petersham ribbon

Inside Look at the Dress that Nearly Killed Me!

January 18, 2012 · 24 comments

Many of you requested to see the inner workings and details of things I had mentioned but did not show pictures of for my shirtdress. I am more than happy to comply! Yay!

First of all, the whale print flannel that interlines the skirt. I’m quite sure that its a baby print. No matter. It adds some warmth to this little ditty of a dress. Apologies as it does look a little worse for the wear – the indigo dye from the denim did bleed a little as I was working on it and I’ve worn this dress about 5 times since its first appearance in my closet last week! I also used the flannel as the interfacing too. It was used in the collar and the buttonhole placket.

For the placket that contains the buttons, I used petersham ribbon to stabilize. I’ve seen this before on RTW garments and thought it would be a fun touch to add here. It’s just a strip of the 3/4″ petersham, that runs the length of where the buttons begin and end. I think for my next dress I’m going to use it for the whole length of the placket though. It just adds a little pop of something unexpected. There’s petersham also in the hem, where I used my handy dandy tutorial for hemming a garment with petersham.

Let’s see, I think that about does it as far as the details you didn’t see. I’m actually trying to up the ante on inner construction details this year. I’ve been scouting out some RTW techniques and I love seeing sweet contrasts like piping, ribbons, interlinings and the like on the inside. It makes wearing the garment even that much more fun, I think, plus its a great way to use up scraps. What do you think? Do you think inner construction details count?

smooches,
Sunni

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Gettin My Fix

December 8, 2011 · 15 comments

I know exactly what you’re thinking. That skirt….again. I know. I just couldn’t leave the dumb thing alone. I was wearing it just a few days ago and feeling absolutely, completely dissatisfied. I kept thinking things like, ” boy, I really fouled this thing up” and “I thought I was good at sewing” and “where did I go wrong?” Kind of felt like I was talking to my own kid, you know. After I had had just about enough of that, I decided to march myself right home, take off that skirt and get to fixin. I aided my thought processes along the way by cheering myself into thinking things like “I can do this” and “its not so bad, I’m sure I can fix it” and “I am a great seamstress, just you wait. Skirt, you do not have the best of me yet.”

On Monday, I mentioned what I didn’t love about the skirt. The biggest offender was that dratted hem and the lining issue. So today, you’re in for it, because I’ve got another petersham tutorial. I’m not going to tell you what I did on the original hem. Oh, it’s just so lame, I just can’t. But I will tell you that I did try horsehair braid to start with. Now, I love horsehair braid. LOVE it! I put it in my circle skirt and it’s brilliant. But on a half circle skirt, well at least on me, it looked kind of weird. I don’t know. It was bulging out in all the wrong places and it was just too stiff. So I had tried that. Didn’t work. After coming home on Tuesday and feeling like a failure at a simple skirt, I remembered that you can use petersham in hems. I mean, I was going to show this tutorial anyway, but now you get it a whole bunch sooner because it was absolutely necessary to put it in this skirt. Let’s get on with it then and I’ll show you what I mean.

Step 1 ✂ Measure your skirt hem and find out just how much petersham you’ll need. I used about 3 1/4 yards for this skirt. And here, I’m using the 3/4″ cream petersham from the shop. You’ll find that this type of hem treatment is especially good for a-line and circle-ish skirts as it kind of, almost, does the same thing as horsehair braid. It’s not so stiff though and works nice when you need a little more body and less rigidity.

Step 2 ✂ Next you need to thoroughly wet the petersham with warm-ish water. I just run mine under the tap… Dry with a towel and go turn on your iron. When your iron is nice and piping hot you’re going to press the petersham. Now, you’re not just going to press it willy nilly. No, you’ve got to take your little hand along one edge of the petersham and pull that edge (pull hard) as you press down with the iron (steam’s real nice here too) with your other hand. Do it in a sort of circular shape like the photo below. You’re going to do that for the entire length of the petersham. If that’s not sweat shop labor, I just don’t know what is. Phew…

What you end up with is one edge that starts to curl a little from being pulled along one edge. It’s kind of neat actually. Kind of like magic, and we’re all into that around here, right? Yup.

Step 3 ✂ Now we need to add the petersham to the skirt hem. You’ll apply the lettuce like wavy edge (the one you just pulled) to the skirt. Pin it to the right side of the fabric, stitch it, and you know, do your thing. Once you’re done with that, you’re going to flip the petersham up into the hemline. Pin that in place and topstitch or slipstitch into place. Give all that a good press and just like that You. Are. Done.

And just behold the “fixed” skirt. Isn’t it a lovely? Oh dear! You can’t even believe how thrilled I am to wear it again. Oh, and I also fixed the lining too. I think I was even more unhappy with that than the original hem treatment. I shortened it just a little more than normal as, like I’ve stated before, I cut the lining on the straight grain and the skirt on the bias. But then I added those wonderful attacher thingies. I have no idea what their real name is (but if you do, leave it in the comments). There is a rhyme to their madness, I must admit. I mean, I know you can just attach serged thread, but I went fancy and did them by hand. I attached them to the side and the front seam allowances and low and behold! they keep the lining from peeking out when you sit down. I know. You’re way impressed. He. he. he.

Thanks for tuning it in here. Everything is all better now and very much as it should be. I might even wear the skirt to bed just to show it how much I love it. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ May all your flops magically fix, real soon.

xoxo,
Sunni

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Petersham vs. Grosgrain

November 23, 2011 · 28 comments

I remember the first time I handled petersham ribbon. It was on a skirt that I prize and still have and I went in search of the ribbon at my local Joann. Thinking it was just grosgrain, I bought a length of grosgrain, took it home and started sewing with it. I was disappointed to say the least with the result. Not knowing what to do, I went back the my favored skirt and took a closer look at the ribbon that was adorning the waistband and hem. Just judging from my own experience of working with both ribbons, let me enlighten you on a few key differences between the two.

Before we go any further, I would like to say that I don’t feel that grosgrain is an inferior ribbon, even to sew with. In fact if you can lay your hands on some high quality grosgrain, there are some great uses for the ribbon and even benefits to using it over petersham for certain sewing projects. However, the grosgrain that I normally come in contact with is the cheap stuff that feels almost like paper and actually is something that would be ideal for scrapbooking, I think. Crunchy, itchy, and incredibly stiff.


First, let’s start off with the key difference between grosgrain and petersham. Grosgrain has a finished straight edge, where petersham has a scalloped edge. This is a result in the different process each ribbon goes through to be made. Grosgrain has a ridge like texture which is produced from the particular weave of the ribbon (in other words, its woven ribbon) and has a bound edge. Petersham has a ridge like texture too, which results from the cording its made from being strung together through the middle by what seems like a million strands of thread that encase the cording, also creating that scalloped edge which is so pretty.

Usually in today’s world, grosgrain is typically stiff – made from polyester, nylon or a blend – petersham is typically soft and pliable – usually made from rayon, though I’ve also seen cotton, polyester and acrylic and all of these can affect the drape, softness and pliability of the ribbon. Petersham is also strong and these two qualities together – the softness (rayon) and strength – is the biggest reason I love working with this beautiful ribbon. It’s soft against the skin, creates a beautiful drape in complement with the fabric if used as a trim, yet can be used as waistband or waistline stay because of its strength too. It’s also got a lovely sheen to it making it just that much more exciting to use in a sewing project.

A few things to keep in mind about petersham and grosgrain. Grosgrain is usually stiff and works great with stiffer fabrics. It also makes a great waistline stay because it absolutely will not stretch, the result of that great bound edge. Grosgrain also does not require pre-shrinking where petersham might if made with rayon, cotton or a blend of both. To pre-shrink petersham, soak in warm water for a minute or two, drip dry and press.

Hopefully this gives you a better idea of the differences between petersham and grosgrain. I’ll be showing you my petersham waistband tutorial in a day or two (actually there are two waistband tutorials coming up + several other tutorials so stay tuned!). And as an added bonus, I’ve just added two new colors of petersham to the shop! Sky and Olive!

Have you used petersham before? What do you think? Which do you prefer?

xoxo,
Sunni

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