Reverse enginering

Seam lines thread basted on pants

I started taking an online Craftsy class, called Jeanius. If you are not familiar with Craftsy, I can highly recommend them. The classes are very well done, the instructors are knowledgeable, you can get feed-back from the instructor and what is even better you down load the class once and can look at it  when you  are ready. This has been perfect for me because life keeps getting in the way, and I have to put the project on hold to deal with it.
The class Jeanius,  teaches how to do something called "reverse engineer" a pattern from an existing garment. You do not need to take the garment apart (in fact you should not deconstruct the garment).
I'm making two patterns, one for a pair of my husbands favorite pants and one for a friend.
My husband put his knee through his last pair of Fletcher Jones pants. Sadly, Fletcher Jones has gone out of business so we cannot buy any replacements. My friend has some beautiful linen pants she bought in Europe and that too is not practical to replace, so both are perfect candidate for reverse engineering.
 At the start, the whole garment is thread basted, to show the seam lines. Next, the lines are transferred to a piece of silk organza (this is called making a "rub-off") and then a paper pattern can be made.
I have just reached the stage where I can begin to transfer the thread-basted seam lines onto silk organza to make a so-called "rub off".
 I'll keep you posted as this project progresses.

Alterations: Leather coat

Most of my(local) work is doing alterations for people and in the last week or so, I've altered a bridesmaid dress, hemmed dresses, skirts and pants, replaced a zipper (my least favorite job) and reset sleeves on a beautiful hand-made leather coat.

leather coat with reset sleeves

I was pretty nervous about the leather coat, because I had never worked with leather before.
I bought special needles to sew leather and the sales-lady at the local sewing machine store gave me some Teflon (tm) stickers to put under the pressure foot, so that it would glide smoothly over the leather.
Once I've saved up some more money, I am going to buy at least one Teflon pressure foot and maybe a roller foot for sewing leathers, velvet and other heavy, tricky fabric.
The customer who had brought me the coat, had taken it to a tailor but he had not wanted to do the job. It was not difficult, just fiddly. All the seams were top stitched, which required  me to redo them. My greatest concern was that it would show.
Thankfully it turned out very well and the customer was thrilled. That makes a job worth while to me, a happy customer.
Some people would say that doing alterations is boring but you can learn a lot from "deconstructing" garments and then putting them back together again. I think my sewing has gone up a notch and the business is good, steady work.

Chiffon dresses

I am slowly making progress on the chiffon dresses and rainbow colored skirts. What appeared to be relatively easy and straight forward was much more challenging than I thought. Maybe because it is the end of the school year/season, maybe because I simply underestimated the complexity of the task but for some reason progress is painfully slow.

I first made the mistake of miscalculating the amount of fabric needed for the circle skirts. I ended up with 6 half circles instead of 6 circle skirts. Thankfully that problem was easily solved and the skirts only required one fitting. Once the little girls were wearing them, they were so pretty and worth all the effort.

 The dresses turned out to be another matter. I started by pleating the chiffon for the bodice and broke several needles. This should not happen with a light fabric like chiffon but it did. After taking the pleater apart, and adding new needles it did not take long to re-pleat the fabric.

Adding new needles to the smocking

Next I managed to do something to my serger and it made a horrible rattling noise. Again, this is not supposed to happen with a light fabric such as chiffon but after some tinkering the noise went away and so I sewed on.
I decided to use French seams because I thought it would look better and be more durable. French seams do look better on chiffon but they make altering difficult. You also need to take into account that they reduce the size of the garment more than regular seams. I forgot both these things and ended up, unpicking the dresses several times.
I had drawn a new pattern because these dresses were meant for young women rather than children. This meant that the dresses needed some way of opening them, so as to be able to put them on (minor detail). After some fiddling, I worked out a way to open them under the arm, without distorting the lines of the ruching. This meant that I had to back smock (add smocking stitches invisibly to the back of the bodice front and back) all the rows of pleating, which takes a lot of time but in the end I think the result was better.

back of chiffon dress

front of chiffon dress

The final piece of equipment to give out was my ruffler; it just seemed to get stuck. After cleaning and oiling it, the ruffler was back to "normal" and I finally was able to assemble the dresses.

sky blue chiffon dress

lilac chiffon dress with headpiece

The dresses have little flounced sleeves and will be worn over leotards. I will also add some matching flowers to the left shoulder.
Despite all the hassles, I was very happy with the results and the dancers looked beautiful in their flowing dresses.
I think that is the best past of a project: if you can keep going through some (minor) frustrations to see the results at the end. A happy smiling dancer makes it all worth while.

Start of flower circlets

Flower circlet

 Finally I assembled the flower circlets, using directions from Claudia Folts' (Tutu.com) book Finishing touches. I hand dyed some of the silk flowers light blue or lilac to match the dresses, sewed on some little loops so that the circlets could be pinned onto the dancer's hair and added hot-fix Swarovski crystals in colors to match the flowers.

Icing on the Tutu

Finishing the tutu: tacking and decorations

Performance tutu with one round of hand tacks

After sewing the tutu up, and giving it a good steam there is still a lot of work to be done before it is stage ready. 
All tutus, even practice tutus, should be tacked. Tacking means that the layers of tutu net are sewn together. This ensure that the tutu looks even, moves well on stage and doesn't sag. 
When tacking a tutu, two to three layers of ruffles are sewn together with some sort of tack, top to bottom. Tacks are placed around the tutu,  every inch or so. Once groups of layers are tacked together (say 1-3, 4,-6 and 7-9), the tacked layers are tacked together. Tacking a tutu well is an art. When done well, the tutu looks and moves evenly.

If a tutu will be partnered the tutu needs to be hand tacked. This means that hundreds of thread loops (or swing tacks) are sewn through the layers of tutu net. Each tack has to be sewn by hand and then tied off. This is fiddly and time consuming. When I first started doing this, it would take me days (about 2 hours per layer) but I can now hand tack a tutu well in about 4 working hours.

Gun tacking a tutu using a price tagger

 A much quicker alternative is to gun tack a tutu using a price tagger and plastic tacks. The down side of that type of tacking is that the tacks will rip a hole in the tutu before breaking. That is why this type of tacking is unsuitable for partnered tutus. You want the tack to break rather than rip a hole in the tutu! Replacing a tack is easy, replacing whole layers of netting is not.

Gun-tacking works well for corps de ballet tutus because it is relatively fast and inexpensive. With practice, a tutu can be gun tacked in under an hour. If you have lots of tutus to make, that is the way to go.

The only other thing you have to be careful of is the gun tagger's very sharp needle. I cannot tell you how many times (and how painful + messy) I  tacked my thumbs or fingers to a tutu when I first started. Bleeding all over a tutu is not pretty.

If you have a small blood stain, good old spit, is a quick fix. A cold water soak, Oxiclean  (tm) or other enzymatic stain remover are a longer term method of removing blood stains.

Once the tutu is tacked, it is a good idea to steam the tutu one more time. If the tutu seems to be flipping up too much, hanging the tutu right side up, giving it a good steam and then leaving it to hang overnight will usually solve this problem. 
Dancer's sometimes complain about a "duck" or "turkey" butt on their tutu (i.e. that it lifts up at the back). Usually this is because they have been sitting in the tutu or leaning the back of the tutu up against something. The easiest way to prevent this unflattering look is to steam the tutu well and to not "hang-out" in the tutu before going on stage. In extreme cases, I have tied a big ribbon around the tutu, causing all the layers to slope down, and then steamed it. If the tutu is correctly made, this is unnecessary and you actually do not want to do this. Over time, gravity will work on the tutu, along with sweat, body heat, dirt etc. and the tutu will become less "perky".


At this point in the tutu building process, you will have a functional tutu skirt. Depending on the style (Russian, English, French etc.) a bodice can be added or attached, along with decorations.

A sugar plum tutu comes together

To make the tutu more useful, decorations should be added to a so-called plate: a large circle of netting or fabric, which is tacked onto the top of the tutu. Plates can be removed so that the tutu can be more easily washed or cleaned and by alternating plates, a tutu can be used for many different roles.

Sugar plum tutu with a very simple plate added

Plates can have scalloped, pointed or other shaped edges. They can be very simple or very ornate. In some more contemporary tutus, plates can be shaped like playing cards, maps, chess pieces etc.
This is how a tutu is built. Check back for posts on specific tutus: Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan lake and Romantic tutus from Giselle; tutu care, bodices, head pieces and other goodies

Sewing it together

4) Sewing it together:

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After ruffling the netting can be steamed to set the pleats and then the ruffles are sewn to the pants.

Using steam to smooth out tutu ruffles

Depending on the dancer's and choreographer's preference tiny tulle "panty" ruffles can be added to the front of the pants. Panty ruffles are preferable if the tutu is partnered because when the dancer if lifted in the air, the underside of the tutu is visible and you want everything to be covered.

It is important not to make the panty ruffles too long and have them run too far towards the crotch, as this looks very strange (furry or fluffy), can be itchy and if the tutu is white, makes the dancer look as if she is wearing a frilly diaper. It is very hard to cut 0.25-0.5" panty ruffles evenly, so what I do is cut 1" ruffles, sewn them on and then trim them down.

Ruffles can also be placed around the leg openings. Most dancers hate this because if not done perfectly, leg ruffles are intensely itchy and can make the dancers legs look heavy. I would not add them unless asked to do so.

Tutu's worn for performances also have several rows of small ruffles at the back of the pants, called "butt" ruffles. Again it is important not to make these too long as it can make the tutu ride up in the back. Tutus used during rehearsals, called practice tutus, do not have these ruffles.

Tutu ruffles can be sewn on either from the top down or from the bottom up. After making almost 100 tutus, I use a mixture of these two methods. I start sewing the ruffles from the bottom up to about ruffle layer 5 or 6, then I sew the top ruffle pieces on and then fill in the remaining ruffles.

The reason I do this is to make sure that the top ruffle is level. It is also much easier to sewn this ruffle on when I have a bit more room and do not have so much netting to wrestle with. All 9-10 layers of ruffles need to fit into a space of between 2-4 inches (this depends on the size of the tutu and where you are on the tutu; there is less room over the hip for instance than in the front or back).

Adding layer 5, only 4 more to go!

Tutu after steaming, all ready for tacking

 Once all the ruffles are sewn on, the back seam and crotch seams of the pants are sewn up, the leg elastics sewn down and the crotch seam tacked. The final step is to steam and tack the tutu.  Tacking means that the layers of tutu net are sewn together. This ensure that the tutu looks even, moves well on stage and doesn't sag. Tutus often have a metal hoop inserted into a casing, around layer 4. This is a must for the Russian style tutus and is done to add strength and create that very thin, flat look. Until now I have only made the softer, more feminine English style tutus, without hoops. A hooped tutu is much stronger and if you are adding a lot of heavy decorations you need a hoop.
I went to Tutu.com's summer school last year and took a break-out class to learn how to add a hoop into a tutu. I highly recommend anyone thinking about making real tutus to invest in a tutu seminar either from Tutu.com or Tutusthatdance. Just look them up. Even though I could be considered a "seasoned" tutu maker, the experience and all the time (and frustration saving) tips I learned were worth every penny.

SharpScience

I have moved everything to do with home schooling and SharpScience to a new blog: SharpScience
because I felt that had a very different audience. To read about home schooling and SharpScience, please look there.
thanks!

Ruffling

Tutu-torial 3:

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Ruffling

After cutting multiple layers and widths of tutu net, the net is ruffled or pleated. There are a number of ways of doing this:

1) Using a ruffler attachment on a sewing machine

2) Using a specialized ruffler such as a pleater or Johnson ruffler

3) By hand: double, triple or more 

three types of pleating: double hand pleating, smocking pleated, machine ruffled

three types of pleating: double hand pleating, smocking pleated, machine ruffled

A good quality ruffler can cost up to $95.00 but if you are making a lot of tutus it is worth the cost. Make sure that you purchase your brand of machines' ruffler, not a cheap generic. It may all seem to work well in the beginning but the generic rufflers do not have the correct clearance for the feed dogs and can damage them, leading to a very costly repair.  You may think you are "saving" money but trust me on this, you are not!! (Ask me how I know this? I purchased and used a $25.00 generic ruffler which damaged the feed dogs on my machine so badly, broke off teeth, that they had to be replaced to the tune of almost $200, plus I could not use my machine for 8 weeks while it was in the shop, so I was unable to do any work during that time.)

If you were to go into business, one thing to consider is a machine called the Johnson ruffler.

All this machine does is ruffle.

I own a Sally Stanley smocking pleater and for pleating tulle, chiffon, organza etc. it is wonderful if a little slow and time consuming. A smocking pleater is a magical device that has three roller barrels, with multiple channels in it where specialized needles are place. Each needle has to be individually threaded, then the fabric is fed into the pleater and the pleater barrels are moved by cranking a little lever. The fabric slowly rolls through the barrels and comes out with tiny, parrallel pleats.

 

Hand pleating is the only way to create the beautiful, even, professional look of a tutu. I learned how to do this by reading the directions in The Classical Tutu book by Claudia Folts and by watching a Youtube video put out by Tutu.com. 

 Real tutu net pleats very well, tulle is another story. Good quality tulle, made here in the US, is very soft and so it is hard to get it to hold a pleat. I have found though that if you sew or serge 2-3 pieces on top of each other, the tulle has enough body to pleat well. Another advantage of that is that by using multiple layers of tulle, you can create wonderful, vibrant colors and shading.