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These images are for the September 2013 newsletter.

There's nothing better than the thrill of done. It's time to get busy
and have as much fun as I did creating some new pieces for fall/winter 2013. This newsletter picture really comes to life in color, doesn't it? For those of you that have given up on American fashion magazines, you might check out some of the British versions. They're much more reality based I think and worth a look sometimes.

September 2013

The most basic of coats that can be daytime casual or dressed up for evening is this collarless 1963 pattern that I did with four patch pockets and a sleeve vent, using the 1945 basic jacket pattern elements. This coat is actually shorter on me, but my form was positioned shorter when I snapped the picture. It does show you though how the wrong length, in this case just inches too long, makes the coat seem dowdier than the correctly positioned mannequin to its right.

A 36-38" long coat (depending on your height) ending just at the bottom of your knee is the most versatile as the proportion is good for pants and skirts you'll wear with it. Scarves and cowls become an essential element or a bulky turtleneck sweater when it's really cold outdoors but those accessories let you change its style too. You might have noticed that I've two different shoes--whether you do a heel or a flat loafer. The coat on the right was done two years ago in the September 2011 issue: same pattern but with welt pockets and no
sleeve vent, also extremely versatile and a pleasure to wear. The proportion of this mannequin was adjusted to be truer here so you can see the length as it should be, just around the knee.

A couple of new knits for fall are essential whether they're to be layered over or worn alone. I added the funnel neck conversion to the Blueberry Cable knit for a very quick and easy pullover and for the Ebony Stripes you can see the obvious mix, but do notice that I did the neckband on the bias of the narrow stripe. Sometimes when you use a crosswise stripe for a neckband, the curve distorts the straight lines of the stripe and makes your stitching look uneven. By putting it on the bias, you have no chance of that and it gives the neckline a more interesting detail too. Both of these knits washed great and were easy to sew. I have a new test when I buy a knit for you. If they cling to anything rough, I pass on them now. Some of the same fiber mixes can be ornery to sew if they have that spongy/tacky quality. The grey cable knit goes really well with the Grayscale plaid knit that is still available from the July newsletter. It's a great way to get in on the plaid trend without putting in much sewing effort.

This was my inspiration in the Chanel metiers d'art collection shown at Linlithgow Castle in Scotland last December. Chanel used a plaid
etamine fabric to line the jacket to the edge and the same fabric, different plaid for the pants. Etamine is similar to a voile weight cotton fabric that has a slick surface finish so it's appropriate for a lining. Since I wanted to use the Highland Fling plaid which is a lambswool and cotton blend and would have had a tendency to cling to
anything under it, I instead used it only for the facings which I applied to the lining of this long version of the 1962 pattern. It's worn over the blueberry cable knit fabric. You could also just
convert the 1945 pattern with any of the possible neckline and collar changes to a sleeveless jacket too. When this is unbuttoned, the plaid becomes much more interesting.Though I used a remnant I had of a white textured woolen, if you would like to duplicate this look, you could use the Wool Textured Basic shown on the website's fabric/jackets area, or it would also be
darling in denim with plaid for a more casual look. I used three of the new buttons that I bought especially for this fall with a coat of
arms detail on them. I thought they would be very appropriate to any of the traditional Scottish or British influenced pieces--classic and
timeless.

Pleating for Attention, this striped fabric really influenced my choice with another Chanel inspiration piece. They showed several pleated jackets in both the metiers and fall collections. I didn't want to take the time to work out all of the stripe details going all around the jacket and also felt all the way around wouldn't work as well for me, so instead I just pleated the middle front panels of the 1945 jacket. I just adore this and the way it fits and hangs. It's very clever and really very simple too. All detail of the how-to is in the newsletter on pages 14 and 15. The stripes made this very easy as I detail in the newsletter and it looks like it was much more difficult to execute. The trick was in the lining construction across the front.

Working Yourself into a Leather details 3 projects with leather and I can't wait to do another. I want a pleated black leather skirt! The lambskins should arrive about the same time as you get your newsletters so those of you that ordered can have them shipped with your September fabrics too. All of these are detailed on ages 16-19. From the detachable lambskin trim on the Glen Plaid 1945A jacket to the 1960 top with the lambskin front and the 1960 cardigan with the navy blue lambskin fronts, I found this incredibly easy to sew and with great results too. I still may add some upper pockets with detachable lambskin trim there too. Sometimes you have to wear something a bit to get a feel for the final tweaking.

I had a new subscriber lament that she had dropped her swatch bundle and wasn't sure of the order of the fabrics to put onto the swatch pages, so this time I've labeled the photos into groups with the fabric names in order so you can see what page they belong to. Hopefully this will help in your rush to pull the newsletter out of those big white envelopes. Any fabrics not shown here are probably shown on the garments above.

The first fabric (wouldn't you know) isn't a swatch for you...it's an extra we have if you're a bit of a purist and would like an all wool jersey to go with these. Detail on page 23. Then in order here, but not the order in the newsletter, there's the Highland Plaid in the light color way, the Blueberry Cable Knit, the Highland Plaid in the dark (blue) color way, and the teal green textured wool. You can see the Cobalt Stripe Wool in the pleated jacket above.

These are truly some of this issue's most luxurious group with the black yarn stripe (feel the texture in your swatch...vertical texture/ lengthwise, not crosswise), then the glen plaid boucle with it's very fine yarn boucle for just a hint of texture, the black coating and the luxury amethyst, one of the prettiest fall fabrics I've ever offered.

Seize the Grey! is a group of terrific fabrics for a multitude of important places in your wardrobe. We didn't photograph the entire page, but those that we thought you'd like to see together or in their entirety. Here is the grey cable knit with the grayscale plaid from July...perfect coordinating knits with the plaid a flat surface and the cable raised slightly.

Then we've a few fold over trims for the Grey/Navy Doubleface that we think work well, though the photographed colors don't look nearly as perfect. You can always hold up your swatches to the computer screen to get a better idea of true colors. Personally, I think the fold over is less interesting than if you'd just use the two sides in the same garment...either side out with the facings the contrast as detailed and shown in the newsletter. This lightweight coating would be excellent for the collarless coat and could even be constructed without a lining since the fabric is so perfect on both sides.

Here we've put the black wool impostor (page 23 detail) with the tweed & lace. A simple sleeveless shell of the tweed and lace with a beautifully cut pair of pants or skirt of the black wool impostor (we call it that since it is really hard to tell it from a true black wool doublecrepe) would be a perfectly simple dinner outfit. If you don't go sleeveless, just layer a black cardigan on top and you'll look fantastic. Think of it as we go into the holiday brunch, cocktail and office party season later on too.

When you look at designer collections, the inspirations for your sewing slowly sink into your sewimagination and pretty soon you've put some outfits together that really work. Here's just one. It's a reason why I strongly do not believe in purging your closet like the stylists who want to sell you new clothes preach tossing if you
haven't worn it in a year or whatever timetable they set. As the tune goes, "everything old is new again." If you're not sewing much anymore (and shame on you for wasting your rare talent), you really need to hang onto your classic pieces and even the odd ones too. You just never know how new combinations can create equivalent multiple thousand dollar outfits.

This MarcJacobs pantsuit is $1100.00 for the jacket and $700.00 for the pants. If I remove the scarf so the lapels show, fold the sleeve vents back/open, then slim and shorten the pants of my 2005 pantsuit (September issue that year) I'd have a very similar look...fabrics look identical. Should I have discarded this? Heck no! Good fabric, classic style, well made and fit and it's good for a very long time.

One-Time Button Collection

I bought a large selection (not so much quantity, but good variety) of
buttons in boxes from a large high end manufacturer--clothes are in
the $200.00-$1,000.00 range. The buttons are all very good quality
and rather than take individual pictures of each style since the
quantities are limited, you can order them right out of the button
trays. Go to the button page of the website under Ingredients, and
you'll find them listed with a link o rjust select the link beneath the image to the right. For example, here's a try of violet to plum colors--
some are perfect on the Amethyst Luxury fabric on page 21 of this
issue. Buttons over 3/4" are $1.00-2.00 and those that are under that
size are .75. They are a super bargain as most would wholesale for
double and triple that. You'll have to see the great metal buttons
too...matte, a variety of colors, also some leathers with and without
shanks, and more. Take advantage of ordering them with your fabrics
to save on postage--they easily fit into boxes.
You'll be able to order them by saying "top row, fourth from the left"
or "third row from the top, buttons in compartment 5 from the left"
however you want, we'll confirm sizes, prices and colors for your
fabrics.

Click here to view this special one-time
button collection.

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