My draping class started last night and so far, so good.
Our professor explained that we're going to be working a lot with striped fabric and our final project is going to be a striped dress. Now, I have worked with a whole lot of plaids and floral fabrics over the years, but I can count on both hands the projects I've made with stripes. I own quite a bit of striped fabric, I just rarely use it.
Our professor has encouraged us to start clipping photos of striped garments we like and I've already started my own Pinterest inspiration board (labelled, natch, Stripes!) which you can see here.
I don't know why I haven't sewn with stripes more often. I guess I often think of stripes as a little dull, at least as they generally appear in menswear. (You may recall that I wrote a post about stripes four years ago, when I was putting together a bathing ensemble for my cousin Cathy.)
An excellent resource for using stripes creatively is the book Decorative Dressmaking. There's a lot of inspiration in this book and I'm sure I'll be referring to it during my 5-week intensive draping class.
Stripes are prominent in the new Fashion Institute of Technology Museum exhibit, Uniformity, which I caught this afternoon. (We'll be visiting again on MPB Day on August 13th.) I loved it.
I'm excited about working with stripes, I really am. Looking through my iPhoto photo albums, I have a lot of images of striped garments and fabrics that excite me.
Friends, how about you?
Are you a fan of stripes, be they vertical, horizontal, on the bias, or draped in some other way, and do you sew with them often?
Or do you find that, like me, you're more often drawn to solids, florals, and/or plaids -- who knows why?
When it comes down to it, are stripes boring and just a little bit too reminiscent of prison uniforms?
Your thoughts, please!
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Cathy needs that black & white striped thing with all the lace! Speaking of Cathy, doesn't she love us anymore? lol
ReplyDeleteLast Monday's Great British Sewing Bee (Season 4, Episode 1) first challenge used striped fabric to make a women's chevron blouse. If used with enough zest and panache, stripes are dazzling.
ReplyDeleteit's back on???? where can I watch it in the us??
DeleteFYI...I have yet to brave pattern matching but I do love a good stripe
I watched it on youtube last night.
DeleteThis class sounds like fun! Can't wait to see what you come up with for your stripes. I've made one top with stripes but a number of pants over the years.
ReplyDeletefor some reason, i'm REALLY liking that orange and brown blazer with the vertical stripes. so deliciously retro.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a Princeton University class jacket--the orange one on the right definitely is. Each class has a different jacket.
DeleteFirst off - I miss Cathy! And secondly - I love stripes, esp. cream and navy. I HATE pattern matching but I'll do it occasionally to wear handmade striped garments. I work hard to match those suckers and most of the time it goes pretty well. I appreciate the geometrical quality of the stripe. I will NOT go near plaid.
ReplyDeleteI am a horizontal stripe FANATIC. I own way too many striped t-shirts, dresses and accessories... It's even a running gag with my friends...
ReplyDeleteLove vertical stripes. Notice all the vertical stripes in the Gene Kelly/Judy Garland movie. She was considered "heavy" during this period of her life and as a preteen I thought so too. Guess the designer thought all those stripes would slim her down. Looking at her now I can't believe how gorgeous and curvy she was then. Sorry, a little off topic.
ReplyDeleteMany of my ties and dress shirts are striped as well as three wool suits: pin, chalk, and a series of woven self-fabric raised stripes. Sometimes I even wear a striped tie, shirt, and suit together. And stripes needn't be straight!
ReplyDeleteYoink! Added Decorative Dressmaking to my "to get" book list. Thankee kindly!
ReplyDeleteI haven't sewn with stripes yet, but I have bought a couple of striped shirts over years. Right now my focus is on solids, so I can build a decent working wardrobe of mixable items, but stripes are something I always figured I'd work with. The curated images you've shared here have inspired me.
I like stripes and have sewn tops made from stripe fabric. I don't find them boring at all. I look forward to seeing the striped garment you create in your draping class - I know it will be fab!
ReplyDeleteStripes are da best! You can get crazy creative and drape the most ahmazing optical illusion!!!
ReplyDeleteAll the stripes in all the directions!
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love stripes!!! I just finished a striped ensemble for Mary - mostly horizontal and diagonal. I think they're versatile and timeless! I'm waiting to be inspired by all your stripey creations.
ReplyDeleteI refer to it as stripey goodness in homage to a historical costumer Demode Couture.
ReplyDeleteSo YES to stripes
Stripes fan here!!
ReplyDeleteAs for Cathy Lane, the chorus grows louder amidst her lengthy absence.
I am a true stripes addict! I love all kinds of stripes, but my favorite are classic breton stripes.
ReplyDeleteever since i saw Cary Grant in 'to catch a thief'...that Breton striped shirt with the insouciant little scarf, omg
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm the only one......who does NOT like stripes! Every once in a while I think of making a navy and whit striped Breton top but then I look closer at the fabric and just can't do it. It's not a look I think is for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently working on a full-on regatta style blazer (https://gripandword.com/blog/2016/05/vogue-8719-regatta-blazer/) and have plans to someday make both a seersucker suit and a Gomez Addams style double-breasted chalk stripe suit, so I guess that makes me a fan of stripes.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer variegated stripes to the two tone, even width types. Nowhere says stripes have to be like that. When the width differ and the colour rock around a group of related colours, I am happy. But wear them? Not much. They are either too formal or too casual for my look.
ReplyDeleteI've been seeing knit tops that mix stripes/solids, stripes/dots, even stripes/prints. Just bought some black and white stripes with the idea of giving that a try.
ReplyDeleteDecorative Dressmaking is the best! So full of interesting ideas.
I love stripes especially those Breton striped shirts like June was talking about. And the good things about them, is that there often aren't too many to match up! Don't forget that the Breton shirt was the first pioneering look by Coco Chanel even before the twin set. Here in France, everyone has one in their wardrobe, man or woman, boy or girl. I like regatta style blazers too, like Andy is making, but I don't quite have the courage to wear one!! The first challenge on the current BBC series of the Sewing Bee was all about stripes: cutting on the bias to make a centred chevron down the front when matched so it might be interesting to watch for stripe fans (the contestants made a really good job of it).
ReplyDeleteI think I mainly sew with plain fabrics but I also LOVE stripes and plaid. I'm generally not very fond of prints.
ReplyDeleteI will agree that you rarely see interesting use of stripes in menswear but for women, that is a different story. I'm still proud of this simple-but-interesting (if I say so myself) dress I made years ago: http://petitmainsauvage.blogspot.nl/2013/07/retro-stripes.html (the darts in the front bodice are the interesting bit. I often do things with matching stripes, pleats and darts when I work with striped fabric but I also have had a picture of this dress from this blog (this is a blog about vintage style I sometimes read, it's not about sewing at all. I just loved that dress...) saved for years to remind myself that, with a bold stripe, there are other interesting options: http://www.vixen-vintage.com/2014/07/modern-rococo.html
Love both dresses -- yours is especially elegant!
DeleteI like the idea of stripes, either in a simple garment, or with clever placement, and the breton top is classic! But I can't actually look at most because high contrast closely spaced stripes vibrate and make me feel ill (I think it's related to having migraines and also to dyslexia (I don't have even the slightest form of dyslexia, but I do get migraines occasionaly)). Therefor, that's a no from me, at all times, under most circumstances. Sometimes a very low contrast stripe, or one with a blurred edge can be OK. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anyone's suggested it yet, but Claire McCardell did some beautiful work with stripes. Also, there's that great suit that Rosalind Russell wears at the top of His Girl Friday: https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=his+girl+friday&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002. It looks much better in the film, btw.
ReplyDeleteI've done more work with plaids than with stripes and it has its challenges and joys. One design feature I like to do when creating or altering a pattern is alternating the direction of the fabric at major seams so that the stripes to not have to match, like when joining a shirt to a bodice, once a perfect match would be impossible. Inserting a reenforceed bias section at the waist breaks up the visual of the stripes. When matching stripes basting is your friend! Especially on smaller plaids I've matched the stripes down to the threads to make sure that my piece would line up perfectly.
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