Claire Shaeffer and Other News . . .

I rushed home on Friday because I was scheduled to have a class with Claire Shaeffer today. There was a presentation on Saturday and there was a class Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, I was only able to go to the Sunday morning class. My husband is gone right now and I had a hard, hard, hard time finding childcare. MIL is out of town, nanny could only do a morning gig, husband's gone, other sitters have summer jobs, neighbor boy is out of town, etc. I really wish I could have done a full day with her today. I learned so much in the four hours I was there. I made a turned tube that is about a 1/16" of an inch wide. Really, people, it can be done. That's the tube below. She had us do one with a charmeuse. When I came home, I did it with a spare piece of duppioni. I wouldn't have believed it either. I won't share the Shaeffer secrets but I do highly recommend this book. This technique is in this book as well as the Couture Sewing Techniques book. I got an older version of the shortcut book at a garage sale for $2.00.

Besides doing the amazing tube turning we also did several hemming techniques. I plan to use the interfaced version on my silk dress so you'll get to see that one in action. We also learned the basic catchstitch and blind hem stitch. Basic stitches but it is nice when someone is walking around saying, "Too loose, too tight, too far apart, etc." We were running late during the class so I didn't get to see the bound buttonholes technique. My nanny had to be to work by 12:30 and the class ended at 12:00. I was out of there by 12:02 so I could make it home in time for her to get to work. Claire said she was teaching that next. Sigh. I would have really liked to see that. As a person, she is very nice with a dry sense of humor. She's a great teacher too and lets you work at your own pace. As we finished something, we would go up to her and she would show us the next technique in small groups. I just wish I had more time with her. Oh well, hopefully there is a next time.

*******************************

I have this pattern cut out in muslin so I can test the fit. This is a new pattern company called Colette Patterns. They have four dresses and one skirt for their spring line-up. The sizing seems like it was vanity sized quite a bit. I know I'm a smaller person but I'm a size 0, the bottom of the size range. There are lots of people smaller than me. I should have that sewn up in a day or two.

Next, I have this dress cut out in a hand-painted silk crepe. Well, I think it's a crepe. It's one of those fabrics my husband brought back from Houston. He just knows fiber content, not weave. It's a heavier-weight drapey fabric. It's really pretty. Hopefully I'll have that done in a day or two too.

The longer motif will go on the back skirt and the shorter one will be on the front skirt.