Pocketsssssessssssss My Preccccciousssssss!

So I am in process of making a suit and there are many pockets in a suit.  On the Jacket there are two flap pockets on the front a slit pocket on the upper left breast and a slit pocket on the inside. In the vest there are two small slit pockets and on the pants there are two regular pockets on the sides and a slit pocket where the wallet goes. I am going to focus on the slit/flap pockets as the side pants pockets are as simple as sewing them to the sides of the pants and then sewing around the outside of them as one puts the pants together. I'm mostly using pics of the construction of one of the vest pockets. Sew anyway let's get to the Pocketses!

The Parts:

A. The pocket lining

B. The pocket fabric

C. The pocket piping

D. The outside finish.

Unfortunately the pattern I'm using has nothing but fake pockets. Flaps and Outside finish applied to the garment with no opening underneath to put things in! So there is a stitch line but it is for attaching the flap and nothing else!

I like to use tracing paper and a tracing wheel to transfer lines to my sewing.

So I marked a little below the stitching line (1/4 inch) for the opening of my pocket.

I prepped my finishing strip (D). folded it in half long ways, stitched about 1/4 inch from the ends, trimmed the corners and flipped it right side out. Then I pressed the hell out of it. You want the edge of this to look quite crisp as it is the finishing edge of the pocket.

Ready to turn right side out and press.

Then I checked to make sure the piping (C) was bigger than the marked slit. This is important because the fabric of the piping is what you are going to sew things to on the inside of the jacket and what keeps the cut opening from fraying.

I pinned the piping (C) to the jacket right sides together.

Then I stitched 1/8 inch on either side of my line. Note how I stop at the end lines of the slit, This makes sure there is fabric beyond the end of the stitching.

Then I cut the opening line. Note the triangles at either end of the slit. 

The Triangle at the ends of the slit makes the pocket opening open all the way and lay flat when the piping (C) is pulled through.

Pull the piping (C) all the way through and iron flat.

Sew around the edge of the opening as close to the edge as possible. 

pin The Finishing Piece (D) to the bottom edge of the hole and stitch very close to the edge.

I pull the upper edge of the piping (C) back through the hole so I don't accidentally sew it into the next step. Also not how the Finishing Piece (D) is wider than the piping so that you are NOT sewing the piping down on the inside of the jacket as you finish the outside of the pocket.

fold the Finishing piece (D) up and pin it. sew it down very close to the sides with a nice finishing stitch.

There! Now the outside of the pocket is done and we can finish the inside of the construction. Doesn't that look nice!

On the inside I pin the fabric part of the pocket (B) to the UPPER flap of the piping (C). Putting the fabric side of the pocket toward the lining of the jacket helps make the pocket last longer.

Then I sew it just as close to the opening as I can.

There (B) sewn to (C) and folded back. 

I do the same with (A) on the Bottom edge of (C)

Then I fold everything down nice and flat. press all the seams in the directions that make them lay flat and sew around the bottom and sides of the pocket (NOT ONTO THE JACKET! just (A) and (B) together) and the pocket is finished.

The Big Difference for me between a flap pocket and a slit pocket is that I apply the flap above a pocket about 1/4 inch up so that it can be flipped up and the pocket accessed rather than applying the outside finish to hide the slit like I did for this pocket.

Any questions? fire away!

DIY: You too can be AWESOME and do BEAD WORK!

So what makes a wedding yours? THE DETAILS!

And What makes any old gown a WEDDING Gown? DETAILS!

And what is a pretty cool detail for a dress or accessory? BEAD WORK!!!!!

So here is your sweet and simple Tutorial on doing BEAD WORK!!

MATERIALS:

Fabric or accessory you wish to bead (you can make anything really pop by adding beads or sequins or BOTH!) fabric can be anything from cotton to poly-brocade to Dupioni Silk! You may wish to put a backing to light weight fabric to make sure the weight of the beads doesn't tear the fabric. If you are using something like Organza or silk putting a backing on your fabric keeps it from tearing or bunching up once it's done. Really light weight fabrics cannot hold the number of beads that heaver fabrics can. You Don't have to use expensive fabric to make this look good! Really I got my brocade on sale @ Joann's for $5 a yard!

Also realize you are adding weight to your garment. You can use this to your advantage but be careful with lighter weight fabrics (I recommend plastic pearls/sequins as they are very light weight) so that you don't make them hang down heavy if you are looking for a light and airy flow to your fabric. However, something like what I'm making can take heavier beads and they work to my advantage. I'm also a Belly Dancer. When I go to spin in this coat on the dance floor the bead work will pull the hem out and make it flair because the weight of the beads will be effected by Centrifugal Force of my spin. Know what you want your garment to do and you can use bead work to make it happen. Insider tip: putting a row of glass seed beads around your hem will make it flair when you spin if the fabric is flow-y. Some belly dance veils have a row of glass seed beads on the outer edge to make them do this, it makes it easy to do veil work.

Beads: You can go to your local hobby store and get a shit ton of beads for very little money or you can go to a Gem and Mineral show and get real rocks but they cost real dollars too! I have about $300 worth of real rock, and I'm intermingling them with an infinite supply of gold tone seed beads at about $4 per gazillion. Your choice. The less expensive ones are more likely to be able to be sewn with a regular needle. It's why I'm not sure I'm going to use the peacock pearls they have tiny holes and won't fit over a regular needle. *sigh*

Beading thread- Choose your poison.  Honestly I'm using Walmart brand waxed beading thread. I got it in a bag of stuff I inherited from my mother. You can also use surger thread, which is a little thicker than sewing thread. If you use non waxed thread you'll likely want a little wax to slide your thread on so that it goes through the beads and doesn't snag. Bees wax is cheap at Joann's, Michael's, or any craft store.

Needle- regular sewing needle can work, or you can go with a no bullshit beading needles. I almost can't thread a beading needle and many beads come with a hole big enough to take a small sewing needle. test the hole to see what you've got. I'm saving some peacock colored pearls for the end of my project because they take a no shit beading needle and I just don't want to mess with that unless I have to.

   regular sewing needle top, beading needle bottom.

Embroidery Hoop! Keeps your fabric flat while you bead, you don't want weird tension bunches in your fabric, keep it flat and test the hang of your fabric after you do a few motifs.

Scissors! kind of a duh thing but I almost forgot to say embroidery hoop! LOL

RULES FOR BEAD WORK!

1. Do NOT Bead your butt! avoid bead work on the part of your outfit where you sit, that is a fast track to losing beads off your garment or tearing your dress.

2.Do not bead where it rubs! under the arms, between the legs on the back where your hair hangs! Unless you are going to wear your hair up EVERY time you wear this garment avoid the back where your hair hangs. (I have a coat made from $200/yd fabric I almost never wear because the bead work is everywhere and it sucks to get my hair tangled in the bead work) I realize this is not likely an issue for many of you but if you are making/putting bling on something that you will turn into another garment once the wedding is done or like me are making something you can wear again and again this is important. These are all fast tracks to loosing bead work.

3. Do NOT go more than 1 inch between beads on the back! If your motifs are spaced more than one inch away from each other tie off and cut the thread so it does not catch nor does it make funky creases in your finished garment.

This is how many times I tie off behind the head of a peacock so I'm not breaking this rule.

4. Do not bead in the seams! Seems pretty reasonable but do not bead wher eyou need to sew it will not go well as you try to feed bead work under the presser foot!

How it's done!

1. figure out your pattern! Make a Xerox of one repeat of your motif to bead and figure out the placement of your beads and how many you will need. Count an inch of beads figure out how many motifs you want to do divide the beads by motifs and that lets you know how many beads you have per motif.

a) pattern-

This is my beading pattern, there are many like it but this one is mine! Note after I got started I decided to delete some of the bead work for expediency and so that I did not have to reset the embroidery hoop too many times.

b) bead count-

c) motif/bead count.-

Figure out how many beads per inch to estimate how many beads you have per motif you want to do. I started out wanting to cover the coat (except where it rubs) and decided that rows around the bottom and up the front would suffice.

2 Begin beading-

a) tie off thread.-

b) bead-

Holding the bead on the needle gets it from your jar to the fabric. sew it down.

c) loop back through-

Go through your bead again, or at least the last bead before putting the next one on. For me this helps keep the beads lining up so there aren't threads between them making them look off kilter when doing a line like on the spine of the peacock.

For the line of beads on the spine of the peacock:  I come up get 4 gold beads on my needle, go down, come up behind the last gold bead, go through that bead, get a pearl, go down, come up behind the pearl, go through the pearl get four gold beads go down, tie a knot, come up behind the last gold bead go through the bead and get a pearl.

d) tie off every 10-20 beads- How many beads are you willing to lose at a time? This is simply a precaution against losing whole strands of bead work! Particularly if you are using real rock and have put some money into this!

3. Go until done! Carry it with you everywhere you go so that you can work on it any time you have to sit for any length of time. It goes surprisingly fast that way.

Accessories that are helpful- little jars/lids

All my bead jars stacked up together. They screw together so I don't lose any jars.

When I'm working I have some beads in the top of the working beads jar, and one for beads/pearls that have holes too small for a regular needle. I will either drill them bigger with my dremel set up or break out the beading needle. Or save them for another project.

I only keep a small amount of beads open to the world at a time. I'm a Klutz I don't want to knock $300 worth of beads off the table and into the carpet.

So I keep a Jar of each bead type, baggies of the strands of beads, and only a certain amount of beads open to the sky at one time. LOL

And that is how it's done! Any questions?  I'll be more than happy to answer them!

I am here.

However the blog will not be crazy active for a little while. I am moving in a month so there is lots of packing. Once I am situated I will be making some How To videos, on different sewing techniques. I am also skill grinding on some new techniques that I wish to master for a variety of reasons. Have an idea for a line of accessories that will be fun. Will likely do some videos on that too. Sorry for the continued hiatus but it is necessary to bring you quality content. Be patient and I'll be here soon.

GRAND REOPENING!!!

I am greatly looking forward to being at Starfest Convention http://starland.com/wp/starfest/ April 20th! we will have our new Victorian/Steampunk outfits for all to see, and I will be offering them in the Etsy shop.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheStitchkateer?ref=si_shop

I'm so very excited to be getting back to the things I love to do!

Helping those around me.

I find it interesting that as a seamstress I am called to do things for people that are more than a little different. It's really why I got into this gig. See clothing is a way we define ourselves. Some people go further afield in those definitions than others.

There are those who simply want to be Gothier Than Thou, there are those who throw themselves into Halloween in ways that make others wonder. There are those who simply do not fit the acceptable body types that major manufacturers make for. then we start getting into the communities: cross-dressers, fetish wear (which BTW is amazingly varied), the people at cons who like to dress up, Steampunk activities, and furz.

As I go along in the world and with this endeavor I learn that A) lots of people have some kind of freak inside just dying to come out and play. And B) it's an awful lot of fun to help them do that.

Hiatus, not as much fun as one would hope.

Okay i know that bloggers come and go and I'm sure y'all figured I was gone for good. Well I'm trying not to be. Had myself a couple of adventures, one involving homelessness and the other a tumor in my son's head. After much hard work the homeless thing is fixed and after two brain surgeries in rapid succession this summer my son's brain is on the mend. So in general I'm back in the game and working up strategies for how I can benefit people and their self expression with my abilities.  

Steampunk Emporium

I realize that Steampunk is an overarching genera that covers a wide swath of tastes, opinions, and fashion statements. Like I said I like to create on the Punk end of the spectrum, these people Steampunk Emporium Lean to the Historical Accuracy end of things. They have many full outfits that one could alter to ones taste. They have walking dresses, suits and historically accurate undergarments and such. Do pay close attention to the sizing chart for men. Contact them to make sure you get the right women's sizes as I'm told they are sized just a bit small. It is not something they can control it is the way the manufacturer does it.  So talk to them to get a good fit.
Happy Shopping and Adventuring!
The Stitchkateer

Steampunk Round Up

Okay folks there is a veritable plethora of Steampunk stuff out there. From stories to gadgets to get togethers there is so much that no one person can do or see it all.  So as I cruise the Aethernet I gather stories and tidbits to bring to you my stalwart readers. Here is my first collection of Miscelania gathered to interest, inspire and otherwise titillate your pallet. I give you the first Aethernet Steampunk Round up:

Here is a fascinating collection of Masks and Helmets created by various artisans.
http://www.walyou.com/blog/2010/07/28/steampunk-masks-helmets/

Looks like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be a huge Steampunk remake. Remember don't expect the book, let the movie be it's own thing and you will be more likely to like it.
http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/28/sean-bailey-david-fincher-believes-20000-leagues-will-be-his-empire-strikes-back/

For those who have followed Girl Genius for years it looks like good things are happening:
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/girl-genius-continues-march-to-world-domination/

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Steampunked Computers here is a very cool collection:
http://weburbanist.com/2010/06/01/36-breathtaking-steampunk-computer-mods/

Okay here is a creative challenge for those who do this kind of thing. Go to the link and click on How PT Works and it will give you the rules, DUE BY AUG 31, 2010 :
http://www.patchtogether.com/contest/steampunk-35.html

For RPG enthusiasts! Table top quick playing Steampunk RPG and it's FREE:
http://www.onesevendesign.com/ladyblackbird/

I'm not an Apple enthusiast, however I find this a suitable use of an iPad:
http://inventorspot.com/articles/apple_ipad_goes_steampunk_usb_typewriter

OMG! I so love Steampunk GEEKY goodness and this is all of that and MORE! A Steampunk Globe hooked to Google Maps through a tablet PC! Soooooooo Cool!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102503-Steampunk-Globe-Hooked-Up-to-Google-Earth

Instructables.com is an AWESOME site, if you want to know how to make something start there first.  You will likely find easy to follow directions on how to do it so you don't have to reinvent the wheel! Here is a cool little Steampunk Clockwork bristle bot, how very very cool!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Steampunk-Bristlebot-Mk1/

So there you have it Ladies and Gentlemen, a little bit of inspiration, some DIY goodies, and some old fashioned Geeky goodness.

Your Friend and Companion in Adventure,
The Stitchkateer

Steampunk Theory and Culture Change

Image via Wikipedia

Anthropologically I find Steampunk fascinating stuff. Technology and Culture change are constant forces in our lives, sometimes radically changing us. Technology tends to match culture change and only advance when the culture has a need for the new technology. Flying machines had existed, at least as toys, since the 4th century.  They did not take off and become reality until there was a cultural use for them.  Once the pace of life had sped up enough to really need to be someplace faster then air, train and other forms of travel were adapted and used.  






With Steampunk Technology, like flying machines, there was no cultural need for the technology that people were introducing.  There were technological advances like the difference engine (1833) introduced. There was just no cultural footing for it to take hold. The whole premise of Steampunk is for this kind of technology to take off and cause a technological revolution that did not otherwise occur.  Radical and sudden culture change tends to cause chaos. The 60s is a good example. There was a break in culture, new radical ideas were introduced and the underlying culture was changed. During the transition many people played with the fringe elements of society in drugs, fashion, technology etc and many new ideas were introduced to the culture.  

Image by Catherinette Rings Steampunk via Flickr

I picture the same thing happening with Steampunk. There would be some who would take to technology and push it to the edge and beyond. They would integrate it into every aspect of their lives. Fashion would radically alter.  There would be camps of people expounding on different ideals. Some would maintain "tradition" as they saw it. others would do traditional fashion out of the radically new materials that would be produced by the new technologies. There would be radical fashion that would be the equivalent of the Victorian Free Love Movement. I tend toward this latter idea. What would happen if women were less fettered and fashion were less binding. It was an Age of Adventure and Exploration, what if all aspects of culture were open to that ideal.  I envision radical and almost post apocalyptic fashions. That is where my interests and imagination take me. Kind of a Suffragette meets Road Warrior,  Victorian taste with a dash of apocalypse. 

So who is The Stitchkateer?

Well first of all I am a colorful woman. I'm not meek and I am often quite outspoken. I often warn new friends not to ask question to which they do not want honest answers. I tend to deliver the truth as I see it without any sugar coating. I tend to say what I mean and mean what I say. My inspirations as a young girl were along the lines of Mae West and Maya Angelou.  I love historical recreation and have spent as much of my time in the Society for Creative Anachronism as I can manage.  When I started in the SCA 30 years ago I was too young to know that 16th century French dresses are supposed to be difficult to sew.  I was blithely cranking out box pleat skirts and lace up bodices in my first few sewing projects at age 12.

Mae West via last.fm

I have also been blessed with a curvaceous figure. I like it, men seem to like it but the clothing industry doesn't seem to care that people come in different shapes and sizes.  I am well aware of how difficult it is for someone who is not "average" to find clothes that fit comfortably.  Often for me if they fit one area of my body they don't fit the other parts very well. I will admit now that one reason that I sew custom items is so people can get things that are comfortable and fit no matter what their measurements.You will find that the items I offer in my shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheStitchkateer ) that are premade are typically for larger sizes. I can also do small sizes. I have a friend who is tiny enough to have trouble finding clothing in the adult sections, I can accommodate that too.

So part of who I am and why I do what I do has to do with both the people I've associated with in my life and the schooling I've had. I have done 8 years of college as an Anthropology major, looking at why do people do what they do.  My high school sweetheart turned out to be gay. I sent him off to be true to himself with every hope that he would have a happy and fulfilled life that I could not give him. It hurt because I really cared but I also know that is not a choice one makes it is who one is when they are born. The only choice there is either to be who they truly are or live a miserable lie. I've had many friends who don't fit the average box very well. I've had it explained to me all that goes into cross dressing, by a friend who needs to do that. It's not easy living that kind of double life, nor is it easy to find sexy beautiful clothes in large sizes as the fashion industry does not believe that people outside of a certain weight/age/gender are allowed to be sexy.  There are also some items that are specialized and in my opinion more comfortable when custom made.

Then as an Anthropologist and a serious Girl Geek it dawned on me that all the costumes at Sci-Fi Conventions were a variation on this theme.  Clothing is a way for us to express our inner selves no matter how out there it may seem to others it is an expression of something deep inside.  That is important. Many people don't think about it much, but what we wear shows our thoughts about ourselves. Giving ourselves permission to go that extra step and do Cos-play, Sci-Fi conventions, Steampunk Societies, or historical recreation is expressing something important about us. This is why I do what I do. I am in the business of helping people to express themselves to the world no matter what that expression is.  I would love to to alternative weddings and such. I think the black dress from Legend would make an awesome Goth wedding dress (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4-JnB3QQs4). And wouldn't Bowie's outfits from Labyrinth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VppuD1St8Ec&feature=related) make awesome men's formal wear?  I love the feeling of seeing someone over the top happy because they have finally expressed to the world what they've always wanted to be. This is why I do what I do.