Checkpoint

Mysteriously, the fall semester is about half over. Every week I think to myself, "Got to update mah blog!" and then I remember that I also have to draft a cardigan for my knits class, buy fabric and other miscellaneous supplies, finish the padstitching for my jacket canvas and bang out three five beautiful pockets for tailoring, spend some time with Illustrator for technical drawing, and also work my forty at the ole day job.

Padstitching.

I'm pushing my nose so hard to the grindstone that it's actually become embedded there--I have a grindstone for a nose now. "Old Grindnose," they call me, down at the docks, where I like to hang out sometimes.

Luckily for me and my sanity, I like the work, and I like to work. Give me an ipod full of podcasts and a sewing machine, and I'm a happy clam. Speaking of sewing machines, my stately old Bernina recently got a little Brother that fills me with all sorts of naughty serges. If I were the type of person who named inanimate objects, I would name it Pullo. (That's a deep, deep cut, folks.)

Bruthah!

So, what's on the docket for this semester? Here's the rundown:

Tailoring: Menswear: Our only project for this class is to complete a tailored jacket. In this case, "tailoring" refers to the way the jacket is constructed, although we also made muslins to fit and adjust the pattern. A tailored jacket differs from RTW in that there is a lot more handwork. No fusible inter-anything, instead you baste, and  lot of the little finishing details are done with permanent hand sewing. Because it's a menswear class, the jacket is a men's suit jacket, with double-piped pockets at the waist and a breast pocket on the front, two interior welt pockets, and a vent in the back. It's a sharp jacket, and even though I'm a lady, I'm absolutely planning on wearing my finished creation.

Ever wonder what gives a jacket its structure? In this case it's cotton canvas and
 needlepunch. The padstitching on the lapel goes through the canvas and
 into the front. It helps the lapels lie nice and flat once the jacket is finished.

The front of the jacket, basted to the canvas.

The jacket fronts, face down on the table. The facings have
two additional interior pockets, and you can see the edge of the
 canvas, sandwiched between front and facing.

Fashion Techniques: Knits: My last class with my favorite professor ever, this one is all about working with knits. So far the pattern drafting has been easy-peasy, but working with stretchy, squirmy knit fabric is certainly challenging at times. At the moment, I feel like I'm waaaay behind on my work for this class. So far we've drafted a princess line dress, a pullover, a cardigan, and a pair of knit pants. My dress is waiting to be taken in at the back, my pullover has been banished because I'm disatisfied with it, and the cardigan is in its infancy. The pants...I finished the draft of the pattern last week. Eesh.

My princess line dress, which is far more flattering on than this hanger
would have you believe.  Maybe I should go as Uhura next year for Halloween?

My cardigan, cut and waiting to be sewn. The way this pattern is drafted,
the only seams are at the shoulders and armholes. Nifty, eh?

My cardigan fabric. It's actually double-faced--the other side is a nice soft jersey.

Testing out the sleeve cuff before attaching

Fashion Technical Drawing: Another studio class, albeit one that mostly involves spending hours and hours sitting at the computer, which is right in my wheelhouse. This class is one I've been looking forward to taking as it is very Adobe Illustrator-centric, a program that I've heretofore been unacquainted with but have wanted to learn. And it. is. awesome. Maddening at times, but also amazingly powerful and (once you understand how it works,) pretty intuitive. We're just getting started with it, but already had a big project due this past Monday: a four-look collection plus mood board and color story for a company of our choosing. I wanted to pick a company that A) I wouldn't mind working for sometime in the near future, and B) would allow me to design a few simpler pieces, since my skill set with Illustrator is still somewhat limited. I decided on J. Crew and I'm pretty happy with the result:

That about brings us up to speed. I'd like to thank coffee, diet coke, and Dave and Graham for a great first half of the semester. Let's keep it up, fellows!