Really hemmed in!

Seams aren't the only part of a garment you need to check before you buy. Just as contentious is the hem. If a hem isn't well sewn, it can easily unravel, just when you need it least.

Many years ago, back in the days when women were encouraged to purchase "power suits" for the office, I had made such a buy at my city's top ladies wear store. Nothing fancy, just a navy blazer and white skirt, this being for summer.

I took my "power suit" with me on a business trip and got up the morning of my meeting, got dressed and was ready to go down to breakfast when, low and behold, my skirt hem caught on something and completely unraveled. So there I was, looking at my watch, wondering how I would find time for breakfast and to fix my hem. Obviously, I was a long way from the store so storming in there to complain about their shoddy merchandise wasn't an option. It quickly became clear that I would have to order breakfast up from room service and sit in my room to mend my skirt - luckily I had a sewing kit with me.

This initiated two trends in my life: one, I never ever purchased clothing from that supposedly top-notch store again and two, I began a lifelong addiction to room service!

When hems are sewn by a machine at lightning speed and not by hand, there is always the risk that the threads aren't finished off properly and that the hem will unravel at an unfortunate moment. Better quality clothing usually has hand-sewn hems. Certainly, my company, Harobed Designs, always hems by hand. We also never use the dreaded clear plastic thread, as this rarely gives a firm finish. (See the photo of the red jacket hem at top, which is hemmed in clear thread.)

Another aspect of hems that can be maddening is if you are slightly taller than average but not tall enough for the clothing category known as 'Tall". If only the manufacturers allowed slightly more generous hems - 2 inches being a reasonable amount - it would be easier for all above-average height people to let down their hems slightly if they wanted to. Usually, what happens, is that people have to buy clothing that is bigger than they need and have the hem taken up to where they want it rather than letting down a garment of the right size. This is one of the nuisances that has come into clothing with the advent of total factory production.

That's another thing we always do with Harobed Designs clothing; we always allow generous enough hems for both the outer jacket or "shell" and the inner lining, plus we include a generous amount of trim, so if someone wants to lengthen one of our jackets slightly, they can. The center photograph of the apple green jacket - actually, it's what is known as 'shot silk', meaning it has a blueish cast in certain lights - shows the depth of the outer hem as well as the depth of the lining hem and the amount of trim available. The final photo shows this jacket on the runway.

Inside the designer's mind -take one

Have you ever wondered how designers come up with the colors they use and their various combinations of fabrics, trims, buttons, etc.?

Here's a quick look inside the mind of this designer, as I take you along with how I chose the colors for a bolero or shrug I recently showed on the runway.

I wanted to work with magenta and black for my base colors, and happened to have the silk available for that. Now, traditionally, the accent color you would put with magenta and black would probably be gold. I had gold thread, and I thought about using gold. But, I also had a bronze metallic thread to hand and so I thought: Why not use bronze? Although bronze would not be the traditional accompaniment to a color like magenta, both are reddish colors and have a warm glow to them. I decided, if done right, this pairing would actually work quite well.

The first photo (at top) shows the raw materials, before I actually started work, and the second picture shows a section of the finished garment. Another decision I made, rather than doing a full applique stitch, where all the stitches would be close together, was to instead use a zigzag stitch and make the finish a bit more edgy, since 'edginess' is something much sought after in fashion these days.

Another objective for my design was to create a piece that could be worn winter or summer. In the third photo, you'll see the bolero paired with black in a more wintry look. And, then, in the fourth photo, you'll see the bolero paired with a strapless magenta dress. The necklace also features beads that are magenta and black.

Of course, there's no such thing as something entirely new in fashion and I'm sure the pairing of magenta, black and bronze has been done before.

Sometimes, though, the person who comes up with a new idea isn't the one who necessarily gets the credit. I was amused to read in the Summer 2010 H&M Magazine that "neon colors are back on the catwalk". And, on page 12, the article elaborates: "Marc Jacobs is using splashes of shocking pink to give his ladylike tweeds a street feel..." As it so happens, I paired hot pink trim and buttons with a gray menswear tweed in 2009 and showed a jacket on the fall runway with this pairing. You'll see my take on this color combination in the fifth photo! Now, who's copying whom?!!

Behind the scenes - Spring 2010 Clothing Show

Watching a runway show from the audience and seeing the models come down the catwalk, makes it easy to assume that putting such a show together is a piece of cake. The girls, the clothes, the lights, the music... all come together in a polished and professional display.

In reality, behind the scenes can be quite hectic, if not chaotic.

I recently presented eight pieces from my collection on the runway at the Spring 2010 Clothing Show in Toronto, Canada. Among the many designers, Harobed Designs was featured three times over two days. The shows were well attended and I was very gratified, sitting in the audience for the final show on Saturday, May 15, by the enthusiastic applause from the audience as the models in my garments did their final turn on the runway.

In keeping with the theme of this blog, which is to look on the inside and underneath, and at what's behind fashion, I'm posting some "behind the scenes" photos from the runway show. In the top picture, you can see the models when they're standing ready to go out on the catwalk. The second picture is taking from the wings, showing one of the models - wearing our red satin bolero with petal trim - on her way backstage.

If you'd like to look at the designs from the audience perspective, you can find them on http://canadawears.ca; look for the link to The Clothing Show Spring 2010 where you can click on Harobed Designs in the 1 p.m. time slot. There, you'll find a link for raymond's photoset, with about 18 different shots from the runway.

And if you'd like to know when our next runway show will be, please send us an e-mail at info@harobeddesigns.com. We'll be happy to put you on our list to let you know about runway shows or when we have new product in stores.

Now that's seamless!

One of the problems with a lot of factory-made clothing is that everything revolves around costs and keeping them down. As a result, manufacturers find the fastest and cheapest way to put the garment together. If you're lucky, this will never cause you any embarrassing moments. But if you're not lucky, you could end up in a situation that is truly seamless, in the worst possible way!

The photos posted show some of these problems. In manufactured clothing, the seams are edged by a process known as serging, to stop the fabric from fraying and the seam is usually sewn at the same time. Trouble is, this work is often not properly finished off. When you sew by hand or on a hand-operated machine, it's possible to finish off by back stitching or some similar method to secure the seam. This way, there are no dangling threads which can get caught...

In the picture of the white garment, the serged edge is starting to fray. This happened while the garment was in the washing machine; the threads caught in some way and started to come undone. Too bad if this process happens while you're actually wearing the garment...

In the red garment, an even worse problem exists because the seams are sewn with clear plastic thread. Manufacturers like this thread because, obviously, when it's clear, it can be used with garments of any color. Problem is, such seams are rarely stable and very easily unravel. The same is true when hems are sewn in this fashion, but that will be the topic of a future post...

The skinny on seams

Photo showing 3/4" seam
Photo showing seams of 3/4"
Third photo shows how easily factory-made seams unravel
Bottom photo shows razor-thin 1/4" seam

Your clothes may look great on the outside but if you don't pay attention to how they look on the inside, you'll frequently find yourself having to pitch out a favorite garment because you can't let it out. Changes in weight are as common as changes in fashion; but it's only in the last few years that consumers have come to it accept clothing with razor thin seams inside that allow no possibility of alteration.

It wasn't always this way. In fact, before the Industrial Revolution, just about everyone wore custom-made clothing - and shoes for that matter. When factory-made clothing came into existence, it was viewed as being inferior and the manufacturers had to do a selling job to get everyone to buy it. Even as recently as the 1950s, the factory-made garment did not confer status the way a custom-made suit did. Obviously, manufacturers have put effort, by way of branding, into changing people's views, so that many people now view clothing from a factory as superior. But is it?

If you look inside most manufactured clothes, it's easy to see that, if you even put on a couple of ounces, you'll have to get rid of the garment. However, if you buy clothing that has been made by craftsmen or artisans, you're more likely to get a generous seam allowance, meaning that a weight gain will not leave you scrambling to put together a new wardrobe.