Pleated sleeves jazz up boring blouse
Dear Vicki: It’s summer, and I work in an office where we are expected to dress well but not necessarily in a suit. I love blouses and skirts and am always looking for something interesting. Can you find me a blouse that looks like summer that I can wear without a jacket that’s not too boring? I can buy boring I want to make one that is better. Thanks. Pam B.
Dear Pam: I love McCall’s 7542. The view we are using in the column has pleated sleeves — just the thing for you. This pattern also has three other sleeve options: tulip, bubble and trumpet. Also, this is one of those patterns that has fitting for A,B, C and D cup sizes. This helps to get a good fit. And when all is said and done, that makes it worth sewing.
Here I will continue to answer Helen A. with her interfacing concerns.
Interfacing is the skeletal system of your garment. How much, where to use it and what kind are decisions you must learn to make intuitively. Every rule is subject to interpretation, amendment, suspension, complete disregard, etc. Use your own sense of logic to determine how to proceed.
Many products are manufactured specifically for interfacing. However, sometimes fashion fabric itself is an excellent choice.
How to choose: Feel it and stretch it to determine how much give there is lengthwise, crosswise and on the bias (important here since you plan to use it in a tie). Fold your fashion fabric over the interfacing and evaluate
the effect. Of course, if it is to be a fusible (not sew-in), you will have to fuse it in order to study it.
If a blanket statement can be made, it is probably that sew-in interfacing is the quality way to go. Fusible, in a sense, becomes one with the fashion fabric and therefore is not as invisible as sew-in. Even Armani uses fusible in some ways.
The newest thing in fusibles is the so-called “cool fuse,” like Touch O’Gold or Sof-Knit. They are designed to bond at lower temperatures, so they work for delicate fabrics such as silk or rayons. More next week.
Each week I share a reader’s tip and thank him or her with a set of 100 fine English hand-sewing needles. The tip this week is from Phoebe McCann of Panama City, Fla. She writes:
“A quick way to sew on a button. Double your thread and even up the ends. Then thread both ends through the eye of your needle. Now there are four strands. Sewing on the button now is done in just a couple of stitches.”