Wow what a lot of ground we covered today!  Andrew added the princess and mock princess seams to a back, this is significant because they are treated far differently than the front ones. We also went over the circle skirt and how to cut it completely on the bias so the draping is even all the way around, trickier than one might think because if the pattern is not placed on the true bias the skirt will not hang properly.  Andrew is making a full circle skirt  for a friend of his along with a crop top that is very fitted which he learned how to line today and the proper fabrics to use for lining and the outside.  There was a lot of information for Andrew to absorb in only 2 hours but he's a trooper and gets the process very easily!  Job well done!
Homework is to draft a front and back with both princess and mock princess seams.  Use the instruction book as a guide to the princess seams and the hand out for the mock princess seams.  I would like one front and one back for each style along with the pattern pieces that are labelled and all the reference points marked as shown in class.  Cut the circle skirt as shown in class completely on the bias and sew together a mock up to bring to class next week.  Finish the crop top mock up and bring it in to show me the finished product. If there are any questions just call me and ask.
Have a great week! 

Ok so this is the suit that seems to never end..... well I have been very busy going on vacation, teaching, going to the gym etc.....  Now I decided that this needs to be finished Andrew has been very patient it's a good job he didn't have somewhere to wear it to, but then again if I did have a deadline it would have been done on time! 
There are some advantages to taking my time and process things slowly and here is a perfect example:
The fabric is so delicate and beautiful that I want to do show the fabric off in the best possible way.  Yesterday I finally got the canvas ready with the stay sewn on so to see how it would look I placed the front pieces over the canvas then I had to leave it to do something else.  I came back a couple of hours later and saw something that perplexed me a little everywhere there was a stitch on the canvas the fabric had a dimple!  I looked at it and looked at it and could not believe what I was seeing!  If it looks like this on the table it will look like this on the body and this will not do, not at all!
The other problem was that I have to use fusible interfacing to re-enforce the pocket openings and around the hemline, fusible interfacing no matter how soft almost always leaves some puckers so I tried it on a scrap and true to form it puckered! I could see the outline of the interfacing patch so that was no good.  

What should I do? I asked myself.  So I put my thinking cap on and placed some soft interfacing between the fabric and canvas, it seemed to remove the "dimples", there was my answer; underline the whole jacket!!!  I went to my favourite Fabricland in Barrie and bought some very soft silk-cotton that worked like a charm keeping the soft drape of the fabric while protecting it from the fusible interfacing needed at the pockets and hem.  It is a bit more work but so worth it in the end all the jacket pieces seem to be smiling saying "that's what I'm talking about!!"
Take a look at the pix below to see for yourself the difference on the front.  The back seam looks great, presses very well, the darts are beautiful now the breast pocket welt needs to go in before the canvas is pad-stitched in place so the work continues, keep you posted!

Hello folks, sorry for the delay in posting this homework, it has been a busy weekend.... The progress these two are making is remarkable in a short period of time they have covered a lot of ground!  They are also some pretty accomplished entrepreneurs too with full time jobs, part time businesses and now this intense course complete with all the homework that is dished out LOL!
So there are going to be 2 weeks to catch up with homework the next class is April 8 at 2 pm. Homework is to draft a top for stretch fabrics as shown on page 84 using personal measurements, trace the pattern pieces and mark them with notches as shown in class.  Bring your fabric for the next class to sew the tops together. 
Keep up the good work and please be sure all the homework is complete. 
ciao

Well what a great class for Isabella today!  We covered a lot of ground starting with set-in sleeve installation which she did perfectly!  I have a picture to prove how good this young woman really is, the sleeve had no puckers at all something that a seasoned sewer sometimes has trouble with and this was her first sleeve installation using a woven fabric! I am so very proud of Isabella for being so dedicated to learning tailoring, and she can draft patterns with lightning speed too!  The white thread was to show which sleeve was installed by whom.....  GREAT JOB!

Homework will be to create a second sleeve with the larger upper arm adjustment, draft a second front using different measurements with 2 base darts on page 66 transferring the fullness to the neckline plus graphic number 1; the 2 base darts with the yoke.   In addition I would like you to attempt the draft on page 67 with the darts transferred to the centre front.  The next sewing project will be to choose one of these styles to make a finished garment with sleeves of your choice.  Next class we will be doing the drafts on page 69 with the wing collar and the special sleeve at the top right hand corner. 

This young man never ceases to amaze me with his sewing prowess!  In two short hours he completed the coat dress by sewing together the shoulders, adding the shawl collar to the neckline and finally completing and adding the facing to the dress.  That was only part one!  Part two was to put together the sleeves and install them on the dress.  Well Andrew had a slight problem with the draft so he had to finish it in class and then cut the sleeve, so he cut the sleeves out, sewed them together and I showed him how to install the set-in sleeve on one side and he installed the other side with great ease and only a few pins!   He also got a good lesson on proper pressing techniques to boot! 
Andrew expressed a desire to make a blazer so he can wear it by the end of May at a function so that is what we are going to do.  I can only say be careful what your wish for......  In order to get started on the blazer Andrew has to install many set-in sleeves in different sizes and understand perfectly the relationship between the armhole and the sleeve cap, I also will need to see the end results.  It is going to take work by he is up to the task making extra work for himself is what Andrew does best, even better than sewing! 

Homework is to complete previous sleeve homework, create a sleeve with the larger upper arm adjustment on page 53, remove sleeve on mock up and re-install it.  Make more sleeves and install them to completely understand the concept of the set in sleeve.   I will need to see the completed projects if we are to proceed to the blazer next week.  Next class will be a double class on Friday that will include how to finish a lined top.  For this task  please bring the top sewn together and the lining sewn together, the fabric will need to be underlined with fusi-knit before sewing to maintain the proper structure on the body. 
Have a good week

Wow what a class yesterday!  Intense only scratches the surface!  Both Karen and Dante did a fantastic job with the drafts at home I glad they got them done because the lesson depended on that.  The issue they had to encounter but didn't know it was to have a longer front than back draft.  How does that happen you might ask?  It's actually very common especially with women who have a larger bustline and carry their weight mostly in the front leading to the affliction known as "gaposis"!  It's a terrible affliction that gapes around the armhole usually exposing undergarments, straps among other things others don't need/want to see!  Well there is a cure, it comes in the way of moving the lines on the paper a bit and presto you have a great fitting garment!
Karen called it she tried to figure out what to do but then decided that there was probably a lesson in there somewhere.  She got it right both students learned so much about the draft and then they had to cut and sew a mock up just to keep it interesting.  They were taught how to pin the pattern pieces on the fabric, add seam allowance, cut and finally sew with NO PINS!  That is my trademark move NO PINS they slow everyone down so much besides when the pattern goes together well, the seam allowance are equal there is no need for pinning just ask any of my students how liberating it is to sew without pins! 

Homework is to draft a princess seam dress front and a sheath back using the same measurements and incorporate the necessary adjustments to the master pattern based on the measurements.  Students are to trace the pattern pieces then cut and sew a second mock up at home and bring it in for inspection.  Remember the princess front is in two pieces that need to be joined from the shoulder.  Please call if this is not clear. 
Next class will be a double class starting at 10am on Saturday March 25, 2017; we will be finishing the woven fabrics and start with knits pattern and sewing a tank top so please bring is some knit fabric to cut and sew in class and that will suffice the syllabus for the bodice section.  
Following the bodice students will be starting with sleeves. 
Have a great week!

....so I have been working hard just not on anything related to sewing!  Over the past couple of days we have been making our home made salami.  It starts out as sausages and is hung for a few months to cure, easy enough right?
Not so  much being as picky as we are about quality control we buy the meat and butcher it ourselves, we then grind it to the particular grind that works best to bind the meat during the curing process.  We purchased 3 New York shoulders and 2 fresh hams netting us 75 lbs of ground meat, we seasoned the meat for both salami and sausages to freeze.  That was done on Friday.
Saturday was stuffing day, it takes a lot of time to stuff the casings even with the luxury of a machine, there can't be any air in the links so they need to be poked with a needle.  The links have to be tied as they are stuffed so it's 3 person job stopping and starting at every link, the procedure is this:  one person runs the machine and feeds the meat mixture into the grinder/stuffer, one person holds the casing in place on the stuffing funnel with one hand and regulates the pressure with the other (the most important job; if there is too much pressure the casing will burst, not enough pressure and the salami might have air inside spoiling the salami), the third person is the poker and tier; they tie the links off with twine and poke the links to get the air out of the meat. 
The sausages to freeze are easy to stuff there is no tying or poking or pressure regulation involved, the links are merely separated by twisting the sausage into links the desired length.  But they have to be glazed before vacuum sealing for added protection against freezer burn, what I mean by that is the links are frozen individually on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper for about 2 hours, remove from the freezer and quickly immerse them in water, return to the freezer for another hour and repeat the process one or two more times.  Because there is salt in the meat it tends to get freezer burned more quickly the water glaze helps to protect the sausages.  After all of this we vacuum seal the links and freeze them. 
Whew!  We finished at 9 pm from 8 in the morning that we started.  So that was my weekend how was yours? 
I'm looking forward to the students coming this afternoon :)

Well it was interesting today to say the least!  Andrew was not able to complete his homework so we improvised and worked on the hook and eye for men's pants.  Easy enough right?  Not even close!  This little detail of the hook and eye really makes a difference in the whole construction process of the pants.  Andrew has been wanting to cover this method for a while now and it was just not possible so today happened to be the day, by the end he was scratching his head wondering how it could be so different from adding a simple button and buttonhole!  So we did the other Andrew's pants as a sample showing the process in it's completion, after that we did a couple of samples of the hook and eye and then Andrew did a complete sample of the waistband with the zipper installation.  By the end it made total sense to Andrew the reason why the whole process changed; for a very clean finish on the inside plus a very functional hook and eye that will not come apart easily.  The clean finish is the main reason for doing this specific process to install the waistband. 
What makes me very happy is the fact that Andrew understands what I tell him, his upbeat disposition and puts what I teach him into practice.  He made a pair of pants for his sister that fit perfectly, a body that is not easy to fit, he said it was so gratifying to complete the task successfully and what a great feeling and sense of accomplishment when his sister put the pants on and was happy with them saying this is the first time she had a pair of pants with no stretch that she could wear comfortably.  Kudos Andrew!!!
Alas there is homework for next week please complete the coat dress mock up and sleeves ready for installation. 
Have a great week!

So I thought all this foolishness would be over by now I mean winter!  Instead it's bitterly cold and supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow.  How dumb is that?????
Good job my work is indoors is all I have to say....
We had a great vacation 7 days seems like a short time but in fact it's not especially when one is used to going all the time, sewing, cooking, cleaning etc and then there is nothing to do but relax for a whole week!  That's a long time to sit still in fact I brought some embroidery with me so I passed the time and it was really very relaxing and funny how many people stopped to look at what I was doing and the progress I made each day! 
Glad to be home and starting classes again.  I have a couple of jobs to finish including Andrew's suit that has been resting in pieces for a while now.....  So back to work LOL!