Sewing With Nancy - Designer Duplicates (VHS, 1992)

welcome to sewing with Nancy with your host Nancy Zeeman this how to video tape is being brought to you by far the largest European producer of sewing machines fast sewing machines and sergers are simply the best buy pail on the first name in interfacing and craft material and the first choice of home source for professional results pail on products by Freudenberg beginner a tradition of quality and scissors and shears for home classroom and industry gain your scissors and shears are the choice of professionals by the Makah pattern company the most fashionable name in contemporary home sewing patterns and publishers of McColl's pattern sewing fashion magazine and by Nancy's notions catalog featuring specialty sewing books and unique hard-to-find sewing notions and supplies welcome to sewing with Nancy this is a new series entitled designer duplicates my sewing staff and I went on a shopping spree to trendy boutiques and exclusive women's wear shops to buy and look at expensive ready-to-wear we've chosen or purchased six garments and we're going to show you how to duplicate these ideas at your sewing machine or serger it's kind of a fun treatment the first garment we're going to duplicate is a western style ensemble skirt and blouse the blouse is very comfortable Raglan sleeve styling 100% cotton but notice the detail is soot ash braid scalloped or scrolled trim along the back and sleeve it gives it that a special designer touch and that's how I'm going to show you how to duplicate or copy also be working with the skirt later on the program the blouse alone was a hundred and twenty dollars and we can work with it the same fabric the same pattern style but sew it for much less and achieve a great-looking results as well I'll get up the sewing machine to show you right now working with soot ash braid near Sai machine requires just a little sewing know-how let's first of all take a close-up look of our designer blouse the braid has been put on with a lot of scrolling and notice it's very gated that makes it look so great we could not find variegated braids so I'm going to give you an alternative for this and also when working with a suit ash braid I found I could not make these very sharp corners so we're gonna soften these a little bit when working with braids that you purchase I'd like to work with a presser foot in a special way either purchase a special foot that's used for attaching trim such as this it has two options for holes to insert very narrow braids such as this or wider braids in the other hole and then the braid feeds through the foot very easily or if you're working with the foot that comes with your machine use an embroidery foot inserting the braid through the top of the hole the opening we're at zigzags and allowing the braid to come through on the back side which is hollowed out for your satin stitches in this case it'll be hollowed out for the braid either way you'll need to use this kind of special applique so that the braid feeds a little bit easier on the blouse I used 100% cotton fabric backed it with a stabilizer that can be torn away and then with a marking pen drew some lines for my scrolling or the attaching of the braids I'll snap on my foot and again I have a zig zag stitch set up on my machine and do a practice run of this before you actually sew it on your fabric and just sew and you don't really have to guide it because the little foot opening does that for you it takes a few minutes of time to to work on and as I'm finding it's a little bit easier to to do if you have some sharp corners to stop and reposition your braid now I'm using contrasting thread at home I would recommend using monofilament thread that obviously you cannot see or matching thread to the braid and just keep sewing and just turn the fabric I don't have the most beautiful stitching here because a blue thread on yellow red braid excuse me but here's some stitching I did earlier and you can see it gives a very attractive look but it isn't variegated if you are trying to duplicate exactly what the designer had in mind when working with this blouse you could work with variegated thread and as opposed to variegated braid I'm going to put on my embroidery foot remove my top thread and thread my machine with variegated thread usually found in the embroidery section of your sewing center of catalog the braids are the thread excuse me I'm going to work with is in the primary colors and again I'm going to work with a satin stitch and shorten my stitch length and I'm going to go to about 0.5 a short stitch length now the setup on my fabric this one I could duplicate the design almost exactly by doing this i trace the design on a stabilizer and outlined it on the this is a clear washable type of stabilizer place it on my fabric and then again back the fabric with a tearaway stabilizer and now I'm simply going to satin stitch and this is how we created the designer duplicate that you'll see in just a few minutes test again checking out your width of the stitch that you'd like to use and simply guide the fabric following the design I have my machine set at a medium width I think that's easier to maneuver on all these corners than if you are working with a very wide stitch and try to be as accurate as possible we're getting a mirror image here we have what's on one side is exactly on the other so I want to be very accurate if possible I've slightly loosened the top tension to a buttonhole setting have gone from the number 5 to a number 3 so that my satin stitches would look very full let me show you on the finished garment how we achieved the duplicate look not exactly but quite similar with the variegated thread compared to a suit ash braid a simple designer touch to complete our western-style ensemble I'd like to show you some of the details on the skirt it's an extra wide channel stitch waistline about three and a half or three and 1/4 inches wide there are extra tabs placed around the waistline for detail there's a unique construction idea on the back the zipper extends up into the waistline locking at the fold at the top of the waistline you'll have to eliminate putting on the hooks and eyes the top of the waistline think it's a nice clean finish I think you'll like this idea first of all I'd like to show you how to work with the channel stitched waistline so I mentioned this is a wide waistline about three and a quarter three and a half inches wide whatever you'd like using your favorite gathered skirt pattern cut the waistband the length that's on the pattern but make the width four and a half inches wide four and a half inches wide and you're going to cut two generally we just have one waistband piece notice that I have interfacing on one of the waistband pieces and it's an extra stiff interfacing you need it's stiff to provide strength and stability for the channel stitching simply straight rows of stitching about 1/4 of an inch apart we've used contrasting thread in this sample for you but you could use matching thread to your fabric if you'd like notice that the stitching starts one inch from each long on each long edge excuse me fourth of an inch apart this will allow space for the 5/8 of an inch seam allowances and we'll give you the finished look of just channel stitching when channel stitching I like to use two threads two threads of your contrasting or matching color and to accommodate two threads very easily through your machine try working with a top stitching needle it's the same size as your regular needle but the eye is longer and wider to accommodate two threads if you use a traditional needle it may not work as easily so try a top stitching needle for this special look at the machine you can see that I'm top stitching a presser foot width away from my initial stitching it's about a fourth of an inch just row after row of long stitches to give this specialty look the tabs were another nice detail that the designer added to this waistband and we have the tabs started to put on the waistline but I'd like to show you the size to make them you're kind of creating your own pattern so you might have to work a little bit of trying to get the right size here we found that four and a half inches wide by five and a half four and a half by five and a half cut four of these and interface each piece so together with a fourth of an inch seam allowance just a narrow seam allowance press the seam open and then displace the seam put it not at the edge or not in the middle but somewhere offset to get the tabs points formed I've simply just used my ruler placing it at a 90 degree angle or 45-degree angle I should say to get 45 degree edges on each side and marked it with a pen and stitched when you turn it right-side out you have cute tabs simple and fast to put together cut four of these and so far these notice the seam is offset out of your way when having the bulk of the fabric on your waistband you'll have markings and I have marked with a watchful marking pen my side seam marking usually it's a little square on the pattern piece to get the placement of the tabs from measuring our designer original I found that by measuring two-and-a-half to three inches from each side of the side seam gave me the correct placement one here and measure two and a half to three now this will depend upon your waistline size you may want to spread them apart put them closer together but the idea is to have four tabs around the waistline place this waistband around your waistline to see if it fits if it does then so the waist bands together meeting the top long edges meeting the right sides and then you can do the traditional grading and under stitching so you have a double waistband now gather the skirt fabric to meet the waistband and the only idea that I would like to share with you on this or one of the specialty points I'd like to point out is that please do not gather one inch on each side at the center back you see the waistband is put on prior to the zipper for this treatment and to make top stitching easier we'd like this flat a one-to-one ratio of fabric to the waistband so on both sides its gathered except for the center back seam on each side you'll find top stitching that zipper to go so much easier after you've gathered the waistband to the skirt grade the seam allowances grading the waistband seam allowance the narrowest and then press the waistband seam allowance up and you're ready to put in the zipper I'm ready to insert the zipper we usually put the zipper in before the waistband remember this time the zipper is going to extend to the top of the waistband off-camera I finished stitching the center back seam of the sample I used a basting stitch in the zipper area stitch to the top of the waistband left the underside of the waistband unstitched and press open the seam so that we can put in the center zipper and in the one side of the seam allowance I placed a double sided basting tape it's kind of shiny this is available either in fourth of an inch or eighth of an inch wide both sides are adhesive you peel off place place it down then peel off the paper backing so that the zipper can be pinned into place quote-unquote without actually using pins then position the zipper in the seam allowance meeting the right side of the zipper to the seam allowance area I like to purchase a zipper a little bit longer because it's a why'd dipper waistband or wide waistband I should say placing the zipper stop about 1/4 of an inch below the top of the waistband close the zipper I'm going to open this see Malone's got stuck together and position this so that the right side of the zipper is down and everything is centered take a little time to position this because the tape is holding this in place for you then from the right side you can use another sewing hint to make your top stitching more accurate use half of an inch white tape the type you use to wrap presents or sores tape that's half inch wide and again Center this like you Center the zipper so that there's about a fourth of an inch on each side of the seam allowance this will be your sewing guide it will come off as soon as you finish the top stitching I'm going to sew across the bottom soft the side cut my threads sew across the bottom and up the side sewing from bottom to top will make sewing that zipper much more accurate the Machine set for a traditional straight stitch make sure all the fabric is out of the way and so stopping with a zipper or excuse me stopping with the foot at the corner of the tape pivoting and now just following the zipper tape sewing along the side and the zipper tape cert or this tape I should say half inch tape makes it so much easier to have accurate stitching lines at the top take a little time because that zipper tab is in the way to make certain that you'll get an accurate stitching lock your seams and you're ready to sew the other side my sample I have finished sewing both sides of the zipper and then opened the seam allowance of the zipper so that you can see it's completely finished it's nice and neat we don't have to worry about putting on hook and eyes from the backside the unfinished side of the waistband will turn under the seam allowance and need it to the zipper tape usually you'll turn under about 3/4 of an inch a little bit more than 5/8 and as on this side top stitch or hand Stitch I should say the facing of the waistband in place there's one last finishing step that is the seam allowances of the waistband have to be covered from the right-side pin the back of the waistband in place all around the waistline including the tabs the tabs need to be attached then stitch in the ditch stitching in the well of the seam sewing from the right side in the well so that you catch the back of the waistband and the tabs and here you can see the finished look on the back side nice and neat and clean well on our skirt that we made we use those same techniques and here you can see the finished product the western-style top laos and the of course the skirt all made with these ideas working with the satin stitching on the blouse and the channel stitch waistband and specially finished skirt zipper closing and here's the original you can see we have a designer duplicate with ease all it needs is a little sewing know-how and applying your sewing skills with your machine our next designer original has very interesting applications on it things from the past this is a very simple style jacket but notice how it is embellished with doilies antique buttons and lace trim something that you can easily do at home we'd like to start off with some lace trimmings you may have some at home in a drawer you may have crocheted or added some embellishments that aren't being used right now and you can put them together in a jacket I have some combinations of old lace that was on a pillowcase some doilies that were made by my grandmother and this is what we used for our copy or our duplicate to make our original now notice that these colorations are not the same if you'd like these laces and trims to be on an heirloom type of jacket you may like to tdye them place them in a bath of hot water and tea check them every few minutes to see if they're getting kind of a comparable color but sometimes slight shadings are very pleasant to look at the jacket that we have we made out of linen the original was out of ran so we have even little more special type of jacket and we copied some of the collar treatments and like to show you on the original along the collar and the upper welt pocket there's some lace trimming we couldn't find at least trimming exactly like this but we kind of did some modifications I purchased some lace and the lace was actually quite shiny was a rayon lace so we flipped to the backside this is the backside that you see that the right side is a little bit more lustrous and rather than using the points of the lace we just enclose the points into the seam allowance just top stitching in now long so it looked more like a lace trim you don't have to use all of the lace area we included this at the edge of the upper collar and the lower pocket area but the fun part was playing with the lace doilies and the antique buttons you can either hand stitch or machine stitch these in to wherever you'd like them placed I just love these buttons that go along with it and also put a touch of a doily coming out of a pocket with a few buttons mother-of-pearl buttons at each edge one thing we found from our original design was the unique placement of the button I just like this technique quite well from my grandmother's sewing box I found this very large button but you'd have to have a huge buttonhole to accommodate this rather than making such a large buttonhole we simply back the button with a smaller one and this is what button through the jacket then on the underneath side we also have a smaller button so we're working the buttonhole with that smaller button we don't have to have that large buttonhole here's our duplicate you can see Karen wearing the duplicate with great charm and appeal it's fun to wear this jacket reminiscent of days gone by the designer original looks very comparable to this and we just pulled out specific details that we wanted to copy I hope you'll try this idea sometime in the future in our first program of designer duplicates I give you some ideas of working with a Western outfit the suit - braids applied to a cotton blouse and the sleeve and back area as well as making the designer skirt wide waistband unique zipper construction and then that great reminiscent jacket with the doilies and the antique buttons you know it's nice about sewing is that you can kind of glean this information from the designers but then apply your sewing know-how and knowledge and get a better product this skirt was $130 and we got the great ideas from this but we didn't always find the best construction detail there's some raw edges along this area now the way we made this skirt by enclosing the raw edges with the back of the waistband everything in the inside is neat and clean you will not have that bulk in this area so we not only use the ideas but then we applied a little bit of our sewing knowledge in advance next time and designer duplicates I'll be showing you great ideas with jackets a confetti jacket like I'm wearing I'll show you that in a few minutes thanks for joining me this is the second part of our series on designer duplicates where I'm showing you how to copy and glean ideas from designers and imply them into your patterns and fabrics at home today we're going to be working with two jackets a woven jacket and a knit style first of all the woven jacket our model Karen is wearing this great-looking jacket we call it a confetti applique jacket where the suede appliques are randomly spooned on the shoulder and lapel area there's also a great piping detail around the shawl collar and around each pocket very tastefully done when you see the jacket from the inside you'll also see that they used a contrasting facing application the back another great designer touch so we'll be copying many of these inspirations and applying them to fabric that I have or you may have at home it's fun to sew when you can use ideas plus your sewing know-how I'll get it set up the table right now when this designer original is off your body you'll find some kind of fun details not only does it have the applique and the piping but the back facing is of another fabric and it's extended so it looks great both on and off your figure we're going to take this one step further and do another change to the front facing because inside the jacket you'll find that the shoulder pad is still visible well if we'd only extend the front facing we could hide this on our copy we've used slightly different fabric a little bit different interpretation but still some of the same ideas the facing is extended at the back but also is extended at the front so that comes into the armhole area and notice that shoulder pad is hidden I've shown this on other sign with Nancy programs many years ago but never used a contrasting fabric for the back I think that adds a fun detail for the back facing rather than having that small little shape at the neckline we have a facing that a that encompasses the neckline the shoulders seam and half of the back this is quite a big piece of fabric in comparison to the traditional size for the front facing I've pinned the front facing to the front jacket now this is a shawl collar that's why it has this extension at the upper color but I've matched the notches at the shoulder seam this facing needs to be extended the entire length of the shoulder and half of the armhole facing and I'll show you the finished facing it's just a little bit larger than the first one extending so that it will cover that shoulder area you can see it's wider and longer and then blends back into the original facing line so that's how to make it so that it has a little extra color in the back facing then also hides that shoulder pad construct your jacket using a flat construction idea that means not sewing things into circles the sleeve is not sewn into circles it's it's stitched into the armhole flat obviously the shoulder seams have been stitched and the under collar has been attached so that basically it's together you can then kind of put this on your figure and pin where you'd like some appliques our designer originally used synthetic suede as the applique and back the fabric with a fusible web and that's exactly what we're going to do you may want to buy an applique fabric that's in a bag of swatches or scraps or just a designer cut because this is kind of expensive but then fuse these scraps or the large cuts to a fusible backpaper web we kind of made a puzzle out of this just took sections and fused it to the adhesive part and it has the paper backing now generally you can draw your design on the paper backing or since these were very geometric we simply just cut out sections made some little bolts of lightning or some triangles whatever you'd like to use just kind of cut out sections from this area and then peel off the paper backing and place these appliques on your figure we've already have a few pinned to place we're positioning kind of the confetti type of appliquéd wherever you'd like them it went down the jacket both front and back so place it wherever you'd like on the facing while the well this is on your figure kind of fold the collar and just place it not on the facing itself but on the shawl collar and pin where you'd like this to be placed so you get this kind of fun joyous jacket then fuse are pressed the applique pieces to your jacket covering the applique with a damp press cloth you can sew around the edges in one of two ways on the original it was straight stitched around the edges you see by not having the C sleeve or the underarm seam stitched you can get in here and stitch around the very edges what we did on our jacket was a little bit different we used monofilament thread the clear thread and used a blind hem stitch to stitch around the edge so it looked more hand-picked the blind hem stitching is straight stitch and then a zig zag and that's what we did around the edge so you let you have this option it's a fun treatment to add to a casual jacket the piping detail around this jacket is much easier than it looks here are the few guidelines cut bias strips that are one in five eighths to 1 and 3/4 inches wide I'll give you the reasoning for this exact measurement in just a few seconds this is about one and 5/8 inches wide and cut many strips seaming them together so that you'll have oh three to four yards of piping place the cording in the center on the wrong side and sandwich the two edges meeting the lengthwise edges we're going to be sewing right next to this cording I believe that the foot is the real key of working with this you need a piping foot or a single bulky knit foot they called many names but it has a hollowed out section on the underneath side allowing a large piece of cording or piping to follow in that groove I have a comparable foot already put on my machine and I've already tested this out so that as I'm sewing the cording the needle is going to fall right next to the cording sandwich hanging in there very securely notice I'm trying to match those cut edges exactly match these cut edges the ultimate idea is that the seam allowance with the distance between the stitching and the cut edge is 5/8 of an inch that will give you an accurate piping application for the pocket I have the piping started at the hem line I have a little notch or clip in my pocket right at the hemline and I've angled it off the pocket but then I'm going to put the cut edge of the piping next to the cut edge of the pocket again I'll have that 5/8 of an inch seam line and I'm going to start at the off the pocket and then immediately taper this on to the pocket matching all these cut edges and you'll do this all the way around and you'll be surprised how easy this goes around a corner and I'm just doing part of this for you but you would sew all the way around the edge and notice what a great finish this gives to finish the hem line fold the hem back on itself and turn it right side out and your pocket is ready to top stitch to the garment and you'll sew in the well the seam in the ditch to top stitch it into place and that's a great designer detail the edge of the jacket has piping as well it goes around the shawl collar stopping and starting at the buttonhole area I've started to pin the piping to my jacket area again matching the cut edges and here I have a marking where the buttonhole line ends and starts and that's why the piping veers off to the right sandwich all these layers together I have the pinheads at pointing outwards so that I can easily pin all these layers together now the piping isn't attached to the jacket yet so now simply I started to sew this off-camera continue my seam and I have the piping in the groove of the foot since I have a 5/8 of an inch seam allowance on the piping I know I'm getting a 5/8 of an inch seam and I'll just sew around the edge this is what's so marvelous because all layers are put together at the same time and this piping is sandwiched in the middle now when I turn this right side out this is a great detail here we have the piping sandwiched between the shawl collar and the under collar and what a great finish this gives well now you can see the finished garments both the original and the duplicate and they both have great clasp and charm the piping around the edges again stopping above the button going around the shawl collar and around the pocket edge the confetti type applique whether it's top stitched into place or using your blind hem stitch to put it in place it has great detail and of course try a change of facings that you'll see from the inside I hope you'll give these jackets a try our next designer inspiration comes from a knit collection tanya is wearing this great-looking rust outfit with black piping trim around the edges and also around the waistline and cuffs notice that the waistline and cuffs have a kind of a collar type fabric and that's what we're going to use to copy this original I'm going to be working with a darker fabric our original copy design has different coloration actually I like a little bit better than the original with dark fabric black and royal trim and along the lower edge I've used collars to have the waist band treatment it's kind of a fun look and I to put together you'll need to choose a pattern that has many of the same details you probably can't find all the details on a pattern but look for some of the more important ones for example in this pattern we chose the shawl collar double-breasted and then we're just going to make some pattern modifications to get the designer look first of all the trim the trim was cut out of knit fabric 1 inch cut across the grain so we have 60 inches of trim just by cutting a 1 inch piece across the grain the fabric and we're going to place this around the edge of the collar since this is knit it needs some stability and the stability I'm going to use is the fusible web that has a paper backing we use this earlier for the confetti applique here I've just used the roll of web that you can purchase by the roll fused it to the wrong side of the strip and then you peel off the backing this allows the strip to be somewhat stable but also fusible so that these edges will stick together to form the trim to get very even trim I'm using a bias tape maker 1/2 inch size and I've already started this I've threaded the wide end of the tape through the wide end of the maker advancing it through it through this slot and when it comes out it's folded well not quite exactly this neat but that's why we have the fusible web attached to it pull out about a half of an inch press just go a little bit at a time this is a knit so it stretches so that's why you kind of have to go 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and let me just repress this and do the 60-inch length of your trim to get it nice and even that's the trim and it's very simple to put on it's simply edge stitched around and to put it on very easily we've constructed this jacket with a flat idea the same way that we worked with the earlier jacket in today's program by setting in the sleeve without stitching the underarm so it's the flat construction and the underarm seam hasn't been stitched that allows you to work flat at your machine to sew the piping around the collar the collar facing has been put on not finished just put on around the edges and on this finished sample you can possibly see how we place the tape right next to the stitching line and then using matching thread stitched right along each fold 1/8 of an inch from one side and 1/8 of an inch from another really it went in on quite quickly and if we take an overview of this jacket we can see that even though we have the piping or the trim on the inside it is on the underneath of the shawl collar and then comes uppermost and it's a nice even trim put on without a lot of expense or time when looking at ready-to-wear you'll find that manufacturers have the great opportunity of specially weaving or knitting coordinate fabrics and we don't always have that advantage for example on this knit jacket the waistband area has a special stretchy ribbing that coordinates exactly to the fashion fabric it's one entire length of fabric without any seaming and we just can't buy fabric exactly like that but we can kind of make some modifications and that's what we did when copying this original rather than looking for exact ribbing that would match as I mentioned earlier we use knit collars for the lower edge three colors to be exact to for the two for the jacket one for the back and the second was split on either side of the front and the third was split for each sleeve now you may have to change the length of these collars just a little bit but I think it gives that that great accent that's so often we miss when we're able to sew because we just can't find the fabric so we'll just make some modifications when making this jacket I did not make the cut out sections for the waistband ribbing until I had kind of sewn the shoulder seams and set in the sleeves so that I could get the proper fit and then check where I'd like that waistband that collar waistband to be placed here's my pattern and I've worked with this just a little bit as you can see I split one set of collars cutting in half and you may not need all this extra length that's why I've pinned under this section and kind of placed it on my figure where I would like this to be extended I wanted to keep in the bun hole section you wanted to keep both double-breasted buttons without any ribbing I wanted that to be nice and flat fabric so about a one-inch after the button then I started to have my sewing line notice that I have two lines one where I'd like the finished edge and the second allowing 1/4 of an inch seam allowance when you're doing some gleaning from designers you're not going to pattern guide sheets so you have to kind of compromise or make up your sewing steps as you go along and that's what we're doing right now just kind of giving you these ideas so this is the cut out section for this particular collar or waistband I should say for the back of the jacket it was just one entire piece so I just cut that length shorter and what I'd like to show you now the sewing machine is how to put these bands to the lower edge and get that nice sharp mitered corner where the two fabrics meet the sewing detailer I'd like to show you is getting that mitered corner by placing the ribbing as an inset to the jacket easy to put it around the back waistline in the cuff there's just a little detail needed to have it as the inset on each jacket front where you've cut away the section do some stay stitching so I'm stabilizing sewing sewing it along the seam line pivoting and then sewing along the edge so that we have this corner reinforced I've already clipped to the stitching line because that's where I'm going to be doing the turning on the collar inset which is now going to become the waistband I've placed a pin at the seam allowance intersection a quarter of an inch from the lengthwise edge a quarter inch from the top edge this pin point and the point on the garment that the corn the garment must meet meet right sides together and I'm simply going to pin the corners on top of each other and sew together sewing just the lengthwise edge first of all using the 5/8 or the excuse me we're using 1/4 of an inch seam allowance sewing along that stays stitching line and where I'm going to stop is right at the corner and you may want to lock your threads then after clipping this we're going to sew the outer edge or the top edge really and I'm going to swing or pivot this top edge to meet the collar I'm going to stretch the collar band to meet the jacket I've cut this a little bit shorter so that it would give some stretch and now so across the top so I'm sewing this in two steps I'll get it started first of all and now just stretch the collar to meet the jacket and soon we'll see how I've done on my sewing when I turn this right side out hopefully you'll see an accurate corner and sure enough that's what we have by sewing first the law the long edge and then the top edge and stay stitching that area we have a sharp corner now sew the side seams attaching the front to the back put the cuff on the area and do the final finishing touches here's Tonya in our duplicate it has a great look different colorations in the original but the same styling and accents the trim around the neckline is very easy to accomplish by cutting 1 inch strips along the Cross screen of knit fabric and stitching to the collar the waistline treatment of course are those knit collars that are sewn together just like ribbing I hope you'll give this one a try in our second program of this series on duplicates designer duplicates I detailed working with a lot of creative ideas and I'd like to review working with the piping start with a bias strip that's about one in five eighths to 1 and 3/4 inches wide the exact width will depend upon the size of the cording used fold that cording in the middle with wrong sides together and Stitch along the cording now you could use a zipper foot but what I found working so well with this idea is to use a creative foot call pearls and piping allowing me to sew right next to that edge because the grooved out section of the foot follows the cording area leaving a 5/8 of an inch seam allowance from the stitching line to the very cut edge and this is why you want a very accurate strip width when placing the cording along the pocket edge use the same foot and you'll sew long that's initial line giving you a completed edge that looks so neat and professional this is a design or detail that I'm sure many of you can use I'm so glad that you could join me this is the third program of my series on designer duplicates where we've purchased ready-to-wear and to show you the original and then the duplicate the first part of this program I'm going to show you kind of how to interpret ready-to-wear not that we have to follow it line for line or color for color but we can use an idea and then our own fabric collection to make what we like for ourselves this is our original it's a tuxedo outfit with a blouse and vest combined Roberta is wearing this great looking outfit perfect for holiday wear evening wear notice that the vest is attached to the blouse that the shoulder seams and at the underarm there isn't a back to the vest it's a combo of a blouse invest in one I'm going to use this idea in the first part of our program but we're not exactly going to use the same coloration different fabrics in a different look but a great designer detail the second half of this program we're going to work with pattern design ideas and applying them to a new pattern will get set up the table right now when working with ready-to-wear many times you'll just be using portions the designer ideas for your project let's take a closer look at our original and show you the portion that I'm going to use as I mentioned earlier the vest is attached to the shoulder seam and the side seam so that it is one unit there isn't a completed vest back but they try to simulate that look by having a facing that's exposed the facing is of white attached to the back of the jacket to make this look like a vest back well we are going to not use that facing technique it kind of takes a little bit more time than I wanted I want a more casual look instead I've simply added the vest to the front of the blouse of the shoulder and at the side seam but I used a solid blouse back you can combine whatever idea that you would like but this was the idea that I went with when working with the pattern you need a blouse that has shirt tails and a vest pattern luckily this one happened to have both elements as one regardless of what if you're using one pattern or combining one or two the cutting directions are very simple you're going to cut one blouse and we use the purple fabric in this instance and then just fronts from the vest pieces we did not have to cut the back pieces the construction is simple because we're not constructing the back we're combining the vest and blouses one your vest pattern will either have a facing or it will be lined in this instance we're working with a lined vest front so I have actually four vest fronts two for the left and two for the right side I have fusible interfacing placed on one side of the vest front if your pattern called for a facing please put fusible interfacing on the facing pin the cut edges together and we're going to sew or Serge the edges and I'll give you a fast construction idea for putting the vest runs together your next step is to sew the armhole seam in the center front area rather than sewing in a continuous seam in the center front I'm going to sew it in four short seams traditionally we would sew the center front area pivot at the vest point sew down the front pivot at the hem and then again at the V point at the hemline instead we're going to sew each section by itself and then I'll show you how to wrap the corners off-camera I've already stitched one of the samples the first row stitching sewing from the shoulder seam to the first traditional pivot point rather than pivoting I stitched right off the fabric edge and we've worked with this technique on collars but here we're going to use it on the points of this vest I've graded the seam allowances and pressed the seam allowances toward the lining the part with the interfacing now I'm going to understood this entire seam sewing from the cut edge to cut edge when under stitching I rather like to work with the multiple zigzag or the serpentine stitch and I'm using the serpentine stitch right now I think it gives a flatter edge more concentration of stitches and the seams live flatter you can buy under stitching this manner you can stitch from cut edge to cut edge whereas you couldn't in the traditional manner now to do the wrap corner treatment on the fold of the fabric we're going to fold it right along that stitching line here's where I had the stitching line and the fabric is folded in this area notice the seam allowance is press to the backside now I'm simply going to stitch from the fold to the next pivot point sewing directly off the fabric and I'll set my machine back for a straight stitch you can finger pin this or pin it with traditional pins I'm just going to quickly fingerprints start sewing at the fold of the fabric and then so wonderful entire edge again so we're not pivoting when I get to this edge I'm simply going to sew off the fabric grade your seam allowances grading the undercut excuse me the under vest the lining of the vest narrower than the outer vest this is lightweight fabric so I'm just going to trim for now the aligning section grading it to about 3/8 of an inch and you can generally do this a little bit more accurate when you're working on a flatter surface and now I'm going to press this pressing in two steps is what I like to do pressing it flat the way you stitched it and then press it in the direction that you're going to be stitching before the under stitching pressing it the way the seam has been stitched and now I'm going to use a presser Point I feel that works a little bit better we will not leave ridges on the right side by pressing the seam allowance toward the lining of the best and now the next step as before would be to do the under stitching under stitching from the point the unfinished point to the sewn point you can practically so right to the very edge now the magic comes with this by turning this right-side out you would finish sewing all the outer edges round the hem to the underarm seam but the nice part about doing the wrap corners is that you get such very sharp corners because you saw it step by step rather than having the bulk in the area of the corners you have already graded and trimmed that you're going to be working as I said sewing the armhole the center edges including the hems leaving the shoulders seam open and the underarm seam open if you'd like on this garment this vest front you could do with the edge stitching around the armhole in the outer edges that's an optional treatment another optional way of sewing this is sewing it on a serger and I'd like to show you that right now if you're a serger owner you can Serge this best in a quicker period of time than actually sewing it the surging saves one step and I'd like to show you that the idea is in this setup and that will give you the time-saving element I'm working with a 3/4 thread serger I using I'm using all-purpose thread in the needles and in the upper looper but in the lower looper I have the thread fuse the fusible type of thread that adheres to fabric when steam and heat are applied let's put in the lower looper it's important when you're surging the seam that that fusible thread is on the underneath side on the facing or lining piece so as I'm surging the sections will surge it from cut edge to cut edge and not pivoting as with a sewing machine notice that I have the interface side on the NART next to the feed dog so that will get the fusible type of thread I'm guiding the fabric so that the needle the left needle is sawing at the five-eighths of an inch seam and I'll just sew from one cut edge to the other cut edge the serger is trimming off the excess seam allowances so I don't have to worry about that notice I'd like to put my pins on parallel to the cut it so I don't make a mistake by surging over them and just sew section by section when I show you the back side of this seam you'll maybe slightly be able to see this white fusible thread it's a little bit heavier than the normal thread I did slightly tent tighten the tension so that it would not peak up to the right side now at the ironing board I'm pressing the seam allowance toward the lining section and the fusible type of thread adheres to that piece of fabric eliminating the step of under stitching then when it's time to do the next row sewing you're going to start sewing from the fold and continue surging and pressing surging and pressing until the outer edge is complete now align the cut edge of the vest at the shoulder and the underarm seam of your blouse and then you're ready to complete the blouse as a pattern direction states Roberta is modeling our finished designer duplicate combining the vest and blouse together I just love the combination of fabrics the rich hues of the purple blouse and the Southwest print of the vest when comparing it to the original you can see both looks are very dynamic and we've done a little interpretation combining the two I hope you'll consider using this idea in one of your next sewing projects next you'll see a designer outfit that was from a pattern there are many designer and grid ideas and the pattern envelope and in pattern books and that's what you see next Marcy's suit is a great green silk tweet with an ultra suede collar a great designer original the best part about it is the easy mock welt pocket I'm going to show you how to transfer that simple construction idea from one pattern to the next you know so often when I ask someone what pattern number they're wearing you say well it's it's a sleeve from one pattern and the collar from another and they combine many different patterns and I'm sure that you have thought of this or have done this yourself but there are some basic guidelines to follow and like to point those out to you when we frame to this jacket we're not going to go step necessarily step by step through the changes of this collar it's just basically putting the seam in a different place but I'll show you some of the guidelines that I like to use for this equestrian style shaping when transferring patterns it's nice if you can use the same pattern size especially if it's from the same pattern company pieces will jive a little bit better I have two shawl collar patterns one on top of the other of the hemline meeting and the grain lines if you could see through the pattern pieces are running parallel to each other they're not necessarily stacked on top of each other they're parallel in this instance so that the grain this shape would go in the same direction the outer edges may not be even and that's not necessary it's more important that the grains are parallel and I'd mark my new sewing line right along this area I'd split my pattern in two and add seam allowances and then I'd get that quick shape with just a little bit of extra work now the mock well pocket has a few more details to it and many patterns that you'll be copying we'll also have several details to them let me show you the original designer pattern one of my favorites to work with instead of a welt pocket having separate small little pieces called lips or that we usually stitch to the area we're simply going to fold under the hemline an edge stitch which I'll show you in a few minutes about 1/4 of an inch from the fold creating the lips of the welt pocket will go together so quickly but you can see the shape of the top of the jacket in the lower section of the jacket we need to transfer that to the other pattern piece for this particular jacket idea you'll need two seams a princess style seam or on this jacket that we're going to work with right now it has a long vertical dart a dart from the hemline to the bustline because of the two seaming in essence they the dart is like a seam we could make this mock welt pocket in this pattern I'll put it back together again but you can see this long vertical dart extended dart I simply cut the pattern along the dart line and then I've marked where my line will be for the pocket in order to do this I simply again placed the pattern pieces one on top of the other making certain that the grain lines were parallel and I can see through this I realized that you possibly can't but they're parallel with each other and that's what gave means a placement line for my pocket but unfortunately it's just not by adding a half inch or five-eighths of an inch seam allowance that will finish this we need a little bit more of a shaping so I did some transferring I placed some tissue paper on top of my original pattern piece of the upper side and the lower side of the front so I would have those two shapes and then move it over to my new pattern now what I found is that my new pattern wasn't as wide as the old or older pattern so you can simply split the two or split it down the center and align the fold line to the pattern piece and pin or tape the same on the other side making sure that the cut edges are matching up so that was a simple transfer you tape it down a little bit more securely to work with the lower edge did the same thing split my new adaptation parallel to the grain line hope I'm putting it on my original let me put it on to the change pattern matching it on both ends and I'll have to do a little overlap this pattern will be wide enough for a pocket my hand fits in this area and then you do this make the same change to the inset pocket the lining pieces which I'll show you in a minute but Rhyno and cutting this out I would have one section for the lower band and the upper side would be attached right to my pattern piece cut out your pattern pieces and now I'll show you how to sew that pocket in just a few minutes the best thing about copying a design from a pattern and transferring it to another pattern so we'll have the pattern guide sheet to follow that's not a luxury we have when purchasing are looking at ready-to-wear and then trying to copy that I'd like to show you the instructions of putting in this mock welt pocket that we found in the pattern guide sheet they're simple and I show you the very basics when working with the pocket on the lower portion of the jacket I've pressed the pocket along the fold line forming the lower lip of the pocket and I've already stitched the pocket lining in place notice that the seam allowances are pressed downward my original pattern the pocket was just a little bit narrower or is a narrower on this new pattern than on the original so I simply folded under the excess tissue and cut out my new pattern pieces on the jacket top the part that's connected to this particular jacket again the top of the pocket I press the fold line of the upper pocket and added the pocket lining itself along the fold line of both of these pocket sections I'm going to stitch 1/4 of an inch from the fold now generally a presser foot width is 1/4 of an inch wide or there'll be markings on your foot for that particular width find where 1/4 of an inch marking is from your needle and top stitch or edge stitch 1/4 of an inch and that creates the lips of the pocket traditionally when working with this you have to add small little sections well this is why this is such a great technique so again I'll do a fourth of an inch from the fold along the lower edge of this pocket you would not use white thread on red fabric but you'll still get a very nice edge and it gives that kind of the pseudo edge or the pseudo lip of the of the pocket we need a little pressing next the pressing is required on the top part of the jacket the pocket must extend downward and so the pocket must be pressed downward the lip must be pressed downward toward the pocket lining then place the lower portion of the pocket so that the two edges the folded edges meet forming the pocket now if I had top stitched in red it would look even better at each side pin the layers together I'll pin it on this side so that they're matching exactly and then we'll need to do a little bit additional sewing lift up the top of the jacket and Stitch the lower edges of the pocket together and then of course clean finish these edges then machine-based the side seams together to form the pocket on this sample I have a completed pocket and really it was very fast to put together only a few rows of stitching and I've already stitched the dart on this sample so that the pocket is enclosed on one side Marcy's wearing our finished duplicate the red wool jacket with it we put the pocket in the side seams area of this jacket it has a great look to it an easy technique when you compare it with the original pattern and the duplicate pattern they have very comparable details the nice part about sawing is the flexibility that we have to transfer one pattern idea to another I hope you'll consider some of these and some future projects [Music] the sewing segments of this third program of designer duplicates I detailed obviously some different techniques when surging I'd like to review how to wrap corners the key that I have found in working with this is to use thread fuse the melt adhesive thread that is sensitive to heat and moisture and will bond fabric to fabric when sewing the edges of the vest or collars or cuffs in this ends instance the vest edges I have surged the edges with the thread fuse in the lower looper in this edge has been pressed and it adheres very tightly to this area then when surging the next section fold the fabric along the needle line and Serge the next stitch making certain that the serger thread the thread fuse is on the interfacing side and you'll get great wrap corners a terrific look this wraps up our video tape and designer duplicates I hope you've enjoyed our combination of originals and duplicates and that you'll be encouraged to make some of these changes when you're sewing at home this how to video tape has been brought to you in part by thought simply the best european line of sewing machines by Pelin quality products by Freudenberg beginner a tradition of quality and scissors and shears by the Makah pattern company the most fashionable name in contemporary home sewing patterns and by nancy's notion sewing catalog featuring specialty sewing books and notions [Music]

Channel: PFAFF Talk

Views: 9,586

Keywords: pfaff, sewing machine, nancy zieman, sewing with nancy, jackets, sewing jackets, velvet, sleeve setting, collars, creative 1475, 1475cd, 1475, tailoring

Id: kQZMnSpKxC4

Length: 61min 10sec (3670 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 06 2020