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Something new concerning the fabrics! We just received the beautiful Cotton + Steel printed fabrics.
We could not resist to the beautiful well fitting from the Frock collection. These are two rayon fabrics with small red or blue-green triangles.
We also fell for small cross with yellow mustard and mint green backgrounds in the Cotton & Steel basics collection. These are good qualities cottons. The colors range has a nice sweetness.
This is the kind of fabric you would like to see sewn into a light jacket, shorts, dress ...
Mint green and white poplin with golden triangles you can see, it's a pretty fabric by Art Gallery, from the Arizona limited collection. Going with everything cotton fabric while being chic with these little golden triangles, it will delight your entire wardrobe!
We are very happy to show you these little wonders, especially that ... shh, the rest is coming in the following months!
We are always looking for new products to offer for sewing, embroidery, knitting or crochet. And, as you may have noticed, lately trimmings resurfaced in spring-summer outfits!
The ladder hemstitch is a very good idea to add a touch of originality to your small needleworks. This small hemstitch (2 mm, 100% cotton) will leave just a glimpse of tiny squares of skin, it will be perfect to brighten up a blouse or a dress, like this one:
The ladder hemstitch tape is easy to apply by folding the fabric to the edge where the hemstitch begins to let only glimpse it, the remainder being counted as a seam allowance.
You can use the ladder hemstitch with many fabrics, plain or patterned: it is available in 17 colors including 1 colors ready to dye.
The ladder hemstitch, once hand-embroidered on tablecloths, is now encrusted perfectly in a blouse, a top or flowing dress.
Also find our by the meter embroidered ladder hemstitch in linen here or in cotton here .
Click on the following picture to access the ladder hemstitch product:
You start sewing or you sew already for a while and now, you can find the patterns with or without seam allowances. When you are a novice, you get lost and you do not understand the "why and how" and when we used to sew, we are adept of "with seam allowances" or "without seam allowances."
As a professional, I will try to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
Patterns without seam allowances (or seam allowances not included)
First, working without seam allowances allows you to check all assembly lengths coherence: for example, does the collar fit the neckline where it will be mounted? What is the value of the ease (*) of a sleeve? etc ...
Within our design office all patterns are developed initially without seam allowances, we also digitalize without seam allowances and then we check with one of the tools of our software all coherence lengths (see above, but also the side seams etc ..).
So if you buy a pattern without seam allowances, you will have to add them on the fabric and make a mark
Advantages: assembly accuracy for fine finishes and facilitates all delicate assemblies, easy to modify because you know where is the original outline of the pattern. For a model which you are not sure, you can take the precaution to add larger seam allowances for a fitting.
Cons: this method is long because you have to add the seam allowances accurately and you have to do the pattern outline marking, so you need good marking tools, accurate and lasting the time of your assembly.
Going back to our design office, when we have checked all our pattern, we add the seam allowances because they are patterns for industry and all of the adjusment fittings were made, then we adapt the seam allowances to the assembly type and to the manufacturer's(**) hardware. 0.5 or 0.7 or 1 cm etc ... following sewing types.
Patterns with seam allowances (or seam allowances included)
So if you buy a pattern seam allowances included, you don't have any additional work to do on the fabric, you can set up, pin and straight cut along the pattern edge, you just need to know the value of the reserve.
Advantages: much faster to cut and assemble, no sewing lines to match.
Cons: if the assembly is very technical, you don't have the pattern outline mark to guide you, it requires great sewing techniques mastery. The seam allowances have been set, you do not have much room to maneuver in case of fitting.
Our conclusion: prefer patterns seam allowances included for all simple clothing that you don't want spend too much time.
But if you get into the "beautiful" for which you want the hang perfect which implies some fittings, if you are precise and meticulous take a pattern without seam allowances.
Lexicon:
*ease: the sleeve head is always slightly larger than the armhole, on which it is mounted, this difference in length is placed, assembling, at the top of the sleeve over a small distance from both sides of the shoulder line. These are not gathers, it's a mounting ease, ie we play on the ability of the fabric to absorb a small difference in length when sewing. This ease allows to garnish the round part of the shoulder without the sleeve pulls.ease: the sleeve head is always slightly larger than the armhole, on which it is mounted, this difference in length is placed, assembling, at the top of the sleeve over a small distance from both sides of the shoulder line. These are not gathers, it's a mounting ease, ie we play on the ability of the fabric to absorb a small difference in length when sewing. This ease allows to garnish the round part of the shoulder without the sleeve pulls.
**manufacturer: outsourcing company dealing only with sewing clothing collections
After summarizing for you the A&A patrons history in this article. We thought it was interesting to tell you more about our small team today and our daily work.
If you followed the previous article, you already know a little about our team because it is simple, we are three and moreover from the same family! :
Nadine, the founder of A&A Patrons, Yannick the webmaster and Nadine's husband who joined her in the adventure few years ago and Amandine, the new recruit, originally founder of the Aléfil boutique in Paris and incidentally daughter of Nadine and Yannick.
To help you to understand who is doing what, we propose you with this diagram:
As you can see, we have two key and compatible activities in our company:
- The design office fashion and pattern making for clothing industry
- The Online Haberdashery with all the management (inventory, supplier orders) and communication that this implies.
Not to mention the A&A Patrons side and historic activity:
- training. Because, for 17 years, Nadine was trainer in styling and pattern making and Amandine continues today her knitting, crochet and sewing workshops in Nantes.
All that to explain you our complementary skills, our knowledge and our activities illustrated in the following diagram:
> The fashion design-pattern making allows us to know all the assembly techniques and allows us to look for the particular notions and sometimes techniques that we can then offer to our clients within the online haberdashery (eg for sleeve head strip, the Japanese rule, fusible interlining, horsehair band, etc.).
Our pattern making activity also helps us being familiar with products from our haberdashery: fabrics, buttons, ties, wool, threads, technical tools, because we use them daily!
> Conversely, all our knowledge in haberdashery, fabrics and suppliers allows us to offer our design office customers, the appropriate elements to carry out their clothes collection through our sourcing capacities.
> Our training expertise, allows us to bring advices to you, online haberdashery customers. In order to provide clear and precise description to each product posted.
We now invite you to enter our premises, discover the mix of our business design office and haberdashery! Here to see all images.
On our great desks we draw the papers patterns. After many validation steps (canvas, prototype, etc), the pattern will be printed on this great special printer, or sent directly as a file to the clothing factory.
Discover all our fabrics ranges, cotton, silk, organic fabrics, etc.
The sewing threads are presented in old jam jars, to more quickly find the colors!
The sewing thread is a major element to consider when you start sewing. With the pattern, the fabric and the sewing machine of course.
In order to choose its sewing thread, must be taken into account:
- Color: the sewing thread color must matched the fabric. The dominant color of our fabric is chosen. Whatever our fabric is floral, striped or geometric patterns. In general, it is better to rely on a darker color than our fabric.
As it is difficult to choose a color on internet, we offer that you send us a sample of your fabric in order we adapt the color of thread for you for free.
- Material: the most common material in sewing thread is polyester. Cotton is also available but it is quite expensive. Polyester sewing thread offer a wider choice of colors for an economical price.
- Quality: be careful, it is important not to skimp on sewing thread quality! There are a multitude of very cheap sewing machine threads but of poor quality which, over time, will damage your sewing machine. So beware to supermarket sewing threads or online kits.
Unfortunately, we know very well the problem through our sewing machine repair service...
We advise you to choose a slightly more expensive sewing thread but high quality. The d'A&A sewig thread is manufactured in France and has never caused any trouble to our machines...
It is possible to test the thread quality with its strength, the sewing thread that we offer resists to a 1.1kg weight.
The various kinds of sewing threads;
- The classic sewing thread: for making clothes and all type of decorations. This is the universal thread for family sewing machines. We offer 240 colors.
You can choose different packages : in small reel 200m, average reel 1000m or cone 5000m which is particularly suitable for the serger but can also be used in sewing machine with an adapter: the cone holder.
- The elastic sewing thread: thread particularly used to make smocking or gathers. Knitting, it is also used to tighten ribs of a sock.
- Overlock thread:thread with bouffant appearance. This thread is particularly used with the serger or coverstitch machine for the knitted fabric sewing. Therefore it is proposed by 2000m or 10000m cone. Overlock thread is used frequently for lingerie, swimwear and sportswear.
If you are new to sewing, you'll need quickly to have a mix of the main colors and especially white, black and raw. If you sew regularly, it is recommended to take 1000m reels more economical.
Through this blog, we talk mostly of our products, our discoveries and tutorials that have been developed, but we do not talk much about us, the one that founded the company A&A Patrons up people who now develops it and the various activities that have been developed over time.
Indeed, we see regularly, talking to those who move at our offices in Nantes, they are amazed at our many activities and they would like to learn more!
That's why we wanted to tell you our history at first, and then the details of our activities through a second blog post coming soon,
1/ The A&A Patrons history
We truly immersed in our archives to tell you all about it!
The company was founded in 1989 in Nantes, by the will of Nadine, trained in fashion design professorship, to create her children sewing patterns brand.
A few years later, Nadine noted, making animations for sewing in Paris Tissus Reine (a famous fabric store near Montmartre), a need for people to get personal couture training. She decided to offer household sewing workshops and a new service custom tailored patterns. Meanwhile, Nadine answers many requests for patterns for making and thus develops her own fashion design office for ready-to-wear.
Then in 1994, A&A Patrons needs to expand and Nadine opened her first premises in Nantes. In addition to ongoing activities, such as creating "wallet" patterns for children and sewing workshops, Nadine launched herself into the fashion design professional training.
Then, in response to a growing demand of her students of a need for technical haberdashery (colors choice, technical advice ...). Nadine changes her premises in1997 to open her haberdashery in Nantes historical center while developing her Vocational Training Centre: The haberdashery on the ground floor, the training center on the second floor always coupled with the fashion design office.
With the increasing development of the Web, and thanks to Yannick computer skills, her husband. A&A Patrons decides to go in 2000 in the online business by opening one of the first online haberdashery.
In 2008, Nadine, to better manage her business, decides to refocus her structure on the online haberdashery and fashion design office and so stops her vocational training activity and the physical haberdashery (the store located in Nantes).
The online haberdashery gradually takes the scale and passing the years, the technology of the first website becomes obsolete. In 2012, Yannick completely recasts the online haberdashery to become the site you see today (which is still evolving every day!).
The same year, Amandine, the Nadine and Yannick's daughter, wool & knitting passionate, is embarking on a workshop-boutique in Paris (Aléfil) in order to propose French quality knitting wool, haberdashery and knitting, crochet and sewing courses.
A live exchange takes place between Aléfil and A&A Patrons, the proposed haberdashery coming directly from A&A Patrons, the wool offered on A&A Patrons coming from the Aléfil shop. The Aléfil workshop-boutique is naturally called "the daughter structure" of A&A Patrons.
In 2013, Amandine moved to Nantes, closes Aléfil and fully supports the mother structure for both the online haberdashery and the fashion design office, while continuing her knitting, crochet and sewing course activity (at Henry & Henriette particularly,).
Today, you would have understand it, A&A Patrons has a strong experience in both fashion design (more than 25 years!) but also, and in addition, in creative leisure, technical haberdashery, (mainly French) with complementary family skills!
You will find in an upcoming episode, more information about our work today, our know-how and the structure of the company ...
Did you like the little story?
After the success of the trapilho crochet basket, free pattern to download here, we thought it was necessary to start with you.
Because we regularly offer the trapilho basket workshop at Henry & Henriette in Nantes, we also noticed that the beginning was hard to achieve and retain, once the we had completed his first basket.
To fill this gap, so we made a video to start the basket, that is its bottom. The part to create the edges being much simpler following the explanations.
Find our great trapilho balls here and small there. The trapilho crochet basket kit is available here.The Knit Pro Waves hooks (which can be seen on the video 8mm) are here.
Please tell us what you think about this video and suggest us some others!
In the series of sewing books "Seamstresses Secrets ", here one dedicated to romantic clothes.
these sewing books of this set are translations from japanese books.
You will find 21 sewing models awith their explanations with pictures accompanied, of course, with full size patterns.
Many of today models are presented: tunics, shorts, dresses, skirts, blouses and pants.
This sewing book has many models in eyelet lace (broderie anglaise) which provides a very romantic feel.
The patterns are available in S, M, L and XL sizes, but be careful to properly compare your measurements with those of the book.
Details:
What we liked:
The models presented in this book are relatively simple, and therefore ideal for beginners for sewing. The presentation is original bringing a nice vintage look to the work. There are the basic sewing: Bermuda shorts, blouses, simple dress, a little buttoned blouse, trousers with elasticated waist ... The explanations are in the form of diagrams, step by step, very clearly at the end of the book as we usually find them in Japanese sewing books.
If you want a simple book to start sewing clothes for you, this book will not disappoint.
Another plus:
A community blog dedicated to Japanese fashion presentes all these seamstresses works made from this book:The Japan Couture Addicts. To see all the achievements from the Romantic Clothing book, it's here.
The Prym Color Snaps (press studs) just arrived ! We loved their colors and shapes, so we all have for sale. Plastic color snaps studs existed for KAM pliers, here they are available now for the Prym Vario pliers.
You will be able to put some everywhere, children's clothing, accessories, etc. These snaps are practical and decorative. If you do not like to sew buttonholes, snaps are made for you!
Be careful, you'll need a special tool to add to your Prym Vario pliers.
The Color Snaps (press studs) are available as Round shaped but also as Heart and Star shaped.
Click below to find the heart shaped snaps (here in mint green):
Find here the star shaped Color Snaps (here golden):
And discover the multitude of colors available as round shaped snaps ! (40 colors) :
To illustrate, here's an example of round light blue Color Snaps:
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