Fine Fabrics, Oakmount Mill Shop, Burnley – shop review
When visiting my Mother we often go out on a Saturday afternoon for what we, in Lancashire, call “a run”.
This is not a run in the normal use of the word. It actually means “a run in the car”. This is a low key, local excursion, normally to visit relatives, a public house/tea shop, a retail outlet, or just a drive for the sake of driving. You might stop, get out, wander around a village, or “mooch” around some shops. Anyway Nick and I have made a habit of going out for “a run” on a Saturday afternoon, to check out the fabric shops of Lancashire.
Last weekend I tried Fine Fabrics/Oakmount in Burnley. Like many Lancashire shops it is housed in an old factory of some sort.
Oakmount is essentially a furnishing fabric shop. I tend to avoid curtaining shops because, in our London home, we don’t do curtains – relying instead on the original Georgian shutters that came with the house, or pull down blinds. I have never attempted the covering of a sofa (unlike my excellent friend Joyce from Canada), and I can’t even do a good cushion. Did I mention that my father’s business was in fact printing furnishing fabrics in Lancashire? Funny.
However, upstairs they have quite a nice selection of nice dress fabrics. If you have kids on the stage or run a dancing school there is plenty of choice here. These Northern warehouses are huge and do seem to have a great deal of stock.
They also have very nice staff. This lady told me she was half Italian – the other assistant was fully Italian – and they had an interesting debate about which half was the better half.
I was particularly taken with the check fabrics they had on sale in the furnishing department and I bought a metre of some nice purple fabric to take home, as you can see above. The excuse for visiting the shop was that I was looking for tartan, stripes or checks – in order to create a few Westwood-type skirts. And this shop has got quite a good selection. I didn’t expect to buy furnishing fabric but I think if it is wool, and the weight is OK for you, there is no essential difference. Other than it may have been treated so that it will not burn as easily as normal fabric.
While I had a good mooch around my husband sat in the car and listened to the radio. As I was paying the proprietor told me they now have a new cafe with specialities provided by the Portuguese chef – “next time he can sit in our cafe and have a beer instead”.
Investigating the Westwood approach to skirts
I am doing a course on draping skirts at the moment – taking fabric, placing it on a mannequin, folding, pulling, altering the grain, working creatively to produce new silhouettes and styles. And, in doing this, I am massively influenced by the style and approach of Vivienne Westwood. However draping skirts on the stand is not trademarked; nor is this approach remotely restricted to Westwood. It is an ancient approach. If you think of how tartans and woven fabrics were first worn they would have been draped and belted, pulled up and arranged for comfort and to look good.
I am keen to learn from her approach, but I don’t want to “copy” her garments. I actually want to understand some of her processes and get to “feel” how she creates certain styles.
As I am concentrating on skirts my blog is full of skirts at the moment (sorry if it’s boring!). Thankfully next term we move on to bodices. But for now I am pushing the skirt envelop out a bit. Luckily I like wearing skirts – more or less every day. So while my bulging skirt wardrobe is a bit of a problem, it is not an insurmountable one. I will have a cull at the end.
Here are some Westwood skirts. They are all more or less straight skirts with some folds or pleats at the front. I thought I would start with a version of the third one with a fold at the side seam.
First I acquired a piece of recycled skirt fabric – the colours are a bit muted for me but I liked the way the plaid was a border print. You can see there is still evidence of the original pleating in the skirt but it didn’t have any stains, and I really liked the pink and deep green stripes. I was also able to recycle the zip so that was great too. Nicely woven, good quality wool is rather expensive so this seemed like a good way to start with my VW experiments. As I worked with this fabric, I remembered again how lovely it is to work with good quality wool. It is so nice to cut out, to stitch, and of course, to press.
As the fabric came from a skirt it was a bit too short for draping I cut my VW skirt on the cross grain.
If you want to try this at home –
- Take a skirt length of fabric and place it on the stand at something of an angle, maybe around 45 degrees.
- Fold a big box pleat in the right side of the skirt (left looking at the mannequin in the photograph) so that it alters the grain in an interesting manner. I kept the top of the pleat just below the waistline, and the lower edge at the base of the thigh.
- Pin the side seam of the left side carefully, getting a nice curve but remember this is where the zip is going.
- Drape the back piece. I made this much simpler, just using three stitched down pleats at the back.
Draping the back with pleats - Once you are happy with the look tie a cord around the middle and mark the waist. This is pulled in a little tightly – remember you will need some ease.
Marking the waist on the draped skirt - If you look at the strong dark green stripe you can see how it starts a little off the CF at the waist, moves to the princess line at the hip, and then adjust slightly to the left towards the hem.
Draping the VW skirt - Mark the waistline with a line of stitches. Then tack the side seams carefully, especially if matching the stripes is important to you. I did this while the skirt was on the stand. I also tacked the zip opening so I could try the skirt on.
- Baste lining to the skirt along the waist line seam. I just cut a straight tube of silk and pleated it in. I suppose I should have cut out the lining with exactly the same grain, in an ideal world.
- Although the Vivienne skirts all seem to have waist bands I am not that keen so I used a tecnhique I prefer. Which is to attach wide gros grain ribbon, to trim, understitch and attach to the inside of the skirt.
Using gros grain ribbon at the waist - Finally I got my daughter to pin the hem. Unlike a normal tartan skirt we didn’t want to follow the grain – although that would be a perfectly acceptable hem – but it would be asymmetric. While I can celebrate an off grain if it is designed that way I don’t like an uneven hem.
- And here is the skirt on – I am embarrassed it so creased, but I really enjoyed wearing it.
Westwood skirt Prototype.
I will do some more work on this skirt as I think it is really an exciting look. Not too extreme, but just an interesting way to play with plaids.
Advice for Jenny
One of my dear followers Jenny has been in touch.
She is going to a winter wedding and has bought this lovely deep pink fabric, a colour I think will look great on her, and a Fake Fur jacket that she got off eBay (£4.50 – bargain!). In terms of the styles she likes she explains:
“I am in my 70’s, but whilst I don’t like to stand out with statement clothes I am definitely not Beige Granny. I like casual and sporty, not frilly and glittery. ”
Jenny bought this fabric planning to make it up as New Look 6000.
This pattern is very popular with dozens of version available through the Google search engine. In its simplest incarnation it is a simple sheath dress with bust and waist darts. Alternate views have a rolled collar for a “retro” look, short sleeves or elbow length sleeves with cuffs. The nicest feature in my opinion is the asymmetrical look with six pleats radiating from the side waist. Jenny has been planning View C, with covered buttons.
But, she writes
having made 3 toiles I don’t think it is right for me. I made it firstly using an old duvet cover and liked it so adjusted the pattern and made it in a piece of leftover peachskin and hated it. I decided I was using the wrong size so went up from a 14 to a 16, even though many reviewers said it runs large. Anyway I decided it was wrong for my figure and fabric. Could you help with suggestions for a pattern please?
Let’s have a look at Jenny wearing her”duvet” toile which she feels highlights her tummy. She fears that in a solid, heavier crepe this would be worse. What do you think?
Let’s consider Jenny’s bodyshape. Her bust and hips are fairly evenly balanced, without a very indented waist, so she has a semi-shaped figure. A sheath dress is ideal on women with straight body shape, although it can look good on a semi-shaped body so long as the shaping is carried out effectively. Jenny notes, correctly, that she doesn’t want a large skirt – “knee length and fitted suits me best”. That is right – the large skirted dress works best with a shaped (hour glass or pear type) figure.
Jenny has asked for some other pattern suggestions.
I am stuck mainly because to my eye and understanding this dress is good. She could go for the darting instead of the pleating, but in my view done well (so the fit is close but not at all tight) the little bit of pleating disguises any slight tummy issues, and the overall silhouette is very good. I think the built up neckline would be very pretty and frame Jenny’s face. It also makes the dress more interesting and dressy – allowing a button, or even using the shiny side of the fabric. From her letter there seems to be a bit more of an issue to do with the size and fitting rather than the pattern itself.
So I am putting Jenny’s question out there. I know many of you are more familiar with patterns than I am – Ruth F and Demented Fairy to name just two of my favourite experts.
Let’s see if we can offer some help to this lovely lady who emphasises that she is an introvert (in clothing terms I think she is a Classic dresser).
Draping on the stand 10.0 The Asymmetric draped skirt
Have you ever made a draped, asymmetric skirt? Here are some vintage images. It’s a nice look, isn’t it? And very flattering with the drape, perhaps if you have a little tummy.
These patterns were very popular indeed in the 1940s, and are often incorporated into a dress with an asymmetric or draped bodice. Worn with a dear little cocktail hat, or your best jewellery, it is a feminine look for a summer party or occasion.
I also found a later 1950s/early 1960s version that I will be working from. The skirt is more structural and I like the more modern bodice with cap sleeves and interesting neckline. I will probably only do the skirt at this point. As you can see the skirt wraps around with the upper portion creating a rather beautiful flounce. There are some similarities with the pegged skirt – can you see what I mean?
Anyway my experiments to date have been unsatisfactory. I missed a couple of my evening classes, due to being ill and then entertaining friends from afar. My tutor, Lynda Kinne, had handed me the instructions for the skirt and I had a go at home. The first time I used calico. The big pin is at CF waist. The pencil line is on the grain. You can see how the grain goes off the side (as it should). Nevertheless I was looking for a sort of drape across the tummy, and a lovely neat side seam on the Camilla’s right, but it the fairly stiff calico would not bend.
I tried again with my fake (but nicely drapey) Chinese 120s wool. It looks like I am trying to drape an entire dress at this point. For some reason the instructions require the fabric to be excessively generous (length of skirt plus 60cm). This time I was working hard on the drape radiating out from Camilla’s left side waist. The CF crease kicks to the right of the photograph which I think you can see. Again this is what we want. I then pinned the waist and marked it with a felt pen.
I mentioned this fabric was rather shoddy. As I opened out the remaining piece I found it had a hole along the fold line – I am not sure it had that when I bought it, or if it is moths (I don’t think so as there is not enough wool in the fabric to interest them), but it did restrict its use. So I was by now willing to use it for a toile rather than expecting to make yet another garment with it. (Have you noticed how some of your least favourite fabrics go on and on?).
Then I did what the instructions said which was to cut off the fabric above the waist. I felt very reckless doing this – in my mind this is what Dior, and YSL and all the others do and I do not have the experience or ability to do this. Even though I was only practising with some shoddy fabric it did seem incredibly wasteful. You can tell I am a bit worried about what I am doing.
I am showing you this as it is not right. Definitely not right. Nothing like the effect we want. I am sharing it so that you can see how hard this can be – people seem to think draping is for people who struggle with flat pattern cutting. Maybe that is how it works for some people but my flat pattern cutting is quite good. I am being so challenged by learning how to drape! I am learning (as predicted by Mrs Mole and Mary Funt) so much about grain and fabric – it is astonishing.
I decided to stop here and seek help at my Morley class which can’t come round soon enough.
POST SCRIPT
Mary Funt of Cloning Couture took pity on me and has now written the definitive post on draping this type of skirt. Do please visit her blog if you want to do this properly. Thank you Mary. The power of friendship over the internet knocks my socks off.
Navy Pegged skirt disaster
I shared the Grey pegged skirt with you recently. Here is a reminder. A dramatic shape, but a classic and wearable skirt. I wore it yesterday at the Mayor’s Design Advisory Group and I felt appropriate amongst the architects and developers.
This post covers it’s Ugly Sister, aka the Navy one. The navy pegged skirt was draped to create a neater, less exaggerated silhouette, with the straight grain at the CF allowing me to cut the skirt on the fold.
I wanted a contrast to the slightly billowing grey one. But I made an elementary mistake. A mistake I didn’t discover until I tried it on, at the hemming stage.
Oh no!
I had made up the skirt, underlined it, lined it, inserted a nice zip, made the waist band, stitched it (almost perfectly) in the ditch. I stood on the counter and my dear husband pinned it and I still didn’t realise the fatal mistake. It was comfortable on the waist, and across the high hips. It skimmed the thighs, and I thought it was sucessful. The problem of course, with this style of pegged skirt is that the skirt gets narrower all the way down. When it meets the knees it was actually fairly tight.
And while the skirt looked pretty good when I stood up straight, and even allowed a small stride, when I sat it was completely uncomfortable. Like Spanx, only worse. This skirt is tight across the thighs! It is a funny feeling – to have just your thighs encased. To cut a long story short, this is not a skirt for me. Maybe on a very young woman, as a super mini, this might work as a fun item. For me to wear to work it was out of the question.
I could go back to the drawing board and redrape the pattern with much more ease in the skirt. The thing is I now have two pegged skirts, and that is probably (more than) enough. However, encouraged by pegged skirt fiend and 1980s designer Linde Carr, I have begun to think about the pegged skirts cousin – pegged trousers.
The End.
Fabric shopping in Bilbao
On a recent trip to Bilbao we saw three or four small shops where you can learn to sew. In one there was even a class going on. So the trend that is already evident in London, and elsewhere no doubt, of young entrepreneurs setting up fabric, machine and teaching shops can be seen in Spain too. However I didn’t need help on how to put in a zip – I was more interested in seeing what fabrics might be available. I came across one shop that I would recommend if you are in the area. It was relatively expensive, but it did have a nice range of everyday and designer fabrics and some discounted cut pieces.
I went to Ezkar, a shop that has been trading for over 30 years, but it seemed very old fashioned – in a nice way. Here is the lady who helped me. We couldn’t speak the same language but we managed with notes, pointing and guesswork. The light blue and green wool went into the distinctive carrier bag and came home with me. I hope to use them for my sweet pea collection.
If you like fabric with feathers, lace, fur and all sorts of excessive trimming you may like the selection here. Having said that there was a heavy emphasis on polyester and I found the colour palette somewhat depressing. On the other hand I liked how they showed photos from Hello! (or Hola!) and similar magazines featuring the very fabric on sale. I got the feeling that very dressy, almost stagewear fabrics were popular amongst this clientele.
The tables heaved with small pieces – buy one get the second one half price (a passing customer translated as my sales assistant didn’t speak English). Few of these colours did anything for me – but then I don’t have Spanish colouring. One thing I liked was that each piece included the yardage and composition. When I bought a couple of pieces the assistant (aware I was going to have to pack my purchases for travel) carefully pulled out the staples, removed the cardboard strip, cut off the composition labels and packed everything carefully away for me. At the moment the pound is strong against the Euro, luckily.
I looked at the children’s selection – astonishingly traditional I would say, compared to choices at home. But still rather lovely for a beautiful dress or romper suit. Pink or Blue? Again there seems to be a tradition of making fussy, but gorgeous outfits for the dear little ones who still stay up very late in summer, joining the family for meals and outings. The very casual approach we tend to have to clothes hasn’t caught on to the same extent in Europe.
One corner had some nice bright fabrics perhaps for quilting or summer dresses.
In conclusion – a nice experience if you are in the area, just to get a feel for a slightly different culture.
Getting a better fit – analysing your figure
Last week I was very pleased to invite Lesley of Sewniptuck, Marianna of Sew2Pro and one of my very kind followers Sheree round for dinner. Lesley lives in Sydney but was over here for a little while and I was so happy she could come round, despite her busy schedule. Sheree kindly came over from Essex (bearing sports socks for each of us – how kind), and dear Marianna cancelled her normal Monday night commitment to be there.
We had a special meal together and spent a little while talking about sewing and blogging.
But we also had some fun analysing our figures.
Marianna provided white pattern paper, and I located felt tip pens, a set square and some blue tac. We stuck the paper to the wall and then stood against it, chin up, and one of the others traced around our outline. It is more difficult than it looks. I wore a tight T shirt and my tights. And luckily Lesley told me she was a trained midwife just as her pen traced around my inside leg. As you can imagine four women and two bottles of wine can lead to some funny conversations.
Once you have traced your outline, mark the top of the head, the necklace line, the underarms, the shoulder, the waist, hips and knees. Using the yardstick draw lines across the drawing at all the above points. Connect the shoulder dots to the hip dots using the straight edge.
Then fold the paper in half (horizontally) so the top of the head comes to the feet. Then fold in half again creating a second crease.
The fold should fall at the underarm, the hips and the knees in someone with average or balanced proportions, with the waist half way between underarm and hips. (I am average)
If you are “long waisted” the waist is below the halfway point (between underarm and hip). Your legs are comparatively short.
If you are “short waisted” your waist comes above the halfway point (between underarm and hip). Your legs are comparatively long.
If your shoulders and hips are more or less the same size, and you have a narrow waist you would be shaped or hour glass. Most women fall into this category (all four of us did).
If your shoulders and hips are more or less the same size, but your waist is not clearly indented you have a semi-straight figure.
The straight figure has shoulders that are markedly wider than the hips.
The basic shape of your figure will determine which fashions and shapes you might choose to look your best.
The book has rather dated illustrations. We probably should have stepped in to our coloured spandex leotards and shiny tights (where are the leg warmers, by the way?) Marianna said we all looked like the subject of police enquiries once our images were laid out on the floor. All in the interests of better fit.
I am glad I have done this exercise as I can now go through my book The Perfect Fit, Apple Press, 2005, and decide on
- the slope of my shoulders (mine are average)
- arms ( average)
- waist (small)
- hips (full)
- thighs (full)
- bust (full)
- abdomen (flat)
- seat profile (full)
This is a helpful process because most commercial patterns are manufactured assuming the “average” proportions and attributes. If you are bigger or smaller, fuller or flatter, then you may have to adjust the pattern to get a good fit.
Overall I would say this is an experience worth trying.
Grey Pegged skirt
In some respects the joke is on me.
At an early stage of my sewing career I bought some suiting fabric in a nice, neutral grey. On the selvedge was written
SUPER 120’s ALL WOOL MADE IN ENGLAND
I wanted to believe it, although it felt a little polyesterish. I was too nervous to consult the vendor (Robert at Simply Fabrics). It was cheap – less than £5 a metre as I remember. I bought a couple of metres, and as I have discovered much nicer wools over the years, this not-very-nice fabric languished in my cupboard.
But sometimes cheapish “wool” is a good fabric to use for experimenting and toile-ing. I reached for this fabric when I made my deconstructed four gore skirt mainly because I liked the selvedge. The selvedge is particularly polyestery.
However I thought I would use up the remainder on one of my Draped Pegged skirt experiments. I did a burn test, and while there maybe a little bit of sheep hair in there, I can now announce this fabric should have a selvedge that reads
NOT VERY SUPER POLYESTER MADE IN CHINA
And in case you were wondering what is Super 120s (or is it 120’s?)
The description is reserved for 100% Pure New Wool. A super 120 (reflecting a relatively fine yarn) will make a nice, slightly drapey/silky suit, but one that is relatively hard wearing. If applied correctly it would denote a good quality suiting fabric, especially if made in England.
This drape has the CB on the bias. It is also the skirt with the exaggerated shape. Although it makes the question “Does my bum look big in this?” relatively easy to answer, I really love this skirt. I enjoyed wearing it (hence the creasing at the back) and I felt very 1980s and powerful in it.
I included the selvedge in the waist band, and featured it down the CB. The Grey skirt is the one which has a straight grain CB and the front is on the bias. You may see there is a bit of pulling on that CF seam, and it does kick up just a little bit although the hem is as straight as it is ever going to be. Again this is not a perfect skirt, but I really like it and think with decent fabric it might be rather a nice look. Certainly I think it is a style that can be worn by curvy women.
The Draped Pegged Skirt (Draping and Construction advice)
I have been working on a pegged skirt design for some time, and I thought I would share my recent experiments.
First I will share two pictures of skirts draped from CB to CF (code grey), and from CF to CB (code navy). The first navy skirt is draped with the CF on the straight grain. I have shown front (left) and back (right in photograph) together here. There is a nice deep box pleat in the front; otherwise it is just unpressed knife pleats. Overall there is less draping in the back. You can definitely see how the skirt pulls in towards the narrow hem.
Let’s compare the calico patterns that I draped with the straight grain along the CB, with the CF on the bias.
The design is different. During the draping process, I went with the look and feel of the fabric in terms of where to place the pleats and how many to put in. The Grey skirt is more exaggerated than the other version, and contains more fabric. (This is where wardrobe comes in – I need a bit of variety).
Having made two patterns I now thought about it. With the Navy skirt, as the CF is on the straight grain, I would be able to cut my pattern on the fold, thereby getting back to the one piece skirt, made in the round without a joining seam. The Grey skirt, on the other hand, would have a seam at CF on the bias. This might be tricky. On the other hand as my grey fabric has a slight stripe in it the effect might be rather pretty.
I am still busy making these two skirt up. In the meantime I have some learning to share. Mary Funt suggested extending the zip through the waistband for a neat finish, and this is what I did.
Making a draped peg skirt – construction notes
- Mark the fabric very clearly. I used three colours of basting thread for a) the waist line, b) the upper part of a pleat or fold and c) the lower part of the pleat or fold. Also the CF and CB and suggested hem position.
- Separate the cloth and cut open the marking threads carefully. If you are making the Grey skirt with two pieces of fabric then the CF is on the bias. Take care not to stretch this. I stitched the seam very cautiously and then carefully pressed open without pulling.
- If, conversely, you have created the Navy version with the CB on the cross then as soon as you have carefully separated the pieces at CB, apply some stabilising fusible interfacing of an appropriate weight, at least the length of the zip and around 2″ wide.
- If you are planning to use underling now is the time to attach it to the piece, basting it to the fashion fabric along the stitching lines.
- Now pin in the pleats, bringing the top of the pleat to the marking of where it will lie. Once the whole skirt is pinned along the waistline (the back seam is still open) try it on the stand to ensure the pleating works in a pleasing way. Also check the waist measurement with your tape measure to ensure it will fit you.
- Check the circumference of your hem to ensure your stride is not overly affected.
- Make up the lining, but leave CB open for zip insertion.
- Pin the lining together with your skirt, taking care with the bias CF seam (grey skirt), and pin to the skirt, wrong sides together at both sides of the CB.
- Pleat the lining along the waistline seam. It doesn’t have to be the same arrangement as the skirt, but should be balanced.
- Baste along the waistline including the underlining, lining and fashion fabric
- Prepare the waist band
- Sew the waist band neatly and accurately to the waistband, still leaving open the CB seam
- Insert an invisible or regular zip at the CB bringing it through the waist band.
- Finish the CB seam and then attatch lining. Finish the waist band neatly.
- Put on the skirt and enlist a helper to mark the hem. I measured up around 20″ from the floor for mine.
- Hemming doesn’t really work because the turned up hem is narrower than the skirt.
- The best approach I found was to create a facing, or to cut down to a 1″ hem, then attach 1″ bias binding. This is flexible and will stretch to ensure that the hem sits neatly. Turn up the 1″ hem, baste along the hem line. Press carefully, then slip stitch the bias binding to the underlining.
Using (Linde Carr’s) bias binding to hem a skirt with a narrow hem - Hem the lining fabric with a small, folded over, machined hem.
Spanish Eyes – choosing colourful frames
When I was first prescribed spectacles I was pretty fed up. The styles available were fairly dire and I spent most of my youth in contact lenses. I only really swapped to glasses when I found I needed varifocals. Since then I have rather enjoyed wearing glasses, but have been irritated at the fact that they seem to come in such a limited range of colours. Like the old days of shoes, it seems to be mainly black or brown. Or metal, which can be nice.
Yet in many other European countries – Italy, Scandinavia and Spain – they seem to have a much wider range of glasses and when we travel we often like to browse in the shops when we are away.
When we were in Bilbao we came across Mo Eyewear, a Barcelona based firm, that sells glasses with basic lenses for around 77 Euros for two pairs through the Multiopticas shop. Quite keen pricing, so Nick and I went in. We both got our eyes tested there and then and found the service was quite wonderful, even on a Saturday.
In London we tend to rely on Specsavers, which is a good shop in terms of service, but there is nothing like the range of colours in grey England, compared to sunny Spain. I think it is the same with cars – they all seem to be silver or black.
I liked all of them! I did buy a pair and I will show you when they arrive. But mainly I was really pleased with the wide choice of colours on offer. While I admit I wasn’t tempted by the yellow or light pink ones for everyday use, I was impressed that I could have any colour I wanted Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Turquoise, Bright blue, navy, purple, white and clear.Even wood look – for the Natural types.
I wondered if I could find a pair to match my “radiant orchid” sandals.
I tend to wear my purple glasses everyday, although I have some dark brown ones too. But in an ideal world I would change my frames to match my outifts.
Do you like wearing glasses? Would you ideally match your glasses to your outfit, or is that just too extravagant?
You must be logged in to post a comment.