May Update

Hi, it's lovely that you are coming here to read about what I've sewn but I lost a lot of pictures recently and started a new sewing blog over at Wordpress instead.

SewRuth has no new sewing posts but if you update your blog list, or reader, or whatever with this address   http://corecouture.wordpress.com/

Corecouture is my new blog sphere so head on over to catch up.

Thanks

Ruth

Moved......

Go here

http://corecouture.wordpress.com/

thanks Ruth

Ch.. C.. Ch..Changes

Things are changing around here.

I've lost a load of photos from this blog - actually I deleted them from an online photo album not realising that they were connected to the blog posts! Technie, me?

I had given up on SWAP '13, then I was on track, then I got fed up and now, I might just be back in....

I have a new blog over at Wordpress - http://corecouture.wordpress.com/
It has a new name -  corecouture, but all the usual rubbish is still there!

I'm still learning and changing things, so please bear with me until I get it all sorted.

Some things I'm not sure about are:
1. Where do the followers go to? I'm sorry if you have signed up to follow SewRuth, I'll try and move you over to corecouture.
2. My inspirational blog list needs reconfigured in corecouture - do not be alarmed - I'm still reading your wonderful postings
3. In time SewRuth will be deleted.

Thanks for meeting with me here and it was great fun getting to know you all.
Please pop over to corecouture to continue our friendship.


In the meantime, I'll be sorting out corecouture and making another Chanel jacket.

I may be some time......


Love Ruth

Unforgettable and Unpredictable

Oh thank you all so very much for keeping me sane and all (most) admitting that you too remembered Rive Gauche - you really have no idea how reassuring all those comments were after that surreal episode in the fabric shop.

And to make me even happier Anon has stopped commenting too. So thanks for the advice on that front too.

So back to Rive....

A cotton/linen mix in soft black. I'm not a big fan of black but I'm trying to introduce it gradually into my wardrobe, especially when I see the creations that Shams and Margy produce in monochrome. I know that black on black does not work for me so I always aim to add a splash of colour somewhere to lift it.

The pattern is a long jacket - McCalls 5938, sadly OOP, but still available on their website.

Semi-fitted, lined jacket with welt pockets and flaps, back princess seams, notched collar, two-piece sleeves with button trim, shoulder pads, back vent opening and below hipline length.

I added three buttons to the front and made the ones on the sleeves work properly - my construction  was somewhere between home sewer and tailoring - damn you Ms Schaeffer! I must now tape my front edges and padstitch the collar: my linings must be fell stitched in place and my vented sleeve buttons must open. I used a fusible interfacing (first time ever) for the fronts and lapels and I did try a new technique for the sleeve heads too and was mightily impressed with the results. 

You all know that the hole the sleeve goes into and the sleeve are two different sizes and shapes? And you do all that stuff with gathering stitches and easing and pins and stuff on the sleeve? Well try this....you either need a mannequin or a live person.

Hang the jacket on the mannequin (or model) with shoulder pad in place and pinch the excess fullness at the back. Using a hand worked chain stitch distribute this fullness over the sleeve head creating little puckers as you sew. Press these little gathers out with steam and the sleeve head will shrink to this shape.

 See the pic below. On the left - stitched and steamed and fitted to the mannequin. On the right - as nature intended - baggy and loose.

While the jacket is cooling and drying, gather the sleeve crown on the sleeves with a loose running stitch. Pull the threads to create the familiar gathers and secure them. Now press the crown, shrinking out the gathers to create a smooth and curved shape to the sleeve.

Hopefully by now, the two are a better fit for each other - the sleeve head and the sleeve crown - so carry on and insert the sleeve in your preferred manner. One word of caution and that is keep the sleeve hanging straight - don't twist it or pull it.

Sew in the shoulder pads for real and always, always, insert some wadding in the sleeve head for shape and structure. See a good tailoring book on how to do this properly. These books are worth their weight in gold for this instruction alone and even if you are only making a casual jacket, like this one, a perfect sleeve is worth it. 

And there is it - no puckers or gathers - went in first time and hangs beautifully. 

 And the Rive Gauche blue?

For the lining, my dears, and the working sleeve hems to roll up and reveal the flash of colour. And I'll look just like Claudia Winkleman from the Great British Sewing Bee.

 Vented pockets with flaps

Three buttons, not one























I have a similar coloured blouse made years ago which accidentally matches well. So I have my black and my colour.

Long to hide the behind with a centre back vent

 Do I look like a Rive Gauche bottle?

Rive Gauche

A funny thing happened the other day on the way to the fabric shop......well actually it happened in the fabric shop.

I'd a bit of time to kill (dead time, as I like to call it and those of you who are well versed in childrearing will understand completely this terminology) so instead of heading home to turn around and go back out again - I went to the fabric shop.

I went with an idea in my head that was relatively unformed as this stage - something was brewing but even I didn't know what it was until it manifested itself onto the unsuspecting individuals who were queuing behind me to pay for their purchases.

Suddenly, and without preamble or warning, I turned 180 degrees, regarded the woman immediately behind me, and did some quick mental calculations based on crow's feet and lip-puckers  that she was equal to or greater in age than me and blurted out,
"Do you remember Rive Gauche?"


Blank. Cat-in-headlights stare!


Rive Gauche - Paris Left Bank the home of the artistes and artists along the Seine?







I skipped the one behind her (too young) and aimed directly for the woman next in the line,
"Do YOU remember Rive Gauche? You know the perfume by YSL? About 1980?"

More blank stares and the slightly 'be kind to her' facial expressions.






I then addressed both queues (needless to say the shop just happened to be busy that day) and the sales assistants too - well, actually loud enough for the entire shop to join in if they'd wanted to; I believe I may have climbed onto a soapbox at this point and exclaimed:

"Does anyone remember the YSL perfume Rive Gauche from 1980? Anyone?"

Apparently, Northern Ireland missed the 1980s - I was in London at the time. Living under Maggie Thatcher and living the high life. However, I did actually begin to doubt my own sanity and memory being overwhelmed with such a wall of 'what-is-she-talking-about/negativity' in the shop.



What I was really looking for was a second opinion on the colour/shade of blue for a jacket lining - I didn't give a s**t if anyone truly remembered the perfume.

Regardless, (this is MY word and I predicate my life upon it) I bought what I believed to represent Rive Gauche and just had to Google it when I got home to make sure I hadn't imagined the whole decade of 1980.

Coco - I need you now - please tell me you remember Rive Gauche! You don't need to like it just, like me, you physically remember it.

If someone out there confirms that they bought/used/was gifted/remembers Rive Gauche, then I shall reveal the garment - otherwise I fear I am heading into Never-Never Land and if I go there I may be never heard of again....... Ahhhhhhhhhhh

Shoulder pads and hard stares - there's no turning back!

I''d also appreciate a translation into English of the  adverts' bylines.   Merci.