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Showing posts with label Lori Van Monan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lori Van Monan. Show all posts

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Ench By Sew-12 Creating Dress Forms (Podcast Episode)

Co-Published with the Show Notes for Enchanted By Sewing


Hey! The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!
Two Ways to Listen
i)You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on the this link
** * * 
~ OR ~
ii)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes 
Did I miss any links mentioned in the show? If so, please post here and let me know, or else email me ,  EnchantedBySewing AT gmail
~~~
This month show is about my experiences creating and using two different types of dress forms - 
a) A duct tape dress form
b) A Uniquely You dress form
~ ~ ~

Please send your thoughts about this month or next month's topic – Jeans Sewing -in the Post a Comment section,  below :-)
~ ~ ~

Please Note
My Uniquely You Dress Form Instructor was Judith Jackson. I referred to her as "our teacher" in the original recording, as I was waiting to ask her permission to include her name. She said 'yes' :-)

In this month's show

1) What is a dress form?
a. A mannequin who’se shaped like you. A fitting or body double, a way to fit patterns, garments, drape and design as though you’re the tailor and the dress form is you
b. Listen to Lori's Sew Forth Now Podcast for a history of dress forms
Lori not only talked about history, she also talked about the style of dress form and I’m not repeating any of that. Please listen to her wonderful show (she said it would remain there for the near future) esp interesting to me is lori’s archeologic work, uncovering the history of dress forms.
Lori uses an adjustable dress form, I worked with two different types – duct tape and a Uniquely You dress form
c.
2) Why I wanted a dress form
a. Fit
b. Trying out patterns and muslins in 3D
c.  Create and play around with my own designs, and minor commercial pattern alterations and design changes
d.  Because Lori made them sound so appealing!
e. Maybe for photographing in my blog….

3) Body Issues and your Team
a. Body issues are a part of our culture
b. Find helpers/team who help us feel good about ourselves
c. A dress form helps us distance ourselves from body issues – it’s just data
d. A dress form helps us notice our best features – what do I want to flatter more?
e. A dress form helps us make patterns or garments we design ourselves more flattering, so we learn to play up our best features
f. A dress form allows us to experiment with a muslin/toile – Can I make a shirtwaist that flatters my figure type?
g. Choosing our Team

4) Two types of dress forms I experienced. Basically what they are,  

5) Cost

6) Materials (tools)   and Resources (web stuff) - I list some Resources below

7) Safety- Working around kids,  young or older goofy, fun loving kids - Two good reasons not to !
8) Social Comfort/Body Issues – You need a work group, at least one other person. Find someone who supports your best interests and helps you feel good about yourself
9) How I’ve used my dress forms , what other things I or others might do w/ them
 - Fitting, altering, trying out new patterns, hand sewing/deconstructed neckbands - helps me conform neckline to lay well on me
- A Wedding in your future? Formal/Special Occasion Wear I would guess that if you’re doing a formal dress for someone with beading or close fitting - and maybe they aren't available at the drop of a hat, might be worth making a duct tape (or other type )  dress form for them


10) Technicos: In-depth details about how I made these two different styles of dress forms. What I actually did to create them

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Resources

Listen to the Podcast on web - no need to download to a mobile device
http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/draft5_dress_formENCHANTEDbySewingFINAL.mp3

There are so many fun things about dress forms - making them, draping on them,  displaying historic, artistic and other garments on them, and enjoying them as an art form - whether full sized, half size, miniature or doll size. There are even topiary forms inspired by dress forms. Whenever I see a good dress form that fits any of these categories, I pin it on one of my virtual bulletin boards http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/dress-forms/

Lori recorded a Sew Forth Now podcast episode on dress forms. I tried not to duplicate anything she already talked about in this great show

Dress forms are a popular theme with sewing bloggers 

"Threads" Magazine has many articles related to dress forms

Quick and Easy Duct-Tape Dress Form



Some people think Paper Tape works better than duct tape. Haven't tried it myself, but I'd be game!
      http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3633/paper-tape-dress-form Paper Tape Dress Form


Kenneth King make an extra body to use for two people  in Threads issue 161
 June/July 2012


I looked in the Threads Magazine Archive to find different articles. You can find that at...
http://www.tauntonstore.com/threads-magazine-issues.html  You can buy individual Threads back issues, if you or your public library doesn't have them on the shelf.


1) "Fit for Everyone" by Kenneth D. King in issue #161. This describes how to sew removable covers to make your dress form work for multiple figures.
A. "Tip: Meet Madeline" by Sandy Moeckel in issue #153. This tip describes how Sandy inexpensively made her dress form suitable for herself as well as her daughter.
1) "Tip: Identical Body Double" by Anne K. Brenz in issue #144. This tip describes the way Anne made her dress form fit her every curve.
"The Dress Form–A Sewer's Best Friend" by Carol Fresia in issue #123. Described below.
"Make An Arm for Your Dress Form" by Shirley Botsford in issue #90.
"Clone Yourself a Fitting Assistant" by David Page Coffin in issue #75. This article explains how to make a dress form from scratch.

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Things I might try out for arty fun and practice with my dress form 


Making a newspaper dress on a dress form. Fun way to learn draping?


tutu might also be a fun way to experiment with draping on a dress form too "How to make a tutu out of paper" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp6nKpzd0eI

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Podcast Togetherness: Mother-Daughter Sewing ( Ench By Sew-008 )


Hey, the May 2013 "Enchanted By Sewing" Podcast is available in the pod-o-sphere!

Why so early this month?

We Want to be on Time for Mother's
- or is that Daughter's? -
 Day!


You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on this linkOr, download this podcast free from iTunes, to play on your favorite mobile device/mp3 player (like an iPhone or an Android), by clicking on this link to iTunes.
~~~

• This podcast episode is dedicated to Lori Van Monan, a mother who has influenced my sewing, blogging and podcasting tremendously. Lori is the creator and producer of the long time Sew Forth Now Podcast, as well as the Girls in the Garden Blog, which she continues to host. Lori  (who recently became a grandmother !) continues to sew for her four daughters, who are now young women. She also often shares ways that her mother and grandmother influenced her sewing. Thanks again for sew much inspiration Lori!


Daughter Kristen and her mother Tammy
are sewing cohorts and classmates
in the Cañada Fashion Sewing Program

In celebration of Mother’s Day… Laurel reflects on her own experiences with mother-daughter sewing. She also finds out that this relationship doesn’t always fit into a traditional pattern. This conversation with sewing cohorts, who happen to be related, may surprise you as much as it did the show hostess.
   
• In this month's podcast I spoke with daughter Kristen, and her mother Tammy in the  Cañada Fashion Sewing Program lab. In the illustration on the left, Kristen is wearing the dress she sewed for class, that we talk about in the 'cast. Below you'll find the alteration Kristen made to the sleeves she wasn't happy with.

  Kristen is a died-in-wool Romantic, like me. You'll hear us talking about this Romance of Hats book just before our official interview time began. Kristen and I both took the millinery class on campus through the Cañada Fashion Sewing Program


–       
Updated sleeves Kristen created for
her purple dress
Stone Mountain and Daughter is a fabric store in Berkley,  is a favorite of many in the Cañada Fashion Sewing Program
o   Tammy is a fan of Katie R. who works there and has helped this new sewer feel confident about choosing fabrics
o   Kristen likes the cotton sateen sold at Stone Mountain and Daughter

-       Tammy is sewing Kwik Sew pattern, hoodie style 3693
o   “Easy and great for beginners”   http://sewing.patternreview.com/review/pattern/66379
Yes! I admit that I bought this pattern from Pattern Review, after hearing about Tammy's plans!!

-         Sewing Velvet
o   Woops, Laurel, when it comes to pressing velvet,  it's a nail BOARD not a nail brush!


• Tammy and Laurel are both into crinkly/ruffled knits
Laurel's Fashion Forward Mermaid Tee
This is the kind of fabric Tammy and I were talking about
sharing a liking for
* This "Bisou Stretch Mini Ruffle Knit" (the link below is for Fabric.Com) is one of the styles of ruffled fabric Tammy and I were talking about. I bought my mint-green version at Stone Mountain and Daughter, and made my "Fashion Forward Mermaid" tee shirt  (above) with it, using a deconstructed (non-finished edge) at the neckline and sleeve edges. (Sorry I can't find a link for this fabric there. If you can find it there- or at some other favorite source- feel free to post a link)

http://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=1958a8df-d243-4199-a706-f422e4357168Bisou Stretch Mini Ruffle Knit White




This Morton Salt Girl's dress, may well have been Mama's inspiration for my own butter yellow outfit as a kid.