SKETCHES, FABRICS AND MUSLINS! OH MY!!
Can someone please tell me where is the time flying off to!!! I just can't believe that on the 11th it will be a month since my last post! I don't know how it is for you dear readers, but for me there really just aren't enough hours in a day!
Well let's not waste a moment and get down to brass tacks! As you know, I'm a devoted follower of Peter Lappin's wonderful blog Male pattern boldness and I was recently commenting on how much I loved flannel fabrics, especially shadow plaids. I then diverged to the subject of home sewing and cheap clients. Well needless to say, I received a reply from another avid MPB fan whom I shall call "T" (for Testosterone) who abruptly yanked up my reins and put my hiney back on the topic of flannel! Well!! Being a product of the 'Eisenhower era' and and a staunch follower of the rules of etiquette and decorum, I offered my most humble apology and went on to say that I had acquired a piece of wool flannel with a percentage of cashmere blended in ( I have no idea how much!) as pictured here:
I then went on to elaborate that I was planning on making a pullover hooded jacket from it and that I hoped to have most of it done that same day! Little did I realize what lay ahead! Now the hoodie I had in mind was to be composed of only two main pieces, that being the body, which would be one piece of fabric with an attached hood as pictured in my sketch here:
It would be cut on the bias giving it a soft and fluid drape.......or so I hope! I love eliminating seams in my designs but it can pose problems because you've got to get the right balance of proportion which centers around the neckline and the garment hanging from the shoulders. Below is the first muslin without the hood and the second with a hood attached.
As you can see the hood is criss-crossed in front and will be trimmed in black rib knit along with the sleeve cuffs and waist banding. I was going to use blue, but decided that black would be so much more sharper! I'm still not quite satisfied with the neckline though and will do one more muslin before putting scissors to my precious flannel. The bias cutting will be a big plus and since the fabric is not a silk or knit and therefore more stable, it will be much more manageable in handling as far as controlling any unwanted stretching.
Needless to say, I was inspired to cut on the bias after seeing how beautiful clothes become using the technique....... it just makes everything so much more fluid and body conscious and as you may or may not know...... Halston was the American master of bias cut design, something that other designers avoided, because of both the difficulty in execution and the amount of fabric required. I am but a mere book apprentice of the method, who learned through hands on experience some of the pitfalls of it early on and after tossing out several stretched out garments, have become much more thoughtful about making clothing using it.
I will be starting a final muslin (hopefully) early tomorrow morning since I've taken a three day leave from the (snake pit) office and will of course post as I progress. Stay tuned........... there's much more to come!!
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