Dupioni Silk Part 3

In this post, I'm sharing some of the helpful dupioni comments I've received. I know it can be difficult to keep up with blog posts, not to mention the comments! So, in case you missed them:

Pam~Off The Cuff ~ is a fabulous sewist, blogger, and merchant. She shared this comment and link:

I wash the living "heck" out of all the dupionni I use both for my custom shirts, and garments for me too...I love what water does to silk! Here's the method I've used for over 10 years...
"Distressing" Silk Dupionni ...surely not the only way, just another way :)

Lindsay T prowls and blogs about the Garment District in addition to her own personal blog. Her recommendation:

Try Mood Fabrics. Their online site is run separately from the store, and they specialize in stocking loads of colors in their silk fabrics. That's where I would go if I was doing a color-specific search. 

The Mood site looks promising. The listing is Shantung/dupioni, and there are 5 pages to choose from.

My Canadian friend Duchesse provided a recommendation:

I've spilled wine on my silk, too. there is a marvelous product sold here (Canada) called Wine-Away; works on silk. 

I'll need to check that out. Good stain removal products are always worth adding to the laundry room!

A couple of differing opinions about Silk Baron. I'm not trying to create controversy by passing along either experience, I just felt like people needed to know both the good and the bad. The jury's out IMO, but I may try a test order or two and see what happens.

Pretty Kitty had a positive experience:

I first heard about Silk Baron from Cynthia Guffey. She had samples of clothes made up using her patterns and I commented on the dupionni fabric. She highly recommended Silk Baron. They have a sale or maybe two sales a year on all the roll ends. You have to sign your email up in advance with them to receive a special invite to their sales, but they don't spam you with lots of info. The sale yardage is small, but good for small projects. You may only get a 1/2 yard or a 1 yard piece of 45" fabric, but the quality is superb. The colors are to die for.... or is that to dye for! 

However, Karen didn't:

Not sure if I should post this publicly but my experience with Silk Baron was not good. I bought several yards for an evening suit and it was badly flawed. I was in a time crunch so had no choice but to make the outfit. I made the owner aware of the problem and got no satisfactory response. Actually, the silence was deafening. Leads me to believe they sell an inferior product, hence the low price(s). 

Karen, I think you should share if that was your experience. You presented your situation in a "just the facts" manner which I appreciate.

I hope these comments are useful. Silk dupioni is fun to sew and wear, and relatively easy to care for. I hope you'll try it.

Update, Q and A, and a Big Thank You!

I've completed 2 weeks at my new job. It's mentally exhausting learning all the new systems, but I like the company. One advantage of starting a new job with a class is that we can teach each other as we learn, and I can see some close bonds developing. Several of my team members are really young, as in right out of college. And then there are the rest of us, umm, "experienced" people. There are 14 people on the team, plus a team lead, analyst, and manager who transferred here from North Carolina.

I've even found bits of time for sewing. You've already seen my latest skirt in the last post, but I also made another pair of TSW Hudson Pants from the green Santa Fe cotton. I wore them out to dinner last night. I love this pattern and foresee future versions with variations. However, my next project will probably be more vestments. I got some of the matching fabric I needed while in Chicago, so I'll be making some gold stoles similar to the green ones I made last fall.

The weather has finally decided to be hot after a late freeze last weekend, so I've also made a minor attempt at culinary gardening:

I'm using containers, along with terra cotta ollas for irrigation. I planted 3 plants: tomato, basil, and mint. I planted basil (left) last year using the same system, and it did pretty well. Mint (front) is easy, so no worries there. I've never had much success with tomatoes (right), but we'll see. Even a few would be nice. Note to self: get a support for that tomato plant!

Laney asked if the new Simplicity 9570 skirt is something I can wear to work.

Actually, it is! The new workplace is business casual, and I'm not seeing many skirts. But I see no reason not to wear it, especially now that summer heat has arrived. I will have to be diligent in wearing the fake tan stuff and maintaining my pedicure, as panty hose aren't required and sandals are ok. 

Jules asked about the Michael Miller Italian fabric and asked for details. 

This is the fabric she's asking about: 

I bought it at Fishman's in Chicago, but it's currently on several fabric websites including eQuilter and Fabric Depot. It's a current Michael Miller fabric called "Parole Italiano".  It also comes with a black background.


judidarling commented on my new header with the cacti blossoms.

I took that picture last year or the year before. Unfortunately, that particular stand of cacti is gone due to some landscaping we had done. There are several other specimens around the property. We have some other varieties of cacti, too, but the orange ones are always the first to open up.


Several of you mentioned the rattlesnake statue, so I'll expand on that a little. Albuquerque has a program called 1% for Art, which means that part of the development budget on large projects has to be spent on artwork. In addition to the snakes, the program has resulted in some other interesting pieces around town, including the quirky "Chevy on a Stick" and many others.

Lastly, thank you very much for all the words of encouragement that you've left for me! I appreciate your support and kind wishes!!!

Comments, Questions and Answers

Duchesse commented about my post "Making a Mood Board": Knit sportswear leggings are not big here for women (young adults, yes) but the hosiery ones are a boon to women cyclists and the perfect in-between before it's so cold. 

I probably should clarify what I mean by leggings, because I'm probably not being clear. I don't mean the form-fitting knitted ones that are first cousins to tights and don't do most people any favors. A more accurate term would be skinny pants--they're close-fitting but don't cling to every detail of one's anatomy. I have a couple of pairs that are made from a fairly substantial firm knit.

Also, thanks for the compliment on my new banner! I'm amazed at how well iPhone pictures can turn out. I took this one at the rug auction and cropped it to fit. Now if I could only get Blogger's template design functions to work, I'd complete some of the other changes I want to make.

Martha asked: I'm curious about the size of your cutting mat. I've been trying to find a large one that fits my table, but the biggest size I've found so far is only 36 x 42... Your's looks much larger. Can you share where you found yours?

Mine is 59" x 33". It came from JoAnn's Fabrics. At the location I bought mine from, they were stored in plain brown corrugated cardboard boxes, with the mats rolled up inside. In other words, not readily noticeable. I used to use two large Dritz mats that I taped together. Each one was roughly half the size of my big mat.

I've also seen them at Ann Silva's, the Albuquerque Bernina dealer. Hers are made out of a different, thinner plastic but they seem to hold up well--she uses them in the classrooms and fabric cutting areas of her store. 

Marciae from the Artisan's Square board commented: Nancy - you must go to Crown Pointe to the rug auction - great place - we haven't been for a couple of years - we're overdue!!

I'd also like to go to the Crownpoint Auction sometime. It's a lot farther than Bernalillo but I understand it's the auction for Navajo rugs. Now would be a good time to go if you can afford it.

Mary, have fun on your Southwestern travels! December 8 will be here before you know it! Be sure to post about your adventures.

I've received many posts on recent projects--thank you, thank you! It's nice to receive your kind feedback on my projects. I'm almost done with the TSW Now Shirt. The pajamas were fun and quick--sometimes it's nice to bang out a project quickly and focus on how to produce efficiently. Not everything needs to be a Project with a capital P, know what I mean?

Don't forget to enter the giveaway! The Era Jacket is proving to be a favorite.

TSW Urban Pants Questions

I've had a couple of questions about the Urban Pants that I just posted about.

meredithp commented: These look really nice-I like the seam down the front. Any reason you haven't done the button/tab thing?

I haven't done the detail because I thought it might not look so great on a full length pant. The Urban Pants design is cropped. Plus, I didn't see making ventilated pants now that the weather is getting cold. Someday I'll get around to making the cropped ones and take the time for it.

Mary also commented: Recently having 2 disasters in a row with SW patterns, I wonder if these run true to size?

I'm not exactly sure what "true to size" means with respect to patterns. I mean, people's bodies vary a lot and so do their fit preferences.

I remember the first time I made the Plaza Pants, which are based on the same block. It was at a Sewing Workshop Getaway in 2007. Based on my (then) weight, Linda Lee recommended cutting out a Large. Linda likes her clothes to have an easy fit (like Eileen Fisher), but I knew how I am, so Linda was able to show me how to make the Medium work for me with a couple of minor fitting tweaks. The fit was OK, not perfect, but improved when I got them home and shortened the crotch seam by taking off the waistband, trimming the top of the pants, sewing it back on. I'm still basing my pants on a Medium even though my weight has creeped up a little bit--I've only had to make some minor adjustments to make them work. Plus, I still think I can lose 5-7 pounds.

Still with me? My conclusion is that these pants are true to my size. Your mileage may vary, but these do not seem to be designed to be overly loose fitting. I like them.

And I like the front seam too. Not exactly princess seam pants, but I do like the vertical line. Not as distinctive as the Plaza Pants with the big pleat down the front, and the seam also provides extra opportunities for fit. I'm planning on morphing this pattern into a version of the Valencia Pants, again the same block, but in a one-seam version.

Sewing for a Higher Power, Part Three

Mary commented on Sewing for a Higher Power, Part Two:

Interesting posts on the higher power sewing. I am interested in the colors-are the greens for Easter this coming spring?

Good question, Mary, but actually these were made for Ordinary Time of the traditional liturgical calendar. In my case, that's Episcopalian, but it's also used by other denominations, among them Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ. I'm sure there are other denominations as well, but those were the first that came to mind.

The liturgical color normally assigned to Ordinary Time is green.

Probably more than you want to know, but this detailed description of Ordinary Time came from Wikipedia, source of all knowledge, lol:

Ordinary Time is a season of the Christian (especially the Catholic) liturgical calendar. The English name is intended to translate the Latin term Tempus per annum (literally "time through the year"). Ordinary Time comprises the two periods — one following Epiphany (feast or season), the other following Pentecost -- which do not fall under the "strong seasons" of Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter.

There are still a few weeks left until Advent, which starts the last week of November, so that's why there was some time pressure.

Also, meredithp asked:

Is the Byzantine one the one in the second photo that wraps around?

Yes, the second one is the Byzantine style our parish's deacons prefer.

New vestments have been an ongoing project for my parish. The old ones have seen a lot of wear and most are polyester besides. So we're gradually replacing them. They're coming from a number of sources so it's not all on me.

Housekeeping and Q/A

A shout out to Qwest for the great customer service they provided this morning re: my wifi network connection. It was easy to fix and the representative was friendly and extremely helpful.

I also had a problem with my iPhone last week after returning from Vegas and the customer service rep was great. Of course, this is what I expect from AppleCare.

Bloglines is shutting down as of 10/1/10, so I converted to Google Reader. OMG! Why didn't someone tell me how much better it is? It was also very easy to make the switch. If you use Bloglines, be sure to make this change so you don't lose all your feeds. Bloglines posted instructions on how to do this the last time I accessed their page.

*****

I've received several inquiries about Smudge. He went back for another checkup on Wednesday. The vet is happy about his progress and prescribed a different eye drop. He remains free of the dreaded e-collar but is restricted to the house until the stitches are removed next week.

julia left a comment on my last post: "This sounds like fun! Is this "Trading Post" a NG event or a chapter one? How does it work?"

julia, this is a chapter trading post that was started several years ago. The Albuquerque Chapter is a little different from some of the other ASGs, in that we have monthly chapter meetings and the NGs are secondary. We have a table at our meetings where members can bring items they want to get rid of--usually fabric, patterns, magazines or notions. Other members can then take those items by leaving a small donation. It's all on the honor system. Personally, I generally leave a dollar per item. More if something large, like several yards of fabric or less if something small like a zipper.