Tuesday, January 28, 2020

#sewyourbooks Garments of a Dignified Lady Revisited

Once again, we're hitting the books. Or book, as it were.
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sewyourbooks/
I got this book in 2015
https://www.etsy.com/listing/242685955/garments-of-a-dignified-lady-japanese?
Garments of a Dignified Lady: Bunka (2014) by Koji Takiguchi

I have lost the will to participate in monthly challenges unless I'm already in and motivated. #sewyourbooks on IG in January wasn't something I was worried about finishing, just finishing in time to make a timely post here.
I numbered the pieces to keep track. 4 and 6 tried to fool me. 2 and 5 succeeded (who the hell makes two different sleeve pieces?)


This is with the two sleeves of different lengths, and not adding the cool hem bands, which would put it in dress territory
Most of the details on making this are in this post. Yes, 2015. One of my better pieces I think.
The post, not the shirt. The Joann's bonded knit fabric was itchy and unpleasant.
The fit on most of these Japanese patterns is smaller than I am, with skinnier arms than I possess.
 But I did like the style, and I knew that it was just a matter of taking the element I liked and grafting it to a similar pattern style that fit me already.
So I traced over an existing knit TNT and changed up the neckline. I decided to run the foldover collar all the way out to the sleevehead.
At the upper right, you can see where the original right shoulder seam was. I needed that placement to draft the long foldover collar so that it's seam would meet on that shoulder seam angle.


It was a lot of erasing and folding and fudging, but it worked. And I didn't forget the seam allowances. I'm looking for a shirt that I can use my enormous collection of tshirt bits on. This is more about wearing tangible love objects than upcycling or remaking, but it does serve the same reuse ends.
And old cotton shirts are super soft.
Auditioning pieces for the shirt by folding them up and laying them out. Didn't go with the yellow sleeve.
Stitched them together with the help of Wonder Tape, here I'm trimming the excess from the seams. Yes, it is every bit as chaotic as that photo shows.

Putting the pattern piece over the sewn collage to trim it to size

Clearly we've skipped a few steps to the part where I'm sewing the collar to the front and back pieces (which are mirrors of each other) OVER THE PINS, yes, I know

It fits exactly right.


I would make this again, but there are a couple issues that complicate a real deep relationship.

I would not use a collar piece with one motif on it;either plain or all over print. That part looks off to me. Otherwise, I like the collage and the seams hold up just fine (I'm sure the fabrics will wear out sooner, being as preloved and thin as they are. I had to work around some holes from wear.)
This shows the collar construction as well as I can manage.
The collar can only be so long, and so tall because of the other elements of the construction and the shirt. Only so much width to the shoulder seams is possible because geometry.
.
The gap along the neckline shows my bra strap. I finally found a bra that I like and that fits me and I am just not going to buy another style because of the strap showing. That's just how it is.

This is not my first Japanese pattern rodeo!
Another story from the House Of Dud
https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2017/06/another-story-from-house-of-dud.html

and this one proving my intentions
https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-bride-of-dignified-pullover-garment.html
 I could do this
But probably not before the end of the month.

In point of fact, the shirt pattern for this started with this dress from Kimono Remake
The conceit is that you can make all the things in the book from narrow repurposed kimono and yukata fabrics*
https://www.etsy.com/listing/398669291/kimono-remake-clothes-japanese-pattern?
 The secret sauce was, once again, the shorter sleeve cap and higher armholes

*The kimono is constructed of mostly rectangular pieces of fabric, cut from a specific bolt of fabric known as a tanmono, which is between 38-42cm in width, and 12.5m in length - thanks Wikipedia

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Sew The Precious

Just to be clear, this is what they are talking about

Andy Serkis from Alan Jackson's LOTR
Smeagol at the beginning with His Precious 

I bought this from the gift shop buyer at Seattle Art Museum after the YSL show.
The whole bolt had been hanging out in the display area, and I just had to have this.
I've had this since 2016. Which is not so very long, for someone who hasn't had to move her stash since 2004.

Because I had ideas.
and then they ended.
but I still have the bolt.

It's woven silk (?) folded and fused to a knit backing
Not stretchy but very flexible.

And I have a lot of it. It's two pieces, and I guess I should unroll it to find out how much. I did once, and then I had to roll it up because I started hyperventilating.
I have a couple other precious, but this one is really really precious.

So it's going to be a jacket.
Which one, I'm unsure.  but I have a whole year to ponder this.
You should never give me a whole year to ponder.

The Precious will get to you in the end. Better to cut and sew it to tame the obsession.


And more Andy Serkis from Alan Jackson's LOTR
And Gollum at the end.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

One Company to Rule Them All Gets Bought, and related thoughts


https://craftindustryalliance.org/css-industries-including-big-4-pattern-companies-acquired-by-design-group/

I'd like to thank Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic for this link.

Previous to this event, the Big4/CSS released this pattern catalog, which I read through yesterday at Joann's

This coat is going to drive me mad until I figure out which game or book or movie it's aping.

back, just in case you forgot kids

 
All brands served here. 

Find it online!  I like that mom is doing historical, while child is doing piratical. 
Capes are their own category. Unicorns are animals, too.

Pageant = Not Beauty Pageant
Pageant = Church performance of Christ's birth or death.
I still think there should be an official 'rock' costume for the opening of the tomb, because I know at least one mom from my childhood who was really tired of winging it. Or do we all still use big appliance cardboard to paint one on?
Oh come on. You know the scene by now
Love, Actually
The ultimate costuming challenge.

 Annnnyway, back to the book:
 I'm guessing sizing has been made consistent between brands, because we're putting it in print.


Ease chart? Ooooh. Also guys, This is becoming the catalog I'm most likely to liberate from the table, just for this material alone. Then again, I did just take all these photos, WHICH YOU AND I CAN ENBIGGEN FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.....

This page just says it all. We are one. Subnoted www.simplicity.com 

Trademarks registered! Ooooooooh! All rights reserved? Oooooooooooo
For ALL of them?

Which brings me back to my usual licensed/unlicensed hand flapping. The brands have had competing designs that are licensed and pay royalties to the designer, and designs that.... don't.
Sarah wrote about this better than I could
https://blog.pattern-vault.com/2019/01/25/outlander-costumes/
Now in teal
So my question is: now that one company owns the licenses, wouldn't it make sense for them to tidy up their collections? Eliminate the duplicates and the unlicensed?
Or just carry on as usual? 
Whose signature on the license counts? Have the licensing companies paid one minute of attention to this? Would they? 
And what about Disney?  Because they care about this stuff. More so than LVMH ever would.

Yaya Han gets her own section. And yes, this is Marvel's Disney's Squirrel Girl

And the inspired by/unlicensed/mystery category 
Elf-ish

Achievement unlocked!

 I've buttonholed every cosplay gamer I meet with the left side photo, and no one id's it.
Now this copy is new to me. Even though it references 'taking your game to the next level', I'm stuck on: Fierce 
Mm. You could get there. Certainly the instructions could help you with those flame appliques.

Frankly I'd do this one
All hail the queen

I'm going to leave this here, and spend some internet time with Design Group UK.
Of course, more later.
 ------
Fun link time!

We have discussed this licensing issue before, but to link up other people's work/opinions
(and a lot of hobbyist lawyering in here)

We talk about and link up the banana here
https://www.trademarkandcopyrightlawblog.com/2017/10/halloween-costumes-and-copyright-5-things-you-should-know/

I highly recommend this one, because it's so not sewing related
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171018/09330738427/disney-only-fun-allowed-childrens-birthday-parties-is-properly-licensed-fun.shtml

There's a YouTube video linked in this one, from a panel at San Diego Comic Con 
https://www.deviantart.com/techgnotic/journal/Fan-Art-Law-326536193

This will give you a little idea of Disney's relative financial interests 
https://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/star-wars-inspired-fashion