The Branding of Kayla

 Every fashionista deserves to have a brand, right? I've been thinking about this for maybe a year now. I wanted to experiment with making a brand for my niece. So off and on I've been playing with fonts and putting letters together and working on names. Of course I didn't bother to get my niece's input or my sister's for that matter! I tried working with Kayla's last name and the monogram just wasn't quite right. So I had to venture down a different path. I had to give Kayla's brand a name. So Kayla Couture (and so much more!) it was.
 My goal is to use her logo on more of her dress garments, not so much her play wear. The font that made the final cut was "Just Another Serif" from 8 Claws and a Paw. Too, too bad that Chanel has the best logo around and I couldn't use that. Drat.

Alright, let's look at some of Kayla's garments and accessories. I think every couture house has some very basic, chic black and white ensembles. This outfit was one of the very first that came to my mind. I got this fabric in the clearance bin. Quite honestly, I get a lot of Kayla's specialty fabrics in the clearance bin. Cottons cost a fortune but nicer garment fabric I can get for cheap. Too bad for the industry that people don't use the fabric but I luck out with some steals. Back to Kayla's outfit. I immediately thought she needed a pencil skirt to go with this t-shirt. I spied the fabric at Joann's I think. It might have cost me $1 or $2 to make. The pattern that I used is McCalls 6274. If you look at the pattern, the skirt kind of has a safari feel to it. Well all I had to do was to omit all the pockets. Viola! Pencil skirt!

Here is my version of the pattern. What do you think?

Notice her logo at the bottom of the skirt?

Doesn't this dress look huge? I made it a size 8 so it will work for back to school. This pattern is New Look 6018. This pattern is now out of print. I'm grateful that I purchased it when I did.

Now for some accessories. A sunglass case.

A summer hat.

A beach tote.

Finally, this is for Kayla's mom. I figured my sister needs a lingerie bag to wash Kayla's shirts in.
The Frame is the Mia frame from Planet Applique.

Well, that's it for now. I have a few more ideas for Kayla Couture. Stay tuned!

The Chanel Challenge: Part 3

I spent the better part of Saturday working on this jacket. Four days at quilt camp, three days spent on Miss Kayla. The Chanel jacket is finished. Not quite couture, but I think I came away with a Chanel feeling.

The jacket was fairly easy to construct. The difficult part was sewing down the lining at the sleeve head. The armhole opening is so small and it wasn't a neat process to trim down the excess lining in the sleeve. And since I ventured off the pattern path, I once again was making an outfit that I had no road map for. I hope that the jacket fits Kayla and that she can move in it.














When I purchased this fabric last year, I knew what I wanted to do but had no idea that I would be working on a new technique. I went looking for inspiration and found instruction. If any of you are interested in making your own Chanel jacket, here are some wonderful resources.



















Go Chanel or Go Home fabulous sew-along blog. Very informative.
Great Sewn Clothes by Threads Magazine
Threads Magazine Issue #121 Inside Secrets of a Chanel Jacket
ThreadsMagazine.com Choosing Chanel-Style Jacket Trims
Threads Magazine Issue #23 Inside a Chanel Jacket
Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire Schaffer

The Chanel Challenge: Part 2

The next step on my Chanel jacket is to create the trim. Here is your chance to be creative with trims. Heck, part of my trim wasn't even purchased. Chanel has been known to even use the bias of the fashion fabric as a trim.

I found this bright pink fabric at Joann's. I cut two inch bias strips. After looking at the strips, I decided that the two inch width was too big for the girl's jacket. I think an inch to an inch and a half is a more desirable width. So I take my scissors to trim down the trim. I want to keep the bias strips from unraveling all the way so I run two rows of straight stitching down the strips.

Next, I needed something to give the bias strips a little pizazz. I found the sparkly, gaudy, hot pink trim at Hancock Fabrics. Seems to be perfect for a six year old girl. I trim all the little chiffon strips that are coming off this trim. I then stitch the sparkly pink trim to the bias strips.

The Chanel Challenge: Part 1

The shell fabric (the fashion fabric) is cut out. I have to now cut out the lining fabric. When I purchased the fabric, I also purchased a nice pink lining for the jacket. I knew that I would be making a Chanel inspired jacket as far as the look went, but I hadn't planned on using some of the couture techniques. After doing some research, I decided to give it a go. So with that, the lining needed to be larger than the pattern pieces. So the lining that I purchased would no longer work. I didn't have enough fabric. I did manage to find some material that my sister Brenda sent me a couple of years ago. Finally found a use for it. The lining doesn't quite match the shell fabric but I was not going to leave the house. I needed to stay and sew.
The jacket shell is pinned to the lining fabric then cut out. I tried to cut at least two inches all the way around the pattern. I was a little short in some areas. I think I'll be fine. After cutting out the lining, I took the two pieces to the sewing machine to quilt together. I switched out my presser foot and put on the walking foot. You can see that my quilting doesn't line up in the pattern pieces. Hey, she's six, she's six. I'm not going to worry about it. You can't see the stitching lines on the shell so I'm good to go. I'm quilting about two inches apart and I'm stopping my stitching about two inches from the edge of the shell fabric. I need to have the fabric free to stitch the seams.

After all the pieces were quilted, I took the front and back sections and stitched them together at the side seams. Then pressed the seam of the shell fabric open. I took my scissors to the piece and trimmed to one inch larger than the pattern.




























Finally, I trimmed the lining seam allowance then hand
stitched the lining down.

Coco for Coco: The Chanel Challenge

I love Chanel. It doesn't matter if it's a purse, jacket or dress. You can tell a Chanel. The name Chanel has bring bringing people in thru the doors since 1912 when Gabrielle Chanel set up a millinery shop. It was around 1925 that the Chanel cardigan was born. The cardigan and the brand are still going strong now under the leadership of Karl Lagerfield.

Coco Chanel may be the most famous designer of all times. Coco brought us menswear as ladies wear in the 1920's. Scandalous for that time. She brought us the Chanel jacket, bell bottom pants and of course, the little black dress. What are the details that signal Chanel? She loved jersey, tweed, boucle, chains, trims, ribbons and buttons. Her construction techniques differed from the other couture shops. Coco's jacket linings are quilted to the shell fabric. You will not find facings in the jackets either. She used chains on the hemline so the jackets hung right and didn't loose their shape. These jackets do not come cheap. I don't know if you can purchase a Chanel jacket for under $4000. Thus the challenge.















Last year, I was cruising around Hancock Fabrics. I first spied some odd pink fabric. I didn't purchase it that day but I kept thinking about it. It was either on the second or third trip to Hancock's that I succumbed. Have you ever brought home an orphan? That's how I felt about the fabric. It needed a home. Nobody wanted it. It had been on the clearance rack a while. It was during the several trips around the clearance section that I spied the "Chanel" fabric. With that in hand, I knew my odd pink fabric would have a partner. Now the the bridal gown is finished, I guess I need a new challenge. One that will push my skills. So what better project than a Chanel jacket. This will be a practice Chanel. I won't be putting a chain in the hemline. I won't be adding pockets. My trim may be minimum unless I can find something appropriate for the fabric. I can't go full bore Chanel since I have a customer to please. She's only six. So I have to balance her likes with my wants. Follow me as I plunder thru some Chanel techniques. I have a 50% chance of succeeding. I won't know until I try. I hope you're all able to come along for the ride.

Books for the Library

Last week, the UPS man dropped off a book order. I had read about Claire Shaeffer's book on couture sewing. I thought that there would be some information in this book while working on Whitney's bridal gown. Once I opened up this book, I was having a hard time putting it down. Claire Shaeffer brings you into the ateliers of London, Paris and Rome. There are pictures of the innards of couture items so you can actually see what is inside a garment. There are many pictures of couture garments from great design houses like Dior, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy. There is even a picture of an incredible House of Worth ball gown that is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I don't know how many people out there in sewing land recognize the name of Charles Worth. He is one of the great designers of the Victorian age. He is known as the "father" of haute couture.

I wasn't so sure about purchasing this book because I had read a couple of reviews about the book being dated. That is so not true. How could a picture of a 1950's Dior dress be dated? Or a Chanel jacket? The couture techniques presented certainly aren't dated.

I think this is a terrific reference book to keep on hand for anyone interested in sewing high fashion.

The other book that arrived from Amazon that day is brand spanking new. The book is called Sewing Clothes Kids Love. This is written by Nancy Langdon of Studio Tantrum/Fledge fame. I have been dying to sew the Feliz dress from Studio Tantrum. The delay is that I have to go the mail order route. Plus, there are no 99 cent pattern specials when ordering from the independent pattern companies. I believe that the Feliz runs about $15-16 for the pattern. Feliz means "happy" in Spanish. I can't imagine any little girl not feeling dizzily happy wearing a colorful Feliz dress.

I was surfing the sewing boards about a month ago and there was scuttlebutt that there was a new book coming out that included the Feliz. There are actually 10 patterns in this book. So the book cost under $17 I think and I have 10 patterns. The book is hard cover and spiral bound. On the front cover is a very thick envelope that stores the patterns.

Nancy Langdon's business, Studio Tantrum/Fledge eventually became associated with the German company Farbenmix.

Nancy's book will take you thru how to measure children, adjusting for plus-size children, embellishing, sewing for boys and even how to make a duct tape dummy for children. This book falls under the category of Fun!

OMG! I Have It In My Hot Little Hands

What could I possibly be so excited about? This may bore most of you, in fact, probably all of you but I'm crazy excited. A few years ago, I checked out a book in our local library on bridal couture. It's a great book. I put this on my "to buy" list for the future. Well with Whitney's engagement, the time had come to purchase this book. The book is from Susan Khalje and it is called Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear. I went to my go to site, Amazon. I thought that I was misreading the price, $140.00! I went to Ebay and indeed the starting price for the book was at least $75.00. I was dumbfounded. I really, really wanted that book. Plan B would be to check the book out of the library about 20 times while the Whit's bridal gown is being constructed. Not my first choice.

For over a week, I would check Ebay and Amazon. There is also a sewing want-ads group on Yahoo that I was checking. The cheapest price was still double. That was another option to pay maybe $60 for a used copy. Mind you, this is a paperback book with a retail price of $29.95. The German in me was having a hard time with the mark-up but realizing that the book is now out of print and I didn't have a lot of options. I kept searching with the author's name to see if some little obscure fabric shop had it in their store. After one week of searching, no such luck. Finally, one night I just kept advancing the search button. I can't tell you how many pages into my search I finally found not 1 but 2 places that had the book. Man, I ran as fast as I could to get my credit card. My husband saw the order sheet up on the computer and he quickly said "NOW WHAT ARE YOU BUYING?" I'm using the caps because he did indeed raise his voice. He said that I had a record this month for fabric, patterns, books, etc using PayPal and my credit card. Well it only made sense to explain what a tremendous deal I had found and I just saved him about $110 on the book. This was one of the few times that he didn't roll his eyes and say "yeah, right".

The intellectual side of me said to not get too excited. I looked for the websites copyright date. Hmmm, 2009. Still in business, so far so good. I plugged in my information and waited for a confirmation. I held my breath for about 24 hours until I received notice that my new prized possession was finally shipped out. Last night, the UPS man finally delivered my book. The shop took such care in shipping it. It was neatly wrapped in tissue paper, kind of like a fragile bridal gift. I left out the important parts. I found the book at equilter.com. Who would have thought that an online quilt store would have a resource book like that. I'm eternally grateful though. Of course I had to quickly scan the fabric section of the site but decided that I better not press my luck with my husband working in the same room. The other retailer that I found my book at was Baltazar's in New Orleans. Baltazar's used to have a brick and morter store in New Orleans. They now are only an online retailer. With the times that I have travelled to New Orleans, I always put a trip to Baltazar's on my "next time" list. I blew it there. At least, the specialty items are available online.

This book is a must for anyone who is interested in improving their couture techniques. I am an average home sewer. I don't have any grandiose ideas that Whit's bridal gown will be worthy of couture status but I think I can improve my skills and create a gown that does not look like it came out of mom's sewing room. The book breaks down the construction of the gown, making a muslin, the bodice, the skirt, putting the components together, working with lace, etc.

The other really cool resource book that I added to my library is Fabric Savvy by Sandra Betzina. This book has always been highly recommended. Sandra is an idol of countless seamstresses and home sewers. The reason why this book is a must-have is that it devotes 2 pages to maybe 80 different fabrics. It recommends finishing techniques, presser feet, needles, thread, etc. for that particular fabric. I was in Beaver Dam taking a smocking class and when that was over, I decided to stop by the Wal-Mart store that is near by. As I pulled up to Wal-Mart, I spied a Goodwill store in the back of Wal-Mart. The past couple stops at thrift stores proved fruitless in my hunt for vintage patterns. I walked around the store looking for patterns. I asked the lady at the counter. She said they either throw them away or used them as wrapping paper. Does that ever make my heart sad. I went to the book section and quickly scanned the area. Scored the Fabric Savvy for $2.99. All-in-all, a good day.