On Monday while sitting at the pattern table at JoAnn's, I overheard a woman interrogating the sales clerk about the store's sewing machines. She railed on about how complicated the new machines are. She said she was an excellent seamstress and all she wanted was a sewing machine without a computer. Then she exclaimed she was too old to learn how to use these new machines...
Over the last few months I've lost 10 pounds. That means several clothes from the past fit once more, and there's nothing like an easy refashion to make my day :) It's true, I wore my dresses this long around the turn of the century - LOL. Above is a dress from Talbots made from Irish Linen. I've hung onto it all these years hoping to wear it again one day. While longer dresses look great on many women, I feel dwarfed by the longer length of a slim silhouette. The lines in the dress are spot so I kept the refashion simple. After removing approximately...
Hubby was about to give his pants away. He had absolutely no idea that plaid pants are quite in vogue. Even his …. Have you ever taken apart a pair of men’s pants? Releasing a single seam gets you nowhere. It was maddening to discover interfacing, horsehair (or a similar product) AND muslin layered between the fashion fabric and the lining to prevent stretching. The front pockets are as deep as the Pacific Ocean and neatly sewn into the fly, waistband and side seam. At times I found taking the pants apart was more difficult that putting them back together. The good...
I was so inspired by Shams’ (Communing with Fabric) post regarding her impressive weight loss that I decided to tackle the pesky 13 extra pounds I’ve been lugging around for the last ten years. I hopped on board the same program as Shams (Eat to Live) since I already owned the book and believed the program promoted a healthy lifestyle. Three weeks later I’ve made enough progress (about 7 pounds) to fit into several of my old, too-tight clothes! They have been hanging in my closet for years just waiting to see the light of day again and at last it’s...
There’s a first time for everything, and I let a formal event on November 23rd sneak up on me, in that I had nothing to wear. I planned on wearing my daughter’s dress but waited until Thanksgiving night to try it on and it wasn’t a pretty picture. Frantically rummaging through every closet in the house, I stumbled upon this sequined dress I bought in 1994. I’ve been hoping to shrink back into it, but desperate times call for desperate measures and out came the scissors and a roll of Steam-a-Seam. I cut nine inches off of the dress and placed Steam-a-Seam...
For some reason my 89-year-old mother-in-law and I both own the same shirt.She loves her shirt and wears it throughout the summer. I certainly don’t want my mother-in-law to think I am copying her, so I decided to refashion my shirt. Though the cotton is extremely lightweight, I enjoy sleeveless tops during the hot sticky summer days and immediately cut off the sleeves. In retrospect short sleeves would have worked just as well, and the project would have been much easier. My last project, the orange peplum blouse, is one of my best fitting garments and inspired me to simulate a peplum. By...
“ Mom, it’s time for you to quit wearing this strapless top.” Is this a preview of what’s to come? “Mom, this house is more than you can handle. Let’s look at a retirement community.” “Mom, it’s time to turn over the car keys.” “Mom, we’re afraid you are going to hurt yourself with that sewing machine.” ………………… I’ll quit wearing the strapless top, but I’m not giving it away. It’s an expensive Sarah Campbell top made of a beautiful cotton almost as nice as Grandmother’s Sheet, and I love it. I recognize there comes a time when one has to take a long hard look...
My mother gave me this dress some time ago. She bought it for $1.00 at a thrift store and thought the dress might look cute if I hemmed it. O k a y y y y y … I thought it had potential, but a little hem seemed like just the beginning, or perhaps the grand finale. The fit was acceptable in bust but was too big elsewhere. After releasing a few stitches of the bust lining, I was able to adjust the bodice. Following the stitching lines I removed two inches from the upper bodice through the hips. I then tapered the lower...
Carpe Diem does not mean ‘fish of the day' As I relaxed under the umbrella taking in the surrounding beach activities, the wind blew my current issue of InStyle magazine to a page of celebrities wearing skinny floral pants and jeans. In particular, the pants on the right reminded me of a pair of pants I had packed for this week at the beach …… only I bought them in 2006… and they weren’t skinny legs… and they were stretched out from 6 years of constant wear…. The gang was out fishing leaving me free to get my sewing machine out of the...