself into a nice rib. I persevered. After an hour of stitching this small piece of fabric, I was about to fit my pattern piece on it. I tried massaging the stitched piece, and some form of ribbing started to appear. I decided to spray it with water. And... magic happened. May be water softened denim and allowed the jersey to pull everything together. Just a few rows of ribbing needed persuading. Relieved, I let everything dry before proceeding.

There is nothing special about putting these pants together. Just too many pattern pieces. I hoped for a quick project, but it took me almost 2 full days!

My son was excited about the pants. And my spouse is asking for a pair as well, but may be not orange. Yes or no?

Elie Saab inspired magenta dress

The inspiration for this dress came from Elie Saab's 2014 Resort collection

Of course I had to make changes to the design. First of all, the client wanted a dress with long sleeves. Second, the fabric in my stash was a medium-heavy weight one, most likely a synthetic of some kind, not stretchy, with a lovely diagonal ribbing effect. At first, in the store, I assumed it was a ribbed jersey, however... The fabric sewed beautifully, though the colour bled when I decanted the fabric prior to working with it. Did not shrink, I think. And third, the client wanted a more modest gorge treatment.

This was my second ever dress made from the Rundschau (Мюллер) pattern. I copied the front and back pieces and freehanded the style lines on them. Then, copied pattern pieces with seam allowances.

Construction: there is horsehair interfacing in the front to keep the shape of the upper part of the dress. There are thin hand-made shoulder pads, and sleeve roll pads (bias strips of soft medium weight wool). Invisible zipper (my second in a dress). The dress is fully lined.

Front style lines detail

Front neck opening and back lining detail

Lining attached to the bottom of dress

Lapped slit in the back

I had to re-sew the zipper several time to match the back

Back unzipped with lining picking out

Et voilà. Merci!

Easter 2014

Valentino Pre-fall 2015-16

Once again, following upon my 2016 New Year's resolution to use up my fabric stash, I pulled out a gorgeous cotton-silk blend from Fabricville in sage colour. Inspiration for the garment was drawn from this beautiful pre-fall 2015-16 Valentino blouse. I had to shop for trims, as I did, again at the Fabricville store. I bought wide cotton and narrow synthetic lace trims.

This is my first time to show you my working sketch. Not very informative, it narrows down my ideas and gives me a sort of navigation map to where I want the garment to end up. It helps tremendously in the patternmaking process.

Blouse sketch

The pattern follows the basic Rundschau (Мюллер) dress pattern. I omitted waist darts. Created separate pieces for the back and front yokes, chest decoration.

French seems in the making

Back yoke attached to back bodice

Assembled front bodice

Stitching down sleeve lace inlays

Sleeve plackets are ready for cuffs

Fabrication is simple. However, I spent most of the time on the pleats and narrow sleeve lace inlays. Collar gave me a literal back ache. Side and sleeve seams are French seams. Sleeve buttons are shell buttons. Collar has a fabric covered button and a thread chain loop. Oh, and I added a little bit of sparkle to the front lace.

I have to admin that this particular blouse took forever to come together (I started it in October 2015). But hey, spring is almost upon us!

Elie Saab - Resort 2014

In August 2015 we were invited to a wedding of a good friend. My client (obviously) had "nothing" to wear. She was extremely busy with work, so shopping was out of the question.

On the way to the reception. The fabric is merciless and wrinkles badly.

I had a cotton satin blend in gorgeous green colour in my stash. I think I bought it to make a skirt. It had to be made into a dress.

Starting with my Rundschau (Мюллер) dress draft, I drew design lines, and made a pattern. This one had a lot of pattern pieces. To stiffen the front décolleté I used sew-in hair canvas interfacing. It also helped with stability when I started applying crystal claw rivets.

Rivets of doom. They did not want to stay in place!

The dress has hand-made shoulder pads, again with pieces of hair canvas and cotton wadding.

I did not line the dress simply because I did not have any appropriate lining, and because I did not have any budget to go buy anything. As well, it was very hot, and if the lining were synthetic, the client would have been miserable.

The slit in the back is not lapped, and I used grosgrain ribbon (from the Dollar Store - Dollarama) to finish the edges. I used the same ribbon to finish the turned under hem (remember, I don't own an overlock machine). If I remember correctly, I bought the ribbon for a different project altogether.

In the back I used an invisible zipper, even though my preference would have been a metallic zipper with a chunky zipper pull.

Moulin Spa Wakefield, QC - August 2015

What do you think?

I was lucky today, and caught my darling for lunch. She was wearing my creation: Valentino inspired blouse. Here are the originals, from Valentino Pre-fall 2015-2016.

Valentino Pre-Fall 2015-2016

and this one

Valentino Pre-Fall 2015-2016

I bought this fabric a while ago (~2014) at Fabricville, it is cotton and silk blend - very light and delightful to the touch. First I thought to make a summer shirt for myself, but my client talked me into making this blouse. I had to go to the same store again and look for trims, lace, etc. I was not wise enough to take the fabric swatch with me, however, the only bolt of blue lace in the store happened to be a perfect match for the fabric (which I discovered at home).

Cotton-silk blend, blue lace, natural shell buttons and "soft seams" ribbon.

I used the same tried and tested self-drafted pattern (Rundschau system - Atelie magazines). However, having some experience sewing pleats before, I cut front and back pieces wider and longer than the patter, sewing the pleats and lace inlays first, then laid the pattern on top of the sewn fronts and cut them. The same I did with the back, only had to fold it. I repeated the same process for the sleeves.

Shoulder and sleeve seams

French side seams and hem

All inner seams are French (enclosed). I used the "soft seams" tape on the sleeve and shoulder seams.

For the sleeve placket I used the same pattern and techniques as for the men's shirt.