Vogue Patterns Magazine August/September 2013

THE ULTIMATE SEWING MAGAZINE

DESIGNERS WHO CREATE WITH A CONSCIENCE | 100 ACTS OF SEWING HOW TO UPCYCLE ANYTHING | LACE COLLAGE | NATURAL DYES BIOCOUTURE | CHIC FLORAL FASHION AND MORE

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013 VOGUEPATTERNS.COM

Contents Vogue Patterns Magazine August/September 2013

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ON THE COVER Suno’s creative director, Erin Beatty, with model Mari Agory, both wearing dresses from Suno’s fall 2013 collection. Hair and makeup by Joseph Boggess. Above: Beatty and Suno founder Max Osterweis.

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Creating With a Conscience

One Hundred Acts of Sewing

Urban Blossoms

By investing in the idea of community, four new designers prove fashion can be both sustainable and successful.

by Sandy Black

Fiber artist Sonya Philip takes her longing for a fashion uniform, a simple dress design, and a traditional skill and turns them into a big statement meant to inspire.

by Daryl Brower

Feminine cuts and showstopping floral prints in new styles from the Vogue Patterns and Butterick collections.

CHRISTELLE DE CASTRO

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS Editor’s Note 5 Letters | Contributors 7 What Are You Sewing? 8 Must-Haves 10 Destinations | TACtile Arts Center 13

by Jean Hartig

COUTURE CORNER Conversations in Lace 42 Collaging creates dimension and texture for a one-of-a-kind garment.

by Samantha Sleeper

FASHION HISTORY

SEW BIZ

The Wearing of the Green 46

Noon Design Studio 14

A killer hue with a checkered past.

by Daryl Brower

by Jean Hartig

Filly Designs 18 A passion for creating rooted in nature, function, and friendship.

by Jean Hartig TIPS & TOOLS Wear, Care, and Repair 22 Tips for giving your old clothes new life.

by Alison Gwilt

The Thrifty Art 26 Draw inspriration from a centuries-old skill to save tattered garments.

by Gillian Conahan

MASTER INSTRUCTION Corset Building 30 Part II: Cutting and fitting the mock-up.

by Linda Sparks

Heritage Lace 34 A reimagined vintage tablecloth meets a dye with a 2,500-year history to produce a sunny summer jacket.

by Kathryn Brenne

BEYOND THE BOBBIN Nicole Dextras’s Garden Couture 62 Fashionable Fabrics Grown From Bacteria 64

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by Gillian Conahan

STYLE STRATEGY Fabric Matching 68 FREE PROJECTS Making Do 70 Transforming midcentury thrift into modern style.

Frida Fashion 74 Using embroidered insets to enliven a basic top.

THREAD TALES Buttercup’s Journey 96

by Kathalyn Wilson

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DRESS : BROCADE , MOOD DESIGNER FABRICS INC . RIBBON : MOKUBA NEW YORK

Make your mark in Vintage Vogue Reclaim the glamour of a bygone era in our Vintage Vogue designs, a collection of over thirty-five dress and accessory styles that can take you from the sleek bias-cut looks of the thirties to the wideshouldered frocks of the forties into the full crinoline skirts of the fifties.

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VINTAGE VOGUE

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EDITOR’S NOTE

In Good Company

A

t various points in my life I’ve heard people wish aloud for the “fashion uniform”: A former supervisor wanted a closet full of A-line skirts made up in different colors. A friend aims to make shirtdresses in a variety of seasonal fabrics. Around here, we often talk about whittling down our closets to the essentials, including only those handmade high-quality garments meant to last.

For some, this reflects a desire to cope with a hectic lifestyle—we want to look fashionable without having to spend too much time thinking about it each morning. Others—who are fed up with retail options and empowered with the self-sufficiency provided by knowing how to sew—seek a wardrobe with a custom fit and individualized style. And then there are those for whom it’s also a matter of sustainability, which brings me to this issue’s theme.

The professionals featured within these pages represent a socially proactive portion of our community—artisans and designers who respect the entire process of garment construction so much that they’ve set up their own companies based on an eco-minded, ethical approach. They all embrace the slow movement, each in an individual, innovative style. Take cover subject Erin Beatty and her partner Max Osterweis (page 52), for example. Wanting to do something positive to support Kenya’s economy, raise its profile, and foster the rich talents of its people, Osterweis decided to use his extensive vintage collection of bold kanga fabrics to manufacture clothing in Africa. Their company,

Suno, now works with artisans in Africa and India to produce a clothing line that has been garnering attention from celebrities and winning awards.

Jane Palmer, founder of Noon Design Studio, has always embraced the marriage of nature and invention and uses exclusively natural ingredients such as flowers, roots, bio-waste, and even beetle shells in her California studio, where she works with five fellow artisans to custom dye garments (page 14).

In addition to the profiles, we’ve included plenty of how-to instruction and expert advice: Fashion designer Samantha Sleeper walks us step by step through her lace collaging technique (page 42), contributing editor Kathryn Brenne transforms an antique tablecloth into a sunny summer jacket with turmeric (page 34), and we’ve upcycled a men’s suit jacket into fashionable shorts (page 70). In “Frida Fashion” (page 74) we revitalize an ordinary ready-towear shirt with emboidered panels from a vintage dress.

I hope these pages inspire you to make, alter, and mend with creative, eco-friendly results— and provide you with the good company of those who also take pride in responsibly creating from scratch.

Suzanne Pettypiece, editor

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TIPS & TOOLS

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The Thrifty Art Draw Inspiration From a Centuries-Old Skill to Save Tattered Garments and Even Decorate New Ones

BY GILLIAN CONAHAN

TIP The more coarsely woven your modern fabric, the easier it will be to darn.

Look for thick fibers and a loose weave for your first try.

In the age of fast fashion, it’s easy to forget that fabric was once precious and expensive. But mending used to be a vital everyday task, and darning—the art of reweaving torn or threadbare fabrics with a needle and thread—was an important part of working-class girls’ education from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century.

After developing their skills with embroidery techniques, students embarked on meticulous darning samplers like the one shown here, which originated in the Netherlands around the early twentieth century, in order to prove their skills.

Thérèse de Dillmont’s Encyclopedia of Needlework, first printed in 1884, devotes an entire chapter to mending techniques, including four major types of darning. The most basic form, which de Dillmont calls linen darning, replaces a plain-woven fabric, and is demonstrated in the right column of the sampler on the facing page (shown from the wrong side). Twill darning, also known as satin or cashmere darning, is shown in the center column. Here, each thread passes over and under two threads at a time, creating a diagonal pattern in the weave. Other techniques include damask darning, which replicates more intricately woven fabrics, and fine drawing, in which a needle is threaded with a single hair to stitch threads together as invisibly as possible.

For each darn, the threads are anchored in the fabric to each side of the opening, passing over and under the existing threads. Viewed from the right side, as shown on the following page, the majority of these woven-in threads are hidden behind the original weave. Where the hole to be darned is irregular, as shown in the third column of the sampler, the anchoring threads echo the shape of the hole to ensure that all the

threads are solidly attached. At each turn of the back-and-forth thread, a tiny loop is left slack to prevent any shrinkage from puckering the fabric.

When executed in matching thread—purchased specially or unraveled from an inconspicuous area of the garment—darned areas would all but disappear into the fabric. Samplers such as this one, though, were executed in bright colors to show off the maker’s handiwork. Many incorporated elaborate weave patterns and embroidery for decorative effect.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, cheaper clothes began to edge darning out of its everyday role. During the World War II years, government-issued booklets instructed consumers in basic repair techniques to make scarce fabric resources last as long as possible. Since then darning has been on the wane. Most people simply discard their clothes when they start to show their age, and many modern fabrics are too fine to be rewoven by hand. But for those who relish an heirloom and invest in vintage garments, mending can be worth the effort. Swiss darning is still used to repair handmade socks and sweaters. Specialty-denim repair shops will use a machine-sewn version of darning to restore your designer jeans. Several modern textile artists, including Australian artist Liz Williamson, have even found artistic merit in the technique, using darning motifs in jacquard woven textiles or creating hand-darned tapestries. You too can use the techniques shown here to embellish a blouse or dress with a decoratively darned patch—or who knows, maybe the next time the elbows wear thin on your handmade tweed jacket, you’ll be inspired to borrow a trick from your ancestors to make it as good as new.

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MASTER INSTRUCTION

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MASTER INSTRUCTION

Heritage Lace A Reimagined Vintage Tablecloth Meets a Dye With a 2,500-Year History to Produce a Sunny Summer Jacket

BY KATHRYN BRENNE

SUPPLIES Vogue Patterns 8830, or a jacket pattern with minimal seam detail Vintage cotton or linen tablecloth, with matching napkins if available, about 2 yards (1.8 m) long 3/4 yard (0.7 m) of silk dupioni or similar fabric for the neck and front bands 3/4 yard (0.7 m) of fusible tricot interfacing Stainless steel pot with 5 gallon (20 L) capacity or larger Turmeric White vinegar Scouring agent such as Synthrapol and soda ash

Chances are you have admired your fair share of hand-embroidered tablecloths at flea markets or online and most likely have a few tucked away in the closet. Trouble is, there are only so many tables to dress: Today’s busy lifestyle just doesn’t allow for much formal entertaining. Luckily all it takes to turn an unused treasure into a sunny, summery jacket is turmeric from the spice drawer, some drafting skills, and French seams.

Here’s how.

SELECTING YOUR MATERIALS

Look for an unstained (or minimally stained) medium-weight cloth with attractive lace detailing that can become the focus of the garment’s design. (Matching napkins are helpful for testing dye colors.) Check for broken threads in the lace and make sure any damaged areas will not interfere with your intended pattern layout.

I used a smooth, textured beige silk dupioni for the neck and front bands. (Satin or taffeta could also work, if you want a more glamorous look.) The contrasting color prevented me from having to worry about dyeing the fabric or trying to find an existing, exact match. Fusing tricot interfacing to the dupioni kept the seam allowances from showing through and added a bit more body to the silk, preventing it from stretching around the curved neckline.

Getting the sunny yellow color took a lot of experimenting. Marigold, goldenrod, weld, and a liquid osage-orange extract all produced pale colors. While curry made the house smell won-

derful, it didn’t yield the brightness I wanted.

Turmeric, however, produced the vibrancy I was looking for.

DYEING

The natural dyeing process is like a science experiment. While it’s much easier to use synthetic dyes, the earthy hues derived from plant, tree, insect, nut, and fruit sources are unmatched. Outlined below is the process I used to achieve the color shown on the opposite page.

If you plan to do your own testing, know that the fabric pulls the dye from the water, so new baths have to be made for each swatch of muslin until you get a color close to what you want.

Carefully record dye and water quantities, timing, and results, so that you can remember what you’ve tried and replicate the best versions later.

Once you’ve achieved your desired color with the muslin, test-dye a table napkin to check the color in your actual fabric and refine the procedure before dyeing the tablecloth.

1. Weigh the dry fabric using a kitchen scale to determine how much dye you will need. My tablecloth weighed 2 lb. (900 g)—depending on the size of your tablecloth, you may need to adjust the quantities below. 2. Choose a scouring agent suitable for the fiber content of your fabric to remove any wax, residual soaps, and oils and ensure that the dye absorbs evenly. I used 4 tsp. Synthrapol and 16 tsp. soda ash in a 5 gal. (20 L) stainless steel stockpot. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the cloth and

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BEATTY AND OSTERWEIS ' S PORTRAIT : CHRISTELLE DE CASTRO

Alabama Chanin now pays a living wage to eleven workers and thirty locally based independent contractors who use domestic, organic, custom-dyed jersey to create a timeless series of hand-sewn clothes, accessories, and housewares, reminiscent of the ethos of nineteenth-century textile artist William Morris and the homespun work of early American settlers.

collection features the concept of “modern armor” for a contemporary Joan of Arc, using protective, quilted fabrics and crystal-studded neoprene dresses contrasted with graphic and floral engineered prints of plaids, medieval brocades, and stripes.

Footwear collaborations, such as the one with British designer Nicholas Kirkwood, have also become a signature of Suno. The company's range of colorfully patterned fabric sneakers with recycled rubber soles are made in Kenya with a percentage of sales supporting a Kenyan wildlife charity. “Hopefully we are inspiring larger retailers to reveal where they are producing and how,” says Beatty, “and to think about producing in better, more ethical ways.”

ALABAMA CHANIN, EST. 2006 FLORENCE, ALABAMA

Alabama Chanin, founded by fifty-year-old Natalie Chanin, exemplifies the slow-fashion movement. A former costume designer and fashion stylist, Chanin moved from New York City in 2000 back to her hometown of Florence, Alabama—formerly known as the T-shirt capital of the world—and has made it her mission to support a community of quilters and seamstresses, many of whom previously worked in local mills before they closed in the eighties.

Housed in a reclaimed textile factory, Alabama Chanin now pays a living wage to eleven workers and thirty locally based independent contractors who use domestic, organic, custom-dyed jersey to create a timeless series of hand-sewn clothes, accessories, and housewares, reminiscent of the ethos of nineteenth-century textile artist William Morris and the homespun work of early American settlers. “Sustainable design has shaped our growth, our direction, our products, our materials…from the ground up,” says Chanin. “It plays a part in every plan that we make for the future—it isn’t so much what we do as it is who we are.”

Because this labor-intensive approach to run-

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ning a business is expensive, so are the clothes (prices range from $1,200 for an embroidered poncho to $2,000 to $5,000 for jackets and coats). To make her designs accessible to more people and to promote the methods employed in making them, Chanin shares the patterns and techniques used by her company through a series of DIY books. She even sells her signature organic cotton jersey, dyed in muted shades, which is otherwise hard to find. “We want to find connections at all levels: with our individual customers, our suppliers, other designers, manufacturers, etcetera. Open sourcing is an important part of creating those relationships.

Sharing ideas connects and elevates us all.”

GOODS OF CONSCIENCE, EST. 2005 BRONX, NEW YORK

Fifty-year-old Father Andrew More O’Connor, parish priest, visual artist, and fashion designer, seeks to make clothes that “look good, feel good, and do good,” by bringing the social and material benefits back to the producer communities.

Originally inspired by a retreat to Guatemala in 2005, O’Connor currently employs twenty backstrap weavers in the Guatemalan Maya communities to produce his Social Fabric, a unique combination of strains of color-grown cotton, harvested from ancient “heritage” seed stocks preserved by the community, and lightreflective yarn woven in a signature abstract cross motif that appears in all of O’Connor’s designs. This special cloth was originally developed for ecclesiastical art projects, under the banner Sacred Art Heals (the philosophy and moniker under which O’Connor still produces his own artworks), and he has now adopted it for his soft, tailored menswear, womenswear, and sportswear. Designed in conjunction with a pattern maker in New York City, his collections have captured the attention of Anna Wintour, who chose a pair of his cuffed checked shorts for June 2010 cover girl Cameron Diaz; the style now retails for $225.

Natalie Chanin, shown center right, and scenes from the Alabama Chanin studio.

Urban Blossoms Feminine Cuts and Showstopping Floral Prints In These New Styles From the Vogue Patterns and Butterick Collections

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