Episode 803 features three main techniques, little lace accents, fluffy full ruffles, and quick to cut little doll clothes. Each one is designed to show a bit of the late teens fashion era. These items would have been seen as street clothing or  “unmentionables” such as petticoats and bloomers. 

As always, it’s interesting to think about how clothing and accessories would have been created many decades ago. Certainly the time and labor involved would have been long and tedious compared to modern methods. In this show you are sure to see modern methods made possible by machine capabilities in the 21st century.               Watch how everything from yesterday gets done today . . . faster and easier!

I have a standard recipe for making these sheer lace appliqués, which includes the following:

• Sheer polyester organza - This is found in many colors in the special occasion section (think bridal and prom supplies) of most fabric stores. 

• Fibrous mesh stabilizer – Sometimes called Lace Base, Vilene, or Aqua Melt. It looks a little like a sheet of non-woven interfacing but completely dissolves in warm water. This stabilizer is popular for freestanding lace designs and for sewing or embroidering on sheer fabrics such as organza that need more stability during embroidery but need to disappear after the stitching is finished. CLICK HERE for more information about this type of stabilizer. This  also comes in an adhesive backed version suitable for lots of tricky embroidery and sewing situations.
• Lacy like machine embroidery designs -  For this technique you need designs that include a satin stitched edging. Machine embroidery enthusiasts don’t have to search long to find a multitude of lace designs that could be used for this technique. Some of my favorites are found on ibroidery.com, a Brother exclusive site for reasonably priced design downloads. Visit this site to see an example of these designs.

• Super sharp curve tipped scissors are a must for trimming the excess fabric and stabilizer. There are many brands that are good and Havel's Sewing makes a nice pair at a great price.

To put this all together, I hoop the organza with a layer of fibrous mesh on the top and the bottom. Essentially, I make a sandwich with stabilizer for bread and organza as the bologna in between. CLICK HERE for a project posted on brothersews.com. You'll see a pretty sweater accented with similar lace appliqués. There's even a free coordinating design download for you to try out.

The final piece in this show is presented by Lynn Lunoe. She’ll show you step by step how to use the Brother ScanNCut to make short work of cutting little bitty patterns for doll clothing. Yes, you are seeing more and more projects made with the aid of this electronic cutter but that’s because it is such a versatile accessory. Wondering if you would really get your money's worth from this machine? There are truly a thousand a one uses, probably more! Think about the possibilities every time you cut small and intricate pieces and wish you had a machine to do it for you. Only you can decide but remember that this cutter can scan. That means you can create original patterns from lots of sources like hand drawn or commercially available appliqué patterns, in addition to copying small items like doll patterns. With this cutter you can cut multiples really quickly. Adorable doll clothes are a fun way to use up fabric remnants and try out embellishment techniques. Plus, I’ve never heard a doll complain about her outfit! Every doll I have ever seen has a perpetual smile on her face!

We continue this trip through fashion history with an eye towards the teen years of the 20th century. With the world at war, women drew on their innate ability to “make do”, adding decorative embellishments that could be made from small amounts of fabric. In this episode you’ll see Rebecca Kemp Brent’s modern version of frugal embellishments with bits of fabric turned into eye catching fabric flowers. Her step-by-step instructions are easy to follow and you’ll see her work at a pace that is relaxing and unhurried.  She even shows a handy Clover Notions tool for flower making. Click Here to see all the flower forms made by Clover. Chances are your local sewing shop has these in stock or available to special order. You may want to watch this segment once, prepare your materials to make a flower, and then rewind and watch a second time, stitching along with Rebecca from start to finish. 

Take a look at the flowers on this 1912 ensemble by a designer named Lanvin. The dress itself was called an "at home dress." Flowers seem to be a perennial favorite for adding a splash of color or a three dimensional accent to an otherwise flat piece of fabric. Today we have the opportunity to re-create the look with appliqué, machine embroidery, or even a 3-D fabric flower like the ones Rebecca demonstrates this week. 

As is typical, wartime brought about the need for change. With men at war, women did work they had not previously been accustomed to doing. Practicality eventually made its way into a woman’s wardrobe.  I say eventually, because at first we saw less full skirts in favor of pencil slim straight styles. However, some of these first straight skirts were slim to the point of being ridiculous and actually were called hobble skirts. It’s not hard to figure out where that name came from! This style literally forced a woman to shorten her walking stride so much, that walking was more like hobbling. Hobbling became dangerous and there were highly publicized accidents where women were injured by slim skirts that made them trip and fall. This extreme form of a slim styled skirt was then modified and became more practical with walking slits and hidden pleats for walking ease. This skirt style did signal the fact that the fussiness of previous years was on it’s way out and simpler, more practical garments were on their way in. It is interesting to note that the so called pencil skirt has remained in fashion for many decades now.

Angela Wolf spins this slim style into much shorter skirts with added draping details. Watch as she demonstrates the process of draping. It's really a form of improvisational designing. With draping techniques you can feel free to scrunch, pleat, and manipulate fabric until you achieve a good looking silhouette. If you’re not happy you simply start over. As Angela recommends, using muslin for this process means you don’t cut real fabric until you have your pattern all worked out on the dress form. This type of design work is often used by big name designers and for some intricate styles it’s the only way to achieve a finished fashion pattern. Personally I prefer designing on paper but it’s always fun to watch a master draper at work, sculpting yards of fabric into a final, fashionable form.

Click Here to watch this week's line episode of It's Sew Easy. Enjoy all the historical photos and try to pick out at least one small detail you can incorporate into your own contemporary sewing projects.