Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Holiday Fashion Sewing



Hi everyone -   Here's the view from my sewing room I shot after I finished up with the eShrug in a sparkly knit by Juicy Couture from G Street Fabrics.    It's the beginning of the first snowfall in the lower elevations.


After finishing this project,  I got dressed to go out, and we went out for a late lunch at a favorite restaurant in west Asheville,  Nona Mia Italian soul food.    We've been customers, and friends since they first opened on Patten Avenue, but in August they moved to a wonderful, larger venue off Haywood Road.   Try them when you come to Asheville.    They also have the most fabulous and authentic gelato.    They make their own bread and sausage, serve local grass fed meat and they don't take reservations.


Afterward we went to visit our son's photography and photo lab business on Biltmore Avenue just south of the I40 Winston Pulliam bridge overpass.     It was in the high 30's, snowing and sleeting but no accumulation since the ground and roads are warm from the 60 degree days we've been having until today.    I didn't wear anything I've sewn but it was a very good day to wear my black Revillon bat-wing mink jacket and hat.


Here is the eShrug in the light gray with silver knit that I made.   This is the kind of fabric and garment that you can dress up or down.   Click on the photos to see the larger photo with the detail.   I also bought this same knit in copper/brown and black on black colors.   I'm making these for Christmas gifts.   I know my nieces will love getting and wearing one of these.    It takes about an hour to cut and sew one of these up.   Just the shoulder seams,  setting in the sleeves and a little trimming of the seam allowances.   No finishing required on hems or seam allowances because knits don't ravel.   Besides if Eileen Fisher and Eskandar and Lanvin can do it and charge hundreds and thousands of dollars, what are we worried about?
 I posted some other ways to style this one on my Flickr photos.




I'm sending this sweater coat to my sister in TX.   She's going to love it but her two college age daughters may try to borrow it LOL.   I added a large snap to be able to close it like the Anthropologie knit jacket.    To have some design fun and stabilize, since the knit is very stretchy, I cut out two squares of the double knit,  pinked the edges and sandwiched the sweater knit between them and edge stitched before sewing the snap on.




The male snap is sewn behind the vertical plaid band that stabilized that portion of the garment.   Here are a couple of photos.








3 comments:

  1. I love the snap treatment you created. I tend to avoid snaps because I'm concerned they will *show.* How clever you are to integrate the snap into the overall design, and of course you even improved your already lovely sweater jacket.

    The shrug is great in a party knit. It's fun to have just the right pattern to show off the season's prettiest fabrics, isn't it?

    Once again, I am inspired by your design perspective. Thanks.

    Martha

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  2. The jacket is stunning. I know your sister will enjoy it very much. That is truly a "Texas weight" jacket for our generally mild winters (well, mild compared to NC).

    I've been meaning to try the shrug pattern; loving the fabrics you chose!

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  3. Thanks Martha and Linda. I enjoy the evolution of pieces like this. That Anthro jacket has an inside tie as well as a big snap, but I didn't think it was necessary on this one.

    I plan on trying out the long sleeve eShrug version soon. I noticed that the current TSW blog is about using sparkly fabrics for the eShrug too.

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