**Hermes Chat**

[eagle1002us]

Undoubtedly your scarves are living their best life in that new location.

Hello!

I just bought an Hermes Maline in Navy, it was love at first sight for me.
I don’t see a clubhouse for them here, am I the only Maline lover out here?
If you have one, I’d love photos, thoughts etc.

thanks in advance,
TR

I haven't been in an H boutique since 2019. I take it the Maline is a purse? Let's see it. You could start a trend here.

Good for you Eagle!
Wish I could invite you up to organize our document life!
Our personal papers live in almost clear large document folders. These are kept in pull-out vintage (difficult to open) metal file credenzas, like to see as much as possible.
Definitely cataloging is the tricky part IMO.

Constantly trying to improve our systems.

Think there is a book on filing somewhere, but it’s very probably buried in the basement somewhere.

My scarves have moved into the sewing room along with all the textiles and sewing equipment & are living a good life.

I can't figure out how to classify HS. It's nice to have same prints together (Flowers of S. Africa, autumnal prints, etc.) so I don't buy duplicates. But each of those florals coordinates with different outfits and that's the criteria I use the most when searching for a scarf in the morning. I can group yellow or yellow-green scarves together easily and treat them like they're all one color, yellow. Can't do that with blues, they vary too much. There's summery turquoise blues and wintery blue-violets. Plus some scarves, like Fleurs de Lotus, have sufficient colors in one scarf that they could go with, say, an olive green or blue-violet outfit.
Plus, every time I root thru the scarf collection new combinations of scarf + outfit occur to me. (That's a big plus of scarf collection)>

 

[eagle1002us]

@Cheddar Cheese, do you use a serger for your sewing projects? If so, what do you think of it compared with relying only on your sewing machine?

 

[Cheddar Cheese]

@Cheddar Cheese, do you use a serger for your sewing projects? If so, what do you think of it compared with relying only on your sewing machine?

Yes Eagle I have portable domestic
serger.

Theoretically I like it but almost never use it. You go through a lot of thread & if you use various different fabrics you have to recalibrate the tension controls to a suitable setting for your current fabric.

I suggest you get a proper orientation sessions included with your purchase, I didn't as covide was just starting & the last thing I wanted to do was get close to a stranger whose job was being close w/ other strangers.

I know you are meticulous & patient so you should be just fine. Anticipate you might use a fair bit more fabric for your project. I used commercial heavy duty Sergers at art college & in the garment industry & those were much easier to to navigate.

However go to a very reputable domestic sewing machine or make sure you can return the sergers if it does not suit your needs when you start working with it.

I got a Viking and always understood it was a reliable company.

The industrial sergers were entirely different.

I prefer other ways to finish seams depending on the thickness of the fabric & tricky curves.

Let me know if you have any concerns not addressed.
Happy to help anytime

 

[eagle1002us]

Yes Eagle I have portable domestic
serger.

Theoretically I like it but almost never use it. You go through a lot of thread & if you use various different fabrics you have to recalibrate the tension controls to a suitable setting for your current fabric.

I suggest you get a proper orientation sessions included with your purchase, I didn't as covide was just starting & the last thing I wanted to do was get close to a stranger whose job was being close w/ other strangers.

I know you are meticulous & patient so you should be just fine. Anticipate you might use a fair bit more fabric for your project. I used commercial heavy duty Sergers at art college & in the garment industry & those were much easier to to navigate.

However go to a very reputable domestic sewing machine or make sure you can return the sergers if it does not suit your needs when you start working with it.

I got a Viking and always understood it was a reliable company.

The industrial sergers were entirely different.

I prefer other ways to finish seams depending on the thickness of the fabric & tricky curves.

Let me know if you have any concerns not addressed.
Happy to help anytime

Thank you, CC. I found it interesting that you might choose to clean-finish seams by other methods. I like neat finished seams most of the time. In the early 90s I made an apple green wool gab button front calf length skirt. I kept an apple green knitted pullover which would probably fit under a nicely made a.g. Talbot's blazer. (I lost weight between now and then). And I have a not-too-casual tee shirt from that time. The greens all go together!

H made an Early America scarf in an a.g. that matches the skirt. It's really quite something that the manufacturers used very similar dye lots at that time, they were all on the same page. Because I don't think I'll get much matching or coordinating stuff to the same apple green these days. Contemporary, (as of 2022) apple green is more of a lime than a Granny Apple. (I do have a ton of various shades of lime fabric, it's the new "yellow" these days. But when bright yellow came in around 2019 I made the same skirt again. I like buying buttons and fussing over what is exactly the best match or interesting combo. The store doesn't care, the buttons are loose in boxes keyed to various colors. Did you ever go to Tender Buttons in NYC? Fabulous store with wall to wall button boxes of loose buttons. Closed when zip front suit-style jackets came in. However, I have a good button stash by now.

I have always been a bit intimidated by sergers. I'm aware of the need to take a class. I have lost some depth perception in my vision and I have a hard time threading the sewing machine needle. I don't know if serger needles are as difficult to thread as the machine. (I do have some easy threading needs which I haven't tried yet). I also am not particularly fond of machines that I have to learn how to use b/c they have so many bells and whistles.

So I purchase color-coordinated seam binding and use that to finish the seams. I could use a Hong Kong finish but that would not be worth the work of cutting bias strips for a spectacular garment interior. Using commercial binding adds a bit of work to the finishing process but threading and learning to use a serger has got to be time consuming!

I use a Sears Kenmore sewing machine that I bought in 1971. It's pretty basic as you can imagine. Stretch stitching, a buttonhole template, some choice in stitches and that's it. I actually bought a duplicate machine, same model, on ebay, figuring that the machine I already had would conk out eventually. In fact the motor died on the original with a loud long wail like an animal was dying. Never heard that before! I had a tech look over the substitute machine and for $100 the machine turned out to be a good purchase.

There's supposed to be an easy to use beginner serger in the market. It might be Janome. I used to have tremendous trouble maintaining a decent thread tension, tweeking and tweeking, but now, not so much. At that time, (early 90's) Viking was supposed to have easy to adjust tension). I think the machine set the tension according to the weight of the fabric.


I appreciate your comment that sergers use a lot of thread. Sewing at home does contribute to accumulation of various supply, of course, chief among them, fabric. A robot that does the pattern layout and cutting would be a really good contribution to home sewing. This could probably revive the whole industry. During the 80's with "dress for success" in the air, there was wonderful fabric selections. Really interesting stuff from Europe. I'm guessing home sewing is not as viable anymore perhaps because clothes are fairly inexpensive these days. Sewing gives me the option of copying outfits, getting unique outfits, or matching RTW garments.

 

[iloveelmo]

 

[Cheddar Cheese]

I haven't been in an H boutique since 2019. I take it the Maline is a purse? Let's see it. You could start a trend here.



I can't figure out how to classify HS. It's nice to have same prints together (Flowers of S. Africa, autumnal prints, etc.) so I don't buy duplicates. But each of those florals coordinates with different outfits and that's the criteria I use the most when searching for a scarf in the morning. I can group yellow or yellow-green scarves together easily and treat them like they're all one color, yellow. Can't do that with blues, they vary too much. There's summery turquoise blues and wintery blue-violets. Plus some scarves, like Fleurs de Lotus, have sufficient colors in one scarf that they could go with, say, an olive green or blue-violet outfit.
Plus, every time I root thru the scarf collection new combinations of scarf + outfit occur to me. (That's a big plus of scarf collection)>

Tried all sorts of sorting categories.

Ancient (collector pieces for study only)
Vintage
Everyday wear
Special occasion

Type, shawl, twilly, fabric etc

Also tried sorting by colour

Mostly it’s browsing
Through the treasures, remembering how & why I got them.

There is only one scarf I truly regret giving away. The original kimonos. It went to a lady who swore the colours were exactly the same as those in her granny’s kimono... never saw another & it was so new to me had not yeti been photographed.

But people have in turn been extremely generous, so all works out over time.

Usually it’s the last one in that is the fave & spread out where I can see it in the shade.

Right now a fragile Chamois is on display.

Have a Fixation but not sure about the stress on the hems?

@Cheddar Cheese, do you use a serger for your sewing projects? If so, what do you think of it compared with relying only on your sewing machine?

Actually I find
It really relaxing to do some kind of large buttonhole stitch & I use silk buttonhole thread as it is lovely & soft.

All this is theoretical right now I’m only doing basic repairs and fixedly cleaning w/ a start on the garden.

Last thing I made from scratch was cotton liners to go inside wicker hampers to keep out the dust. Used old sheets.

If I had any Hermes scarves I didn’t like, & I don’t, I’d make silk pillows as silk is definitely good for you hair & skin at night.

 

[Cheddar Cheese]

“In the early 90s I made an apple green wool gab button front calf length skirt. I kept an apple green knitted pullover which would probably fit under a nicely made a.g. Talbot's blazer. (I lost weight between now and then). And I have a not-too-casual tee shirt from that time. The greens all go together!”

Think at that time the fabric & design companies companies got together in some association or think tank & laid out a colour theme. It was a long time ago & my art college papers & text books are way long gone on another continent...

Maybe some one else has a better recollection?

 

[pasdedeux1]

There's supposed to be an easy to use beginner serger in the market. It might be Janome. I used to have tremendous trouble maintaining a decent thread tension, tweeking and tweeking, but now, not so much. At that time, (early 90's) Viking was supposed to have easy to adjust tension). I think the machine set the tension according to the weight of the fabric.

Highly recommend if you are going to buy a serger, you spend the money and get a Babylock with the air threading. It makes threading the looper much easier and you can thread the machine in any order, where the more basic machines you do not. I used to have an Ovation, but did not end up needing an 8-thread serger and downsized to an Acclaim. If you find you need to serge often in awkward positions, you might prefer the Euphoria which has more space to the right of the needle. The Euphoria can also be used as a coverstitch which can be handy if you need to hem knits often. Coverstitch machines are notoriously tempermental but the babylock combo machines don't seem to be.

In my experience, the autotension on the Babylock is by far the best of any machine that I've worked with. You simply thread it, set the presser foot adjustment, and serge. It's very easy. I do find it handy to be able to finish seams in garments that I don't intend to do fancy finishes on. It's also been handy to finish the edges of boucle as in a Chanel-style french jacket, where the boucle wants to fall apart at the edges.

My regular sewing machine is a Janome that I've finally made peace with. That one took a long time to get used to, far longer than any serger I've used.

 

[Cheddar Cheese]

View attachment 5399185

Lovely subtle touch of colour!

 

[eagle1002us]

Special for @Gnuj: Lotsa koalas

Highly recommend if you are going to buy a serger, you spend the money and get a Babylock with the air threading. It makes threading the looper much easier and you can thread the machine in any order, where the more basic machines you do not. I used to have an Ovation, but did not end up needing an 8-thread serger and downsized to an Acclaim. If you find you need to serge often in awkward positions, you might prefer the Euphoria which has more space to the right of the needle. The Euphoria can also be used as a coverstitch which can be handy if you need to hem knits often. Coverstitch machines are notoriously tempermental but the babylock combo machines don't seem to be.

In my experience, the autotension on the Babylock is by far the best of any machine that I've worked with. You simply thread it, set the presser foot adjustment, and serge. It's very easy. I do find it handy to be able to finish seams in garments that I don't intend to do fancy finishes on. It's also been handy to finish the edges of boucle as in a Chanel-style french jacket, where the boucle wants to fall apart at the edges.

My regular sewing machine is a Janome that I've finally made peace with. That one took a long time to get used to, far longer than any serger I've used.

Interesting! This is very informative@pasdedeux1. I do like to have the inside of a garment look neat and even pretty. I've been using commercial seam binding, both woven and lace. Local store is consolidating the lace binding as if they were going to discontinue the product. AWWW!! They can't do that to me!!!! But they probably will at sometime b/c of the inroads sergers have made in seam finishing. I will look into the Baby Lock. That air threading sounds like a very useful feature.

What kinds of things do you make, Pasdedeux? I'm glad you brought up the boucle runraveling b/c I've have some pretty boucle which needs stabilizing.

I've been fooling around trying to insert gussets on garments with no stretch, that is old garments but still I want to keep them even as keepsakes. (I've donated loads of clothes b/c my weight was yo-yo'd years ago but now it's stabilized (am I ever glad that I kept the smaller size clothes that I could fit into 10-12 years ago). The past 2-3 years I concentrated on fitting, on pattern sizing, but now I've moved back into polishing tailoring techniques. I successfully inserted a sleeve head into a sleeve that looked pretty limp despite having its own shoulder pad.

I am not sure I'll ever be creative enough to design really new garments rather than just tweaking the existing design.

Did you every use pattern blocks as a way to design a dress? I have books that discuss that technique but that's as far as i've gotten with them.

 

[Cheddar Cheese]

Have you looked at the Natalie Chanin books?

They come with the patterns already sized and you can make any number of alterations.

Not sure if they are still in business but you might be able to pickup a copy somewhere.

Their fabrics are organic & so comfortable. Good furs too no fading so far. Actually I wear the few pieces of fabric I got as shawls as they are so yummy comfortable summer & winter.

 

[pasdedeux1]

What kinds of things do you make, Pasdedeux? I'm glad you brought up the boucle runraveling b/c I've have some pretty boucle which needs stabilizing.

I've been fooling around trying to insert gussets on garments with no stretch, that is old garments but still I want to keep them even as keepsakes. (I've donated loads of clothes b/c my weight was yo-yo'd years ago but now it's stabilized (am I ever glad that I kept the smaller size clothes that I could fit into 10-12 years ago). The past 2-3 years I concentrated on fitting, on pattern sizing, but now I've moved back into polishing tailoring techniques. I successfully inserted a sleeve head into a sleeve that looked pretty limp despite having its own shoulder pad.

I am not sure I'll ever be creative enough to design really new garments rather than just tweaking the existing design.

Did you every use pattern blocks as a way to design a dress? I have books that discuss that technique but that's as far as i've gotten with them.

I make clothing - admittedly more knits these days with this homebound life the past two years have given us, but I do have pretty extensive experience making my own clothing. I've always been petite and it started because I got tired of the time involved taking everything I own to be hemmed, and then it spawned into being able to adjust proportions and make adjustments, and then to making blocks myself.

I have used blocks to make items, like sheath dresses or trousers, and I've also used pattern design books to lay out clothing directly from body measurements for one-off pieces. It's an interesting skill to have. I was lucky enough to meet a woman relatively nearby who is Parsons-trained, and she helped me understand some construction techniques that I was having difficulty with - I now understand much better how to put things together, which helps me draft them in the first place.

I mostly sew more critical pieces - outerwear, dresses, occasional formalwear - where it makes more sense to create the thing correctly fitted from the start than try to alter commercially available garments to the correct proportions. A few years back Vogue issued a pattern for a vintage styled Gucci blazer that I had great fun making in a few colors. And, of course, having a correctly tailored french boucle jacket is like having a nice sweatshirt that you can wear to a fancy restaurant

Making a proper Chanel style jacket using Susan Khalje's class was actually one of my most enjoyable recent experiences. The lining construction with the jacket when properly made is really very special.

 

[eagle1002us]

“In the early 90s I made an apple green wool gab button front calf length skirt. I kept an apple green knitted pullover which would probably fit under a nicely made a.g. Talbot's blazer. (I lost weight between now and then). And I have a not-too-casual tee shirt from that time. The greens all go together!”

Think at that time the fabric & design companies companies got together in some association or think tank & laid out a colour theme. It was a long time ago & my art college papers & text books are way long gone on another continent...

Maybe some one else has a better recollection?

Nowadays, it's Pantone that sets out the colors. I bought some of their books a decade or so ago. When mega-book stores existed before Amazon, like Borders, browsing sewing and fashion books was a lot of fun. I do get books from Amazon which I feel a bit ambivalent about since they're bought sight unseen but at least I get them pretty quickly.

I'm not sure that Pantone sets the colors as well as a bunch of clothing manufacturers mysteriously deciding to emphasize apple green in their clothing lines. Nowadays -- and I could be wrong -- various clothing manufacturers don't seem to present the consistent message that set the fashions across the industry. I haven't gone browsing in a clothing store in my area for 2 1/2 years. I would love to but Covid potential has made me a hermit plus stores like NM closed. Looking at the web is not the same as holding the clothes up in front of a mirror, trying them on, etc. And fashion magazines seem to be pretty much kaput.

At least perusing and buying accessories is still fun. Thank heaven for HS. A bit of silk can be a breath of fresh air. And a purse. Costume jewelry ("fashion jewelry") has been pretty interesting, altho this may be a retroactive search since figural brooches are not being made currently like they were in the past. I like interesting dragons and fantasy Pegasus pins made by Kenneth Jay Lane, Ciner, Boucher. I haven't found the penultimate dragon brooch yet. But it's all eye candy which is refreshing.

 

[eagle1002us]

Tried all sorts of sorting categories.

Ancient (collector pieces for study only)
Vintage
Everyday wear
Special occasion

Type, shawl, twilly, fabric etc

Also tried sorting by colour

Mostly it’s browsing
Through the treasures, remembering how & why I got them.

There is only one scarf I truly regret giving away. The original kimonos. It went to a lady who swore the colours were exactly the same as those in her granny’s kimono... never saw another & it was so new to me had not yeti been photographed.

But people have in turn been extremely generous, so all works out over time.

Usually it’s the last one in that is the fave & spread out where I can see it in the shade.

Right now a fragile Chamois is on display.

Have a Fixation but not sure about the stress on the hems?


Actually I find
It really relaxing to do some kind of large buttonhole stitch & I use silk buttonhole thread as it is lovely & soft.

All this is theoretical right now I’m only doing basic repairs and fixedly cleaning w/ a start on the garden.

Last thing I made from scratch was cotton liners to go inside wicker hampers to keep out the dust. Used old sheets.

If I had any Hermes scarves I didn’t like, & I don’t, I’d make silk pillows as silk is definitely good for you hair & skin at night.

That's true that the scarf that is the newest that you've acquired (irrespective of vintage) is the most interesting and desirable. When I get a new one, more than likely I will say, "This is the most beautiful scarf I've ever seen. " Well, once I add yet another that one becomes the most beautiful. So, I am fickle. But I've sold HS and regretted it b/c that left a hole in my collection.

Cheddar Cheese, you are very industrious, making hamper liners, pillows, etc. You must have a beautiful house. Did you make drapes, too?

I like to use buttons and it is pleasing when all the buttonholes turn out as expected.

It's pretty much my belief that most HS come in multiples. I think you would find your Kimonos --- which, BTW, is a very pretty pattern which reminds me of L'Art de Sarasa. Both patterns are very feminine. The saddle-patterned HS don't have quite the charm of kimonos and Sarasa. I do have a few kimonos and Sarasa. I have very few equestrian patterns. Maybe 1 Kermit Oliver. I don't go out very much these days but if I decide to downshize, I'm not letting go of kiminos and Sarsara.

 

[eagle1002us]

Tried all sorts of sorting categories.

Ancient (collector pieces for study only)
Vintage
Everyday wear
Special occasion

Type, shawl, twilly, fabric etc

Also tried sorting by colour

Mostly it’s browsing
Through the treasures, remembering how & why I got them.

There is only one scarf I truly regret giving away. The original kimonos. It went to a lady who swore the colours were exactly the same as those in her granny’s kimono... never saw another & it was so new to me had not yeti been photographed.

But people have in turn been extremely generous, so all works out over time.

Usually it’s the last one in that is the fave & spread out where I can see it in the shade.

Right now a fragile Chamois is on display.

Have a Fixation but not sure about the stress on the hems?


Actually I find
It really relaxing to do some kind of large buttonhole stitch & I use silk buttonhole thread as it is lovely & soft.

All this is theoretical right now I’m only doing basic repairs and fixedly cleaning w/ a start on the garden.

Last thing I made from scratch was cotton liners to go inside wicker hampers to keep out the dust. Used old sheets.

If I had any Hermes scarves I didn’t like, & I don’t, I’d make silk pillows as silk is definitely good for you hair & skin at night.

Or pillow cases? You're right about silk's valuable characteristics. I used to go to this fabric store who had cuts of weaves other than charmeuse, like tussah. I made a short sleeve blouse in it, a simple style and I lined it with silk habotai. That blouse is the one to wear during a heat wave. I'm really astounded by how comfortable it is. I hand washed the blouse and accidentally scorched it a bit when I ironed it. I couldn't bear to toss it and I forget whether the dry cleaner could do anything to lighten the stain. So it hung in the closet for easily 4 years or more. To my surprise the scorch marks were totally gone when I finally pulled the blouse out. I guess the slightly orangey stain on an off-white (natural color) of silk oxidized in that time. I can't figure it out.

The fabric store I patronize the most nowadays says silk must be drycleaned. I think if the silk is pre-shrunk before it is sewn (best done with solid color silks) it will take hand washing more easily then getting pressed at a cleaner. The heat of professional pressing can be hard on the silk, it loses some of its body. @Cheddar Cheese how do you treat your silks?