Thirty – eight degrees outside and a sleeveless cotton top? As temperatures go down thermostats go up ...
What are your plans for All Hallows Eve? After wearing a ratty black cloak for 600 years, I was in the Mood for a makeover. How do you like it? Since I’m on call 24/7 , I need a dress perfect for morning, noon or night. Late one evening I walked through the walls of Mood Fabrics and found this gorgeous Italian wool double-knit. It was quite the bargain requiring only 1 ½ yards of fabric. After so many positive reviews on the Pattern Review website I put down the scythe, bought this Vogue pattern and made the dress in one day! [caption id="attachment_2047" align="aligncenter" width="270"]...
Here is my new top. If I was on Project Runway, Tim Gunn would walk into the workroom and tell me I needed to live up to my potential. Michael Kors would call me a One-Trick-Pony, and Heidi Klum would exclaim that I look like I’m going to a baseball game before saying Auf Wiedersehen with a kiss on the cheek. Does this mean I do not like the top? Not at all! I like it, but I’m starting to repeat myself and it’s time to regroup. ______________ Two weeks ago I went to Waechter’s Silk Shop in Asheville, NC with a friend who decided to start sewing for...
Sensible. The opposite of exciting. I just returned from a real vacation, which for me means getting away in every respect. I often overestimate what I can accomplish in a certain time period, and the refashion I planned to do while away never happened. Determined to post a project from someplace other than my backyard, I packed my sewing supplies in my carry-on luggage. Oops. This meant I had to check my suitcase and p a y for my checked luggage carrying my scissors and seam ripper. I never looked at my sewing supplies. Then I paid another fee to fly my scissors and seam ripper...
When the blue tracing lines unexpectedly transferred from the silk organza underlining to the seam line of my gorgeous 4-ply silk crepe, I did not cry, open a bottle or eat a gallon of ice cream. I returned to my sewing room and began undoing two days of work until a storm took out the power, forcing me to get out my flashlight. After I removed the catch-stitching, ripped apart the seams and discarded the underlining, I started over. …..and that’s the short version. It’s great to be a part of the living again after being holed up for days trying to save this beautiful...
No, this isn't a costume, but if I had a torch I might be in business! H A P P Y F O U R T H O F J U L Y ! ! ! I discovered this great jersey on the Mood Fabric website, and paired it with this Vogue pattern just in time for America’s Independence Day. Generally I can envision the end result of a sewing project before I start, but not so with this one! Gathered shoulders, ruching and oversize red zebra jersey were all new to me from a sewing and fashion standpoint. Would you believe pages 3 and...
"Fashion is made to become unfashionable." Coco Chanel I tried to keep this quote in mind while admiring Kate Spade’s new black and white paisley garments. This snappy print is featured all over the website in the form of a skirt, a top, a dress, handbags and other accessories all seen here. Fun, yes! Classic, no! Would I have if I indulged in one of these memorable pieces of clothing if I were shopping this year? I’d like to think not at $238.00 for the skirt, $238.00 for top, $398.00 for the dress and now $498.00 for a silk dress of the same print at Saks, but who...
Over the weekend my husband and I bumped into a couple of friends. I happened to be wearing Vogue 8648, and the male half of the couple told me how nice I looked in my shift. Before I could politely thank him, my husband took over the conversation. “That is no shift. Sarah is wearing a couture dress that she made. The dress has 21 pieces that are lined and underlined. She did a lot of the work by hand and it took her a very long time to make it.” Had I recently accused him of not paying attention to me...
I’m sewing Vogue 8648 again . It’s not quite the S H I B U I that it was the first time around, partly because I have omitted the silk organza underlining, thus saving me hours or perhaps days of work. In the meantime several tidbits of information and inspiration have surfaced that I wanted to share…….. Today I had the pleasure of reading a comment from Lexley. That would be Lexley who inspired the cute Style Arc Lexley blouse ! I’ve often wondered about the names of clothing articles , particularly with Kate Spade and Lilly Pulitzer who name all of the...
“When the student is ready, the master appears.” Buddhist Proverb I was ready to learn how to make a good dress, and boy did I learn. My dedicated efforts in dressmaking were often flawed by random mediocre details leaving me discouraged and insecure. Enter the Online Couture Dress Class with Susan Khalje. I’m wondering if I even knew what C O U T U R E meant. Very nice, good fitting, custom-made clothes with special hand-sewn techniques – right? My naivety proved me nearly clueless. While Susan suggests several dress patterns to use, the Craftsy course includes this free Vogue 8648 dress pattern which she illustrates in...
