Is a kipper biased?

Good Morning All my internet lovelies.

I hope you are well, I am feeling a little excited today as Dr J. is coming home. He has been away for work and although not for long I really miss him and it makes me realise how much I have come to depend on having him around from my days of being a really independent single mom. Not in a physical way so much I can still take my own bins out, but in an emotional way of having some to mull things over with and just to lean on. But having a bit of space without him has been great for my wedding dress, I really have made headway with it over the week as I have been able to leave bit of it lying all over the place as I worked on it. and I have to say I really rather pleased with the way it's shaping up.

Well today is about fish.... No not really but about ties. I thought I might round up the post about the wedding ties with one last post, how I changed the pattern to give me a kipper tie and why we need bias.. Excited well I'll get on with it then.

Firstly the bias part was a mystery to me to start with, the first tie I made I made from a nice shiny smooth chinese brocade, not on the bias as I hadn't read the instructions completely. And it worked well. The second tie I made I made with the bridesmaid dress fabric on the bias and when worn it looked good, but of it had a sort of wavy effect, like bad bias sewing if anyone has ever done any they will know what I mean. I hope the photo show it up, it's the bottom tie. So I decided to make the next on the straight of the grain (top tie), as the chinese one looked so good. Well this one looked good and I was all in favour of cutting out the bias although and going for straight grain for the rest, but I decided to get Dr J's opinion first. And I'm so glad that I did.

He put the bias on first and was fine, it looked good and everything was ok. I happened to go out of the room for a bit whilst he started to put the second on and when I came back he was still putting it on and looking puzzled, it just wasn't 'tieing' nicely. He got it on in the end and then it looked exactly like the first. So then we went for a blind test to see if he could pick out which was which, and he could. The bias tie had the grain running diagonally through it and so felt smoother when stroked straight down, something that I hadn't picked up on at all. This meant it was able to be knotted easily, slipping against itself well. I should point out that the fabric is a kind of crepe so not a smooth one at all. Why make it easy for myself? No thats not true it sews up a dream. The dresses are going to look stunning. 

So I hope that helps if you ever think "do I really need to bias this or can I save a bit of fabric and go with the grain?" Go with the bias, and I have had to go out and get more fabric as I can't use the leftover edges anymore.

Well a quick secondly now, widening the pattern to make a kipper tie. Not complicated, but I get to use the protractor, something I love. It's the maths geek in me.

I got a large sheet of paper and drew a straight line down the middle, and deciding to make a 90 degree angle at the bottom I marked 45 degrees from the line on both sides. 

Then with the ruler I drew the line in .

I decided to make the ties 9cm? wide, the originals were 6.5cm, so I marked out that much from the centre point and made sure that both sides where the same.

The top needed extra paper to get the right length, 

 And there was lots more protractor work for the different angles at each corner.

I had also decided that I was not going to have the pattern with a fold it it any more, very fiddly to use when on the bias and with the whole pattern flat, I could be more economical with the fabric. I also re drafted the rest of the pieces so that they didn't cutting on the fold. Now I can simply place everything down on the material and cut round it so much better.

And just as another quickie, I have master putting the lining in now, using the sewing machine. Do the edges first and then sew up the tie fabric bit that left loose. If anyone wants a detailed post on that or the tie drafting please just let me know. But don't it look good now?  I think so...

Hugs and Kisses

Ally