Fabric Shopping Outside of Rome

Now, outside of Rome.  You can see the post on fabric stores I visited in Rome here.

The market in Mantova (Mantua) was my favourite fabric buying experience, and my favourite shopping experience in general.  The market takes over all of the streets in the older part of the city, where there are stalls selling everything from clothing, to kitchenware, to sandwiches.  There were two main fabric stalls with some beautiful fabric at low prices, and another couple of stalls selling ribbons and buttons and so forth.  Everyone knew the names of the owners at the first stall, and the poor woman in particular was being run ragged by everyone shouting for her.

In Florence I stumbled upon some of the most exotic fabric I had ever seen.  Let's take a closer look at the right hand most window.

You may look at the skirt on the right mannequin below and say to yourself, "Self, is that fabric made of what appears to be emu feathers?"  Yes, yes it was.

And how much might a meter of feather fabric set you back?  248 Euro.

Here is the last set of photos for you today.  This was a lovely little shop in Vicenza across from the Basilica Palladiana at Piazza dei Signori.  I believe they specialized in some of the most beautiful wool and silk fabrics I had ever seen.

Fabric Shopping in Rome

Since my last post, life has been pretty crazy.  I spent a few months in Italy.  While there I, of course, checked out the fabric stores, and I brought back a few pictures (and pieces!) to share.  The first two posts will be focused on the shops themselves in Rome and outside, and the next posts will cover fabrics and pattern magazines.

This first shop I found was located in the Jewish quarter of Rome and had reasonable prices and some cute prints.  They took only cash with a one meter minimum.  There was another shop in the area which sold patterns, buttons and laces, but I went back several times and couldn't find it anywhere.

This is the inside of the famous Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti.  Rooms and rooms and rooms 

of fabric, but interestingly nothing that really caught my eye.  This may be because I was so overwhelmed by the sheer volume, but it seemed the vast majority of the fabric was very "ordinary".

I'm not sure of the name of this place, but it was right along the Via delle Botteghe Oscure.  They has some lovely fabrics at a range of moderate to higher prices.

This was a shop I stumbled upon by accident while on my way back from the aqueduct park one night.  It's out in the "real" Rome, outside of the old city walls.  It's called Settanni Tessile Arredamento on Via Tuscolana and they sold fabrics, as well as household linens and other fabric/household things at everyday sort of prices.   I was lucky enough that they had a new hire as of two day who spoke English, and I picked up two lovely pieces here.

A few doors down was a sewing machine store.

So that was my fabric store experience in Rome.  Up next, part 2 outside of Rome!

Book Review (of a book I can't read): "Super Tailoring" Super Krojenje by Ana Malalan

One night, while searching for some fiction in the library catalog, I had the idea to search for non-English  drafting books, hoping to find a copy some Japanese books such as Drape Drape or Pattern Magic.  While I found several of those, I also found listings for two Chinese books, a Russian book, and this book.  The Chinese books were pretty ...bad... and appear to be knock offs of the simple, loose and cute style patterns in Japanese fashion sewing books.  The Russian book was primarily text for "recipes" of how to draft the sketches shown and while quite interesting, was not the most useful.

And then there was Super Krojenje.  I love this book.  I can't read a single word, but I love it.  According to Google translate it's in Croatian (their email is Slovenian, so I'm not sure), but I really, really hope at some point it gets released in English.

Why do I love it so much?

The illustrations are excellent and the concepts come across very well without any text.  The author does a particularly great job of showing through diagrams how the principles of a 3D geometric shape are transferred into a 2D pattern piece.  The layouts are clear, clean and easy to read (if you read Croatian).

I will be writing to the author to present my interest in an English republication, and I suggest anyone who can find a copy at their library take a look.

Here's a sampler of the book on issu: http://issuu.com/gorances/docs/superkrojenje-web

Sunburst Bolero - Vogue 8027

Wikipedia- Vogue 8027

Vogue 8027 is a lovely pattern for a bolero and sundress from 1953.  While the dress is nice enough, with lovely angled dart details and unique circular straps, it was the bolero that really caught my attention.  It features three sunbrust-like darts shaping the shoulder/bust area, a shoulder dart, and a band which is also a folded almost shawl collar.

When I recently purchased some remnant fabric and was contemplating how many patterns I had which could fit in a meter of less, I remembered this bolero and decided to test it out.  I was skeptical as to how well it would fit and look given that the cover illustrations always glamorize the end product, but I was intrigued by the pattern pieces and wanted to see how this little beauty of a puzzle would fit together.

 

The pattern is unprinted and while the pieces themselves were in fine condition, the envelope and instructions of my copy were literally crumbling in my hands.  I traced out the pieces and immediately took a photo of the instructions to work from so I could put the original safely away.  Happily, there are only two pieces.

The fabric I used is a nice sage linen which wrinkles if you look at it.  After I pre-washed it I realized why it had been so cheap, even for a remnant- there were sun faded sections on one side which I would have to cut around or strategically place.  I'm not sure exactly how much I had to start, but after cutting all I had was a handful of little scraps left.

It came together very well and quickly.  I tried it on partway through and was rather horrified by the arm gape and flap of loose fabric floating around the back of the arm which I think this is due to the pattern being a size 18 and probably intended for those with larger upper arms.  I was pretty stuck as to how to fix the gape.  Take a look at that pattern piece and try to wrap your head around what to do to fix that!  I took a deep breath and it turned out to be a super simple solution- simply stitch the armhole on further than the pattern indicates and it fits much better.  Another think I added was to add some rows of top stitching to the band in addition to the instructed interfacing to help firm it up even more and to make it look a bit more RTW.

before fix                                                                 after fix

 ___________________________________________________________________

Here's the result.  Not too bad.  I think it may make my shoulders look almost comically large, but I think it is a dramatic enough garment to make it look purposeful.  It reminds me of a turtle shell to be honest.

Now, if I were to make it again, I think I would accentuate the drama even more.  Use a long haired fur for the collar band, make it a much, much wider collar around the neck (to look a bit like this) and maybe add some piping or triangular sun ray shaped top stitching around the darts.  It would be useless for everyday wear, but by gad it would be starlet worthy.

What it looks like after a full day at work.  The nice thing is that since it wrinkles immediately, it looks just as good at the end of the day as it did at the start.  :P

The Denim Dress : Vogue 1273

This dress turned out to be surprisingly straightforward to make and just a flattering as my sketch promised.  The sweetheart neckline stays nice and close, and does wonders for the bust.  The skirt is super easy to put together, the pleats don't puff out at all, and the pockets!  POCKETS!!!!!!!  These photos were taken part way though a full day of public transiting and fabric shopping on Queen St. W. Toronto hence the wrinkles.  I was shoving my phone, tokens, transfers, change.... everything in those babies.  Handiest things ever, pockets.  *snigger*  ...pun intended...

Anywhooo....  As previously mentioned, I ended up using a stretch denim and I'm very happy I did because I don't think I could possibly insert a zipper into the bodice side where there are 4 layers folded over itself at points.  I zigzagged and fake serged the skirt to the bodice and the whole shebang is pull over-able.  In the process I did manage to misalign one of the skirt pleats but at this point I'm happy to leave it be.

Can I complain about Vogue sizing too?  I know it's been overdone, but bear with me.  This pattern has zero ease according to the finished measurements.  Though I was skeptical, after reading the sole somewhat detailed pattern review I could find which had no mention of size difficulties, I cut out a mock up of the bodice in a non-stretch in my measured size of 16.

4" of ease folks.  Four.  Inches.

Admittedly it had none of the foundations layers, but that doesn't account for four inches.  I even scoured the pattern for mention to use a different seam allowance to no avail.  In any case, after re-cutting to a 12 the bodice did fit very well without any other alterations which was a happy surprise, though the princess seams would have made alterations very easy.  In the sewing and final fitting process I think it probably was cut down to a 10 due to the stretch.

left: pocket!  center: pocket!!!  right: inside of bodice showing "french felled seam" and overlay fold over

I used what I'm calling "french felled seams" on the bodice.  I made a french seam to the right side of the fabric, then top stitched.  It made a very, very clean inside, and the stiffness in seams adds a lot of structure which is nice.  I didn't even try to do french seams on the sides where the overlay is sewn into the seam, but just fake serged the layers together, sewed a regular seam, steamed it open, then top stitched to each side.

The only real issue I had that wasn't user error was that the center front tends to curl down as the knot is pulled on by the overlay.  If you boned the bodice I don't think this would be an issue, but I ended up adding a sort of stay across the front to keep things pulled up.

I think this is a lovely pattern and quite versatile if you like to get creative with fabric and finishes.  It could just as easily be made without the overlay for a more plain look, or the skirt could be made on its own if you added a waistband.  I really want to make a second in a large print cotton sateen in a lighter more summery colour.

My attempt at a fashion pose.  That, or I'm checking out my sexy, sexy hiking sandals.