Pandemic Apparel

I've had a few new video. Sorry I haven't been keeping up with my social media, but here are all of the newest tutorials. EM01 - Singer Featherweight replacing Bed Cushions, aka Rubber Fee E32 - Gathering  and the newest one ... E33 - Collar and Pocket Flap

In this tutorial I will show you how to grade a basic bodice using Gerber or Lectra.    New Video! E31 Grading Basic Bodice - Part III: Grading using Gerber or Lectra  

In this tutorial I will show you how to grade a basic bodice using Adobe Illustrator. In my next tutorial I will go over how to set up and grading your patterns in Gerber or Lectra, so Subscribe to get email notification for Part III. New Video! E31 Grading Basic Bodice - Part II: Computer Grading   During my tutorial I may have glossed over how to break apart the pattern pieces. What you want to do is go to PATHFINDER > DIVIDE. This tool will break apart your pattern piece, then while its selected right click and UNGROUP. Then with the white arrow, AKA "Direct Selection Tool", delete the lines/points you don't need. You may find yourself wondering ... WHY DID I JUST TRACE THE PATTERN IF I'M GOING TO DELETE THE LINES? Well, you can just outline the corners you need, but in the end you'll still have to trace the pattern to get the lines you need. Ok maybe NOT on the straight lines. You can just re-join them with the pen tool. But the curved lin...

In this tutorial I will be going over the grading break down and how to grade with a grading machine and ruler. Subscribe to get email notification for Part II of Grading the Basic Bodice. New Video! Grading the Basic Bodice Part 1 http://youtu.be/RaJ3ru4oXZY

I've uploaded another sewing tutorial that will help you with your hand and eye coordination. And will improve your sewing, around curved lines. I have a few more sewing tutorials to upload. And hopefully I'll have my studio back by April so I can start uploading these tutorials more often. New Video! Maze & Circle http://youtu.be/b2n84IzssI4

In a preview post I commented that I filmed 11 new tutorials, and this was one of them. It has taken me 3 months to, decide on whether or not I should, upload this tutorial. In the end I finished editing it, but I'm still not 100% happy with the out come. I had some much to say on the matter, that over half of the expectation was taken out. I felt it was too much info and that most people wanted to see the grading and less of me explaining. I hope you guys enjoy this tutorial and please let me know if you would like to see grading and pattern making tutorials. I'll be coming out with more basic sewing tutorial until I get my studio organized in order for any more filming. New Video! Grading a Skirt http://youtu.be/A5b2ppwOWhc

At the beginning of this year I filmed 11 new tutorials; Around this time I also got a new job, which left me without any time to edit them. But I'm going to change that ... I'm devoting a few hours a week and some of my weekends to editing these tutorials, so hopefully they will be uploaded more frequently than before. New Video! Gussets / Gores http://youtu.be/94HppIUtG0Q Enjoy!

New Video! Sewing Exercises http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgFhBrykiro I'm not sure how many of you guys follow me on twitter, but a few days back I wrote that I filmed a new tutorial and it came out looking all blurry. The weather just now started cooling off and I was going to attempt to re-film it sometime this week or next. I didn't want you guys to wait too long for a new tutorial, so I went ahead and edited this tutorial really quickly on iMovie and just finished uploading it. I hope you guys will enjoy it and find it useful. I also have to upload the PDFs for this tutorial, but I'll do that another day.

I had this tutorial sitting on my HD for over a year and finally decided to get back into making tutorials. Hopefully this time around I'll upload a new tutorial weekly, but for now until I get into the swing of things I'll upload one every other week. Enjoy! YouTube

Last week I started to clean my iron plate and found an article RealSimple made, but omitted a few of the steps since my iron manual advised against it. It came out pretty clean, As you can see from the first image, that I doctored (I realized in the middle of cleaning that this would be a good blog post). How I cleaned my iron: I used 8 Tbsp Baking Soda & 4 Tbsp Cold Water (its a 2 to 1 ratio). While the iron was cold I applied the paste with a towel, then I wiped it off with a clean towel. This didn't clean the iron, but it took some of the mineral deposits off. I then turned the iron ON and set it to HIGH and steam to HIGH. With a damp towel I wiped off the paste. Then, I placed a clean towel on a heat resistant surface, and started squirting it with water and started working the iron back and forth on the towel, using steam. Some of the iron's steam vents got clogged with the paste. I used a wet cotton swab to clean the baking soda from the vents. This was no easy task...

I remember seeing a preview of the Schmatta - Rags to riches to rags documentary on HBO.com and was waiting for it to air or for the DVD to be released. I figured that HBO would included it on the HBO GO app, but they didn't. After looking for this documentary for some time now I discovered this link someone had posted on a forum. It downloads pretty quickly and is of good quality. The documentary has interesting facts regarding the garment industry in New York. Since I'm from LA I'm more interested in our history, never the less it was informative.

Saturday, February 05, 2011, was the opening of the 19th annual art of motion picture costume and design Exhibition @ FIDM. Right after parking we made a B line for the exhibition. I love costume design and nothing gives me grater pleasure than to see these wonderful costumes in person. I have often thought about working at a museum, but how does one get started? Enough about me ... Here are a few pictures of the costumes. I took about 140 pictures, but I only found 12 that I wanted to show you. The exhibition was in a Z pattern, which was fun to walk around. While watching Burlesque ... I noticed that some of the scenes look like Cabaret. The costumes and musical numbers were pure candy, but the story line sucked. On a bathroom break, I found the famous Dior dress displaced in a glass case. Across from that was a wall show casing a few pictures and designs. They always have the best displays. I remember when I attended FIDM they had a new display on each floor, every week. I miss thos...

I've updated the calendar on my vimeo group " DIY Sewing " to show the dates for fashion week around the world. Enjoy!

I've been wanting to do a video tutorial for some time, but with work and lack of natural light in my studio I've been putting it off. I might do a few short tutorial on hand sewing. Which I've been wonting to do for a long time now. What I really wanted to show you are some tailors techniques for hand sewing, but I haven't been able to find the proper information over the internet. This means a trip downtown to the BIG library ... hmmmm. So what I'll do is make a tutorial on basic techniques. If you have any request about hand sewing please let me know and I'll include them in my tutorial.

I've been debating on making this post. In the end I think it would be easier to create a blog entry than to make a video tutorial. I few weeks ago I purchase this "Draping" book which I've been trying to buy for some time now. I really goes into detail on the history of draping and how it all started. Which my school failed to teach us. Okay ... its time for the draping part of this tutorial. [I would like to add that this book deals with CM not INCHES so if you don't have a measuring tape with CM on it you'll need to do some converting here is the formula: cm x 0.39* = in in x 2.54 = cm *Shown as 0.39 after rounding to the nearest hundredth (0.3937008).] You'll need the following measurements: (size 6 US) • Upper arm width (27cm) • Elbow width (23cm) • Wrist width (16cm) • Arm length (61cm) • Lower arm length (25cm) • Arm hole circumference (40cm) Supplies: • Muslin Fabric • Cardboard • Poly-Fil • Pins • Rulers: L-Ruler, French Curve, Clear Ruler • Threa...

Little update ... I've been trying to keep up with fashion week and all of that fashion programing on the Sundance Channel. And I finally found time to do some research, so I'll have a new tutorial up very soon. In the mean while, I want to share my Documentary review. I watched the "The September Issue" not that exciting, but I found out of about the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which took me to the "Seamless" documentary about this awards program. I guess since they are giving away $200,000 you have to be bankable. In other viral videos I found out that if the Fashion World has a president its Anna Wintour, she can make or break your career. I've known about her and others, even before I started at FIDM, it just seems so surreal to me that one person has so much pull with the marketing aspect of this industry. I've never realized it before or never wanted to admit to my self, but its true. Next!!!, "Unzipped", I didn't enjoy it much and i...

Yesterday I was doing some research and I stumbled across www.fashion-gorgeois.com . These tutorials are worth watching. I learned some things and others I already knew. But, having designer share ideas or the way they work can help others learn. I've always been interested in watching how other designers work. By watching them even if they don't tell you how they are doing whatever it is that they are doing, one can get a general idea on how something is made. (Wondering if that makes sense :/ ) Here's a list of the recent documentaries I've been watching: Valentino: The Last Emperor Lagerfeld Confidential The September Issue Unzipped Seamless Starz Inside: Fashion Film The Secret World of Haute Couture Signe Chanel Notebook on cities and clothes Other Documentaries: • Haute Couture: A Fashion Documentary -- Film Trailer • The next documentary I'll be watching later this week is Jay McCarroll : Eleven Minutes. • Also the Sundance Channel* has a Series called "...

After using the Serger for my BF's Jeans , it stopped working. I was in a panic because I had orders to fill. Long story short I had to use a clean edge and bias tape for the raw edges of the seams, because I dropped my serger off at a locale sewing repair shop. Prier to dropping it off I called around and fold what at the time seemed like a reliable repair shop. But when I received a call from them 2 days later I was enraged. I was told that it was going to be $145 which included timing and oiling. I just wanted them to do the timing, so I can continue working. They said they wouldn't because the timing wouldn't hold if I didn't oil it. They tried to convince me that the oiling was needed because the handle felt ruff when you turned it. The handle felt a little ruff or tight, but it only after the timing happened. So they where full of shit. I think they wanted more money. Yes, the machine needs grease on the inside of the machine, but that has nothing to do with the t...

I think it was two weeks ago I purchased a Juki DDL-8300N sewing machine. I've always wanted an industrial sewing machine, but I didn't start researching it until recently when my home sewing machine started braking down on me. I sew way too much not to have an industrial sewing machine. Also the machine sews 10 times faster than a home sewing machine. I made a very quick tutorial on how to thread the machine, threading the bobbin, threading the bobbin case, drawing Up bobbin thread, and removing or placing bobbin case into the machine. Visit pandemicapparel.com to view the tutorial.

My boyfriend (BF) had two pairs of jeans one had a perfect zipper but was torn; the other had a broken zipper and was otherwise perfect. He had asked me to take both jeans and make one. Rather than make a video tutorial which would take more time that I at the moment I decided to make a blog entry. The following picture is from the jean that is missing the tooth, a second tooth broke alter on. But you can see that it needed replacing. This next picture I'm removing the stitches of the waistband. If this is your first time replacing a zipper on jean or any other garment take notes on how its constructed or better yet take a few pictures before you start ripping seams. Once the waistband seams were removed I started on removing the zipper on the left side of the pants. I also had to remove some stitches that were holding the zipper in place at the crotch seam. Next I moved to removing the zipper on the right side of the pants. After doing this to both pants, which took some time, I h...