A Thing of Beauty
To some, a lowly buttonhole:
But to me a correctly placed, straight on grain buttonhole, whew! See that one thread, between the lines of stitches? They each did that, making it easy to see if the buttonholes were straight on grain (and yes, two were ripped, just to get them right).
Add to it:
buttons, and you have a thing of beauty. Then do it again, in black:
and you have two vests, ready for the Groom and Best Man, both of whom happen to be my sons:
(You have to trust me that the black hole in this photo is the black vest. Photographing black and white together? A challenge.)
Thoughts while sewing: I am so not a seamstress, much emphasis on that last syllable. The stress of it all, the sweating and procrastinating, sheesh, I'm glad it's all over.
I love the planning, dyeing, weaving, even the ironing (though I wish my mangle were out of storage for this pressing job), but the sewing up? Not so much.
The fabric: silk, again, the same fabric as the shawl, 30's/2 sett at 48. I love this fabric. I don't think there is a sett chart anywhere that will tell you to sett this silk this close. If you take a good look at the buttonhole picture at the top of this page: all you really see are the warp threads, the weft is virtually covered. This sett gives you fewer picks per inch, it is certainly not balanced, and that's what gives it the drape, unlike many plain weave setts. It is also easy to sew with: it is a firmer hand, and doesn't shift on the grain as much as a looser sett. The black fabric is simply a chunk of the same silk, tossed in a 2% dyebath of Lanaset black.
Finally, an oops! from the charm post here, I neglected to describe them. These are made from Precious Metal Clay:
They have the initials of the bride and groom, and the wedding date stamped on the back. They are meant to go on the necklaces the bride is making for each attendant, they will hang at the back, by the clasp. The clay shrinks in the firing process, they were about the size of the dime before firing. (Thanks for asking Dee! What I am forgetting these days is legion).
But to me a correctly placed, straight on grain buttonhole, whew! See that one thread, between the lines of stitches? They each did that, making it easy to see if the buttonholes were straight on grain (and yes, two were ripped, just to get them right).
Add to it:
buttons, and you have a thing of beauty. Then do it again, in black:
and you have two vests, ready for the Groom and Best Man, both of whom happen to be my sons:
(You have to trust me that the black hole in this photo is the black vest. Photographing black and white together? A challenge.)
Thoughts while sewing: I am so not a seamstress, much emphasis on that last syllable. The stress of it all, the sweating and procrastinating, sheesh, I'm glad it's all over.
I love the planning, dyeing, weaving, even the ironing (though I wish my mangle were out of storage for this pressing job), but the sewing up? Not so much.
The fabric: silk, again, the same fabric as the shawl, 30's/2 sett at 48. I love this fabric. I don't think there is a sett chart anywhere that will tell you to sett this silk this close. If you take a good look at the buttonhole picture at the top of this page: all you really see are the warp threads, the weft is virtually covered. This sett gives you fewer picks per inch, it is certainly not balanced, and that's what gives it the drape, unlike many plain weave setts. It is also easy to sew with: it is a firmer hand, and doesn't shift on the grain as much as a looser sett. The black fabric is simply a chunk of the same silk, tossed in a 2% dyebath of Lanaset black.
Finally, an oops! from the charm post here, I neglected to describe them. These are made from Precious Metal Clay:
They have the initials of the bride and groom, and the wedding date stamped on the back. They are meant to go on the necklaces the bride is making for each attendant, they will hang at the back, by the clasp. The clay shrinks in the firing process, they were about the size of the dime before firing. (Thanks for asking Dee! What I am forgetting these days is legion).
posted by Sara at 6:44 AM
9 Comments:
There is no way you can say that you are not a seamstress after completing those buttonholes. They are PERFECT! I have been sewing forever and very public buttonholes still make me sweat. (Give me dark buttonholes on patterned fabric any day.)
I can just hear your sons. "Dude, look at the buttonholes my mom made!"
You continue to amaze me. :)
Beautiful job on the vests! Makes me want to get the sewing machine out and sew. Well...., maybe not.
I am in awe! For a "not a seamstress" you are showing pros up. Are you doing all of this yourself? Do you have any help? You must be getting overwhelmed... when is the wedding?
Professional job, indeed! Now that you've cleared that hurdle what's next (evil grin inserted)?
Things of beauty all! What a lovely wedding it will be!
You say you're so not a seamstress, but I don't think you'll ever find anybody to agree with you :)
As they say 'round these parts, you making those from the ground up (as it were) is wicked cool.
NIce job! It will be a beautiful wedding.
"God is in the details." Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Wow. I've really enjoyed hearing about your prep for the wedding. Thanks for sharing!
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