Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Finished: Blouse BSM 02-10-137 Pants BSM 92-09-132A

Backstory: Karlin's in Philadelphia used to be a great independent fabric store.  Back in the late 70s/early 80s, when I subscribed to Butterick's pattern magazine, Karlin's was usually listed on the "Where to Buy" page as a store to purchase the fabrics featured in the magazine.  But, like many other independent fabric stores, Karlin's fell on hard times.  The store remained open, but the shelves and tables were nearly empty and I seldom found anything I wanted to buy.  Lately, things have begun to look up.  New inventory appeared and the prices were more than reasonable.  I picked up the dark teal stretch twill for the pants on a day I was in town for an appointment.  I didn't find fabric for a top, but I was so happy to find something worth buying, I bought the teal twill anyway.  Then,  I went to Elizabeth's Late Summer NY Garment District Shopping Day with very specific objectives, one of which was to find blouse fabric to match the teal twill.  I found the perfect silk oxford cloth at Mood.  (Thanks, Mood!)  That's how this latest outfit was born.

Blouse: I made this pattern before - as a dress and as a blouse.  When I made the dress, I mangled the bottom of the placket.  This time, I consulted  The Sewing Book (Smith, 2009) and I got a pretty decent placket.  (Sometimes I'm amazed at how little I use all the sewing books on my shelves!)  I marked and stay-stitched the seam line before attaching the placket.  After the placket was sewn on, I carefully clipped to the corners, which were reinforced by the stay-stitching.   The fabric is silk oxford cloth.  I never knew silk oxford cloth existed, but silk comes in so many weaves, I shouldn't be surprised.  This fabric looks like ordinary oxford cloth but it has a little sheen to it.  I omitted the pleated trim around the placket and cuff. 

Pants: When I bought the fabric for the pants, I didn't realize it was only 45" wide.  I couldn't use the pattern I originally selected.  My Burda index really came in handy.  I flipped through the pages and found a pattern that required less fabric.  The pants have a simple design and their construction presented no problems or surprises.

What I Learned:  I don't have to buy coordinating fabrics at the same time.  I worry about having garments that can't be worn with anything, so I try to prevent that by buying coordinating pieces of fabric.  In this case,  I bought the two fabrics months apart and in two different states and the sky didn't fall.  Hmmmmm. I wonder if this is how stashes get started.

8 comments:

  1. Eleray that is exactly the way stashes get started.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL at the this is how stashes get started comment...nah dearie, you have to WANT to be a collector for a true stash to get started! I was looking at your blouse/pant combination and realized that you sew alot of these. You must have an amazing assortment and quite a bit to choose from when you get dressed in the morning!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are so funny. It looks great. I like the placket and it's one of those things I don't know how to do as I don't think that I've ever made one, or if so it's so far back in history as to be the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice pants and shirt. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I have not been to Charlottesville in months. Hope to get there during December.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice outfit! Both pieces are lovely and they look great together.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the color of the shirt and your pants look great. Thanks for the tip about Karlin's too. If you'd like, I can teach you a thing or two about NOT buying matching fabrics - have a whole closet of beautiful fabric that could use a mate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Terrific outfit! Stash? Now, how would any of us understand about stash? Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your comments about the independent fabric store are heartening. I was just in mine local one today and I so hope they can make it through the economic hard times. They do charge more for fabric, but today as I was layering fabric over my hands, I was thinking of how absolutely no one else would have a garment exactly like mine. Your outfit looks great.

    ReplyDelete