Thursday, July 18, 2013

Don't You Love Saturdays? I Do.

I haven't seen much writing about this line, so here goes.


Have you seen Kate Spades' more affordable new venture, Saturday? It's a unique retail and social media strategy, each Saturday they release online another "collection" of a hundred or so new pieces. Some of these are completely new items while others are their staple clothing designs that continue from one "collection" to the next done up in new colors, fabrics, and patterns. Their goal is to keep customers engaged and coming back.



These are basics with a clean design and unique details that keep them from being boring. Designs that would make for a great wardrobe on their own made up in different types of fabrics, colors, and prints. The fabrics range from graphic black & white designs, brightly colored solids, wild oversized florals, pixelated prints, photographic prints, painterly abstracts, to Spirographic circles.



These multi-category collections include everything: clothes, shoes, accessories, handbags, tech accessories, and even travel storage pieces. These clothes are perfect for weekends and going on vacation. The Saturday line is meant as the more casual and lower-priced complement to Spade's namesake line. Think of this as fun clothing for purely fun times.

There is one particular dress I would love to have this summer, the Let Loose Dress:

A gathered tunic dress with cap sleeves, 1/2" elasticized back hem, removable self-tie belt, and hook-and-eye back zip closure. Made in a stretch poplin of 97% cotton with 3% Spandex. As seen below, this belt can be worn around the entire dress or just laced through the slits and tied either to the front or to the back.

Let Loose Dress $170


DIY version:

I found a few patterns that could be easily altered to make a version of this dress; Simplicity 1620 view A, Butterick 5356, view B lengthened into a dress, and probably the best choice of the bunch, Simplicity 2147*, view B. A knit version could also be made with a few alterations to Kwik Sew 3559.

Simplicity 1620 - Butterick 5356 - Simplicity 2147

These three already share the mid-chest yoke, cut-on sleeves, and gathered body of the Saturday dress. Alterations that will need to be done to all are:
  • Slash and spread the width of the body portion to create fullness and allow for more gathers.
  • If the pattern has a straight or yoke-less back, alter the pattern piece to mimic the front.
  • If neckline is large enough, you can omit the zipper completely.
  • Create slits at the side seams to allow for a 1 - 2 1/2 inch wide belt.
  • Place 1/2 inch elastic in the back hem only. 
Images: Kate Spade Saturday

*There is a fabulous version of Simplicity 2147 here by Jenni of Simple Beans.
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Monday, July 01, 2013

Drape Drape All Around the World!

This is part service for others and part archived research for me. Enjoy.

For two years, I've been obsessed with the Drape Drape books by Hisako Sato, a graduate of the Bunka Fashion College in Japan. Each time I see another blog seamstress in one of these creations I just want them more. Because of my already straining book shelves of twenty sewing books, my still slow-moving stash of projects and fabrics, and my less than bountiful cache of disposable income I haven't bought one for myself. However, while I work through my other projects I keep track of the finished projects from all books, I guess to torture myself? Until I give up and buy them, I thought my research shouldn't go to waste. I put together a list of sewing bloggers around the world that have succeeded in creating gorgeous pieces from these books, along with links to those particular posts on their blogs.

Meggipeg projects from all three books (Australia)
Ancien-Nouveau from Book 2 (Sweden)
Sew Well from Book 2 and 3 (USA)
Lula Louise from Book 2 and 3 (USA)
Handmade by Carolyn from Book 1 (Australia)
Tessuti used all three books (Australia)
Jorth from Book 1 and 2 (Australia)
Fehr Trade from Book 2 (England)
Tangerine Samuri  from Book 1 (USA)
Fashion Incubator sewed from all three books (USA)
Nikkishell from Book 1 (Australia)
Sew Smitten from Book 1 and 2 (England)
The Slapdash Sewist from Book 1 (USA)
Sewing In Athens from Book 1 (Greece)
Made By Meg from Book 1 (USA)
Sew Busy Lizzy from Book 2 and 3 (Australia)
Cation Designs from Book 1 (USA)
The Surly Seamstress from Book 2 and 3 (New Zealand)
The Material Girl from Book 1 (England)
Dixie DIY from Book 1 (USA)
Yes, Patterns from Book 2 and 3 (France)
The Sew Convert from Book 1 (Singapore)
J. Kaori Sews from Book 2 (USA)
Duck Bucket Sewing from Book 2 (USA)
Alabama Chanin tried out the #13 one piece tunic from Book 3 (USA)
Ariation made gorgeous bridesmaid dresses by adapting dress #2 from Book 2 (Trinidad & Tobago)
Pins And Brushes from Book 3 (Italy)
Needle And Ted from Book 2 (England)

F.Y.I. Here is the size chart used in all three books converted from metric to imperial:

Size
S
M
L
XL
Height
 153
 158
 163
168 
Bust
78
82
86
90
Waist
58
62
66
70
Hip
84
88
92
96

Size
S
M
L
XL
Height
 5’
 5’ 2”
 5’ 4”
5’  5”
Bust
31
32
34
35
Waist
23
24
26
28
Hip
33
35
36
38

For informational purposes here are the lists of contents from all three volumes. Noticed that the project titles are less than descriptive so I linked the finished projects I've found online to the name and correct volume so you can make an informed decision about which book you want. Luckily, the books are no longer hard to find and the English-language versions are now available from many online sellers outside of Japan. Therefore, it's now possible to price around and get the best deal.


no.2 gather drape cape jacket/vest here and gather drape pants
no.3 gather drape dress here here here here and here
no.7 gather two-pattern tuck drape dress
no.8 drape drape all-in-one
no.9 loose drape blouse
no.10 tuck drape dress
no.11 loose flare drape dress here
no.12 drawstring-detail drape tank-top here
no.13 loose drape top
no.14 tuck drape tunic blouse
no.15 loose drape tunic blouse
no.16 drape drape dress with gathered sleeves
no.17 goddess drape drape dress here


no.1 two-pattern gather drape bolero
no.3 three-pattern drape vest here
no.5 one-pattern drape skirt
no.8 two-pattern gather drape blouse here
no.9 three-pattern tuck drape pants
no.10 four-pattern tuck drape blouse
no.11 one-pattern drape dress
no.12 two-pattern tuck drape pants
no.13 two-pattern gather twist drape skirt
no.14 four-pattern gather drape skirt


Drape Drape 3

no.1 one-piece twist drape dress here
no.4 three-piece tuck drape pants
no.5 four-piece drape blouse
no.6 two-piece drape on drape dress
no.7 two-piece tuck drape blouse
no.8 three-piece tuck drape pants
no.9 three-piece twist gather drape dress and here
no.10 three-piece tuck drape skirt
no.11 three-piece string drape dress
no.12 three-piece gather drape wrap dress here and here
no.13 one-piece boatneck tunic
no.14 eight-piece twist collar tuck drape dress here
no.15 one-piece gather bare top drape dress

If you know of any from countries I haven't listed, please let me know in the comments. I am updating this as I find them. Thanks!
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