Pretend You're Leaving - Closet Core Modeling Advice

photos from Closet Core website

There is some fine advice, and great humor in this post.

https://www.closetcorepatterns.com/touch-your-hair-and-other-tips-for-aspiring-models/

I have an awful time with photos. I'd participate in more stuff, but photography is hard. 

Workroom mirror selfies are just for my reference

Opera house bathroom selfie. What the hell am I wearing?

Fun with mug shot timer selfies

One of my goals is to take better photos of me in the clothes. Because the clothes are supposed to look good on me, not because I want to take my photo over and over again.

Anne M Bray is my muse in this. She has the OOTD selfie DOWN

https://www.instagram.com/annembray/

I am so stealing this. I will have to give her a permanent art director credit if I do.

That's more than fine with me.

And then there's the gold standard

photo by Nicolas Pillai

http://dollyclackett.blogspot.com/
although she's here more often
https://www.instagram.com/roisinmuldoon/

This one is better but there was arguing and more than one photo was taken. I made those pants twice because I outgrew the first pair. LOVE THEM.

This is okay. It's from Frocktails 2018. It was a dark room, and my phone camera is crap in a dark setting

Fun fact: this is not the rectangle dress that's making the rounds, it's my rip off of a Yohji Yamamoto dress from the Seattle Art Museum Future Beauty show some summers ago. We'll finally get to that later this week.

Does no one know how to make the bed in this house?

I did a whole series of these; the parabolic mirror at the post office was the closest I could get to a work selfie

More recent work selfies in symphony hall bathroom. Won't be there until we get a vaccine

Home bathroom selfie not working

Spouse was peeved that I asked him to take one of the dress, not my face. This is as much dress as you are going to get here. And he took one. Which was one too many for  him.

So I'm working on a standard set up, and will document that process; things easier to photograph than me. I won't be going anywhere with better lighting anytime soon.

Added this, still working on new setup. But in honor of Heather Lou, some hair touching

WilliWear 1984 City Island

If you want to go on a vacation, I recommend Willi Smith's City Island.

https://willismitharchive.cargo.site/City-Island

photo still from City Island fashion show video

I own very little designer related clothing.

photo still from City Island fashion show video

But I treasure this shirt. It hasn't left the rotation since I bought it summer of 1985 (at TJ Maxx. They had the whole runway set)

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-thriving-digital-space-for-willi-smith-streetwear-genius?

Nice article

This page is the one you want to read

https://willismitharchive.cargo.site/Patterns-for-You

So much goodness here

 I am sewing, but mostly dealing with family issues and yes, sewing my sister another pair of pants. So far they fit.

New Necklines for 2020

I've got the TNT top pattern down. It's becoming my go to woven tshirt.

This was before I rounded the neck out, It fits nicely. Last summer's hair though....

Some have long sleeves and are made of Ankara wax

A few have no sleeves

There are many more, but you get the idea.

I enlarged the head hole and angled it to the front, so it would not be too wide but not ride up on the back of my neck. Getting some pudge back there and it doesn't like to be stressed

And now I want to play around some more with it.

photo from Pinterest, sorry for not getting source

photo from Harts Fabric website

from Sew Chic Facebook page

Everything I'm looking at has notches

Honestly can't remember where this photo comes from. Sorry.

Well, this one doesn't. It's got a front yoke with an opening you can really only see because of the buttons. Frankly, you wouldn't need a closure except for looks. And they could be uneven.

the white line indicates where the facing piece would end. Yes, there would be a lot of clipping and trimming, but just one facing cut separately

I mean, these are ideas. Next week I'll have a million more. Most will stink. Some will not. Those horizontal yoke seams don't have to be horizontal (but that does make them easier to piece. This pattern fits on 1.5 yds of novelty cotton with spare enough for a mask).  So I will be thinking about this, as I have some other PANTS to finish as soon as my SISTER comes over to try on the first pair to make sure the pattern still works for her.

(drums fingers on sewing table)

Meanwhile, I have zippers to replace and this yard project to sleep on

photo from http://www.samuiislandvillas.com/blog/thailands-stunning-spirit-houses/

Palm trees will not be a feature. 

Martha Stewart Free Pants Pattern - Ten Years Later

I missed this one when it came out in 2010, and I'd like to thank Rhonda Buss for bringing it to my attention
http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2020/07/fancy-pants-without-hasslewrap-pants.html

These are not fancy pants. They are simple, pocketless, pull on pants. You'll have to add some info to the pattern pieces. But you know, they are free, which means the price is your time.
And being a PDF pattern, some assembly required.

https://www.marthastewart.com/268829/drawstring-pants-how-to

The materials list advises a yard of twill tape for the drawstring.

The large size goes up to 44" at the hip. You're going to need more tape than that (I'd add twenty extra past your waist number to get a good tie. Me, I use elastic for forgiveness)

Clearly, this is just an advisory list.

But now I'm curious and in for a penny......

This is what happens when you're avoiding running another post, and you have a lot of half used paper and a spare cartridge and an afternoon. 

The pages are not numbered. There is no size accuracy square, nor a preview of how the pattern appears on the pages. The pages do print almost (1/8th ") all the way out to the edge (which i usually can't get my printer to do) using Adobe acrobat (which is free and much more functional than the Google pdf things).

So I printed them out and taped them together

Well,  in progress. There are 30 pages, with 5 pages to each 'line'. If they were numbered, this is what they would look like.

 The pattern sits in the middle of the pages, with enough dead space it could have been moved up and saved five pages.

There is about 8.5" dead space on the top and the bottom, and the bottom of the pattern is only 3" onto those last pages. You could just print pages 1 - 25 and be happy enough.

The sizes are limited.

The length of the pattern pieces are 50" from top to bottom unfinished

I did create a new size for me, because there was 1.5" between the two pieces to expand into.

What I would like to commend is the page to page registration system.
You're joining circles!

It works really well and made it go very swiftly, especially with the very narrow margins. I did not trim any of the pages, and it was pretty easy to eyeball whether or not the circles were correct (and the dotted lines really helped)

I remembered to measure the crotch curve. It's one curve for all three sizes, and I know I need mooore. I may drop it a bit. I also added almost 2" to the tops to have an adequate foldover casing for elastic.

And then I realized when I added more to the hip I needed to finish that seam line.
(not shown, got too excited to take a photo),

I needed to gradually grade that seam line all the way down. And then the legs would be out of balance. So I took some off the inseam

 I was trying to draw a long curve for one inseam, and realized I could just cut out the other more-curved inseam and use that cut off part as a template for it.

So I did.
And here they are.

You can see the original side seam lines were not as curvy, and I did make them match.

Writing this, it occurs to me that I'm going to need more depth in the crotch. And I will have to mark the high hip dart in the back. And add some width in the front for pocket bag volumn.
But for an hour of work, I have a decent pull on pant pattern to add to the freebie arsenal. Because I'd be putting this much work into a Big 4 pattern to get it to work.

Dear Threads, I can't see what you did there

I have a mixed relationship with Threads.  I subscribe. They don't always have articles I am interested in, or something I want to read how to do.  Sometimes this lasts for months. I subscribe because I want to keep them in business for the issues when they do.
Like this one.
This magazine is made by humans, and us humans all make mistakes. Maybe a page got left off, or a color got switched.
This month,  I have questions.

These examples are all from the new September 2020 issue #210. 

Normally, I will see something that's a little off and file and forget it. When several of them occur in one issue, I crack open my letter to the editor 

NOTE: You will need to enbiggen to read these. I did not write them, so I have watermarked them and taken out some of the instructions, as this is NOT MY WRITING. Not pretending it is, either.

Disclaimers disclaimed.....

I've been adding sleeve heads into stuff, so I read this article with interest.

And I'm confused. It feels like the last step has been left off.

We get a lot of information about what to make the sleeve head out of.  We get photos of the inside and the outside.

What do we do to finish the seam?

I can see that if it's a jacket that this is all going to be covered up with a lining.

But if it's a blouse, we've got a lot of raw edges here.

Does that organza roll back over the head to finish it off? Or do we leave it raw?

I did that on the Journey jacket, it's ....meh but the sleeves are unlined and I wanted a consistent finish on the interior seams. For looks and for comfort, I want a finished armscye.  I'm also looking for a better finish on this (I've tacked it in to get the shoulder to pop and I'm still poking at it).

this is the inside of the jacket flipped to the outside, and that white stitching is temporary.

I genuinely would like an answer to this question. 

Another article (same current issue) has the classic error of illustrating a technique with the fashion fabric. The problem is either the fabric is black or (in this case) the fabric looks the same on both sides and none of the relevant stitching shows on a beautiful but very busy print. This is a really great technique as far as I can tell. But I can't see it, and I would like to.

In the name of fairness, I have a similar problem with black counter tops and cork floors, which I cannot see the growing moisture ant population on. I understand it is easier to gawp and complain than make a better example. I mean no harm by this.

I'd like to move to a good example of a sample (same issue), that which Threads is known for.

In the sample garment, you can see which is the wrong side of the fabric and which is the right (bonus points for contrasting facing pieces). The drawing on the left is a trifle unclear, I think the photo does a better job all by itself. In my sample diagram on the right I have added the clashing colored layers to the diagram. I think their diagram is more an example of the color themes that they use in their magazine. Some people really like pinks and beiges for their websites and magazines. Some of us don't. Guess which one of us still has a magazine?

The point here is: THIS STUFF IS HARD. I'm not slagging anyone; you can always see the mistakes after you've finished the job. It's even easier after someone else finishes the job. Writing this,  I can see several better ways I could illustrate that diagram, but I have to go wipe down that black countertop again. 

I get to live with my mistakes..