Folkwear Creations at the Asheville Quilt Show

September 30, 2018 12 Comments on Folkwear Creations at the Asheville Quilt Show

Yesterday, nearly 20 skilled women showed off Folkwear creations at the Asheville Quilt Show.  The women are part of a local sewing group called Designer Divas, and they had challenged themselves to make at least one Folkwear garment and show it a the local quilt show.  These women made beautiful, creative garments, which I will show below with descriptions of what they did.  I hope they inspire you!  

118 Tibetan Panel Coat created by Susan Yaskin -  Susan created the panels of this vest with assorted black and white batiks.  Lime handwoven, hand-dyed Siam Thai Silk is used for the neckband and shoulder facings and the vertical piping on the center back panel.  Lining and vent facings are made with a purple, pink, and black batik print.  Susan also did raw edge appliqué of black and white sunflowers on armhole facings and embellished flower centers with sequins and seed beads in purple, gold & bright pink. Side slits and hem bound in purple/pink batik.

131 Tibetan Chupa made by Susan Norris -  Susan created her Chupa dress out of an eggplant purple Tencel twill.  She left off the ties and cut off the top skirt extensions at an angle so the dress drapes instead of ties in the back.  Then, s was able to add inseam pockets.  Susan increased the back width a total on one inch and added back shoulder darts.  She also decreased the front and back double pointed darts slightly, and lowered the front darts by about an inch.  I love her ingenious hacks for this dress!

129 Japanese Hapi Coat by Carol Clanton – This Hapi, or traditional Japanese shop jacket, was created from a collection of 100% cotton fabrics that Carol collected when she traveled.  The fabrics come from DC, Colorado, Alaska and as far away as Australia.  The lining of the garment represents the Northern Lights of Alaska!  A variety of threads was used to show off the crazy quilting.  A truly beautiful creation!

129 Japanese Hapi Coats made by Loretta Phipps -  Loretta made two elegant Hapi jackets.  The first from Japanese cotton in black, gold, and orange.  This one is unlined (which is traditional) and finished with French Seams.  The second is completely reversible.  One side is made of turquoise and rust colored linen and the other is a green poly linen.  She used vintage Japanese Kimono silk for the front band and collar.  

143 Japanese Michiyuki made by Karen Wilson.  Karen made this traditional coat from Japan with cotton damask with Shibori designs from West Africa that were fussy cut.  This Michiyuki is unlined and finished with French Seams.  Karen used pre-WWII vintage crystal buttons from Czechoslovakia.  Quite stunning!

126 Greek Vest by Judy Kandle.  Judy created this long, and contemporary, version of the Greek vest in this pattern.  She used cherrywood hand dyed fabrics and color blocked the garment.  Judy incorporated many fabric manipulations in this vest such as directional stitched pintucks and smocking.  She also used Ramie Kim techniques in this vest, including Korean Chopkey folding.  Really creative!

104 Egyptian Shirt by Phyllis Yandle.  Phyllis created two versions of this very adaptable pattern.  One is made of handkerchief linen with the neck facing sewn on to the outside.  The attached trim models the traditional applique pattern included in the pattern.  The second shirt is not pictured below, but was made of a heavier linen, with the neck facing to the inside.  It is simply and elegantly embellished with one special button in the center front just below the neck opening.  We don't have a great photo of these shirts because they were not worn on a model, but I'll try to get some soon!

142 Old Mexico Dress by Loretta Phipps.  This is a simple dress or top based on the Huipil worn in Mexico and Guatemala.   Loretta used Australian cotton for the dress.

142 Old Mexico Dress, the Blouse Version, by Judy Harkey.  Judy made this beautiful blouse version of the Old Mexico Dress in blue linen shot with green.  She did Boro and hand embroidery on the yoke and hem, and a selvage detail on the back.  This pattern is simple enough that it lends itself very well to lots of embellishment options, and this simple example works perfectly!

127 Seminole Jacket and Skirt by Judy Lane.  Judy created this pattern from cotton batiks which she pieced for the bands in the pattern.  The Jacket is lined with cream-colored satin.  The jacket is blouson-style, with a dropped waist and with turned back collar set into the collarband.  The skirt is a simple dirndl-style.  This pattern is unfortunately out of print, but Judy’s version makes me want to get it back soon.  It is impressive!

Back of jacket 

Sleeve detail

124 Bolivian Milkmaid’s Jacket also by Judy Lane -  You can see the early European colonial influence in this traditional jacket from Bolivia.  Judy made hers in a grey herringbone wool with extensive couching and embroidery on the shoulders, cuffs, front and back of the jacket.  The sleeve couching pattern in included in the sewing pattern.

264 Monte Carlo Dress by Rose Szabo.  Rose created this gorgeous dress from black satin, machine embroidering the front with art deco designs.  She arranged the embroidery in her softwear, edited them, and stitched them out accordingly on the fabric.  She also added some small beads to the embroidery to add to the Art Deco look. 

She also made the beautiful tunic, included in the pattern, from black chiffon and wool that she nuno felted and embroidered.  Rose also added a great tassel to the bottom tips of this tunic.  This outfit was a show stopper!

264 Monte Carlo Tunic by Loretta Phipps.  This tunic comes from the Monte Carlo Dress pattern and is the cross-over version of the tunic.  Loretta made this version from a purple and apple green boucle.  She created closures of loops and 2 large buttons (one green, one purple), and adorned the three points of this tunic with beads.

249 1930s Day Dress by Christina Strickland.  Christina made this flattering dress from a lightweight polyester.  The flirty peplum was cut as a circular flounce to echo the movement of the sleeves.  An A-line skirt was cut on the bias to break up the linear arrangements of the dot pattern in the fabric (this excluded the dropped waist as shown in the pattern).  

133 Belgian Military Chef’s Coat created by Mary Ray.  For this semi-fitted, double-breasted jacket, Mary chose a cotton ikat fabric from Thailand.  She used a piece of Japanese yukata cloth for the back panel.  She highlighted this fabric with free-motion machine embroidery and added faced tucks to create a yoke effect above the Japanese piece.  The solid red details are cut from silk dupioni.  And, the entire jacket is machine quilted.  I didn't get a good photo in the show of this one, but I had some from backstage.

268 Metropolitan Suit Jacket made by Denise Acuri.  Denise is wonderful at modernizing patterns to fit her lifestyle and fashion sense.  She took this early 20^th century jacket pattern and created it with a zipper front closure for ease of wearing and an asymmetrical hem for a modern and interesting look. 

240 Rosie the Riveter made by Betty Brotzman. Betty has created one of the many garments in this pattern that comes right from the early 1940s. She used a delicately patterned brushed denim to create the bib overalls (perfect choice for the sweet-heart neckline on the bib). White shirt and bandana complete the Rosie look.  She lined the overalls with the red polka dot fabric with which she also made the bandanna.

222 Vintage Vests and 209 Walking Skirt by Elaine Zinn.  Elaine created View A of the vintage vests and for the front, denim in a row edge floral design was commercially appliqued onto black lace.  The vest back and lining are of black polyester.  She used a vintage metal buckle for the back belt.  Elaine also made the walking skirt from medium weight denim, matching the blue of the vest.  Faux flat felled seams were used for the gored skirt.  Floral designs cut from the denim appliqued fabric were machine appliqued around the hem of the skirt.  A slightly lighter color of thread was used for the machine applique as well as all top -stitching.  And, Elaine sewed buttons to the center of the flowers to create visual interest at the hem line.

Close up of vest

Close up of skirt hem detail.



150 Hungarian Szur make by Julie Simpson.  Julie removed the collar with long lapels on this traditional coat, creating instead, a detached collar to wear as a separate garment on top of the coat.  She also knit a grey wool hooded collar to wear with the coat. 

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