Before Biba

Renee Perle

I've just finished reading A to Biba and I was blown away by the vivid and wonderful descriptions of the clothes, interiors and happenings at Biba.

Carole Lombard

The end of Biba is frustratingly tragic and left me wishing I was a billionaire and could simply buy back the Biba name, gift it to Barbara and bring it back to its original purpose ? beautiful clothing in wonderful designs and sold at a reasonable price.

Although Biba?s heyday has past, there are of course plenty of devotees dedicated to keeping the original look and name alive and I hope they never disappear especially with Biba?s many reinterpretations

We know the name came from Barbara?s sister Biba, but interestingly in Polish biba also means spree or jag ? which is a period of overindulgence in an activity ? in this case a period of luxurious design and beautiful clothing.
Perhaps it is never meantto be repeated?

Barbara Hulanicki was heavily inspired by the Hollywood movies she used to watch at Brighton as a girl as well as Art Nouveau and Art Deco design. Classic Hollywood is known for is glamour, with its actresses dressed in silk, furs and feathers and with the sets fabulously displayed with rich fabrics, mirrors and lacquered wood.

There are a lot of blog posts dedicated to Biba and the beautiful clothing and girls who worked for them but I thought I might do something different.

I decided instead to bring you some images which I think may have inspired Barbara in her younger years or that hold that certain something that Biba was known for have a good .

Emily play

Oh my how the past 2 weeks have flown! So many things keeping one occupied and exhausted but I always make the time to sew!

This particular dress was made from a lovely pink/peach print I ordered from Spoonflower.

Straight out of an 1883 dream and plunked into 2013 kicking, screaming, and reaching up for the sun, comes this fine scale retro Victorian paisley in shades of salmon and coco. There is no white in this version. The areas that appear white are more creamy.

You get ultra fine scale stripes, twists, and bubbles, buds, and dots, hearts, and twists galore. The feeling is Victorian, but all the elements are actually modern. No actual Victorian artist really used anything in this.

The designer is Edsel2084 and her designs focus mainly on Victorian and Arts and Crafts style designs. All of her intricate and highly detailed designs are hand drawn as a larger drawing, and a small segment is scanned, cropped, tessellated and multiple colour ways are made before being uploaded. Edsel has over 4000 designs which completely blow my mind every time I check her page. The descriptions for each design stand between truth and fantasy. Some evoking Alice in Wonderland type dreams and some taking you to the library of William Morris himself

The pattern I used for this dress was McCalls 8917 from 1967. A teen dress in 3 different versions ? all featuring an inverted pleat at the front, with a choice of collar, buttoned yoke or long bishop sleeves.

I chose the collared version with short sleeves. Initially I had the long sleeve option set, but they were too short and the pale colour of the design didn't suit the long sleeves and high neck. It?s now more a spring dress than winter.

I also had some trouble with my machine ? the top stitch was pulling as it fed through and I ended up with the tension on the front pleat a little too tight ? if you look really hard at the seam on the pleat, it kind curls out at the end. This is because once you've sewn something with the wrong tension; it can be really hard to straighten even with an iron - unless you undo the stitches which I obviously wasn't bothered to do.

Poor Dolly ? she?s not doing too well lately, so she?s currently at the repairman?s. I?m currently using my boyfriend?s sister?s machine while she?s off gallivanting around the world ? thanks Nicole!

Yes, the pattern center doesn't line up with the pleat. Poo poo

Otherwise the dress is lovely and I think will be really nice to wear in the warmer weather instead of right now in Winter, so I will put it away for a few months.

I try to sew for the season I am in, so that I can wear things straight away, but alas ? not this time!

A little highlight of this weekend was picking up this 70s modular plastic picnic kit at the local church opp shop for $1.50! It has all its pieces except for one small bowl and 1 knife. I love a good picnic and have built up a little kit over the years for BBQs and such. I can?t wait to set up a picnic spread with this bright orange kit!

the form of a dress

Have you ever seen the Peter Sellers movie "The Party"? It's a slapstick comedy set at the party of a Hollywood director. What starts out as a sophisticated dinner party soon turns into an overblown rave with drunk waiters, pools turned into giant bubble baths and a painted baby elephant!

It's rather fun and good for a giggle on a Saturday afternoon while sewing.When making this dress I was reminded of this movie. The bright pink and purple would be perfect for a party dress! The little orange dots in the fabric go well with gold jewellery and overall it has a rather frivolous feel to it.The pattern I used was Butterick 4774 this particular pattern has 7 options and is called ?The wardrobe maker" 

Like some kind of fashion daemon - it will create you a wardrobe of your 60s dreams! A jacket, coat, pants, shorts, top, dress and gown. Why you could make them in coordinating colours and always look the same! Haha no just kidding....

I chose to make the shorter length dress, but I have my eye on that Emma Peel style jacket too!

The fabric was purchased from Etsy and could possibly be Mercerised cotton. It has a little bit of a sheen to it adding to the party feel and was listed as original 60s

The dress was nice and simple to make - especially because there are no sleeves! The neck and sleeves are faced but I?m yet to slip stitch the facings closed. The front also has a simple strip of fabric as decoration which when worn with the coat, is supposed to replicate the zip closure. 

This is one of those wonderful things about 60s patterns - little details that are repeated in different ways which link them all together and help to tie an outfit as one. Andr? Courr?ges was known for doing this with his coats and dresses which was very modern at the time and lots of high end designers still repeat this technique within entire collections.

My next project will involve teal silk. I've never sewn with silk or satin before - do you have any tips or advice?

Shopping on cloud

I often forget to post photos of my opp shopping and by the time I remember, the time has passed and its pointless, but I remembered today, so would you like to see my goodies?

After going to the dentist for a filling (boo!) I decided I deserved a present. Shopping while coming off anesthetic can be funny. I kept touching my numb face like some kind of weirdo, and finding silly little things that I would stare at for a bit before realising that its just crap and I would never buy that on a normal day. 

What I did manage to find with my head in the clouds were these...

In my garden I have a few plants already budding waiting for spring, but they never get very big so this little bud vase will fit them nicely. Lucy's recent post on her dresser table featured little glass bowls as jewellery/ make up storage and I spotted this little bowl which I think will handy for my rings and such

The single (sigh) dinner plate is important to me. As a minor ceramics fan I saw the name on this and knew straight away that I should buy it. The design is by Kathie Winkle who did work for Broadstone ceramics in the 60s and 70s. I also have a ceramic jar by from Kathie Winkle which currently stores my marigold seeds.

You can read more about Broadhurst here

I don't often have much luck with patterns at opp shops - they're usually 80s to 90s patterns which are never all that attractive. These 3 lovely ladies were waiting for me patiently today. 
Misses dress Style 1118 (1975), Jumper and shirt Simplicity 3157 (no year, I'd say early 60's) and Skirt Style 2405 (1978)
Style 1118 is particularly handy as I have been looking for a slim fit bodice dress like this for awhile 

A few fabric bits. A lovely paisley pillow case, light blue chiffon, lace and a navy silk sash

The below piece is a huge table cloth that I am considering turning into a dress. The fabric has a big design in the middle, which spreads out over the table cloth. I kinda hate it when people chop up vintage sheet sets to make clothing and leave the pillow cases as orphans (like the one above) so I'm a little unsure if I should chop up the table cloth - but I don't imagine using it for anything else and it doesn't come with matching place mats or anything.  
Do you often have silly dilemmas like this as a sewer? 

Pretty ok hoard for today. I didn't want to hang around digging for too long as I had to go pick up my repaired sewing machine.

Tutorial: Setting

There are two typical sets of sleeves that you will see on most garments.

A set sleeve and a puffed or gathered sleeve. There are other kinds but we will leave them for now.

While both were fashionable in the 60s the one we are going to focus on today is the clean tailored finish of a set in sleeve.

When you look at a sleeve pattern and try to piece it together, you will notice that there is always excess fabric. This is great for puffy sleeves, but for set sleeves we need to use a technique called easing.

Ease (as a verb) means to move or shift with great care. And so this is the principle of set in sleeves. Going slowly, taking you time and being careful will result in a well sewn shoulder seam.

With practice you may get quicker but for now be careful and take your time.

1. Starting with the sleeve open, mark onto the pattern the easing points which are shown on the pattern. Also mark the top of the sleeve

2. using your longest stitch, sew between these 2 points (1.5cm in)

Make sure you leave the threads free and don't back stitch or lock stitch.

3. Sew the underarm closed

4. Pull the threads and gather the fabric in between. The head of the sleeve will be end up being smaller than the shoulder.

5. Insert your sleeve into the bodice so the right sides are facing and it looks like this.

6. Anchor your arm to the bodice with a pin. Match the underarm and side seams

7. Then find the top of the sleeve and pin that to the shoulder seam. It doesn't have to be exact and you may move this point around but it is good to line it up somewhat to get started.

8. Starting from the top, slide* squeeze*, pinch* and move the fabric around a little bit so that it smooths out a little bit but not a lot. It still needs to be slightly loose. If you have long nails*, this is good to be able to move the fabric around.

*sliding, squeezing, pinching and moving the fabric with my nails are all words here that describe what I do with my fingers. Sorry if they sound weird!

Be patient to get the sleeve to ease in. Don't get frustrated if it doesn't fit. Just keep moving the pins around till your happy. Make a cup of tea and come back to it if you feel your blood rising. If you need to gather beyond the gathering points, then that's ok. I do that sometimes too!

When pinning, face the pins into the arm hole. That way when you?re stitching, you can pull the pins out easily with your right hand.

When you've fit the sleeve it should look like this.

See how it's still wavy looking? That?s because the edge is curved and it will never be flat. The most important part is that the small amount of fabric that you are going to sew is flat to the shoulder.

I like to think of it like a ball - there is only one very narrow plane of a ball that will ever be in contact with a flat surface - that is the part you want to sew.

Here is a poor sketch of my explanation..

9. Anyway. Take your garment and pop it in the machine like so. It might be tempting to slide it over the motor/bobbin but we want to be able to see the gathers so we will sew the inside.

Start somewhere near the underarm so that you have a chance to start somewhere flat.

10. Very carefully sew a few stitches at a time stopping to remove pins and evening out any bumps. If you come across a particularly bumpy part, stop, spread the fabric with your fingers and push or pull the bump away. You might need to lift the foot and needle for this. Just try to get it out of the way so that there is no tiny fold which will look obvious from the outside.

11. Close your stitches and remove the garment from the machine. Examine your work and check out any parts that might not be perfect.


12. If it looks particularly bumpy, drape the shoulder over a tailors ham, or tightly folded towel, spray with a little water and press out the bumps along the seam. The steam from the iron should shrink the bumps a little.

Troubleshooting

If you've decided to mix two patterns together, you might find the sleeve is smaller (eek!), the same size (yay!) or bigger (boo!) than the armscye. Consider the patterns you are using when doing this. I.e. batwings might not be a good idea or two different sized patterns could be problematic.

If you are still left with fabric even after lots of gathering, consider narrowing the sleeve slightly by bringing in the underarm seam. Not too much as you still need to move!

You can also use a couture technique to solve this...

Back at the gathering stage (step 4) before pinning; drape the gathered sleeve cap over a ham/towel or a shoulder stand (if you have one lucky you!) and turn on your iron on.

Using a damp sponge or spray bottle, wet the sleeve cap and then apply heat to shrink the fabric. Be careful not to press any creases - we just want the fabric to shrink. Even if you have pre-shrunk the fabric, it should still be able to go a little more. You may have to shape the cap with the steam a few times before it is right. Hopefully you'll be able to bring it down a few millimetres.

This will also help mould the fabric into the round shape it will eventually form.

You can also hand baste the sleeve to the bodice before sewing with the machine if you are not confident with just pins.

If the sleeve is smaller than the shoulder - you may need to recut the pattern and add some width to the underarm

Usually pattern sleeves are cut on the grain which means most of the sleeve cap is on the bias - making it a little stretchy. Be careful not to stretch your arm piece - especially when over locking as the machine can stretch the fabric out and warp it when stitching the edges.

spend your tax refund

July first! For most of us that means tax returns (boring) but for the lucky ones that also means tax refunds (hooray!) 

Allow me to make some suggestions from my favourite Etsy sellers on how to throwaway invest your refund into some lovely vintage pieces!

Laurids Lonborg Coasters, Gold Bow Brooch, Floral Biscuit tin, Purple open toe heels

Orange and White Drop waist dress, Tangerine knit suit, Red leather heels, Yellow Summer romper

Chelsea Collar shift dress, Cream Purse (with hidden compartments!), Cream Mary-janes, Square Toe Faux lizard heels

Red White and Blue Swing dress, Red Long sleeved dress, Blue shift with gold Trim, Red and Blue ceramic jar

Apple Green shift, Golden Suns chain belt, Green Pendant, Metallic red belted dress

But don't go spending it all at once now! 

Pretty Pattie

Skirt with lining

Finished jacket with wrinkly sleeves

Oh Pattie! How much stress she initiated me. But in the end it turned out very well!

I slash this pattern 5 weeks before, and other than a shatter to make The bliss of Mrs Blossom dress, I?ve been stitching little morsels of this coat, making improvements on the fit and fiddling round with ?tailoring techniques? (which in the end were kind of useless), and having tiny hissy aligns every time I tried it on

But in the end I am so joyous with it I don?t even care about its remaining imperfections!

Blouse from ASOS, Patent very dark footwear from ASOS, Handbag - Op Shop find

So let?s proceed back to the start ? I liked an early sixties style mini-skirt suit. certain thing for work that was in a slashe fabric and pleasant slash

I used a navy polka spot publish from Spoonflower on Organic cotton fabric sateen. Sateen is perhaps not the best fabric for tailoring as it tends to hold creases but is easily ironed out. And I did have to strengthen some of the borders in twill strip to avert future extending.

I used Lilac bemsilk lining for the insides

I utilised 2 patterns from Burda - Mini evade 08/2012 #135 and Jorinde coat 4112

The mini evade was easy and since I've made it a couple of times before and it was done in 2 hours. It aligns magnificently and is the neatest coating I've ever finished!

The jacket although was another issue. I didn't assess the hours I expended on it so I can?t explain in that capability how much I worked on the coat. Luckily the fabric was rather good and can deal with being handled with a couple of times and there was a lot of unpicking and restitching particularly with the sleeves.
The bodice was too large-scale so I tapered that down, but at first I didn't slender down the sleeves as well and that created the first sleeve topic. So I took them off and slimmed them down a little. After that I was nearly finished and was close to finishing the coating, but the sleeves still weren't right. I actually just liked to complete the silly thing, but my inward voice was screaming ?just do the bloody thing properly!? so I unpicked it afresh, taken the flannel underscoring from the sleeves and took them in spectacularly and made sure they fit before sewing them in for the last time. 

The genuine instructions for the coat were not that great so I used the tailoring directions from my stitching publication. The publication had suggested flannel underscoring the bodice and sleeves which worked out nicely for the bodice, but as cited it was not perfect for the sleeves.

The top half of the jacket also has been interfaced ? this is to keep the shoulders and top of the back tidy and smooth. contemplating I took out the shoulder pads, the interfacing is doing a pleasant sufficient job of keeping the bears smooth.