The Handmade Christmas Gift

This year I made just the one handmade Xmas gift, which was totally unplanned. Jon had ripped out a picture of this posh looking Drake's tie from a copy of Time Out, complete with £125 price tag. 

Drake's silk tie

Now I know he would never spend this amount of money on a tie himself (he hardly ever wears them, except to pose for pictures on this blog...) and would be equally horrified if I shelled out big bucks too. I think he just liked the look of it. It got me thinking though - if I could find a nice looking Prince of Wales check, I could whip him one up myself and surprise him on Christmas Day...

So three days before Christmas I hot footed it down to Goldhawk Road to hunt for some fabric. As the schools had broken up I had Charlie with me and I knew it would have to be a lightning quick visit (he's not keen on lingering in shops, unless they happen to sell watering cans). In the end I had to bribe him with lunch at Pizza Express, but it was well worth it because I found the perfect fabric pretty quickly. It was from a new, posh looking fabric shop called Misan West, which isn't the cheapest, but has lots of good quality suitings and silks. I bought a metre of Prince of Wales check lightweight wool suiting for £15 and the girl kindly added a bit extra in case I mucked up. I didn't muck up as it happens, and as the fabric is quite wide, I still have enough for a pencil skirt if I so wish, hoorah! For the lining I used some scraps of Venezia lining fabric left over from this skirt.

Sadly my tie making partner in crime - Joe - was busy doing a panto run (he's a fabulous Ugly Sister in Cinderella if you're interested!) and I must admit, I missed his expertise. I also realised he had all the tie patterns we'd worked on together so I had to improvise! I remembered that there was a tie in the Sew Over It Vintage book, so set about drafting one from the book myself. I made a couple of small changes: lengthened it by 10cms to match an existing tie and narrowed the bit that goes around the back of the neck so that the shirt collar would cover it. The drafting took one afternoon and I spent another afternoon actually sewing it. There are only a few bits of machine sewing involved, the lengthy parts of the process were spent at the ironing board and hand stitching the central seam. 

Apart from the obvious difference i.e the posh Drake's tie is silk and the one I made is wool, I don't think they're that different to the untrained eye. I couldn't adjust the colour properly on my photos, so you'll have to take my word for it that my tie is much lighter in real life - the colours and checks really are very similar. And Jon's face on Christmas Day when he realised I'd made it was a picture!

Drake's Tie

Jane's Tie

Seven Fold Tie

If you've been paying attention to my friend Joe's tie making shenanigans (here and here), you'll know he's been hankering to make a traditional seven fold tie (constructed from one single piece of fabric folded seven times, so no separate lining required). Patterns for seven fold ties are like gold dust, but after a lengthy perusal of the interweb I eventually found this: 

What I actually purchased was a copy of this original 1940's vintage pattern, but there it was in writing - seven fold - I was excited. I decided to mock one up in calico to check where all the folds went, which is when I discovered the pattern only had four fold lines. Nooooo! When Mr Tie Expert arrived he confirmed my suspicions, the pattern just wasn't wide enough, in fact it was extremely narrow - think 1940's with a hint of 1980's Kraftwerk thrown in for good measure.

Little know fact: the first time I met my husband was at a 1980's party - I came as a member of Kraftwerk complete with slicked back hair, red shirt and thin black tie….

Anyway, back to ties. We decided to use the vintage pattern as a starting point and add three more fold lines of our own. Using a diagram we'd found online as a guide and a bit of slapdash maths, we made our very own seven fold tie pattern. 

There was just one seam to sew on the sewing machine, then a bit of hand stitching of the hem... 

and a loooong time at the ironing board trying to work out the order in which the bloody thing needed folding. I should point out that Joe was a dedicated tie-making professional at this point, concentrating fully on the task in hand. Even my constant interruptions to show him the changing hairstyles of Hall & Oates over the years didn't distract him, he was a man on a mission. 

The fold lines weren't perfectly exact, so there was a bit of fudging to be done, but he got there in the end. Ladies and gents, I give you a genuine, handmade seven fold tie!

Joe's choice of fabric - a dark navy linen from Liberty - was a lovely quality, but I did have my suspicions about how well it would drape. I needn't have worried, the fact that the pattern pieces are cut on the bias makes it hang beautifully. I also really like how the bias grain of the linen looks in a solid colour. He catch-stitched the edges together and finished off with two tiny white buttons.

All in all, an excellent day's work. And now that he has a pattern to work from, this will just be the first of many, I'm sure of it. x

Sewbox Liberty giveaway

In what is now becoming a bit of an annual tradition, I'm marking the imminent arrival of spring with a suitably spring-like giveaway. I've got together with Susan from Sewbox, who is very generously offering one of my readers 1.5 metres of any of the Liberty fabrics she stocks. Hoorah!

Along with a lovely selection of classic Liberty floral prints, Sewbox also stock a good range of contemporary designs. This large scale fig print - Alma - is the same design my friend Joe made a tie from here, but in a different colourway:

There are some awesome Liberty Lifestyle quilting cotton designs….

Stile Collection - Newbury B:

Stile Collection - Rennie B:

Bloomsbury Collection - Charles A:

Bloomsbury Collection - Dance C:

And my favourite… Bloomsbury Collection - Copeland C:

To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling me which Liberty fabric from Sewbox you'd choose if you're the winner. The full range can be found here.  The giveaway is open worldwide and closes at midnight GMT on Sunday 20th March. The winner will be chosen at random. Please make sure you leave your email address if it's not linked to your Blogger profile so I can contact you if you're the winner.

Good luck! x

My sewing in 2015

Helloo! I hope you've all had a wonderful few days and that Father Christmas aced it with the presents this year. I'm still in recovery from the annual turkey overdose, so decided to take the opportunity to look back at the past year on the blog before the next onslaught of pies….

On the dressmaking front, my boiled wool coat was probably my most successful garment of 2015. 

There are a few things I'd do differently if I was given my time again, but overall it's been a huge success and has had a LOT of wears. Other garments that have been worn to death this year include my Barkcloth Skirt, 

Granville Shirt, 

Walkley Top (a surprise hit). 

and my Little Black Dress

In fact everything I've made this year has been worn, proving that I'm finally getting better at diagnosing which wardrobe gaps actually need to be filled!

I had the pleasure of seeing two of my favourite gents guest starring on my blog this year. My pal Joe and his beautiful Liberty print ties proved to be a big hit (here and here). 

He's still optimistic about sewing his own seven-fold-tie, so look out for a re-appearance next year. My son Louis also popped up, proving he's a chip off the old block by sewing his own waistcoat. He's a genius I tell you!

On the blog front, I was very, VERY proud and delighted that my blog was nominated for Best Sewing Blog in the Sew Magazine British Sewing Awards 2015. I still can't quite believe that one, thank you again to everybody who took the time to vote for me! I also wrote two new tutorials which were published in Love Sewing Magazine - one for a Chequerboard Baby Blanket 

and one for a Tooth Fairy Cushion

The project that took the longest time and energy this year was without doubt making a memory quilt for my Aunty. I was a bit wrung out after it was finished to be honest, but I'm so glad I did it as I know it brings her a lot of comfort.

2015 was also the year I joined the 21st century and opened an Instagram account - I'm @janemarland if you're interested! I surprised myself by how quickly I got used to it (much quicker than Twitter, which I still struggle with to be honest). 

Apparently these were my nine most popular Instagram pictures this year

Instagram won't replace blogging for me because I still love reading sewing blogs and writing my own, but it's a satisfying quick fix in the meantime. I've also discovered lots of new sewing bloggers to follow which can only be a good thing.

All in all it's been a fab year, probably my best dressmaking year to date. So thank you to everybody who has followed along, commented on the blog and offered advice and feedback, it's all very much appreciated. Here's to another happy sewing year in 2016! x

He's at it again...

...he being my friend Joe, and it being tie making! I must admit, apart from making my husband a tie from a basic kit, the ins-and-outs of ties didn't really interest me that much until recently. Joe's enthusiasm is infectious and I'm now becoming strangely fascinated by them!  He came over for a visit a few weeks ago all set to make another tie. Instead of the Sew Over It tie kit that we'd used for his first tie, he now wanted to make a seven fold tie. I'd never even heard of a seven fold tie, so for those of you who are similarly in the dark, here's a quick bit of background:

A seven fold tie refers to how the tie is constructed. Instead of using a separate domette, or interfacing, the tie is made from one single piece of fabric that is folded seven times (the clue's in the name!) There is far more fabric required to make a seven fold tie, resulting in a weightier feel, a superior drape and a more luxurious feel. As a consequence, these ties are very expensive to buy. The extra fabric and body also help achieve larger and more consistent knots. Joe did give me a demonstration of various knots (half Windsor, full Windsor etc) but I'm afraid my mind wandered at that point. 

Anyway, that's what a seven fold tie is, and Joe wanted me to help him make one - I was happy to oblige. He'd come prepared and bought a posh looking tie from a vintage shop to unpick and use as a pattern. The owner assured him it was a seven fold tie, but when we unpicked it, there were only six folds! Apparently there is such a thing as a six fold tie, still luxurious, but one notch down from the seven fold in the tie hierarchy. A six fold is folded in a more symmetrical way than the seven fold (obvs) and includes an interlining. Undeterred, we made a six fold tie instead….

Ironing the tie as flat as we could, we chalked around it to get the shape, including the all-important fold lines. At this point, I think Joe was a bit worried about my slapdash tracing skills, but I was confident that a good press would hide a multitude of sins. For fabric, he used this gorgeous fig design Liberty lawn from their archive collection. Like last time, there was very little sewing involved, most of our time was spent at the ironing board. And my prophecy was correct, pressing really does hide a multitude of sins! He soon had a very posh looking six fold tie. 

The all important label!

For a finishing touch, he wanted to use the same open running stitch and button feature that can be seen on this fab Italian video - how a sette (seven fold) tie is made. I rather like the finished effect, the yellow thread and button really pop against the dark background colour of the tie.

There's no stopping him now, next time we'll definitely be tackling a seven fold tie. Watch this space!

My, what a posh looking tie Mr Alessi

Tie by Joe

Today I have another gent-in-a-tie combo on the blog and it's not even Christmas! Let me introduce you to my friend Joe Alessi - actor, bon viveur, devoted uncle and snappy dresser. I've known him since I was 16, which will be 30 YEARS AGO this year. god that makes me feel old! Anyway, here we are in about 1987, when oversized baggy T shirts were flavour of the month…. 

…and here we are during OWOP last year outside Liberty. Thankfully we've both scrubbed up a bit in the intervening years. 

When I posted about my tie making adventures at Christmas, Joe was super keen on the idea of making a tie himself, so last week he came over for a fabulous day of sewing. And cake eating. And visiting the allotment. And looking at old maps with Jon (what is it with men and maps?!) Amidst all this high octane excitement, we did eventually find some time for tie making and let me tell you, he's a natural!  I should point out that his dad was a tailor so it's in the blood, but still, he was fab.

Pinning the pattern to the fabric - note the sophisticated pattern weights

For fabric he chose a Liberty-esque floral lawn from Classic Textiles on the Goldhawk Road. The fabric is a lovely weight, with a bit of a silky hand to it, so perfect for a tie. In fact it's much better suited than the quilting cotton I used for Jon's tie, which looked bulky by comparison. For the pattern, we used Sew Over It's Tie Making Kit, with the following small changes:

Increased the length of the back tie piece and the back lining piece by 10cms. This matched the length of a RTW tie Joe had brought along for comparison. 

Decreased the width of the back neck section by about 5mm on either side, as it overlapped his shirt collar. Well, we drew the changes onto the pattern, but were too busy chatting to actually cut along the lines. Whoops! It's a change he can implement on his next tie in any case!

First seam!

Here it is later, all pressed and gorgeous

We'd ran out of domette, which is the special tie lining that comes with the kit, so improvised and used a double layer of cotton flannel instead. Personally, I think the flannel is an improvement as it's not quite as springy as the domette. Pressing the tie into shape around the lining is the only slightly tricky part of the whole proceedings. You've got to line it up perfectly in order to get that central line down the back of the tie. Look at that furrowed brow concentrating! If he was a toddler he'd have his tongue sticking out.

By the time Joe left, all he had to do at home was invisibly catchstitch the central back seam, which he did beautifully.

Look! A 'Tie by Joe' label.  I'm not going to lie, when he sent me the final photos of his tie, all perfectly stitched and labelled, I totally blubbed (it doesn't take much!) Just look at it though - it wouldn't look out of place in Liberty or Paul Smith, I'm so bloody proud of him! He's got fabric to make more ties and when he posted these photos on Twitter his friends were lining up to place orders! I'm not surprised, I think this is the start of a wonderful tie empire. Remember, you saw it here first!  x

Mr Dapper