Sustainable two-tone leather jacket - StyleArc Ziggi

I've been sewing!

For a good reason.

One year ago today, on 24th April 2013, a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed killing and injuring thousands of workers. The fashion industry continues to exploit workers in unsafe conditions, so sewing bloggers and sewers everywhere are uniting to think about who made our clothes - who sewed them, wove the cloth and grew the cotton? The campaign is called the Fashion Revolution and is designed to raise awareness about the value of a garment made with skill and care in our throw-away society.

The idea is to wear a handmade item of clothing inside out and share pictures on social media. I am all for this, but decided to make something complex from sustainable materials and use that for my fashion revolution piece instead.

Enter my two-tone leather jacket...

I made it using the Ziggi moto jacket pattern by StyleArc. Every version I have seen looks so fantastic that I just had to have one myself. I ordered a size 10 based on my measurements and the only alteration I made was to add 5cm to the sleeve length. I am very happy with the fit.

I had leather in two colours, but neither was enough to make a full jacket and both were thicker than the leather usually used in jacket making. I pondered. I sketched. I held leather up in the mirror. I agonised over this for weeks! I made a trial version in fleece to check the fit (I'll blog that one later). I could not decide if a two-tone jacket would work or if the thick leather would work. Then, discussing the dilemma one morning over a coffee, Carolyn said that I should just go for it. So I did. And here I am in the sand dunes overjoyed with my new jacket!

The jacket is actually made from three different fabrics (if you can call leather a fabric). The rusty brown leather, the deep brown leather and some thick, stable lycra (also deep brown) used only in the front side panel and the underarm panel. I chose to use the lycra in that area as I was worried the thick leather would restrict movement if used all over the jacket. I think this did help a bit, but I could probably have also used leather for those panels.

Instead of pins I used 'quilting clips', which are actually just nice, firm hair clips. They worked a treat.

I topstitched the seam allowances on each side of every seam for effect and to compensate for the inability to press or iron the leather into shape. I also quilted the shoulders and upper sleeves. My trusty Bernina 1130, that I bought second-hand around 25 years ago, had no trouble with the leather, even when there were several layers. I used a size 100 leather needle which broke only in the final stages of making the jacket.

You can see here the lovely shaping of the jacket back and the slightly stiff drape of the leather.

I was pleased that I had made the fleece jacket first as I was able to make this jacket without any unpicking. I can hardly believe it as that just never happens to me. I took my time and thought carefully about each step and it just came together beautifully.

I mostly followed the order of construction given in the StyleArc instructions, but I must give credit to Maris for her excellent front zip tutorial and Shams for perfect instructions on inserting the pocket zips and the sleeve zips and gussets.

I think the most difficult part of making the jacket was inserting the lining into the leather shell, mostly because the leather did not want to turn inside out and it was just cumbersome trying to bag out the lining. The excellent drafting helped here though as the jacket just fits together so perfectly with itself and with the lining.

The slight ease across the upper back makes this comfortable to move around in.

Wearing it unzipped.

You can probably tell that I am pretty chuffed with this jacket. I think it might be the best thing I've ever made. And the cost? Around $30.

Yes, you read that right. I only paid for the zips, the lycra used in the side panels and the lining fabric. 

The leather...

...cost me nothing. If you are in Perth, Western Australia I will let you in on the secret - a wonderful volunteer organisation called Remida that collects waste materials from businesses around the city and allows members of the public to take their pick (within reason) for a small annual membership fee. It's a crafters paradise and, for the lucky sewer, there are sometimes lovely fabrics and leather scraps. I'm often there gathering inspiration and doing my bit for sustainable fashion.

Location: sand dunes near Jurien Bay, Western Australia.
Dress: Dress No. 2 from Drape Drape 3 by Hisako Sato.
Boots: good old Aussie Blundstones - op shopped.
Pictures: thanks Mr M xx

Drape Drape 3, No. 14 (8 piece twist collar tuck drape dress)

The first time I looked through 'Drape Drape 3' by Hisako Sato on Christmas Day, this was the dress I wanted to make. However, I was rather daunted by the complexity of the pattern and the fact that my version of this book is in Japanese, which I do not understand.

I decided to attempt an easier pattern from this book first to see how I went. I'd already made things from 'Drape Drape 1' and 'Drape Drape 2' (my editons of these books are in English), so I knew the way the instructions and patterns were set out. Kind of.

Armed with all the knowledge and experience I needed had managed to scrape together, I blindly set forth into unknown Japanese draping territory.

I looked at the diagrams of the pattern pieces and how they went together.
I squinted at the Japanese characters and tried to match them with pattern pieces.
I got completely lost.
I almost gave up...

...then I had an idea. I would trace the diagrams on to tissue paper and make my own mini version of the dress to see how it went together.

I traced the diagrams straight from the book and they seemed to be in proportion. But there were so many pieces - and these were just for the front and back of the dress!

I followed the pleating diagrams and stuck the little pleats down with tiny bits of sticky tape. It then became clear that the dress was lined. The picture below shows the front (top left, made from two different pattern pieces), back (top right), front lining (bottom left) and back lining pieces (bottom right). The lining is far less gathered than the dress itself.

The front piece is pleated and then has a deep fold across the neckline (see below).

This was a very useful (and rather fun) exercise. I was distracted somewhat as I thought of searching for a little doll to try on my paper dress. I'm sure we have one somewhere...

Then sanity resumed (?!) and I set about making the dress for real. The pattern tracing took a long time, but I managed to match up the Japanese characters with the pattern pieces so labelling became easier. If anyone is interested the pieces are as follows: 1-back (cut 2), 2-front, 3-front, 4-neck, 5-back lining (cut on fold), 6-front lining (cut on fold), 7-armhole facing back, 8-armhole facing front.

This dress requires a lot of fabric. The main dress needs 2.8m and then extra for the lining. I had 2m of my one-way stretch cotton jersey and I was determined to make the pattern fit. I decided to do away with the lining for a start. After some rearranging I managed to get all the pattern pieces on my fabric except one end of the huge neckline piece. I cut the remainder of this piece from a scrap of fabric and sewed them together. The seam doesn't show with all the pleats and whatnot.

Once cut out, I folded and stitched all the pleats. There are a lot! All around the neckline of the front and back and all around the neckline piece itself. The pleating transforms the neckline piece from a giant piece of lightning to a lumpy, drapey rectangle that can be folded lengthwise to attach to the front and back dress pieces.

Throughout the whole process of sewing this dress together, I was completely out of my comfort zone. It just seemed like a mess from every angle that was never going to fit together. I envisaged an embarrassing botch job of uneven seams that hung all wrong. I was ready to give up a couple of times, which is not like me, but I'm glad I persevered as it all somehow came together at the end. One issue I took a while to work out was that the neckline forms shoulder straps so the front and back pieces are not actually joined together at the shoulders. I used the armhole facing pieces, which was fine in this case, but I can't see how these would be needed if the dress lining was used. I finished the lower edge with a rolled hem as I wanted to preserve the length. This pattern is made for shorter girls than me!

 When I decided to make this I thought I would wear it as a summer dress. Now it's finished I think I'm more likely to wear it as a tunic with boots. This is partly because of the length, which is shorter than my preferred dress length, and also because it billows rather a lot in the wind and I feel I'm going to give passers by an eyeful at any moment. Lining the dress would have helped this aspect.

Overall I am very happy with this dress, despite my 7 year-old telling me it's not my best work! I like that it is full, but still skims the body due to the shaping and the drape of the fabric. The neckline is a nice feature. I'm planning a bright pair of leggings underneath once the weather cools - hot pink takes my fancy - and some gorgeous boots of course :)

Lace and flowers - Drape Drape 3, No 2 (One pattern drape dress)

Well, I did it! I finally got up the courage to tackle a pattern from Drape Drape 3 by Hisako Sato, which is all in Japanese (well all except the title and some numbers)! OK, I did take the easy option of a dress with only one pattern piece, but hey, it's in Japanese! Baby steps people!

If you have been looking closely, you may have noticed that my version has two sleeves, compared to one in the pattern. I thought one sleeve might be too avant garde even for me (radical, ground breaker that I am), so I used the sleeve from Dress No. 7 in the same book. I shortened and tapered it a bit he cuff to match the other sleeve, but it went in perfectly with no adjustments necessary. The added sleeve is on the left in the pictures and the other sleeve is the drapey one which is formed from the single dress pattern piece.

I used a lace fabric from Textile Traders, which I got for half price in the post-Christmas sales. I think I paid about $15 for the whole piece. The lace has a little bit of stretch to it, but not a lot. That was fine for this pattern.

I finished the neck edge and sleeves with strips of cotton knit sewn to the inside, stretching slightly while sewing. The hem is just turned up twice and stitched in place.

I am wearing this dress with a long, stretchy, singlet-style top (a cheapy from Valleygirl) underneath. I like that the lace is visible on the sleeves and hem, but is more subtle with the white underneath.

The dress is loose and comfortable, but unique with the draped sleeve and the skewed pattern of the lace produced by the line of cutting. I do feel a little bit dressed up in this dress and I will probably only wear it for more special occasions than the daily school run! Maybe a summer evening BBQ or cruise down the coast in a vintage Mustang at sunset with the roof down - if I ever had such an opportunity! I do like it though :)

And because it is a bit dressed up, I decided to take the photos at home using a backdrop made using a sheet draped over a folded table tennis table. The glamour never stops around here. I then had a little play with my new present from Mr Meggipeg - Adobe Photoshop - to make the backdrop look less like a sheet and more like something you might see in a photoshoot. I played around with different ways of altering the background from selecting it and making it all one colour, to creating textures and removing sheet wrinkles with the blur tool. All other wrinkles are the model's own. I have a lot to learn as it's ages since I used Photoshop, but it is good fun.

Draping by the sea (Drape Drape 2, No. 4)

As if there wasn't already enough to do, I decided, the evening before our recent camping trip, that I could just quickly make a little something for myself to wear on holiday. After all, I couldn't waste the opportunity to take some blog pics with this beautiful backdrop.

The top is the 'one-piece scoop neck asymmetrical top' which is pattern No. 4 from Drape Drape 2 by Hisako Sato. Since it is made from only one piece of fabric I thought it would be pretty speedy to make. It was too. The most time consuming part was tracing the pattern, which had to be done in three separate sections and pieced together into a rather large and cumbersome sheet.

I used a piece of striped fabric from my stash that I'd bought ages ago in an op-shop for about $3. It was almost exactly the right amount, so only scraps left over. The black binding is some pre-cut lycra binding that I got in several colours at a recent sale at a swimwear factory. This stuff has been so useful. I've used it in place of fold-over elastic and bias binding on several things. I also used it as embellishment on this hemline.

I cut the L/XL size top and the fit is great. I like the way the top is loose and drapey at the top then snug around the hips. It's also cool how the sleeves are completely different to each other but you don't really notice that until you look closely. Same with the stripes which subtly go every which way due to the way the pattern is cut and folded.

This was a great choice for a holiday top. Casual enough for the beach, but stylish enough to fit in with the boutique/cafe set in the village. I'm looking forward to making more from the Drape Drape books.

By the way, don't be fooled by these tranquil-looking photos. While they were being taken, the boys were wreaking their usual havoc up and down the beach with snorkels and skim boards.

Then, when they tired of that, they buried poor Truffle.

Lucky he's so docile :)

Drape Drape 1, No. 1 - Loose drape top

As I mentioned in my last post, I received the Japanese pattern books 'Drape Drape 1' and 'Drape Drape 3' for Christmas. I now have the set of three - yippee! The first two are in English and the third is in Japanese. I have decided to make a few things from the English books first so I can become familiar with the way they do things, before tackling something from the Japanese book.

Last year I made dress No. 2 from 'Drape Drape 2' and this year I've made top No. 1 from 'Drape Drape 1' - and it's only 4 days into this year, good going so far, although this one was rather simple!

Once the pattern was traced, this top went together very quickly. I used a lightweight knit fabric from the bargain table at Textile Traders. It drapes beautifully, so was perfect for this top.

The edge of the draped neckline, which falls to the inside of the top, is finished with a simple, rolled hem, the folded to the inside and caught in the armhole binding at the shoulder to hold it in place. The picture below shows this from the inside of the top.

I am really pleased with this top. It was quick and simple to make and is very easy to wear. The only thing I will change is to add some little tabs to sit under my bra strap and hold the shoulders in place. I did have one or two wardrobe malfunctions out in the wind the first time I wore this top! Luckily I had a crop top underneath.

Drape Drape 2, No. 2 and some thoughts on Japanese pattern books

For my birthday this year, my sister gave me a book I had been coveting for some time - Drape Drape 2 by Hisako Sato. It's a Japanese pattern book featuring some interesting and unique, but wearable, clothes. I really like the clean look of many Japanese designs and this book provides traceable patterns and basic instructions on how to create some yourself.

It was difficult to decide what to make first as my mouth was watering as soon as I opened the cover. However, I eventually settled on Pattern No. 2, the one-piece side drape top, which is actually more of a tunic, or even a dress, than a top. Amazingly, it is cut from a single piece of knit fabric and is actually very quick to sew together as it only requires a couple of seams, neck and armhole binding and a hem.

I decided on this pattern, partly because I had an op-shopped maxi skirt that was just big enough to make this from. The skirt was made from a very stretchy, two-way stretch knit. Here it is before I chopped into it.

I cut one skirt side seam completely open and just managed to squeeze the pattern on to the opened-out fabric. I placed the middle of the No. 2 top pattern, which forms the seam-free right hand side of the top, over the intact skirt side seam. I wasn't able to place the pattern grain line marking on the fabric grain as there wasn't enough fabric, but this doesn't seem to have affected the finished top/dress, perhaps because the fabric was so stretchy. Part of the dress hem had to be cut from the waistband of the skirt, so the stripes go in the other direction in this small section. As it turns out, I quite like this little feature!

The photo below shows the right hand side of the top, which is actually the original skirt side seam. You can also see the little inset piece which was originally the skirt waistband. That's my label inserted into the side seam.

I was worried that this 'top' would be too short to wear as a dress as I am about 5'9 tall. However, it seems to have turned out longer than it looked in the book picture and I'm very happy with the length. Again, this may be because my very stretchy fabric was cut off-grain, although it doesn't appear to be pulling downwards at all.

The neckline and armholes are finished with a strip of knit fabric folded over the edges like bias binding.

You may remember my recent struggle with the kakurenbo pattern from Pattern Magic, another Japanese pattern book. If I had to make a comparison of these two books, based on making one pattern from each book (which I know is completely unscientific, but still interesting right?), I would have to say that Drape Drape 2 is definitely the book to start with. A sewist with some experience, particularly with knit fabric as most patterns in this book require knits, could have an enjoyable Sunday tracing, cutting out, sewing and finishing a garment from Drape Drape 2 (probably also Drape Drape, but I haven't actually seen the first book). This is not to criticise Pattern Magic as it contains some really incredible designs. However, at least for the pattern I made, these pose a far greater challenge to make as they require fiddly pattern drafting (no patterns are provided) and much more complex sewing techniques to put together. The time taken to make my Pattern Magic top was closer to a month of Sundays! OK not quite, but you do need plenty of time, experience and patience to tackle Pattern Magic.

What do you think? Has anyone else tried these two books?